Jofish & Jim Eat

Rum-raisin oatmeal cookies

2009-10-03T02:16:39Z

the cure for early-onset autumn syndrome

This is really just the chocolate chip-walnut-oatmeal cookies, with some adjustments (And rum!)

Based on my:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (see recipe elsewhere)

Basic recipe by Christine Rivera / found online and corrected by Jim

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening (Use the reformulated Crisco with no trans fats)

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup dark rum

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

3 cups oats

1 cup raisins

Yield: about 4 dozen

PROCESS:

Toast the oats. Preheat the oven to about 300 and spread the oats over one or two baking sheets. Rotate the trays and alternate shelves for even baking if the oven is not even. The goal here is to get the "rawness" out of the oats so they are a little dry, very slightly crisp... you should smell toasted oats in the air. Don't overdo it and don't worry if they're not evenly toasted. I think this takes 10 to 30 minutes depending on (I have no idea what)

Put oats aside to cool (you need to free up the baking sheets for the cookies)

Turn the oven up to 350. It'll be ready by the time you are

COOKIES!

Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and soda) and set aside

Cream shortening, applesauce, run, and sugars in a big bowl (everything else is going to end up in this bowl)

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Continue creaming the shortening into the mixture but don't try to make it even... should be a bit lumpy and will smell amazing once the vanilla is in.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet (yes, this is counter to the usual "wet into dry")

Using a heavy spatula, stir in the oats until they are evenly distributed. The dough's going to start getting pretty heavy at this point. Deal.

Stir in the raisins

... mix it all well so all the goodness is evenly distributed through the dough.

Drop by 1- to 2-tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets

I strongly recommend that you use parchment paper rather than any kind of grease

Bake 10 to 15 minutes (7 minutes on the top rack, then rotate the sheet 180 degrees and continue until finished on the bottom rack -- even if you think your oven is perfectly balanced). Bake 'em til they are golden brown.

When finished, pull the sheet out out and slide the entire piece of parchment paper with cookies atop onto a flat surface. Take the cookie sheet aside and cool it (drop it in the snow outside, wave it in the air, place it on the metal countertop, whatever, you need to reload it soon). Ignore the cooling cookies for 5 minutes. Then, using a spatula, lift them from the parchment and place them upside down on a plate to cool - even if using cooling racks, upside down lets them cool and degas/dry a little faster...

Starbucks is "reworking" its food offerings again

2009-06-03T13:50:37Z

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/06/03/starbucks_reworking_baked_goods/

How many times does it take, to get it right?

Sure, the food biz is complicated, but come on now. I must have walked past three dozen small restaurants yesterday. They all had menus and food and customers... even the little guys seem to work it out.

I think Starbucks has a whole other set of problems not related to food.

I'm imagining this change happened only after extensive committee meetings, tastings, conference calls, lots of spreadsheets and Powerpoint decks and expert opinions, driving the latest upheaval in the "not for drinking" department down at 'bucks (is this their fifth reworking of "food" in five years? were there more?).

And this time, oh yes this time is different, they swear. They are going to get it RIGHT this time... so right that they won't have to hold another food reworking in six months, though it seems they've been on the every-six-months plan so long that it may be an unbreakable habit.

OK Starbucks, listen up:
- food isn't about committees or focus groups, NOT EVEN at your size, unless you are McDonalds, and you are not McDonalds
- try sitting down with a nice decaf latte and taking a good hard look around some of your shops
- what would make people happy? Maybe nothing. I've seen your customers. But think.
- how about your staff? Slacker didn't work so you upgraded them to "fussy.' That only empowered the already-fussy crowd your places draw, to be even more fussy. Bad move. They can't be enjoying this constant turnover of the brand.
- and you're confusing customers with the constant flip flopping.

Back to basics, kid.

Bagel sandwiches are acts of love made at local cafes. They simply do not translate to microwaveable baggies... especially not in your stores where the customers can SEE the prepackaging. And seriously, remember those scones-in-sealed-bags? How appetizing is that? The poor things were suffocating. Don't do that again, please.

Maybe this just cannot be corporatized, averaged out, dumbed down, and made palatable to N-million customers at M-thousand stores in X-hundred distinct markets.

Go local. Let your managers source stuff down the street and let the customers know you're doing it. Let the offerings be different in different stores, to reflect the tastes of the region, or local whims. That'd be good for everyone, if you can avoid meddling from the top. Yes, it may mean constant change. That's ok. The tree outside my window looks a little different every single day, but it has probably stood there, all strong and sturdy-like, for fifty years.

- Jim

Grilling a pizza, with JofishAndJim

2009-05-13T21:51:43Z

FA:
- No, you can put the dough right on the grill rack. Make sure it's real clean and maybe spray with cooking spray BEFORE LIGHTING.
- Yes, the dough should be on the sturdy side, but not crazily so. I've grilled some great thin-crust pizzas.
- Grill marks on pizza are just plain cool.

Basic concepts: Grill with lid closed = oven + bonus direct flame.

I've been grilling pizzas since last summer, but Jofish hasn't, so I was thrilled to show him something new. I'll have a charcoal (rather than propane) grill this summer / looking forward to trying a pizza on one of those. For now, these instructions assume a nice propane grill.

Process:
1. Clean the grill rack. Spray with cooking spray or brush with some olive oil if you feel like it.
2. Preheat grill nice and hot - Jofish was liking 500 degrees. The grill i used last summer had no thermometer. Anyway, HOT. 10 mins.
If you preheat with the burners all the way up, turn them down to their lowest setting when cooking the pizza.
---
3. Get the crust(s) and all toppings ready to go (they go on FAST when it's time). Crusts should not be too sticky.. toss in a little more flour if they are. I said a little. Don't dry it out, you just don't want any incidental sticking to happen.
---
4. BAKE SIDE 1: Place all the toppings and tools you may need near the grill. Open the grill. position the crust, and close the lid. You get about 10-15 seconds to rearrange things before it starts baking too much to rearrange. Use fingers. Work fast. CLOSE THE LID. stand back. no peeking.

