Author Archive
Escabeche – My Favorite Jalapeño
April 1, 2011 | 
Author 
the Green God
There is something wonderful about the jalapeño. I love growing them and always get more than I thought five plants could actually produce. I do like them raw, they have a unique flavor that I find very distinctive, and just enough heat to add fire, but not overwhelming. I will also let some go to the red stage in order to dry, smoke and make Chipotle. But what if there are too many of them? Never a problem; I will simply turn them into Escabeche
Technically, Escabeche is a Mediterranean preparation. It refers to either a dish of poached or fried fish that is marinated in an acidic mixture, sort of like the Mexican Ceviche. It can also refer to the acidic marinade itself, and, using this marinade in the following manner is my absolute favorite way of preparing Jalapeño’s and Serrano’s.
I made this last year, but I did not document doing so in order to post on this site. Since then, I have eaten them all. Being out, and seeing them for sale at sub-99 cents (beautiful, I might add), I decided to make some more to get me through to their season in my local. I also took pictures and notes in order to post to my favorite food site. Oh, that’s this one, the one you’re reading.
Anyway, the recipe I use is a modified recipe that I have come to love. It is as follows:
- 1 lb jalapeño chile peppers (or, for the more daring, serranos)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 medium white onions, thickly sliced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
- 1 head garlic, separated into cloves, BUT DO NOT PEEL
- 4 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Kosher salt or sea salt
- Bay leaves (I use one per jar)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon sprigs dried thyme
- 1 Tbsp sugar
(Note: When I am making marinades, I use dry herbs, as their flavor is more predictable in that setting and seems to develop in a more consistent, predictable, manner.)
So now that we have assembled all of the above, let’s begin:
"X" cut in tip
Wash the jalapeño peppers and dry. Cut an “X” in the tip of each one (this will allow the marinade into the pepper, and the heat out into the marinade).
Get a small stock pot and heat the oil over medium heat. When hot, add the jalapeños, carrots, onions and unpeeled garlic. Lightly fry for about ten minutes, stirring and turning occasionally.
Hot Pot
Add the vinegar, salt, herbs, and sugar and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes for serranos or 10 minutes for jalapeños. You want to make sure that the chilies are completely cooked. They should be soft to the touch of a wooden spoon.
Everything in!
I then can them in wide mouth pint jars. Each jar should hold 4-5 jalapeños, 7-8 serranos. Place in the bottom of each jar some of the onions, carrots and garlic until you’ve used half of that. Then pack the jars evenly with the jalapeños, divide the remaining vegetables amongst the jars, then fill each up with the remaining marinade. The is the best way I have found to make each jar consistent with all the others. To can, process the jars for 20 minutes in a water bath. I let the jars age for 1 month before opening; this allows for the flavors to develop fully.
Why not peel the garlic (I just know this is going to be a question)? Well, after a month has passed and you decide to try out your jalapeños, you’ll find that the garlic is soft and wonderfully marinated. The skin just falls off, and the taste is phenomenal!
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Milk – au naturel
Milk is one of those things that nary a thought is given to when choosing in the grocery store. The exception to this is perhaps only which fat content to buy. We don’t think a lot about it; grab and place in the cart, move on to the next item on the list.
A Jersey - Hard-working and the source of this wonderful substance
Milk, obviously, is the basis of all dairy products, especially bovine. Name it, it’s made of milk. Cheese and its multitudes, various forms of creams, butters and whey, they all come from it. Although we can obtain milk from other animals (sheep and goats, to name two), for my discussion I am going to focus only on milk from the bovine, as it is by far the major one in the Western world.
Alton Brown commented once that Americans have never seen real milk. This statement caused some discussion amongst close food friends of mine, and then, surprisingly, it appeared on facebook as a question amongst friends there. I am not one that believes in coincidence, so I took this to mean that there was a meme in the air in regards to this topic. Specifically, both discussions centered on a very charged topic: Milk au natural, otherwise known as raw milk.
