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Homemade Cultured Buttermilk

March 24, 2010 by 89 Comments

I use a lot of buttermilk.  And by ‘a lot’ I mean a ton.  Many of my baked goods contain buttermilk.  Much of my salad dressing uses buttermilk.  And The Evil Genius?  He drinks buttermilk. *  We go through a lot of the stuff.  And I may have mentioned that I live in the middle of nowhere in Amish country before (or a million times before, but who’s counting?) so frequent last minute trips to the store are not convenient.

*Now before any of you out there yawp with a resounding, “EW!” let me just mention that millions of Southerners and displaced Southerners are right now saying, “Mmmmmmmm! A nice tall glass of buttermilk with salt and pepper sounds mighty fine right now.”  A reminder: never yuck another person’s yum.  Unless we’re talking durian, then all bets are off… (You may want to read about my family vs. Durian.)

There are probably quite a few of you out there saying, “Oh pish,” (Someone other than me says that, right?), “All you have to do is add a little vinegar or lemon juice to milk and you get the same thing.  Why buy buttermilk?”  See?  I just knew someone out there was saying it.  Not so fast!  It’s not the same thing.  To prove my point, I have to make a scientific sidebar.

Scientific Sidebar Alert!

Buttermilk is used in recipes for several important reasons:

  • Buttermilk is acidic, so it helps invigorate leavening agents -such as baking powder, baking soda and yeast- when added to baked goods.  The acid also helps combat discoloration in baked goods and promotes deep, beautiful browning.
  • Buttermilk contains natural emulsifiers; this improves texture and aroma, and extends shelf life after baking.
  • Remember how buttermilk is acidic?  That makes it a wonderful addition to marinades for chicken and pork.  The acid helps tenderize the meat and gives it a tangy flavor.
  • You know the ‘cultured’ part of cultured buttermilk?  It’s good for you. It contains many active cultures similar to those found in yogurt. Most of the cultures generally found in buttermilk are form the Lactococcus Lactis family and many of their subspecies.  Those cultures are what make buttermilk so thick and creamy.  And what?  Good for you!

Now that you know more than you probably ever wanted to know about buttermilk let’s get onto the ‘Why make my own?’ thing.  Because you can.  Seriously.  You need more than that?  Okay.  Also make it because it’s dirt cheap, it’s super simple, it’s really fun and you’ll never run out of buttermilk again.

Hang on one second.  Someone out there just said, “I never use a whole thing of buttermilk.  What do I do with all that buttermilk?”  I’m so glad you asked.  How about a few of these ideas:

Bacon and Swiss Rye Muffins These are every bit as good as they sound and as easy as pie.  No wait!  They’re easier than pie.  Pie can be hard.

Buttermilk Cornbread Rounds Based on my Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread recipe, these perfectly portioned cornbread rounds fit neatly in the hand and go anywhere cornbread goes, but look cuter doing it!  This one’s going a little way back in the FWF archives.  When you read it, please forgive the “I’m learning” format!

Buttermilk Pancakes Nothing beats beautiful, light, airy buttermilk pancakes smothered in real maple syrup.  Nothing.  This one’s also reaching back.  Wow.  I played around with those fonts and indentations a bit, didn’t I?


Garam Masala Depression Cake from Val.  Nothin’ depressing about THAT cake, I’ll tell you. We’re talking about a decadent, Garam Masala flavored chocolate cake with orange buttercream and toasted coconut.  Oh my. I only take issue with the number of servings Val specified in it.  It looks like a one-person cake to me.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention these others…

Are you good and hungry yet?  Excellent.  Let’s make some buttermilk.  I promise it doesn’t take but two shakes.

Homemade Cultured Buttermilk

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk (from the store or home cultured)
  • 1 to 2 quarts skim,1%,  2%, or whole milk from the store or raw milk

Also needed:

  • 1 clean, dry quart or half gallon jar with a tight fitting two piece lid.

Okay.  Ready?  If you blink you’ll miss how to do it.

