Cider Donuts

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers
Cider Donuts

Cider donuts. The broken pieces are remnants of the competitive tasting.

Cider donuts are a tradition here in upstate New York, where they make their appearances at roadside stands, U-picks and even major supermarkets during apple harvest time. In essence, they’re sugar coated cake donuts with apple cider used as some of the liquid in the batter. Until today I’d felt they were all pretty much the same.

Daniel B of the FussyLittleBlog organized a Tour De Cider Donut that had us careering over the charming farm country once haunted by the Headless Horseman and The Little Tailor of Kinderhook, tasting at five cider donut outposts that ranged from a coffee shop to lavish orchard stores to quickly put together harvest tasting stands. My favorite came from Zachary’s in East Greenbush, gaining an edge for its intense apple ciderness. Versions from Golden Harvest and Love Apple Farm tied for second on my ballot with a good balance of flavor, crumb, crust and sugar coating. Samascott Orchards was over the top, with a crumb that was not unlike a bran muffin, but in retrospect this is the donut I most want to try again. Gould’s was clearly the last of the field. So, not the same at all.

The highlight of the day, along with the chance to share road and tasting time with other adventurous gluttons, was the Donut Robot at Samascott Orchards. This miraculous Rube Goldberg device plops a shimmering ring of dough into hot oil, fries to perfection, then cajoles the newborn donut onto a cooling rack that conveys it into the hands of a waiting donutista. A benefit of seeing this mechanism in action is that you can station yourself at the end of the line, where the donuts come out into the sales room, and make sure you get a piping hot donut when the crumb is at its tenderest.

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How to start a sourdough starter

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

If you do a lot of baking, you are going to want to get yourself a good lively sourdough starter. Here are some options.

Steal one. Is there a bakery in your town that sells uncooked, bake-at-home sourdough bread dough or pizza dough? That’s basically sourdough starter with the addition of other ingredients—hopefully just salt. Take it home, make a mixture of 1/3 bakery dough, 1/3 flour, 1/3 water, then let it cure until bubbly. Throw away 2/3 of the mixture, and repeat with the flour and water. Do this every couple of days for a week or two. Eventually the side ingredients will be minimized and you’ll have some nice starter. (If the dough contains eggs or dairy, which is unlikely, this method won’t work.)

Borrow one. As in the process above, bakers are always throwing away excess starter in the process of refreshing their starters. If you know somebody who bakes sourdough bread, ask if you can have some starter. Unless they’re a jerk they will be happy to share.

Buy one. King Arthur Flour sells a fresh starter in a little jar that lots of people like. Sourdoughs International gives you a choice of dried starters that you can reconstitute at home.

Start one. This should be drop dead easy… just mix up some rye flour (which naturally contains more yeast beasties than white flour and more sugar to feed them) and water, allow to sit covered with a cloth or paper towel for a few days until it starts fermenting, then cultivate by repeatedly discarding 2/3 of the mixture, mixing in unbleached bread flour and bottled water (in case your tap water is treated) to refresh, waiting till the new batch becomes bubbly, then repeat. I have had mixed success with this method however… I think that bad beasties from the air sometimes overpower the benign ones in the flour. A clever hack is Pineapple Starter…. The acid in the pineapple juice fights off the bad beasties (including mold) while providing a fertile environment for growing the right kind of yeast.

Once you have a good working sourdough starter, take care of it. Put it in a tight fitting glass jar in the back of the refrigerator and label it so your wife doesn’t throw it out like mine once did. Each time you use the starter you will spoon out the contents of the jar, then replace with a replenished starter made as part of your recipe. You do NOT need to wash the glass jar every time; once in a blue moon is sufficient. Do, however, keep the rim of the jar clean so the lid will easily open and close.

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Recipe: Basic Sourdough Bread

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

This is my go-to basic sourdough bread recipe that makes a crusty, chewy loaf for eating with cheese, making sandwiches, and ultimately turning into croutons. Takes up to 2 days from start to finish but most of that time it’s just sitting around.

Ingredients:
2/3 c sourdough starter
3 1/2 c unbleached bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus 7/8 c to replenish starter
1/2 c whole wheat flour
approximately 1 5/8 C water plus 7/8 C to replenish starter
1 1/2 t Kosher salt
cornmeal

Basic Sourdough Bread

Basic Sourdough Bread

Method: Mix sourdough starter in a large glass bowl (so you can watch the bubbles forming on the side) with 7/8 C flour and 7/8 C water; stir until well blended. Cover with a plate or plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature until very lively; this will take from 8 to 24 hours depending on room temperature and the condition of your starter.

Put 1/2 of the conditioned starter back into your storage jar and return to refrigerator; leave the other 1/2 in the bowl for mixing. Add flours and water, stirring with a large spoon. You should end up with a shaggy dough. Allow this to rest (autolyse) for 20 minutes or so; add salt and then knead or stretch-and-fold for 10 minutes until it has a smooth consistency and will make an opaque “gluten window”, instead of tearing, when you take a piece of it and stretch it thin. Return the dough to the bowl and let it rise until doubled in volume. Depending on room temperature, this might take 6 hours to overnight. Punch down, place on a flat floured surface, cover with a dish towel and allow to rest 2 hours.

