The Modern Peasant

Patience Gray may not be a household name, but to many cooking enthusiasts, she is a god. In 1957 she wrote her first cookbook, Plats du Jour with Primrose Boyd.  She wrote a collection of recipes for the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, which was published posthumously in 2005 as The Centaur's Kitchen. Her most famous cookbook, Honey from a Weed, was one of the most influential and beloved cookbooks of the last century.  Gray fell in love with the Belgian artist and sculptor Norman Mommens and the pair set off touring the Mediterranean.  They settled in Puglia in southern Italy in 1970.   Their farmhouse, Spigolizzi, was famous for what it did not have; no refrigerator, no telephone, no electricity.  Yet Gray produced the most wonderful food -- seasonal, farm-to-table when farm-to-table was called simply, dinner.  It was rustic and self-sufficient and intoxicating.

Jojo Tulloh was intoxicated and she happened to know Patience Gray's son, Nick.  Before long, she had arranged a visit -- more of a pilgrimage to Spigolizzi. When Nick and his wife arrived to care for Gray in her last years, they had the sheer audacity to add electricity for lights and refrigerator, though they never installed hot water.  Tulloh was granted the gift of cooking in Patience Gray's kitchen.  She was transformed.  She returned to England with Gray's mantra of "eat more weeds" directing her.  While she would not give up her refrigerator nor her electricity, Tulloch set out to embrace the peasant within and learn to forage and ferment and can and cook  and bake and smoke with the same passion that Patience Gray wrote about.  The Modern Peasant: Adventures in City Food is the accounting of her quest.

The Modern Peasant is a fine DIY book.  It is not some sort of definitive "survivalist" tome to keep you going in the remote regions of the world, but rather a way to put bread and yogurt  on the table, especially if you live in a city. You won't learn butcher a whole hog, but you will be able to turn out a fine sausage.  The most important thing you will get from the book is a new way to look at the food around us.  A willingness to pay a bit more for a handcrafted loaf of bread.  A hesitation at throwing away scraps that can go in a stock.  A joy in growing vegetables.  Not everyone is going to travel the Mediterranean with a sculptor and cook on an open fire, but there are so many things that can be done every day to live like a peasant. I came to this book as a fan of Patience Gray but I stayed because Tulloh's journey was a common one, told in beautiful prose.

Tulloh admits that she is not much of a baker.  She does love to make these honey flapjacks, a sort of granola bar that is a great way to use up a crystallized honey.

Honey Flapjacks

3 tbsp honey

150g butter

a pinch of sea salt

75g unbleached granulated sugar

250g porridge oats

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Line a 20 x 25cm tin with baking parchment; or use a circular tin, if that's what you have to hand.

Place a small, heavy -based pan over a medium heat and melt the honey, butter, salt and sugar together until bubbling.  Pour the mixture into a bowl with the oats and stir well, until the whole mass is well amalgamated. Tip it into the prepared tin and, using a spatula,  press the mixture down quite hard, until flat and smooth.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned at the edges -- a good flapjacky smell will probably alert you to this moment.   Using  a  sharp knife, score the flapjack into squares or rectangles in the tin, but leave until cool before turning out.  They keep well in a cake tin for several days.

Your very own honey from the weeds in your cupboard.

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Preserving by the Pint

 Marisa McClellan's blog, Food In Jars has spawned its second cookbook, Preserving by the Pint.  If you read McClellan's blog, you know she cans in a very small kitchen.  She is great at taking a handful of ingredients and turning them into a couple of jars of jam.  When introducing this book she wrote:

All the recipes start with either a pint, a quart, or a pound (or two) because those are the units of measure that so many of us end up with after a trip to the green market, grocery store, or farm share pick-up.

We often lament the fact that we are not endowed with friends who have Meyer lemon trees in the back yard, or fig trees, or gigantic tomato patches.  We are often in the produce section facing 3 quince, a pound of Meyer lemons, or 6 blood oranges.  Most folks don't look at these tiny bounties and think -- marmalade!  Well you should.  Preserving by the Pint will be just the inspiration you will need.

