Boldo's Thoughts on Food

Brussels Sprouts

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:21:00 +0000

So we’re coming down the home stretch to Christmas dinner. We made the plum pudding the weekend after Thanksgiving and the brown beef stock for the gravy, which was frozen in 2 qt. plastic bags. The standing rib roast is waiting in the fridge, and on Christmas day will be going into a hot oven in the late morning. We’re going to have Yorkshire pudding, herb-roasted potatoes, baby buttered peas, glazed carrots, and a mixture of roasted cauliflower flowerets and Brussels sprouts.

Many people find Brussels sprouts undesirable as a vegetable. They are often eschewed as “those little cabbages,” and when overcooked they do emit sulfur compounds that are bitter and odiferous, making them unappetizing. However, if properly handled, they are crisp and tasty, with a mild bitterness that is not displeasing. Those that have been touched by fall’s frosts are the sweeter for the nipping.

One way to make them less bitter is to cut them in half, exposing their inner leaves, which will allow the bad flavor elements to leach out. Another is to give them a preliminary blanching in boiling water for a minute before draining and proceeding with your recipe.

Brussels sprouts provide a hearty winter vegetable to accompany turkey, steaks or liver, but they really love pork, duck or goose. They pair well with cauliflower, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks and chestnuts, whether as a vegetable combination or in a wholesome fall vegetable pie.

Brussels sprouts, a member of the Brassica oleracea family, are derived from the wild cabbage and, therefore, other family members include collards, kohlrabi and kale. Something akin to the modern Brussels sprout was cultivated in Italy, but Belgium has recorded evidence of its growing there in 1587, as the vegetable proliferated in northern Europe due to the cool climate in which it thrives.

Rich in vitamin C, Brussels sprouts also have large amounts of vitamin A, folic acid and dietary fiber. Some of their unappetizing compounds are actually thought to be helpful in preventing colon cancer

Through the fall months, one can purchase local Brussels sprouts on long stems at farmers’ markets. The little green heads grow up and down the stalk, becoming 1” to 2” in diameter at maturity. The heads should be tight with bright green leaves. Any that are over mature, wilted or worm-eaten should be discarded. Sometimes one or two leaves at the base may have to be removed. It’s advisable to trim the base of each sprout and, using a paring knife, cut a small X to facilitate even cooking.

After prepping the sprouts, they should be washed and parboiled in salted water for 5 to 6 minutes or until almost tender. They can be refreshed in cold water and saved for final cooking later. Whether braised in butter, cooked in cream or cheese sauce, or braised with chestnuts, cook slowly to allow the sprouts to absorb the sauce, but don’t overcook.

Brussels sprouts also lend themselves to roasting in a hot oven. Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and scatter on a parchment lined sheet pan before cooking at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, tossing once or twice.

Cookies

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:43:00 +0000

At our house, Christmas means Rosemary will be baking her wide variety of Christmas cookies that she only makes this time of year. Her Festive Cherrry-ettes (aka Thumbprint cookies) are a shortbread cookie, studded with a red cherry or fruit jam, that my Mom used to make, and are wildly popular amongst my siblings. Her rum balls are legendary, and the date and Rice Krispy snowballs with coconut are tops in my book. The sugar cookies are cut into Santas, Christmas trees, reindeer, bells and other seasonal shapes and decorated with a wide variety of red, green, pink and other colorful frostings along with decorative sugar crystals and nonpareils. Of course she makes gingerbread molasses cookies as well as toffee bars, date filled sour cream cookies, Baklava, chocolate brownies and a Greek almond crescent cookie known as Kourabiedes. Her brother Gary loves her divinity fudge, but that more a confection than an actual cookie.

Cookies, known as biscuits in England, can be crisp or chewy depending on how they are made. There are a numerous kinds of cookies, including drop cookies, formed from a soft dough that spreads out as it cooks (usually with chocolate chips and/or oatmeal), cut-out cookies which are made with a stiffer dough and which retain their shape while cooking such as sugar or butter cookies, hand-shaped cookies which are formed from refrigerated batters that are piped or molded, like ladyfingers or madeleines, bar cookies which are cut from a thin cake-like mass baked in a shallow pan like brownies and date or nut bars, and ice-box cookies which are sliced from a pre-made cylinder of dough stored in the refrigerator until ready to be baked.

Festive Cherryettes

The amount and type of fat one includes in their cookie recipe is one of the key determinants in the final texture of a cookie. While fat affects the richness and moistness of the final cookie, it also has an impact on the cookie’s suppleness. Butter melts are a lower temperature than shortening or margarine, allowing the cookie to spread out more before its protein and starches have set. In shortbread cookies, the 15% moisture content in butter is usually the only moisture included in these low-egg cookies, contributing to shortbread’s crumbly texture.

Normally pastry or all-purpose flours are used for cookies, however bread flour and cake flours are used in some instances where spreading is discouraged by their gluten content. For the most part, however, gluten development in cookies is not desirable as it tends to toughen the resulting product, although high protein content means more browning during baking. Low protein flours are often coupled with higher amounts of moisture in recipes, producing a puffed up cake-like cookie.

Peanut Butter Cookies

For the most part granulated sugar is used in cookies, although moist brown sugars help the dough to spread and confectionary sugar with its added cornstarch prevents spread and keeps the texture dry. Molasses and honey attract moisture from the air and keep cookies soft.

Eggs soften cookies and help then rise and stay pliable. When used, they provide the bulk of the moisture in the cookie and bind the flour particles together while cooking. Their fat and emulsifiers keep the cookie moist and rich.

Toffee Bars

Plum Pudding

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:03:00 +0000

A Christmas tradition in our family is the serving of the plum pudding for dessert after the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. My grandfather was from England where this dish is more commonly known as Christmas pudding, and it is reserved for a once a year eating on this holy day. We have a recipe that has been handed down in the family for years. We make it right after Thanksgiving and allow it to age in a cool place until Christmas day. I have read that in some families, they make the plum pudding a year in advance, but that seems a little extreme to me, so we’ll stick with the Thanksgiving day making as my Mom used to do.

Plum pudding contains no plums. It is a mixture of dried fruits like raisins, currants, dates and sultanas, citron or candied peel, and nuts like almonds. It includes rich spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, brown sugar, brandy or dark rum, eggs, breadcrumbs and suet. It can also have flour, lemon or orange zest, carrot or apple. It is very dark, almost black, when removed from its mold, due to the dark sugars used and its long cooking time. The inclusion of beef suet harkens back to earlier times when English puddings included meat.

Sometimes cooks secrete a silver coin, thimble or wishbone as a sign of good luck or wealth for the lucky recipient.

Once all the ingredients are mixed, the pudding is placed in a rounded mold and steamed for 5 or 6 hours. When it is cool, we wrap our mold in wax paper and store it in the garage. On Christmas day, we bring it in and steam it for another hour while we eat Christmas dinner.

Rosemary has previously made and refrigerated the hard sauce by creaming some butter with confectionary sugar, vanilla and brandy. She also makes the ever popular, in the Palmer family, foamy sauce, which includes similar ingredients plus whisked egg and cooked in a double boiler until frothy and the consistency of cream. It is quite sweet.

The pudding is removed from the mold onto a serving plate, topped with a sprig of holly, and doused with warm brandy and ignited. It is brought to the darkened dining room table, flaming, to the gasps of pleasure from the assembled revelers.

Once the flames die down, it is served with a wedge of hard sauce and a spoonful of the foamy sauce topping the rich, fruity mixture. It is always a hit at our house, and a holiday ritual that Rosemary and I have carried on from my folks. It’s not too late to start a plum pudding tradition for your holiday.

Plum Pudding

½ c. currants

1 ½ c. raisins

½ c. figs

½ c. dates

¼ c. citron

¼ c. candied orange rind

2 c. ground suet (3/8 lb.)

½ loaf day-old bread

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1 c. milk, scalded

½ c. brown sugar, firmly packed

4 eggs

2 TB red wine

2 TB Brandy

Look over currants and raisins with a hawk’s eye for stray bits of stem. Cut up figs, dates, citron, candied orange rind, in tiny pieces with your kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. Put suet through your food chopper, using medium blade.

Remove crusts from bread and crumble bread into small pieces into your larges bowl. Now add salt, spices, scaled milk (in other words, milk that has been heated until a film, shows. Not boiled) and sugar. Mix these ingredients well and set aside to cool. While this mixture cools, beat eggs until light and airy in a separate bowl. Stir into crumb combination along with all fruits, suet, wine and brandy. Mix thoroughly, pour into two small, ungreased, molds or one large mold (1 ½ qt) and cover with close fitting lid or several taut layers of waxed paper tied on very securely. Steam on top of stove for 5 hours.

Easiest way to steam, this pudding is to use our large roasting pan. Place a roasting rack n bottom of the roaster (pie tins will do or any utensil which keeps pudding from resting on bottom of pan, fill roaster with enough boiling water to cover 2/3 of the mold and put on tight fitting lid. As water evaporates keep filling roaster with boiling water to cover 2/3 of the mold.

This makes 1 plum pudding large enough to serve or feed 12. You’ll find pudding keep beautifully in mold steamed in. Cover top of mold tightly with waxed paper and store in cool, dark place.

When you are ready to reheat plum pudding for your wonderful dinner, heat in same fashion in which you steamed pudding in first place for 1 hr. Let sit 15 minutes.

Sprinkle granulated sugar on top of hot pudding (sugar plus alcohol gives a brighter flame). Pour two jiggers of any brandy or whiskey that is at least 80 proof over top. Touch off with a match to top of pudding and you’ll have a real holiday conversation piece.

Hard Sauce

Work or cream 1/3 c. butter until soft, gradually mix in 1 c. confectionery sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract or 2 Tb Brandy. Serve cold with the hot pudding. Enough sauce for 6.

Foamy Sauce

Work or cream ½ c. butter then gradually work in 1 c. confectionery sugar until smooth. Beat 1 egg in separate bowl until creamy. Stir egg and 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 2 Tb sherry into creamed sugar and heat over boiling water stirring constantly until warm and thick as heavy cream. This makes enough for 6.

Meat stocks

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:06:00 +0000

It’s not too early to be thinking about Christmas dinner as it is only a few weeks away. I have many plans to make, but as Christmas dinner at our house involves roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, most of the menu is preordained. Hors d’oeuvres can change from year to year, as can the vegetables, but potatoes are required and they call for a rich gravy.

I make my gravy with home made meat stock, so I usually make up a few gallons of stock in advance. It freezes beautifully, and having some on hand is great for last minute braises, soups or stews.

Meat stocks, beef, chicken or veal, as well as vegetable stocks, have long been part of restaurant cooking, primarily when sauces were used more extensively then they are today. To make a flavorful stock, it is best to use a combination of bones and meat. While both will give off gelatin into the stock as their collagen breaks down, bones give off more than meat, but meat gives off more flavor. While veal stock is the most gelatinous when made, it has a very neutral flavor. Beef and chicken, on the other hand, if made with some meat, will have decidedly beef or chicken flavor.

Stocks can be white or brown. In a white stock, the ingredients are added in a raw state and the stock remains clear to slightly colored, whereas when the ingredients are either roasted in a hot oven or fried in oil to caramelize their exterior, they produce a brown stock.

A classic stock is clear without cloudiness or gray impurities suspended within the broth. This can only be accomplished if the cook pays strict attention during the stock’s initial phases of cooking. First, if making a white stock, it is advisable to wash the bones and meat, place in a pot of cold water and slowly bring it to a boil. As soon as the water starts to simmer, drain the ingredients into a colander and rinse them well. This step removes surface impurities and coagulates proteins on the meat and bone surfaces, preventing them from making the stock cloudy. If one browns their meat and bones first, this step can be eliminated.

