Jam! (Berry Christmas)

To totally ruin the surprise: I have decided to preserve summer and give it out at Christmas. The first endeavor: strawberry jam. I wanted to make a jam that did not have any added pectin, and since strawberries are notoriously low on pectin (the natural gelling agent in plants), I did a bit of research before settling on a recipe. First, I had hoped to amp the pectin content (and the tartness) by adding some currant juice, but alas they are not yet in season around here (and strawberries are about to go out of season). So instead I settled on Darina Allen's Mummy's Strawberry Jam from her recent Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The time-honored ways are the best - over 700 recipes to show you why. 

So I began with 10 pints of strawberries (which weighed approximately 1 lb. each)

Mummy's Strawberry Jam

4 lb. unblemished strawberries

Juice of 2 lemons

7 c granulated sugar - not superfine or jam sugar (warmed in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes)

Put the strawberries and lemon juice (which add pectin the equation) in a stainless-steel saucepan and cover with the warmed sugar. Cover and leave on counter overnight (this pulls out more pectin from the strawberries). 

 After 24 hours, the lemon juice, strawberries and sugar should look like this. As the strawberries begin to give up their juice, they also reduce dramatically in volume, so I consolidated pans. 

Bring the strawberries to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. mash some of the berries with a potato masher (or the side of a spoon, as my potato masher is still packed away in a box). 

Continue to boil until the jam reaches a set - about 30 minutes. (Or an hour when you have more than doubled the recipe). Jam is set when it reaches 220F - enough water has boiled out and the pectin will allow the mixture to gel. Another way to check if the jam has reached a set is to put a plate in the freezer to cool (do this at the beginning of the process), place a teaspoon of the jam on the center of the plate and return it to the freezer for a minute. Push the edge of the jam on the plate towards the center of the pile. If it wrinkles, the pectin:water ratio is reasonable and the jam will set upon cooling. Of course, being the geek I am, I did both. 

Then I canned the jam via the boiling water method. I have a handy book called The Farmer's Wife: Canning and Preserving Cookbook that I use to ensure that I am not just preparing a nice home for Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Another source is the National Center for Home Food Preservation. At any rate, success! 

(On a related note, the extra jam - now sitting in my fridge - is excellent on pain au levain.)

A riff on Peruvian rotisserie chicken (et al)

My brother and sister-in-law were in town this past weekend, so I decided this was a good excuse to put my bread (pain au levain and Reinhart's soft rye made with the mother) on a test run for others, paired with some other culinary-overachieving items. Main item on the list: a riff on DC's riff on Peruvian chicken (loosely based on the recipe found on Serious Eats).

As you probably surmised by this point, I thrive on planning ahead, steady work and a big finish (perhaps a holdover from my recent dissertation exploits, or the marathon training), so step one: brining the chicken, sourced from Cooks Illustrated, for 4 hours, followed by 24 hours of skin-drying time in the fridge (have to have crispy skin!).

After the brining, and after my brother and Sara arrived with the Aji panca and huacatay from Jungle Jim's, it was time to make the marinade paste:

Peruvian chicken paste, Brutto ma buono style:
(marinates 4, 3-4 lb. chickens)
4t minced garlic (yes, I cheated. My garlic was looking sad)
3t cumin
4t pepper
4t salt
8T huacatay paste
4T Aji panca paste
8T Olive oil
Juice from 2 limes

Mix ingredients together and spread over exterior of chickens, as well as between the skin and breasts. Place in Ziploc bags and marinate in fridge overnight.

To go with the chicken, I made two sauces - again riffs - that showcased the aji panca and huacatay. 

Aji panca sauce
(based on this recipe)
2T Aji panca paste
1/2c mayonnaise
1/4c sour cream
1T ketchup
2 green onions, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
S/P to taste

Place ingredients in blender and let marry in fridge overnight. 

Aji de huacatay
5T huacatay paste
2T aji panca paste
2T olive oil
1/4c sour cream
3T plain yogurt

Mix ingredients in blender and let marry in fridge overnight.

The chicken was rotisseried (the process of which caused much amusement), served with the sauces, pain au levain and a salad of mixed greens (Hot-Kiln Farms, GCFM), strawberries (Hersberger Produce, GCFM), sliced red onion, walnuts and a shallot balsamic vinaigrette. Success.

