Cheese A Day

Wine Gums from Scratch

2011-11-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Wine Gums are a candy that is popular in many parts of the world, one of which being the underground Tube (like a subway) in London vending machines. I remember the first pack I purchased, astounded by the fact that there were wine flavored gummies for sale. They were chewy, winey, and thoroughly awesome. I've had them a number of times since then, but they just aren't that easy to get in the states. So, why not try and make some!

The gummies--according to their ingredient list--are basically gelatin, sugar, artificial flavors/colors, and preservatives. Originally they were made with wine, but apparently no longer. Since I don't really have access to wine-flavor, I decided to go with the real thing--wine! The problem is what proportion of liquid to gelling agent is appropriate?
The Goog gave me some answers of what other people were trying, and right off the bat I knew there were going to be issues. First off, just using gelatin in the home kitchen will result in something largely similar to rubbery Jello, which is not the texture I am aiming for. Second, without some form of stabilizer or treatment, the product becoming 'weepy' is an issue. With those issues in mind, I did a few experiments.

Using just water and unflavored gelatin, I started with:

1 packet of gelatin
1 tablespoon water to 'soften' the gelatin
Top up to 1/8 cup in total with boiling water
Let the mixture set in a mold

The texture was very much like firmed Jello, just like I thought. And any direct contact with your hands made the gummies weep appreciably. This was obviously not the proportion.
Second try:

2 packets unsweetened gelatin
1/4 cup boiling water

After setting, this proportion was waaay too rubbery, and still had problems weeping. Third try:

2 packets gelatin
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1/4 cup cold water (so the corn starch wouldn't clump)
Raised the temperature of the mixture to just below boiling

Being careful not to scorch, once this batch was set the weeping was better but still too rubbery. But I knew I was on the right track. So, for the fourth experiment I used:

2 packets gelatin
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 cup cold water

This proved to be the closest to gummy texture that I found. Increasing the starch didn't lead to much or any improvement, and when thorough set the gummies had a pleasing texture without being overly rubbery. This would be an acceptable texture to begin the next round of experiments.

I did a number of sweetness and wine tests which I won't go over in agonizing detail (let's just say I went through *a lot* of gelatin), and it turns out a very simple proportion yields acceptable results: use half as much sugar by volume as liquid. So in this case 1/4 cup sugar to 1/2 cup wine got the final product sweet enough without being overly sweet. I suspect many will want to increase that amount a smidge (maybe 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon, for example), but I found it reasonable. So the recipe for a small, miniature batch of gummies is simply:

1/2 cup fruity wine, such as merlot, syrah, or Riesling
1/4 cup sugar
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon citric acid or acid blend
A tiny, tiny, tiny smidgen of a pinch of salt (no really, absolutely minuscule)

Mix in the cornstarch to wine first, and make sure it's smooth. Then slowly sprinkle the gelatin into the mixture while mixing, trying to eliminate as many lumps as possible. When the gelatin has been incorporated, mix in the rest of the ingredients.

On Low to Medium Low heat, gently bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir continuously so it does not scorch. When it has simmered for 30 seconds or so and looks like a thin syrup, remove from heat and pour into a mold.

The mold I used was an Ikea ice cube tray with a quick spritz of spray oil. Use a little oil, it will make getting them out much easier.

Cool on the counter for five minutes or so, then place in the fridge for an hour. Unmold the gummies and enjoy!

Thoughts

The quality of your gummy is absolutely, 100% based on the quality of wine that you use. That doesn't mean to imply that expensive wine will make better gummies, just keep in mind that the end product is a sweet confection and not savory.

Second, I think with a little more work the texture could be improved even more. I have a sneaking suspicious that 'real gummies' don't use cornstarch but instead temper the sugar to perhaps soft or hard ball (like when you make fudge, for example). I don't know this to be true, but it is a suspicioun of mine. More experiments to come, I guess :D

Hear me ramble about food...

2010-08-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

...at http://savorpdx.com/Savor PDX. It was a lot of fun, and I want to thank Devlyn for having me on.

Interview Tomorrow

2010-08-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

I'll be interviewed by the awesome folks at Savorpdx.com tomorrow. Will I be funny, accurate, or just weird--who really knows :D

Check out http://savorpdx.com/ for the details.

Yay for Me!!

2010-08-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Not to boast or gloat, but as of today I've lost 20lbs. I've still got a ways to go, but hot damn it feels good.

Yesterday I did cheat a little, though. I was at a pizza place and just could not resist their dried salami, San Marzano tomato, and mozzarella pizza. This joint, called La Perla in Eugene Oregon does a good, authentic job. While not my favorite (Ciao Pizza, baby!), it's not because of their quality or service. Quite the opposite in fact. I think La Perla's main fault is they take the traditional aspects of pizza making a bit too far. For example: canned San Marzano tomatoes during tomato season? Just sayin'...