5. Check the crust after 5 mins and use your judgment. The time to flip the crust is when the down-facing side is cooked and has nice grill marks, and separates easily.

6. BAKE SIDE 2 + TOPPINGS: When the first side is done, time to make a pizza: turn the crust over, immediately paint with olive oil (if you wish) then put all the toppings on it. Work fast since the grill is cooling fast... Close the lid and wait for the second side to cook, for the toppings to warm up and cook a little, and the cheese to melt...

7. EAT

actual photos:

-- Jim (with Jofish and Erin)

In praise of grilling

2009-04-15T20:10:31Z

Nothing new to be learned here. I just wanted to remember a nice dinner.

It's above 40 in the evenings now, and there's still some propane in that little tank so...

I've been in need of a pretty good, not too expensive meal... in my world this counts:

2 inexpensive ribeye steaks covered on one side with rosemary, sage, and black pepper
a dozen shimp, skewered, lightly brushed with oil and a hella good shake of chili powder
caesar salad, heavy on the lemon, with homemade garlic/rosemary croutons and not too much cheese
sauteed baby bella mushrooms
a couple of glasses of a good pinot noir, found on sale and well worth the price
.... and good company to share it with

-jim

Scanwiches

2009-03-10T03:31:42Z

scanwiches.com : Optical scans of cross sections of sandwiches.

Why didn't I think of that?

- jim

2:52

2009-01-29T02:11:39Z

My microwave oven has a button labeled "Popcorn"

When i press that button, the oven is automatically set to full power for two minutes, fifty-two seconds.

Why two minutes and fifty-two seconds?
What do they know that I don't?
Is there some fine print on the popcorn box that I've been missing for a couple of decades?

Googling "2:52" finds a few useful things...

And finally, something related directly to food:
Reason 2-52 of why eastvan is the best
(imo the opening paragraph and the very last comment, as of this writing, seal the deal):

of all the 24 hour food joints in vancouver that I know about eastvan is home to 5 out of seven spots. the naam dosent really count cause its a veggie spot so really it should be 5 out of 6. Theres nothing like the feeling of knowing no matter what time it is you can still get tripe and cheesecake without fail.

...

Posted by Flora on Sunday 18th January
Bad experiences at Pho Hoa… my friend projectile vomited while I was sitting across from him

- jim

Managing minutiae, or how to know your coffee chain has grown too big, too fast

2009-01-24T20:44:46Z

It's a pretty good sign that the franchise is spinning well ahead of the franchisor when the necessary micromanagement, just to keep the place running consistently, means that too many people have to be retrained too many times about too many petty details that should have either been worked out in advance, or delegated to the best instincts of local management.

Starbucks has really show its weaknesses lately. That massive expansion did seem a bit suspect, particularly given the then-recent failings of Krispy Kreme and Abercrombie in their respective over-expansion binges.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008665670_starbucks24.html

One-step-forward-two-steps-back excerpts from the above article:

• Initially, Schultz said he was eliminating heated breakfast sandwiches because their smell overwhelmed the aroma of coffee. Then, Starbucks decided to keep the sandwiches because it found a way to minimize the smell (by subtracting a piece of cheese).

• Early on, Starbucks held a three-hour retraining session for store workers nationwide, showing them how to properly pour espresso and foam milk. Then, it decided that a key feature of the training — pouring espresso into a clear shot glass to check quality — was not crucial after all.

• At first, stores were allotted extra hours for a new initiative to brew freshly ground coffee each day. Then, the hours were reclaimed and stores told that the extra time was always meant to be temporary.
[ ... ]
Still, confusion and disappointment have grown among store workers who comment about their jobs at StarbucksGossip.com.

"If we don't catch a break this company is going to lose every great partner that it has," wrote one 10-year employee. "I am sick and tired of being blamed for not meeting my budget when the economy is in a recession. I used to be proud of my company ... now i [sic] am embarrassed and feel physically ill everytime [sic] I have to go to work."

- jim

(image by Alexanda Boyd, on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/igbyjones/394586888/)

Followup report: The space-age baked potato

2009-01-13T23:05:53Z

update: the individually-plastic-wrapped, Colorado-created Idaho potatoes (and also sweet potatoes) are priced at $1.50 per potato at a local large-chain grocery store. By contrast, the same store has a 10# bag of Idaho white potatoes for $4.99. Wow. "Eliminating waste" (see below) by buying some things one at a time can get expensive!

---

This entry contains the promised report concerning the latest development in food science: individual Idaho potatoes pre-wrapped in plastic by 21st century food scientists based in Colorado.

To review: The magicians behind this new food product promise that their pre-wrapped potatoes not only have the same flavor as those baked in conventional ovens, despite being designed for use in microwave ovens, but also that there is less waste, because as many or few potatoes as desired can be purchased at one time.

Experimental goal: To test the marketer's claims regarding the taste and texture of the cooked potato, or to see a potato explode in a microwave oven, or both. The manufacturer's economic claims are not tested in this experiment.

Experimental setup: A standard rotary-turntable-style microwave oven of questionable origin was wiped slightly clean and prepared for cooking. A tentative subject potato was selected at random from two candidates. The tentative subject potato was examined for anomalous characteristics or asymmetry that could skew the experiment. The tentative subject potato, having been determined to represent a nominally typical example of potatoes in the experimental category, was relabeled "subject potato" and placed as received from the manufacturer, sealed in plastic, on the rotary glass turntable of the microwave.