The fruits of the market

So the Geauga County Farmers Market has officially opened, and strawberries abound. But first, the fruits of my shopping and labor from the 5 June market. Greens were the theme of the week:


From Hot-Kiln Farm, I got some Tatsoi, with which I decided to make some Brown Butter Pasta with Tatsoi, recipe courtesy of Backyard Farming. Wunderbar.

I also scored something that resembled Mizuna from Hot-Kiln Farms (which is run by a couple of ceramicists - double bonus!) which I sautéed with smidgen of bacon and onion, finished with a dash of red wine vinegar. 

I found some baby zucchini at the Hershberger Produce stand, which I used to riff on SmittenKitchen's zucchini strand spaghetti, this time quickly sautéing them and a smashed clove of garlic in some olive oil, S/P and finishing some whole wheat spaghetti from Ohio City Pasta. Add some Parmesan and bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice and you are pretty close to heaven. 

The adventure in greens was rounded off by some garlic scapes purchased from Endeavor Farm and turned into Dorie Greenspan's garlic scape pesto. 

I also had some extra parsley from the lamb (see below), which I turned into a pesto, based on that found in Sidewalk Shoes' blog (to which I added more Parmesan). I froze all of them in mini muffin pans, transferring the frozen flavor bombs into a bag - heaven is only a quick thaw away. 

On to the meat:
I was craving some oxtails with my pain au levin, so I stopped by Sand Farm's stand to pick up some oxtails, with which I made my version of my grandfather's recipe (i.e. I am slightly updating his solidly-1950s, pressure cooker recipe):


Braised oxtails, AERS-style
2# oxtails
Flour, dill, marjoram, basil, oregano, S/P (all dried) for dredging
Olive oil - enough to coat the bottom of your braising dish (mine is cast iron)
2 c beef stock (homemade, based upon Ruhlman's chapter on stocks in The Elements of Cooking)
1 c red wine (I used a Barbara d'Alba)
1 c V8 (to channel my grandfather, but some variation of a canned tomato would work too)
Carrots, Onions, Potatoes - chopped robustly and as much as you see fit. (I used 2 large carrots, a bag of pearl onions that were skinned and 4 small red skinned potatoes)
Dried mushrooms - as much as you see fit (I used about 1.5 c)


Begin heating some olive oil in braising pan. Dredge oxtails in flour and dried spice mixture. Preheat oven to 300F. Heat stock on stove to reduce by about half (to concentrate flavor). Brown oxtails in cooking oil. Deglaze the bottom of the pan with wine and return oxtails to pan. Add vegetables and pour the reduced stock and V8 over the mixture. Cover and place in oven for about 3-4 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone. Serve with (more) red wine and bread. 


Of course I got so distracted upon finishing the braise, that I forgot to take a picture, so this one from a winter version (sans mushrooms) will have to suffice:

Finally, I purchased some lamb sirloin from the Great American Lamb Company stand, and made a version of SmittenKitchen's lamb with pistachio tapenade. The leftover tapenade is also wonderful spread on pain au levain with chèvre from Mackenzie Creamery. 

A mother starter and her progeny: pain au levain

A light at the end of the tunnel!

...after 24 hours (day 7, total), the seed culture was sufficiently fermented and ready to (finally) be converted into the mother starter:

At this point, the seed culture is chock full of wild yeast and bacteria, but is incredibly weak from all the acid buildup and the perpetual breakdown of proteins and starches. How to remedy the situation? Feed the bitch. Ratio of seed culture: flour: water (in grams): 113:340:255. The mother is mixed, kneaded for 2 minutes (again, refer to Reinhart for specific details).

It hangs out in an oiled bowl for 4-8 hours, until it doubles in size, has a 'pleasant acidic aroma' and looks like this. 

At this point in time, the mother is ready to begin doing her job ('fertilizing' some dough). 

...and moves into her new home, a state-of-the-art Gladware container. 

