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Outtakes from the cookbook photo shoot

Monday, May 17th, 2010

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I’m back from the photo shoot that took place in New York City last week, and, boy, what a week it was. I’m too pooped to write a clever, insightful summation of the experience, so hopefully some of these photos will do the explaining for me.

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Baby carrots — aren’t they lovely?

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Baby carrots in jars, prepped to be pickled and processed.

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Adrienne the food stylist and her awesome assistant cook their brains out over the four day shoot.

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Adrienne prepared a huge pot of tomato sauce made from home canned tomatoes. It’s my mom’s recipe. Thanks, mom!

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Ellen the photographer shoots the sauce. After it was photographed, the crew polished it off, and raved.  Also on the lunch menu: sandwiches,  artisanal bread, crazy salads, amazing cheeses, all sorts (particularly the gooey variety) and fresh fruit.  I ate A LOT of fabulous food last week. Did I mention I ate a lot of food last week?

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Whoa, I think I ate too much pasta.

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My coauthor Kelly gets schooled in how to properly frost a cake using the most delicate, photo-friendly grip on the knife as possible. The “right grip” for a photo has no bearing on reality whatsoever but it looks nice on film.

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Fresh fiddleheads. Just because.

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A gooey grilled cheese sandwich smothered in homemade hot sauce is photographed…..then eaten by yours truly. Did I mention I ate a lot of food last week?

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Kelly’s dog, the appropriately named Pickles.

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Goodbye chickens, hello New York!

Friday, May 7th, 2010

I’m heading up to New York tomorrow for the four day photo shoot for the cookbook.  I’m very excited.  Having worked in publishing, I’ve been to a lot of photo shoots, but this will be my first food shoot.  I’ve always wondered what sort of visual trickery goes into making a bowl of pasta or a plate of chicken look pristine enough for a photo in a magazine or book.  I’m even more excited by the creative team — the photographer, food and prop stylist — our publisher Rodale has hired to bring my words and Kelly’s recipes to life.

After checking out their portfolios and having a conference call with these incredibly talented people, it finally sunk in that this cookbook I’ve been working on for so long is NOT going to be a pamphlet held together by staples available in the dollar bin at The Big K, but an actual cookbook. The kind you proudly showcase on your bookshelf (and hopefully use every canning season) featuring gorgeous color photography and beautiful styling and plates and jars of delectable food.

Starting any longterm creative project, you never know what shape it will take or how it will turn out. A million and one things can go wrong (and often do). But I have to say it’s been incredibly rewarding and fun — and challenging! — to watch what was once a germ of an idea come to life. I couldn’t have done it without the chef, Kelly!

All of this is a long way of saying, I’ll try to keep you up to date on New York goings-on but posts may be a bit sporadic next week.

New York City or Bust!

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Chili pickled baby watermelon

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

This recipe was created by my coauthor chef Kelly Geary for our upcoming canning cookbook, published by Rodale. I can’t give out the ingredient specifics — our publisher might not like that — but this will give you an idea the type of pickled products Kelly is known for. This particular creation is a refrigerator pickle, meaning it’s meant to be eaten within a couple of weeks or so.

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To prepare, first quarter a baby watermelon and slice into wedges.

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In a small pot, bring to a boil water, vinegar, salt and sugar.

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The recipe calls for a lot of salt. The reason so much salt is used is because the watermelon cures in the refrigerator covered in liquid for a week; the salt draws moisture from the melon, keeping it from getting mushy.

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Pour the pickling liquid over the sliced melon.

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Stir in fiery spices. Cover and let cure in the fridge for a week before eating.

Mine has been curing since Saturday. I can’t wait to sample it this weekend!

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Pickled eggplant postscript

Friday, March 19th, 2010

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Yesterday the one and only Linda Ziedrich, author of The Joy of Pickling and The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves, took the time to comment on my post — or rather, my lament — about WHAT IS UP WITH PICKLED EGGPLANT?

In the post, I had mentioned I modeled two of my pickled eggplant recipes after hers and wasn’t — I sheepishly cower as I write this because everyone know Linda Ziedrich pretty much rules — wild about the results. This led me to believe eggplant may just be one those veggies — right up there with brussel sprouts — that can’t hold it’s own in a pickle jar. (Though I’m sure plenty of picklers will argue me on this point.)

