Salmon Rub

For Christmas Chris, Alex and Dan gave Ed and me Alaskan Sockeye Salmon, caught by friends of Alex and Dan --- sort of a CSA of fishing --- to be delivered this spring along with some sugar rub made from a recipe on The Alaska Seafood Website. Eager to try the rub even before the gift salmon arrived, we purchased some salmon.  Yummy!  And particularly good served with grilled scallions. We went through Dan's batch of rub and made another.  Now we are eagerly waiting for our Christmas salmon to arrive.

The first step is to combine:

2 T sugar
1 T chili powder
1 t black pepper
1/2 T [1 1/2 t] ground cumin
1/2 T paprika
1/2 T salt [Dan and I both omit]
1/4 t dry mustard
Dash of cinnamon [I used 1/16 t]

The recipe says this rub will  do 4 to 6 fillets, but does not specify the weight.  Dan just spreads a little olive oil on the fillet(s) then liberally applies the rub.  The Alaska Seafood Recipe calls for heating 2 T of canola oil in a large heavy pan over medium-high heat, carefully placing salmon fillets in the pan, seasoned side down, cooking about 2 minutes to sear then turning fillets over, reducing heat to medium and continuing to cook 6 to 8 minutes just until fish is opaque throughout.  For a good demonstration on applying a rub (albeit a different one) and pan cooking see Mark Bittman's video, Four Spice Salmon.

Ed grills the fish on a gas grill, on low heat with the cover down. He places the salmon on aluminum foil, skin-side down, rub-side up and cooks for ~10 minutes until the fish is ~120 degrees. After he removes the fish from the grill the tempertaure continues to rise to ~125 degrees. He previously cooked it, based on the "fish setting" on our thermometer to ~130 degrees (135 by the time it reached the table). We've recently gone rarer based on Harold McGee's recommendation in On Food and Cooking:  "In general, fish and shellfish are firm but still moist when cooked to 130 - 140 degrees F.... Some dense-fleshed fish, including tuna and salmon are especially succulent at 120 degrees F, when still slightly translucent and jelly-like. ...some fish, Atlantic salmon, for example - can develop an almost custard-like texture if heated gently to 120 degrees F...."* We have achieved this custard-like texture but so far only with King  Salmon.

* Pages 209 and 211

June 2013: This is an excellent rub for shrimp too!

Grilled Scallions 
Serves 2, scale accordingly

Wash, trim and dry
3 large or 6 small scallions.

If the scallions are large, slice then in half vertically.  Lightly coat with

olive oil

and grill until soft but not charred.

July 2013:  The salmon arrived and what a treat!  Better than the fresh sockeye we have been getting in the local market.

Revieewed 5/23/2017

Mushroom Barley Soup

My favorite place to eat when skiing on Aspen/Snowmass was Gretl's and is now Bonnie's. The soups are great; I hope for the Hungarian Mushroom Soup but am happy with the White Bean Chili.  One day this trip the special was Mushroom Barley Soup which I tried and really liked.  When I returned home I was delighted to find the recipe in Bonnie's at 1:00.  The cold spring weather prompted me to try this recipe immediately (my adaptions are in brackets)! GOOD? The only thing missing was a warm piece of  Apple Strudel to finish the lunch.

In a 3 quart saucepan, bring to a boil:

2 c vegetable stock [I make with Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base]
1 c barley

Cover and lower to a simmer.  Cook until tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.  [Check at 20 and 25 minutes.  Barley will absorb most all of the water and begin to burn on bottom of pan if cooked too long!]

In a 5 - 6 quart kettle, saute:

4 T [1/4 c] vegetable oil [I use olive oil]
2 c yellow onions, chopped [~10.5 oz chopped, ~11.5 oz whole unpeeled onion(s)]
1 t salt [I omit - I think tamari sauce provides enough saltiness]
1 bay leaf [I omit - if used, remove before serving]

Add and simmer 5 minutes:

1 1/2 # mushrooms [cleaned  - OK to use water as well as brush], sliced [halve, then slice large mushrooms]

5 cloves garlic, sliced [I mince, ~2 T total]
1/4 t white pepper [I use black pepper]

Add the cooked barley to the mushroom mixture along with:

6 c vegetable stock
1/4 c tamari sauce
1/2 c sherry.

Simmer for about an hour.

"Garnish with fresh dill, grind a generous amount of black pepper into the soup bowls and serve immediateldy"*

I garnish with greens on hand - chopped parsley, sliced scallion greens......

