Tonic Syrup

Do not underestimate the beauty of a homemade tonic syrup.  It is far more interesting even than the premium tonic waters which cost up to $2 a bottle.

My current favorite recipe is modified from Jeffrey Morgenthaler.  http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-tonic-water/

4 cups water
1 cup chopped lemongrass (roughly one large stalk)
3/4 cup whole cinchona bark
zest and juice of 1 orange
zest and juice of 1 lemon
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tsp whole allspice berries
¼ cup citric acid
pinch Kosher salt

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Once mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain out solids using a strainer or chinois. You’ll need to fine-strain the mixture, as it still contains quite a bit of the cinchona bark. You can use a coffee filter and wait for an hour or more, or do as I do and run the whole mixture through a French coffee press.
Once you’re satisfied with the clarity of your mix, heat it back up on the stovetop or microwave, and then add ¾ cup of agave syrup to each cup of your hot mix. Stir until combined, and store in the attractive bottle of your choice.

Combine syrup to carbonated water, soda water often has too much sodium.  I like to make virgin cocktails with the  tonic water as it has an interesting flavor profile in itself, but do taste the magic of gin combined with this recipe.  Cheers

Eggnog

yes, not exactly seasonal, but a must have recipe

- Separate 6 eggs

In mixing bowl
- egg yokes
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup apple jack brandy or whiskey of choice

Beat Stiff in different bowl
- egg whites
- add 1/2 cup sugar while beating
* Mixture is stiff enough when it can be inverted with out spilling out!

Mix both mixtures together plus:
- 1 pint cream
- 1 pint milk

* garnish with freshly shaved nutmeg...

Asian Slaw

A healthy and colorful salad which goes well with seafood.  Also a good way to use up some cabbage


2 green thai chiles, seeded and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T sugar
2 T rice vinegar
3 T lime juice
3 T nam pla (fish sauce)
3 T grapeseed oil
1/2 head shredded savoy cabbage (you're looking for about 4 cups)
3 carrots, shredded
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
3/4 c mint leaves, chopped
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
pepper

Combine the thai chiles, garlic, sugar, rice vinegar, lime juice, nam pla, and grapeseed oil in a bowl. Whisk well to dissolve the sugar, and set aside while you make the rest of the salad.
Toss all the vegetables together, paying particular attention to mixing in the carrots, which have a tendency to clump together, then toss with the dressing. Serve at room temperature.

Pig Headed

Dear Blog-

I never thought I'd be writing this letter.  It all started out so innocently.  My local CSA contacted me with the option of purchasing a share of pork from a local pig rancher.  Once signed up, my boyfriend reminded me that we needed pigs ears to complete the next dinner menu in the recipe book I've been wanting to work through, David Tanis' Platter of Figs, which said boyfriend purchased for me for my  last birthday.  The pig lady informed me that she only had pigs ears attached to whole pig's heads......so in the spirit of culinary adventure....I decided to buy the whole damn head from her - 16lbs of pig face sat looking out at me  while it defrosted in the fridge.

What was I going to do with it?  I turned to the internets for ideas.  I landed on this wonderful video from local chef and lover of all things offal, Chris Costentino, where he debones the pig face to make porchetta di testa.  I contacted my little brother, the professional chef, who had many ideas.  Also out there is a wonderful blog by *chichi* summarizing her challenges removing the jaw from her pigs head and cooking down into coppa di testa, also known as head cheese.   I have to admit, the concept of head cheese is still a little 'challenging' for me.   So I decided on the following strategy:

- Debone the skull as directed in the Chris Costentino video

- Remove ears and snout for the fancy french salad recipe which started this whole mess.

- Remove one jowl for braising, to make banh min

- Roll the remaining face into a roulade, comparable to the Porchetta di Testa (minus snout)

- Roast and cook down remaining skull into broth for ramen 

First, I had to obtain a good boning knife.  None of my poorly sharpened knives were going to cut it.  As much as Sur La Table brings out a strange anger in me, I decided to go to the Ferry Building for 2 reasons.  1.)  Stop by Boccalone to taste their Porchetta di Testa sandwich so I had an idea of what I was trying to make  2.) See what an overpriced boning knife costs at Sur La Table and get the advice of the sales person with the plan to shop elsewhere.  Sur la Table always seems to be ridculously over priced to me.   Happily, not only did we get to taste the Porchetta di Testa, in a sandwich with pickles, carrots, and mint, similar to a banh min, we found an affordable and recommended boning knife for only $20, by Victorinox.  For those new to boning knives, you are looking for something sharp and slightly flexible to follow the curvature of the bone while you cut away the meat.  The Victorinox handled itself fine during this process, but seemed to dull by the very end.  Supposedly the higher end versions ~$85-$90 hold their edge better so its a question of how much you want to invest and/or sharpen your knives.    Finally, we picked up my propane blow torch and a hacksaw, just in case we needed to saw through any bone (I sterilized a clean blade with the propane torch)

First thing we cleared a large working space near the sink and laid out my tools.  