She suggested I try diluting the vinegar with a bit of water for a less pronounced flavor.  Or instead of trying to eat pickled eggplant straight from the jar, treat them more as a garnish by adding a few briney cubes to other dishes, such as a salad.

So that’s what I did last night: I tossed a few mint-pickled cubes into a spinach salad studded with goat cheese and dressed with a homemade vinaigrette comprised of olive oil, eggplant brine (instead of using new vinegar–pickle brine is liquid gold!), fresh thyme, salt and pepper.

And you know what? It was really good. The tartness of the eggplant was balanced by the earthy creaminess of the cheese. And for me, a good pickle is all about balance, whether in the jar or when used in other dishes.  Otherwise, an excessively sour taste can be like having your face turned inside out.

Maybe there’s hope for pickled eggplant after all?

Thanks again, Linda Ziedrich.

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What is up with pickled eggplant???

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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One of these vegetables can't be pickled as easily as the others

The other day I made eight different versions of pickled eggplant, trying to find one worthy of the canning cookbook I’m writing with Brooklyn chef Kelly Geary. And the consensus was that all eight versions more or less sucked. That’s right, I’m touting myself as a canning pro and my pickled eggplant was no good.   You won’t find any of these recipes in the cookbook, that’s for sure.

What’s noteworthy is that I modeled at least two versions after those developed by Joy of Pickling author Linda Ziedrich.  Linda Ziedrich, for those of you not up on your canning and pickling ephemera, is regarded as among the top pickling gurus in the country.

Jake and I thought her version was, em, what’s a nice way to say this: Not delicious? Off balance? Way, way, way too vinegar-y? If  Linda Ziedrich herself had a hard time coming up with a  passable version, is there hope for the rest of us? (Though to be fair, 90 percent of Ziedrich’s other pickling recipes are amazing — a canner can’t hit it out of the park every time.)

The essential problem is that this particular veg, for whatever reason, doesn’t readily lend itself to astringent flavors. Eggplant can have a whiff of sour, such as what you taste on an antipasto platter at an Italian restaurant, but no more. So the trick is coming up with just enough sour to make the pickle safe, but not so much that it throws the delicate flavors of this nightshade into super sour dill pickle territory.

So. It’s back to the drawing board. (Maybe a David Chang-inspired soy, rice vinegar version is the way to go?)

Meanwhile, I’ll probably end up eating all eight pints of this unsatisfactorily pickled eggplant.  My canned goods — even the gross ones — are like my children. Children with behavioral problems and learning disabilities. I just can’t bring myself to throw them out.

Nothing like a bowl of bad pickled eggplant for breakfast

Nothing like a bowl of bad pickled eggplant for breakfast

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Pickled eggplant madness

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

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Today is Saturday.  I spent it canning eight different varieties of pickled eggplant.  Eggplant isn’t even in season.  This eggplant came from the grocery store.

Nothing like home canned grocery store eggplant, right? Not.

The purpose of this exercise was to try to come up with a wonderfully tart pickled eggplant recipe that would be an asset to any antipasto platter. The problem is that pickled eggplant you get at Italian restaurants is typically prepared with oil, herbs and just a splash of vinegar; a taste that can’t  be replicated in a water bath canner  since oil and eggplant are both low-acid. Low-acid foods require plenty of vinegar to safely preserve.

So the trick is coming up with a pickled eggplant that isn’t too vinegary, since I’m of the opinion eggplant tastes best when it’s earthy with just a hint of acid, not overly astringent.

So I spent the day playing with different types of vinegars and spices, looking for that perfect balance. I’m letting all the jars cure for a few days — allowing flavors to develop and meld — before unveiling a taste test later this week. Stay tuned.

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The secret to superior dilly beans

Monday, March 8th, 2010
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A dill head

I know, I know. It’s a little premature to be posting about this mid-summer canning staple, but it’s never too early to start strategizing  about how to go about it.

It’s been my experience as a canner that the tastiest dilly beans use fresh dill heads – the top of the dill plant after it’s gone to seed – because the flavor of the herb is that much more more pronounced and concentrated, even sharp, than tamer dill sprigs.

Unfortunately, most people don’t have access to dill heads unless they grow the herb themselves, which is why most recipes calls for dill sprigs.

The problem is that dill is a cool weather plant. It’s usually planted in April and peters out by mid- to late-June. Beans, meanwhile, adore heat. They’re planted in mid-May (after all danger of frost has passed) and harvested sometime around mid-July.

