Sep 22

Yet Another Beverage Boondoggle

Julian does his major web surfing while I’m fast asleep and often emails links to me. Sometimes they’re foolish videos or websites. Then we have the “stuff nobody really needs.” Witness the Teamosa. This is a tea variant on the Keurig beverage model. For a mere $399, you can have a machine that ultrasonically extracts the tea goodness. Let’s do some reality checking.

  • The makers claim that the ultrasonic method extracts more antioxidants from the tea leaves than simple steeping. As someone who did her PhD and postdoctoral work in the antioxidant field, I am dubious. This is like the Starbucks baristas who shake your iced tea to “release the antioxidants”. (Truth be known, they may be destroying them.)
  • There are also little paper capsules of tea for purchase that can be brewed in the Teamosa. Although these capsules may be more sustainable than the foil Keurig cups, the source and quality of the leaves are unknown.
  • And of course, the Teamosa costs $399, plus shipping and handling. You can get a good teakettle, a year’s supply of excellent quality tea leaves, and nice mugs for much less than that. As with the ill-fated Juicero, save your money.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/22/yet-another-beverage-boondoggle/

Sep 20

Autumn Arrives

Autumn sneaked in a few days early. Saturday was a gorgeous day. We drove up to Bellingham via Chuckanut Drive and hit the Fairhaven neighborhood. I woke up Sunday to cooler temperatures. It started drizzling while I was at church, and the rain kicked in after I got home. The rain continued Monday and Tuesday. I’m beginning to think about putting away the shorts and t-shirts in favor of sweaters. As one of my former pool pals would say, “At least it’s not snowing.” To which I add, yet.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/20/autumn-arrives/

Sep 17

We Are All Okies

The title of this post comes from the late Jack Taylor, who was my minister during graduate school. Jack grew up in Oklahoma during the 1930’s. His bedroom window overlooked Route 66, the “Mother Road” from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath that folks traveled from the Dust Bowl-ravaged Midwest to California during the Great Depression. The migrants were often termed by longer-term California residents as Okies, usually accompanied with an expletive. “We are all Okies” has resonated with me for 30 years.

The experience of the Okies mirrors that of other migrants throughout history. They moved to make a better life for themselves and their children. Often upon their arrival, they were treated with hostility. The current political climate is just history repeating itself. The “Know Nothing Party” of the mid-19th century railed against immigrants from Ireland. In the early 20th century the animus was against southern Europeans and Asians. Now the anger is directed against Mexican and Middle Eastern (particularly Muslim) immigrants. Even migrants from within the United States can be subjected to disdain. Washingtonians decry the Californians who’ve moved north. Texans and Georgians berate the Yankees who’ve moved south. The faces may change, but the attitude is the same.

Immigrant labor has always powered large sectors of our economy. Restaurants, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, food processors, and farms today could not survive without immigrants starting out as dishwashers, custodians, nurses’ aides, assembly line workers, and pickers. The children of these immigrants often go higher on the economic ladder thanks to their parents’ labor. For example, the child of a nurse’s aide may go to medical school. Again, this is a familiar pattern. Witness the descendants of Irish and Jewish immigrants who’ve achieved success.

It’s a rare American who has not descended from immigrants. It’s just a matter of when their families migrated. Even Native Americans and Alaskans migrated from Asia during the Ice Age. It is incumbent upon us to remember that our ancestors were once strangers here, and not to denigrate the newcomers. We all have some Okie in us.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/17/we-are-all-okies/

Sep 10

Goat, Okra, and Beets

I’m sure the title sent many folks to reading something less incendiary. In truth, this combination made a tasty meal. I needed to use up some goat I had in the freezer, along with some beets and okra I found at the fruit stand. Off to the cookbook collection for inspiration.
I found the okra stew recipe in Claudia Roden’s New Book of Middle Eastern Food. The original recipe used beef, veal, or lamb; I substituted the goat. The method is pretty standard: Sauté the onions, then brown the meat. Stir in some ground coriander, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Let simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours until the goat is tender. Stir in the okra about 20 minutes before serving. I made the Iraqi variation, which included Persian dried limes in the stew. I’d bought these at The Souk, a Middle Eastern grocery in Pike Place Market, some time back.

As for the beets, the recipe for the salad came from The Ethnic Paris Cookbook, by Charlotte Puckett and Olivia Kiang-Snaije. The beets were roasted, then peeled and chopped. The vinaigrette included harissa, a North African chile sauce.The salad came together while the rice was cooking and the okra simmered in the stew.

