RCD8:Parker House rolls (p. 610) and Cloverleaf rolls (p. 610)

Rachel cooking day post 8: Delicious rolls

I haven't made almost any of the yeasted breads in TJOC. Regular readers know why--I'm terrified of baking yeasted bread at high-altitude because I haven't had very good luck with them so far. Rachel pointed out that we could make some sort of roll to go with our meal, since we were in Iowa rather than Colorado. I thought that was a terrific idea. We settled on the delicious looking Parker House rolls (p. 610).

We heated milk until warm, adding butter, sugar, and salt, and stirring until the sugar was dissolved. In another bowl we dissolved yeast in water and let it sit. When is was dissolved and the milk was lukewarm, we stirred them together. Flour was stirred and then kneaded in to the yeast mixture and the dough was covered:



When it doubled in bulk it was ready to go.

Rachel rolled the dough into a log and then cut it into pieces. She then rolled the dough into a ball and flattened it. Looking at the recipe, I don't think she folded them over as the recipe suggests (it doesn't look like it in the pictures):



I'm guessing the point of that step is so that they are easy to pop open and butter when they are fully cooked.

At this point, Rachel pointed out that Cloverleaf rolls (p. 610) use the exact same recipe and are just in another shape. It occurred to us that we could make a half batch of each of them and count off two recipes. That seemed like a great idea!

For the cloverleafs she divided the dough in to little balls and placed three of them to a cup in a muffin pan:



All of the rolls were brushed with butter:



And they all cooked for about fifteen minutes:



The cloverleafs broke in to thirds perfectly:



THESE WERE DELICIOUS! They were so delicious that they fully deserve the caps lock. They were light and airy with a terrific flavor. Rachel and I went back and forth on which shape we liked the best. I actually kind of liked the flat ones, although it was fun to break the cloverleafs apart (it seemed fancy). These are easy beginner rolls and I think they would be a big hit at a dinner party or family get-together. Who doesn't like a homemade roll?

Random facts (all awesome and from Wikipedia):

• The Parker House is the hotel in Boston that developed these rolls. They also are responsible for inventing the Boston Cream Pie
• The Parker House apparently is a haunted hotel and the inspiration for Steven King's short story "1408"
• Ho Chi Minh, Malcolm X, and Emeril Lagasse all worked at the Parker House.

RCD7: Roast duck a l'orange (bigarade), Roast duck (p. 447), and Sweet-sour orange pan sauce (p. 548)

Rachel cooking day post #7

It's hard to know why we decided to make Roast duck a l'orange (bigarade). I think it's partially because we found a duck that was priced within our budget and I knew there was a duck recipe on the randomly selected list. We actually found guinea hen, pheasant, and goose, too (although we didn't buy them).

Rachel and I discussed an issue that constantly comes up and I'd really like to have some other opinions on the subject. Although less than previous editions, the 2006 edition of TJOC still has a sizable amount of recipes that require you to make other component recipes. My rule of thumb is that when you can still judge each component piece (as in Steak Diane), I count all the pieces (the sauteed steak, as well as Steak Diane). When they all meld together (Mashed potato stuffing will be one, when I get to it), I can only judge the final piece. Do you think that is fair?

Roast duck a l'orange is essentially just Roast duck (p. 447) with Sweet-sour orange pan sauce (p. 548) poured over it. In fact, that's exactly what it is--the TJOC recipe for duck a l'orange is only three sentences long. It is exactly the sort of recipe that people mean when they say they hate all the flipping that you have to do when cooking with TJOC.

I feel I can count off all three recipes with this one.

My duck:



I took the duck, popped it in the electric roasting pan, and cooked it for just over an hour:



Easy!

Time for the pan sauce. I removed the zest from an orange using a vegetable peeler, an incredibly easy zest removal method that I had never thought of previously. It took the perfect amount of zest with no pith. I cooked the zest for about a minute in boiling water, drained the zest, and then rinsed it again:



We poured chicken stock in to the roasting pan and simmered it, scraping up the browned duck bits:



I cooked white wine vinegar and sugar in a saucepan until they started to brown and then added the contents of the roasting pan.