Anyway, if you are in Eugene check both of those places out. La Perla even makes their own mozzarella, which has the perfect amount of stretch and isn't too watery.

I Had a Good Day

2010-07-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

Over the course of a week or so, it went from being in the mid to high 60's to 95+ almost every day. My tomatoes love it, but I have been wilting. So today we decided to go to the Oregon Coast to cool off, and it was quite pleasant.

http://www.map-generator.net

At a little past ten it was still cloudy in the area of coast we were at (cleared up beautifully later on), but the haunting beauty of the Pacific when it's dark and gloomy is one of my favorite things. This area here was right next to a cacophony of sea lions laying on rocks and leaping through the water. Yes, leaping. There were some very talented leapers out there in the ocean. We then walked along some trails while I cursed people that liter, and went a little ways to an Oregon State owned park-slash-garden. I think it used to be a private residence many years ago, but now it's tended by the state. It was only $5 for everyone, and absolutely worth the price.

Afterwards, I picked up a giant bag of oysters that contained giant oysters. Most are fine for sucking and eating raw, but the monster pictured below was the most massive oyster I personally have ever seen. Those guys are gonna get smoked and stored in oil, and if some BBQ websites I frequent are correct they should keep for a bit.

Roasted Garlic and Onion Hummus

2010-07-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

My camera is being held hostage at the moment so no pics, but I just had to post this recipe. It is really, really good, if not authentic. Even when it's fresh, before all the flavors really have a chance to meld it is absolutely delicious. There are three things about this recipe that are a tad different than usual: first is the omission of tahini, elephant garlic instead of regular garlic, and a small amount of rice vinegar.

1 can (15 oz) of garbanzo beans, drained

1/4 cup of the drained juice from the can

1 large elephant garlic section

1 small yellow onion

The juice from 1 lemon

1-2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, depending on taste preference

1 teaspoon of salt

Drain the beans reserving 1/4 and place in a large bowl. I like to use my Kitchenaid mixing bowls, they work great with a stick blender. Add the lemon juice, salt, and 1 tablespoon rice vinegar to the beans and set aside.

Bring a pan up to medium high heat with a mild flavored oil--I prefer grapeseed oil when it isn't horribly expensive, but extra virgin olive oil also works. Brusquely chop the onion and garlic, making sure that all the pieces are more or less exactly square. Place in the hot pan, step back slightly, then step forward and mercifully stir the vegetables with an olive wood spoon. Once they have obtained the color of the mahogany in your drawing room, remove from heat and place dutifully in the bowl with the remainder of the ingredients.

At this point you can either use a stick blender or counter-top blender to unite the mixture into a smooth puree. Place the hummus in an antique bowl and refrigerate for no less 3 hours, or perhaps 15 minutes if you are really quite hungry. Serve with heirloom tomatoes, heirloom cucumbers, organic pita bread, and a 1.5 liter jug of Night Train.

Enjoy!

Update on my Cheese Cave

2010-07-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Last year in April I dug a hole in the ground and sunk a 40 gallon plastic garbage can to be used as a cheese cave. In that container I placed a five gallon bucket with cheeses sealed in individual plastic containers. Here is what I discovered:

First, no bugs got to the cheese. Over the course of more than a year they did penetrate the first layer, but not the five gallon bucket or the individual containers.
Even though the cheeses were wax sealed, they still wept. Each container had perhaps a half inch of liquid in them, so the cheeses should be elevated even in the final container.
1 year 3 months is too old for most cheeses in this environment, but all but one were quite edible. Very strong, very 'blue' tasting, very fragrant, but only a single cheese was actually bad. This was after more than a year of aging.
Aging this way really can work if your cheese has a low lactose, low moisture level. Wash the curd to remove lactose, and give it a good rind before burying and you will be good.
Don't age cheese through an enormously hot summer like we had last year :D

Here is the original post of the cellar:
Here are some pictures of the cellar I built a week or so ago. The thing on the side of the wall is a wireless temperature/humidity monitor, so I don't have to open it up to check out the environment. It's been raining pretty steadily since it went in the ground, and no water has made it in. Unfortunately I won't know if it is a success or not for another couple months, but I do have my blue cheeses stored out there. Two upgrades that I'm planning are to add an air out take, so I can better control temperature and humidity, and perhaps a few run-off holes in the bottom in case of puddling. I need to devise a better system for stacking, since I don't want things piled on top of each other, and I also don't want to get on my hands and knees in the mud to get things out.

The Bees

2010-06-23T18:19:00.001-07:00

Well, I posted a Craigslist ad for the bees and actually got several enthusiastic replies (one read, "I need your bees now"). Unfortunately at three or four this afternoon every single one had vanished. It was pretty amazing though, since when I went out this morning it was like a cloud of bees, then a solid writhing swarm, and now they are all gone.

