Recipes for Sleep: Matrix Style

Insomnia. The inability to fall asleep or once attaining sleep, the inability to stay asleep. After days of being in this twilight world, things seem different. It is almost as if the world is finally exposed as the Matrix.

The Matrix abounds with reality/not reality, sleep/not sleep and drug like references. Being one of a few sufferers in my office, we have discussed home remedies that we have used. I wouldn't suggest using them but here is what we came up with.

Mauser
2 packets of NeoCitran
225 mL boiling water

This is the unjacked version. Add two packets to the water and you will be meeting Morpheus, the god of dreams, soon.

Neo
The One shot of vodka
The One glass of prepared NeoCitran 

Add the vodka to the NeoCitran. Always use the one without acetaminophen in alcohol based stupor because you don't want to tax your organs.

Double
There is no spoon.

Trinity
3 shots of vodka
1 packet NeoCitran
225 mL boiling water

Add all to the boiling water. At this point, you may wish you trusted in the One instead of going with Trinity.

Morpheus
1 shot curacao
1 shot cherry brandy
1 packet NeoCitran
225 mL boiling water in a glass

Put all ingredients on a silver tray. Place it down and concentrate.

You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Now, I'm not a pharmacist nor a drug rep but I believe these remedies are not recommended. What I will say that as a long time sufferer of insomnia, sometimes this gives you a momentary respite from the daily grind of the Matrix. For a few hours, you can enjoy an alternate universe where movies happen in your head. They are not necessarily joyful and can sometimes be overlong. When you reach the point in you non sleeping cycle, sometimes, just sometimes you believe. Like Neo with your being at the computer every night, hardly sleeping, you want to believe in the Matrix. 

Medieval Menu

Something I have been meaning to post for a long while. I learned a lot by preparing this meal and I'll leave my comments until the end of the menu.

1st Course

Salet

Brawn in Pepperade

Bruette Saak

Stewed Cabbage w/ cinnamon & cloves

Custard Cream Boil

2nd Course

Pomme Dorryse

Gingerbryd

Coney in Clear Broth

Custard Lombard

Shrimp

Libations

Mead

Buttered Beer

Assorted Ales

Sweet White Wine

Red Wine

Uisque

It was weird trying to find recipes for this feast, mainly because there was not a lot of cookery books about. The internet was helpful but only so much. I did make heavy use of Cooking and Dining in Medieval England and adjusted the recipes to use available ingredients when the English or older ingredients were not readily accessible. Another source that I used not so much for recipes but rather for understanding the flavours was Darina Allen, an Irish cooking teacher, and I am selling her short. 

I could go on for ours about how an medieval meal was constructed and why I chose what I did but I think more importantly, you may want to know what some of those things are. 

First Course Descriptions

Salet was a mixed herb salad. No greens were used and just a touch of herbed vinegar. Brawn is just pork with the sauce, a white wine, pepper and clove concoction. Very deft touches on all the spicings. I was surprised by how much spice would be used for a middle class house and how delicate the flavours were in the dishes. Bruette Saak was chicken in a clear spicy broth. It allowed me to indulge one of my favourite idiosyncrasies of meat and fruit. Dates were added to give the dish depth. Stewed cabbage probably doesn't need an explanation, does it? Custard cream was a savory custard served in a tart shell. 

Second Course Descriptions

Pomme Dorryse, or Golden Apples for those who do not like French with their meals, are meatballs. These contained currants and saffron. Gingerbryd is not what you are thinking. The medieval gingerbread was a mixture of quite spicy crumb balls held together with honey. Coney in Clear Broth is rabbit in broth. Sensing a theme with all the broths? Custard Lombard are individual sweetish custards with very little fruit at the bottom. Shrimp was the last thing listed but it is the one dish that most startled me and gave me insight into medieval cookery. Boil shrimp, serve it with a little wine and herbed vinegar. I am guessing that this eventually gave way to the shrimp cocktail we know now but it was more impressive because of its simplicity.

The only other menu item I would like to draw attention to is the buttered beer. That was definitely a hit or miss for people. You are basically adding sugar and spices to a low alcohol ale and serving it warm. 

I learned so much about balance and adding more acid to my meals from making this one. It is why I do some of these theme parties so that I can look at my own food in a different way. Most of the preparations were of the simpler variety. I tried for a typical Sunday meal for a middle class household. These household would definitely have at least a cook to cook and probably a few staff in the kitchen. It is possible to do these preparation without help but only for a dinner party.

Three Spring Recipes: Fiddleheads, Pea Shoots and Lambs Quarters

Sunday was a day of looking at the spring things gathering in the fridge and figuring out what to do with them. I love spring produce because it is the first taste of real greens. They tend to be more intense and bitter than those early summer sprouts.

After asparagus and rhubarb, the next harbingers are greens such as lambs quarters and dandelion greens. Fun fact, pissenlit is one translation for dandelions in French. That means wet the bed for those who skipped a couple of classes too many. I didn't bother with dandelion this year but did up a little weed and feed for my kids.

Potatoes with Lambs Quarters and Sausage

Grab some lambs quarters from your lawn or backyard. Strip away stems and leave the leaves. Treat like spinach and submerge in water to ensure to get all the dirt out. Meanwhile, boil some potatoes.

While you are waiting for the potatoes to boil, another fun fact. Lambs quarters are related to quinoa, rhubarb, spinach and a bunch of other greens with oxalic acid. If you taste the green raw, you will get this fuzzy itch at the back of your throat. If you have kidney stones or disease or just worried in general, avoid. Now that the potatoes have boiled and you have finished searching the internet to see if you are going to die from this recipe, we are ready to go to the next step.

Drain the potatoes. Cook some dried sausage over a medium-low heat. I used mild Hungarian but any semi-dry sausage with a good amount of fat will work such as chorizo, pepperoni, or salami. When fat is rendered and sausage is browned, remove sausage from pan. Add a little onion. Some oil may be required at this point. Cook until translucent. Add some potatoes. Cook until potatoes start to break down. Add greens. Cook until wilted and bright green. Add in sausage. Season to complement meat. Serve.

I used Mrs. Dash because someone gave me it and it has a lot of celery seed. The dish lacked salt so I added smoked salt and a little black pepper to add a bit of edge. Kids loved the idea of eating weeds.

