Tidewater Mushrooms

These are not the prettiest things to ever grace a plate.  My guess is that the cooks at Mount Vernon were not interested in the appearance when they made Tidewater Mushrooms. Medium sized mushroom caps, topped with an overflowing oyster, and drizzled with a combination of white wine and butter before being placed in a fire. With the edges of the oysters curled and the meat slightly firmed, the mushrooms would be removed and put on a plate for service.  

Nothing more.  Not even a sprinkle of chopped parsley or chives.

If there was ever a challenge to my general (lack of) ability to photograph food, there is this recipe.  However, the look belies the flavor of these little bites. At first, I did not think that oysters and mushrooms would be a good flavor combination (except when they are oyster mushrooms), even with butter and wine tying the two ingredients together. I checked my Flavor Bible, and, to be sure, for every category of mushroom, there was no mention of oysters.  Then, I checked oysters, and, interestingly enough, there was a reference to oysters.  That got me to thinking a little more.

Mushrooms are perhaps the quintessential ingredient for earthy tones; and, oysters have a briny characteristic that could work well with mushrooms.  To be sure, there are briny oysters that can be found along the Chesapeake Bay.  Fishermen would have brought those oysters to shore and to market, and, they would have made their way to kitchens along the the Bay. The best oysters would be small to medium-sized, briny bivalves.  

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon your view), the only oysters I had were "smalls" that, in reality, were "larges."  (Someone may have had an off day at the packing facility.)  That was a problem when it came to perching the oysters on their mushrooms  I was able to overcome that by using a muffin tray, placing one mushroom in each cup and plopping an over-sized oyster on top. 

TIDEWATER MUSHROOMS

Recipe from Mount Vernon

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 pound of medium large fresh mushrooms

Salt , to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pint oysters (medium size)

White wine or sherry

Directions:

Remove stems from mushrooms, wipe clean.  Drain oysters and pet dry with toweling.  Dip mushrooms in melted butter and place cup side up on a well greased shallow pan.  Put an oyster in each cup, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dot with butter and 1/2 teaspoon white wine or sherry.  Broil under moderate heat until edges of oysters curl. Serve round a dish of cocktail sauce and horseradish for those who wish it.

ENJOY!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is probably my favorite time of year. It is definitely not the presents.  I already have everything that I have ever wanted with my beautiful Angel and my two little kids.  It is definitely not the snow, because we have not had a white Christmas in a couple of years.  

The reason why I love Christmas is the food.  In my family, there were strong and abiding food traditions. Some of those traditions were based on family history, such as the Christmas Eve dinner based upon traditions that originated in Abruzzo, Italy. Each meal opened with a plate of antipasti.  There was a selection of meats and cheeses, carefully sliced and placed on the platter, with garnishments that usually included olives and anchovies.  There was also the baccalao, salted cod fish, prepared by my grandfather because he loved it. Everyone else ate some of that cod as well.  While I initially liked it, I grew to dislike it a lot.  (It is one aspect of the family food tradition that I am happy to say has been relegated to memory.)

Once the antipasti course was completed, there was the traditional minestra maritata or Italian wedding soup.  As the link above suggests, I have previously posted the recipe to this dish.  The central ingredients in this dish, at least from my perspective are the whole chicken and the little meatballs. Traditionally, those meatballs were made from beef.  My beautiful Angel does not eat either beef or chicken.  So, for this year, I made an all turkey version of the soup.  The first problem was one of logistics: I could not boil a whole turkey.  But, I could boil a deconstructed turkey.  So, I bought a packages of thighs, wings and legs, as well as some breast meat.  I also used ground turkey for the meatballs.  The end result was just as good as the original. 

And, for the finale, there was the traditional pasta with tomato sauce, meatballs and sausage. I made a few alterations to the tomato sauce, borrowing inspiration from the Sunday Sauce in the Godfather movie. There was an all turkey version, with turkey sausage that helped to flavor the sauce.  However, there was also Sunday gravy with the beef/pork/veal meatballs and Italian pork sausage (both spicy and mild). 

All of this preparation and cooking was for Christmas Eve.  For the holiday itself, there is a 10 pound bone-in ribeye roast awaiting me.  As I tend to that project, I just want to wish everyone ...

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Project Maryland BBQ: Part 3, The Sauce

Barbecue styles are not just about the protein, but, also about the sauce (or, in some cases, the lack of sauce).  Many well established barbecue styles have a particular sauce that helps to define that style. The best example of a sauce that defines a barbecue style can be found in northern Alabama. Think Big Bob Gibson's Barbecued Chicken with White Sauce.  Chicken smoked low and slow, finished off in a bath of a barbecue sauce that is part vinegar, part apple juice and part mayonnaise. 

