Bar book

My original bar notebook was pretty thrashed--pages stained and torn from years of use behind the bar. The above one is a replacement booklet I started using a couple of years before hanging up my bar towel.

In the bar book, I kept a record of new-to-me drink recipes that customers would bring in to have be made, drinks I and other 'tenders made up that were both good and tended to sell, and alternate names/recipes for standard drinks often ordered. Looking through the bar book now, I see that I wrote recipes down usually in some sort of short form. Not every recipe has amounts listed, nor does every recipe specify what glassware is to be used. The recipe for a 'Dumb Bunny', is written only like this:

Dumb Bunny
Kurant
1/2 lemon
7-Up

I'm assuming I meant Absolut Kurant as flavored Absolut vodka was a call-level favorite during my tenure. -don't know if it still is. And given that Dumb Bunny is a 3-ingredient drink that sort of mimics a Collins, then it's assumed that the drink would be served on ice and probably in a chimney glass. As Kurant is the only booze in the recipe, then it's also assumed that that would be a shot's worth. There is no industry-wide shot standard*, but shots generally tend to be hovering around just over an ounce here in the states. In the majority of bars where I worked, 1.25 ounces was the standard shot. 

At the first bar I ever worked in, we, generally, free poured. This means that in lieu of using a measure or jigger, one counted the shot in one's head: 1-2-3-hup! At the 'hup', the tipped bottle neck would be brought back upright and the pour would stop. Free pouring, like any skill, took some practice in order to be good at doing. 

All of us at that joint individually trained to free pour with a booze bottle filled with water placed in the well (where the cheap booze 'lives' in front of the ice well). We'd each go through a series of pulling the bottle up from the well and pouring its contents into a jigger until the booze bottle was emptied. We'd repeat the process until our 1-2-3 count matched a complete jigger pour with no effort or error. 

Here's a page from the bar book with counts (1-2-3-hup!) instead of ounces representing amounts. The Otter Pop recipe shown below lists equal parts of all the booze components. So that's a one count or 1-hup! (said in one's head) on the Chamb(ord), Curaçao, and raspberry vodka poured into a chimney glass before adding 7-Up to fill. 

Converting to metric, when moving abroad, wasn't terribly challenging. The conversion is: 1.0 US fl oz. = 30 ml.

Here's a bar book snippet from when I worked at Hix in Selfridge's in London. (Note: There was no free pouring at Hix.)



In case anyone is inclined to reproduce this classic at home, the daiquiri recipe's last ingredient and directions are: 3 bar spoons of caster sugar, shake and strain into a cocktail glass and serve with lime wedge.


*Utah has a state-wide shot standard of one ounce. 

The Sazerac, a rye whiskey lover's cocktail

This post was inspired by Debra at She Who Seeks. Her last post was a tongue-in-cheek entry about food blogs. I have occasionally posted about food and drink, so here's one for a the drinkers out there. Zum Wohl!

When I still drank alcohol, I made a lot of 'fancy' drinks for myself at home once I stopped professionally tending bar. (This home 'habit' was also probably why I stopped drinking five years ago, to be honest.) I was a brown liquor fan, and when rye whiskey came back in fashion here in the bar world around 2005, or so, I and a lot of other 'tenders began substituting it in drinks that traditionally called for bourbon to good effect. The modern-day Manhattan recipe makes a great cocktail, but substituting the bourbon for rye whiskey gives one a delightful variation on theme. 

The Sazerac, one of the the earliest cocktails created in the states around 1850, traditionally called for brandy. Today's version uses rye whiskey and here's my take on it:

Ingredients

2 ounces of Rye
Pernod
3-4 dashes of Peychaud's bitters
bar spoon of simple syrup
lemon twist/peel

Directions

Ice a 'bucket' glass (here I used a coupé cuz I'm fancy like that), then add a splash or so of Pernod, swirl it around then dump out contents. This glass is now 'coated' with Pernod.  

In a mix tin (one half of a Boston shaker set) add rye, bitters and simple syrup over ice. Stir with bar spoon until cold. I would usually just slowly shake mine in a Boston shaker set until cold and it is never bruised.  

Strain contents of tin into bucket coated with Pernod and squeeze lemon peel over the cocktail. I liked to also rim the glass with the peel before discarding. For the purposes of taking a 'fun' photo, the cocktail has been garnished with peel.  

