Essence

       

The essence of an ingredient is the basic flavor concentrated.  It adds stronger flavor to the dish and is usually used with the main ingredient or sauce.  It is an easy way to bring out better flavor.  There are two parts to the process extraction and reduction.

 

            Extraction involves removing some of the natural water in an ingredient, like berries or mushrooms.  If it is a sweet ingredient, like strawberries, sugar can be used to extract the water.  If the ingredient is savory, like mushrooms, salt can be used.  Sometime salt is used to extract the bitterness in an ingredient along with excess water as with cucumbers or eggplant. 

            The process involves chopping or cutting the ingredient, placing it is a sieve over a bowl to catch the liquid.  Sprinkle the ingredient with sugar or salt, lightly and gentle toss to coat and allow at least 30 minutes for the liquid to drain.

            Don’t discard the chopped ingredient.  If the recipe does not call for the extracted ingredient, it usually can be used for something.  Fruit can be added to yogurt and vegetables can be added to soups.

 

Reduction involves removing some of the water from the extracted juices.  This concentrates the flavor and intensifies the flavor of the whole dish.  It can have a surprisingly pleasant result.   

The excess water is removed by gently simmering the liquid.  This will thicken the remaining liquid.  It is important to use low heat to slowly simmer the liquid.  Secondly, watch the reduction carefully, stirring to release the steam and prevent scorching. The water is removed in the steam.  

 

Simple sauces can be made using these methods.  I use this method to make turkey gravy at Thanksgiving.  I simmer the drippings from the turkey to reduce the amount and remove some of the water from the drippings.  Then I proceed with making the gravy.

Simple and light sauces can be made from reducing cooking juices, wine or fruit juices.  Sometimes these reduction sauces do not need thickening with flour or roux.  Flavor can be added with butter, herbs and seasonings, vegetables, wine and liquor.

 

This Week’s Challenge – Reduction Sauce

            Reduction is to reduce the amount of liquid by removing some of the water content.  This is accomplished by gently simmering and stirring the liquid to release the steam.  It is important to watch it closely so that the liquid does not scorch.  By removing the water the essence is reserved.  This week’s challenge is to choose a liquid to make into a reduction sauce.  It can be sweet sauce for dessert or a savory sauce for meat or vegetables.  Choose a liquid that will go with a planned meal.  The liquid can be fruit juice, broth, wine, or a combination.  You can invent your own sauce, or if you feel more comfortable with a recipe, find a recipe for reduction sauce using your liquid.

 

Tip for this Week – Macerating berries

 

            Macerating is allowing a food, like berries, to soften in liquid.  Usually this is accomplished by releasing the liquid in the food by adding sugar or salt to the chopped food.  In the following recipe, strawberries are macerated, drained and the liquid reduced.

Clean, hull and chop the berries
and place in a colander or strainer
over a bowl to catch the juice.

Add 2 tablespoons sugar and
toss to coat.  Allow to set and
drain for 30 minutes.

Mash a little and the juice drain
another few minutes.

Macerated berries



Strain the juice and gently simmer
to reduce the liquid by half

Save the drained juice to make
a reduction of the juice for
essence of strawberry.

 

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

 

            Strawberry Mousse

 

 

1 pt.     Strawberries

2 T       Sugar

 

¼ C     Water

1 t        Gelatin, unflavored

1 C      Heavy whipping cream, whipped

            Sugar (optional)

The ingredients

 

1.    Wash and hull the strawberries, reserving two perfect strawberries for garnish.

2.    Slice most of the strawberries and place in a sieve or colander and place over a bowl to catch the liquid. Sprinkle with the first sugar and toss gently to coat.

 



Add caption



Macerated berries

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

3.    Allow to set for 30 minutes so that the strawberries can macerate.

4.    Place the water in a medium bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the water.  Allow the gelatin to soften for five minutes.



I like to use less water

 

5.    Place the strawberry liquid in a small sauce pan.  And place the over medium heat.  Reduce to half. 

Simmer to reduce by half



Stir the liquid to release steam.  It will
not take long to reduce.

Add hot reduce juice to the softened
gelatin mixture.  Stir to dissolve the gelatin.












 

6.    Add the warm strawberry reduction to the gelatin and stir to dissolve the gelatin.  Allow to cool.

7.    Puree the macerated strawberries.

Puree the berries.

Whip the cream.  A table spoon of
sugar may be added if desired.

 

8.    Whip the cream, additional sugar can be added if desired.

9.    Add the strawberry puree to the whipped cream and gently fold to blend.





Fold in the puree.