So the dill misses the beans and the beans miss the dill.

There is a way around this canning kerfuffle, according to my friends and master dilly bean makers Brendan Perry and Susan Guida, farmers at Stone House Farm in VA.  They recommend planting the herb and beans simultaneously in mid-May.  This way, the herb will be ready to go to seed right about the time the beans are harvested mid-July. If you don’t have a garden, bring home several potted dill plants from the nursery and let them go to seed in their pots.

Hello, delicious dilly beans.

I should point out that dill does tend to grow better when planted in the cooler month of April. But for the purpose of making dilly beans, a May planting is fine. If you want, stagger plantings at two-week intervals beginning in April to May, so you have fresh dill all season long.

And really, is there such a thing as too much dill?

Dilly Beans

Expect a killer dilly bean recipe from me sometime this spring.

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National Canned Food Month!

Friday, February 5th, 2010

The weather outside may be frightful, but did you know February is National Canned Food month?

If you haven’t celebrated this momentous occasion already, make a point of toasting somebody this month with a Ball jar. Hopefully one filled with delicious summertime preserves.

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Eating this home canned garden salsa just now took me back to at least August.

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Can porn

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

I’m up in NYC this week meeting with my cookbook co-author Kelly Geary, owner of Sweet Deliverance NYC. As you can see, she’s been  killing herself for the past couple of months creating all sorts of innovative deliciousness to appeal to the back-to-basics foodie crowd.  Her commercial kitchen is in Brooklyn, the zenith of the artisanal, DIY blah blah blah “but is this beef grass-fed?” scene.

I’m staying with my friend Pauline in Brooklyn. Being in the heart of Brooklyn has made me realize to what extent I’m an unwitting member of the DIY hand-crafted foodie tribe, even though I like to think I’m actually above it all.  When I open my refrigerator at home, I’m met with at least 17 jars of half-eaten home canned goods. My freezer is stocked with beef a farmer down the road gave us, and venison from a deer a neighbor shot for us. We only eat chicken slaughtered by hand by my husband.  When I open Pauline’s refrigerator, I see 10 different kinds of artisanal cheese, grass-fed milk and organic grapes. Her dog eats holistic kibbles and bits. It’s two sides of the same coin, is it not? Or perhaps the same coin: WE ALL FETISHIZE FOOD.

I give you canning porn:

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Jars of mustard made by Bob McClure of McClure Pickles, a "hot" pickle brand that came out of Brooklyn

Jars of mustard made by Bob McClure of McClure Pickles, a "hot" pickle brand that came out of Brooklyn

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Why does canning seem hard?

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

While doing research for my canning cookbook, which involves pouring through cookbooks from the 1920s, I’ve come to realize there’s an aura of psychotic caution that now surrounds the craft  that didn’t exist years ago. I suppose this is because we’re simply less familiar with canning today, so it seems more intimidating than it actually is. And you could argue that improvements in culinary science have made the USDA’s revamped rules and regulations and bylaws and strictures of today necessary.

But the overall effect is that canning is now perceived as being more involved and time consuming than ever.  Back in the day, when everybody canned, when everybody had to can, preserving instructions were no more involved than “cook some relatively high acid food, seal it in a jar and — TA DA! It’s canned!  Enjoy your delicate preserves 6 months or a year from now!”

Now you have to sterilize the jars, pre-heat and jars and lids, wipe down the sides of the jar, process the jars in a boiling water bath for a specific length of time, adjusting for elevation…..gak! It’s enough to make you think you need to wear a biohazard suit for making pickles.

This difference was really brought home to me over the weekend when I tested a bunch of recipes with my neighbor Ellen — who’s been canning for 35 years — and her daughter Yvonne. A canner in the classic sense, Ellen simply cooks the food,  ladles it into a jar and allows the heat of the food to create an airtight seal. She didn’t bother with a boiling water bath or pre-sterilizing jars. And in 35 years, she’s never had food poisoning.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying modern food preservation rules should be flouted. And I’m sure my publisher will want to go heavy on the rules. But I think the excessively cautious tone of canning manuals nowadays is more a reflection of our litigious society than anything else…on par with McDonalds labeling coffee “very hot.”

In other words, even if you broke half the canning rules of 2009, your homemade jellies and pickles and salsas will probably still come out delicious.

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