Now that I have chickens, I’ve been thinking how good Eggs Benedict would taste with hollandaise made using really fresh eggs. Eggs Benedict requires Canadian bacon, of course, which means I needed to refer to Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn. Eventually I’ll do Eggs Benedict from scratch. But first, the Canadian Bacon, slightly altered from the recipe by Ruhlman & Polcyn.

Canadian Bacon

1-4 lb. boneless pork loin, fat and sinew removed
1 gallon water
1½ cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1½ ounces (8 teaspoons) Instacure #1 (“pink” salt)
2 bunches fresh sage
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 spear fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed

Add everything except the loin to a pot and bring to a simmer. Let simmer a few minutes to ensure the salts are completely dissolved, then chill for at least 2 hours. Submerge the  loin in the brine and refrigerate 48 hours. Remove the loin from the brine (dispose of the brine), rinse it under cold water, pat dry, then rest it on a rack over a platter or sheet pan in the refrigerator 12-24 hours until the surface feels tacky. Hot smoke 2-3 hours (or roast it in an oven at 200°F) until it reaches an internal temperature of 150°F; I used apple wood to smoke it. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Canadian bacon keeps 10 days  refrigerated.

Like many cooks, I’ve heard about cooking sous vide (under vacuum), but not tried it because the necessary equipment is a bit expensive for experimenting. Fortunately for me, I’m the Culinary Expert at my local Williams-Sonoma, and I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the Sous Vide Professional (TM) from PolyScience and the Caso VC200 Vacuum Food Sealer prior to the class I’ll be teaching on Sous Vide Cooking. (For the record, those links lead to product information pages and I don’t get anything if you click or buy.)

The basic process is fairly simple to grasp: seal food in a vacuum, then immerse it in a circulating water bath held at a specific temperature for a certain amount of time. The Sous Vide Professional certainly does a good job of holding a specific temperature. It guarantees accuracy within one-tenth of a degree, and once it settled to a temperature I never noticed any variation at all. It allows the user to choose either Fahrenheit or Centigrade, so no temperature conversions are necessary. And it allows use of most any stock pot or other vessel up to 30-quart capacity.

Cooking sous vide involves multiple steps for many foods. A steak or other meat might be flash-seared for about 30 seconds on each side, then chilled before sealing under vacuum. After cooking it will likely need to be seared before service. Eggs may need to be poached for a few seconds to make them look more like the eggs we’re used to seeing. If you’re looking for an easier cooking method, this isn’t it. The foods I’ve tried also took longer to cook sous vide, sometimes significantly longer (one hour for an egg, for example), so if you’re looking for a faster cooking method, this isn’t it.

That said, cooking sous vide has some really good points: you can’t overcook your food so long as you get it out of the water bath within a few minutes after the end of cooking time; nutrients aren’t washed away by boiling water; you can get exactly the same results time after time so long as you remember the precise temperature to set and the amount of time to cook. The flavor of foods cooked sous vide is quite good, and vacuum sealing really pulls flavors from seasonings and marinades into the food. Additionally, meats and seafood come out much more tender. An inexpensive steak will be almost fork tender, for example, and the salmon fillet I cooked sous vide was buttery soft. Vegetables can be cooked until they’re done without getting soft and mushy.

So, to cook the salmon all I had to do was lightly salt the fillet and seal it in a vacuum. I set the water circulator to 125°F and dropped the salmon into the water. Fifteen minutes later it was done. It was tasty and tender, but honestly, it never got above 125° so if I hadn’t been putting it on a salad I would have considered it “cold” in spite of being perfectly cooked.

My verdict? That Caso Vacuum Sealer is the best non-commercial vacuum sealer I’ve seen. I’d buy one in a heartbeat. And if I decide that I really do enjoy the results of cooking sous vide, it would be hard to match the Sous Vide Professional for accuracy and ease of use. But at this point I’m just not convinced that sous vide is a technique worth the time and trouble for the home cook.

This is one of those multiple-step recipes that I really hate to post, but it’s just too good not to.

Tomato Chutney

1 orange pepper (capsicum) roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 Walla Walla sweet onion (or other sweet onion) chopped and caramelized
2 lbs. Roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 medium lemon, blanched, chopped, and seeded
½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
½ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground allspice
pinch ground cumin
½ cup sultanas (yellow raisins)
red pepper flakes to taste
sea salt to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste

While roasting the pepper, start caramelizing the onion in a sauté or other pan large enough to hold everything. Meanwhile, blanch, peel, seed, and chop the tomatoes and set aside for later. After the pepper is finished roasting and resting, peel, seed, and chop it. Blanch, chop, and seed the lemon. Once the onions are caramelized to your satisfaction–it took me about 45 minutes–add the pepper, tomatoes, and lemon. Stir a bit, then add the ginger, sugar, spices (use more or less as you prefer), and sultanas. Continue to cook, stirring now and then, until the tomato liquid is mostly gone. Add some red pepper flakes and sea salt, taste, and adjust until you’ve achieved enough heat and flavor. If you decide it needs a bit more depth add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Store refrigerated up to 10 days.

The elder of the two Ladies of Stumptown Savoury skips egg production once about every ten days, then makes up for it a day or two later with a really large egg that has two yolks. I have no idea how she manages to walk after laying such a large egg, but somehow she does. My friend, Jennifer, made this omelet using just the large double-yolked egg, then took pictures to show off. Rightly so!

That glistening, dark river of sauce on the ice cream is made with balsamic vinegar. Not just any balsamic, of course, but a Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar from Benessere, an oil and vinegar store in downtown Portland. Coffee and chocolate are an excellent pairing, so I also used some Espresso Sugar from The Spice and Tea Exchange, also in downtown Portland. Full disclosure: I teach at both stores, and they donated the products I used.

This sauce is simple to make. Pour one cup of Dark Chocolate Balsamic into a small saucepan and add 1½ ounces of Espresso Sugar. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then simmer, stirring occasionally until reduced by about one quarter. If you want it a bit thinner–it’s rather thick–reduce less. I store it in the refrigerator, but it needs to be at room temperature or slightly warmer to serve.

If you are unable to find Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar where you live, you can use any good, aged balsamic vinegar. You could also substitute other flavored sugar, or even plain sugar if you want. Adjust the amount of sugar to the acidity and bitterness, if any, of the balsamic you’re using and you’ll end up with an excellent dessert sauce.

For some reason–I swear there was no tequila involved–my friend and I decided that letting the chickens into the garden would result in an immediate reduction in the slug population. Right. Maybe it worked, because after the chickens had eaten all the slugs’ favorite plants, the slug population appeared to have dropped off a bit. For awhile. Nice little dishes of cheap beer seem to be working better.

We got a few days of sun and most everything decided it would be the only shot at reproducing, so there was a lot of bolting going on. On the positive side, I’ve been eating more salad lately. Giving lettuce a buzz cut seems to be a viable harvesting method, since all the plants put out more leaves.

If you decide to do some veggie gardening, grow lots of different sorts of lettuces and other salad greens. While getting the bolting more or less under control, salads included things like strawberry and garlic leaves. And since the lawn doesn’t get sprayed with any chemicals, the dandelions that showed up have made a nice, bitter addition to the salad bowl. I just wish we had more reds.

The ground garden is struggling a bit with the heavy rains and lack of sun, although there are signs that the tomato plants are trying to produce and I’ve seen the shoulders of a carrot. The container garden, however, is doing quite well. Better light and drainage, rich potting soil, and elevation above most pests makes for good success.

The first round of radishes were quite good, so I’ve got more going. The lettuces are producing nicely. Judging from their tops, the container carrots are very happy.

I’m going to have ginger. I moved it to a nice pot where it’s growing nicely, surrounded by a little crop of radishes. With luck I’ll never buy ginger again.

The San Marzano tomato plant has flowered, so the probability of actually being able to make tomato sauce this Fall is good. I also have a container with basil growing next to it. Had to replace all the basil that drowned, so my friend and I decided it should be containered.

That’s about it. The Ladies of Stumptown Savoury continue to produce two eggs almost every day–the older lady misses a day now and then. There are bags of greens and salad in the refrigerator ready to eat. Oh, I almost forgot, there’s celery.

The celery is really something else entirely from the insipid stuff available in the produce section of your grocery store. It’s not much good for eating right out of the garden because those little strings are more like ropes, so it needs to be peeled before eating raw. And the flavor is almost pungent. I can hardly wait for the first batch of mirepoix entirely from the garden.

Okay, that’s really all for now.

Let’s be clear about one thing right from the start: store-bought bacon is not going to be satisfactory. You have to make your own. And don’t waste time with any apples called “Delicious” because they aren’t. Use Pink Lady, Fuji, Gravenstein, Braeburn, Jazz, or some other varietal with real flavor and texture, and be sure they’re organic. Better yet, wait until the apples on your tree are ready before you make this.

First you’ll need to candy some bacon. If you want a vegan version of this, leave out the candied bacon and call it Apple Granita. It will be delightful. Now to candy bacon you need bacon, an oven, a sheet pan, and some sweetener, perhaps brown sugar or maple syrup (the real stuff, not anything “flavored”). Cover the sheet pan lightly with sweetener, lay down strips of bacon, cover them lightly with sweetener, and put into a 250°F oven. Leave it there until you just can’t stand it any more (about an hour if the bacon is thick, less time for smaller or thinner bacon). Carefully remove the hot, sticky bacon from the hot, sticky pan and put it (the bacon) on a plate to cool.

Next, make some apple syrup. Simple, really. Two-thirds of a cup of sugar plus one-half cup of apple juice or cider, heat to a simmer, let reduce a bit to thicken, then cool and refrigerate.

Third, juice a lemon into a blender or food processor to keep the apples you’re about to peel and core from going brown. If you have ascorbic acid you can use it. If you have Vitamin C tablets do NOT use them instead.

Fourth, peel and core four really good organic apples just as quickly as you can. Put them into the blender or food processor that holds the lemon juice and purée until you’re satisfied with the texture. At some point you’ll want to add more liquid, so add the apple syrup. If you want some cinnamon in it, add that to the purée as well.

If the purée is reasonably thick, add the candied bacon. If not, start freezing the purée first, then add the bacon later.

You can process this in an ice cream machine and call it sorbet if you wish. Or you can freeze it in a shallow pan and call it granita. If you choose the granita option, you’ll need to pull the pan out of the freezer every 15-30 minutes and break up the ice crystals by scraping it with a fork.

How does it taste? Sort of like frozen applesauce with bacon in it. In a really good way. I also enjoyed it hot as a sweet and savory sauce with pork loin.

If you have extra rosemary in the garden–if you have rosemary there’s always extra–or you want to make jelly but don’t have pectin, this simple jelly will work well for you. I used young, mild rosemary so if you’re using older, woodier rosemary you’ll want to use less. If you’ve never made a jelly before, read my Riesling-Mint Jelly post for more detailed information on what equipment you’ll need and the canning process.

Orange-Rosemary Jelly

7 oranges
3 lemons
4 rosemary sprigs
2¼ cups water
granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Wash the oranges, especially carefully if they aren’t organic, and reserve one for zest. Thinly slice six oranges and put them into a 4-quart or larger sauce pan. Add the juice of 3 lemons, the rosemary sprigs, and the water. Cover and let sit overnight.

Taste the water before proceeding. If the amount of rosemary flavoring is sufficient for your taste, remove the rosemary at this point.

Put the sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Let simmer 30 minutes until the oranges are softened. Taste frequently if the rosemary is still in the pan so that you can remove it when there is enough rosemary flavor in the mix. Strain the liquid, squeezing the orange pulp to extract as much flavor as possible. If you wish, add some Grand Marnier.

Prepare a water-bath canner, jars for 3-4 cups, and lids. Place a small plate in the freezer to use for testing later.

Measure the liquid: for 2½ cups of liquid you’ll need 2 cups of granulated sugar. Mix the liquid and sugar in a clean 4-quart saucepan, then add the zest from the reserved orange and the cinnamon. Bring to a brisk boil, stirring frequently, and continue to boil until it passes the jelly test.

You’ll want to test the jelly to make sure it will set. Remove the plate from the freezer and put a small spoonful of jelly on it. Let it sit for a minute, then check to see if the jelly is still liquid or if it has begun to thicken. When the jelly sets somewhat on the plate, and the jelly in the pan is threatening to overflow, it’s ready to can.

Fill hot, sterilized jars to within one-quarter inch of the top, seal, and process in boiling water for 10 minutes. This recipe yields about 3 cups of jelly.

This is an excellent jelly to serve with mild cheese. It’s flavor is very much like orange marmalade, but there is somewhat less bitterness. I would also serve it as a condiment with seared duck breast. Of course it will also be delightful with a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast.

I’ll miss you, buddy. You were a great friend and a joy to be around.