Sauerkraut

This Saturday sees me in the kitchen having a first try at making Sauerkraut. The success of my preserved beans and brussel sprouts last week has me excited to take it a little further this week and tackle one of the big boys of preserving Sauerkraut. As I mentioned last week the importance of the preserved foods as part of a balanced diet is important and as Sauerkraut and its Korean cousin kimchee become increasingly popular and cool they also increase in price. With that in mind there is clearly a need to get on the task of making them from scratch. Today I will start with Sauerkraut and maybe next week have a go at Kimchee. 

Step 1. Shred up a whole cabbage into fine strips. Basically you are making coleslaw. I used a knife but you could also use a mandolin or the shred blade on your food processor. I also added 4 carrots grated and 1 long green chilli for a spice hit.

Step 2. Put all the ingredients into a bucket or large bowl and add 45 grams of salt. You need to add between 2 and 3 percent salt to weight of ingredients. Now comes a little exercise. It is a bit like kneading bread but much quicker. Scrunch the cabbage mix in your hands and mix and scrunch and mix and scrunch until you get a good amount of water extracted. Once you have about a cup or so of liquid in the bottom of the bucket you are done. 

Step 3. Transfer the cabbage mix to jars and pour in the liquid which has accumulated in the bottom of the bucket. Push the cabbage down so that it is totally submerged. Cover with the outer leaves of the cabbage so that your Sauerkraut stays submerged. 

The minimum time to leave the sauerkraut is around 5 days but can be left for weeks longer as well. The other thing I should have mentioned earlier is that the reason I am able to preserve these foods without specialised equipment is that the temperature in Sydney at this time of year is in the ideal range between 15 to 25°C which makes the task so much simpler than if attempting this in the summer time. 

The only problem with preserving is the wait. Until next time, happy cooking!!! 

Sunday Morning Preserving - Updated with results after a week of preserving

Sunday morning. Late Sunday morning / early afternoon actually. It paints a more enthusiastic picture of my approach to life to say Sunday morning. I had half a bag of green beans in the refrigerator and a few of the world's most harshly criticised vegetable the brussel sprout leftover from the week's cooking. I have noticed of late that there is quite a bit of hype around the preserving of foods and the positive impact those foods can have on gut health. I have read that Doctors are starting to take a more holistic approach to medicine and the health of the gut can have massive impact on the overall health and well-being of the individual. So with that in mind and also the general less waste is better for the world at large and better for my bank balance as well I thought it would be great to give vegetable preserving a go. As a Chef the medical opinions above come free of charge and with very little actual knowledge of the medicine involved. 

So moving on to the fun. Since this is a first time attempt at this for me I am keeping it simple. I am using just salt, water and the vegetables that are on hand. If I can get the basics right then maybe down the track I will get a bit more expansive.

The basic formula for preserving is this: vegetables + water + salt at a ratio of 2.5% of the combined weight of the vegetables and water = preserved vegetables after waiting for between 4 days minimum and up to 4 weeks keeping at a temperature between around 15 to 25 degrees. From there tighten the lid and store in the Fridge to use as required. 

Step 1. First thing on the agenda is to wash jars and sterilise them in hot water. If you have a dishwasher this is simple. Pop them into the dishwasher and you are good to go. If you are like me and don't own a dishwasher then simply wash the jars in soapy water and rinse and soak in boiled water from your kettle to complete the sterilisation. Don't dry with a tea-towel as they contain bacteria which could undo all your good work. Let the air do the job. 

Step 2. Cut and wash the vegetables. So for the beans I topped and tailed them and then double washed them. The Brussel sprouts were cut in half through the root and then washed. 

Step 3. Load the jar or jars with the vegetables until almost full. Oops!! Forgot one thing. Prior to loading up the jar, put it onto your digital scales and zero the scales so that you can weigh the vegetables. Fill the jar with water until the vegetables are totally submerged. 

Step 4. Now for the very simple multiplication. Take the total weight of the beans or brussel sprouts and the water. Then simply multiply by 2.5% or 0.025 and you have the amount of salt you need to add. So if you have 489 grams of water and beans as I did in the second of my jars you simply need to pull out you mobile phone and using the calculator type in 489 x 0.025 which will give you the answer 12.225 grams. 

Step 5. Pour most of the water into a separate jar. Add that jar to the scales and add in the 12 or 13 grams of salt. If your scales are like mine they probably only measure whole numbers so 12 or 13 grams will be perfect for the preserving to be activated. 