Pour buttermilk (1/4 cup for a quart jar or 1/2 cup for a half gallon jar) into your clean jar.  Top off the jar with your plain milk.  Tightly screw lid to the jar and shake vigorously for 1 minute.  Place in a warm (but not hot) area out of direct sunlight.  Let it sit there for 12 to 24 hours, until thickened.  Refrigerate when thick.  Use within two weeks.  If you re-culture this regularly, you can carry on re-culturing indefinitely.  I always feel like I’m stickin’ it to the man when I do homemade stuff like this.  Who doesn’t love beating the system?

Now here’s a glimpse of my finished product.  Note that mine is super thick.  I used raw, whole milk to culture my buttermilk.  If you use skim, it may end up a little thinner than what you see here.

4.8 from 6 reviews

Print
Homemade Cultured Buttermilk
Author: 
Recipe type: Ingredient, Condiment, Home Cheese Making
Prep time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12
 

Once you’ve made this you’ll never want to go back to storebought cultured buttermilk or vinegar soured milk. This is thick and creamy and tangy and perfect.
Ingredients
  • ¼ to ½ cup cultured buttermilk (from the store or home cultured)
  • 1 to 2 quarts skim,1%, 2%, or whole milk from the store or raw milk
  • Also needed:
  • 1 clean, dry quart or half gallon jar with a tight fitting two piece lid.

Instructions
  1. Okay. Ready? If you blink you’ll miss how to do it.
  2. Pour buttermilk (1/4 cup for a quart jar or ½ cup for a half gallon jar) into your clean jar. Top off the jar with your plain milk. Tightly screw lid to the jar and shake vigorously for 1 minute. Place in a warm (but not hot) area out of direct sunlight. Let it sit there for 12 to 24 hours, until thickened. Refrigerate when thick. Use within two weeks.

Notes
If you re-culture this regularly, you can carry on re-culturing indefinitely. I always feel like I’m stickin’ it to the man when I do homemade stuff like this. Who doesn’t love beating the system?

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Filed Under: Component Foods, Food Preservation, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , ,

Homemade Hummus

March 22, 2010 by 16 Comments

I spent nearly seven years as a vegetarian; those years were spent subsisting mainly on hummus, cheese and big green salads. I long ago enthusiastically re-entered the omnivore world* but still spend a great deal of time conveying hummus to my mouth on various crudites and pita chips.

Hummus is the first rite of spring that I observe every year and it’s on nearly every family-get-together-buffet. When the weather warms up my brain starts nagging me, “Hummus. You want hummus. You need some hummus. Make some hummus.” And like all good voices in the head, it only goes away when it’s obeyed. But I jest. I don’t have voices in my head nagging me about hummus; they nag me to eat chocolate. But that’s another cuppa tea…

The point is this. When I posted about the dreadfully addictive Mediterranean Hummus Pizza I mentioned that I was willing to share my hummus recipe if anyone wanted it.  I assumed everyone had their own hummus recipe and that everyone had spent years as a vegetarian living mainly on hummus.  That’s the way my thought process works, you see… “If I have done it, everyone has done it, too.” Let’s just say this; apparently not everyone went through a seven-year vegetarian phase the way I did.  And equally apparently, not everyone has made a cubic ton of hummus over their lifetime.  I see this now.  I understand.  And I’m going to show you the way.

Extraordinary hummus is so easy to make at home that you’ll never pay for deli-case hummus again.  Unless, of course, you’re away from your home and food processor and are struck with a sudden, unabating craving for hummus and there is a tub of Tribe of Umpteen Sheiks staring you in the face.  In that case, I fully stand behind spending way too much money on a snack.  It could be worse, after all; you could be spending it on Ho-Ho’s. *

*Note to self: Put Ho-Ho’s on grocery list in code so the kids don’t see it.  Hide the Ho-Ho’s in apron pocket, hide in closet and apply directly to mouth when needed (i.e. when kids are fighting, arguing, breathing, etc…)

There are a couple of camps in the hummus loving crowd; the smooth hummus lovers and the rustic hummus aficianados.  The rustic-hummus crowd is a good one to which to belong if you don’t own a food processor.  It is full of coarse pieces of garbanzo beans and bits of minced garlic. It is easily accomplished by mooshing all the hummus ingredients together with a potato masher or -in a gadgetless kitchen- with the clean bottom of a heavy can.

