The Oriole

When we moved in our house in Baltimore we discoverd an Oriole stove in the basement. It's a cast-iron, several hundred pound beast that I adopted for beer brewing. Sitting on top is my faithful 50-Liter, stainless steel vessel with bottom valve that I use for brewing beer. The oven portion of this is not easy to use however. It has a gas regulator but no thermostat. You turn it on, let the temperature stabilize and monitor the intermal temperature . . . adjust the gas, stabilize, measure, repeat. It can easily achieve 700-deg-F.

When we moved to Columbus, we took it with us to our new home. I don't often get possessive of material things, but this mass of cast iron is kind of special. Since the big lightning strike, we've been without an oven and have had to use this thing to bake. I'm getting better at it and have cooked a bunch of focaccias on it lately. Tonight I baked one for a big potluck next door. (It was eaten quickly, always a nice feeling.)

If I can stabilize the temperature a bit better, I'm considering doing some ultra thin pizzas. Stay tuned for the results.

mmmm . . . ribs

This past weekend, after our house nearly burned down, we were in a several-day long period of hysteria trying to get the roof patched, circuits rewired and figure out how to get the clothes washer to turn on. In the middle of this panic, I decided to slow things down a notch and take 6 hours to cook some ribs. I bought these half slabs at the local grocery store. Gave them a light rub with a ground mixture of:

Dave's Rib Rub
brown sugar, 4T
salt, 2T
black pepper, 2T
oregano, 2T
chili powder (hot one), 2t
paprika, 2T
cumin, 2T
dry mustard, 1T
parsley, 2T

Then I plopped them on the infamous Weber set up for indirect and cooked 'em at 250 +/- 25-deg-F for 6 hours. Gave them an hour rest tented with foil and served them up with a little sauce on the side.

I used to brine ribs, but these were fatty enough, I didn't think there was a chance of them drying out. I was right. They were tasty.

Carbs, Lots of 'em

In celebration of National Carb Awareness Day, we had a pesto dish. Not just pesto, but it had boiled red potatoes in it and we had, as usual, a crusty baguette with it. But seriously, I didn't make this up. It was leftovers from our semi-monthly vegetarian dinner we hosted the other night. I found this really nice basil at the market and just had an itch for pesto. Mario Batali had this recipe which was a pretty standard pesto, with pasta, french green beans and boiled potatoes. I was a bit nervous at the amazing amount of starch in it, but it worked. It was a nice combination. A good meal to kick off Summer.

Focaccia - a repeat

Another recipe of a focaccia I got from Artisan.net. This time it was a double size:
water, 350 g
unbleached white flour, 500 g
salt, 8 g
active dry yeast, 2 t
olive oil, 36 g
Straight dough, 1 long rise, 1 rest, 45 minute final proof as a 13 inch diameter disc. Docked just before baking at 430F for 35 minutes on parchment on clay tiles. Topped with fresh rosemary and coarse (La Baleine sea salt) salt.

To-Do List

1. I was buying some chocolate covered strawberries (yum) the other day at this bakery (Mother's day you know) and noticed a sign advertising their homemade scones FROZEN for sale. Said, just pop 'em in the oven at 350F for 45 minutes. I'm going to give this a shot. Make them the night ahead and put them in the oven frozen. Anyone have any luck with this?

2. I'm pulling out the most massive mortar and pestle ever to make a batch of pesto this weekend. I've heard there's actually a difference when it's made using a mortar and pestle vs. food processor. Any comments?

3. Jam packed weekend. Will not get to smoking ribs. Darn. Maybe next weekend.

Food Finds Columbus - Cedar's Bakery

A busy week prompted us to have take out last night. Believe it or not, I got some hummus, pita breads (fresh baked), baklava and some olives for $9 at a nifty place on the way to daycare. It's called Cedar's Bakery. This link is a bit old but pretty accurate. It's a Turkish place selling baba, hummos, stuffed grape leaves, etc. and they cook their own pita breads. They're only $1 for 10! It was quite a feast and pretty healthy too. Frankie even had some hummus.

Bootleg Bailey's

Trish asked me the other night if we could make Bailey's at home? Hmmm. Sounded like a great project that could be accomplished between diaper changes. Since I have MUCH less time for experimentation than I used to, I looked for an authoritative source for a recipe. Research Buzz is a great source for new developments in data sources on the web. A recent discussion regarding the redesign of About.com sounded encouraging. Despite the design/advertising complaints, the site bears human-generated content. Here, I found this recipe for a Bailey's imitation. Reproduced here for my convenience:

Irish Cream

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz.)
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 1/2 Cup Irish Whiskey
3 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Chocolate Syrup
1 tsp. Instant Coffee
1 tsp. Almond Extract
Beat eggs, add rest of ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Bottle and store in refrigerator. Keeps up to one month.
(A month? Yeah right.). I'll update when I give this a shot. Hopefully tonight.

