food/culinary – Page 8

Make low-acidity coffee yourself

February 2, 2014 by Jason Leave a Comment

I love me some coffee. Trust me, my day job is working at a computer. It’s been just over 15 years or more working at a computer and drinking lots of coffee. I’ve went through the phases most coffee drinkers do… thinking “man this coffee is tearing me up.” Is it the caffeine, or the acidity? For me, I think it’s the acidity. I’m testing this theory now.

I like acidic foods too… like citrus, sausage, hot peppers and a multitude of other things high in acid. Oddly, I don’t suffer from typical acid ailments like acid reflux or indigestion, yet. However, when my favorite cup of coffee hits my stomach, I feel it now-days. I have already cut down my intake and only drink it in the morning, and not every morning. I notice improvement. But what’s a man to do about his love of coffee? I thought I’d give the low-acid coffee I have been hearing about a try.

First, find good whole beans. I feel I have the best coffee connection in the world, if not my area. They French-roast a Mexican bean for me exactly how I like and I get 5 lbs. a month (working on cutting that down of course 🙂 I can also feel good about supporting my local economy.

Next, set your grinder to a course grind and grind to the following ratios; 1 cup course grounds to 3 cups of water. If you want to make smaller batches, respect a ratio of about 1/3 cup grounds to 1.5 cups of water.

I mix all in a 1 quart mason jar, put the lid on and set it aside for 12-15 hours.

Give the jar of coffee grounds a shake or turn if you walk by it during the steeping time.

The science of making the low-acid is steeping the grounds in cool water vs. blasting them with hot. I’m struggling to stay away from the technicals here… but my nerd friends can Google all about this science. Naturally, the cool water will take longer to steep out the flavor out of the coffee. I have let sit over night.

The next morning, I use my regular coffee maker as the strainer. See the pic. I put in a coffee filter, put the empty carafe below and slowly pour the water and grounds into the filter. The coffee concentrate flows through and into the pot. Mine is a perfect set-up because the carafe is required to be in place before the liquid can flow through (it’s the steal-a-cup style).

From there, I dump the concentrate from the carafe back into a mason jar. That’s it. You have coffee concentrate. Now stay with me here. This is where I thought this was going to be nasty. Boil your water. We boil our water in our teapot. Now, it’s as easy as ever to have coffee or tea… by the cup.

I’ve read mix 50% of the coffee concentrate with 50% boiling water. I have done this… and of course you can change those ratios to adjust strength to your liking.

The outcome? I can’t believe it’s still coffee? It tastes just as good, and just as fresh as the regular way I make coffee. It has all the flavor and strength and really doesn’t taste like yesterday’s pot. Sure, there’s a little more effort involved, but for now, it works for me. I have already incorporated it in to our morning regimen. If you do it, let me know what you think!

Step by step pictures

Add grounds to mason jar and add water to sit 12 hours… to overnight.

Straining the coffee water from the grounds.

Coffee concentrate ready to add with boiling water.

Boil water for addition to the coffee concentrate.

Make Chili Tepin Hot Sauce

January 23, 2014 by Jason 10 Comments

I grow lots of tepin chili peppers. They give me a huge bounty! I dehydrate them, cook with them, and make hot sauce. There’s always plenty left to dry and grind up into a powder. Tepin’s are my favorite… and quite interesting too. Here are a few things I learned about them.

Chili Tepin pepper plants I started over the winter of 2012. These were near the end of the 2013 season.

Tepin peppers are the only native pepper in the US. They’re native to the US and Northern Mexico. Tepin’s are one of the hottest chile peppers, often compared to Bhut Jolokia (ghost peppers) and Habenero’s Tepin rank around 100,000-250,000 units on the Scoville scale Tepin’s are called the “mother of all peppers,” because it is thought to be the oldest form of the Capsicum annum species. Also known as birds-eye, or bird chile’s The Tepin took the place of Jalapeño as the state, native pepper in Texas.

I also notice that while it feels more natural to call them tepin chili’s, they are more often referred to as “Chili Tepin’s.” Go figure. Other terms are Chiltepin, flea peppers and mosquito peppers. Tepin is apparently an Aztec term… which means “flea.” Chili Tepin’s can easily be confused with Pequin chiles. Pequin’s are oblong with a longer-lasting burn… but milder. Tepin peppers hit you with an intense burn (I can smell it on the nose) but it’s a very short-lived burn. Tepin peppers should be used sparingly… which brings me to my post. I ground them all up and made a hot sauce 🙂

Chili Tepin pepper hot sauce… with the seeds, and no artificial colors.