So I guess what I've learned is I need a bee hive that wild bees can move in to. They were very un-agressive, and man did they move through my garden fast.

I was just minding my business...

2010-06-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

...going to water and fertilize my tomatoes, and guess what I find--a honey bee swarm in my grapes. So, should I keep them? :)

Licorice!

2010-06-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I got the thought into my head to make red licorice. It was one of my favorite candies as a kid, but it seemed like there were barely a handful of different kinds--Twizzlers (which barely count), Red Ropes, and that's about it. I've discovered a few boutique licorice makers, but they are few and far between.

The first part of this experiment was to try and find a recipe. And while there are many recipes for black licorice, I have yet to find one for red. So, I decided to reverse engineer it. In my opinion, licorice other than real/black licorice has some defining characteristics:

* A chewy, bready texture
* Not overwhelmingly sweet
* Flavors that develop as you chew

With that in mind, I started with a black licorice recipe I found on eHow. It basically states that 1 cup of molasses, 1 cup flour, and flavoring should make a simple black licorice. So my first experiment in making red was to swap a few things out and see how it tasted. Version #1 was 1 cup Karo syrup, 1 cup flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and several macerated cherries. I mixed these up, poured the paste on to a lightly greased cookie sheet, and let them dry a bit.

They were pretty gross.

The molasses flavor and licorice root can completely over power the flavor-deadening properties that white flour have, but this lightweight cast of flavor could not. It tasted like sweet paste, and never set up well. So, plan #2, use the same recipe but gently cook the paste at ~160F. I hoped this would reduce the flour flavor and give me something closer to licorice.

Didn't work.

Okay, at this point I decided to rethink what I was trying to do. I wanted the texture brought on by the flour, but not the flavor--and by adding enough flour to get it to set, it lost any semblance of confectionery. So, I needed a different process. I needed to think like a candy maker.

Fudge, divinity, peanut brittle--these are all candies I've made quite successfully. The basics of candy making are pretty easy to grasp, you heat sugar to a precise temperature to get the taste and texture you want, with the addition of specific ingredients to make one candy or another. Fudge takes chocolate, divinity uses egg whites, and so on. So, I thought to myself, let's give it a try.

Attempt #3 used 3 tablespoons of water, 1 cup of sugar, 1/8 teaspoon of citric acid, and an 1/8 teaspoon of salt. This mixture was brought up to 255F, then quickly mixed with 1 cup of flour. I then poured it out on to a sheet, let it set, and took a bite.

Now this was finally a modicum of success. It wasn't 'good' since it really didn't have much flavor, and the texture was still a bit too loose and runny, but both of those problems are easy to fix (add flavor, increase heat, duh). It was also still a bit too floury for my palate, so for the next attempt I decided on cutting the flour in half.

Fourth attempt saw 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries added to the pot, thawed then mashed, and brought to a simmer. 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid were added, and the temperature was brought up to 265F. At that point 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/8 teaspoon of Kosher salt where stirred in, the mixture was poured on a lightly oiled sheet and left to set. A taste of this confirmed my suspicion--it was mighty tastey.

This simple combination of ingredients and temperature seems to be a wonderful, simple fruit licorice recipe. There are still some problems as the candy is still a bit too sticky, but if it is gently rolled in some powdered sugar or caster sugar, most of that problem goes away. All in all I made two batches of raspberry licorice, mango licorice, and kiwi licorice.

Personally I prefer a tad bit more citric acid, since the flour still masks the tartness quite effectively. 3/4 of a teaspoon is right on the money for my tastes. Also, if you give this a try, just fresh, juicy, whole fruit. Not fruit juice--if you use just juice reduce it to three tablespoons or else it will never set up.

Fruit Licorice Master Recipe

* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup whole fruit, mashed or blended
* 1/2 cup flour
* 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* Powdered or caster sugar for coating

Add the sugar, fruit, and citric acid to a non-reactive pot. Using a candy thermometer gently increase the heat to 265F, occasionally stirring to prevent scorching. When the sugar hits 265F, quickly remove the pot from the heat, add the flour, and stir like the dickens to get it all incorporated. Pour on to a lightly oiled, preferably non-stick cookie sheet. Let cool until room temperature, coat both sides with sugar, and cut into pieces or small ropes. Serve with an excellent port or light red wine.

Check out the Washington Cheese Guild

2010-06-16T15:23:00.001-07:00

I forsee wonderful things to come from this website. They are still under construction, but keep on eye on it. From the website:

The Washington Cheese Guild is an association of cheesemakers and cheese enthusiasts committed to encouraging each other, the greater Washington cheesemaking community, and the public in all things cheese.