We are notorious for buying EVERY canning, confiture, preserving book out there.  Yes, the repetition is astounding.  So picking up Preserving by the Pint was truly a joy as there are many recipes that seem familiar, but offer up a unique twist -- other than being calibrated to cook up a pint!

For years, when I thought of pickles, I would see my great-aunts with gigantic quart-sized jars, laboring away.  Frankly, I always thought buying them at the store was easier.  Then I realized one didn't have to "put up" forty quarts to get pickles.  But just try to find a recipe that makes one quart.  Well now you have a place to turn.  I was also weighted down by the notion that pickles had to be processed, yet hardly a meal went by that we didn't have some sort of refrigerator pickle that was made the night before.

Here is a a fine recipe for a quart of sugar snap peas.  You may find a really lovely mess of these peas at the store and think, "How could I use these?"  Well make these pickles. 



Marinated Sugar Snap Peas with Ginger and Mint

Makes 1 (1 quart/1 liter) jar

11⁄2 cups/360 ml unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon finely milled sea salt
1 pound/460 g sugar snap peas
1 green onion
1 sprig fresh mint
3 thin slices fresh ginger

In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, honey, and salt. Heat until the honey and
salt are entirely dissolved.

Wash the sugar snap peas well. Using a knife, trim both ends and remove the
tough string that runs along the back of the peas. Cut the green onion into 2 or 3 segments,
so that they fit the jar. Stand them up in a clean 1-quart/1-liter jar, along with
the mint sprig and the ginger slices.

Pack the prepared sugar snaps into the jar. If they don’t all fit, set them aside. You
may be able to sneak them in once the pickling liquid is poured.

Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the sugar snaps. Tap the jar gently on the counter
to remove any air bubbles. If you had any remaining peas, try to pack them into the jar
at this time.

Place a lid on the jar and let the jar rest until it has cooled to room temperature.
Refrigerate. Let these pickles sit in the vinegar for at least 24 hours before eating.
They will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Note: Make sure to use the freshest sugar snap peas you can find. No pickling
brine can restore crunch to a pea that’s lost it to age. If you can’t find sugar snaps,
this recipe works equally well with crisp snow peas.

You know you have a saucepan, a jar, and a refrigerator.  Go forth and preserve!

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A Handbook of Cookery For A Small House

I say, "Joseph Conrad" and you say,  "Lord Jim or Heart of Darkness."  You probably don't say, "He wrote a cookbook preface."  But if you did, you would be correct.  Mr. Heart of Darkness wrote the preface to his wife, Jessie's cookbook.  Conrad writes:

"Of all the books produced since the most remote ages by human talents and industry those only that treat of cooking are, from a moral point of view, above suspicion.  The intention of every other piece of prose may be discussed and even mistrusted; but the purpose of a cookery book is one and unmistakable.  Its object can conceivably be no other than to increase the happiness of mankind."

Doesn't that just make you want to hurry out to the nearest bouquiniste and grab up all his books?  Basically Ol' Joe wants you to know that cookbooks make you happy.  On that, we agree!

In A Handbook of Cookery For A Small House Jessie Conrad opens with "A Few Introductory Words" to set out simple instructions for the home cook.

"Cooking ought not to take too much of one's time.  One hour and a half to two hours for lunch, and two and a half for dinner is sufficient, providing the the servant knows how to make up the fire in order to get the stove ready for use."

Face it, if you were married to Joseph Conrad you would want to spend at least five hours in the kitchen!  As one might guess, Conrad's recipes are rather straight forward, meat and potatoes fare.  There are sausages, kidneys, steak, mutton, fish, and fowl of various varieties.  There are potatoes in many forms and most dessert involves the stewing of fruit.  Frankly, it would seem that bangers and mash and some stewed rhubarb would come together in under three hours even if you had to light the stove, yourself.

Here is an example of a dish Jessie would have served Joseph for his luncheon.

Pigeons with Carrots

Split the roasted pigeons in halves and lay cut side down in a stone saucepan with half a claret glass of white wine, pepper and salt, with four carrots cut lengthwise, each into eight pieces then cut across.  Add a little meat juice.  Put enough water to just cover the pigeons.  Stew gently for three-quarters of an hour.  Thicken with a little flour and water and serve in the stone saucepan, or a deep dish.