I stirred together cornstarch and water until smooth and added it to the sauce, simmering for one minute. The orange zest was added, along with orange juice, a bit of Grand Marnier, lemon juice, and salt and pepper:



The sauce was poured over the bird, resulting in duck a l'orange.

Like a huge idiot, I don't have a final picture of the finished product.

This wasn't a true "bigarade" because we didn't use a Seville orange.

Rachel and I had been joking for days that we would be eating duck at midnight. We both didn't care because we weren't planning for true "meals" but rather to snack as dishes were ready. Of course, at 11:57 pm I was pouring the orange sauce over the duck. We ate duck at midnight.

The duck was good. It's definitely better if you like dark meat, which I do. The sauce was very, very orange-y, so stay away from this one if you don't love orange flavor. The roasting method resulted in a terrific crispy skin that was absolute perfection.

Random facts (if no reference, then it's my personal knowledge):

• Almost 75% of all the citrus fruit produced in the world are oranges (On Food and Cooking, p. 375)
• Ducks are mostly dark meat due to the high concentration of red muscle fibers, a requirement for migratory birds
• Grand Marnier uses the "distilled essence" of the bitter orange (Wikipedia)

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RCD6: Baked stuffed heart (p. 520) and Apple dressing (p. 537)

Rachel cooking day post #6: Variety meats

There are certain recipes that I'm just not excited about at all. Essentially all of the variety meat recipes fall in to this category. Like most Americans, I don't like organ meats and, in our house, the only ones to regularly eat them are the dogs. And even my dogs don't like most organ meats (they are finicky). Rachel pointed out that we should probably make something, though, since I had yet to make a variety meat (and there are quite a few recipes that require them).

I figured that Baked stuffed heart (p. 520) would be the perfect test of the adage "bacon makes everything better".

Beef heart is cheap. Big and cheap. So if you are low on money, heart is a good way to go. I placed bacon on the heart and poured stock into the bottom of the pan:



The whole thing was covered in foil. It was at this point that I realized the heart had to cook for 3-4 hours. That really was something that would have been really, really good to know before starting the recipe. Of course, because I didn't thoroughly read the recipe, we started making the heart around 6 pm. I also found out that Rachel does not have a roasting pan. She has a big electric roaster but we were using that for the duck (in an upcoming post). We rigged something up with a cookie rack, a baking dish, and foil.

It eventually looked like this:



Time for stuffing!

Apple dressing (p. 537) is a very strange stuffing. I'm used to stuffings (dressings) that include breadcrumbs and, when moistened and/or cooked, hold together in some way. Apple dressing was not an example of this.

I combined apples, raisins (Rachel, a raisin-hater, had raisins on hand from last year's Glogg), lemon juice, brown sugar, sage, and a little salt and pepper:



Yep, that's the dressing.

The whole thing. Nothing else. Nothing to make it stick together in any way. And, actually, on re-read, I notice that it says "sliced" apples, not "diced" apples, so it would have stuck together even less. It reminded me of a really boring fruit salad.

We shoved it in the heart, which wasn't easy. Three cups was way, way too much and it kept falling out.



It was all cooked for about fifteen minutes:



The texture was totally different from skeletal muscle meat:



Rachel was optimistic that the heart would be good covered in bacon with the stuffing sandwiched in the middle:



Rachel pondering the heart:



I don't know what to say about this recipe. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Really, my only experience with organ meats is from time spent in other countries (I ate a lot of intestines in Japan) and I didn't know what the heart would taste like. When I read journal articles about offal, they usually describe beef heart as "beefy" and it certainly was. It tasted like concentrated meat--not a great description but as good as I can do. It also had a sort of metallic taste. The bizarre dressing complemented the heart really well. The texture was totally different from skeletal muscle too. I think I would have liked it if I had grown up eating it but the texture really put me off.

We both ate a small slice and called it a day.