Now arrives the moment of truth, the litmus test on whether this week of coaxing the mother into being was worth the effort: a loaf (or two) of Pain au levain (which is just French for 'leavened bread.'). As Peter Reinhart mentions, Pain au levain "is generally considered to be the gold standard for wild yeast breads, though opinions do vary widely - and are strongly held." (Thus the adventures in mother starters.) Pain au levain is not really one specific recipe, but rather a genre of breads consisting primarily of white flour, supplemented with whole wheat, rye or multigrain flours, made with wild yeast starter (although some do supplement further with commercial yeast. Not here). I will experiment with Reinhart's recipe from Artisan Breads Every Day. And - shockingly - this is another multi-day affair.

Day 1: Sourdough starter

71 g (1/3 c) mother starter

142 g (1c + 2T) unbleached bread flour 

85 g (2/3 c) whole wheat flour

151.5 g (2/3 c) H20 @ room temperature

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, stirring for 2 minutes. Dough should be tacky or slightly sticky. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 30 seconds. Place in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely and leave at room temperature for 6-8 hours until it increases to about 1.5 times original size. Put in fridge overnight (or up to 3 days). 

After 24 hours, the starter should look like this:

Day 2: Make the dough

All of the sourdough starter

312 g (1 c + 6 T) lukewarm water (around 35C)

454 g (3.5 c) unbleached bread flour

17 g (2 3/8 t) salt (or 3.5 t coarse kosher salt)

Cut the starter into 10-12 pieces, add water and mix for about 1 minute to soften the starter. Add the flour and salt and mix for another 3 minutes. let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Knead by hand for 3 minutes, adding more flour or water as needed to make a soft, supple and tacky (but not sticky) ball of dough. Form into a ball. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes and then stretch and fold: "either on the work surface or in the bowl, reaching under the front end of the dough, stretching it out, then folding it back onto the top of the dough. Then do this from the back end and then from each side, then flip the dough over and tuck it into a ball." Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. Repeat two more times. Form the dough into a ball, place it into a clean, lightly oiled bowl large enough to allow it to double in size and cover tightly. Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours and then refrigerate overnight (or up to 4 days). 

Day 3: Baking Day

Remove the dough from the refrigerator 4 hours before you plan to bake. After 2 hours, shape it into a boule or 2 smaller ones (as I did). Let it proof for 2 hours (seam side up). Preheat oven to 500F about 20 minutes before baking, place shelf in bottom third of oven. Just before baking, transfer dough (seam side down) to a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat and score with a lame or serrated knife.  

Place in oven, pour 1 c hot water into a steam pan below dough. Reduce heat to 450F. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate pan 180 degrees, continue baking for 15-25 minutes. Finished loaves should be a rich caramel color in crust, sound hollow when thumped and have an internal temperature of about 200F. Cool on rack for at least 1 hour before slicing. Enjoy the hell out of it. 

...and in other (baking) news

These were an epic fail:

Nectarine compote rustic tarts.
...based on SmittenKitchen's, which are in turn based on a version in Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours. The whole-grain flour of choice? Corn flour. Epic fail because the dough would not come together without an overt amount of prodding (and copious amounts of heavy cream). The first time any of SK's recipes have let me down. What to do with the extra corn flour? Rick Bayless' corn tortillas. 


Not an epic fail, my old standby SmittenKitchen's chocolate chip cookie recipe:

...this time made with some rogue butterscotch and toffee chips, hiding in the pantry. 

Houston, we have fermentation.

The experiment is still underway, and things seem to be progressing as planned. 


Fermentation!

Day 5:
Seed Culture, Phase 3:
After signs of fermentation (CO2 bubbles!), one begins the slow process of shifting what began looking like crepe batter into a Smörgåsbord for the bacteria and yeast. Thus filtered water is subbed for the pineapple juice (the environment is sufficiently acidic now) and the ratio of flour is ramped up. 

After 36 hours, the seed culture is beginning to exhibit early similarities to something that Steve McQueen  battled in 1958:

Day 6:

Seed Culture, Phase 4:

In this last phase of the culture, the ratio of flour to water is again tipped in the direction of flour. At the end of this phase (anywhere from 4-24 hours) the culture should be highly acidic (and smell like apple cider vinegar), doubled in size and ready to be converted into the mother starter. 

...stay tuned.