Half an hour before baking time, put your 5 qt or larger cast iron dutch oven* in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. When oven is ready, wearing a good oven mitt open the oven, pull out the tray with the dutch oven on it, and sprinkle the bottom of the dutch oven with cornmeal. Pick up the dough and carefully transfer to the dutch oven without burning yourself hopefully. If you like, take a sharp knife and cut a couple of slashes or a simple pattern in the top of the dough. Place its lid on the dutch oven and return to oven, bake 25 minutes. During this time the moisture in the dough will steam the bread and produce a beautiful blistery crust, just like the steam in a professional baker’s oven. Remove the dutch oven lid and cook for an additional 15 minutes to brown the bread. Remove from oven, dump the bread onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before slicing.

Makes one 1 1/2-lb loaf.

  • This is another item you will need for your culinary toolbox. You can order from Amazon and, even though it’s heavy, they’ll pay the postage because it’s over $25.
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Trouble with Thai street food

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

Even since I’ve moved to upstate New York I have been hankering for real Thai street food. Not that I have ever been to Thailand, but I was spoiled for 20 years in Los Angeles by Patty at Arunee, who would go to Bangkok each year and bring back dishes she discovered there. A move to San Francisco was temporarily daunting because the local preference is for sweet (Mee Krob) vs spicy but then I discovered Thai House Express and Ler Ros Thai and I know I am always in good hands when I return to the Bay Area.

But in my new haunts, Thai seems to be associated with some concept of “Asia fusion” which may be healthier than wings dipped in ranch dressing but is hardly the Thai food I grew up with. Here are unedited excerpts from two reviews on Yelp which illustrate this problem:

“i love this place! at least every other week i’m at siam thai for pad thai and an avocado roll. always a good choiec! absolutely delicious. the pineapple fried rice is out of this world, too.”

And,

“Based on a recommendation from a friend, my girlfriend and I gave this restaurant a shot. We both love Thai but have been unsuccessful in finding a decent place in the Capital Region.

We started simple with a seaweed salad, and shumai. Both arrived quickly and were exactly what we were looking for.

After the appetizers, we ordered some maki. The spider roll was really good, as was the eel avocado roll. (my gal doesn’t do the raw stuff) Not the best rolls I have ever had, but I would not hesitate to order them again.

I ordered the Pad See Eew for dinner and it was perfect.

She ordered the Pad Thai and it was very happy with it. Though it seemed a little bland compared to my dish.”

If you are counting, there are 8 different dishes mentioned above and two of them are Thai (3 if you count the pineapple rice). These diners obviously enjoyed their meals but they were eating something very different than anything they would encounter in a big-city Thai restaurant.

The good news is that Thai street food is relatively simple with few ingredients and easy to prepare at home. This pad thai recipe is proof.

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Recipe: Skinny Vinaigrette

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers
Skinny Vinaigrette

Skinny Vinaigrette

Mix up just the vinegar and dry ingredients, then add oil to taste when you dress your salad. Makes much more sense.

Ingredients:
1 c good wine vinegar
3 t sugar
2 t Kosher salt
1 t pepper

Method: combine ingredients in a jar with a tight lid and shake till dry ingredients are dissolved. When serving, add oil to taste in your salad. My preferred ratio is 3:1.

Comment: Some time ago I started adding a pinch of sugar to my vinaigrette dressing, realizing that is what adds some of the brightness to the dressings in Italian-American restaurants. To make the sugar dissolve, I found I had to mix it in vinegar with the other dry ingredients and shake before adding oil. After that I would carefully pour in some good oil to my ratio of 3:1.

Then one day it occurred to me: who needs the oil? Just mix up the vinegar in quantity and add oil as needed to your salad. This allows me to vary my oils: a really nice oil for a simple salad on fresh greens, something middle of the road in quality and price for an everyday salad, and maybe even use corn or peanut oil for a busy salad where you can’t really taste the oil. And if I am in a penitent mood, I may drizzle it onto greens without any oil at all.

As a bonus, this preparation doesn’t leave oily rings on my counter or shelves.

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Recipe: Bonehead BBQ Chicken

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

Barbecued chicken marinated in Wishbone Dressing. About as easy as it gets.

Ingredients:
8 oz Wishbone Italian Dressing
1 chicken, cut into serving size pieces

Method: Pour the dressing over the chicken, stir to mix, marinate for 8 hours stirring several times to distribute the marinade. Grill until juices run clear.

Comment: This is the way my mom made chicken when I was growing up. I always grab a couple bottles of Wishbone when it is on sale and toss them in the back of the pantry for when I want a no-brainer BBQ. Of course you could use your own vinaigrette, but the guar gum and other preservatives and chemicals in the Wishbone dressing seem to keep the chicken from burning/sticking while providing an attractive, evenly coated surface.