Wilted Pea Shoot Salad

Take some quantity of pea shoots. Rinse them off if you have to and place in the salad bowl. If you don't have a salad bowl, then I guess there is no salad for you. On medium-low heat take some cured meat with a good amount of fat and render. (That just mean cook it until the fat is in the pan. Meat will start to brown and crisp when it comes to that time). Pour meat with fat over sprouts and toss. Taste and add acid if you wish. Orange, lemon, lime, vinegar, whatever. My favourite cured meats to use for this are bacon, dry sausages or ham. Ham and pea is a classic pairing and so works really well especially if go all Italian with some prosciutto or something like that. 

There is a pattern here. I like my greens with a little fat and have no problems if that fat comes from an animal. In many ways, the idea of the last pieces of cured meat that have made it through the winter combine with the first greens of the spring makes me happy to look forward to what is to come and appreciate the finality of the winter.

This last salad that we had on Sunday was made with fiddleheads and a spicy version of the Hungarian sausage. I cut the sausage into coins to mimic the shape of the fiddleheads. My one kid who likes spicy food had seconds while the one with the more delicate sensibilities was fine with the quarter serving I gave him for tasting.

Fiddlehead Sausage Salad

Clean your fiddleheads removing brown bits and ends. This is another vegetable that likes a good bath. Set it in water and try to get out any grit or sand. Boil in salted water using about the same amount of salt as you would use for pasta. Add a squirt or two of lemon juice. It is only to make sure that the greens don't turn to brown. Vinegar would work too. Boil for seven to ten minutes. The ferns, you did know they were ferns, right, will have the same texture as asparagus when ready. Drain. In a fry pan (or saute if you want to get technical), on medium-low heat, add either fresh or dried sausage cut into coin shapes. Cook until done or in the case of dry sausage, finished rendering. Remove sausage bits. Add the drained (I said it twice because water will make it splatter big time) fiddleheads. Once coated and warmed through again, add the sausage. Turn into a serving bowl and serve. 

Why do recipes say that? I mean it is up to you to decide if you are using a serving bowl. What if you hate doing up the dishes? Maybe you are single? Anyways. And Serve. I have spent all this time following this recipe just to have the food sit there. Yup. Not eating it. Sheesh.

Anyways, any of these recipes could easily become a How to Read a Recipe post. The main thing to remember is that salads require some fat to dress the greens. Greens can be loosely interpreted to be such things as green beans, asparagus, endive, any green and of course, something you find on your front lawn. The more bitter the green, the more likely that a quick blanch will remove some of the bitterness and make it more palatable. Have fun with your lawn or your back yard this spring.

How to Read a Recipe: Pickled Roasted Beets

First off, I am going to present the recipe as I made it recently for a friend. She asked for a recipe for some pickled beets. Her preference is for the boiled beets and vinegar algorithm but I let her know that I was doing something just slightly more exotic. Here is that story.

Pickled Roasted Beets

Some quantity of beets (better to start small, in case you don't like it)

Vinegar to cover 

Salt

Peppercorns

Mustard Seed

Capers

Bay Leaf

1. Take beets and clean off any surface dirt. Place in 400 degree oven until knife tender. I always throw in other veggies to roast at this time and take them out as they are done. If I'm cooking a chicken at high heat, sometimes sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, etc make their way there too.

2. Let cool until easy to handle. Remove skins. Some people swear by just rubbing the skins but I prefer to let them cool right down and take a sharp knife to 'em. There is something visceral in pulling apart a purple or red beet. If you are feeling in an April Fool's mood, you can yell ouch and ask your partner to count your fingers for you. Sometimes that doesn't go over so well. Cut the beets how you like them (strips, rounds, little round beet balls, whatever).
3. Take vinegar. Warm and add spices. If you mind spice pieces in your pickles, wrap the spices in muslin or use one of those tea infuser things. Once it is warmed, taste the liquid. Remember the beets won't be as intense and there is a sweetness to the beets. If you like the taste of the vinegar, then pour the liquid on them. Typically, I will use a mixture of different vinegars. Last time I did this recipe, I used cider vinegar and some scotch whisky vinegar.
4. Let it sit at least 24 hours. I find these quick pickles last two weeks easily, sometimes a little longer.

Veggie Variations: I like to roast the root vegetables to provide a sweet and sour variation. Other good candidates are: carrots, parsnips, onions, shallots, garlic, turnip and fennel. I suppose you could cut up veggies and do a quick blanch to provide a more al dente result. This works really well with onions if you don't like that sharp taste. Whenever I use onions in a raw preparation for my wife, I consider doing a quick blanch for her.

Vinegar Variations: Change up the vinegars or mix some together. Add a little balsamic to add sweetnees. If you like a sweeter pickle, add sugars. Some sugars have deeper flavours (jaggery, brown) which add different tastes. You could change the spices that you use. Use complimentary spices to the vegetable (cumin with carrots, cloves with onions).

Don't through that vinegar out! After the first use, there are other things that can be done.

• Make another batch of pickles. 
• Pickle hard-boiled eggs. This is especially cool if using beet vinegar.
• Use the vinegar to make a vinaigrette.
• Use vinegar in potato salad.
• Make sauces. Sweet and sour sauce, BBQ sauce, and sauces for baked beans all use vinegar as a base.

I learned to do this because at the end of the spring, the only local produce that isn't brought up in a greenhouse are the root vegetables and wintered apples. I get sick of the same old roasted or boiled veggies. This is a pleasant change that has some sourness to brighten up those last hearty meals.

Kid's Recipes: Pizza Grilled Cheese and others

There is a series of posts that I run about how to read recipes and I was tempted to group these following ideas under a post around grilled cheese or sandwiches. My son came up with a few of the suggestions and I realize that there is something to be learned from the process of involving your kids in cooking and menu planning.

Many folks are impressed by what our kids will eat. To them, it looks as if our kids will eat anything and try anything happily. This is only partially true. Our kids may be less picky than others but that is largely to a rule that is enforced at our table - 'Everyone must try one good bite before not liking something." That includes me and fish, my wife and brussels sprouts and anything the kids have decided they don't like that day. Eventually this practice has translated in willing to try one bite of everything.

I don't often cook with my kids but I involve them in planning the food. This does not mean that they decide what we are going to eat but it allows me to prepare them for what is coming and avoid meltdowns when it is clear that they are in no mood to try anything new. So, when they come up with a recipe, they create and make the whole thing. Here are two that have been a hit.