I am an unapologetic, card-carrying member of the smooth hummus contingent.  I like a super-smooth, chunk-free hummus that can be spread as easily inside a pita pocket as it is dipped onto a carrot stick or tortilla chip.  And since I’m making it, I’m in control here. (This, quite honestly, is probably one of the main reasons I love cooking so much.  Control.  For more musings on control as a common trait among obsessive cooks -and a killer coffee cake recipe-, see this hilarious post from my ‘Evil’ friend.)

When you make your hummus, you’ll be the one in control.  If you want it more coarse, just stop processing it earlier or use something less efficient than a food processor to do your squishing work for you.

Having a container of hummus in the refrigerator is like having one of those Jetson’s food synthesizing devices in your kitchen.  Stuff a pita pocket with a layer of hummus, some thinly sliced vegetables and a handful of sprouts and you have a filling, light, healthy lunch in less than five minutes.  Feeling peckish?  Scoop some hummus into a bowl and serve with a fistful of carrot and celery sticks or tortilla chips.

*Well, like a Jetson’s Food-A-Rac-A-Cycle minus Rosie the Robot Maid and the button that makes food materialize.  But you catch my drift, right?

For a photo-free, Chatty-Cathy-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Homemade Hummus

Basic Ingredients:

  • 1-4 peeled garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 [15.5 ounce] cans, drained with liquid reserved) + 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid
  • 6 Tablespoons tahini
  • 6 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • up to 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, curly or flat, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 to 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, to taste
  • 1/8 to 3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper (or other ground hot chile pepper), to taste
  • fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Optional, but delicious possible additions:

  • Minced green onions, cumin, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, curry powder, fresh cilantro leaves, and garlic scapes.  But probably not all at once, eh?

Add garlic cloves, chickpeas, tahini, and lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade.  After putting the lid tightly in place, process until a thick, coarse paste is formed, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Check the consistency of the hummus.  If you’re happy with the texture of the hummus, add the salt, parsley, black pepper and cayenne pepper, and any optional add-ins, and pulse until evenly combined.

If you would like it to be thinner and/or smoother, add the olive oil and process for an additional minute.  If you would like it thinner yet, add some of the cooking liquid from the chickpeas along with the parsley, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper, and any optional add-ins and process for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve plain as pictured below, or with a sprinkling of minced parsley as pictured above.  Either way it’s magnificent!

Don’t forget the goodies for dipping!

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Beans, Camping Food, Component Foods, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mediterranean Hummus Pizza and Pre-Baked Pizza Crusts

March 19, 2010 by 10 Comments

The recipe I am about to share with you is, emphatically, not ‘Dude Food’.  Oh sure, guys will eat it.  They’ll like it, maybe even love it.  But this is designed with me in mind, and I, quite emphatically, did not want ‘Dude Food’ today.

It was bright and sunny and warm and altogether spring-like all day long.  I wanted light and flavorful and exotic.  This was Made for Mom (me.)  Every now and then I think I’m entitled.

Details: A prebaked pizza crust*  topped with silky smooth hummus**, roasted red peppers, paper thin slices of cucumbers and red onions, black olives, crumbled feta cheese and parsley.   It is pure freshness. It is the kind of thing I would sit down and devour with my sisters and my mother.  But since they didn’t pick up on my brainwaves (so much for female intuition) when the pizza was done, I was forced to eat the majority of the thing myself.  This rather defeats the whole light/fresh angle of the dish.  The Evil Genius stepped in, ate the last few slices and even uttered a, “Hey.  This is really good!”  But my mom and sisters? They would’ve been transported by it.  They would’ve been ecstatic.  They would’ve been rendered speechless.  And this would’ve been a good thing.  There were a lot of onions on it.

* and **  In both of these cases, homemade is the best bet.  If you don’t want to make a pre-baked pizza crust or hummus you can certainly use the store bought equivalents.

This brings me to a really hhhhhhhhelpful hhhhhhhhhhint.  (Quit moving away from your computer! There’s no WAY you can smell my onion breath through the monitor.  Or can you?)  Do you know you can reduce the ‘punch’ that raw onions pack?  (Which I did not do today.  Obviously.  Phew.  I’m offendin’ myself.) It’s a pretty simple process; thinly slice or chop your onions as you wish to serve them.  Place in a bowl and cover generously with super cold tap water.  Let sit for 10 minutes, drain, rinse and repeat at least twice.  By the last time you rinse the onions, they should be gentle(r) and mild(er). The stronger your onions are to begin with, the more times you’ll need to rinse your onions.  Of course, if you like the powerful bite of March onions, feel free.  Just remember I waaahhhhhhhh-rned you.