Step 6. Put a lid on the jar which now contains only salt and water. Shake vigorously until the salt is dissolved. If you don't shake well enough then you'll lose some of the salt in the bottom of your jar.

Step 7. Add the salt solution back into the jar with the vegetables and put something over them to keep them submerged but also allow the CO₂ to escape into the air. I have put a small amount of cling-wrap on the top of the jar, under where the lid would screw on and gently pushed it down to submerge the top layer of beans or sprouts. I have now placed the lids on the jars but not screwed them on. This will allow the reactions to take place without bursting the jars. (I hope) Finally Label your jars with the date that you started the preserve so that it will be easy to keep track. 

Well, what can I say. The process is cheap and easy. Better than cheap, it saves on wastage. I will be updating this page with photos each day as the process continues. Fingers crossed in four days time we will have some preserves that are a great little healthy snack or even a welcome addition to a garden salad. Until next time, happy cooking!!!

Results

Yay, success. It is Saturday morning and I have just munched on a few green beans and a couple of brussel sprouts and I they were both great. The Brussel sprouts are definitely my favourite. I think that by cutting the sprouts in half I have allowed for penetration by the salt and it has given a greater tangy flavour. The beans are still nice and crisp and will be a great little healthy snack or a crisp tangy addition to a salad. All in all I would have to say it has been a win. Next job Sauerkraut!!!!

Recipe - Raspberry Jam

Monday of the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Time to make a small amount maybe a jar or two of raspberry jam.

I went around the house looking for recipes. Went old school actually looked in books. Found a few raspberry jam recipes, but it was one in particular that stood out. It was in my Paternal Grandmother's cookbook. The book doesn't seem to have a print date in it so I am unsure of the book's age. It is called Australian home cookery and I love that I can get this chance to test it out. My Grandmother passed away in the second half of the 1970's so I guess the book is from the 1950s. Just a guess. All the measurements are in ounces and pounds. For this recipe which has only 2 ingredients the ratio is more important than the quantity. 

There may be one little issue. I will be using frozen raspberries. I grabbed a half kilo packet from Coles and am not sure how they will react, but you son't find out unless you have a go. 

Recipe 

Ingredients 

Raspberries 500 grams (frozen, I'm guessing fresh are better)

White Sugar 380 grams

Method :

1. In a bowl top the raspberries with 190 grams of your sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight. I was considering just leaving for a few hours but as this recipe contains only sugar and raspberries I think having some patience here will be beneficial. The extra time will give the sugar time to draw out more of the liquid from the berries.  

2. After allowing the Raspberries to sit overnight quite a large quantity of liquid is drawn out of the berries and it is in this liquid that we will cook the jam. In the picture above on the right you can hopefully get an idea of just how much liquid has come out of the berries. If you can't quite see maybe you can take my word for it that there is quite a lot. To this we add the other half of our sugar  and then add to a suitable sized saucepan.

3. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remember there is no need to add anything else. I say this in part because I was thinking that maybe I should add water or some of the packet of Jamsetta that I purchased at the supermarket. No. No. No. Nothing in this recipe except raspberries and sugar. Sitting at my computer 2 hours after cooking and jarring I believe that I am right. It requires nothing else. I think I have made that point. Where were we? That's right bring to a boil. Boil rapidly and reduce heat to medium when the threat of having red splashes of jam scattered all over the kitchen gets too much for you. Simmer until the jam thickens. I this case it took about 12 minutes total cooking time. It was surprisingly simple.

4.Test to see if the jam is thick enough. Place  a small side plate into the freezer when you start cooking. Remove plate from freezer and scoop a teaspoon full of hot jam onto the plate. Allow to cool for a minute and then run a recently washed finger through the cooled jam. If it stays parted like the red sea then the jam is cooked, If not continue to simmer and reduce for a few more minutes and try again. 

5. Time to jar your delicious jam. Allow to cool a little, maybe wait 30 minutes and then pour into sterilised jam jar to cool. If you are in a hurry to give it a try. Haha, who wouldn't be? Put enough to spread over a sandwich into your freezer for a few minutes to speed the cooling and then spread it on a slice of fresh bread. Or whip up a quick batch of scones. (it could happen) 

6. Spread on bread with or without butter. Eat. Feel that all is good with the world, at least your tiny corner for this 18 seconds of eating time.