Baking a buckle

After watching an episode of Alton Brown a little bit ago, the hubs was inspired to bake something called a 'buckle'.  Up til that point, the only buckle I knew of was found on belts and on a pair of creepers I owned back in the late 80s.

   


The husband said the buckle had been easy to assemble and bake.  I know it was certainly easy to eat.  Inspired, I then decided to make my own buckle, a 'black and blue' one, using a recipe from the super talented Stacy at Wicked Good Kitchen.

My buckle adapted from Wicked Good recipe.

'Black and Blue'

Here is the list of ingredients (with my alterations in blue) for 'wicked good' buckle:

• For the “White” Sugar Cookie Streusel
• ¾ cup (90 to 94 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons (75 to 80 grams) granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons (85 grams) salted butter, cut into bits
• For the “Red and Blue” Berry Cake (I used blackberries and blueberries.)
• 1½ cups (195 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for cake pan
• 1½ teaspoons (7 grams) baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon (3.6 grams) kosher salt
• 10 tablespoons (about 141 grams) unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, 1 medium lemon (I added lime zest too.)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract (I didn't have extract in the cupboard, so I used vanilla bourbon.)
• 2 large eggs (mine weighted 100 grams w/o shells), room temperature
• 2½ cups (12.5 ounces/about 388 grams) fresh blueberries, rinsed & dried
• 1½ cups (7.5 ounces/180 grams) fresh raspberries that have been washed, dried and frozen or frozen raspberries (I didn't freeze my berries because this was a somewhat spontaneous bake job.)
• Shortening or favorite cooking oil, for greasing cake pan
• For the Sugar Topping
• 1½ to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar (I didn't top with sugar.)

The hubby's blueberry buckle a la Alton Brown.

Alton's recipe culled from the Food Network website:

For the cake:
Nonstick cooking spray
9 ounces cake flour, approximately 2 cups
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
5 1/4 ounces sugar, approximately 3/4 cup
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
15 ounces fresh whole blueberries, approximately 3 cups

For the topping:
3 1/2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/2 cup
1 1/2 ounces cake flour, approximately 1/3 cup
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

**unlike me, the hubs did not deviate from his recipe at all.

Both buckle recipes yielded very tasty results.  Of course, it seems like it's hard to go wrong with such a delightful dessert.  What I enjoyed about Stacy's recipe was the generous crumble topping and addition of zest and vanilla in the cake.  I really adore zest.  And Alton's addition of ginger in the cake and nutmeg in the topping gave his buckle a nice spice.

I told hubby that I'd like to try making a choco-buckle next.  Given how great the buckles have been so far, I have high hopes!

Channa Masala

Sometimes, when I'm lucky, I'll find both tasty and easy-to-make recipes in the New York Times. An oldie but a goodie was this: Channa Masala.

Although the recipe calls for a heap of spices that I didn't currently have in my cabinet, and, seemingly, a lot of prep. steps, Channa Masala is remarkably easy to make.

Ingredients:

45oz. chickpeas cooked/1.5 cup dry
2 blk cardamom pods
1/3 cup neutral oil*
1 med. Spanish onion**
21/2 tbsp. tomato paste
6 cloves garlic
9 dried dates
4 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cayenne
2 whole star anise

Preparation:

Crack cardamom pods, remove seeds, then crush and set aside.
Chop dates and set aside.
Chop onions and garlic and set aside.
In a medium pot heat oil until it shimmers. (Shimmers?)
Add onions to oil, stirring until they are brown (7-8 min).
Add garlic and let cook for about a minute before adding tomato paste then reduce heat.
Add cardamom and all the remaining ingredients--minus the chickpeas--and saute for a couple of minutes.
Add chickpeas and a half a cup of water-enough to make the contents "wet".
Heat mixture, stirring occasionally to incorporate all the flavors.***
Keep warm until serving.
Serves 6.

*we used rapeseed oil.
**we used a regular yellow onion.
***we found that the longer the mixture simmered, the better the flavor of the dish, so, if you have the patience, then let it "stew" for, at least, 30-45 minutes.

Housewarming

We moved in to our new digs back in June. Most things are in order, and we're ready for a housewarming! The fete is Sunday, so I've spent Friday night and most of today cooking, baking, and tidying for the folks coming tomorrow.