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Recipe: Nair and Richard’s Pizza Topping

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

A good and tangy topping for Pizza D’oh! or your favorite pizza base. Family friends Richard and Nair Wolf provided this recipe when she was working as a chef in the Doubletree Hotels organization.

Ingredients:
Olive oil, for brushing pizza dough
12 oz feta, chopped
4 oz English or other sharp cheddar, grated
4 oz mozzarella, grated
2 T Parmesan, grated
2+ cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb Roma tomatoes, sliced

Method: Brush top (not edges) of pizza with oil before final rise. After rise, add cheese, mixed with garlic. Top with sliced Roma tomatoes and sprinkles of Parmesan. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes in a preheated oven on a preheated cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.

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Recipe: Pizza D’oh!

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

A pizza dough so easy and foolproof, even Homer Simpson could make it.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast (1 package)
lukewarm water (total approximately 2 1/4 C)
3 T sugar
1 T Kosher salt
5 1/2-6 c all purpose Flour
3 T olive oil

Method: Allow yeast to proof briefly in 1/4 c lukewarm water in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt and 2 C additional lukewarm water and stir till dry ingredients dissolve. Put 5 1/2 C flour in a second mixing bowl and gradually add water mixture, continually mixing with a big spoon. Add olive oil and spoon-mix some more. At this point you should have a shaggy ball of dough which is not too wet and does not leave too much flour on the sides of the bowl; adjust if necessary with more flour or a sprinkle of water. Remove from bowl and knead for several minutes on floured board till it becomes elastic. Put in oiled bowl with cover and let it rise till doubled in size, 2+ hours. Punch down and divide into individual pies; let these rise 30 minutes. Makes 8 individual pizzas.

Comment: What makes this dough foolproof is the large amount of yeast and the use of lukewarm water for a fast rise. You can refrigerate or freeze it just after kneading or after the first rise/punch down, then resume when you want. Recipe from old family friends Richard and Nair Wolf, who say they got it from the defunct Spago restaurant in Los Angeles.

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The beer that dares not speak its name

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers
Chosen Spot... the forbidden beer

Chosen Spot… the forbidden beer!

What we have here is an illegal beer. It was brewed for He’Brew under contract at the Olde Saratoga Brewing Company, and when the BATF inspectors saw the label they said it could not be distributed. The brewery could have replaced the labels, but I guess they couldn’t get the old labels off without ruining the beer, so in the end it was destroyed. So to speak. Let’s say it was a pleasant lager that employed premium ingredients for a rounded, slightly fruity taste.

What’s wrong with the label? My guess is the word “think” in the lower right hand corner. (Click on the picture for a larger view to see this.) Alcoholic beverage manufacturers, like vitamin companies, are not allowed to make any health claims about their product. They cannot imply that using this product will alter the consumer in any way. And “think” perhaps crosses the line—which is sad, because it means our bureaucratic Elliot Ness assumes the consumer is NOT thinking at present.

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Can recipes be copyrighted?

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Burnt My Fingers

The U.S. Copyright Office is clear on this point: Copyright law does not protect recipes that are mere listings of ingredients. Nor does it protect other mere listings of ingredients such as those found in formulas, compounds, or prescriptions. Copyright protection may, however, extend to substantial literary expression—a description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a recipe or formula or to a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook.

However, Burnt My Fingers thinks it is poor sportsmanship to reprint a recipe without giving attribution to the source that it came from. I rarely invent recipes from whole cloth but I almost always tinker with recipes to get the results I want. Here is the policy I will try to follow in my recipe posts and I’d appreciate it if you would contact me if you think it is off base.

  •  When the recipe is widely available over the internet from multiple sources, I’ll mention that it came from the internet without giving a specific link. The reason is that links change or go dead, individual posters do their own tinkering, and if you don’t want to stop with my rendition you are welcome to do your own sleuthing.
  •  When the recipe comes from a specific source I will give attribution to that source, including a link to purchase the book if it is for sale. An exception will be made for books that are long out of print or recipes of uncertain provenance, such as my brisket recipe.
  •  Some cooking blog authors are very proprietary about their recipes and refuse to allow their recipes to be reprinted, even though I believe they have no legal right to do this. I’ll always try and research the blogger’s preference before publishing the recipe (though not if I’m simply giving a link to another resource). If you are such an author and feel I have done you wrong for any reason, please email chef at burntmyfingers dot com and we’ll fix it.
  • You are welcome to reproduce (and use!) any recipe from Burnt My Fingers, but please provide attribution in text with a (working) link either to the recipe directly, or to my home page.

UPDATE: I found an interesting approach to this at White on Rice, a blog of beautiful food photography that also includes recipes: 

“hello! all images & content are copyright protected. please do not use our images without prior permission. if you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. thank you.”

 

 

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