Apple, Peanut Butter and Cheese Roll Up 

I forget the original name that my son gave it and for that, I will be going to the list of bad parenting. Just kidding, there is no list. Just guilt. The original suggestion was to add ketchup but the chef was talked out of it. However, sometimes let them try it and they will let you know if it is good.

Take a tortilla and slather it with peanut butter or another nut butter, add tart apple slices (used Granny Smith) and a mild cheese (provolone works well). Roll it up and cut it into pinwheels.

Variations: Change the cheese. Add dried fruits. Add greens such as sprouts or lettuce. Use no nut butter. 

Pizza Grilled Cheese 

 This came up around a discussion about leftovers. My son suggested that we fold over pizza and put it in a grilled cheese sandwich. That discussion led to the following idea.

 Use your regular grilled cheese sandwich recipe but slather each piece of bread on the inside slice with spaghetti sauce and use mozzarella cheese in addition to your regular cheese. Pepperoni or salami is optional but always appreciated in our family.

Variations: Any toppings that you would put in a pizza will work. Just keep it to a reasonable amount so that the insides will warm through and the cheese will get all melted. Fig jam and asiago cheese are a combo that works well. Used fig jam with many different sharp cheeses and it is usually a success. Prosciutto and ham brings it into croque monsieur category but sometimes classic flavours are used in many applications. 

What I have really learned about kids and in fact, adults, is that it is easy to introduce new flavours and foods when you couch them in familiar terms like: this is a pizza with the stuff from that pasta you like... or these noodles are in the soup that you like. As long as there is a relation to something that they are familiar with and like, the process of trying new foods can be largely painless.

A little story to end this post... A friend of mine hates cranberries. I found out when I served a roast beef that was glazed with soya sauce and cranberries. She was polite but her husband told me right away that she wasn't going to like it. She surprised us by asking for the recipe and making it for her family several times. She still doesn't like cranberries by themselves but if they are part of an overall taste then they can be quite delicious for her.

Recipe: Beer Vinegar, Mead Vinegar Experiment

A confluence of events has led me to try my hand at making vinegar. I've been interested in the whole fermentation thing for a while: cheese, beer, bread and mead. I've made those or at least the simplest form of those. Kimchee and sauerkraut are also not unknown to this guy with Polish background. It always seems to me that the simplest thing is to leave food to ferment.

Several times I have looked at the mother at the bottom of the Bragg's container and thought how easy it would be to just drop some apple cider in there, but sometimes I'm too lazy to get a bottle of cider to let it rot. Also, my kids would be so mad if I brought home special apple juice and didn't let them drink it. So, it hasn't happened.

This past week, the universe has given me signs, or I have let my inner sloth free, whichever you would like to believe. Various sources have given me pieces to the puzzle and I intend to put them together. Just for curiosity, I will list those little hints just to prove that I am not crazy.

Hint #1: Secrets of the Best Chefs. On page 344 which is Hugh Acheson's section (from Ottawa, ahem), a hint in the margin states:

If you buy a vinegar with a live culture (like Bragg's), when the bottle is almost empty, you can start a universal vinegar (meaning a vinegar composed of lots of different liquids). Just refill the bottle with beer or leftover wine and cap it with cheesecloth and string. A few weeks later, you'll have vinegar ready to go.

Hint #2: Kitchn article about leftover Champagne. (Who has leftover champagne?)

Hint #3:  Niagara College First Draught Rudolphs Red Nose Ale at The Only Cafe. It tasted sour, but not in a good way but rather in a vinegar way.

Hint #4: Finally got around to flipping through wild fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz and read the section on vinegar. It turns out if you leave a fermentable liquid past the booze stage, you get vinegar. So, that got me to thinking...

I have two containers of "leftover" beer in my fridge. One is for maltier beer and the other for hoppier, more bitter beer. I use these leftovers for making bread, baked beans and messing around with other recipes. I add to these containers when I get a mediocre but drinkable brew, some dregs from a large bottle or the last drops from a long night.

The question was whether to use a mother that I had floating at the bottom of a malt whisky vinegar. I have decided after reviewing other beer vinegar experiments to try from scratch. Most others have used Bragg's but Katz states that you don't need a starter. Considering the success that I had with mead a couple years ago, I am going to take the chance.

So, I have taken a bit of mead, malty beer and hoppy beer, covered them with cheesecloth and leaving them out for a few weeks. Here is what they look like now. Check back in a few weeks and we will see and taste what happens.

Recipe: Arugula and Basil Salad with Berliner Weisse

So, salad and beer as a pairing? This post will not really be about the recipe itself but it is the pairing that makes this work. This is from the beer and food pairing that I did at the Only Cafe.

What is it? 

It's a freaking salad served with a beer! More importantly, it tastes good.

Why did you choose this?

We were looking for a second course. I was looking for a way to put a sour beer on the list. Also, I have messing around with some of the micro-*shudder*-greens from Cookstown. Although I don't like the name and hesitate to call it a micro-salad, I really like the intensity of the baby greens and sprouts.

Why this tasting?

I have only tasted about a handful of Berliner Weisse but have had plenty of sour beers. The flavour ranges anywhere from an almost SweeTart to a downright lemon puckery. Nickel Brook made a sour called Green Light Berliner Weisse. I suspect that the green light name came from the colour. It was somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. There was a soft lemon tart taste. There are some that would label this a fairly one note beer. We wanted a salad course.

The thing is, there is more to this beer. It is supposed to be refreshing and really quaffable at around 3-4% alcohol. The few comments were around how people had tried this beer and didn't really like it but I thought we could use the lemon in a good way and find a way to somehow neutralize it so that the wheat beer underneath could get a good taste. Most of those that thought the beer was meh before changed their opinion when trying the pairing. The two worked together to make each other taste better. Good sign.

So, spicy arugula and the aggressive peppery basil pair well with lemon. The salad was dressed lightly with salt and a buttery macadamia nut oil. The acid in the beer completed the vinaigrette and the carbonation on the beer lifted all the tastes. Ripe pear was added to provide a little sweetness and to add a classic pairing or arugula and pear.

So, what is the recipe?