Experiment: Following the instructions in the mini booklet affixed to the subject potato, the oven was set to "high power" and the subject potato was exposed to non-ionizing microwave-frequency radiation for 7 minutes (00:07:00.00) (Fig.1 ). The cycle was not interrupted at any time nor, despite repeated urges to do so on the part of the experimenter, was the oven door opened.

Following irradiation, the subject potato was allowed to "rest" for approximately 30.7 seconds during which time the oven door remained closed and the potato undisturbed. At the conclusion of the rest period, the oven door was opened and the subject potato was extracted from the microwave oven using two conventional oven mitts, with care taken to avoid compressing or otherwise physically altering the subject potato. When the potato had cooled slightly, the plastic was removed using an Ikea brand steak knife, taking care not to score the potato skin (unsuccessfully). The potato was placed on a standard room temperature ceramic dinner plate to cool and to release additional steam (approx. 60.62 seconds). The potato was briefly examined, then sliced open using the same Ikea dinner knife, and eaten by the experimenter.

Observations: Despite its tough plastic wrapping, the potato released considerable moisture into the air (Fig. 2, 3) which formed a heavy condensate (believed to be H2O) on the oven door upon contact with room air. At the end of irradiation, the potato was bulging against its plastic sheath (Fig. 4). Upon close examination of the basal surface, experimenters observed an unsightly bulge and eruption of the potato through the sheathing (Fig. 5), reminiscent of the so-called "muffin top" or "American tourist at the beach".

Upon removal of the plastic, experimenters noted that the potato's skin was moist, but dried quickly and developed "a hint" of the dry, crispy goodness that would characterize a potato baked by conventional means in an oven or grill. (Fig. 6). Upon bisection of the potato, experimenters observed that the potato was more-or-less evenly cooked, steamy, light, and fluffy, like a good potato should be (Fig. 7).

Conclusions: Not so bad, but I won't be going out of my way to seek these out. As someone already wrote, the potato had less of the mealy texture that can sometimes take the fun out of a microwave-heated potato, but it wasn't so much that I'd give up doing things the old way. I have no idea what these cost new (I bought mine on sale at a closeout). I'd rather have a potato baked on a grill or the old fashioned way, all things considered, but any old potato with a few fork-sticks in the nuker would also keep me happy when I'm in need of a baked potato and haven't the time to let one bake properly. Sixty seconds of additional irradiation may have yielded a more fully cooked, more tasty potato, yet remained within the 7 to 8 minute manufacturer's recommended timings for exposure to non-iodizing microwave radiation, as results may vary with different apparatus.

Future work: A double blind test would be necessary to provide fully defensible results. However, funding and patience for such additional work may be difficult to find. Further, the experimenter stands firm in his belief that he can accurately recall the qualities and taste of a conventionally-baked Idaho potato.

Figures:
Fig. 1: ready to start the experimental irradiation

Fig.2: nearing completion of irradition, note condensate inside viewing portal

Fig. 3: condensate

Fig. 4: bulging against plastic sheathing

Fig. 5: breach of sheathing on basal surface

Fig. 6: skin 'crisping up' slightly after removal of plastic sheathing

Fig. 7: post-bisection, pre-ingestion view

A bakethrough in tuber technology

2009-01-04T01:58:25Z

The food scientists and food marketers at Farm Fresh Direct LLC, Monte Vista, CO, have really accomplished the impossible this time.

First, they've managed to produce a genuine U.S. No. 1 Idaho (R) Potato... in the state of Colorado.
Second, they've come up with a way to pre-wrap individual potatoes in plastic for microwave cooking, so home cooks don't have to.

I confess I only bought these because they were on sale and the individual labels and plastic wraps looked strange. The first one's been diced and is cooking in a pan on the stove, in total defiance of the preparation instructions. Attached instructions indicate the potato will taste just like an oven-baked potato after 7 to 8 minutes in the nuker. Will test #2 according to specs in the microwave, and report all developments in this journal to invite further peer review.

The creators of this spudly wonder point out that

With today's busy lifestyles, most people don't have time to bake a potato in a traditional oven. They have been cooking potatoes in a microwave for awhile, often with unsatisfactory results.

...

Also, there's less waste:

Express Bake PotatOH!'s are individually wrapped and can be purchased as many or as few as needed.

Ah, the space age.

I bet one of these beauties would taste great with a cool glass of Tang.

- jim

In time for Thanksgiving

2008-10-12T19:36:12Z

This deserves more than a tweet.

I just met Alice Brock. That's Alice, as in Arlo Guthrie's classic work, Alice's Restaurant. Yes. Yes. Yes.

She doesn't have the restaurant and no longer lives in a church nearby the restaurant. But she is making art and books in her home studio, down the street and around the corner from where I am right now.

Lobster eggs benedict for brunch, blue skies and sunshine, and now this. What a fun day.

- jim

Farmer's Market food porn

2008-09-13T19:28:29Z

rouge et bleu (writing in French makes it more "artful")

- jim

Pimp My Wine

2008-09-12T23:55:19Z

If you are anywhere and not subscribed to the First Vine e-mail list, you're missing out on one of the best information-mooching opportunities out there.

If you're in the DC/Virginia area and don't know about First Vine, then you're REALLY missing out so get your browser over there and sign up.

And if you don't read past here, at the least check out the website and join their mailing list:
firstvine.com/ . What you get in exchange for your e-mail address (cheap!) is a weekly newsletter that's not just fun to read, but also full of information about wine, plus a recipe for something that's delicious when paired with wine.

