The Ha'Penny Gourmet

Tom's Herb Column - Cinnamon: Innocent Bark or Sultry Spice? You make the call!

2006-08-25T02:42:38Z

There are as many preferences for taste as there are people in the world. What is one person's bland may be another person's spicy. What is sweet to one could be bitter to another. However, there are some flavors that seem to be almost universally loved. Amongst these culinary luminaries is the ground powder of the bark from the Cinnamomum verum tree, more commonly known as cinnamon. For centuries, the quest for spices dominated the political and economic scene of Europe and the Middle East. But how much do we today really know about cinnamon? Today we are going to take a look at this surprisingly versatile spice, its history and some uses that everyone can put it to in their kitchen. The results may surprise you.

Cinnamon is derived from the bark of an evergreen tree, Cinnamomum verum, which is grown almost exclusively in the island nation of Sri Lanka. During the rainy season on the island, workers who harvest the cinnamon look for young branches that are just the right size to become the long sticks of cinnamon that are sold at market. The branches, still damp from the rains, are rubbed with rods and then cut with specially made knives that are designed to the purpose. The outer bark is removed and the inner bark is carefully dried in huts to become thin brittle sheets. The intact parts of the bark that do not break up in drying are rolled into the large cigar shaped rolls of several sheets per stick. The parts that do break up, no less valuable for not being intact, are bagged and sold as quillings or featherings which are destined for the spice mill and to fill out lesser grade cinnamons. The cinnamon that most of us Americans are familiar with, however, is not cinnamon at all. Meaning that it isn't from the C. verum plant but is actually from the more widely produced C. burmannii or C. cassia trees. As a matter of fact, the cinnamon that we call cinnamon is called cassia by almost everyone else. Cassia is harvested almost exactly like true cinnamon but because it is grown in Indonesia, China and Viet Nam, there is significantly more to be had and so it has been adopted by American spice producers as being the cinnamon for decades.

As confusing as the cassia-cinnamon crossover may be, the history of the spice is even more confusing and compelling than most people realize. Cinnamon in all of its various forms was one of the great commodities of the Ancient world, attributed with magical and mysterious powers. In Exodus, God commands Moses to use "sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred fifty [shekels]... and five hundred of cassia - measured by the sanctuary shekel" in the anointing oil for the Holiest of Holies. This works out to be about six and a quarter pounds of cinnamon and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, which sounds pretty tame to us today but remember that cinnamon was incredibly valuable at that time. In modern dollars, Moses probably spent around seven thousand dollars on cinnamon alone! Not an insignificant thing in biblical times or today. Ancient Egyptians used cassia in their funerary lotions and embalming fluids while the Greeks and later the Romans used cinnamon and cassia as incense and sacrifices to their deities. Pliny tells us of cinnamon being used in funeral pyres to send the dead off to a sweet smelling heaven. Cinnamon was also attributed certain aphrodisiac properties, firing the blood and the passions when taken as prescribed by the Middle Ages physician Constantine. Whatever its supposed medicinal qualities, cinnamon eventually became a culinary commodity as well. Added to food on the Indian subcontinent for millennia, cinnamon was introduced first to the Arabian peninsula and then to Europe by way of the Roman empire and, after Rome's fall, by the great spice merchants of Venice. During the dawn of the 16th century, Portugal first established dominance over the Indian Ocean and the Spice Islands, bringing boatload after boatload of pepper, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon back to Europe. Soon, everyone knew what cinnamon was and what regional specialties it went best with. Over the years after the Age of Discovery and the Spice Race, the nations of the world have gotten used to spices in their everyday life and use them accordingly. However, the people who made and still make the best use of this pungent, slightly hot and completely unique spice are the cultures who first had it - The Indian and Arabic people.

Cinnamon and cassia have similar tastes but it is in the way that these two spices present themselves to the palate that differentiates the two. Cinnamon has a much more complex taste than cassia, with subtle undertones of orange and cedar followed by a heat that is reminiscent of cloves or a mild pepper. Chewing on a piece of cinnamon bark easily brings the flavor profile to the palate and lets the discriminating buyer know how good of a piece of cinnamon bark he or she actually has. The oils of true cinnamon bark are very volatile and evaporate and oxidize incredibly fast when released. This coupled with the fragility of the bark itself means that most true cinnamon is sold in stick format so that home grinding can be performed for the best taste possible. Cassia, on the other hand, discards subtlety in favor of heat and pungency. If cinnamon is the taste equivalent to a jazz quartet playing in a coffee shop, then cassia is the punk band playing in the bar down the street. Loud and bright, cassia is the cinnamon that we Americans are most familiar with. The intense fragrance, sharp bite and kick of heat is everything that we grew up with in pastries, candies and cookies. To this day, I will gladly take cassia over true cinnamon when making baked goods that feature cinnamon as a main flavor. I want punch and pizazz in those delectable goodies. It is when I am working on a complex curry or subtle pastry that goes with other courses that I will reach for the true cinnamon. As with everything, the key is knowing what tool to use for what job.

Recipes

As I mentioned earlier, Middle Eastern and Indian cultures have been using cinnamon far longer than we Europeans and so have developed savory uses for it instead of solely as a dessert spice, like we have. One of the ways that they use this spice is in spice mixes that are created and stored to be used as a cooking condiment. By grinding their own spices at their homes, these cooks bring the flavors of not only cinnamon but many different spices to their food with a punch that store-bought, preground spices can't match. The reason is that the volitile oils that give spices their flavors are highly susceptible to light and heat and will break down far too rapidly. By grinding just before usage, home cooks get a much more intense, much more pungent flavor.

Before I start with the spice mix recipes, allow me a word about the spice grinders. The whole point of grinding a spice mix is to marry the flavors and also to get a uniform texture. If you have plenty of time on your hands and want those self-same appendages to be able to crack walnuts with a flick of the wrist, then you may use what countless Indian and Middle Eastern grandmothers use - a morter and pestle. It is certainly possible to reduce whole spices to powder with this ancient device but, to be perfectly honest, it is time consuming and a hell of a lot more effort than I am willing to put into grinding spices. Which is why I bring my game into the twenty-first century with a cheap, ten dollar coffee grinder. You'll want to get one solely for the use of your spices because unless you want your coffee flavored with cumin or coriander (and some people do!), it is worth shucking out the ten to fifteen dollars for a cheapo brand grinder. Your spices will get reduced to a fine powder, your dishes will taste yummier and you can instantly turn cheaper and more storable whole spices into powder as needed instead of relying on storebought sawdust in a glass container. Now, doesn't that sound better?

With all caveats aside, allow me to present two spice mixtures that feature the use of cinnamon in them. I highly recommend the use of true cinnamon in both of these mixtures instead of the more readily available cassia. The taste will be more complex, the scent more citrus than pepper. It is worth it to find the good stuff for savory dishes that need complexity over heat. Try your local Indian or Middle Eastern market (the little mom-and-pop shops, not the big mega-cultural stores) for bags of cinnamon sticks. The first recipe is an Indian spice mix which should be familiar to anyone who has eaten in Indian restaurants anywhere in the United States - garam masala. The translation comes out to something like "hot mixture", but really it is not particularly not or at least it doesn't have to be. Just like most southeastern US families have their own "secret recipe" for barbeque sauce, most Indian families have their own formulas for garam masala. This one comes from Madhur Jaffrey's book, Flavors of India.

Punjabi garam masala
from Flavors of India by Madhur Jaffrey

5 tablespoons, coriander seeds
3 tablespoons, cumin seeds
2-1/2 tablespoons, black peppercorns
2-1/2 tablespoons, black cardamom seeds
1-1/2 teaspoons, green cardamom seeds
1 2-inch cinnamon stick
4 to 5 whole cloves
About 1/6 nutmeg (approx. 1 teaspoon)

Put the coriander and cumin into a cast-iron frying pan over medium heat. Stir until very lightly roasted. Empty onto a plate. Allow to cool slightly then place them and remaining ingredients into a clean coffee grinder and grind as finely as possible. You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your grinder. Store in a tightly lidded jar.

Where the Indian spice mix adds coriander and cumin with the cinnamon, this Middle Eastern spice mix uses allspice and cloves as the primary balance for cinnamon. This "Middle Eastern Five Spice" mix comes courtesy of Chef Ana Sortun's Spice - Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean. I have adjusted the recipe slightly to allow for the use of whole cinnamon instead of the preground Chef Sortun recommends.

Middle Eastern Five Spice
From Spice - Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean by Ana Sortun

2 tablespoons, whole allspice
1 teaspoon, whole cloves
1 tablespoon, whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon, freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1 2-inch stick cinnamon

Put allspice, cloves and cinnamon into a heavy pan over medium heat and dry roast until spice scents are just detectable, about 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from heat, place onto plate and allow to cool slightly.
Grind allspice, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon in grinder until fine. Transfer to small mixing bowl.
Stir in nutmeg and store in an airtight container in a cool dark place. Will keep for up to 4 months.