While living in CH, I was fortunate to have worked in production at a pie shop, and was able to pick a few 'tried and true' recipes--no savoury pies, unfortunately--while there. The Swiss women who ran the joint were a bit suspicious and secretive, so none who worked in the kitchen were allowed to write anything down. They even made their chef, an English woman called Gwen, sign some sort of agreement stating that she would not share or use the shop's recipes outside of work. I found that baffling especially given the fact that all of the recipes were provided to the shop by Gwen herself.

There was a sort of 'recipe bible' we could consult were we to get stuck on a prep step, but, in the main, we were to learn the recipes by rote, ultimately dispensing with using the bible entirely. The repetition of doing the same thing all day, every day, meant that I learned quite quickly how to concoct our products without the help of any printed notes. This also meant that I could easily transfer all measurements and directions from my head to pen & paper once home. Mind you, I didn't care much to do anything with what I had learned in their kitchen. It wasn't like I was going to dash out and open a competing pie shop just down the road. However, the fact that they were so uptight about the recipes made me want to take a few of them with me when I left their employ.

Here is one of them:

Ice Tea 

The recipe yields approximately 5 liters.
Ingredients
5 bags of mint tea plus 3 bags each of ceylon, rosehip, and elderflower tea
250 grams of sugar
juice of three lemons
1/2 liter of orange juice

Directions
Boil 2.5 liters of water then add the ceylon tea. Remove ceylon tea bags after five minutes, then add the herbal teas plus sugar. After five minutes remove pot from heat and add 2.5 liters of cold water, lemon juice and orange juice. Let stand approximately 12 hours before straining through muslin or a sieve and serve!

Cranberry sauce with a kick!

Cylindrical, good.

A quick search on the internet last night for a fast and easy cranberry sauce recipe to go with Christmas dinner yielded this beauty from the BBC Good Food blog.  A few minutes' preparation and then approximately ten minutes on the hob and presto, lovely cranberry sauce.  If I had known that making cranberry sauce were this easy, I would have done it years ago.  I blame both not having had access to fresh cranberries in my California youth and being a devotee of the canned cranberry 'log' for as long as I can remember for keeping me in the dark about the excellence of real cranberry sauce.  Not having done a proper shop before the stores closed for Christmas, I actually didn't have all the ingredients listed, so had to make do with a bit of improvisation.  What I came up with was oh-so-divine.  I can only imagine how tasty the original recipe must be.

Original ingredients:
250 gr fresh cranberries
100 gr light muscovado sugar
100 ml orange juice

Delightful, de-lovely, delish!

My ingredients:
340 gr fresh cranberries*
100 gr dark muscovado sugar
50 ml mandarin juice
50 ml pomegranite syrup
zest of one lemon

As per the recipe, I tossed the sugar, juice, syrup and zest in a pot and brought to a boil.  Then I added the cranberries, reduced heat, and let simmer for about ten minutes.  The recipe states one should let the cranberries simmer for five minutes, but I was enjoying listening to the cranberries emit a soft 'pop' while I stirred them that I let the time get away from me.  The sauce, really, was no worse for the wear and most of the cranberries had retained their shape and a slight firmness when bitten into.

One would think that my having used 90gr more cranberries than the recipe called for would lead to a less sweet-tasting sauce, but I figured my adding the sugary pomegranate syrup would make up for the lack of sugar.  Not only did it, but the syrup may have lent another layer of flavor to the whole thing--that and the mandarin juice--making it all the tastier! 

*the cranberries came from the USA!

Olive Walnut Bread

Ever since purchasing a Kitchen Aid mixer last month, the hubs has been regularly making white bread with packaged yeast.   Before the mixer came into our lives, we baked sourdough using a starter and kneaded the dough by hand.  I chucked out our not-so-stellar sourdough starter before going on a two-week holiday back in July and haven't been inspired to begin another one.  Keeping a tub of gooey, flour-y mess healthy and teeming with yeast seemed, ultimately, too hard to maintain. 

Gone are the days of seeing bread baking as some sort of 'hard work'.  How we now make bread feels quite easy in comparison.  Of course, I am not complaining and I do like having kitchen tasks made easy.  The mixer kneads the bread in about ten minutes and the rise time, presumably because of the robustness of the dried yeast, seems to be cut in half, from approximately 7 hours, or so, to 4 hours.  Hubs can basically make this loaf with his eyes closed and for that I am glad.  Lately, though, I have been itching to bake a loaf with a bit of pizazz.

Yesterday, I found what I was looking for when happened upon an olive loaf recipe while thumbing through a free newspaper from Josefwiese.

