Get Thee Away From Me

Note that this article has been updated to reflect refinements that have been introduced to our popcorn process over the years. They are tweaks, but make the popcorn even better!

First and foremost, we have switched from Orville Redenbacher popcorn to Kernel Seasons. It tastes better, and also is GMO free.

Second, we pop our popcorn in coconut oil now, which lends a fantastic taste element which will also be familiar, because many (if not most) movie theaters use coconut-based oil for popping.

Third, we use clarified butter instead of just melted butter. This makes a *huge* difference in taste and texture. The clarified butter contains virtually no moisture, so the popcorn stays perfectly crisp, and the butter flavor is concentrated as well. See the sidebar on the right below for tips on how we make clarified butter for popcorn.

Below is the original article, with edits made to reflect the above three changes:

My favorite food is popcorn. I have loved it since I was young, and I have spent a large portion of my adult lifetime refining my recipe to the point where it is perfect to me, and it seems to be popular with those to whom I serve it. There is nothing magical or difficult about the making of this popcorn, nor are the ingredients exotic or hard to find. Any reasonably handy kitchen person should be able to make it with no problem. However, the exact combination of process and ingredients has been perfected through almost 20 years of refinement, and I wanted to share it with my fellow popcorn lovers (and also maybe win a few converts to the manual process).

The Gear

To make Perfect Popcorn, you need the right equipment. First and foremost, do NOT use a popcorn popper of any kind. They all trap too much steam, which makes the popcorn soggy instead of crispy. Even those with vented tops still have slant-side domed lids, which increase the condensation of steam inside the popper before it can vent. Perfect Popcorn is made in a pot on the stove, using a manual process. Trust me, it’s worth it.

The pot I use is a heavy, expensive 9.5 quart stainless steel pot from Dansk, which I got as a gift from my in-laws, and have used several times a week ever since (thanks Sherry and Bill!!) The bottom is heavy, and contains a copper disk sandwiched between the inner and outer stainless steel layers. The pot you use should be as thick and heavy as possible to ensure even heat distribution and to eliminate scorching. Scorching is the kiss of death to popcorn, as even a few scorched kernels will assault your nose and taste buds, busting your popcorn eating groove. Also, if you can, stay away from non-stick pots, as their surfaces also promote the condensation of steam, and most are not heavy enough to ensure proper heat distribution.

Next, you need a tiny metal saucepan in which to melt your clarified butter. The one I use is large enough to hold about 2 cups of liquid, and has a handle on one side and a pour spout on the other side, making it easy to use. Picture a standard 2 cup glass measuring cup, and it looks kind of like that, only stainless steel. In a pinch you can use a glass measuring cup.

I also recommend having a trivet of some kind for serving the hot popcorn in the pot. Serving the popcorn in the popping pot helps it stay warm, but it introduces some serving logistics, such as not scorching your table top. My preferred setup is to eat my popcorn at the coffee table. I set a heavy cotton placemat on the coffee table, and then set a large, round cork trivet on top of that, for insulation. When I serve the popcorn, I simply carry the hot pot out to the coffee table and set it on the cork trivet.

[stextbox id=”info” caption=”How To Make Clarified Butter for Popcorn” float=”true” align=”right” width=”400″] Here’s how I make clarified butter (used for popcorn and other things):

• Take 4-6 pounds of salted butter (four to six boxes, sixteen to twenty-four typical sticks of butter) and place it in a heavy saucepan.
• Heat on low heat for approximately two hours. You want the butter to melt and then gently bubble. The bubbling is the water boiling off.
• You can heat longer and the butter will brown up, giving it a nice, nutty flavor that I actually prefer – typically 3-4 hours will do it for the browned clarified butter.
• Strain through a strainer lined with paper towels into a heat-safe bowl or dish. This will remove the milk solids that have gathered at the bottom, and absorb the foam off the top.
• I then pour it into large mason jars and store at room temperature. It keeps for a long time, not sure how long but I’ve kept it for months without issue. It should keep like vegetable oil, which lasts quite a long time.

Note that above directions make way more clarified butter than is needed for one batch of popcorn, so if you like you can take one or two sticks of butter and do the same thing (in a smaller pot). Also, many recipes for clarified butter recommend using unsalted butter, however I prefer the taste of the salted butter – it’s your preference.

Also, clarified butter can be used for cooking. It heats nicely without smoking or scorching so you can use it for frying at higher temperatures, unlike butter. I try to keep some on hand at all times. It’s perfect on popcorn because it has virtually no water, so the popcorn stays completely crisp and does not get soggy.[/stextbox]

The Ingredients
The ingredients are very simple:

Kernel Seasons popping corn
Organic coconut oil
Clarified butter (or ghee) (see sidebar for directions ====>)
Salt

That’s it. I *highly* recommend Kernel Season’s popcorn, as it has a distinct qualitative advantage over every other brand I have tried, including Redenbacher, Newman’s Own, and Jolly Time. Also, please use real butter. If you’re on a diet, either eat less of the popcorn, or skip it all together, but please, please don’t use any other margarine or spread type substances. They *all* contain large quantities of water, and water kills good popcorn. (Also, if you don’t use real butter, please don’t associate your concoction with me in any way. Thank you.) I’m not providing exact quantities for a reason, which is that the proportions will depend on things like the size of the pot, and your own personal tastes. There are quantity guidelines in the Preparation section below.