Food pictures from the last fortnight

Roast red capsicum frittata with sweet potato and rocket. Roast off red capsicum, sweet potato and onion. Blanch rocket with boiling water. Mix all together with beaten egg and cheese and oven roast for 30 minutes








 

Eggplant parmagiana. Salt, rinse and dry sliced eggplant. Layer eggplant, Napolitana sauce, and cheese, top heavily with mozzarella cheese

 

Roast Pork Shoulder. Season generously with salt and pepper and neutral oil. Place in baking tray on top of mirepoix of carrot, onion and celery. Roast in a dry oven tray at 250°C 15 minutes + 230°C 15 minutes before adding red wine and water and reducing heat to 170°C for another couple of hours of cooking. The pieces of pork pictured above are 6 to 8 kg each. 

Spaghetti Boscaiola. Bacon, mushrooms, shallots or onions and garlic into an oiled saucepan. Add in white wine, reduce. Then cream. Lots of cream. Mix sauce with Spaghetti, parmesan cheese and parsley. Don't visit your Doctor until you've spent a couple of days eating vegetables.

Above is a burger topped with a chickpea pattie which is then coated in breadcrumbs and oven roasted served on a brioche roll with baby spinach, sliced tomato and cheese. Add some mayo and sweet chilli to finish off nicely

Tender, juicy, succulent Roast Beef. The same basic preparation as for the roast pork above. Add red wine to the base of the pan. At the end of cooking this will leave some fantastic juices in the base of the pan to start off your gravy. Cover the beef in foil and roast at 150°C for 90 minutes, then remove the foil and continue to roast until the temperature probe reads around the 55°C mark. Too low you say? The residual cooking on these big lumps of meat will carry them up to where you and your food safety people need it to be. 

I think this is a Thai red curry ... or was it green, definitely with chicken. I think it got a little watery on me. Flavour was still good, I think. Some days I come home and can't even remember what I cooked that day. Crazy. 

Scrambled eggs cooked quickly over medium heat. Whisk eggs, salt, pepper and cream together. Pour mixture into heated, oiled pan and keep the eggs moving to stop them catching on the pan. As long as you don't try cooking them whilst watching TV in the living room at the same time it couldn't be easier

Bringing a little bit of Thai comfort food to Sydney. Grabpao Gai or Thai Chicken mince and basil stir fry. Garlic, Oyster Sauce and fish sauce. Good news for the coriander haters out there, this dish contains none. I've gone against tradition and bulked mine our with green beans and Chinese broccoli. Served with steamed Jasmine rice and topped with a fried egg. Not sure the customers with enjoy a true heavily fried Khai Dao or star egg.

Breakfast regulars oven roasted tomatoes alongside deep fried hash browns. Why any human needs a deep fried side to their breakfast is beyond me and probably your GP as well. Having said that they do add texture and they are quite yum. Some people might tell you that an apple is yum too and has texture 

Chunky slow braised Chili con Carne with beans and topped with fresh tomato and coriander. A great dish to warm you up on a chilly winter's day

Lamb Korma curry marinate the lamb with ginger, garlic, coriander , cumin cardamom and cayenne pepper for heat. Add tomato and simmer until tender. Finish by adding yoghurt. This dish is an example of my current desire to move away from store bought pastes which make life easier and move towards more in house spice mixes.

Recipe - Peanut, Walnut and Almond Butter

Recipe time. From a previous post on how to fill your time during the corona virus you will see that I made peanut butter. Since then I have made another batch of peanut butter, a jar of which I am quickly working my way through and another which is being gobbled up by my little nephew Henry. For the first batch of peanut butter I purchased the peanuts which were shelled but still have the skin on the outside. These are dried peanuts as opposed to the blanched variety. The second batch I used the blanched option after much fussing around on batch one trying to remove the skins after toasting in the oven. Problem. The blanched peanuts didn't have as much flavour as their skinless, blanched counterparts. I also heard that the removal of the skins was optional. This time around I thought I would get it a try without removing the skins and see if there are any flavour or textural problems with leaving the skins intact. 

Alright then, let's begin.

Ingredients:

500 grams peanuts

250 grams walnuts

250 grams almonds

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Method:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 150°C 

Step 2: Spread nuts evenly over oven tray or trays.

Step 3: toast in oven for 20 minutes rotating trays if required. When you start to get the aroma of toasted nuts in your kitchen and before the nuts are burnt is the time to remove them from your oven to cool.