Another salad recipe. The second in a week. Friends are going to start thinking that I have become vegetarian and the beer swilling, barbeque crowd will shun me or at least demand that I bring the salad. So, equal parts baby arugula greens (mild bitterness), basil seedlings (peppery and slightly sweet). Toss with macadamia nut oil or some other milder oil. Add salt to taste. Garnish with some pear slices.

Recipe: Gazpacho with Cold Grilled Cheese

Here is a recipe from the beer and food pairing that I did at the Only Cafe a week ago.

What is it? 

Aside from being a poor artist's rendition, mine, of a sandwich sitting atop of a cappuccino cup, it was a roasted gazpacho served with a speck and Jarlsberg cheese sandwich that paired with Creemore's Altbier.

Why did you choose this?

My grandmother used to drink lager and tomato juice. Altbier is a lagered ale and I thought that would be a good play. Fabian from the Only and I decided that we would structure the tastes like a mini meal and so soup would be the first course. The Only doesn't have a kitchen so all food would have to be cold or room temperature. So cold soup and sandwich it was. 

A little afraid of the cold grilled cheese sandwich, especially after finding out it was a thing on the urban dictionary, but still went ahead with it because who doesn't like tomato soup and grilled cheese.

Why this tasting?

Creemore's altbier is pretty balanced. Many altbiers play up the maltiness but this one has a nice balance of bitterness and malt. When it was tried with a traditional gazpacho, the soup didn't hold up to the malt and it tasted watery so I roasted most of the vegetables and added a little raw tomato to retain the fresh flavour. 

The bread was made with the beer and when tasting it alone, it brought out a lot of bitterness. So, added some salt in the form of speck and when eaten with the roasted tomatoes, it provided a balanced dish that mimicked the beer.

So, what is the recipe?

Gazpacho

Take 1 pint of tomatoes, couple red peppers, 2 - 4 poblanos or jalapenos and roast them. I took a hand blender and got it chopped so there was still a little bit of chunks like a fine salsa. Added half pint of raw tomatoes and 1 English cucumber or 2 garden cucumbers. Added 2 tbsp sherry vinegar. Blitzed it again. Put it in the fridge overnight then tasted. Added salt and balsamic vinegar to achieve desired taste. This recipe made around 8 cups. Of course, this is one variation, there are so many more... Hmm, maybe this would make a good post for How to Read a Recipe.

Beer Bread

Modified a recipe that I found in Leiths Baking Bible. It was on p.514. So, about that copyright... It is a standard recipe where I substituted brown ale for the altbier and then split the wholemeal flour into Red Fife wheat and rye. 

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Really? So, I got some speck, Jarlsberg cheese and the bread. Made a grilled cheese and chilled it. Brought it to room temp to serve. The slight nuttiness of the cheese accented the bread and the nuttiness in the beer. It worked.

How to Read a Recipe: Watermelon Feta Salad

I sat down with a friend for a quick bite the other day and I scrounged about a little unsuccessfully. Eventually, we put together two salads; a slightly ordinary green salad and a salad of plum, feta and basil. He was quite happy about it and it tasted quite good. Of course, he wanted a recipe. So, it is time for another How to Read a Recipe moment.

The idea of the soft fruit salad comes from a standard recipe for Watermelon Feta Salad.  This salad is taking three fresh ingredients, mixing them together and maybe splashing some olive oil and/or vinegar and maybe some salt if your cheese isn't salty enough. That's it.

What I find interesting is that this approach of fruit, salt, herb and cheese plays out in many other classic salads - the granddaddy being Caprese Salad. This is a helpful frame of reference when you are going to start thinking for other salads like this. How would you begin to pair and create these type of salads?

Essentialist: Watermelon, feta and basil. These are the classic. I will add a little olive oil if the watermelon is a little sub par or dry. This recipe works because of the feta and watermelon pairing. The slight saltiness of the feta makes the watermelon taste more watermelon-y. Salt is to enhance flavour. In this case, because the base flavour tends to be err-watery, you don't often get much flavour.

Locavore/Seasonal: I have replaced watermelon with soft stone fruits fairly successfully (Peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries). In the winter, I am not sure if Ontario is the right place to try this. Maybe it is best to walk away from these type of salads in the winter.

Replacement Approach: Just as it says. Take one ingredient and replace it with a like ingredient. Watermelon for another type of melon (honeydew, cantaloupe, etc).  Feta for another cheese - just make sure that the cheese is salty or you will have to add a little salt (bonconcini+salt, parmesan chunks, aged gouda, blue). Change the herbs - parsley, coriander/cilantro, arugula. Change watermelon for other type of soft pulpy fruit (strawberry, cherry, halved kiwi berries).

I know that some are now saying, well I really like melon with parma ham or strawberries and black pepper really go good. Wait a sec, hold on. That idea explosion is supposed to happen but if it doesn't, just note each experiment and remember or write down the stuff you like. If you are unsure, try a little bit of each of the ingredients together before mixing a huge bowl that gets ignored on the table. I won't do that again. So to address those people who have started to wander off into ham/melon or any other classic variety way ...

Classic Flavours + 1: This recipe is three flavours that work together. Another way to look at it, is that there is a classic pairing with an additional taste. So, take any flavour match that you like and go at it. If you can add a third flavour that works as another pair, all the more likely that it will work. So, that prosciutto melon thing - add mint. Strawberry, black pepper - add basil and balsamic. Pears, blue cheese and watercress. I often use The Flavor (sic) Bible to get a pairing and add on from there.

Utilitarian Approach: What is a salad for? What are dangling participles for? Both, often mark a digression from the main point and they are often a result of an afterthought or poorly thought out article or meal. It is just something you are supposed to have. I realize that there is a whole other bunch of reasons but I am ignoring those right now.

Salads are a refreshing course that often help to reset your palate. So, change your salad to a sorbet. Watermelon ice with feta crema and basil. Kiwi granita with thai basil and vanilla ice cream. You could flip it around and make the ice cream with soft cheeses - blue ice cream with applesauce and walnuts.

Reductionist Approach: We are starting to get very far from that watermelon or Caprese salad at the top, so let's start getting to really basic. Take fresh fruit, dress with a good olive oil and salt. Done. Take fresh herb and toss with good olive oil and salt. Done. Take cheese -- oh hell, you get the message. Enjoy. Play with your food. You don't have to have the same green salad from the bag every day.

