De La Terre Cipolle Borettane Onions Agrodolce

Marinated onions are hard to find, so when I was browsing the preserved vegetables section at Baldor Foods and saw these, I picked them up. The price wasn't too bad, at just over $10 a pound, since I was ordering a bunch and incremental shipping was not too high. Package shown below.

Cooking Notes: As with other De La Terre products, these came packaged in a plastic tray with a film cover that needed to be cut through. Leftovers need to be stored in another container.

Eating Notes: Very mild, as befits a cipollini onion. The sweet and sour sauce was subtle; maybe a shade too subtle for our liking. To me, the sauce was so subdued the onions tasted a bit oily from their broth. Unless I specifically needed this type of marinated onion for a recipe I'll probably pass and try something else in the future.

Availability: De La Terre is the house brand of Baldor Specialty Foods, and the onions are available in their online store.

1966 WDEC - New Hampshire - Hashed Turnips

Simple roots, simply cooked.

Hashed Turnips
(to serve 4)
2 cups coarsely chopped cooked yellow turnips
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup melted butter or bacon or sausage drippings

Mix turnips with salt, pepper, and water. Heat fat [in heavy skillet] until hot. Add turnip mixture and cook slowly until light brown. Picture shows it done in the pan; forgot to take a picture of it plated.

Cooking Notes: I cut the recipe in half, but doubled the white pepper (i.e. I used 1/2 tsp pepper to 1 cup turnips). All else as directed. I used bacon drippings as my fat.

Eating Notes: Not a bad turnip treatment. They crisped up nicely to give a good crunchy/soft balance, and the extra white pepper brought out the natural tang of the turnips without being too strong. All in all, it made a decent substitute for white potatoes.

De La Terre Grilled Marinated Artichoke Hearts

It's hard to go wrong with marinated artichoke hearts even from the grocery, so I'm not sure what possessed me to spend $16 a pound for these De La Terre grilled artichoke hearts. Say "it's the Holidays" and be done with it, I guess. Package shown below.

Cooking Notes: There's a bit of the plastic cover that hangs over the edge at one corner, as though you should be pulling on this to remove the cover. Don't; it's a waste of time. Use a knife and carefully cut through the plastic around the inside edge of the pan. The cover will peel back nicely. Unfortunately, any leftovers need to be transferred to another container.

Eating Notes: Amazingly, we thought they were worth the money, so long as you're ordering enough to spread out the shipping costs. They tasted very fresh, the marinade was perfectly balanced in terms of oil/acid, and the grilling imparted a slightly carmelized note that elevated these above your normal Italian restaurant salad bar fare.

Availability: These are the house brand at Baldor Specialty Foods and are available through their online store.

Courtney's Chamomile Sorbet

One of the unusual offerings in this summer's Evensong Farm CSA was a big bunch of chamomile. Neither Phil nor I are particularly fond of chamomile tea, so I was somewhat at a loss what to do with it. Since I didn't want to just throw it away, I dried it and kept it in the pantry, just in case we either did have a hankering for tea, or if I thought of something else to do with it.

It would probably be sitting there still if it weren't for the success I had making sage sorbet for Thanksgiving. I wanted a similar palate cleanser for Christmas, thought of the chamomile, and the rest was easy.

Courtney's Chamomile Sorbet
(Serves 4 - 6)
2 Tbsp (25 g) sugar
1 Tbsp (25 g) light corn syrup
1 loose cup dried chamomile (ok to use stems as well as flowers)
2 cups water
(extra chamomile flowers)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a very gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer gently 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature (OK to make this several hours ahead and just let the chamomile steep. The longer it steeps the more intense the taste.) Strain into ice cream maker and process following manufacturer directions until the sorbet is light and fluffy (picture shows it on the ice cream maker paddle when it was finished). Serve immediately, or freeze until ready to eat. If serving from frozen, remove and put into individual dishes 3 - 5 minutes before bringing it to the table.

Cooking Notes: I strongly recommend making the chamomile mixture in the morning and letting it steep for 4 or 5 hours before freezing. The long steep both intensifies the flavor and turns the mixture (and resulting sorbet) a beautiful pale yellow. The chamomile sorbet was even fluffier than the sage sorbet, coming out of the ice cream maker like snow. It was unexpected and a little bit fun. I don't know where I read the trick about letting ice cream sit for a few minutes before serving, but I'm glad I did. It allows just enough warming to release more of the fragrance and to bring out some of the more subtle flavors.

Eating Notes: Like eating ephemeral perfume. The fragrance was heady, but soft enough not to overpower; the sweetness was reserved enough not to linger. A really nice palate cleanser that came across as much more elegant than it should be, given how easy it was to make.

Cole's Wild Mackerel in Piri-Piri Sauce

What can I say - I like tinned whole fish and tinned fish filles. From kippers to sardines to anchovies. This despite the fact that in my mind tinned fish is the preferred food of older, overweight single men who watch TV while wearing stained undershirts. It's been a long time since I had any, though, because most of it is not sustainably caught, and now a lot of it is packed in oils I avoid - cottonseed, canola, and the like.

The Whole Foods near me has started stocking Cole's tinned fish products, which are (supposedly; it's almost impossible to tell for sure unless you're the one holding the hook, line and pole) sustainably fished and are packed in olive oil. I decided to try the mackerel in piri-piri sauce, a traditional chili sauce made with the piri-piri pepper.