And, in some cases, the sauce can draw the borders of the barbecue. The Carolinas provide the best example of those borders.  Carolina barbecue is pork centric, usually whole hog or pulled pork.  Nevertheless, there is Eastern Carolina barbecue, which is known for its thin, peppery vinegar sauce. If one traveled west toward Lexington, North Carolina, pitmasters add tomatoes to that vinegar sauce or, as they call it, the "dip," That tomato/vinegar sauce is the defining characteristic of Lexington style or Piedmont style barbecue.  And, if that person then travels south, he or she will find that pitmasters use mustard, which is thinned with the vinegar.  That mustard sauce is the cornerstone of South Carolina style barbecue.

Yet, all of the sauces that I have discussed are not even the most well known sauces.  When most people think about barbecue sauce, they think of Kansas City.  A thick sauce, with both sweet and tangy characteristics, that is often slathered on ribs. The sauce is usually made with ketchup, molasses, vinegar, and brown sugar (which gives you an idea where both the sweet and tangy come from), along with a variety of spices to add depth.   A variant of Kansas City style barbecue sauce could be found in Memphis, where the sauce is thinner, and more vinegar based.

With all of this said, the question is, if there was a Maryland style of barbecue, what sauce would be part of that style?

Eastern Carolina BBQ Sauce

One would think that, due to its proximity to the Carolinas, a Maryland-style sauce would be, at the very least, influenced by the use of vinegar, if not vinegar based. Vinegar base sauces have made their way, to differing extents, into Virginia.  So, it is not too difficult to imagine vinegar based sauces in Maryland.  Indeed, if one were to check out local BBQ joints in the Delmarva, he or she would probably fine examples of a vinegar BBQ sauce.  The sauce is not a true vinegar sauce as one would find in eastern Carolina.  Rather, it is probably closer to a Lexington barbecue sauce, because there is usually tomato in the sauce.

With the use of tomatoes (whether sauce or ketchup), I think that brings us closer to what the barbecue sauce would be with a Maryland style of barbecue. But, I don't think that the sauce would go so far as to be a thick, sweet or smoky sauce that one would find in Kansas City barbecue, or even in Memphis barbecue.  I think that the sauce would be a little more basic; tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, and spices.  In this regard, I think I would go there and add some Old Bay, because that spice mix is quintessential Maryland.

So, in the end, I decided to make a Maryland barbecue sauce.  I started with a simple sauce from the New York Times.  That sauce had good proportions of tomato (ketchup), vinegar (apple cider) and sugar (I used dark brown sugar, which I prefer in sauces), along with the use of smoked paprika, which gives a little hint of smoke to the finished product. The original recipe also provides for the use of cumin, and, it is a very cumin-forward sauce.  I decided to swap out the cumin with the Old Bay, which, surprisingly enough, does not stick out as much as the cumin did. The end result is pictured below and it worked out very well.

MARYLAND-STYLE BARBECUE SAUCE

Recipe adapted from NYT Cooking

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika)

1 teaspoon Old Bay

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes.

ENJOY!

Linden Petit Verdot (2013)

Linden Vineyards is definitely located in a beautiful place.  Perched on a high spot in northern Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains, there are beautiful views of the rolling hills, with rows of vines near and forests afar.  Even on a gloomy day, such as the one last February when my beautiful Angel and I visited the winery, cannot put a damper on the vistas. 

A visit to Linden is not without its rules.  I've been to many tasting rooms, but none with all of the rules of Linden.  For example, the winery discourages you from bringing your kids, but the rules preclude, among other things, parties of more than 4 people and food from outside the winery.  (Most wineries that we have visited usually allow children, especially where there is space for them to run around, and have no issue with outside food).  Still, the rules did not matter to us, as it was just my Angel and myself.  

We did the wine tasting, tasting four wines, including a 2016 Viognier and 2016 Petit Manseng, as well as the 2013 and 2014 vintages of the Petit Verdot.  After the tasting, we decided to buy a couple of bottles to take home, including that 2013 vintage of the Petit Verdot.  This wine is made with 96% Petit Verdot grapes and 4% Cabernet Franc grapes. 