I doubt you will want to grab a copy of this to make your dinner, but as a literary tie-in, it is quite fun.  If you do see a copy, you might just want to grab it as they are getting scarce and expensive.

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The New Southern Table

We have been waiting for Brys Stephens The New Southern Table and it finally arrived.  We know what you are thinking:  "There is nothing "new" in Southern."  Well, we would have to say you are so wrong.  Look at that big red "NEW" in title and we will tell you how it applies.

When you say "Southern" food we think, collards, crowder peas, okra, sweet potatoes, peaches, lima beans...and so does Stephens.  Southern cuisine is built on the ingredients that come form the ground.  If Southern cooks have a fault, it would be taking these ingredients and cooking them the same way week in and week out.  We cook them the same way mama cooked them.  Mama cooked them the same way her mama cooked them.  And so it goes.

Check out the Piggly Wiggly.  They will have okra, sweet potatoes, and lima beans just like mama's did.  But check again.  They will have coconut milk, fish sauce, habaneros, pomegranate, and on and on.   Brys Stephens has spent a lot of time roaming those grocery isles and thinking of ways to make the familiar, new.  He has done a great job.

Take a look at okra.  My mama grew up in Alabama and spent much of her adult life in the cold, dark North.  She would beg grocers to get in a mess of okra.  Often when she did get it, it was a mess, but she was undeterred.  After all that effort, she made okra two ways.  Sliced and fried into chewy almost black rounds and steamed on top of field peas into a slimy mush.  Needless to say, okra was never a favorite.  Then one day, we saw an okra recipe from Africa.  The recipe kept the stem end in tact and thinly sliced the pod in long vertical strips.  When fried it resembles calamari.  A simple variation in slicing made all the difference.

Flip through The New Southern Table and you find recipe after recipe of the familiar turned on its head.  There is perloo with quinoa, purple hull tabouleh, and watermelon pudding Sicilian style to name a few.  And what about the okra?  According to Stephens this recipe is simple and concentrates the flavor.  It sure beats those little blackened nuggets.

Roasted Okra with Olive Oil, Lemon, and Sea Salt

2 pounds okra, any tough stem ends trimmed away and discarded
3 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt
Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 450F.  In a bowl, toss the okra with the olive oil to coat.  Arrange the okra in a single layer on a large sheet pan.  Roast 8 to 10 minutes, or until bright green, barley tender, and brown in spots.  Serve immediately with sea salt and lemon wedges.

Those who believe they just know it all about Southern cooking, be prepared to be wrong. 
 The New Southern Table will make you a rock star in the kitchen from Alabama to South Carolina and all those Yankee states out there, too.

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Requiescat in pace -- Clarissa Dickson Wright

Sad to report that Clarissa Dickson Wright , the remaining one of the Two Fat Ladies, died. 
Read Wright's amusing account of shooting the neighbor's peacock and serving it to them.  After all, who in their wright mind would waste a perfectly good peacock.

While best known for her stint as the side-car riding half of the Two Fat Ladies, Wright wrote numerous food books, including a wonderful book on game and tiny tome on the beloved haggis.  After Jennifer Patterson died, Wright teamed up with childhood friend, Johnny Scott for a British "countryside" show, Clarissa and the Countryman.

In recent years, she wrote a series of autobiographies detailing her rather wild and drunken youth.  After surviving a hard-fought struggle with alcoholism, Wright spent many years working in a cookbook store.  She was "discovered" by the legendary cooking producer, Patricia Llewellyn who teamed her with Patterson, and the rest was rollicking road trip. 

My particular favorite recipe from Wright was her Mitton of Pork, a large ball of terrine filled with bacon and pork with a bit of stuffing to bind it together. 

Mitton of Pork

8 ounces rashers streaky bacon

1 1/2 pounds pork fillet. thinly sliced

6 ounces sage and onion stuffing (not from a packet)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground mace

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a 7-inch pudding basin with most of the bacon rasher, reserving a few for the top. Put in a layer of pork, then stuffing, season with salt, pepper and mace. Continue this layering process until the basin is full, finishing with the reserved bacon. Press down well, then cover tightly. Stand the basin in a baking pan to catch drips. Bake the oven for 1 hour. Place a weighted board over the pudding and leave until completely cold. Turn out the mitton and slice to serve.