Recipes: Two from Beeton

I read old cookbooks for the hell of it. That's not quite true. It is interesting to see what writers have to say about the dishes of the time. Sometimes insight is gained into a modern dish by looking at older ones. The other great reason is to resuscitate a "forgotten" dish and remake it into a more "modern" tasting dish.

I finished looking through The Campaign for Domestic Happiness by Isabella Beeton and found two dishes that I plan on trying out to see what can be made of them.

The first is a way of ripening Stilton cheese..."An artificial ripeness in Stilton cheese is sometimes produced by inserting a small piece of decayed Cheshire into an aperture at the top. From 3 weeks to a month is sufficient time to ripen the cheese. An additional flavour may also be obtained by scooping out a piece from the top, and pouring therein port, sherry, Madiera, or old ale, and letting the cheese absorb these for 2 or 3 weeks."  She does go on to say that this might not be the best way but it does leave it open for experimentation.

At our house, invariably, once every few months we run out of milk for morning coffee and tea. It seems that Mrs. Beeton has an excellent solution. Just beat up an egg, put it in the cup and add the hot liquid. A note of caution, add the hot liquid gradually and stir it up.  This is tempering the egg. I have my own method for doing this and next time we run out I will try it.

It's funny. I used to add "raw" egg to my hot chocolate where it added a richness and thickness that was quite decadent. I never thought to add it to coffee.

Recipe: Whiskey and Ginger Beer

I really battled with the title of this post cause strictly speaking, I am talking about the whiskey family - Rye and Bourbon but whatever. A friend asked me last year if she could do a post on Rye and Ginger. She believed that she had found the perfect ginger ale to go with a perfect whiskey. So, while I am still waiting for that post, we had tried her entry which was Gentleman Jack, a bourbon and Sussex Golden ginger ale from east coast Canada.  I have the leftovers, soooo...

The idea behind this test and drink was to try a dry ginger ale and a traditional ginger ale with bourbon and then try that with an equivalent in ginger beer, actual beer.

Entrants: Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Sussex Golden Ginger Ale, Phillips Ginger Beer, and Crabbie's Ginger Beer.  These were mixed with Gentleman Jack.

Method: A measure of Jack were poured into an old fashioned with chilled entrants. These were tasted and notated.  Then another two measures were added to bring the total to three to one (more or less).  These were then tasted and notated.

Results: Canada Dry, although designed to be a mixer did not fare well with the Jack.  It could be because this is a more mellow and well rounded bourbon that doesn't love the harshness of Canada Dry.  The dark spicy sweetness of Sussex Golden worked well at the three to one mix but didn't seem to do well at the one to one.  Now, mixing the bourbon with the beer was revelatory.

I like me some spicy non-alcoholic ginger beer.  My favourite is the Golden Cockerel Old English Ginger Beer which can be hard to find in Toronto. It is sweet and spicy, more aligned with the Sussex, in terms of flavour profile.  Crabbie's also shared this profile.  It is like drinking a sweet ginger ale.  It goes down smooth.  Unfortunately, at the stronger 1:1 ratio, it the whole drink is too sweet.  At the higher ratio, it tastes like ginger pop and you hardly notice the accents of vanilla or bourbon.  This is a problem.  You could get really zonked on this.  It was enjoyable but did overpower Jack.  It may work with a more prominent Canadian whiskey or harsher bourbon. Hell, beer haters might even like this version.

Phillip's Ginger Beer is more subtle. There is little to no sweetness. The dominant flavour is malt followed with a ginger bite. It is definitely a beer. Because of its subtleness, it would be a great beer for food pairing over Crabbie's. It worked really well at the more alcoholic ratios. The beer notes ran alongside the Jack to win this Kentucky Derby. (Sorry, that was horrible but the drink was good, as long as you like bourbon).  It makes me wonder if Canada Dry has altered its recipe so much that it no longer is as dry as this beer.

I would drink either of these cocktails.  If I was looking for something to go down quickly and didn't have to work the next day, I would do the Crabbie's. It would also work with a more distinct and prominent whiskey or bourbon. If I was looking for a sipping drink to go with food then I would do the Phillip's with a more nuanced bourbon or high end Canadian whiskey.

How to Read a Recipe: Chimichurri

A friend asked me for an opinion on a recipe that his girlfriend wanted him to make.  This is not an uncommon occurrence for me for two reason; one, I have an opinion on everything and two, I have a lot of good riffs on standard food.

People often ask how they can be more creative or go away from the recipe and so I think I am going to do a series of these.  If you have any recipe that you are looking for new ideas, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Here was the original recipe.

Can you beat this for a starter recipe:

 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
 8 cloves garlic, minced
 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
 1 lemon wedge (juice of)
 1 tablespoon diced red onion
 1 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
 1 teaspoon black pepper
 1/2 teaspoon salt

 Directions:

 Pulse parsley in processor to chop.
 Add remaining ingredients and blend.
 Separate sauce into equal parts.
 (Use half for basting or marinade).
 (Use other half for table service).

So, for starters, this recipe is basically an Argentinian herb sauce to accent beef or lamb. It is to brighten and enliven an otherwise heavy and plain cut of meat.  Many culture use acid to cut through the fat and richness of a dish. Google helps with finding that out if you didn't already know.  One of the ways to get a feeling for what a recipe does is to check a bunch of the recipes out and see what appeals to you. Sometimes you will find other cultural analogues; my favourite sauce with steak is a salsa verde which is a green salsa made with tomatillos.

Think of it this way.  Unless you are doing something incredibly picky, the chances are the recipe you are using is just someone's interpretation of how they cook.  They write something down and then a recipe tester gets to it to try and clarify it.  What we are trying to do it work backwards...

Essentialist Approach: What is essential in this recipe?  Let's look at the ingredients and pare them down to the bits that are needed. Parsley, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and salt.  These are the basic ingredients, everything else is just flourishes or improvisation.  You could go even more into the components; herbs, fat, acid and flavour enhancers but that is a little further than we are going today.  I just put it here for your consideration.

Locavore/Seasonal: Replace the garlic with garlic scapes, drop the lemon and use vinegar, add other fresh herbs as available. Parsley, basil and any other that seem to taste good to you.  Hell, add some lavender flowers or a little of something you find around.  If it were later in the season, turn this into a red chimichurri by adding tomatoes or red peppers.