Interestingly, I have reviewed two Petit Verdot wines in the past, and both came from Virginia.  The first was the 2010 Vintage of the Petit Verdot from Gallino Cellars.  The second was the 2014 vintage from Pearmund Cellars.  Both got very positive reviews because both were very good wines.  They set the bar for the consideration of a Petit Verdot wine from Linden Vineyards.

The Petit Verdot pours a dark ruby red. As the wine sits in the glass, one is greeted by aromas reminiscent of a small basket full of fruit, particularly cherries and raspberries.  There were also some floral notes, that I had a little difficulty placing.  But, the one thing that I had no problem with identifying is the brightness that could be found in the aroma. The Linden Petit Verdot was brighter than I would have expected for a wine based principally, if not entirely, upon this varietal.

That brightness carried over to the taste of the Linden wine. Each sip revealed a bowl of ripe cherries, completed by a few raspberries and/or blackberries. There is also just a hint of earthiness in the back, a faint reminder of the reason why winemakers use Petit Verdot in the blending of Bordeaux red wines. Those faint reminders could not overcome the bright, full-bodied nature of this wine, as if its aroma and flavor were intended to make this wine stand out.  They succeeded in that regard. 

To be sure, I liked this wine as much as I liked the Petit Verdot wines from Gallino Cellars and Pearmund Cellars.  All three were good wines and, rather than say which one is better or the best, I will close this post by pointing out that these wines demonstrate why Petit Verdot may be one of the best wines to come out of the State of Virginia.  Until next time, 

ENJOY!

Kansas City Style Burnt Ends

Brisket and me have not had it always so easy.  I have smoked brisket a couple of times; but, despite my efforts, the end result isn't always so great. I've tried different ways to preserve the tenderness of the meat, such as injections of beef broth or mops of beef stock and ingredients, but the finished product is far from what I want or expect.  

I think the problem is that I have worked exclusively with the brisket flat. That piece is long, flat and very lean. It is difficult to smoke because it dries out and can become tough.  But the flat is just one part of the brisket; there is also the point.  The point is thicker and fattier.  It is far more forgiving to a amateur pitmaster like myself.  Together, the flat and point constitute an entire "packer brisket."  However, that packer typically weighs between 8 to 12 pounds.  I don't have the time, patience or appetite to eat an entire brisket point, at least right now. 

A while back, I decided to check out a local butcher cshop called Chop Shop Butchery.  I went there expecting to buy some pork, like a Boston butt, to smoke.  However, as I stared into the glass case, I saw brisket points.  My mind began to race. Do I want to do brisket?  How long had it been since I smoked a brisket? What I can I do with brisket point? I decided to answer that last question with a quick Google search.  The answer was simple: burnt ends. The quintessential Kansas City barbecue.

The history of burnt ends begins with that packer brisket. Some pitmasters removed and set aside the brisket points. The points were, so thought the pitmasters, too fatty to serve, caramelized and burnt.  The pitmasters and restaurants, like Arthur Bryant's, set aside the points and ends on the counter, offering them as a treat to customers while they waited for their brisket sandwiches. Customers ate  those fatty, caramelized pieces of brisket.  One such customer, a food writer and Kansas City native, Calvin Trillin, wrote, "I dream about those burnt ends."  Trillin further dubbed Arthur Bryant's "the best single restaurant in the world." After that, some restaurants took notice, and, collected the end pieces to sauce them once more time and serve them on bread.  Burnt ends made it on to menus and are now as BBQ as the brisket sandwiches themselves.

Although I have not made it to Kansas City (yet) or had the opportunity to eat at KC BBQ joints like Arthur Bryant's (yet), I have had burnt ends.  Those barbecue joints that are closer to where I live, and who strive to provide different kinds of barbecue, inevitably have burnt ends on the menu.  This at least gave me some idea of what the end result should look like.  Now, I had to try to make it myself.

Overall, I think that my first effort at making burnt ends was successful. It may not have been Arthur Bryant's successful, but it was amateur pitmaster in the Mid-Atlantic successful. The burnt ends had the smoke rings, along with some of the expected caramelization and bark that defines these little one-bite wonders. If there was anything that I could improve upon,  I think that the burnt ends could have been a little more caramelized.  That might require some additional time in the smoker at the end, or,m some refinement to the sauce recipe.

(You can learn a lot more about burnt ends from Burnt Legend, the Story of Burnt Ends, available at PBS.) 