Fun facts about this post (if it's not referenced, it's my personal thought):

• There are three types of muscle: skeletal (almost all meat you would buy at the grocery store is skeletal muscle), smooth (organ meat such as intestines or tongue), and cardiac (the heart). All three have different flavors and characteristics
• Heart is high in cholesterol but low in fat. It also has large amounts of iron and folate (On Food and Cooking, p. 166)
• "Stuffing" is usually used when the mixture is cooked inside something else, "dressing" when it is cooked seperately

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RCD5:Warm barley, mushroom, and asparagus salad (p.347),Roasted red pepper dressing (p. 574), & Rye berry salad w/ roasted red pepper dressing (p.361)

Rachel Cooking Day Post 5

I don't like most grain salads. I never will. I've tried them in so many ways, so many times, and I just don't like them. It is making progress through the "Grains" chapter a real challenge. So when Rachel told me that we could make a couple recipes and she would eat them, I jumped at the chance. We picked a rye berry salad and a barley salad.

The grains were bought out of bulk bins (rye berries on the left, barley on the right):



TJOC has a very handy chart on pages 364 to 368 explaining how to cook almost every type of grain. I utilized it.

Rachel thought Warm barley, mushroom, and asparagus salad (p. 347) sounded good.

My cooked pearl barley:



I managed not to take any pictures of my barley-salad-making process. I sauteed shallots in olive oil and then added sliced mushrooms. I cooked the mushrooms until they started to soften and added lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley, and salt and pepper. While re-reading the recipe, I think I was supposed to cook the asparagus with the barley but I didn't realize that until too late. The asparagus got steamed instead. I mixed all the components together:



Rachel claimed it was tasty but could have used more asparagus and mushrooms. I think it's obvious from the picture that it has too much barley and not enough "other stuff".

Bell peppers are one of the only foods I don't like (canned tuna is the other one), although I do enjoy roasting peppers (it seems to impress people when I have them n hand as a condiment and it's not difficult at all to do). Roasted red pepper dressing (p. 574) was almost a guaranteed hit with people who like red peppers (Rachel, Mom) and a big ole fail for me.

The dressing was simple--I mashed a garlic clove and salt in a food processor and then added a jar of roasted red peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, shallots, cumin, ground red pepper, and salt and pepper.



Rachel said it was incredibly delicious. Smooth, tangy, and very well seasoned. Perfect for people who like roasted red peppers.

The roasted red pepper sauce was for Rye berry salad with roasted red pepper dressing (p. 361).

I cooked the rye berries according to the TJOC grains chart:



I mixed them with the red pepper dressing, diced carrot, celery, radishes, zucchini, yellow pepper, and onion, minced cilantro, and salt and pepper:



A closer look:



BEAUTIFUL! So colorful! I wouldn't eat this on a dare (between all the peppers and grains, it's pretty much a nightmare for me) but I would make it for a party. It was beautiful, spectacularly good for you, and it made an amazing amount. Rachel and my mom said it was extremely good but really could have used even more dressing. This recipe makes a LOT. Make sure you either love leftovers, have lots of people in the house who like grain salads, or are making it for a potluck.

Do you like grain salads?

Random facts related to this post:

• Barley was considered the special food of the gladiators (On Food and Cooking, p. 469)
• The moist climate that is perfect for rye is also ideal for ergot. Ergot is a fungus that can cause St. Anthony's Fire, a disease that can cause mental derangement and progressive gangrene. It also causes hallucinations similar to LSD (On Food and Cooking, p. 470 and Wikipedia)
• Rye has a bunch of negatives working against it when it comes to bread making, it's a miracle that rye bread exists (my personal thoughts)

RCD4: Shellfish cocktails (p. 370), Quick cheese straws or wafers (p. 91) , Remoulade sauce (p. 581), and No-fail boiled shrimp (p. 385)

Rachel Cooking Day Post 4

Rachel pointed out that certain recipes in TJOC are synergistic. In some cases if you make a specific three recipes, TJOC will count them as a fourth recipe. Shellfish cocktails (p. 370) perfectly exemplifies this.

You select a recipe from the shellfish column (No-fail boiled shrimp, raw oysters or clams, cooked crab legs, or cooked lobsters), something out of the sauce section (remoulade sauce, cocktail sauce, mignonette sauce, or tomatillo-horseradish sauce), and a side item to serve (oyster crackers, cheese straws, soda crackers, matzo, rye crackers, garlic bread, or endive leaves) and you have shellfish cocktail (1+1+1=4)!