Cooking Notes: The tin has a pull tab and is easy to open.

Eating Notes: Nice mackerel, but not spicy enough for me. There was a little whole piri-piri packed in with the fish, which was a nice touch, but if it hadn't been there one might not have known it was a chili-based sauce. At least the olive oil tasted fresh and the fish wasn't overly salty. I may try Cole's intentionally mildly spiced mackerel in the future, but if I'm looking for a hot and spicy product, I'll go elsewhere.

Availability: Widely available at groceries (look in the tinned fish, international, or gourmet sections) and online.

Roast Duck with Red Wine and Meyer Lemons

I got a pastured, fresh duck from Groff's Content and figured that I'd use it to make the WDEC "Montana" roast wild duck recipe, since I can't buy wild duck from the States and I'm sure I'd be a worse shot than Dick Cheney in a bad mood. Picture below shows the raw, undressed duck. It was a beauty.

But the WDEC instructions that the duck would only need 15 minutes to cook at 500F left me more than suspicious, and I figured the wild ducks they had in mind must have been much smaller than my 5.5 pound specimen. I turned to the Intertoobs, and some poking around at Epicurious gave me a better sense of cooking times. It was pretty inevitable at that point that I'd just abandon instructions and go for my own recipe, which I reproduce below.

Roast Duck with Red Wine and Meyer Lemons
(for one 5-6  lb duck)
1 5-6 lb duck
1 bulb fennel, with tops
1 dozen juniper berries
1-1/2 cups medium-dry red wine
1 Meyer lemon, sliced very thin (or use a small tangerine or clementine; do not substitute a "normal" lemon)
water as needed
1T cornstarch

Preheat oven to 450F. Pull the neck flap up to cover the neck opening and pin or sew closed. Cut the fennel bulb in half lenghtwise, and stuff it, tops and all, into the main cavity (you'll need to fold the tops or cut them into appropriate lengths. Add the juniper berries to the cavity. Pin or sew the cavity closed. Cut off the wing tips and put them in the pan. If you were given a neck with the duck, put it in the pan as well. Put the duck on a roasting rack over a shallow roasting pan. Add the wine and lemon slices and 1/2 cup water to the pan, placing the lemon slices under the duck as much as possible.

Bake 30 minutes breast side up, basting 2 or 3 times and adding water if the pan starts to dry out. Picture above shows it. After 30 minutes, remove the duck and turn it over, basting both sides well as you do. Return the duck to the oven and bake 20 minutes more, basting once and continuing to add water as needed.

Turn the duck once more (so it again is breast side up, as shown above) and baste. Bake 15 more minutes or until juices run clear when a sharp skewer or knife is inserted into the thickest part of the thigh.

Let duck rest 15 - 20 minutes while you make the gravy. Carve and serve. Picture above shows how wonderful it was - the yellow areas are veins of fat; the meat is firm but not dry in the least.

To make gravy, pour off juices and lemon slices from the roasting pan into a saucepan. Mix the cornstarch with an equal amount of cold water and stir into the juices. Cook, stirring, until thickened. Pour gravy (lemons and all) over the duck and stuffing (if having).

Cooking Notes: After the WDEC said it would only take 15 minutes at 500F to cook the bird, I was a bit worried to cook it for more than an hour, but it really did take that long and it was not in the least overdone. I had to add more water than I'd expected, partly, I think, because the pastured duck was fairly lean.

Eating Notes: Arigatou, duck-san. The duck was amazing. Partly because it was fresh; partly because it was just a darn good duck. The flesh was firm, dense and dark. The skin was fatty and crispy. The resulting gravy combined the mild bite of the Meyer lemons with the depth and astringency of the wine and the umami of the duck drippings. It was great over both the meat and the cornbread stuffing, and my only regret was that there wasn't more of it.

Courtney's Cornbread-Mushroom Stuffing

To go with the Christmas duck I made a cornbread mushroom and leek stuffing, using the savory cornbread I had made earlier in the day as a base.

Courtney's Cornbread-Mushroom Stuffing
(Makes about 2 - 3 cups)
75 g (1/3 c) butter
3" white and light green parts of leek, sliced very thin
4" square piece of cornbread (about 2 cups crumbled)
200 g (about 6 md) white or crimini mushrooms, chopped medium
leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne

Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add sliced leeks and saute until limp. Crumble cornbread into pan and saute until cornbread is toasted. Picture below shows cornbread toasting.

Add mushrooms, thyme, salt and spices and cook, stirring, until mushrooms are just done. Remove from heat and keep warm. Serve alone or covered with gravy. Suitable for duck or any game bird, or with pork. Forgot to take a picture of the stuffing alone; it's the mound of stuff at the top of the plate in the first post picture (in this case, covered with the gravy from the duck).

Cooking Notes: It took longer than I expected to toast the cornbread, but otherwise everything proceeded according to plan, and the result was a log more moist than I had anticipated. I had figured that the gravy would be essential, but it turned out the stuffing was just fine all on its own.

Eating Notes: We both agreed this is the best stuffing we've ever had. I've made things a lot fancier, and standing on its own we may not have reached the same conclusion. Somehow, though, this stuffing was perfect with the dinner.