The ingredients are again placed in cold water and slowly brought back to the simmer. The cold water and slow heating allow the soluble proteins to migrate from the solids into the liquid, where they gather together in gray clusters which rise to the surface and are easily skimmed off. At the same time, fats dissolve and rise to the surface, where the attentive cook removes them. During this time, the pot is left uncovered, not only to permit evaporation and thus concentration of the cooking liquid, but also to aid in dehydration of the surface scum, making it easy to skim off.

The stock is then simmered at the laziest pace with only an occasional bubble breaking the surface for three to eight hours for beef, ninety minutes for chicken, and only 30 minutes for fish. When the stock is strained, it should be cooled as rapidly as possible to prevent any bacteria build up.

Brown Beef Stock

10 lbs beef bones

3 lbs shin of beef

1 lb onions, quartered

1 lb carrots, sliced in large chunks

1/2 lb celery, chopped into large chunks

3 bay leaves

A bouquet garni of thyme and parsley

1 Tbl peppercorns, whole

Brown the beef bones, shin and vegetables in a hot (425 degree) oven for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the ingredients over a couple of times so they are nicely browned. Place all the browned ingredients into a large pot, cover with cold water and add the bay leaves, bouquet garni, and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer, skimming any scum that rises to the surface. After 10 minutes or so of simmering, most of the scrum will have risen, however continue to skim and scum and or fat that accumulates on the surface. Simmer partially covered for 3 to 8 hours.

Strain the stock to remove the bones and other ingredients. Cool rapidly and refrigerate. Any remaining fat will congeal on the surface and can be removed. Store the stock in 1 or 2 quart containers. It is best to freeze the stock as soon as possible. If using soon, it will keep in the ice box for 3 days, but should be re-boiled if kept beyond that time.

Corned Beef

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Untrimmed brisket with brining crock

A couple of weeks ago at the Norwich Farmers’ Market, Ray Williams from Back Beyond Farm (http://www.backbeyondfarm.com/) had fresh beef brisket for sale. I purchased a half brisket and brought it home to make my own corned beef. It was so good, I picked up a second brisket this past weekend and am trying a slightly different brine to cure this one.

They sell corned beef in the supermarket, but these products are made in large industrial plants where time is at a premium, so speed dictates, and taste and flavor are secondary. Instead of submerging the beef to be corned into a vat of brine with aromatics, and allowing the process to proceed at a natural pace, which can take from 1 to 2 weeks, the muscle is injected with brine, tumbled to distribute the cure, and cryovaced in plastic for delivery to the retailer. Any curing is done in the bag.

I believe there is also a canned corn beef, but I can’t comment on how it is produced or how it gets in the can, so I avoid it.

Different cuts of beef are candidates for salting including silverside, flank, bottom round and brisket, with the latter being the preferred piece. The brisket is the piece of meat that covers the breast or lower chest of the beef, is where the majority of the beef’s weight falls when it lies down, and is one of the eight primal cuts on American beef. As the brisket on a mature animal can weigh 10 to 15 lbs, it is often separated into two pieces, the “flat cut” and the fattier “deckle,” “point,” or “triangular” cut. It is a tougher cut and is usually braised when cooked fresh.

Trimmed flat cut

The “corn” in corned beef refers to the coarse salt crystals used to cure the beef, which are about the size of a kernel of corn. Beef was salted to preserve it, the salting drawing out the moisture in the meat, allowing it to keep longer. Corned beef is made by pickling the meat in brine comprised of salt, sugar, herbs and aromatics, allowing it to cure for a week or two in a cool place. Thereafter it is rinsed off and poached at just about a simmer for 2 ½ to 3 hours, or until fork tender. It can be served hot, but when cooled it can be sliced thinly and makes great sandwiches.

Brine coming to a simmer before being cooled

Here in the northeast we traditionally accompany corned beef with boiled potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets and cabbage, all cooked in the same broth the beef cooked in, for New England boiled dinner, and, of course, corned beef is an Irish specialty on St. Patrick’s Day.

Corned beef is a cousin to pastrami, which is corned beef rubbed with black pepper and spices and smoked. It is usually served as a cold cut on sandwiches, whether cold or warmed up. Coarse mustard and dill pickles make a common accompaniment.

Here's the recipe I used:

Corned Beef (or Tongue)

4-6 lb brisket, flank or beef tongue

1 bouquet garni

1 carrot, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 leek, chopped

1/2 bulb of garlic

For the brine:

5 quarts of water

1 lb light brown sugar

3 lbs coarse sea salt

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp juniper berries

5 cloves

4 bay leaves

A sprig of thyme

3 tbl saltpeter or Instacure #1

Put all the brine ingredients in a large pot and stir well to dissolve the salt and sugar and bring to the simmer. Remove from the heat and cool completely, refrigerating the brine so its very cold. Place your brisket or tongue in a non-metallic container and cover the meat completely with the cold brine. You will need to use a plate or something to keep the meat submerged. Place in a cool place for 5 to 10 days (pieces less than 6 lbs should be brined for the shorter time period)

Remove the meat from the brine, rinse well and soak in cold water for 24 hours.

Place brined beef in a pot, add the rest of the aromatics and fresh water to cover. Poach very gently on top of the stove (or in a 275 degree oven) for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until completely tender and yielding when pierced with a fork.

Serve warm with potatoes, cabbage, beets, turnips and carrots cooked in the broth.

Bread # 3

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:52:00 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve examined bread flours, yeast, pre-ferments, and mixing of bread dough. Now its time to understand fermenting the dough, retarding the dough, shaping the loaves, proofing and baking the final product.

If you’ve made traditional white bread in a loaf pan, the “fermenting” part of bread baking is what you know as the first rise. During this time, the yeast in the dough is feeding on the sugars in the flour, producing carbon dioxide, alcohol and acids. These chemical reactions contribute the bread’s flavor and aroma. The carbon dioxide becomes trapped by the gluten network we created through kneading, and the bread rises.

Bacteria in the dough consume maltose, a sugar that yeast can’t digest, producing lactic and acetic acids, which provide a tangy flavor to the bread. However fermenting bacteria won’t contribute significantly to the bread’s flavor unless it has at least eight hours of fermentation, so to receive the full benefit, one must retard the bread, by refrigerating it for a period of time. Retarding can be done after the initial fermentation or after the loaves have been formed.

While most bread recipes call for an initial rise to double the dough’s original bulk, I prefer to allow the dough to rise to triple its original bulk. During this rise, I “turn” the dough once or twice. In turning the dough, I gently lift it and fold the drooping sides into the center of the bowl, redistributing the yeast and its food supply, evening out the dough’s temperature and reinvigorating the yeast. The gluten is strengthened by this action, and most of the air cells remain trapped in the dough.

Once the dough is fully risen, its time to divide the dough into to pieces that you will later shape into the loaves to be baked. Most of the breads I make do not use a bread pan, but are free-standing loaves, either shaped like a football with tapered ends or round loaves. I do have some willow bread baskets that I use to proof my round loaves, and these leave distinctive coiled markings on the outside of the loaves when they are baked. Other loaves I allow to proof on a couche, a piece of floured canvas used in professional bakeries, and which can, within its folds, hold several loaves.

The divided dough is allowed to rest for about 10 minutes to relax the gluten, which makes forming the loaves easier. Shaping the loaves is an art form that varies from bakery to bakery. Depending on the bread, shaping can be easy or very complex, but suffice it to say that one of the main objectives is to create a surface tension on the outside layer of the dough.

Once shaped, the loaves need to proof, or rise again before being baked. Usually they rise to close to double their original size before being placed in the oven to cook.

I use a baking stone in my oven on which I place my proofed loaves to bake. I also score or slash my loaves with a razor blade to control the “oven spring,” that final rise that occurs in the oven before the heat kills the yeast. By scoring the loaves, one weakens the surface tension is those areas the razor cuts, and this tends to control where the dough expands during these first few minutes of baking.

Lastly, I spray my loaves during the first 10 minutes of baking with water from a spritzer. Wetting the surface facilitates heat transfer to the loaves from the oven while also keeping the exterior flexible to maximize oven spring. The result is a higher, lighter loaf with a crackling crust.

Como Bread

Pane di Como

Makes 2 round loaves

Biga: (Pre-ferment)

2/3 cup, 150 g, water, tepid

1 tsp, 5 g, instant yeast

1 1/2 cup, 250 g, unbleached bread flour

A day before you plan on baking, pour the water into a large bowl, add the yeast and flour and mix a stiff dough. Turn out and knead a couple of minutes, round the dough, place it in an lightly oiled container, allow to sit at room temperature for an hour or so, then refrigerate until the next morning, removing the biga from the refrigerator an hour before you plan on mixing the rest of the dough.

Bread dough:

Biga, 450 g

1 3/4 cup, 400 g, water, tepid

1 1/2 tsp, 10 g, instant yeast

3 1/4 cup, 500 g, bread flour

2 tsp, 12.5 g, sea salt

Scrape the biga into a large bowl and pour the water over it, stirring to break the biga up. Stir in the yeast, flour and salt until a dough forms. You can add just the water and flour and allow to rest for 25 minutes before adding the yeast and salt, if you wish.

Either knead the dough by hand for 10 to 15 minutes. The dough will be sticky, so use some extra flour, but not too much. If you use a stand mixer, knead with the dough hook on medium speed for 10 to 12 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth. To check that the dough is properly kneaded, tear off a small piece and stretch it into a "bakers' window" until it thin enough that you can see through it. If it tears, continue to knead a few more minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled container, cover and allow the dough to double (or triple) in volume. It will be very light and airy. This can take 2 to 2 1/2 hours. You can retard the dough at this point by placing it in the refrigerator. You will need to turn it or deflate before refrigerating, and you may need to do so a second time in a few hours. If not retarding, or after retarding, divide the dough into two pieces and allow to rest on a floured surface for 10 minutes before shaping.

Shape the dough into rounds, pulling across your board to stretch the outer surface of the dough taunt. I place my rounded dough into floured willow baskets to rise, but they can also be placed on parchment paper and covered with plastic wrap to proof.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and place a baking stone on the second rack to preheat. This can take up to an hour. Place a cast iron skillet on the rack below the baking stone.

When the loaves are proofed, either slide the parchment paper onto the baking stone or onto a sheet pan in the oven. If using baskets, the loaves can be turned onto the baking stone next to each other. Place ice cubes in the cast iron skillet and quickly close the oven door. Bake until the crust is glossy red-brown, 30 minutes or so. Cool completely on bread racks before slicing.

Bread #2

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Biga

Flour, yeast, water and salt are the ingredients in bread. Sounds simple, and in many ways it is, but the combination of these ingredients and the way they are handled can produce a large variety of different breads, each distinctive from the other. How does this happen? How can these four ingredients produce such a wide diversity of products with different crusts, different crumbs and different tastes?

Let’s start with the flour. Wheat is the most commonly used grain in bread production. It’s main advantage over other grains like millet, barley, corn and rye is its’ gluten proteins. These proteins are compact when dry and insoluble in water, but when they are wetted they change their shape, become elongated, and form and break bonds with other gluten proteins. As they are both plastic and elastic, they allow the bread to change its shape under the pressure of kneading, while at the same time allowing it to return to its original shape when the pressure is removed. The web created by the gluten strands are so strong that when carbon dioxide is released by fermenting yeast, it doesn’t break through the dough, but gets trapped inside, causing the dough to rise.