You may have noticed that both recipes call for an airtight container. The reason, as I mentioned previously, is that the volatile oils that give spices their punch are really susceptible to oxidation via light or exposure to air. This means that they'll go from spice to sawdust a lot quicker if you just leave them in a glass bottle on your counter than if you put them in a ziplock in your cabinet. Just a friendly word of advice, that. I suppose you are probably asking yourself what you can do with these now. The answer is anything you want. Use them as you would any kind of seasoning in a dish. Since there is no salt in these mixes, you'll need to add that as well or else the dish may taste a little flat despite generous portions of spice thrown in. I recommend adding these spice mixes to a dish near the end of cooking. That way the essential oils don't cook out and you get a more flavorful dish. Also, remember that with freshly ground spices, a little goes a long way and it is always easier to add more than it is to remove too much.

Let's move on to an actual dish that has cinnamon as a key flavor component in it. North Africa has a rich tradition of using spices in their cuisine and since the ubiquitous dish for the region is a tangine, I have borrowed this recipe for a tangine of beef with prunes from Sarah Woodward's Tastes of North Africa. Don't go making faces when I say "prunes", either! Prunes are simply pitted and dehydrated plums and with the long, slow moist cooking of a tangine (read, braising), those prunes plump up and release a lot of taste into the mix. I've personally had this recipe and thought it was awesome so now I give it to you.

Tagine de Viande aux Prunes - Tagine of Beef with Prunes
From Tastes of North Africa by Sarah Woodward

1 lb, stew beef
1 large onion, peeled and grated
1/2 teaspoon, salt
1/2 teaspoon, fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon, saffron strands
1/2 teaspoon, ground ginger
1 2-inch stick, cinnamon
1 bunch, fresh coriander (cilantro)
2 oz, butter
7 oz, prunes
1 tablespoon, honey
1 tablespoon, sesame seeds

Cut beef into large peices if not already cut. Place in tangine or casserole. Add grated onion, salt, spices, coriander and butter. Pour over enough water to cover, place over a gentle heat and leave to cook for about one and a half hours, checking to make sure that there is enough water to prevent sticking but remembering that the eventual sauce is going to have to be reduced.

Remove coriander, add the prunes and cook uncovered for a further 15 minutes. Stir in the honey and cook for another fifteen minutes, until the prunes have plumped and the meat has become very tender.

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan until golden brown. Scatter over tagine before serving.

From North Africa, let us roll back acround the Mediterrenean to Turkey. From Chef Sortun, we have this recipe for Halibut cooked in milk with cinnamon, fried almonds and spinach. She says that she picked this up from a friend in Istanbul and edited his Greek method of cooking the fish in milk with lemon and capers to make it a little more Arabic. I think you will enjoy this recipe as much as the customers at her restaurant do.

Halibut Cooked in Milk with Cinnamon, Fried Almonds and Spinach
From Spice - Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean by Ana Sortun

2 tablespoons, extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup, slivered almonds
Four 8-ounce halibut fillets or steaks
3 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup kosher salt
1-1/2 lbs, fresh spinach, cleaned and destemmed
2 cups, milk
1 cup, orange juice
1 teaspoon, ground cinnamon (I recommend grinding your own - HG)
3 teaspoons, finely minced garlic
Lemon wedges

In a 6 to 7 inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add almonds and toast them, stirring them with a fork for about four minutes or until golden brown. Lower the heat and set aside.

Sprinkle fish with 3 teaspoons of salt and allow to sit for ten minutes.

Bring a 4 quart pot or water to a boil. Add 1/4 cup salt and spinach and cook until the spinach is completely wilted, about one minute. Drain and place spinach in a small bowl of ice water to cool quickly. Squeeze the spinach as dry as you can and set aside.

In a medium saute pan with a lid, mix the milk, orange juice, cinnamon and garlic. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer until milk separates.

Pour milk mixture into a blender and blend until milk reincorporates. Return milk mixture to pan and add fish and spinach. Simmer gently over low heat for five to six minutes. The fish is done when it is white through-out with no sheen at the center. Cook for a little longer if the fish is thicker than usual.

Check seasonings, sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve with lemon wedges.

Oranges a la Cannelle - Orange Salad with Cinnamon
From Tastes of North Africa by Sarah Woodward

6 large oranges
4 teaspoons, orange flower water
4 teaspoons, icing sugar
1 teaspoon, ground cinnamon
2 sprigs, fresh mint

Peel the oranges, making sure that the white pith is removed. Cut into fine rounds, remove any seeds and arrange on a circular plate.

Pour orange flower water over the top and dredge with a mixture of the sugar and half the cinnamon. Chill well, sprinkle on remaining cinnamon and garnish with mint.

Classic Pulao
From Best-Ever Curry Cookbook: Over 150 Great Curries from India and Asia by Mridula Baljekar et al.

2-1/2 cups, heated chicken broth
generous pinch, saffron threads
1/4 cup, butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 2-inch piece cinnamon stick
6 green cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
1-1/3 cups, basmati rice soaked for 20-30 minutes
1/3 cup sultanas or golden raisins
1 tablespoon, vegetable oil
1/2 cup cashew nuts

Pour chicken stock into a pitcher and stir in saffron threads. Set aside.

Heat butter in a pan and fry the onion and garlic for five minutes. Stir in the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and bay leaf. Cook for 2 minutes.

Drain rice and add to the pan. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Pour in saffron stock and add the sultanas. Bring to a boil, stir, then lower heat. Cover and cook gently for ten minutes or until the rice is tender and the liquid has all been absorbed.

While rice is cooking, heat oil in a wok or large pan and fry the cashew nuts until browned. Drain on paper towels then sprinkle nuts over the rice. Serve while warm.

In the last several recipes, I have recommended using true cinnamon. That is to say the bark of the Cinnamomum verum tree, otherwise known as true cinnamon. The next two recipes owe less to cinnamon's complex flavor and more to the pungent heat of cassia. So put away that hard to find real cinnamon you have and reach for the bottle of preground cassia powder that every grocery store sells because these two are looking for a burst of heat and flavor, not complexity.

Cincinnati Chili
From The All-American Chili Cookbook by Jenny Kellner and Richard Rosenblatt

1 pound, ground chuck
1-3/4 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup barbecue sauce
1 cup water
1/2 ounce bitter chocolate, grated
1 tablespoon, commercial chili powder
1 teaspoon, black pepper
1/2 teaspoon, ground cumin
1.2 teaspoon, tumeric
1/2 teaspoon, ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon, ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon, ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon, ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon, ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
tomato juice (optional)
garlic salt
8 ounces thin spaghetti, cooked drained and buttered
1 can (15-1/2 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 large onion, chopped
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

Sprinkle kosher salt on a large skillet and heat for a few moments. Add chuck, 3/4 cup onion and garlic and saute until meat is no longer pink. Drain well and transfer to a chili pot.

Stir in barbecue sauce, water, chocolate, spices and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 30 minutes, adding tomato juice if mixture gets too thick. Adjust seasonings with garlic salt.

Cinnamon Treats
From Complete Baking by Martha Day

9 oz, all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon, salt
2 teaspoons, cinnamon
8 oz, unsalted butter at room temperature
8 oz, caster (superfine) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

Sift together flour, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer (hand or stand is fine), cream the butter until soft. Add sugar and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl, then gradually stir into the butter mixture.

Stir in the dry ingredients.

Divide the mixture into four equal parts and roll each into a 2-inch diameter log. Wrap tightly in foil and refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees Farenheit and grease two baking sheets.

With a sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/4 inch slices. Place the rounds on the prepared sheets and bake until lightly colored, about ten minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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Bibliography

Baljekar, Mridula et al. Best-Ever Curry Cookbook. London: Anness Publishing, 2002.

Day, Martha. Complete Baking. London: Anness Publishing, 2002.

Jaffrey, Madhur. Flavors of India. Seattle: West 175 Publishing, 1995.

Ortiz, Elisabeth Lambert. The Encyclopedia of Herbs, Spices & Flavorings. New York: DK Adult Publishing, 1992.

Peter, K.V. Handbook of Herbs and Spices. New York: CRC Publishing, 2004.

Sortun, Ana and Nicole Chaison. Spice - Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.

Stuckey, Maggie. The Complete Spice Book. New York: St. Martins, 1997.

Turner, Jack. Spice: The History of a Temptation. London: Vintage Publishing, 2005.

Woodward, Sarah. Tastes of North Africa: Recipes from Morocco to the Mediterrenean. London: Kyle Cathie Limited, 1998.

