tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51906985516245744722024-03-14T02:55:57.112-07:00Trout CaviarTrout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.comBlogger382125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-60636501387594331212016-12-16T09:12:00.002-08:002016-12-16T09:12:59.658-08:00Snow Day Cassoulet<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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We had our first real snowfall of the season last weekend, a half a foot of light, fluffy splendor that transformed the landscape overnight. And with that snow came the first serious cold of the winter, bringing a definitive end to what had been a long, lingering, quite lovely autumn. We had the woodstove blazing 24/7, and thoughts immediately turned to warm, filling, savory comfort cooking. For me, nothing epitomizes that more than a fragrant, crusty and rich cassoulet. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkIqMsTl71VRmDZUi3bXydqb1A3Zc648pul1J3NjJCTSnk2eE4Jn8wxlsP0yY4sad3bSHDfIh3haScwbOjhoLJWNrFYRtBwL_hTCA-icOULXpXVT5IcWXSx0v-dqIi_95qVZLL_qBggRuL/s1600/landscape.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkIqMsTl71VRmDZUi3bXydqb1A3Zc648pul1J3NjJCTSnk2eE4Jn8wxlsP0yY4sad3bSHDfIh3haScwbOjhoLJWNrFYRtBwL_hTCA-icOULXpXVT5IcWXSx0v-dqIi_95qVZLL_qBggRuL/s640/landscape.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Whether in the iconic brown pot of New England baked beans
crowned with a square of salt pork, a French cassoulet rich with pork rind and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lard fume</i>, or Cajun red beans and rice
simmered with ham hocks and sausage, dried beans and pork products go together like,
well, pork and beans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one of those
elementally satisfying combinations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love almost all
iterations of this classic partnership, from humble baked beans from a can up
to an elaborately garnished, ceremoniously presented cassoulet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the cassoulet holds a special place in my
heart, being so very…gallic, as well as delicious.<br />
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In my younger days I would happily spend two or three days
making a cassoulet that called for pork, pork rind, pork fat, salt pork, and
sausage, along with a couple pounds of lamb and a whole duck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a mammoth production, incredibly rich,
delicious, and festive—and I’ll probably never make it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some ways, at least as far as the meats
were concerned, that particular cassoulet favored quantity over quality, since
with so many different proteins in play it’s extremely difficult to get
everything to turn out right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
frankly, at this point in my life, the thought of contending with lamb, duck,
pork, and sausage, all on one plate, leaves me feeling slightly bilious, and
exhausted.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GVA2eNs23ROdupABJheQHxHGBhOdCKP-PfIasxULIEghDFlxcageUXbLxxrjWvgBoS2YZwMcs65iCBKxaOusZ7hd2kLUmNG5FyYKaGveFVrFTzYRLPq40NY-kAC2VhS_9gtZG3YhxcAO/s1600/mise.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GVA2eNs23ROdupABJheQHxHGBhOdCKP-PfIasxULIEghDFlxcageUXbLxxrjWvgBoS2YZwMcs65iCBKxaOusZ7hd2kLUmNG5FyYKaGveFVrFTzYRLPq40NY-kAC2VhS_9gtZG3YhxcAO/s640/mise.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The cassoulet I make nowadays—and I make it a few times from
fall through early spring—is a streamlined version, well garnished with savory
pork, perhaps a leg of duck confit, but much less meat-centric than many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing is, I really like beans, and I
consider it the mark of a really good and thoughtful cook to be able to produce
a cassoulet in which the luxuriously coddled beans draw as much praise as the
meats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though streamlined, this is not a
recipe to throw together for a quickie weeknight dinner (for that, make a big
batch and savor the leftovers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
can easily be accomplished in a single day—get the time-consuming pre-simmering
of the beans started after breakfast, and you’ll not be rushed to pull the
crusty, fragrant, unctuous final product out of the oven at dinner time.<br />
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One key element of the streamlining is that I don’t soak the
beans overnight, as so many recipes for dried beans suggest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason I’ve omitted this step is
simple:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it is completely
unnecessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I do, instead, is to
parboil the beans for 10 minutes, drain them, discarding the cooking liquid,
and then begin cooking them again, more slowly, with lots of aromatics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parcooking the beans and dumping the first
water also helps to minimize the digestive difficulties that beans, “the
musical fruit,” can produce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that
we’ve saved 12 to 16 hours, as well as potential social embarrassment, let’s
get on with it….<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBE3Rsu67gHUIDIbsJCVnHnGRzUfqvXm3Hpc7gtO8bIph5_h9b7w_KlK5M5TB-EbcrL1TJ_jgwdJ6_y4MeL4SHPSLYZaP8HVHTyjPj0pyAhcueEzjEDtbXNk6tIdOnhBAeIZD-D7xz9w_/s1600/ready+to+simmer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBE3Rsu67gHUIDIbsJCVnHnGRzUfqvXm3Hpc7gtO8bIph5_h9b7w_KlK5M5TB-EbcrL1TJ_jgwdJ6_y4MeL4SHPSLYZaP8HVHTyjPj0pyAhcueEzjEDtbXNk6tIdOnhBAeIZD-D7xz9w_/s640/ready+to+simmer.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are beans under there, ready to simmer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The key to a great cassoulet, as with many bean dishes, and
long-simmered or braised dishes in general, is to use loads of aromatic
vegetables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tend to think that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">back in the day </i>cassoulet was sustenance food in which relatively small amounts of very flavorful meats were
used to garnish and enrich a dish predominantly composed of vegetables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lately cassoulet has become a standard winter
addition to the menus of many gallic-inflected restaurants, and the dish there
presented is often more of a meat-fest than an exaltation of the humble, but delicious,
nourishing, and versatile haricot sec.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(There was a recipe for the cassoulet from St Paul’s Heartland
restaurant going around last winter; it called for roughly nine pounds of meat
to garnish one pound of dried beans, and I just thought, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">woof, </i>that is not my idea of a cassoulet.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWzfDXX3aPbZI3o9szSTfRMcQ0BVCqC5V9BoEADyWDFYCC6lv6ZqpgzKDP3uBW-y5glOm_EXBU-uLu757Q7vJ_-kjI1bPVR7GHcyryzHNcnm0CMzZCBVG0OeAXQqfDK8xxCTcdDzRA2U0/s1600/pork+and+bacon+browning.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWzfDXX3aPbZI3o9szSTfRMcQ0BVCqC5V9BoEADyWDFYCC6lv6ZqpgzKDP3uBW-y5glOm_EXBU-uLu757Q7vJ_-kjI1bPVR7GHcyryzHNcnm0CMzZCBVG0OeAXQqfDK8xxCTcdDzRA2U0/s640/pork+and+bacon+browning.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bacon and pork shoulder browning.</td></tr>
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And anyway, cassoulet is not a restaurant dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a dish you want to soak in all day,
luxuriate in the aromas of simmering duck confit, fall into the warm embrace of
vegetables turning soft and yielding in lovely bacon drippings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a snowy winter day you want to get your
beans simmering and then go for a brisk walk—or shovel the first real snowfall,
as we had the opportunity to do this past weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then when you come back in, oh, the
smell!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The warmth of the house and
kitchen!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anticipation of tucking in,
come dinner time, to such satisfying food!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes, cassoulet is not just a dish, but an experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It requires a few steps, but none of it is
difficult.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiWWESW6y92_YQMhperVMVHjMjlxNFP9teV9ahCgbNUh0iyt1hN-KCRliivMmDGSASD3iY3CQk1laqLdmwMJBwXZlxHrKSHD5CI4lKzUMKxWcENIJV-1oqt63nSQDUxrEshntUxrHr2E_/s1600/roast+pork.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiWWESW6y92_YQMhperVMVHjMjlxNFP9teV9ahCgbNUh0iyt1hN-KCRliivMmDGSASD3iY3CQk1laqLdmwMJBwXZlxHrKSHD5CI4lKzUMKxWcENIJV-1oqt63nSQDUxrEshntUxrHr2E_/s640/roast+pork.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roast pork shoulder rests amid yummy drippings.</td></tr>
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As to the meats I use in my cassoulet:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bacon is essential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always have a hunk of home-smoked bacon in
the fridge and/or freezer, but good quality slab bacon is widely available
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take the time to procure some good,
naturally smoked bacon—it’s one of the flavor backbones of this dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also often add a piece of pork shoulder
that I’ve either smoked or roasted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
either case, I set it to macerate overnight with a rub of salt, pepper, and
maple syrup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Details below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And finally, for the last half hour of
baking, I’ll nestle into the beans either 1) a couple of legs of duck confit
that I have previously set in a skillet to crisp the skin and warm the meat, or
2) some good smoked sausage, also browned in a separate skillet before adding
to the beans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could add both, but
then things are getting a little meatier than I like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But—you could skip the pork shoulder and do
confit and sausage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be
delightful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifUYd02XMZ0Q7aAdggi2pLdTaROqOCDuEnLBVtTL8jZgLaY_ShWOufqfWkAVrFhoEjrEXrf4JANTeNJScIURvwrz8O4kbsvag-cMfr52UOcxEOsuhwCe5_H8tz8457gFMPH-YsUI6iIIT/s1600/ready+to+bake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifUYd02XMZ0Q7aAdggi2pLdTaROqOCDuEnLBVtTL8jZgLaY_ShWOufqfWkAVrFhoEjrEXrf4JANTeNJScIURvwrz8O4kbsvag-cMfr52UOcxEOsuhwCe5_H8tz8457gFMPH-YsUI6iIIT/s640/ready+to+bake.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready for the oven.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Whatever meaty things you choose to garnish your cassoulet
is up to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main thing is the
beans, unctuous, savory, yielding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could
do without added meat altogether, frankly—the basic beans with some crusty warm
bread, a glass of red wine, a salad, this would make a lovely repast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could, I dare say, even be made
vegetarian, with the addition of some extra vegetables into the mix, and
perhaps something like dried porcini mushrooms or morels to give it added depth
and umami.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tasted a very good
vegetarian cassoulet once, prepared by my friend, the chef Roger Payne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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But hey, you know, those beans aren’t going to cook themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Allons-y…</i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTAh4VVqJPG8AW9GUee0finu8GeXGgyqaApuhJatXV-sU7rz7eAVSMcE0cODxY9ElBISwPv79qW8vzcLE38H6E3ojTCoEqMMHm3kCpfofluxyRlHxB3rEXRuRlb4fYqrdhum9XeFP9zH3/s1600/plated.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="504" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTAh4VVqJPG8AW9GUee0finu8GeXGgyqaApuhJatXV-sU7rz7eAVSMcE0cODxY9ElBISwPv79qW8vzcLE38H6E3ojTCoEqMMHm3kCpfofluxyRlHxB3rEXRuRlb4fYqrdhum9XeFP9zH3/s640/plated.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While not the most photogenic of dishes, cassoulet is soul-satisfying fare.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<h4>
A Snow Day Cassoulet </h4>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Serves at least six</i></span></div>
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For the pork shoulder:<br />
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1 pound pork shoulder</div>
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2 teaspoons salt</div>
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1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup</div>
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Black pepper from the mill</div>
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2 tablespoons oil, bacon fat, or fat from duck confit</div>
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You need to start this at least the night before you plan to
make your cassoulet, but it can be made several days in advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rub the pork with the maple syrup and then
sprinkle on the salt on all sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give
all surfaces a generous grinding of black pepper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover and let stand in the fridge overnight,
or longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn it a couple times during
this time if you think of it.<br />
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The next day, heat your oven to 325 degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blot the meat off with paper towels and
discard any liquid that has gathered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Put the pork in a small baking dish (I use an oval ceramic gratin to
both macerate and roast) along with the oil or fat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roast the pork for 2 hours, or until it is
nicely browned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn every 30 minutes or
so to promote even browning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remove from
the oven and set aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be sure to keep
the fat and drippings remaining in the baking dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll add these to the cassoulet later.</div>
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1 pound great northern beans (I've also made cassoulet with cranberry beans; many dried beans would work. I think navy beans are too small.)</div>
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¾ cup chopped light green leek tops</div>
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1 small shallot, chopped (or use a bit of onion)</div>
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1 small carrot, chopped</div>
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1 clove garlic, crushed</div>
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1 small dried red chile, optional</div>
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2 whole cloves</div>
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½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns</div>
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1 or 2 bay leaves</div>
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3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dried</div>
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¾ teaspoon salt</div>
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Rinse the beans well and sort through them to remove any
debris or stones (nothing ruins a lovely meal like biting into a rock).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a large saucepan, add the beans and water
to cover by at last an inch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bring to a
boil, turn down to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the
beans sit for another 10 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drain
the beans, discarding the first cooking liquid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Return the beans to the saucepan along with all the vegetables, spices,
herbs above EXCEPT THE SALT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again add
water to cover by an inch or so, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30
minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now add the salt and simmer for
30 minutes more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check the doneness—you
want the beans to be cooked through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some may be even falling apart, a few may be al dente still, but overall
you want the beans to be DONE at this point.</div>
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Set the beans aside when they’re cooked to your
preference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DO NOT DRAIN.</div>
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For the final assembly:</div>
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4 to 5 ounces good slab bacon, in ¾-inch squares, more or
less</div>
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1 tablespoon oil or confit fat</div>
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1 small leek—about 1” in diameter—chopped</div>
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1 small onion, chopped</div>
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1 small carrot, chopped</div>
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3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped</div>
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½ cup canned tomatoes, chopped</div>
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3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried</div>
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Salt and freshly ground pepper</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
¾ cup fresh breadcrumbs</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Duck confit or smoked sausage, optional—I would allow one
confit portion, thigh or drumstick, or about three ounces of sausage per person</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heat your oven to 325.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cut the pork shoulder you previously roasted into 4 pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heat a large dutch oven (enameled cast iron
is ideal) over medium-low heat and add the bacon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it starts to render its fat, add the pork
shoulder, and get it nice and brown while the bacon cooks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the bacon and pork shoulder are nicely
brown, remove from the pan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remove
excess fat from the pan, leaving about 2 tablespoons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add the leek, onion, and carrot, and cook
these over medium heat until they are well wilted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add the garlic and cook for another minute,
stirring, then add the tomatoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cook,
stirring constantly, until the tomatoes have given up all their moisture and
even begun to brown a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then return
the beans and their cooking liquid to the pan (if you happen to notice the
whole cloves or the now leafless thyme twigs, take those out).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The liquid should cover the beans by a
half-inch or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it does not, add
water or stock to that level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Add the bacon and pork shoulder to the pan, along with a
couple more sprigs of thyme and a few grinds of black pepper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taste the liquid for salt and add a bit of
salt if it seems under-seasoned, but note that it will take up some of the salt
from the bacon and pork as it bakes, so go easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve saved the drippings from roasting
the pork shoulder, scrape these into the beans, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bake uncovered for 1 ½ hours, stirring every
half hour or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cooking time varies a
lot from one batch of dried beans to the next, so when the cassoulet is done is
a bit of a judgment call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re done
when they have taken up most of the liquid and are very tender, but still
holding their shape—well, a good part of them, anyway; some will certainly have
collapsed, and that’s fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You want the
beans to be a little bit liquid when you declare them done, as they’ll thicken
as they cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can take the cassoulet
to this nearly done stage a few hours to a few days before you want to serve
it—it reheats very nicely.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
About 30 minutes before you want to serve the cassoulet,
tuck the duck confit or sausage that you’ve crisped/browned into the
beans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then toss the breadcrumbs with a
tablespoon or so of fat or oil, and stir well to moisten them evenly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the top of the
cassoulet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the crumbs are brown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have convection in your oven, this is
a good use for it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Serve hot from the oven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Make sure everyone gets a portion of the various meats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Serve with crunchy, warm country bread and a
deep red wine—I would go for a Bordeaux, Cahors, Cotes de Rhone, or Rioja.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_PAkenTnqj8Tve7xTkX_DeIByfBsgY73AJ0dUoULrPsSXOlejisil-8NUfr8o5LkYAHU6DPyvAW1pmpFEOF2xPo3aob-BMWcwtneD4hncNppdYvm-ats7l92X_PdEkID3TLhTPNxFSUIV/s1600/half+ate.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_PAkenTnqj8Tve7xTkX_DeIByfBsgY73AJ0dUoULrPsSXOlejisil-8NUfr8o5LkYAHU6DPyvAW1pmpFEOF2xPo3aob-BMWcwtneD4hncNppdYvm-ats7l92X_PdEkID3TLhTPNxFSUIV/s640/half+ate.JPG" width="640" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Text and photos copyright 2016 by Brett Laidlaw</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-66560047277698574122016-05-13T15:31:00.000-07:002016-05-13T15:31:06.695-07:00Pheasant Back, Ramp & Wood Nettle Pâté<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXyZwkf0KsMVApjZIGq2TrQrp0orofH0Gai5KOwUjbzxn3wcMxrBY9kORi_839E99zmK9IYmRQKTW72ZJ8J-SvTnofWisHpk7LuGYJXrymgVRu7QJrsPO8i3JU5SAr6-zRpLaUHtIjsE7/s1600/close+shallow.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXyZwkf0KsMVApjZIGq2TrQrp0orofH0Gai5KOwUjbzxn3wcMxrBY9kORi_839E99zmK9IYmRQKTW72ZJ8J-SvTnofWisHpk7LuGYJXrymgVRu7QJrsPO8i3JU5SAr6-zRpLaUHtIjsE7/s640/close+shallow.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m usually pretty confident when I start to put together a
new dish, because I’ve been cooking for a long time, and because, let’s face
it, most “new” dishes are usually just a tweak or two on an old dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You swap out an unusual ingredient for a
familiar one, turn an exotic dish local or wild, that sort of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have a basic template and play around
with the elements within it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last
time I recall coming up with something truly, stunningly original was <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2012/05/burnt-honey-smoky-pork.html">when Iaccidentally burned some honey, and then decided to throw some rhubarb juice</a> in
the pot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result was something
remarkable, delicious, and unlike anything I’ve ever tasted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
And, I’ve never made it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think even I’m a little afraid of bringing honey to the burning point,
though really the worst thing that could happen is that I would burn a little
honey. Well, maybe ruin a pan, fill the house with smoke.... Maybe my reluctance is wise.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6IaD3I8EaRfjnT0g_MOjVp_LZKO27IMZ7khyJDge8OyGlXQZPcJtn0-Te8nxt7xGUFrjlAiW8dtioxwxjYpp9HYd5lbs6wIY29QkpLB2IGi8f-8V4Bct6HmXmuAe_gEIQWE9b6fVD9nh/s1600/tops.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6IaD3I8EaRfjnT0g_MOjVp_LZKO27IMZ7khyJDge8OyGlXQZPcJtn0-Te8nxt7xGUFrjlAiW8dtioxwxjYpp9HYd5lbs6wIY29QkpLB2IGi8f-8V4Bct6HmXmuAe_gEIQWE9b6fVD9nh/s640/tops.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pheasant back mushrooms tops. They also go by the fanciful name "Dryad's Saddle." Dryads are not as common in our woods as they once were, so I haven't had a chance to examine their saddles lately....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the story of
this pâté was this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a mess of
pheasant back mushrooms, which have been abundant this spring (they grow on
dead trees, including elms, so you’ll often find them while not finding
morels…).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These mushrooms are a polypore,
like boletes, the family that includes porcini, but their flavor is very mild, just sort
of vaguely mushroomy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When young and
tender, their texture can be excellent, and then they’re fine just sliced and
sautéed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to do them in butter,
add a little garlic and a splash of soy sauce when they’re about done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyP_a2uABkklEQ4U9shC-SJ2Q8oSinjvwnf7T-EcmWuvIUO9rFJUw057Ta5kDlO4u7yvPPpfSP4PwIAzAiBZUvUb3usAsyXQmHaukOoxduM4F8BINvq2Q87L4YepyLJP_gtPZI_StcFo-i/s1600/top+and+bottom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyP_a2uABkklEQ4U9shC-SJ2Q8oSinjvwnf7T-EcmWuvIUO9rFJUw057Ta5kDlO4u7yvPPpfSP4PwIAzAiBZUvUb3usAsyXQmHaukOoxduM4F8BINvq2Q87L4YepyLJP_gtPZI_StcFo-i/s640/top+and+bottom.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tops and bottoms; note the tiny pores of this fungus whose Latin name is <i>polyporous squamosus</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as they mature, they become chewy, then inedibly
tough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes you can trim the outer
rim of a larger one and find it sufficiently tender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing I’ve learned is that if my pocket
knife blade doesn’t slide through the flesh almost effortlessly, don’t
bother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Move along, keep looking, you’ll
find more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this evening most of my
pheasant backs could have been eaten simply sautéed, but that wasn’t working
for me as a topping for smorrebrod, those Danish-inspired open face sandwiches, which was the dinner plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pâté
came to mind, a sort of ersatz chopped liver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UPv3pI2dxBdRcstaJc5jrlN1O33gzZL5yZ7GjeOTq6W4ppCz1AzYZ37hDT51WpF2aBqmEt6rmTGnfGg5ikmGavn35xX5FyUgTQzroOO0luzEBbxPN8dU7PNYH01daOuvNYzHq58c_3dh/s1600/nettles+and+shrooms.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UPv3pI2dxBdRcstaJc5jrlN1O33gzZL5yZ7GjeOTq6W4ppCz1AzYZ37hDT51WpF2aBqmEt6rmTGnfGg5ikmGavn35xX5FyUgTQzroOO0luzEBbxPN8dU7PNYH01daOuvNYzHq58c_3dh/s640/nettles+and+shrooms.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I chopped the mushrooms pretty small, threw them in a pan
with some butter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they released
moisture and started to shrink, I added chopped ramps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then as cooking neared completion, I splashed
in some soy, for umami depth, and to make it more pâté-like, a glug of red wine
(I considered cognac or sherry, but thought that would be gilding the
lily).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was smelling pretty good at
this point—I had added dried thyme, and a pinch of chile flakes—but there wasn’t
a lot of it, and I also was dubious about what the texture of ground-up
pheasant backs alone would be like.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
For both bulk and texture, wood nettles came to the
rescue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’d just started coming up in
our woods, so they were in prime condition, edible and tender pretty much from
bottom to top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I roughly chopped a cup
or so, added them to the pan with a little water, steamed briefly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
After removing the lid from the pan and letting most the
liquid evaporate, I let the mixture cool, then transferred it to a mini-chop food
processor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From here I took the chopped
liver approach of working in as much butter as conscience would allow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tasting along the way, adding some salt and a
good bit of black pepper, I was more and more impressed.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mnrm0llXslm_f6mbY7z3XuKfWOZDdI8oAbqdJXmag9A0RhLruniD-vDxx575uHvYpzq3BDeobH526mUzTmaLZSCwNYJofDGUFsHRP8dnZpDzizzr47gYsOx01d0gLlujCJWhIUwZgfWi/s1600/plate+side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mnrm0llXslm_f6mbY7z3XuKfWOZDdI8oAbqdJXmag9A0RhLruniD-vDxx575uHvYpzq3BDeobH526mUzTmaLZSCwNYJofDGUFsHRP8dnZpDzizzr47gYsOx01d0gLlujCJWhIUwZgfWi/s640/plate+side.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smorrebrod dinner leftovers make a lovely lunch. Closewise from top: smoked trout with goat yogurt cheese and chives; wood nettle-ramp pesto with local goat feta; the pâté; wild asparagus and homemade mayonnaise. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll spare you the suspense and simply say that it was
excellent, and distinctive, though built on a familiar chassis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will definitely make this again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most other shrooms—button, oyster, hen of the
woods—could be used in it, and other greens, wild or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><u>WARNING</u>: the recipe below is my best estimate
of the quantities of ingredients used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since I considered it quite possible that the resulting dish would be
going in the trash rather than on the dinner table, I wasn’t writing things
down as I went along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is in
the ballpark, and y’all are clever; you’ll figure it out.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sYEq81SZeoxaAOwI8uc6LBqmyzBGMFYp3m-ejtj6K353SV49Htt3GE3fub3zqChqZW3Y_oqLyMxrIm1Qn4fVR37VcXL527ajIepYhSaruaoqA1-mOeIBumbkH2DFkE17fL49chqpKXyd/s1600/shroompatecrop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sYEq81SZeoxaAOwI8uc6LBqmyzBGMFYp3m-ejtj6K353SV49Htt3GE3fub3zqChqZW3Y_oqLyMxrIm1Qn4fVR37VcXL527ajIepYhSaruaoqA1-mOeIBumbkH2DFkE17fL49chqpKXyd/s640/shroompatecrop.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<h3>
Pheasant Back, Ramp & Wood Nettle Pâté</h3>
</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Makes about a cup</i><br />
<br />
1 generous cup chopped pheasant back mushrooms</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 plump ramp bulbs, chopped</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 generous cup (loosely packed) wood nettles, young leaves
and tender stems, roughly chopped</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 tablespoons butter, divided</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 tablespoon soy sauce</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1/4 cup dry red wine</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1/4 cup water</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or a couple good sprigs of fresh,
leaves stripped off<br />
Pinch red chile flakes, optional<br />
Salt and pepper</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and add the
mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, until
they start to give up some liquid and shrink a bit, then add the ramps. Sauté another 2-3
minutes, until the ramps are translucent and soft. Add the soy sauce, wine,
thyme, and chile. Cook, stirring, until the liquid is mostly gone. Add the wood
nettles and 1/4 cup water, cover, and simmer for 2 minutes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remove the lid and continue cooking until most of the liquid
is evaporated. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside to cool. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the mixture is no longer hot, transfer it to a mini
food processor or blender. Taste for salt and add if needed. Add a few grinds
of black pepper. Add a couple of teaspoons of butter and begin to process.