Results - 05-May-04
I whisked the eggs using an immersion blender for a couple seconds. Then mixed all the other stuff together and just before I added the alcohol, I gave it another quick shot with the immersion blender. Once the alcohol was added (total volume about 1 L), I stirred it and refrigerated it. I ran out of chocolate syrup and owe the batch about 2 teaspoons but I thought it was excellent. Bailey's is 36 proof. By my quick calculation, not correcting for any air incorporated into the final mix by blending, this concoction is about 34 Proof. I didn't do a side by side comparison because I was so tired, even Bailey's would've knocked me out last night. I thought it was a pretty successful expt. Even with the sinister Ohio prices of alcohol, it was about 35% the cost of store bought Bailey's.

La Baguette

Here's a recipe for our daily bread. It's not artisan, it's a yeasted straight-dough. It's got a wicked crust, tender interior and it's done in 3 hours. I usually program the mixing and first rise to be done by the dough cycle of my bread machine, but here, I present it using hand kneading.

There will be a separately published faq for this recipe. A repository of observations justifying just about everything. It's a special preparation and I repeat it often. This is the best I have to date. This recipe is basically Julia Child's baguette recipe from The Way to Cook with 3 critical changes:
i. The yeast is rapid rise; any brand seems to be just fine but it has to be fresh. I guarantee this by using individual packets. I've had good luck with: Fleischman's bread machine yeast, RedStar Instant Active Dry Yeast, a rapid rise SAF type and even Kroger makes a rapid rise yeast. They all seem to work with equal efficacy.
ii. I use 2.5-3 grams of shortening per 500 grams of dough; I currently use Crisco (it's a cheat but the results are worth it).
iii. I use a baguette pan as the cooking surface, NO clay tiles.

The baguette in 18 simple steps in under 3 hours.

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9
10	11	12
13	14	15
16	17	18

1. Whisk unbleached white flour (300 grams or 2 cups + 3 T), salt (5 grams kosher or 1.5 t), rapid rise yeast (1.5 level teaspoons), vegetable shortening (ca. 3 grams, 1/2 t).
2. Add water (200 grams or 3/4 C + 1T, ca. 110-deg-F) mix with a spoon and let sit for 10 minutes, kind of a mini autolyse, it'll make kneading easier.
3. Plop dough on counter and knead at least 7 minutes.
4. This is the dough after 2 minutes kneading.
5. This is the dough after 7 minutes kneading, rounded.
6. Place the ball of dough in a container to rise for 1 hour 15 minutes. I use a 2.4 L (10 C) plastic container with a hole punched into the top. This allows the gas to escape.
7. This is the risen dough after the first rise. Do not coat the dough with anything!
8. Plop out the dough on the counter, round it and cover with a moistened lint-free towel for 20 minutes and NOW, preheat the oven to 450-deg-F.
9. We're going to convert it to a baguette form in the next 5 steps. First squash it into an oblong shape and press a groove into the middle.
10. Fold the bottom half to the middle.
11. Fold the lower half onto the upper half, should be a tight roll.
12. Repeat steps 9-10.
13. Repeat step 11, finish elongated baguette shape by rolling gently on the counter. I don't care what Rinehart says, it should be tight and dense.
14. Place the loaf into the baguette pan, it's 16-17 inches long.
15. Cover the rising baguette with a moistened, lint-free towel and let rise for 20-25 minutes.
16. Dust the loaf lightly with flour, it facilitates a clean slash. With a visciously sharp implement, slash the loaf several times along the top nearly paralell to the length of the baguette (I never bothered with a lame; I use a chef's knife).
17. Bake in the lower third of the oven and upon adding it spray the oven floor and/or sides with a squirt bottle of water for steam. Use at least 50 mL of water (ca. 2 ounces).
18. Remove from oven in 25-30 minutes, should be golden on the outside. Do not cut it for at least 15 minutes. As it cools it should crackle. It's awesome.
Printable version.