And not that we need an excuse to make treats for ourselves, but just in case you feel the need to justify it, check out these ‘features and benefits’:

  • This is made with chick peas/garbanzo beans.  Beans are fantastic for your health; fiber, vitamins, protein, and more are all packed into those tiny little packages.
  • Pound for pound, beans are one of the least expensive sources of protein that you can buy.  Eat away!
  • All those vegetables on top make this indulgence a healthy one.  Can’t you feel yourself getting healthier just by looking at a slice?

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, sans the yakety-yackety, click here!

Mediterranean Hummus Pizza

Ingredients:

  • 1 (12-16″) pre-baked pizza crust (The recipe for an excellent homemade pre-baked crust is listed after the recipe for the pizza.)
  • 1-1/2 cups prepared hummus
  • 1/4-1/3 cup roasted red peppers, sliced into thin strips
  • 1/2-3/4 of an English cucumber, sliced as thinly as possible
  • 1/2 of a red onion, sliced as thinly as possible
  • 1/2 cup black olives, thinly sliced or halved
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced

Spread the hummus over the crust to within 1/2-inch of the edges.

Shall we zoom in on that crust for a moment?  You want to make these pizza crusts.  They are almost unbearably delicious.  But don’t take my word for it…

Evenly space the roasted red pepper strips over the hummus.  Arrange the cucumber slices over the top, then the red onions and black olives.  Scatter the feta cheese crumbles evenly over the top and sprinkle the minced parsley over everything.

Hubba hubba...

Slice into wedges or squares and serve at room temperature.

Pre-Baked Pizza Crusts

Yield: 3 large pre-baked crusts

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups warm (but not hot) whey or milk
  • 3-1/2 Tablespoons instant yeast
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus additional for sprinkling over dough
  • 1 pound and 13- 3/4 ounces (7 cups) all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for spreading over dough
  • 3/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, plus additional for sprinkling over the dough (you can substitute minced fresh garlic if necessary.)

Place the warm whey or milk in a very large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the top.  Swirl the bowl and let sit for five minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir until an evenly moist and a cohesive dough forms.  Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Generously grease three large, round pans (or rimmed sheet pans) with olive oil.  Wet your hands and divide the dough into three equal portions.  With wet hands, spread the dough on your oiled pans.  Allow the dough to rest for five more minutes, wet your hands again, and re-work the dough toward the outer edges of the pan.  Brush or rub the dough generously with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with granulated garlic or minced garlic.

Bake pizza crusts for 8 minutes if you want a partially baked crust to be topped and baked again later, or 12 minutes for a fully baked crust.

