Anthony Boutard on What Makes Fruit Great?

One of the best presentations I got to attend at the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in Portland last month was a conversation between chef and cookbook author Deborah Madison and farmer Anthony Boutard of Ayers Creek Farm. Ayers Creek Farm is an organic farm located in Gaston, Oregon in the Wapato Valley 10 miles west of Beaverton and 40 miles from the ocean. The theme was fruit and I learned so much! Here are a just a few highlights from the discussion:

Deborah Madison asked, "What makes fruit great?"

• Boutard said, in some ways it's hard to say because everyone's palate is different; for example some people love tart marionberries, some people hate them.

• According to Boutard, the best fruit has acidity upfront. Acid and tannins in fruit are complex and cannot be simply duplicated by adding lemon juice. Sweetness on the other hand is not very complex.

• Shipped fruit seems like it loses acidity (another reason to buy local).

• The best way to get shoppers to warm up to fruit with high acid, is to give samples to their kids. Kids love acidity!

• Some fruit are best suited to wide temperature variation, such as melons and plums that want hot days and cool nights. Different plums grow in different parts of the country. In California there are lots of Japanese plums and in Oregon more European plums.

• Cellared fruit takes on different characteristics. It won't have the same texture, it may not be crisp, but the flavor can be amazing. Boutard said the best apple he ever ate was a russet apple in Switzerland, it had been cellared for many months and was mealy, but complex and delicious.

• Grapes with seeds have more flavor and nutritional value. Boutard calls grapes "celibate" or "fecund" instead of seedless or seeded. A little sex helps sell! Grapes with seeds don't last as long as seedless varieties but the seeds are worth eating too. You can't eat Concord grape seeds but other grape seeds have a spicy flavor that balances the sweetness of the fruit.

• Picking fruit takes real skill. For example, some fruit needs to be watered the night before picking, such as raspberries, other fruit like plums will split if watered when already ripe. Boutard has been working with the same Oaxacan family for years because they understand how to pick fruit.

• Systemic pesticides and fungicides cannot be washed off fruit. Boutard chooses to grow fruit that is well-suited to the environment and can be grown organically rather than fight mother nature.

• Machine picked fruit is not as fully ripe because it is picked using beaters.

• The best way to judge the quality of most fruit, is to smell it. Don't look at the size. The first batch of fruit often has more pectin in it that the subsequent crops.

Numi Puerh Tea

I have become a puerh pusher. Anyone who takes so much as a whiff from my cup, ends up buying their own. I discovered puerh tea a few years ago at a wonderful tea shop, Modern Tea, run by tea expert Alice Cravens, (now sadly closed). It was served in the traditional manner in a tiny tea pot with tea broken from a cake of puerh. Not long after I purchases some loose puerh tea from Tillerman Tea in Napa. But it's the perfect-for-sampling Numi Tea tea bags that have made me go pro.

Puerh is a fermented and aged green tea that has many of the characteristics of black tea and more antioxidants than either black or green tea. It is dark and malty with rich flavor that can handle a splash of milk. Up until recently it was almost impossible to find high quality puerh tea bags. Normally I buy all my tea loose leaf, bulk, never in bags, but Numi Tea is making some fabulous puerh tea blends, available in bags. They use whole leaf tea, not dust. The convenience of tea bags has worked well for me because I am usually just drinking one cup and I often take a few bags in my purse and my suitcase.

Back in January I participated in Numi's Puerh Challenge. I didn't drink three cups a day because it's just too much caffeine for me. But I quickly added to my stash buying boxes of Magnolia Puerh and Emperor's Puerh to my favorite the Chocolate version. The Numi Chocolate Puerh tea is a blend of all organic ingredients--puerh tea, cocoa powder, vanilla, Theo chocolate cocoa nibs, rooibos, orange peel, nutmeg and cinnamon. It is such a treat! It has lovely spicy notes that pair with the mild chocolate and rich tea.