Preparation
The following preparation instructions assume a 2 cup steel butter melting pot and a 9.5 quart heavy steel popping pot, and the stovetop settings are what works best on my electric stove. You may have to adjust to your stove and/or tastes. If you use a glass measuring cup for your clarified butter, make sure that it is safe for the stove top.

First, put the small pot containing 1/4 cup of clarified butter (or more or less depending on your tastes or mood) on a small burner on medium-low and allow it to begin warming. If you are using a stovetop-safe glass measuring cup for your butter, wait 3-5 minutes before starting the next step, as the butter takes that much longer to heat up in a glass measuring cup.

Now, place the large pot on a large burner set on medium, and add enough coconut oil to cover the bottom up to about an eighth of an inch deep when melted. To give some perspective, you want the oil to be deep enough to cover about ¾ of a popcorn kernel, but not to totally submerge it. Now drop in two kernels (you can also use these to judge your oil depth) and cover the pot. Swirl the clarified butter a little bit while you wait for both kernels to pop. Once they have popped, add enough popcorn to obscure the bottom of the pot, and then put the lid back on. Add the popcorn right after the two kernels have popped, or the coconut oil may get too hot and you will end up with scorched and/or half-popped kernels. Pick up the pot and give it a couple of swirls to ensure that all the kernels have been coated with oil. In a minute or two the popcorn will start popping. Give the popcorn pot an occasional swirling shake to keep things moving.

The popping will increase to an almost constant state, and then will begin to slow down. You need to be very careful here, because you want as much popcorn to pop as possible, but even 15-20 seconds too long on the burner will result in scorched popcorn. Once the popping slows to 1 or 2 pops per second, immediately remove the pot from the heat (don’t just turn the heat off) and remove the lid to allow the rest of the steam to escape. Now pick up your clarified butter pot  and carefully drizzle about a third of the butter onto the top of the popcorn in an even spiral pattern. Then sprinkle on a little bit of salt, and pick up the popcorn pot and give it two or three good shakes to bring the unbuttered popcorn up from the bottom. Drizzle another third of the butter on top, and add a little more salt and shake the pot one last time. Now add the rest of the butter and a little more salt. Avoid excessive pot shaking, as each shake will also release heat, and you want to retain as much heat as possible, as hot popcorn tastes the best.

Serve and eat immediately! I eat it right out of the popping pot, when possible. Sometimes that’s impossible, such as eating it in bed, where the hot pot would just be too dangerous, but serve it hot whenever possible, it makes a lot of difference.

The process described above takes me less than 15 minutes, from start to finish, assuming the pots are clean and dry, and that the ingredients haven’t gone missing, and you have clarified butter on hand. That’s a very small time investment for a wonderful, wonderful snack.

Pop(corn) Philosophy
The popcorn described above is not a diet or health food. It is an indulgence, and should be consumed in moderation. But, whatever you do, please don’t substitute ingredients…for instance, canola oil cooks differently, and (as I mentioned above) any margarine-like product will drown your crunchy popcorn into a chewy mess. Only make this popcorn when you mean it, and when you can afford it, calorically. And make sure to enjoy it while it’s hot…that’s when it’s at its most perfect. And if you can’t finish it all, simply cover the pot and leave the popcorn out for the next day. If covered, it won’t get stale, and it actually tastes wonderful. And, contrary to some perceptions, butter does not go bad overnight. It actually takes almost a week at room temperature for butter to turn.

Also, a quick word about microwave popcorn – microwave popcorn is the fruit of the devil. Yes, it is quick, easy, and convenient, but so is Spam (the lunch meat product, not the email). There are those who really like Spam, just as there are those who really like microwave popcorn, but most are settling for less than what they want simply for the convenience. I think that if you give my popcorn a chance, you’ll never go back to nuking it.

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Heaven-scented memories…

When I was a kid in the 1960’s in Southern California, we would buy loaves of Van De Kamp’s Salt Rising bread at the grocery store.  The whole family *loved* this bread, it smelled heavenly while it toasted, and tasted even better.  The ultimate was to pair it with Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Preserves…yum!

We then moved to Texas, and found that the same bread was available here, too!  But, alas, after a couple of years all the Van De Kamp’s products disappeared from the shelves, including our beloved salt-rising bread.  This was the early 70’s, and over the next few years we would get our salt-rising fix by bringing home a bunch of loaves any time we traveled to California, which was usually once or twice a year.  We didn’t get to have it all the time, but it turned into a special thing since we only got it once in a while.

But then it disappeared in California as well, as Van De Kamps stopped producing salt-rising bread some time in the mid 70’s, then eventually went out of business completely.  And that was the last of the salt-rising bread for me, for the next 30 years, or so.  Then 5-6 years ago I got a wild hair to figure out how to make it myself, and turned to the internet.

What I found was that the King Arthur Flour Company actually sold a Salt-Rising Bread Yeast, and I ended up buying some and making salt-rising bread at home.  It was good, but it’s a two day process, so I only made it a few times.  Then King Arthur stopped selling the yeast, and as of today the page linked above contains this disclaimer:  “Sorry, this item is currently unavailable for purchase”.  It has said that for the last few years, so I’m not optimistic they are ever going to bring it back, so I figured I needed to figure out how to make it from scratch.

