Cultures and Cures Culture and Cure Your Food

Bread++

April 15, 2013 | Uncategorized | Permalink

I love bread, all bread. It’s delicious, fluffy and just the right kind of chewy. I do think every bread is wonderful but my two favourites, if I could even pick one, might be Challah and French bread.

A couple of finished loaves, yum!

Challah is so chewy and dense and the olive oil and eggs give it such a rich tasty flavour. French bread is so fluffy and crunchy and that little smidge of whole wheat flour gives it a deeper, subtle flavour. I needed bread that would combine the qualities of the two. Bread++. So I came up with my own version.

This recipe is still a work in progress, the crust isn’t quite as fantastic as I wanted it to be but I think that can be remedied. It was too crunchy; I had to brush it with butter. Instead of brushing with water next time I’ll bake it in the French bread style by misting water on the oven walls to raise the humidity just before putting the loaves in the oven. read more →

My First Cheese

March 29, 2013 | Cheese and Dairy, Cultures | Permalink

I made cheese! Months ago! Then I got a new job doing Business Systems Administration at Best Buy/Future Shop and didn’t bother to post, because instead of being allowed to browse the internet and make posts in my downtime I have to actually do this thing called “work”. I really do enjoy the new job.

Just checking the temperature… If you’re having trouble keeping the thermometer in place, twist ties work wonders.

So here we are, talking about cheese. It actually turns out it’s very easy. My mom came to visit and we stopped by a small goat farm nearby called Milner Valley Cheese and they sell Ricki Carroll’s cheese making kits and equipment so naturally I had to pick up the Cheddar package. It came with a cheese mould for one gallon and some mesophillic and thermophillic cultures as well as butter muslin and rennet. Everything but a thermometer and a pot! I definitely recommend the book and a visit to the farm if you can make it. They are both amazing.

I found a recipe in the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll (because why just get the kit?) for Quick Fresh Cheese and got to cookin’. Except for the over-salting, it was delicious. I caution you to always taste your curds as you’re seasoning, so the same doesn’t happen to you!

Your First Beer

November 8, 2012 | Beer, Cultures | Permalink

Mmm, beer. It’s delicious and easy to make, but can seem intimidating if you’ve never made it before. Where would you even start? There are several important steps that need to be done no matter what style of brewing you’re doing — extract, all-grain or steeped. The first day everything needs to be sanitized and the wort needs to be boiled so fermentation can begin. Then 3 weeks later it must be bottled and conditioned. It seems like a lot of work, but most of the work is just waiting for the yeast to do their thing.

This guide will assume you have some wort to make beer with or that you have a recipe to make wort handy and are ready to try. What is wort? Wort is a liquid made from malted barley that contains maltose ready for yeast to munch on. You can make wort by mashing your own grains, which is complicated and would need to be covered on its own, or by reconstituting some malt syrup with water. I still do extract brewing to this day and leave my experimenting with meads. A high quality extract with care and attention paid to it can result in a really great beer! Plus, it’s just easier. read more →

Lemon Curd

September 28, 2012 | Butters and Curds, Cans | Permalink

Just add sugar.

I love lemons. They add brightness and life to savory dishes and tartness and balance to otherwise sweet desserts. They deserve to have a place in the spotlight but are usually put in the sidelines. Lemon curd is the perfect remedy! It’s classic use is in lemon meringue pie but it can also be used as filling for sweets and pastries, or as a simple spread on toast and scones for breakfast. I used mine to fill some lemon meringue cupcakes!

A word of warning when you make lemon curd: after dissolving the sugar in lemon juice and butter, the high heat and acid content of the liquid can quickly cook the egg leading to ribbons of scrambled egg in your curd. To avoid this you need to get the proteins in the egg used to the idea of a bit of acid and heat before adding them. The eggs need to be tempered, first. To temper eggs, slowly whisk a small amount [50 ml (1/4 C)] of hot lemon/butter mixture into the eggs. Repeat this process 2-3 times then slowly whisk the egg mixture back into the hot lemon/butter mixture – very slowly.

Books – Preserve It!

September 17, 2012 | Uncategorized | Permalink

I got a new book, called Preserve It! It’s a book that claims to cover every single preserving recipe but suspiciously lacks any meat potting recipes. Although to be fair, I didn’t even know potting existed until a few weeks ago. It was only $20 so there’s really no arguing with that price.

It’s got lots of beautiful pictures of ingredients, procedures and finished dishes laid out on a clean white background that makes the information incredibly easy to read and understand. It’s a very concise book that contains all of the essential points in each preserving method. I noticed though, that some things like tempering eggs before adding them to heat or soaking wood chips so you don’t have to replenish them during smoking weren’t mentioned in the book. These things aren’t necessary parts of the preserving procedures but they definitely make the processes easier and improve the final product. The cucumber pickles I made a while ago were terrible, although the book did suggest maybe adding some sugar and I didn’t. Everything else from the book has been good.