 The dish was featured in the Picnic episode of The Two Fat Ladies.  I am pulling out the DVD's and spending the afternoon with dynamic duo.  No doubt Jennifer Patterson was waiting at the pearly gates with bottle of champagne, caviar and a cigarette asking what the hell Wright was doing there so soon.

 
 Clarissa Dickson Wright will be missed. The Guardian obituary: bit.ly/NmVV6o

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CROCKPOT MEATBALL SUBS

Whether you make this on the cook top, or in a crockpot, this meatball sandwich is heavenly!! It is rich, satisfying and total comfort food....so, live a little and ignore the calories this weekend!!

The aroma of these meatballs, simmering in the sauce, will pull(even the pickiest eaters) from all corners of your house.

For the full size sandwiches, use hoagie rolls, or for a crowd, small dinner rolls make great meatball sliders!!

Make sure you click on this photo

to see all the yumminess in this sandwich!!

This recipe will feed a crowd, so if you are just feeding the family, cut the meatballs in half. Better yet, make the whole recipe and mix the leftovers with pasta and Parmesan tomorrow night!! I love "day two" recipes.

MEATBALLS
2 pounds of lean ground beef (90% lean)
1 cup dry breadcrumbs (toasted under broiler)
4 tablespoons fresh parsley (minced)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup chopped onion
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Saute chopped onion and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil, until the onions have mellowed and become a little sweet. Mix them in with all of the other meatball ingredients. Form into 2” meatballs and place on a cookie sheet (that has a rim) and bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and drain. Set aside.

SAUCE

Even if you cut the meatball ingredients in half...do not cut the sauce in half. You can make this sauce on the range or in the crockpot.

In large deep pan, saute  1/2  cup chopped onions and 1 clove garlic in one tablespoon olive oil, until the onions are translucent, and then add:

(1) 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
(1) 12 ounce can of tomato paste
4 cups of water
1 teaspoon of dry oregano
2 teaspoon of dry basil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2  teaspoon of black pepper
1/2  teaspoon of fennel seed
1/4  teaspoon of dry red pepper flakes

Bring to a boil and stir to thoroughly mix everything. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the pre-cooked meatballs to the sauce. Simmer for 2 hours (or see crock pot directions below).

TO SERVE: split your bread roll and put just a skim of butter on the cut side and toast it (for just a minute or so) under the broiler. Remove and load with meatballs and mozzarella cheese and put back under the broiler to melt the cheese. Enjoy!!


CROCKPOT DIRECTIONS

The recipe ingredients are the same, except use 4 cups of HOT water and crockpot on HIGH for 5 hours.

CROCKPOT TIP
Lay a dish towel over the crockpot lid (to insulate it a little, so it will come to a simmer quicker). Once it comes to a simmer, remove the towel and crack the lid open just a little bit so that the sauce will reduce a little.

NOTE: The secret to this recipe is the length of cooking time - NO SHORTCUTS ON THE COOKING TIME......that's the secret. 

The meatballs taste AND texture will be SO MUCH BETTER if you cook for the full amount of time, that's why the crock pot is the perfect method to make these sandwiches.

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PIZZA CHICKEN

This is the time of year that I get into a menu rut pothole and start pulling out my old cookbooks in search of new ideas on how to use that big bag of frozen chicken breasts in the freezer. Yes, friends, I have spring fever!!

I came up with this recipe a few years ago and it is not only super easy, but a quick and tasty week night recipe.

PIZZA CHICKEN !!

 

Pound four or five boneless-skinless chicken breasts out a little. How thin you get them isn't really crucial, but just try and make them an even thickness (so the whole breast cooks evenly).

 

Salt and pepper the chicken meat and dust them with flour and fry them in a little butter until 99% done and then let them rest on some paper towels while you make the sauce.

 

In a saucepan, whisk the following until smooth:

 

(1) 6 ounce can of tomato paste

1 + 1/2 cans of water

2 teaspoons of dry onion flakes (or equal fresh)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dry oregano

1 teaspoon dry basil

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons butter

 

Simmer slowly until the sauce thickens up (takes about 2 or 3 minutes).