Flour is composed of the outer bran, the fiber part, the inner endosperm, the starchy and protein part, and the germ, which contains multiple nutrients. Through the milling process, the bran and germ, while full of nutrients and flavor, but which can go rancid in a short period of time, are removed from most bread flours. However, stone ground flours, as the stones crush the grain more thoroughly than steel rollers, contain some bran and germ, thus they make more flavorful breads.

Whole-wheat flours have not been sieved to remove the bran and germ, and while more nutritious than white breads, they are heavier, denser and darker in color. Many whole-wheat recipes contain a combination of white and whole-wheat flour to make then lighter and more appetizing.

The degree to which flour has been refined is known as its “extraction rate.” This number represents the amount of the whole grain that remains after milling. Whole-wheat flours are usually about 90% or greater. White flours are between 70% and 72%, while many European flours are 72% to 78%, making them somewhat more flavorful than American flours.

Different wheat flours contain different amounts of protein. The higher the amount of protein, the “stronger” is the flour. Bread flours, which include 12.5% to 14% protein, make the lightest, highest, chewiest loaves. Cake flours, which have lower amounts of protein (7%), make tender baked goods. All-purpose flours fall between bread and cake flours, in the 11-12% range. King Arthur makes an Artisan European style flour that is 11.7% protein and their White Whole Wheat flour, ground from white, not red, wheat, is a great substitute for the heavier red winter whole-wheat flours.

The other major ingredient that affects the final bread is the amount of hydration used. Bakers use a system known as “bakers’ percentages” in calculating their recipes. In this system, all ingredients are a percentage of the amount of flour in a recipe. So a standard 65% hydration rate means that the water in the recipe is equal in weight to 65% of the flour used. The higher the hydration rate, the softer, less elastic the dough, and an open-textured loaf is produced, while less water produces a firmer, denser loaf.

Next week we’ll discuss yeast, mixing and proofing techniques that also have an impact on the taste and texture of the bread produced.

Bread

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:27:00 +0000

I’m excited that real, artisan, hand-crafted, organic bread is now available Fridays at South End Market, just up from the library in Bradford, where Calista is carrying Red Hen Bakery products, but you have to pre-order. Red Hen breads come in paper, not plastic, bags, are crusty on the outside with a wonderful yeasty flavored crumb inside. Different products have different crusts and crumbs, but every one I’ve tasted has been delicious. On bread day, the seeded baguette I get on my way home is half devoured when I arrive.

During my youth in the 1950s and 1960s in Bradford, Mom made traditional white loaf bread often, but Wonder Bread or its equivalent was available in the stores, so it was in the pantry in the bread box, You know, it’s still around, with it homogeneous cake like interior inside a non-existent “crust.” Spread it with peanut butter and marshmellow fluff for the quintessential “Fluffer-nutter,” but pardon me, the bread is insipid.

Industrial America has figured out how to make a bread that had little human interaction with the product once the basic ingredients are mixed together. It produces bread in a few hours from start to finish, whereas flavor and texture can only be developed over time. It is not just in America that bread experienced a significant decline during this time, and many of those signature products of that earlier time persist even today. In Europe, commercial bakeries’ cheap products bankrupted traditional shops, and inferior bread became prevalent for many years, with, of course, some vestiges of the past preserved in certain enclaves.

Fortunately, in the 1980s and ever since, the rise of traditional approaches to baking breads has been revived. The methods of mixing the ingredients, manipulating the dough whether by kneading or turning, fermenting the dough, retarding the dough, shaping the dough, proofing the breads and baking them have been developed to maximize taste, aroma, structure of the crumb, texture and flavor. These methods take time and some labor, but the resulting products are so much more than industrial breads that there is no comparison. They have body, heft and a satisfying goodness that nourishes more than the body alone.

Now big bread companies have figured out how to make an artisan-like product by following similar production techniques and par-baking their breads before freezing them. These breads can now be finished in a hot oven at the store for sale as baked on the premises breads, and some of them aren’t all that bad.

There are many books on breads out there, but I will mention here some of my favorites. The Bread Builders by Dan Wing, from Corinth, and Alan Scott tells not only the science of bread making, but also how to build your own wood fired bread oven. The Taste of Bread by Raymond Calvel is an English translation from the original French and is one of the definitive texts on bread. If you want to learn about real bread, read this book. Yeast, water, flour, salt. Perhaps the American version of Calvel’s classic is Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman of King Arthur in Norwich. Also worth noting are both of Dan Leader’s books, Bread Alone and Local Breads, his latest offering, as well as Joe Oertiz’s The Village Baker, and Maggie Glezer’s Artisan Baking Across America.

Sunday Dinner with pommes Anna

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:08:00 +0000

It’s Sunday and my daughter’s family and my brother Peter are coming by after the Giants’ game for hors d’oeuvres and dinner. While it’s not cold out, it is rainy, so we’re going to have some fun appetizers and a comfy chicken with dumplings dinner.

I’ve poached two chickens in water with onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves, fresh thyme, parsley sprigs and a dozen whole peppercorns. I removed the meat from the bones, which I returned to the stock for another hour of simmering, before I reduced what’s left to about 4 cups of rich broth. The chicken meat has been cut into bite sized pieces and stashed in the fridge till later in the day. I have cubed butternut squash, green beans, and fresh corn to simmer with the meat and thickened broth while the dumplings cook on top.

I picked some basil and made a batch of pesto with toasted pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, salt and parmesan cheese. I roasted a Marina di Chioggia squash and pureed the flesh for squash gnocchi. I moved on to pommes Anna, a potato dish for my Irish son-in-law, which we’ll eat with the starters.

Pommes Anna requires the use of clarified butter to facilitate a non-stick result. This is a classic French dish where thin slices of potato are layered in concentric circles in a cast iron or non-stick skillet before being baked in the oven. The result is a beautiful, crisp potato cake with creamy interior.

Clarifying butter requires melting it, (sweet, unsalted butter is best) and when the moisture has bubbled away, decanting the resulting liquid from the milk solids that remain in the bottom of the saucepan. This butter has a much higher smoke point than non-clarified butter, so it’s ideal to cook with when one wants a butter flavor, but wants to avoid burning the butter.

The potatoes must be sliced very thin and uniformly for this dish to be successful. I use a mandoline to accomplish this task. While I have a stainless steel French mandoline, I opt for my plastic Japanese mandoline for most everyday jobs. Both of these instruments have a blade that can be adjusted up or down to make thinner or thicker slices. All come with a hand guard, which I recommend you use, as it is very easy to cut oneself deeply on these utensils.

The skillet is placed over medium heat, buttered, and the potato slices are arranged in circles starting from the outside of the pan. Each layer is sprinkled with salt and pepper (and grated onion &/or grated parmesan cheese) and brushed with the clarified butter. A total of 6 to 8 layers of potatoes are used, the potatoes are compressed by pushing them down firmly, and the pan is placed in a hot oven to finish cooking. When removed from the oven, it is inverted onto a serving plate and sprinkled with a little minced parsley. Served in wedges, it is good hot or at room temperature.

Lastly, I’m making some gougeres, a cheese puff made with pate a choux, which is used to make éclairs. Milk and egg are mixed and cooked with flour before allowing the dough to cool and then eggs are beaten in one at a time. Flavored with Gruyere cheese, they are formed into spoon sized dollops, and double in size when baked in a hot oven. These are also good hot or at room temperature.

Fall Foods

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:41:00 +0000

So it’s clear that we are in early fall from the colors bursting forth on our hillsides. The mornings are crisper and wood smoke is in the air. The apple and winter squash crops are filling the farmers’ markets. Last year I wrote about Craig Putnam’s Echo Hill Farm which was selling a large Italian squash known as Marina di Chioggia and what great squash gnocchi they make. While I picked up one of these squashes this weekend from Craig, the market abounded with a large variety of unusual winter squash, beyond the traditional buttercup, butternut, acorn, Hubbard and delicata.

I saw Banana squash, Musque de Provence, Spaghetti squash, Pie Pumpkins, Muscat de Provence, Galeau d’Eysines, Red Kuri, Jarrahdale, Sunshine, Valencia, Amish Pie Squash and others whose names I can’t remember. I was delighted with the abundance of varieties produced right here in the Upper Valley.

If you look back to September and October of 2008 you will find columns on winter squash, so I won’t repeat that information here.

All the root vegetables are now also showing up in the markets including turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, carrots, red and golden beets, celeriac, red, yellow and sweet onions, shallots and potatoes. These are the basics for some heart warming, stick to your ribs, comfort food, which warm not only our kitchens, but also our souls. Casseroles, shepherd’s pie, pot roast, short ribs and similar dishes abound during this time of year. The churches are having chicken pie and ham dinners with lots of fruit pies for dessert.

Chicken pot pie is a favorite with many people. This time of the year, and before the frost kills off our gardens, you can still include green beans, spinach or Swiss chard, as well as roasted butternut squash or potato with the chicken and gravy that simmer while the crust cooks to a golden brown. We also like chicken with dumplings, in which I include parsley and thyme from the garden to make the dumplings more flavorful.

This is the beef stew season and the number of recipes for this universal dish abound. I’m inspired to make Boeuf Bourguignon, the classic French stew made with red wine after seeing Julie and Julia, the movie about Julia Child’s life and a young lady who blogs about cooking every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in a single year.

A classic Italian dish appropriate for this time of year is braciole in which thin slices of beef top or bottom round are stuffed with pork stuffing with cheese before being browned and braised in wine or stock.

This is also the cabbage season, whether its green cabbage, Savoy cabbage or red cabbage. Cole slaw with carrots and raisins is a classic, but we like our cabbage braised or steamed as a fall vegetable. Stuffed cabbage leaves cooked in tomato sauce is heart warming on a cold evening. Cabbage is also great in soups or as an addition to stews, and, of course, this is the time to make some sauerkraut, where the cabbage is fermented in its own juices created by salting the shredded vegetable.

Eggplant

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:41:00 +0000

We’ve been harvesting eggplants from our garden for a number of weeks now. I was first introduced to eggplants when I worked at the Blair Mansion Inn in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1971, while I was courting Rosemary in the District of Columbia area. We made Eggplant Parmigiana there, and I remember prepping eggplants a bushel at a time. We’d cut them into slices, salt the slices, let them sit for 30 minutes or more, then brush off the salt and liquid they had exuded, and bread them by dredging in flour, then beaten eggs, and fresh breadcrumbs. Thereafter the breaded eggplant slices were par cooked in hot oil and frozen for future use. When an order came in, the chef would splash some Marinara sauce on a sizzle plate, layer the eggplant with grated mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and sauce, and roast in a hot oven until the cheese was melted and browned and the eggplant cooked through.

Eggplant, known as aubergine in Europe and the Middle East and brinjal in its native India and Pakistan, is a member of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, and closely related to tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco. A perennial plant in temperate climes, Solanum melongena is grown as an annual in New England. While we know it primarily as a dark purple, elongated ovoid, it also grows in a variety of shapes (short and squat to long and thin, often curved, to even egg shaped ones) and colors (pink, yellow, green, white and stripped). As it is related to tobacco, historically its nicotine alkaloids contributed to a bitter flavor, which was purged by salting the sliced flesh. Over the years, breeders have selected against the bitterness, so while today it no longer remains a problem for cooks, salting eggplant before cooking still has benefits in lessening the absorbent properties of its flesh. Anyone who has sauted some eggplant knows it will soak up all the oil you put in the pan before it starts to brown. The application of salt collapses the cell walls of the eggplant flesh, expelling air as well as liquid, and leaving less space for oil to enter and become trapped.