After a few seconds, stop the machine, scrape down the sides, and add a bit
more butter. Repeat this process until all the butter is incorporated, then
process for another 15-20 seconds. We're looking for a fairly smooth texture to
the pâté. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Taste again for seasoning, adding more salt or pepper if you
like. I like a pâté to be well seasoned. Transfer the pâté to a ramekin or
small jar, and serve as you would chopped chicken livers and the like--lovely
on crackers or toast rounds as a cocktail nosh or first course, or as one
element in a buffet or smorrebrod-type meal. </div>
<br />
<i>Text and photos copyright 2016 by Brett Laidlaw</i>Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-27757035873373553922016-04-26T15:17:00.000-07:002016-04-27T06:45:16.762-07:00The Ramps Report 2016<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_vgNFlaFutLJmcC_9HAFpT2-iMLHsVVhpMygUS7EAD8YWeZ41nHrz4q5NQAGOjUKhXfq5-qO2QqLvJYjWUzJrP4JYzafPRMyDl7Hk66oLkg2DJu1P1USYGYK2IAqk1neykIcz9TLHqr4l/s1600/on+board.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_vgNFlaFutLJmcC_9HAFpT2-iMLHsVVhpMygUS7EAD8YWeZ41nHrz4q5NQAGOjUKhXfq5-qO2QqLvJYjWUzJrP4JYzafPRMyDl7Hk66oLkg2DJu1P1USYGYK2IAqk1neykIcz9TLHqr4l/s640/on+board.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Those of us who have been tuned in to the world of local and
seasonal eating for a while probably
have a complex, somewhat complicated relationship with ramps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those “wild leeks” of springtime that have
perfumed loamy woodlands and Appalachian kitchens for generations in relative obscurity leapt into the culinary limelight 20 or so years ago, and have been
hogging center stage ever since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
recall seeing them mentioned more and more often in reviews of New York restaurants
in the late 1990s, then noticing them for sale (at what seemed like an
exorbitant price) in Twin Cities food co-ops, and then came the big Ah-ha! moment when,
walking the banks of a favorite trout stream, I was brought up short by a
powerful garlic-chivey smell and looked around to find that I was standing in a
veritable field of ramps, their crushed leaves under my wading boots sending up what was, to me, an incredibly appetizing aroma.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9g6j6r7ecN2jdK3UkV7gRh-zxiDsdcKBhBTeYRU5kNw9tGD7F-lTrAs_jHRVRSIABbMjFAiN15YSMpV0BIxPNxOb57El23ahCubN1qm7Ogi0J026T4wdyc65eNfCdoqQOl1zi06Q0jQBS/s1600/ramps+in+pan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9g6j6r7ecN2jdK3UkV7gRh-zxiDsdcKBhBTeYRU5kNw9tGD7F-lTrAs_jHRVRSIABbMjFAiN15YSMpV0BIxPNxOb57El23ahCubN1qm7Ogi0J026T4wdyc65eNfCdoqQOl1zi06Q0jQBS/s640/ramps+in+pan.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Thus began my journey along what one might call the stages of grief/stations
of the cross for ramp lovers in the foodie 21st century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fascination and infatuation at first
meeting, then falling big time for this humble but compelling new crush; then the skepticism,
eye-rolling at the sudden bandwagoning crowds, the farmers market shoppers
clamoring, the fancy chefs pandering; disillusionment—was I a fool to fall so
fast, so hard, for a love that had turned fickle and trendy?; then acceptance:
hey, it’s a stinking wild onion, it’s delicious, and when you pick it yourself,
it’s free, and ridiculously abundant when you know where to look—get over it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhznhjjQH6Pgtz4DM6rhS54q7sAD9E8mkAysgNHW2u0AslSTvo7IgNzYigldG6csFNMFu-c-cet3_TJaU65D2_uGUrHrJ0n_LKUEmoqF56nuFzxrOgEy9oT0QGXxVGGBx9dEmXDm3doupO8/s1600/up+close.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhznhjjQH6Pgtz4DM6rhS54q7sAD9E8mkAysgNHW2u0AslSTvo7IgNzYigldG6csFNMFu-c-cet3_TJaU65D2_uGUrHrJ0n_LKUEmoqF56nuFzxrOgEy9oT0QGXxVGGBx9dEmXDm3doupO8/s640/up+close.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I’ve reached acceptance now, indeed, a state of near ramps
nirvana, if you don’t mind my mixing gastro-religious metaphors in reference to
a common woodland weed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went fishing
with <a href="http://marthaandtom.com/">my friend Tom</a> during Minnesota’s
opening weekend for the regular (i.e., kill ‘em & grill ‘em, hook ‘em &
cook ‘em) trout season a week ago Sunday, and while the fishing was pretty
good, the foraging was even better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
warm start to spring meant that the ramps were already well up and
sizable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We each took home a sack, and
I’ve been cooking with them nearly every day since.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-b2-UDjCS0Jyn77EHVL2lssEzC5LEfiXSjdpsXsEYhUjehYWgjVT82XvYMDbThgginCoE7tphQpuwHbsdJxPRJ1jT1XoAZiYhik7rhVvay6ksfjJt0uLfHkUFEB4uawN0s1VShTVhHcs/s1600/troutbowl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-b2-UDjCS0Jyn77EHVL2lssEzC5LEfiXSjdpsXsEYhUjehYWgjVT82XvYMDbThgginCoE7tphQpuwHbsdJxPRJ1jT1XoAZiYhik7rhVvay6ksfjJt0uLfHkUFEB4uawN0s1VShTVhHcs/s640/troutbowl.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening weekend trout stream rice bowl with ramps, cress, and of course, trout, brown.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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While I’ve come up with a number of ramp-specific recipes
over the years, now I tend to treat them like any other allium (that is, onion
or lily family member, ramps being <i>allium tricoccum</i>), as a versatile
aromatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ve sautéed them to build
a nice base for ramen stock, thrown a handful into a quesadilla, strewn slivers
atop a pizza, sweated with other aromatics to flavor a pilaf—you get the idea.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpjHk-wSL117n9LwTV8V_UrUJOPXnNDiM5ruYG96yihb9iF2ukeGZ__aiK9JoxhoJH6LOmCfWzkuJXSFqJdqOkxfb0C5whrzoFjDzsdacAmTsCvzIHtpCLpMnDRHsV1TzYYj96qpj2jAu/s1600/pickles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpjHk-wSL117n9LwTV8V_UrUJOPXnNDiM5ruYG96yihb9iF2ukeGZ__aiK9JoxhoJH6LOmCfWzkuJXSFqJdqOkxfb0C5whrzoFjDzsdacAmTsCvzIHtpCLpMnDRHsV1TzYYj96qpj2jAu/s640/pickles.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Yesterday I did a little pickling, putting up one pint of
ramp bulbs <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2010/05/wrapping-up-ramps.html">per this versatile method,</a> setting a quart to ferment in a simple salt-water brine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking through my
blog index I find that <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/search/label/ramps">I might have more recipes involving ramps than just about any other ingredient</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far as
that gnarly, evolving relationship with ramps goes, I guess I’m fully
committed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudKpAziusOb8aDMoJ83x5Kl9S7GF1r3iw0jbG8TRWktTOIWl_uZZe1vTRQsJ7EZJBtfYxYspKK0qF23_yiBqpBniVpdA6B9TuvjgswpPE4ohPmx60S6Y_Q1sOHEfG4TPdsR8OXr2bDWps/s1600/soup.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudKpAziusOb8aDMoJ83x5Kl9S7GF1r3iw0jbG8TRWktTOIWl_uZZe1vTRQsJ7EZJBtfYxYspKK0qF23_yiBqpBniVpdA6B9TuvjgswpPE4ohPmx60S6Y_Q1sOHEfG4TPdsR8OXr2bDWps/s640/soup.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Charred Ramp and Watercress Soup</h4>
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I used <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2016/01/simply-superior-soup-or-effing-french.html">Madeleine Kamman’s cabbage cream soup</a> as a
template.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Serves 2 as a main course, 4
as a starter</div>
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2 ounces salt pork or pancetta, in 1/3” dice (or 2
tablespoons cooking oil)</div>
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10 good ramps, well cleaned</div>
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1 small potato, about 4 ounces, peeled, cut in small dice,
and rinsed, and well drained</div>
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4 cups loosely packed watercress (about 4 ounces), leaves
and stems, well rinsed (especially if it’s wild cress) and roughly chopped</div>
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3 cups chicken stock</div>
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Salt and freshly ground black pepper</div>
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Optional garnish: croutons, good yogurt, cream, or thinned
sour cream</div>
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Separate the ramp greens from the stem-bulb sections and set
aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slice the stem-bulb sections
crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces.</div>
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If using salt pork/pancetta, render the pork cubes gently
over medium-low heat until they have given up much of their fat and started to
brown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remove the cubes from the pan and
set aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pour off—but save!—the fat,
and return 2 tablespoons to the pan.</div>
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If you don’t have salt pork or pancetta, heat 2 tablespoons
oil.</div>
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Turn the heat to medium-high and add the chopped ramps, then
the potato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cook, stirring frequently,
until the potato begins to brown and the ramp pieces take on color—indeed, we
are looking for some of the ramp bits to become quite dark, even black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just don’t burn the crap out of it so it all
turns ashy and bitter.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9Pf-bAmf5H15zB0VR0dR7xzxqDqdNE2rbP0f77G9p3m_DKIcP2kaUhuowrJeFi1zcb8_7weIpS7pDgemXnmDmg57IUw0bqQniQrvnHxjjLPpOMIZ5TQDQu2JY5t2jQJ7oIf-b2cDf4rn/s1600/getting+good+color.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9Pf-bAmf5H15zB0VR0dR7xzxqDqdNE2rbP0f77G9p3m_DKIcP2kaUhuowrJeFi1zcb8_7weIpS7pDgemXnmDmg57IUw0bqQniQrvnHxjjLPpOMIZ5TQDQu2JY5t2jQJ7oIf-b2cDf4rn/s400/getting+good+color.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting good color.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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When the potato is golden, the ramps nicely colored/charred,
add the chicken stock, then the cress, a couple good pinches of salt, and a few
grinds of pepper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bring to a simmer,
cover, and cook at a gentle bubble for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.</div>
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Chiffonade (cut in thin ribbons) the ramp greens, and add
half of them to the soup at the end of the 10-minute simmer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then
purée, using either an immersion blender, a regular blender, or, with great
care and caution, a food processor.</div>
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The soup can be made to this point up to several days
ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just before serving, reheat the
soup and serve garnished with the recrisped salt pork/pancetta cubes, croutons
from good, honest bread, perhaps a swirl of yogurt (I’m fond of goat yogurt),
and the remaining ramp leaf chiffonade, or as you please.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbrhJdd9okSFE_SgQ9T86Hr5AAv1YxXLBOYwQaFP2jiHiVjs1d9lL4yWfm7d5k55m_tNuSdZa4n3dRJDglSCR7LRSqf7Ktqxg0qO2Afy2fDYMZIBtM8tMrvLIFnan0KSSlKyzKmmN6Zkw/s1600/soup+close.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbrhJdd9okSFE_SgQ9T86Hr5AAv1YxXLBOYwQaFP2jiHiVjs1d9lL4yWfm7d5k55m_tNuSdZa4n3dRJDglSCR7LRSqf7Ktqxg0qO2Afy2fDYMZIBtM8tMrvLIFnan0KSSlKyzKmmN6Zkw/s640/soup+close.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Text and photos copyright 2016 by Brett Laidlaw </span></i></div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-56620904876144771142016-04-07T09:45:00.000-07:002016-04-07T09:45:37.196-07:00Happy Birch Days<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibKg9Unk1Y8P5Q50lBUkJjTiFpdu0vkVtNCnn0qtrA_QWjuBFvz7airdFtcEnepxmgeCm0vklT4iEm_P4Z1TCbDK-zhhhyu1bFgEqTi15IKyYfYLXkfAimgWfr1rnBWRbpH1cU5MdSVQRf/s1600/birch+family.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="574" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibKg9Unk1Y8P5Q50lBUkJjTiFpdu0vkVtNCnn0qtrA_QWjuBFvz7airdFtcEnepxmgeCm0vklT4iEm_P4Z1TCbDK-zhhhyu1bFgEqTi15IKyYfYLXkfAimgWfr1rnBWRbpH1cU5MdSVQRf/s640/birch+family.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bide-A-While birch syrup family portrait.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It may very well be that we have reached peak birch here at
Bide-A-While.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sap goes on, though
sluggishly, with afternoon highs just scraping up into the mid-30s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday I gathered “ice birch”—the sap in
the bags and containers was half frozen, so I poured the liquid portion into my
collection container and left the ice behind, thinking that the liquid sap was
probably more concentrated in
sugar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s on the woodstove now, and
getting right down there.</div>
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I’ve also been reading a good bit about birch syrup making,
though sources are not abundant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
are some commercial producers in Alaska,
and there have been some official studies of best practices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all pretty interesting, and useful,
since I’ve been proceeding on a trial and error basis, leaning toward the
latter. <a href="http://www.birchboy.com/articles.html">This is a good compendium of articles on birch</a>.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUdtu1qzK0cO3M3OwpO6SS-N8jzVuVJsWyIMQKXRcT9WPHg9wvAWMuOfkA_ESY_ypS23eF0m65WO-CtrVsDqkeGWZNJmrGFGmjLQbUiDi-6Yrzu05tvONof-bnCjuZpQzB3-Rr0uCt1xE6/s1600/faviken.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUdtu1qzK0cO3M3OwpO6SS-N8jzVuVJsWyIMQKXRcT9WPHg9wvAWMuOfkA_ESY_ypS23eF0m65WO-CtrVsDqkeGWZNJmrGFGmjLQbUiDi-6Yrzu05tvONof-bnCjuZpQzB3-Rr0uCt1xE6/s640/faviken.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pour the sap into a cauldron and light a small fire....</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I would have thought that Magnus Nilsson’s massive new tome,
<i><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=nordic+cook+book&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8">The Nordic Cook Book</a></i>, would show some traditional or novel uses for birch
syrup; instead, it has no mention of it, at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in Nilsson’s<i><a href="http://www.phaidon.com/store/food-cook/faviken-9780714864709/"> Fäviken</a></i> cookbook he does include
a “recipe” for birch syrup, along with a couple of interesting
observations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One, he notes that part of
the distinctive taste of birch syrup comes from the fact that not only the
sugars, but also the trace minerals found in the sap are concentrated in the
syrup making process—and since birch sap must be reduced twice, or more, as
much as maple sap, that’s bound to have an impact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s part of what contributes to the
savory edge that birch syrup has, even while it is intensely sweet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other, technical note Nilsson makes is
that birch syrup contains carboxylic acid, which gives it “outstanding
freshness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t miss that acidic
edge in tasting birch syrup; I just didn’t know what the particular acid was
called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Oddly, none of the recipes in the rest of the book includes
birch syrup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nilsson says that he uses
it as one would balsamic vinegar, and I’d been thinking along similar lines,
wondering what birch syrup would taste like drizzled over vanilla ice cream, as
reduced balsamic is sometimes used.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdH060Sgb9tCYBxIM8O5aaCSuu5-qNa85Ua0yy6UUwhwzq9oBd_RvLZHIZOiBtWqRX9wjz-eL-Ut5IX40IQTqDk0rnAi8pci9m20TLnJeHtlgS0U5Ew4My3kH0B3ERSxApSmAw8MjwYCk-/s1600/ice+cream+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdH060Sgb9tCYBxIM8O5aaCSuu5-qNa85Ua0yy6UUwhwzq9oBd_RvLZHIZOiBtWqRX9wjz-eL-Ut5IX40IQTqDk0rnAi8pci9m20TLnJeHtlgS0U5Ew4My3kH0B3ERSxApSmAw8MjwYCk-/s640/ice+cream+1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Well, I need wonder no longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fixed up a little late breakfast snack of
vanilla ice cream (nothing special, just Wisconsin favorite Cedar Crest)
anointed with a couple teaspoons of birch syrup and then a few grains of coarse
gray sea salt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, my.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why didn’t I think of this sooner?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really superb, with elements both of a
root beer float and a butterscotch sundae.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you can get your hands on some birch syrup, this would be the perfect
way to end an elegant dinner party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your
guests will surely have tasted nothing like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was actually my first foray into using birch syrup in a
sweet/dessert preparation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m eager for
more explorations.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmG4uPBLlii4nD_mhQ6mcI8k-HgFYWMdumZF8kOvQKyywnce5iW4GqvcntZBpqrTUvQTRWNAhaw4RqnT-04UfveqzaPRy8tw7I3GOXlUn3BO8FZMWNGcWi2Sw7CLK1L2xFlFip6Flp-Ny/s1600/railing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmG4uPBLlii4nD_mhQ6mcI8k-HgFYWMdumZF8kOvQKyywnce5iW4GqvcntZBpqrTUvQTRWNAhaw4RqnT-04UfveqzaPRy8tw7I3GOXlUn3BO8FZMWNGcWi2Sw7CLK1L2xFlFip6Flp-Ny/s640/railing.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">R to L: 2016 no-boil, 2016 stove-boiled, 2013 woodfired. Amazing range of colors.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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If you’re interested in making your own birch syrup, you
should pay attention to just how big an impact the way you reduce the sap makes on
the final product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my first attempts
I had rather a lot of sap, and I started the reduction in my homemade
evaporator (<a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-sweetest-tree_17.html">the legendary half-assed sap contraption</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really boiled hard, and sap caramelized
(not to say burned, though probably
some did) on the sides of the pan as the sap reduced, and this caramel got
washed back into the sap, adding color and a variety of flavors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, that syrup was molasses-dark and
very strong in flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the
articles I found online cautioned against making birch syrup this way, saying
it would come out with a scorched flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I don’t think my dark syrup tastes bad or scorched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is very, very different from the lighter
syrups I’m making this year, but it has its uses, too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUN7ggzI5JdWRH9muxGC3OGg7zjzHMVTyD8pyo6Leb9eMWlqoEzZ6N_rcpFlq4hVeBRD6QWJ9NjLFtOW63vAV6ub5GOel4tzSSyMmZVKjR_8ZrQRIPOD5LbQPwzMIahZVX9h2xoHBdYdrG/s1600/puddock.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUN7ggzI5JdWRH9muxGC3OGg7zjzHMVTyD8pyo6Leb9eMWlqoEzZ6N_rcpFlq4hVeBRD6QWJ9NjLFtOW63vAV6ub5GOel4tzSSyMmZVKjR_8ZrQRIPOD5LbQPwzMIahZVX9h2xoHBdYdrG/s640/puddock.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This year, with moderate sap flow and thus manageable
amounts of sap to deal with, I’ve done all the reduction inside, first on the
woodstove, then on the range, as previously mentioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then with a few gallons I did in entirely
on the woodstove, so that it never boiled at all, just slowly, slowly reduced
as the water evaporated from the sap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can see what a difference that makes in the color of the final
syrup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The taste, as well, is mellower,
but it still has that fresh acidity and good complexity.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwTYw2Ov1MB2iyviBgyjb_q5D93YWuxOpXtXooOSAZHLoGqJo03UL_NgIXljX0ybXmtzJU5XAaJ95HpXDFXvJNqNKJPLLyXk3WtQe2ESwnQEAjDTa5If5vBpYvuirMoDYoNsLopZwLCiwX/s1600/window+sill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwTYw2Ov1MB2iyviBgyjb_q5D93YWuxOpXtXooOSAZHLoGqJo03UL_NgIXljX0ybXmtzJU5XAaJ95HpXDFXvJNqNKJPLLyXk3WtQe2ESwnQEAjDTa5If5vBpYvuirMoDYoNsLopZwLCiwX/s640/window+sill.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three 2016 batches. I should start a paint line of birch syrup hues....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Fun stuff!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel
like a bit of a pioneer in upper Midwest small
batch birch syrup making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anyone else
out there has tried his or her hand at this, I’d love to here about your
experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will keep the home fires
burning in the ever busy woodstove, and carry on with kitchen explorations, as
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have any thoughts about how
to deploy birch syrup in cooking, I love to hear those, as well.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJdq_SsLjPixrVuzaokrHjjvWKdzEd1OBUmHOkEb9FlsAq-MLyuslwXFC-o4wvUUZ3G6CkNJmeZ6JRiCaa7yFxqcta2MO1DNndV7dRZJx2LSjWckIwUX6U7SOF23TK4SPhPNHvJvhEt1S/s1600/ice+cream+close.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJdq_SsLjPixrVuzaokrHjjvWKdzEd1OBUmHOkEb9FlsAq-MLyuslwXFC-o4wvUUZ3G6CkNJmeZ6JRiCaa7yFxqcta2MO1DNndV7dRZJx2LSjWckIwUX6U7SOF23TK4SPhPNHvJvhEt1S/s640/ice+cream+close.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2016 by Brett Laidlaw </i></span></div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-7000441398008787072016-04-04T08:59:00.000-07:002016-04-07T14:24:54.473-07:00First Home Harvests 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTJPlqVp8bPFHg5VgY_Ko6s8YmEPgMxUO9iK2NXOEQ6JM95Y5fAoDPA9ztVlmVbAsvflPe-IrkngsJE4hF501-_jmXjWroNNF_OGZqdcRToVBRfLXed4j108Z8G7ZK0uhk0P38vEOyvra/s1600/above.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTJPlqVp8bPFHg5VgY_Ko6s8YmEPgMxUO9iK2NXOEQ6JM95Y5fAoDPA9ztVlmVbAsvflPe-IrkngsJE4hF501-_jmXjWroNNF_OGZqdcRToVBRfLXed4j108Z8G7ZK0uhk0P38vEOyvra/s640/above.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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One swallow does not a summer make, the saying goes, nor
does a warm, sunny day or two in March guarantee that spring is here to
stay. April came in with cold, blustery
winds, lashing snow squalls, all kinds of drama from the skies. Then a day of mellow warmth, but overnight, a
hard freeze, and in the forecast, more wintry weather. It makes for lively conversation at the dump
or the hardware store, but overall, it’s pretty much same as it ever was. Maybe there are actually regions
where spring slides mildly into place in a calm and predictable progression,
but this ain’t one of them….<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha7dKmBSxFDPiHqjjdM5yza1CehvUi1G08Fby5QQDpDdyEfTLGC5i_jIq5e2M3lHcqEdDPS_WL2mbI-jhAyJ6rJdDYIUbmYSCsgT92I2zkZvOawtCHMcQUJkbSILOKbEgfQG-Lxv_MbzKU/s1600/sunny+nettles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha7dKmBSxFDPiHqjjdM5yza1CehvUi1G08Fby5QQDpDdyEfTLGC5i_jIq5e2M3lHcqEdDPS_WL2mbI-jhAyJ6rJdDYIUbmYSCsgT92I2zkZvOawtCHMcQUJkbSILOKbEgfQG-Lxv_MbzKU/s640/sunny+nettles.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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However: there has
been enough spring-like weather that the ground has thawed, and warmed enough
to push forth a few greens shoots.
Chives are always the first things to come back in the herb garden, and
stinging nettles take the vanguard among the wild edibles. I was able to gather a handful of each last
evening, and we added them to a simple dinner comprised of recombined
leftovers: lentils, some chickpeas in a
spicy broth, to which I added some of the excellent German wieners that we
picked up at the <a href="http://chetekcafe.com/">Chetek Café</a>.<br />
<br />
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<br />
I started by
dicing up and rendering off a some homemade salt pork, and to the drippings
added diced potato, carrot, some chopped celery and shallot. Browned off the sliced wieners and then in
went the lentils, chickpeas and broth.
Simmered for 10 minutes, until the potatoes were just cooked through. Then just before serving I brought it back up
to a simmer and added the chopped nettles—baby nettle tips, really, the most
delectable kind of nettles.</div>
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I enjoyed the fact that lentils and nettles are almost anagrams. And we enjoyed immensely a warm and
comforting plate of food that far transcended any usual notion of
leftovers. I sprinkled some chopped
chives over the soup, and they added a fresh, vibrant pop—the first
chives of the year are definitely the best.
They had me thinking a baked potato dinner later in the week might be a
good idea.<br />
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Chives also went into a simple salad dressing along with—get
this—Wisconsin-grown Meyer lemon. You
read that right. On a quick getaway to <st1:city w:st="on">Madison</st1:city> this past weekend we visited the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Dane</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>
winter farmers market. And while this indoor
market is a tiny fraction the size of the magnificent summer market that
sprawls all around the capitol square, its grass-roots populism making a
mockery of the craven shenanigans that miserably unfold beneath the capitol
dome (ahem), there was still lots of great meat, cheese, and produce. We didn’t buy a lot, but came away with some
beautiful lettuce and a Meyer lemon that we purchased from a honey vendor. It came from a tree that I think he said was
planted in 1964, in a pot, of course, to shelter indoors during the <st1:place w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:place> winter. Not
exactly the kind of thing you expect to find at a northern winter farmers
market, but a lovely surprise. We were lucky to be at the market early enough to score one.</div>
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The first green harvests are always such a delight, even if
they are small, scarcely more than garnish.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/dining/winter-tomato-recipes.html">A chef writing in the New York Times recently</a>, trying to sell the idea
that hard, pink, winter tomatoes were worth your money and cooking efforts,
went so far as to argue that we live in a “post-seasonal world." Uhn-uhn, chef, you’re wrong. Maybe <i>you</i> live in a non-seasonal food world, but
only because you’re not looking, or trying, hard enough. Out here in the frigid sticks, the "seasonal world" is pretty hard to avoid. Not that I would want to.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2016 by Brett Laidlaw</i></span></div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-46589881821560576302016-04-01T07:16:00.000-07:002016-04-01T07:27:35.484-07:00The Saps of Spring, 2016 Edition<div class="MsoNormal">
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<br />
March is a difficult month.
It promises spring, but often belongs equally, if not more so, to
winter. It makes you think of gardening,
of growing things, but at our latitude all you can really do is pile potting
mix into little pots, get the seeds of the earliest, cool season plants
going—onions, leeks, lettuce, some herbs.
There are days of warm sun that tempt you to get out and till a plot,
but when you turn one clump of frigid, sodden soil, you turn quickly to plan
B. Never mind, there’s always that
minefield of winter-weathered dog treasures to clear, a perennial March
activity that more or less sums up the spirit of the season….<br />
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Maybe this is why a lot of my March days since moving to the
country have been spent drilling little holes in trees, gathering the cold,
slightly sweet water that weeps out, and cooking it down to incomparable
sweetness—tree syrups, both maple and birch, and even a bit of black
walnut. It’s nature’s little consolation
prize for enduring these purgatorial weeks, equal parts reward and
distraction. Though sap season comes
around every year, it’s always a little bit different. And this year has been more different than
most.</div>
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People on Twitter tend to get a little excited, you may have
noticed if you frequent that world. I
think it’s the ability to communicate instantaneously with friends,
acquaintances, and strangers alike, all across the planet, that tends to heighten reactions
exponentially. This year I saw a slew of
ecstatic tweets proclaiming that the weather for the week ahead looked perfect
for maple sugaring…in the middle of February.
But the trees weren’t looking at the daily highs and lows to decide how
to proceed; no, the trees were still frozen solid.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRky4LXJPGFd9pRUbK4LQkq-0bIA5tkDrKbRXwb-KKa2BfiLf_LIeI-6TcZGJ-9f5A-9-ZK4KsSKupu4UqqbaKMJTscYGqURo0Io1lbC5nQHAvsyjtWGn31jLylMSvLPpqBhfZ5aJ4LwN0/s1600/march+2016+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRky4LXJPGFd9pRUbK4LQkq-0bIA5tkDrKbRXwb-KKa2BfiLf_LIeI-6TcZGJ-9f5A-9-ZK4KsSKupu4UqqbaKMJTscYGqURo0Io1lbC5nQHAvsyjtWGn31jLylMSvLPpqBhfZ5aJ4LwN0/s640/march+2016+snow.jpg" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I forget exactly which March Surprise this was; we had a few....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But it did transpire that warmish weather continued—there
were days with record highs, with record high lows—and I did wind up tapping a
few maples, as well as the big box elder (a type of maple) in our yard, and our
one majestic black walnut tree, on February 21, because what the heck. And within a few days I did have a little
sap, emphasis on the little. The trees
ran sluggishly for about a day, then the weather turned seasonably cold
again. Six trees gave me about one
gallon of sap, which didn’t take too long to simmer down on the wood stove into
a half cup of syrup; and so began the season of passive, micro-batch syruping,
which continues to this day, as I reduce another five gallons of birch sap on
the woodstove and then on the range top.
I’m not going to wind up with a vast reserve of syrup, but then, I don’t
really need one. The birch, especially,
is sparingly deployed, maybe a tablespoon or so at a time, in salad dressings
and marinades, mainly for grilled pork.<br />
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCJ7UDXrxVzJHRCrYEEXXU0idXzVpHznE_3ptS8b3kpC9wEG2XdKOnJpAhyphenhyphenQDBGqlxnJjcH274nje56v8QeedT_LXVfzTuMtbN3lyBVNQEyxxrDU6yNjjt0Djj7BmcPrRUr1dCgBr9EUh/s1600/birch+small+pan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCJ7UDXrxVzJHRCrYEEXXU0idXzVpHznE_3ptS8b3kpC9wEG2XdKOnJpAhyphenhyphenQDBGqlxnJjcH274nje56v8QeedT_LXVfzTuMtbN3lyBVNQEyxxrDU6yNjjt0Djj7BmcPrRUr1dCgBr9EUh/s640/birch+small+pan.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birch syrup on the final reduction.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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With small amounts of sap—5 to 8 gallons at a time—I didn’t
bother firing up the labor-and-smoke-intensive <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-sweetest-tree_17.html">half-assed sap contraption</a> I’ve
used in years past. Instead, since we’re
still stoking the woodstove every day, at least in the mornings and evenings,
I’ve been setting a hotel pan and our Big Blue Le Creuset dutch oven on the
stove and letting the sap slowly reduce to a manageable amount, at which point
I boil the dickens out of it on our kitchen range top. You may wonder, <i>Isn’t that a lot of humidity
to be adding to your indoor environment?
Aren’t you producing great clouds of water vapor, steaming the wallpaper
off the walls, and covering everything with a sticky film? </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Legitimate concerns, to which the answers are: yes, I guess
it’s a fair amount of humidity, but things are generally dry this time of year,
so we haven’t noticed any issues; and as we have no wallpaper on our walls,
none to steam off! Finally, no, our walls
and ceiling bear no resemblance to a movie theater floor after being deluged
with Mountain Dew during the kiddie matinee. The whole idea, see, is that the sugary part
remains in the pot as the water evaporates.
Even if some of the sugar escaped a furiously boiling pot, I don’t think
it would go very far, the sugar molecules presumably being a good deal heavier
than water vapor. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The long and short of it is this: I think it’s a myth, one which I myself may
have helped to promulgate in the past, that cooking sap down inside has these undesirable
side effects. When I’m doing the fast,
final boiling, I’ve got the vent hood running, a couple of windows cracked, and
there’s no noticeable change in our indoor weather. Also, I’ve kept checking the walls near the
stove, the inside of the vent hood, for that legendary sticky film—none to be
found. Now, if I had a hundred, or even
40, 20 gallons to deal with at a time, I probably wouldn’t do it inside. But with these small batches, it works
fine. It’s also really nice to get
double duty out of the woodstove, heat for the home on chilly days, tasty
syrups for the kitchen.</div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvOe1tkl66M7UaTxv-sRR6XLFM5DOzpt-qu39ACtLI6CwjAOHhKEwTRYzEnq0zNt8UI_aXMPF645SjCxoAVOY4pXNJl0E6RGtruX2K0ggm11pknTnhPNJ7FFSdEaAKV0OYEmqdY0kivqw/s1600/stove.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="556" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvOe1tkl66M7UaTxv-sRR6XLFM5DOzpt-qu39ACtLI6CwjAOHhKEwTRYzEnq0zNt8UI_aXMPF645SjCxoAVOY4pXNJl0E6RGtruX2K0ggm11pknTnhPNJ7FFSdEaAKV0OYEmqdY0kivqw/s640/stove.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Puddock hard at work, multi-tasking.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It has taken me a while, years, in fact, to start to feel
comfortable using the birch syrup. It’s
completely unlike anything else I have in my pantry, so it didn’t slide easily
into any particular niche. People ask me
what it’s like, and I can only give vague analogies or general descriptions
that don’t capture the essence of the thing.
It’s dark, dark as molasses, and it has some molasses qualities, but
it’s not thick—in its body, its “mouth feel,” it’s lighter and thinner than
maple syrup. And banish any
thought that it’s like maple syrup just because it’s sugar that comes from a
tree. While maple syrup is composed of
sucrose, like plain old granulated sugar, birch syrup is glucose and fructose
(I think I’ve got that right). The
flavor of birch syrup is much…edgier.
There’s acidity to it, and often a little intriguing bitterness. It’s very aromatic, with sweet, menthol,
spicy, root beer type notes. Really, if
you’re interested in distinctive foods, particularly distinctive northern
foods, you’ve got to try it.</div>
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If you have access to a few birch trees, it’s easy enough to
get, as long as, you know, nature cooperates.
You tap the trees exactly as you would for maple syrup, drill a little
hole about 1 ½” deep, insert a tap, hang a bag, bucket, what have you, or
attached food grade tubing to allow the sap to run into a container. Then when you have a quantity, you cook it
down. And cook it down. And cook it down…. Because, the thing about birch sap: it’s generally less than half as concentrated
in sugars as maple sap. So if it
typically takes from 30 to 40 gallons of maple sap to produce a gallon of
syrup, with birch we’re talking about a roughly 80:1 ration. Breaking that down into the smaller batches
I’ve been doing, 10 gallons of sap gave
me one scant pint of syrup. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjq65tyJM2oxnX3PXvjYpusnMz2BtDSvEBOYGUMz8ZH8kb2reGfWZJx3b2ZEDPizofRU5_WTFH1VqgFPKfgSo0PW2nbNpNZtU0O0c8A6Sajr4dOMS4kNHN46y5Lxwpq3t_Y7aiGQ1QhHQ/s1600/syrup+assortment.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjq65tyJM2oxnX3PXvjYpusnMz2BtDSvEBOYGUMz8ZH8kb2reGfWZJx3b2ZEDPizofRU5_WTFH1VqgFPKfgSo0PW2nbNpNZtU0O0c8A6Sajr4dOMS4kNHN46y5Lxwpq3t_Y7aiGQ1QhHQ/s640/syrup+assortment.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syrup assortment: the small, very light one at center front is black walnut.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
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I’ve said
this before, and I’ll say it again: you
can look at the numbers, even the relatively reasonable maple ratios, and think
you get it, but until you actually do it, you can’t possibly understand. Still, it’s worth it. I go to a lot of trouble, tapping the trees,
hauling the heavy sap down the hill (luckily I do get to haul it <i>down</i> the
hill), cooking the sap down and down and down, but at the end I’ve got lovely
local products to work with through the rest of the year.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And here’s a handy fact of nature: the birch trees tend to start running as the
maple run is coming to an end. So if you
have access to both kinds of trees, you can move your tapping equipment over to
the birches when you’ve had your fill of maple sugaring, and the trees start to
break bud, rendering the sap bitter and unusable. Making syrup, especially birch syrup, is a labor of love,
and a rite of the season, a perennial celebration of those immemorial cycles. A lot of work and time, sure, but hey, it beats picking up dog crap….<br />
<br />
Earlier reports from sap season:<br />
<a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2013/05/sapped-out.html">Sapped Out, 2013</a><br />
<a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-sweetest-tree_17.html">The Sweetest Tree, 2013</a><br />
<a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2015/04/sweet-trees-x3.html">Sweet Trees X3, 2015</a><br />
<a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2010/03/sweetness-toil-and-smoke.html">Sweetness, Toil, and Smoke, 2010</a></div>
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<u><i>How I have used birch syrup:</i></u></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> * </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">As a marinade for grilled or smoked meat: it’s great brushed on a pork chop, which I
then season simply with salt and pepper.
For some reason, the birch syrup doesn’t burn on the grill the way maple
syrup or honey would. Perhaps because
the sugar composition is different. I’ve
also used it on grilled game birds, particularly woodcock. And I’ve used it in the cure for smoked duck
breast and venison with wonderful results.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Wl99oFwyd9mW3QGbcnvF53Mjp8oxyjf1fuIt97Cf5k6cOP1ftIrKG4HnlI6-X9qJvD0ZmgpUxvad7FwSq9OSGd6P1lTOnrajFrYhX2NHXosiAgV0IyQsyAB-zug7BBqMEI5anArlFCSf/s1600/birch+chops.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Wl99oFwyd9mW3QGbcnvF53Mjp8oxyjf1fuIt97Cf5k6cOP1ftIrKG4HnlI6-X9qJvD0ZmgpUxvad7FwSq9OSGd6P1lTOnrajFrYhX2NHXosiAgV0IyQsyAB-zug7BBqMEI5anArlFCSf/s640/birch+chops.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grilled red wattle pork chops in a birch syrup marinade; pork and birch have a delicious affinity.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
* In salad dressings: just a teaspoon or two in a vinaigrette
really makes its presence felt, and brings that distinctive, aromatic birch
flavor to any kind of salad.
<br />
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> * </span></span>In cocktails:
1 teaspoon birch syrup, a few drops of lemon juice, 2 ounces Scotch,
bourbon, or rye, stir it up, add ice, garnish with a lemon twist. Or for the lemon substitute blood oranges in season
for a cocktail I’ve dubbed “The Nasty Bruise.”
For a refreshing non-alcoholic drink, stir a couple teaspoons of birch
syrup into sparkling water, add ice and perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Those are the main applications I’ve found for birch
syrup. I’m having a decent year with the
birch this spring, so I’ll have a good supply to experiment with through the
year. I repeat: a little goes a long way with birch syrup.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfo2qvVmO8Qz8EI1mq7zlKa6ddv6i-3aIloFKZDSf1AmkL0T2kl8wsPsbxa7AC6wCEIm0d7NHq7kVoy-XwTF0Tzrf0t6UFPN0112e3SiLnIC5mNKBD26hfO4RPCOTn9dyidjZ6GFlhAyQB/s1600/birch+mustard+carrots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfo2qvVmO8Qz8EI1mq7zlKa6ddv6i-3aIloFKZDSf1AmkL0T2kl8wsPsbxa7AC6wCEIm0d7NHq7kVoy-XwTF0Tzrf0t6UFPN0112e3SiLnIC5mNKBD26hfO4RPCOTn9dyidjZ6GFlhAyQB/s640/birch+mustard+carrots.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
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<h4>
Birch-Mustard Seed Carrot Salad</h4>
</div>
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<i>Two servings. </i></div>
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1 large or 2 small carrots</div>
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2 tablespoons olive oil</div>
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2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds</div>
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2 tablespoons lemon juice</div>
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1 tablespoon birch syrup</div>
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1 small garlic clove sliced very thin</div>
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A bit of chiffonade leek or scallion green, optional</div>
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Salt and pepper</div>
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Peel the carrots and slice them very thin—1/8” or less. A Benriner mandoline is handy for this—watch
your fingers!</div>
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Heat the oil over medium low and add the mustard seeds. Stir them around until they just start to
pop, then remove from the heat. Add the lemon juice, birch syrup, and garlic and stir well. Pour the dressing over the carrots, add a
couple good pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and stir well. Let the salad sit for at least a half hour or
up to several hours before serving.
Sprinkle the optional leek or scallion greens over top just before
serving.</div>
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<i><b>Maple syrup variation:</b></i>
in place of the birch syrup, use 2 teaspoons of maple syrup and ½
teaspoon of Dijon mustard--I haven't actually tried this variation, but I don't see how it could be bad.<br />
<br />
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<b><i>Here’s a brief record of weather, phenology, and such since
syrup season began at the end of February:</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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Feb 27 record highs</div>
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Feb 29 1<sup>st</sup> ½ cup maple syrup done</div>
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March 1, “brittle and chill” and the trees aren’t producing
sap </div>
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March 4, 3 inches of snow</div>
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March 8 red-winged blackbirds back & a scant half cup of
black walnut syrup finished from 56 ounces sap—that’s all for black walnut, it
didn’t produce enough sap after that to bother with</div>
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3/10 snow’s all gone and Mary notes, looking out the kitchen
window, “It’s not winter anymore,” to which I reply, “It’s not spring,
either. It’s mud season.”</div>
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3/10 cooked down a tiny bit of box elder syrup, “single
source”….</div>
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Shrimp on the barbie, definite grilling weather</div>
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3/11 picked garlic mustard along the Rush River at Brush Cr
Rd; grilled pork chops; summery</div>
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3/12 summery; dinner at Tina’s, I wear shorts</div>
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3/16? 2” rain, thunder</div>
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3/14 woodcock return</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/17 SNOW again, grass covered</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/18 snow gone</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/22 tapped birches and they were running; seemed pretty
vigorous, but didn’t get much for a few days</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/23 SNOW again! 3-4”.</div>
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3/24 snow gone!</div>
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3/27 finished the last maple, moved over to birch</div>
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3/28 5 gallons birch mostly cooked down</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/29 another 5 gallons birch gathered, mostly cooked down;
sunny and warm, in shorts again</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/30 It didn’t seem that there was much sap flow, but the
eight birch gave around four gallons total, which reduced gently on the
woodstove overnight</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3/31 The house is starting to smell birchy with the sap on
the woodstove getting right down there.