Remove crust from pan and cool on a rack.  You can use immediately or wrap tightly with a double thickness of plastic wrap and frozen for a month.

~~~

Now, the question is this; is anyone in need of a good hummus recipe?  Because I’m willing to share…

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Beans, Component Foods, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian

Homemade Essential Oil Air Fresheners

March 17, 2010 by 65 Comments

Have you ever noticed that males of all species have a tendency to (How can I put this delicately?) be malodorous?

I’m talking from a position of knowledge and experience here; I have a husband, five sons, and two male dogs.  We also have chickens and a cat. My boys tromp all over the yard without regard to the location of dog or chicken scat.  I feed my family a great deal of beans. My dogs get gassy when they’re nervous.* There are ample opportunities for ‘the stink’ to arise.

*Boy, do I wish I was joking about that.  Last summer we took the dogs to a family reunion in Southern Michigan.  We got stuck on the Ohio Turnpike in 90°F temperatures.  Our air conditioning broke and only one of the windows in the van worked.  It was the window next to yours-truly’s head.  So all the air exiting the van went right. past. my. face.  Remember that.  It will become very important to my story in mere moments. And the dogs?  Well, let’s just say being stuck in traffic was as hard on their nerves as ours.  Being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in sweltering temperatures with a flatulent eighty-five pound hound dog and his equally foul-smelling and obese beagle buddy was -in a word- horrific. You could have calibrated a 30-second hourglass by timing the brief respite between ‘episodes’ from Hambone and Diggedy.  I was traumatized. We all were.

I learned early on in my mother-of-many-boys career that eliminating the causes of ‘the stink’ was nearly impossible; I learned it was all about making a pleasant smelling oasis in each room.  And I spent money on it.  Oooh, baby, did I spend money; scented candles, gel air fresheners, room sprays, linen sprays, plug-in room deodorizers, misters, potpourri (sidebar: My mom fed boiled potpourri on a taco to my German exchange student friend in high school.  But that’s a story for another time. Hi, Mom!)

When I learned that three of my babies had asthma, all that stuff went out the window.  Actually, it went in the trash, but you savvy, right?  All the pretty smelling stuff went buh-bye.  Laundry detergent, fabric softener, cleaners?  All unscented.  Boo hoo.  Poor me.

The allergist told me I could use essential oils in small amounts in little bowls or reed diffusers, but I found that the scent dissipated too quickly.  I had to find something that smelled nice (or an inexpensive carbon filter face mask comfortable enough to wear 24/7) or risk losing what little sanity I had left.  It took five years…

You’ve heard that necessity is the mother of invention?  Well, I’m the mother of five little necessities and I had a perspiration. (My Dad defines ‘Perspiration’ as an inspiration that hurts.)  Homemade all-natural, essential oil powered, gel based air fresheners.  They met all the requirements to keep my poor asthmatic kids from doubling over and wheezing.  They smelled great.  They lasted a good long time.  They were cheap to make.  They had five ingredients you could find at any grocery or department store.  And this mom was happy.

Now a word or two about essential oils: they’re pretty powerfully scented, so go easy on how much you add.  You don’t want to add more than 30 drops per air freshener until you know just how strong your oil is.  The basic air freshener base recipe is listed and my favorite scent combinations are given below it.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe sans photos and yakety-yakety, click here!

Homemade Essential Oil Air Fresheners

Ingredients:

  • 1 ounce granulated or powdered gelatin
  • 2 cups cold water, divided
  • 20-30 drops of your choice of essential oil
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • optional, food coloring to tint the air freshener

Also needed:

  • heat-proof jars to hold the hot gelatin liquid
  • a disposable chopstick or skewer to use as a stir stick

Bring one cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan.  Sprinkle the gelatin over the boiling water and whisk until smooth and all the gelatin is dissolved.  Add the salt and the second cup of cold water and whisk.  Set aside.

Add the desired amount of essential oil and food coloring, if using, to the jar(s).  Quickly pour the hot liquid gelatin over the essential oil and food coloring.  Stir until evenly colored.

Allow to cool, uncovered on a heat-proof surface.  When it reaches room temperature, place wherever you want a lovely scent.

Sweet Basil and Lemon  Air Freshener

  • 20 drops Sweet Basil essential oil
  • 8 drops Lemon essential oil

Rosemary Orange  Air Freshener

  • 25 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
  • 5 drops Rosemary essential oil (The Rosemary essential oil is mighty strong stuff.  Keep a light hand with this!)

Fresh Pine Scent Air Freshener

  • 25 drops Fir Pine essential oil
  • 3 drops Lemon essential oil
  • 2 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
  • 1 drop Bergamot essential oil

Pure Lavender Air Freshener

  • 30 drops of Lavender essential oil

Essence of Provençe Air Freshener

  • 20 drops Lavender essential oil
  • 5 drops Thyme essential oil
  • 2 drops Lemon essential oil

~~~

This year, if we have to take the dogs on another road trip, I’m prepared; I’ll just cram one of these up each nostril and pray.



Filed Under: Gifts, Household Hints, Instructional, Non-food recipes, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars

New England Style Fish Cakes and Tart-er Tartar Sauce

March 11, 2010 by 10 Comments

I told a friend I was planning on writing a post on fish cakes.  Her response? “Ew.  Fish cakes?  Ew.   That just sounds so wrong.”

Point granted. Admittedly you don’t often hear the words ‘fish’ and ‘cake’ put together.  But crab cakes are amazing, how could fish cakes sound so wrong? We’re talking about crispy, brown, fish patties flecked with onion, celery and herbs topped with creamy tartar sauce.