Step 4 Transfer the nuts to the bowl of a large food processor and on maximum setting whizz (is that the technical term?) for 5 minutes. Rest processor for 5 minutes to save the engine. Then give it another 5 minutes. I guess you could skip the resting part if you have a very expensive processor. As the time ticks on you will at times think that nothing is happening but just be patient and let the magic happen. The objective is to get the nuts to release their oils so that you end up with a nicely spreadable butter. I have just checked out my butter at halfway and am tempted not to do the second whizzing. (there it is again, hope you don't mind the technical words in this post). The first time I made peanut butter the taste was great but texturally it was a bit on the dry side. With that fear in mind I have started the second processing. At this point I have my food nerd on and am excited about what the end result will bring. I can kind of hear Obi Wan Kenobi's voice in my head saying "be patient young Jedi" and to him I listen. At the end of the second 5 minutes the butter glistens with the sheen of it's own oils.

Step 5: Add the other salt, golden syrup and olive oil and whizz for another minute to incorporate. You could also use this addition to push down any sediments from the sides of the bowl. 

Step 6: transfer to jars for use and sharing with family and close (really close) friends

Step 7: Actually step 6, spread straight from the processor onto a slice of fresh bread and test it out. 

Book Review - Yes Chef by Marcus Samuelsson with Veronica Chambers

I recently completed reading this gem of a memoir of the life of New York chef Marcus Samuelsson. I picked this book up on the cheap a couple of years ago and finally got around to giving it a read. I must admit I had never heard of Marcus when I started reading but right out of the blocks this one was a page turner. This is the kind of book I wish I read as a teenager to let me know the sacrifices you need to make if you want to be successful in this world. This guy has lived a life. A focused life. From the moment he decided to become a chef he seemed to make the decision that he wanted to be a really, really good chef. He didn't just want to cook food, he wanted to leave his mark and according to the book that is what he is doing. 

Marcus was born in Ethiopia and was adopted by a Swedish family not long after. He grew up in a happy family playing football (soccer) and had good close friends who he made whilst trying to make his way as a footballer. In his late teens he was abruptly cut from the team and then, to the benefit of the culinary world turned his hand to cookery. He went to the local culinary school, but right from the start wanted to work in the best restaurant in town. His early years in cooking had me aching with envy at the fantastic choices he made all in the line of becoming the best chef he could. He knocked back an opportunity to cook in Amsterdam at his father's behest and bided his time until an opportunity to cook in Switzerland came along. Whilst the kitchen he worked at in his home town of Goteburg gave a glimpse of kitchen life, the Victoria-Jungfrau  kitchen in Interlaken in the Swiss Alps was really where he hit his stride. The time there was turbulent on a personal level but what he really learnt was what cooking at a higher level was all about. Whilst in Switzerland he loses his best friend of the time to a car accident and whilst cooking in Austria when the restaurant in Switzerland in closed for the off season he becomes a father after a whirlwind romance. His strong foundations of family help him to not turn his back on his responsibilities, at least financially, to his daughter but nothing will distract him from being the chef he is driver to become. His relationship with his daughter will not come until many years later. 

For now he has only cooking on his mind. 

After the death of his cheffing friend in a car accident he moves on to France and a three Michelin star restaurant called Georges Blanc named for the Chef owner. His time there as with all of this part of the young chef's life is about becoming a better chef. This restaurant sounds more like an idea of the a restaurant than anything a normal person could actually run. I can't really describe it but it sounds more like the description of a village than a restaurant.

And then it all changes and Marcus heads to the place that will become his home. New York. In the city that never sleeps Marcus finds himself cooking at Aquavit, a Swedish restaurant. This is a restaurant on the rise and part of a chain of restaurants with an ambitious owner who wants to take his restaurant to the world. Marcus makes a name for himself here and climbs the ranks to become the executive chef and then a partner. From here he tries to open a new African restaurant that fails to take off and has a falling out with his restaurateur form Aquavit and has to go it alone.  

At this time he makes inroads into the world of the television chef on Top Chef and also finds himself cooking for the then new President Barrack Obama at a dinner at the White House. Again there is a bit of a battle until he came make his dream of opening an upmarket restaurant in the the Harlem district of New York. Having been born in Africa and raised by white Swedish parents he believes he connected to his roots in the people of Harlem. 

Whilst my focus is usually on the cheffing parts of the book there is also a part of the book that talks about his meeting his daughter and bringing her to the USA to see his world and meet her father. Also, he reaches out and tracks down his father and half sisters back in Ethiopia. His wife whom he met in New York is also Ethiopian and they wed in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. All massive parts of this fantastic story of a chef. 

I loved it from start to finish, though I so love the early days of his culinary journey most of all. I would give it a 8 out of 10. A must read for any budding chef. I dare you to read those early chapters and not want to get on a plane to Europe. Happy cooking!!!