Courtney's Gluten-Free Savory Cornbread

I wanted a gluten-free cornbread that would be good for both straight eating and for making stuffing for my Christmas duck. This is what I came up with.

Courtney's Savory Cornbread
(makes one 8" square pan)

1 cup masa
1 cup white rice flour
2 Tbsp san on tou (Japanese brown sugar) or light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum1 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 oz (approx.) canned diced hot chilis
1/4 c minced (or baked) dried onions

(Note: This recipe is designed to be cooked in the Advantium. I also include conventional oven instructions.)


Grease an 8" square baking pan. (If using a conventional oven, preheat to 400F.) Sift together dry ingredients (except onions) and mix well. Mix together milk, egg, and butter. Make a well in the dry ingredients and beat in the milk and egg mixture until batter is well mixed. Stir in the chilis and dried onions. Bake in the Advantium for 7 to 9 minutes at U=6 L=6 M=3 (or bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Cooking Notes: I used dried onions instead of fresh because I wanted the bread to be a bit dry for the stuffing, while still being moist enough to be good on its own.

Eating Notes: I liked the balance of flavors in this, although I think if I were making it just for the bread I would have doubled the onions and used fresh, since the onion taste, while present, was faint (this was what I wanted for the stuffing, which also included sauteed leeks). The top was nice and crunchy; underneath, soft and moist and with a good grain. It would make a good side for a traditional Tex-Mex chili and for certain pork dishes.

Off Topic - What a Difference a Week Makes

Last week:

This week:

Been meaning to get the tulip bulbs into the ground (all 1,000 of them - what are we thinking?) since early December, but the weather was uncooperative, so they've been sitting patiently in the garage. Finally put them in this morning. The weather was glorious, the ground well-prepared by the melted snow, and the tulips in better condition than we've ever had them. Don't think we've ever had such a speedy and good time planting. And now we just wait until spring.

W.A. Bean Mincemeat Tart with Beef Suet Crust

As part of my order from W.A. Bean and Sons, I got a quart jar of true mincemeat, the kind with the meat. Picture below shows it.

That plus having suet on hand made a mincemeat Christmas pie inevitable. But for the two of us, a tart would be plenty. So, that's what I did. Since the filling came form a jar, the only real cooking I did was to make up a crust recipe based on that in the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking pasties recipe. So I give the real recipe credit to the Beans.

W.A. Bean Mincemeat Tart with Beef Suet Crust
(makes one 7" tart)
2/3 cup (83 g) flour
1/8 tsp (1 g) salt
1/8 tsp (.77 g) baking powder
shy 1/2 cup (91 g) beef suet, ground twice and then chilled
2 Tbsp (23 g) lard or shortening
cold water
1 c (243g) mincemeat (the real kind with meat; I used W.A. Bean and Sons')

Make the crust: In a food processor, whirl the dry ingredients to mix. Add the suet and lard or shortening and pulse repeatedly until the particles are fine. Turn out into a bowl. Add just enough cold water, one tablespoon at a time, to make a stiff pie crust consistency. Press into a 1" disk, wrap in plastic, and chill 30 minutes or more.

Remove from fridge and unwrap. At this point you can start preheating the oven to 450F. Divide disk in half. Roll out one half about 1/4" thick and line the tart pan, being sure there is enough of a rim to bind it to the top crust. Fill the crust with mincemeat. Picture above shows it at this stage.

Roll out the top crust. Brush cold water all around the rim of the bottom crust and put the top crust on, pinching closed gently but firmly with your fingers or a fork. Poke or cut holes in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Pictue above shows me using an aspic cutter to make vents.
Bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the edges nicely browned, using a pie drip pan or a pan placed on the rack below to catch any overflow. Picture below shows it just out of the oven.

Cooking Notes: Having the filling on hand made this a snap. I'm not at all apologetic about using canned mincemeat, since making mincemeat is a traditional meat preservation method that would have been historically appropriate.
When I went to cut the holes in the top, I looked through my tin of aspic cutters and found one shaped like an ornament, and one shaped like a star. This made me very happy. I didn't want to waste any of the pastry, so rather than discard the cut-outs, I pushed them into the pie. I also could have pasted them to the top by moistening one side and sticking them on.
I read someplace that mincemeat is a dry filling and I wouldn't need a drip pan, so I didn't bother to use one. The lingering smell of smoke and sting in my eyes says that this was a really bad idea. I had to remove the tart halfway through, let the oven burn off the burnable grossness, and then put the tart back (this time with two drip catchers, just in case) to finish.

Eating Notes: Despite having a twice-cooked pie, this was a great success. The crust was perfect - crunchy and flavorful. The filling was excellent and definitely worth ordering. It was evenly savory and sweet and had a good textural balance (and not too many raisins). We ate it at room temperature for Christmas dinner and then warmed slightly the next morning for breakfast. I preferred it warm, as at room temperature I think the tallow solidified and lent a slightly waxy texture (Phil didn't taste it); warming it melted the fats just enough to eliminate the waxy mouthfeel for me. I have leftover mincemeat. Wikipedia claims mincemeat lasts up to ten years; in my kitchen, I suspect it will be gone much sooner than that.

Mail-order Haggis

Before I start full-blown blogging of the Christmas dinner treats over the next several days, I thought I'd sneak in one easy holiday present. Not quite a mail-order bride, but just as enticing - at least to me! When I went to order the pickled tripe from W.A. Bean and Sons, the tripe itself cost about $5 but the shipping was going to be on the high side of $40. Adding to the order was the obvious thing to do. And when I saw haggis toward the top of the list, my choice was made. I ordered two. They came, wrapped as shown below.