For a more delicate tea I like the floral Magnolia blend which has green tea and magnolia flowers along with the puerh. The Emperor's version is pure puerh, nothing else added. It is the most robust with toasty rich flavor, great when you feel like you want a cup of coffee. The only version I'm not crazy about is the Mint Puerh, but to each his own. Numi also sells puerh in a brick and in bulk, which is probably what I will end up purchasing next. The advantage to the brick is that a small amount of tea can be used again and again, to make up to 4 cups of tea.

Puerh is considered a very healthy tea, potentially strengthening your immune system and reducing the risk of heart attack. Other studies show tea can reduce cholesterol and triglycerides and lower blood pressure. I would love to tell you I lost weight drinking this tea, but I don't think I did. But it absolutely gets me going in the morning on those days when I need a little extra boost and the different varieties seem to fit my mood at different times of the day.

Mango Cucumber Salad Recipes

Ok here's a crazy idea, one basic salad that can be either sweet or savory. I was trying to think of what to do with some mangoes coming my way from the National Mango Board this week and then I saw a tweet from @SimpleGourmetLA with the idea for a "mojito cucumber, mango and strawberry salad." It occurred to me that both cucumber and mango could go either way--sweet or savory.

I'm always looking for ways to use common ingredients in slightly unexpected ways. Here the twist is using cucumber in a sweet fruit salad and using sweet mango in a savory salad. English cucumber is available year round and does not need to be peeled. It has a very mild flavor and a fine texture without big slippery seeds. Best of all, it has a terrific crunch! I used the most commonly available mango, the Tommy Atkins variety in both salads. It's not a very tropical, luscious or creamy mango, but more of a workhorse, with citrus-like flavor, able and willing to stand up to whatever you demand of it. It's a bit on the firm side so it's particularly good in salads.

For the sweet salad I combined cucumber, mango and strawberries and for the savory version, cucumber, mango and radishes. You might recognize the ingredients from the savory salad as being similar to what you find Mexican street vendors selling. Each salad is flavored with lime, but the sweet salad gets a touch of honey and mint, the savory salad, a pinch of salt and green onion. Both are bursting with juiciness, crunch and Summery flavors and would be great at a picnic. I'd serve the savory salad with grilled fish or chicken. I'd serve the sweet salad with a scoop of sorbet or just a couple of cookies.


Mango, Cucumber, Strawberry SaladServes 4

Ingredients

1 Tommy Atkins mango, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1/2 large English cucumber, cut into chunks
1 pint strawberries, trimmed and cut in chunks
Juice of a fresh lime, squeezed
2 teaspoons honey
2 sprigs chopped fresh mint leaves, about 12 leves

Instructions

In a mixing bowl combine the lime and honey and stir until smooth. Add the mango, cucumber, strawberries and mix. Sprinkle with mint and taste for seasoning before serving.


Mango, Cucumber, Radish Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Tommy Atkins mango, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1/2 large English cucumber, cut into chunks
1 bunch radishes, trimmed and cut into chunks
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Juice of a fresh lime, squeezed
Pinch kosher salt

Instructions

In a mixing bowl combine the lime and salt and stir until dissolved. Add the mango, cucumber, radishes and mix. Sprinkle with green onions and taste for seasoning before serving.

Enjoy!

Day 12-Azerbaijan! The last of the "A" countries. Up next, Bahamas, baby!

Ahhhh, the last of the "A" countries...Azerbaijan. How many people (besides our brilliant Verizon Repair Technician, who not only knew that Andorra was a country but knew where it was), know anything about Azerbaijan? Embarrassingly, I didn't, but now I know a little about it's ancient history, culture and amazing food. First the location and a VERY brief history:

About 5,000 years old, Azerbaijan was occupied by Iranian Sasanids and in the 7th century by Arabian Khalifat.  In the second half of the 18th century Azerbaijan broke up into smaller states - khanates and sultanates.By the end of the 18th century Iran was under the rule of Gadzhars, an Azerbaijani dynasty. Skipping way ahead, the modern history of Azerbaijan contains one more significant page - Armenia - Azerbaijan conflict over annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic . Having declared itself  an independent democratic state in 1991, Azerbaijan lost its 6 areas, including Nagorno-Karabah Autonomous Region. In 1994 the countries signed the cease-fire treaty and on August 30th, 1991 Azerbaijan became an independent state.