Umami Boosting: If you want to mess with the flavour by boosting the savoury (umami) or adding spice then add chipotle pepper juice, pepper flakes or hot pickle juice instead of vinegar.  Cheese, tomato paste, some nuts or mushrooms could add the umami that will make the meat taste meatier.

Flavour Matching: If you want to match the meat spicing then you'll have to figure out what you are spicing your meat with and determine the flavours that you want to accent.  So, if you are doing Montreal steak spice then pick more lemony flavours to accent the garlic, dill and coriander in the spice mix.

Literalist Approach:  This is a playful approach where you try to figure out where the original recipe may have come from and work from that.  Other times it is taking the name and using it as a way of developing a recipe.  Wikipedia states that the origin of the word could mean give me salsa or give me curry.  There is a start right there - use more Mexican ingredients or Indian spicing.  Another line talks about adding a mixture of things in no particular order.  Right back to the grandmother in the kitchen trying to make her steak taste good...

Bacon Schmacon

Bacon has become the universal ingredient to elevate any dish.  I'll admit that our household has added it to chocolate, brussel sprouts, brownies, and a bunch of other stuff.  What my wife looks for on Mother's Day is not bacon but rather Bread Fried in Bacon Grease.

It is the kind of dish that your grandmother would make.  It is a way of ensuring that nothing goes to waste but everything will go to the waist. After you are done cooking the bacon (Start with a cold pan.  Add cold bacon.  Turn on low and wait for the rendering of the fat and the crisping of the bacon.), take the nasty meat bits out and leave the liquid gold behind.  Take a good piece of bread and fry it.  That's it. Simple.

Wait there's more.

We have used bacon grease for so many other uses.  Remember, it is just a fat.  So we have used it in pie shells, vinaigrettes and dressings, and as a base fat for vegetarian stews.  Okay, I'm kidding about that last one, although we do use the fat for preparing a mirepoix or caramelizing onions.

So, you can prepare beautiful bacon roses and use the rendered fat for something better.

Recipe: Spam Terrine or Sour Cherry Spiced Ham Terrine

My son thinks he likes Spam.  A quick story before I divulge my ultra secret Spam recipe...

We were reading a Daniel Pinkwater novel, I believe it was the Neddiad, where a young heir moves to Los Angeles when on his trip he has a Spam sandwich.  My son thought that sandwich sounded good.  I remembered the spiced ham as being salty and greasy.

When we got the can, the first disappointment struck.  I remember a key that turned a small strip of the can until you were able to pull it apart.  Maybe it was only the lesser mimics and there are plenty of mimics that had that feature but it made me doubt my memory.  Then I tasted the potted meat and memory served correct.  How could this meat be made palatable and delicious for a family meal?  Well, for that first time, I took sliced Spam and seared it.  With the fat left in the pan, I added cherry juice, small bit of sugar, balsamic vinegar and black pepper and reduced the sauce.  Voila, Seared Spiced Ham with Cherry Reduction Sauce.  So, my son thinks he likes Spam.

Ever since then, I have been trying to find a way to slip something similar into a dinner party or some get together and a few weeks ago, a chance presented itself.  Some parents were having a no kids cocktail party and I offered to bring something.

Terrine is just a fancy way of talking about cold meatloaf.  So, I searched the internet for a way to make a terrine out of cooked meat and there isn't very much.  I did find one site that I used as inspiration but on the whole, it was tough.  Regardless, here is the recipe.

Sour Cherry Spiced Ham Terrine

2 cans Spam
1 smoked Kessler pork chop (any smoked piece of flesh will work)
1 egg white
1 c whipping cream
1 tbsp mustard seed (double for pronounced flavour)
1/2 tsp grains of paradise (double for pronounced flavor, can substitute black pepper and cloves)
1 pkg gelatin
1c sour cherry juice
1/2 tsp black pepper

Special Equipment


Food processer
Chilled metal bowl
Terrine mold or loaf pan

Terrine
1.  Using food processor, puree spam, egg white and whipping cream.  If a lighter, less salty taste is preferred, add a little more cream.  Move to a chilled metal bowl.
2.  Chop smoked pork chop in small cubes. 1/2" pieces is fine.  It is to give a little texture to the otherwise pink homogenous mess.
3.  Toast half of the mustard seed.  Smells a little like popcorn.
4.  Add mustard and grains of paradise into Spam mixture.
5.  Fold in smoked pork chop into Spam mixture.  Pat into mold or loaf pan.  Place in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.  If you can put it in a water bath, do.  Otherwise, the outside may cook inconsistently and make the terrine look odd.  But don't sweat it.
6.  Let cool until it can be placed in fridge.  Truth be told, I let it set on the counter for 15 minutes and placed it in the freezer.

Gelatin Topping
1. You can use any type of gelatin you want.  Follow the instructions on the package.  I used Knox and crushed some black pepper into the liquid.  After warming the liquid, I strained it before adding the hot liquid to the bloomed gelatin.  I added a little citric acid to give a bit more sour taste.  It is all to your palate.  Lemon juice or lime would have worked as well.
2. Place slightly cooled liquid on cooled meatloaf.
3. Let set.

If you have time let it be for about a day.  So, it went over well.  I took half a loaf and there was around two slices worth left.  Most people liked it and the most telling comment was that if I hadn't mentioned that it was Spam, they would've thought salty ham.  It brought out the best part of the Spam.

I would work to dampen the saltiness and add more of the spicing.  When spices get cold they lose some of that oomph so doubling the spices that go in would work well. I could have used a little more gelatin as it was the thing that cut the rich and fatty parts of the terrine.

Serve it with a good french bread, cornichons and a mustard or chutney and there you go.

Enjoy!

On Recipes

I've been thinking a lot about recipes lately.  There must be a better way of representing recipes that appeals to the different type of learners. GOOD, ran a competition last year about redesign of recipes. Most of the recipes were geared to a more visual way of making a recipe accessible to readers.  Many included visual representation of techniques.  Reminded me of some of the step by step cookbooks that my mother had. Every step had a picture to show what was what.  It was clear what a translucent onion looked like or what a properly browned pot roast was.