 

Placed browned chicken breasts on a rimmed baking pan and top with a nice THICK layer of pizza sauce, then top with shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese and any veggies (if you want them). Just make sure the veggies are cooked.

 

 

Bake them until the meat is hot and the cheese is melted...quick and easy!!  You can also cut the raw chicken breast meat into kid size portions or even "nugget" size portions.

 

ENJOY !!



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Shake

Our favorite bar item is our Mason Jar Shaker.  Excellent use of the tried and true Mason jar.  Lord knows the Mason jar has been the leading conveyer of alcohol from here to there or from there to your lips.  When Eric Prum and Josh Williams got together and gave the jar a fancy strainer top well, you know, the rest is history.

So we were thrilled to find that the duo was giving it another shake and writing a drink book.  What do you think they would call such a book?  Shake. Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails is the perfect companion to the Mason Jar Shaker.  Actually, it is the perfect companion to any drinker’s arsenal of books.  Here's why...

The drinks are good.

The drinks are fun.

The drinks are easy.

The instructions are way cool.

The drink recipes have the ingredients laid out on a table, so there is no doubt that you are doing things right.  Once you can see what you will need, the actual assembly is a snap.   Here is the easy way to take the L Train. One recipe makes two drinks.

The L Train

2 Shots Gin

1 Shot St-Germain

½ Shot Fresh Lemon Juice

2 Sprigs of Lavender (plus 2 to garnish)

Seltzer

i.  Add the Gin, St-Germain, Lemon Juice and Lavender to the shaker.

ii.  Add ice to above the level of the liquid and shake vigorously for 10 seconds.

iii.  Strain the mixture into chilled Coupes and top with Seltzer. Garnish with the remaining Lavender sprigs.

Think about it.  Gin.  St-Germain.  How can you loose?  Shake is a great cocktail compendium.  Sure you can use a plain old shaker but go ahead and splurge on a Mason Jar Shaker.

  

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GUILT FREE AVOCADO--RANCH SALAD DRESSING

Make sure you mix this up a day ahead of time, because (while you will be tempted to use it right away......don't!!). Something magical happens in the fridge overnight and the next day, all of the flavors will have blended and it becomes a wonderful salad dressing that you can use GUILT FREE!!

1 large ripe avocado (should be about a cup or so)
1/2  cup fat free  (good quality) PLAIN Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 skim milk (depending on how thick you like it)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder  (not onion salt)
2  healthy pinches dried thyme

Put everything in the food processor and blend until very smooth.
cover and CHILL OVER NIGHT.

This will stay vibrant green for 2 or 3 days (if it lasts that long) but will start to darken just a little on day 4 and 5.

I use 1/4 cup skim milk and it makes a pretty thick salad dressing like this:

 

If that is too thick for you, add a little more milk to thin it out.
NOTE: If this is just a little too fat-free for you, use olive oil instead of milk.

Enjoy !!

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Chez Maxim's

 "It was an accumulation of velvet, lace, ribbons, diamonds and what all else I couldn't describe. To undress one of these women is like an outing that calls for three weeks' advance notice, it's like moving house."

Jean Cocteau on the women dining at Maxim's

Rarely does a restaurant rise so high above its food as Maxim's has.  Say "Maxim's" and most people immediately know of the restaurant but rarely could they tell you a single dish on the menu.  It's no wonder, eating at Maxim's is a literary shortcut to convey wealth and worldliness.  From The Merry Widow to Fawlty Towers, from Ian Fleming to Quentin Tarantino the very mention of Maxim's fills the mind with wonder. 

Maxim's hay day may well have been the late 1950's and 1960's.  The "International Jet Set" made Maxim's their home away from home as the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Maria Callas, Porfirio Rubirosa, Barbara Hutton, and Jacqueline and Aristotle Onassis were frequent guests.   It was during this era that Maxim's published their cookbook, Chez Maxim's.  It was quite a document in 1962.  The book is big and filled with recipes, stories, and photos including full page color photographs laid in. 

