Apples and Plums... Oh My. Asian Plum Sauce and Apple Butter.

While still in the throes of dealing with nature's bountiful gifts this year of apples and plums, I decided to finish off the last 3 1/2 pounds of Italian Prune Plums with a batch of Chinese Plum Sauce.

This many apples will make a batch of apple butter

Apples? Oh YEAH we have apples this year. Previously I made and froze apple pie filling for 12 pies. Now neatly wrapped and stacked in the shop freezer. A friend, who is also up to her eyeballs in apples and pears, gave me a super recipe for crockpot apple butter. Fabulous!. Easy peasy!! No standing and stirring and stirring over a hot pot. Just put the peeled cored and chopped apples in the crockpot with the sugar and spices and go about your merry way.  

First: Chinese Plum Sauce. I like the sauce just a bit sweeter and each batch of plums will have its own level of sweetness.....so about half way through the cooking process I stop and taste and add some more sugar if needed. Makes about 6 half pints, plus a little dish extra.  I think we will have to have pot stickers tomorrow.

4 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 oz of fresh ginger minced
1 onion minced
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar (or more to taste)
2 cups of water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil (no substitutes)
1/2 tsp crushed dried chilies
3 or 4 pounds of ripe plums pitted and chopped
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water

Put all of the ingredients, except the cornstarch and water, into a stock pot and bring to a boil.  (If you don't have fresh ginger....I used a heaping tsp of ground ginger. ) Reduce to a low simmer and uncovered let gently cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from burning on the bottom.  Taste to see if sweet enough if not, add about another 1/8 cup of sugar and cook some more.  Remember......Chinese Plum Sauce is not supposed to be sweet like a sweet and sour sauce.

Blend the mixture, either in a blender or using an immersion blender (my preferrence) until smooth.   Mix the cornstarch and water together and while stirring constantly add to the sauce.  Simmer and stir for several minutes until smooth and thickened.
 
Ladle into 1/2 pint jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Next: Apple Butter

Oh man, is this an easy way to make apple butter.  Next year I may try it for pear butter.

5 to 6 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped.
4 cups white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt.

Put the apples into a large crock pot.  Toss well with the sugar and spices and salt.   Cover and cook on high for one hour.

Just starting to cook down.

 Reduce to low and cook for 9 to 11 hours.  Stir once in a while.  The mixture will start reducing and become browner.

Halfway done.  Starting to get mooshey and thicker.

At this point it was getting late so I just shut the cooker off and went to bed and started it up again in the morning.  Cook until the apples are almost mush. 3 more hours  Break out the trusty immersion blender again and being careful not to splatter yourself with the scalding mush, YIKES  HOT!!.....blend until desired texture.  I like mine with a bit of chunks still in the apple butter.

Done! Thick and tasty.

Ladle into 1/2 pint jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  This recipe made 7 1/2 pint jars.

TIPS:   To make your life easier if you plan to preserve, can or make jams.  Have on hand, a canning funnel, a jar lifter, some good metal ladles for scooping out the product into the funnel and several small tongs for lifting jars and lids from boiling water.

Smoked Brined Turkey

Brining your turkey will keep it moist and full of flavor. As I mentioned in my post about our smoked deli operation, we would brine the chicken and turkey before smoking, deep frying or baking by using a commercial vacuum brining machine.This is a recipe that I think came from a Sunset magazine. But who knows, I clip and keep so many recipes I can't remember. I just know it is very good.

It must be prepared early in the day before you plan to cook because the bird should brine overnight at least. I use a small clean ice chest. Since it's pretty cold at night here (20 degrees this morning), I can just put the bird the the ice chest,fill with the cooled brine and set outside on the deck.

Smoked Brined Turkey

6 quarts water
2 large onions quartered
1 cup coarse salt (non-iodized)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped fresh ginger
4 bay leaves
4 star anise
12 whole peppercorns

1 whole turkey (10 -12-lbs)
2 oranges quartered

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbs sesame oil

4 cups hickory chips soaked in water

3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup dijon mustard
3 tbs butter

BRINE: Bring to a simmer in a very large pot ,the water and all ingredients up to the turkey in the list. Simmer until sugar and salt are completely disolved. Cool brine COMPLETELY. Do a day ahead if needed. Completely thaw turkey. Rinse and pat dry. Submerge in brine and chill. Marinate overnight or longer. Turn turkey twice.