That led me to find some homemade recipes which turned out to be tricky to master, but after a couple of false starts and failed starters I eventually found a combination of ingredients and steps that work beautifully and predictably, and you can find that recipe below.

Here’s where the story gets a little more interesting.  My grandmother passed away earlier this year, and one of the things that came up as we sorted through memories of her were details I’d never heard before.  In the 1930’s, during the height of the Depression, she moved to Los Angeles seeking employment, and ended up working at the Van De Kamps Bakery store.  It was there that she met my grandfather, who was a regular customer, and they ended up getting married.

So not only does salt-rising bread thread through my earliest childhood memories, but in actuality the connection with Van De Kamp’s goes back even further, which makes it taste that much better.

If you are an intrepid baker looking for a challenge, the recipe is as follows:

Salt Rising Bread Recipe

Ingredients:
2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices
4 cups water
10 cups all-purpose flour
1½ cup milk
¼ cup corn meal, non-degerminated (very important!!)
6 tablespoons shortening
3 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Making the Starter
Boil the water and pour it over the potato slices in a large bowl (that can withstand boiling water).   Stir in all the cornmeal and sugar, plus 1 teaspoon of the salt.  Here comes the first tricky part – you now want to place the bowl somewhere that will remain as close to 105 degrees F as possible to allow it to ferment.  For me it involves taking a large, heavy-bottomed pot, putting it on a small electric stove burner on low, placing a cork trivet in the bottom, then setting the bowl of starter on top of the cork trivet, and putting a loose lid on the large pot so that the bowl is enclosed.  Note that although I have never had a problem with this setup, there could be danger in a cork trivet in a pot on an active burner, so please use your own judgment and caution when attempting to derive a proper warming solution.

I strongly recommend placing a meat thermometer inside the pot and checking it regularly to maintain the temp as close to 105 degrees F as possible.  Leave the starter procreating for 12-15 hours.  You’ll know it’s done because it will be frothy and stinky.  If you don’t have a frothy stank after 15 hours, the starter didn’t start, so you should stop and start again.

Note that I had a lot of trouble getting my starters to start until I found a tip about using non-degerminated corn meal.  It’s sometimes tricky to find, but usually if a corn meal says that it’s stone ground and/or whole grain, that’s usually the ticket.  Many grocery stores carry Bob’s Red Mill Corn Meal, which is usually whole grain.

Making the Sponge
Once the starter is done, remove and discard the potatoes.  Heat the milk until it is warm/hot to the touch (not scalded or boiled), then add the milk, baking soda, and 3½ cups of flour to the starter and beat by hand until smooth – you want to get all the lumps out at this point, fyi.  Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it back in your warming place at 105 degrees F.  After 1.5 to 3 hours it will have doubled in size, and will look creamy.  Once it has doubled in size, immediately move on to the next step, meaning don’t leave it long after the doubling or it will go past ‘pungent’ and get into ‘sour’ territory.

Making the Dough
Once the sponge has doubled in size, put 4 cups of flour in a large (different, empty) bowl, add 2 teaspoons of salt, and mix them together lightly.  Add the shortening and work it in until you have a meal-like consistency.  Now add this mixture to the sponge and beat together thoroughly.  Once it’s fully mixed, add another cup of flour and combine by hand to make a nice dough.  Turn the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured flat surface.  Note that this dough is STICKY, so you’ll want to keep dusting your hands with flour during this next part, which consists of kneading the dough for 2-3 minutes, then let it rest for 10-15 minutes.  Resume kneading for another 10 minutes or so, remembering to dust your hands as you go so you don’t end up with loaf-hands.

Once finished with the kneading, divide the dough into three equal portions that are roughly loaf-shaped, and place each piece into a greased loaf pan.  Cover the loaf pans with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for the dough to rise.  A couple of tips here – first, I like to spray the bottom side of the plastic wrap with oil (like from an oil spritzer or cooking spray) before placing on the loaf pans, because as the dough rises it might get high enough to hit the plastic wrap, and you don’t want it to stick.  Also, you’ll need a different ‘warm place’ for the loaf pans, as they won’t fit in a the pot as described above.  What I like to do is have my oven preheated to baking temperature (350 degrees F), set a cooling rack (like for cakes) on top of the stove, set the loaf pans on the baking rack, and then lay light dish towel over the whole thing like a tent, to help keep the rising heat in by the loaf pans.  Again, you may have to experiment here – you don’t want it too hot, but it does need to be warm for the dough to rise.

Let the dough rise for 2-3 hours.  It won’t double in size like typical bread, but will rise and additional ⅓ to ½, roughly.  After rising, remove the towel and plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes, or until golden brown. It’s better to bake this bread a little longer rather than under-cook it, fyi.  Once it’s done baking, turn the loaves out onto racks to cool.

The Eating!
Now comes the best part – eating it!  Long experience has shown that we like it best sliced pretty thin, toasted, then buttered and served with Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Preserves.  You may prefer it differently, so feel free to experiment.  You’ll know the bread is good if it smells like pungent cheese while it toasts.  Mmmm, heavenly!

There you have it, Salt-Rising Bread!  You’ll notice that there isn’t really much salt in the recipe – the name comes from the fact that the starter and sponge used to be made by placing the bowl in a large pile of rock salt that had been heated on the top of a wood stove.  The salt retained heat, and kept the starter and sponge warm enough to take.