It’s raining now, but the forecast is for an inch of snow by the end of
the day. April Fool!<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Text and photos copyright 2016 by Brett Laidlaw</span></i></div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-63851290553552553422016-03-03T09:45:00.000-08:002016-03-04T09:08:52.503-08:00Getting Started With Sourdough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7b3hjuBQaHQBeK6ZlmN1LC1C72Y5G6m6CI_E1r4X8AuDe-g32xoa7x_EqFeUqxPwcjA76_LmD1bCFB2FcsYWUSt53f-BwlU0Je7dxdq15XdbxWUyVa3gZKml1qkMVahxdTi1dVMYDjiE/s1600/old+bubbly.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7b3hjuBQaHQBeK6ZlmN1LC1C72Y5G6m6CI_E1r4X8AuDe-g32xoa7x_EqFeUqxPwcjA76_LmD1bCFB2FcsYWUSt53f-BwlU0Je7dxdq15XdbxWUyVa3gZKml1qkMVahxdTi1dVMYDjiE/s640/old+bubbly.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'll be leading a session on sourdough bread basics at this year's <a href="http://www.hayriverti.org/announcements/traditionalandgreenskillsevent2016">Hay River Transition Initiative's Traditional and Green Skills Event</a> , this Saturday, March 5, so I thought it would be wise to revisit the process of starting and nurturing a traditional sourdough starter, or <i>levain</i>, as the French call it. My starter is now 13 years old, so obviously it's been a while since I went through the whole process. I've got a sort of time-lapse series of photos below, showing the starter progressing from a rather unremarkable mixture of rye flour and water to a still unremarkable, but bubbly, mixture of rye and wheat flour and water teeming with microbial life in the form of natural wild yeasts and various beneficial (or, at least, not harmful) bacteria, i.e., sourdough starter. Or so I assume. You'd need a microbiologist to analyze it in order to know exactly what's in there, but of course for home bread baking purposes, we take a pragmatic approach. </div>
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Perhaps best to start with a definition. Sourdough bread is bread that is leavened--made to rise--with a starter culture (see above, bubbling, microbial) rather than with storebought yeast, whether cakes of fresh yeast or active dry yeast, also called baker's yeast. The starter may be one maintained as I describe here, or it may just be a
lump of dough saved from the current batch of bread, used to leaven the
next batch, from which another lump is saved, to leaven the next batch.... A starter is, in brief, a homemade yeast factory.</div>
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Sourdough breads are different from "normal" yeasted breads in that they generally take much longer to proof (rise), are usually denser and moister, keep very well, and may or may not have a noticeably sour flavor. The fact that sourdough breads may not be particularly sour points up one problem with the terminology. I sometimes refer to these types of bread as "naturally leavened," but this isn't perfect, either, since the types of yeast you purchase are not unnatural, not at all. The French understand that <i>pain au levain</i> just means bread leavened with a starter culture, but we lack a convenient, clear term for this. Never mind: as long as you understand that the "sourdough" bread you bake in Wisconsin or Minnesota or wherever isn't going to taste like that loaf you bought on Fisherman's Wharf while vacationing in San Francisco, we should be fine.</div>
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<h4 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Starter is NOT "an ingredient"</h4>
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The main piece of advice I always give to folks just starting out with natural leaven bread baking is to pay deliberate, concerted attention to maintaining the health and vigor of your starter. The starter is a living thing that requires care and nurturing, rather like a moist, microbial child. (Which, come to think of it, could well describe many regular, human children, as well.) If you think of the starter as an ingredient in the bread, like salt, honey, flour, what have you, and assume you can just chuck X amount of poorly maintained starter into a dough and it will magically produce wonderful bread, well, that's not going to happen. You'll be disappointed, and discouraged, and probably stop try to make sourdough breads, assuming it's just too hard; it's not.</div>
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But, if you take the approach that starter is not an ingredient in the ordinary sense, but rather that it is <b><i>the bread itself, in nascent, incipient form</i></b>, then you'll have a much, much better chance of success. Starting with a relatively small amount of lively starter, you build up a dough which really is just an expansion of the starter. Those microorganisms that thrive in a healthy starter will likewise colonize the whole dough through the processes of mixing, kneading, proofing, and finally baking, and they are what leaven the dough--make it rise--as well as providing that distinctive sourdough flavor and texture.</div>
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Ignore your starter at your peril. Take good care of it, and it will make you very happy. Below I'll talk about my general routine for maintaining and baking with a sourdough starter. To begin, here's how you get your own going.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XaaqqWEefB_Y0mjlohUBAHIETe9Yp7-1Btq7MCXPxNKbmwEpBxyFAVelDLuUlmFgNEJg-MmoVM3Xf8e0Ra5tr3xVMLtOpgaYQ2Ti9X3Bxrd0qefxaJNUqB-8juplNM4fpjph_Zp0VcHq/s1600/sourdough+basket.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XaaqqWEefB_Y0mjlohUBAHIETe9Yp7-1Btq7MCXPxNKbmwEpBxyFAVelDLuUlmFgNEJg-MmoVM3Xf8e0Ra5tr3xVMLtOpgaYQ2Ti9X3Bxrd0qefxaJNUqB-8juplNM4fpjph_Zp0VcHq/s640/sourdough+basket.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A basket of sourdough loaves from my farmers market baking days, aka "The Real Bread Years"(2003-2010). From left, Wheaty, Strasbourg Seedy, Walnut Bread</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Starting a starter</h4>
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There are lots of ways to get a starter culture going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people recommend using apples, bananas,
cooked potatoes, even Champagne grapes to capture and nurture wild yeast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can even use a bit of commercial yeast to
get things going—over time the wild yeasts that exist in the flour with which
you feed the starter, and in the air around us, will give their unique
qualities to the starter.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I favor a method of culturing a starter which<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like it for its simplicity, and because
it’s so true to the basic nature of bread, using only flour and water.</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Go to the co-op and get a few pounds of organic rye
flour—I use the kind distributed by Whole Grain Milling of Welcome, MN; it’s
available at most co-ops in western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rye flour is excellent for
starting a culture because it’s high in sugar and tends to have a lot of
natural yeast in it</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Day 1</u></b>—In a
glass or ceramic bowl (don’t use metal or plastic--unless it's NSF food service grade plastic, which in fact is what I keep my starter in now) mix ¾ cup of rye flour with
½ cup of filtered or untreated well water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mixture
will be like thick porridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover with
plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place—70 to 75 degrees—for two to three days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(With the light on and the door ajar, our
oven is right around 75 degrees.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
two days the mixture should have swelled up a little, and it should have a bit
of a sour smell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this hasn’t happened
in two days, leave it another day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the flour can go moldy during this
stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you see mold on the mixture,
throw it out and start again, making sure you use a very clean bowl.</i></b></div>
<br />
Below is the mixture after two days. You can see that it has puffed up a bit--note the slight separation between the bowl and the edge of the dough. It may smell a bit sour, or it may just smell sort of grainy, porridgy. As long as it doesn't smell horrible, poopy or dumpsterish, you're on your way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR98t7oXZtEtKbS-prFOaiv79Uu39shO4RLO5PwRoWaYnRCTmLlk727ULQL9Q1ZnZv-azDxd_U0okuSV8Sx00Uam4u6ntO2NvB_jwSzIDHAoLlp1f7r5WaTHYEqOWgeY5FfjZYLtRnmd9r/s1600/day+3+getting+puffy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR98t7oXZtEtKbS-prFOaiv79Uu39shO4RLO5PwRoWaYnRCTmLlk727ULQL9Q1ZnZv-azDxd_U0okuSV8Sx00Uam4u6ntO2NvB_jwSzIDHAoLlp1f7r5WaTHYEqOWgeY5FfjZYLtRnmd9r/s640/day+3+getting+puffy.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><u><b>Day 3:</b></u> When the mixture is slightly swelled and perhaps a bit sour-smelling, discard half the mixture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To the half remaining, add ½ cup of organic rye flour and ½ cup filtered
water, mix well, cover with plastic wrap and put it back in its warm place for
24 hours. [NOTE: The reason we discard some of the starter in these early stages is that we need to keep adding flour, but don't want to wind up with too much starter. If you find this instruction loathsome, perhaps find a friend or three or four to go in with you, and you'll all wind up with starter, and waste very little. This concept is the basis of "friendship bread," a sort of dough-based chain letter. Remember those?]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Below, the starter on day four, loosening up as the culture proliferates, starting to bubble. It should smell a bit sour now. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix7BgbexU1lFNS6mpaZold-1Gs0Law7tyGnB_GnsHgPUAVfd5u11PMLfs40LNLTK72-HYMb68tyPRIG_BIwfIYeEdeQrNDI7paFNwEnlAjqf_Adxp_R0nmp04-gDsInhqObSgVdb_8OsMc/s1600/day+4+bubbles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix7BgbexU1lFNS6mpaZold-1Gs0Law7tyGnB_GnsHgPUAVfd5u11PMLfs40LNLTK72-HYMb68tyPRIG_BIwfIYeEdeQrNDI7paFNwEnlAjqf_Adxp_R0nmp04-gDsInhqObSgVdb_8OsMc/s640/day+4+bubbles.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<![endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Day 4</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">—By
now the mixture will be smelling quite sour, and may look a bit bubbly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throw half of it away again, and this time
add ¾ cup of water, and ½ cup each rye and <i><b>unbleached</b></i> all-purpose white
flour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mix, cover, let sit another 24
hours.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Below, the starter on Day 5, after its first wheat flour meal. It's quite liquid and bubbly. Exciting! We're close to having a usable sourdough starter! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFBy-rqWpHh6ClsH3sgRXWAEoC_eKgX0GGjb51IH242EwZiA2jQGqxsNmdk8QPFsNtdegfbha4rPZGVmhypwNIb6N8Bks1TEdWdJa22K04BdGT6gROMN-BFpsOEXKy4npxUCv0zmaCjHD/s1600/day+5+after+adding+wheat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFBy-rqWpHh6ClsH3sgRXWAEoC_eKgX0GGjb51IH242EwZiA2jQGqxsNmdk8QPFsNtdegfbha4rPZGVmhypwNIb6N8Bks1TEdWdJa22K04BdGT6gROMN-BFpsOEXKy4npxUCv0zmaCjHD/s640/day+5+after+adding+wheat.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Day 6</u></b>—Don’t
discard any starter this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add 2
cups water, ½ cup rye flour, and 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (you may need to move it to a larger container).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your starter should now be ready to use, but will benefit from a couple more refreshings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Store it in a glass container with a
tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Below, the starter on Day 6, much like Day 5, only moreso. Very bubbly, developing a nice sour aroma. A mature, well refreshed sourdough starter has an appealing winy or vinegary smell to it. Old starter in need of refreshing will smell acrid and unappetizing--it sometimes reminds me of sniffing a can of wall paint. That's not to say the smelly starter can't be saved, only to stress that a well maintained starter smells good, appetizing.</div>
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In the photo below, you can kind of maybe sort of see the texture of a very active starter. It's aerated, light, almost mousse-like.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YzH-YkvcQoqgMopCacNbuXZ-CtHTjrMdnrDHhSTu27sq1g9f3jvdbOads6alcFkgv4HRSpaDmFC4L79981xqxv6sTinkXiuVCt_h3B7CQtYqyO8sWJ8cgXlNHwbSSEMH_VPZb7y0ccAM/s1600/day+6+texture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YzH-YkvcQoqgMopCacNbuXZ-CtHTjrMdnrDHhSTu27sq1g9f3jvdbOads6alcFkgv4HRSpaDmFC4L79981xqxv6sTinkXiuVCt_h3B7CQtYqyO8sWJ8cgXlNHwbSSEMH_VPZb7y0ccAM/s640/day+6+texture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Moved to a larger container from the bowl I started it in, the new starter is fermenting robustly:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvbzW7TgOh8s5xMb-EICxZrbNub3fzyAnZ16yeJc20pvi3efxbMP62IE954I1vmtZ3QYb7b9QVt4uS2yS86x05sbQQ-yfRnfG7U4M1F2mmvFiXumKFTxLdrKvTFZsUd6xFHtEQBh0eAp3/s1600/new+bubbly.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvbzW7TgOh8s5xMb-EICxZrbNub3fzyAnZ16yeJc20pvi3efxbMP62IE954I1vmtZ3QYb7b9QVt4uS2yS86x05sbQQ-yfRnfG7U4M1F2mmvFiXumKFTxLdrKvTFZsUd6xFHtEQBh0eAp3/s640/new+bubbly.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
Here's why you go to the trouble of maintaining a sourdough starter. I refreshed it a couple more times after Day 6 before baking, and below are the first loaves I baked with the new starter, mostly unbleached white flour, a bit of rye, whole wheat bread flour, and a handful of cornmeal:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaXMWtCIMIwrEdl7xlZhO2po2htA-dJoa6gtAauJeYu7fH9G6uB08AnaKc8c51ZZoBFyu_KVMFoKYFEcbnfo1wXNZYU6YLtdW8cJsx2SR4V1XiKmTgh7n_eE7NeC4I1A21l2ZnvrV1Xwh/s1600/firstloaves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaXMWtCIMIwrEdl7xlZhO2po2htA-dJoa6gtAauJeYu7fH9G6uB08AnaKc8c51ZZoBFyu_KVMFoKYFEcbnfo1wXNZYU6YLtdW8cJsx2SR4V1XiKmTgh7n_eE7NeC4I1A21l2ZnvrV1Xwh/s640/firstloaves.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h4>
Maintaining the Starter</h4>
I have a sort of idiosyncratic program for feeding my starter, which involves three different flours. It's a little more complicated than some methods, but I've done it for so long now, and have been so happy with the results, I'm not changing now. The basic method is this: To each 3 cups of existing starter, add 2 cups of water and 2 cups of flour. That flour may be all-purpose or whole wheat. I've not experimented with an all-rye starter, but that can be done, as well. I'm sure the Internet will provide abundant advice. Whatever you do, don't use bleached flour, because, 1) It's gross, and 2) Doesn't that sort of defeat the whole purpose of an endeavor like this?<br />
<br />
My personal method is this: as above, 3 cups existing starter, 2 cups water, then: 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour; 1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour (from Whole Grain Milling), 1/2 cup organic rye flour. Since almost all my breads contain at least some whole grains, I like having a slightly grainy starter, but I also find it too complicated to maintain more than one starter. I honestly have no idea how I came up with this formula, only that I fixed upon it a long time ago, and it works.<br />
<br />
After I have refreshed the starter, I let it sit at room temperature for a few hours or overnight, until bubbles start to form on the surface again, then refrigerate it.<br />
<br />
<h4>
About "the sponge"</h4>
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</xml><![endif]-->A common technique in sourdough baking is to add one step prior to mixing up the final dough. This is generally known as a sponge. You can look at it as a final refreshing of the starter, but this time you add flour(s) specific to the type of bread you'll be making. For example, in my recipe for a dense European-style rye bread, I combine starter, water, and rye flour only. I mix this up the night before making up the final dough. My whole wheat sourdough starts with a sponge of starter, water, whole wheat bread flour, and a bit of rye. To make the dough, I add some more whole wheat flour and salt, finish by adding all-purpose unbleached to create a workable dough (though you could use all whole wheat).<br />
<br />
The sponge method ensures good, vigorous fermentation, and shortens the proofing time for the dough. It may mean the final bread is a bit less sour than if you mixed the dough without a sponge. That's either better or worse depending on your taste. With an overnight sponge I would make up the dough at, say, 8:00 a.m., and the dough would be ready to loaf up at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m., ready to bake at 2:00 or 3:00--a lot depends, of course, on air temperatures, even relative humidity, the particular starter, etc. Without a sponge the dough will need to proof probably twice as long. You can try different approaches and see what works for you.<br />
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<h4>
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</xml><![endif]-->Establish a baking schedule</h4>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
To get the best results from baking with sourdough starter, you have to plan ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to bake on Saturday, for example,
you should take your starter out of the fridge on Thursday night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Your starter will probably
look pretty unappetizing at this point, with some scummy-looking stuff on top,
perhaps a layer of yellow or grayish water underneath, and the flour all sunk to the bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overnight, as the mixture warms up and the
yeast becomes active, it should rise up in a uniform, bubbly mass.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let it come to room temperature
overnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Friday morning refresh the
starter as described above—stir the starter and pour some off, leaving 3 cups;
add the water and flour; mix well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Friday night you may want to make a “sponge” for your dough, which is basically another refreshing of the dough, but with a flour blend specific to the type of bread you want to make.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saturday morning you’ll mix the dough, and
Saturday afternoon you’ll bake it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
If your starter hasn’t been
refreshed for more than a week, take it out Wednesday (for Saturday baking) and
refresh it twice—Thursday morning and again Friday morning—before making the
sponge on Friday night. It’s best to refresh your starter at
least once a week, though you can leave it in the fridge for two weeks and
maybe a little longer, and still bring it back to life.</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
When your starter has sat around unattended for a few days, you may see a thin liquid layer at the top. No worries. Just stir it into the starter and carry on.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitim2qdOUT4ULIg31BRx0wmODWi9PrFWA_h_zo6RJhFLvOwetTY-KTHThRmcczCHka8bhrwXhd8kPL3M6tkC6TKHSThr41BbnrlY9IgfNV4itT_xYXMDueoq7rIYn6UyYHgEMDUi4cXw_q/s1600/old+starter+from+side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitim2qdOUT4ULIg31BRx0wmODWi9PrFWA_h_zo6RJhFLvOwetTY-KTHThRmcczCHka8bhrwXhd8kPL3M6tkC6TKHSThr41BbnrlY9IgfNV4itT_xYXMDueoq7rIYn6UyYHgEMDUi4cXw_q/s640/old+starter+from+side.JPG" width="504" /></a></div>
<br />
There may also appear a sort of crust on top of the starter. If it's quite thick, I sometimes lift it up and throw it away. If not too thick, I just stir it into the starter along with any accumulated liquid.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCbcrq17ImwCuWhNIy60y3TuGgd-DzbmDFQqbGbNzJaz8Z8u9P47Nf20KHOVjO9BYKZbhbP6ms9EUVWk-wBVnF7lvo-ITmGgrW7xRMiSBGtnZSxCfN5ysZ3D4W3KhOTCGw2G0g4VM0QB5y/s1600/new+starter+under+crust.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCbcrq17ImwCuWhNIy60y3TuGgd-DzbmDFQqbGbNzJaz8Z8u9P47Nf20KHOVjO9BYKZbhbP6ms9EUVWk-wBVnF7lvo-ITmGgrW7xRMiSBGtnZSxCfN5ysZ3D4W3KhOTCGw2G0g4VM0QB5y/s640/new+starter+under+crust.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Natural leaven bread baking has inspired many volumes of
theory, recipes, and mystical reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can’t cover all aspects of the process here, but fortunately there are
lots of books you can refer to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes
the experts contradict each other on the “best” way to do something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some books take a very precise, almost
scientific approach, while others are almost like religious tracts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are some books that I’ve found useful:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b><i>The Art of Handmade Bread</i></b>, by Dan Lepard (or anything else by Lepard)<b><i> </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baking with Julia</i></b>, by Dorie Greenspan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Artisan Baking Across America</i></b>,
by Maggie Glezer</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Italian Baker</i></b>, by Carol Field<br />
<br />
<u>In French:</u><br />
<br />
<i><b>Pains de Tradition</b></i>, by Marguerite Rousseau (I <i>really like </i>this one)<br />
<b><i>100% Pain</i></b>, by Eric Kayser, et al <br />
<br />
A couple of recipes:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPNeo1xdChBvZxRIfBW7xqhmp9l25mM-ocog_7LYlWtQTKunDtis2A1V161MdKZTVgS7bmNyWQMgtO6mdwCDDvIFrAtyZZzez44KfFH_8YO-wEBU57uHw2P2Sxuc1f5KxUAvd0yT7Nv4A/s1600/cropped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPNeo1xdChBvZxRIfBW7xqhmp9l25mM-ocog_7LYlWtQTKunDtis2A1V161MdKZTVgS7bmNyWQMgtO6mdwCDDvIFrAtyZZzez44KfFH_8YO-wEBU57uHw2P2Sxuc1f5KxUAvd0yT7Nv4A/s640/cropped.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
A Mixed Leaven Loaf</h3>
<br />
Especially in a chilly winter home, adding a bit of active dry yeast to your sourdough can give a more satisfying result. In no way do I consider this "cheating." It's just another way of producing delicious bread. It also shortens the process, allowing you to mix up a dough in the morning, bake it in late afternoon, and have lovely fresh bread for dinner.<br />
<br />
This batch makes about 3 pounds of dough, enough for 3 smaller or 2 large loaves. These instructions are generally for free-form loaves baked on a stone. It's the method that works best for this sort of dough.<br />
<br />
1 1/2 cups warm water<br />
1/2 rounded teaspoon active dry yeast<br />
2 cups starter, 450 grams<br />
1/3 cup rye flour<br />
1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour<br />
2 1/2 to 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour<br />
1 tablespoon salt<br />
1 tablespoon honey, optional<br />
<br />
Put the water in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add the starter, salt, and honey. Stir in the rye and whole wheat bread flour, and 2 cups of the all-purpose. Gradually add more flour to form a dough, not too soft, not too firm. Knead the dough very briefly, just enough to bring it all together. Then let the dough rest for 15 to 20 minutes. This resting period is important, as it allows the flours to uniformly absorb the liquid. It also makes the dough lots easier to work with once you come back to it.<br />
<br />
After 15 to 20 minutes, bring the dough onto a floured countertop and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough--it should bounce back brightly when you poke it with your finger. Add flour as required to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface, but add just a bit at a time. The kneading should take no more than 3 or 4 minutes, if that.<br />
<br />
Return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise for 4 to 6 hours, until the dough shows definite signs of rising--it may not have doubled in size, but will now be soft and retain the imprint of a finger poke.<br />
<br />
Divide and shape the dough as you prefer, and let rise another 1 1/2 to 2 hours--rising times depend HUGELY on ambient temperature; in a 62-degree winter home the dough will rise much more slowly than in a summer kitchen at 80 degrees. Refrigerating the dough for part of the rising time is a good option if room temp is too warm. Slower rising generally = better flavor and texture.<br />
<br />
Preheat your oven with baking stone in place to 475. When the oven is hot, move your loaves to a cornmeal-dusted peel and slash the surface as you like. Slide the loaves onto the stone.<br />
<br />
Adding steam to the oven helps create a good crust and promotes maximum expansion of the loaves. Some people use a spray bottle to add water a couple of times in the first 10 minutes of baking. I have sacrificed an old cast iron skillet which I keep on the bottom rack of my oven, a few inches below the stone, and I slide 5 or 6 ice cubes into the skillet at the start of baking. With this method, you don't have to open the door again during early stage of baking.<br />
<br />
Bake the bread at 475 for 10 to 15 minutes, until it just starts to brown, then reduce the heat to 430 and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the bread is nicely, uniformly browned, and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. NOTE: Baking times and temps will vary HUGELY from one oven to another. Get to know your appliance, and adjust accordingly.<br />
<br />
When the bread is done, cool on a wire rack. <br />
<br />
<br />
Here's a recipe for a basic crusty, hearty loaf. This makes about 2 pounds of dough:<br />
<br />
<h3>
Basic Small Batch "White" Sourdough</h3>
<br />
250 grams (1 cup) starter<br />
1 cup water<br />
1 tablespoon honey<br />
1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour <br />
1 1/2 teaspoons salt<br />
1/4 cup cornmeal, optional<br />
1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour<br />
<br />
In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients EXCEPT the all-purpose flour. Add 1 cup of the AP flour and mix well, then add more AP flour a bit at a time until you have a soft but workable dough--i.e., not too sticky, not too stiff.<br />
<br />
Proceed with proofing, shaping, baking as described in the Mixed Leaven recipe.<br />
<br />
_____________________________________________________ <br />
<br />
And here are a couple of recipes I put together for sourdough classes I taught a number of years ago, based on breads I made a lot during my farmers market baking career (aka "The Real Bread Years"). They are probably overly elaborate, possibly redundant in some areas, and possibly even contradictory to other things I may have said. But, they will work. Offered here without apology. Well, with a little apology. The batches are kind of huge, probably best to halve them.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.0pt;">European Sourdough Rye</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">4 cups water</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 ½ cups refreshed starter</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">3 ½ cups rye flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">In a large bowl, mix the
water, starter, and rye flour to make a sponge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at least 8 hours or
overnight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 ½ Tbl salt</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 cup whole wheat bread
flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">5 cups unbleached
all-purpose white flour, plus extra for kneading</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 tsp vegetable oil (canola,
corn, sunflower, etc.—not olive oil)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Cornmeal for dusting the
peel</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Add the salt, whole wheat
flour, and 2 cups all-purpose flour to the sponge and mix well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add another 2 cups all-purpose flour, mix
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add the 5<sup>th</sup> cup
gradually, and when the dough is firm enough to knead place it on a floured
counter or table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Knead, adding all-purpose
flour as required, for 2 to 3 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allow
the dough to rest for 10 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put
the bowl in the sink and fill it with water to soak.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Knead the dough for another
5 minutes or so, adding flour very sparingly as needed, until the dough is
smooth and elastic—it should bounce back almost immediately when you poke in
your finger a half-inch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the whole grains in this dough mean that it
will not be “smooth” the way a white dough is smooth; it should be uniform in
texture, not lumpy.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Wash the mixing bowl, dry
it, and oil it with the 1 tsp vegetable oil.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Knead the dough for another
minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Place it in the oiled bowl, then
turn the dough over with the oiled side up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, place it in a warm (70 to 80 degree)
spot and let the dough rise till roughly doubled, 3 to 4 hours.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Divide the dough—however
many loaves you want to make, it’s up to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This recipe will make 4 good-sized loaves, or 3 big loaves, or more
smaller loaves, as you choose.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Preheat your oven to 450
degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If using a baking stone, place
the stone in the oven before preheating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Place a small cast iron skillet on the bottom of the oven, or on the
bottom rack. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cast iron skillet used
for this purpose will be ruined for any other use; we’ll be putting water and
ice cubes in the skillet to create steam in the oven during baking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have an electric oven, you may throw
the ice cubes and water directly on the bottom of the oven, though this will
discolor and slightly warp the floor of your oven over time.)</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Shape the loaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Place on a peel or cutting board dusted with
cornmeal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover with lightly oiled
plastic wrap or a plastic cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let
rise 35 to 50 minutes, till the dough appears well-risen, though it may not
double in size at this stage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Place the loaves on a wooden
peel lightly dusted with cornmeal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Before baking you may, if
you like, lightly dust the loaves with flour sifted through a sieve.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">With a single-edge razor
blade or very sharp knife, slash the top of the loaves—one long slash down the
middle, or three diagonal slashes along an oval loaf, or any pattern you like,
as long as it is fairly regular.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Have ready 2 ice cubes and ¼
cup water. </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">If using a baking stone, place
the stone in the oven before preheating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Place a small cast iron skillet on the bottom of the oven, or on the
bottom rack. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cast iron skillet used
for this purpose will be ruined for any other use; we’ll be putting water and
ice cubes in the skillet to create steam in the oven during baking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">)</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Slide the loaves from the
peel onto the preheated baking stone. </span><span style="font-family: "arial";">Toss the ice cubes,
then the water into the cast iron skillet—<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">careful
not to scald yourself with the steam!</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Bake at 450 for 10 minutes,
then turn the loaves around in the oven for even baking and turn the oven down
to 425.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bake another 15 to 25 minutes
more, depending on the size of the loaves, until the loaves are nicely browned
and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom (an instant-read meat thermometer
will read 200 degrees at the center of a fully baked loaf)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Cool the loaves on a rack
when done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allow to cool at least 1 hour
before slicing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Variations</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "arial";">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This dough
is an excellent base for fruit or nut breads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can make three kinds of bread from one batch of dough.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Bake one third of the dough
plain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">For <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Walnut Bread</i></b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the first rising:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flatten one-third of the dough into a large
rectangle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sprinkle with 8 ounces
roughly chopped toasted walnuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Press
the nuts into the dough, roll the dough up and knead<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for a minute or two to distribute the nuts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">For <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fig Bread</i></b>: After the
first rising:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flatten one-third of the
dough into a large rectangle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sprinkle
with 8 ounces roughly chopped dried figs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Press the pieces of fig into the dough, roll the dough up and knead for
a minute or two to distribute the fruit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">You can also use <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">raisins,
dried apricots, currants, or a combination</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of our popular breads is a “Very Fruity”
loaf made with figs, dried apricots and currants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Raisin Rye is made with black and golden
raisins and currants—the “currants” I’m talking about here are the tiny raisins
called currants or sometimes Zante currants, not the red or black currant fruit
used to make jelly.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span><br />
<br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Organic Sourdough Wheat</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 ½ cups starter</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cups water</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">½ cup organic rye flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">3 cups organic whole wheat
bread flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Make the sponge:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mix all the ingredients above in a large bowl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at
least 8 hours, or overnight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">2 cups <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>organic whole wheat bread flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 ½ Tbl salt</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">3 to 4 cups organic
unbleached white flour, such as Swany White, Gold N White, etc.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">1 tsp vegetable oil</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Cornmeal to dust the peel or
baking sheets</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">To the sponge add 2 cups
whole wheat bread flour, salt, and 2 cups organic white flour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mix well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Add white flour a cup or so at a time, and mix till the dough is too
stiff to mix with a spoon. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Turn the dough out onto your
kneading surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knead for 2 minutes,
adding flour as needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let dough rest
for 10 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put the bowl in the sink
and fill it with water to soak.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Knead the dough for about 5
minutes, again adding flour sparingly as needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of this kneading the dough should
be smooth and elastic—it should bounce back immediately when you poke it with
your finger.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Wash the bowl, dry it, and
oil it with the 1 tsp vegetable oil.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Knead the dough for another
minute or two, put it in the bowl, turn it oiled side up, cover with plastic
wrap and let rise till doubled in size, 4 to 5 hours.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Shaping and proofing the
loaves:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This bread is best in fairly
large loaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divide the dough into 3 or
4 pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Form into rounds or ovals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Set them to rise on a peel, cutting board, or
baking sheet dusted with cornmeal—or in floured bannetons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap or a
plastic cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let rise in a warm place
for about 1 ½ hours, till well risen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Preheat your oven to 450
degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If using a baking stone, place
the stone in the oven before preheating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Place a small cast iron skillet on the bottom of the oven, or on the
bottom rack. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cast iron skillet used
for this purpose will be ruined for any other use; we’ll be putting water and
ice cubes in the skillet to create steam in the oven during baking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">)</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Just before baking, slash
the top of the loaves with a single-edge razor blade or very sharp knife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have ready ¼ cup of water and 2 ice cubes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Slide the loaves off the
peel onto the stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Toss the ice cubes,
then the water into the cast iron skillet—<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">careful
not to scald yourself with the steam!</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lower the heat to 425, turn the loaves around
in the oven for even baking, and bake another 12 to 15 minutes, till the loaves
are very brown and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cool on a rack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This bread should cool for at least 2 hours
before slicing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Optional refrigeration method</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "arial";">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chilling
the dough makes it rise more slowly, and will give the bread a chewier texture,
crunchier crust, and, with natural leaven breads, a more pronounced sour
taste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>French bakeries often proof their
bread at low temperatures for 18 hours or even longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can get close to this quality by chilling
the dough in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After removing the dough from the
refrigerator punch it down and knead it for a minute or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allow it to sit at room temperature for 2 to
4 hours to warm up—this will depend on how cold it was to start with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divide into loaves as above, then let the
loaves proof a bit longer than above, 2 hours or more, so the dough has come to
cool room temperature before baking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bake as above.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-78497817978293125382016-01-28T08:23:00.000-08:002016-02-29T08:01:12.099-08:00Zesty, Rootsy Winter Pickles<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IYrnF_FF3tVfYes4V8mtl1OozPsbe9EfzV-xZEzgMRNgmo9LMbp4d1sADP9lNNBE67B8zpjlgDj_yI_Cpe55xufQoO1AVeinrPn2l0m3yjssL9w7zTLx9ly_57GOH_bY9anSAKkfOTAY/s1600/ramen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IYrnF_FF3tVfYes4V8mtl1OozPsbe9EfzV-xZEzgMRNgmo9LMbp4d1sADP9lNNBE67B8zpjlgDj_yI_Cpe55xufQoO1AVeinrPn2l0m3yjssL9w7zTLx9ly_57GOH_bY9anSAKkfOTAY/s640/ramen.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With fresh local vegetables becoming more and more widely
available to us year-round, even here in the Frozen North, there’s no reason
that pickling season has to end with the first frost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Co-ops and winter farmers markets are
burgeoning these days with locally grown vegetables in great variety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, they’re mostly roots, but what an
abundance and variety of roots, from black, watermelon, beauty heart, and
daikon radishes, to turnips in several colors, rutabagas, beets red and golden,
celery root, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What’s great about this is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fresh, locally grown produce, in the middle of frikkin’ winter!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s less awesome is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re all pretty much radishes and turnips!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycRa0zZYViM0SoE_Ndi2CB10hKNV5vAgkKZb_8TQuBnhwa-9ofD6IvrFZ9Wuq7MNNgBluPN9itSL55y0ueKewiUxO3W8w0mSp0KEX_q4oJil9Ih2eS_Q0Uoyr5KekvyValkhp6Xekh76h/s1600/roots+on+board.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycRa0zZYViM0SoE_Ndi2CB10hKNV5vAgkKZb_8TQuBnhwa-9ofD6IvrFZ9Wuq7MNNgBluPN9itSL55y0ueKewiUxO3W8w0mSp0KEX_q4oJil9Ih2eS_Q0Uoyr5KekvyValkhp6Xekh76h/s640/roots+on+board.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Personally, I like radishes and turnips, but a steady diet
of them through the long cold months becomes pretty monotonous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little pickling is a good way to change up
the flavors and textures of these hearty, assertive roots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for winter pickling, I tend to lean to
the East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here are two easy Asian
pickles to make in small batches and enjoy alongside a bowl of ramen, a rice
bowl meal, or as part of a regular Chinese meal, or just to nosh on at
will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEVUD7W6VEKK09KlVk8TzKyVXAFPvIw9VfUYesA_fyi77ZS6wP0HPFVjmlNDLY7ORhLoNK42ngLsxVAGY1CvGEwAsgvzO42MQHMIggfg1k9RmbLfjQARYIF3Y7pxl6fvY3kAMQbpGcIV3/s1600/pao+cai+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEVUD7W6VEKK09KlVk8TzKyVXAFPvIw9VfUYesA_fyi77ZS6wP0HPFVjmlNDLY7ORhLoNK42ngLsxVAGY1CvGEwAsgvzO42MQHMIggfg1k9RmbLfjQARYIF3Y7pxl6fvY3kAMQbpGcIV3/s640/pao+cai+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The first, <i>Sichuan Pao Cai </i>(Pickled Vegetables) is something
I’ve made off and on for a long time, and something I would often order at the
little restaurants in the alleys outside the university gates when I taught
English at Sichuan University in Chengdu,
waaayyy back in 1989-90.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little dish
of <i>pao cai</i> would be served bathed in chile oil (<i>hong you</i>) and a dash of soy
sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pickles in Chengdu were always pink, I’m not sure
why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently I came across a fabulous
recipe for a chile oil scented with wonderful aromatics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m now addicted to it, and <a href="http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/red-oil-wonton/">here’s the recipe</a>, from Elaine Luo's excellent <a href="http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/"><i>China Sichuan Food </i></a>website--you'll find the red oil (<i>hong you</i>) recipe in the larger wonton recipe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The other is a super quick pickle of thinly sliced radish
(but you could sub/add turnip or carrot or what have you) in a simple mixture
of soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar, with a little ginger and garlic for added
depth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, the sweet/sour/salty flavor
combination of sugar/vinegar/soy is crazy delicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could drink it like broth, but it would do
weird things to the inside of my mouth, I fear, so I enjoy it in moderation and
in pickles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This can be whipped up at the last minute, or made a day or
two ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It loses some freshness if
left to sit too long, but it’s not going to go bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I often make up a small quantity to liven up
rice bowl dinners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With small radishes I
tend to slice them very thin on the Benriner, while with larger radishes like a
big daikon, I might shred instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sichuan</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Pao
Cai <i>(Pickled Vegetables)</i></span></h2>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: 107%;">Makes one quart</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You can use pretty much any firm vegetables in this
pickle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In winter it’s going to be
mainly roots—red beets are the only one I would probably
avoid; they would take over the pickle, both in color and taste, and also,
they’re just not very Chinese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In summer
you could use green beans, cucumbers, peeled, diced broccoli stems, the thick
white center rib of napa cabbage or bok choi. My veg mixture for this batch was black radish, daikon,
rutabaga, kohlrabi, cabbage core, and another radish, the one that’s pink
inside, I don’t know the name, a friend had picked it up for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">This recipe is adapted from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Chiangs-Szechwan-Cookbook-Cooking/dp/006015828X">Mrs Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook</a>, a key book in my cooking history. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4 cups firm vegetables in ½-inch dice, about a pound</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">6 – ¼-inch slices ginger root</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 or more dried red chiles—I used 2, as these particular
chiles are VERY HOT!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">½ teaspoon whole hua jiao (Sichuan peppercorns)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 ½ cups water</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 tablespoon salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 teaspoons sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 tablespoon cider or rice wine vinegar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Combine everything except the diced vegetables in a small
saucepan, and heat just to dissolve the salt and sugar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a quart jar, layer ginger slices, chiles,
and vegetables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pour in the brine, put a
lid on it, and allow to ferment at cool room temperature for 3 or 4 days.