I met Tom, one of the owners of First Vine, a couple of months ago. When you get around to the "so what do you do" with someone and they say "wine importer" it can be a little intimidating, particularly at a dinner party where you've brought some wine, and he's brought some wine, too. But he's not just gracious with dummies like me: he's really working hard to find hidden treasures in European wineries and bring them to the US.

This is story food done right. I've ranted a lot (not on the blog - thank me someday) about marketing-driven story food (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's to lesser degree, every "fine food shoppe" inside a department store) that is long on mythology and BS, and short on (devoid of) content. What we have here is quite the opposite.

Bullet points:

- First Vine is finding high-value stuff, and "editing" so customers don't have to. It's hard work but they pull it off. Tom told me about one vineyard that doesn't have "the best grapes" but produces "the best wine" because the winemaker knows what she's doing and works it like a pro. I like stories like that.
- It's all really very well priced, high value wine.. about what you'd pay at Trader Joe's for one of their "better" wines, but this stuff is hand-picked, not coming out of the same stainless steel vat in an industrial park in Anaheim.
- pairings, pairings, pairings - the First Vine website is structured for exploration and learning, and every wine has generous notes. There are lots of ways to explore the inventory.
- If you actually /want/ some wine, First Vine delivers, but to DC and Virginia only. If you're there, you're lucky to have this resource. If you're there and liked this post, send me a bottle of Domaine Fond Croze Cuvée Romanaise in gratitude, and be sure to get one for yourself.
- The recipes in the newsletter are worth the price alone... seasonal recipes (farm market figs this week), timely, not overly fussy but not simplistic and obvious either.

I like what they're doing as a store, and I like what they're doing with their online presence too. At a time when online banking works like garbage (and is insecure - check out my papers about Bank of America), and online services go off and on, when the local grocery can barely make its coupons available on a web page and Dell tech support keeps telling people to "reboot and reinstall" it is just satisfying, and a relief, to find a sincere resource, created and maintained by people who do know what they are talking about (real substance - not some "web 3.0" poseurs), that assumes the audience has an average IQ of at least 101, and that proceeds from those premises but doesn't take itself too seriously.

Maybe wine can be fun and affordable again in a big way... and not in the highly-polished, commercial, franchised "Best Cellars" way, but on a human scale. If so, then I'd say First Vine had something to do with it, at least for their customers in Virginia and CD.

Thanks guys, from a faithful subscriber/information moocher and eventual customer. This is almost enough reason to move to DC.

- jim

Ratatouille!

2008-08-30T21:20:05Z

Published over at www.instructables.com/id/Farmers_Market_Ratatouille/

Teh Awesome Chocolate Sauce

2008-08-14T02:42:42Z

I've posted a recipe for my Teh Awesome Chocolate Sauce over on Instructables. Check it, yo.

Epilogue: sourdough pizza crust

2008-08-12T14:22:23Z

The first shot at sourdough pizza crust was a success. This is based on my everyday pizza dough recipe, but uses the sourdough starter and adds rosemary. Unlike the regular recipe which makes a pretty sturdy, heavy dough (that's not a complaint, by the way), this yielded a light dough that was superbly soft, more like bread or naan, and that made a chewy rather than crispy thin crust, just what i wanted...

this makes one largeish thin crust that will puff up nicely in a hot oven or on a grill (where i made a margherita pizza with it)...

mix together:
2/3 c. proofed sourdough starter
2 T fine cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t crushed black peppercorns
1 t dried rosemary, crushed (if fresh, chop and smash it)
1 T olive oil

then add:
1 c all purpose unbleached flour

mix well, then knead 5-10 minutes
1st rise: 6 hours in a warm place covered with a hot, wet towel (refresh it once or twice)
knead 5 mins and add a LITTLE flour but do not dry out this dough, at this point it'll be getting very even and soft
2nd rise: 4 hours in a warm place covered with a hot, wet towel (refresh it once)

Now it's late and you're tired so scoop up the dough, bag it, and put it in the fridge for a day or two later

To bake, get it out of the fridge, leave it bagged, and let it warm up for about an hour before handling.

- jim

note grill marks:

Sourdough part 4: Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Hate me because you can't have this bread.

2008-08-09T03:28:01Z

(I will try not to write about sourdough for a while, but i just nailed it).

And we have a winner. It warm. It's sweet. You should be crying because you're not having some with me.

It's the recently-discovered molasses-sourdough plus cinnamon and ginger-coated raisins, and some process improvement.

proof starter overnight, >= 11-1/2 hours (details elsewhere)

then, combine with love:
2 1/2 c. proofed starter
1 T canola oil
2 T honey
2 t salt
just under 1/2 c molasses

next, mix in:
1 c rye flour
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
up to 1c unbleached general purpose flour (always last, only as much as needed, and never more than 1 c)

if more flour is needed after 1c general purpose flour has been added, use the rye flour.

the dough will be, and should be, sticky, but don't be shy about sifting 1-2 T of rye flour at a time over it to tame it when you're kneading it

knead 5-7 minutes until it's homogeneous and well-worked...