* Page 83

Reviewed 7/9/2017

Candy Cane Cookies

Christmas Cookies 2012*

"MERRY...

No one's hangin' stockin's up,
No one's bakin' pie,
No one's lookin' up to see
A new star in the sky.
No one's talkin' brotherhood,
No one's givin' gifts,
An no one loves a Christmas tree
On March the twenty-fifth." (1)

I guess one could add, "No one's buyin' candy canes / On March the twenty fifth."   However, this recipe came from Alex and Dan via Dan's late Grandmother who lived in Minnesota, and I did not want to post it until I had Dan's express permission. Just recently, he e-mailed the recipe. Unlike the once fresh Christmas tree, the recipe can be saved for next year.

The first Christmas Dan spent at our house, he arrived with a tin full of Christmas cookies his Grandmother had sent him.  I well remember the Candy Cane Cookies.  Last Christmas Alex and Dan decided they would try to make some.  Instead of red food coloring, as called for in the recipe, they made their own red coloring with beets.  They could not find naturally colored candy canes in our local market, but I later noticed some red and green candy canes in Whole Foods Market that were colored only with vegetable dyes. Next time....

This recicpe is adapted from Joy of Baking.com which includes a video.  Minutes 11:23 to 16:00 of this video, which demonstrate how to roll and form the cookie are particularly useful.  This recipe makes about 30 cookies.

MAKE THE COLORING

Alex and Dan washed and cut into 6 -  8 pieces

1 red beet

They then boiled it in water until the beet was soft, pureed it in a food processor and strained the juice.

Other techniques I have since found include (1 ) Puree a raw red beet in a food processor. Strain  the resulting pulp through cheese cloth, then use the strained liquid for coloring and the remaining beet for other uses. (2) Placing three washed large red beets, cut into bite size-chunks, in a small saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until beets are tender and only a couple of tablespoons of water remain. Reserve the water to use as food coloring and save the beets for salad.

CRUSH THE CANDY CANE(S)

Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, parchment paper, or clear plastic wrap on a cutting board, place

1 - 2 candy canes

Using a metal or wooden meat mallet/tenderiser, break the candy canes into small pieces.

MAKE THE COOKIES

In the bowl of your electric mixer (hand mixer, food processor) beat until creamy:

      1 c (227g/16 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

      1 c (120g/4.2 oz) confectioners sugar

Add and beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed: 

      2 large egg yolks

      1 t pure vanilla extract

      1/2 t pure almond extract

Add gradually, slowing down mixer as needed to keep flour from flying out of the bowl, and beat into a smooth dough:

       2 1/2 c (325 g/11.46 oz) all-purpose flour

       1/4 t salt

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and divide into two equal parts, using scales if available. Return half of the dough to the mixing bowl and add, beating on low speed until well blended:

       Beet juice

Cookies will be pink not red and color will fade a bit with cooking, so color accordingly.

If dough is too soft it will crumble when making the cookies. If kitchen is warm, dough will probably need to be refrigerated for ~30 minutes to firm.  Remove dough from refrigerator and make several walnut sized (10 g/.35 oz) pieces of red dough and the same number of walnut sized pieces of white dough. Return remaining dough to the refrigerator. Separately, roll each color on a lightly floured surface, into a 4-5 inch (10-12.5 cm) long rope. Place the two ropes side by side, gently press together, and, holding ropes by the top and bottom, twist to form a spiral. Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.  Shape each cookie into a cane shape by bending one end into a hook shape and smooth the edges to soften the line between red and white.Remove remaining dough from the refrigerator and repeat this process until baking sheet is full.  While preheating the oven to 375 degrees F, place the baking sheet and cookies in the refrigerator. Bake cookies about 8 - 10 minutes or until set and edges of cookies are just beginning to brown.

Do not over bake. While cookies are baking, start a second sheet of candy canes. Remove cookies from oven and while still warm sprinkle/roll in:

        Crushed candy cane

Cover and store in an airtight container for about a week. These cookies can be frozen.

1. Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends, page 164

*Christmas Cookies 2012
In jar:
Awesome Oatmeal Cookies
On tray from upper left hand corner, clockwise:
Chris's Brownies
Molasses Cookies/Ginger Snaps
Nut Puffs
Mexican Chocolate Meringues
Candy Cane Cookies

Reviewed 5/14/17

Knife Skills

As a 2011 Christmas present Alex and Dan gave me a class in Knife Skills at the Cambridge Culinary Institute.  I thought I was doing fine, they thought I should shelve my trusty serrated knife; I procrastinated. Alex finally booked me for a class held on December 16th. I knew the minute it started it was going to be a good evening. The instructor David Ramsey, was extremely engaging and full of facts I found most useful.  He started with an introduction of knives, urging us to put maximum resources in a good chef's knife (either European or Asian - "an heirloom for your children") then add inexpensive paring and bread/serrated knives.  He recommended a filet knife for those who tend to bone their own chicken and bone and/or skin fish. The small, too short for bread, serrated knife, I had favored (top knife in photo) was not even part of the discussion. Hummm... maybe that's one of the reasons Alex and Dan thought I needed this course.  Ramsey, as he prefers to be called, then talked about knife care, honing and sharpening (use a stone and avoid "gizmos' and machines for the latter) and knife safety.

The six other students and I then followed Ramsey into the kitchen (I think I was the only one over 35).  There we learned not only how to use a chef's knife but many useful tips on how to cut particular veggies.  I'll recap a couple of my favorites below - for the rest and especially knife technique, I suggest a hands-on course; this one if you are in the Boston area.

To cube an onion:  Leave the root end attached. This will hold the onion together. Then score the onion in a quarter inch (or what ever size desired) grid cutting toward the root. Finally slice the onion and the slices will already be in the desired cube size. Don't follow my example, cut clear through the whole onion.

To slice a pepper: If uniform "sticks" are desired, cut off the top and bottom of the pepper.  Then make a cut in the remaining cylinder to open it into a flat strip.  Clean out the seeds and seed structure then slice in strips. Note I am using a (new) synthetic cutting board on top of my wood cutting board. I am careful not to cut raw meat on the wood, but realized from comments made during the course how hard it is to clean a wood cutting board properly.  Better to use a cutting board that can be thoroughly washed, or put in the dishwasher, when cutting food to be consumed raw.

Minimize the presence of annoying "strings" in celery.  Instead of doing traditional "sticks", when cutting celery for crudities, slice celery on the bias into thin oval pieces.

It's been over a month since the class, and I have been using my chef's knife almost exclusively.

Now I have a really special chef's knife, a Shun 7" Santoku Knife with a Hollow Ground Blade. A gift after a couple years of admiring Christopher's Asian chef''s  knife, Very sharp! And contrary to the addage "it is much easier to cut yourself with a dull knife", I did cut myself, however slightly, before this knife earned the full respect it deserves.  It is awesome :-)

Reviewed 9/22/2017

Cool Tools 2

In my August 2011 post, Cool Tools, I wrote about digital scales, a remote digital thermometer and Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking.  I've since discovered another indispensable McGee book and an infrared thermometer.  Chris gave me the thermometer warning I should not let my non-stick pans exceed 400 degrees F. Umm... that seemed a bit intuitive, and I wasn't sure why I really needed a thermometer for this.  Then I came across Harold McGee's Keys for Good Cooking.  While On Food and Cooking focuses on the science and why of cooking and cooking ingredients, Keys for Good Cooking gives practical advice on getting food from the market  to the table with countless tips and explanations of processes (for example, Browning)  and food safety (for example, pastuerized eggs).  Alice Walters is quoted on the back cover, " 'This book is a vital reference tool for all who love food and cooking - a book to read cover to cover, and then keep, dog-eared on the kitchen counter.'" I agree.  I realized a loaner would not suffice. When I had to return this book  to the library, I ordered my own copy.

And, yes, Keys for Good Cooking also describes and then gives uses for the infrared thermometer:

"Infrared, noncontact, point-and-shoot thermometers measure the infrared radiation emitted by an object's surface.  They're moderately expensive, very fast, accurate and require occasional checking."*

 On non-stick pans, McGee advises:

     "Read pan instructions carefully for safe temperature limits.  Teflon and related fluorocarbon coatings decompose into toxic gases at temperatures above 500 degrees F/260 degrees C. Silicone degrades in the same temperature range, but without releasing toxic gases. Newer composite ceramic-silicone surfaces are safe to 800 degrees F/430 degrees C." **

To prevent sticking, he advises preheating the pan before adding oil:

     "To minimize sticking on a pan without a nonstick surface, preheat the pan without cooking fat or oil. Use clarified butter, which contains non-stick materials naturally, but only at low frying temperatures.  Dry food surfaces thoroughly  or coat with flour or breading.  Don't try to lift the food until it has had time to develop a brittle crust. Turn and lift using a spatula with a sharp metal edge that can slip under the crust."*** 