Traditional food in Azerbaijan includes bread, pancakes and thick soups. Pilaff (plov), both savoury and sweet, is a favourite in Azerbaijan. The savoury pilaff is prepared using rice with meat, or fish, and vegetables and spices; the sweet version often contains dried apricots and raisins (which are also used on occasions to flavour meat recipes). So that's what I made: Parcha-Dosheme Plov or, layered rice pilaf with dried fruits and chestnuts:

 The process for preparing the rice had many steps: rinse it, soak it, then steam it. It's cooked by layering chicken, onions, rice, fruit and more rice. Then the whole thing is steamed and saffron is added at the end.

 Chopping the onions

 

Cakes and sweets include baklava and halva. Fruits available are apples, cherries, grapes, melons, raspberries, plums and peaches. I decided to go for the baklava, but a simplified recipe:

Make the dough, roll it out, chop the walnuts, layer the dough with filling, bake - awesomeness

Not in the recipe, but it's Saturday night , right? 

 

The windowsill over my sink - not in the recipe either, but so what, I like the picture, it's my blog, so I put it.

Here's the link to the recipes: http://www.azcookbook.com/layered-rice-pilaff-with-dried-fruits-chestnuts-parcha-dosheme-plov/ 

and for the baklava: http://www.azcookbook.com/easy-baklava/

The final analysis:  Everyone loved the rice pilaf and my kids asked me to make the baklava every night....and the best part? They now know some of Azerbaijan's history AND where it is on our beautiful world map...sure beats World History 101.

Day 11- Austria!

I had the afternoon off today, so decided that this would be as a good a time as any to visit Austria. Austrian cuisine tends to be on the heavy side - lots of meat, dumplings and stews. Perhaps best known is the Wiener Schnitzel, often cooked in beer. Austrian cooking is most often associated with Vienna, birthplace of Sigmund Freud. And, while I could definitely include research on food and eroticism from a psychoanalytic perspective, I'll just stick to cooking for this blog. But I digress...The Austrian's are most famous for their pastry and cakes, notably Apfelstrudel, or apple strudel and the Sachertorte. For this reason, I decided to eschew the heavy sausage in beer thing and make a well know desert.

  Austria is a landlocked country situated in southern Central Europe. Slightly smaller than Maine, it occupies a territory of approximately 32,000 square miles, which includes much of the mountainous territory of the eastern Alps and the Danube region.

 I settled on the Sachertorte, or Austrian Chocolate Cake - This rich, chocolate cake, also known as Sacher's Cake was created by Franz Sacher when he baked it for an Austrian prince. Traditionally this is served with fresh whipped cream. It sounds hard to make, its actually quite easy:

 

Egg whites & Chocolate batter

Frost first layer of cake with chocolate, then glaze entire cake with apricot preserves

And here's the best part- the finished product!!

Our assessment is that the cake is very good but didn't wow us. I like a dark chocolate, super rich, but not sweet cake. This one was made with semi-sweet chocolate, and I prefer bittersweet. Still, the apricot preserves added a nice tartness to the chocolate flavor, and with whipped cream, it'd be even better. Lastly, although the recipe didn't call for straining the apricot preserves, I would have, since the chunks of apricots looked a little lumpy under the chocolate glaze.

