SMOKING ALLOWED

     Adjustments have to be made when you move to a roof top -- for instance, you will have to take an elevator to your front door.  Never my favorite.  The weekly groceries have to be brought up from the parking garage in a cart, which then has to go back to the basement.  The newspaper is delivered to the lobby and you have to get dressed before retrieving it to accompany your morning coffee.  Ditto the mail.
     But some things are too important to give up.  Like barbecue.  Smoked ribs.  Pulled pork.  Chicken.  Turns out we don't have to give them up.  We imagine that our neighbors believe the delicious smell of smokey 'cue is coming from Irving Street Kitchen downstairs.

   
     Here's the little red smoker which Larry uses to turn out his beautiful recipes.

I do understand that women can be pit masters, or make that pit mistresses, but in this family, it's a guy thing.  Larry has already sent off his formula for ribs to Peter and Tom, and if you are interested, David, you have but to say the word!
     However, today, we will be discussing chicken.  We'll get to pork another day.

     Larry's recipe for a whole chicken, or two chickens, in fact.  Why not?

Two whole chickens, 3 to 4 pounds each, insides pulled out and disposed of, washed, and patted dry.  That's it for ingredients.   (There are lots rub recipes out there if you want to get fancy, but smoking the chicken by itself is pretty good.)

Note:  If I am so lucky as to find livers in there, I fry them up with butter while Larry excuses himself from witnessing this appalling exercise)

To continue:
Soak wood for the smoker (Larry likes to use wood chunks, rather than chips) for 20 minutes.  Put wet wood in smoker and preheat to 220 degrees.
Place birds in smoker, breast down.  Smoke for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, turning the birds over half way through the process.
When done, the legs should move freely and the internal temperature will be 180 to 185 degrees, determined with an instant read thermometer.  If the chickens are not done in the 4 hour time span, you may want to remove them to the oven, 350 degrees, until desired internal temperature is reached.

Let rest 15 minutes before serving.
That's it!

The chickens will look beautiful, but there is some disagreement in this family about the edibility of that burnished skin.  Let's be honest:  I don't like it, and set my portion aside.
You'll have to decide for yourselves.

Now, what to do with two smoked chickens?  It's delicious that first moment, but that's a lot of meat!  So after the dishes are done and the wine bottle emptied, somebody has to sort things out.  This means pull the creatures apart, separate the meat, which you package it in a ziplock or two.  Put the bones into a large pot, cover with water, bring to boil, and then simmer for a couple of hours.  You can put the skin in, too, and you will have a  smokey broth good for making any soup you'd make with a ham bone, only different.

I get it that some of you won't bother with the broth, and that's okay . . . it's an acquired taste.

But the meat!  Smoked chicken salads, sandwiches with lettuce and mayo and the beautiful tomatoes available right now, tacos, whatever soup you make with unsmoked chicken.  I like to make lentil soup with a smoked leg tossed in:

Cut half an onion and 1-2 sticks of celery into bite-sized pieces.  Saute in butter or oil until softened, then add a cup or so of lentils, cover with broth, add the smoked chicken, salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.  Depending on the age of your lentils, this may take longer.  In this case I prefer to use un-smoked chicken broth, or even Imagine's No-chicken broth, so the flavor of the lentils isn't overwhelmed.  Results may vary, (ha) so make adjustments as necessary.

David called this evening to ask for the recipe for Sandhurst Rolls.  There we have next week's blog, a trip to the distant past, life in Minnesota, iceskating in the back yard,  neighborhood pot-lucks? Stay tuned!

   

BLACK BUTTE IRON CHEF

     Larry and I followed Peter and Co. to Black Butte, settled in to watch the sun go down, took the photo of the lovely cows in the meadow . . . Oregon is so beautiful!
     Having expected Jenny and family instead of the two of us, the careful Allison and Angie left a refrigerator of food they couldn't carry back to California or throw away.  When the Ederers couldn't come, we saw our chance.
     But what to do with 2 gallons milk, eggs, turkey hot dogs, blueberries, cheese, eggs, 2 sticks cooked bacon, various fruits and veg, all good, if some slightly wilted?  What would the Iron Chef do?
     First, all that milk:  found 3 nice baking potatoes in a bowl, half an onion, some celery, half an ear of corn . . . I'm thinking clam chowder.  No clams, of course, but a box of no-chicken chicken broth in the pantry, flour and spices already on board.  Easy to pick up the clams and broth at Rays on the trip to Sisters.
     I've been making the soup according to an idea I got from my cousin Mary Chandler one day rather long ago, which is to add a whiff of curry powder to any fish soup.  Credit where it's due, here's my formula.  (I used the already cooked bacon, but for your purposes, the recipe uses uncooked)

CLAM CHOWDER

2 slices bacon, chopped
Up to 1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped
Two sticks of celery, chopped
2 TBS butter
1 TBS flour
1 baking, or 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, 1/2 inch cubes
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 cups milk
1 cup broth, chicken or vegetable
1/2 bottle clam juice, or to taste
1 can chopped clams
dash curry powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 cup white wine
lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

In saucepan large enough to accommodate entire recipe, fry bacon, remove to paper towel.  In same pan, saute green onion, remove to towel.  Add butter to pan, saute white or yellow onion and celery.  Add flour and cook a moment.