“I don’t know.  The dish sounds good,” she said, “but that name needs some serious help.”

“How about New England Fish Cakes?” I asked.

“Oh yeah!” she said, “That sounds wonderful!”

Problem solved. Everything fish-related sounds a little better with ‘New England’ tagged on to it.  It conjures up visions of craggy faced fishermen in bulky sweaters and yellow rubber boots haggling over prices for their day’s catch at the wharf.

~~~   ~~~   ~~~

My dear friend’s reaction notwithstanding I am 100% head-over-heels for these fish cakes, er, New England Style Fish Cakes.  They have that satisfying crunchy brown outside that can only come from time spent with a hot skillet and sizzling oil.  Laced with tiny bits of scallion, parsley, celery and other herbs and spices, the inside is everything fish should be; flavorful, light textured, and moist.

Fish, while fantastic for your health*, is not something that dings everyone’s chimes.  I was so confident in the flavor and texture of these that I served one to a confirmed fish-hating friend. With a little cajoling she ate a bite.  Then she finished her portion.  Then she asked for a second helping.  The next week, she made them for her family.  She’s been making them regularly ever since.  And she still swears she hates fish!

*According to the American Heart Association, “Fish is a good source of protein and, unlike fatty meat products, it’s not high in saturated fat. Fish is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people, and those at high risk of — or who have — cardiovascular disease. Research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids decrease risk of arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats), which can lead to sudden death.  Omega-3 fatty acids also decrease triglyceride levels, slow growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque, and lower blood pressure (slightly).”  For more details on what fish can do for you, visit the American Heart Association’s page on fish!


For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

New England Style Fish Cakes

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds firm fleshed boneless and skinless white fish fillets such as cod, blue hake, or haddock
  • 2 cups of freshly made medium fine breadcrumbs.  This is roughly equivalent to 6 slices of bread.
  • 3 medium stalks of celery, finely diced
  • 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced then chopped again until finely minced
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning or other seafood seasoning blend
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • neutral oil, such as canola, for pan-frying

Line up your fish fillets on a clean cutting board.  And don’t walk away from the cutting board to answer the phone or people (and by people I mean my children) are bound to mess with your ingredients. See what I mean?

"Ground control to Major Tom..."

 

Remove the Lego David Bowie from your cutting board and roughly cut the fish fillets into two-inch chunks.

Place the pieces into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. You are going to puree your fish.  I’m aware that sounds revolting, but keep on keeping on, please.  The end result is more worth it than I can possibly express.  Pulse several times until the fish is broken down into a puree that still contains some pieces. No pieces should be larger than pebble-size.  It should look like this.  It only gets better from here!

Add the processed fish and the remaining ingredients to a large bowl and mix until uniform.

Place a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add a thin coating of oil to the pan; a tablespoon should be sufficient.  Swirl the oil to coat the pan.

Don’t pre-form all your fish cakes, because the patties tend to fall apart if left to rest on a plate It’s best just to form right before adding them to the pan.  To do this most easily, rapidly form ½-cup of the fish mixture into a thin patty.  Don’t squash them mercilessly!  That light end texture relies on a gentle hand.

Quickly and carefully place the patty into the oiled pan.

Using a 12-inch pan should allow you to cook four patties at a time.  Once all four patties are in the pan, raise the heat to high and cook for five minutes. After five minutes, use a wide spatula and an additional rubber spatula, if needed, to flip the patties one at a time.  Take care to control how your flip them so you’re not splattered with any hot oil in the pan.  The first side should be a beautiful brown when they’re turned.  This first side looks like perfection.

Fry the second side for five minutes and transfer the fish cakes to a plate lined with a paper towel.  Repeat with the remaining fish mixture, adding a little oil to the pan as necessary.

Serve immediately, either plain or with tartar sauce. They definitely have enough flavor to be served alone…

If you serve with tartar sauce, make it a good one.  These New England Style Fish Cakes deserve the best!

For my money, this tartar sauce recipe is the best you can possibly make.  It is the massively down-sized recipe that The Evil Genius learned to make when he worked at a very popular South Florida restaurant.  He recalls making multiple twenty-five gallon batches for daily lunch and dinner services.  We’re talking about one seriously road-tested and approved tartar sauce recipe.

