More Bacalao!

After the salt cod fritters, which came out great, I made Brandade de Morue. I followed different procedures for the cod re-hab, and realized one needed a much longer cooking time. While normally i would poach cod for 5-6 minutes, with the salt cod 20-25 minutes was necessary. And while overcooking normal fish might make it tough, the extended period worked well for the salt cod.

I think it comes down to what happens to the protein structure of the fish when it dries out in the salt. Something must drastically change to make the structure of the fish change so much.

So while the fritters came out nicely, the brandade came out great. I think, retrospectively, if I had cooked the cod for the fritters for significantly longer, their texture would have radically improved.

For the fritters, a small hockey puck, breaded in panko, pan fried, and served with a herby, garlicky home-made mayo. for the brandade, quenelles on toast points topped with roasted red pepper bits.

Bacalao

I bought some salt cod, mostly on impulse. I'm thinking of codcakes for the Oscars. J. likes fry-up for it and I want something with a bit of umami. I could also make Brandade de Morue. Either way I should start my desalt. I'm not sure how long, depending on how salted the cod was. I have recommendations from 1 to 3 days, So I'm starting today.

Farmers' Market glory

The farmers' market is stupendous this time of year. There is such an abundance of produce, so I decided to do some batch processing to keep great flavors for the winter. On the list; pesto, frozen in 1/2 cup containers, sweet pepper relish, canned, and tomatoes concassé, a simple sauce with shallots and garlic from culinary school.

Spring floral vodka

Everything is crazy in the garden. Chive flowers, scallion flowers, thyme flowers, oregano I didn't know I had. An herbal paradise right now. There was leftover booze from a job, so I took home a bottle of vodka. After draining a cup, I spent some time carefully feeding chive flowers through the neck to soak.

The vodka removed to make space was put in a mason jar with thyme blossoms, mostly just as an experiment. I also planted pineapple sage, so for Dance Parade recovery next weekend, there will be fancy cocktails.

Corned Beef (served up late)

So the corned beef came out delicious. A beautiful pink color, glorious texture, and a delicious cabbage broth. Pleased as punch. Sorry the photos are so bad, I need a better camera. We did eat on St Patrick's Day, it just took me forever to post.

Corned Beef!

I decided to make corned beef for St. Patrick's Day. After looking at a couple of recipes, two things stood out; the long cure, and saltpeter. the cure isn't a problem, I just need a big enough ziplock to hold a 5 pound piece of meat in a brine in the fridge for 10 days. I can figure that out.

Saltpeter, on the other hand, is a problem. Living in New York I figure I can buy anything here. Greatest City In The World, right? This is not an easy ingredient to find. Being a key ingredient to gunpowder, it is difficult to find on the open market. So I did some google searching, and started at the pharmacy. The old, independent place around the corner first. The pharmacist was very polite, and luckily knew what I was talking about. She was so old school she spoke of grinding ingredients together with a mortar and pestle and filling gelatin capsules for prescriptions. Alas, she hadn't seen saltpeter in years and her distributor no longer carried it.

On to my regular pharmacy! While my pharmacist didn't know what it was, saltpeter did appear in the Rite Aid drug catalog. However, it was listed without any pricing, dosage, or form (liquid, powder, pill, capsule) information. She graciously called her distributor, who laughed and asked if someone was making corned beef! Progress! And then defeat. They haven't had it in years.

On to the witchy store! Luckily(?), there are 3 wiccan/herbal shops in our neighborhood. The first didn't know what i was talking about, but then I realized they only dealt with herbal organics. Down the block, through the door with a broom as a handle, past the 4 black cats, waving the incense clouds out of the way, was a polite young lady with a giant urn of saltpeter. The wiccans use it to prevent infidelity. Despite my lack of wiccan wardrobe, she was polite and willing to sell me some. 2 ounces, 6 dollars. Meat goes into the brine on Sunday!

Pickles!

I made pickles, because i love food preservation. 1 qt. Ball jars. The photo was taken on our roof, mostly because I like the urban/produce contrast, and I've realized the light is much better than inside.

From the left:

1. Broad beans and purple string beans with onion, garlic, celery seed, mustard seed, and pickling spices.

2. Rainbow carrots with dill, garlic, celery seed, mustard seed, pickling spices.

3. Fennel with orange zest, orange segments, dill, and black mustard seed.

4. Orange cauliflower with cumin seed, coriander seed, fresh ginger, and minced garlic.

5. Roasted beets with rosemary, lemon zest, and sliced ginger.

The center ones are in an antique milk crate we bought in Warren, RI last winter. It is well sized to the quart mason jars. In 2 weeks I'll taste them!

Cured Meats!

With my obsession over controlled rot and preserved food, a new restaurant has opened in our neighborhood. Cure is all about cured meats. I mean really. Sadly it seems like I need a good payday to make the price point for an exploratory meal. But it makes me happy to know I'm not the only one thinking about this.

Lemon Confit

I made lemon confit. This picture sucks, but is the best one I took. J. and I agree that this is the prettiest thing I have ever made. I like that you can see little bits of garlic in it.I need a better digital camera.

I started by slicing the lemons as thinly as possible. The recipe was for 12, but that is for commercial use, and a bit ridiculous, so I cut it to 3. First I tried using the mandoline, but it wasn't working well, and it was having trouble with the seeds. So I ended up slicing by hand and picking out the seeds as I came across them. The slices then get layered with salt, sugar, and minced garlic, and then let it sit for three days. Then I drained my slices, dropped them in a jar, and covered it with olive oil.

Kimchi Kimchee Gimchi

In my quest to grow my own food in the kitchen, I made kimchee. The funniest thing about trying to google recipes is that every Korean makes their own, and they all have their own secret recipes. So there are few online, and a huge variety within them. I suppose that if I searched in korean rather than english I might have better luck, but I lack those skills. 

Basically, mine is napa cabbage, daikon radish, scallions, and spices. I fermented it for two days before moving it to the fridge. And while I find it delicious, J. thinks it is disgusting. She is lucky I'm not fermenting my own fish sauce on the kitchen counter.