Here is the recipe compliments of Bettina Bär, head chef at Kiosk Josefwiese:

1kg light spelt flour
2 packages of yeast
1 tbsp. sea salt, or a bit less if the olives used are quite salty
1 handful of green olives
1 small bunch of parsley or basil, finely cut
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
approximately 1/3 cup very warm water (in order for yeast to activate), approximately 21/2 cups warm water or just enough until dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl

We halved the above recipe, omitted the herbs, added walnuts, and, instead of spelt, we used 'Bauernmehl' which is a mixture of flours: spelt, wheat and rye.

Put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, then add the nuts and olives, both fairly well chopped, and mix together by hand a few minutes.  Attach the mixing bowl to its base on the mixer, then add the yeast and 1/3 cup of water while the dough mixes.  Then slowly add the warm water until the dough forms into a ball and comes away from the sides of the mixing bowl.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a well-formed ball.  Place dough into an oiled bowl and cover either with a moist towel or plastic wrap for approximately 1 to 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.  Turn dough out onto baking sheet and bake at 200c for 30 to 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.

After ten minutes in the mixer.

Being formed into a ball.

Rolling around an oiled bowl.

Ready to rise!

Finished product

Hubs trying a piece.

My slice!

Cranberry-Orange Cake

I am completely besotted with this tea cake recipe from Sarah Mayor.  It is a fantastically moist and balanced cake.  Better yet, it is also fairly versatile.  Ms. Mayor suggests that one substitute other types of berries in lieu of raspberries.  Thanks to my local market being out of product, I did just that and the cake turned out very well.

Whirring away

 The hubs pronounced the raspberry-lemon loaf as one of the best cakes he has ever eaten, so I wanted to bake it again and take it to a party I had been invited to at the end of the week.  It was sure to be a hit.  Unfortunately, on the day I went to the store to purchase cake ingredients there were not only no raspberries, but NO berries at all to be had.  I didn't have time to flit from shop to shop in search of fresh berries, so I decided to substitute dried cranberries for raspberries and add orange zest in addition to the lemon zest that the recipe called for.  Again, I used quark instead of yogurt.  The cranberry-orange-quark cake went over really well with the Swiss folk at the party, so much so that, by the end of the night, the cake had been eaten up and one gal even asked me for the recipe.  I gladly sent her the above link to Ms. Mayor's tea loaf recipe.

The images below show the same cranberry-orange delight except this time I used cream cheese in lieu of quark or yogurt.  I hadn't actually wanted to use cream cheese, but I had forgotten to pick up quark at the store before throwing the ingredients together.  There just happened to be a bit of cream cheese tucked into the back of the fridge, so in it went.  I look forward to seeing how this latest incarnation of the loaf turned out!

Dense batter

1/3 of the batter

First layer of cranberries

Fresh from the oven

Raspberry-Lemon Cake

While perusing the blog-o-sphere I ran across a very smart-looking baking blog, Cake, Crumbs and Cooking.  The latest entry showed photos of a gorgeous blueberry cake.  Intrigued and a bit hungry, I read on and eventually clicked on the link provided showing the original tea loaf recipe made with raspberries.

I made a quick trip to the store for raspberries, lemon and ground almonds, then came back and set about baking my version of the cake.  I made two substitutions to the original recipe.  Caster sugar does not seem to exist here in CH, so I used granulated instead.  I also used quark instead of yogurt.  I had been meaning to bake with quark since moving to Switzerland a year ago, but, until now, had no inspiration to do so.

Fresh from the oven.

As C.C. and C. mentioned, the batter was so stiff and I wondered how the loaf would turn out.  Would it be too dense?  Too dry?

Removed from tin with lemon-sugar mixture drizzled on top.

Dry cake fears were unfounded.  The cake was moist and light.  The raspberries' tartness served as a good counterbalance to the sweetness of the cake.  Served with a cup of Tetley's, the loaf was a hit with the hubs.

Tea and cake!

And again for breakfast the next day!

Lemon Lavender 'Kugelhopf' Cake

While I used a traditional Kugelhopf form to bake this cake, I would actually call the cake I baked a 'Bundt'.  From what I can tell (and taste), the Bundt cake takes only its form, literally, from the Kugelhopf form of Europe, but not its recipe.