This addictive tartar sauce is much more flavor-packed than most alternatives.   Oh yes, put it on fish, but don’t stop there.  It’s an explosive change to the usual mayonnaise on a hamburger. French fries take on a whole new dimension when dipped into Tart-er Tartar Sauce.  Once you’ve tried it, you’ll plan meals around it!

Tart-er Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup minced scallions
  • 2 Tablespoons minced cabbage
  • 1 Tablespoon minced green pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons dill pickle relish
  • ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
  • ¼ teaspoon celery seed

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Fish, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Barbecue-Style Pulled Pork Sliders, South Carolina Barbecue Sauce and Kansas City Sauce.

March 1, 2010 by 8 Comments

A Disclaimer

I love barbecue; real barbecue.  I’m talking about meat that falls apart when a fork looks at it because it was cooked for hours over the smoking remnants of fruit trees.  I refer to the method that requires hours of time spent lovingly tending a fire outdoors and turning and mopping meat. Please let this stand as proof that I do know what ‘real’ barbecue is.  And also, that I know that these sandwiches do not constitute REAL barbecue since they were neither cooked over wood nor in a pit.  Thus, barbecue ‘style’.  And if you think this disclaimer is unnecessary, you haven’t met many avid barbecue aficionados.  That being said, these three-bite, pulled pork sandwiches are made of melt-under-your-teeth tender, smoky meat dressed with real Carolina or Kansas City barbecue sauce.  And if you can come up with a better way to get a barbecue fix in the center of snow-bound Amish country in the middle of winter, I’d sure like to hear it.  I’m waiting…

Some decisions end up being much harder than you thought they would be.  Toilet paper roll over or under? French fries or baked potato? Dog or cat?  Kansas City or South Carolina?

In the wonderful world of barbecue there are many regionally distinctive styles of barbecue sauce.  Most Americans are familiar with Kansas City style- a thick, sweet tomato or ketchup based barbecue sauce of varying degrees of thickness- while few are acquainted with some of the other barbecue sauces of American origins:

  1. South Carolina Mustard Sauce- This yellowish brown barbecue sauce takes its color from the prepared yellow mustard base.  Tangy, zippy, spicy, and smoky, this barbecue sauce makes you salivate just to smell it.  It goes with pork like Abbott went with Costello.
  2. East Carolina Sauce- (Pardon me for a moment while I don my Kevlar undies to wade into territory where I have no business being; the great barbecue sauce debate.)  Arguably the mother of all barbecue sauces, East Carolina Sauce has its roots in the slave population of the Carolinas.  East Carolina Sauce is just crushed red pepper flakes and ground black pepper mixed with vinegar with very little or no sugar.  This is vibrant and acidic and is meant both to tenderize the meat and break up some of the richness of fatty barbecue.  This is also fantastic with long-cooked pork.
  3. Texas Sauce (a.k.a. Thin Tomato Barbecue Sauce)- Where’s the beef?  Right here.  Texas Sauce is a miracle worker when it comes to tenderizing notoriously tough beef briskets.  It’s another vinegar based sauce, but this one is laced with chili powder, cumin, fresh onion, meat drippings, other spices and just the teensiest kiss of tomato sauce or ketchup.  It’s not just an afterthought, though.  Texas Sauce is usually mopped on while cooking and then used as a dip or topping to finish the meat.
  4. Lexington Dip- This is kind of like a gentler East Carolina Sauce.  It contains all the same ingredients, but also has a hint of tomato sauce or ketchup added.  The small amount of sweetness from the tomato cuts back the pucker power of East Carolina Sauce ever-so-slightly.

…And that’s just barely scratching the surface.  My loyalties lie with South Carolina Mustard Sauce and Kansas City Sauce.  If you hold a slow-cooked spare rib to my throat and force me to pick, I’d probably go with the South Carolina Sauce, but that’s a barbecue sauce lover’s Sophie’s Choice. Now give me that rib.

Recently we found ourselves with a large quantity of leftover slow-cooked, shredded pork* and a pan full of crusty, garlic dinner rolls. While I tried to summon culinary inspiration, The Evil Genius passed by me muttering, “How about barbecue pork sliders?”  Eureka!  He had it!  But then came the real dilemma. South Carolina Mustard Sauce or Kansas City Sauce? “Why not both?” quoth he as he passed the other direction.  Sidebar: he was not reading my mind.  I have a habit of talking to myself in the kitchen. That day, someone answered.

*Why?  Because I slow-cook ten-pound pork shoulders when I make my melt-in-your-mouth Cuban Pork and even we can’t eat all that in one sitting.