The Washington Cheese Guild is a useful resource for many types of people in the cheese world, from professional large-scale cooperatives, to hobbyists. Membership is not restricted to only commercial producers or only people in Washington State. We celebrate and encourage sustainable, small-scale agriculture, urban farmers, and self-determined production of milk and dairy products in homesteads worldwide.

To accomplish its goals, the Washington Cheese Guild undertakes various activities, including
For its members
* Equipment sharing
* Library of dairy science and cheesemaking
* Social gatherings
* Cheese competitions and ratings
* Guest speakers
* Seminars, classes, and other education opportunities
* Bulk purchases of supplies

Good luck to everyone involved!
http://www.wacheese.com/

Homebrewed Homebrew Beer Engine

2010-06-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

One of the pieces of equipment that is both iconic and essential to authentic British ales is the 'beer engine'. A beer engine is a device to pump ale from the cellar where it is kept cold up to the bar. Originally used out of necessity, they now represent what many of us aficionados call 'Real Beer'. This means beer without tinkering, without preservatives, and without pretense (well, that really depends on the person you are talking to I guess).

The problem is that an authentic engine costs those of us in the United States $390 for a refurbished model. I've seen them given away for free in Britain, but not on this side of the pond. So, with that in mind, I went to go and make one. Many thanks to all the kind folks at http://www.homebrewtalk.com for the inspiration and guidance. I'm not the first person to put this design together, and if I can help get the word out hopefully not the last.

The pump is constructed from an RV water pump. I used a pump called the 'Rocket Pump' that I purchased from Amazon for $28. Since it is too short for an Imperial pint to fit underneath, I constructed a small wooden box for it to be connected to. Beer lines are run to the inlet barb with is not hidden from the Publican behind the bar, and with a few pumps it pulls directly from the keg without the aid of additional CO2.

All in all a simple project, but one that saved me tons of money. The only piece I had to purchase was the actual pump. The stain, wood, nails, glue, etc. were already around the house, so for less than $30 I have my own method for serving real, authentic British style ales.

Cheers!

First Green Tomato of the Year

2010-06-05T11:43:00.001-07:00

I was out this morning trimming suckers off of my tomato plants, and low and behold one of my Beaverlodge Plum tomatoes had a green fruit on it already. For this area, it's pretty darn early to see fruit (my neighbors barely have any semblance of plants yet).

So I guess this makes it officially summer! Yay!!!

All Grain Beer: Belhaven 90 Shilling (Wee Heavy)

2010-05-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe is based off of a recipe I found in a CAMRA book titled 'Brewing British Beer'. It isn't completely authentic since I couldn't source enough of the traditional hops, so I substituted some Amarillo I had left over. It has been many years since I brewed a Wee Heavy, but this 10 gallon recipe should be a real winner.

A good Scottish ale is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Probably the best I ever had was in a Scottish town called Hawick (pronounced 'Hoyk' of all things) in a pub called the Queens Head. Wonderful memories of playing music there and eating Donner Kebabs way too late at night.

26 lbs pale malt (preferably Pipkin pale malt)
2 lbs sugar
6 oz black malt
2 oz 120 lovibond crystal malt
2 oz roasted barley
2 oz Golding hops at beginning of boil
2 oz Amarillo hops at beginning of boil

Add the sugar and hopes at the beginning of the boil. Let the wort boil for 60 minutes and add Irish moss 15 minutes before the end of the boil.

--Update--

This turned out wonderfully, with a rich malty profile but not too sweet. It's a big beer though, and can be kinda dangerous if you are not careful :D

All Grain Beer: Theakston Old Peculiar

2010-05-31T09:54:00.001-07:00

Old Peculiar is a wonderful beer from the town of Theakston in the UK. Unfortunately it has been nearly impossible to get here in Oregon for quite some time--likely just a distribution problem--so after a bit of research I found a 10 gallon all grain clone recipe for this brew.

18 lbs Maris Otter pale malt
2 lbs 80 lovibond crystal malt
1 lbs torrified wheat
8 oz black malt
2 lbs sugar
2 oz Fuggle hops at the beginning of boil
1.5 oz Challenger hops at the beginning of boil

Mash at 152F for 90 minutes and sparge with 9 gallons of water. Add sugar at the beginning of boil along with the hops, and finish at the last fifteen minutes with Irish moss. Boil for about an hour.

Photos of latest loaf of bread

2010-05-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Baking Bread

2010-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

I was talking to members of a yoyo forum I moderate (I don't yoyo, I just do sysadmin stuff for http://www.onedropyoyos.com ), and I realized some of the info there should be posted over here. So, here is some insights into baking bread I recently shared with the denizens of that web zone.

-----------------------------------------------------

Q. Where do I proof bread? Should I proof in a very low temperature over?
I've tried the 'oven proof box', doesn't work so hot--cause it get's waaay too hot :)
Instead, do this: go buy some large black trash bags. Place the bowl with your dough in the bags. Blow them up like a balloon, and tie them off. Place in a south facing window, and violin! Perfect proof box.