Meanwhile, in separate pan, cook potatoes in water to just cover, approx 10 minutes til done.

To onion, celery, flour mix, slowly add potatoes and hot water, stirring.  Add milk, broth, clam juice, wine and seasonings.  Don't add actual clams until the last minute!  Allow soup to simmer 15 minutes, taste, adjust seasoning.  Just before serving, add the clams, reserved bacon and green onions.  If you're feeling decadent and have some cream around, it wouldn't hurt to add 1/4 cup or so.

You'll note that the recipe doesn't mentioned a left-over ear of corn, but if you have it, use it.  As this is an off-the-cuff recipe, you can do whatever you like.


Next up, baked custard.  Uses 2 cups of milk and some eggs.  You can find a recipe anywhere.


So now, the cheese:  this is a formula I took from a package of pimiento cheese while visiting David and Caroline in North Dakota.  Over the years, the recipe changes according to what I might have on hand, but this is today's iteration:

PIMIENTO CHEESE, SORT OF:

6-8 oz. cheddar cheese, cubed
4 oz cream cheese
2 TBS mayonaise
juice of 1/2 lemon
6 chopped peppadew peppers, in brine
dash cayenne pepper

Grate the cheddar cheese in processor, then add cream cheese and mayo, process to blend.  Add lemon juice, peppers, cayenne to taste, process to the consistency of your liking.  Great on crackers, or even to stuff celery sticks with.

Didn't have pimiento, but there was that jar of peppadews in the refrig . . . why not?  If you use pimiento, you might want to add a little pickled jalapeno, or a bit more cayenne for the nice heat.

I'll get back to you if I figure out what to do with turkey hot dogs!

PICKLE SEASON

My sister Mary likes to embarrass me by telling the following story about my early fondness for pickles.  Unfortunately, it's true.  As a child of seven or eight years, I liked to take a pickle from the refrig, wrap it in a napkin and stash it in my bathrobe pocket.  Then, after official lights-out, I'd make a tent of my bedding and with a flashlight, read into the night.  Should I become hungry, I was well provisioned with my favorite snack.

Sneaky child!  Of course I grew up and no longer need to read
under the bed-clothes, but I still love pickles.

Friend Julie Ball and I spent a few years canning and pickling, but I could never find quite the right recipe for dills.  The one day during lunch at Jo Bar, there they were, the perfect pickles.  I asked for a portion to take home, and amused, they obliged.  Several years followed of buying every commercial pickle I could find, without success.  At least I had identified the missing ingredient:  hot peppers.  Yes!

With the help of Putting Food By, my second-oldest cookbook (after BH&G), I began the do-it-yourself project.  Later I was joined in my mission by foodie-friend Vik (on the right in the above photo -- I'm holding a scepter of dill weed, if you're curious), the self-annointed Pearl-District Pickle-Queens.

It seems that putting food by has become hip, here in our foodie-city, among the Keep-Portland-Weird, chickens in the back yard crowd, "ink" a nice touch but not mandatory.  So jump in, you're in good company.  You'll need some basic equipment, but it's all multi-purpose, and inexpensive.

A canning kettle, which you will find at a cash-and-carry type store, or on Amazon -- get one with the rack.  Jars and lids with rings at the grocery store.  A tong-like device to extract the jars from the hot water is nice, but you can manage without.

As for the cucumbers, you have to use Kirby pickling cukes, at least for the following recipe.  I like to shop at the farmers' market and select small cucumbers no more than 4 inches long, but sometimes you'll find them in 10 pound bags and you'll have to deal with the varied sizes.

You have to start the brining the night before making the pickles.

This is a project best accomplished with a friend, as there will be periods of waiting in which you can catch up on the latest news around the neighborhood.  Besides, 10 pounds of cucumbers, if you have to buy that many, will yield about 15 pint jars of pickles, probably more than one family will want in a year.

Still with me?  Here are Dill Cucumber Pickles (Short Brine)

10 pounds Kirby cukes ( 3 - 5 inches)
1 gallon of 5 percent brine (3/4 cup Morton's Kosher salt to each gallon of water)
3 cups cider vinegar
3/8 cup salt
1/8 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups water
whole mixed pickling spice
whole yellow mustard seed
fresh dill weed OR dill seed
whole dried hot red peppers

Note:  You can halve the recipe.
Note:  all salt is not equally salty, so for the sake of this recipe, be sure to use Morton's.

