Pepper Extract

A friend has a garden, and at the end of the season he had a lot of hot peppers that he brought in and gave out to people at work.  

I took them home, and we dried them for a couple of months.  Then we crushed them and bought some Everclear (95% ethanol).  (Everclear was a little bit difficult to find, but we eventually found it at a somewhat sketchy liquor store.  Our local Wegman's did not deign to carry the stuff.)  We added the peppers to a mayonnaise jar and poured in Everclear to cover the peppers.  The alcohol should extract the capsaicin (and other chili oils).  We can then filter off the peppers.  The liquid has already taken on a red-green color (similar to when the peppers were fresh).  I am not sure what kind of peppers they are.  My friend said only they were "Chinese" hot peppers.

We will then let the ethanol evaporate off, and this should leave concentrated pepper extract.  We can use this to make our own spicy sauces.

Alton Brown's Smoked Salmon Recipe

I make this recipe all of the time but especially when family visits.  We saw it on Good Eats way back when it originally aired.  I am going to put it here because people ask me for it.

The cure

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
• 2 large salmon fillets (about 3 pounds)

In a bowl, mix together salt, sugar, brown sugar and peppercorns.  Spread extra-wide aluminum foil a little longer than the fish and top with an equally long layer of plastic wrap.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the plastic.  Lay 1 side of the fish skin down onto the rub.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the flesh.  Place the second side of salmon, flesh down onto the first side.  Use the remaining rub to cover the skin on the top piece.  Food plastic over to cover then close edges of the foil together and crimp tightly around the fish.

Place wrapped fish onto a plank or sheet pan and top with another plank of pan.  Weigh with a heavy phone book or a brick or two and refrigerate for 12 hours.  Flip the fish over and refrigerate another 12 hours.  Some juice will leak out during the process so sure there's a place for the runoff to gather.

Unwrap fishing rinse off the cure with cold water.  Pat salmon with paper towels then place in a cool, dry place (not refrigerator) until the surface of the fish is dry and matte-like, 1 to 3 hours depending on humidity. (this is critical)  A fan may be used to speed the process.

Smoke fish over smoldering hardwood chips or sawdust, keeping the temperature the temperature inside the smoker between 150 degrees F and 160 degrees F until the thickest part of the fish registers 150 degrees.  Serve immediately or cool to room temperature, wrap tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Ranking the Dishes out of The Jewish Slowcooker Cookbook

So far we have made 3 dishes out of this cookbook.  They have all been good, but I would rank them:

1. Coq Au Vin - This is really an excellent dish.  We make it with chicken breasts so it is a little healthier.  The chicken is just so tender.  Serve with mashed potatoes and a nice red wine.
2. Cassoulet - The breadcrumb/mustard mix that gets baked on top really kicks the dish up a notch.  Use canned instead of dried beans.  On a cold night this dish delivers.
3. Fall off the Bone Short Ribs - This is a close third.  I think what really made this dish was the side we made from the same cookbook:  mashed cannelloni beans.

Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes

We got this cookbook (title of this post) a few Christmases ago.  A lot of "crockpot" recipes can be pretty tasteless, pedestrian, dump-everything-in-and-let-it-warm affairs.  The recipes in this cookbook are not that at all.  In fact, a lot of them are a bit difficult to execute.  The extra work has some pretty amazing payoff though.  We have made Coq Au Vin a couple of times.  It requires making mushroom dust to dredge the chicken through.  The chicken is browned, trinity is sweated, and at the end, the gravy is strained and pearl onions added.  It is a labor of love that makes a savory and wonderful dish.  This is the Reader's Digest version of all of the work that goes into this dish.  At the end though, the food is sublime.

This weekend we are making short ribs and cassoulet (two separate recipes).  Each dish has taken a lot of work and consumed a lot of dishes, but if the smells are any indication (they usually are), these dishes will be outstanding.  

The nice part about these recipes (besides being really good and well described) is they are big.  There is a lot of work that goes into each dish, but they provide two and sometimes three meals.