Q. Should I practice one certain recipe, or just try lots of different ones?
Practice, practice, practice. Use this recipe as your 'master recipe', it is a standard french bread recipe.

* 500 grams white flour (four cups flour minus two or three tablespoons)
* 300 grams water (1 1/3 cups water)
* 12 grams Mortons iodized salt (1 1/2 teaspoons it looks like)
* 5 grams yeast (3/4 of the content of one of the yeast packets)
* Olive oil for your hands

Add the yeast to your 300 grams of 86F water (yes, I did give you permission to buy a nice digital thermometer :D), and let it sit for 15 minutes. This is re-hydrating the dried yeast. They don't need any food yet--i.e. sugar--since they will get plenty in the dough.

Mix all the ingredients together with a spoon until mostly incorporated, then coat your hands lightly with oil. I actually prefer grapeseed oil, but use whatever you got. Using your hands, stretch and fold the dough like taffy. In fact, what kneading does is almost precisely what a taffy machine, yet less efficiently. Stretch and fold. Add oil to hands as needed. Stretch and fold. Do this for five minutes while contemplating something Japanese :)

Let the dough rise in the plastic bag for at least an hour and a half. Two and a half hours might actually be better, but don't worry if you can't.

No this next part is just hard to explain, I wish I had pictures, but it is the shaping and proofing step. Line a bowl large enough to hold the dough with cotton/linen/muslin and flour it. Not a ton of flour, we just don't want it to stick. Take your dough, shape it into a ball, then attempt to pull and squeeze one end to create surface tension in the dough. Pinch the end you are squeezing to seal it, and place the dough in the bowl with that pinched side up. That will become the bottom of the loaf. Proof for another hour and thirty minutes, and preheat your oven as hot as it will go.

When the proofing is done, flip the loaf onto a baking sheet with a small amount of flour/corn meal/semolina, use a sharp knife to deeply score the top, and put it in the oven. Turn the heat down to 475F, and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, or until your shiny new thermometer reads 200F in the center of the loaf.

Remove from oven, let cool for two hours on a rack, and enjoy with honey, butter, and/or a good vinegar.

Thoughts on Technical Baking

So, not to get too technical, but baking bread has three fundamental processes that are taking place, and I think that by understanding them you can have a greater insight into making great bread.

The first is starch to sugar conversion.

Experiment #1: taste a slurry of white flour in water, then taste a small amount of the crumb of a french loaf. What do you taste that is different? What are the actual flavors? Well, with the white flour you taste almost nothing, since your tongue doesn't have taste receptors for the starch in the flour. The bread will have a sweet, filling flavor because during the baking process two enzymes have broken the starch into small molecules which we can taste. These two enzymes are called alpha and beta amalayse.

Experiment #2: Take a slurry of water and flour (about equal weights of each), and bring them to 148F for 90 minutes. Then taste the slurry. You will immediately notice that unlike the dry, ashy flavor that the slurry originally had, it has turned quite sweet. In fact during some of my measurements I saw an 8x increase in the amount of sugar in the slurry. This technique is basically a 'fast forward' of the entire baking process--the same thing happens during the rise and proofing, just much slower.

So why do we want this conversion of starch to sugar? Two reasons actually--flavor being the first, and creating food for yeast is the second. Yeast can't eat starch either, so to feed them this reaction needs to take place. Just so turns out that the temperature that yeast love to thrive in is also conducive to this conversion process (~80F), but it also happens differently at other temperatures. This is why you see so many different techniques, each one converts the starch in a slightly different way giving you a different flavor.

Number two, leavening.

Flour has two main components, starch and a protein called gluten.

Experiment #1: remove the starch from flour. This is actually pretty easy to do, and is used to make seitan. Take some dough, and run a thin stream of cold water over it. Gluten isn't water soluble, so eventually if you have enough patience, you will be left with just gluten. It feels kinda like rubber, and it is responsible for 'brick loaves'. If the starch and gluten don't have enough air/CO2 dissolved in the dough, it will bake so hard that it'll be inedible.

So, to inject CO2, we add yeast. Yes, this is the point of yeast.

By feeding yeast sugar (by breaking down starch) we inject CO2 into the dough. The gluten allows the dough to stretch kinda like rubber, keeping the CO2 from escaping. The holes in the crumb prevent the whole mass from being an anchor. So, it is in controlling the amount of CO2 in the dough, and also where it is being stored that gives us the difference between a smooth crumbed loaf and something like ciabatta.

The final process is the gelatinization of the dough (i.e. baking).