One of the most famous Arabic eggplant dishes is Iman bayaldi, “the priest fainted.” In this dish, the eggplant is stuffed with onions and tomatoes and cooked in copious amounts of oil, most of which it absorbs. Supposedly the priest fainted either because the dish was so delicious, or later when he heard how much oil his wife had used to make the dish.

In an earlier column I wrote about Ratatouille, the French dish comprised of eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini and onions. The Greeks have their Moussaka, a native dish that combines lamb with eggplants, tomatoes and cheese, the Italians their Melanzane alla parmigiana with eggplants, tomatoes and cheese, and the Middle East its baba ghanoush where creamy roasted eggplant is combined with tahini (ground sesame seeds), lemon and garlic. These are just a few examples of world class dishes comprised of eggplant, so if you haven’t tried any lately, they are available from local sources now, so it’s a good time to check out this savory vegetable known as “vegetarian’s meat.”

Melanzane alla parmigiana

Eggplant Parmesan

Serves 6

3 Eggplants

2 Tablespoons salt

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup all purpose flour seasoned with a 1/2 tsp. salt & a grinding of pepper

2 cups of bread crumbs and possibly more

2 quarts canola or vegetable oil

2 cups Marinara sauce

1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/3 lb sliced sharp provolone

Slice the eggplant into 1/2" rounds. Sprinkle with the salt and drain in a colander for 30 minutes or more.

Place the seasoned flour and bread crumbs in separate bowls. Beat the eggs in a third bowl. Pat the moisture off the eggplant, dip each piece of eggplant in the flour, shaking off the excess. Place floured eggplant in the eggs and turn over to coat both sides. Place in bread crumbs and turn over to coat. Place breaded eggplant on a rack while you do the rest of them.

Deep fry the breaded eggplant in 375 degree oil for a minute or so on each side, until the bread crumbs are browned and the eggplant is just cooked through. Drain on an absorbent towel.

Select a baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of Marinara sauce. Place eggplant over the bottom, sprinkle on half the grated mozzarella and 1/2 the parmesan cheese. Cover with a layer of Marinara sauce and repeat a second layer, ending with sauce. Cover the top with sliced provolone.

Bake uncovered in a 375 degree oven for 20 -25 minutes or until hot and bubbly with the top browned.

Let rest for 15 minutes at least before serving. Good at room temperature, and better the next day.

Apples

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:11:00 +0000

This year’s apple crop is starting to hit the markets. I bought a peck bag that included my choice of Ginger Gold, Macoun, McIntosh, Honey Crisp and Paula Red, some for eating and some for an apple tart. I know, it’s “American as apple pie,” but Rosemary makes the pies and I make the tarts. She’s Fanny Farmer and I’m Julia Child, or maybe Paul Bocuse.

Apples, which are related to pears, are part of the rose family. Malus demestica consists of 15,000 or more varieties, or which some 2,000 are American. Originating is Asia Minor, apples are grown all over the world, and are the most popular fruit not only in the US, but also Britain, France and Germany. China, of course, is the world’s leading producer, the US second while Iran and Turkey vie for third.

The apple is propagated primarily by the asexual act of grafting, as planting an apple seed will not result a seedling with the same characteristics as its parent. In fact, the result is often radically different. When Johnny Appleseed hastened westward to keep ahead of a burgeoning population, planting his orchards of apples, the settlers found that most of the apple crop consisted of “spitters,” that were so astringent as to be inedible, but they made great cider, which converted into alcohol, so his coming was legend. While hard cider is fermented, applejack, apple brandies and Calvados are distilled apple liquors.

Cider apples (real tart) are one of the four apple groups, the others being dessert or eating apples (crisp and juicy), cooking apples (tart when raw, balanced when cooked), and now dual purpose apples like Golden Delicious and Granny Smith.

Apples are most associated with desserts, and American originals include apple crisp, apple grunt, and apple pandowdy. Applesauce, flavored with cinnamon, is eaten with pork, and apples are stewed with red cabbage and braised with chestnuts, and included in Waldorf Salad. Sliced apples, chutneys and cheese are a common appetizer, but most apple concoctions are for after the main meal. Apples, with their cell-wall pectins, have good jelling characteristics when cooked down, so they are often made into apple jelly.

Sliced apple will oxidize to an unappetizing brown in a short time if left untreated. This browning can be prevented by tossing peeled, or sliced apples, with an acidulated liquid like lemon juice, where the high acid environment slows down the natural browning process.

Most varieties of apple store well in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide, which restricts ethylene gas from ripening the fruit prematurely, so even local apples are available well into the winter and early spring after a fall harvest.

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” may be an old saw, but it has a lot of truth in it. While apples are not high in Vitamin C and other antioxidant compounds, they show preventive properties relative to cancers of the colon, prostate and lungs. As they are cholesterol free, contain fiber and are bulky, they assist with bowel cleansing, heart disease and weight loss, which many of us could benefit from.

So be it a glass of cider, an apple pie or the crisp crunch of a snappy new McIntosh, now is the time to enjoy our most prolific fruit that grows all about us.

Apple Golden-Brown Betty

Serves 6-8

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 1/2 cups dry, stale cornbread crumbs, finely crumbled

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white or Turbinado sugar

1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

A few gratings of nutmeg

7 or 8 (3 lb) apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/3" wedges

2 lemons, halved

1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Ice cream, custard sauce, yoghurt or whipped cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a shallow 8 1/2" X 11" glass or enamel baking dish with vegetable oil and set aside.

Toss together the crumbs, sugars and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place the apple slices in a second medium bowl. Squeeze the lemons over the apples, straining out the seeds. Toss the apples so they are all coated with lemon juice. This will prevent browning.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the crumb mixture on the bottom of the prepared dish. Follow with half the apples. Pour the apple juice concentrate over the apples, then scatter about half the crumb mixture. Dot with half the butter. Repeat a layer of apples and then the rest of the crumb mixture and the rest of the butter.

Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake until the apples are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil, increase the heat to 400 degrees and let bake until the top crumbs are deeply golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. Serve, warm but not hot, with one of the accompaniments.

Tomatoes II

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Since last week, the late blight has ravaged our tomato crop so bad that we’re destroying all our plants except a few cherry tomatoes, mostly Sun Gold, which still seem to be doing OK. We’ve enjoyed the shortened harvest, and some fruits are still ripening on our porch, but for the most part a very promising crop has been laid low as so many of our neighbors’ crops have also.

Fortunately, many area farmers cultivate a large part of their plants in hoop or green houses, and these enclosed environments are better able to keep the late blight spores from infecting their crops. There were many heirloom varieties available at the farmers’ market his past weekend, and they should continue to be available for a number of more weeks. So stock up if you’ve had blight problems so you can enjoy some local products this winter when all you’ll see are California or Florida tomatoes in the store.

While China is the largest grower of tomatoes, the US is second in worldwide production, with California growing over 90% of the processed tomatoes, meaning plum or sauce tomatoes, which are available canned year round.

Some tomatoes are determinate, meaning they grow to a specific height and set their fruits, most of which ripen at or about the same time. Indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow until either frost kills them, or the gardener cuts off their top. Indeterminate varieties have their fruits ripen as they grow, so they can produce a continuous crop over a long period of time. At Longwind Farm in East Thetford, David Chapman fills his greenhouses with a single planting, which bears fruit from early March through the middle of November.

Tomatoes are considered a vegetable, a term that is culinary in nature and has no scientific meaning. Botanically tomatoes are a fruit, however they don’t share the common characteristic of most fruits, sweetness, and they are not used in desserts, where most fruits appear in a meal. Rather, the tomato is typically served as part of a salad at the beginning of a repast, or they are included in the main meal itself.

While the tomato is naturally acidic, and this makes it any easy plant to can for home gardeners as a hot water bath is all that needed, not a pressure canner, it was the suspected source of a major salmonella outbreak a couple of years ago. While the FDA and the USDA were never able to pinpoint the source of the contamination, Mexico was a suspect, although Serrano and jalapeno peppers were also identified as a possible source of the infection.

Tomatoes contain lycopene, a powerful anti-oxidant that has cancer preventing properties. It has been positively identified as beneficial in preventing colorectal, breast, endometrial, lung and pancreatic cancers. In fact, organic ketchup is found to have much more lycopene than non-organic ketchups, so a word to the wise the next time you need this condiment.

In addition, tomatoes have been shown to provide benefits in preventing heart disease, and lowering cholesterol profiles. They are a great source of Vitamins C, A and K as well as manganese and potassium and they are low in calories.

So enjoy the local vine ripened harvest while it’s still available, and put some up for winter if you can. They’re delicious right now!

Tomatoes

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:43:00 +0000

You have been able to purchase local tomatoes for quite a while now, despite the tomato crop devastation brought on by the late blight. This disease struck many farmers hard in August just as their field crops started to bear fruit. Many heirloom varieties that would normally be crowding farmers’ markets and roadside stands right now, while still available, are found in smaller quantities and with fewer varieties.

We’ve been pretty lucky so far at our house, for while we lost some plants that Rosemary planted on the periphery of the herb garden, our main crop in the vegetable garden is daily bearing a variety of fruits from sauce tomatoes, to heirlooms like Black Russian and Green Zebra, to red and Sun-gold cherry tomatoes to large lobed Brandywines and oval yellow Lemon Boys. I love the tomato harvest; tomato salads with Vermont farmstead blue cheese, tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil, fresh Marinara sauce, BLTs on toasted Red Hen bread with pesto, arugula, Hogwash Farm’s pasture raised bacon, and a slab of Big Boy tomato still warm from the sun, oven dried plum tomatoes with garlic and fresh thyme, or noshing down a ripe Cherokee Purple right out in the garden. Yum!

Solanum lycopersicum is a member of the nightshade family, and long suspected of being poisonous (its leaves and the roots of many of its cousins are poisonous). It is grown as an annual plant in our clime, producing the ovary of a fruit, which we refer to as a vegetable. Usually colored red, many varieties are yellow, orange, purple, black, pink, mottled green and yellow, or red and green, and some are almost white. Their shapes can be large and round, to heavily lobed, to cherries, grapes or currants; from smooth to having pronounced ribs, to elongated and plum shaped to squat and flat. There even is one called the Ugli Tomato, which was banned in Florida due to its multi-ribbed appearance, in spite of its excellent taste.

Penne with fresh tomato sauce and parsley

Heirloom varieties have made a strong come back recently, as their taste and texture are superior to commercial varieties bred more for their shape, size, and color, and mutated to resist natural pests. This is the time of the year to really enjoy a good local tomato, ripened on the vine. What is in the supermarket was picked green in California or Florida, “ripened” by ethylene gas which turns it red, but doesn’t really ripen the flesh, and shipped in a refrigerated container across America to your local store. NEVER, and I mean never, refrigerate a tomato! It not only dulls and kills its taste and muddies its texture, even when returned to room temperature, it will not improve.

The tomato originated in South America, probably Peru, before migrating to Mexico, where explorers returned to Europe with seed in the 1500s. Here it was grown as an ornamental plant until its culinary properties were realized, particularly in Italy, Spain and the Middle East. Today the tomato is central to the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, olive oil, cheese and yoghurt with moderate amounts of seafood and poultry, and modest quantities of red meats and wine.

Next week we’ll continue to look at this flavorful “vegetable” that is used so commonly in everyday cuisine.

Peeled fresh tomatoes for sauce

Proteins

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:28:00 +0000

I've been writing a lot recently about the local harvest available at farmers' markets, area farm stands and those markets that sell locally raised produce. Today I want to turn from fresh vegetables to protein sources, as many area farms are beginning to harvest chickens, beef and pork, with the turkeys still fattening for a fall crop.