Put washed and brush-scrubbed cukes in a noncorroding crock, kettle, or the kitchen sink, and cover with the 5 percent brine.  Let stand overnight.

Drain and pack the cucumbers in clean pint jars.  Add 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 1 teaspoon pickling spice, either 1 1/2 teaspoon dill seed OR 1 head of dill weed, 1 hot pepper to each pint jar.

Fill caning kettle half-way with water, and start bringing it to the boil.  You may need to add hot water to cover the jars when you begin to process them.  Start timing after the water in the kettle returns to the boil.

Combine vinegar, salt, sugar and water in a saucepan, bring to boil.  Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers in jars, leaving 1/2 inch headroom.  Adjust the lids and rings (tighten the rings firmly before placing the jars in the boiling water in the kettle) and process for 20 minutes, (lid on kettle)

Remove jars from boiling water carefully, place on towel on counter and allow to cool before putting away in the cupboard.

Now you have to wait for 6 weeks before you sample the pickles . . . don't cheat!

Bonus:  one way I love these pickles is an idea learned at Brothers Deli in Ashland:  Top a toasted pumpernickel bagel half with plain cream cheese and thin slices of pickle.  Really!

Introduction

     At the inspiration of, and encouragement from Allison, I've launched a new website. The idea is to distill the years of recipes I've found, tried, modified from the stacks of cooking magazines, newspaper clippings, file cards, cook books -- actually a kind of on-going kitchen history.

     First recipe:  (With a little background)
     Two years ago, Larry, Peter, Andrew, Jenny and I flew to Hamburg for friend Ursel Scheffler's birthday. During the party, held on a old sailing ship in the city's harbor, a gorgeous young woman approached, flung her arms around me in a warm hug.  But
who . . . ? Took me a minute to recognize Sibylle, Ursel's daughter, always a beautiful girl, but now, well, skinny as we'd all like to be.  How'd she do it?!
     Fast forward.  The secret revealed this summer in Italy by her big brother:  she eats no carbs after 12:00 mid-day.  That's it?  Hmm.  Easier, of course, for those Germans who typically eat the main meal in the middle of the day and dine on cheese and bread for supper.
     Then came Gary Taubes with his Bad Calories, Good Calories, singing the same song.  And a personal best on the bathroom scale.  Yikes!  Better try something!
     With that in mind, this from Jamie Oliver, in his book jamie's kitchen.  With tweaks, observations from my experience with it.  It's not exactly no-carb, but if you fix it for lunch on the weekend, it's fair.  Also good for a nice light dinner.  And it's really easy:

FRESH ASIAN NOODLE SALAD
Serves 4

10 1/2 oz cellophane noodles or bean thread noodles
7 oz ground beef
2 tsp. five-spice powder
5 TBS. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated (grated? really?)
2 heaping tsp. grated fresh ginger
5 1/2 oz salad shrimp
3 tsp sugar
1 bunch scallions, finely sliced
3 TBS fresh lime juice
1 TBS fish sauce
2 fresh red chiles, seeded and finely sliced
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 handful fresh mint, chopped
2 handfuls roasted peanuts
sea salt and black pepper

Some notes before we go on here:  first, I'll always give you the recipe as printed by the author, if there is one, and then my amendments.
For example, you all know I'd never add that cilantro, but you should go for it.
What I learned from this recipe, specifically is that you should watch the five-spice powder.  I used Penzeys and the cinnamon flavor took over the whole recipe.  First mistake!  Some would be good, but use sparingly.  Or try another brand.
Second mistake was the mint, which made things worse.  NO one the mint
If you also don't like cilantro, substitute basil.  Yum.    I deleted the sugar and didn't miss it.  I don't know how to grate garlic, so just pushed it through the press.  And it doesn't really need the shrimp.  All that being said, here goes:

Soak the noodles in a bowl of hot water until soft, then drain and put into your salad bowl.  Fry the beef and five-spice powder in olive oil until brown and crisp.  (Way too much oil, my opinion, but if you use it, drain before adding the next stuff)  Add garlic, ginger, shrimp and sugar and stir-fry for another 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir into the noodles.  Add the scallions, lime juice, fish sauce, chiles, cilantro, mint and peanuts into the bowl.  Toss well and correct the seasoning.  Serve cold (nope, room temperature) (I added more lime juice, and as my chile wasn't very hot, a few drops of hot chile oil -- or cayenne would work, too.)

That's it.  For dinner later, first an icy glass of gin, or wine of course, then a plate of sliced heirloom tomatoes a al Caprese with mozzarella and basil.  I have to acknowledge that my bathroom scale registered no improvement the next morning.  Maybe there's more to Sibylle's method?