Smokehouse

via Shorpy, my goal is really to be this guy.

Salty Duck Fat Cranberry Yogurt Scones

Okay, haters gonna hate but this is some REAL scone action. Modified from an Alton Brown recipe, and glad I changed the things I did.

Ingredients


• 2 c. flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. duck fat (or other shortening - but do yourself a favor and go for duck fat)
• 3/4 c. whole milk yogurt (subbing for cream)
• 1 egg
• Handful dried currants or dried cranberries

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. 
3. Cut in butter and shortening. 
4. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. 
5. Stir in fruit. 
6. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds (should make 12-15).
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until brown.
8. Enjoy!

Verdict

Amazing. I was going for a little more salty than called for, and it worked - and the yogurt made the scones nice and fluffy. Fantastic stuff.

Duck Wings

An amazing deal the other week at the farmer's market: 10 duck wings for $10. I wasn't about to pass up that opportunity, especially with the Super Bowl upcoming and hot wings needed. And I'm glad that I did.

Procedure

1. Wash duck wings; pat dry.
2. Place in Dutch Oven with cover; cover in duck stock and/or water.
3. Heat oven to 300 degrees.
4. Place pot in middle rack of oven; let simmer for 3-4 hours.
5. Remove from oven; place wings on paper-towel-covered plate, and cover with another paper towel. Put in the fridge for an hour, and conserve the water or stock for later (you'll be able to skim off the amazing creamy duck fat, which is prefect for... pretty much everything).
6. Heat oven to 425 degrees
7. Place parchment paper on baking sheet and put wings on top
8. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until crispy; turn and do the same on the other side.
9. Remove and toss with sauce (detailed below)

Hot Wing Sauce (for 8-10 wings)

1. Melt 3 oz. unsalted butter butter in a small bowl along with the 2 cloves minced garlic. 
2. Pour this along with 1/4 c. hot sauce and 1/2 tsp. salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the wings, and stir to combine.

Chipotle Sauce

Same, but with one chipotle pepper and sauce diced in place of the hot sauce.

Sweet Soy 


Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 c. dark soy sauce
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 star anise pod
• 2-4 cardamom pods
• 1 (1") piece fresh ginger root, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

1. Heat sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar becomes lightly brown. 
2. Slowly stir in soy sauce. 
3. Once the sugar and soy sauce are combined, stir in the water, star anise, cardamom, ginger, and garlic. Increase heat and bring to a boil. 
4. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 15 minutes. 
5. Remove from heat and cool. 
6. Strain sauce and pour into a lidded bottle or jar. 
7. Store in the refrigerator.

Sweet Soy Sauce

Using a ratio of 2 Tbs. sweet soy to 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, whisk until combined, and toss wings in mixture. You also will need to pour it back over to cover completely - but it's worth it. The wings for the sweet soy round were also smoked for 3 hours before being put in the Dutch Oven - worth it.


Verdict

One of the better things I've made. Just fantastic.

Pork Belly

After an initial experiment with pork belly-to-bacon that went good-not-great, I was determined to learn my lessons and treat that most excellent of meats with the care it deserves. This was not simple, but it was totally worth it.

Procedure

1. Take pork belly, wash and pat dry
2. Put belly in a brine - I won't go over it again here, but a basic not-too-salty brine is recommended (bourbon and maple don't hurt - I added onion powder and fried garlic to this one [with excellent results]) - and put in the fridge for five days to a week. Either a sealed Ziploc or airtight tupperware will do.
3. When ready to smoke, remove from brine, rinse and pat dry.
4. Smoke for three hours; remove and let cool.
5. At this point it makes a great bacon (I used one for this purpose), but there's also a highly recommended second step.
6. Heat oven to 250 degrees.
7. Put pork belly in covered Dutch oven or Pyrex container, and cover with either pork stock or water (if, for some reason, you don't have pork stock - which you should)
8. Let simmer in oven for three hours
9. Remove from oven and set pork belly aside; reserve stock either for later or add to simmering broth for ramen or other soup. Not surprisingly, it adds a deliciously smoky, creamy wondrousness to any soup.
10. When soup is ready - or maybe a pork bun, or really anything - heat a cast iron skillet to medium-high. Don't be shy! 
11. Drop the belly in the pan with tongs and spatula at the ready to prevent from sticking. It will sizzle something wonderful.
12. Cook for about a minute on each side to crisp up the belly proper
13. Set aside, slice and serve with soup or direct application to mouth.
14. Enjoy! 

Verdict

Well, just amazing. Really.