Enjoy, and if you try making it, please feel free to come back and post your results and comments below!

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I was never able to find the spaghetti sauce that I wanted, so I decided to figure out making it for myself.  You see, I wanted a combination of a meat sauce and a vegetable sauce, and could not find a restaurant or a recipe that fit the bill.  Note that this is ‘homemade’ only in part, as it includes marinara from a jar.  I have made it completely from scratch, and it’s good, but it’s wayyyy too much work and it takes wayyyy too much time, and it’s only slightly better/different, so the marinara from a jar is simply a nod to the realities of a hectic lifestyle.

This recipe makes enough for four people, plus a healthy helping of leftovers – as with all spaghetti sauces, it’s better reheated the next day.  Ingredients as follows:

3 jars Newman’s Own Marinara sauce
2 lbs. lean hamburger
1 sweet onion
8 cloves garlic
1 bunch asparagus
2 green squash
2 yellow squash
2 cups mushrooms
8 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Heat a large skillet on medium, add 2 tbsp olive oil, and saute half the garlic and onions (both diced) for 4-5 minutes, then add the ground beef, and salt and pepper to your tastes.  Let the meat continue to brown while chopping the rest of the vegetables.

Finely dice the rest of the garlic and the other half of the onion, and keep them separate from the rest of the vegetables as they will be cooked separately.  Cut the asparagus into .5″ to .75″ lengths, making sure not to include the woody base of the stalks, which can be tough.  Slice each squash in half lenghtwise, and then slice each half in half again lenghtwise, so it is in long quarters, then thinly slice making little pie-shaped chunks.  Slice the mushrooms thinly.

Heat a large pot on medium, add the remaining 6 tbsp of olive oil, then add the onion and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables.  Continue cooking the vegetables for another 10 minutes, until they begin to get soft.  At this point the meat should be close to done browning – when it’s browned, drain any fat, then add to the vegetable pot.  Add the three jars of marinara, and stir.

Reduce head to medium-low, so that it cooks at a slow simmer, cover, and cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.  That’s it.  I occasionally juke it up with fresh basil or oregano, but it’s not strictly necessary.  I also sometimes add broccoli, but only some of the time since it turns it into a much chunkier, more vegetable-ier sauce.  We have taken to eating over Barilla Pasta Plus spaghetti, which has protein, omega-3s, and fiber, but tastes like regular old empty-calorie pasta.  And don’t forget some freshly-grated parmesan!

There’s nothing magical here, but I can say that this sauce is universally popular, and we always end up eating all the leftovers as well.  It is also a unique combination, in my experience, of a meat sauce and a vegetable sauce, and it’s something I had to figure out myself since I’d known for years that I wanted something like this.

If you end up giving this recipe a try, please post back your results here, as well as any jukes/variations of your own.  Buon appetito!

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The preparation and the finished product

I’ve always been partial to McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin with Egg, but I prefer to avoid fast food whenever possible, and I prefer to eat healthy ingredients.  For the sake of this article, “healthy” refers to the ingredients being as natural and pure as possible, and as free of chemicals, hormones, pesticides, preservatives, cruelty, and “modified” ingredients as possible (and not necessarily “food pyramid” healthy).

So, over the years I have learned to make breakfast muffins at home, and have refined the recipe to the point where I can barely eat fast-food muffins any longer, since they pale by comparison (if I do say so myself).

The recipe below is for three muffins, the ingredients are:

• 3 farm eggs
• 1/3 lb of natural pork breakfast sausage
• 3 tbs butter
• 3 slices Kraft Deli Deluxe American cheese, 3/4 ounce per slice
• 3 Bays sourdough English muffins
• 2 tbs of pure maple syrup (not Log Cabin or Butterworth type, but actual pure maple syrup)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Tabasco to taste (optional)

A few words about the ingredients – we get our eggs and pork from Yonder Way Farm, which we are lucky enough to live a 10 minute drive from.  If you live in or around the Houston area we highly recommend either driving out to the farm (just outside of Brenham), or getting your order from one of their many delivery locations in the area. See more about Yonder Way Farm at the bottom of this article.

Also, if you’ve never had farm eggs (or if it’s been a while), they are amazingly better tasting than store bought eggs.  The yolks are almost orange, instead of yellow, and the eggs are naturally a variety of shapes and colors (see picture above).

One other ingredient note – the cheese we use is specifically and only Kraft Deli Deluxe American.  Don’t confuse this with the individually-wrapped “cheese food” versions of American cheese, the Deli Deluxe American is actually cheese, not a chemical concoction, and is significantly better tasting than the disgusting “cheese food” versions.

The gear is as follows: 

• 12″ Emeril Pro-Clad Stainless frying pan (which we *love* and use almost daily), for the eggs
• Cast iron frying pan, for the sausage (if you don’t have one, ask your mama about them)
• One Non-stick egg ring, for forming the sausage patties (but NOT for the eggs)
• Three stainless-steel egg rings, for the eggs
• Nylon spatula
• Scissor tongs
• Coffee cup or small bowl
• Butter knife and fork

First, leave the cast iron skillet cold for now, but put the stainless steel skillet on medium-low heat (setting 3 out of 10 on our electric stove) with the three stainless steel egg rings in it, to pre-heat.

