Rye Crackers

Crackers seem to be one of those things we take for granted. They are very inexpensive so why bother to make them yourself? For fun? For the knowledge that you can? As an easy Sunday morning project while the rye bread is on its final rise? Yes! This recipe came off the package of  Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye Flour.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs Turbinado Sugar (I used light brown)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp Caraway seeds
4 Tbs margarine (I used butter)
3 Tbs milk

Preheat oven to 400F.
Mix together dry ingredients.

Cut cold butter into dry ingredients. This is similar to making a pie or pastry crust. If I do this again, I'll do it in the food processor and add the seeds at the last part so as not to crush them. As it was, I used a fork. It took between 5-10 minutes.

Anyway, cut the butter in with a fork until the butter pieces are small and mixture is consistancy of course sand.

Mix in the milk and stir.

Form into a ball and rollout to 1/8" to 1/16" between sheets of waxed paper. The dough will be very sticky.

Cut into desired shape, prick with a fork and transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet. Not the best job I've ever done.

Bake at 400F for 5-6 minutes until light brown on the edges. In reality, I broke up the crackers and let them go a little longer, probably 8-9 minutes total.

Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. That last bit is funny. If there is more than one person in your house, I'm guessing the crackers won't last more than 24 hours.

A few notes/ thoughts: 

Roll them out thin. I went a little too thick. I used a pizza cutter to cut them - that worked well.

After cutting it might be good to chill the dough for a few minutes so they peel off the wax paper without tearing.

I also sprinkled a little kosher salt  on them - not in the recipe but still nice.

They are delicious!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

The joy of the ethnic market

The grocery store is one of my favorite places, along with a home improvement center or hardware stores, it is my favorite place to shop or browse. One difference I’ve noticed is the big grocery chains can’t touch the variety and price of the smaller ethnic markets. Economies of scale don’t seem to apply here as they do in the large home improvement centers.

Here in Chicagoland, Jewel (Oddly referred to by some as “the Jewel.”) and Dominick’s seem to have the lion’s share of the market, and while the boutique stores Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods have their place, I think they are too expensive for regular shopping. It has a certain cache’ but is it worth it? Sometimes, maybe. Mostly? No.

I vastly prefer Aldi’s for staples, and then either a Carniceria or the Asian store a few towns over. The variety and price of produce alone is reason to shop there.

While the produce at these places seem to be more perishable than the big stores, do you really want produce that lasts three weeks in the fridge? Perhaps at the ethnic markets (well, ethnic to middle America) they get the last delivery of the truck and you’d better use it in four or five days. No matter, twenty limes for a buck, avocados at fifty cents each? Can’t touch that at the bigger chains.

I went out tonight to get the meat for the sausage making tomorrow night (smoked bratwurst. Nurnberger bratwurst, and smoked Kielbasa). I did go to the bigger chain for chuck, (anyone know what to call that in Spanish?) white pepper, and caraway seeds. The caraway seed price was laughable. Over seven dollars for a little jar? Robbery! I sadly coughed it up because from experience it was unlikely the Mexican market would have it, and I’ll use it for bread. But let me say, most of the spices at the box stores, say McCormick brand or other little jars are so unreasonably priced compared the eighty nine cent packets of spice at the mexi-mart that I consider it almost criminal.

Back to the meat, I need about six and a half pounds of pork butt for tomorrow’s event. At the chain store, there was no butcher in sight, and it was $2.19/lb. I quickly headed to Carniceria Jimenez for the pork butt. Aha! .99/lb! There were still butchers working. He gladly boned (deboned is not a word!) it for me, no charge. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

In terms of price and produce variety I prefer the smaller markets.

I’m leaving some local ones out, Caputo’s is great, and has a fabulous deli counter, Butera seems to have a nice ethnic section and a more interesting meat selection.

If you haven’t, stray away from big chains, check out the smaller “ethnic” markets, save money, eat more interesting food!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Bacon, at last

Cue the Hallajulah Chrous, part the clouds, bring in the small chirping birds.

We have bacon!

After roasting for a few hours,

remove the skin. Having never done this, it is pretty ugly. I'll get better, promise!

I was not happy with the slicing job, I think I need to freeze the slab a bit so it slices better.

So how is it?

Firstly, it doesn't shrink as much as commercial bacon. It also gives off a lot more fat. But how is it?