Add the strawberry puree.





 

10. Fold in the gelatin mixture.

Add the gelatin mixture and continue
 to gently fold into the mousse.

 

11. Pour in to serving dishes or a mold and chill for three hours before serving.

12. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry.

 

 

            Wine Reduction Sauce for Chicken

 

Chicken breast on the wine reduction
sauce served with steamed
broccoli with roasted bell peppers

4          Chicken breast, baked or sautéed.

            Drippings from the chicken           

½ C     Chicken broth or water      

¼ C     White wine

            Salt and pepper to taste

2 T       Unsalted butter

 

The ingredients

1.    Cook the chicken breasts the desired method with the desired seasonings in a pan that is safe on the stove.

I sautéed the breast is butter.



Pat dr the breast before sauteeing so
 that the breasts with brown



Sautee both sides

I finished the breast in the oven at 350
degrees for 12-16 minutes



I turned off the oven, removed the breasts from the pan
to an oven proof dish and placed the dish in the warm
oven while I made the sauce.

 

2.    When the breasts are done, remove them from the pan and keep them warm while the sauce is made.

3.    Place the pan on the stove and add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.  Scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate the drippings from the chicken into the sauce.

Pan with chicken drippings.

Add the broth and deglaze the pan
by whisking and blending

When the sauce is reduced by half add
the wine and other seasons.

Continue to reduce and stir to
release the steam.

 

4.    Add the wine and seasonings and continue to simmer the broth until reduced to the desire thickness.

5.    Finish the sauce with the butter and serve with the chicken breasts.  The sauce may be place under the chicken breast or over the breast.



I  finished the sauce with butter and a
little Pick-a-Peppa Sauce

 

Happy Cooking!

 

 

 

Food Preservation

It is a good idea to learn about ways to preserve food.  The main ways are freezing, drying, pickling and canning.  I am a big proponent of fresh ingredients, but this needs to be balanced with economically running your kitchen.  I love pickles and often make my own at home.  If you have a garden, this is an easy way to preserve your produce.  Firstly, preserve food only if you know you will use it.  Do not let your freezer become a depository of unwanted things.  Clean out your food storage often removing old, discolored food and food you know will never be used.  Secondly, only use the freshest product for preserving. Once produce is picked, it begins to decay.  With decay comes unwanted and unhealthy bacteria that can ruin the food and endanger lives.

 

Freezing

            Just about anything can be frozen, but the results may not be as pleasing as you hope.  Do not freeze anything with mayonnaise in it.  During freezing the oil and egg separate making the result unappealing.  It is recommended that food should not be frozen longer than a few months.  The longer food is frozen the more nutritional value of the food is lost.  It is important to remove as much air from around the food as possible.  Do not use food that is freezer burned, has dry discolored patches.  Before freezing vegetable they should be blanched in boiling water, but it depends on the type of vegetable.  Do your research on how to freeze the food you plan to freeze.  Remember liquid will expand during freezing.  I don’t recommend freezing in glass containers.

 

Drying

            Drying preserves food by removing water.  Raisins, prunes and beef jerky fall into this method.  There are many types of food dehydrators on the market.  There are methods to dry food without a dehydrator.  I used to make beef jerky in the oven.  I’d buy sukiyaki beef, brush it with liquid smoke and salt and paper and hang it on the racks of the oven. 

 

Canning

            Canning requires sterile conditions and very careful attention to the process.  Again do your research on what you are canning.  Food higher in acid has better results than low acid foods.   Often vinegar or sugar is added to raise the acid content.   Never use home canned food that is discolored or the seal has been broken.  The seal may not have sealed properly or heat and contraction could loosen the seal enough for dangerous bacteria to enter.  If the lid is convex instead of concave or if the contents have leaked out, the seal has been broke and the contents need to be disposed of responsibly.  Do not throw it in the trash or down a drain where it can contaminate water or animals can get it.  I tie the jar in a plastic bag and tie it tight, and repeat this using three plastic grocery bags and place it in the trash.

 

Preserves and jellies

            This is a sweet way to preserve the abundance of fruit through the summer.  Although vegetables are sometimes used as in chutney, tomato marmalade and jalapeño jelly come to mind.  Preserves and jams have the whole fruit.  Jellies have only the juice.  Sugar is used to thicken and preserve the fruit.  Fruit butters and conserves are also in this category.  Fruit butters are spreads and generally use half or little sugar.  Many of the recipes use canning techniques, but there are some that use freezing.  Some can be used right away, other need to age a little time before use, like orange marmalade.  Again do your research on what you plan to make.