You’ll see the brine start to become cloudy, and bubbles will rise from the
depths when you open the jar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they
are fermented to your taste, refrigerate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The pickles will keep indefinitely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Soy-Pickled Radish Slices</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A mild radish, such as daikon or watermelon, is best in this
pickle, which can be used almost right away, or refrigerated to mellow for a
few days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used my Benriner Japanese
mandoline to slice the radishes, but you can also slice them very thin with a
sharp knife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">About 2/3 cup thinly sliced small radishes, or shredded
larger ones<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 teaspoon finely shredded ginger root</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 small clove garlic, crushed, optional</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 tablespoons soy sauce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 tablespoon water </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4 teaspoons cider or rice wine vinegar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 teaspoons sugar</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Combine the radish slices, ginger, and garlic, and place
them in a small jar—half-pint will do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Combine the rest of the ingredients, stirring well to dissolve the
sugar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pour this mixture into the jar
with the radishes, put the lid on, give it a little shake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let stand at least 30 minutes before serving,
or refrigerate for later use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will keep
at least a week.</span></div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-91188352589424874102016-01-20T09:37:00.002-08:002016-01-28T08:26:24.157-08:00A Winter's Tail (Oxtails Braised in White Wine)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Continuing on
the theme of winter-worthy dishes, let us consider the oxtail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just saw a tweet from the National Weather
Service to the effect that starting tonight (<i>writing this Friday, January 15</i>), temperatures
are expected to remain below zero for at least the next 80 hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s three-plus days, folks, and that’s
real Upper Midwest January weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Booya!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It could possibly be the coldest snap of what has otherwise been a
fairly mild weather, and that makes it the perfect time to prepare the richest,
most unctuous, rib-sticking, soul- and belly-warming dish that I know, and that
is oxtail stew.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Actually, what I
prefer to make is more of a braise than a stew, the difference being really not
much more than how much liquid is used in the cooking and is left at the end:
stew=lots of liquid; braise=not so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think that in a stew the liquid is most often water, while a braise
uses a more flavorful liquid like beer, wine, cider, but that’s not written in
stone, or in Escoffier, that I know of, and opinions may vary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I’m looking for in the end result is
oxtails cooked to absolute surrender, collapsing in a rich, savory,
lip-smacking sauce, enough to bathe a mound of polenta or rice, or a tangle of
noodles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The term oxtail
is an odd survivor from some earlier age when, presumably, people ate
oxen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we’re really talking about is
the tail of a cow, the same beast that gives us T-bone steaks, chuck roast, and
hamburger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oxtails used to be pretty
cheap, but in these days of nostalgic nose-to-tail cooking, they demand a
premium, especially when you consider than most of what you pay for in a
package of oxtails is inedible bone and cartilage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The oxtails from grass-fed animals I picked
up at Seward Co-op cost $6.99 a pound, over $15 for the two-pound or so package;
that will feed the two of us generously for dinner, with perhaps a lunch for
one or two leftover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eating low off the
cow is not cheap these days. <i>[We actually wound up getting two dinners for two out of these oxtails, plus a cup of soup each to round out another lunch. First time through, we ate our fill of the recipe as presented here. Second go, I removed all the meat from the leftover oxtails, added a little more broth and a splash of wine, some chopped cabbage, cooked chickpeas, simmered until the cabbage was tender-crisp. Served with leftover polenta, it was a wonderful mid-week dinner.]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I said the
cartilage in oxtails is not edible, but that’s not quite true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be gelatinous or slightly crunchy
bits of cartilage left even after long cooking, bits that will be our dogs’
delight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in that extended braise,
the cartilage and bone will exude collagen into the braising liquid, and
really, that’s the whole point of a dish like oxtails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meat is nice, for sure, but even more
delicious is that unique, almost gluey, quality that imbues the sauce left at
the end of cooking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a flavor
sensation you don’t get any other way, and the rare case where the word “gluey”
is likely to be attached to food in a positive sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Viscosity and specific gravity are other
terms that come to mind, also rarities in the world of food writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with the puree of cabbage and potatoes
that I wrote about last time, oxtails are not the sort of thing you’re likely
to crave in the midst of a July heat wave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">No, this is
apres-ski or post-wood-chopping food, to be washed down with a robust red wine (the Marietta Old Vine Red is one
that pops immediately to mind, and is widely available; what we actually drank with the dish described
below was an Italian barbera, cheap from Trader Joe’s, quite suitable).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">When I’m making
oxtails, I always think of my father, Albert William "Bill" Laidlaw, who died too young, at the age of 65, back in May of 1990.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During by childhood, in the 1960s and early
‘70s, the term foodie had not been invented (O, happy days!), and if it had
existed, you would never have applied it to my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my father was, I think, a sort of secret
gourmand, and as I think back on his brief catalog of favorite dishes, I
realize that he specialized in what you might call difficult foods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would take charge of the broiler when he
was home for dinner (a traveling salesman for much of my childhood, my father
was absent a lot), cooking up sizzling rib steaks or pork chops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course when we barbequed, he took the
lead—his most important piece of equipment being a Bubble-Up bottle filled with
water, with a sort of shower head stopper in the neck, essential for dousing
the frequent flare-ups that threatened to incinerate the chicken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">But on the more
esoteric side, he absolutely loved marrow bones, and seemed to relish extracting each, last, savory morsel from the hollow bones. For roast beef sandwiches
he would mix up strong English mustard from the powder that came in those
distinctive rectangular yellow metal containers, using a shot glass and a toothpick,
stirring with the concentration of a medieval alchemist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember taking a whiff of it, and thinking
that my nose would never be right again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Perhaps the most exotic (and to me, at the time, oddly frightening) food
he prepared was <a href="http://huntfishmanitoba.ca/go-fishing/what-youll-catch/goldeye">smoked Lake Winnipeg goldeye</a>,
a sort of whitefish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents were
from Winnipeg,
and on our yearly trips to the homeland he would sometimes bring back a smoked
goldeye or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The interesting thing
about my father and the goldeye was this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>he would eat them all by himself, and outside of regular mealtimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would heat them in foil in the oven, and
the house would fill with that smell of warm smoked fish—a smell unlike
anything else that ever issued from our kitchen on North Eden Drive in the Minneapolis
suburb of Eden Prairie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Maybe my memory
is selective, but I recall him then sitting alone at the kitchen table, with
the foil packet of warm, fragrant fish open before him, and with an air of
utter, blissful satisfaction, going at the flesh, revealed by pulling back the
reddish-gold skin, with his fingers alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this iconic memory the rest of the family stands at a respectful
distance, beholding the ritual devouring of the goldeye with some mix of awe,
delight, terror, and pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think now that my
mom simply couldn’t stand the stuff, and it was assumed that my brother and I
would be equally unappreciative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
there it is, the elemental power of food, that such memories (even if
embroidered or dodgy) can survive decades, and help to define people, times,
and relationships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Oh, and my dad
loved oxtails, so this recipe, though somewhat fancier in preparation than what
we used to make, is one I’m sure he would have enjoyed, and so is dedicated to
his memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are lots of comfort
food sorts of dishes—braises, stews, warming soups—that, when you take the
first, long-anticipated bite, fill you with a sense of:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You know, everything’s going to be
okay…”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well prepared oxtails have that
quality, and more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first unctuous,
melting bite of really good oxtails brings a sense of:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Everything’s going to be fabulous, and
tomorrow’s going to be grand, and we shall live in joy from here ever
after…”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">You think I’m
exaggerating?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then go ahead, give it a
try.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I rendered some home-salted pork fat to use in browning the oxtails and vegetables, simply because I had it on hand. The rendered pork fat has a high smoke point, little flavor of its own, and does a lovely job of browning things without burning. But you can certainly use vegetable oil in its place; if everything else is in place, don't let the lack of salt pork stop you from making this wonderful dish.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Also, re the garnish: I browned up some small shallots and button mushrooms, which you'll recognize as the traditional garnish for <i>coq au vin</i> and <i>boeuf bourguignon</i>. This is also strictly optional, though delightful. You could also add fresh vegetables toward the end, to make it more of a stew--perhaps peas, blanched pieces of carrot, parsnip, rutabaga, or celery root, that sort of thing. Put them in for the last 30 minutes of gentle cooking.</span></span></div>
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<h2 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Oxtails Braised
in White Wine</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Serves two
generously, with leftovers</span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">2 pounds oxtails</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">2 ounces salt
pork in ½-inch dice, divided, optional <i>or</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> 3 tablespoons
olive or vegetable oil, divided</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">1 medium carrot, peeled
and cut in 5 or 6 pieces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">1 small leek,
white and green, cleaned, cut in 2-inch pieces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">1 medium or ½ a
large onion, coarsely chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">2 cloves garlic,
crushed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">1 ounce dried
tomatoes, chopped in small pieces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">2 pinches dried
thyme, or a couple sprigs fresh</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">12 black
peppercorns</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">2 whole cloves</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">¼ teaspoon whole <i>hua
jiao</i> (Sichuan
peppercorns)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Salt</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">1 ½ cups dry
white wine, such as sauvignon blanc</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Water</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">¾ cup chicken or
beef stock, optional</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><u>Optional garnish: </u></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">About 20 small
button mushrooms, white or crimini</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">A dozen very
small shallots, or pearl onions</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Heat your oven
to 325.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In an oven-proof
dutch oven with a lid—enameled cast iron, like Le Creuset, is ideal—begin to render half
the salt pork with a little bit of oil—the other half of the salt pork will be
used the next day, so refrigerate it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
not using salt pork, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the dutch oven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Salt the oxtails, then brown them over
medium-high heat in the oil or salt pork renderings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn them often to brown all sides; take your
time with this step, as the browning develops a lot of flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will probably
take a good 15 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the salt pork
cubes start to burn, remove them from the pan and set aside.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">When the oxtails
are well browned, remove them from the pan and add the carrot, onion, leek, and
garlic, along with a couple pinches of salt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cook the vegetables, stirring often, until they wilt and start to take
on a bit of color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add the wine,
scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden scraper to dislodge any browned
bits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then add 1 ½ cups water, the dried
tomatoes, thyme, peppercorns, cloves, and <i>hua jiao</i>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Return the oxtails
and salt pork cubes to the pan, bring to a boil, then remove from the
heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover, and bake for 3 to 4 hours
at 325, turning the oxtails over every 30 minutes or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>Add water as needed</i></b> to keep the liquid about
halfway up the oxtails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You want the
liquid to be bubbling gently, so adjust your oven temp accordingly (some ovens
run hot, others cold, etc.; mine, of course, is perfect…for this recipe,
anyway).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">After the 3 to 4
hours of baking, test the oxtails to see if the meat will come easily away from
the bones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they’re properly done you
should see the meat starting to pull away from the bones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You want the meat to be utterly yielding;
chewy oxtails are a travesty, and such a sad waste of all the time you’ve spent
on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Provided that you don’t cook
them to hot—i.e., furiously boiling, or so that the liquid all evaporates, and
they burn—it’s really not possible to cook them too long.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">When you are
satisfied that the oxtails are tender, remove the pot from the oven, allow it to
cool, then refrigerate the whole thing until a couple of hours before you are
ready to serve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dish can be made up
to this point several days ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">A couple of
hours before serving, remove the oxtails from the fridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will find that a good amount of fat has
solidified on the surface of the liquid—which will now actually be more like
gelatin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remove as much of the fat as
you care to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Start to heat the oxtails
on medium heat, and add more water and/or the optional stock to keep the liquid
at half-oxtail level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taste for salt; it
shouldn’t need much, if any, as so much flavor will have developed in the long
cooking of the meat and vegetables; as you taste the liquid, close your eyes
and smack your lips a little—there, now you know what <i>umami</i> means.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">For the shallot and
mushroom garnish:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>start to render the remaining diced salt pork
in a bit of oil, or just heat 1 tablespoon olive oil, then add the shallots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cook, stirring often, until they begin to
brown a bit, then add the mushrooms and a good pinch of salt and a grind of
pepper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Toss these around in the fat,
and cook gently until they are quite brown, soft, and fragrant, 10 to 12
minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add the mushrooms and shallots
to the oxtails.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Now we’re just
about ready to serve:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>open a bottle of
hearty red wine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warm some crusty bread,
and put a dish of butter on the table—I would go for salted butter here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to serve oxtails with polenta, which
ups the warm and fuzzy comfort food quotient considerably.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do polenta at a 4:1 water to coarse
cornmeal ratio, cooking it gently for 25 to 30 minutes, adding a little
additional water as needed to keep it creamy, stirring in a good knob of butter
at the end, seasoning well with salt.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">So:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>spoon a mound of polenta onto each plate—a
shallow bowl sort of plate works well here—making a shallow depression in the
polenta to catch the sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nestle a
couple sections of oxtail beside the polenta, and spoon sauce and vegetables
generously over all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drink a toast to
beauty of winter cooking, and then get in there and enjoy.</span></div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-43936520896851631582016-01-14T14:08:00.000-08:002016-01-14T14:21:12.979-08:00Simply Superior Soup (or "Effing French Cooking Magic")<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s the last week of December 2015 as I (begin to) write this, 2016
looming just days away, and
for cooking options we are decidedly into the winter larder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On December 6 we were amazed to eat, and very
much enjoy, the last garden tomato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
last leaves of fresh kale were part of a festive Christmas dinner:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seared venison loin (harvested from the
Bide-A-Wee property last year) with a rich, savory red wine and port reduction;
lima beans simmered with stock and aromatics, then pureed, a surprisingly
luxurious result from a humble dried bean; then the kale, braised with
chestnuts and garden leek, a splash of our homemade cider vinegar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though we haven’t really celebrated Christmas
in any traditional way for some years, I’m not going to let an opportunity for
a festive dinner go by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And anyway, we
think of it as a continuation of our solstice festivities—especially
appropriate here, as Mary’s birthday occurs during the same time.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Once those last leaves of kale vacated the crisper, dinner
planning turned a page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s true that
there’s still quite a bit of “fresh” produce, from both garden and farmer’s
market stock-ups, in our cellar, in the fridge. But the term fresh doesn’t
really mean the same when applied to storage carrots, cabbage, squash, and onions, as it does when describing a handful of beans or a bowl of tender
lettuce harvested from the garden to be prepared and served minutes later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those winter stand-bys are fresh in the sense
of not being frozen, dried, pickled, fermented, etc., but…you know what I
mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not the same as throwing
dew-dappled snap peas in the wok or snipping fragrant dill into a
dressing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our vocabulary fails us in
efficiently denoting that crucial difference:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>there’s fresh produce, and then there’s <i>fresh produce</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is not to disparage the stalwart vegetables of winter,
not at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like reliable character
actors, they show up and fill their roles with unfailing professionalism,
year after year, decade after decade, while the fad for arugula fades, or a trendy heirloom cucumber
turns out to be just another pickle, after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cabbage, potatoes, carrots, squash, onion, leek, turnip, beets--the roster might at first glance suggest
daily supper at the gulag: bung it all in a kettle, boil until done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s a saying I like (and as far as I
know, I came up with it), goes like this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>There’s meat, and then there’s cooking</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Which is to say:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not always
only about the ingredients, but often as much or more about imagination and
skill in preparation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today’s soup, which we had as a first course on Christmas night, is a
perfect example.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If it hadn’t come with a sexy French name, I might never
have tried it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Puréed cabbage and potato
soup sounds, you must admit, a good deal less appealing than
<i>Crème de Choux aux Beurre de Roquefort</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The source is Madeleine Kamman’s <i>In Madeleine’s Kitchen</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are three remarkable and surprising
things about this recipe:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1) In spite of the cream—crème—in the title, there’s no cream
in the soup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2) In spite of the fancy-sounding title, the list of
ingredients is short and plain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3) In spite of the short, plain ingredient list, the resulting
soup is delicious, even luxurious, the result of “Fucking French cooking
magic,” as I described it, enthusiasm overwhelming decorum, in a tweet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are a couple of secret ingredients:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>walnut oil, and confit fat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think you could do without those if you
don’t have them, substituting good butter for the confit fat, olive oil for the
walnut oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if you haven’t tried French walnut oil,
it is well worth seeking out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A commonly
available brand, and the one we always buy, have even brought back from Paris in the past, is J.
Leblanc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s pricy, but a little goes a
long way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, a salad of fresh
tender lettuces straight from the garden, dressed with nothing more than walnut
oil and a bit of <i>fleur de sel</i> is one of life’s simple luxuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m getting ahead of the season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just one more note on the walnut oil:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the French stuff is made from lightly toasted
walnuts, so it’s amber in color and has that nutty fragrance and flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The golden walnut oil often sold at “health
food stores” and co-ops is not the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The French walnut oil should not be used for cooking, only dressings and
seasoning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(NB: the English name is in small print on the bottle, so you’re looking for a bottle labeled “Huile de
Noix,” as above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Mpls/St Paul readers, Cooks
of Crocus Hill carries it, but are currently out of stock in all stores.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The basis of the soup is potatoes, cabbage, and water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It gets a smoky depth of flavor from
bacon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a lot of bacon, either, less
than an ounce per person in Kamman’s recipe (she actually calls for pancetta).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
cream or milk, as noted above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No stock,
just water (you can call it Chateau Sink, as Jacques Pepin sometimes jokes, or perhaps Domaine du Tappe, to French it
up).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a bit of garlic, whose
presence is felt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beurre de
Roquefort is simply blue cheese and soft butter mashed together, a few grinds
of coarse black pepper—a simple compound butter; it’s worth making extra, for
it’s nice to have around, to smear on a burger, say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And that, my friends, is it, the ingredient list in its
entirety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You gently render off small
cubes of the bacon or pancetta, add potatoes and garlic, then the cabbage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sweats for a few minutes (“mellows,” in
M Kamman’s version), then you add water and simmer until the cabbage is very
tender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The well mellowed vegetables and
bacon are then whizzed up in a blender (I used a food processor, carefully
spooning out the solids, adding liquid gradually; an FP is really not the best
appliance for pureeing soups, I’ve learned from bitter experience). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And get this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it
suffers not at all from being made a day ahead and reheated just before
serving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> On Christmas Eve</span> I added a
little crunchy garnish, chopped goose skin cracklings—yeah, I happened to have
some lying around; don’t hate me because I’m beautiful—from the goose we cooked
for our first solstice celebration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I made it again for lunch I toasted some small croutons in olive oil—it’s really about the textural contrast, that crunch to
perk up the creamy soup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(See:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-stalwart-cook-indeed-who-can-look.html">"It's all about the garnish".</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Coming back around to my earlier point and seasonal eating
and the winter larder:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this is a
fabulous dish that you would never make in the summer, but which is perfect for
the cold months when, you know, you have a lot of potatoes and cabbage
around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also reminded me how
absolutely lovely and civilized it is to start a meal with a soup, so elegant and yet so comforting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>A fading tradition I hope to start reviving
in our house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">My adaptation of Madeleine Kamman’s recipe:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Creamy Bacon, Potato, and Cabbage Soup with Blue Cheese
Butter</span></h2>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Serves four as a first course, two to three as a main
course—add salad and crusty bread to make it a meal</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 ounces bacon or pancetta, preferably in one chunk</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 tablespoon duck confit fat or butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 medium or 2 small potatoes, 6-7 ounces total</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 large or 2 small cloves garlic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">¼ of a green cabbage, about 12 ounces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1 tablespoon walnut oil, plus additional for garnish*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Salt and freshly ground black pepper</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>For the blue cheese butter</i>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2 ounces blue cheese</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Croutons or cracklings, optional but highly recommended</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a small bowl, mash the butter and blue cheese together with a fork
until well blended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Cut the bacon or pancetta in small dice, about ¼-inch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peel the potatoes and cut them into smallish
cubes, about ¾-inch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shred the cabbage
into ½-inch strips.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Heat a medium saucepan and add the confit fat or butter,
then the bacon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cook over medium-low
heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the bacon renders its fat and
begins to brown, add the potatoes, tossing them in the fat, then cook, stirring
occasionally, until they become a little bit brown, 4 to 5 minutes (you’re just
looking for a golden color, not deeply browned as for hash browns).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute
or two, then add the cabbage, a couple generous pinches of salt, and several
grinds of black pepper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Turn the heat to low, cover, and let the cabbage sweat
(“mellow” is the term M Kamman uses) until well wilted, about 5 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add 3 cups water, bring to a boil, turn down
to a simmer, and cook partly covered until the cabbage and potatoes are very
soft, 15 to 20 minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Let the soup cool for a few minutes before pureeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If using a food processor, separate the solid
from the liquid parts of the soup and purée the solids first, then gradually
add in the liquid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When everything is in
the FP, purée for about a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
end of the minute, drizzle in the walnut oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Return the soup to the saucepan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reheat just before serving. (Note: Kamman directs you to strain the soup back into the pot after puréeing; I did not bother with this step, finding the soup smooth enough to my taste without straining. Straining would no doubt produce an even more velvety and elegant purée, if that's what you're after.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To serve:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heat the
soup and taste for salt; you will probably want to add another pinch or
two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ladle the soup into bowls, and to
each add about a tablespoon of the blue cheese butter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add croutons or cracklings, as you please,
drizzle a small amount of walnut oil over the surface of the soup, and serve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">*If you don’t have/can’t find walnut oil, use a flavorful
olive oil—or, perhaps pumpkin seed oil, such as Wisconsin’s own Hay River Pumpkin Seed
Oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, how about this—if using
pumpkin seed oil, think about substituting butternut squash for all or part of
the potatoes, then garnish with toasted pepitas instead of the
croutons/cracklings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">H<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>appy soupage!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAWINibNdP-LdGT78WRCf1s6a7v-b8qKcnMcKRk2jsysK3dAYZR4kQ-L-ixdooOszT1pxW8Y-jY1PfTv_PDLgjxpBhAKs07mntmUBDR0ip2QxNgzXMMjbec71EehLVcm2OVwtm7HHlp1j/s1600/gone.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAWINibNdP-LdGT78WRCf1s6a7v-b8qKcnMcKRk2jsysK3dAYZR4kQ-L-ixdooOszT1pxW8Y-jY1PfTv_PDLgjxpBhAKs07mntmUBDR0ip2QxNgzXMMjbec71EehLVcm2OVwtm7HHlp1j/s640/gone.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<![endif]-->Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-21084660520334413212015-08-09T07:53:00.000-07:002015-08-09T07:53:19.235-07:00Green Sauce<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqpBFtwgvgUE8ooBe4aLgbkaSEsRWSxx2_feirHsWe4CpDpJ5mBkulV_9k5f1OB2QD6ADeEPvqGUz-bNdPbxs1zUnp039HrPT8RhGAABd_hxS5faS5MUBxTSZPXx38gzHFFSZPJrIepBv/s1600/sauce.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqpBFtwgvgUE8ooBe4aLgbkaSEsRWSxx2_feirHsWe4CpDpJ5mBkulV_9k5f1OB2QD6ADeEPvqGUz-bNdPbxs1zUnp039HrPT8RhGAABd_hxS5faS5MUBxTSZPXx38gzHFFSZPJrIepBv/s640/sauce.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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My current culinary obsession is a simple mix of chopped
parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, salt, and a splash of red wine vinegar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We call it “green sauce.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To call it salsa verde would give it some
exotic flair, but also create confusion between the Italian version which, like
mine, is mainly herbs, and the Mexican, which has a tomatillo base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And anyway, the Italian salsa verde is likely
to also include anchovies, capers, and other elaborations that I eschew, so in
our house, green sauce it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjMU9nwUCDfuGzE3iW3Cv7Hq2idsd6bRyaA5YJhKU7ObGmLqkPgC4eRy_yYTI84I5Urqu3KMl3Ojc5EVDutIHKrgEkex54YFk0D7HXk1QzGM2EQkGOydIWOtidaPzLdlCW0voTgL0DPfG/s1600/bowl+bubbles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjMU9nwUCDfuGzE3iW3Cv7Hq2idsd6bRyaA5YJhKU7ObGmLqkPgC4eRy_yYTI84I5Urqu3KMl3Ojc5EVDutIHKrgEkex54YFk0D7HXk1QzGM2EQkGOydIWOtidaPzLdlCW0voTgL0DPfG/s640/bowl+bubbles.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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Odd little digression:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>whenever I make green sauce I can’t help thinking of a <i>Waitrose</i> magazine
article from years ago about Terence Conran, the British retail magnate and
restaurateur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article described a
typical summer gathering in Conran’s splendidly English garden, where the main
course was grilled sliced sirloin with green sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed oh so civilized, and summery, and
at once sophisticated and appealingly rustic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Funny the things that impress you, and stick with you, at different
points in your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aside from the
green sauce connection, I have no opinion whatsoever about Terence Conran.<br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQ51wiR4gsqkfRhRiwAuH-HcLpExXLFfzvTstngKcndQh0PLkY4jTZ8uxqF-xDwKUllvspSmhWEfyvIshlS-X1PG_YPQqnPX4xM0BkMmtdvc0usVKmpLerB8iqILV3XELHhCMc_hhJtDr/s1600/cutting+board.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQ51wiR4gsqkfRhRiwAuH-HcLpExXLFfzvTstngKcndQh0PLkY4jTZ8uxqF-xDwKUllvspSmhWEfyvIshlS-X1PG_YPQqnPX4xM0BkMmtdvc0usVKmpLerB8iqILV3XELHhCMc_hhJtDr/s640/cutting+board.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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As the tidal wave of fresh produce from garden and market
begins to build through July and into August, our cooking becomes ever more
rudimentary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’ a matter of light the