When I opened the plastic, it revealed a heavy paper cooking bag/wrapper, but that couldn't stop my smelling it. I was happy that it was all lamb. Even cold, it exuded an amazing fragrance of organ meat and spice and something vaguely floral that reminded me a bit of vanilla.

To reheat it, I warmed it in a very slow (225F) oven for a half hour and then kept it at 200F until we were ready to eat. I sliced it into rounds and then slipped off the outer casing. You're supposed to serve haggis with potatoes and turnips, but I've been over-carbed for the last week or so, so we opted for a radish and leek salad instead.

We both really liked it, and Kitchen Goddess Nadja approved, as well (she kept up a running commentary until we gave her her tithe). The taste of both heart and liver is distinct, and the spices are even more fragrant once the haggis has been reheated. I thought I could taste black pepper and clove, but beyond that I just gave up and decided to enjoy. I'm at a loss as to why haggis has such a notorious reputation. Of course, the guy at Bean's emailed that their haggis, which uses McKean's of Scotland's (Warning! Mute your computer first if you're in work or in public - the site streams bagpipe music) recipe and is made under agreement with that company, is the best, and he may well be right. We certainly thought it was worth the price, and I would not hesitate to order it again.

Christmas Morning Mangalitsa Bacon Taste-Off

A post about Mangalitsa bacon on A Hunger Artist led me to Foods in Season, which has just opened a small online store selling to individuals. Their selection isn't huge, but sure enough, they had a Mangalitsa bacon sampler from Wooly Pigs (fairly thorough discussion of the breed at the website). It arrived in time for a lateral Christmas breakfast tasting. To the three types of bacon in the sampler I added some fresh side from Babes in the Woods for comparison. Can't think of a better way to start a feast day.

Picture shows each type on the griddle. From the top: the fresh side; smoked loin; jowl bacon, and regular bacon along the sides. The difference between breeds is most clear when comparing the regular bacon. You can tell that the Babes in the Woods pigs are bred for leanness, and the Mangalitsas are bred for fat.

Cooking Notes: The leaner cuts, surprisingly (at least, to me), cooked up a bit more quickly than the fattier ones, so all were done at about the same time even though the cuts of fresh side were at least twice as thick as the Mangalitsa bacon slices. The first post picture shows them all draining on paper towels. The Mangalitsa shrank a little less than I'd expected, given all the fat, but it did leave a very nice base in which to fry our breakfast eggs.

Eating Notes: It simply is not possible to compare the two meats using the same scale. The Babes in the Woods fresh side is earthy and densely chewy, like meat from a past we're to young to have been part of. The Mangalitsa - all of it, including the loin - is completely different. The fat melts in your mouth and the meat is delicate and sweet, even with the hickory smoking. That really was my only complaint, that the meat and fat on the Mangalitsa were so good and delicate that even the relatively mild salt and hickory smoke was an intrusion. That said, the jowl was among if not the best cured bacon we've ever had. The loin was reminiscent of prosciutto, and would be astonishing with shrimp or asparagus. The bacon, although in our opinion the lesser of the three, was still retained that combination of a crisp sharpness followed by melt-in-your-mouth umami that made you feel not at all wrong for plunking down too much money for 36 oz of drop-shipped bacon.

When I order Mangalitsa again (which I will) I'll probably stick to the jowl bacon with maybe a bit of loin thrown in. And if Wooly Pigs/Foods in Season ever offers fresh side, I'll do my best to be first in line.

Tantalizing Tallow

I've been wanting to render beef fat for a while, and after borrowing some suet from Lane to make pasties, the quest for suet/tallow became more urgent. I was talking to Julie from Groff's Content about getting some from her cattle, but she said that her pastured beef is just too lean and it's actually difficult for the processor to pull off fat. She could get some from her processor, but she wanted to give me meat from a known source, and couldn't do that there. Fortunately, she goes to another very local processor who slaughters his own stock, and she said she'd look out for some tallow from him. When I went to pick up my Christmas duck, she had the piece shown above waiting as a surprise. Eight and a half pounds of fatty goodness. Total cost to Julie: $1. Less than twelve cents a pound.

Cut it up into 1-lb pieces and vacuum packed them, although I think they'd be just fine in the freezer in a regular plastic bag. There were a few small slivers of liver in the curl of the fat. Kitchen God Alex took care of these in short order (Nadja wasn't interested, which I found odd, since she usually loves organ meat).

Best of all, it came just in time for me to use some suet for mincemeat pie crust for Christmas dinner.Yum.