Here is the recipe I adapted (and halved) from the Tonka Bean Bundt Cake recipe posted by fabulously talented Trotamundos:

205 gr flour
120 ml milk
165 gr sugar
114 gr unsalted butter
3/8 tsp. salt
3/4 tbsp. baking powder (I used a bit less and the cake turned out fine.)
2 eggs
Zest of one lemon, juice of half a lemon (or more, as I found the flavour of the lemon to be just discernible)
A few pinches of dried lavender--approx. 1 tbsp

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Then add eggs one at a time, beating each thoroughly.  Stir in salt and baking powder.  Add milk and flour, alternating between each, mixing well after each addition.  Mix in dried lavender, lemon zest and juice.  Pour batter into a buttered and floured form (or whatever method you use to keep the cake from sticking) and bake at 165-170c for approx. one hour or until thoroughly baked.  Remove from oven and let cake stand in form for ten minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

I have yet to find the perfect glaze.  Any suggestions?

BBQed Lemonade

All hail The Meatwave, home of all things Grill!

The hubs and I were searching for a marinade/rub/sauce to use for our upcoming grill party when we found this recipe for Grilled Lemonade.

The original recipe makes approx. 7 glasses of lemonade.  Since we're only two people (and didn't actually have enough honey in the cupboard with which to make the full recipe) we quartered the recipe.  I love the flavor of Rosemary, so next time I'll use both more and let it steep longer in the brew before removing.

Sugared lemon halves await the grill.

Honey-Rosemary-Water was cooked on the stove.

Tasty balcony treat!

Tonka Bean Shortbread

While scouring the internet for a tonka bean cake recipe, I stumbled across two very smart food blogs from Canada, Food Mama and Dinner with Julie.  Instead of finding cake, I found a tasty recipe for shortbread a la Dinner with Julie.  Fortunately for me and the Canadian bloggers, we are not subject to the vagaries of the United States Food and Drug Administration and can fairly easily purchase the fragrant and flavorful tonka bean for our baking needs.

Slightly crispy around the edges, but still very tasty.

For those of you in the USA, I would wager that the shortbread would taste fab without tonka beans, too.

Here is the recipe from Dinner with Julie:

Tonka Bean Shortbread

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. finely grated Tonka bean (optional – experiment with different spices, too!)

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and salt with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.

Add the flour and grated Tonka bean and stir just until you have a soft dough. Shape it into two logs, wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or up to a few days) or freeze for up to 6 months.

When ready to bake, slice 1/4″ thick and bake on a parchment-lined sheet at 350F for 15 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Guardian of Delights

The food writers in the Guardian newspaper tickle my 'food bone'.  I have baked savoury pies and sourdough breads a la Dan Lepard and whipped up lovely fudge and 'killer' brownies from Nigel Slater.  These men are both more than a dab hand in the kitchen and I am all the better baker for it.

I somewhat recently stumbled upon Nigel Slater's take on herbed salts.  Below is an extract from a Guardian piece dated 14.4.2013.  The bold face print is mine.

Flavoured salts are good with grilled meats, too – and making them is easy. You chop the herb leaves (thyme, rosemary, fennel or lavender buds, perhaps) and mix them one-third to two with salt, let the mixture dry a little, then keep it in a stoppered jar. The process becomes even more interesting when you marry a couple of herbs together or introduce a little spice, or even garlic.

Right now my favourite is a salt that has thyme leaves and crushed juniper folded through it. In the last couple of weeks its cold Nordic notes have seasoned lamb cutlets from the grill and a sea bream baked whole. The salt also had an outing with sautéed potatoes, scattered over as they finished cooking.

Rosemary needles, dill fronds, fennel, thyme, savory and celery seeds can be used to add a herbal note to salt. But less popular herbs are interesting, too. Lavender works nicely with grilled chicken. I grew myrtle last year, a herb that has seen less of the inside of my kitchen than it could. Its slight bitterness needs to be tamed. It worked well enough in a pork casserole (with apples and cider) but I like the leaves best when they are pounded with salt (use a pestle and mortar), then used to bring life to a beef casserole.

We can crank the herb salt up with other flavourings, too. Serving grilled chicken skin, salty and crisp, with a dish of mayo is one of the better ideas I have come across lately – but we can take it on a bit. By grilling the skin until it crunches, then crushing it into a coarse powder and tossing the result with sea salt and a few herbs, we have an original and extraordinary seasoning that can be used with both green and root vegetables, potatoes and, as I do today, popcorn.