Process

5 tbs. minced garlic (I grow a lot of garlic and so I have it pre-minced in a jar in the fridge to use when I need it. You could use 5-6 whole cloves too)
1 cup of tepin chili’s. When I made this batch (I used half-dried, and half fresh picked. They were coming in in waves.)
1 cup apple cider vinegar (I used Bragg’s vinegar with the mother)
1/2 cup water
2 tbs. sweet (or hot) Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon of sea salt (I had some smoked sea-salt, so I used that)
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (I used this to thicken it to the consistency of Sriracha sauce)

Add everything into a food processor or blender (except the xanthan gum), and whip it for a few minutes. Now, I should note… I left all my seeds in the sauce, but next time, I plan to strain them out. At this point, you could use a sieve and strain out the seeds if you don’t want them. Whatever you do, do it, and put it back in the food processor.

Mix the xanthan gum into 2.5 tablespoons of water. Mix it real good and make sure there are no clumps.

Now, add the xanthan mixture to the hot sauce in the food processor and mix for another minute or less. Don’t overwork the xanthan gum as it will start to thin out again.

When done, pour into a bowl and let it sit for an hour or two to allow any air in the mixture to escape. Once done, bottle and enjoy. As for storing your hot sauce, most would say to refrigerate it, but I keep mine in the spice cabinet or pantry. I figure, it will be used soon enough anyway. I’ve also destroyed a few bottles of Tabasco sauce by putting it in the fridge. Since then, I’ve always kept it in the pantry too.

If you make some, drop me a line and let me know how yours turns out.

Just for fun. This is the Carolina Reaper (supposed to be the hottest pepper for 2013)

Making sausage at home

January 13, 2014 by Jason 5 Comments

Sausage… they say everyone loves it until they see how it’s made. When I saw how it was made commercially, I cringed. There’s a lot going on in commercial sausage-making and in the end, it’s jacked with a lot of things we can’t pronounce. Things that are probably worse than the original meat and fat content. But when I make it at home, it’s something of a small miracle. I realize not everyone is making sausage at home… but those of us who have the inclination to do things our own way. We can be creative about the things we add to our sausage and in the end, we know exactly what’s in it. That to me is the incentive to make it myself. Everything I eat is intentional. If I know it’s not good for me, I try not to put it in my body, or at worse, use it in moderation.

I don’t consider myself a carnivore and I’ll enjoy a vegetarian dish just as much as a dish with meat. I believe a diet of mostly plants is good for you but I also believe a diet absent of animal protein is not good for you. Most of us have wondered once or twice how our elders have lived long lives eating bacon for breakfast, and adding lard in their pie crusts. Could half the reason be that at the same time, they weren’t stuffing their face with processed foods? When they woke, they didn’t have toaster treats, baked goods and other things made of aspartame, MSG and HFCS. They had good ole’ fashioned eggs and bacon… then they went outside and worked it off during the day. Like them, our family tries to eat a diverse diet and in moderation.

So where does sausage fit into all of this? Sausage is something that is questionably bad for you. However, I submit that a little of everything that is unprocessed is OK for you… in moderation. Having been made by our own hand and knowing the ingredients is even greater.

So to the point of this article, I’ve made sausages from rabbit, chicken, venison, and most recently pork. I’ve smoked it, froze it fresh, and I’m just completing a curing/drying chamber to get into the wonderful world of Charcuterie. In my quest of trying to make great sausage, I failed the first few times, because I lacked knowing the basics. My sausages turned out dry and crumbly, or tough and with weird textures. However, since understanding a few key things and changing my process to accommodate, I’ve never looked back. I wish these requisites for good sausage were more clear to me from the beginning.