fire, throw everything on the grill, bung it on a plate, devour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fresh romano beans, tomatoes, corn on the
cob, new potatoes and mild sweet beets wrapped in foil and roasted in the
coals—these things need little adornment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But—they do benefit greatly from just the right adornment, and for me,
for now, that is green sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A summery
herbed mayonnaise is lovely, but sometimes a bit heavy, generally too much
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Traditional Genovese pesto is
something I enjoy a couple times a summer, but basil’s assertive flavor can
overpower delicate vegetables and cause palate fatigue.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsA7yZhN3JSS_5cuctTcDsNSJuaNnXKkJ0ddE5sCX2WqW3EY2pXHX4C5ODSzgWFw8HvgV8wl3or16hd8O1gz7qut4XCfDpKjKz1CjQEpUXP7nvOpIcaVyAatwE_b0ODtAqZ7OesdlXlk-g/s1600/sauce+mise.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsA7yZhN3JSS_5cuctTcDsNSJuaNnXKkJ0ddE5sCX2WqW3EY2pXHX4C5ODSzgWFw8HvgV8wl3or16hd8O1gz7qut4XCfDpKjKz1CjQEpUXP7nvOpIcaVyAatwE_b0ODtAqZ7OesdlXlk-g/s640/sauce+mise.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
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And then, there’s just something about exalting humble
parsley to a starring role that really appeals to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does seem civilized, and grown-up, in a
good way, the sign of a mature palate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mireille Johnston, in her excellent cookbook <i>Cuisine of the Sun</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>opines that the classic French dish <i>pot au feu</i> (boiled supper, in essence) can only really be appreciated by those over
the age of 30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same can probably be said for green sauce.</div>
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While I wouldn’t push aside a plate of Sir Terence’s
sirloin, I think fish is the perfect protein with green sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We broiled some Lake Superior whitefish a few
nights ago, served it up with oven-roasted potatoes and romano beans, a
coal-roasted beet left over from a previous repast, and fresh green sauce—just
perfect summer eating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cold roast veal
with green sauce pops to mind as a dish that would be quite typical of an
English summer supper, enjoyed al fresco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But who ever roasts veal these days?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pork loin could take its place very nicely.<br />
<br />
</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA19fMfgIVEc-8jmFaPWN2hzu5mvoDAk2qFS_u66Oz04n322cmc3q-6XsjayGzhKbx7BBjcOlZ5KspPqRbRKxWq7adAsBxoDghoAXBU9ehYGnbrzVVY3mHJxhgUrflomYdGpNBEb5Wes_z/s1600/radish+cut.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA19fMfgIVEc-8jmFaPWN2hzu5mvoDAk2qFS_u66Oz04n322cmc3q-6XsjayGzhKbx7BBjcOlZ5KspPqRbRKxWq7adAsBxoDghoAXBU9ehYGnbrzVVY3mHJxhgUrflomYdGpNBEb5Wes_z/s640/radish+cut.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Just writing about this kind of food makes me think I’ve
unconsciously started channeling Elizabeth David….</div>
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But here, let’s get back to earth, with our feet firmly
planted on mid-American northern turf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
went out to the garden and gathered a handful of beans, a carrot, a watermelon
radish, a few ribs of celery, and parsley, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flat leaf, “Italian” parsley has the best
flavor, I think, but I wound up with some curly parsley in my garden this year,
too, by accident, so I used a bit of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From the market I had sungold tomatoes (absolute flavor bombs) and sweet
corn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sliced a levain loaf and walnut
bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quickly whipped up a fresh batch
of green sauce. A more elaborate lunch than is typical for us, but while the
season provides this kind of bounty, I’ll happily skip the tuna fish sandwiches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a light and flavorful lunch, and how
colorful!<br />
<br />
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQENdOGGuMI0Db9clBBI1ZV0qgpc0ObOS1f58pDeaIMun3x7MPo_YvEx1eZkqFadpHC2N0of3euv5BSa2CFqFZ1UTpi8QAbWz3AjUnqlC5Zg_SHUxx8DQTS0Pu_U8127jvOQa08MTluJg/s1600/table.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQENdOGGuMI0Db9clBBI1ZV0qgpc0ObOS1f58pDeaIMun3x7MPo_YvEx1eZkqFadpHC2N0of3euv5BSa2CFqFZ1UTpi8QAbWz3AjUnqlC5Zg_SHUxx8DQTS0Pu_U8127jvOQa08MTluJg/s640/table.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I’ve never measured the ingredients for green sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a handful of parsley, chopped as fine or
coarse as you please, a good clove of garlic, or a couple puny ones, minced
very fine though not quite to a paste. Then olive oil, enough to inundate the herbs
and make it a sauce rather than a paste (pesto), a splash of good red wine
vinegar, just enough to bring an edge of acid, not so much that it becomes
vinaigrette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could use lemon juice
instead of vinegar, that’s the only substitution I’ll approve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Salt, plenty, gray sea salt if you have it.<br />
<br />
</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yaMjDYoBiJ0UhEsETVSAKrZ6_qWH-3am1vswIKjVGt4gFJ03fhCluUkg5Fg0pC3X6L5a7hV1gQ5H6bFiDn2WXfx3vUToS-j2LlJakJOfgPeEm7rOCxeYUC-65OKytnwKw0en80JtgqrP/s1600/chopped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yaMjDYoBiJ0UhEsETVSAKrZ6_qWH-3am1vswIKjVGt4gFJ03fhCluUkg5Fg0pC3X6L5a7hV1gQ5H6bFiDn2WXfx3vUToS-j2LlJakJOfgPeEm7rOCxeYUC-65OKytnwKw0en80JtgqrP/s640/chopped.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Needless to say, but as this sauce is predominantly olive
oil, you want to use a good, flavorful oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For years I was devoted to Zoe Spanish olive oil, but lately we’ve been
buying, and enjoying, the extra virgin kalamata olive oil from Trader Joe’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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DO NOT ADD PEPPER! I’m sorry, you just can’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, that’s why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pepper doesn’t go in green sauce, not in
mine, anyway.<br />
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</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrYxFte4H3OaP7epHcAzuFaEi9d14HTnlyr3KdGAJ4M12oS5oVoQg8YMZgoL7r8NzUsj1Q497rkCTTfTCSdX-JQqFRv6oQV4s5hZd6lLEZyUO8cWwLPPeg_SEAUwCI5qkDy23ksYPUetx/s1600/celery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrYxFte4H3OaP7epHcAzuFaEi9d14HTnlyr3KdGAJ4M12oS5oVoQg8YMZgoL7r8NzUsj1Q497rkCTTfTCSdX-JQqFRv6oQV4s5hZd6lLEZyUO8cWwLPPeg_SEAUwCI5qkDy23ksYPUetx/s640/celery.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now, you could vary the herb component, add a little
chervil, maybe some leaves of thyme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
I wouldn’t let basil anywhere near my green sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, maybe the tiniest bit, and only in
early summer, when the basil is still mild-mannered, not the bossy, arrogant,
anise-scented basil of July and August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And of course, you could go full-on salsa verde with the anchovies,
capers, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But then, it wouldn’t be green sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would have lost its innocence, scuttled
its essential simplicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why did I even
bring that up? This sauce is perfect. Enjoy it before our fleeting summer flees....<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5IV6AxHVgnEkMRADWSKBlFiCsoLRqEIGq3Hq4LvnKQsViqwRutiK8CFHzLNc1W5KO2PWGvXMIAXAU1M18P2VEo1PUUY1seKnoW6Gunu4z9Bw8p-FkBswWrvSaYRxcAzhNHEFzNhSNBd_/s1600/tomato.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5IV6AxHVgnEkMRADWSKBlFiCsoLRqEIGq3Hq4LvnKQsViqwRutiK8CFHzLNc1W5KO2PWGvXMIAXAU1M18P2VEo1PUUY1seKnoW6Gunu4z9Bw8p-FkBswWrvSaYRxcAzhNHEFzNhSNBd_/s640/tomato.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2015 by Brett Laidlaw</i></span> </div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-40414295037368447242015-07-28T11:39:00.002-07:002015-07-29T08:17:24.472-07:00Blueberry-Lemon-Ginger Jam<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’m not canning any jams or jellies this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve rarely done large-scale preserve-making,
preferring to grab a couple cups of raspberries, currants, or wild blackberries,
and make a pint or two, or even less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m often enticed by the beauty of fresh summer fruits, especially wild
varieties, to put by some preserves, but the thing is, even a half-pint of jam or
jelly goes a long way around here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
tastes run much more to the savory side, and we're not big breakfast eaters, so the fruit preserves tend to sit in
a jam and jelly museum, through which I may meander once or twice a year,
pondering this historical record of fruits preserved, considering their
context—“Oh, there’s some of that wild grape jelly I made in ’08, the year the
big wind blew down all those trees at Casey Lake, and with them their cargo of
loaded grape vines!”</div>
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It’s amusing, to be sure, but not really worth it, in the
long run.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9KItKvfS0z7ZkTiEKryJzUtW3F22Ofb2xewqzQ_FkOyWERFkJa-Fq3vxEK-zP9XrcE-Ps_0xY8lOIcafS_4bFysRRImModM6se_9i_TONS5K3UsQJw3NoEgiWGu0BoL22iJcy-HSvh1QT/s1600/close+and+low.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9KItKvfS0z7ZkTiEKryJzUtW3F22Ofb2xewqzQ_FkOyWERFkJa-Fq3vxEK-zP9XrcE-Ps_0xY8lOIcafS_4bFysRRImModM6se_9i_TONS5K3UsQJw3NoEgiWGu0BoL22iJcy-HSvh1QT/s640/close+and+low.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The title of this post might seem to belie my no-canning
intention; but note that I didn’t say I wasn’t <i>making</i> any jams or jellies, only
that I’m not making them for storage or, as more often happens here,
posterity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We picked some blueberries at
our friend Tina’s impromptu U-Pick operation last weekend, just a couple of
pounds, and I came home with a clear plan:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>freeze some; dry some; and make a small batch of jam for immediate use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And by golly, having a plan does sometimes work:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a couple trays of berries drying in
low convection in the oven right now, a quart bag in the freezer, and one
micro-batch of blueberry-lemon-ginger jam in the fridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s very low in sugar, so it won’t keep that long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m hoping we consume it by the end of this
weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then maybe I’ll go get some
more berries.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygNqqu6lG76wzS5uSpZUI_3gpYvFp7_29_1wyQkw7giDW_YB3EAjBRIODJFKdIdVNSU4ek9U70dD21MqpydhtisHZ4cyVeJIGmsgL8ay6utkZJ13EFops9nFdFiIr32zgo71rXtBb0NG1/s1600/plate.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygNqqu6lG76wzS5uSpZUI_3gpYvFp7_29_1wyQkw7giDW_YB3EAjBRIODJFKdIdVNSU4ek9U70dD21MqpydhtisHZ4cyVeJIGmsgL8ay6utkZJ13EFops9nFdFiIr32zgo71rXtBb0NG1/s640/plate.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I got a good start on it today with this lunch of homemade
bread—a dense sorghum-cornmeal-rye loaf, and some chewy <i>pain de campagne</i>—with a
wedge of Dandelion Addiction cheese from up Bayfield way, and a few spoonfuls of
preserves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the minimal amount of
sugar in the jam, it didn’t overwhelm the fairly mild cheese, and you can still
really taste the blueberries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I couldn’t get my Ikea scale to switch from metric to
American measures this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
it’s just having a stubborn Swedish moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So all the measurements are metric, with my rough translations.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6RDWIxx2JxGpr-2cHLDt3gx7jZlrczzEapngBorHChyphenhyphenbk86blpW7FnmlwpVUtrOVNLuHQgtCi8Y4hFpSEt2UVzH6mgwwTYMsaxOAJQ_y9JOho67muSF-yToNXLUshttagHURLXvhTdfdd/s1600/jar+above.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6RDWIxx2JxGpr-2cHLDt3gx7jZlrczzEapngBorHChyphenhyphenbk86blpW7FnmlwpVUtrOVNLuHQgtCi8Y4hFpSEt2UVzH6mgwwTYMsaxOAJQ_y9JOho67muSF-yToNXLUshttagHURLXvhTdfdd/s640/jar+above.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<h4 class="MsoNormal">
Blueberry-Lemon-Ginger Jam</h4>
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360 grams (about 12 ounces) blueberries, fresh or frozen</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
50 grams (about 5 tablespoons) sugar</div>
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40 grams (about 6, 2-inch slices) crystallized ginger,
chopped fairly small</div>
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Lemon zest, a couple 1-inch strips, minced</div>
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Juice of ½ lemon</div>
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<br /></div>
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Combine all in a heavy saucepan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer
briskly for about 8 minutes, until the berries are mostly, but not totally, broken down and the
mixture is glossy and starting to thicken. Cover and allow to cool in the pan, then transfer to a jar
and refrigerate—but eat it as fast as you can!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It should last at least a couple of weeks in the fridge, I reckon.</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Text and photos copyright 2015 by Brett
Laidlaw</span></i></div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-31141810500024624662015-05-28T06:56:00.002-07:002016-04-08T13:16:44.602-07:00"Tart Is Good!": Ode on Rhubarb and A Wild Spin on Rhubarb Chutney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQj7Ye0tt-_MpLqtfRlFN9QPzqAP1HcmghSw56c7Hfeb1Zxt6AMyV-BKrxcdKjkOix1ibTDP6TPrUZyAmEOvxhVhH3wJwuEKBxj3irbrPLwJNKq9NfzGxCJ9_GM4tBWDywdvi5Z-8-fMhH/s1600/chutney+above.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQj7Ye0tt-_MpLqtfRlFN9QPzqAP1HcmghSw56c7Hfeb1Zxt6AMyV-BKrxcdKjkOix1ibTDP6TPrUZyAmEOvxhVhH3wJwuEKBxj3irbrPLwJNKq9NfzGxCJ9_GM4tBWDywdvi5Z-8-fMhH/s640/chutney+above.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.kim-ode.com/">Kim Ode</a> (pron. OH-dee) was in our neighborhood last weekend to present a demo and
talk about cooking with rhubarb, which has become her tart, seasonal calling
card since she published <a href="http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=3115"><i>Rhubarb Renaissance</i></a>, the first title in the <b><a href="http://discussions.mnhs.org/10000books/2014/05/29/our-northern-plate-series/">Northern Plate</a></b> series from the Minnesota Historical Society Press, in 2012.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kim charmed a full house with stories about her rhubarb journey, from being gulled by
a devious cousin into taking a big bite of a raw, naked stalk in her South Dakota childhood,
to discovering the affinities and aversions of culinary rhubarb (ginger and
shrimp, yes; beef, not so much). As someone who has presented a few cooking demos and
classes, I was amazed by Kim’s ability to measure and mix ingredients for
savory rhubarb and cheese biscuits—a fairly precise formulation—all the while
keeping up a calm, conversational patter in front of nearly 30 people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I expressed my admiration for her
on-stage calm and efficiency, she replied: “Well, there have been incidents…”.</div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsTo_dL1gpF6FQNgCNnECMFX1DN3gwsqhISi6TKpq34yueikRW4obtk4yCZj1uLtW7Do2eh6kFac9cI_TmErJDk_WQacTFaC7UIsfUmsOgvEflNzATgSWwbgHsvP-FhMChSNZquRGu9ho/s1600/patch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsTo_dL1gpF6FQNgCNnECMFX1DN3gwsqhISi6TKpq34yueikRW4obtk4yCZj1uLtW7Do2eh6kFac9cI_TmErJDk_WQacTFaC7UIsfUmsOgvEflNzATgSWwbgHsvP-FhMChSNZquRGu9ho/s640/patch.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bide-A-While rhubarb patch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Several people in the audience mentioned that their rhubarb
patches had been propagated from divisions gathered from a parent’s patch, or
grandma’s garden, the family farmstead, which led me to think that that’s the
true sense of an heirloom vegetable, one literally passed down from generation
to generation, by hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that may be
why so many people have a sentimental attachment to rhubarb, and why they’re so
grateful to Kim Ode for showing them how to take rhubarb beyond the typical
strawberry-rhubarb concoctions (Kim included one, count it, exactly one
rhubarb-strawberry recipe in her book).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
In addition to the biscuits, which baked up brown and
crusty, with the cheese and rhubarb dancing dos-si-dos in an appealingly chewy
crumb, Kim mixed up a kale salad with pickled rhubarb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
prepared a couple of Kim’s recipes to round out a
rhubarbish buffet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made Gingery
Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake, and in the course of preparing it, it occurred to me
that I had never, ever, in my whole entire life, actually baked a cake from
scratch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could this be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet I swear it is so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sort of freaked out when that realization
started to sink in—it was about the time I realized that the butter I was trying
to cream with sugar should have been much softer, as it just glommed on to the
beater and the sides of the bowl, and went dismally round and round, not
becoming creamed and fluffy, at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
I forged ahead, and in the end it came out well, delicious, in fact—wh ich is a
testament to a well-written recipe, if even a total neophyte bad at following
instructions (moi) can have success.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEof1o12jXtDJIEJn9t6660QWhZgeY6FJO-_UmaGCMosEcA9xySSiUdOA-jLo7mst5x97oD80xgzU0K_gtFcW5Gcm2hTotQvW35CArlSH3qQBZAEgmaRC739iinS6lT9HkkDaxlZ8X1C3D/s1600/chutney.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEof1o12jXtDJIEJn9t6660QWhZgeY6FJO-_UmaGCMosEcA9xySSiUdOA-jLo7mst5x97oD80xgzU0K_gtFcW5Gcm2hTotQvW35CArlSH3qQBZAEgmaRC739iinS6lT9HkkDaxlZ8X1C3D/s640/chutney.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And I made a rhubarb chutney that Kim suggests be served on
crostini spread with a goat cheese-cream cheese blend and garnished with
prosciutto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simplified by serving it
on crackers and 86ing the ham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
fabulous, addictive, I dare say, sweet, tart, and spicy, flavored with ginger,
garlic, and jalapeno, and bulked up with dried apricots.<br />
</div>
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It got me to thinking that I could easily substitute wild
and local ingredients for some of the chutney components, to make it more Trout
Caviar friendly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I made a batch back
home in which I subbed maple syrup for the brown sugar, chopped ramps in place
of garlic; dried apples from our trees took the place of the apricots, and some
kick-ass fermented chile paste my friend Melinda gave me brought a throbbing heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My palate leans toward the savory more than the sweet, so I upped the
tartness with extra rhubarb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I firmly
endorse Kim’s book-signing tagline:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Tart is good!”<br />
</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFg20fzBV82AJM7jpi0lVhBAw7xc_y9H9hlGMhgMKcVfeUk7ijwebkQuxQ1NsME5PKRKikMSnkFBENed85pk0NHwNSeOLJ3ArbxvKivR5fcrsRRvd7azxbutWz0XhN5GR21pySL9fm1OJ9/s1600/rhubarb+ramps.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFg20fzBV82AJM7jpi0lVhBAw7xc_y9H9hlGMhgMKcVfeUk7ijwebkQuxQ1NsME5PKRKikMSnkFBENed85pk0NHwNSeOLJ3ArbxvKivR5fcrsRRvd7azxbutWz0XhN5GR21pySL9fm1OJ9/s640/rhubarb+ramps.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
One other wild element:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>little bits of peeled wood nettle stem gave some crunch to the chutney’s
texture and made a nice color contrast, the pale green nettle nuggets playing
against the pink background, reminiscent of the pink and green madras plaid
sports jackets and shorts my preppie friends used to favor, back in the
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever happened to all the
preppies (<i>ou sont les preppies d’antan</i>…?)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wood nettles are one of my favorite wild greens (I say this every year
about this time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can use the leaves
like any young greens, though they are delicate when young, so be careful not
to overcook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there are the stems
which, when peeled—and they peel very easily—are crunchy crisp and mildly
sweet, <i>haricots verts du bois</i>, if you will, or as I’m also wont to say, my
favorite trailside crudité (goodness, I’m quite French-y and rhyme-y this
morning!).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Not to overlook the obvious: wood nettles sting at least as
vigorously as stinging nettles, and like stinging nettles, they lose their
sting when exposed to heat, as in blanching in boiling water for a minute.</div>
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<br />
The result of my wild alterations to the chutney: quite,
quite edible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We served it with some farmstead cheese from
Cosmic Wheel Creamery, the new venture from Rama Hoffpauir and Josh Bryceson,
growers at Turnip Rock Farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Kim noted that in working the rhubarb circuit she has found
that very few people are on the fence about rhubarb, that it’s generally love
or hate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But me, I’m still kind of in
the middle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am by no means a rhubarb
lover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find I don’t care much for the
typical rhubarb desserts (I did enjoy my upside-down cake, but maybe that’s
just baker’s vanity!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My fondest
rhubarb memories still center around the patch we had at my childhood home in Eden Prairie, and eating
stalks nibble by nibble, each tiny bite equal parts sugar and rhubarb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m intrigued by its uses in savory
applications, like this chutney, and I’ll probably
experiment a bit more each spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Call
me rhubarb-curious.<br />
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvX95-5YRWzweqgP1A6RpZIwu7mauO4E-1F75yxMigwLOPeqtl2VB5hBJTU62HMLEuZ4KI9dzv-_g3r0FCnqAUDk4ZuImIfdRGdK_WviE_HgudhNHmqgSC0nldrNaLg1tiC4tCJxplHTH/s1600/foragers+lunch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvX95-5YRWzweqgP1A6RpZIwu7mauO4E-1F75yxMigwLOPeqtl2VB5hBJTU62HMLEuZ4KI9dzv-_g3r0FCnqAUDk4ZuImIfdRGdK_WviE_HgudhNHmqgSC0nldrNaLg1tiC4tCJxplHTH/s640/foragers+lunch.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forager's lunch on black cherry slab</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This chutney is great in Kim’s original recipe, a dollop on
a crostini or cracker first spread with a 1:1 mix of goat cheese and cream
cheese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also nicely complements a
well-flavored aged cheese, and, for what it’s worth, thinly sliced smoked
venison.</div>
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<h4>
Wild and Local Rhubarb Chutney (after Kim Ode & <i>Rhubarb
Renaissance</i>)</h4>
</div>
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1/3 cup maple syrup</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 cups rhubarb in 1" pieces<a href="http://www.kim-ode.com/"> </a></div>
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4 ramp bulbs minced</div>
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2 tablespoons fresh ginger root minced</div>
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1/3 cup dried apples chopped small </div>
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1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar</div>
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Pinch salt</div>
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Chile
or sambal to taste, or chopped fresh jalapeno</div>
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1/4 cup wood nettle stems, peeled, chopped in 1/4"
pieces</div>
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Combine all but nettle stems. Bring to a boil and stir until
the rhubarb starts to break down and exude its juices (rhubarb is about
90%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>water). Then simmer for 8-10
minutes, until it is thick and jammy. Add the nettle stems and cook 1 minute
more. Cool thoroughly before serving. Best if made a few hours to a day ahead.
Will keep for a couple weeks in the fridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Makes about 2 cups.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2015 by Brett Laidlaw</i></span> </div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-5246371729367858682015-05-12T09:27:00.000-07:002018-05-21T08:07:53.692-07:00Season of the Ramp<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It’s always a lovely thing to make that first foray to
southeastern Minnesota
trout waters in mid-April, for many reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The drive south is exhilarating, as I cross tiny Hay Creek at the corner
of our property and then trace the southward route of its flow that begins in
springs just up the valley from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
finds its way to the Red Cedar River, and that pours into the broad, meandering
Chippewa, a mighty waterway of this region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Chipp is wide, and in springtime often muddy and roiling, when it
reaches the Mississippi;
impressive as the Chippewa can be, it is shown its place by the Father of
Waters, moving majestically, escorted by swans, gulls, and eagles, through the
grand castellations of limestone bluffs.</div>
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Once across the Mighty One and into Minnesota, I now proceed against the flow,
up the Whitewater and tributaries thereof, to fish more intimate water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This modest journey is a compelling reminder
of how hydrology and geology shape our lives in these parts, and the circular
nature of a raindrop’s path from northern Dunn County to the sea, perhaps one
day to be deposited back where it started, is appropriate to the beginning of
another cycle of seasons—the beginning as we think of it here, as winter’s cold
static grip is broken, and things again begin to flow, and grow.</div>
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And then, of course, it is delightful to get the wading boots
wet again, string up the rod, tie on a fly, try to catch a fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Early season fishing is usually good, except
when it’s not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or better to say:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the fishing is always good, but the catching
may vary.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8GVhXWVmDk2n7DrB06oL4yNgSpSq7AhwNa-kdV1n3ZYZX-mEMPKL9KOnNFlqgYhP8ehdLb2Ad1rhqJrN9jaZwQD5Sq15oOLNGJv0bX5KYOYDpuO52ROhuaAUo4q3hAGtJU4pQwG6PAwe/s1600/wet.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8GVhXWVmDk2n7DrB06oL4yNgSpSq7AhwNa-kdV1n3ZYZX-mEMPKL9KOnNFlqgYhP8ehdLb2Ad1rhqJrN9jaZwQD5Sq15oOLNGJv0bX5KYOYDpuO52ROhuaAUo4q3hAGtJU4pQwG6PAwe/s640/wet.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Something more certain than whether there will be fish in
the creel on the homeward trip is the likelihood of taking home tasty
greens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watercress springs are a pretty
sure bet, and even when winter has been annoyingly persistent I’ve always
managed to bring home at least a few decent sized ramps on that first outing,
usually a few days past tax time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
will be another couple of weeks, at least, before they’ve reached picking size
in my local woods; that hour-plus drive south is a fast-forward through the
season, as well.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpdKSVy36qhJvTxJvgOGqE3ZSWu5_hoCxqbSoWLxMJbihhFc_ZZSRYFXfobFj5HNLtMi4IteSTjFHHiyl0Z26txHltShZKFO0XSQjLNBCLiQOjKBllVElQXHNUXQxYUGctF0VRr9V84sk/s1600/ramps+close.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpdKSVy36qhJvTxJvgOGqE3ZSWu5_hoCxqbSoWLxMJbihhFc_ZZSRYFXfobFj5HNLtMi4IteSTjFHHiyl0Z26txHltShZKFO0XSQjLNBCLiQOjKBllVElQXHNUXQxYUGctF0VRr9V84sk/s640/ramps+close.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I first became aware of ramps along a Wisconsin
river maybe 20 years ago, and I’ve harvested them every year
since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some years I’ve become tired of
eating them before their season is out; some years I’ve grown jaded by the hype
that has come to surround them in foodie circles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year, perhaps more than any other, I’ve
simply embraced ramps for the seasonal delight that they are, and I’ve been
eating them pretty much every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
haven’t really come up with any stunning new preparations of what is, really,
just a wild onion, but I’ve explored its versatility by treating it as a
commonplace, rather than an exotic, ingredient.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdwvNukw5UCU9FQbpDexbOfR9gc14KH7MEFiM-JMzntdUL4j2BGpksfJR8gQ8Uf5LJ0qLqz7pPUoc_VeYFcwkg_tBYsDCR7ld0th5sEjwVy5OjhmH5rXIA9GcO4LGeujOm4sj97KU65WW/s1600/ricebowl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdwvNukw5UCU9FQbpDexbOfR9gc14KH7MEFiM-JMzntdUL4j2BGpksfJR8gQ8Uf5LJ0qLqz7pPUoc_VeYFcwkg_tBYsDCR7ld0th5sEjwVy5OjhmH5rXIA9GcO4LGeujOm4sj97KU65WW/s640/ricebowl.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rice bowl with brook trout, ramps, asparagus, pheasant back mushroom.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I’ve put ramps on pizza, into salad dressings, chopped into
a soy-based sauce that anointed a rice bowl meal, and stir-fried for the
same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made my chile-cheddar spread
with ramps instead of onion, and slapped my head when it occurred to me I could
have done that with the recipe in my book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ramp-infused version of that pimiento cheese variation is
outstanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve added them to a potato
soufflé also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>laced with chopped wood
nettles, and used them to flavor a birch syrup cure for duck breast that I
smoked using wild black cherry wood.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KdIyGLi7Z7lbuLQoQa9hzMi2L2kOUnckxd9JRXkaitG6er6rb5CYjaDPt7UPIeRO49OIEbHp-0G3wL4-FgAuGntD4R8wZmPDzVklo2E6hXy52RjKU621PTGaYbU3kqg325l4QRDoNd6X/s1600/smokedduck.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KdIyGLi7Z7lbuLQoQa9hzMi2L2kOUnckxd9JRXkaitG6er6rb5CYjaDPt7UPIeRO49OIEbHp-0G3wL4-FgAuGntD4R8wZmPDzVklo2E6hXy52RjKU621PTGaYbU3kqg325l4QRDoNd6X/s640/smokedduck.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherry wood smoked duck magret, cured in birch syrup & ramps; bracken fiddleheads.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I made a bearnasie sauce where ramps stood in for the usual
shallots, and ramp-roasted brown trout served with schupfnudeln fried with
ramps and bacon, and the ramped up remoulade I wrote about recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whole lotta rampin’ goin’ on….</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGccrynPgx3SmEH79H-UceKORP0_If_tBKQygVxoZBsJWhtTmuCDRW5fYxQkrtt0vx_Oo4Jji4OA2glDlP_5mEvM_PZjYHACy_0n79z1RX_9F7In5CLNL_6vIqDXUC0Z2UQGZMuVUy5g52/s1600/rampearnaise.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGccrynPgx3SmEH79H-UceKORP0_If_tBKQygVxoZBsJWhtTmuCDRW5fYxQkrtt0vx_Oo4Jji4OA2glDlP_5mEvM_PZjYHACy_0n79z1RX_9F7In5CLNL_6vIqDXUC0Z2UQGZMuVUy5g52/s640/rampearnaise.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grilled herring with "rampearnaise;" the sauce was second-day salvage & broke a bit. Still delicious.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And still, I just want to keep eating ramps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe with age my taste buds are
dulling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would prefer to think that
the great variety of ways I’ve used them is keeping the flavor fresh and
intriguing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve got a bunch in the
fridge still, getting a little wilted in the greens, so I think I will pickle
the bulbs of those ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the
weather having cooled off a bit, their season in our parts should last until
the end of May, at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll see if
my rampish appetite can keep up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-54600415134806928532015-05-02T14:02:00.000-07:002015-05-02T14:03:27.583-07:00Celery Root Buttermilk Rampoulade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyhFsF9a63qp9btt18rc08UmnZChJwmJivuSuyIVqQ1n7zRWfyMgBaWq-HdOt3eTxSzrqUSoGa9dOWm5KNepxoAQeb2uih3G_cpQo4mRlYsMlufmsmQ8Wo-SnKBN5grVt21mO-TcbrKLzL/s1600/gnarly+root+and+ramps.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyhFsF9a63qp9btt18rc08UmnZChJwmJivuSuyIVqQ1n7zRWfyMgBaWq-HdOt3eTxSzrqUSoGa9dOWm5KNepxoAQeb2uih3G_cpQo4mRlYsMlufmsmQ8Wo-SnKBN5grVt21mO-TcbrKLzL/s1600/gnarly+root+and+ramps.JPG" height="460" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Seasonal eating in the North Country in spring often involves a collaboration between the root cellar and the first wild greens. So it was with this version of celery root remoulade spiked with pungent chopped ramps. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6XhQiyhUxAO048f2uCabpe4sJbzjbNpd8PUlCOOdcgPIvGYoNOyrhawX_WxufCYApk_0SOhpEMOIWPOJkwq95fdifhGxNREOCX0p0RVDXz3OBXnp0zS_1U6dCHTM4Gx5Fpv_p0zQKWDM/s1600/all+ingreds.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6XhQiyhUxAO048f2uCabpe4sJbzjbNpd8PUlCOOdcgPIvGYoNOyrhawX_WxufCYApk_0SOhpEMOIWPOJkwq95fdifhGxNREOCX0p0RVDXz3OBXnp0zS_1U6dCHTM4Gx5Fpv_p0zQKWDM/s1600/all+ingreds.JPG" height="492" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Nothing fancy, a simple roster of ingredients. While my standard celeri remoulade uses sour cream, the buttermilk employed in this version brings a tangy lightness--and combined with the onion-garlic-chive flavors of the ramps, it creates a sort of ranch dressing feel, but subtle, even elegant.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvi6BgGwBelVoAqJuczmxnPY_Vd2u472iqh20NPGHUkofQPQfka9HEm-1eVJW_CEefzVJU1Ac4GPcLlH-6AW8IndlQqDzfTZRiuxU9QVeyJPyuhULip-tqkJLa_xUKw5L3mhML5eSroxS/s1600/celeri+before+and+after.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvi6BgGwBelVoAqJuczmxnPY_Vd2u472iqh20NPGHUkofQPQfka9HEm-1eVJW_CEefzVJU1Ac4GPcLlH-6AW8IndlQqDzfTZRiuxU9QVeyJPyuhULip-tqkJLa_xUKw5L3mhML5eSroxS/s1600/celeri+before+and+after.JPG" height="384" width="640" /></a></div>
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Celery root requires a lot of cleaning up to be presentable.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PlYVxY71JiL37UmAQ9fCyHxVApwSvsLUAwCaGvQv1UQTcYlJ08MgQKr9E6gStP_aWBv2VQg8tD9kcZ7Itj7rAKnb76utoBUTHPAIoLSKoTNoNVvDiV3BUOuFn6EkV252X_0S4gdWrJPe/s1600/celeri+snow.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PlYVxY71JiL37UmAQ9fCyHxVApwSvsLUAwCaGvQv1UQTcYlJ08MgQKr9E6gStP_aWBv2VQg8tD9kcZ7Itj7rAKnb76utoBUTHPAIoLSKoTNoNVvDiV3BUOuFn6EkV252X_0S4gdWrJPe/s1600/celeri+snow.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Using the medium-fine side of a Microplane box grater produces delicate celery root snow--<i>neige de celeri, bien sur!</i> <br />
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Chop the ramps fine, including a little bit of the green. <br />
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Mix it all up. A squeeze of lemon juice perks it up and brings all the flavors together. It's good when made at least a few hours ahead, so the flavors blend. <br />
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Celeri buttermilk rampoulade</h2>
<i>serves 2 to 3 </i><br />
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4 ounces trimmed celery root</div>
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2 good pinches salt</div>
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6 tablespoons buttermilk</div>
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1 tablespoon mayonnaise</div>
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A squeeze of lemon juice</div>
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3 ramps, white, red and a bit of the green, finely chopped</div>
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Grate the celery root fairly small--the medium-fine side of a Microplane box grater is ideal. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Taste for salt. Allow to sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving; it can be made a day ahead, too.</div>
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This salad is our standby with steak tartare, of late. It also accompanies smoked fish nicely, and would go well with anything off the grill. </div>