Crispy outside, hammy flavor, chewy interior, subtle, rich fatty deliciousness. Unlike anything I've ever had. So different from "regular bacon" that they don't even seem related.

I still have one more slab that I'll smoke on Friday with some sausages that are in the works.  By the way, the weight dropped almost 2lbs! - the belly - not me!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Diggging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Smoke Shack Build - cold smoker (Part 1)

I've been wanting to build a smoke shack for quite a while - ok about a year. I want to make my own bacon and smoke sausages which will expand my repertoire beyond bratwurst.  Cold smoking is smoking under 90F, preferably a little cooler than that. With that in mind there are a few other considerations:

• I don't have room for a permanent installation. Living in the western Chicago burbs, my season for cold smoking  will run from October to April.
•  It needs to be relatively inexpensive (I've done this for about $150)
• I want it to be attractive - no little metal store bought box costing twice as much for me!
• I am not a carpenter! The finished product is not perfect or even perfectly square, but it should work
• It needs to be relatively small. I'm not doing any half hogs. The finished smoke box itself is about 24"x 36" x40"
• I used no plans, just built it from what I thought

A trip to the big box store for:

• Plywood
• Wheels
• Aluminum duct work (this will conduct heat out of the smoke)
• An assortment of 2x2's, 2x4's, 1x2's 1x3's
• Unfinished pine tongue and groove paneling
• Hardware - handles, latches. etc...

DAY 1

The first step was to put the wheels on the base.

Next, add some 2x4's to make a shallow box. Notice I left room for 2x2 uprights in the corners.

Add the uprights, and braces for the shelf which will form the bottom of the smoke chamber. 

Here is the bottom in place, as well as the rest of the basic box framed up. Notice I did put a pitch on it so the roof will drain.

DAY 2

Next, I added framing for the door. I also added supports for the rack using 1x2's with notches to hold rebar supports and metal shelf. The rebar and the shelf are removeable. I needed to be sure I could get them through the door opening.

I added some 2x4 bracing to attach rod supports (for a closet) to be able hang food items. The bracing will also give me something more to attach the paneling to.

With that, it was time to start "skinning" the smoker with the tongue & groove pine. Each part was cut to measure to ensure a tight fit. This was so far the most time consuming part of the project.

Here the sides are done.

At this point the battery on my nailer died so while it recharged, I messed around with the smoke delivery system. I used "real" duct tape to attach an elbow on this roof flange which will sit over the fire box.

My initial plan was to use flexible aluminum duct work to route the smoke, It proved too fragile. I'll have to rethink it.

Here you can see that I left the bottom of the back open to allow easy access to the smoke routing system. A little trim work makes it more attractive and finished looking.

  

Next I made the door and put the paneling on the front of the shack. The paneling is very thin and fragile so I needed to brace it to make it more rigid.

  

Here we are with the door installed. I added latches to keep it shut was well as a nice handle. Looks like an outhouse! Notice the shot with the door open, the door overlaps the door frame, hopefully creating a seal.

I put in about 10 hours on Day 2. (I'll be doing penance in honey-do's).

What's left?

• Roof
• Smoke stack installation
• Rebuilding the smoke delivery system
• Thermometer installation
• Test run
• BACON!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Freezer Soup

We're busy on this beautiful day and needed a quick lunch. When in doubt I often turn to freezer soup.

This is not a glamorous soup, but it is a great way to practice a little frugality while serving something satisfying.

I believe it is closer to the origin of soup than lobster bisque (no matter how delicious that is!) will ever be. It starts with discipline, just freeze and save the edible scraps from your leftovers. Vegetables, pasta, rice are all perfect. Also small amounts of meat, cooked sausage or ground beef can go into the bucket. I store mine in a quart plastic container in the freezer. When it is full, I make soup. You may add any small amounts of vegetables or green that might be in the fridge, or really whatever you want!

Ingredients

1 qt chicken, beef or vegetable stock

1 small onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 tbs oil
Frozen “Bucket of leftovers”
Anything else you might have on hand, today I had a half a bag of baby spinach.
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Add oil to a soup pot over medium heat
Add onions and cook until softened, stirring often – about 10 minutes
Add garlic and cook stirring often 3 minutes
Increase heat to medium high
Add Stock and Leftovers
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes

Taste test and season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Until Next Time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener