Granola

I went over to Edward & ML's house the other night and we made granola.

This is the granola we serve with Sunday's breakfast during the summer.

I have scaled the ingredients out to both weight and volume measurement. I understand that most home cooks like recipes that use cups of flour rather than pounds of flour, but if you start to get somewhat serious about baking, I urge you to buy a digital scale, as it will help tremendously with accuracy and consistency. This scale is the model I use around the house, and it is only $25.

Dry Ingredients:
2/3LB (3 3/4 Cups) Oats
1/3LB (2 Cups) Shredded Coconut
1oz (1/4 Cup) Pecan Pieces
1oz (1/3 Cup) Sliced Almonds
4oz (1 Cup) Sunflower Seeds
2oz (1/2 Cup) Wheat Germ

Wet Ingredients:
1/3 Stick Unsalted Butter
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
4oz (1/3 Cup) Honey
1/3oz (1 1/3 tsp) Molasses
2 2/3oz (1/3 Cup) Light Brown Sugar
Pinch Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

We did a double batch, so if your ingredients look smaller than the pictures I have up, it is most likely because of that.

First combine all your wet ingredients (butter, canola oil, honey, molasses, light brown sugar, salt, and vanilla) into a sauce pan.
Heat it on Medium to Medium High, stirring occasionally, till it is all melted and uniform. Let it cool off heat for 15 minutes.

Mix all your dry ingredients (oats, coconut, pecan pieces, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds and wheat germ) together in a mixing bowl.

Add in the somewhat cooled wet ingredients. Mix with a spoon for a little bit and then use your hands to mix it all together.

Next, spread out the granola mixture onto a sheet pan. (Again, we did a double batch, which is why you see 2 pans.)

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Using a metal spatula, spread the mixture around. Try and break up any large clumps. Return it to the oven for about 6 minutes.

Pull it out and then mix it around with the metal spatula again.

You want to keep repeating this process of baking it for around six minutes and stirring it until you get a nice dark color. We stirred it and returned it to the oven four times to get this result:

So, after you get it all nice and toasted you need to let it cool. Every five minutes or so, stir it around so it doesn't clump all up.

It should only take about 3 times of doing this during the cooling process till you get it where you want it.

Put it in zip lock bags or in Tupperware. Make sure it is completely cooled before sealing it. The granola should last for at least 2 weeks sealed at room temperature.

The Frank

This is one of the salads we run during the summer & one of my most favorite things in the world. It is named after my Uncle Frank who loves the combination of these simple ingredients.

Ingredients:
Pint of Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
Half an Avocado
20 or so pitted Kalamata Olives
1oz of Blue Cheese
1/3 to 1/2 a Clove of Garlic, minced fine.
1 or 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1/4 to 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Half the tomatoes vertically and put them on the plate.

Mince the garlic fine and then flick it over the top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle the Kosher Salt over the tomatoes as well.

Half your avocado.

Cut a grid in the avocado while it is still in its peel.

Spoon the avocado over the tomatoes.

Cut the Kalamata olives in half, vertically, and place them on the plate.

Break up the blue cheese into chunks and then add them to the top.

Drizzle the olive oil over the top of everything, and you have a near perfect salad.

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This is The Frank we did for Mom's birthday. We used 3-inch rings as a mold and garnished the sides with some arugula dressed in olive oil and a little salt.

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How to pit an avocado.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

This was the dessert for my mom's birthday party.

It is pretty simple to make.

Ingredients:
18 Yolks
1 Cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
6 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Can (15oz) Pumpkin Puree
2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
Sugar for Caramelizing


I first separated my eggs and put the yolks into a mixing bowl.

Then I whisked it together with the sugar and salt. I whisked it just until it was all nice and incorporated. I try not to whisk too much air into it.

Then I went the lazy route. When you make creme brulees or any other custard, you are supposed to heat up the cream till it is hot and then slowly incorporate the hot cream into egg yolks while whisking. This is called tempering.

The advantage of tempering is that the mix will be more uniform and there is less of a chance of your eggs curdling when they cook.

However, I was pressed for time, and just added the cream cold into the egg yolks & sugar. I also added the pumpkin puree, the cinnamon and the nutmeg, and whisked it until everything was all incorporated.