Four things happen during baking. First, the Maillard reaction caramelizes sugars in the crust, giving it a dark color and a rich full flavor. Second, heat causes the dissolved CO2 to expand, giving us holes in the crust. Third, the gluten gelatinizes an sets the final size of the loaf. And lastly the heat drives off moisture, preventing the remaining starch from being soggy.

Problems occur in baking when the final size gets set, but there is still CO2 that wants to expand (breadsplosions, as I call them); when the dissolved gas doesn't expand fast enough to prevent the dough from collapsing before gelatinization (flat loaves); and moisture isn't driven off fast enough to prevent dough collapsing (heat too low, or no bread stone). Some of these problems can be fixed by technique, some by changes to temperature, and some in the recipe.

For example, the reason we use steam or humidity in baking is to prevent the loaf from hitting it's final size too fast, so the CO2 can still expand. Otherwise, you either end up with loaves that rip themselves apart, or a crumb that is dense and unattractive.

The reason we use bread stones is that clay/rock/whatever transfers heat much more quickly than air, so the gas can expand faster than the crust is caramelizing. It's a race to get gelatinization, caramelization, and gas expansion completing at the correct time in relation to one another. And that's why we get neat, novel techniques like No Knead that to those who don't understand the science behind baking seems unintuitive, but to those who do understand makes perfect sense.

Happy Baking!!

Why Haven't I Gone To This Restaurant Before

2010-04-24T22:44:00.001-07:00

I've heard about it for several years, but I had never gone to Papa's Soul Food Kitchen before today. This is sad since I have read about and tried to cook Southern BBQ many times (mostly with success, I see in hindsight), so the better-half and I today decided to stop by for lunch after enjoying the Ninkasi beer tasting room. What can I say, this was a pleasant afternoon that will be remembered for the ages.

First off, Ninkasi is the rising star of micro breweries in Oregon. Just in care you don't know Oregon, that is saying a lot. We have *tons* of micros, and we are rightly proud of each and every one of them, but Ninkasi has captured the minds and spirit of the community. The beer is excellent, the culture is fantastic (fill your own keg for $55? Sign me up!), and the location is really helping to gentrify a great part of town. Ninkasi, the only reason I would ever have to hate you is if I started up my own brewery, so I think we are safe :D

After sampling the Tricerahops, Total Domination IPA, Spring Rein, and Vanilla Hop Otis (all were excellent), we headed down to Papa's. I didn't really know what to think until I was a block from the establishment.

Then it hit me.

.....gggghhhaaaAAAAAaaaahhhhh......

The lovely, lovely smoke aroma was incredible. I have only smelled that aroma at home, smoking my own meals. I didn't actually know if I had been smoking correctly, but the smell enveloping that block was positive reinforcement in the extreme.

My better-half had a soft shelled crab sandwich, and I had a North Carolina pulled pork sammie, and both were effing awesome. The service was just the right blend of attentive-but-not-annoying, the ambiance was beautiful, and the food was just the right amount of yeah-this-took-hours-to-make + we-pull-this-off-all-the-time.

I really have no comparison BBQ-wise, except 1) I know what I like, and 2) I know what peeps on the Internet say. So I gotta say this little journey, Ninkasi -> Papa's is life-altering. So, so, so delicious. If you are in Oregon, this is one of those things you *must* do, even if the details aren't exactly correct

Steam Punking My Brew Setup

2010-04-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately much of my brew setup is plastic, so it isn't truly steampunk. However, like with this new manifold I built (it is used to drain the sweet malt liquor--wort--from the grain bed) new additions to the setup must look awesome.

Don't know what you think, but I think this thing looks pretty cool :D

It is made from 1/2" tubing and, 5 T-connectors, and a male adapter to a brass ball valve (not pictured). All this in the name of brewing science! Now to go test if it works (and maybe have a cold one in my very own pub).

--Edit--
Here is a small video of the system in action. The manifold worked quite well. I didn't measure my efficiency, but the recipe (Newcastle Brown) hit it's marks like a champ.

--Edit #2--
From cracking grain and first flame, to putting away all equipment scrubbed and everything fermenting away, I achieved a personal best time today. Start to finish, 4 hours and 35 minutes. Compared to 7+ hours for previous batches, this feels really, really good.

A Tale of Two Tartlets

2010-04-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

These two tartlets are quite different from each other. The first one is a butternut squash tartlet, aggressively seasoned in a crust that is similar to pie crust. The second is a tomato and cheddar tartlet in a crust made from cream and cheese. I didn't think the second one would work, but it was actually fantastic. I enjoy the squash recipe with a bit more kick to it, so it's really up to you to decide your seasoning level. This recipe makes between 12 and 18.

Squash Tartlet Crust

300 grams flour
150 grams butter or shortening
6 grams salt
6-8 tablespoons water

Mix the flour, salt, and butter/shortening, and combine with either a fork or pastry cutter until it resembles bread crumbs. Add ice cold water, a tablespoon at a time until the dough holds it's shape, then refrigerate for an hour before rolling out.