Of course you can do the work in a food processor, but I prefer to chop the herbs by hand or to mash them with a pestle and mortar. Herb-flavoured salts will keep in a sealed jar for several weeks (though not the chicken-skin one below). The crucial detail is to let them dry for 24 hours first. The most successful way to do this is to scatter the pounded herbs and salt on a tray, in a shallow layer, and leave it in a warm but airy place. Bottle tightly, then keep it near the cooker, using it as the mood takes you.

Spring has seen a proliferation of potted herbs at the major supermarkets here in Zurich.  I recently purchased lavender, oregano, and sage plants and stuck them in the sunniest spot in the flat.  The sage has developed some little, white-ish spots on its leaves, but the other two seem to be flourishing.  Not keen on the look of the sage, I have instead been cooking with sprigs of lavender in just about every meat dish made this past week and I rather like its flavour.  Last year, I put some flowers from the lavender we growing in the garden of our old flat into a jar of sugar, so we're set to make lavender lemon drop cocktails as the mood strikes.

  

Happy Lavender!

Lavender salt will be next!

Flour-less chocolate cake

The mousse is loose!

Yesterday, for the first time, I baked flour-less chocolate cake, or as some people call it, chocolate mousse cake.  The baking forms used measure about 12 cm or approximately 4.5 inches in diameter.

Ingredients:

300 grams dark chocolate
150 grams unsalted butter
55 grams caster sugar
50 grams granulated sugar
6 eggs separated
1 tsp vanilla paste

My prep. was as follows:

Melt both the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler, then remove from heat.
In a separate boil combine 6 egg yolks, the sugar and the vanilla paste, then add the mixture to the melted chocolate and butter.  Stir until combined.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.  *Gradually fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture, taking care that the mixture remains light and airy.

Pour mixture into buttered spring forms and bake at 160C for 30-40 minutes.

For an airier, slightly more moist mousse-like center, cover the base of the forms with aluminum foil and bake in shallow pans filled half way with water.

Three were baked in a 'water bath' and one was not.  The difference between them was almost  imperceptible.

*I probably should have 'lightened' the base batter by whipping into it a small portion of egg whites before folding in the remainder.  However, I forgot to do so, and the mousse would seem to be no worse for the wear.

Post-Christmas Goose

A few days after Xmas I found myself in the meat aisle of the local supermarket.  Amid the whole chickens sat a goose.  The goose was the last of its kind not having been picked to adorn anyone's holiday table.  As such the bird was on offer at 50% off.  I paid about 14 CHF for a 1.5 kilo goose.
Post-Christmas Goose was a lovely meal, but the real fun came after most of the carcass was picked over.

Inspired by a post in a food forum I follow, I decided to make jook with the remnants of the bird.  Not following an actual recipe, I winged it, no pun intended.  Two things that jook needs in order to be really good are ginger and time.  Mine simmered for just under two hours, but I probably should have let it cook longer.  I hadn't any ginger, so the flavour of the jook was less than what it should have been.  I suppose I could have added either chicken stock or water to thin the mix out a bit, but, in the end, I didn't much mind.  The jook came out thicker than a porridge, but tasted fab with fish sauce drizzled over it nonetheless!  Of course, each individual portion can be thinned with a bit of water in a sauce pan before serving, so I needn't be eating jook with cutlery!

Post Xmas Porridge!

The carcass taken care of, I then decided to focus my attention on what to do with the goose fat I had collected from my cooked bird.  Thoughts of lovely, roasted potatoes danced in my head, but I wanted to do a bit more than the norm.  Fortunately, the Life & Style section of the Guardian provided a bit of direction.  As I only had 100 grams of goose fat, I made a half-batch version of these lovely, little pies.

Here is the recipe 'copied and pasted' for your perusal:

Pork and onion pies with goose-fat pastry

The pastry is very fragile, so use plenty of flour to roll it out. Serves 3-4, makes between 6 and 8 little pies.
For the pastry:
plain flour 400g
goose fat 200g
milk 80ml
water 80ml
beaten egg for glazing

For the filling:
onion 1 medium
butter a little
butcher's herby breakfast sausages 2
cooked smoked ham 100g
flour 2 tbsp
hot stock 200ml
parsley chopped

To serve:
redcurrant jelly melted

To make the filling, peel the onion and slice thinly, then let it colour in a little butter in a nonstick frying pan over a moderate heat. Remove the skin from the sausages then add them, broken into small pieces, to the pan. Press them down with a palette knife and let them brown. Tear the ham into small pieces and add to the onion and sausage. Leave to brown lightly, add the 2 tbsp of flour and continue cooking for a minute or two, then introduce the stock and parsley.

