Yes, yes, it’s a writing blog. On the other hand, future-me didn’t burst into the room and smack current-me upside the head while I was writing and posting this, so, how bad an idea could it possibly be?
I’ve been doing a few kitchen experiments lately, to give my brain a rest from other projects, and because lots of fresh foods are in season, and therefore, cheap. And the garden is giving up all kinds of lovely things- has anyone ever made stuffed peppers from paprika peppers?- these things are almost the size of my fist- so there’s an extra impetus to use the bounty in interesting ways.
Last week, I did my first foray into candy-making, with itrion, a sesame and honey candy. That’s it. Two ingredients: equal weights of sesame seeds and honey. The recipe came from an episode of Tasting History, and while I don’t quite buy the theory that the ancient Greek hoplites took itrion as campaign rations- those ingredients would have been fairly expensive back in the day- it was still a worthwhile little experiment. Candy-making has always been a slightly intimidating process for me, so better to start out on easy mode. It came out looking like a rice crispie treat and tasted great.
Yesterday, I made red grape jam and green grape jelly (which was originally supposed to be jam, but the green pulp looked unappetizing, so I strained it out). Store-bought grapes, alas. Maybe someday I’ll be able to say I grew my own grapes.
But- shock, horror!- grape jelly is supposed to be made only from Concord grapes, you say. And what is this ‘grape jam’ business? Who wants grape skins in their PBJ? Blech. None of the cookbooks say it’s okay, either.
That’s mostly true, according to my collection of cookbooks. There was a recipe for ‘green grape marmalade’ but even that used unripe Concord grapes. Why? Dunno. I didn’t dive very far into the chemistry of jelly-making, but from the little research I did, there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason to make grape jelly only from Concord grapes. They have a slightly different flavor, and I don’t find them particularly appealing in uncooked form, so it’s possible that the notion of specifically Concord grape jelly arose because people wanted a way to use the fruit that didn’t require them to eat it uncooked. Or maybe that type of grape was most prevalent when jam and jelly making was becoming popular, and later writers nicked the original recipe lock, stock, and barrel from whatever cookbook it first appeared in. A remarkable number of recipes seem to proliferate in that way.
As for the jelly vs. jam debate, I think grape jelly was more popular when seedless grapes were still a novelty, and that method of straining out the skins, pulp, and seeds continued long past when it was necessary. No one wants grape seeds stuck in their teeth. But seedless varieties have put an end to that problem, and grape jam is workable. Ah, how nice to live in the modern world.
And it tastes amazing. Both kinds. The red jam- which is actually slightly more purple than its natural color, thanks to the magic of food coloring- paired perfectly with cottage cheese, and I suspect it’d be wonderful with other cheeses, crackers, bread, even meat- anything you’d eat with a glass of red wine. That’s what grapes are, after all: extremely young wine. Or wine is very old grapes. Whichever.
The green jelly- which is practically neon green, because of an accidental over-application of the magic of food coloring; oops!- was also a hit in some yogurt, and I think it’d go well with cheese, etc., once the taster gets past the color. It might also work with vanilla ice cream, but I didn’t have any on hand.
Lots of kitchen experiments lately. And that’s not even counting the Italian peasant cake- made with real Italian peasants- that I’ve been working on.
…
Don’t look at me like that. It’s an adaptation of lemon ricotta cake; I took out all the sweet ingredients and put in ham and onion, to see if I could make a savory version instead of a dessert. No peasants of any nationality were harmed in the making of the cake, though my diet took a beating.
Have you done any kitchen experiments lately? If any peasants were harmed, don’t tell me about it; this is a public forum.
Mad Genius Club 
14 responses to “Some Thoughts on Cooking”
Well, I did some winging it in the kitchen last night, when I couldn’t find the recipe for mac-n-cheese that we got last year from the HEB Cooking connection – it uses Adams Reserve Jalapeno Ranch seasoning blend.
I cut up two whole HEB sausages, and boiled about a cup and a half of tiny macaroni shells until almost aldente (still slightly undercooked) and emptied them into a baking dish. Made a roux of about 2tbsp each of flour and butter, then when nice and foamy, added about a cup and a quarter each of milk and chicken broth, and stirred in 4 ounces of cream cheese. When the cheese was dissolved, I added a couple of teaspoons of the Jalapeno Ranch seasoning and two cups of sharp grated cheddar cheese. When the whole mess was slightly thickened, I emptied it onto the sausage, and the macaroni shells, stirred to combine, topped it with more grated cheddar and put it in the oven at 350 for an hour. It came out very creamy, and I can only hope that I can duplicate it again!
Been messing with ginger and garlic in cooking meat– I still can’t stand cinnamon or brown sugar in what I cook (when I make BBQ stuff for husband and kids, I abstain) and with a bit of sesame oil, I can get a decent “ooh, chinese cooking!” result.
(Sweet cuts the heat in stuff– as does lemon juice.)
Have you investigated Carolina Mustard style bbq sauces?
They’re mustard and vinegar based, and I think you can leave out most of the sugar.
Very different bbq style of sauce.
This was originally posted to Bill Quick’s Daily Pundit site by the late Chef Mojo. It’s wonderful, also addictive:
Have tried, not a big fan.
Playing around with some Indian spice mixes to get something everyone is happy with, it goes. 😀
I remember reading about raisin pie, Back East and how it was considered a great luxury and only for special occasions because of the labor that went into de-seeding the raisins. It sounds like the same rule applies to jam vs. jelly as well.
(One of the local ranches also gave orders in the late 1800s banning the purchase of raisins because they were 1] expensive and 2] being used to make booze.The things you find in archives …)
Grape jam/jelly is often made from wine grapes, eating grapes, etc. in other countries. There are a lot of grape foods out there; I think we use Concord grapes here because the others were rarer and had a hard time in temperate climates. Concord grapes grew in the Northeast, so people used them.
Turkish grape pudding, made from black grapes:
http://begskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/09/pepecura-grape-pudding.html
I once saw a recipe for green grape chutney, but never tried it. (I know, not the most interesting anecdote you’ve ever read.) I think it would be a good alternative to jam/jelly, not only for grapes but for several other kinds of fruit.
About stolen recipies, I did a fruitcake from “The Spice Cookbook” which was very spicy, including pepper and allspice, but published without testing, as 10+ lbs of dried fruit, soaked in a quart of dark rum, then mixed into a batter including 5 cups of flour, absolutely didn’t fit into 2 standard loaf pans. :-》
One of my wifes’ great-uncles said it tasted like fruitcake used to in the early 1900s. It had enough rum and spice to balance the sweetness.
We either eat the grape plain or make grape juice out of the Concords. Raspberry freezer jam is my favorite.
Made thai curry chicken in the slow cooker, but all the spices (including thai curry powder) were really old, so I tripled the amounts on them and included some oddball things the recipe didn’t call for like Madras curry powder. Very yummy.
I suspect Concorde as that is somehow the expected ‘grape flavor’ even it is really the outlier. $HOUSEMATE is amused that I claim that Concorde is NOT the flavor of grape, but “the flavor purple.”