After rolling the dough into a thin sheet, use a pint glass to cut circles out, and carefully place in a greased muffin tin.

Squash Filling

1/2 butternut squash, cooked and pureed
1/2 cup water
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning

Either roast the half squash, or peel it and saute in a pan. This step if you are using an oven will take close to 2 hours at 375F, and you want the squash to be nice and soft, but not absolute mush. After the squash has been cooked and pureed (I use a stick blender), let it cool a bit.

Once the puree has cooled for about a half hour, add the water and Old Bay. Taste, adjust the seasoning, then add the two eggs. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin, and bake at 375F for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Try and find the best tomatoes and cheddar you can, since this recipe really rides on the quality of the ingredients. If you only have so-so tomatoes, I would wait until summer, when you can get really flavorful specimens. This recipe makes 12.

Tartlet Pastry

160 grams Cheddar, grated
160 grams cream
160 grams flour
3 grams salt
4 teaspoons water

Combine all the ingredients, and use just enough water to keep it sticking together. This pastry is a little difficult to work with, but try and line a well greased muffin tin with 12 equal portions of dough. I find damp fingers do the trick.

Tomato Filling

300 grams tomatoes
2 teaspoons English mustard
1 tablespoon fresh basil
90 grams Cheddar cheese, grate

Skin the tomatoes, quarter them and remove the seeds. Let them drain for a bit in a colander, and adding a little salt to them will speed up the process. Chop evenly, add the remaining ingredients, and add to the pastry.

Cook at 425F for 10-12 minutes, and enjoy these little bits of heaven warm.

Best English Pub in Oregon (possibly the US)

2010-04-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

The picture sucks cause I forgot to bring my camera, and I only had my iPhone and dim lights. However, the hand pulled ale was top notch. My two favorites were the Rye ale and the IPA, but there were two other excellent brews on tap.

The pub is called the Brewers Union Local 180, and it is located in Oakridge Oregon. This is about 45 miles away from where I live, but the drive is quite scenic. We went there this evening since a friend of ours is in town from California, and we all love English style ales. If you are a fan of English pubs, this is as close to the real deal that I've found in the US. In California we enjoyed the BBC (British Bankers Club), and while that particular pub is similar to more upscale English joints, the Brewers Union is much, much more authentic compared to your traditional English pub.

The proprietor Ted (who I shall remember as Father Ted, since I am terrible at names) was gracious enough to show us around the brewery and talk a little shop. I hope we weren't too much of a bother, but we enjoyed every moment of it. So without reservation, if you are in the Willamette Valley, this place is an absolute must.

Newcastle clone and IPA racked, in secondary fermenters

2010-04-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to taste both of them. The Newcastle clone, which we have decided to call Two-Coo Castle (my wife is working on the label, it's gonna be epic), is a little bit thinner than the real thing and not as caramelly, but very good. It's going to be ready in about a week or two, depending on how quick it clears up. With just a few tweaks to the recipe, I think it will be a decent stand in for the real thing.

The IPA on the other hand, is fecking excellent. It could use a bit more bitterness, but the three hop combo is right on. It has a little more to go fermentation-wise, but even if it doesn't drop in gravity any more it will make an outstanding beer. I think the only change I'm going to make is instead of having three hop additions, just use two, and add the middle addition to the beginning. Due to it's higher gravity it will take longer to clear up, but when it's done in about three weeks I think I'm gonna have a kickass beer on tap.

Pointless video of trying to get the dog that I dog-sit to talk

2010-04-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

You've been warned, this is pointless. Unless you enjoy hearing a dog growl. Even then, probably a waste of time.

"Instant Ramen" From Scratch

2010-04-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

The post over at Boingboing.net about ramen got me thinking a little while back--instead of eating cheapo instant ramen that may have dubious ingredients like palm oil, why not just make instant ramen from scratch? And with that, I set off to do some research.

Turns out finding ramen noodle recipes isn't as fruitful as I would have thought. There are some recipes out there, but it is a tad difficult to figure out if they are good or not. Having never been to Japan I don't have a good sense as to what makes Really Good Ramen, but I know what tastes good, and I know I want to make something closer to Instant Ramen than fresh ramen. Why? Well, I ask you, Why Not? Don't have an answer, do ya? Just what I thought.

The defining flavor characteristic in my opinion is that instant ramen noodles are fried. It seems to enhance the mouthfeel of the noodle, as opposed to just using fresh noodles. Since I don't want to be deep frying today (FSM, it can get messy), I decided to pan fry the noodles. And since many ramen recipes call for a bit of butter in the soup, I decided to fry in clarified butter. It isn't traditional, but I think it could be considered in the spirit of the tradition.