Merry Chritsmas in my Holiday Costume

Wasn't planning to post today (although I do have a haggis review scheduled to go up tonight), but it wouldn't be Christmas without sharing the appropriate costume.
Every year it all comes out of the closet. Long Christmas skirt, suitable for crawling under the tree, sitting cross-legged by the fire, holding up nieces and nephews (assuming we have to travel), supporting the Kitchen Goddess, or whatever else needs doing. Red or green shirt. Dollar store (dime store?) necklaces of fake Christmas lights that are so old the color is half worn off. Christmas earrings (trees this year because the little hanging bells finally broke). And socks that have little cats and ornaments going up them and the words "Merry Christmas" in metallic red (most of the metallic bits have washed off over the years).
For present-opening, I don the special tacky shirt my mother bought me. It's button-down denim with a clowder of cats wearing hats and sitting behind presents embroidered on each side. It is size 1X and you could fit three of me in it "it's supposed to be oversized so you can wear it over a sweater," was my mom's rationalization. My mom was a fabulous gift-giver, so I put the shirt on and channel memories of her waiting for the reaction shot as everyone would ooh and ahh over the perfect gift and clever wrapping she was sure to provide.

For cooking, I take off the overshirt and wear the equally tacky poinsettia smock. I bought the smock myself some years ago because it reminds me of the smocks my grandma used to wear. She never wore an apron, always a smock, and probably always one she made herself. I'm sure she didn't have a special holiday one; she was far too practical for that. Unfortunately, they were all thrown away or donated years ago, so I don't know for sure and I don't have an original. But whenever I put on the ridiculous and not terribly practical smock for Christmas, I feel glad. And hey, if you can't look silly on Christmas, when can you?

Merry Christmas; Happy Anniversary

So the atheist who loves Christmas wishes everyone a merry one. It's FoodforReal's anniversary, too. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to review the last year and look forward to the next one, closely supervised by Kitchen Goddess Nadja (she's actually looking over my shoulder right now and not in my lap, but I love this picture).

Why did we start doing this? Well, it was sort of an accident. I had this friend, Lane, who also liked cooking as well as eating. I was extremely proud of my 12-course Christmas dinner last year, and was emailing a running description of everything to him. Phil leaned over my shoulder as I was composing this gargantuan email and trying to attach pictures and said, "Why don't you just stand up a blog? It would be a lot easier."

When I set up FoodforReal (then dinnernoms) I almost made it a private site just for internal recipe exchange, but then I thought, well, who cares if other people read it, and they might even find it useful. I signed up Lane and Phil as co-contributors, checked the "anyone can read this" box, and the blog was born. My first real comments and exchanges, from Joanne at Open Mind Required, made me very happy. Knowing you've put something out there that a real person not a member of your immediate family enjoys and can use is a great feeling.

In the late spring or early summer, we changed the blog name to FoodforReal to better reflect our focus on good foods made from scratch. More recently, we got our own URL, realfoodfans.com, to make it easier for people to find us. We also were joined during the year by my colleague and fellow foodie, Mike, who also likes cooking from scratch said yeah, that sounds interesting.

In early May, I started the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery (WDEC) project, stepping through my 1966 copy of that 12-volume work. After six months, I'm about on page 60 of 2000, so that project should last me some time. As a result I've become more interested in the cooking, eating, and nutritional sensibilities of middle-class families in the 1960s and earlier. I've also been eating more carbs than I should as I try out new things (something I'll have to address before I get to page 100).


Over the last year, while I've done the bulk of the blogging, Phil, Lane and Mike have helped me think things through and have posted on occasion (feel free to do more, guys! ;-)). Phil has become the main photographer for my contributions and has been working on taking good food and cooking pictures. Picture below shows the result...and that I have a shop lamp covered with freezer paper as a permanent fixture on my counter (you can see it by the fridge, behind the open copy of the WDEC.

I've made and eaten a lot of good food, we've suffered through a few fails, and we've tried things we absolutely would not have if it hadn't been for the blog (sort-of jerked hog head, anyone?). It would be hyperbole to say it's changed my life, but it's no exaggeration to say that it's made cooking and eating a lot more interesting.

Which brings me to what's next. I will continue blogging my own take on recipes and what works for me, because while I'm hardly a real chef, I think that's the whole point - that even a fully employed hopelessly suburban person can do things like grill a baby goat or can their own soup or enjoy pickled gizzards. I also like being able to pass low-carb and gluten-free recipes on to people who can use them, and promoting food products from pastured land animals, sustainably caught water creatures, and fresh growing things.

I will prod Lane and Mike and Phil into contributing more of their own food angles and thoughts, and maybe even add a couple more contributors. It's important to me that the blog reflects a variety of food-related interests, and I think the best way to do that is to have multiple good people working on it.

I'd also like to have more posts that are not recipe-related. I've already started this a little bit by posting reviews of online food vendors, foods I've ordered online, and equipment I find particularly useful (or not), and I plan to do more of this. I'll probably also post more tips and techniques that work for me, and rant a little bit more, too.

All in all, I'd love to quit my day job and just have fun with this. I can't do the former, but I'll continue to do the latter as much as I can. My goal will continue to provide something that is useful and interesting for people who "care about what they eat and how they make it" - whether they come once for a technique or recipe, or more than that just for the heck of it.

Christmas is always a magical time for me. Last year a little bit of transformational magic came into my life by way of FoodforReal. I'm really excited about what's in store between now and next December 25. In the meantime, Kitchen God Alex and the rest of us Real Food Fans at FoodforReal wish all best to you and your own kitchen gods, whatever form they take.

(And I'll be back to normal blogging tomorrow)

Ready-Made for Christmas Eve

Since I was a kid, my mom and I had cheese fondue for Christmas Eve dinner unless we were at my grandma's. I think the idea was to have something really easy, knowing that Christmas would involve a full dinner. I've kept it up, and always it's been a fun tradition. Last year, though, we'd already adjusted to reduced carbs and gluten and the bread bonanza about did us in. No more fondue blitz for us.

