Cranberry Sauce

Ahhh, the lowly Cranberry sauce. Most of my generation know it as the jelly type stuff that plops out of the can. Rounds are sliced off for everyone with the rings from the tin can being the perfect template.  Great for turkey sandwiches though!

Several years ago, I discovered that cranberry sauce can be made from scratch.  I've made many, most were very tart, strong and made you pucker your lips!  This year was different. I've perfected my cranberry sauce recipe.


Zest from 1 Orange
Zest from 1 Lime
Juice from 2 Oranges
Juice from 2 Lime
1 cup Sugar
2 cup fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cup frozen fruit medley (Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries)
2 Cinnamon sticks

 Zest the Orange and Lime and then juice each along with an additional Orange and Lime. Place the juice in a small saucepan.  Add the sugar. Bring to a boil then add cranberries, frozen fruit, cinnamon sticks and fruit zest.  Allow to boil down to approximately one half volume. Once it cools it will thicken slightly.

Enjoy!

Hash Browns

Hash Browns, how hard can they be? I wouldn’t think there is anything to them but I just hate going to a great diner, getting bacon, eggs, toast and then mushy white potatoes. They are hash BROWNS, not hash whites! So how do you get nice crispy Hash Browns?


This is another recipe that grew out of sea kayak trips. Before we leave I bake several potatoes. I slater them with butter, wrap them in tin foil and bake them. Then on the trip I can slice them for fried potatoes for dinner or, grate them for Hash Browns. These Hash Browns are crispy and crunchy, just how you want them.

Now I have a couple tricks here. If you are having baked potatoes in the evening, make a couple extra and just put them in the refrigerator. Grate them the next morning, skins and all and fry them up! They will keep in the fridge for several days too! But here is the hip tip, when potatoes are on sale (sometimes as cheap as $2.50 for ten pounds) bake up 10 or 12 of them. Dice one onion for every 3-4 potatoes. Now get out your food processor. Yep, that one you got as a wedding present and is in the back of your cupboard. Now start grating potatoes. Mix in the diced onion, and seal in ziplock sandwich bags. Now lay them flat in the freezer. When you are ready to eat them, just pull a ziplock bag out of the freezer and toss in the frying pan. One sandwich bag of hash browns is just perfect for two people.

See that food processor you got for a gift is useful!

Heat oil in the pan, fry on medium/high heat and resist the urge to stir. Let them sit and brown. Then flip them. Be ready to add more oil but be careful, too much oil and they get greasy and mushy. Practice and it will get perfect.

Some home smoked bacon, fresh bread from the bread machine and a bit of fruit salad and a couple of fried eggs
That goes good with crispy, crunchy hash BROWNS!

Get it down and you will have skillet breakfast that puts Denny’s to shame!

Maine Maple Syrup Creme Brulee

Crème Brulee is one of those elegant desserts that tastes totally decedent but is surprisingly simple to make. Traditional Crème Brulee is vanilla in flavor and a real vanilla bean adds a very rich, excellent taste. This is a variant of the original.


Since Tena is from Maine, I’m totally hooked on pure Maple Syrup. It is better if it is from Maine! This recipe combines that wonderful flavor of Maine Maple Syrup, vanilla and the rich, creamy custard. The nice thing is you can make this up to three days in advance and take the pressure off when company comes over.

So if you want to impress your friends, make Crème Brulee!

2 Cups Heavy Cream
½ Vanilla Bean
1 Small Egg
3 Large Egg Yolks
7 T Pure Maple Syrup
4 T White Sugar for Topping
Crème Brulee Molds (Ramekins)

Preheat oven to 325 Degrees

Pour Heavy Cream into a non-reactive saucepan and warm over medium heat

While Cream is heating, slice vanilla bean lengthwise using a sharp paring knife. Separate the seeds from the skin by scraping it with a knife. Place the seed and the skin in the cream (With this recipe, you can cheat with 1 T of high quality vanilla extract, DO NOT use imitation vanilla extract.)

Scald cream until bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the egg, egg yolks and maple syrup until very well blended but not frothy.

This is the tricky part! Add a small amount of the hot cream mixture to the egg mixture while you continue to whisk. Continue adding it in small amounts until they are completely combined and homogenous in color. If you add the hot cream to quickly, it will cook the eggs and you will have creamy, sweet, scrambled eggs!

Pour the mixture through a fine sieve to strain out the pieces of vanilla and any cooked egg (you can skip this if you use vanilla extract and don’t cook the eggs!)

Now place your ramekins in a baking pan and fill the bowls half full with the brulee. Now set the entire pan in the oven and finish filling the ramekins as full as possible.

With hot water from the tap, fill the pan just high enough to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Now bake for about 40 minutes. If necessary, add hot water to the bath. When done baking they should just tremble slightly when shaken. Check them about every 5 min. to not overcook them. If it is still runny, they are not ready. There are times it has taken over an hour to cook.

Once they are done cooking remove from the oven and place the ramekins on a cooling rack for at least 30 min then place then into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

Now comes the fun part!!!

Get a propane torch from the hardware store. Fancy cooking stores sell an expensive alternative but the hardware store torch adds panache!

Just before serving, sprinkle a generous layer of sugar on top of each dessert. Gently torch the sugar until it just caramelizes. Do your best not to burn it!