I personally purchase all of our meats from people I have met and visited their farms to observe their production practices. I didn't have that luxury when I first switched from supermarket meats to grass fed meats in 2004 while shopping at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan, while attending culinary school. However, I did talk with the producers to learn their methods, and I wasn't inundated with the plethora of confusing and contradicting terms that our government agencies, which are heavily lobbied by agri-business interests, use to describe protein products sold in large supermarkets.

What is generally sold in supermarkets is confinement raised animals without access to pasture and fed a variety of corn or soy products including various "animal byproducts" which can include any number of questionable ingredients, like chicken guts and blood, amongst other things. Their feed is laced with antibiotics, otherwise they would become sick and die on their unnatural diet, and growth hormones to speed their weight gain. They routinely live in close confinement, covered with and standing in their own excrement, and experience higher than normal mortality rates due to these conditions. Cattle fed corn for too long develop health problems that will lead to their death, so getting to market before that point is paramount to operating a profitable business.

Thse feeding practices have led to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which may pose a public health threat in the future. Also, confinement raised cattle include higher amounts of E. coli in their guts that pasture raised cattle, and this, combined with the manure on their hides, translates into more contaminated beef being released for sale to the public by slaughter facilities that are more concerned with speed of the kill than public health.

Many area farmers practice not only a more humane, but also a more natural production process. They allow their animals to forage on grass and other vegetation, which they were born to eat. The cow has four stomachs for a reason, and that is to process otherwise indigestible grasses into food they can live on. Grass fed meats are usually less marbled with fat then corn-fed meats, however they contain much higher levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids, both of which have shown positive effects in areas of heart disease, cancer and the immune system.

Seeking out and finding local pasture raised meats is more challenging that strolling into your local mega-mart to pick up a steak or some chicken for the grill on a pleasant evening, but in my mind, the benefits in terms of taste, the environment and our health are worth the effort. So I encourage you to visit a farmers' market or a store dealing in local meats and try some home grown goodness. It's a great time to fill up your freezer for winter.

Dry Marinaded Pork Chops

I usually make up this marinade for pork chops or roasts a day or two before planning on serving. It is a recipe I've adapted over the years from one originally published in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The major change I made, to make it more Italian, was to add either ground toasted fennel seed, or fellen pollen, which is fairly expensive and difficult to find.

For each pound of pork, make a mixture of the following ingredients:

1 Tsp Sea salt

1/4 Tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1/2 Clove of garlic, minced

1 Pinch of Allspice

1/2 Bay Leaf, ground

1 Tbl Fennel seed, toasted and ground or substitute 1 Tsp Fennel pollen

1 Sprig fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stem, or use 1 Tsp dried thyme leaf

Combine all the marinade ingredients and rub on the pork. Cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated. Turn the pork over once or twice, depending on the length of your marinade time. When ready to cook, scrape the marinade off the pork before proceeding with your recipe.

Zucchini

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:40:00 +0000

The wet weather doesn’t seem to have hurt our zucchini crop as it is starting to produce some fine little specimens, many with their bright yellow flowers still attached. Growing zucchini, which almost all home gardeners do, is not difficult, however keeping after the budding fruit is an almost daily chore. You know what happens when you’re away on vacation for week in August…ZONKERS up to three feet long take over your zucchini plant, and they’re no good for anything except the compost heap.

While most squash plants are American in origin, the zucchini, also know in many parts of the world as courgette, seems to have been developed near Milan, Italy, where the Italians cook them in an infinite variety of ways. The plant was brought to America by Italian immigrants and has been readily accepted in the American market. It is a member of the Cucurbita pepo family and closely related to our yellow crooked neck summer squash, which is can be substituted in any zucchini recipe. The Italian word for squash is zucca, so the feminine diminutive zucchine is used in some areas of Italy, however the male diminutive zucchini is most commonly used.

Zucchini, which is actually the fruit of the plant, being the female ovary, needs to be harvested while it is immature. As the fruit grows, so too do its seeds, which become unappetizing as they get larger. The flesh of an overgrown zucchini can become fibrous, making these large marrows undesirable. So pick them when they are small with the flowers still attached. They will range in color from a light green to a luxurious, deep green color, their skin will be taunt and firm and the flesh white with a few immature seeds. While zucchini are available year round, they are best when locally grown when their flavor is at its height. If purchased in the market, they should be glossy and free from blemishes. Any with dark spots or bruised flesh should be avoided.

Zucchini are low in calories and contain beneficial amounts of Vitamin A, folate, potassium and manganese.

When it comes to cooking zucchini, let us count the ways. They are grilled, steamed, sautéd, deep fried, baked, stuffed, steamed, made into a risotto or included in a frittata, or with pasta, or grated, or included in a ratatouille, or a soup…the list goes on and on. They are frequently sliced into rounds or ovals, but can also be cut lengthwise into quarters or matchsticks, depending on the application. They are most commonly eaten with the skin on, so they should be carefully washed before using, especially when purchased in the supermarket.

We particularly enjoy the zucchini flowers. If you pick the male flowers, those that grow on a long stem, you can deep fry them in fritter batter, or stuff them with mozzarella and anchovy and bake them in the oven. They make a distinctive presentation and an interesting side dish.

Pastella for Fried Zucchini Flowers

1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Cup +/- water

Place the flour in a small bowl. Slowly mix in the water until you have a smooth batter, slightly thicker than cream.

Heat deep frying oil in a cast iron skillet, not allowing the oil to exceed 1/2 way up the side of the pan. Using a deep fry thermometer, heat the oil to 375 degrees. Dredge the zucchini flowers in the pastella and slip into the hot oil. Fry a minute or two and turn the flowers over with thongs. Allow to cook on the other side a couple of minutes. Remove to paper towels to allow to thoroughtly drain. Immediately sprinkle with sea salt and serve while hot.

Carrots

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:54:00 +0000

Almost always present in our iceboxes, but often overlooked as an item to be utilized alone, the carrot is now is season at area farm stands and farmers’ markets. At this moment, they are young and sweet, crisp and crunchy when consumed raw, and full of good nutritional elements. It’s true that carrots have beneficial properties relative to your vision, as they are full of beta-carotene, which is metabolized into vitamin A when consumed by humans. Poor vision can be restored by including vitamin A in the diet.

Daucus carota var. sativa is a taproot vegetable consumed by mankind for centuries after the wild carrot was domesticated. It seems to have originated in Afghanistan before traveling westward in an Arab migration to the eastern Mediterranean somewhere in the 8th to 10th century AD. Reportedly when carrots were introduced to America, the otherwise honest natives, who had no flavorful taproots, used to raid the settlers’ gardens for these tasty treats.

While it is a biennial plant, we grow and harvest in its first year when the taproot grows large and stores up sugars for the second season flowering stage. While the common carrot is yellow to orange in color, many varieties today range from red to purple to a pale yellow, almost white carrot, and they can be short and stubby, or long and tapered, or conical or cylindrical, depending on the cultivar.

The first new carrots, usually displayed and sold with their leafy green tops still attached, are tender and full of flavor. They should be enjoyed as a separate dinner item to accompany any roast, steaks, chops or seafood. Be sure to remove the carrot tops promptly or the leaves will draw the carrots’ moisture into themselves, leaving you with limp carrots, which aren’t much good, except for the stockpot. We enjoy them simmered in butter with a little stock, and glazed with a glug of maple syrup and a light dusting of Parmesan cheese.

Later in the season, when the carrots are larger, they lend themselves to roasting in a hot oven, which concentrates their sweetness and carrot flavor. I include finely diced or grated carrots in my Marinara sauce as their sugars counterbalance the tartness of the tomatoes. Carrots should not be scraped or peeled as most of their nutrient value lies in the skin. If you purchase carrots in the supermarket, I do suggest peeling them, as pesticide residues from conventional farming may not be able to be just washed off. If purchased from a local organic farmer, unpeeled, but washed with a stiff vegetable brush, is OK. Late season carrots may have a tough core, so it’s not a bad idea to cut them lengthwise to remove it before proceeding.

A pound of carrots will feed 3 to 4 people and will yield about 3 ½ cups when sliced, diced or quartered. They make a delicious soup, are always added to stews and braised dishes, are essential for stocks, casseroles and sauces, and are part of the triumvirate of basic French vegetable cookery combination miropoix, which also includes diced onion and celery.

In America we love our carrot cake, and ribbons of carrot, made with a vegetable peeler, make a nice impromptu salad when combined with vinaigrette and chopped chervil or parsley. Many add it to their coleslaw, and cabbages are coming into season right now, too.

Artichokes

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:42:00 +0000

Artichokes are not usually thought of as a New England vegetable as California, due to its temperate climate, is the largest producer of these plants, which are related to the thistle family. However, more and more vegetable farms in Vermont and New Hampshire are producing these tasty little globes, which consist of the flower of the artichoke plant picked before it ripens.

The Globe Artichoke, a member of the Cynara cardunculus family, is a perennial thistle, which came from the Mediterranean area, although it is not clear if it developed in Northern Africa or Sicily first. It is also a biennial plant, which is now grown as an annual by northern growers as it is not frost tolerant, and must be replanted each year. Northern growers trick the plant into thinking it is in its second season by subjecting the young plants to a period of cold temperatures when they are about 6 weeks old. First year plants only make leaves, but when convinced it is in its second season, the plant puts forth its buds.

Artichokes do require a little work to prepare for eating. I usually cut off about 1/3 of the top of the artichoke, removing the thorns that emanate from the leaves. You have to rub the cut surfaces with lemon to prevent discoloration of the leaves, which will quickly oxidize and turn brown if not treated. When preparing a bunch of artichokes, I acidulate a bowl of water with lemon juice and place each prepared artichoke in the water while I’m prepping the rest.

I remove the outer leaves of the choke until I reach the light green inner leaves. If one chooses to, one can take only the first row of outer leaves off and then simmer the entire choke in salted water until tender. Break off each leaf, known as a bract, dip in melted butter, vinaigrette, aioli or mayonnaise and gnaw off the edible base of the leaf. When all the leaves have been eaten, remove the hairy choke, and the base and upper stem of the artichoke are delicious.

Artichoke hearts are used as the base for other vegetable preparations, and constitute a part of the Arabic diet, which favors stuffed vegetables. Filled with baby peas and onions in a light cream sauce they make an appealing side dish to most any meal.

In Italy, where you see them growing in many yards, the artichoke is deep fried to produce the golden Carciofi alla Romano, a dish we make at our house, and in France they are prepared in an infinite variety of ways including Stuffed Artichokes, where they are par cooked, then stuffed with sausage, onion and parsley, wrapped in bacon, and braised in white wine and veal stock with onions and carrots.

Artichoke hearts, sold prepared in grocery stores, are often added to salads or can top a pizza. They make a tea from artichokes in Viet Nam, and it Italy the liqueur Cynar is primarily flavored with artichoke.

So take a little culinary adventure, pick up a few artichokes from the farmers’ market or farm stand and try some Mediterranean cuisine with locally grown artichokes. They’re fun!

The pictures above include artichokes growing in our garden in Fairlee, Vermont, as well as a seasonal dish we concocted on the evening we harvested 3 artichokes. Here's the recipe.

Artichokes with Garlic & Peas

3 small artichokes, trimmed of their outer leaves, cut in half
3 heads of green garlic
6 scallions, red and/or white
1 1/2 cups fresh shelled peas
2 Tbl butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt & pepper
1 Tbl fresh mint, minced
1 Tbl fresh flat leaf parsley, minced

The small local artichokes we used did not have a developed choke, so we trimmed off the top of each artichoke, rubbing the cut surfaces with lemon juice, and removed the outer leaves until we reached the yellow-green inner leaves. We peeled the outside of the artichoke heart and stem, and placed the prepped artichokes in a bath of acidulated water to prevent browning.