So this year I've started a new tradition in the spirit of the old. To keep with my mom's excellent idea of keeping it simple, everything ready-made. And, to incorporate my new desire to be a more active food explorer, everything something we haven't tried before. This Christmas eve is rabbit terrine, grilled marinated Italian artichoke hearts (yes, I've had marinated artichoke hearts, but never grilled marinated artichoke hearts), marinated cippolini onions, and mackerel in piripiri sauce. I'll blog separately by source, so that people who are interested can find things.

Time to go celebrate.

Mailhot Pork Cretons

I needed to get pickled tripe for the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery "New Hampshire" recipe for fried tripe. Pickled tripe is not easy to find, but thanks to the wonders of the Intertoobs I found a source at W.A. Bean and Sons of Bangor, Maine. Because per-unit shipping costs make it advantageous to order more than a 12-oz tub of tripe in an order, I looked for additional things to try. They also had fresh-made haggis, so that was a definite yes, and they had something called "Mailhot Pork Creton." I had no Earthly clue what this could be, so I ordered some of it, as well. The tub cracked and the lid broke during transit, but otherwise it was fine and I had another similarly sized lid I could use, so no problem there. The lid basically said it all. Opening confirmed it: a soft ground pork and onion spread.

And it turns out to be good. The onion taste comes through clearly, and there is a sweetness that may be from the cloves that Cretons supposedly include as one of the standard spices. The closest thing I can compare it to is a country pate, although the meat itself is finely ground and not a smooth puree; additional small chunks are provided by onions. Traditionally, cretons is served on toast; it also is used as a spread for canapes and hors d'oeuvres. I tried some plain to know what it was like, then mixed some with rice and used it to stuff a roasted acorn squash, as shown below. The combination was perfect. For lunch the next day I packed some with some celery pieces and used it as a dip. In this context, it was a little on the salty side, but not intolerably so.

As a bonus, Cretons is a regional food my grandmother probably would have recognized. Cretons was something of a French Canadian staple among rural groups. I don't know very much about my grandmother's history, but I do know that one branch of my grandma's family were Acadians who eventually settled in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Somehow she got from there to Rhode Island by the time she was a teen. I have some pictures of her as a kid and young adult visiting Sherbrooke, and I like the idea of accidentally finding a food she may have had when she was with "my people," as she would call them.


With shipping costs what they are, I don't think I could recommend mail ordering cretons unless you wanted a caseload, but if you're in the market for haggis (I will post a review when I make it) or something else, tack a tub onto your order and see what you think.

Courtney's Coconut-Water Braised Spareribs

After too many rounds of shoveling last Sunday I wanted to make something that would cook all by itself, and (sorry, Mechazawa-san) I just didn't want to go out again even to grill. This was the result.

Courtney's Coconut-Water Braised Spareribs
(to serve 2)
2 lb spareribs, membrane removed and rack cut into individual ribs
1 11-12 oz package unsweetened coconut water
1/4 c Japanese Worcestershire sauce (I used Bulldog brand)
1 Tbsp Thai garlic chili sauce
2 hot dried red peppers

Mix all ingredients except spareribs in an 8" square (or similarly sized) non-reactive baking dish. Bake at 250F for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Meat should be falling off the bone. Serve with a little of the sauce poured over.

Cooking Notes: My rack of ribs was about a pound and a half, so I threw in a meaty shank I had on hand so we wouldn't go hungry. The timing is very forgiving; if you need to turn off the oven and just let the ribs soak, go ahead. There will be a lot of sauce left over. I put some away and am hoping to think of a use for it - infused with the fat, it's just too phenomenally good to throw away.

Eating Notes: I wasn't thinking this would be blog-worthy until I sampled the sauce. It was perfect - spicy enough to pack a punch without completely overpowering the meat, augmented by the Worcestershire and with just a little bit of sweetness coming through from the coconut water. Cutting the ribs apart let them really soak up the juice, and by cooking at such a low temperature, they were very tender and there was no need to marinate ahead of time. Not at all bad for 5 minutes' work.

1966 WDEC - New Hampshire

Next state in the 1966 Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery "American Cookery" cookbook is New Hampshire (picture above is of Jerico Lake), "rugged, pulse-stirring, genteel." Why not. Two root veggie-based hash varieties and lots of desserts, two of them of the upside-down variety. The line-up and my take:
Old-Time Salt-Pork Soup with Dumplings: Continuing the rather amazing concentration of WDEC "American" recipes featuring salt pork is this very basic soup. I'm rather embarrassed that I've never made soup with dumplings, and I like salt pork, so I'll probably give it a go.
Red Flannel Hash: Already made this, and it was good.
Fried Tripe: I have the called-for pickled tripe on order and will fry it up just as soon as it arrives (well, maybe after I have the haggis I also couldn't resist ordering from the same place)
Hashed Turnips: Leftover turnip treatment that looks dangerous (they want you to heat fat in a skillet until hot and then dump in 1/4 cup of water) but not terribly interesting otherwise. The suspicion of danger may be enough to lead me to try it if I have turnips on hand.
Cinnamon Raisin Buns: Meh. Standard treatment of a food I don't really care for, so I won't bother.
Maple Custard: Simple custard where maple syrup replaces the sugar. I may have it as a Christmas dessert with a bit of nutmeg, especially since I think this time my elderly neighbor really is coming over and I think she'd like it.
New Hampshire Turnover Apple Pie: Basically, you bake apples in a pan topped with a crust, and then flip the whole thing over. Then you mash up the apples with a tiny bit of cinnamon and a lot of sugar and put them back on top the crust. I'm not really seeing the point.
Blueberry Upside-Down Cake: With 2 cups sugar to 1 cup flour, this looks a bit sweet for my taste and I'll probably pass. I may ask Mike if he'd like to make it.
Newton Sugar Squares: Pan shortbread butter cookies. I'll pass unless I'm in the mood for shortbread.