FIRST RISE: 6 hours
Place in a large bowl, and cover the bowl with a towel soaked in hot water. Put away in a warm place for 6 hours

PREP WORK JUST BEFORE 2nd RISE
at about the 5.75 hour mark, soak 1c golden raisins in hot water in a small bowl
before starting the 2nd rise work, drain the water from the raisins
into the raisin-bowl add 2T cinnamon and about 1/2 dried ground ginger
shake the everloving hell out of it to coat the raisins with cinnamon and ginger

SECOND RISE: 6 1/2 hours
shake some rye flour over the risen dough
pour the cinnamon/ginger-coated raisins into the bowl with the dough
knead it all together for 5 mins, adding rye flour as needed to keep it from becoming too sticky
move it around quite a bit to get the raisins evenly distributed
form the kneaded dough into a round loaf
place the loaf on a cornmeal-covered pan
cover with a cloth soaked in very hot water and then wrung out
put the cloth, dough and pan in a warm place (90-100 degree oven)
periodically refresh the hot cloth and re-warm the oven (with the dough NOT in it), maybe 2-3 times, your schedule permitting

BAKE
350 degrees, 32 minutes (small convection oven)

eat

- jim

Iron Chef: Three Sisters

2008-08-03T01:35:04Z

Some friends of mine are throwing a party late this afternoon, and there was a call for Iron Chef entries along the theme of the three sisters -- corn, beans and squash. I figured I'd give myself another limitation to make it more interesting, and so I wanted to figure out how to make three different breads based on those three themes. Here's what I came up with. Note all of these are double recipes.

First the corn. I bought half a dozen ears picked this morning at the farmers market, and I wanted a cornbread recipe that actually used fresh corn rather than just cornmeal. I went through two Southern cookbooks which I thought would help -- Mama Dips and The Gift of Southern Cooking -- but everything was just cornmeal, or else not bread. Best Recipe and Joy were similarly no help at all. But I found a nice if a bit dated recipe in Beard on Bread. Here's what I went with, based on "Helen Evans Brown's Corn Chili Bread":

Corn from six ears of fresh corn
2 cups yellow cornmeal
4 teaspoons salt
5 teapsoons double-acting baking powder
2 cups plain yogurt (needless to say, this was "sour cream" in the recipe)
1 cup butter (1 1/2 in the recipe) [EDIT 1/2 cup]
hefty splash of EVOO (to make up for the rest of the butter; peanut oil would be more in keeping...) [EDIT: lose it]
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 pound cheese: a mixture of cheddar and one of those parmesan-like cheeses
one large a pretty big habenero, chopped real small (was canned)
two cloves garlic

Put into an oiled pan and bake at 350 for an hour. [EDIT 300 would be better]

Next, the beans. Well, first off, I cheated. I did get a few pounds of green beans at the market, but nothing inspired me. But I had a full yogurt pot of sprouted lentils, and I figured I'd go with legumes in general. I made pretty much my standard bread recipe nowadays, but using two cups of sprouted lentils as a substitute for some of the flours.

4 tsp dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
start with 2 cups of warm water, and add more as necessary
1ish tablespoon salt
2 cups sprouted lentils
2 cups bread flour
2 cups brown flour
2 cups oatmeal
about 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten
hefty shake of EVOO
good shake of dried chili peppers

knead, adding water as necessary. rise, punch down, rise again, form into baguettes, slash the tops, rise again. Cook at about 425 for about 45 minutes.

Finally, the squash. I figured some kind of quickbread, ala zucchini bread. But Joy had nothing, ditto Best Recipe. Nothing from the Southerners, either. Beard on Bread has one quickbread with zucchini and one yeast bread with squash, but the quickbread was just too 1970s to feel like updating (3 cups of white sugar, 1/2 cup zucchini...). But a look at a local copy of the SOAR ("Searchable Online Archive of Recipes") I had on my laptop brought up a few candidates. (I just wasn't in the mood to go and search around in the internet. Sometimes less is more. I started from a recipe labelled "ZUCCHINI BREAD (The best ever!). Source: Family Circle, June 1991". Here's how it ended up.

4 egg whites whipped to soft peaks
6 eggs just mixed along with those 4 egg yolks. (Ok, the original recipe had six eggs... but everything was mixed together. Now in my book if you're making a quickbread, and particularly one in which you're sticking a stack of vegetable matter, you want air and fluff and lightness. So having put all six in and mixed, I realized that the people who wrote this were morons, put the mixed ones aside and then whipped up 4 eggwhites. I think, ideally, you'd run with just 6 eggs, but with the whites whipped to soft-to-hard peaks.)

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
2-3 tbsp cinnamon
2-3 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp black pepper (I think it really brings out the spices)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
one shredded zucchini; one shredded summer squash. Total about 8 cups.
1 cup walnut flour (wanted to use it up!)
1 1/2 cups raisins.
3 c. shredded zucchini

Mix, bake about 1 hour at 300-350. [EDIT 300]

And since I was going to turn the oven on for the first time for ages, I also threw together another batch of pretty standard bread for freezing/eating/not bringing to the party:

4 tsp dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
start with 2 cups of warm water, and add more as necessary
1ish tablespoon salt
2 cups walnut flour
2 cups bread flour
2 cups brown flour
2 cups oatmeal
about 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten
hefty shake of EVOO
good shake of dried chili peppers

Well, they're sitting around now and I'll bake them after a nap to give the yeasty breads a chance to rise. I'll report back later on how it all goes.

UPDATE:

The corn bread is awesome. I had two offers of marriage. I think I'd cut the butter and oil down a bit -- but it really is awe-inspiring. The fresh corn really comes through.

The sprouted lentil bread is excellent. Great texture. I'll definitely do this again.

The zucchini bread is a bit more flobby. It's alright, but nothing special.

Sourdough perfection (part 3 in an ongoing dramatic series)

2008-08-02T21:20:29Z

Loaf #6, aka "Whole wheat, rye, molasses loaf #2" was spot-on:

proof starter overnight (10 1/2 hours) in small warmish space, in covered pan. Don't mess with it.