KANSAS CITY STYLE BURNT ENDS

Recipe adapted for Brisket and Sauce from Hey Grill Hey

Serves several

Ingredients (for the Burnt Ends):

1 6 to 8 pound brisket point

2 teaspoons coarse ground kosher salt

2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 cup beef stock

1 cup Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce (see below)

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Ingredients (for the Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce):

14 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 cup ketchup

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup molasses

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

Directions:

1.  Prepare the cook.  Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit using wood charcoal.  

2.  Prepare the brisket point.  combine the salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Shake liberally on all sides of the brisket point.

3.  Smoke the brisket point.  Place the brisket point in the smoker, close the lid and smoke until the internal temperature of the meat reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit.  This step usually takes 6 to 8 hours depending upon the size and thickness of the meat.  Spritz with 1 cup of beef stock every hour during the initial smoke period. 

4.  Continue smoking the brisket point.  Once the brisket reaches 165 degrees, wrap tightly in butcher paper (or aluminum foil) and return to the smoker.  Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195 degrees and then remove to a cutting board.  This typically takes another three hours

5.  Make the sauce.  Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sauce pan.  Whisk to combine.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Allow to cook completely before transferring to an air tight container.  You can refrigerate it overnight to get the best flavor. 

6.  Create the brisket ends.  Once the temperature of the meat reaches 195  degrees Fahrenheit, unwrap the meat and drain any liquid into an aluminum pan.  Cut the brisket point into cubes about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Place the cubes into the aluminum pan and toss with the BBQ sauce and brown sugar.  Work quickly during this step to prevent your brisket from cooling down too much.

7.  Finish the cook.  Set the uncovered pan back on the smoker and close the lid.  Continue smoking at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-2 more hours, or until the burnt ends have started to absorb the BBQ sauce and caramelize on all sides and are very tender.

ENJOY!

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tomatillo Sauce

This post has been in the queue for a very long time.  Every time I look at it, I remember how much work I have to do on presentation.  I think the food that I cook is good, but it is not always very pretty looking.  This picture reminds me of that, namely because of how the sauce was ladled onto the Mahi-Mahi fillet.  This tomatillo sauce is very delicious, and it is something that could go well with not just fish fillets, but other seafood as well.  As delicious as this sauce is, I think I do it some disservice when it came to the presentation of the dish.  

In any event, I have previously blogged about the Mahi Mahi, but I have not really discussed the tomatillo. A green little fruit encased somewhat in a papery husk.  The fruit start out with a tangy note, but, as it ripens, the tomatillo becomes sweeter.  That is why you what to find and buy green tomatillos, and, preferably ones that are still in their husks.  The quality of the tomatillo can, in many ways, be shown by the state of the husk.  The husk should be a light brown, and it should not be dry or shriveled.  If you can find small tomatillos still in a husk, you are good to go when making a sauce such as the one that went with this Mahi-Mahi.

This recipe comes from a book entitled Wine & Food, which was written by Joshua Wesson.  The book provides recipes along with wine pairings, such as a Sauvignon Blanc or a white Rioja, which were the pairings suggested for this recipe.  

GRILLED MAHI MAHI WITH TOMATILLO SAUCE

Recipe from Wine & Food, pg. 61

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 or 4 tomatillos

4 green onions, about 6 inches of the green tops

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, 

     plus oil for brushing

1 small clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 small avocado, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup lightly packed chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno chile 

Kosher salt

4 mahi mahi filets (6-7 oz each)

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1.  Prepare the grill.  Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for direct heat cooking over high heat or preheat the broiler.

2.  Prepare the vegetables.  Discard the papery husks from the tomatillos, rinse them under cold water and pat them dry with paper towels.  Brush the tomatillos and green onions with 1 teaspoon of oil and place on the grill rack.  Cook the vegetables, turning once or twice, until lightly charred on both sides, 4-5 minutes total for the onions, and 6-8 minutes total for the tomatillos.  The tomatillos will have softened and started to release their juices.  

3.  Prepare the sauce.  Transfer the tomatillos to a food processor and the green onions to a cutting board.  Coarsely chop the onions and add to the food processor along with the garlic, avocado, cilantro, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Process until the mixture is smooth.  Transfer to a bowl, then taste and adjust the seasoning with lime juice and/or salt. 

4.  Prepare the fish.  Lightly brush the fish fillets on both sides with oil and then season on both sides with salt and pepper.  Place the fillets on the grill rack.  Cook, turning once about halfway through cooking until opaque throughout when tested with a knife tip, 8-10 minutes total.    

5.  Finish the dish.  Transfer the fillets to warmed individual plates.  Spoon the sauce over the fish, dividing evenly and serve right away.

ENJOY!