Quick cheese straws or wafers (p. 91) stood out as looking particularly delicious and they had the advantage of having "quick" in the title which looked even better (SCORE! Especially for when we were cooking a dozen recipes). We combined butter and cheddar in a food processor (we used cheddar instead of blue cheese because blue cheese seemed like it might be a little strong).



Rachel added flour, salt, red pepper, and Worcestershire sauce and processed until the mixture "came together":



The dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled for a half hour. Rachel divided the dough into quarters and rolled it out:



The dough was cut into strips and twisted:



The straws were baked for about fifteen minutes:



These were so good that I almost don't have words for it. They were spicy and cheesy and totally addictive. The cheese straws were both crisp and soft--they reminded me of Cheez-its but better. They were definitely spicy though--the red pepper and the sharp cheddar definitely gave them a kick. If you make these cheese straws for a party, I guarantee they will be the first thing gone. My only quibble is that they really weren't particularly "quick". In fact, they weren't quick at all.

Rachel pointed out that instead of using store-bought mayonnaise for the remoulade sauce, we could make our own and knock out another recipe. She told me that she had made mayonnaise before but it didn't work perfectly. I had made aioli but I wasn't real impressed with it (I don't think it emulsified correctly). We weren't particularly confident that the TJOC recipe would work but we had backup mayonnaise.

I separated two eggs and left the yolks in a bowl to get to room temperature. I mixed white wine vinegar, salt, and a bit of pepper together in a mixing bowl so we would have everything ready when we started. It's vital when making mayo that all the ingredients are room temperature.



We decided that Rachel would do the whisking (I have bad wrists) and I would very slowly add the vegetable oil. Rachel whisked the eggs and vinegar mixture together until "smooth and light".



Rachel whisked like a fiend as I slowly added the oil:



Success! We made homemade mayonnaise! It was perfect. It was a little underseasoned but it seemed perfect since we were just using it to make a sauce. In fact, we were going to use it to make Remoulade sauce (p. 581). We took the mayonnaise and added minced pickles (we could not find cornichons in Ames--it was frustrating because they are easy to get in Fort Collins), capers, parsley, tarragon, garlic, Dijon, and a little salt and pepper:



So good! It turns out I love remoulade sauce. It was similar to tarter sauce and perfect for fish. Wikipedia tells me that people in other countries use remoulade sauce on their fries and I would love to experience the pure ambrosia that must be. The sauce was quick and easy to whip up.

My first question while making No-fail boiled shrimp (p. 385) was if people often normally fail at correctly making boiled shrimp. I never have. Frankly, shrimp is the easiest shellfish to cook. I particularly like the first sentence, "If desired, simply cook the shrimp in plain water", which totally negates the point of having a recipe.

I added celery, onion, lemon, parsley, peppercorns, bay leaves, salt, red pepper, and water in a big pot:



I simmered it all for ten minutes:



I then strained everything out of the broth and threw it away. I hate these steps in TJOC, it always seems so wasteful. It was quite a bit of stuff!



I popped the shrimp in broth and cooked it for two minutes:



And done!



The shrimp was really good. That being said, I don't think it was any better than shrimp that were simply boiled in water. The broth gave the shrimp a very subtle taste that was evident if you just at the shrimp by itself but who does that? I always eat shrimp with some sort of sauce. I wouldn't bother with this recipe again--just bring water to a boil and pop the shrimp in for two minutes.

The final tabeau:



A strange combination. The shrimp and remoulade sauce go together perfectly. The cheese straws were amazing. All three of them? Odd. As I ate the delicious cheese straws over the next couple days I never thought, "Man, I wish I had some shrimp".