Then follow standard directions, but replace 3c general purpose flour with:
1 c rye flour
and 1 c whole wheat pastry flour
and 1 c unbleached general purpose flour (Add last, and only as much as needed)

plus about 1/2 c molasses

knead 10 minutes
1st rise: 6 hours in a bowl in a warm place, under a hot, wet cloth

knead 5 min, form into loaf, seal bottom...
2nd rise, on cornmeal-dusted baking sheet: 9 hours in a warm, cozy place under a hot, wet cloth

before baking, notch the top with a knife (deeper than you think)
bake 350, 38 min (convection oven), no preheat

eat

A more portable form of beer

2008-07-24T15:37:27Z

Well, not exactly. I'm still trying to get the sourdough sorted out.

Still not enough 'lift' from the yeast. I need to coddle them a bit more, and maybe increase the rise times again (this time around it was a 7 hour overnight proof, 5 hour first rise, 8 hour 2nd rise) - but i had some pastry flour that i really needed to use, so I know i did handicap the process a bit. details below.

but let's talk about flavor

This made an interesting (to me), dense bread that picks up all kinds of crisp, carmelized goodness when toasted:
1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (as i said, i had to use it up somewhere)
poppy seeds (on top)
1/3 cup molasses

The result has all the notes of an excellent beer, but in a more portable form. I think it'd be great with a smoky, dark beer. Looking for suggestions about a bright and light small nibble to serve with it, to cut the heaviness of the solid and liquid beers.

Local sourdough rocks

2008-06-28T20:28:18Z

Start with your own yeast, to make sourdough that's unlike any other...

S. John Ross makes it crystal clear.

Notes after getting far enough along to create a decent loaf of "local sourdough":
1. OMFG it works :)

BOOTSTRAPPING THE STARTER
Takes longer than you might think (mine took about a week to really get going). Don't dump out and replace half of it every day, as Ross suggests. Do feed it some sugar (I like to use honey). Warmth helped a lot. Mine really got going when I heated the oven just for 60 seconds then turned it off and put the covered bowl of starter in ("covered bowl = pyrex 2 cup glass container w/ plastic wrap over 80% of the top)... did this repeatedly any time I was passing by and noticing it had cooled and it'd been a couple of hours since the last visit (REMOVE starter, heat oven, put starter back in oven - if oven floor/rack is hot, place starter on something cool so you don't cook it!). Do add some more flour, or warm water, and give it a big stir, if it seems to be slowing down. Only add sugar when adding flour and water. Do not worry about lumps - the yeasts will take care of those. If you don't get enough "lift" from your first attempt, don't throw it away... put in some more flour, water and sugar and keep at it. Increase the warmth (I think about 80-100 degrees might be the best range and most houses aren't that temp so you need to help it along), don't make it too soupy, and don't be afraid to stir it up. Once it gets going, it will keep going and the rate of improvement just gets faster and faster as the starter develops. Don't overdo the sugar: 1 tsp per 1/2 cup of flour, max, and don't add it every time.

PROOFING THE STARTER
I think mine will "Speed up" over time, but for the starter-proofing stage, I mixed up the very foamy bootstrap-starter with a cup each of flour and water and let it proof in the warmed oven for a couple of hours, until it was convincingly bubbly (that is, even after stirring it all up, the bubbles came back immediately and stayed frothy and light)

BAKING
Knead it very well, 10 minutes by hand, and keep adding flour until the dough is soft. When it gets too sticky while kneading, throw in some more flour.
First rise was 4 HOURS under a hot, wet cloth in the warm oven (re-dampened the cloth a few times, and reheated the oven a few times)
After the first rise, I kneaded it again (added a few shakes of flour to keep it from sticking to me), formed the loaf, notched the top, and gave it another 4 hour rise as the first time. At htis point it was sufficiently loaf-like and I was sufficiently bored with the process, that I wanted bread... so, removed the warm cloth and turned on the oven: 350 degrees, 30 minutes in a convection oven. Baking times in a conventional would be longer, of course. I need to experiment with times and temps in the future.

Good results. Toasted with homemade rhubarb marmalade and some coffee = excellent way to start a Sunday morning.

- jim

Foods that should be outlawed

2008-06-18T16:15:52Z

(an ongoing list)

- Charles Shaw wine

- Boxed mac and cheese except the original Kraft brand

- Ramen packs of "artificial beef" that would retail for 6/$1.00 or less (on the theory that the lead content probably exceeds the beef content)

- Anything based on a manufacturer's "serving suggestion" or recipe from about 1940s through the late 1970s.

- jim

Replacing colorful, empty calories with slightly less colorful, slightly less empty, calories

2008-06-09T20:08:59Z

Sunday's New York Times carried a story about the "writers' rooms" of five popular TV series, saying that the character of the rooms themselves seems to reflect and affect the character of the programs written in them.

Right after the jump on page 2, I found some nutrition advice from the staff of Weeds - a proud, resolute declaration concerning healthy eating in their writers' room:

... And at the beginning of the season, after Mr. Zisk and one of the writers lost weight by cutting out sugar, the staff of nine voted to institute a no-sugar policy in the writers’ room. The sweets were replaced with fruit plates, dried fruit, nuts and energy drinks. “We’re a very focused group,” Mr. Zisk said.

So if I'm reading this correctly, they've apparently replaced candy that contained high concentrations of sugar, with dried fruit and energy drinks that contain high concentrations of sugar, as their way of enforcing the "no-sugar policy"... then added caffeine, guarana or other "natural energy sources".

Weeds is about "a widowed suburban mother who sells marijuana." Conclusion-drawing and lame jokes about munchies and research by Hollywood writers are left as an exercise for the reader. I've got to get to the store to stock up on Gatorade for my summer diet.

"... a major status symbol and a boon for the local housing market."

2008-02-24T16:58:15Z

Boston Globe columnist Sam Allison seems to have fallen in love with a new, spoiled-people's grocery store.

It's in Wellesley, which is an obvious location for another Whole Paycheck imitator (but hey, props to those oversexed art students at Wellesley College.)