All in all I think it’s a decent book to start preserving with since it covers all of the essential points in a clear, concise and visually appealing way and is really inexpensive.

Adventures with Sourdough

September 12, 2012 | Bread, Cultures | Permalink

Mmmmm, sourdough bread. Chewy, tangy and delicious. To make it at home you need a sourdough starter, or culture. Lucky for us sourdough cultures are hearty and easy to keep. Or at least that’s what they tell you in most of the guides, but more on that later.

Glug, blub, plop!

A sourdough starter is a symbiotic colony of yeast and lactic acid bacteria. The yeast produces CO2 to leaven the bread and the lactic acid bacteria gives a nice sour flavour. The bubbling action of the starter in combination with the lactic acid helps to strengthen the gluten network of the bread, giving it it’s characteristic chewy texture. It was likely the first method of bread leavening available originating in Egypt over 3000 years ago!

You’d think if someone with goats in their kitchen could do it so could I, but I guess not! On the 5th day when my sourdough starter was supposed to start doubling in size it just grew some mold. I was doing so well, too. read more →

Hickory Smoked Bacon

September 4, 2012 | Cures, Smoking | Permalink

I cured some bacon a while ago and it smelled really nice. The Turkish mystery peppers (I got the country of origin, but no name.) added a really nice fruity smoky smell that just cried out for more smoke! So I went out to Canadian Tire and bought myself a little portable range to smoke with outside.

All the necessary equipment.

When I got home I soaked my wood chips in boiled water for an hour and set up my smoking rig. I put 3-4 layers of aluminum on the bottom of my wok then squeezed the wood chips dry and placed them on the foil. I put a cake rack on top of that to hold the cured pork belly and topped it all with a domed wok lid. The whole unit was put on the hot plate at high for 5-10 minutes until the hickory chips ignited and then I turned it to medium high and put the meat on the rack. Smoky!

I let the bacon smoke for about 35 minutes until the juices ran clear and a meat thermometer said 71°C (160°F). Mmmmm.

Cold Cucumber Pickles

August 29, 2012 | Cans, Pickles, Weird Ferments | Permalink

Make sure you use an acid-proof seal on your pickles.

I got an awesome new preserving book called Preserve It! It has a recipe for salted cold cucumber pickles and what was on sale the next day? Pickling cucumbers. It was obviously a sign.

The method of pickling I used is called cold pickling. Instead of sealing pickles in sterilized hot brine in canning jars I’m opting for the slightly easier method where they are cold packed in vinegar after 24 hours of lacto-fermentation.

The first batch I tried didn’t work out. I left them sitting in the salt for 36 hours instead of 24 and they got moldy! Don’t do that! To stop the dreaded mold I wanted to sanitize my cucumbers in brewing sanitizer then rinse them off, but that might cause another problem. During the first 24 hours at room temperature the salt reacts with bacteria on the cucumber causing lacto-fermentation and that helps with preservation. Don’t put your pickles in the fridge for the first 24 hours, they won’t ferment properly.

Bacon Curing, Round Two: Fight!

August 23, 2012 | Cures, Salt Curing | Permalink

It’s that time again, time to cure some bacon! The last attempt was incredibly salty and only good for soup so this time around it will be left for only one week and have a bit more sugar to cut the salty flavour. If you’ve never cured bacon before and want to try it, I would recommend getting a smaller piece of pork belly to experiment with.

Everything but the pork.

Last time I made nitrate-free bacon and it turned out to be a grey colour. Since that wasn’t very appetizing I used Morton’s Tender Quick curing salt which is a mix of table salt and pink curing salt or Sodium nitrate – NaNO3. The nitrate kills microbes and keeps the meat a nice pink colour. I guess nitrates are bad for you but so is pork fat – it’s bacon people.

Black n’ Blue Berry Jam

August 20, 2012 | Cans, Jams | Permalink

Growing up my grandpa took care of all kinds of fruit and vegetables and one of the main attractions was always the blackberries. Grandma made tons of jam; she is the canning queen! One of my favourites was always blackberry. It makes a great crumble too.

Delicious as is, but better in a jam!

Blackberries and blueberries are just coming into season and the markets have been packed with them. Yum! I decided to take this opportunity to make a delicious jam with a pretty good set.

Black n’ Blue Berry Jam

1.1 kg (1/2 lb) blackberries
2.2 kg (1 lb) blueberries
630 ml (2 2/3 C) white sugar
juice of 2 lemons
zest of 1 lemon

Add 120 ml (1/2 C) water to the berries, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a heavy bottomed pot. Simmer for 8-10 minutes to soften the skins.
Add the sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Boil vigorously for 20-30 minutes until the jam passes the freezer test.
Pour into a sanitized 1 l (1 qt) mason jar and put in the fridge to eat right away, or pour into a sterilized jar and can it.