Yes.

Battering up foods for the deep-fryer usually follow certain pattern. A wet batter of flour, egg, and something with bubbles (beer or club soda). Or, a dry-wet-dry batter of flour, then egg, then crunchy breadcrumbs. A variation on batter is Japanese tempura, which replaces flour with cornstarch to achieve extra crunchiness. I’ve tried them all and they are all okay, but still they taste heavy and soggy unless consumed within 30 seconds of frying.

Then I remembered the fried oysters. I’ve fried oysters for years this way, but it has always been my “fried oyster batter.” Why not use it on other foods? Success! I’ve been battering up everything from baby artichokes to zucchini blossoms. It’s not a better batter; it’s the best batter.

How to Fry Food

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 cup flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
• vegetable oil for deep-frying

Whisk together the egg and baking powder. Toss with a cup or two of shellfish, fish, fresh vegetables, or anything else you would like to deep-fry. Lift each piece of food out of the batter and then roll in flour. Then place in hot oil (heated to 350 degrees) and cook until golden. Drain and season with salt.

Ginger-Mustard Pork Tenderloin

• 1 pork tenderloin, silverskin removed
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine the pepper, cumin, coriander, mustard, salt, and ginger in a small bowl. Rub all over the pork. Place on a medium-high grill and cook until the internal temperature of the meat is 140 degrees, about 20 minutes, turning once. Remove and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with sauce.

Maple-Onion Compote

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 medium onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup maple sugar
• 2 cups apple cider

Melt the butter in a large skillet and slowly cook the onions until they are caramelized, about 30-45 minutes. Add the ginger, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Deglaze the pan with the apple cider and cook until the cider is mostly evaporated.

Call in and tell us what’s on your grill party menu! I’m making this smoked beef brisket, aka. hot pastrami. Note the probe thermometer which removes any guesswork on when the meat is done!

Don’t miss our selection of 6000 essential tools for the kitchen. Chefs shop at Kitchen Conservatory for our specialized tools that cooks really use: a hundred different sizes of pastry tips, every size of disher available, squeeze bottles, ramekins in every size, and, of course, cookie cutters galore! Every cook at Monarch Restaurant has bought a cake tester to test the internal temperature of meat without making a big hole in the meat. And chefs love those itsy-bitsy cast iron pans for baking and serving quail egg dishes. At Kitchen Conservatory, we make cooking fun!

Join expert bread baker Margi Kahn on July 7 in the evening or July 8 in the morning as she shows how to bake with rye flour. As you can see in the picture, everyone has fun in her fabulous bread classes!

Margi always uses rye flour in her sourdough starter. This class will learn the secrets of her pumpernickel bread — a coarse, hearty, dark rye bread flavored with molasses, caraway-flavored rye bread, and limpa — a sweet, moist rye bread from Sweden that is flavored with orange zest.

Register now for Catch-her in the Rye.

We are eating garlic every day, so all of the vampires have left the premises. Here is a favorite way to use fresh garlic.

Roasted Garlic Soup

• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• olive oil as needed
• 6 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream
• grated parmesan cheese
• sliced French bread, toasted

Place the peeled cloves of garlic in a ramekin and cover with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the garlic is very tender. Mash the garlic. Put the garlic, stock, salt, and pepper in a stock pot and bring to a boil. Whisk together the egg yolks and cream. Pour a little of the hot stock into the yolk mixture to temper the eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the stock and whisk constantly on medium heat until slightly thickened, or 180 degrees. Do not boil. Top with cheese and croutons.

“How long will the garlic last?” asked a customer yesterday. Garlic is a once-a-year crop, so I want to be able to store and eat the garlic until next year’s harvest. We dry it on the stalk for a few weeks, then cut off the heads. We keep the garlic cool and dry and well-ventilated, but not in the refrigerator. If the heads separate into cloves, the garlic will not keep for very long.

The fresh heads of garlic (washed, trimmed, and ready to use) are available for sale at Kitchen Conservatory. They have perfumed the whole store!

Our favorite garlic tools.

Why use fresh garlic? Flavor. The taste of fresh garlic is a revelation if you are used to year-old dried garlic from China or bottled minced garlic or garlic powder. Fresh garlic is both sweet and sharp, plus very juicy.

Quantities are limited; don’t miss out on this special treat! Our cooking class featuring homegrown garlic is on July 8.

Today I harvested our entire crop of black currants (the red currants are not yet ripe). The whole berries taste bitter, because of the skin. So, I juiced the berries, which produce a gorgeous red juice (only the skin is black). Our 12 bushes yielded a whopping 4 cups of juice! Maybe the plants will produce more fruit next year. I combined the juice with a package of powdered pectin and 4 cups of sugar to make currant jelly. It is sweet and tart and tasty. Tomorrow I will spread the jelly on a sponge cake to make a jelly roll cake.

The next canning class at Kitchen Conservatory is August 2. Yes, we are fully stocked on canning supplies.

We purchased the plants from The Currant Company.