One shopper praised "... details like the gray plastic coating on the grocery carts that compared favorably with the unforgiving metal elsewhere."

Indeed. As a food thrill-seeker more likely to be found in the mad randomness of Haymarket (no shopping carts) and the parking lot battles outside Market Basket (metal shopping carts with wonky wheels), I don't get it. "Comfort food" used to mean meat loaf and mashed potatoes or a nice steak sandwich on crusty Italian bread... now it's all about the grocery store as a marker of personal identity and status... and individually wrapped, hand-selected, heirloom apples... feel-good "story food".

Refrigerated, organic dog food. Have you ever watched a dog eat? Have you ever seen what a dog will eat? I don't mean a starving dog. I mean any dog.

To steal a great line from Samuel Fromartz, the fuss reminds me of "...putting up a neon sign for an organic Twinkie..." and then celebrating your own wonderfulness by purchasing carbon offset credits to make-believe-compensate for the SUV that you drove to the market.

Allis seems to regain his sensibility by the end of the piece, but I'm baffled about why he buried his real feelings at the end of a puff piece about wide aisles, the "natural light" that the town "demanded," and of course, the organic, refrigerated dog food.

Allis concludes:

Like Starbucks, Whole Foods has spawned a preciousness that invites ridicule. Its food is generally excellent, if outrageously expensive. But it has long since become the epicenter for terminally earnest conversations about the slow food movement and free range chickens that drive me toward the macaroni and cheese.
What we've got here is a retail food arms race that will only heat up. There will be more Whole Foods pretenders, more self-contained, city-state food cultures that provide everything. I'm personally waiting for organic pedicures near the Belgian endives.
Then at some point, we'll retrieve our sanity and return to planet earth.

By the way, I shopped at the Prudential Center Shaw's for the first time recently. If, like Allis, you are concerned that "...its brutal concrete floor remains shocking" you are probably spending way, way, way too much time thinking about it. I honestly didn't notice the floor. Haymarket's asphalt and dirt floor - that's shocking. Smooth, poured concrete, not so much.

Finally, in today's Globe comes another spin on the subject of real and perceived values. Word up, status-seeking grocery snobs: often a high price is just a high price, not a signal of the rare and precious delights that you wish it could bring into your world. Send that excess cash my way, and I'll make you a meal worth eating. I'll always tell you where the ingredients came from, and what's in each dish, but only if you can handle the news.

Quick postscript regarding that last link: my good friends include vegans, vegetarians, meatatarians, and one guy (you know who you are) who loves chicken but can't stand the sight of chicken bones. I don't mind cooking for all of them at once. The challenge is a lot more fun that way, and for me the saddest thing in the world is discovering that a guest can't eat what I've made. I think there's a fine line to walk between expecting that guests will be willing to try something new (within dietary constraints), and guests' expectations that a proper host will provide for them (within reason). A good meal should have something for everyone and it's the host's job to find that balance. But please don't ask for your steak sandwich "well done" at my house or anywhere else :)

- jim

Fontina II

2008-02-01T04:07:38Z

Apparently when i have nothing better to say, I talk about pizza. Maybe it's because when I have nothing better to cook, i make pizza. There is just something about a homemade pizza that puts me in my happy place. Tonight's was topped with hot Italian sausage, a pile of mushrooms, and fontina.

Yes, fontina is back (thank you Trader Joe). After the sudden disappearance of the fontina/asiago hybrid called "fontiago", there's straight-up fontina at my nearby Trader Joe's now. That's where the dough came from, too. ($1, and yes you should chop it in half and make two pizzas from each 1lb bag of dough.. fewer calories, less "bready")

Creamy, melty cheese just goes so well with mushrooms... yea and verily, amen, and all that... even on pizza.

After spending quality time with fontina and goat cheese and others, mozzarella seems really plasticy and not wonderful. it's still a good companion to a meaty pepperoni++ pizza, and even around veggies, but it seems almost too obvious or maybe too simple to bother with, when the other ingredients have more character.

These days it's considered indulgent to really get into the cheese... and I do try to make healthy (or "healthier") food. Every bite should be worth the cost. I'll still use mozzarella. Maybe after cutting back it will seem more "special" than it had been.

But generally, i think "Pizza" deserves to be constructed from a broader set of ingredients than what we've learned that it is. And by that I am not talking about the fancy pants pizzas at Cambridge One or Emma's. I'm talking about down and dirty peasant food with high quality ingredients, none of which is a cliche, and each of which brings something good to the party.

In other news i am really getting my pizza skillz down. It's one thing to be able to bake a competent pizza, but i think another to get that ideal combo of a dry, firm bottom crust, not-burned-out edges, blended flavors, unburned but steaming hot toppings. Not sure what's changed. Patience seems to have something to do with it... and heat. I use a 450-475 oven now for the pizza, pre-bake the crust for 5-7 minutes to dry it out a little. After loading with ingredients and baking the whole thing (15-20 mins).. when it "seems" done, I turn the oven off and move it to a middle rack and leave it in the oven for another 5-10 minutes to coast along, to dry out a bit and to pull together... then maybe 5 minutes' rest on the counter to cool enough to handle. This seems to be working to my benefit as a pizza-eater.

When pre-cooking sausage, drain as much fat as possible. Add plenty of crushed red peppers and fennel seed. Then you've got what sausage should be. Crispy and spicy, not fatty.