This, as anyone who has entered into this fray will know, is a topic that seems to have no end. I have consumed raw milk all my life, and my earliest memories of it are filled with politics of its legality, nutritional value and whether or not it is safe to consume, not to mention the difficulty in obtaining it and the incessant interruption in its supply. I am going to steer clear of this mine field, my dear readers, and focus only on what it is. At the end of this article I will include a couple of links where you may go to read more for further edification. Also, feel free to ask any questions as the forum allows.
Raw milk is completely legal in most states. However, if one goes to the grocery store to purchase it, you will find that you can’t. If you go to a regular dairy to buy it direct, they won’t sell it to you. If you try to special order it, it will be unavailable. So, how does one obtain it? Like most things of value, it may require a bit of work and effort on your part.
The only way, that I have found, to obtain this product consistently, is via “cow share”. In our new location, my wife has found a cow share source. And it works thus; you lease the cow.
That’s right; you become part owner in the cow. You can’t take it home with you, but it gives you the ability to receive from it the milk, in its raw form. This is the only consistent way that I have ever found to be able to obtain this product.
As to what it is and how it is different, well, that’s another thing. It ain’t homogenized, nor is it pasteurized, so chances are, no one, unless they are older and lived on a farm, has had it in this form. The first thing you will notice is that there is a separation of the cream from the milk (in cow’s milk, not goats). It floats, on top. In order to drink this (unless you are going to be unfair to others and drink the “cream off the top”) one needs to shake it up and mix it all back together. Here’s what it looks like:
How it comes to us - in a mason jar...
(The arrow marks the level of cream that rises to the top)
This is the cream at the top; thick rich and waiting for use in your morning coffee. But, if this is not your preference, just shake it up. Its taste is pretty much the same as homogenized, but richer in flavor.
freshly opened jar and a sample of the cream
Being an amateur cheese maker, this is the best milk to be working with. No calcium needs to be added, and it forms a strong curd. I have made many cheeses, but I have never attempted a blue because I lacked the ability to deal with the complexity of the process nor did I have this available. I now have it and need only over come my own apprehension at attempting it. I’ll save that for another article…
Tags: Hi from Hiatus!
I know I know, I have not been around, in the posting/writing sense, for some time. Many, many changes in the life of this ex-Burbankite and his loving family. Do not worry, I am soon to post yet another of my posts about the finer things in life. For all of you who have wondered and perhaps have been waiting with bated breath, rest assured there are many in the works.
I have a possible surprise on the near-horizon, something that will interest all. Full-color pictures along with in-depth discussions of process and background (I’ll make sure they’re sized properly, of course!).
All this to whet your appetite and to show, once and for all, that the announcements of my disappearance have been mere hyperbole.
Don’t touch that dial!
Coleslaw, slightly different
I was inspired by Michelle’s posting on Mac n’ Cheese. I commented that I would have to try it at the next rib bar-b-que. Then I thought harder (like Pooh bear) and said to myself “why not today”? Some Carolina ribs, Mac n’ Cheese and my wife’s (Melissa’s) famous Cole Slaw. Great meal, for a day that is, well, cool, but not raining.
I don’t know where she got this recipe, but it has become my most requested coleslaw. It goes well with almost anything. It gets better if you make it in advance and let the flavors marry, and the cabbage softens a bit. So, we’ll make it now and have it in a couple of days. That will give me time to marinate the ribs for bar-b-queing. And, of course, we’ll have it all with Michelle’s Mac n’ Cheese.
So, to begin, I’ll shred the cabbage head. I find that if I use a knife, I get a chunkier Cole Slaw. That’s ok, but this time I wanted to see how it would turn out using the cabbage shredder. We got one of these at a garage sale a couple of years ago, and it was a Godsend.
Shredding cabbage on the shredder
It gets a lot of use in the fall when we make sauerkraut (we made and canned over 70lbs last year). It shreds very fine, but don’t get your fingers too close to the blades, as it won’t be able to tell the difference between your fingers and cabbage.
Shred one small head of cabbage; place in a large mixing bowl. Shred or finely slice one half of a large onion. Thinly slice one small bell pepper. Add onion and pepper to the cabbage.