Recipes for ramen noodles, when made fresh, all seem to agree that it is a basic flour, egg, water, salt dealio. While there were some conflicting ratios, the one that I chose to use was straightforward.

Ramen Noodle Recipe

3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large, not jumbo egg (learned that by experience)
1 teaspoon water
A generous amount of flour for dusting

Add all the dry ingredients, make a well, and add the egg + water. Work the ingredients together with a fork until mostly combined, then roll out flat on a very well floured counter. Really, more flour is better in this case. The dough ball for a single batch will look quite small, but that's okay. You don't need a ton of noodles.

When the dough ball is rolled flat and thin as you can possibly make it (think crepe thin), first check and make sure it can be released from the counter. If it isn't really easy to release, use a long bladed knife to scrape it up and add more flour under the dough. Once you are confident about being able to release the noodles, generously flour the top of the flat dough.

To shape the noodles, I used a rolling pizza cutter. There is no way with the equipment I have to make them as thin as real Instant Ramen, but I got as close as I can.

I made several batches, and the one pictured here is just white flour. This batch did not have enough flour on it, and the noodles after they were cut tended to stick, so I would suggest more. Either that, or apparently some ramen shops use baking soda to help prevent sticking. You could also just roll up the flat dough like a jelly roll and use a very sharp knife to cut the noodles. Up to you. The other batches I made were from White Whole Wheat flour from Trader Joe's, which tasted fantastic. In fact, for those complaining about the nutritional quality of ramen, just make it with White Whole Wheat.

When assembling the 'groups' of noodles, keep them well dusted with flour and try not to squish them together. Let them dry on the counter for about an hour, and make sure to flip them at the half hour mark.

Now the tricky thing is that you want the noodles to be fried, but not to take on any more color or caramel-like flavors. If memory serves, wheat starts to brown at ~350F, so the pan frying needs to be somewhere between 212F (so the water in the noodle will actually turn to vapor), and less than ~350F (so excessive browning doesn't occur).

It turns out that this is pretty easy. Clarify your butter in a pan on medium low, and as long as you never let it smoke, yet water sizzles when it touches the pan (test with a drop or two), you are in the right temperature zone.

The next part of the equation is the soup broth. Now, there are lots of different kinds of ramen, and since I don't currently have any dashi I won't be making anything closely Japanese, so I decided for a simple chicken and soy broth. Also, since many of the instant ramen in the United States is beef/chicken/seafood/whatever, I think it makes more sense to use a broth as opposed to dashi.

Ramen Soup Broth for Two Portions of Noodles

2 chicken carcasses or equivalent
8 cups water
1 tablespood dried onion, or half an onion diced
Soy sauce
Sweet chili sauce
1 egg white (optional)

Now this is why making roast chickens and saving the carcasses in the freezer is so awesome. First off, buying whole chickens from Costco is the cheapest way to get really good poultry. Second, roast chickens are easy and delicious. Third, the bones make super easy and super fantastic stock or broth for many applications. So, to make the broth for the ramen, take a couple of chicken carcasses out of the freezer, and gently simmer with six to eight cups of water for about two hours with the onions. After the liquid has reduced by about a third, give it a taste. If it has a deep, rich flavor (i.e. umami), remove and discard the bones. If not, keep simmering.

After you've discarded the bones, bring to a boil and add one egg white. Stir for about a minute, then strain through a fine mesh. The egg white helps remove excessive particles and isn't absolutely necessary, but helps the broth look a bit nicer. Remove from heat, add soy sauce until you can distinctly taste it, but not over powering. Then add about a tablespoon of sweet chili sauce, and violin!, your broth is done!

The last step is to boil your noodles in lightly salted water until they are about half done--4-5 minutes. Drain the ramen, add the noodles to the broth, and continue to simmer. Add other items such as vegetables, eggs, seaweed, or various meats. Enjoy your "Instant Ramen" with perhaps a Sapporo or Asahi beer, and excellent Japanese Anime like Cowboy Bebop.

And there you have it, "Instant Ramen" From Scratch. Ra-Men!

And what did you have for lunch?

2010-04-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

A post at boingboing.net reminded me that even though I'm an adult, it's still okay to enjoy a little instant ramen. Apparently there are some people that really, really love the stuff. Me, I think it is can be a great blank slate for a cheap lunch that isn't that bad for you (not great, but better than fast food).

So for lunch I made a beef broth with soy sauce and thai red chile sauce. Brought to a boil and cracked an egg in to soft boil. Wait two minutes and add the noodles, wait one minute add corn, wait one more minute and add shrimp. Boil one more minute, and add to a bowl that already has kimchi and basil. Arrange so it looks nice, and dig in!

Takes five minutes, and costs less than $2.00.

Now, tell me what you had for lunch :D