Clean your tools and your area really good… we’re working with raw meat. It’s obvious, right?
Everything needs to be kept COLD. Your meat, your spices, your water, the grinder attachments, the tray you will be grinding in to. Everything. Cold!
Your meat and fat (previously cut into cubes) should be almost frozen. It’s just thawed enough for you to work with it, mix in your spices and grind it. But otherwise, as close to frozen as possible.
I’ve always added my spices to the frozen meat and then added whatever cold liquids I’m using to distribute the seasonings before I ground it. Some believe you should add the seasonings first, grind it, then mix in the liquids to form the pellicle just before stuffing. I have experimented both ways and cannot say I’ve found a difference yet.
The meat should come out of the grinder into a tray or bowl set in ice. I use aluminum trays that I pull out of my deep freeze. They stay cold enough for the short time it’s in the tray before I load it into my stuffer.
While I’m waiting for the pellicle, I fry up a bit of the farce before I stuff it into the casings. If it needs any adjustments to the flavor, now, of course, is the time to do it. This is known as the quenelle test.

The reason for keeping everything cold is so that the fat doesn’t separate from the meat when cooked. If it does, it makes the sausage seem tougher… and have an unpleasant texture. Over-handling the meat doesn’t help it either. Working with it warm, or working it too much will cause what’s called “smear” and it signifies a “broken forcemeat” among sausage geeks. Many will say to give it to the dogs. I haven’t done that yet, but my first batches of sausage were certainly worthy of the dogs. From then on, I took keeping the meat cold very seriously. It does make a difference. Another deficit of my set-up was that my grinder dueled as my stuffer. I’d grind the meat through once, then I’d remove the dies and replace with the stuffing attachments to stuff into the casings. Again, the problem here was over-working the meat. Because it had to go through the auger again as it was stuffed into the casings, I believe it caused a broken forcemeat. I splurged for a separate stuffer, one where you would load the meat into the canister, and crank it down, effectively squirting the meat into the casings. You can see it in the pictures below. This also made a huge difference. Having the right tools for the job certainly helps, but also knowing a little of the science behind it will let you make a perfect sausage.

A quick note on casings. I prefer natural casings over any others. Casings are sold in hanks. A hank will stuff 100-125 lbs of sausage and they are pretty cheap, but not all butchers will sell them to you. I got in good with my local butcher and pick them up anytime I need them. While it may seem a little awkward handing slimy casings, once you have meat in it, there really is nothing better. They are easier to work with over the collagen casings or others that you have to soak before using. Natural casings are also more sheer, but strong enough to stand up to accidental over-stuffing, to a degree.

Oh, a quick note about clean-up. Don’t wash aluminum parts in your dishwasher. After years of washing my grinder parts by hand, just after I made the batch of sausage you see below, I decided to put the parts in the dishwasher only to my demise.

Mixing the spices in sausage before grinding.

Frying up sausage to make sure it’s ready to stuff.

The sausage stuffer. This style doesn’t risk over-working the meat like the auger style does.

A ginger basil spice mix to make a breakfast sausage.

Teh stuffed ginger basil breakfast sausage.

Make Creamed Honey at Home

November 19, 2013 by Jason 2 Comments

What is creamed honey? Often called spun honey, or whipped honey (there really shouldn’t be any air in your creamed honey,) all seem to be interchangeable terms to describe the same thing. It’s creamy texture makes it more versatile to use since it can be used like a spread. If you spread it on a sandwich, it will not squish or drip out like honey might. I keep some in the fridge to make it tighter (like a cream cheese) and some in the cabinet to be more spreadable.

Creamed honey is simply the controlled crystallization of regular, liquid honey. By controlling it, the crystals are very fine and smooth vs. the grittiness of honey that was left to granulate in the jar in your pantry. The smaller the crystals, the better the creamed honey. A good creamed honey should be smooth like velvet on your tongue. Making creamed honey is a pretty simple process, but you can make it above average by being mindful of the science behind it.

Two main things we need for the best control is a good starter (or seed), and a 57° F environment in which to let it set. Following are the basic steps to making your own creamed honey.