Food of Sundays Past

2006-08-15T20:22:21Z

I can still remember the smells and noises of those long-ago Sundays when me, my brother and the rest of the children in my Sunday School class would go pounding down the tiled corridors of our church like a herd of elephants. I can only imagine what kind of racket we kicked up, running and laughing all the way to the kitchen. About halfway to that room, the smell of biscuits and sausage would hit us like a wall and spur us even faster. After all, the first one to the kitchen would get the best of the food!

Piling in the door like a pack of wild dogs, we would pause for a brief moment to make sure that no lingering adults were there to scold us or beat us back from our prize. Occasionally, one of the grandfathers of the church would be there, drinking coffee and looking at us with indulgent amusement. But often, there was no overseer to witness our rampage. And so we would throw ourselves at the trove before us. Boxes of Popeye's biscuits, golden brown and unlovely lumps of steamy goodness, sat neatly on the folding table in the center of the kitchen. Plates of the large, red-hot style spicey sausage links would sit nearby, sliced in half and fried crispy. Mounds of eggs and bowls of cooled, congeled grits were at hand as well. All of these filled the air with a heavenly rich scent of cooked pork, melted butter and warm bread. We children were no match at all.

I doubt that men dying of hunger and thirst in the Sahara would have thrown themselves into a repast as eagerly as we did. Biscuits would be ripped in half, steaming and fragrant, to accept a wedge of sausage and maybe some eggs as well. Then that first bite, a timeless moment of buttery biscuit and the crisp snap of the sausage casing. I can still taste it, even twenty years after the fact. I wonder, sometimes, if I will ever recall how to take such pleasure in even the simplest of food and to revel in them unabashedly and unreservedly. Certainly, in this manner, it is a good and proper thing to eat as a child would.

Tom's Herb Column - Where there's a dill, there's a way

2005-10-16T21:56:12Z

For millennia, the dill plant has been a carefully cultivated and revered herb. However, most people today only know of it because of the flavoring of a single type of pickle to which it has given its name. Today, I would like to shed some light on one of my favorite herbs, the often overlooked sibling of caraway and fennel, that most remarkable herb -- dill.

The dill plant, known scientifically as Anethum graveolens, is primarily a Mediterranean plant which originally grew quite happily in the soil of Greece, Italy, Egypt and Spain. The plant usually grows to between twenty-four and thirty-six inches in height, with one hollow stem and leaves which have long, threadlike segments. In summer, ovoid clusters of yellow flowers form, which form seeds in the autumn. The plant itself resembles fennel, but with a shorter stem and and a matte appearance on the leaves, whereas fennel is more glossy and has multiple stems from one bulb. (Brown, 45) There are carvings on the interior of Egyptian tombs that talk of the medicinal properties of dill. Dill was also known quite well in the Middle East where the Jewish Talmud listed dill as being valuable enough to use as payment for temple tithes. Dill was actually the subject of a rather sore point in the Bible, where Jesus upbraided the pharisees for paying their tithes to the temple in herbs, including dill seed, without tending to the more weighty aspects of their vocation, such as justice and faith. (Matthew 23:23)

The dill plant grew as far east as western Russia and all across the Italian and Iberian Peninsulas. When the Roman Empire began to move north into central and northern Europe, the herb-loving Romans took their beloved dill with them to plant in their colonies in Germany, Britain and even Scandinavia. By medieval times, the dill plant had become a fixture in herb gardens throughout Europe and was highly regarded for its medicinal values as well as its supposed magical properties. The name 'dill' has been taken from two distinct sources. The Old Norse dilla as well as the Saxon dillan lent their use to its name. (de la Mare, 37) Both of these words mean 'to lull', which was part of the mystique of the dill plant. It was said that the plant was used by magicians to cast sleeping spells upon the unwary but that carrying the herb would protect one against those same spells. Bundles of dill were thrown into the fires on Saint John's Night along with yarrow, trefoil, verbena, roses and rue as a throwback to pagan ceremonies on Midsummer's Night. (Seymore, 41)

Whatever its supposed mystical properties, dill does have a few actual medicinal properties that can be used today. For example, it is a carminative (antiflatulant) when ingested as well as being a mild photosensitizer (making the skin more sensitive to sunlight). Carvone, which is the active oil in dill, is also an insecticide which increases the effectiveness of other growing herbs to repel insect invaders. (Rinzler, 68) The seeds were regularly eaten to stave off hunger pangs (particularly in long church services) and the ground seeds are still a home remedy for colicky babies when steeped in boiling water and fed to the child. However, dill's main usage is as a condiment and flavoring agent for food. In the sixteenth century, dill leaves (called the weed) and seeds have been used as the primary flavoring agent in pickled cucumbers and gherkins in Europe and Britain. In Scandinavia, dill is especially popular for use in their dish of cold cured salmon called gravlax. Dill has also been popular since that time for flavoring herb vinegars and wine. Today, many uses of dill have not changed much. It is still the primary ingredient in the flavoring of pickled cucumbers and gherkins and gravlax is still just as popular in other parts of the world as it is in Scandinavia. The dill seed has sometimes replaced caraway seeds in rye bread, is used in cool summer salads and is added to not only vinegars but also mayonnaise, yogurt dressings and to cream or cottage cheese. (de la Mare, 38)

Dill is relatively easy to grow in the home. Dill likes to be planted in cool weather. In warm winter areas that don't experience a hard frost, you can plant dill in fall or winter. In cooler areas, plant dill a week or two before your last hard frost. After you first plant the dill seeds, plant more seeds again every 10 days or so for a continuous crop. When growing in containers, use a deep container to because of the dill plant's long roots, and remember that you will eventually have a plant that is around three feet tall. Plants grown in containers may require staking. When growing, remember that dill enjoys light but can take some partial shade. Obviously, harvesting your own dill would be preferable to buying it, but when needs must one can go get dill from the supermarket. When shopping for dill, be sure and look for fronds that are firm but not stiff. They should be a vivid green color but not dark green as this is an indication of oxidation and old age. Yellow dill or limp dill means that the plant is REALLY old and should be discarded. When storing, it is helpful to remember that dill does not handle the humid cold of a refrigerator well, so I recommend storing it in a ziplock bag with some paper towels to wick off moisture.

Dill has a flavor that most texts refer to as being a cross between caraway and fennel. Myself, I feel that the flavor of this plant is unique unto itself. It has a very fresh, slightly clorophyllic tang with a floral nose. Honestly, the best description I can give for it is "cool". Not "cool" in the mouth-numbingly arctic cool way of spearmint or the watery chill of cucumber. This is the cool of rich cream or a north wind in fall. Brisk, but invigoratingly so. The seeds are more pungent to taste than the leaves and, as always, be sure to use double the amount of dried dill instead of fresh if you must use dried in the first place. Please remember that dill does not dry well so you may have to use more dried dill than the simple doubling to get the same flavor.

Here are some recipes that I have found that I think highlight the extraordinary taste of dill.

Fish Stew with Calvados, Parsley and Dill
From Herbal Pleasures - Cooking and Crafts by Katherine Richmond
Serves 4

2 lb, assorted white fish
1 tbsp chopped parsley, plus garnish
8 oz, mushrooms
8 oz can of tomatoes
salt and pepper TT
2 tsp flour
1 tbsp butter
2 cups apple cider (OPTIONAL - You can use hard cider instead of apple cider here if you would like a deeper flavor profile)
3 tbsp Calvados
1 large bunch, fresh dill sprigs plus garnish

Roughly chop fish and place it in an oven-safe casserole or stewing pot with the parsley, mushrooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Work the flour into the butter until you get a consistency of small pea-like bits of butter and flour. Heat the cider and stir in the flour and butter mixture a little at a time. Cook, stirring, until it has thickened slightly.

Add the cider mixture, calvados and dill to fish and mix gently. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve garnished with sprigs of dill and parsley.

Dill and Potato Cakes
From Herbal Pleasures - Cooking and Crafts by Katherine Richmond
About 10 cakes

2 cups, self rising flour
3 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
scant 1 cup mashed potatoes, freshly made
2-3 tbsp milk, as required

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter salt and dill. Mix in the mashed potatoes and enough milk to make a soft pliable dough.

Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is fairly thin. Cut into neat rounds with a 3 inch cutter.

Grease a baking tray, place the cakes on it and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Salmon and I have a love-hate relationship. I have had it any number of ways and I simply get back to the fact that I rarely like the flavor of salmon. It's too aggressive for my palate so I rarely eat it. However, the main exception to this is cured salmon, either smoked or in the case of gravlax, salt cured. I have actually made this recipe and can guarantee that it comes out well. I ate an entire fillet in one sitting once, with some dill infused oil, capers and black bread. Very delicious!