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<br />Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-84372593625985529292015-04-30T09:43:00.000-07:002015-04-30T09:43:08.952-07:00We Smoke Our Own, 2015 edition<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWcg9UUrxn0j6z-3aHBZv0Pytf3XTPa2WnE6sT8O_byVAknUsLEfi4XJ10Wd1CC1E3GQtcPFNDggRgSq2NsJBInmhnLQxdceegVYbrv-FL1sv5BL-oM2EU-Zb9zM4ciCV2d2K3BIbzRPdl/s1600/on+grill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWcg9UUrxn0j6z-3aHBZv0Pytf3XTPa2WnE6sT8O_byVAknUsLEfi4XJ10Wd1CC1E3GQtcPFNDggRgSq2NsJBInmhnLQxdceegVYbrv-FL1sv5BL-oM2EU-Zb9zM4ciCV2d2K3BIbzRPdl/s1600/on+grill.JPG" height="398" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the spirit of re-embracing that cyclical, perennial
essence of the natural world of which food—real food—is a part, it’s probably
worthwhile to take up again the basics of home smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brown trout are on the roster here, but the
same basic principles apply to pretty much any kind of smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To take away any stigma of the arcane or
difficult about the process:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hot smoking,
which is what constitutes the vast majority of home smoking, is simply indirect
grilling at a fairly low temperature while adding smoke.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDTNyw0zMazdzkJlYNZgS5ofbwbzTbkNJtxOaA1yUp7Ss7OD3C1G7jQQSDJRSoHod09DBVwc9T8HVQFyhQMR-im9DHZq38QP_7MaVK6OupQWQIXt2QLxCYX68LLFYHEvRRBcqwe6jKpb4/s1600/out+of+the+brine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDTNyw0zMazdzkJlYNZgS5ofbwbzTbkNJtxOaA1yUp7Ss7OD3C1G7jQQSDJRSoHod09DBVwc9T8HVQFyhQMR-im9DHZq38QP_7MaVK6OupQWQIXt2QLxCYX68LLFYHEvRRBcqwe6jKpb4/s1600/out+of+the+brine.JPG" height="400" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trout, having been brined.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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First you obtain a piece of flesh, then you cure it with a
brine or a rub, next you build a fire, finally you cook that brined meat in
low, smoky, indirect heat until it is well saturated with smoke, and cooked
through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t really matter if
it’s fish, pork belly, pork shoulder, chicken, venison, beef brisket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it’s something that spends a relatively
short time in the smoke, like fish or bacon, we call it smoking; if it takes
many hours to do the job, we tend to call it barbeque.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same basic process.</div>
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So as not to overlook the obvious:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cooking with indirect heat simply means the
meat is not sitting directly over the coals, as it would be when you grill a
steak or a burger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coals are on one
side of the grill, the meat on the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Simple as that.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfUlwTbzLE51otXkbZiZAELWzoa6PjEs-r8X9yKz_F_Un9VFAbH5qeDgs3Jn4xFWYJ6IADLDsXisWmDNWLUNe71ciWfkpyYWaAh3taRTOnOIzQuY6c2R_kEXYMZuttZbv2tY7hY4QEKZbv/s1600/on+the+grill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfUlwTbzLE51otXkbZiZAELWzoa6PjEs-r8X9yKz_F_Un9VFAbH5qeDgs3Jn4xFWYJ6IADLDsXisWmDNWLUNe71ciWfkpyYWaAh3taRTOnOIzQuY6c2R_kEXYMZuttZbv2tY7hY4QEKZbv/s1600/on+the+grill.JPG" height="438" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish at the back, coals in the front.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The only difficult part of the task, in this age of constant
distraction, is remembering to get your meat brined a day or two ahead,
depending on size and what exactly you’re going for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With these brown trout in the 12-inch range,
an overnight wet brine is plenty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My basic
fish brine consists of 2 tablespoons each of salt and brown sugar per cup of
water; that translates to ½ cup each salt and brown sugar/1 quart water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I start with hot tap water, add the salt and
sugar, stir to dissolve, let it sit until cool (or if impatient add a few ice
cubes).</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-ex5ScWYTe5r4-spspTCkdetlXupA5mHq7SobKMjFhv15u81C_QnyP2j8845E1gzVV5HfcW1RkmBvEzkkQD9IVq0ZTNKEIPFN3zH9Gjp6oWHgp0L1GY8rKsiT9OGvWPSTIy43tikruk3/s1600/therm.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-ex5ScWYTe5r4-spspTCkdetlXupA5mHq7SobKMjFhv15u81C_QnyP2j8845E1gzVV5HfcW1RkmBvEzkkQD9IVq0ZTNKEIPFN3zH9Gjp6oWHgp0L1GY8rKsiT9OGvWPSTIy43tikruk3/s1600/therm.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An instant-read thermometer stuck through the top vent gets you close enough.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The next morning, the fish sit out on a rack to dry a bit
before being smoked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a smoker—just a
regular home bbq grill, Meco my preference—maintained at around 200-250
degrees, the fish will be done in a couple of hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the skin has that gorgeous reddish-gold smoky hue
and the flesh feels firm to the touch, they’re ready.</div>
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For most people, the natural chunk charcoal (such as Cowboy
brand) that’s widely available now will be the best choice for a heat
source.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Briquets can be used in a pinch,
I guess, but for god’s sake don’t start the fire with lighter fluid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It kind of amazes me that they still sell
that stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A chimney starter is the way
to go.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimADEYnr1lR-Hy0EiboZnCzVmYUEjwY_cl2e6kTjtDuAqE-XkuofSF6m6SEekw6p7dFHIqxhJjLf5UV_8ZrYT6cQykJomoOF0mu1hznt2UndzG_gy8EynR5o5KNo9YJgBu7a9MwaX217rT/s1600/firepit+and+wood+pile.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimADEYnr1lR-Hy0EiboZnCzVmYUEjwY_cl2e6kTjtDuAqE-XkuofSF6m6SEekw6p7dFHIqxhJjLf5UV_8ZrYT6cQykJomoOF0mu1hznt2UndzG_gy8EynR5o5KNo9YJgBu7a9MwaX217rT/s1600/firepit+and+wood+pile.JPG" height="640" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foreground, grill purification by fire; background, why we don't buy charcoal.</td></tr>
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These days I build a fire with local oak and use those coals
as my heat source, usually adding apple wood for the smoke--the oak coals bring their own distinctive smokiness, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The apple wood is also locally harvested, and
I just use whatever pieces are easy to obtain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A lot of smoking guides tell you to soak your wood chips, if that’s what
you’re using, and I suppose if the chips are very small this makes sense, but
in general I don’t think it’s necessary; you’re trying to make smoke, not
steam, and soaked chips are just going to steam until they finally dry out and
burn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m all for cutting out
superfluous steps embedded in common practice by constant, unthinking
repetition.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7XBOQxsSCnge9wz4J_LZ02FhfyUnAv4QOwjqA0Dr1Qa51GnJc6MQyMBuo5JLmdtJOGXqtoE8N1Y1VEZyNz2mOkyZKkKAALBR2JJyMd0GuWyWGB9W0LT6lip8iLPX6ozX7b_hsF-Pir44/s1600/trout+on+rack+remoulade.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7XBOQxsSCnge9wz4J_LZ02FhfyUnAv4QOwjqA0Dr1Qa51GnJc6MQyMBuo5JLmdtJOGXqtoE8N1Y1VEZyNz2mOkyZKkKAALBR2JJyMd0GuWyWGB9W0LT6lip8iLPX6ozX7b_hsF-Pir44/s1600/trout+on+rack+remoulade.JPG" height="640" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smoked browns with celeri buttermilk rampoulade.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In general, I smoke food for the flavor—and other delectable
qualities—it imparts, rather than for preservation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With stream trout, though, extending the
delicious life of the fish is part of the reason for smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fresh fish is good for four or five days
(and sometimes actually improves with two or three days aging), while smoked
fish will keep for two weeks or more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t feel that smoked fish freezes very well—when it’s thawed it can be
watery, with a grainy texture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better, I
think, to freeze fresh fish and then smoke it afterward, if you so desire.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1PZLck5G8L3vu6PReAGE3nEW9wWk03ePwhRtLkMk-c7VyK3Eb27I8jHYtguQDInFf6KYRWXoQHkX4UEZNsKpypA5Cg0IU4U9FdHbist5cCmBnbUSZBjBo0qJN9GvZT_D0yI0ACti5Rk_/s1600/plate.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1PZLck5G8L3vu6PReAGE3nEW9wWk03ePwhRtLkMk-c7VyK3Eb27I8jHYtguQDInFf6KYRWXoQHkX4UEZNsKpypA5Cg0IU4U9FdHbist5cCmBnbUSZBjBo0qJN9GvZT_D0yI0ACti5Rk_/s1600/plate.JPG" height="412" width="640" /></a></div>
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Smoked trout can be a centerpiece of a plate, rounded out
with a couple of salads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s a
great ingredient for chowder, and appetizer spread, fish cakes, smoky trout
brandade…. Many possibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re
not a fan of the angling arts, or trout are out of season, you can always buy
farmed rainbow trout, a sustainable product, and a tasty one, at that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, this same method can be used with other
kinds of fish—I’ve done it with Lake Superior herring, whitefish, and lake
trout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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There’s just a lot of satisfaction in smoking your own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have a try.</div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-45876300252462610602015-04-21T10:38:00.000-07:002015-04-21T14:09:58.401-07:00Back to the Stream 2015<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I inaugurated the 2015 fishing season on Sunday with a trip
to the Whitewater region of southeastern Minnesota.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has become my tradition over the years to
make a trip or three to Minnesota
waters in the second half of April.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
regular (i.e., catch and kill, rather than catch and release) season in Minnesota opens a couple of weeks earlier than in Wisconsin, which opens
for hook ‘em & cook ‘em the first Saturday of May, Kentucky Derby day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both states have lengthy catch and release
seasons during the winter and early spring months, and some years ago I did
fish Wisconsin streams in April.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can have some impressive days of catching
fish if you come upon an early mayfly, stonefly, or caddis fly emergence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, it just seems that the fish are less wary
at that time of year, maybe because there hasn’t been too much to eat over the
winter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But I have eschewed the early season fishing in recent years
because I don’t agree with the catch and release “ethic.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as I appreciate all the aesthetic aspects
of flyfishing for trout, I’m a meat fisherman at heart, and I don’t like the
“moral” distinctions that some catch and release advocates apply to the
legitimate choices available to those who practice this pastime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I generally back up my position by not
stringing up my rod unless there’s a legal opportunity to put a trout or two in
my creel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is not to say I won’t
waver in my convictions on some bluebird day during the early season, maybe
even next April; or indeed that I won’t find a principled justification for
poaching the odd trout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just never
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It pays to keep your options open.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I hadn’t been planning to round up the gear and head for the
stream on Sunday, but when I looked at the week ahead it suddenly seemed like
one of the few days I would be able to get away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have this new little creature in the
house, a nine-week-old griffon puppy named Gracie, and she’s pretty high
maintenance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually she’s a
sweetheart, and worth all the trouble (so far), but with Mary away at work part
of the week, I knew I would have to be around the house, and then there were
other obligations on other days…. It’s just really unconscionable that life
often shows so little regard for fishing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sunday was actually looking like a prime day for fishing—overcast
and spitting a bit, but not too cold or windy, and no downpours in the
forecast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My only reluctance arose from
the fact that the Minnesota
trout season had opened just the day before, and opening weekend can bring out
crowds of fisherfolk who in those conditions do not always display the finest
aspects of their nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still I figured
it would be worth a shot in the slightly rainy conditions; with some years of
experience on southeastern Minnesota
streams, and a little patience, I thought I’d be able to find some quiet water
to fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There weren’t many vehicles parked along the branch of the Whitewater River, a nice surprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when I reached the DNR lot in the
wildlife management area through which the river flows, six vehicles had beaten
me there—not much of a surprise there, since it was already late morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hesitated only briefly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were miles of river upstream from here,
with no easy public access.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was also
likely that some of the vehicles had arrived together for an opening weekend
gathering, and so the fishermen would be clumped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, if nothing else, it was a pleasant
enough day for a walk in the woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was pretty sure the ramps would be up, and so I would find something edible to
take home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ve been fly fishing for 25 years now, so recalling how to
put a rod together and tie on a fly is not difficult, even if I haven’t done it
in the last seven months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked in
waders, wading boots, vest, and a faded Badgers baseball hat down the rutted
two-track with a steep wooded hill on my right and a stubble cornfield on my
left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beyond the cornfield, across the
river, limestone bluffs aspired, with birches, pine, and aspen on their
flanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a spectacular valley, and
there are many good reasons to visit there, but it’s fishing that I know will
always bring me back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I had planned a good long hike to assure myself some
undisturbed fishing, but as I came over a rise five minutes or less into my
walk, I looked to the left and saw the river through the still leafless trees, and
it looked like nice riffle water, and I saw no one fishing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My habit had always been to hike well
upstream from here, but then aren’t habits made to be broken, I asked
myself?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I made the premature
diversion thinking, well, if the hoards descend, I’ll revert to Plan A.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it turned out to be a good call, with no
need for second thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fished
happily for about three hours, and saw exactly three other people, at a
distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one walked into my water,
and I did not round a bend to discover a party of raucous metal-chuckers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an opening weekend miracle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It wasn’t looking like a dry fly day: no rising fish, no
apparent insect activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tied on a
girdle bug, a simple concoction of black chenille and white rubber legs; and
then to a length of tippet tied to the bend in the girdle bug’s hook I knotted
on a small hare’s ear nymph, which to the layman’s eye looks like a little
brown fur wound around a hook, because that’s pretty much what it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flies don’t necessarily have to be fancy to
fool fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I waded into the stream in a shallow riffle with a rocky
bottom, and as I sensed the water rushing over the top of my boots my blood
rushed, too, with a sense of exhilaration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fishing writing can easily go over the top with evocations of mystical
communion between the fisher and the natural world, but is indeed something of
a sense of rebirth when you first step into a river after the long off-season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Or as Nick Adams might have said: It was good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Right away then, the fishing proved to be good, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below the riffle where I entered the river
the current divided into runs along either bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casting first to the left I had a hit on my
third cast, and failed to hook the fish, and then another hit a few casts
later, and again my timing was off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nothing more on that side, but I was encouraged to know the fish were
active, looking for food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casting then
to the slightly deeper run on the right side, I lifted my arm after my third
cast and saw the rod take on that splendid bend, and felt the line go taut, and
there it was, <i>fish on</i> for the first time in 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was a lovely fish, too, a deep, chunky brown trout gold along its
flanks, probably a little more than
a foot long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meat fisherman though I am,
I observe a small ritual of always releasing the first fish of the year, so
once I had reeled the fish in close I ran my hand down the leader until I could
grab the hare’s ear nymph stuck in the side of the trout’s lower jaw, gave it a
quick twist and watched the fish turn and dive to safety on the bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never touched the fish or brought it out of
the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And from there the afternoon proceeded like…a really nice
afternoon of fishing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The only real negative was seeing several styrofoam worm containers discarded along the streambanks, which was irksome for two reasons--mainly because of the littering, also because this section of river is designated artificials only, no live bait allowed. (The no worms rule was instituted to support a catch and release fishery, so I should probably feel a little more umbrage about it, if I were consistent. When a fish goes for live bait it will often completely swallow the hook; this almost never happens with flies or other artificial lures.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Probably the highlight—which was also, ironically,
the biggest disappointment—was hooking a really good fish in a deep run not far
downstream from where I started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cast
across the run and let the flies sink and sweep through, and about in
mid-stream my line took a jolt, my rod bent violently, and the reel whined as
line peeled off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tussled with the fish
for a bit, until it moved upstream, took the line down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the line went down I also had a sinking
feeling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One moment I was experiencing
the thrill of playing a really nice fish; the next I was still standing there
with the line taut, rod in that dynamic curve, yet everything was
different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trout, which had taken
the nymph, had found a log along the bottom of the stream and swum under it;
the hook of the girdle bug had gotten stuck in the log, allowing the fish to
break the tippet and swim away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I
could do was roll up my sleeve, reach down the leader as far as I could without
going snorkeling, give a tug and break the tippet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was lucky that the tippet broke right where
it was tied to the hook, and I didn’t have to perform major leader
repair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I caught a few more fish, including one that was just barely
under 12 inches, and that fish went in the creel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Careful measurement is required on this
stream to observe the regulations, for there is a no-kill slot of 12 to 16
inches, meaning all fish in that range must be released.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are allowed to keep five fish under 12
inches, or four under 12 and one over 16.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t think I’ve ever caught a 16-inch trout in that stream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Although brook trout were native to this region, the
introduced “German” brown trout now predominates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never heard or seen them referred to as
an invasive species, though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The ramps were indeed in prime condition on this 18<sup>th</sup>
day of April, and I picked a nice sack full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A spring trickles through the ramps patch, and this year it was wearing a
lovely coat of green—nice, perky watercress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I brought some of that home, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also a few sprigs of mint growing along the streamside path, which I
used to make a sort of julep with a bit of birch syrup and 2 Gingers
whiskey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I noticed other wild
edibles:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>garlic mustard (always referred
to as an invasive species) and stinging nettles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I have ramps and cress I’m not that
interested in garlic mustard, and I have nettles a’plenty all around the edges
of my yard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With the opening day’s bounty from stream and woods I made a
simple, seasonal meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fileted the
trout, chopped the bones and put them in a saucepan with a chopped shallot,
stuck that in a hot oven to brown up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I added some white wine, chicken stock and water, and let it reduce
and infuse, still in the oven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To anchor
the plate I prepared a recipe I had never made before, “schupfnudeln” from
David Bouley’s <i>East of Paris.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
sort of noodle-gnocci hybrid, a potato dough with egg and butter that you roll
with your hands into short, thick noodles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was really easy to work with, and very tasty, and I’m thinking I may
make a couple big batches to freeze, since I have a lot of potatoes in the
basement that aren’t going to be good for much longer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You boil the nudeln, then brown them in a fry pan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the fat I chopped a little of our
home-smoked bacon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the noodles were
starting to brown I tossed in a couple generous handfuls of chopped ramps, mainly
the bottom white and red part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also
chopped a good handful of the ramp greens and added these to some melted
butter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The butter I brushed on the skin
side of the trout before sticking it in a hot convection oven, and cooked it
until it just started to brown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I added a little more wine and a little butter to the
reduced stock/sauce at the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Laid
down a bed of the lovely brown, fragrant, bacony noodles, some fresh cress on
top of that, spooned the sauce over that, and crowned it with the trout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This, to me, is the sort of meal so emblematic of the way we
live, of the way we have chosen to live and eat, that it’s beyond the realm of
food criticism of any traditional sort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it was wonderful, and we cleaned our plates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That’s my story of the first fishing outing, and first trout
stream meal of 2015.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve made it
this far, I thank and applaud you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
a perennial story that I always feel is worth telling again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope you enjoyed it.</span></div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-69210708762067588952015-04-16T13:59:00.000-07:002015-04-17T05:38:31.641-07:00Sweet Trees X3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvQeFqoYT6E6T1c0iIbbUkoQV2M-6lmcOfmnp7pWAWUBZJ7XiWP4E-bTDYZVHFueXguot66qm1mUglCbGLMy5FNEX_Y7UkkVk1p7gvoG1q3e4xk0Ql7q92chs3wzbhgB1DCy1si7iUteD/s1600/double+boiler.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvQeFqoYT6E6T1c0iIbbUkoQV2M-6lmcOfmnp7pWAWUBZJ7XiWP4E-bTDYZVHFueXguot66qm1mUglCbGLMy5FNEX_Y7UkkVk1p7gvoG1q3e4xk0Ql7q92chs3wzbhgB1DCy1si7iUteD/s1600/double+boiler.JPG" height="356" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boiling birch on the left, maple on the right.</td></tr>
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Sugaring season came to an end this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The birches were running pretty good for a few
days, but with afternoons in the sunny 60s the sap doesn’t keep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maples slowed and then dried up a good
week ago, and are now breaking bud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
also tapped our one big black walnut this year, but not soon enough to get much
sap—enough to cook down to maybe a third of a cup, which isn’t bad, considering
I only had about a half gallon of sap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My minimal experience with black walnut tells me that the sap is at
least as concentrated in sugar as maple, and that it probably
starts running at about the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since our black walnut tree is always extremely late to leaf out, I had
assumed the sap would run late, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
so.</div>
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I took a very low-key approach to sugaring this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tapped about five maples, exactly two
birches, and the one black walnut. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
left my <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-sweetest-tree_17.html">half-assed sap contraption</a> in mothballs, and just reduced the sap on
our woodstove, very gradually, and did the final brief boiling on our gas cooktop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
result was not any great quantity of anything, but the process did produce some
observations.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4r6QpmUWhb6DYvgMOERmJ-AY887LtD9r3wSYNwObLqan7beprdgSe7WTtuNXFn1oQMwuHGO0otm5J3roI1QmfVkWXSVVamZHCimsRh5fmm9sGazhXfdoz1xu4DSh8vOhSdDJf19ihJ3Rm/s1600/shades+of+maple.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4r6QpmUWhb6DYvgMOERmJ-AY887LtD9r3wSYNwObLqan7beprdgSe7WTtuNXFn1oQMwuHGO0otm5J3roI1QmfVkWXSVVamZHCimsRh5fmm9sGazhXfdoz1xu4DSh8vOhSdDJf19ihJ3Rm/s1600/shades+of+maple.JPG" height="408" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shades of maple: from left, first to fourth boilings of 2015 syrup, and one from 2014 at right.</td></tr>
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The maple syrup was the lightest in color that I’ve ever
made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the fourth and final batch,
from sap gathered just before the trees dried up, is medium amber at most—the
last syrup is usually very dark, verging on what sometimes is sold as “grade
B”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there’s less of a caramel taste
to the maple, but it’s delicious just the same.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzjGX38RdLZwALt0TScVr9Ms3dysmBfcrKvF1LtenKsWeoxz0303qEuL_5tjzW9z4wDYc7svK5CdVChqHhyphenhyphenW30n9p1APSY_fgwt1qi2niyfAZ3bkP43cvaqpr738IVYZ6ohKaQB_DgmFb/s1600/slow+birch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzjGX38RdLZwALt0TScVr9Ms3dysmBfcrKvF1LtenKsWeoxz0303qEuL_5tjzW9z4wDYc7svK5CdVChqHhyphenhyphenW30n9p1APSY_fgwt1qi2niyfAZ3bkP43cvaqpr738IVYZ6ohKaQB_DgmFb/s1600/slow+birch.JPG" height="352" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slow birch 2015.</td></tr>
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The “slow birch” also made a much lighter, more delicate
syrup than hard-boiled versions I’ve done in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a gorgeous color, reddish mahogany. There’s still an edge of acidity to it, but
it’s rounder, without the aggressive, almost bitter bite of the darker
stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose you could liken it to
different roasts of the same coffee bean, from light to Vienna, French, espresso.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, I think you could very much liken
it to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could see using the
lighter stuff to drizzle over grilled or roasted vegetables, where the darker
version works better combined with other ingredients, in vinaigrettes,
marinades, or glazes.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs8e-U11E4YORFhv-jc1A2IuUwjE5yJb43uTH_T6DvqpI2x9HFb1h5TXjLnY8OlOvXt3xZPIWznc3lR3ZrtjqaDXPWusmGXXStyhlW0g7LgKyHs4ty8cM3SbLEQgzHJUTuWG2QY3cujIKv/s1600/dark+birch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs8e-U11E4YORFhv-jc1A2IuUwjE5yJb43uTH_T6DvqpI2x9HFb1h5TXjLnY8OlOvXt3xZPIWznc3lR3ZrtjqaDXPWusmGXXStyhlW0g7LgKyHs4ty8cM3SbLEQgzHJUTuWG2QY3cujIKv/s1600/dark+birch.JPG" height="246" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hard-boiled 2014 birch.</td></tr>
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Finally, the walnut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I say, I wound up with about half a cup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s much more like maple syrup than birch,
which makes sense—maple and walnut trees are more closely related to each other
than they are to birches, aspens, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also, I believe, though I don’t know for sure, that walnut syrup is
composed of sucrose, as is maple syrup, while birch syrup contains mainly
fructose and glucose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m just going
from taste, and common sense(?) on that.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfffCWLYqSGt_PiN6wZLsGbjwAC7xP4KoIfqSE-Q9tYrRXH7iCKSr6qyolw2lQ2b7hpiJwjDVofI8TtwgjgfmgngsL2GjRd7CNrgGBQaO5NkrbZcUfmyUeSoYwqvp-8tlQ4qN1fHwhGuI/s1600/DSC08851.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfffCWLYqSGt_PiN6wZLsGbjwAC7xP4KoIfqSE-Q9tYrRXH7iCKSr6qyolw2lQ2b7hpiJwjDVofI8TtwgjgfmgngsL2GjRd7CNrgGBQaO5NkrbZcUfmyUeSoYwqvp-8tlQ4qN1fHwhGuI/s1600/DSC08851.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black walnut syrup.</td></tr>
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The main thing I was aware of with the walnut syrup was
trying NOT to describe its aroma or flavor as “nutty.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I resisted that characterization mightily,
and in the end, I failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The finished
product definitely has a slight, but undeniable, aroma of toasted nuts to it,
and a maple-level sweetness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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There you go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
the sugaring report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think all three
kinds of syrup are worth making if you have access to a few trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as with my previous explorations of
micro-batch pickling and preserve making, I hope I’ve shown that you can have
fun with DIY foods without going overboard into tedious mass production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes a taste is enough.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1vhMbBntpOrjPQvyVqzbvj9bz1dBFw8MPECT6Y6Td8HJlX-MwBSEKa7dv34JXo5JgtW5EH8MMNCkX-nCp_PrP3gOiasH5Lsqwz9QsiB4SKlSIj-UjvC13KEI-FjsnVQih23uX5Zsp5Rq/s1600/birch+in+pan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1vhMbBntpOrjPQvyVqzbvj9bz1dBFw8MPECT6Y6Td8HJlX-MwBSEKa7dv34JXo5JgtW5EH8MMNCkX-nCp_PrP3gOiasH5Lsqwz9QsiB4SKlSIj-UjvC13KEI-FjsnVQih23uX5Zsp5Rq/s1600/birch+in+pan.JPG" height="498" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birch in the final reduction.</td></tr>
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Next time it’s on to the nettles and other wild greens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Tis the season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s been mild enough of late that I
think I’ll hit the garden today and plant some radishes, mache, lettuce, and
peas.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPxBe0ygAMK_PpUDSNhHDbJHVyUkIbMI_BTaL034LpeyzfPTkkezETp8-UiTDMl0CKbIDefK3uDHMC3fIbR4nTNsFy4NpBvmrD2V6qRwzI-XzeqQQHE5RCTlvImYOtexUiXSYcOATF4Cyi/s1600/syrup+stacked.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPxBe0ygAMK_PpUDSNhHDbJHVyUkIbMI_BTaL034LpeyzfPTkkezETp8-UiTDMl0CKbIDefK3uDHMC3fIbR4nTNsFy4NpBvmrD2V6qRwzI-XzeqQQHE5RCTlvImYOtexUiXSYcOATF4Cyi/s1600/syrup+stacked.JPG" height="640" width="492" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bide-A-While tree syrups family portrait, 2015.</td></tr>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-57282103122547069902015-04-03T10:59:00.002-07:002016-04-08T13:12:54.861-07:00A Few Tastes of MapleI got a chance today to talk maple syrup cookery with Rob Ferrett on the Food Friday segement of Wisconsin Public Radio's <a href="http://www.wpr.org/food-friday-cooking-maple-syrup">Central Time</a> and have compiled here a few of the recipes I mentioned on the show. I've made this dish a lot lately, while testing the recipe out for the cook-off, at the cook-off, and then as the featured dish I prepared at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/807759922615816/">Kate's Occasional Cafe</a> at the Dairyland Cafe in Ridgeland this past week. I'm still not tired of it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdbgboyTkmyRd3J-5jC_PXnD1tU15DnWgqdHzz4qWvXxbJwBMBXP5V6_FQqRYFkHebcf1YfKlYCWnUh8t_sTqXZpE5uLuKP_fF3CePPRxblApiYFhplWCy-yqYkoZnOtruHIXWyffa8KF/s1600/wings.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdbgboyTkmyRd3J-5jC_PXnD1tU15DnWgqdHzz4qWvXxbJwBMBXP5V6_FQqRYFkHebcf1YfKlYCWnUh8t_sTqXZpE5uLuKP_fF3CePPRxblApiYFhplWCy-yqYkoZnOtruHIXWyffa8KF/s1600/wings.JPG" width="478" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Sichuan-Spiced Maple Chicken
Wings (</span></b><i>This recipe was inspired by Teresa
Marrone’s Two-Pepper Maple Chicken Wings from <b>Modern
Maple</b></i>.)</div>
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Serves 2 as a main course, 4 to 6 as an
appetizer</div>
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Serve these spicy-sweet wings over a bowl of rice,
accompanied by a stir-fried vegetable, for a main course; or as a zingy
appetizer—keep a cold beer close at hand.</div>
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2 pounds chicken wings (about 10 wings), tips removed,
separated in 2 pieces</div>
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¼ teaspoon salt</div>
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2 tablespoons soy sauce</div>
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1 tablespoon oil (sunflower, canola, or the
like)</div>
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2 teaspoons sambal chile paste (or to taste)</div>
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¼ cup maple syrup</div>
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3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped</div>
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2 tablespoons coarsely chopped ginger</div>
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1/2 teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan pepper</div>
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1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper</div>
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4 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch
pieces</div>
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Preheat your oven to 425. Combine all the ingredients except
the scallions in a large bowl and toss to coat the wings with the seasonings.
Place the wings and seasonings in a heavy roasting pan, and bake, stirring every
15 minutes or so, for 45 minutes. Add the scallions and continue baking,
stirring occasionally, until the wings are well browned and the seasonings have
become a glaze that coats the wings. This will probably take another 15 to 25
minutes.</div>
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<i>Options</i>: For really dark and glazy wings, turn on the
broiler for the last few minutes of cooking, and turn the wings a couple of
times so they brown evenly, being careful that they don’t burn.</div>
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If you have a convection feature on your oven,
you can produce excellent results without resorting to the broiler. Bake at 400
convection and check every 10 minutes, adding the scallions after 30 minutes.