Recipe

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
• 1/2 cup flour

For the filling

• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves

For the icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C/Gas mark 3) and grease and line with parchment, or waxed paper, two 8-inch round cake pans.
2. Separate the eggs. Put the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Beat the yolks until smooth.
3. Beat the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon until creamy. Stir in the egg yolks gradually.
4. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in double boiler over low heat or slowly in microwave (10 seconds, stir, 10 seconds, stir & continue until melted) Stir chocolate into the creamed mixture.
5. Put the egg whites into a large bowl, or mixer fitted with a whip attachment, and whisk until they are firm and form soft peaks when you lift the whisk.
6. Mix the flour into the chocolate mixture. Then one spoonful at a time, fold the egg whites into the cake batter with a metal spoon.
7. Pour the mixture into the cake pans. Smooth the top with the back of your spoon and bake the cakes for 35 minutes.
8. When baked, run a knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
9. For Filling: Melt the chocolate in a bowl. Mix in powdered sugar and the butter. Use a knife to spread the chocolate paste onto one half of the cake. Then, put the other cake on top.
10. Melt the preserves in a pan over a low heat. Spread it over the top and sides of the cake with a blunt knife.
11. For Icing: Sift the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar into a bowl. Add water, a teaspoon at a time, until it reaches a spreading consistency then spread it all over the cake.

Interview with Claudia Roden - part 2

Photo credit: Red Saunders
In part 1 of my interview with Claudia Roden she shared her experiences from years of writing about the food of the Middle East and her thoughts about cooking in the US and Britain. In part two, she tells us about her upcoming Spanish cookbook, recipe testing, and her opinions on culinary innovation.

For years I've read that you're working on a Spanish cookbook, how is that coming along?

For 5 years I worked on it and I've just given it in. I spent years eating, meeting people, having fun, also doing a lot of research and the history of Spain through it's food, the literature and so on. I researched the life of the aristocracy, the peasants, the church, every recipe has meaning. I only include a recipe if it tastes good, usually if it lasts 100 years it is good. The added pleasure is to know how it fits in to the culture. It becomes a way of life and it's been very enriching.

In a year it will be out, we are now doing the food photography, when I get back (to London) we will start again. The photographer is going around in Spain. I've done two editions of the book, one in metric and one in cups, for the American edition, so it's taken rather longer. I always want to test everything myself. I want to make sure of the measures. I am the responsible one so I want to do it.

Your recipes are some of the most reliable and consistent I have ever used. What's your opinion of recipe testers?
You have to give other indications, by that I mean not just timing, cups and measures. Until now I had never used recipe testers, but I also invite people to dinner or invite one person to dinner and feed them, so that is my test. Right now after having tested all the recipes 2-3 times, they are being tested again. My published in the UK, Penguin, has a policy to retest all recipes, so they asked if I wouldn't mind. I was very glad but I'm crossing out a lot that has been put in by the tester. I do add variations in time, but she has put in so much material that I fear will put off anyone from cooking! I want recipes to be short and direct. I assume someone knows a bit how to cook. She puts in every dish how to fry onions, I just think if people are busy with the timing they may not pay attention to the other signs.

You can't tell everyone everything the best is to teach them to gauge for themselves. They'll have to learn to be confident of their taste and their senses. You can't put every single eventuality in a recipe. I believe you must trust people to use their common sense. People should really trust their senses. You must trust your taste. Cooking is an art of the senses. We can explain as writers, that's our job, not to just give measures.

You and Paula Wolfert are both heroines of mine. You both seem to be able to get amazing details from home cooks. What are the keys to getting people to share their recipes, especially people notorious for not sharing recipes, like Italians?

I do a lot of advanced contact. In Italy the very first contact was an ideal one. I was invited to a dinner with regional chefs and cookery teachers from around the country and there was a man who organized things that had connections to other culinary enthusiasts around the country. Cooking teachers were very generous. They were not necessarily teaching Italian food, but I got them to help me make contacts. I found food lovers who go out to eat in different towns, I had personal connections that helped. I didn't waste any time at all since I was under pressure from the Times.

I would ask people on the train for help, I would ask someone in a train compartment, "what is your favorite food?" and several people would join in the conversation. I was told (by the newspaper) to go everywhere, eat everything, take people with me, but I couldn't always fit in so many meals so I just phoned numbers from the phone book calling randomly and asked people what do they eat? But none of the recipes from restaurants or from home cooks worked. You have to try and use your common sense. You can't force people to be absolutely correct.