We prepped the green garlic by removing its light husk and trimming the root end, leaving the heads whole. The green onions were trimmed to just their bulbs.

We sauted the green onions and green garlic in 1 tablespoon of butter for a couple of minutes before adding the artichokes, which we bisected through the stem, and the chicken stock. After simmering for 3 minutes we added the shelled peas, and allowed to simmer 3 minutes. We raised the heat to high to cook off some of the stock, hit it with another pat of butter, and the minced herbs. Season with a little salt and pepper. Delicious.

Beets

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of shopping at farmers’ markets in Bradford, St. Johnsbury, Montpelier and Norwich. The quality and variety of the produce, proteins like chicken, pork, beef and elk, maple and honey products, cheeses, crafts, and prepared foods is wonderful to behold. It’s time to eat the season and enjoy our local bounty brought to us by dedicated stewards of the land who honor their husbandry traditions.

We have been enjoying some fabulous beets, both red and golden, from Your Farm in Fairlee (www.yourfarmonline.com). They grow three varieties, a traditional red beet, a golden one, and Chioggia or candy-strip beet.

The garden beet is a member of the beetroot family, Beta Vulgaris, which includes other vegetables like chard and spinach beet, grown for their leaves and midriffs, sugar beet, a tuber from which sucrose is derived, and mangle-wurzel, a tuber grown as a fodder crop.

Beets have been cultivated for thousands of years, at least since the second millennium BC, and were probably domesticated around the Mediterranean before spreading through Babylonia to China in 850 BC. Originally the beetroot was a long taper, similar to a carrot, and the plant was grown for its leafy greens. The Vuglaris variety with its red, fleshy tubers became popular after the rise of spinach supplanted the beet green as the cooking green of choice. My Larousse Gastronomique claims that some “long-rooted varieties…have more flavour and are sweeter than round varieties…” but I’ve never seem any beets like that around here.

Beets have a lot of health benefits from their consumption and have a long tradition in folk medicine. They have been used as a laxative to treat constipation, as an aphrodisiac, for illnesses related to digestion and the blood. It’s high in antioxidants, boron and oxalic acid, and has been used in cancer treatments, mostly in Europe. Drinking beet juice lowers blood pressure and the pigment molecule betanin seems to provide protective benefits against cancer.

Beets can be cooked in boiling water, roasted in the oven, or grated and eaten raw in salads. I like to roast my beets, unpeeled, with about an inch or so of the beet top still attached. I put them on a sheet of aluminum foil with a couple cloves of crushed garlic, a spring of thyme, a swirl of olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Wrap them up and put in a hot (400-425 degrees) oven for 45 minutes or so, depending on the size of the beets. When a fork pierces them easily, remove and allow to cool somewhat. When you can handle them, peel them and go on with your recipe. Roasting concentrates their flavour more than merely boiling, and I’ve seen older recipes which recommended placing boiled beets in the oven for an hour or more to accomplish the same effect.

Pickled beets are popular with many as a condiment, and borscht is a rightly famous cold soup, indigenous to Eastern Europe.

Here's a recipe for pickled beets that takes a couple of days, but is well worth it. Try it and enjoy.

Pickled Beets

1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon pickling spice
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 onion, halved
1 small bay leaf (not California)
3/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 bunch fresh dill
3 beets (1 pound without tops)

Bring all ingredients except beets to a boil in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Cool marinade, then chill, covered, 1 day to allow flavors to develop. Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl.

Cook beets in a saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Drain and cool. Slip off skins and cut into 1/2-inch pieces.

Stir together beets and marinade, then marinate, covered and chilled, 1 day.

Beet Salad with Almond Butter and Gorgonzola Bombolini

For almond butter:
1/2 cup toasted Marcona almonds
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
Pinch of cayenne
1/2 to 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

For beet salad:
1 1/2 pounds small (2-inch) beets without greens (2 pounds with greens)
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Accompaniments: Gorgonzola bomboloni (recipe follows) ; coarse sea salt such as Maldon or fleur de sel

preparation

Make almond butter:
Grind almonds to a paste with garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cayenne in a food processor. With motor running, add just enough oil to make a silky paste. Season with salt.

Make beet salad:
Simmer beets in 3 inches of water in a large saucepan, covered, until tender, about 30 minutes. Cool in liquid, uncovered, about 30 minutes, then peel and cut into 1/2-inch wedges.

Whisk together vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl, then whisk in oil. Add shallot and chives and toss with beets.

Divide almond butter among 6 plates and top with beet salad. Put a bombolone on each salad and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Serve remaining bomboloni on the side.

Gorgonzola Bombolini

1 teaspoon active dry yeast (from a 1/4-ounce package)
Scant 1/2 cup warm whole milk (105-115°F)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound chilled Gorgonzola, rind discarded and cheese cut into 16 (3/4-inch) cubes
About 4 cups vegetable oil

Equipment:
a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; a deep-fat thermometer

preparation

Stir together yeast and milk in bowl of mixer and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.) Mix in 3/4 cup flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled and bubbly, about 1 hour.

Mix in egg, butter, sugar, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup flour at low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat dough until satiny and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape dough into center of bowl and dust lightly with flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and lightly sprinkle with flour. Punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut into 16 equal pieces. With lightly floured hands, flatten 1 piece of dough and put a cheese cube in center. Pinch closed, then roll into a ball and transfer to baking sheet. Make 15 more balls, arranging 1 inch apart.

Heat 2 inches oil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat to 350°F. Fry bomboloni, 4 at a time, turning frequently, until puffed and golden, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Return oil to 350°F between batches. Serve hot.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:37:00 +0000

In last week’s column, the words “high fructose corn syrup and other industrial additives” triggered an email letter from the Corn Refiners Association, a Washington, DC lobby for large food companies like Archer Daniels Midland Co, Cargill, Inc. and others, all located in the mid-west corn belt and involved in corn refining. The corn refining industry is involved in numerous activities in processing corn, with their main products being sweeteners, ethanol, and starch. They also make bio-products, corn oil and feed additives.

Here's the letter I received via email at 5:35 pm on June 11th, the day the paper came out.

June 11, 2009

Hod Palmer, III

90 Grandview Ave.

Fairlee, VT 05045

Dear Mr. Palmer:

We read the June 11 article “Boldo's Thoughts on Food,” with interest. Unfortunately, the suggestion that high fructose corn syrup is an “industrial additive” is misleading. We would like to provide you with science-based information on this safe sweetener and be a reference for you for future articles.

High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same. High fructose corn syrup is essentially a corn sugar.

All sweeteners require processing to produce a food-grade product. Many of the same processes are used to make both high fructose corn syrup and sugar.

The process for making high fructose corn syrup involves separating the corn kernels into four basic components that are fairly common – starch, germ, fiber and protein. The starch is further refined to make high fructose corn syrup.

The sugar refining process consists of numerous steps and process aids including: multiple clarifying steps with heat and lime, polymer flocculent and phosphoric acid; multiple evaporation steps; centrifugation; washing with pressure filtration or chemical treatment; and decolorization with carbon or bone char. Hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, or enzymes are added to liquid sucrose to break the bond between glucose and fructose to make invert sugar. Sucrose from sugar beets is processed by similar methods.

High fructose corn syrup is used in the food supply because of its many functional benefits. For example, it keeps food fresh, retains moisture in bran cereals, helps keep breakfast and energy bars moist, maintains consistent flavors in beverages and keeps ingredients evenly dispersed in condiments. High fructose corn syrup enhances spice and fruit flavors in yogurts and marinades. In salad dressings and spaghetti sauce, it improves flavor by reducing tartness. In addition to its excellent browning characteristics for breads and baked goods, it is a highly fermentable nutritive sweetener and prolongs product freshness.

To read the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup, please visit www.SweetSurprise.com. Please feel free to contact me if you would like additional information about the products made from corn.

Thank you for your consideration,

Audrae Erickson

President

Corn Refiners Association

Washington, DC

(202) 331-1634

In 2008 the CRA launched a multi-million dollar public relations campaign called “Changing the Conversation About High Fructose Corn Syrup.” According to the CRA’s website “Articles in the publication discuss the elements of the campaign and the science-based messages it employs to dispel the myths about high fructose corn syrup and highlight the nutritional equivalence between high fructose corn syrup and sugar.”

HFCS has been the derided as a primary or contributing cause of increased health problems like obesity, diabetes, cholesterol, and heart disease. It is used in a wide variety of products like soft drinks, cookies and cakes, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, yoghurt and salad dressings. It’s benefits to the processed food industry include it’s cost, which is less than sugar, it’s moisture retaining and fermentable properties, it’s browning ability, and it’s flavor maintaining elements, amongst others. Estimates are that HFCS is found in 25% or more of products in an average supermarket.

The industry asserts that HFCS is the same as sugar, and that it’s consumption by the public is safe, with no impact on obesity and the other health problems it has been accused of causing.

However, a quick check of respected sources such as WebMD, the Mayo Clinic and the American Diabetes Association suggest caution about over consumption of HFCS, that some refining processes leave mercury residues in HFCS, and concern that it may suppress the hormone leptin which makes one feel satiated, thus leading to over eating.

My concern with HFCS lies in it’s origin: the industrial agribusiness of GMO hybridized corn utilizing large amounts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to produce a monoculture crop, and the resulting destruction of the land including massive amounts of run-off pollution that degrades water qualities way down stream, and has resulted in dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. The corn industry touts it’s increasing corn yields as more bushels are produced per acre, so less land needs to be planted, and it’s decreasing reliance on fertilizers and herbicides. Sugar tariffs keep out inexpensive foreign sources, protecting our domestic industries, and allowing HFCS to enter the sweeteners’ business, where, because of its relative pricing power it fast became the sweetener of choice.

I don’t have space to go into the subsidized giant agribusinesses in our country, and the abuses to the food chain the Farm Bill, the FDA and USDA support or fail to regulate. The good news is that there is a food revolution occurring in our country as more and more people become involved in localvore groups, Slow Food conviviums, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offerings from nearby farms. Our agricultural base is diversifying and more people are purchasing their foods from area growers, including many grocery stores, which are carrying local products, as well as farmer’s markets and farm stands.

Vinaigrette

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:58:00 +0000

The Farmer’s Markets are in full swing or opening this weekend, and they are full of beautiful salad greens, radishes, and scallions. Already this spring I’ve harvested arugula, also know as rocket, and Rosemary has been bringing home mesclun mix, baby spinach, green leaf and baby romaine from Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford. So with the salad season in full swing, let’s discuss how to make your own salad dressing so you can avoid the high fructose corn syrup and other industrial additives found in supermarket salad dressings.

Vinaigrette is the classic oil and vinegar mixture popularized by the French, but adopted by other cultures with their own variations. It is often referred to a “French dressing,” although the reddish orange conglomeration of oil, sweeteners, tomato puree and spices sold under that name bears no discernible relationship to a true vinaigrette.

Classically, vinaigrette is 3 parts oil, usually extra-virgin olive oil, but other oils can be used, to 1 part vinegar. Lemon or other citrus juices can be substituted for the vinegar, but when doing so, the proportions are usually closer to 1 to 1 between the oil and the acid. Aromatics like minced shallot, onion, and/or garlic are often added, along with salt and pepper, and fresh herbs are frequently included.

By itself, a mixture of oil and vinegar will separate quite quickly due to their immiscibility. If shaken together in a jar, the oil will become dispersed in microscopic droplets throughout the vinegar and a temporary emulsion will occur. However, within a few minutes, the emulsion will break and the oil, being lighter, will accumulate above the vinegar in the jar as the dressing separates.