Perfect Fried Chicken

I've been trying for a while to find a fried chicken recipe that works for me, with mixed results - until now. The solution came from the fantastic Bill Neal's Southern Cooking - every recipe I've used out of there is fantastic - and a slightly modified version follows below.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken (3-4 lbs.), cut into 9 pieces [I used four thighs and four drumsticks, instead]
• 1 c. buttermilk [no buttermilk available - I used 1 c. whole milk with 1 tbs. lemon juice, let it sit for 5 min. to curdle]
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper [I also added 1 tsp. red pepper]
• 1 c. lard [yes - this is important. Duck fat or schmaltz can also do][see also more on LARD]
• 1 1/2 c. peanut oil [I used corn oil instead]

Procedure

1. Put the chicken pieces in a glass or stainless steel bowl and toss with the buttermilk - marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours [next time I may also add 1 tbsp. hot sauce to the buttermilk for spicier chicken]
2. Combine flour, salt and pepper(s) in a large paper bag
3. Preheat lard and oil in deep cast iron skillet on medium-high heat to 375F (190C)
4. Drop the chicken pieces into the paper bag, shaking well to coat evenly with the seasoned flour
5. Add dark meat pieces to the skillet first, skin side down, followed by white meat pieces
6. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and fry for 15 min.
7. Remove cover, turn each piece, and fry for another 10-15 min.
8. Remove chicken and let drain in a second paper bag
9. Serve and enjoy! (preferably with biscuits and greens)

Warm pasta salad with rainbow chard, pomegranate and pistachio sauce

I don't like pasta. There. I said it. I basically overdosed on it while I was playing ultimate, and the last straw was when I lived in Bologna--please don't tell the Bolognese about this. As it turns out, one can live without pasta, and I've found that I actually live much better without it. My problem is, the Slovak loves it, and not only did he learn how to cook it while in Bologna, that's still almost the only thing he can cook (we are working on correcting this). There are days I end up so tired I can't even lift a wooden spoon, so he'll offer to cook, and I just have to hang my head and resign myself because I know what's coming.

On the other hand, I'm passionate about legumes. It's in my genes, to me they are as essential as brushing my teeth. All sizes and shapes and colours, there a sure value for the money and prepared properly (soaked overnight with wine vinegar, cooked with garlic and herbs and a piece of kombu), they are delicious, nutritious and reliable. I'll put the pressure cooker on at least twice a week with those little pearls. The Slovak, however, does not share my enthusiasm for beans; sometimes he'll even-gasp!-boycott them altogether.

Tonight we weren't our usual tired, and we'd had a big lunch (it's goose and young wine season here in Slovakia), so we had some time and energy to get into a not-too-big dinner, but something special nevertheless. I was in the mood to be conciliatory. I offered the Slovak to meet halfway, and to prepare a dish that would include beans and pasta. He agreed with a silent nod, not lifting his eyes off his Blackberry.

I went to my usual source of inspiration, 101 Cookbooks, and just plugged into the search bar 'pasta'. I'd tried none of the recipes that came up, of course. But this one caught my attention, because it had kale (a vegetable impossible to find in Bratislava--kale, if you read this, come by for a visit) and pomegranate. Yesterday I had indulged and bought one at the market, right after I'd bought some rainbow chard. See where I'm going with this?

I was all set to follow the recipe, substituting rainbow chard for kale, but halfway through decided to throw in some tahini which I hadn't used in a while, and the adzuki beans I'd cooked in the afternoon (adzuki beans tend to have barely any flavour, so they're a good 'background' bean to have, you can add them to almost any dish and they're bonus without altering the flavour). In the end this is what happened:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces spaghetti, broken into 1 inch pieces
• 2/3 cup pistachios, chopped coarsely by a Slovak if one is available
• about 2-3 cups rainbow chard, with stems, choped into half-inch strips, not dried from the rinse
• 1 and 1/2 Tbsp tahini (organic and dark, that's all I had)
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 large garlic clove, smashed and chopped
• 2/3 cup pomegranate seeds
• About a cup of cooked adzuki beans
• fine sea salt to taste

Procedure

• Toast the pistachios, about 3-4 min.
• In a food processor, puree the pistachios, tahini, and garlic as much as you can/like (I still had pieces of pistachio). Slowly add the lemon juice and puree some more. Place into the serving bowl, and mix with the beans. It's okay if the beans still have some water, it'll make the pistachio-tahini sauce less like a chunky paste and more like a sauce.
• Put the pasta to cook, as per packaging instructions. Place the Swiss chard still dripping with water in a non-stick pan, and cook it for about 5 minutes, preferably covered, stirring often so it cooks evenly. Strain in a mesh colander to get some of the juice out, and mix in with the beans and sauce.
• When the pasta is done, strain in the same mesh colander, and rinse out with cold water to cool it down. Add to the bowl and mix so the sauce is evenly covering the other ingredients. Taste to adjust the salt.
• Add the pomegranate seeds, mix without crushing the seeds and you're ready.