- Boning knife plus generic paring knife

- Cutting board (mine was too small ~11in x 17in, you really want something twice as big

- Safety Razors (for shaving the pig)

- Blow torch (for the hairs you can't reach with a razor)

- Hacksaw, sterilized (for sawing bones)

- Whiskey cocktail, administered as needed

- Theme appropriate music 

I watched several videos of the process on YouTube  several of which I'm listing below.  Chris Costentino's seems to be the master video as it most clearly explains what you are trying to do.  I won't try to retell what his video explains, but here are some points I'd like to add in case you are a novice like I am.

1.)  Shaving the pig may take awhile.  There was quite alot of whiskers left on mine and the ears were really gross.  I ended up removing the ears in order to really clean them.   Something I would recommend if possible as it seemed impossible to get completely clean when they were fully attached.

2.)  Burning the hair smells really gross.  Limit this as much as possible.  Not that much different then burning human hair, but you are already digging your hand deep into a dead animal.

3.)  The tongue was a little tricky for me.  I initially cut it out way to shallow.  In hindsight, I'd recognize the small kind of wishbone shaped bones in the back which make up the soft palate.  Use these as your guide for fishing the tongue out the back.

4.) Nosebleeds -  The pig will almost certainly bleed out the nose the first time you flip in over on its snout.....and the second time...and third..... .keep plenty of towels to clean up.  This isn't the best smelling part of the butchering process.

5.) There is a f*(k-ton of meat in the cheeks!  Even after watching the video I was suprised at the amount of meat I was peeling of the jaws.  It looks about like bacon with some more 'meaty' parts near the jaw.

6.)  The transition from upper jaw to cheekbone can be a little tricky.  It was pretty striaight -forward following both the upper and lower jaw bone, but I got a little confused once I needed to move up along the cheekbone.  I was also very conservative in cutting around the eyes.  Not sure what happens if you actually pierce an eyeball, but I didn't want to take any chances.  I cut a generous perimeter around the eyeball then, followed that along the cheekbone until I got my bearings.  Once I got a feel for the location of the cheekbones, it seemed to loosen up and make more sense.   Take your time and remember to cut away from yourself.

For the most part, I was able to follow the video compeletely and successfully removed the pig 'mask' from the skull.   Boyfriend and I agreed that we weren't ready to eat the brains yet, but we decided to try to open the skull in order to fish them out before trying to cook the skull down for ramen broth.  At this point, I was a little overstimulated and stopped for a cocktail break.  Cue the Primal Scream 'Exterminator' music and I look up to find the boyfriend going to town on the skull with my hacksaw.  He managed to saw the skull into 2 halves and removed the snout and lower jaw.  Brains were a disturbing pink slime which apologies to the purists, I am in no hurry to put on my plate or in my frying pan.   What suprised both of us was just how thick a pig skull is and what gnarly teeth they possess.   Hopefully I am never on the wrong side of an argument with a live pig.  I'm pretty sure he'd win.

So...  The face was divided up per plan and returned to the freezer.   The four pieces of skull bone were roasted in the over,  approximately 45 minutes at 250, then 15 min at 450 to get a dark color to the bones.   After roasting, I boiled the bones down for approx 20hrs with about a 1/4 cup of kosher salt.   Having cancelled dinner plans, this broth was strained and also placed in the freezer, to be used for a noodle night in the very near future.

Recipes to follow as I start cooking up everything.  I week ago, I had no plans of getting into this mess.  Now I have 36lbs of pork in my freezer.

- the Barb0bot, aka pigface

Meskin Cornbreads

preheat oven to 350F
preheat 8" skillet on stovetop or in stove, with 2T corn oil, shy of smoking, while you combine ingredients in a mixing bowl:

• 1C yellow cornmeal
• 1/2C AP flour
• 1T + 1t baking powder
• 1t salt

stir in:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C milk
• 1 small (7oz) can chiles plus liquid (we want the citric acid in lieu of buttermilk)
• 1T oil
• 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese (or more)
• Chopped onions, leftover corn, bacon bits, tootsie rolls, whatever you want to throw in so you can personalize it and re-post this recipe as your own.

Dump the batter into the hot oil in your skillet (this is how you get a nice crust). Make it a bit lower in the center and higher on the sides, it's gonna rise. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Loosen sides and turn it out onto a small plate, bottoms up. You'll notice there's no added sugar in this recipe. This was not an oversight. Don't go having people think poorly of you.

Cauliflower and Leek Gratin

This scratches the itch when I crave mac and cheese, but still want to eat my veggies.  You can play with various cheeses to get different flavors.  Tonight its gruyere and an aged gouda.