Aki and Alex from Ideas in Food has written a post talking about the difference of a kitchen pro and a home cook.  A kitchen pro already knows what they are going to do at the start.  Most seasoned home cooks will adjust will little regard or knowledge about what they are doing. It strikes me that most recipes do not offer the why of the technique and that most home cooks don't care.  They have to get supper on the table and hope it tastes good.

In terms of recipes themselves, there is some thought of returning to a more instinctual style of cooking like our mother's mother's mother would recognize.  My wife has recently begun taking back the kitchen for two meals a week.  She has been getting more comfortable with improvising and making better decisions with flavours.  It is often more of a gentle art.  As long as you understand certain ratios, or certain techniques then you open up opportunities.  Whether it be ratios like Michael Ruhlman or more of an artful approach like A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider, there is definitely a move to a traditional approach to cooking.

If you look back to earlier mass cookbooks like Joy of Cooking or Fannie Farmer, you can see a collection of recipes that reflect a certain style of entertaining.  Each section would start with an overview of the area, usually arranged by course, and then follow with a few techniques and many recipes.  There was very little around how to improvise or change the recipes.  These books were intended to introduce women to nutrition and healthful eating; to act as a primer to a proper home economics course.The movement towards the science and technique of cooking continues with popular choices such as America's Test Kitchen.

What really sparked this review of types of cookbooks and recipes was the recent post about the cookie generator.  I can't help but believe that we can do better.  This idea of recipe generation gets close to marrying the science aspect of precision with the improvisational nature of creation.  Different websites have already begun to work in a way that values what you have in the house with the type of food you eat.  Searches and filters are working better to finding a recipe that will work for you.  This still feels as if it favours engineers and precision.

 It seems as if we are very close to being able to give everyday cooks all the tools they need to quickly reach a balance between the precise recipes of the recent past with the techniques and intuition of an older generation of intuitive cooks.  I am looking forward to seeing these moments because I think that there will be a growth of good food using traditional and scientific techniques with innovative tastes that will be really excellent.  Maybe we will get a glimpse on a new Escoffier in our lifetime. Or at least we will have a lot of really good recipes.

Recipe: Christmas time's acoming!

Okay, maybe Christmas is still a ways away.   We are just finishing Thanksgiving and getting ready for Halloween.  I am one of those people that dread the coming holiday consumer rush as each store outdoes itself to be first with the decorations and advertising pressuring one to find the gift that you cannot live without giving or receiving.  There are some things that have to be done in the proper time.  Christmas cake is one of them.

So many people remember the brick of cake that becomes the foundation of many jokes.  They are funny because they are true.  Think about the fruit cake that must have been regifted.  Every year. The one with the marzipan topping?  Remember it?  Good.  Now forget all that.

Last year, I began to make my own Christmas cake based on a recipe from edible TO.  This post is really about breaking down a recipe and rebuilding it in your own desires -- Six Million Dollar Man style.  The basic recipe ratio is: 3 cups dried fruit : 1 cup liquor : 2 tsp or so of spices (depends on strength of spice) : 1 cup nuts (substitute something else if you want) : 1 recipe of batter.

The recipe at edible TO require a minimum soak of 24 hours followed by 5-6 weeks of curing before serving, so the cupcakes, yup that's right, this recipe is about muffins, go into the oven 2nd week of November to be ready for a Christmas meal or gift.

There are a number of different options for flavouring the cake.

Choose the booze and accent:  Use fruits that are in the alcohol that you are using.  For instance, using Grand Marnier, amp up the mixed peel and add extra lemon or cranberries.

Choose the booze as a base note:  Dark rum as a base for figs, currants, and prunes with toasted hazelnuts as the nut components.

Use a spice palette as a guide:  Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves with dried apple, raisins, and pear with light rum, or try coconut rum, papaya, mango, dried coconut, macadamia nuts, nutmeg, allspice for an island taste.

I am thinking about trying a coconut, curry, ginger combination with maybe a ginger liquor but I haven't quite figured it out.  

The point is that any recipe can be used as a jumping off point if you allow yourself some latitude in trying to discover what makes the recipe tick.  Let me know if you try some combination that rocks or doesn't.  Sometimes failure is more informative than success.

Recipes: Cold Brewed Mocha Coffee

Last year around this time, we went to a cottage and I tried making a New Orleans Style Iced Coffee.  It worked out great. It was a cold brewed style which is just a fancy way of saying left out on the counter overnight to brew without adding any heat.  It tasted of chicory and coffee with no bitterness that you often experience with iced coffees found in cafes that use hot coffee and ice.  It was kind of like Camp which you can still buy in select locations.  Being from a possible slavic background (it's complicated), means enjoying a roasted chicory flavour.  They did it for economy -- couldn't grow coffee in Eastern Europe and too expensive to buy it from Ethiopia.  So, the history of the English based Camp and the French based New Orleans style are a result of colonial times.  Coffee was short and so they found ways of adulterating it.

So what does this have to do with the title and mocha... whatever it says up there? Well, the chicory based one worked so well that I substituted or adulterated coffee with some cacao nibs and some vanilla.  In order to make the most of the chocolate flavour, I had to mix half milk with the resultant filtered liquid.  It tasted like a mild mocha with a little cacao bitterness and no coffee bitterness.  It was even better than the chicory one.  I think that varying the adulterants along with the coffee beans could provide some interesting options.  Using a bright Kona and accenting the citrus notes with ginger or an Ethiopian Sidamo with pronounced vanilla to raise the blueberry notes...an so on and so forth, etc, etc, etc.

It is so easy to make and requires very little extras that it is a good summertime drink.  And if you add booze then you are going so many other places.

Recipe: Two Rhubarb Ideas

At the end of the rhubarb season is when I finally get around to trying new things with rhubarb.  After several pies and various sauces, including the requisite strawberry and rhubarb something can I turn my mind to doing something else with rhubarb. 

So, I have reading about all these fruit vinegars and I have one stalk of rhubarb reserved for experimentation.  Rhubarb vinegar, why not?  Chop up one stalk (1 cup or so) and put it in a small saucepan and cover it with apple cider vinegar.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Strain.