Verdict

Really good warm salad with appealing colours. It was our luck that the garlic clove we chose was very pungent, and so much so, it made the dish spicy. (I'll have to think of an ingredient that will step up to the plate when the garlic doesn't...). The pomegranate seeds were tangy and not sweet at all, but I think the dish could be fine with either--I certainly wouldn't skip those, they are too beautiful, tasty, and crunchy to be left out. The pistachios weren't too present, but that's probably because those I used were not the freshest. I think what did it for me is that I buried the pasta under that web of flavours (tahini, pistachios, garlic, pomegranate), and got my full meal out of that one dish. It was a bit of work with quite a few steps (prying out the pomegranate seeds, toasting the pistachios, timing the Swiss chard and the pasta cooking times), but nothing too horrible, just perfect for a Sunday dinner after a day of running around trying to optimize the hours of unexpected excellent sunny weather...

Smokeout Menu - 3 September 2011

Long time no blog!

In commemoration of tomorrow's smoke-out, I'll actually be making an effort to document what gets made. Some old favorites, some new jacks – should be a grand old time.

No-Knead Rolls

Tired of spending $3 a pack on rolls, and with enough experience and confidence in my bread making, I decided to actually make the rolls this time. I'd just started a batch of the Sullivan Street no-knead bread and found a roll recipe almost the same, so tripled the ingredients and set up two bowls to rise over the next 18 hours. Via Fabulous and Delicious:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C. warm water
• 1/4 Tsp. dry active yeast
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/4 Tsp. salt
• 1/2 Tsp. sugar
• 3 C. flour
• cornmeal for the baking pans

Procedure

 

• Add all ingredients (except the cornmeal) to a bowl and mix with a spoon until the ingredients are decently mixed. The dough is going to be very sticky. 
• Once mixed, cover the bowl with a towel or saran wrap and let the dough sit for 12 hours. (I've done as little as 8 hours with success.) After the dough has sat for at least 8 hours (ideally 12), it will be bubbly and at least doubled in size. 
• 
• Place a generous amount of cornmeal on a baking sheet to keep from sticking while baking.
• To prepare the rolls, place a 1/4-1/2 cup of flour on a plate or counter top. 
• Separate the dough into 8 pieces; take each piece of the dough and roll/dust the outside with the flour, then mold the piece of dough into a round shape and place it on the baking sheet.
• Once all the rolls are made and placed on the baking sheet, let them sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour so they may rise some more.
• Place broiler plan in the oven and heat to 425 degrees. 
• Bake the rolls on the middle/top rack for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden on the outside and sound hollow when tapped on top. 
• Remove from the oven, and let them cool on rack

Verdict

Delicious!

Pulled Pork

Via Alton Brown, my stand-by recipe.

Ingredients

Brine:
    •    8 oz. molasses
    •    12 oz. pickling salt
    •    2 quarts water
    •    6-8 lb. Boston butt

Rub:
    •    1 Tsp. whole cumin seed
    •    1 Tsp. whole fennel seed
    •    1 Tsp. whole coriander
    •    1 Tbsp. chili powder
    •    1 Tbsp. onion powder
    •    1 Tbsp. paprika

Procedure

1. Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in large pot
2. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.
3. Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.
4. Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres.
5. Place butt in smoker and cook for 12 hours
6. Remove from smoker and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour; pull meat apart with 2 forks

Verdict

Just amazing.

Vegan-But-Great Refried Beans

Ingredients

• 2 c. pinto or black beans
• 6 c. veggie stock
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 poblano (or large jalapeño and small spicy) pepper
• 1 Tsp. ginger powder
• 2 Tsp. tumeric powder
• 1 Tsp. chili powder
• 2 Tsp. salt
• oil

Procedure

1. Heat generous amount of oil to medium-high in deep, heavy pan or pot - cast iron is the best, or non-stick
2. Add garlic, fry until fragrant and then add onions, and fry until translucent
3. Add pepper and combine, stirring until pepper begins to soften
4. Add spices and mix together well
5. Add beans, mix all together
6. Add stock, stir, and raise heat to high; bring to boil
7. Keep pot at a low boil for quite a while (at least an hour), adding more water when necessary
8. When beans have softened, use a potato masher to pound them to a paste; add more water and oil if necessary to cohere, and lower heat to medium-low
9. Continue cooking, stirring, and adding water – having a bit stick to the bottom isn't bad if you can scrape it up and avoid burning
10. When it reaches your desired level of consistency, remove from heat and serve with soft corn tortillas
11. Enjoy!

Verdict

Delicioso!