Julia's Traditional Gravlax
From Julia and Jaques Cooking At Home by Julia Child and Jaques Pepin
Makes between 2 and 2 1/2 lbs, serving 15 to 20 as an appetizer

One 2.5 to 3 lb salmon fillet, skin on and ALL bones removed (very important that the bones be removed)
1.5 tbsp salt, plus more as needed
2.25 tspn sugar
4 tbsp cognac, plus more as needed
Fresh dill sprigs, about one cup packed

Trim the salmon fillet, cutting away any thin, uneven edges and the thin end of the tail.

Cut the fillet in half crosswise so you have two pieces of the same length and about the same width and then lay them skin side down on the work surface.

Stir the sugar and salt together in a bowl. Sprinkle half the mixture over each fillet and rub it in with your fingers. Drizzle about two tablespoons of cognac over each piece and rub it in. Spread the dill sprigs over one fillet, then set it in the baking dish. Lay the other fillet on top, align the sides neatly and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap.

Lay a pan or board on top of the fish and make sure that it isn't resting on the rim of the dish. Weight the board with cans or other heavy objects to compress the fillets and place in the refrigerator. After one day of curing, remove the weights and top tray, turn the fish over so that the top fillet is now on the bottom, baste with the liquid that has accumulated in the dish and replace the weights. Turn and baste after the second day and slice off a slice of fish to taste test. Add more salt and/or cognac as needed. Cure for another day, turn and baste once more. After the fourth full day, the cure will be complete and you can serve the gravlax.

One of my favorite ethnic foods is Indian. I adore Indian food as I adore no other cuisine on the planet. Their use of spices like cardamom, cumin, coriander and cinnamon (not to mention the hot pepper spices!) in savory foods always makes me aware of just how great it is to taste something that challenges your ideas of what spice belongs where. One of the dishes that is sometimes served with hot curry is called raita, which is technically a bound salad but is often used as a condiment or a side salad. Yogurt based and used to cool the stinging palate after a bite of searingly hot curry, raita is one of my favorite things to eat that has dill in it. If I have some extra cucumbers to hand, I will toss together a raita as a light lunch or dinner. I now give my personal raita recipe to you, the reader. I hope it serves you well.

Cucumber-Dill Raita

1 large (12 - 18 inch) cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 pint, Greek style yogurt or plain yogurt
1 medium bunch dill, chopped fine
1/2 red onion, chopped fine
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp salt plus extra to taste

After you finish peeling, seeding and dicing it, put your diced cucumber in a handy bowl and sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of salt over the top of it. Add your red onion and toss well. Allow these two things to sit for at least fifteen minutes but no more than thirty. There should be a good amount of liquid that gets drawn out of the onions and cucumber after that amount of time. Pour that liquid off and reserve it.

Greek style yogurt can be found in most farmers markets or health food stores and is thicker and tangier than normal yogurt. However, if you cannot find it, do not fear. Simply buy a pint of regular yogurt and when you get home and before you start chopping your veggies, line a colander or strainer with some cheesecloth or paper towels and dump the yogurt into this. Set it over a bowl and put paper towels on top of the yogurt. Then place a couple of cans or something else heavy that you wouldn't be upset if some yogurt got onto on top of the yogurt to press the moisture out. Set it over a bowl or in your sink and allow it to drain for an hour or so. When the draining is done, hit it with two teaspoons of white wine vinegar to give it some oomph and continue on.

When the cucumber mixture has been drained of the excess water, mix it into the yogurt a little at a time. When the mixture has been completely incorporated, add the chopped dill and stir again. Add all the spiced and continue to stir until the mixture looks homogeneous. At this point, put some plastic wrap on your bowl and put it into the fridge to mellow. I recommend about twenty-four hours for the flavors to completely develop, but you could go as short a time as one hour. Before serving, taste and adjust the salt level accordingly. If it needs a little more acidic oomph, add some lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Remember that raita is supposed to be cooling and refreshing, not tart.

Work Cited and References

Bremness, Leslie. The Complete Book of Herbs. New York: Viking Studio Books. 1988

Brown, Deni. Herb Society of America - Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses. New York: Dorking Kindersley Publishing. 1995

Child, Julia and Jacques Pepin. Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. New York: Alfred A Knopf. 2000

de la Mare, Walter. A Book of Herbs and Spices. Topsfield, MA: Salem House. 1987

Hoves, F. N. Useful and Everyday Plants and Their Common Names. London: Cambridge University Press. 1974

Richmond, Katherine. Herbal Pleasures - Cooking and Crafts. New York: Anness Publishing. 1995

Rinzler, Carol Ann. The Complete Book of Herbs, Spices and Conidments. New York: Facts on File. 1990

Seymore, Miranda. A Brief History of Thyme and other herbs. London: John Murray. 2002

Stobart, Tom. International Wine and Food Society's Guide to Herbs, Spices and Flavorings. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1970

Whiteman, Robin. Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden - An illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and their Uses. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 1996

Last of the Cooking Questions Answered

2005-10-06T19:20:04Z

These are the last of the cooking questions that I have answered. Hopefully more will follow.
mandis13 asks: "Could ya reccommend me a cookbook, one good for a novice cook?"

Sure thing. Most people who know me are going to see this recommendation coming, but they can bite me. I recommend Alton Brown's book, I'm Just Here For the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking. I feel that this book has the most to offer the novice cook because not it not only gives recipes, but the science and theory BEHIND the recipes. If you understand how the method of cooking acts on food, it's easier for you to extrapolate and work with new foods in the same manner. It gives you the tools to begin cooking creatively.

dark_blade asks: "Used a Ball recipe for blueberry syrup and it's VERY thin, tried my own
strawberry sauce recipe with carmelizing the sugar first and it came out with a major bitter tone... how do I make fruit syrup that actually is viscous rather than milk consistency?"

The gelling agent in all fruit and berry jams is a chemical called pectin. Pectin is a naturally occuring chemical in pretty much every fruit and berry, to a greater and lesser extent. Some fruit and berries, such as blackberries and apples, naturally have a high pectin content. Others, like apricots or strawberries, naturally have low pectin. Pectin is also very heat sensitive so overcooking your jam will cause the pectin to break down and not gel. To hedge your bets, I recommend buying pectin from your local grocery store and adding it to your jam near the end of the cooking process. This will allow it to set well without the chance that it will break down under heat. As to the caramelizing of the sugar, it is extraordinarily easy to burn sugar and burnt sugar can give off flavors, such as bitterness. Personally, I have found that Bell's recipes are complete crap. I use Jeanne Lesem's Preserving in Today's Kitchen to great effect. I recommend you pick it up as soon as you are able.

thegreyman asks: "What are your thoughts on REAL Cajun food."

Okay, let us define REAL Cajun food. Real Cajun food is the food of the poor. It is having to make use of an animal completely because you will not get another one for weeks. It is knowing how to take one of the most inhospitable areas in North America and make it work for you. It is the cuisine of the poor, plain and simple. Forget all this shit about Emeril and Commander's Palace and the high-end, fine dining bullshit they CALL Cajun. It's not. Real Cajun is possum etouffee, crawfish jambalaya and boudin rouge.

That being said, I love Cajun food. It is unapolagetically earthy and fattening. It subsists in that culinary netherworld where things still operate by feel and instinct more than rote recipe. More directions for this food are given by word of mouth than are handed down on paper or in books. It is sad that one of the few unique cultures in North America (and real Cajun families are as distinct as Native American tribes, thankyouverymuch) is disappearing as more and more young people leave the bayous and never come back. The food is being gentrified into extinction and I expect that in our lifetime, Cajun food will become nothing more than a way of cooking pork and vegetables with spices rather than a reflection on a distinct culture in our nation.

prodigalson asks: "I always have a problem making a holandaise(sp?) saunce, can you tell me a full proof way of making the stuff?"

Unfortunately, no there really is not. Hollandaise sauce, for those who don't know, is basically a close cousin to mayonnaise. It involves egg yolks and an acid reduction (usually lemon juice) being warmed and whipped to ribbon consistancy, then drizzling in melted butter. All the while, you are whipping it to increase the volume and emulsify the butter. It must be kept warm lest the butter separate out, but not too warm or else the eggs will scramble. It is notoriously finicky and suffers time-temperature abuse like nobody's business. In short, it's a stone cold bitch to make by hand and there's no two ways around it.

The only thing I can recommend to you is to try whipping your eggs over a water bath instead of over direct heat. Basically get a bowl that fits comfortably on the top of a decent sized pot. Fill the pot half way with water (do NOT allow the water to touch the bottom of the bowl) and bring the water to a simmer. This will gentle your eggs up to a warm temperature. When whipping the eggs before adding the butter, get the eggs to a lemony yellow color and remember that the sauce needs to fall off your whisk in ribbons when you hold it up to test.

Good luck and remember that lots of people, chefs and nonchefs alike, have problems with this sauce. Practice is the only way to go to it.