What to do with the drained bits?  Throwing out rhubarb is a phrase of blasphemy and an heresy.  It is also wrong.  Spotting almost off cherry tomatoes on the counter gave me an idea for Tomato Rhubarb Chutney. I really should stop calling these recipes but rather compositions.  <ASIDE> A friend of mine is an improvisationist who does jazz sometimes and we argue about whether this is music written down or whether it is in the performance.  Positively a post modern take on whether utterance is music and the only true music or written music and written performance directions constitutes music. I feel that this argument could and should be extended to cooking. </ASIDE> 

So, anyways, for the prep, take some quantity of tomatoes (1 pint in this case), 1 chopped green onion, 1 chopped green garlic or clove of garlic, olive oil, 1 tbsp of brown sugar or to taste, salt, spices (used apple cider vinegar with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper that was from a homemade ketchup experiment -- so very little spicing) and the aforementioned rhubarb dregs.  Cook the onion and garlic in the oil until softened.  Add tomatoes and cook until split.  Add water if tomatoes are not spilling their guts soon enough.  Just enough to ensure that pan doesn't burn.  Add salt, spices and sugar.  Cook until blended and then add the rhubarb.  Taste and adjust to your take on sweet and sour sauce.  It is okay if the sauce is just a little too strong because you will be pairing it. 

We used it with trout and potato salad.  This sauce has been used as a condiment for sandwiches.  It tastes like an amped up sweet and sour sauce that acts like lemon in terms of boosting flavour.  Since we do not use enough acid in most of our dishes, this can be used to help bring out the flavours of fish, rice, potatoes or any other starch or protein,

The rhubarb vinegar tastes sour and I am looking forward for the eventual harsh to mellow.  I think that dressings with sweet bases such as maple syrup, simple syrup or fruit purees will work well.  The types of salad that we are looking forward to using this vinegar on are simple slightly sweet greens with fruit (spinach and strawberry, romaine and orange, mixed oak leaf with blueberries and so on.)  Hopefully, we can keep some for winter when I dream of rhubarb.  Seriously, I have dreamt about rhubarb. Also don't bother looking up the interpretations as they are based on your own rhubarb experiences.  Bizarre...

Recipe: Pancetta and Caramelized Pineapple

This was the dish that was on menu listing for the 1960s/70s bash held earlier this year.  I ended up not using pancetta because I saw some Capicollo from Niagara Food Specialities.  It fitted the origin idea better.

The taste that I wanted people to remember is the old fashioned baked ham with pineapple rings. Originally, the idea was to crisp up rounds of pancetta and serve caramelized pineapple on top.  As the responses grew to the invitation list, the original execution of freezing then cutting and frying the bacon seemed a little too fussy especially if the dish was to be served warm.  So, the more traditional ham idea came back on the table but rather than be too literal -- put pineapple on ham and bake -- I decided to caramelize the pineapple, cool, then wrap the capicollo around the pineapple and hold in play with a toothpick. 

The presentation was ugly and in fact, it was the last dish on the appetizer course to be tried by anyone.  It lacked beauty but it was easily the dish that most people loved.  This was largely due to the Pingue's ability to turn the magical pig creature into a salty silky piece of love. 

Once again, this is not so much a recipe as finding the right flavours to put together.  The only real cooking was the pineapple.  Just chop pineapple into pieces that can be wrapped by the ham.  Take the pineapple and place into a pan with a sprinkle of sugar.  Use the most flavourful available.  I used brown but palm would be better and white will do.  Cook the pineapple on medium heat until sugar melts and caramel process begins.  The time will depend on the juiciness of the pineapple but when the sauce is sticky and brown and burns your skin when touched, it is done.

Be careful when cooling.  I didn't leave it outside the fridge for long enough and condensation built up and watered down the flavours.  Once it is cooled then put in fridge.  Also, just a small tip, raw pineapple breaks down meat and can change the texture.  This is the same reason that raw pineapple cannot be used to make gelatin using animal gelatin.  To play it safe, wrap your pineapple just before the party starts.  (That's what she said.)

Recipe: 1970s Cheese-y Ideas

I'm feeling a little bit like a fraud calling these recipes when they are more like construction details.  The following serving ideas were used at the 1960s/70s bash held earlier this year.  The three remaining cheese dishes were: parmesan tuiles with honey and truffle oil, aged gouda with pineapple and grapefruit gel, and manchego with guava cheese and quince paste.

The parmesan, honey and truffle combination were a riff on Bob Blumer's Bee Stings.  To make a tuile, grate parmesan onto a baking sheet.  Make piles of circles.  Remember that the cheese will spread a little as it cooks.  You can use a silicon mat for easier removal.  Put it in the oven at 400 until it is all bubbly.  Most recipes recommend 12 minutes but I have never needed to wait that long.  When they are cool enough to work with, remove the circles from the pan.  If they are warm enough, you can shape them.  For the honey truffle mixture, take honey and truffle oil and mix.  Only a drop or two of truffle oil for 1/2 cup or so of honey.  Just drizzle it on before serving.

Pineapple gel was made using agar agar.  This is a seaweed extract that is often used in Asian cooking or for creating gelatin out of things that don't set with animal gelatin -- pineapple.  The idea for this came from the half grapefruit skewered with cheese and pineapple making it look vaguely like a food hedgehog.  But I thought that the presentation could use an update, hedgehogs no longer being the culinary touchstone it once was. Make one of each pineapple and pink grapefruit jelly using concentrated juice warmed up.  Add the agar agar per instructions on the package.  Add a little more if you think that a firmer consistency is needed or wanted.  Place the jelly in a shallow container for easier removal.  Cut the cheese. (snicker) I used small rectangles and cut the jellies at about the same height and stacked them. 

I used the same presentation with the guava, quince and manchego.  The only difference is that I bought the quince and guava pastes.  The idea came from a friend who, as a child of Guyanese parents, had guava cheese and cheese and remembered it fondly.  Guava cheese isn't cheese but a really thick brick of guava parts crushed together like in an auto wrecking yard.  It slices like cheese and it is moderately sticky but intensely flavoured.  Also, I had wanted to use quince paste (membrillo) for a long time.  I love the delicate sweet rose like flavour and wanted to share it with people.  I was disonsolate thinking that I would have to drop one or the other flavour. but then...

I got the idea that they would pair together well from The Flavor Bible, a book that has lists of ingredients and pairings.  The entries for quince and guava showed that they did not have each other as complementary entries.  However, there was an overlap and the bite with the cheese would have sweet, sour, salty, and savoury (umami). Almost a perfect bite.

The first course stole the show.  We have one more entry into this course and then I will post the mains.