In Spain I observed people cooking at cooking schools. In cooking and catering schools they teach Spanish and International food, but all that the young people want is to use machines and technology. They are all besotted by Ferran. On the other hand there is almost a backlash in Spain where people are concerned with preserving their culture and region. The threat has galvanized them to not give up on their beloved recipes.

Speaking of Spain, where do you stand on culinary innovation?
I am very impressed by a lot of innovators, I am not only tolerant but I think everyone is free to invent. Of course a lot of chefs think they have to invent everyday to be respected. In the past people had pride in their dishes, even classics. Now people feel driven to do something new. In a way a lot of messing about happens artificially. When there was change it was due to society--like hybrid dishes of different cultures that took 100 years to become part of the culture. There is change in food when culture changes, but to have a culture where you despise tradition and only revere innovation is very sad. Food is part of identity. Countries like France and Italy should not give up there identity, besides, most people are not very good at innovation.

I don't see the point in innovating to surprise or to gain prestige when it doesn't taste all that good. Sometimes the look becomes more important than the taste. Food photography made an impact that way years ago. The visual is important but you want to eat something that has real taste. Knowing what to put together is very important. If you area great creator you are fantastic. If you are just trying to be in fashion chances are it's not worth it.

In Spain chefs have gone through innovation using science and technology and because of the reaction by Spaniards, they have come back a bit. The roots are there, they want to use regional ingredients. I love the cooking of Santi Santamaria (a prominent avant-garde Catalan and Spanish chef). It's exciting, but it's not what home cooking is about. It's good to shake the Spaniards out of bad habits for example frying everything.

The French had the same experience with Nouvelle Cuisine but they have gone back to their original culture. It's important to find the balance between old and new. For restaurant chefs it's one thing, but for home cooks it's another thing altogether. It seems people entertain more in England than they do in the US, but sometimes what they do is too fussy (influenced by the culinary innovators). To entertain you should do one big dish and have everyone serve themselves. People are afraid to entertain because they think it's old-fashioned. That's a shame.

READ MORE Check out the post from yesterday, part 1 of my interview with Claudia Roden

Interview with Claudia Roden - part 1

Photo credit: Red Saunders
Historian Simon Schama once stated, “Claudia Roden is no more a simple cookbook writer than Marcel Proust was a biscuit baker. She is, rather, memorialist, historian, ethnographer, anthropologist, essayist, poet.” It is for all these reasons, that I am such an admirer of Claudia Roden.

By her own admission she has sometimes led a very charmed life, traveling, eating and learning about food and culture. Presenting food in a cultural context is what sets her cookbooks apart and has won her such respect and acclaim. Roden resides in London, but was recently in the US for the James Beard Awards, where her landmark book, The Book of Middle Eastern Food was inducted into the Cookbook Hall of Fame. Today read part 1 of my interview with her, and tomorrow come back for part 2.

Which cookbook of yours is your favorite and why?

The first one, The Book of Middle Eastern Food, is very important to me because it was a labor of love, well, all of them are labors of love, but that one meant a lot to me because I was researching an area I thought I would never go back to ever again. It was a part of a world that was so important to my family. I researched a lot of it from talking to people, a lot of the recipes had never been in print before.

There were so many people from different cultures living in Egypt where I grew up; my family was from Syria and Turkey, married into families from Morocco. When I was researching baklava, everyone said "it's ours" so I realized it was important to research and really learn about these recipes, many of which had never been written in a cookbook before. It was very important in that way, but every book is important too.

The Jewish book (The Book of Jewish Food) was emotional too, food is always emotional for me, always important. Even with the Italian book (The Good Food of Italy) I wanted to visit every region, I was traveling for the Sunday Times (UK) and expanded my work for the book. It was a joy.

I love the stories, poems and jokes that you share in The Book of Middle Eastern Food, whose idea was it to include those and how did you collect them?