Julian put together an antipasto platter while I finished dinner. It wasn’t exactly in keeping with the theme, as one of the items on the platter was Salumi soppressata. (Salumi also makes a killer mole sausage.) The meal was quite good, despite the incongruity.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/10/goat-okra-and-beets/

Sep 04

Fiesta de Paella

We were in the Detroit Airport last week waiting for our delayed flight. I walked into a newsstand to get some bottled water, as we were flying home on Spirit Airlines. (“You wanna breathe on this flight? That’ll be 25 bucks.”) Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the latest issue of Food and Wine magazine, which featured Spain. Figuring that I needed reading material, I bought it. Julian saw it and said, “Maybe we can invite the crew to a paella feed on Saturday night.”

Paella is a peasant dish that’s become alta cocina. We did a paella feed last year, as documented in this post. My mother would recognize paella’s ingredients: Rice, vegetables, and meat, poultry, game, or seafood. However, paella is more refined than the “Spanish rice” Mom used to make. For one thing, she never used saffron. We used the recipe out of the magazine, which used boneless chicken thighs and country-style ribs as the protein. Julian added some Spanish chorizo to his pan. I adapted the recipe for our allium-averse friend and cooked a small pan on the stove top; Julian did a larger portion on the grill. Both versions were well received.

Alongside the paella, Julian fried up some chickpeas (too picante for most of our friends) and I fried some of my Padron peppers. We also made sangrias. Julian made an alcoholic sangria with garnacha wine, apples, peach, orange, lemon, and lime. I found non-alcoholic white grape juice with elderflower and added peach and lime for a sober version. The cheese plate was multi-mammal: Sheep’s milk Manchego, cow’s milk Affinois, and a goat cheese with figs.

For a change, the festivities were sit-down, as we had a smaller crowd than usual. Several of the regulars were in Ireland for the wedding of our former next-door neighbor’s daughter. Guests brought salads and desserts. As usual, everyone left well fed.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/04/fiesta-de-paella/

Sep 03

How to Gemisch a Recipe

Gemisch is Yiddish for mess. In our house, gemisch refers to a culinary experiment. It can be the product of too many things to use up in the fridge or an adaptation of a recipe because you forgot an ingredient. Some gemisches live up to the translation; others enter the echelon of epic eating. Most are serviceable meals for weeknights.

A couple of gemisches have graced this blog: the asparagus and pasta recipe from “When the SO’s Away” and an adaptation of my grandmother’s Swiss steak in “How to Write a Recipe…” Some gemisches are simple substitutions, such as using dried fruit instead of candied citron and cherries in Christmas bread. Others are more elaborate, or come out of pure imagination. Here are a few guidelines to keep your gemisch from being a mess:

In general, baking is trickier than cooking to gemisch. The flour/liquid ratio is key to obtaining the desired result. Egg yolks are required to emulsify fat with other liquid in the recipe. The protein in egg whites may provide additional structure to the recipe, as in the gluten-free matzoh balls turned pancakes shown in “Seder Day Night with the Goys.” Oil substituted for melted butter in a recipe will give you an entirely different taste, texture, and mouthfeel; however, in small quantities (less than 1/2 cup per loaf of bread or batch of cookies), you can get away with it.

If you’re substituting other “milks” for cow’s milk, be aware that protein contents are wildly different. One cup of cow’s milk has 8 grams of protein; one cup of nut and other non-soy milks have 2 grams of protein or less. The fat content of these milks may alter the recipe. For example, coconut milk is much higher in fat than whole milk.

Some related items don’t work as substitutions. Italian basil won’t work in a Thai or Vietnamese recipe, and vice versa.

(Suggested by Julian) Some sugar substitutes will not behave the same way as sugar in a recipe, particularly in baking. Honey is sweeter than sugar, but can be substituted in small amounts. It will also alter the texture of a recipe.

You can use starches other than flour to thicken a sauce. Cornstarch and arrowroot are two examples. Use about half the amount of cornstarch as flour for a recipe (1 tablespoon of cornstarch thickens the same as 2 tablespoons of flour).

If the alterations you have to make to key ingredients of a recipe add up to too much, you need to find another recipe. This is common with trying to adapt dishes for vegetarians or vegans, or if you’re dealing with multiple food allergies or intolerances.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/03/how-to-gemisch-a-recipe/

Sep 02

The Perils of a Double-Door Refrigerator

Casa Sammamish came equipped with a double-door refrigerator with a freezer drawer on the bottom. Our erstwhile landlords wanted the most cubic footage for the space allotted in the kitchen. All well and good, but I’ve noticed some drawbacks to the configuration of this fridge:

  • The food on one side of the fridge turns over rapidly; food on the other side turns to compost. If I want to take leftovers to lunch the next day, I put them on the left side of the fridge so Julian won’t find them for his midnight snack. I just have to remember where I put the food.
  • Stuff expands to fill the cubic footage. You buy a case of white wine at Costco and it all goes in the fridge. You buy multiple bottles of hot sauce or fancy pickled vegetables to stuff the door shelves. (We are guilty of this sin.)
  • Bottom freezers may be more energy-efficient, but they’re not practical for folks with creaky knees or balance issues. Things settle to the bottom of the drawer never to be seen again until you move. On the other hand, bottom freezers can work well for people in wheelchairs.
  • The drawers in a bottom freezer never seem to be tall enough for half-gallons (actually 1.75 quarts these days) of ice cream or other oddly-shaped containers. And it’s difficult to lay something flat in there if you want to freeze it in a single layer.