Total cooking time with convection should be 40-45 minutes.</div>
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These wings can be made ahead and reheated before serving. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maple Spice Grilled Sirloin</span></span> <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2012/06/maple-spice-grilled-sirloin.html">(original post here)</a><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white;">serves 4--next time I make this I'm going to try it with venison</span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">1 1/2-2 pounds sirloin steak </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><u>Marinade:</u></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">½ teaspoon ground cumin</span></div>
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2 teaspoons sunflower or canola oil</div>
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1 teaspoon sambal oelek chile paste</div>
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1 tablespoon maple syrup</div>
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2 teaspoons soy sauce</div>
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Pinch salt</div>
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Lots of freshly ground black pepper</div>
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1 large clove garlic minced</div>
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Combine all marinade ingredients and pour over the steak, coating well. Marinate the steak for a couple of hours at room temp. Prior to grilling remove the steak to a separate plate, saving the marinade. Add hte marinade to 1/3 cup chicken stock in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. </div>
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Grill the steak over hot natural wood coals to desired doneness--about 3 minutes per side for rare, 4 for medium rare. Let the steak rest on a platter for at least 5 minutes; add the juices that the resting steak produces to the stock and marinade mixture. Serve with grilled vegetables and salad. </div>
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<a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2011/05/thighs-have-it.html">The Thighs Have It</a>
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In terms of underappreciated, tasty bargain meats, chicken thighs are
right there with pork shoulder steaks, in my opinion. The thigh is my
preferred part of the bird, though I fully appreciate the wing thing,
too. Chicken wings prepared in a Sichuan dry-fried manner are an
exquisite treat. The thighs, though, are more accommodating in a
knife-and-fork meal context, and when they are boneless, why, they make
positively civilized eating--cooking them over nice smoky hardwood coals
keeps them on the rustic side.<br />
<br />
Ramps season is starting as the maple season ends, and I often wind up
putting the two together, frequently on chicken. This is a flavorful,
simple dish to celebrate the return of grilling weather (well, <i>comfortable</i> grilling weather; we cook over the coals year-round).<br />
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A paillard is a flattened out piece of meat. I wail away at my thighs
with the side of a heavy cleaver--a meat mallet, or even a small sauté
pan will get the job done.<br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Maple-Ramp Marinated Chicken Paillards</span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Serves two to three</span></i><br />
<br />
4 boneless chicken thighs, skin on<br />
½ cup chopped ramps, whites and greens<br />
Juice of ¼ lemon, and some zest, if you like<br />
2 tablespoons maple syrup<br />
½ teaspoon sambal oelek chili paste (or more, to taste)<br />
¼ teaspoon salt<br />
Freshly ground black pepper<br />
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Purchase boneless skin-on chicken thighs, or bone them yourself. Place
one thigh at a time on a cutting board, and with a meat mallet, the side
of a heavy cleaver, or a small, clean saucepan, pound each thigh
vigorously until the meat is about ½ inch thick—the surface area of the
thighs should nearly double.<br />
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Combine the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and add the
chicken, coating it well on all sides. Let the chicken marinate for at
least 60 minutes at room temp, or longer in the fridge. When you’re
ready to cook, prepare a fire of natural wood coals, and grill the
chicken over medium-hot coals, turning often, for 12 to 15 minutes
total. The chicken should be very well browned on both sides. <br />
<br />
If you have extra ramps, toss a few in what remains of the marinade, and grill them along with the chicken.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida grande";"><br /><img alt="" border="0" height="430" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457025346714795106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNp9Bgg4yL92g5Vq9bWiLRZ1VFPQiwBIFXI-DmpLuKfbUT-rbt0WZJ8Q-QKmtheT1hTYbVhQFVsr2G4ae4i_JBxs3g785JJxfRRwY2d8iOBHCMH0LXf_K-26UYwSP9qcDUfrF_Hp80bE/s640/in+pan.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 130%;">Sweet & Sour (Tree Crop) Chard <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2010/04/sweet-sour-tree-crop-chard.html">(original post)</a></span><br /><i><span style="font-size: 85%;">serves two generously</span></i><br />5-6 good-sized chard leaves (2 cups chopped)<br />1/2 medium onion, sliced<br />2 Tbsp olive oil<br />1 cup chicken stock (or 1/2 cup stock, 1/2 cup water)<br />2 good pinches salt<br />a few grinds black pepper<br />2 to 3 tsp maple syrup<br />1 to 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar<br />options: a bit of thyme, a small knob of butter stirred in at the end<br /><br />Cut
the thick ribs out of the chard leaves, and slice these diagonally into
1/2-inch pieces. Tear or cut each leaf into four or five pieces. Heat a
10-inch skillet or the like, and add the olive oil, then the onion and
the chard rib pieces. Add a couple of pinches of salt, the stock (or
stock and water, or water). Cover and cook over medium heat for 6 to 8
minutes, until the chard is starting to soften. Then add the chard
leaves, and as soon as they wilt into the liquid add the vinegar and
maple syrup. Cook uncovered for another three to four minutes, until the
chard is tender to taste and the liquid is somewhat reduced. Taste for
salt, sweet, and sour. Serve in a dish</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Roast Baby Carrots with Maple-Mustard Glaze <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2009/12/duck-buns-nouveau-roots-steamed-greens.html">(original post)</a></span><br />2 cups baby carrots, scrubbed (mine weighed 9 ounces)<br />1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup<br />1 tsp canola or grapeseed oil<br />pinch of salt, grind of pepper<br /><br />Combine
all the above in a gratin dish or small baking dish. Roast, uncovered,
at 375 for 45 minutes, until they become a little brown and glazy. Stir
them every 15 minutes during this time.<br /><br />Remove from the oven and add:<br /><br />1 rounded tsp grain mustard<br />1/8 tsp piment d'espelette, or a good pinch of cayenne (optional)<br />1 tsp red wine vinegar<br /><br />Add another grind of pepper, taste for salt. Serve warm or at room temp.</span> </span></div>
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Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-77183961482051719322015-03-20T13:16:00.001-07:002015-03-20T13:17:35.406-07:00Greeting Spring Greenly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It seems every bit appropriate to write about first fresh, green harvest of the year, watercress, on the first day of spring. I generally gather the year's first cress from a lovely Dunn County spring that seeps from a modest limestone
outcropping and slides a dozen long paces before it freshens a sweet little
stream; the stream has a name, but I’ve forgotten it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one of those myriad trout streams, as
designated by the State of Wisconsin DNR, which, when you look at the published
map showing all such waters, could fool you into thinking that our neighborhood
would be a trout fisher’s paradise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Northern Dunn and southern Barron Counties are as thickly veined with
trout streams—color-coded blue, red, yellow, and green—as a diagram of the
circulatory system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But few are worth
the trouble to explore; shallow, sandy, alder-choked or simply so tiny that a
flycaster would need a marksman’s precision just to land a fly on the
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I digress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Have you been here before?</div>
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The stream whose name I know not is nonetheless a pretty
stream with lots of character, riffle water, bends, promising pools for local
kids to either drop a worm into or wade and splash in on a hot summer day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As winter departs the spring, perhaps 10 feet
wide, becomes carpeted with glistening cress, variegated light and darker
green, with intimations of reddish veining and browned patches, scars from the
last hard freezes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mentioned picking
cress, but really I snip it—if I’ve had the forethought to bring a pair of
scissors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By snipping the upper leaves I
disturb the roots as little as possible, making it a sustainable harvest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I don’t have scissors I use my pocket
knife to trim the top rosettes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Half a
plastic grocery sack provides plenty of cress to work with for a few meals.</div>
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First and best is simply to eat it raw, and lightly dressed
(if you’re eating raw cress be sure it comes from a spring or headwaters that
hasn’t run through grazing land, particularly where sheep abide).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A straight-up watercress salad is often
extremely assertive, but in early spring its peppery pungency is usually
tolerable—and a welcome wake-up call to taste buds somewhat dulled by root
cellar dining.</div>
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Watercress can be used as an herb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my cookbook I use it in a pesto with
ramps, and to give green relief to celeri remoulade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first thing I did with this year’s first
snipping was to make a watercress mayonnaise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though I almost always <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2010/05/grand-emulsion.html">make mayo the old-fashioned way</a>, with a bowl and
a whisk, I used an immersion blender for this one, for three reasons:</div>
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>So
as to really puree the cress into the mayo, and</div>
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The
immersion blender is a fairly new toy that I haven’t done much with</div>
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We smeared the mayo on bread to make bacon sandwiches, and
also kept the extra on hand to dunk oven fries from garden potatoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the manner of the old lady who swallowed a
fly, the story of this simple, but rather labor-intensive meal, was this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I snipped the cress </div>
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to make a mayo</div>
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to dress the fresh bread</div>
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that made a bed</div>
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for the bacon I smoked</div>
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from belly that bathed</div>
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in maple I tapped </div>
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from our own trees</div>
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a year ago, or so.</div>
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<a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-mayonnaise-with-an-immersion-blender-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-206496"></a></div>
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So, how are we doing with the old “eat local challenge”
concept that well-meaning folks trot out to promote local produce, usually in
September, when eating locally is at its least challenging?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the bread was homemade and leavened
with our now 12-year-old sourdough starter and all MN and ND flours; the bacon
from MN-based Pastures A’Plenty pork belly cured in our own maple syrup and
foreign salt; the mayo contained that Dunn County cress, Ridgeland eggs
(Chicken Creek Ranch on county AA), Smude MN cold-pressed sunflower oil, and
foreign salt and lemon juice; oven fries from our garden potatoes cooked in duck
fat we rendered and more of the Smude oil; carrot slaw with local grower Kate Stout’s wonderful carrots, some of our garden
shallots, Smude oil, our cider vinegar.</div>
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I would say we’ve met the challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I go through this list not to gloat about how
localler-than-thou our diet is, but to illustrate the fact that local eating
year-round is eminently doable, even here in the frozen north.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just keep a very local pantry, is all,
and seek out your local producers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
not that hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re not hiding, and
actually want to be found, so they can sell you stuff!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Co-ops of course are a great place to start
in shopping local, and there are many farmers markets that keep going through
the winter, as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
None of this is anything new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I myself have made the point about a thousand
times in various ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I reboot
Trout Caviar I’m embracing the perennial, roundabout, here-we-go-again nature
of, well, nature, and seasonal eating, which expresses nature in a very
intimate and, I hope, delicious way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxaREZH_98U0kxN2J0itmHOnfuCdI46AqYSKL3j65Ozmpn7UBEjhXCiSMw7ZH7RWo_-4RtmB9fa8q49syvWXkHsNcO-2r9J-cLFldPLLc57gVojFUZwOeZCoVD6r2qfjaQtzFsVuCcIzz/s1600/lily+nose+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxaREZH_98U0kxN2J0itmHOnfuCdI46AqYSKL3j65Ozmpn7UBEjhXCiSMw7ZH7RWo_-4RtmB9fa8q49syvWXkHsNcO-2r9J-cLFldPLLc57gVojFUZwOeZCoVD6r2qfjaQtzFsVuCcIzz/s1600/lily+nose+2.JPG" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The nose knows....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to make watercress mayonnaise you could take as
simple an approach as obtaining some watercress, mincing it well, and mixing it
into prepared mayonnaise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not
opposed to storebought mayo, in fact am on record as a Hellmann’s devotee for
many uses (including eating it right off the spoon).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think Hellmann’s has too strong a
flavor profile, and would drown out the cress which, while very assertive when
eaten straight, can get lost in a rich base like mayo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So a homemade mayo with a milder oil
(sunflower, canola; probably not
EVOO, or with only a little of it) is the best way to appreciate the tonic bite
of springtime cress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
this particular one, made with the immersion blender, I more or less followed <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-mayonnaise-with-an-immersion-blender-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-206496">the method I found on this blog.</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I found that:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>I
had to add a fair amount of oil right at the beginning, just to get the
blending started;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>In
the end, with 2 yolks to a cup of oil, it made a much stiffer mayo than I like;
I’d try it next time with a whole egg and a yolk, or maybe just the whole
egg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At any rate, it made a mayo that is
NOT going to break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>EVER.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy spring.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photographs copyright 2015 by Brett Laidlaw </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-67420711975681864022015-03-08T12:05:00.000-07:002015-03-08T12:05:18.637-07:00Starting Now<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36lLJS5DFLdaQ8T2x76cURN2DFqbj2lZYOgQ78zDBhNWql84Ab_3iyB79iy4EMebVsEQOluMBbxTPXHMYSb2AVlflW9kdqUE9RVXX1cm1wNhJFsk837LYoe8I6E6lyGEv_TsmEt41P2US/s1600/first+taps.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36lLJS5DFLdaQ8T2x76cURN2DFqbj2lZYOgQ78zDBhNWql84Ab_3iyB79iy4EMebVsEQOluMBbxTPXHMYSb2AVlflW9kdqUE9RVXX1cm1wNhJFsk837LYoe8I6E6lyGEv_TsmEt41P2US/s1600/first+taps.JPG" height="468" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our local food year starts, appropriately enough, with the
first upwellings of sap from the maples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cold and clear, only barely sweet, maple sap straight from the tree
carries the flavor of a small miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through it we tap in—literally and figuratively—to a perennial process
that encapsulates what it means to live and eat seasonally like nothing
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the fall the trees sent all
their resources down into their roots, to safeguard them through the long
dormant season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As days grow longer to
the equinox’s tipping point, and the thaw-freeze cycle starts and continues,
the trees call up that liquid food—it’s used to make leaves that enable to
trees to utilize the sun’s energy, to make more leaves, to make seeds that make
more trees, all of it cyclical, like the seasons, endless rise and fall and rise
again.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3UlioIqJuk-ko-4dN0_EvuQqXS9jwRGd3zDg5CM-fTgS_8d8WlqyW4mU3jfVcFJuJJRcWhD0EGfbt0wLvMWtTe3k8JbG6Db0LkhWfwxs8__6S5Tw1T74CvRSS3Euzz6n35DO1AW-llAVy/s1600/long+view.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3UlioIqJuk-ko-4dN0_EvuQqXS9jwRGd3zDg5CM-fTgS_8d8WlqyW4mU3jfVcFJuJJRcWhD0EGfbt0wLvMWtTe3k8JbG6Db0LkhWfwxs8__6S5Tw1T74CvRSS3Euzz6n35DO1AW-llAVy/s1600/long+view.JPG" height="388" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We intercept the sap as it travels—simple enough, drill a
little hole, stick in a tap, or spile, hang a bucket or a bag, collect sap, and
when you have a quantity cook it down until most of the water is gone, all the
sweetness remains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Homemade maple syrup
has qualities of terroir (the French term most often applied to wine), I
believe; especially when the syrup is infused with traces of smoke from a fire
stoked with wood from the same hillside where the maple trees grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All maple syrup is good; maple syrup from
your own trees is both good and meaningful, and deeply satisfying.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve been pretty slackardly in keeping up Trout Caviar for
the last couple of years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year I’m
going to make an effort to get back on top of it and document a year in local
food from where we sit, at Bide-A-While just down the road from Bide-A-Wee in
northern Dunn County, township of Wilson just southeast of Ridgeland,
Wisconsin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Starting now. I tapped three maple trees today; the sap had not yet started to run. But conditions over the next week and more look perfect--highs near 50, lows in the 20s. It will be flowing very soon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbSyFKdsD4h8MgQtx3PXBKqSQDy_bK0-b4B6mbe0xj7_eoiDmlqnqnUkcdFwnqgEjI8POCYuq6cmLfLqkFSyiPCHUPXVKgJ5Ds8Si5orjDoE6_o99m0mybCd3AKKNcppflhMec5y_Jwns/s1600/lily+stick.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbSyFKdsD4h8MgQtx3PXBKqSQDy_bK0-b4B6mbe0xj7_eoiDmlqnqnUkcdFwnqgEjI8POCYuq6cmLfLqkFSyiPCHUPXVKgJ5Ds8Si5orjDoE6_o99m0mybCd3AKKNcppflhMec5y_Jwns/s1600/lily+stick.JPG" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lily found a really nice stick. So awesome.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
___________________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Mary made tartlets today, very local in nature, and
appropriate to the early spring theme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She wanted to test the recipe for the Maple Madness Cook-Off that's part of the <a href="http://hungryturtle.net/cal_single/march-weekend-anticipating-spring/">Hungry Turtle Weekend program </a>of
classes and cooking demos happening in Amery next weekend, March
13-14. The tarts use maple syrup, dried apples from our trees,
Wisconsin hickory
nuts, dried cranberries.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXQhndEqqPooJ9Su6eXBPZGBDaS6scwXE0Rqe_6N1pZLXX4p9KLEvfX5d72mhoUehFoCJLh3wK07tByWt3GR96-yk3LYPCRgbL8WIYPdp0apgJha98kwaLGFT9LJheWrRFIvMHes7NaKq/s1600/tins.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXQhndEqqPooJ9Su6eXBPZGBDaS6scwXE0Rqe_6N1pZLXX4p9KLEvfX5d72mhoUehFoCJLh3wK07tByWt3GR96-yk3LYPCRgbL8WIYPdp0apgJha98kwaLGFT9LJheWrRFIvMHes7NaKq/s1600/tins.JPG" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The original
recipe was for something called Ecclefechan tarts—it came along with a knitting
pattern Mary bought a while back, Ecclefechan being a town in Scotland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve changed it up enough to make it our
own. We made these for a dinner/class at the Palate kitchen store in Stockholm, WI last spring, and came up with a fancy little accompaniment, the chevre maple cream, as below. The tartness of the chevre works nicely against the sweetness of the tarts, but regular whipped cream would be great, too. Or just eat them plain, with a cup o' tea.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXYGwxuXteoEF72HkUjw_312LswOPh9Qn0teHGKrklZU9QqgxGzbbOqhyrmKp6Pc1tod4EorWAqlrPDSXPWeMHihfMWJFUhCEXiG72QouMZZ80zOvB5ozAuaKUJxmToYp3PmW8QClv2RP-/s1600/closeup+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXYGwxuXteoEF72HkUjw_312LswOPh9Qn0teHGKrklZU9QqgxGzbbOqhyrmKp6Pc1tod4EorWAqlrPDSXPWeMHihfMWJFUhCEXiG72QouMZZ80zOvB5ozAuaKUJxmToYp3PmW8QClv2RP-/s1600/closeup+2.JPG" height="414" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Hickory</span></u><u><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">
Nut & Maple Tart(let)s with Dried Fruit</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Makes 8 four-inch tarts or 24 tartlets</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Pastry:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">200 grams (1 ½
cups) all-purpose flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">120 grams (1
stick; or 4 ounces) unsalted butter</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">1 tablespoon
granulated sugar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">1 tablespoon
brown sugar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">1/8 teaspoon
salt</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">1 egg yolk</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Water if needed (Mary has found that water is usually needed, up to 1/4 cup; start adding 1 tablespoon at a time)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Cut the butter
into ½-inch pieces and rub it into the flour until the mixture looks like
breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugars and the salt, mixing well. Stir in the egg yolk
and mix well. If the mixture is crumbly, add cold water a tablespoon at a time until
you can form a dough that holds together. Knead very briefly, just so all the
ingredients are well combined. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30
minutes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Filling:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">50 grams (1/4
cup) granulated sugar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">50 grams (3
tablespoons) maple syrup</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">100 grams (7
tablespoons; or a stick minus 1 tablespoon) butter</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">1 egg</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">50 grams (1/2
cup) ground almonds</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">50 grams (1/2
cup) coarsely chopped hickory nuts (or substitute walnuts, pecans, or almonds) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">30 grams (1/2
cup, packed) dried apples, chopped </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">60 grams (generous
½ cup) dried cranberries</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">1/8 teaspoon
salt</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Combine the
sugar, salt, syrup, and butter in a small saucepan, and place on low heat until
the butter melts. Add the fruits and nuts and let this mixture cool for several
minutes, then mix in the egg. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Roll the pastry
out into a layer about 1/6-inch thick. Cut rounds appropriate to the pans
you're using--mini tart pans, muffin tins, etc. Fit the pastry rounds into the
pans, fill 1/2 full.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Bake at 375
until the pastry is golden brown and the filling brown and nicely puffed up.
Depending on the the size of the tarts, this will take 25 to 30 minutes. Check
after 15 minutes, then every 5 minutes until they're done. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Serve with chevre maple cream, plain whipped
cream, a slice of sharp aged gouda
or cheddar, or just a cup of tea.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Chevre
Maple Cream</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond;">2 oz fresh chèvre, at room temperature<br />
2 tablespoons maple syrup<br />
1/2 cup unsweetened whipped cream<br />
<br />
Combine the chèvre and syrup, and mixing with a fork until well blended. Fold
in the whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to use.</span></div>
<br />
<br />Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-33721788472801419602014-11-07T10:25:00.000-08:002014-11-07T10:26:04.580-08:00Our New Kitchen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2mssRgm5LOOKOF8gnspUJhYQ_h0oPOPUBNsZgY5ZV7yfPanwD_dcWO5FnMWBZd4jJOUgTLmYv1iaG9x0oyLjc1v-hRYNYjw09vMinCTNBnpOGHEkm_oI69XZpQvN4d7OUswUxpSqdJAS0/s1600/from+fridge+side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2mssRgm5LOOKOF8gnspUJhYQ_h0oPOPUBNsZgY5ZV7yfPanwD_dcWO5FnMWBZd4jJOUgTLmYv1iaG9x0oyLjc1v-hRYNYjw09vMinCTNBnpOGHEkm_oI69XZpQvN4d7OUswUxpSqdJAS0/s1600/from+fridge+side.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
We've just finished our first major kitchen renovation ever, a back-to-studs (and, in fact, logs) affair, with all new cabinets, counters, sink and faucet, and appliances--including a vent hood, which was, in a sense, the impetus for the whole thing. It started when we ripped the old drop tile ceiling down in a fit of cabin fever last winter, went into high gear late last summer, and culminated in a furious push during the first three weeks of October. All in all, it went pretty well; we only had to do dishes in the bathroom sink and bathtub for those last three weeks. We learned a lot of things we may never get to chance to apply again, and one invaluable lesson applicable in many situations, to wit: if you do your own contracting, you may find that your contractors are idiots. We did, and we did.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBPsurDz1BF9XunNd5uBzvn0HJ9Z3544PbvhaFEtaW_D8BsFpj0Q61nR_jW_b3aIlfiesP1MxywhQRB6YjdJ6djT3Oymp7J3G953hwxygps8MYoCJRKdlN9mcDyIdYsTnf6gsSVAJm2qH/s1600/whole+kitchen+from+sw.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBPsurDz1BF9XunNd5uBzvn0HJ9Z3544PbvhaFEtaW_D8BsFpj0Q61nR_jW_b3aIlfiesP1MxywhQRB6YjdJ6djT3Oymp7J3G953hwxygps8MYoCJRKdlN9mcDyIdYsTnf6gsSVAJm2qH/s1600/whole+kitchen+from+sw.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old oak "chef's table" is a kind of bridge between the old and new kitchens; it was all we cared to save.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
But now that it's (mostly, except for some cosmetic touches) finished and fully functional, and I can stand in front of the big new casement window looking out on the woods and hayfield hill, and lovingly pat the chic, eco-friendly Paperstone countertops (gunmetal), see the autumn light softly burnishing the cherry cabinets, glinting dully off the international array of stainless appliances (from Germany, New Zealand, and the U.S. of A.), I feel completely happy about how it turned out, and I feel, almost, like a grown-up, almost. The day the cabinets (custom built by the awesome Bruce Schley out of Cedar Falls, but really reasonably priced) arrived, I called Mary, who was at work in the cities, and I said: Honey, we have a problem; Bruce is here with the cabinets, and they're too nice for us....<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUlHNNsXjDu0ubHlN2cC6_QZcWyVKuSs2YSqDuBxD8VN1Jq2fdQL7HvB9O4Fb-vTbWUSxAs1-SBhtmFEnSV9_RuZpApyV6Q4Q-O-0KmzPxo19-aZRGsCJObJp01NySrdgWAtuk8oTwonh/s1600/old+kitchen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUlHNNsXjDu0ubHlN2cC6_QZcWyVKuSs2YSqDuBxD8VN1Jq2fdQL7HvB9O4Fb-vTbWUSxAs1-SBhtmFEnSV9_RuZpApyV6Q4Q-O-0KmzPxo19-aZRGsCJObJp01NySrdgWAtuk8oTwonh/s1600/old+kitchen.JPG" height="430" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The almost original kitchen; we have the wood floor installed, replacing white vinyl, before we moved in.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
The new kitchen is especially amazing in contrast with what we inherited when we bought the house. It's a nice big room, about 15 feet square, so plenty of space to work with. But in the old kitchen everything--cabinets, sink, range--was lined up down one wall, dead-ending in a weird cul-de-sac created by a chimney, and the huge refrigerator was exiled to a distant corner of the room. The cabinets were painted a cheery red, which helped to disguise, at least for a while, the fact that the cupboard and drawer fronts were a mish-mash of "styles," to put it nicely. The best of the drawers were Menard's cheapest, and the worst featured wood-on-wood construction that resulted in a shower of fine sawdust raining down on everything in the cabinet below. The counters weren't really secured to the cabinets, making vegetable chopping and bread kneading a kind of seasick experience. The less said about the cheap electric range, where the plastic around the vent opening had melted, that kept whatever oven temp it damn well pleased, depending on its mood of the day, the better.<br />
<br />
Indeed, enough about the bad old days. Here's a run-down of what we did, and why, in hopes that it might be useful if you're planning a kitchen re-do someday. And yeah, also just to show off, for sure.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHrl_ad5WNu_to2hUZNA_E4Wf5earRmbkkllteQMXD7Ou5ZIwbsRn15Mb1rpG8on2v3uPYOgP0TmEMfl-WQvueLToJaGxkw9Su_qrNDhtmDmL6_Wdb20x8qv5lBx-PQQ0u9sIq4lKnJg7e/s1600/counters.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHrl_ad5WNu_to2hUZNA_E4Wf5earRmbkkllteQMXD7Ou5ZIwbsRn15Mb1rpG8on2v3uPYOgP0TmEMfl-WQvueLToJaGxkw9Su_qrNDhtmDmL6_Wdb20x8qv5lBx-PQQ0u9sIq4lKnJg7e/s1600/counters.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
We took kind of a total flyer on the countertops, which was crazy because they weren't cheap, and once they're there, they're there. We love them. They're <a href="http://www.paperstoneproducts.com/">Paperstone</a>, made from recycled paper bound with some miracle resin, hard as stone! We came across them while browsing at <a href="http://www.naturalbuilthome.com/">Natural Built Home</a> in Minneapolis. The usual stone and composite countertop materials didn't thrill us, so we went to check out the bamboo and other recycled material surfaces at <a href="http://www.naturalbuilthome.com/">Natural Built Home</a>, and found ourselves instead drawn to the warm matte finish of the Paperstone. We contacted the company, ordered some samples, and said yeah, let's do it. Paperstone, what the hell. Our cabinet guy Bruce (a genius, did I say?) said he could cut it to size for us, so we had a 5' x 12' by 1" thick slab shipped directly to him. It weighed over 600 pounds; luckily, Bruce has a <a href="http://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/skid-steer-loaders.html">skid steer</a>. The 60 square feet was way more than we needed, but getting the 5 x 12 sheet meant he could cut two L shapes to go on either side of the sink, so no seams. Very cool. Bruce testified to the hardness of the Paperstone material; it ruined every saw and router blade in his shop....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRok7FjXOYkt_hlSfV-MJi_4xdp333g7uTU0Y-0ZT5GZracexI4XriEDQ8_uVVb2Vky3liklkiaSDBQNclQWhvzT7HC4pOIWHMzuyJ2GTDbt4tW3mc4-GzDZFfMQ9jRgwpxdQKmkJDn42R/s1600/sink.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRok7FjXOYkt_hlSfV-MJi_4xdp333g7uTU0Y-0ZT5GZracexI4XriEDQ8_uVVb2Vky3liklkiaSDBQNclQWhvzT7HC4pOIWHMzuyJ2GTDbt4tW3mc4-GzDZFfMQ9jRgwpxdQKmkJDn42R/s1600/sink.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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The sink has a story. It is from Turkey, via Ikea. Mary got interested in apron-front "farmhouse" sinks; I said, fine. I wanted white after many years of stainless sinks. The Ikea "domsjo" sink was less than half the price of similar sinks from Kohler and the like. I went to the Twin Cities Ikea to pick one up. It was out of stock, they didn't know when or if they were getting more. Could they order one from another store? No. Could I buy it online? No. Would they sell me one of the display models (there were at least three on the floor)? Negatory, good buddy. Thanks for all the help, Ikea.<br />
<br />
Back home, I did some research and found that an Ikea store just north of Chicago, in Schaumberg, had several in stock. I called to see if I could buy it and have it shipped. Nope. Would they set one aside for me, so if we made the long drive (about 5 hours each way), we wouldn't arrive to find them sold out? Well, they could set it aside if I bought it. So, great, I'll buy it (whip out the Visa, ready to reel off the numbers). But, they can't take phone orders. For real? The mighty Ikea cannot take a credit card phone order? So they would set it aside if I bought it first, but I had to come to the store, which is, as I mentioned, just north of Chicago, to buy it. And then why would I need them to set it aside...? Thanks for all the help, Ikea!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZ1imH-2beETjjwCtW_Sl6i75s3aWSikfIGu21T-Lw0QlAwEr0yE1cKYFACBYcA33gNGIsP6FKE30yEYOAWUBuh3ITOETfUc5SVTuIxSRp79iDag0ZSBWW2rPtmCMjbztnMhsr9f8ePoA/s1600/sink+from+north.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZ1imH-2beETjjwCtW_Sl6i75s3aWSikfIGu21T-Lw0QlAwEr0yE1cKYFACBYcA33gNGIsP6FKE30yEYOAWUBuh3ITOETfUc5SVTuIxSRp79iDag0ZSBWW2rPtmCMjbztnMhsr9f8ePoA/s1600/sink+from+north.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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If it seems insane to spend all day in the car just to get a kitchen sink, then you're probably someone who hasn't been through a project like this, and doesn't fully understand what I've come to call Decision Fatigue Syndrome (DFS). This is a phenomenon reached at that point in a project when so many decisions have already been made, then unmade, remade, almost made, reneged upon, reconsidered, decided again, etc., that rather than having to make a brand new decision about, say, a freaking kitchen sink, you are more than willing to spend a full day in the car, including dealing with crazy traffic on the under-construction-for-40-miles Illinois tollway. That's what DFS does to you. Driving to Chicago, at least, was a finite task, over when it was over, and no more decisions to make on that front. And yes, it was insane.<br />