Random food facts that relate to this post:

• Crustaceans are "mobile, carnivorous, and often cannibalistic". Makes those shrimp less sympathetic! (On Food and Cooking, p. 219)
• Fresh shrimp are usually frozen shrimp that are just defrosted in the store (On Food and Cooking, p. 221 and personal experience)
• Shrimp live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards (COOL!) (Wikipedia)
• "Crustacean" and "crystal" share the same root word (On Food and Cooking, p. 220)
• Olive oil can screw up your mayonnaise. If you are convinced you need to use it, use refined olive oil instead of extra virgin (On Food and Cooking, p. 635)
• Other countries use different vinegars in their mayonnaise, such as apple cider or rice vinegar in Japan or sunflower seed oil in Russia, which results in different flavors, (Wikipedia)
• The Creole version of remoulade sauce is usually pink because it includes paprika (Wikipedia)

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RCD3: Salty dog (p.58),Harvey wallbanger (p.58),Grapefruit herb margarita (p.62), Herb syrup I (p.43),Fish house punch (p.65),Fuzzy navel (p.63),etc.

Rachel Cooking Day Post 3

Another all-alcohol post! If you disapprove of drinking, skip this post!

I've decided that because my alcohol posts are pretty boring, I'm going to include random tidbits about the drinks. Let me know if you like that addition or not, I'm on the fence about whether to keep it or not.

Rachel's liquor shelf is very random. Interestingly, even though we almost never drink at home, Josh and I have a very well-stocked liquor cabinet (or, more accurately, liquor cubes), almost entirely because of cooking. The randomness made finding TJOC drinks we could make a challenge.



I also quickly found out that Rachel doesn't have any bar glasses--no highballs, for example. I am aware that none of the drinks pictured are served in the correct glasses. They did have one leg up on our house though--ice cubes. Josh and I seem to have an abnormally small refrigerator and freezer. Because of this fact, we never have ice available (not great for cocktails) and Rachel had tons of ice!

We had the ingredients for a Salty dog (p. 58). I shook vodka and grapefruit juice with ice. Apparently, the difference between a salty dog and a greyhound is the salting of the rim.

Interesting and timely anecdote about salty dogs from Michael Barrier:

Speaking of movies: The release of the Coen brothers' new version of True Grit today reminds me of a long-ago encounter with Charles Portis, the author of the novel. I was a young newspaperman at the time, and I knew Portis slightly—we all called him "Buddy"—because his brother and I worked together on the copy desk at the Arkansas Gazette. In those days, you couldn't buy a mixed drink in Little Rock except at a private club, and Gazette people favored a joint called the Officers Club. One night I happened to be sitting at the bar next to Buddy Portis. I was a novice drinker, and I ordered a salty dog (vodka and grapefruit juice). Portis—a former Marine, among other intimidating things—was drinking something darker and much more menacing, and he looked incredulous when my drink arrived. When I told him what it was, he responded with a devastating critique that Phyllis says I can't quote here without bruising tender ears. Suffice it to say that it was Buddy Portis who set me firmly on the road toward my mature preferences for single malts, martinis, and ice-cold Russian vodka.

I poured grapefruit juice in a little bowl, sprinkled giant salt crystals on a plate, and tried my best to rim the glass:



It didn't work.



So I guess what I really made was a slightly salty greyhound. The drink was tasty! I knew this drink but I didn't know it had a name--I always just ordered a grapefruit and vodka. I went through a period of trying to find a new default drink (my current is a vodka cranberry, which seems so boring) and the greyhound was one of the drinks I tested. Unfortunately, it seems like grapefruit might be yet another fruit I'm allergic to (so far, cranberry is fine) so it didn't make the cut.

For some mysterious reason, Rachel got absolutely obsessed with the idea of having a Harvey wallbanger (p. 58). Now, I will admit, I'm spoiled. I live in a town with about a thousand liquor shops. My favorite liquor store has tons and tons of little airplane-sized bottles, which are perfect when you only have a drink or two to make out of TJOC or you just need a few tablespoons for a recipe and you don't want to buy a whole bottle (or the bottle is expensive). Rachel's town did not have that variety of tiny liquors, so Rachel decided to invest in a big bottle of Galliano.