Roasted Cauliflower & Leek Gratin

Roasting the leeks and cauliflower (which you can do well ahead) brings out deeper flavor and a crisp-around-the edges texture. Serve as a side dish with roasted meat, or as a main course with salad and bread. If you don't feel like making the white sauce, gently warm 1 1/2 cups of cream in a saucepan until bubbles form around the edges, then stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Pour it over the vegetables.

• Roasted vegetables
• 2 small heads cauliflower, about 3 pounds untrimmed
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• -- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large leek
• Gratin
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup (generous) grated Parmesan, gruyere or Manchego cheese
• -- Kosher salt and white or black pepper
• 1 teaspoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
• 1 to 2 ounces ham, cut into baton shapes (optional)
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

To make the roasted vegetables: Preheat the oven to 400°.
Cut the cauliflower into florets that are 1 1/2 inches wide. In a large bowl, toss the florets with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and spread out on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast until tender with just a bit of bite and browned, 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic after 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, remove the coarse dark tops of the leek and cut lengthwise. Wash thoroughly, then cut each half into 2-inch lengths, discarding any more dark green ends and checking for hidden dirt.
Separate the layers and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and some salt, then spread out on another large rimmed baking sheet and roast until crispy in some parts and thoroughly soft throughout, about 15 minutes. (You can roast the vegetables several hours ahead and refrigerate before completing the dish.)

To make the gratin: In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes, taking care that it doesn't brown. Whisk in the milk until smooth, then bring to a simmer. Maintain the heat so it's bubbling gently; stir often until the sauce thickens and the flour cooks, about 15 minutes. Add 1/3 cup of the Parmesan and stir until just melted. Remove from the heat and season well with salt and pepper, then stir in the mustard.

Follow-Up Pizza Dough

The pizza experiments continue and I feel like I'm dialing in my technique.  Here is the basic recipe I'm working with, just slightly modified to the previous posted recipe.

4 1/2 cups flour -
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cup ice cold water
semolina flour for dusting

 Notes
I use 4 cups King Arthur All purpose flour and 1/2 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour which gives the dough a little 'bite' and flavor without tasting too 'wheat-y'.  I tried the super fine 00 flour but didn't get any better results than the all purpose stuff.  The purists believe in the 00 flour though...Also make sure your flour is fresh.  Yes flour goes rancid, especially whole grain, and especially if you live in warm climates.  I keep my flour in the freezer and try to only buy what I will use in the next 3-6 months.  If your dough tastes flat, try some fresh flour.

Don't scrimp on the salt or yeast, I'm always a little easy on the salt, but found you need both for full flavor.

Pay attention to the wetness of the dough.  It changes every time I mix it up.  I use an electric mixer with a dough hook.  As described in the initial recipe, the sides should not stick to the side of the bowl, but the bottom should.

 I split the recipe into 4 parts, putting 2 dough balls into plastic ziploc bags into which I'd previous poured a Tablespoon of olive oil.  The ziploc bags go into the freezer and the 2 remaining go into my magic wooden pizza box.

Wooden Box - So I got the idea for the wooden dough box from Tony's in North Beach, who make the best Margherita pizzas, hands down.  I asked the chef the other day and she told me the wood helps manage the moisture in the dough.  I found a guy on eBay who made poplar cigar boxes and ordered one on faith.  Three benefits I've found from my 'magic pizza box'   

       1.) The dough proofs up better, don't know why exactly, but it both tastes better and the stretch is easier to work with.

       2.) The cigar box size fits 2 dough balls perfectly for proofing and I can put the flour directly into the box for when I roll the crust before stretching.  This helps contain the flour mess.  Also the lid allows me to slide it into the fridge without taking up an entire shelf.

3.) The lid serves as my cutting board once the pizza cooks.  How's that for a pizza system?

A final note on cooking temperatures - get it as hot as you can, really.  My new favorite method for Margherita pizzas is to grill them on a gas grill.  After stretching the dough, toss down directly onto the grill, again make sure it is hot!  Pizza wants 800+F if possible.  The crust will crisp very quickly.  As soon as it is firm enough, flip the crust with a pair of tongs.  Then, carefully, and quickly, add toppings.  Close the lid and let the pie cook, usually no more than 6minutes.   

If I can't grill the pizza I still get good results with my gas oven set on broil and using the pizza stone.  I sprinkle sufficient semolina flour on my 'peel' which is really a flat cookie sheet and slide the pie directly onto the stone to cook.  My oven seems to get to about 600F on the broil setting which still gives perfectly good results.  Again, I've learned to be careful to not lose too much heat when opening and closing the oven.  Move quickly.  Enjoy!  Its taken me a while to get the hang of the dough, but it is now def worth it.