If there is a "famous" Maxim's recipe it may well be Potage Billy By.  According to the cookbook:

It was Louis Barthe, the former chef at Maxim's, who told me the story behind the Potage Billy By. In 1925, he was working in the kitchen at Ciro's, a restaurant in Deauville known for a special mussels dish with a particularly succulent juice. One day a very good customer, Mr. William Brand, decided to invite some American friends to Ciro's. Mussels are generally eaten with the fingers in France, using one double-shell as tongs to scoop the meat out of the others. As Mr. Brand wanted to spare his fiends this delicate operation, he requested that the juice be served without the mussels. It was such a success that during the days that followed, each of his guests returned separately to Ciro's and ordered the "Potage Billy Brand." For the sale of the discretion, it was placed on the menu as "Potage Billy B." and thus was born the "Potage Bill By" which has since become a classic of the French culinary tradition.

The soup was popularized in America by Pierre Franey.  In 1961, Craig Claiborne published Pierre Franey's recipe for "billi bi" in his New York Times Cookbook, declaring, "This may well be the most elegant and delicious soup ever created. It may be served hot or cold."

Franey's history of the soup list William B. Leeds as the soups' namesake, leading to years of conflicting stories.

"The story goes that a wealthy American named William B. Leeds lived off and on, in Paris and that his favorite restaurant was Maxim's. The menu listed a cream of mussel soup, and this was his choice on almost every visit. Leeds was a real favorite of the owner and as a result of his passion for the soup it was dubbed billi-bi, a version, of course, of Billy B."

A 1958 book about Maxim's written by Jean Mauduit states it was named for Brand.

Franey might have the namesake wrong but Claiborne may well have been right about "delicious."

Potage Billy By

1 1/2 cups Fumet de Poisson
2 qt. mussels
1 large onion
1 stalk celery
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup dry white wine
2 sprigs parsley
1/2 tsp. ground peppercorns
Salt

Scrape and wash the mussels thoroughly.  Mince the onion and place it in a deep saucepan along with the celery, wine, and pepper. Add the muscles, cover the sauce pan, and boil over a high flame for 6 minutes. Shake the muscles in the pan two or three times during the cooking process so that those on top go to the bottom and vice versa. When the muscles are open remove and drain them. Pour the liquid in the sauce pan through a fine strainer, return to the saucepan, and reduced to about 1 quart of liquid. Add the Fumet de Poisson and cream and reheat over a low flame until liquid comes almost to the boiling point, stirring continually with a wooden spatula. Season to taste.

Serve very hot without the muscles. This soup can also be served cold.
 

 Pierre Cardin eventually bought Maxim's and now it is more famous as a brand than a restaurant. 

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Pitt Cue Co.

OK, we saw this book quite a lot.  It seemed to be quite popular.  But in the end we let prejudice get in the way.  After all, what could Brits possible know about barbecue?  What a joke, right?  Then our fellow bloggers led us down the cookbook path.  We willing admit, it is not hard to lead us down that path.  Then one of our favorite bloggers, Matthew Rowley of Rowley's Whiskey Forge wrote about this book, Pitt Cue Co.

Rowley was in Britain and browsing in a bookstore when someone articulated my very prejudice, Why would you want to buy a barbecue book in Britain?  Well, Rowley says the authors, Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner, understand the credo of cue -- low and slow.  What makes the book interesting is their use of local ingredients.

Fine, but this what captured my attention:

Pickled Hot Dogs.  This was a first for me in a barbecue book, in fact, it was the first in a preserving book.  You had me at pickled hot dogs.... The other big plus, they never shy away from adding booze to anything.  They are very nose-to-tail.   They feature one of my favorite sides, hominy and cheese.  They put chicken skin on their deviled eggs.  They make barbecue sauce into jelly.  These guys are great.

The drawback to the book is that often lamented problem of the restaurateur as cookbook author.   When one is used to cooking in a big, fully equipped kitchen, with minions to run errands and cook for you, it is often a bit hard to translate that experience in a way that the home cook can accomplish it without ordering from said restaurant.

But did we mention they pickle hot dogs?

Our Pickle Brine

water                                   1.5 liters
cider vinegar                       1 liter
caster or demerara sugar    700g
sea salt                                30g
optional aromats (peppercorns, bay leaves,
fennel seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds,
star anise, cardamom pods, root liquorice)

Put all the ingredients into a large pan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar and salt are dissolved.