Random facts about the Harvey wallbanger (Wikipedia):

• Invented by the same man who invented the rusty nail (coming in an upcoming post) and the white Russian
• Galliano is named after Giuseppe Galliano, an Italian war hero
• The flavors of Galliano include anise, juniper, musk yarrow, ginger, lavender, peppermint, vanilla, cinnamon, and about a million other ingredients.
• Most drinks with Galliano include the words "wall", "bang", "yellow", or "golden".

I like the Galliano bottle:



It was an easy cocktail to make. I poured vodka and orange juice over ice, stirred well, then poured the Galliano on the top:



The drink was good. To me, it sort of tasted like drinking perfume with a anise-y aftertaste. I don't like any anise flavored drinks--Ouzo, Jagermeister, etc.--so I wasn't on-board with the Galliano.

As Rachel leafed through TJOC, she decided that she would be willing to drink a Grapefruit herb margarita (p. 62) which required Herb syrup I (p. 43).

Random facts about margaritas/tequila (Wikipedia):

• Margaritas are the most common tequila-based cocktail in the US (in Mexico it's the Paloma)
• Blue agave, the base of tequila, is a large succulent that grows at high altitude
• The trend of the "worm" in the bottle of tequila is a marketing gimmick

For the herb syrup we made sugar syrup , sprinkled rosemary in the pot, and simmered it with for ten minutes:



The rosemary was then strained out. The syrup was surprsingly good. It had a sweet herbal flavor and Rachel took to drinking it by spoonfuls throughout the day.

I mixed grapefruit juice, tequila, lime juice, and herb syrup. I gave up on rimmingthe glass with salt because I failed at it earlier:



I did pour it over ice (this is a "before" picture, still in the glass I was measuring everything in to). It was also a double :) I can't stand tequila, so I didn't try it, but Rachel said it was good. The grapefruit juice meshed well with the herb syrup, although it was very strange flavor combination.

I don't throw many events where punch would be appropriate. This is a problem because TJOC has a rather large number of punch recipes. Rachel thought we should make a punch even though it was essentially only the two of us and I agreed. We could drink it throughout the day.

We decided on Fish house punch (p. 65).

Facts about Fish house punch:

• The drink was invented at the Schuylkill Fishing Company in 1732, which was known as the "Fish house" (Wikipedia)
• Instead of club soda, it is sometimes made with strong tea (TJOC)
• Usually served with a giant ice block (Wikipedia)
• The word "punch" comes form the Hindi word "panch"

We mixed equal amounts sugar syrup, lemon juice, brandy, dark rum, and peach schnapps, with two parts club soda.



The punch was delicious and it would probably be a crowd pleaser. I would say that fish house punch is deceptively easy to drink because it doesn't taste nearly as strong as it actually is. The peach and lemon flavors melded perfectly with the brandy and rum and it was diluted by the club soda. Tasty! I recommended that we not start drinking it until we were almost finished cooking--I was pretty sure the cooking would suffer if we started drinking early. A good choice because the punch was certainly stout.

Since we bought peach schnapps for the punch, it seemed like a perfect time to make a Fuzzy navel (p. 63).

Fuzzy navel facts (Wikipedia):

• If you add vodka to a fuzzy navel you get a "hairy navel"
• "Fuzzy" refers to the peach and "navel" refers to the orange

I poured peach schnapps and orange juice in a glass and stirred. Super easy!



I think almost everyone who drinks mixed drinks has had a fuzzy navel at one point or another. I like them. The never seem very strong and the peach and orange flavors go very well together.

Rachel's husband was going to a basketball game with friends during our cooking and one of the friends happened to be a non-drinker. A perfect person to test out some of TJOC's virgin drinks! We whipped up a Cranberry Collins (p. 64). I mixed cranberry juice and lemon juice in a glass and then filled the glass with club soda.



The drink was fairly bland--it seemed like it needed to be stirred, even though it was very pretty. I recognize that if it was in the recipe-specified glss (a highball) there wouldn't have been nearly as much club soda involved. The recipe confused me--you would think it was a virgin version of the Tom Collins but a Tom Collins doesn't include any cranberry juice...

Rachel's cats insisted they were trying to help us:



Their role was mostly supervisory, although it did include some janitorial work.

Check the comments, I'm going to email Rachel and Jon for their opinions on all of these dishes.