To make the pastry, season the flour with salt and black pepper. Put the fat, milk and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil, tip in the flour, then stir briefly and firmly with a wooden spoon until you have a soft, smooth paste. Put a cloth over the pan and set aside for 15 minutes to cool a little. The dough must not go cold.
Flour a wooden board or work surface generously (adding more as you feel the need), then knead the pastry, lightly, for a minute or two. Roll out the pastry, somewhat thicker than usual, roughly the thickness of two pound coins placed on top of one another. Using a cookie cutter or the rim of a tumbler, cut out rounds about 8cm in diameter (you will get 12-16 of them), then place half of them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Place 2 heaped tbsp of the filling on each of the pastry rounds on the baking sheet, then brush a little beaten egg around the edge of each one. Place one of the remaining rounds of pastry on top of each, pressing the edges together. Brush with some of the beaten egg, pierce a small hole or slit in the centre of each pie, then bake for 35 minutes until nut brown and softly crisp. Cool briefly, then serve warm rather than cold, with a pot of redcurrant jelly or cranberry sauce lightly warmed.

An interpretation of the above savoury pie recipe.

I have to admit that I didn't follow the recipe to a 't'.  I couldn't be bothered to go to the store for the filling ingredients, and, instead, I thought I'd just use use left-overs from the night before.  The pork and onion pie became chicken in spicy tomato sauce pie.  I think it turned out very well indeed. 

Sourdough Pancakes

This is a gorgeous, little recipe 'copied and pasted' from a fun, foodie FB group to which I belong.  I've made these pancakes about four or five times now, and each time they turn out fabulously fluffy and light. 

Makes 4 generous servings (about 8 pancakes)
Preheat oven to 300F to keep pancakes warm if needed
1 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (Can use milk substitutes or water if lactose intolerant)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup almond meal (can be omitted- if you do omit it- reduce water to 2 tablespoons!)

Mix all ingredients together. Heat pan on high and add butter or vegetable oil to grease the pan. REDUCE THE HEAT TO MEDIUM, and while the pan is still hot, Pour a ladle-full of batter into the pan and cook until bubbles begin to pop in the center of the pancake (a nice golden brown- lower heat if it cooks too fast.), then flip your pancake. Cook until 2nd side is golden brown. Place on a warm plate in a pre-warmed oven. Serve with your favorite topping.
Also, this recipe can be used for crepes- just thin down the batter with milk or water, and tilt the pan immediately after you pour the batter into it, coating the pan, then flip. If the batter is too thin, add flour or almond meal.
 
**I haven't used almond meal when making the pancakes, so I don't know how much better they could be with that additional ingredient.  I'm all right with that.

A few additions to 'spice' up the already lovely sourdough pancakes would be chopped nuts, berries, a bit of (canned) pumpkin.

Walnut-sourdough pancakes

Pumpkin-sourdough pancakes

Egg Nog

As far as I know, one can't easily find Egg Nog in Zurich, or anywhere else in Switzerland, for that matter.  To be fair, I didn't really look around in the shops that much for Egg Nog in the days preceding Xmas.  What I did do was to peruse my old, family cookbook from the 60s, 'The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook' for a recipe.  'Grandmother Randolph's Egg Nog', on page 689, calls for brandy, whisky, and peach brandy.  The recipe makes 16 punch cup servings.  Holy-Moley!  Given that we're just two and I both didn't want to source peach brandy and bother with reducing the recipe, I asked the hubs to look up a 'Nog recipe on the internet.

1963 Edition

Hubs went to his American TV cook fave, Alton Brown.  The 'Nog recipe Alton offers is a simpler version of 'Grandma's' from above.  It calls for bourbon instead of a booze medley and cream instead of milk.  We made Alton's 'Nog and it was better than I could have imagined.  No one really needs to buy cartons of Egg Nog ever again.

Egg Nog Recipe a la Alton Brown:

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 pint whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 ounces bourbon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 egg whites*

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg and stir to combine.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat to soft peaks. With the mixer still running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Whisk the egg whites into the mixture. Chill and serve.
Cook's Note: For cooked eggnog, follow procedure below.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and gradually temper the hot mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Then return everything to the pot and cook until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, stir in the bourbon, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. With the mixer running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled mixture.