I then carefully poured the liquid into my ramekins. I filled twelve 4oz ramekins and three 7oz ramekins. (69oz total). I had about 16oz of the mixture left over, which I plan on spinning in my ice creme maker.

I then took some hot water and filled it up to almost the top of the sides of the pan. Then I baked it in a 275 degree oven.

They took about 40 minutes to cook. You know they are ready when they go from jiggling like water to jiggling like jello.

Then I refrigerated them till they were completely cold. To finish them, cover the tops with a thin layer of granulated sugar. Then torch it till the sugar caramelizes.

They ended up tasting pretty good. A lot like pumpkin pie, really.

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I recommend using this torch.
How to separate eggs.

How to temper yolks.
How to torch creme brulees.

Arabica Infused Sausages

UPDATE: Name changed. Daniel came up with the name & I like it.

So, I need to come up with a different name for these. Because Garlic Mocha Sausage isn't really going to sell well.

I've been thinking about incorporating in coffee into a sausage for a few weeks now. I once had some short ribs that had been marinated in coffee, and I thought they were excellent. So, this is my first go at trying to work that into sausages.

I went with:
2lb Ground Beef, 73/27 fat
1oz Kosher Salt
13grams Sugar
2g Black Pepper
22grams Garlic, minced
12grams Milk Powder
2/3 cup Strong Coffee, chilled
Hog Casings

Though I enjoy grinding my own meat, I like to get preground stuff when I am doing recipe development. So, I grabbed a couple of pounds of fatty ground beef.

Here is my mis en place:

The meat is partially frozen. Everything else is chilled.

I put my Kitchen Aid bowl and paddle attachment into the freezer for a few hours. Then I added all the ingredients at once.

Then I mixed on low for about a minute.

I knew it was ready when it became nice and sticky.

I had soaked my hog casings for about an hour in room temperature water. I rinsed them out and then put them on my stuffer. I filled the stuffer with the sausage and stuffed the casings.

I then tied the casings into links.

I like to poach my sausages after I link them. I filled a pot with water and then added some chicken stock and some extra milk powder. I heated it to poaching temperature, which is right under a simmer. It looks gross, but it actually smells like a nice chicken soup.

I poached them for about 12 minutes until they had cooked all the way through. Then I shocked them in an ice bath.

The advantage to poaching them before hand, is that they are now already cooked throughout. I can grill them or saute them, and not have to really worry about their internal temperature. I just can focus on caramelizing the skin and essentially just warming them back up.

I let them sit in the ice bath until they are completely cooled. It usually takes about 15 minutes. I then rinse them off with clean cold water.

I went ahead and sauteed off one to see how it tasted.

My dinner. A little high on the fat side, but basically close to a perfect meal.

I like the taste. The coffee is there but not overpowering. I don't think I would be able to identify it if I didn't know it was in there. It adds a richness to the sausage. I considered maybe using a reduction or including a couple of grams of instant coffee, but that might be too much.

I'll try it out on the guys at work and see if they would change anything.

UPDATE: I added some instant coffee to the next batch. I did 3 grams per pound. I think it made it even richer. I give it a 6 or a 7 right now on the taste scale. I am not thrilled with it. I am going to try the next batch with ancho chiles.

Tuscan Salami

Day 1 of Hanging: Day 7 of Hanging:
Not much has changed. It is still pretty soft and the outside hasn't really dried all that much. Which I think means things are going smoothly. The weather has been colder than normal the past few days and when I took the temperature of the box today, it was at 53 degrees. So, they might take just a few days longer than expected.

Day 14 of Hanging: They are slowly drying out, though it is very hard to tell. On Day 21, I'll scale them and we will see how much weight they have lost.

On about day 11, I noticed bad mold starting to grow on them. It put me in quite a bad mood. I was honestly expecting either no mold or the nice powdery good mold to appear, as I had been exceptionally clean and had all the correct conditions. I read a few forums and went over the books. It turns out this is not all that unusual. I cleaned off the mold with a highly salty water and a clean rag. The stuff just wiped off, and since I caught it early, there was no damage to my casings. I also submerged the sausages in some white vinegar then dried them and rehung them. So far, I haven't seen a trace of any mold, and hopefully won't again.

Also, I got some nice clippy things to hang the sausages on. It makes things so much easier.

Day 21 of Hanging: So they are visibly drying out now.