It was my idea, the reason was when I was researching the book, when I was just collecting middle eastern recipes, and I would tell people what I was doing and they were horrified! Cooking was considered a low thing in England at the time and recipes even lower. The idea that it was the Middle East was very off-putting--they thought it would be all recipes for testicles and eyeballs. I needed to bring in the culture and what it meant to me so it would be important. Why would anyone eat brown beans unless they understand that they've been eaten for a very long time, that peasants who doesn't eat eat meat eat them, etc. I wanted to endear the readers to the food through the culture.

I went to the British Library and met with the Middle East curator and asked for resources. Everything was from the 13th century--Damascus, Bagdhad, culinary manuals, they were in Arabic, but they had been translated. I became fascinated with the recipes of the past that we were cooking with dishes that were cooking as well. I wasn't particularly interested in Jewish food at the time, I thought we thought we were eating like everyone else and in a way we were. My fascination began with finding those books and finding studies and analysis based on society from food.

I've always marveled that as a Jewish woman, you were able to gain access to so many Middle Eastern cultures. Were most of the recipes gathered in "exile"?

Everyone I talked to was in exile at the time and that's how I found people--Lebanese in Paris, the Iraqis in London. I went to the Persian embassy not to ask for a visa, but if I could meet the diplomats wives.

I've been in Lebanon for the last book I went to meet with people at Hezbollah. I was the most popular person, everyone wanted to talk to me about food! Everyone knew I was Jewish but they were fascinated. Jews were part of that world (the Middle East) for centuries. We improved their lives, their economy and their culture. We share the same humor. I find that all the young journalists want Jewish recipes. In a way I find that there is nothing better than food to bond and open doors. I find the Christian communities can be difficult with the Jews because they have been in competition as minorities with us, though not in Lebanon. There is the old blood libel. There was an animosity. But now they are the ones who are suffering.

I go to the Middle East to give lectures. I go to Turkey a lot--I am friends with Sufis and they come with me to the synagogue. One day a religious woman who I am closest to asked me, was it the Jews who bombed the twin towers? All I could do was laugh. There is a lot of anti-Jewish propaganda but they don't deeply believe it. When they see you as a person, they are fascinated. I went to a literary festival in Dubai there were Israelis attending and everyone wanted to talk to them. In Spain there was a "Taste of Peace" event with chefs from the Middle East.There is need to connect through food. I am never worried when I go to the Middle East. Food is a bond. I have been trying to do a chefs for peace event in the West Bank. The Israelis are keen to do it but the Palestinians say the time is not right.

What do you think will get people back in the kitchen cooking again?

We have the same problem with people not cooking in England as you do in the US. It does seem because people have less money they are coming around to seeing that it is cheaper to cook at home than to eat out. There is a new trend of people growing there own vegetables. TV chefs have helped to popularize this. A lot of people are buying CSA boxes. I think this might get people started again. Jamie Oliver has a new series on 20 minute cooking. I admire him very much. He has done fantastic good. Cooking in 20 minutes might get people back in the kitchen. In my recipes I have some that take a long time but they are just on the stove for a long time, unattended.

Habits have changed. I want to make things lighter and healthier. I want to write the way people cook now. Some dishes I tried that took a long time, that's ok, but it has to be really fantastic. One night 3 of my granddaughters stayed the night and I made a Catalan cannelloni with stuffing that had liver and brains and lots of steps. I told them my rules, it must be really, really delicious to be worth taking a long time and lots of work to prepare, and they were very keen on cannelloni but they told me, the dish is not worth the effort.

With the pressure to cook in less time, do you recommend using a pressure cooker?

In Morocco and Spain it is very commonly used but I'm convinced dishes cooked in the pressure cooker don't have the same flavor. When using it you must finish dishes with the top off and let sauces reduce. Cooking starts with oil which carries the scents and flavors. When I was in Morocco a young man complained to me that he used to walk the streets and could tell what everyone was cooking and now he can't smell anything. Pressure cookers encourage overcooking and pureeing.

READ MORE Check out the concluding post, part 2 of my interview with Claudia Roden