Shredded cabbage, onions and peppers await their fate
Place in a small saucepan the following ingredients:
½ cup white vinegar
6 Tbls safflower oil
6 Tbls white sugar
2 ½ tsp dry mustard (you can use Coleman’s, it will have a bit more of a bite to it)
1 tsp celery seed
Bring the above to a boil and cool; add salt and pepper to taste
When cool, toss on to the cabbage; let sit at least two hours before serving. Or in this case, till the pork ribs are ready.
The finished product
Very simply, and tastes great!
Clean the drain, or make pretzels?
The King of Salt and Dough
The German-speaking countries of Europe are full of very interesting baking creations. From rye bread to pumpernickel, croissants to Frankfurter Kranz , fruit cakes like zwetschgentorte, dumplings in their huge variety to just regular brötchen (potato breads, too), the list is enormous. But if there is one that sticks out as representative of German baking it’s the pretzel. We know it here as a salty, hard snack that goes well with beer, which is great in its own right. However, in Germany, especially in the south, it is a high art form that bakers spend considerable time perfecting. As of late, I have been doing some practicing myself and, along the way, have learned some very interesting things about this ages-old form of bread.
Pretzels are basically bread dough that has been dipped or boiled in some sort of a salt solution. If you open a cookbook and proceed to make them, the salt will be sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda. The formed pretzel is dipped or boiled in the solution, then baked. I like these and like making them, but I always wondered why they never came out that deep, mahogany brown that I know to be the distinguishing color of pretzels I get at the German deli. Then I found out from a German baker why; I’m using the wrong salt. To achieve this color, one must use instead sodium hydroxide, otherwise known as lye. That’s right; the same thing that cleans out drains also makes beautiful pretzels. It’s not poisonous, once baked it converts to bicarbonate, a rather harmless substance. That does not mean that one does not proceed with utmost care when making them. Since I can, I’m going to make them both, as the only difference is the salt. That way I can show, side by side, the difference. I shall then allow you to decide.
Start with basic white bread dough. You can pre-buy this, pre-make and refrigerate it till ready or make it fresh; it just needs to be at room temperature before you start. For our purposes we’ll assume the dough has gone through its first rise and has been punched down and start there (if you have questions on how to make a basic dough let me know; we bake all of our own bread and have it pretty well down. And a Kitchenaid makes it a snap).
Preheat oven to 450⁰.
Take four cups of water and add 1/3 cup of baking soda to it. This is for our baking soda pretzels. Set this aside. In a stainless bowl, add 4 cups of warm water. To this, add ¼ cup of lye SLOWLY. Stir with a wooden spoon and when dissolved, set aside.
Divide the dough, enough for one loaf, into 12 equal parts. The parts should be balls of dough about 2” in diameter. On a smooth, non-floured surface, start rolling the dough into an even strand that is 12-15 inches long.
rolling the dough for pretzel
Try not to add flour, as you want it a little sticky so the pretzel form will not fall apart. When the strand is made, fold it into a pretzel shape. I couldn’t take pictures of this while doing it, as I only have two hands, but here is a little diagram I absconded with from another website:
The mystery revealed
All pretzels made? Ok, take two cookie sheets and lightly grease. Place the baking soda water on the stove and bring to a boil. When boiling, add the pretzels one at a time and boil them for two minutes, turning once. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and place on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt to your liking, and place in the oven for about ten minutes or until brown.
Boiling pretzels in water and baking soda
Now, the others. Put on some painters gloves to protect yourself. With the lye water, place pretzels in the bath and let them sit for 1½ minutes. Fish them out and place on the cookie sheet, salt and bake for about 10 minutes.
The Outcome:
Left: Lye Pretzel Right: Baking Soda Pretzel
Well, they are different in appearance, but not too much in the taste department. I guess I would make the baking soda ones more often, as they are a little easier to make. But I must say that they never last long whichever one I do make. Also, we go through more American prepared mustard when I am on the pretzel-making kick. Enjoy!