Pickled Hot Dogs

Our Pickle Brine              1 liter
hot dogs                           1kg
chillies                              3
garlic cloves                     4
sprigs of thyme                3

Put the pickle brine into a pan and bring to a boil.

Stack the hot dogs neatly in 2 large sterilized glass jars with the chillies, garlic and thyme spread evenly throughout the jars.

Pour over hot pickling liquid and seal the jars.  Leave to cool, then refrigerate for 1 week before eating.

 Did we mention they pickle hot dogs?  We sincerely apologize that we dismissed this book based on the nationality of the writers.  It is now our very favorite book on cue!

The authors of the book — restaurateurs Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner - See more at: http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2013/11/bookshelf-pitt-cue-co-cookbook.html#sthash.geohmKEa.dpuf

The authors of the book — restaurateurs Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner - See more at: http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2013/11/bookshelf-pitt-cue-co-cookbook.html#sthash.geohmKEa.dpuf

The authors of the book — restaurateurs Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner - See more at: http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2013/11/bookshelf-pitt-cue-co-cookbook.html#sthash.geohmKEa.dpuf

restaurateurs Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner — - See more at: http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2013/11/bookshelf-pitt-cue-co-cookbook.html#sthash.geohmKEa.dpuf

restaurateurs Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner - See more at: http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2013/11/bookshelf-pitt-cue-co-cookbook.html#sthash.geohmKEa.dpuf

restaurateurs Tom Adams, Jamie Berger, Simon Anderson and Richard Turner - See more at: http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2013/11/bookshelf-pitt-cue-co-cookbook.html#sthash.geohmKEa.dpuf

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Not A Cookbook - A Pie

Yesterday's cookbook, Pies and Tarts, inspired dinner. We dug into the freezer and found a package of puff pastry. During Christmas, we made lamb stuffed with chorizo made earlier in the year. There was a chunk of the stuffed lamb in the freezer that was thawed. There was a package of mushrooms and of course, beer.

The mushrooms were sliced and sautéd as well as half a chopped onion. The lamb was cut into chunks and tossed in the pan with a bottle of dark beer and cooked down. The puff pastry went into a springform pan. The lamb and mushroom mix went into the springform and the other piece of pastry went on top. It baked for 45 minutes. And we had a savory pie for dinner.

 

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Pies and Tarts

 

 I would have to say Stephane Reynaud is one of my favorite chefs.  I love, love, love his cookbooks.  I ordered Pies and Tarts from England in November.  It got lost.  I ordered it again and finally it arrived.  And just in time for the snow. Really, is there a better time to cook up pies than during the snow?  There are rabbit pies, beef pies, fish pies, cheese pies, apple pies, every type of pie one could ever want!  In fact, you will find pies that you never thought of and familiar pies put forward in new ways.

While Reynaud often has recipes that might feel overly complicated, he walks the reader through them in such a way as to make the most complicated concoction seem totally do-able.  All of his books have been like this.  The beautiful photographs often make the recipes in Pies and Tarts seem unobtainable, but following the straightforward instruction will turn you into pie rock star.

This is the cover pie:

Lorraine Pie 

2 packets puff pastry (500 grams)
4 French shallots 
4 garlic cloves
250 g veal topside
250 g  pork scotch fillet
1 bunch tarragon
1 sprig rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
200 ml Gewürztraminer wine
Salt and pepper
1 egg

Peel the shallots and garlic, then finely chop. Cut meat into strips about 1 cm wide.  Pluck the tarragon,rosemary and thyme leaves.  Marinate meat with shallots, garlic, herbs and wine. Season, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator 12 hours.

Divide dough in half and roll out two rectangles of the same size until about 3mm thick.  Line a baking tray with baking paper and lay one rectangle of dough on top.  Spread over the drained strips of meat with shallots, garlic and herb, leaving 1 cm border all around.  Whisk the egg and use to glaze the edges.

Cover with second piece of pastry. Seal the two rectangles of pastry dough by pinching edges.  Glaze them and roll the edges inward so they tick together.