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Here's an interesting thing about apron front sinks: It's not just a cosmetic difference from the usual inset sinks. There's actually a big size difference. I measured. Our old sink, a typical size from, you know, Menard's (nothing against Menard's, we're there like every other day...), measured 33 inches wide. The new sink which looks huge, is 36 inches wide. So, less than 10 per cent wider. But the area of the sink basins themselves, get this, is more than 35 per cent larger. Yes, amazing. You can do the math yourself: the old sink basins were 14" by 15", or 210 square inches per; new sink 15.5" by 18.5", about 287 square inches. The difference is very apparent when you're washing stuff up in there, very spacious. Right, enough sink geekery.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuEJG5X4vH2BUxPhvVFTpv5e2NOCQNp7Jo02kMptbkQtOCqIrP3ip8mkrQ7cSS5fKITAQNvh99E453fOf5fMYPSkj-mEsT-w6u_I2YtAW9c3XgsPyC_QpRWCZ4Vat7UzdKHXx-iD59lDJg/s1600/ceiling+before.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuEJG5X4vH2BUxPhvVFTpv5e2NOCQNp7Jo02kMptbkQtOCqIrP3ip8mkrQ7cSS5fKITAQNvh99E453fOf5fMYPSkj-mEsT-w6u_I2YtAW9c3XgsPyC_QpRWCZ4Vat7UzdKHXx-iD59lDJg/s1600/ceiling+before.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ceiling before.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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One of the biggest conundrums we faced had to do with the ceiling, which, as I said, is where we started down the rabbit hole of deconstruction. White acoustic tiles with canister lighting, and low enough that even a shortish person could easily reach up and touch it. Oppressive. We knew it had to come down, and so, last January I think it was, with our friend Martha visiting and egging us on, we started pulling the tiles down, and then the one-by wood pieces that the tiles were attached to. We had hoped to find rustic floor joists that we could clean up, paint, and leave exposed, to give an added sense of height to the kitchen ceiling. We did find rustic floor joists--which had all been fortified with additional 2-by-6s and assorted strips of plywood glued to the old joists and also secured with a million nails. Not so attractive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8inmuTa3Epl3LAqdETe0d_PKmknZd1p3JwNbcegeTQgxciSg5GTC7mzKBw-59tRktGjVreLXsIkFEJ4JNxAHda9Foexcd7vYYERPHfyUPz3LnNz2JWnPQkZW1-hlXOAPXdu7iFpySVtBP/s1600/beams.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8inmuTa3Epl3LAqdETe0d_PKmknZd1p3JwNbcegeTQgxciSg5GTC7mzKBw-59tRktGjVreLXsIkFEJ4JNxAHda9Foexcd7vYYERPHfyUPz3LnNz2JWnPQkZW1-hlXOAPXdu7iFpySVtBP/s1600/beams.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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The reason for all the retrofitting is that the original floor joists are 2-by-6s on 24-inch centers; not a lot of support there. Even with all that additional wood tacked on the stiffen them, the upstairs floor feels a bit spongy in places. We consulted a couple of reliable sources for an opinion about whether we could remove some of the seemingly haphazard reinforcements, and everyone said: leave it be. Thus, covering up the joists became the only option. We enlisted our friends Mike and Pat Robertson to do that work, and they did a terrific job (they also installed the new window, and put skylights in our upstairs the summer before; they are very accustomed to cutting holes in our house). These "beams" remain somewhat unfinished. We were originally thinking to paint them, but now we're leaning toward staining them, or just giving them a clear-coat type finish.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g4NfMIu7KYBZxLynoWyFCba5gYelnKawxhUbDIug9AsXzvVDgxupcDAZkhXi-PI_ABgNLBOe65i4PmeVSDx4EEapvrSbqFk3zUWtp6G4jtzA8R5_LrI0MT1SQNvqEKDIJOY0KVHPSE8Z/s1600/beams+and+lights.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g4NfMIu7KYBZxLynoWyFCba5gYelnKawxhUbDIug9AsXzvVDgxupcDAZkhXi-PI_ABgNLBOe65i4PmeVSDx4EEapvrSbqFk3zUWtp6G4jtzA8R5_LrI0MT1SQNvqEKDIJOY0KVHPSE8Z/s1600/beams+and+lights.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
With track lighting tucked up between the "beams," we have plenty of light without the blanket effect of typical overhead lighting. The lights above the counter are on one switch, the lights on the other side of the room on another, with dimmers on each. Dealing with the ceiling seemed one of the most daunting aspects of the projects, and it turned out splendidly, a real team effort.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZCAaP4MvwEK1En40bcY_1P0BTPb2L0nMhq7HhpSO8VrXGYsJBWy4RJUDc0YcwgDCRPoVD7XbLykljOX4fVqnZvfUrz5cQli_ZBQ_EpIOKY5dQazz0cT0UXPXDVTUPNdSIFFitR31vaT4/s1600/fridge+corner.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZCAaP4MvwEK1En40bcY_1P0BTPb2L0nMhq7HhpSO8VrXGYsJBWy4RJUDc0YcwgDCRPoVD7XbLykljOX4fVqnZvfUrz5cQli_ZBQ_EpIOKY5dQazz0cT0UXPXDVTUPNdSIFFitR31vaT4/s1600/fridge+corner.JPG" height="532" width="640" /></a></div>
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The cabinets, as I said, are natural cherry with a clear satin finish. They will darken gradually. Doors and drawers are inset. They have this "soft-close" system so you close them partway, and then they close themselves the rest of the way. Nice, I said to Bruce, but can they make sawdust, like our old ones did? He said he could bring me some sawdust to sprinkle here and there, when I found myself missing the old drawers. I don't miss them, yet. Bruce's work is just exquisite; he even used cherry plywood on the cabinet backs and drawer bottoms.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsrqSVIftOHZMu-VUAoRU83oUAas0PwgLX6ZV2rPgyIslHCyFO6f2QLKiUgHCYegz_oypYkxANzT5a1COrxf4pjIMlcdZnVicfaVkA3R7osvGL58iJedjLUlXnWO1bdS2VueQ_n5Pj-G8/s1600/fridge+inside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsrqSVIftOHZMu-VUAoRU83oUAas0PwgLX6ZV2rPgyIslHCyFO6f2QLKiUgHCYegz_oypYkxANzT5a1COrxf4pjIMlcdZnVicfaVkA3R7osvGL58iJedjLUlXnWO1bdS2VueQ_n5Pj-G8/s1600/fridge+inside.JPG" height="640" width="460" /></a></div>
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We love our fridge. It's weird to write that, but it's true. It's a Fisher & Paykel, from New Zealand, counter-depth, only about 17 cubic feet but so well designed, it doesn't seem small, at all. We stumbled upon it at an appliance store in the cities.<br />
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<br />
The salesman had shown us a number of other much larger fridges, with lots of bells and whistles, and we were still undecided. He had gone to print up some information for us, and while we waited, we wandered, and found this sleek little fridge. When the salesman came back we were still admiring the F & P, and we said, <i>Hey, what about this one?</i> He said, <i>Oh, that one. Nice fridge, small. I sell a lot of those to old people from Saint Paul</i>. And we said, <i>Dude! We are old people from Saint Paul! This is the fridge for us!</i><br />
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We like that the shelves go all the way across, rather than being split shelves with center brackets to impede moving things around, and that the crisper and freezer drawers come out really easily for cleaning. We like the shallow storage areas on the door, so things fit snugly and don't rattle around and fall down when you open and close the door, as they did in the old fridge. That it's not as deep as a regular fridge means you can see right to the back, so stuff is much less likely to disappear back there and turn into runaway science projects. The freezer has a shallow center drawer just for ice cubes trays, or other shallow items (the other day I froze a bunch of steamed buns in one layer, on parchment paper, before moving them into a plastic storage bag).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbgxUl_KtrUcyrF-lgjWUs1ynvdXVcvqST0QhmwpyGEjGP7NConn-5V-jd6ZXNXgfns-Woy9JyOqyb3yLA6a1TxgWRhzO-FthKX9R_mLpVE-OSGdkUKEFODsuo3u25HzuekJGtwOOetOd/s1600/drywalling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbgxUl_KtrUcyrF-lgjWUs1ynvdXVcvqST0QhmwpyGEjGP7NConn-5V-jd6ZXNXgfns-Woy9JyOqyb3yLA6a1TxgWRhzO-FthKX9R_mLpVE-OSGdkUKEFODsuo3u25HzuekJGtwOOetOd/s1600/drywalling.JPG" height="446" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike and Pat and the Mike 2 putting up drywall.</td></tr>
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Dishwasher is a German Miele brand, same thing we had in Saint Paul, and we liked it, so that was an easy decision. The most interesting thing about it is that I got it by bidding in a radio auction put on by a Rice Lake station. I put in the minimum bid at 8:00 in the morning, listened to the radio for five hours, and got the dishwasher for less than half retail price. The strange thing is that this was exactly the dishwasher we were going to buy for full price, and it just happened to come up in this auction, and I think there was only one other dishwasher in the auction. So, these things happen, sometimes, I guess.<br />
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The range is a Dacor dual-fuel, meaning electric oven and gas cooktop, also replacing what we had in Saint Paul. We considered all options, knowing that we wanted dual-fuel, as I'm convinced that an electric oven is better for bread baking. The Wolf and other high-end "pro" models were a little too industrial for me, though Dacor has also gone more in that direction since we purchased our previous range, a dozen or so years ago. Also no one could really explain to me what we were getting, above and beyond the capacities of the Dacor, for the couple grand extra. Dacor sometimes gets knocked for not being that reliable, but we used our old Dacor range brutally during our Real Bread stint, and while we did have to make some repairs, it didn't seem out of line given the years of hard use it took. I am thrilled to be able to bring out the wok again, to have an oven that gets to temperature fast and accurately. The convection feature is nice, though we never really used it that much on the old range.<br />
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The door is very heavy; the whole thing is heavy, well insulated. At some level an oven is just a hot box, but I've quickly rediscovered that not all hot boxes are created equal.<br />
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And finally, one of the coolest things that happened in the course of
making our kitchen all shiny and new was discovering, and uncovering,
its original bones. We had gradually become aware that the nucleus of
our house was an old log cabin, probably built in the late 1800s. As we
started removing drywall in the kitchen, it became clear that this room
was that cabin. On the east, outside wall, we found that the logs had
been mostly removed and replaced with a 2-by-6 stud wall, leaving just
the topmost log as a support beam. On the interior west and south
walls, the old logs were still there. They're partially coated with what looks like flaking whitewash. There are, for some reason, a million small nails pounded into them. Most of the chinking is gone.<br />
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In the southwest corner of the room, you can see where the notched logs meet, forming a kind of pillar, and that, amazingly enough, is what is still holding our house up to this day. In the course of the deconstruction we removed and saved a few old, square-cut nails from the ceiling. I smacked a couple of these into cracks in the logs, and used them to hang our cast-iron pans and the wok (which has come out of retirement now that we have gas to cook over again, hooray!).<br />
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Overall, though there were stressful moments, and the whole thing unfolded over many months, the period of real inconvenience was fairly brief, and the results are beyond all expectations. We need to pick up some cherry trim from Bruce for the window and a door frame, and do a few more finishing touches. We've been slowed down on that because, just as the final practical work was being done, the plumber connecting the sink and dishwasher, and running gas to the kitchen for the range, I got sick, and Mary followed suit, as if, with the final decisions and purchases made, and no more phone calls to coordinate and schedule all the various aspects of the work, we let our defenses down, and germs rushed in.... At least we had a really nice place to cook up a pot of chicken broth to comfort our sniffles and sore throats.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDWFctu3VAJMbKyNllmcOPSt5dItUyla8-O7OIf9QJ6J6e4HUOtQymwJkfQEsdSThF39xZ1jWrU4iGGW1IenRoR_ocQIzR97siAIY8EXhw-4cyaBHmt65L7y99VEex_c8qhut6um9r_N8P/s1600/shelves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDWFctu3VAJMbKyNllmcOPSt5dItUyla8-O7OIf9QJ6J6e4HUOtQymwJkfQEsdSThF39xZ1jWrU4iGGW1IenRoR_ocQIzR97siAIY8EXhw-4cyaBHmt65L7y99VEex_c8qhut6um9r_N8P/s1600/shelves.JPG" height="640" width="396" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I made this! This new, yet rustic (thanks to my rustic woodworking skills) shelf unit tucks in along the side of the wood furnace chimney.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW0X5Va0OduRWlvSSs2AE4mz0FwrG0uObr3HA29MpoBM3ZS6S9G-I3fs6mm2hQZdG03PNFbKvombpva2MeTfWmT6fm2lCLlGP0AyJpXHBAZhPM-0aTf3hTUE0gVTcmoUwpeoapLcM88h6/s1600/new+and+old.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW0X5Va0OduRWlvSSs2AE4mz0FwrG0uObr3HA29MpoBM3ZS6S9G-I3fs6mm2hQZdG03PNFbKvombpva2MeTfWmT6fm2lCLlGP0AyJpXHBAZhPM-0aTf3hTUE0gVTcmoUwpeoapLcM88h6/s1600/new+and+old.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking from the new to the old; also note volunteer squash/pumpkin harvest on counter in messy laundry room....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2014 by Brett Laidlaw</i></span><br />
<br />Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-69559710377635787212014-09-11T12:15:00.000-07:002014-09-11T12:15:08.048-07:00Hen of the Woods Confit<br />
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The hen of the woods are starting to come in, pretty much on schedule this year--I expect to see them in early September and continuing through the month. Last year they apparently started in mid-August, and since I wasn't tuned in, most of what I found late in August and early September were already way past their prime. Which was a shame, because it's one of my favorite wild mushrooms, and certainly the most abundant, at least in terms of sheer weight, since a single specimen can weigh several pounds.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNREJAHkwe0jaOyl3B5MYJ9wcQCHDgWufr64yE28wj8lrEe8CFAWoFpLSol54fotxbCSRbVEW7wrduE8Wqa7z_V0E2Xo4Kgkkg4-CP4DsTmCm7gThMNvYSKxMeAsLk1tkUaNhUts4kaNe/s1600/whole+hen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNREJAHkwe0jaOyl3B5MYJ9wcQCHDgWufr64yE28wj8lrEe8CFAWoFpLSol54fotxbCSRbVEW7wrduE8Wqa7z_V0E2Xo4Kgkkg4-CP4DsTmCm7gThMNvYSKxMeAsLk1tkUaNhUts4kaNe/s1600/whole+hen.JPG" height="504" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the most beautiful of specimens, but it worked well in the confit after some trimming.</td></tr>
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The sudden influx of fungal flesh presents a problem, along with much pleasure. It's a versatile mushroom, excellent sauteed, roasted, even grilled, and it's an amenable companion to pretty much any meat or fish. With its firm texture it can add a meaty element to vegetable dishes, like a promiscuous ragout of the almost paralyzing variety of garden produce available now, served over polenta or noodles. One of my favorite ways to serve it is a simple saute of hens and red onion or shallot in plenty of olive oil, tossed with noodles and sprinkled with excellent aged gouda, like Marieke.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2h3SjYV1X4uz3xQtRfmKTV4G0WATsTuryDS-KZBq-VkDnJpEpaa21UtL6VRh3xyfI8hu7nzOdv73S96Pv-1kCnme1fp79sI_dkQJDpQX4PYFaDgRvBZj9tKcmxyH-YdHSItLaSqMgwQt/s1600/in+bowl+with+fat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2h3SjYV1X4uz3xQtRfmKTV4G0WATsTuryDS-KZBq-VkDnJpEpaa21UtL6VRh3xyfI8hu7nzOdv73S96Pv-1kCnme1fp79sI_dkQJDpQX4PYFaDgRvBZj9tKcmxyH-YdHSItLaSqMgwQt/s1600/in+bowl+with+fat.JPG" height="416" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well-rinsed, shredded hens in the casserole with sunflower oil and tasty duck and pork fat.</td></tr>
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So we eat a lot of it fresh when we have it, but can rarely consume it all, even after giving away a quantity. I've yet to find a satisfactory way to preserve it. I think some people dry it, and I should look into that some more, though that seems a last-ditch approach. The best I've come up with so far is par-cooking it with oil, either in the fry pan or oven, then packing portions into plastic bags and freezing it. The confit presented here today takes that approach to the extreme, cooking the mushrooms in a lot of fat for a long time. Initial impression: it's a winner.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimq1Q4RZUGNl4OgthWfqbCG8scJJ5GSgHmzUpm8uaYOLQ8Zgu-XeiO3zSQcYXYPuXWzYgoZ9h5b94xjQHQiZu89LGwoyhHoykFc0fXUYv7SEcNpJDC_F0qnqj7a8SqFskOF5WwQCgeunzL/s1600/cooked+above.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimq1Q4RZUGNl4OgthWfqbCG8scJJ5GSgHmzUpm8uaYOLQ8Zgu-XeiO3zSQcYXYPuXWzYgoZ9h5b94xjQHQiZu89LGwoyhHoykFc0fXUYv7SEcNpJDC_F0qnqj7a8SqFskOF5WwQCgeunzL/s1600/cooked+above.JPG" height="558" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After a couple hours in the oven.</td></tr>
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I took 12 ounces of cleaned, trimmed hens, torn into shreds about an inch wide and three inches long--of course, these are going to be pretty irregular, doesn't matter. I tossed the shreds with a teaspoon of salt, and added these to a lidded glass casserole along with:<br />
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1/2 a big shallot (2 ounces by weight) sliced<br />
3 cloves of garlic peeled and halved lengthwise<br />
a few sprigs of fresh thyme<br />
10 black peppercorns<br />
5 juniper berries, crushed<br />
3/4 cup fat<br />
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For the fat here, I used 1/2 cup sunflower oil and 1/4 cup of a pork and duck confit blend. Next time I'll try it with all sunflower oil. I would add more shallots next time, too.<br />
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Stick the covered casserole in a 350 oven for an hour, tossing every 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 300, remove the lid, and cook for another hour or so, again tossing from time to time. <br />
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The mushrooms will give off a lot of water at first. In the long cooking this water will evaporate, and at the end the hens will wind up almost frying gently in clear, pure fat. If you've made duck or another kind of meat confit before, this will sound familiar. It's the exact same progression.<br />
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At the end I removed the hens from the fat, not bothering to drain them particularly well, and found that 8 ounces remained from the original 14-plus ounces of hens, shallots, etc. And I was able to pour out a generous half cup of fat from the 3/4 cup that went in. The hen shreds remain a firm, appealing texture, and they're imbued with the aromatic additions and the tang of flavorful fat. I packed them into a Weck jar, and when I added back the fat, it came right to the top. I'll keep it in the fridge for a while and see how the flavors develop. With the next batch I may try freezing some.<br />
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For a lovely lunch on a cool breezy day, after spending the morning in the garden harvesting ahead of possible frost this weekend, I threw some of the hen confit in a pan along with some slivered jalapeno. The hens shed a good bit of oil, and when they were hot and the chile wilted, I removed them from the pan and tossed them with a few leaves of parsley. A little butter in the pan, and I soft-scrambled a couple of eggs. Served with the hens on top, sliced tomatoes on the side, toasted sourdough. <br />
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I'm ready to get back in the garden, then later perhaps into the woods again, to see if there are more hens about.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2014 by Brett Laidlaw</i></span><br />
<br />Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-85008961607221027692014-08-21T15:02:00.001-07:002014-08-21T15:02:08.050-07:00Volunteers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3jdXzE1vyi2kpZ1xPk9fs_XOMpB5NDkadfYAaN48bvDy1ci4_MfsAfyf8gwTn7-4V-4lqvqcx972SQJAkeWjKfOBefsj8NOy6-Er2noUNChjYWuclzhIsvNO43N_SI13eHs4n1uKEBj0/s1600/post+squash+recrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3jdXzE1vyi2kpZ1xPk9fs_XOMpB5NDkadfYAaN48bvDy1ci4_MfsAfyf8gwTn7-4V-4lqvqcx972SQJAkeWjKfOBefsj8NOy6-Er2noUNChjYWuclzhIsvNO43N_SI13eHs4n1uKEBj0/s1600/post+squash+recrop.jpg" height="640" width="562" /></a></div>
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Most of the party crashers in our garden are both uninvited and undesirable, i.e., weeds, but some of the unexpected sproutings are are ones we actually look forward to and hope for. These are the things that we did once plant, that went to seed in the garden, and come back for a return visit once things melt and warm up. We refer to these plants not as weeds, but rather as volunteers, selfless, altruistic vegetables that don't have to be asked to pitch in, but show up fairly reliably, ask for little in the way of cultivation, and give their all without reserve.<br />
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Purple mustard greens are probably the most reliable volunteers in our garden. When we lived in Saint Paul I planted them once or twice in the late 1990s, and then enjoyed their complimentary contributions for a decade and a half. When we moved to Wisconsin we wound up bringing some compost out with us from Saint Paul, and by golly, if there weren't purple mustard seeds in there, and so the cycle has begun again.<br />
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I really enjoy the look of radish flowers, so I leave those be when they bolt, and I like pickled radish seed pods, so I pretty much leave the plants alone until, well, to be honest, probably the next spring; I've got to be better about fall garden maintenance, which makes turning things around in the spring so much easier. At any rate, my slovenly gardening had the beneficial consequence that in earliest spring we had daikon plants shooting up in a variety of spots.<br />
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Lettuce is a common volunteer if you leave the bolted plants around long enough, and in the herb world, dill is a reliable reseeder. Tomatoes often pop up in our compost, but they rarely amount to anything.<br />
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But the volunteers that provide both the most entertainment and nourishment are the squash plants that frequently erupt from our compost pile. Given adequate water and space, squash and pumpkins will grow like crazy even in mediocre soil, and so it's pretty amazing what they can do when they feed on a diet of pure, well-rotted compost. In mid June we started to see the squash emerging from one of our compost bins; probably a half dozen or more vines developed and competed for space and light. The ones that got over the top and into the yard or meadow are now doing very, very, nicely, indeed. Here's a little tour of our magnificent volunteer squash explosion:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTpUc0DHKUgjVwDPco0ZH_kPa0hwVFrqr2Cjjb72NRomMCGJ2JpdgNC4QtOjBhPYZqdQx2-ZIlxBf9ouDDcEZAjbaxP7TugbgMzOoqeLrqufzXV7O0N3lxpQe70CozjkCFFQfG3iqMj0t/s1600/the+sprawl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTpUc0DHKUgjVwDPco0ZH_kPa0hwVFrqr2Cjjb72NRomMCGJ2JpdgNC4QtOjBhPYZqdQx2-ZIlxBf9ouDDcEZAjbaxP7TugbgMzOoqeLrqufzXV7O0N3lxpQe70CozjkCFFQfG3iqMj0t/s1600/the+sprawl.JPG" height="336" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking east. These are all coming out of a roughly 4 by 4-foot bin about a third of the way in from the left.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO8jr6V_vmnOFI6NtFUQeEUDQZLE8iMBvboBUjUw1-HPfz89Ie8XC1ohtZt8ehEd54Sy0_6j4zGj6ivpAXNnbZerRyVHqjAvMSWmcWen93lnFd-vbYE4oJo2IcU7yztMDyS5RIZ5lQRfCY/s1600/lily+and+big+squash.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO8jr6V_vmnOFI6NtFUQeEUDQZLE8iMBvboBUjUw1-HPfz89Ie8XC1ohtZt8ehEd54Sy0_6j4zGj6ivpAXNnbZerRyVHqjAvMSWmcWen93lnFd-vbYE4oJo2IcU7yztMDyS5RIZ5lQRfCY/s1600/lily+and+big+squash.JPG" height="404" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The largest squash by far, with 60-pound Lily for comparison. She stands about 2 feet at the shoulder. This must be a Hubbard; we had one that rotted in the root cellar.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxpcLrYfZAa4nmc4glbKNVnUQD7KfbIE0ZeMs_kBXsE_1Y6hMzrZHR_uGoCytVe9f6j0SlNOREocQVvbCfTWc5gOZXvXOw_3pqMUNnd7-CZz43s3JhT7lVs13lD-liktBHHr8IGID5_Vx/s1600/delicata.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxpcLrYfZAa4nmc4glbKNVnUQD7KfbIE0ZeMs_kBXsE_1Y6hMzrZHR_uGoCytVe9f6j0SlNOREocQVvbCfTWc5gOZXvXOw_3pqMUNnd7-CZz43s3JhT7lVs13lD-liktBHHr8IGID5_Vx/s1600/delicata.JPG" height="432" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm guessing delicata.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8YGA9dlymu8tMUJfXvbx8m8AJjKH5LvR7OxPYatq6IOYMLH2OI6EtswjEPdBAfHpbTD08QoIHfZK10FnM1Fv9-8HVLTITopuiY0UbDKro9CGpoLzdZBo3YGelNG66Fz5KWVIvagWoFv2/s1600/carnival.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8YGA9dlymu8tMUJfXvbx8m8AJjKH5LvR7OxPYatq6IOYMLH2OI6EtswjEPdBAfHpbTD08QoIHfZK10FnM1Fv9-8HVLTITopuiY0UbDKro9CGpoLzdZBo3YGelNG66Fz5KWVIvagWoFv2/s1600/carnival.JPG" height="640" width="548" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And maybe carnival? </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBCLcL3xNHuXJtJ7QVfaPhbxKXSNS7ZTsMV_xrzkiweF3nPkiJlgL0VkFkPbbgTY7QMGX0KwJpsCNBT0JjdgzCTN1L496Yv4_LX2riKEErZu-eNs13OBfKEUglKLhwxHsOHFdnaZzgV_B/s1600/squash+and+tomatoes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBCLcL3xNHuXJtJ7QVfaPhbxKXSNS7ZTsMV_xrzkiweF3nPkiJlgL0VkFkPbbgTY7QMGX0KwJpsCNBT0JjdgzCTN1L496Yv4_LX2riKEErZu-eNs13OBfKEUglKLhwxHsOHFdnaZzgV_B/s1600/squash+and+tomatoes.JPG" height="640" width="502" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging in the adjacent bin.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUWMBQy_TftiBqQ4TR2L-zL4h8i-PROT8-pH7cV9Ztezn0TC76Qsf6h8O7m4SPmFiXpYNMnqd1SAI8etKXQOQpOwlbQtcDIN_qEJkRY4Xli0Mx7y-ubnXEZU175CGEyUQEm0FCONuZdMcD/s1600/sprawl+side+view.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUWMBQy_TftiBqQ4TR2L-zL4h8i-PROT8-pH7cV9Ztezn0TC76Qsf6h8O7m4SPmFiXpYNMnqd1SAI8etKXQOQpOwlbQtcDIN_qEJkRY4Xli0Mx7y-ubnXEZU175CGEyUQEm0FCONuZdMcD/s1600/sprawl+side+view.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view of the sprawl.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyEmgnm8970oA9FjzgbIPk-MaquyDzasHm7L7MREvMLbbnK_Q6ggw0phCpxYeE2uKjL6Nps2fKH_Coakuyy1XOg0qxcdp-PM_gQCpOKLP-WQzGYR8Bu-cONxgyu74SLn4dZnksph-wvQ9/s1600/squash+flower+and+bugs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyEmgnm8970oA9FjzgbIPk-MaquyDzasHm7L7MREvMLbbnK_Q6ggw0phCpxYeE2uKjL6Nps2fKH_Coakuyy1XOg0qxcdp-PM_gQCpOKLP-WQzGYR8Bu-cONxgyu74SLn4dZnksph-wvQ9/s1600/squash+flower+and+bugs.JPG" height="638" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The volunteer squash are luring a variety of pests away from my cucumbers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIWf0s6isO4VbyHVzAJzKmUM7qPTOWl8lh8nUDs_gDFBhe8HMEYwqcWwwL3_RTkyW0czFK-OGGeuNOazzOzRzefQBTMd1MBm82Bw6XfXwhSfMUK07W_eMPvUs029eYQpVA7xXTfWYs3Us/s1600/viny+ambition.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIWf0s6isO4VbyHVzAJzKmUM7qPTOWl8lh8nUDs_gDFBhe8HMEYwqcWwwL3_RTkyW0czFK-OGGeuNOazzOzRzefQBTMd1MBm82Bw6XfXwhSfMUK07W_eMPvUs029eYQpVA7xXTfWYs3Us/s1600/viny+ambition.JPG" height="640" width="414" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viny ambition.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILq8Z7g77oJ8EVJzUHHndZ_IpjfdbeV8rBj1Tq1fxJHxhzPRy4hh12WLnE-Vjhz5cXf0ItU4wllBxK_-QAClrbtiNgnvoX-EyQuov2fBogAYdoLo0LS1JLMn6nRLnVcsZUg5ET31kqGHM/s1600/wood+pile+baby+squash.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILq8Z7g77oJ8EVJzUHHndZ_IpjfdbeV8rBj1Tq1fxJHxhzPRy4hh12WLnE-Vjhz5cXf0ItU4wllBxK_-QAClrbtiNgnvoX-EyQuov2fBogAYdoLo0LS1JLMn6nRLnVcsZUg5ET31kqGHM/s1600/wood+pile+baby+squash.JPG" height="640" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having surmounted the wood pile.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmPc2h4o6oZlCdgOriNdnKe4xp-Viad8uGTZhj6TJrbvIsBMIuPucmC51tlictw7YGoQcYzKrUYTcbgT6ouwpbho7fGnHVR770PFGokbtFvM6puq8uX3e8ctyu-U2CisWCrTLvaSKPmJW/s1600/squash+and+leaves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmPc2h4o6oZlCdgOriNdnKe4xp-Viad8uGTZhj6TJrbvIsBMIuPucmC51tlictw7YGoQcYzKrUYTcbgT6ouwpbho7fGnHVR770PFGokbtFvM6puq8uX3e8ctyu-U2CisWCrTLvaSKPmJW/s1600/squash+and+leaves.JPG" height="470" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kabocha in there?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttcmo4dWMi9Vga-KmuKzY6jiLzWfq0oFWgOZxM0yN4oClZ0F2uyM0L8JtBL3BBfny1OTqUiCveP5YcEJn75dRGlVQY7a1b-NatjsJ1NIMRhwq12HkrAK79jFNglYB2XH35K5EhZIcIJj7/s1600/little+guy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttcmo4dWMi9Vga-KmuKzY6jiLzWfq0oFWgOZxM0yN4oClZ0F2uyM0L8JtBL3BBfny1OTqUiCveP5YcEJn75dRGlVQY7a1b-NatjsJ1NIMRhwq12HkrAK79jFNglYB2XH35K5EhZIcIJj7/s1600/little+guy.JPG" height="640" width="468" /> </a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26T8XLFNWapnBWzXFRYEhSvXDYOX8lVim3PaWFdS7yKIeAMq7uaFZEig8CtSbcmcqt14QxxQThbBuo_bHurmfR5ir9lxZG6fzyik0b71NSsoazWZVHibmUQ1xG-fAOPUG97K-b7gqi6B4/s1600/flower+bugs+and+bumble.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26T8XLFNWapnBWzXFRYEhSvXDYOX8lVim3PaWFdS7yKIeAMq7uaFZEig8CtSbcmcqt14QxxQThbBuo_bHurmfR5ir9lxZG6fzyik0b71NSsoazWZVHibmUQ1xG-fAOPUG97K-b7gqi6B4/s1600/flower+bugs+and+bumble.JPG" height="468" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's a bumblebee in there, along with what I think of as cucumber beetles. But the beetles don't seem to be doing any harm to the squash, and must in fact be helping with pollination.</td></tr>
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There you have it. I'll report back when things start to assume their eventual colors and ripen.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Text and photos copyright 2014 by Brett Laidlaw </i></span></div>
<br />Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5190698551624574472.post-73672306917996439702014-06-11T15:54:00.001-07:002014-06-11T15:54:37.414-07:00Weeds Worth the Pain<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQyyRUaHwLr_tSxryCfKbo3tdQa1Onrme3_ZFuyiu9K0cjX6gDpaPqdlDaozNvHq40WsXiLOhFiBaJncPzJahDpdMAQLMATu-P_c6Y32l2ZKPGnnfrhLvf1Ek6DNgltUs1lCvc9YAnf7RC/s1600/wood+nettle+tableau.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQyyRUaHwLr_tSxryCfKbo3tdQa1Onrme3_ZFuyiu9K0cjX6gDpaPqdlDaozNvHq40WsXiLOhFiBaJncPzJahDpdMAQLMATu-P_c6Y32l2ZKPGnnfrhLvf1Ek6DNgltUs1lCvc9YAnf7RC/s1600/wood+nettle+tableau.JPG" height="422" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm bringing the blog out of hibernation to write in praise of one of my favorite wild greens, wood nettles, <i>laportea canadensis.</i> I've probably had something to say about this under-appreciated cousin of the better known stinging nettle pretty much every spring. My favorite time to harvest it is just after it has emerged, at 8 to 10 inches high, say, when it has little sting and you can consume the whole plant, adding it to <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2012/05/savage-soupage.html">a soup of wild greens </a>or <a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2012/05/stalking-wild-spaghetti.html">tossing it with pasta.</a> Wood nettles are usually up by the second week of May, and can be found in that infant state through the end of the month, depending upon your latitude.<br />
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I managed to gather a few harvests of baby wood nettles this year, but for most of May torrential rains and various obligations kept me out of the woods. By the time I got back to check my wood nettle patches, most of the plants were up at least 18 inches, with their broad, delicate leaves fanning out widely, and their potent sting in full force. I've said it before, but it bears repeating: even though there's no sting in the name of wood nettles, there's a wicked one in the plant, worse than stinging nettles, in my opinion. Maybe I've just had more bad experiences with them, as they tend to grow thick and tall near trout streams, and there's also an abundant patch of them guarding my favorite chanterelle patch. They can sting you fiercely even through your jeans. Beware!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTP448vHibg4pPY6xZVyUmxVdsqsagoAT20PXTzJ8uHMbHKXPZOM2pcQHJLJpsaagsptQfTzlkSpyY7adUQmgeMk6ji92WvUuu0KA27VA_JhIT4tSPOc-Ap8mhzizPbVj67FgDuhBrHoCm/s1600/potent+part.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTP448vHibg4pPY6xZVyUmxVdsqsagoAT20PXTzJ8uHMbHKXPZOM2pcQHJLJpsaagsptQfTzlkSpyY7adUQmgeMk6ji92WvUuu0KA27VA_JhIT4tSPOc-Ap8mhzizPbVj67FgDuhBrHoCm/s1600/potent+part.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those little hairs deliver a potent sting in mature wood nettles.</td></tr>
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But even though the wood nettles are getting tall now, they still provide excellent eating, which you can't really say for stinging nettles of the same size. Before the plants flower and reach full height, which can be four to five feet, the leaves are still tender enough to make a versatile cooking green, and there's an added bonus product, what I've been calling "haricots verts du bois," the slender green beans of the woods: it's the upper stems of wood nettles plants, which, when blanched and peeled, make a delightfully mild and crunchy vegetable.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peeled (mostly) stems.</td></tr>
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In fact, you can eat the peeled stems raw, too, but a quick blanching in boiling water removes the sting and makes them very easy to handle. I don't bother with gloves when picking the nettle tops, but long sleeves are probably a good idea, at least until you get the knack for picking them. Wood nettle leaves grow in rather widely spaced tiers along the stem, which allows you to reach in, carefully, and grasp the stem about a foot down from the top. Don't I get stung? Am I possessed of digits of steel? Yes I do, and no, I'm not. I do feel a bit of sting on my fingertips, but the fingertips, at least mine, are not all that sensitive to wood nettles's sting. So I take hold of the stem and bring my fingers up until I feel where the stem breaks easily. As with asparagus, this is how I know that the stem is tender.<br />
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I bend it over to snap it, and as I pull it away the skin usually peels off from one side--that's how easily they peel. When the leaves are big, stuffing them into my sack without getting stung is the most perilous operation. So, yes, there's usually some pain involved, but it doesn't last long, and for me, the reward is more than worth it.<br />
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Once I get my prickly salad home, I dump the sack into a big bowl and wash it thoroughly--use tongs to agitate, but be gentle if you want to keep the stem sections intact, for they are delicate and break easily. By this time, having been jumbled around in your sack and swished in water, a lot of the stinging capacity is gone, and then a dunk in boiling water does away with the rest. The liquid you blanch the nettles in makes a tasty tea, similar to stinging nettles tea, perhaps a bit milder. I add a little maple or, in this case, birch syrup to sweeten it a tad.<br />
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You'll notice that you can still see some of the little hairs on the unpeeled stem sections, even after blanching. There's no sting there anymore, as I've said, but you may taste a little prickle on the tongue as you eat them. This may be an acquired taste; myself, I don't mind it.<br />
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The blanched wood nettle leaves can be used anywhere you'd use spinach, or young turnip or mustard greens. To me, the flavor is much superior to spinach, and it doesn't make your teeth feel funny.... With the stems, pretend that they are wild haricots verts, or chop them into anything to which you want to add some crunch, from tuna salad to salsa to deviled eggs.<br />
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Or to soup, such as a bowl of ramen, which is a common lunch at this forager's house. And when I say ramen, I'm talking the packaged kind with dry noodles and little flavoring packets. But not the 29-cent kind. No, with my dorm-room dining days well behind me, I now splurge for the 99-cent to $1.39 per package ramen. Some of these deluxe instant lunches come with three count 'em three different little flavor packets--the powdered stuff, maybe some kind of oily or bean paste stuff, and one with bits of dehydrated vegetables. Livin' large!<br />
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To fancy up my ramen just a bit, I sauté some kind of onion (or leek, ramp, shallot) in a bit of oil, add a good teaspoon of sambal, or better, our homemade chile-garlic paste, then add water, and the noodles. I'll usually add about half the packet of powdered soup base (can't imagine how salty it would be if you used the whole thing, because it's pretty salty with half). A minute or two before the noodles are done I toss in some greens, today, of course, wood nettles. And today I also had some veiled oyster mushrooms that I found in our woods on my nettle-gathering walk yesterday. These are a lesser oyster, for though they can get fairly large, the meat of the cap is thin, and they're pretty chewy. Good flavor there, though, and a good textural addition. A few slices of radish and spring onion, maybe a few drops of sesame oil and/or a dusting of hua jiao, <i>because </i><a href="http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-stalwart-cook-indeed-who-can-look.html"><i>it's all about the garnish</i>!</a> Slurp on.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHcuEDYi9gM5mW883LVHwtm1EEkU-ibrejoc8Geho8IvCU8MxSon-R1RoKTF3cYrVGU9JF_o4_vHKbVVjEss2xmroxOJOXc2y1lLNIKkis-tofxtjf5knqLdJFwlPA63ajTR0aL691NZA/s1600/outdoor+kitchen+and+foragers+asst.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHcuEDYi9gM5mW883LVHwtm1EEkU-ibrejoc8Geho8IvCU8MxSon-R1RoKTF3cYrVGU9JF_o4_vHKbVVjEss2xmroxOJOXc2y1lLNIKkis-tofxtjf5knqLdJFwlPA63ajTR0aL691NZA/s1600/outdoor+kitchen+and+foragers+asst.JPG" height="488" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working in the outdoor forager's lab is very pleasant duty this time of year. Forager's assistant Lily keeping half an eye on things.</td></tr>
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<br />Trout Caviarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11236671377889601457noreply@blogger.com8