McGee expands on each of these instructions including,

     "Heat the pan on a moderate burner without oil to 350 to 375 degrees F/175 to 190 degrees C. Verify the temperature with an infrared thermometer, or with a drop of water that should skitter on the surface before it boils away. Add oil or fat to coat the pan surface, where it should ripple with the heat.  If frying on lower heat with unclarified butter, add it to the cold pan and heat until it stops frothing and becomes fragrant, around 300 degrees F/150 degrees C. Add the food and keep the burner on high to restore the pan's heat as it's lost to the food." ****

And if one needs guidance in how to clarify butter, as well as a safe procedure for doing so, this can be found in the MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS SECTION:

    "To clarify butter, heat gently until the melted fat stops bubbling, an indication that the water has been cooked out.  Lift off the protein skin at the surface and pour the yellow fat off the white protein residue at the  pan bottom.  To make ghee, or brown or black butters, continue the heating until the protein residue browns less or more deeply.
     Beware of eruptions when clarifying or melting butter, and use low gentle heat.  Because water is heavier than fat, it sinks to the container bottom as butter melts.  If the heat is too high, either from a burner or in the microwave, the water can suddenly boil, turn to steam, and explode through the hot fat above it.
     Use clarified butter or ghee for most sauteing, when the pan gets hot enough to brown or scorch milk residues.
     Use whole unclarified butter for gentle frying of eggs and fish.  At frying temperatures under 300 degrees F/150 degrees C, the emulsifiers in whole butter help prevent these delicate foods from sticking to the pan." (5)

The above excerpts are good examples of  McGee's easy to access format. I'm sure a few more of McGee's useful tips and comments will be found in future posts, but this will still be only the tip of the iceberg of information contained in this over 500 page resource which concludes with an excellent bibliography, WHERE TO FIND MORE KEYS TO GOOD COOKING.

*  Page 45
**  Page 60
***  Page 90
**** Page 91
***** Pages 202 - 203

Reviewed 9/22/2017

   

The American Home Menu Maker

My niece, Leigh, sent us a box this summer and Chris opened it to find a large, mechanical, now antique juicer that had belonged to his Kern Grandparents and a recipe box,  photo left, that had belonged to his Grandmother, Florence. The former has long since been put to good use in Chris's loft, the latter I recently decided to explore.

I started with the box itself. "The American Home Menu Maker", touted as "A Gift for Christmas She Will Like"  is advertised as "just the thing to give those friends who take pride in the efficiency and appearance of their kitchens. It is one of the most practical and simple methods ever devised for making instantly available all the delicious recipes your friends gather from current magazines, newspapers and the grocer."  Florence (1902 - 1996) was a writer; her early credits include a novel, As Strange a Maze, a story Heaven's Gate, the basis for the film  Our Little Girl, and many magazine articles. I was reminded of probably her most memorable article when her daughter forwarded a recent article from WellesleyWeston Online: "in her first job as a fledgling reporter, she interviewed Thomas Edison at the dawn of the television age. 'I asked him whether or not this new invention had any future,' she recalled. "He said he thought it did.'"* After Florence was widowed in the late 60's, she began to write about Revenue Cutters. I don't think she thought about taking pride in her kitchen or particularly enjoyed cooking. She would have delighted in ski, skating or sailing gear under the Christmas tree, not so much The American Home Menu Maker.

I opened it to find a stack of recipes on top of which was a cutout from a Styrofoam egg box with two methods for soft-cooked eggs.  The top pile also contained many post cards from me with recipes (mostly baked goods and desserts) that Florence had requested I send. Below the loose pile I found recipes from family, friends and publications randomly interspersed between the pale orange tabs meant to meticulously  organize recipes by category as well as intended day of use, and  transparent index card holders meant to keep recipes clean, a few even contained recipes Florence had typed.

I found lots of recipes for cakes, cookies and other desserts and for shellfish and fish with cream sauces, several recipes for quiches, crepes, and cheese fondues, and recipes for "tea punch" some alcoholic, some not. Salad recipes, with the exception of a recipe for Caesar Salad, in my handwriting, and Hot Potato Salad, photo left, in Florence's handwriting, all contained some form of gelatin. The only vegetable recipes I found were for baked lima beans and her era's ubiquitous green bean casserole (frozen french cut green beans and cans of water chestnuts, French fried onion rings, and cream of celery soup).