Answers to Culinary Cooking

2005-10-06T19:17:56Z

I have recieved some questions regarding cooking, ingredients and suchlike, in my personal journal and so I've decided to move them over here. These are the answers to the questions I previously recieved.

deza asks: "You know that lime sauce from that burger recipie? I'm trying to figure out how to thicken it to a ketchup consistency without altering the flavor. Suggestions?"

There are two ways of thickening loose sauces, or in this case something closer akin to a marinade than a sauce, which I am particularly fond of. One is reduction and the other is the use of a thickening agent. Reduction is exactly what it sounds like -- one keeps the sauce over low heat and allows the water to evaporate until the desired thickness is achieved. This has the effect of not only giving a better consistancy but also concentrating the flavor. Thickening agents, such as a roux (cooked flour-fat mixture) or slurries of either cornstarch or arrowroot, allow for a pleasant sheen and a quick set instead of the long and sometimes tedious reduction process.

In this case, you have two acidic compounds, namely the lime juice and the Worchestershire sauce, as well as a strong spice (black pepper) and a sugar. If you were to use a reduction technique, I would be afraid that you would increase the acidity of the two base liquids and possibly scorch the pepper and sugar. For this, I would recommend a slurry of cornstarch, no more than 1/4 tsp in 3 tbs of water for the recipe that you sent me. Add it to your sauce, set over medium heat and simmer. Do not allow to boil. That should get you not only a nice consistancy, but also a glossy sheen. Be very careful with the cornstarch though as it has a nasty tendency to congeal when it gets cold.

reannon asks: "What's the secret to using a wok?"

There are two main skills you need to master to be able to cook well in a wok. The first and definitely the most important is speed. You absolutely MUST move fast in wok cooking. If you are cooking correctly with a wok, you are going to be using very high heat with small amounts of oil. This means that you must move everything fast and constantly to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the wok and burning or absorbing too much oil and having the final dish come out greasy. You absolutely MUST learn to work quickly and accurately. This does not mean hastily or sloppily. You can be fast, neat and accurate. But it takes practice. Expect to burn more than you cook the first couple of times.

The second skill you have to master is consistancy in your cuts. Prepping your ingredients for wok cooking is important because of the speed with which everything cooks. All the different bits of each individual ingredient need to be cut as close to the same as possible. For example, if the recipe you are using calls for carrots to be in 1/2" squares, you need to try to have ALL of those carrots cut to that dimension. The reason is that if everything is the same size, then everything will cook the same and in the same amount of time. Very important when cooking over high heat and with speed. Please note that ALL your ingredients do not have to be the same size and in fact SHOULD NOT be. But each ingredient should have its bits be consistant with each other.

heathrow asks: "Is brining really all that?"

The one word answer to this question is "Absolutely." The more complex answer is this: In our race to create a food animal that is almost completely safe, sanitary and low in fat, we humans have managed to take a whole lot of taste out of the meats that we cook. For better or for worse, fat equals flavor. Ask any chef you find and they'll say the same. Natural fats have the most flavor and meat fats have a lot of very good flavor. Unfortunately, because of this afore-mentioned rush for bigger, leaner and NOW meat, most of the white meat that we consume here in America has very little fat. Enter brining.

Brining is basically just another form of marinade. There is a reason that there are dozens of marinade mixes in the meat section of your local supermart. Spice companies and meat producers know that the meat being put out today needs some help being flavorful. Brining takes the marinading process a step further. Brining actually not only enhances the flavor of the meat, but also adds critical moisture to the meat. Again, since we have gone for leaner meat, that means drier meat. Not so juicy. Brining actually adds juiciness to meats that would be lacking, specifically pork and chicken.

The way it does this is courtesy of that old process everyone remembers from junior high, osmosis. Take a very salty brine and drop in a porkchop. What is going to happen is that porkchop (which has less salt than the surrounding water) is going to start absorbing salt very quickly. But then, as it is absorbing salt, it realises that it needs water too, since the salt is absorbing water on its own! So basically, it starts pumping itself full of salt and water and plumps up. Meat companies will do this with a big needle, a brine and a large roast. The difference being that if YOU make the brine, then YOU can control what does or does not go into your meat. I personally am against stuff with more than five syllables in my meat. And if you add spices and flavorings to your brine, as most people do, then you will infuse your meat with the taste of whatever was in your brine.

So, let's review. Plain, unbrined white meat = dry and bland. White meat, brined in an herb and/or vingar infused brine = juicy, seasoned and flavorful. And this is personal experience talking here, not just me repeating what I may have read elsewhere. So, yes... brining is in fact all that.

olliesmama asks: "Are there cooking classes that aren't for "gourmet" dinners, but simply to expand filling, inexpensive family dinners?"

There are lots and lots of places offering cooking courses these days, thanks to a resurgance of food awareness and the success and popularity of FoodTV. I would say yes to your question, but you need to go on the offensive here and start looking around your neighborhood grocery store, farmer's market, cooking supply shop and newspaper for times and classes offered. Most will charge but they are quite reasonable compared to what I am paying for my courses.

twelveoaks asks: "I love Thai food, but haven't braved cooking it at home yet. Do you know any good resources for recipies or general tips on cooking Thai style?"

The best thing I can recommend you doing is going to a used bookstore and finding a couple of books on Thai food that appeal to you, then taking them home and trying some of the more basic recipes. Red curry, green curry and the various satay types (with peanut sauce!) are good starting points. Another thing to do is to find an Asian grocery store in your area and make sure they have a good selection of actual Thai spices and pastes, as opposed to the crap that the chain supermarkets try to pawn off on people. And most importantly, DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED. Thai food may seem really mysterious and difficult at first, but it is really quite easy once you get your mind wrapped around the ingredients.

You'll do fine, but you have to understand that being new at something means making mistakes. Learn from them and keep trying.

indigoskynet asks: "What's your opinion on turducken?"

I think that turducken is the end-all, be-all in many amateur SCA cooks minds and certainly they are ascribing to the very period opinion of "Bigger is better!" Turducken, for the unaware, is a dish wherein a deboned chicken is stuffed into deboned duck which is then stuffed into a deboned turkey and the whole is roasted in an oven and served in a manner not unlike the presentation of a boar's head at a madrigal feast. Some talented cooks can maintain some bones in the turkey and duck to provide structure to the ensemble. I think it is the culinary equivilant of jumping the shark, truth be told. I find it more impressive when someone can turn out a "period" feast for a hundred people, appropriately sauced and presented, than when someone makes turducken and serves it with frozen rolls and canned green beans.

Turducken, 90% of the time, is a dish that is held up as an ideal that it never should or could be.

necessary asks: "Sauces and curry: the secrets to Indian and Thai sauces from scratch"

Well, I am certain that bionicgrl might argue the point with me, but I think that the most important thing in Indian and Thai sauces from scratch is the freshness of the ingredients. Namely, that you buy whole spices and grind them as you need them. This sounds complex until you remember that, living in the 21st century, we have these marvellous contraptions called coffee grinders, which you can get pretty cheap at Wal-Mart and Target and sometimes even cheaper at Goodwill. Instead of beating the spices to death in a mortar and pestle, you can just drop them in the bowl, grind them up and use them right away, which guarentees you a MUCH superior flavor over the pre-ground stuff in the stores.

All that Indian and Thai curries and sauces have are ingredients that SOUND exotic to people who have never actually attempted to find or cook with them. Given your current location, finding an Asian market or two to get these ingredients should be child's play. After that, just look online for a recipe that you think sounds good, make a couple of batches and tweak it to your satisfaction. Experimentation for your own satisfaction and the willingness to find, buy and use fresh ingredients will ALWAYS make for superior food.

ijk and manhattan, I haven't forgotten you. You guys get a post all on your own. More to come!

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Afterword

2005-10-06T19:10:47Z

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Afterword

or

A Few Parting Words

Okay, well this has been a fun little series. Parts one, two and three are all linked here so that you can find them and reference them at need. I'll likely be putting them into memories so that people can find them a little easier in the future. I hope that everyone has enjoyed reading this little series as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

To the uninitiated cook, the best advice I can give is just to cook as often as you can. No amount of reading, wishing or dreaming is going to substitute for actually DOING. I recommend that you always hunt out new dishes that you are keen on and try to learn how to make them a part of your cooking repertoire. When and if the day comes when you are ready to move from uninitiated cook to full fledged foodie, you'll be more prepared to wow your friends and colleagues with your skill and knowledge.

Best of luck to everyone!

-R. Matthews

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Part Three

2005-10-06T19:10:17Z

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Part Three

or

So I have this Personal Cuisine... NOW what do I do with it?

In my first article, I said what every uninitiated cook needs in their kitchen. In the second article, I went over how to put the materials together to allow you the basis for your personal cuisine and how to start building that cuisine from basic recipes. Today, I want to look at a few tips on how to further build that personal cuisine, how an uninitiated cook can integrate it into their day-to-day lives and some things to look for in grocery stores that I think will keep the uninitiated cook's refrigerator and cupboard in fighting trim.