Now, in the COLD cast iron frying pan, we need to create the sausage patties in place in the pan.  Lay the larger, non-stick egg ring where the first patty will go, then take enough of the breakfast sausage to roll into a ball about 1.5″ in diameter.  Put the ball in the ring, then gently work it flat until if forms a thin layer at the bottom of the ring, all the way to the edges.  We like our patties as thin as possible without falling apart, which means starting with about 3/8″ thickness of the raw sausage.  When finished, lift the ring off the sausage, leaving the patty, and move the ring to the next position, and so forth until you have three patties.

Now, put the cast iron skillet with the three patties in it on a burner on medium heat (5 on a scale of 10 on our electric stove).  Now reach over and turn down the heat under the stainless steel skillet to low (2 out of 10 on our stove).  Crack the three eggs into the coffee cup (or small bowl), salt and pepper to taste (and add Tabasco if so inclined), then use the fork to lightly stir to break up the egg yolks and even out the seasonings.

Put a pat of butter in each stainless egg ring to melt, use the tongs to move the rings around to spread the butter evently.  Pour an equal amount of egg into each egg ring.  Let everything cook for a minute or two here.

Now, about the English muffins.  Unless you have a six slice toaster you’ll have to do multiple batches to get all three toasted.  Now would be a good time to start dropping the muffins to toast – you’ll probably have to experiment to get the timing correct for toasting the muffins, depending on the number of slices your toaster holds, how fast it toasts, how brown you like it toasted, etc.

Now, flip the sausages, they should be pretty browned up on the cooked side by now.  Watch the eggs, you’ll be able to see the cooked part solidify in the bottom and along the sides, when it looks cooked about halfway through (bottom half solid cooked, top half still runny), use the scissor tongs to hold the tongue of the egg ring in place, use a butter knife to run around the inside edge of the ring to loosen the egg, then use the butter knife to lever up under the cooked part of the egg, letting the runny part run back down into the bottom of the ring, then flip the cooked part of the egg over and set it back down inside the ring, covering the runny part that just ran into the bottom.  That’ll put what was the cooked bottom of the egg on top, and allow the rest of the egg cook below it.

It’s a bit tricky to do the egg flip maneuver, but with practice you should get it.  I sometimes have egg run out under the bottom edge of the ring, or slide out over the top edge of the ring – if that happens, let the escaped egg cook for a few seconds to get slightly solid, then scoop it up and put it on top of the source egg to maintain egg volume.

After a few more minutes the sausage should be done, flip to be sure, it should be browned on the other side, too.  Remove the sausage to a plate, and pour a small portion of maple syrup onto each patty, and spread it around a little to cover the top.  You’ll probably want to add the syrup to taste, but my recommendation is not to put to much on, or it’ll drip on you while you eat it.

You should also be able to remove the egg rings from the eggs now, again using the tongs to grab the tongue of the ring and using the butter knife to run around the inside of the ring to loosen the egg.  If you do this too early, you’ll get some runny egg leaking out from the middle, and you’ll have to learn the timings for your stove, tools, and methods.

Flip the eggs again, and then at this point I use the spatula to flatten them out a bit, which spreads them out and makes them “English-muffin sized” and a better fit when put together.  At this point I also turn the heat under the eggs up to 5, to prepare it for grilling the muffins and to finish the eggs.  I also cut the corners off the cheese slices to make them octoganal and a better fit for the sandwich…if you leave the corners they tend to droop and “over-cheese” the taste.

Remove the cooked eggs to a plate, and put a cheese-octogan on each one – the cheese will melt slightly during the rest of the process.  Add a bit more butter to the pan, then grill the English muffins (insides only, not the outsides) in the pan – this crisps them up and makes a nice grilled taste.

Now assemble the muffins – muffin bottom, egg with cheese on top, sausage patty with a hint of maple syrup, and muffin top.  Voila, ready to eat…enjoy!

[stextbox id=”grey” caption=”About Yonder Way Farm”]

Marie and I are not health nuts, but we do try to eat natural and healthy foods as much as possible.  We have been astonished at our luck in living so close to Yonder Way Farm, and the great folks and products there.  We drive out every couple of weeks to pick up our eggs, sausage, pork chops, steaks, hamburger, chicken, ham, etc.  If you go out to the farm, you pull through the gates and drive right up to one of the outbuildings, and you pass free ranging chickens, wandering cows, and un-penned pigs – including the cutest packs of running/playing piglets that you’ll ever see. 

We lean towards vegetarianism, for animal-cruelty and unhealthy additive reasons, and Yonder Way Farm addresses both of those for us.  They process their own chickens, and use local processors for the beef and pork, and don’t send their animals off to large, commercial processors where the necessarily gruesome end is an inhumane nightmare.  The animals are finished on the farm, not at the processing plant, meaning that the animals are fed their healthy diet and treated humanely until just before they are processed. 

Most “organic” or “natural” meat available from grocery stores comes from animals who, although perhaps raised a bit more healthily at first, are sent off to commercial processing plants in a process that can take days or weeks, necessitating that the animals are fed whatever crap the processor uses to keep the stock alive until processing – definitely NOT natural or organic feed.