[technorati tags: baguette, baking, bread baking, baguette pan, baking equipment]

Radicchio

Frankie's mobility coupled with her attention span (that of a gnat) place certain limitations on our food preparation. This dish satisfies our love of greens, adds a vegetable side to our much needed repertoire of veggies and can be prepared faster than Frankie can climb a couple stairs. I found it in the paper the other day and altered it a bit. I was surprised at radicchio's rich flavor when it was sauteed and the texture was pleasant, not too soft.

Sauteed Radicchio - serves 2
red onion, small one, finely shredded
1 head radicchio, coarsely shredded
olive oil, 2 T
balsamic vinegar, 2 T
sugar, 2 t
cran raisins, 1/4 C
walnuts, 1/4 C
salt, pepper

Saute onion in olive oil till translucent in wide frying pan. Add everything else and lower heat, stirring occasionally as all the radicchio wilts (steam comes from the rinsed radicchio and the balsamic vinegar). I heated the entire mixture about 15 minutes on low heat toggling between stirring and chasing Frankie. I served it with a couple fried pork chops and couscous. About 25 minutes total prep. Take that Rachel Ray.

Inspired

The Weber_cam's been slow lately. Jobs, daycare, commuting, utilitarian meals - not been easy and not much extra time for fun cooking. Last night though, I watched Alton Brown do one of the most skillful preparations I have ever seen and just wanted to have a link here for it so I'll have the details when I get around to it. And I will. It's a galette. A free form fruit tart. The fat incorporated into the flour was a combination of room temperature butter and very cold butter (one for tenderness and one for flakiness). And the way he incorporated water, a small bit at a time followed by the bread-making equivalent of an autolyse, a rest in the fridge in which hydration of the flour would take place to minimize the water needed. It was masterful. The filling was decadent too, pears and blueberries, cooked a bit with some sweetener, allowed to cool and baked in this tart. Alton is a god.

Focaccia

I usually make my focaccia according to Dan Leader's recipe. It's a straight dough that sits in the fridge for about a day. It's alright, but I could be swayed to another prep. I've been recently hooked on this new site The Artisan. They have a fantastic treatment of yeast (fresh, dry, instant dry); how it's manufactured and how active dry differs from instant active. I've recently used instant active in my baguettes and have had no regrets (honest, someday that'll be posted here).

I tried their Focaccia recipe the other night (the one using the starter, half way down the page. I loved it. Trish did too. Because the week was hectic, it was unfortunately finished after dinner, but it still made for a nice after dinner nosh. It was even great the next day. I think I should've cooked it a tad longer but I was pretty thrilled with it. It was nice and thick too, a personal preference of mine. Give it a shot, really easy. I did use a bread machine for the initial knead (I used a 10 minute machine knead) and topped mine with fresh rosemary sprigs and very coarse crystalline sea salt. Yum.

Peeps

When Frankie turned 1 year old, Julian's Mom came over to sadly tell us he was sick and couldn't come to her cupcake party. She did not come empty handed. She brought us a lovely card and Peeps. Many of them. Trish and I vary in opinion on many things. But we both know the proper way to eat Peeps is stale. The cellophane wrapper was carefully sliced and now, almost two weeks later, they are waiting to be harvested. But no rush, they have an 18 month shelf life.

NPR has the best coverage of Peeps I've seen. A video clip of them being manufactured, links, etc. I'm even going to try their recommendation of warming one up in the microwave. Did you know the eyes are made of wax and applied with a pneumatic device?

Thanks Elizabeth!

The North End

This past weekend the family and I trekked to Boston to Frankie's Nona and Grandpa's house to attempt to fatten up the little tyke. Whenever we go to Boston, we undoubtedly take a walk through the North End of Boston, weaving in and out of the streets off Hanover and usually make a quick stop at Modern Pastry for Torrone. I once got an urge to make this, but when I have theirs, I savor it so much, I'd rather not ruin the experience by making it too common. Then we stroll around the corner to J. Pace & Sons market; a collection of food finds in the North End. Unfortunately, it was Good Friday and closed. We finished our walk with a leisurely stroll through Faneuil Hall, just in case we didn't nibble enough, and finally back on the T. We never get tired of that area of Boston and I think Frankie likes it too.

Seder

Last night, Trish, Frankie and I participated in our first Seder. We were fortunate enough to be invited to a Friend's for the ceremonial feast. Seder is the food ritual performed on the first two nights of Pesach (Passover). A great explanation of the ritual is described here. I kind of wish I had time to have read it before the meal. At least I'll be ready for next year. Although lengthy food rituals aren't quite suited for the three little ones under the age of 2 at the table, we had a great time. Thanks Sharon and Dan.