 Criss-cross the dough lightly with the tip of a knife and glaze the top of the pie.   Bake at 180 C for 45 minutes. 

OK this is the British edition so veal "topside" is loin and pork "scotch fillet" is a simple shoulder.   In the US, most frozen puff pastry come in two sheets, so you need only one box.  We chose this recipe because we wanted you see the final product.  We don't eat veal, but Reynaud is French so he eats anything.  Today we are inspired and are heading into the kitchen for a beef and mushroom pie.
More later.

 

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MAPLE CANDIED BACON !!

Now I know that bacon isn't on a lot of our low calorie diets, but once in a while, you just have to live a little!!

I've seen candied bacon recipes all over the Internet and often wondered what all the fuss was about, after all, what can be better than fried bacon? Well, I'm here to tell you that CANDIED BACON is the answer. Holy cow, this stuff is good!!

Some people are dicing it and putting it on top of maple frosted cupcakes, some people are dicing it and putting it into deviled eggs, and some people like me who shall remain nameless, just devour it right out of the warm pan!!  It's just THAT good!!

 

There's not much of a recipe, but there ARE several tips I can give you that will help a bit.

 

First of all, use a large cookie sheet that has a lip on it. Line it with foil (this will make clean up a breeze) and put an oven safe wire rack on the foil (make sure to spray both sides of the baking rack with cooking spray too...that will also help).

 

 

Now a word about which bacon to use. Quality thick sliced smoked bacon works best, but it takes a lot longer to cook. Regular thickness smoked bacon works well but you REALLY have to watch it like crazy so it doesn't burn.......it's your choice.  I think I like the thicker bacon better; I have had great success using apple wood smoked bacon.

 

Preheat your oven to 400° if you are using thick bacon and 375° if you are using regular thickness.

 

Mix 1/2 cup of REAL maple syrup and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Place the raw bacon slices on the baking rack, making sure that the slices don't overlap. Baste the raw bacon liberally (on one side) with the syrup-mustard mixture. 

 

Bake thick bacon for 20 minutes and regular sliced bacon for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, flip the bacon over and baste the other side with the syrup-mustard mixture. Put back in oven and bake the thick slices for another 20 minutes and the regular slices for another 10 minutes.

 

CAUTION: If you use the regular sliced bacon, watch it very carefully the last few minutes, because it can burn quickly if you leave it in too long.

 

 

When you take it out of the oven (the last time), sprinkle it very lightly with black pepper and TAKE IT OFF OF THE BAKING RACK.

 

I cool mine on parchment paper for about 15 minutes; unless I'm eating it right away I turn it over to make sure it cools/dries evenly.

 

NOTE: When I am out of REAL maple syrup, I've tried this recipe using pancake syrup. It works ok too, but it burns easier and the real maple syrup tastes a LOT better.

 

ENJOY !!

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Martha Washington Log Cabin Cookbook

In 1924 the ladies of the Martha Washington Guild organized a cookbook fundraiser.  The Martha Washington Log Cabin Cookbookwas named for a small log cabin built in proximity to the Washington Memorial Chapel.  The chapel sits at Valley Forge to honor the some 3000 soldiers that lost their lives during the winter encampment.

The log cabin was set-aside as a tearoom or luncheon spot.  Unlike many of the spiral bound fundraising cookbooks, this one is bound in blue covered cloth with a paste down of the cabin on the front.  The recipes within come from the ladies of the guild and not from Martha Washington as one might think.

Since the log cabin was indeed a tearoom, the cookbook is heavy on light luncheon fare and filled with sweets.  These old fundraising cookbooks offer an interesting insight into the lives of women during the era.

The recipes are often very simple and based on the premise that the cook actually does the household cooking and already posses a lot of knowledge. 

Pork Chops and Fried Apples

Pork chops

Apples

Flour

Fry pork chops in the usual way.  Then in the same pan fry your apples, which have been peeled and cored and cut into slices about two-thirds of an inch thick.  When apples are browned on one side, turn carefully and brown the other side.  Serve on platter with chops.  Mix a little flour and water and make a gravy in the same pan.

There are a few “fill in the blanks” in this recipe like amounts, times, and temperatures.  If you do fry pork chops, however, this should be an easy idea to make your own.

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