So, if you live in the Houston area we highly recommend getting your eggs and sausage from Yonder Way, and if you live elsewhere you may want to check with Local Harvest to find fresh, natural, humane farms in your area.

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Sweet Texas Iced Tea

When I was a young teenager, my family would always tell me, “You make the *best* iced tea!”.  I was quite proud of my iced tea, and would make it regularly for the whole family, and I always made sure we had iced tea available in the summer.

However, as I got older and wiser, I realized that while I was quite competent at making iced tea, my family had most assuredly been overstating its superiority because they knew that such praise would keep me in the kitchen slaving over a hot pot of boiling water.

Their behaviors (you know who you are!) were right on the border between encouraging and exploitative, but one of the side-effects is that years spent making iced tea has led me to a recipe and method that has become quite good, if I do say so myself.  It is a far cry from my original tea-making days, but it is still in keeping with the spirit of good, old-fashioned Texas sweet iced tea.

Ingredients
5 family-sized Tetley Iced Tea Blend tea bags
1 family-sized Luzianne Green Tea bag
1 regular-sized Lipton Mint Tea bag
¾ cup Florida Crystals Natural cane sugar

Gear
Revere Ware 3 quart sauce pan
Tupperware Impressions 1 gallon pitcher
Measuring cup
Nylon spoon
Stainless steel strainer (fine mesh/net)

Fill the 3 quart sauce pan with water up to within approximately ¾” from the top and bring to a boil.  While the water is heating, put all the tea bags in the pitcher, removing the paper tags from the Lipton and Luzianne tea bags (the Tetley Iced Tea bags are string-less and tag-less, made for iced tea!).

Once the water is boiling, *carefully* pour it into the pitcher over the tea bags.  Give the pitcher a few seconds of stirring to fully immerse the tea bags, then set aside and let it steep for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes are up, remove all of the tea bags (one at a time, and squeezing the excess tea out against the inside wall of the pitcher so that it runs back down into the pitcher).  Once the tea bags are removed, place the strainer over the (empty) sauce pan, and pour the tea through the strainer and into the sauce pan.  This step filters out any tea leaves that may have been released by the tea bags, which have a tendency to fall apart about 20% of the time.

Pour the strained tea back into the pitcher, add the 1 cup of sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Note that this step is crucial because you want to dissolve the sugar in the water while it is still warm.

Once the sugar is dissolved (only takes 5-10 seconds of stirring), add ice and/or water to bring the tea level up to an inch or so below the top of the pitcher (leaving room for the lid to snug down without getting into the tea).  Chill and serve.  Note that if you used ice for the last step, it should already be cold enough to drink immediately.

This is the most refreshing drink I know, and we always have at least one (and usually two) pitchers of it in the fridge.  The mint and green tea are optional, but I have found that the mint adds a nice refreshing zip, and the green tea adds both a subtle flavor and rumors of health benefits.  Also, you can control the sweetness to your taste and/or dietary needs.

Now *you* make the best iced tea…enjoy!

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Sweet, spicy, and tasty!

We’ve been on a fish taco kick lately, trying various combinations of fish, salsa, toppings, and preparation methods.  Yesterday we cooked up a grilled pineapple salsa that was really tasty, and was great on the fish tacos, recipe as follows:

Ingredients
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 fresh garlic clove
1 fresh jalepeno
2 cans pineapple rings in juice
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup chopped purple onion
2 limes
2 tbsp sesame oil

Combine the four dry ingredients (sugar, chili powder, salt, garlic powder) in a bowl and mix thoroughly.  Drain and spread the pineapple rings out on plates or a cookie sheet and sprinkle one side with the powder mixture, flip the rings and sprinkle the other side.

Heat a skillet on medium-high until hot, then add the sesame oil.  Swirl the oil around to coat the inside of the skillet and pour off the excess oil.  Add the pineapple rings in batches making sure that each ring sits flat on the skillet, and brown the pineapple on both sides – about 2 minutes per side.  Set the rings aside to cool.

Slice open the jalepeno and remove/discard the seeds, then chop finely.  Chop the cilantro and onions, and mince/mash the garlic clove.  Slice the pineapple rings into small wedges about ¼ to ½ inch across.  Combine the pineapple, cilantro, onions, jalepeno, and garlic, and squeeze the juice of two limes and mix thoroughly.  Refrigerate for an hour (or more) to allow the flavors to combine.

Options and alternatives:  As with all sweet/spicy dishes, feel free to dial the flavors up and down to taste.  Also, if you feel industrious, fresh pineapple would be great, as would cooking the pineapple on the grill (like with a flat basket and/or in large strips).

The salsa went great with our fish tacos (complemented with tasty Texas Twisters Creamy Cilantro Cotija sauce from H.E.B for you Texans), but should also be good with pork or chicken, or just with chips.  Yum!

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Look Out, Teeth!

So for that last few weeks I’ve been having a craving for some nice, tasty caramel corn.  Now, when it comes to this confection I’m a purist – I don’t like anything in it but the popcorn and the coating, no nuts, no nothing else.  And that’s really hard to find at a store.  So I finally broke down tonight and made some at home, for the very first time, too.

The recipe is a mash-up of several recipes I found on the tubernets, and it goes like this:

Ingredients
6-7 quarts of air-popped popcorn
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Salt to taste

Process
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Make the popcorn in an air popper, then put it into a large roasting pan and put it in the oven while making the coating.