So classic vinaigrettes should be mixed just before dressing the salad, which should be just before serving.

There are a couple of ways to preserve the emulsion longer; one can make the mixture in a blender or food processor, which will not only disperse the oil into even more tiny droplets, allowing them to maintain their suspension in the vinegar longer, but also air will be trapped in the dressing, delaying the inevitable force of nature to separate the components. Or one can add an emulsifier, like a little mustard, which contains lecithin, a natural substance that lowers the interfacial tension between the liquids, allowing the emulsion to persist longer. The mustard, of course, adds additional flavor to the dressing, so its presence has multiple benefits.

Other possible additions to vinaigrette include capers, anchovies, gherkins, hard cooked egg, or even raspberries. Oils other than olive one might use include corn, safflower, canola, peanut, walnut, hazelnut, pistachio or one of the infused oils. The salt should be dissolved in the vinegar first, as it will not dissolve in the oil.

Dress the salad just before serving as the greens will tend to wilt and exude their moisture under the presence of the vinegar and salt if allowed to stand for too long. It’s best to use a glass or ceramic bowl for the salad, as wooden salad bowls will turn rancid with repeated use, no matter how well and often washed.

Sauce Vinaigrette

½ cup

½ to 2 Tbl good wine vinegar or a mixture of wine vinegar and lemon juice
1/8 Tsp salt
¼ Tsp dry mustard or 2 tsp Dijon mustard
6 Tbl salad or olive oil
Big pinch of ground pepper
1-2 Tbl minced fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, tarragon, basil or a pinch of dried herbs
Optional: 1 clove minced garlic

Either place all ingredients in a glass jar and shake vigorously fore 30 seconds to blend. Dress salad immediately. Or place all ingredients in a blender and blend at high speed 1 minute. Dress salad or place in cruet and serve salad and dressing. Or combine vinegar, salt and mustard then blend in oil drop by drop whisking with a balloon whisk until emulsified. Stir in herbs and dress salad immediately.

For Sauce Ravigote stir in 1 tsp chopped capers, 1 tsp minced shallot or green onion, 2 Tbl minced fresh parsley, chives, tarragon, or chervil. This sauce is served with cold beef, chicken, fish, or vegetables.

Risotto

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:25:00 +0000

So it’s asparagus season again. My three-year old bed is producing more abundantly than last year, and we had Asparagus Risotto with our first cuttings. Risotto is a northern Italian braised rice dish. It has some common elements with pilaf and paella, in that the rice absorbs a broth and other ingredients are added, but it is a unique dish unto itself. Italian short grain rice must be used to create an authentic risotto. Long or short grain American rice or basmati rice will not work. Risotto is not boiled rice.

Risotto is based on indigenous rice strains, like Arborio and Carnaroli, which evolved in Lombardy and Piedmont in northern Italy. In the Veneto, Vialone Nano is preferred, where risotto is prepared “wavy” like risi e bisi, or rice and beans, a soupy risotto-like dish. Risotto is actually a technique for preparing these short grain rice kernels by gradually adding a liquid, like brodo or stock, which slowly dissolves the rice’s exterior starch, amylopectin, which combines with the rice and broth resulting in a creamy liaison with other ingredients; cheese, meat, vegetables or seafood. Risotto is velvety and sticky; the rice kernels are homogenized with the flavor base while still retaining an al dente bite.

A thick-bottomed saucepan is needed and medium heat. A simmering pot of broth or stock is preferred, but water is also used. The total amount of liquid will be about 4 times the volume of rice being cooked. The rice is never washed and never covered, and it is stirred frequently, if not constantly, requiring diligent attention during the cooking process. Some cooks use a wooden spoon, others insist on a fork to fluff the rice to avoid breaking the kernels as they approach doneness. Butter is required as the cooking lipid, although small amounts of extra-virgin olive oil can be added, but detract from authenticity. Onion is the only required aromatic, but garlic, minced carrot and celery often are included. The aromatics are cooked until they are dry and exude the butter, and then the rice is toasted in the hot fat a few minutes. Wine is used to deglaze the pan, and is allowed to totally evaporate before the first ladles of broth are added. As a result of adding the broth gradually and allowing it to be absorbed by the rice while constantly stirring, the starch is slowly released, and amalgamates with the rice kernels and the flavor base to produce a truly satisfying dish.

Risotto is traditionally finished off the heat with a knob of butter and a handful of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese stirred in. It is allowed to stand for a few minutes, and then served warm as a first course, or it can be a main meal with a salad and some crusty bread.

If you ever have left over risotto, it makes great risotto balls when breaded and deep fried, usually with a morsel of fresh mozzarella or gorgonzola inserted inside, or as risotto cakes, which can be rolled in dried breadcrumbs, or not, and sauted for a few minutes to warm them through.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

* Extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, smashed with heel your hand
* 1 1/2 pounds assorted fresh mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster or cremini, cleaned and sliced
* Kosher salt
* 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaking in 3 cups hot water
* 1 medium or 2 small onions, cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 1/2 cups)
* 2 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice
* 2 cups dry white wine
* 6 to 7 cups hot chicken stock
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano
* 1/2 cup chopped chives

Directions

Coat a large saute pan generously with olive oil and add the smashed garlic cloves. Bring to a medium-high heat. When the garlic cloves have begun to brown and are very aromatic remove and discard them. Add the assorted fresh mushrooms to the pan and season with salt. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft and pliable. Turn off the heat and reserve.

Using your hand, carefully scoop the porcini mushrooms out of the hot water. (At this point the water should have cooled off significantly. If it is still too hot for your hand, use a slotted spoon.) Pour the top 2/3 of the mushroom water into another container and reserve for use while making the risotto. Discard the bottom third. It contains a lot of sand and dirt from the mushrooms. Puree the re-hydrated mushrooms with a little of the reserved mushroom water to make a smooth mushroom paste. This will not look good but it will certainly taste good! Reserve.

Coat a large saucepot abundantly with olive oil. Add the onions and season generously with salt. Bring the pot to a medium-high heat. Cook the onions, stirring frequently until they are very soft and aromatic but have no color. Add the rice and stir to coat with the olive oil. Cook the rice for 2 to 3 minutes to toast, stirring frequently. Add wine to cover the surface of the rice and stir frequently until it has completely absorbed. Add the reserved mushroom water and then add chicken stock until the liquid has covered the surface of the rice. Stir frequently until the stock has absorbed into the rice. Repeat this process 2 more times. Check for seasoning, you probably will need to add salt.

During the third addition of stock, add the reserved sauteed mushrooms and 2 tablespoons of the pureed porcini mushrooms. When the stock has absorbed into the rice and the rice is cooked but still "al dente", remove the pot from the heat. Add the butter and cheese and whip until well combined. This will set the perfect consistency of the rice. The rice should flow and not be able to hold its shape and look very creamy. Serve immediately garnished with chives.

Asparagus Risotto

1 lb. asparagus, tips removed and stalks cut on the bias into 1" pieces
1 onion, chopped fine
salt & pepper
2 tbl. butter
1 cup Arbrorio or Carnaroli rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
5-6 cups stock or water
1-2 tbl room temperature butter
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmiagiano-Reggiano cheese

Have a pot of stock or water simmering on the side. Simmer the cut asparagus stalks, but not the tips, in the stock for 3 minutes. Remove with to a dish for later in the recipe. Keep the asparagus tips separately.

Melt the butter in a large skillet and saute the onion with a pinch of salt and a grinding of pepper until the onion is opaque, 4 or 5 minutes. Add the rice and saute in the hot butter 2 to 3 minutes. Deglaze with the white wine and stir constantly until the wine evaporates completely. Slowly add hot stock with a 2 or 3 oz ladle, stirring between additions until the stock is absorbed by the rice. Continue to add stock in small amounts, and stir constantly. After 18 minutes or so the rice will still retain a bite at its center. Add the cooked asparagus stalks, turn off the heat, add the butter and grated cheese. Stir vigorously for a minute or do, garnish with the asparagus tips and a final dusting of grated Parmiagiano-Reggianno cheese.

Focaccia

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:54:00 +0000

The last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at home made pizza. Today we’ll move on to pizza’s close relative, focaccia, an Italian flat bread which has less toppings and is great for sandwiches or eaten as a quick snack.

First, however, a quick word on the various types of yeast available. Fresh, compressed yeast was the first form of yeast available to both home and professional bakers. Fresh yeast has a short shelf life, so use it up within a few days of purchasing. It must be refrigerated and while it can be added directly to the flour, it works best if bloomed in warm water first. Active dry yeast is most commonly used by bakers as it can be stored at room temperature and remains viable for a long time. It is best if bloomed before using. Instant yeast does not need to be bloomed as its small grains can be completely hydrated when mixed with the flour and water. It can be bloomed, but this step isn’t necessary. I use SAF instant yeast for most of my baking.

Focaccia is a primitive, rustic food that, like a lot of Italian dishes, arose out of poverty and the need to use whatever ingredients one might grow or forage for. It is a simple flat bread that can be topped with any number of herbs, meats, cheeses or seafood, but most commonly includes just olive oil, salt and herbs. Focaccia drives its name from focus, the Latin word for hearth, as it was originally baked either on a hot stone in the hearth or directly on the hearth floor under a mound of hot ash. While eaten all over Italy, it is generally conceded that it’s national home is Genoa, where it is called focaccia. In Tuscany it is known as schiacciata, and in southern Italy pinze. In France pissaladiere with onions and anchovies and fougasse are similar breads.

Foccacce can be thick or thin, crisp or soft, lightly topped with olive oil and salt or topped with a wide variety of ingredients. Sometimes flavorings are kneaded directly into the dough for a little surprise. It could be minced pancetta or prosciutto, garlic, currants or herbs.

The dough is stretched out on a well oiled pan, dimpled with the finger tips, which leaves small indentations to catch the olive oil that is brushed on top to not only flavor the dough, but to help retain moisture inside while the dough cooks. Coarse salt and herbs like oregano, piney rosemary or thyme are sprinkled on top before being placed in a hot oven and sprayed with a mist of cold water that not only helps with oven spring, delaying the death of the yeast, but also helping make the crust golden and crunchy.

While focaccia can be made from most any bread dough, most recipes do include a small amount of olive oil as an ingredient. I like to use a pre-ferment in my breads, so the recipe on the internet will have a biga, a pre-fermented bit of dough which adds flavor to the final product. Once you start making your own focaccia, it will become a regular treat, and it makes fantastic sandwiches when sliced horizontally and layered with your favorite sandwich makings.

Here's a recipe for a focaccia that uses King Arthur's White Whole Wheat flour.

Focaccia di Farina di Grand Bianco

Focaccia w/White Whole Wheat Flour

Makes 2 half sheet pans

Biga:

½ tsp active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water, 105-115 degrees
1 ¼ cup water plus 2 tablespoons water, at room temperature
3/3/4 cups (500 grams) unbleached all purpose flour

Sprinkle yeast over the warm water is a large mixing bowl or mixer bowl. Whisk it in and let stand 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining water and then the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon about 100 strokes to form a sticky dough.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled container, turn the dough over so it’s covered with the oil, cover tightly and allow to stand in a cool place for 6 to 24 hours. The biga will tripled in volume and collapse back onto itself. It will be bubbly, wet and sticky when ready to use. Scoop out what is needed. The balance will keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days, or you can freeze it for later use.