Again, let me restate that the aim of these articles is not to tell people who already know and like to cook how to go about running their kitchens. If that kind of person gets something from my writing, then so much the better. However, I am mainly writing this for the poor college student without the money to spend on huge cookbooks and expensive ingredients or the harried working mom (or dad!) who want to cook something more elaborate than macaroni-and-cheese and meatloaf three nights a week. Think of this as a primer for people who know they want to cook more and better, but have no idea where to start. As always, questions and comments are welcomed and anyone reading this has permission to link and share it.

Okay, so now you've got the basis of your cuisine down. You've got a good dozen or so recipes gleaned from cookbooks, newspaper articles, the internet or wherever. You're ready to start making these dishes on your own now and that's great. To keep you going, I think it's important that you keep a few crucial hints in mind.

Hint Number One - Nobody bats .1000 in the kitchen
It's a fact that occasionally, you will goof up. A dish that sounded great on paper will come out awful or the pasta will be gummy and chewy instead of al dente. The mighty titans of the kitchen, godlike in their stature as chefs, mess up more often than you think (although they often call their whoopses 'experiments' or 'trial cooking'). I myself made a "vegetarian paella" once that was so over spiced, it gave me indigestion for two days. We've all had our whoopses and so will you. Learn to not give up when this occurs. Pots will burn, cakes will fall, and disappointment will occasionally rear its ugly head. Don't let yourself get discouraged! Learn the lesson that you should learn from the situation and move on.

Hint Number Two - Learn from criticism, but don't dwell on it
This is especially important for people with children who start screaming if they can't have mac-and-cheese five meals a day. If you set a dish in front of someone and they turn their nose up, don't let it hurt your feelings. If you taste it and love it and they taste it and hate it, then obviously there's a difference of opinion there. Keep the dish around for social events or private meals but don't toss it away because the person you're with doesn't like it. if nothing else, the basis for the recipe could serve as a starting point for new dishes of your own.

Hint Number Three - Cook as often as possible
Being a poor culinary student working full time as a cook myself, I understand how tight money and time can get. However, as the wise old master said, practice makes perfect. Cook as often as possible, if for no one else than yourself. Cook because you should. Cook because you want to grow your skills. But most importantly, cook because you're hungry and you want to know how best to feed yourself. When you cook for just you, a deeper knowledge of your culinary needs and wants will be forthcoming, which will allow you a better understanding of what direction to take your personal cuisine in.

As a previous reader mentioned, cookbooks aren't the only place to get recipes. If you taste something you like, then ask for a recipe. If your mother-in-law's string bean casserole completely takes your breath away, ask her for the recipe. Ask Miss Molly the Churchlady how she gets her chess pie that way. Mug the matre'd at your favorite sit down restaurant and see if he can score you a copy of the recipe for their clams casino. If you like a dish and it's not too far out to get the ingredients for your home, then ask! But remember to not fall into the trap of thinking that you have to obey that recipe period-point-blank. The key to having a personal cuisine is learning to think about what you're cooking and adapt it to your kitchen and your tastes.

So.. now you have this personal cuisine. What do you do with it? How can you integrate this thing into your day-to-day life? After all, if all you're going to use it for is special occasions and for family get-togethers, you might as well not have it, right? Integrating your personal cuisine into your daily life is exceptionally easy, but it does require some forethought on a semi-regular basis. People with children may be more used to this than people without because of the meal planning that goes on with a house of kids. Simply put, figure out what you want to have for dinner the night before you have it. That way, you can check your pantry and cupboards for the required goods, go to the store if you need to and set things out to thaw and not have to worry about it.

For the uninitiated cook, forward planning is the best ally you can have. Chefs and amateur cooks can go into a cold kitchen and improvise something, but the odds are that the uninitiated cook is not going to have the skill and wherewithal to do that. I'm not saying it's not possible; I'm just saying that it is unlikely. So planning what you'll have the next night is a good idea and really isn't as hard as you think. After dinner for the night is done and you're relaxing before going to bed, think about what would be nice for dinner tomorrow. Let's take something simple, like beef stroganoff. Run over the list in your mind. Do you have the sour cream? How about the mushrooms and the egg noodles? Did you take the beef out of the freezer? You should probably do so if you haven't already. Things like that are easy to consider while you're at rest and relaxed rather than in the middle of your day while you're stressed out. So consider what you want to cook, determine which ingredients are to hand and which are not, plan your grocery store trip if you need to take it and get it all done before you got to bed so that the next day, all you have to do is get up and go to work or school and not have to worry about where dinner is coming from the next night.

Now, a word about purchasing groceries. I have long had the tendency to attempt to buy more than I will need for a few days under the idea that I -might- want to cook a specific dish -sometime-, and so it would be good to have the materials to hand when I need or want them. And while this is not a bad idea when you are talking about non-perishables like canned food, dried beans or rice or things like that, it is less than optimal with perishable items and an especially bad idea for fresh foods like vegetables and fruit. It took me a few years to get the hang of it, but I have finally adopted an attitude that helps me well and I think will help all of you.

The key here is to buy only what you need for the next two days in fresh foods (specifically vegetables and fruits), for the next week in perishable items (such as meat, bread or milk) and for the next two weeks in dry staples (such as canned food. rice or dried beans). Now, for reasons that are pretty plain to anyone with children, this is not going to work very well for the child-having set because unlike we child-free people, running to the store is an event in and of itself, particularly with small children. However, the theory itself is sound. Buy what you need in a time line scale rather than in a need-based scale. Yes, you -may- want to make dill potatoes for dinner on Thursday, but if you buy that fresh dill on Sunday, by the time you get to it on Thursday, it's not going to be in great shape. Also, root vegetables like potatoes, garlic and onions tend to get bought in big bunches then left in the pantry, cupboard or cabinet and used so sparingly that the last few either turn nasty and liquid or try to put down roots by the time you get to them. Remember that these are -vegetables- and so come with a short lifespan, albeit one that's longer than your average fruit.

Meat is a special case here. I feel that, at the very most, meats should be bought no more than a week in advance and immediately frozen when you get them home if you're not cooking with them in the next 48 hours. While I am opposed to frozen meat on most levels, I also understand that people with children are not going to have the luxury of going down to the local grocery or butcher's to buy the night's meat fresh. However, the uninitiated cook that has no small children should seriously consider buying their meat fresh and again, at the most, no more than two days before cooking. The reason is that frozen meat is inferior to fresh meat because of cellular perforation that goes on when the meat is frozen. In simple terms, the ice crystals that form in frozen meat act like little knives that cut the meat to shreds on the inside, which accounts for the liquid, or "weep" that occurs when frozen meat thaws and the somewhat spongy texture. So, I feel that meat is better bought fresh, but if you must buy ahead and store, then please only buy what you need for the week. More than a week's worth of meat and you start not only compromising the taste of your food but cluttering up your freezer. You could use that space for other things, like frozen veggies (another time saver I'm not crazy about but am willing to make an exception for) or desserts (mm.. ice cream!)

From a somewhat food snobby point of view, I would caution the uninitiated chef against processed foods where possible. I know I said I would try to keep that food snob attitude out of here, but I think that it is necessary to caution the uninitiated chef against what I feel is a hazard to them and their guests. I am not a big fan of processed foods as everyday eating. There are far too many chemicals and additives put into your average package of cold cuts to make me feel good about them any more. I would recommend, where possible, that you look at alternatives to those processed foods for your eating rather than sticking with the old favorites. You may find out that the new stuff has more flavor and less plasticy taste than the old stuff. I'm just saying.

Okay, so.. there's only one more installation to go, where I give the uninitiated cook some resources to use and a few parting words. See you guys on Sunday.

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Part Two

2005-10-06T19:09:20Z

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Part Two

or

How To Build a Personal Cuisine and Still Have Time to Have a Life

In the last section, I discussed the four tools every home cook, great or small, should have at their disposal. Today, I want to discuss the culture of cookbooks, the hows and whys of food marketing and how people can go about building their own personal cuisine. I would like to take a moment to state that the idea of personal cuisine is not mine nor do I believe that it belongs to the person from whom I got it, John Thorne. I believe that the idea and concept of a personal cuisine has been floating around for a long, long time. However, I do know that Mister Thorne is the only person that I have ever heard or read that refers to the idea as "personal cuisine". I have spoken about Mister Thorne at length in previous posts, so I shall not do so now except to say that anyone who is serious about developing their own personal cuisine owes it to themselves to find copies of his books Simple Cooking and Outlaw Cook and read them cover to cover.

