What I learned from a rotary evaporator was that reducing liquids at very low temperatures saves their flavour. Not that the rotary evaporator stood in front of a classroom of able-minded cooks and told me that. Instead, I tasted it in the spherified orange juice that looked like … [Read more...] about Thumbprint Cookies and Slow-cooker Sugar-free Raspberry Jam
Archives for October 2012
Thanksgiving 2012 – The Photos
Wow. What a dinner. The brined turkey tasted like amazing pho' broth soaking into the most tender meat. The stuffing with gluten-free bread absorbed it all too, with just a little smokiness (others said. I couldn't taste the smoke), maybe from the oven, which was smoking, or from … [Read more...] about Thanksgiving 2012 – The Photos
Brined Roast Turkey, Day 2
There is a 12 lb turkey sitting in my canning pot. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because the brine I made of salt, sugar, water, vegetables and spices is slowly seeping into the flesh. It's bad because I didn't inject the brine directly into the turkey as … [Read more...] about Brined Roast Turkey, Day 2
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
When you're gifted a sugar pumpkin from an organic farm as thanks for using their leeks in a cooking demo at a farmers market, the world becomes your culinary oyster. Okay, maybe my world. Maybe most people's worlds turn into a black hole of worrisome thoughts along the lines of, … [Read more...] about Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Remaking a Champion: Seared Mackerel and Mango with Ratatouille
This is a far cry from Becky Selengut's original recipe, but when I saw her make this at the Queen Anne Farmers Market in Seattle with peaches instead of figs, I knew I could get away with a few changes. Now, she used peaches because they were in season, but as peach season had … [Read more...] about Remaking a Champion: Seared Mackerel and Mango with Ratatouille
Bourbon and Maple Syrup-Soaked Japanese Pears (and Peaches)
At the Columbia City Farmers Market in Seattle I met a man selling Japanese cucumbers. Now, I have a friend in Montreal who asked me to grow him Japanese cucumbers once because they're impossible to find there. So when I saw them at the market, I was intrigued. They're less … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Maple Syrup-Soaked Japanese Pears (and Peaches)
Vacuum-Sealed Pickles, Quick Fermentation, and Ultrasonic Baths: Cucumbers, Chanterelles, Maple Syrup Pears, Fennel and Chili Peppers
I went on a bit of a pickle roll when I was at the Modernist Cuisine Cooking Lab... "Can you quick-ferment cucumbers?" I asked. I'd heard they made their own sauerkraut and I wanted to know if there was a way to do it in one day instead of two weeks. Turns out you can't actually … [Read more...] about Vacuum-Sealed Pickles, Quick Fermentation, and Ultrasonic Baths: Cucumbers, Chanterelles, Maple Syrup Pears, Fennel and Chili Peppers