That's the food; now to the cooking.

Holiday Chocolates Part II - Vosges Haute Chocolat

Almost through the second box of holiday chocolates (the first being the chocolate figs we got to lead up to Thanksgiving). These were from Vosges Haute Chocolat, which I order from almost every year despite the cute/toney name (and matching prices) because they offer up a different holiday truffle box each year, with interesting flavor combinations that work well and have components you can taste. I also like that there are no singletons - a lot of mixed boxes of chocolates give you only one of "premium" truffle flavors, and who needs to fight over a single truffle, especially in the holiday season? This way, our truffles happily make up a week of desserts for two, plus a day for good measure.

In this year's box, from top to bottom, are peppermint candy cane (peppermint and dark chocolate with little candy cane bits on top); mascarpone and Ceylon cinnamon snap (mascarpone, cinnamon, sour cream, and milk chocolate); eggnog and Jamaican rum (rum, nutmeg, ginger, and white chocolate); and holiday plum pudding (plum, Armagnac, marzipan, and dark chocolate). The plum pudding is my favorite, with the plum surprise on the inside, surrounded by Armagnac floating on a layer of marzipan. The eggnog is next; clean enough that the ginger and nutmeg come through. The peppermint is basic, but very good. The mascarpone is the only miss for me, as I think the sour cream taste masks the cheese.

It was all good enough that when Vosges ran a bit of a pre-Christmas special I ordered some different varieties to take us through the New Year.

Courtney's Orange Cornmeal Pancakes

A couple of months ago, I made some cornmeal pancakes that were so simple that they didn't taste like much and weren't all that good. Since then, though, I've been wondering if I could switch up the recipe and make it into something that we would like for breakfast. Finally got around to trying, and happily it was a success. Made sufficient changes to the original that I'm calling it my own.

Courtney's Orange Cornmeal Pancakes
(Makes about 8 pancakes)
1 c masa or white cornmeal
1 Tbsp light brown sugar or san on tou (Japanese brown sugar)

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 tsp orange extract
(optional: grated zest of 1/2 orange or more to taste)

Sift dry ingredients together. Mix beaten egg, milk, and extract together. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, combining well. Stir in the zest, if using. Drop by large spoonfuls onto hot greased skillet and cook until browned on each side, turning once when bubbles begin to break on the top, about 5 - 7 minutes total. Picture below shows them about to be flipped; the bubbles are rising and about to break.

Cooking Notes: It's important to get out the big lumps when you're mixing this, but any little lumps will take care of themselves.If you use orange zest, you could grate a bit more on top as garnish (I didn't think of this, unfortunately, until later)

Eating Notes: Nicely fragrant and surprisingly light. I was a bit worried they'd be texturally off because they were gluten-free and I didn't add any xanthan gum or similar enhancers, but the consistency was excellent. I will definitely be adding these to my standard breakfast repertoire.

1966 WDEC - Nevada - Grilled Corn Mush

I frequently grill leftover cornmeal, but this recipe provided a bit of a twist in that you make the cornmeal planning to hold it overnight and grill it - in essence, making leftovers from the start.

Grilled Corn Mush
(Serves 2-4)
1 cup yellow cornmeal or masa
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp crumbled dried oregano
1/2 lb salt pork, diced
2 yellow onions, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 egg, slightly beaten

Sprinkle cornmeal slowly into boiling water in top part of double boiler. Add seasonings. Cook over boiling water for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile fry salt pork until crisp, add onions and garlic, and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Cool; add egg. Combine salt pork mixture with cornmeal. Mix thoroughly. Pour into oiled loaf pan (9" x 5" x 3"). Chill overnight.

 

Unmold and slice into 1" slices. Picture above shows it unmolded. Brown in hot fat in outdoor grill over coals that have been heated to turn gray.

Cooking Notes: I don't have pre-mixed chili powder, so I used 2 tsp cayenne plus 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp marjoram, and a bit of coriander. I also used 2 garlic cloves. Once the salt pork was crispy, it had generated so much fat that I poured some off before adding the onion and garlic, which otherwise would have been deep fried rather than sauteed. I did the final cooking on the griddle, not caring to fire up Mechazawa-san (the big Egg) that early in the morning (especially with many inches of snow on the ground - picture of Mechazawa looking even more egg-like than usual below).

The cornmeal seemed so dry that I put in a bit more water when it was cooking. This may have been a mistake, because the next day, while it unmolded ok, when I sliced it into pieces and transferred them to the griddle all but one fell apart. They grilled up ok, but more like cornmeal pancakes than day-old mush.