Someone couldn't wait for the photo and started eating!


It should now have a crusty, hard layer of sugar.

It sounds difficult but once you break down the steps it is surprisingly easy.
 
Now serve and listen to the oohhs and ahhs!

Makin' Bacon!

I like smoked meats. I’ve got an excellent marinade that I use for Chicken, Beef and Salmon. If I catch a bunch of trout this summer I might even smoke some of that too! A few weeks ago, the topic of makin’ Bacon came up at work. James was the first to try it and his result was excellent. I had to try it.

The Meat

Traditionally bacon is made from Pork Belly. Yes it is more than just on the commodity exchange! I called our local specialty butcher and they didn’t have it, they suggested an Asian Market. James located the pork belly at a local Asian market. I have developed somewhat of a relationship with the butchers at my local grocery store and while they did not have pork belly, the butcher had made bacon himself. He suggested using the same pork that country style ribs are made from, pork butt. A week later and country style ribs were on sale for $1.99/lb and it was time to make bacon! The butcher cut it in two slabs, about 10x12 inches and 2 inches thick. Each slab was about 2 ½ lbs.

The Brine

Bacon is cold smoked meaning it is smoked at a relatively low temperature (80-100 degrees Fahrenheit). Bacteria love that temperature! To prevent bacterial growth the meat must be brined. In other words, the salt content is made high enough that bacterial cannot grow. To balance that salty taste, something sweet is added. James used maple syrup which was excellent. I used Alton Browns recipe.
 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/scrap-iron-chefs-bacon-recipe/index.html I was tempted to change it but the first time, just do it. I actually halved the recipe and it was plenty for my 5lbs of meat.

Don’t even bother trying to float them in any kind of container, just put each slab of meat in a Ziploc bag. Then set those into a large container in case they leak (which they will). Refrigerate the pork for at least 3 days. I don’t know if there is an upper end of how long you could brine it, I don’t know what bad would happen?

Pull the meat out and lay on a platter. I ground more black pepper and pressed it into all sides of the meat. I use a mortar and pestle to just crack the pepper.

Pork Butt after brining, meat side up

Pellicle

I kind of skipped this step. James had tried it and had marginal luck. It was windy out and I left the meat out in the wind for 20 min or so. Nothing really happened.




In the smoker, fat side up


Smoking

Last summer I bought a double barrel smoker. I have been somewhat disappointed in it. It is difficult to get up to heat and then control it. For smoking meats I like my Brinkmann electric better but it smokes at heats much to hot. The double barrel should work fine for cold smoking. I placed the meat far away from the fire box, got a small bed of coals going and tossed on some soaked hickory chips on. I let it smoke for 20 min or so to make sure the temperature would be correct (if it wasn’t I don’t know what I was going to do…) The temperature held at 110 degrees. I smoked the meat for 2 hours holding at 110 degrees.

Slicing

While the meat is a bit more turgid then when you buy it, it is almost impossible to slice. Place it in the freezer for at least one hour. Don’t let it freeze, just let it firm up. Then with a large and very sharp knife, slice it as thin as you can.

Taste?

It is GOOD! As I was researching this, evidently the large packing houses inject nitrates into the meat to speed up the smoking process. These are not nice compounds. The taste was very mild and well balanced. It wasn’t as smoky as I would have thought and I might have liked a bit more smoky flavor. The pellicle step may help with that or smoking it for 3 or 4 hours. I also thought it might be a bit more lean using pork butt rather than the pork belly. That wasn’t the case either. It is very rich in flavor, the molasses and the apple juice giving it that nice rich flavor.

Next Time

I want to exchange a nice amber beer for the apple juice and smoke it a bit longer. It is a long process that requires planning several days in advance and took up the better part of the day smoking it. Hopefully though, I never buy bacon again!




Now that is good looking Butt!



Guest Chef!

There was a guest chef in Scott’s Kitchen tonight. Chef Emma Robertson shared her culinary expertise with us bringing a most excellent dessert.

Chef Emma’s Red Fruits and Brownies

1 Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix
1 pint Strawberries
3-4 Raspberries per plate (except for Chef Emma, she doesn’t like Raspberries)
Vanilla Ice Cream
One Giant Gold Coin Chocolate per serving


Scott and Tena thought it was yummy!

Wings!!!



Good Wings!




So tonight I did wings and a salad. Our friend David was in town and of course our roommate Mike (a vegetarian that loves chicken wings). I did 4 styles, Chipotle Lime, Spicy Peanut, Hot Blueberry and Bar-ba-que. Chipotle Lime was the favorite. Now if I can remember what I did!?




2-3 Chipotle Chiles, diced to a puree
1 Lime juiced
3 Tablespoons Honey
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed

I marinated half of the wings in my standard chicken brine and half in a buttermilk fried chicken marinade. Then I grilled half the wings and fried half them. I mixed them up in the sauces and no one cared about the difference. I say grill them for the mess and less grease!



The Killer Blueberries were good also:

1/3 C Blueberries
1 splash Red Wine Vinegar
4 T Habanera hot sauce

And then there was the Asian wings, they were popular also:

2-3 T Chucky Peanut Butter

Splash of Red Wine Vinegar

2 T Green Hot Sauce

The final choice was a Bar-ba-que sauce that the wings were tossed in.

All were excellent and received rave reviews!