Dough:

10 g active dry yeast
145 g warm water, 105-115 degrees
250 g biga, at least 12 hours old
940 g water, room temperature
388 g white whole wheat flour
1163 g bread flour
15 g sea salt

Topping:

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary, oregano or thyme

Bloom the yeast in the 145 g warm water in your mixing bowl. Chop up the biga and add it along with the room temperature water to the yeast mixture. If making the dough by hand, combine the salt and flour and add it a cup at a time to the water-yeast mixture. When the dough forms, turn it out on a lightly floured surface and knead 6 to 8 minutes. The dough will be sticky, but add just enough flour so you can handle it. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to combine the flour-salt mixture with the water-yeast mixture. Mix on low speed for 3-4 minutes until the dough forms. Change to the dough hook and knead at medium high speed about 5 minutes until the dough is elastic, sticky and soft, but not wet. You will see bubbles under the skin.

Place the dough is a lightly oiled container, cover tightly and let rise until double in bulk or more, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Deflate the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal pieces, sprinkle lightly with flour. Set aside while you prepare the ½ sheet pans.

Oil each sheet pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place one of the pieces of dough on each sheet pan and start stretching the dough out to cover as much of the bottom as possible. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes, then stretch the dough out to the edges of the pan. Cover again and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour until the dough is puffy. Preheat the oven for at least 30 minutes at 425 degrees with pizza stone inside.

When the dough has risen, dimple the surface with your fingertips. Brush with 1 tablespoon of oil, sprinkle with the sea salt and minced herbs.
Have a spritzer bottle of cold water on hand. Place the focaccia on the pizza stone, spray the dough and sides walls of the oven with water. Close oven door and reduce heat to 400 degrees. During the first 10 minutes of baking, spray the dough and oven walls twice more, at 4-5 minutes intervals. Bake until focaccia is golden brown, about 18-20 minutes. Immediately remove from the sheet pan and place on paper towels to absorb and excess oil. Cool to room temperature on a rack. Repeat for the second focaccia.

Pizza Dough

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Last week we took a peek into the world of pizza. This week were going to look a little deeper into exactly what pizza dough is made of, and the varieties that one can easily make at home.

First off, however, I need to highly recommend that if you want to make a first class pizza that will knock the socks off any locally produced pie, you have to have an appropriate surface to cook your pizza on. Your choice will affect the outcome of your crust, and, when it really comes down to it, it’s all about the crust. I’m a fan of a pizza stone, which can be purchased at any good kitchen supply store. They are available in a round or rectangular shape. Mine measures about 17” X 15.” I keep in on the bottom rack of my oven most of the time. Alternatively you can use a pizza pan or even a sheet pan, but the crust will not be as good as one cooked on a hot pizza stone.

Secondly, I like to allow my dough to ferment before baking. Fermenting the dough, which to commercial bakers means the “first rise,” allows the yeast and bacteria to feed on the sugars in the flour, producing carbon dioxide, alcohol and acids, which make the dough rise and gain flavor. A single rise of the dough, however, will not be long enough to really affect the flavor, so I allow my dough to rise to between double and triple it’s size, deflate it and either allow to rise a second time, or I refrigerate it until closer to the time I need it. If refrigerated, remove at least 30 minutes before using, and an hour is even better.

Another fermentation method is to produce a “pre-ferment,” what the Italians call a “biga,” This is a piece of dough made from water, flour and a small amount of yeast. It is mixed and allowed to ferment for nine hours or more. After being mixed, allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or two, then refrigerate until ready to mix the rest of the dough. It will be glossy and porous and have an acidic smell, which will add flavor to the dough.

There are many pizza doughs that can be made without fermenting the dough, however these doughs are more for those who worship the toppings, not the crust. To me, the toppings are a great addition to the pie, but the dough is where the ultimate flavor is brought to the party. I tend to keep my toppings simple and few in number, and the crust is the star.

A commercial baking technique called autolyze in France is helpful in making pizza doughs. The flour and water are combined and allowed to rest for 20 to 25 minutes before the other ingredients are added. During this rest period, the starches and gluten in the flour are allowed to fully absorb the water, which shortens the kneading time and makes a soft dough easier to handle. It also adds to the dough’s extensibility and the dough will have a higher rise.

Next week we'll review focaccia, an Italian flat bread related to pizza. We'll discuss yeasts and which ones you might want to use and I'll provide a white whole wheat focaccia recipe that was very popular at Boldo's.

Here's the highly hydrated dough that is my current favorite. Try it and I think you will like it.

Roman-style White Pizza

Pizza Bianca alla Romana

2 pizzas

Equipment:

Heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook
Pizza baking stone
Pastry brush
Bench scraper
Pizza peel
Parchment Paper

Ingredients:

425 g (1 ¾ cup) Tepid water
5 g (1 tsp) Instant yeast
500 g (3 ¼ cup) Hi-gluten bread flour
10 g (1 ½ tsp) Sea Salt

60 g (1/3 cup) Extra virgin olive oil
10 g (1 ½ tsp) Sea Salt, coarse preferred

Optional additional toppings:

2 cloves or more garlic, minced

1/4+ grated Romano or Parmesan cheese, grated

Pour water into stand mixer, add yeast, flour and salt and stir until a dough forms. With the dough hook, mix the dough on medium high speed (8 on a Kitchen Aid) for 15 to 17 minutes. Periodically scrape down the dough hook as the dough will climb it. Up the speed to 10 and knead the dough 3 minutes more until it clears the sides of the bowl, collects on the hook, and is glistening, creamy and very elastic. Check with a baker’s window and if it tears, knead another minute or so.

Transfer to an oiled 3 qt container and allow to triple in volume. Cover and let sit at room temperature 3 ½ to 4 hours. It can be deflated and allowed to rise again, or refrigerated. Remove from fridge at least 30 minutes before using.

Preheat oven and baking stone at 500 degrees for 1 hour.

Divide the dough in 2 on a well-floured board. Let rest a moment before stretching into a long even sided rectangle on pizza peal sprinkled with corn meal or flour. If you don't have a peel, place a piece of parchment paper on the back of a sheet pan, and continue with the recipe. Dimple the dough all over to stretch it out, but don’t over handle. Brush with evoo and sprinkle with coarse salt and optional toppings of garlic and cheese, if using. Slide onto a pizza stone from the peel by sliding edge onto back of pizza stone and quickly jerking pizza backwards, leaving pizza on hot stone. If using parchment paper, slide it and the pizza onto the hot stone. Bake until bubbled and golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn a couple of times as the back of the oven is often the hottest part. Remove to a rack, brush with a little more oil and serve hot.

Pizza

djembe11@yahoo.com (Horace Palmer, III) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Everyone loves pizza, so let’s take a look at this popular dish with its many varieties, and see how we can make a high quality product at home. Pizza dough can be purchased from a local pizzeria to be cooked at home, or some stores sell pre-made pizzas that you finish in your oven at home. Frozen pizzas are ubiquitous, but I’ve never had one that could come close to a hand-crafted pizza cooked on a pizza stone in my own oven. We like to make our dough at home, and there are numerous recipes depending on whether you’re making a thin crispy crust or a thicker, chewier crust, or a deep dish crust, or a calzone, a form of folded pizza.

Pizza originated in Naples, Italy which is the epicenter of any pizza aficionado’s universe. In Naples, the making of pizza by specific traditional methods is codified into law, giving you an idea of how serious they take their pies. Consisting of a thin bread dough crust, pizza can have a large variety of toppings from the simplest to the most elaborate, as in today’s California pizzas, with their fresh vegetables and local fare, popularized by Wolfgang Puck. New York-style pizza is thin crusted, but flexible as New Yorker’s like to fold their pizzas when eating. Chicago has it’s deep-dish pizza, where the dough covers the bottom and sides of a deep spring-form pan, and a large number of ingredients like cheese, meats and the sauce, usually on top, fill the interior. Greek-style pizza has a thick crust and is cooked in a pizza pan usually with ingredients like feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and spinach.

Pizzas can be cooked on a pizza pan or directly on a stone, which has been preheated to a high temperature. Some of the best pizzas are cooked in a wood or, even better, coal-fired oven. When I was in New York, I frequented Lombardi’s in lower Manhattan and Grimaldi’s under the Brooklyn Bridge where they have coal-fired ovens. The pizzas would come to the table smoking, with little areas of the crisp crust scorched by the heat of the oven, which is heated to about 900 degrees.

We like to use high gluten flour, marketed as “bread flour,” for our pizza doughs. In addition, we prefer a more highly hydrated dough as this adds to the dough’s extensibility, which is its ability to stretch. More water means an open, bubbly structure to the dough, and a wet dough will result in a highly caramelized crust, making it more flavorful. However, a dough with more than 60% hydration gets difficult to handle, so if we’re making an 85% hydrated dough, we have to use a stand mixer for the flour to absorb all that water.

Pizza toppings are limited only by your imagination. Traditional toppings include tomatoes, either in sauce or whole slices, mozzarella cheese because it melts so beautifully, Italian meats like pepperoni, salami, sausage or ham, grated cheeses like Parmesan or Romano, vegetables like spinach, peppers, onions, mushrooms and, of course, garlic. Fish and shellfish make appearances on pizzas including shrimp, clams and anchovies. Some people put nuts on their pizzas like cashews, pine nuts or pistachios, and herbs like basil, oregano or marjoram. We sometimes add fresh arugula on top of our pizzas after they are cooked, making them a one dish meal with the salad on top.

Basic Pizza Dough

1 Cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1 Package active dry yeast
3 to 3 ½ Cups All Purpose, unbleached, white flour
½ Tsp salt

Put the water in a medium sized mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir gently and allow the yeast to dissolve and turn the water to a light beige color. Let stand 5 minutes.

Add the flour in 1 cup batches to the water/yeast mixture. Combine just until it forms a rough dough. Cover the mixture with a damp side towel and allow to stand 25 minutes. Stir in the salt and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and satiny. If you break off a small piece, see if you can stretch the dough out in what is known as a “baker’s window.” You should be able to stretch the dough to the point you can just see through it without it tearing. If it tears, knead a few more minutes.

Lightly oil a bowl or other suitable contained with olive oil. Turn the kneaded dough over so all sides are lightly coated with oil, cover and set aside to rise in a warm place (70 to 75 degrees) until at least double or more in bulk, I like triple.

Gently deflate the dough by turning its edges back over itself. Don’t over handle it. Quickly cut the dough into 6 to 7 oz balls, each ball will become a pizza. You can refrigerate or freeze them, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, at this point. You can also let them proof further, but don’t let them over rise.

If you refrigerate the dough it will continue to ferment until ready to be used. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, knead it gently to deflate, and preheat your oven. Allow at least 30 minutes for the dough to return to room temperature, then form, top and bake at 450 degrees until done.

Black Pepper-Lard Pizza Dough

1 Cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 Package dry active yeast
3 to 3 ½ Cups All Purpose flour
½ Tsp salt
½ Tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 oz (2 heaping tablespoons) naturally rendered pork lard

Pour water into a medium sized bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Gently stir to dissolve the yeast and allow to stand 5 minutes.

Add the flour to the water-yeast mixture to form a rough dough. Cover with a damp side towel and allow to stand for 25 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and lard and mix thoroughly. The dough should be soft and sticky, but come away from the side of the bowl.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and proceed to knead from 5 to 10 minutes, adding small amounts of flour as needed. The dough will become elastic and smooth. When properly kneaded, it will spring back when pressed down.

Place dough is an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until risen between double and triple its original volume. At this point, you can cut the dough into 6 to 7 oz balls and form them into pizzas, or you can refrigerate the dough for use later.

This will produce a excellent all purpose pizza dough. It is thick and chewy. If you want it thicker, allow to proof for 30 minutes once you’ve lined a pizza pan, but top it just before baking.