There is one upside to the double-door refrigerator: More room for grocery lists, postcards, and cartoons.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/02/the-perils-of-a-double-door-refrigerator/

Sep 01

Juiced

Several months ago I wrote a post on the Juicero, a $400 contraption that squeezed $8 packets of juice into a glass. Alas, Juicero is no more. Reality does eventually catch up with hucksters. Now we need to see reality catch up to the huckster in chief.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/01/juiced/

Aug 30

Carolina Coleslaw

Our department had another potluck today. I’d signed up to bring a salad, but didn’t have a clue of what I’d make until a coworker offered to bring pulled pork. Then it hit me: Carolina coleslaw.

Some explanation is in order. We lived in Greensboro, North Carolina for seven years. During that time we got an education in the ways of North Carolina barbecue. The style east of Raleigh and Durham is made from the whole hog and served with a thin vinegar- and pepper sauce. On the other hand, west of Raleigh and Durham the barbecue is mostly pork shoulder and served with a tomato-based sauce. Coleslaw is standard; as with the meat and sauce, the slaw differs as well. In the eastern part of the state, the slaw is mayonnaise-based; elsewhere, the slaw is vinegar-based. The latter does wonders in cutting the richness of the pork, and is the one I make.

The recipe is very simple. Chop the cabbage into small pieces. You can do this with a food processor. Alternately, you can buy a bag of pre chopped coleslaw mix. Stir together ketchup, cider vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and hot sauce for a dressing. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and stir well. The mixture shouldn’t be soggy, as the salt and sugar will pull water out of the cabbage. Chill the slaw at least one hour or overnight.

My coworker was happy to see the coleslaw for his pulled pork. He’d smoked two shoulders for 14 hours in his pellet smoker. The cooked meat was warmed up all morning in a slow cooker before the potluck, so our break room was fragrant with the aroma of pork. I explained that the traditional way to use the coleslaw is to put it on top of the pork in a burger bun. My colleagues were dubious, but many of them tried it – and liked it. The vegetarians were content to eat the slaw sans barbecue. Another successful potluck.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/08/30/carolina-coleslaw/

Aug 22

Hound of the Woodinvilles

Woodinville, the town to the east of Bothell, is basset hound crazy. Every year they hold a Basset Bash to celebrate the breed. It was originally held the Saturday nearest April Fools’ Day, but the organizers thought better of it when that date was rainy and cold for several years. (A park redolent with the smell of wet dog is not a pleasant thought.) It’s now held in mid-August, which is more congenial to both human and hound. This year’s Basset Bash was last weekend. I rode through the park earlier in the day. I didn’t see any bassets, but I could hear them barking.

Basset hound statue in downtown Woodinville.

Julian and I were musing about the basset hounds’ plans for world domination. (Yeah, right.) Here is what we came up with for the Basset Manifesto.

  • Outlaw cats. My mother’s basset Clementine would have concurred with this bullet point. My 20-pound barn cat Shamus abused her horribly back in the day. When Clem was pregnant with her first litter of pups, Shamus used to sit on a stool in the kitchen and whack her on the butt as she waddled by. (Believe me, there are few things more pathetic than a pregnant basset hound just before whelping.)
  • Position a sofa on every block. Hey, being walked is hard work. And there should be a kibble dispenser next to the sofa.
  • Position two fire hydrants on every block. Not only is walking hard work, the bladder of a male basset hound is about the size of a walnut. Territory must be marked. Granted, the only other dogs marking the low end of the fire hydrant are chihuahuas, pugs, and Yorkshire terriers, but a basset hound can outspritz any of them.
  • Curbs should be no more than four inches high. Those curb cuts are never where the hound wants to get on or off the sidewalk anyway.
  • Any tasty table scraps or leftovers automatically go to the basset hound. This is an obesity prevention maneuver – for humans, not hounds.
  • The cushiest seat or bed in the house belongs to the basset hound. The human has to attempt to squeeze onto the room that remains.

    A future Master of the Universe – not. From the 2013 Basset Bash, courtesy of Julian.

    Luka and Neli: Pay no attention to this picture. Also from the 2013 Basset Bash.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/08/22/hound-of-the-woodinvilles/

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