Why not, indeed?  At only a couple minutes of hands-on time each it was easy to whip up both.  And so we did.  And boy, were they both good!  This dinner took five minutes of hands-on time.  I’m sure you could figure out something to do with a little time you save making dinner, right?  (Don’t tell, but I spend that extra time hiding in the closet eating the last brownie.  I told the kids the dog got it. And I don’t feel an iota of guilt.)

These irresistible little sandwiches are equally at home in a week-night dinner,  on a party buffet or as a midnight snack. They’re also pretty addictive.  But that’s okay, because they’re little so they’re low-calorie. Right?

South Carolina Barbecue Sauce

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon liquid smoke

Stir together all ingredients except the soy sauce, butter and liquid smoke in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Simmer 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.  Add the soy sauce, butter and liquid smoke and stir well.  Return to a simmer over low heat and cook another 10 minutes, stirring often.

Cool to room temperature before transferring to a jar or squeeze bottle.  Store, tightly lidded, in the refrigerator.

Kansas City Barbecue Sauce

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup good quality ketchup
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
  • 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, according to heat preference
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.

Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.

Cool to room temperature before transferring to a jar or squeeze bottle.  Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Barbecue- Style Pulled Pork Sliders

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Ingredients:

3 cups slow-cooked, shredded pork

1/4 cup preferred barbecue sauce, plus additional sauce for serving (Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce Recipe and Kansas City Barbecue Sauce Recipe)

12 warm dinner rolls (preferably crusty rolls, like these Garlic Bubbles.)

Toss shredded pork and barbecue sauce together in a microwave save bowl.  Cover and reheat on ‘HIGH for one minute.  Alternately, you can toss the pork and barbecue sauce together in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and reheat -covered- over a low flame until warmed through.

Split the rolls in the center with a serrated knife.  Sandwich about 1/4 cup of the saucy meat in between the top and bottom halves of each roll.  Serve immediately with sauce on the side.

And here’s where I need your help.  While I’ve already stated my preference, if forced to choose, would lie with the mustard sauce, it’s just barely a preference.  The Evil Genius threw down his lot with the Kansas City Sauce.  The kids were evenly divided, since two liked the mustard sauce, two liked the tomato sauce and one couldn’t make up his mind and opted for a banana instead.

Give a girl a little help, would you?  Since we can’t decide, and I have another pork roast languishing in my meat drawer, I want your opinion.  Do you like South Carolina Sauce or Kansas City Sauce better?  Do you prefer your own concoction?  Do tell.  And share recipes if you have one you love more than a bag of chips.

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South Carolina Barbecue Sauce and Kansas City Sauces
Author: 
Recipe type: Condiment, Sauce
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12
 

You’re sure to please everyone in the crowd with these dueling sauces; Sticky, sweet, smoky, tomato based Kansas City Sauce and tangy, spicy, zippy, mustard based South Carolina Sauce. What’s your favorite?
Ingredients
Ingredients for South Carolina Barbecue Sauce:
  • 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar
  • ¾ cup cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ½ teaspoon soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
Ingredients for Kansas City Style Sauce:
  • 1 cup good quality ketchup
  • ¾ cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1½ Tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
  • 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • ¼-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, according to heat preference
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
To Make South Carolina Barbecue Sauce:
  1. Stir together all ingredients except the soy sauce, butter and liquid smoke in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
  2. Simmer 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
  3. Add the soy sauce, butter and liquid smoke and stir well.
  4. Return to a simmer over low heat and cook another 10 minutes, stirring often.
  5. Cool to room temperature before transferring to a jar or squeeze bottle.
  6. Store, tightly lidded, in the refrigerator.
To Make Kansas City Style Barbecue Sauce:
  1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.
  2. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
  3. Cool to room temperature before transferring to a jar or squeeze bottle.
  4. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Notes
Both of these are fresh sauces, meaning they are best made within a couple of days of their intended use. They will store well in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, but are not tested for home canning.

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