This is how our grandparents cooked.  They used what was in season, and even in times of economic unrest, they made some of the best food using time-honoured techniques.  They preserved and fermented in order to have variety throughout the winter months.

As the Summer months approach, we are heading into a time of bounty.  It is time to ‘bottle’ up all that goodness to store for the colder months.  Today, we preserve out of sheer enjoyment, and to add uniqueness to our everyday meals.  A chutney can be made out of just about anything, and served with everything from cheese to a rich beef stew.  You can pickle everything from carrots to beets to green onions, and serve these items in a salad, on a sandwich or with a fancy quiche brunch.  Jams and Jellies are not just for toast.  Made from scratch, we use our jams and jellies as dessert sauces, as a sweet punch in a bbq sauce and served with cheeses.  At the Studio, we are also starting to do a lot more fermenting.  That is, not pickling with sugar or a vinegar, but rather relying on the natural bacteria that is in our environment to act on the food and change its structure.  Fermented foods, like yogurt and sauerkraut are good for us.  The amazing bacteria that are present in naturally fermented foods keep us healthy and operating like a champ!

In our most recent Monday Night Series, Second Edition (we run several Monday Night Series 1st and 2nd Editions throughout the year; see our website calendar for details), we made Sauerkraut as a group.  The troubleshooting of all of the different jars was interesting.  We were able to transform just two ingredients, cabbage and salt, into a living, breathing entity that took on a life of its’ own.  Comments of ‘rapid bubbly movement’ to ‘near explosive’ to ‘tastes amazing’ ran throughout the class.  And everyone’s was different.

We’ve attached the link below for Michael Pollen’s recipe for Sauerkraut.  It may seem like a daunting project, and a lot of reading, but trust us, its not.  It is as simple as this: cut cabbage; work in salt until it is soft and water is released; pack in jars; wait about 10 days.  The results of homemade sauerkraut are so delicious, even the biggest skeptics will indulge.  And what better time to do this than when the soft summer cabbages are coming to market, and bbq sausage season is upon us…

http://michaelpollan.com/books/cooked/sauerkraut-recipe/

So now for the why: chicken fat, or poultry fat in general is a great cooking medium.  It has a high smoke point, so is ideal for a quick saute of say, swiss chard, or finely sliced carrots, or garlicky mushrooms.  Along with the smoke point comes flavour.  If you want to start a soup, start with chicken fat.  It gives lots of flavour if you don’t have any stock.  Chicken fat also is great for roasting vegetables: heat chicken fat in a sturdy baking sheet, then add your par-cooked potatoes (see previous blog!) and don’t disturb them in a hot (450 degree) oven until they are crispy.

“They”  say that the French have lower cholesterol levels than us North Americans.  This is partly due to the fact that they consume poultry (duck and chicken) fat in greater quantities than us.

So the next time you roast a beautiful chicken, let the juices chill, and save that layer of fat for endless uses.

We have an apprentice at the Studio now, learning all the little technical tricks behind good cooking, working in a restaurant (including how to build shelves!) and the general whys and hows that make the difference between good food and perfect food.  This is where we suss out the fact that not everything in the kitchen is a given.  Those little things that we do so automatically, may not be automatic for everyone else.  Take the simple potato. We ask said apprentice to boil some Yukon Gold potatoes. So what does he do? Puts a large pot of water on to boil, and has the potatoes ready to go in when the water comes to a boil.  Correct? Big X.  To cook a potato properly, you need start the whole shebang in a large pot of cold water.  So potatoes, salt (we’ll get to that next) and COLD water are all in one pot, the stove gets turned on to high heat, brought just up to the boil and then turned down to a gentle simmer.  A roaring boil will break up our potatoes, and allow too much moisture to absorb into the potato (so when later we want to dress it with a vinaigrette, or smash it with some milk and butter, our potato is DRY and ready to absorb moisture.)

Salt: the water should taste like the ocean.  Enough Kosher salt added to the water at the beginning, so that our potato is flavourful at the end.

Doneness: They are done when they are fork tender, not knife tender.  A knife will cut through anything and not give you an accurate reading of doneness

Draining: If you’re going to make a salad or want to keep the potato’s nice round shape, don’t dump the whole hot pot into a colander in the sink.  This will smash the potatoes at the bottom and make them soggy.  Use a fine mesh strainer to lift the potatoes out of the water onto a baking sheet to cool.

Capers: an often overlooked ingredient to add to just about any savoury dish with imagination.  Capers add a bit of saltiness and richness, as well as adding some full-bodied flavour to salad dressings, stuffings, as a garnish for soups and of course are the natural companion to fish and seafood dishes.

Capers are the ‘bud’ of the caper berry fruit plant.  Both the buds and the berries are pickled or preserved in salt–rinse the salted ones before using, and enjoy the berries as you would an olive.

Try this quick Caper Salsa recipe atop your next grilled meat:

2 tbsp capers, chopped
handful of chopped parsley
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1. Mix all ingredients together; allow to sit at room temperature for a bit to let flavours develop.  You may actually need to season this with a little salt, depending on how well you seasoned your meat.