I figured out my problem with the mold. My humidity was entirely too high. I am now letting them dry out with the door open. The temperature has remained near 60 degrees and the humidity stays around 70.

They have only lost about 15% to 17% of their initial weight. They need to lose 30%. The large amount of humidity has most likely hindered their drying.

I am somewhat pessimistic about their final outcome. But I am happy that I am learning this.

Day 28 of Hanging:They have now lost about 25% of their weight. They are still way too soft to the touch. Again, I am pessimistic about how they will turn out.

Day 35 of Hanging:
They still have not reached the 30% weight loss mark. The initial high humidity has really screwed them up. Though they have hardened up considerably, they are still soft to the touch. I am also put off by the smell of the vinegar that I rubbed them with to get the mold off. I am set to see these through, but I have serious doubts as to whether they will be any good.

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So this is my first go at dry curing.

I decided to go with the Tuscan Salami recipe from Charcuterie. Well, slightly altered. I went with:

11lb 8oz Boneless Pork Butt
3lb Fatback
6oz Kosher Salt
18grams InstaCure #2
6oz Distilled Water
4grams Bactoferm
90grams Dextrose
210grams Nonfat Dry Milk Powder
36grams Fennel Seeds, toasted and cracked
36grams black pepper
18grams garlic, minced
12oz Chianti
Hog Middles (45mm & Up)

I used 8oz less pork butt, simply because this was the amount that I ended up with after I diced it, and figured it was close enough to 12lb. So, rather than me grabbing a little more pork or adjusting the recipe, I just went with it.

The other adjustment I made was with the bactoferm. The recipe calls for something like 90 grams. The packet I got in was a 25 gram packet that said it was enough for 200k of meat! So, I decided to go with just 4 grams.

I first diced the fat back & chilled it to close to freezing. Then I ran it through the grinder with my large die into a bowl set over ice.
Next I diced my pork. I seasoned it with the kosher salt and the InstaCure. Then I threw it into my freezer & partially froze it.
Then I ran it through the grinder with my small die into a bowl set over ice.
I chilled the fat and the meat separately. Then I combined them by hand in a large bowl.

I measured off the bactoferm and added it to 3/4 cup of distilled water that I had at room temperature. I gave it about 10 minutes to wake up and then added it to the meat.

I put the meat into 20 quart mixing bowl that I had frozen with the paddle attachment. I added the rest of the ingredients to the meat.

Next, I mixed it on low until it all came together and it was nice and sticky. Which, only took a minute.

Here it is all nice and together:

I then added some of the sausage to my sausage stuffer.

I had soaked one of the hog middles in water & kept it in my fridge over night. I took the casing out of the water and rinsed it off, both inside and out. Then I put it over my stuffer.

I then got to stuffing. My first casing I tried to stuff a little too much, and it burst. So, I was a little more careful from there on.

I tied them off at about a foot long.

I ended up with 14 total sausages. I then pricked them all over with a clean needle to remove any air pockets and help facilitate the drying process.

I then had to incubate them. 12 hours at 85 degrees was what the recipe recommended. I turned on the space heater near my bathtub and put the sausages in the room next to it with the door somewhat cracked. I covered the sausages with a clean towel & went to bed. The next day, I took the temperature of the room. 86 degrees. Which made me extremely happy. After they were done incubating, I trussed them and scaled them. When they are done, they will have lost around 30% of their weight. So, scaling them will help me better determine when they have reached their doneness.

I had an old freezer put into a building we have out at the camp. The building is the bottom part of Byrd House for those of you familiar with the camp. It is built into the side of a hill, so it is the closest thing I have to a cellar. The temperature stays in the low to mid 60s which makes it ideal for dry curing.

I hung them in the old freezer, which is unplugged. The freezer will help keep the sausages out of sunlight and help me regulate the amount of humidity they get.

I placed a container of water in the freezer. This will help give it some humidity, which will prevent the outside from drying out before the inside. I also salted the water to prevent mold from growing in it.So there it is.

The sausages are putting off a sour smell similar to breadmaking. Which means that the beneficial bactoferm was well incubated.

The casings are a little smaller than I had hopped for, but I am still glad I used natural casings and that I went with pork rather than beef middles.

We will see how they end up. I'll update this every 6-7 days to show how it has progressed.