 

Pickling

            This method uses vinegar and sometimes sugar or salt to preserve vegetables.  Some methods of pickling can be used right away others require time to get the desired results.  Sauerkraut is a way of pickling cabbage.  Pickling can involve cooking or it can involve chilling.  Pickles can be sour or sweet .

 

This Week’s Challenge

            Choose a method of preserving and research it.  If you have a garden, take some of your produce and preserve it.  If you don’t have a garden, go to the grocery store and find some type of produce that you would like to preserve.  Apply your method to you produce and record your results.

 

Tip for this week – Freshness Counts

            Ideally when preserving food, use the freshest ingredients, picked from the garden in the morning and preserve that day.  This is to avoid unwanted bacteria and organism that can have detrimental effect on the food you are preserving.  Plan ahead what you are going to preserve. 

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

            Wine jelly is a nice accompaniment to all meats, particularly lamb.  I usually make this with White Zinfandel.  It makes a lightly pink condiment and any herbs added to the jelly are visible.  I have made it with Merlot as gifts for my Gourmet Club.  Members reported serving it on ice cream.  Use a wine you would drink yourself.   It is a soft jelly.  If it doesn’t gel properly, call it a syrup and serve it with ice cream.

            Wine Jelly

 

The ingredients

3 ½ C              Wine of your choice, about one bottle

2 T                   Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

4 C                  Sugar

1 package       Pectin, (2 oz. two pouches)

                        Herbs, fresh optional

 

Combine the wine, lemon juice and sugar in a large heavy saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Add the pectin and cook one minute or according to the package directions.

Measure the wine and add
the lemon juice.



Add the wine mixture and sugar
to a heavy pot.



Bring to a boil for one minute.

 

Add the pectin and stir one minute

Prepare sterile ½ pint jelly jars.  Add fresh herbs like, rosemary, tarragon or oregano to the jars and pour the jelly in. 

Boil the jars and lids.

Set the hot jars on a towel.
Dump the hot water out of the jar.

Sterile all tools.  Save the hot water for the final step.

 

 

I used fresh rosemary, but many
herbs work well. 

Sliced garlic adds a nice touch. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seal in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.

 

Add the wine jelly and seal the jars.

Place the sealed jars in the boiling water.
Boil for ten minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to add sliced garlic cloves or peppercorns.  Just about any fresh herb will do.  Use the wine jelly as an accompaniment to meats like lamb.  I have made this with Merlot and White Zinfandel.  The wine jelly can be left without herbs or seasoning depending on your preference.

 

This recipe does not double well.  It works much better in small batches.  They make great gifts.

 

 

Grandma Teeny’s Pickled Beets

 

Pickled beets

The ingredients

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Beets

Equal parts distilled vinegar and sugar

 

 

Harvest the beets.  Cut the tops off leaving one inch of stems.  This prevents the beets from bleeding too much.  Clean the beets well leaving the root and one inch of stems.  Place in a pot and cover with water.  Simmer for one hour or until tender.   Cool. 

 

Boil until tender.
Drain and cool

Clean the beets as pictured here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut the stem and root end and remove
the skin.  Cut the beets to the desired size.

 

 

When cool enough to handle, cut off the stems and roots from each beet and remove the skin.  The skin should slide right off.  If the beets are large, cut into pieces, quarters or halves. 

 

Sterilize the jars as for the wine jelly above.  I like to use wide mouth jars.

 

Make a syrup of equal parts vinegar and sugar and cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. 

 

Heat equal parts sugar and vinegar
until the sugar is dissolved.

Pack the prepared beets in the
sterile jars and cover with syrup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

The lids should ping when they seal.
Test by slightly pushing down on the
center of the jar.  It should not give.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pack the cooked, prepared beets into sterilized canning jars.  I like to use wide mouth pint jars.  Fill each jar of beets with the syrup.  Place the lids on and process in a boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes. Make sure the cans seal.

 

Grandma Teeny was Artinca May Gabriel, my great grandma.  We figure this recipe has been in the family well over one hundred years.  Although we can only trace it back to the Gabriels.

 

Other pickles I make often are watermelon rind pickles and pumpkin pickles.  During the summer I often make different kinds of fruit butters.  Fruit butter, like apple butter, is made like jam, but half the sugar is added and sometimes omitted.  Butters are like a thick, spreadable puree. I make pumpkin butter every year and sometimes plum or peach butter.

 

Happy Cooking!