To make the coating, combine the butter, sugar, honey, and corn syrup in a tall pot and heat over medium-high heat until it boils, stirring constantly.  Reduce the heat a little but keep it boiling, and let it boil without stirring it for five more minutes – it’ll get kind of bubbly and frothy.

Remove the syrup from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.  The baking soda will make it foam up even more, so keep stirring until it settles back down a little bit.  Take the popcorn out of the oven and turn the heat in the oven up to 250 degrees.

Using a ladle or large spoon, drizzle about 1/3 of the syrup over the popcorn, then use a couple of big spoons to stir it up.  Repeat this process 2 more times, adding 1/3 more of the syrup each time, until all the syrup is on the popcorn.  Sprinkle some salt over the popcorn for the final stir, then place in the oven for 75 minutes, taking it out to stir it up every 15 minutes.  When you stir it, make sure to bring up the popcorn/syrup from the bottom and also to break up any large chunks of popcorn.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes before eating.  You can eat it right out of the oven if you like, but it’ll be kind of sticky and gooey (not to mention hot).  After 20-30 minutes it will be more like what you expect from caramel corn, with individual pieces that mostly don’t stick together.

I will state, unequivocally, that this recipe resulted in the tastiest, most savory caramel corn that I have ever eaten.  Enjoy.

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Fork tender and juicy…yum!

I have a low-end little gas grill (Sunbeam Grillmaster 660) that we use for our weekend barbequing.  I used to be strictly a charcoal kind of guy, but I’ve been won over by the convenience and predictable heating of a gas barbeque grill.  There are some Texans who claim that *real* brisket can only be made over coals and/or wood, but I beg to differ.  I’ve been eating barbequed brisket my whole life, starting when we moved to a small Texas town in the 60’s, where my uncles would make brisket (along with ribs, chicken, and homemade venison sausage) for family gatherings.  Since then I’ve eaten brisket from just about every kind of barbeque joint and backyard cook you could think of.  And the brisket described here, cooked over a gas grill, ranks right up there with the best of ’em.

The brisket pictured here will give you an idea of what yours should look like.  Note the tray of charred wood chips on the left.  Also, only the left side of the grill is on, and the right side (under the meat) is off.  Also remember that the brisket cooks with the cover closed.  Click the picture for a larger version that shows more detail.

The Keys to Good Brisket

• Good meat – get a big chunk of uncooked, unflavored brisket, 10+lbs with a nice fatty side, just a big old slab of meat in a vacuum sealed heavy plastic package.  Do NOT use any of the pre-flavored, pre-smoked briskets for this recipe, and do NOT trim the fat off.
• Patience – prep time can extend overnight, cooking time is 6+ hours, resting time is nearly an hour and none of the steps can be rushed.
• Restraint – very little seasoning is needed, and the meat must cook virtually undisturbed (no forking, flipping, meat-thermometer-stabs, or manhandling – just gentle slow cooking and smoking).
• Non-violence – up until the time you’re ready to slice and serve the brisket, the meat should not be punctured or pierced in any way.  No forks, thermometers, unskilled tong use, flavor injections, slicing, scoring, tenderizing, etc.
• Practice – it will probably take a few iterations for you to get the hang of the nuances of your grill, tools, and preferences.

Tools and Such

• Gas grill with independent left and right side burner controls (only one side will be lit)
• Big roasting pan or foil pan, large enough to hold the brisket and tough enough to withstand grill heat
• Lots of aluminum foil (the extra-wide kind is better)
• Aromatic wood chips (mesquite, pecan, hickory all work good) plus small foil pan or metal tray to hold them
• Big, flat metal spatula to turn brisket while seasoning and move it without piercing the meat

Ingredients

• 1 beef brisket (10+ pounds), with a layer of fat at least 1/4 inch thick, preferably 1/2 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground comino (cumin)

Remove brisket from packaging, rinse with cold water and pat dry.  Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Sprinkle half the dry ingredients over one side of the brisket, then rub it into the meat by hand to spread evenly, including the sides and edges.  Gently flip the brisket over and use the rest of the dry rub on the other side the same way.  If you have the time, wrap the brisket in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours to cure in the rub – overnight is better (curing is optional, it will still be flavorful if you cook immediately).

Light only one side of the gas grill and set it to low heat.  Soak wood chips (mesquite, hickory, or pecan) in water for 30 minutes, then drain and place in small foil pan (or other heat-tolerant metal container) and set on the grill directly over the side that is lit.

Place the brisket FAT SIDE UP in a large foil pan, or large roasting pan lined with two layers of foil, and place it on the grill on the side away from the direct flame heat. If you use a foil pan it’s still a good idea to line it with two layers of foil to ensure you don’t get any punctures, rips, or creases that the drippings can leak out of.  Make sure the thicker side of the brisket is closer to the flames than the thinner side, that way it will cook more evenly.   DO NOT cover the brisket with foil at any time during the grilling process.  Now, close the grill and leave it alone for 2 hours (DO NOT OPEN GRILL DURING THIS TIME).  After two hours, use a turkey baster to baste the brisket with the juices that accumulate in the roasting pan.  Baste every 45 minutes or so after that.  After three hours of total cooking time replace the wood chips with a freshly soaked batch.  Let the brisket cook with the grill closed (except when basting) for a total of 6 hours from the time you put it on the grill.  Remember, the brisket should not be lifted, turned, or punctured/pierced during the cooking process.