Cookbooks are a two-edged sword for the home cook, initiated into the mysteries of cooking or not. On the one hand, they offer us the comfort and safety of being told exactly what to use, what to do and when to do it. On the other hand, they take away most people's sense of adventure and their ability to adapt in the kitchen. When confronted with a missing ingredient, most people will nix the whole project rather than go against the recipe. The key here for the uninitiated cook is to understand that a cookbook should serve as an inspiration and a guide, never as the end-all of cooking. You should use the book, not follow it blindly. The key is to absorb the lesson, apply it as needed and adapt it where possible to suit your taste. And that is the essence of a personal cuisine - your taste and your expressions as a cook.

The culture of the cookbook is, at its core level, an insidious thing. It is a culture of rules and standards. It says that you must cook a dish thus-and-so, for this long and with these certain materials. Doing so will allow you to sample the food that the celebrity on the cover says you will make. Failure to comply with the directions will result in a messy and untimely end, at least culinarily speaking. The reality of cookbooks and home cuisine is, in fact, much more complicated. Here's the fact that all those book-writing celebrity chefs already know and that their publishers hope you never figure out: You don't need those books. If you have a functioning set of taste buds, a pair of hands and a willingness to experiment then you can replicate almost any dish you've ever tasted. The last thing there is the most important. You have to be willing to experiment and you must have people around you who are willing to experiment as well. But we'll come back to this in a moment. More on cookbooks right now.

It is a fact that cooking has become big business. Everywhere one turns, you can find cookbooks by various television personalities who aren't even chefs. With the advent of FoodTV, even more cookbooks have been released and the entire "culture of cooking" has taken this nation totally by storm. Even as recently as fifteen years ago, cooking was not seen as a glamorous occupation. Now, people are swarming to colleges and universities to become chefs. The hype surrounding all things culinary can cloud things enormously for the uninitiated cook. It's very easy to believe that one -must- have the Emeril cookbooks, the Booby Flay grill cover, the Alton Brown santoku knives or the Rachael Ray apron. But, the fact of the matter is that none of these people's know-how come included in any of those purchases. Their inspiration will not, unfortunately, rub off on you if you buy their stuff no matter what the ads may say. Sadly, I have been routinely disappointed by the majority of the celebrity cookbooks I have received (Alton Brown and Mario Batali being the notable exceptions) but this doesn't mean that you should totally toss them out. However, I would like to give you an alternative to purchasing that very expensive hard-cover cookbook that Tyler Florence just put out which you will leaf through three times, maybe try one or two recipes and set onto the shelf to moulder.

Instead of spending thirty five dollars or so on a cookbook you may use twice, allow me to recommend saving that money and going to your local used bookstore or garage sale and poking through the books there to see if anything catches your attention. Almost every town and suburb now have at least one used bookstore in them and if they don't have one, then there's sure to be a garage sale, church rummage sale or estate sale going on that is sure to have at least one cookbook. And speaking of churches, don't forget that they, along with alumni associations, garden clubs and groups of all stripes just love to turn out cookbooks as fund raisers. The reasons I point these out as alternatives are as follows:

Firstly, this is a cost effective way of getting recipes that are probably staples of whatever area you are living in. For the price of one of the books by Paula Dean, Emeril or Alton, you could probably get two or three from your local used book store. Another problem with cookbooks as being sold and marketed today is that you get recipes from all over in one book. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I believe that regional cooking is an important part of an individual's personal cuisine. And who is going to know more about your regional cuisine: the FoodTV Flavor of the Week who's capitalizing on his new fame or that bevy of blue-haired ladies at your local bridge society who are putting out their greatest hits in soft cover format to pay for new carpeting in their church rec hall?

Secondly, older is probably better. At least in my opinion, it's better. In the days before everything was coated in trendiness, you had food that was cooked with a minimum of pretentiousness. Sure, there were complicated recipes... but the ingredients themselves were usually pretty tame. The uninitiated cook is not going to have time to sit around and pick apart a couple of heads of belgian endive, separate the individual slices of mandarin orange and hand crush the walnuts for a simple salad. They'll probably have the desire to do so even less. Older cookbooks I have found are not quite as pretentious as the cookbooks today and concentrate on getting food that is easily obtainable from even the lowest common denominator of grocery store. That makes it easy for the uninitiated cook to scale their ingredients up instead of having to scale them down in terms of quality or price.

Lastly, these recipes are likely to be familiar to the people actually eating the food. This is especially true of the locally published cookbooks. It has been my experience that the amateur cook is willing to try any recipe that he or she finds, no matter how exotic the ingredients as long as it sounds good. It has also been my experience that the professional chef will figure out a recipe to fit an ingredient, no matter how exotic it may be, as long as he likes the way it looks or smells. However, the uninitiated cook is neither of these people. The uninitiated cook has neither the energy of the amateur cook nor the time of the professional chef. So trying to cook lobster thermidor enough times to get it right is probably not something that is going to happen before the spouses and children start screaming bloody murder. However, cooking a good version of poppyseed chicken casserole is probably something that can be done and added to the repitore within one or two times of trying.

And adding recipes to your cooking repitore is really what building a personal cuisine is all about. It's about becoming so comfortable with a dish that you know it backwards and forwards and , even more importantly, that you feel confident in altering it to fit -your- personal tastes. That is when a recipe quits being a recipe and becomes personal cuisine. -Your- personal cuisine. Most of us have one or two dishes that we know by heart and can cook strictly from memory, no written directions needed. To me, an uninitiated cook who is looking to have a personal cuisine should bump that to at least five dishes and shoot for a goal of ten. Ten dishes! You have to be crazy! Not really, friend. See, you're not coming up with these just out of nowhere. This is where those cookbooks come in handy. Take the recipes that you've tried and had success with. Put them in your regular meal rotation. Cook them once every seven to ten days (or more often if it was a big hit). Soon, you'll be able to remember what to do and when. Then, when you're confident in your cooking, switch it up some. Leave an ingredient you're not crazy about out. Add a double helping of one you DO like. Substitute carrots for parsnips or rice for potatoes. Go crazy and start making your food your own. You'll be amazed how fast your cooking becomes an extension of you as a person.

Tomorrow I'm going to examine how you can pull your personal cuisine into your life as an uninitiated cook and generally busy person (aren't we all?), what steps to take in how to plan to actually cook a meal instead of just warming something up in the microwave and what to look for in a grocery store when you are short on time and money.

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Part One

2005-10-06T19:08:48Z

The Ha'penny Gourmet's Guide, Part One

or

What Every Guttersnipe Should Have In Her Cupboard

So I've had numerous people ask me for an overview of what the uninitiated cook should have in their cupboards and on their shelves when it comes to food, cookbooks or equipment. Now, I am going to take the definition of "uninitiated cook" further than simply being someone who has not worked in the food service industry or one who has not been to culinary school. I am also going to figure that this means someone who has not spent a great deal of time and/or energy to attempt to become a moderately good amateur cook. This means the bulk of people who really would like to learn just enough cooking know-how to impress their friends, loved ones and coworkers when needed and feed themselves with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of yum. And you know what? That's cool by me. I can get pretty food snobby about some things, but I figure anyone who is willing to do more than just nuke a TV dinner or order out for pizza every day is a few steps ahead of the game.

I'm going to do a few quasi-articles on cooking and a kind of quasi how-to guide. I'm going to do my best to give you what I think you need on here and I encourage everyone who likes what I have to say or felt it was useful to spread it around so that other people can also get a leg-up. I am intentionally NOT cross-posting this to any of the cooking communities on here because I don't want to seem totally god-awful pretensious and because there are enough people on those communities who aren't going to need this that it would be a bandwidth chewer over there. Right, so enough of all that.. let's get down to business.

So you want to be able to cook for yourself and your friends, but you don't really know how and you think that it's all massive amounts of work and huge expense and your usual reaction when mulling it over is 'Christ, let's just order a frikking pizza.' Well, be of good cheer, citizen. You're not alone in this. But cooking doesn't have to be a trial and it doesn't have to be a huge investment in time and money. Really, there are only a few things that you need equipment-wise that will get and that's what this little blurb is about. This is going to be the top four things that every person of college age or older should have in their kitchen, kitchenette, next to their hotplate or whatever your cooking situation is.

Okay, firstly let me quote that great sage and fictional character, Tyler Durden, when it comes to all those kitchen gadgets that everyone from Booby Flay to Martha Stewart try and convince you that you HAVE to have to be able to cook in the kitchen:
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. This statement is especially true with things and gadgetry of the kitchen. Ninety percent of the things that hum, grind, chop, whir, spin and beep are totally not necessary for you to be able to cook. They may be fun and may make life somewhat easier, but they're not vital to your culinary wellbeing. There are really only four things you need to survive and thrive in the wilderness of your kitchen.