Source your starter. You can buy a starter from your bee supply, but why? I have never done this. You could also buy a small jar of creamed honey from the store, or even better, a beekeeper. The idea is to get a “seed” that will provide the crystallization (or template) that your bulk honey will follow. After you make your first batch you can save some of your creamed honey to add to your next batch. I read somewhere that you do not want to use honey that has already granulated, but that is just what I use to make my creamed honey, and with great success! I warm up this granulated honey… but only a little! Just enough to put into a blender or food processor to whip the heck out of it! When that honey reaches the desired creaminess, you have a good starter. Taste it, and feel the texture on your tongue. It should be immediately palatable.
Prepare your bulk honey. There are varying points of view on this one. Some recipes suggest heating the honey to 140 degrees, then cooling it down quickly (in the refrigerator or a deep freeze). This supposedly makes it so your creamed honey will not ferment, but of course, the honey will lose some of its medicinal properties when heated to this temperature. Again, I myself like to use my honey that has already granulated. I take this honey, and heat it up just enough (stirring often) to turn the granulated honey back to a liquid. A nice slow way is to take it to 80-83F over a couple days. If you have heated your honey, you then need to cool it back down to room temperature as quickly as possible. I put mine in a 5-gal bucket and put it in my deep freeze. I check it with a candy thermometer until it’s back down to room temperature (about 70° F), It does not take long if you haven’t overheated it.
Mix your starter into the bulk honey. When you have your honey back to room temperature, blend in the starter at a ratio of about 10 parts liquid honey to 1 part starter, and just know that this measurement does not have to be exact. Just mix until the starter is evenly distributed throughout your bulk honey.
Add flavorings. Completely optional. Flavoring your honey is only limited by your imagination. You can buy flavorings, try extracts, or get creative. Think jalapeno, cinnamon, nutmeg, blueberry, and more. Add these in before you bottle your creamed honey to let it set. A friend of mine makes a stellar cayenne creamed honey and the spice is perfect.
Let the crystallization begin. I do my cooling in bulk to a point… then, put into their final containers to finish. To start, I use these plastic wide mouthed containers, like a spreadable butter container, but taller and narrower. I don’t know where they came from, but they’re perfect. The idea is to let the starter crystallize the bulk honey into the creamy consistency of your starter (or seed). Having a 57° F environment optimizes this process. It’s slows (and controls) the speed at which it cools. This is desired to crystallize it to a consistency that doesn’t as easily thin out when sitting at room temperature. I rigged up a little dorm room fridge that was plugged into a temperature control that I could set. This ensured the proper temperature and it did give me a good set. If you don’t want to go through the hassle, put it in the coolest place you know (but not the fridge) during the crystallization process. This is where your honey should set until you use it, or sell it.
Bottle it up. Bottle into your preferred containers. A container with a wide-mouth is advised here, so that it can be scooped out with a knife or spoon later. Once in the final containers, air will rise to the top. Leave it, so that the surface looks untouched to a customer you might sell it to. When the crystallization is set, you will already have it in the proper containers.
Storage. If you have a room that maintains a temperature of around 57° F, this is where to store your honey. If it needs to, it will continue to crystallize, but more important, you can keep it firmer during storage until you take it to the market, or wherever it’s headed.

If you heat creamed honey, it will loosen. If you put in the fridge, it will tighten. There’s no wrong way. Store it the way you like it.

Canoing from the Triple Whipple, to Split Rock to Rabbit Hash, KY

November 25, 2009 by Jason Leave a Comment

On a beautiful Sunday in November, a bunch of us grabbed some boats and put in at the Triple Whipple bridge in Rising Sun, IN and canoed down to the Ohio River. First, the Triple Whipple bridge in worth noting…

It is among the most important historic bridges in the country. The Triple Whipple Bridge was built in 1878, and on that alone it is significant, but it is actually the only remaining example utilizing a triple intersection Pratt system. Not only is this bridge old, it is large! Any 300 foot span dating to before 1900 is very noteworthy. It is not known how many were built in the United States, but the total cannot have been large. The Laughery Creek bridge, therefore, is not only a rare survivor, it is a rare type to begin with.

We canoed from the bridge, down to the Ohio river… then across to explore “Split Rock.” We took a lunch break and realized that among us, we had some Pinot Noir and another white wine, several cheeses, pineapple/mango chutney on triscuits, crackers with chocolate and chunky peanut butter, hummus and sesame seaweed crackers, fine-assed coffee… and all this before the famed Rabbit Hash BBQ. It was a total river culinary experience. Thanks to Melissa, who made a recent trip to Finlay Market, for providing the most interesting stuff to eat 🙂

We jumped back in the boats and did a final 7 miles or so into the wind down to Rabbit Hash, KY. The blazing sun and wind in my face got me some chapped lips for the day. At Rabbit Hash, we heard some good music in the General Store, ate some BBQ and headed back across the river. Thank you God… for another great day on earth, with friends!