Makes sense that the most "used" looking recipe card, photo left, was the one with the recipe for Good Meat Loaf - Hot or Cold.  Along with Hot Potato Salad (holidays), deviled eggs, big steaks from the local market, Swordfish fresh from Vineyard waters, Beef Stroganoff, and green beans (over-cooked in the beginning)**, this is one of the things that Florence frequently served.  The meat loaf was one of her mainstays on Chappaquiddick and a meal that Alex and Chris especially liked.

I also found a Christmas card with the handwritten recipe for Daniel Webster Fish Chowder which Florence later typed and sent to me and a Aerogram letter from one of Florence's Leighton relatives from New Zeland, photo left,  with a "promised" recipe for Coffee Meringue (Pavlova) which I may try at a future date. The one recipe I had really hoped to find but did not was Florence's recipe for Beef Stroganoff :-(

An interesting afternoon and reminiscent of my rambles through My Grandmother's Cookbook.


* Last paragraph of cited article

** From My Grandmother's Cookbook: "As I recently explored Ms. Farmer's cookbook for the first time, I decided this must have been my mother-in-law's source for cooking string beans. Directions read: "Beans, string 30 min - 1 hour" or until tender.  When Ed and I were first married, his mother Florence would start cooking the green beans  just before we sat down for a cocktail (so they cooked until they were grey-green and mushy). To her credit, she soon, following my  suggestion, cooked green beans for just a few minutes."

Reviewed 9/22/2017

Browning

When I posted the Veal Stew/Paprikash recipe in January 2011,  I began to think about browning and whether or not to dredge the meat in flour before browning.  Julia Child's seminal recipe for Boeuf a la Bourguignonne  does not dredge the raw beef in flour. Before sauteing in hot oil and bacon fat, it instructs, "dry the beef in paper towels;  it will not brown if it is damp."* After the beef is browned, it instructs, "Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper.  Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle portion of preheated [450 degrees F] oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to the oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.)"**

However, recipes in some of my other favorite cookbooks call for dredging the meat in flour before frying, as the Veal Marsala recipe in Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins The New Basics Cookbook. Wondering if one method is preferable, I consulted Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. He has excellent sections on Carmelization (simplest browning reaction is the carmelization of sugar which occurs at 330 degrees F and above) and The Maillard Reactions ("Even more fortunate and complex are the reactions responsible for the cooked color and flavor of bread crusts, chocolate, coffee beans, dark beers and roasted meats, all foods that are not primarily sugar."*** These reactions occur at 250 degrees F and above.  Given the high temperatures required for browning, McGee points out the browning must be done with dry cooking methods using oil rather than water which will never exceed 212 degrees F.  He concludes this section by stating:

"...one key to a rich-tasting stew is to brown the meat, vegetables and flour quite well by frying them before adding any liquid.  On the other hand, if you want to emphasize the intrinsic flavors of the foods, avoid high temperatures that create the intense but less individualized browning flavors."****

However, he offers no opinion of how to brown these ingredients.  This advice comes later in Keys to Good Cooking A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes where McGee writes, " Dry food surfaces, or coat in flour or breading to minimize spatter and sticking and speed browning.  Coatings prevent the food surface itself from browning, but add crunch and flavor."*****
As evidenced in the variation in of some of my favorite recipes, either browning well dried meat or flour coated meat works, producing subtle differences.  I have noticed that browned flour, which I use to make Enchilada Sauce has a much more interesting flavor than  plain white flour.  For recipes which call for browning meat, dried of excess surface moisture, first and then adding flour, I would consider either using Ms. Child's two step browning:  first meat, then flour with meat or where that is not feasible, browning the flour separately. I brown  flour by heating it in a dry pan over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to turn brown. Browned flour can be made in batches and stored for several months.

In his Section on Frying, Pan Roasting and Sauteing, McGee offers another piece of very useful advice: "Preheat the pan alone to 400 to 450 degrees F/200 to 230 degrees C, then add fat or oil.  Oil heated up along with the pan is more likely to get gummy and cause sticking."******  For this type of preheating it is best not to use a nonstick pan.  When following these instructions (photo at top) I do find there is much less sticking to the pan.

*  Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961 edition), page 316
**  Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961 edition), page 316
***  On Food and Cooking, page 778
****  On Food and Cooking  page 779
*****  Keys to Good Cooking A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes, page 90
******  Keys to Good Cooking A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes, page 260

Reviewed 9/222017