Remove from the grill, cover the brisket with foil tightly sealed to the pan, and let the brisket sit for 45-60 minutes, during which time it will re-absorb a lot of the juices and also undergo tenderization.  This resting period is very important for juicy, tender brisket.

At this point, if you have been patient and the BBQ Gods are smiling, you will be ready to enjoy delicious, flavorful, fork-tender, juicy Texas-style brisket.  Make sure to cut across the grain of the meat when you slice it, not with it – this one mistake can ruin an otherwise perfect brisket.  It’s easier to spot the grain before you cook and get an idea of which way the striations run, and you want to slice perpendicular to the grain.

Traditional accompaniments include potato salad, pickles, onion slices, and white bread.  If you want BBQ sauce, try for something sweet and not-too-vinegary, like this:

[stextbox id=”grey” caption=”Texas BBQ Sauce Recipe”]16 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs onion powder
1 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs brisket drippings (if you have them)
1 tbs coarse black pepper
1 tbs Paprika
1 tbs salt
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp chili powder

• Combine all ingredients in a heavy sauce pan on the stove
• Slowly simmer for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Adjust water and/or simmer time to get desired thickness
• Serve warm on the side or over the meat, but do *not* use as a baste for the brisket while it’s cooking

Optionally, the onion powder and garlic powder can be substituted with fresh, use 1/2 an onion and 2-3 garlic pods, pureed.  If you choose fresh onion/garlic, I recommend preparing it the day before, chilling it overnight, then reheating the next day – this takes the edge off the fresh garlic and onion and leads to a smoother taste.  Also, since you probably won’t have drippings the day before making the brisket, you can substitute in a teaspoon of Liquid Smoke.
[/stextbox]
Enjoy!

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I’m an old hand at “juking” up recipes on the fly — sometimes the results are good, sometimes the results are.. well, edible. In rare cases, I come up with something that tastes REALLY good. This, I humbly submit, is one of those.

Bourbon Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients

• Organic Chicken Broth
• Organic Beef Broth (optional)
• Chicken breasts, boneless
• Chicken thighs, boneless
• Fresh thyme, parsley and sage
• Fresh carrots
• Fresh celery
• Bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
• Half-and-half or cream or milk
• Bisquick
• Milk
• Paprika
• Salt (I used a Garlic Sea Salt Grinder… yum)

Directions
In a big pot combine:

• chicken broth (and beef broth if you want — I didn’t have enough chicken so I used beef as well)
• the chicken breasts and thighs
• carrots (I use whole carrots, skins and all, cut into 4″ lengths)
• celery (I use stalks about 4″ long and leave the leaves on 1-2 stalks)
• fresh thyme, parsley, and sage (don’t chop any of it up)
• many splashes of bourbon

Let cook on med-low for a while until the chicken is tender. I did 1-2 hrs I think. Funny story: the bourbon happened because I snacked on a carrot from the cutting board I’d also used for the semi-raw chicken. I yelped out two seconds after I did it, “augh! I might get salmonella!” and my brilliant engineerboy husband said, “quick, take a swig of alchohol!”. So I did, and then I thought, well, I don’t have any white wine and soup is ALWAYS better with wine, and tossed in a bunch of bourbon. Concern of salmonella is the mother of invention… at least in this case!

Remove the carrots, celery, and spices from the broth (I throw away the spices, carrots and celery but I guess if you like to eat them you can leave them in). I also put a bunch of ground salt, and some black and tri-color pepper in there, freshly ground.

Take the chicken out of the pot and cut it into pieces. Add a little cream or milk into the broth.

Let cook another hour or two on low heat.

Preheat oven to 350. Turn up heat to medium on the broth, enough to get a boil but NOT SCALD. Mix up dumplings:

• Bisquick and milk as per directions on the box
• I ground the Garlic Sea Salt and sprinkled Paprika in the dumpling dough

Drop the dumpling dough in by big heaping spoonfuls. Let boil for 4-5 minutes. Then put pot in oven for about 15-25 minutes, until the tops are brown.

Damn fine! If I do say so myself!

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Ingredients

• Portabella mushrooms, chopped
• Red Onion, chopped
• Montreal Chicken Seasoning (contains no chicken)
• Canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• Cooked brown rice
• butter (can substitute olive oil)
• ginger sesame marinade (optional)

Directions

• Pre-heat a cast-iron skillet, frying pan, or wok on medium heat.
• When wok is hot, add butter, and portabellas and red onion. Add a dash of Montreal seasoning.
• Stir-fry until onions are carmelized.
• Then add chickpeas, drained, and more butter. Add another dash of seasoning.
• Stir-fry until chickpeas are browned.
• Then add more butter and the cooked brown rice (cold from the fridge is ok). Add another dash of seasoning.
• Stir-fry for another 5 – 8 minutes (add a Tbsp or so of ginger marinade if desired) until everything is nice and sizzling hot.

Editor’s note: When I first posted this recipe, I commented that I usually pair this dish with cheese to get some protein. But my great friend Darla clued me in the wonder food that is chickpeas: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=58. Check out the amount of protein in these bad boys, not to mention iron and fiber. How cool is that?

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