Oh yeah. Sauce. Lots of pizzas are awesome without red sauce on them. On the other hand, tonight's sausage/fontina/mushroom blast really wanted it. You can make a decent pizza sauce in the time it takes to cook sausage and preheat an oven to 450. Really. And it will kick the ass of anything called "pizza sauce" that you might find in a jar.
- 1/4 can of Tutto Rossi crushed tomatoes with basil (yeah, maybe a cup -- we're trying to make this go fast, remember?)
- fresh ground pepper
- pinch of salt (1/8 tsp?)
- teaspoon olive oil
- more basil, dried is fine (2 teaspoons or more to taste, it's hard to have too much basil)
- 1 crushed clove of garlic

heat all this in a saucepan (it's NOT a lot of liquid. don't burn it). start with a high(er) flame to get it to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer. Stir. Then ignore it while getting everything else ready. From time to time, stir it a little to keep it from getting crispy. When you put the crust in the oven to pre-bake, turn off the heat under the sauce but leave it sitting on the warm burner to thicken a bit more.

That's it. when the crust is ready, the sauce should be nice and thick. Since both the crust and sauce will be warm, the sauce won't melt the crust but will sit on top where it's supposed to be.

yay, pizza

-jim

How to Haymarket

2008-01-10T23:23:09Z

In response to many requests about how to "get good deals and good produce at haymarket... any tips?" I wrote this up from experience.

Haymarket is Boston's open air wholesale produce market, downtown near Government Center, open every Friday and Saturday year-round, even when the weather's terrible, from Very Early until about 6pm.

First, to answer a question i've been asked several times: no, the produce is not all 30 minutes shy of rotting.

Some of it is in bad shape. But more of what's there is fresh and beautiful and will keep a few days to a week or more. I often buy green bananas and plantains, plump citrus, fresh non-sprouting garlic at Haymarket. But it's true that not all of it is like that.

People need to keep in mind that Haymarket is not a farmer's market. This is a wholesale produce market, with the wholesalers unloading whatever they think they're not going to be able to sell to their main customers - wholesale buyers, which we are not. They may not be able to sell it because it's old, but they also may just have way too much of something, or maybe got a good deal if they'd take a huge quantity, and can make decent money reselling it at Haymarket.

What I like about Haymarket is that it is a true market in the economic sense. There is full information available to buyers (walk around and look at both goods and prices) and competition. Prices change in real time to follow demand and supply. No seller has incentive to give people bad deals or to price his goods inappropriately -- they are always other options just a few feet away. And there is not much opportunity for "loss leaders" like you'd find in a large chain grocery or general store. This is a true market, and despite the uniquely (and annoying to me) yelling and crowding, a true market is a good thing for everyone.

You can inspect the display models pretty well BUT DO NOT TOUCH unless it's self-serve item. Usually ok to pick up boxed strawberries. Not so much with the melons, depending on the stand. Watch and learn (and don't buy boxed strawberries from anyone who doesn't let you choose your own).

It's been rare for me to discover that a dealer's displays are dramatically better than what they'll actually sell me. If it's a bad time of year for something (early or late tomatoes, bad-looking oranges, whatever) skip that and buy it at the grocery store instead, or just wait for an appropriate time of year.

It helps to go regularly, not just once a year like it's Disney, to figure out who's who, who has specialities, how they handle their stuff, who weighs bags toward the light side, who really packs them, and what the rhythms of the place are like. Also, if you return, you have a slight chance of being recognized as a local and regular customer, rather than a tourist who's just astonished that Ye Olde Worlde Experience could exist in Ye Olde Boston. When you find some compatible suppliers, browse the whole market to be sure things are as you want them, but go back to those suppliers when everything is otherwise equal.

Day and time matter. Haymarket opens on Friday, and is open again all day Saturday. By about 2pm Saturday (earlier if the weather is crap, later if it's a beautiful mid-summer day and the tourists are packed in) most are ready to go home, and some "extra" good deals come... like case-loads of berries, mixed bags of whatever they had left over for $1 or $2... and some of it is the picked-over stuff that nobody else bought. This is a legitimate use of Haymarket, but do not make it your only Haymarket experience or you won't realize what you missed. I think there are more deals and better prices on Saturday than Friday because it's their last chance to sell out, but also Friday is a much less crowded day to shop there, the goods are a day newer and have been handled less, and is there really that big a difference between 3lbs of bananas for $1 and 4lbs? Try every version of Haymarket to see what suits you.

Don't buy pink sickly-looking tomatoes. Don't buy bananas that are half black unless you're going to make a banana pudding that night (yum). Don't buy romaine from dealers with no heaters when it's been 10 degrees outside since Friday morning. If all the strawberries are moldy, pass for that week. Learn to go with the rhythms of the place... I made some great pomegranate dishes around Christmas. Poms will go away in awhile if they haven't gone already, but then the great deals on berries and grapes will come... I did not write "rhythms of the seasons," because they're bringing in food from all over the world. The rhythms of Haymarket do not necessarily follow our local customs or local weather.

When you get home, clean it all immediately and discard the weaklings. Refrigerate things that should stay cold to live a long time (opinions will vary, but for me this is: lemons, limes, grapefruit). Keep garlic, potatoes and onions in a cool place out of the light (brown paper bags / a bin). If you've got some peppers that are starting to go, clean them up, slice into strips and freeze. Don't refrigerate peppers or all the flavor will disappear.

Finally, when something new pops up, buy some and try to figure out what to do with it. I think this is the best use for Haymarket, adding variety and a little adventure to the home menu. One very hot summer day, I found a case of beautiful blackberries for $2. That yielded some awesome pies and tarts for myself and friends, not counting the box my nephew and I ate while sitting on a curb watching people walk past Paul Revere's house.

NB: if a merchant is screaming and throwing produce at a customer, step aside for a moment so you don't get caught in the crossfire. Yes, this happened to me. Cherry tomatoes. Fortunately, they were pretty fresh and didn't burst on impact.

- jim

PS Yelp has an informative page about Haymarket.