Eating Notes: We both really liked the spices and seasonings, as well as the textural balance of crusty crunch and softer onions, and very soft mush.We had no problem eating half each at breakfast (first post picture shows half the loaf, cut and served on one plate), so people with similar appetites should take note when calculating servings.

The Snowman Cometh

We're in the middle of the worst fall (yeah, we have a couple more days of fall left) snowstorm in recent memory. The DC area doesn't do so well in snow. So the morning paper came with the obligatory "people stock up at the grocery store" picture on page one, followed up by a couple of more pictures on A11 (picture here shows a calm grocery store to set the mood for fair weather days). The three pictures (you can see them in the gallery here; they're toward the end of the gallery) of people at a local suburban Giant supermarket got me wondering what on earth goes through people's minds in such a situation.

First, I have to say the shoppers aren't crazy to stock up. I live on a major state highway that is plowed right away, but access to my house is from an alley in the back. The last time we had a major storm, it was seven days before we were able to move our cars out (especially frustrating when people are zipping by your front door days earlier). But what they stock up on leaves me scratching my head.

Guy number one, on the front page, appears to be stocking up for a party that's going to end badly. There are disposable plates and cups (useful, I suppose, if the power goes out and you can't use the dishwasher; he has a box of Cascade, too, in case the power stays on). Then there are cases and cases of soda. Fresca, Diet Coke, regular Coke, bottle upon bottle of several varieties of Canada Dry whatever heaped to the top of the cart. Topping it all are a 12-pack of Bounty and a 24-pack of Charmin "Super-Strong BIG" toilet paper. He is holding two dozen eggs and there seem to be a few tomatoes and a head of iceberg lettuce in the cart. And a second picture of him at the bagging side shows a box of raisins as well.

Guy number two, standing behind guy number one, is mostly obscure. All I can see is a 12-pack of Bounty and the corner of another brick of paper products I can't identify.

Woman and child seem to be doing a bit better food-wise but look to be anticipating trouble with cleanliness rather than food. They have a brick of Sparkle paper towels and a 24-pack of the regular (but still BIG) Charmin, and some sort of spray. There are a few unrecognizable boxes and bags, but nothing that looks fresh. They have one gallon of milk, but no fresh meats or vegetables.

Are these people representative? Or does toilet paper catch the eye of the photographer? Beyond milk and eggs and cheese, if I were going to stock up on things, what would they be? Maybe salad greens, which are easy to fix any number of ways, or cans of soup if I didn't have flats of my own in the closet. But Bounty and toilet paper? What's up with that?

I'm going to cool my head and go for a walk in the snow. Picture above shows my house after I shoveled. Shoveled the front walk, too - a Sisyphean task, as the plows will have it completely filled in and then some by the time the storm is over.

1966 WDEC - New Hampshire - Red Flannel Hash

Jumped a little bit ahead last night to make the red flannel hash from the next state in the 1966 Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery "American Cook Book" section. The result was a good-tasting fail.

Red Flannel Hash
(To serve 4 - 6)
2 cups chopped cooked corned beef
2 cups chopped cooked beets
4 cups chopped cooked potatoes
1 lg onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Light cream
1/4 cup bacon or pork drippings

Combine beef with beets, potatoes, onion, seasonings, and enough cream to lightly bind the mixture. Heat drippings in a large skillet. Spoon mixture into skillet and spread evenly into pan. Picture shows it.

Cook over low heat, without stirring, until the bottom is well crusted. Fold like an omelet and serve immediately.

Cooking Notes: I used sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, increased the Worcestershire sauce to a tablespoon, and didn't add any additional salt. Everything was going fine until I put the mixture in the pan. It was at least an inch thick and over low heat was steaming rather than sauteing. I would have pulled some out and done it in batches, but I used up the last of my bacon drippings for the one batch. So I turned up the heat to medium low and let it cook a good while until there was a crust on the bottom and then lifted it to the best of my ability with a spatula, scraping up the toasted bits. There was no way the thick mix would have folded into an omelet; I didn't even try. Next time I will either cook it in batches or do it in two rounds on my 2-burner iron griddle.

Eating Notes: Despite it not being a hash omelet, it was a great single-dish comfort food meal, and you could tell how it gets its name. The red color is intense, almost like a cranberry sauce, and the cream forms a smooth sauce that seems a bit flannel-y. There's a lot of textural interest from the soft sweet potatoes, slightly crunchy beets, and softer onions. The corned beef and spices provide an umami-salt kick to balance the sweetness of the beets and sweet potatoes. We happily ate the whole panful with no complaints about failure.

How to skin tomatoes (also works for peaches and similar fruits)

Not a difficult thing to do, and I wouldn't post it except for having a couple of nice tomato pictures. The idea is that the boiling water cooks the skin quickly enough to separate it from the flesh, without cooking the flesh underneath. The skins then slip right off, as shown above.

Bring a decent quantity of water to a rolling boil. You want plenty of water because otherwise when you put the fruit in it will drop the temperature too low. Put the tomatoes into the boiling water. If your pot isn't big, do it in batches.

Let them boil 30 seconds, or until the skins just split (if you are doing thick-skinned peaches, the skins may not split - don't leave them in more than 45 seconds). Remove them and immediately plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking process. The skins should slip right off (If they stick in some places, use a sharp paring knife to finish the job).

(Link to "Tomato" on Foodista )