* Raw Egg Warning

Food Network Kitchens suggest caution in consuming raw and lightly cooked eggs due to the slight risk of salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk, we recommend you use only fresh, properly refrigerated, clean grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell. For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served, use shell eggs that have been treated to destroy salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method.

Swiss sourdough

The starter we maintained for six happy, bread-filled months in London was a beaut.  We kept it covered and left it on top of the fridge, removing a portion of it, then feeding it everyday.  A few hours after a feed, it would smell intensely of banana and air bubbles would break the surface like methane escaping a tar pit.  Glorious!
 

London Rosemary Sourdough

Not knowing if I could successfully schlep my starter internationally, I eventually composted the lot of it just days before our impending move.  Letting go of the starter was harder than giving away my house plants.  It was my lil' buddy, my sourdough bread-giving source.

Not to be daunted, I set up a new starter right after arriving in Zuerich in July.  After realising that the starter was the aphrodisiac of the fruit fly I mended my cavalier leaving-the-starter-on-the-counter ways, and opted to only take it out of the fridge and feed it when I wanted to bake a loaf of bread.

The new Swiss starter seemed a happy gurgling concoction, and it made a pretty fine loaf, but it is now beginning to smell of something akin to nail polish remover.  It's really just an acetone-like, unappetizing blob.  Strangely, it does still seem to yield pretty fab bread results.

Bread brain

Schweizer Sauerteigbrot

If you should never read another post here at F and F, then know that the hubs and I have probably been felled by an infected sourdough loaf.  So long!  Farewell!  Adieu!

t

Ich sehe was du nicht siehst!

Our loose sourdough bread recipe:

150gr starter (a little more than that won't hurt)
450-500gr flour (I like to mix it up and use various different kinds, but, of course, white bread flour works just fine.)
2tsp salt
approx. 200ml warm water

Prep:
Measure starter, flour, salt in bowl.  Add water sparingly while stirring contents until it resembles a sticky ball and comes away from the sides of the bowl.   Remove dough from bowl and place on a floured surface.  (Have extra flour at the ready should you need more during the kneading process.)
Kneed dough for approx. 10 minutes until spongy.  (Test sponginess by pressing finger into dough and watch for it to spring back into shape.)  Place in covered, oiled bowl (so dough won't stick to surface) and let rise until dough has doubled.  Stretch dough as if you were forming a pizza crust, then re-form into a ball, place back into covered bowl and wait for second rise.  The dough should, again, approx. double in size.  Both rises could take many hours, and the warmer the kitchen the better for dough rising.  After the second rise place the dough on baking tray (we usually shape it into a ball again before doing this) and let rest for approx. 60 min. as it seems to prevent the base of the bread from splitting during the baking process.  Slice the top of the loaf with a knife and bake at 230C (210C fan-assisted)/450F for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 200C (180C fan-assisted)/390F and bake for 20 minutes more. Add a small tray of boiling water to the oven as you put the bread in for a shiny, brown crust.

'A gift from the Amish'

Well, I would have maybe preferred a faceless doll, or hand-wrought, heavy-wood furniture, but I'll take what (gifts) I can get. :)

This recipe is what I found when I typed 'pickled beets and eggs' into the search engine.  Well, I had stumbled over a few other recipes that were relatively the same, but sans the good stuff: clove and bay leaf.  Go with what you like, right?

After reading a short, 'eggsellent' piece in the NY Times about the prevalence of keeping chickens across the US, I felt compelled to follow up on a bit mentioned about pickling eggs.  Apparently, chickens usually lay one egg daily during season, and, say, if one kept 10 chickens each laying on schedule, then by the end of a week, there would be 70 eggs on hand to figure out what to do with!  So some folk with a tremendous egg output eat eggs not just for breakfast, but for dinner, too.  Some add egg to a dish that wouldn't seem to need it like soup or casserole.  And, of course, some people pickle their excess eggs.

Beets, onion, and eggs awaiting the pickling agent.

Fortunately, I had an empty Kilner jar just waiting to be used, so all that was needed were the primary ingredients in the above-mentioned 'Amish' recipe: beets and eggs.  I did, too, feel the need to add one more thing to an already great-sounding recipe and that was garlic.  We'll see in 48 hours how well things turned out!

72 hours later!