Thing To Have Number One - A Good Chef's Knife

Okay, this is going to be the long entry and it's because this is the one tool that you absolutely, positively cannot do without. You can fudge your way through not having everything else on this list. I know because I have at one point in time or another. But believe me when I say that without a knife, you're gonna be hard pressed to do anything other than roast hunks of food. And the part of knife buying that hangs up ninety percent of the populous is just the one question - How the hell do you tell what a GOOD knife is? Well, I'll tell you. A good knife is a knife that combines a good price with quality materials and ease of use. Notice I didn't say LOW price. A good knife is not going to be cheap. And a lot of people are going to balk (with good reason) at buying a $90 knife. But let me tell you WHY you should give that purchase its due consideration and not just jaunt over to the crappy $10 knives.

First of all, let's talk materials. Your average $65-$90 chef's knife is going to be made from either high carbon or stainless steel, maybe an alloy of both. It's going to be drop forged, which means it's going to be beaten out of a hunk of solid metal that was heated up and so is going to hold a darn good edge. It's going to have at least a partial tang, if not a full tang, which means that the blade runs from halfway to all the way down the length of the handle, essentially sandwhiched between the plastic or wood. The tang makes for a balanced and durable grip. That $10 chef's knife you're eying down at the end down there is probably made from pressed metal, maybe stainless steel maybe not. Which means it's not going to hold an edge worth a damn. It's likely not going to have even a partial tang and just have a handle riveted on the end, which means no balance and no durability. With cutlery, as with computers and cars, you get what you pay for.

Now, why should you want a sharp knife? After all, wouldn't it be more likely to cut you if it's sharp? WRONG. It's more likely that you'll injure yourself with a dull knife than with a sharp one. Look at it like this - A sharp knife will slide through almost anything you put against it. It should only take the minimum amount of pressure to go through whatever it is you're cutting if the knife is sharp enough. Less force means more control, more control means more safety, which in turn means more of you stays where you belong. A dull knife takes more effort to get through the same food. More effort means less control, less control means less safety and that means that you pushing too hard, slipping and taking off a digit becomes a real possibility. Not a good idea.

Now, let's talk ease of use. This translates to three factors - One - how often does it have to be sharpened, two - how does it feel in your hand when you use it, and three - how easy is it to maintain? As I mentioned before, the sharpness of your blade is important. Not only how sharp it gets, but how long it stays sharp. A good knife will stay sharp with normal use for about three months, barring any resharpening by the user. And I highly recommend that if you're reading this you not attempt to sharpen your own knives. Those sure-fire knife sharpening things they sell in stores are only good for dulling your knife. So, every three months or so, you'll take your knife to the Ace Hardware or the local kinfe sharpening place and get it ground and sharpened. Usually it's like $2 a blade, so no sweat. But if you have a crappy knife, you'll have to get that sucker sharpened every week or two. NOT good economics nor good safety. Metals like high-carbon steel hold a very good edge for a good long time. Stainless steel holds a pretty good edge, not as good as high-carbon and not for as long. The less said about aluminum, the better. You'd do yourself a better service using a frikking BAT made from aluminum to cut your food than a knife made from aluminum.

The second factor is how the knife feels in your hand when you're actually using it. This is why I don't recommend buying knives from online. In my opinon, a person needs to be able to take a knife out of the case and actually put it in their hand and feel how it will sit. Is the grip too long? Too short? Is the balance too far forward or back? Is it too heavy or too light? What is the action like when you cut with it? Some places will actually have cutting boards that you can use to test the motion of the knife. And if they give you a funny look when you ask to hold the knife, then turn around and walk out. It's like asking someone to buy a car without test driving it. And if the salesperson actually gives you CRAP about it, I'd reconsider coming into that store EVER again.

The last factor to be considered is how hard is the knife to maintain? High-carbon knives are a wonder to use and a beauty to behold, but they require some upkeep that most amateur cooks just aren't willing to put out. For example, if you were to use a HC knife to cut something acidic, then if you don't clean it immedately, the blade could discolor. Heck, a HC knife practically starts discoloring if it comes within five feet of a tomato. Okay, that's an exaggeration... but only a slight one. The fact is that the more expensive knives cannot just be tossed into a dishwasher and let go. The harsh detergents and abrading action of the stuff around the knife will play merry hell with the edge. So that means hand cleaning and hand drying. Stainless steel is some better, but you trade convenience for quality, which is not something I personally am willing to do.

For the college cook, I would recommend a small Santoku knife like this one. For the cook who's a bit more well off, I'd recommend a chef's knife like this one from Henckel. Either way, I recommend strongly that if you can only afford one thing out of this list, that it's this knife. Everything else can be fudged one way or another. This really cannot.

Thing To Have Number Two - A 12-inch cast iron skillet

Words cannot express to you how versitile, how durable and how absolutely necessary a cast iron skillet is to your kitchen. Only those who don't have one would question why I say this. Quite literally, you can cook almost ANYTHING in a cast iron skillet. I think the only think I haven't been able to do is boil eggs and cook crepes in mine. And the beautiful part about cast iron is that a twelve-incher is EXTREMELY affordable, available at almost any hardware store on the planet and if you're VERY lucky, you can pick one up at a garage or estate sale and it'll already be well seasoned.

What do I mean about seasoned? Well, that's the secret to a cast iron skillet... or really a cast iron anything! You see, you never wash a cast iron skillet with soap. Think about that for a second. You never wash a cast iron with soap. The reason is because the oil and fat that are baked onto a cast iron, which give it the trademark glossy black color, are what helps the cast iron maintain its slick surface. While not as non-stick as Teflon, a good seasoned cast iron will certainly give that expensive Teflon pan a run for its money. And I'd like to see a Teflon skillet stand up to a 500 degree broiler without screaming in pain. But I digress...

Seasoning is the process in which a fat, usually shortening or lard, is caked onto a cast iron skillet and then baked in an oven so that the fat gets down into all the microscopic nooks and crannies of the pan, protecting it from rust and giving the metal its slickness exterior so needed for cooking use. This process, which is as simple as falling off a log, is the secret to a cast-iron's success. The fat protects the metal from oxidation (which means rusting) and the metal provides the density to grab and hang onto heat and then disperse it evenly when cooking. Once the cooking is done, you just toss in some kosher salt, a little more oil and rub it clean with a handful of paper towels or a paper grocery sack. I am fairly sure that everyone's grandmother has at least one of these and will be glad to tell you how to season it, use it and maintain it if you just ask. When WAS the last time you spoke to your grandmother, anyway? Now's a good time, if you can.

Now, I said that cast iron is versitile. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that you can do almost anything with a cast iron skillet that you would be able to do in a normal skillet, a broiling pan, a sauce pan, a shallow pot or even a meat mallet. I've used my skillet to do everything from poaching salmon to searing t-bones to pounding out chicken breasts to smacking a raccoon who got too close to my cookfire (long story). Well cared for.. heck even halfway cared for, a cast iron skillet will see you through almost any cooking need you can possibly come up with.

I recommend the first name in cast iron, Lodge Cast Iron, for your skillet needs. And don't mind the price on this. You can find it for cheaper at your local ACE or TruValue.

Thing To Have Number Three - A twelve quart stock pot

Okay, so we have a knife and we have a skillet.. why the hell is this big assed stockpot doing in the equasion? Well, I'll tell you why. Because as good as that skillet is, it's lousy for trying to make a lot of liquid at once. You try making enough stew or chili in it to feed six adult men on Superbowl Sunday in a cast iron skillet and you'll see what I mean. Soups, stews, stocks, broths... whatever you want to make that is liquid and yummy, you are going to want to make enough of it to have for at least a couple of days or to feed at least a couple of people. Otherwise, what's the point of making it? And my theory on life is that it's easy to make a lesser amount in a bigger pot than it is to make a greater amount in a smaller pot. Put simply, you're going to have one hell of a time making ten quarts of soup in a six quart pot.

Thing To Have Number Four - A good two-cup measuring cup

What do I mean by a "good" measuring cup? I mean a measuring cup that is not going to get bent out of place, warped by heat, melt or otherwise get deformed while in use. Which pretty much rules out plastic or metal. My preference is for a Pyrex measuring cup, available at any given grocery store in North America. I say that you need to get a two cup measuring cup because I have rarely had anything that I was cooking that called for more than two cups of anything and a whole lot that calls for somewhere between one and two.

For those who are about to ask, while I am a big fan of Alton Brown, I am not a real big fan of his graduated plunger-type cylinder measures because they can get warped and bent out of place if put into a dishwasher. And since they are not SUPPOSED to be used in the dishwasher, but rather cleaned by hand, their usefulness for the uninitiated cook is hampered. I say, better to have something you can rinse and toss into the dishwasher than something you'll never use.

Tomorrow, I'll go over the best cookbooks for the uninitiated cook to have on their shelves, what to avoid and what to do to best enhance your personal cuisine.