Before smoking, place oranges inside bird. Brush with oils. Smoke at a low temperature according to your smoker or BBQ directions, (about 220) breast side up unitl reaches 160 degrees. Approx 3 hours. Brush with glaze and cook until temp reaches 180 in the thigh areas, about 1 to 2 hours or longer...be patient. Cover any parts of turkey that are getting too dark with foil

GLAZE: Mix syrup, wine, mustard and butter and simmer, stiriing in a small pan until thickened. Brush over the bird for the last half hour or so.

If your bbq has a temperature gauge, check occaisonally to make sure the temperature doesn't rise over 22o and use an instant read meat thermometer after an hour or so. Depending on the size of your turkey it could take several hours to cook to the desired temperature. I use a Polder temperature gauge like this one.

Fish With Browned Butter Caper Sauce- No More Tarter Sauce

As a person who loves to cook, I try to bring creative blends of spices and tastes into every recipe. Presentation is also important to me. The food needs to be beautiful to look at as well as bring subtle flavorings to the palate that makes the dish memorable and enjoyable. One of my peeves is to see all that effort smothered under big blobs of tarter sauce, catsup or mindless additions of salt and pepper. People learned to eat with these condiments as a standard addition to food. Meatloaf? Smother it in catsup. Fish? Smother it in tarter sauce. Turkey? Stlather some canned cranberry jelly on it. Lamb? Mint sauce.

When my husband and I began dating I would have him over for gourmet dinners. You know......the way to a man's heart and all. I think it worked since we have been married for 15 years now. I was horrified and offended to see him grab the salt or ask for catsup on the dish without even tasting it first. "Ahem.....I spent some time on this....at least you could taste it the way the cook (I) intended it before you start adding salt or catsup! " Tarter sauce on fish was a bone of contention. He insisted that he must have it on all fish. Now there is nothing wrong with a good homemade tarter sauce as a condiment on some fish dishes but to my mind especially eating a delicately flavored fish like sole or tilapa or even red snapper, the fish is overwhelmed by what is basically flavored mayonnaise.

Here is a technique for fish and it is now my husband's favorite way to eat fish and without tarter sauce. There are no exact measurements. A free form recipe that I make on the fly depending on how much fish I have on hand.

Butter Sauce Ingredients:
4 to 8 tbsp room temperature butter
2 to 3 tbsp capers drained and smooshed (technical term)
1/4 to 1/3 cup lemon juice

Cooking the fish:

Rinse off the fillets and damp dry. Flour and set aside to let the flour cling. Re-flour again just before cooking.

Put a thin layer of peanut oil in a skillet and get it VERY hot before adding the fish. Place the fillets in the pan and cook briefly until crusty and golden brown on one side. Carefully flip over (using two spatulas when cooking sole so it doesn't break apart) and cook until brown on the other side. Thin fillets like sole will only take a few minutes to cook. Thicker fish like snapper as much as 5 to 6 minutes. DO NOT OVER COOK THE FISH. Nothing worse than dried out over cooked fish......this is probably why the tarter sauce conundrum came about. Your fish should be flaky but still moist inside. Barely translucent. Place the fillets on a warm platter.

Make the sauce:
There should be barely any peanut oil in the pan. If there is then drain it but leave the browned bits of flour. Remember you are not deep frying the fish and the hot hot hot oil should be just enough to keep it from sticking to the pan.
In the hot skillet over a fairly high heat add the butter and swirl it around until it begins to sizzle. Add the capers and smoosh them a bit in the butter to release more of their flavors. Cook until the butter starts to turn a golden brown (not black). Be careful it won't take more than 10 seconds to go from brown to black. Remove from the heat and pour in the lemon juice. It will sizzle and pop. Immediately pour the sauce over the fillets.

Enjoy with a fresh Ceasar salad, steamed asparagus, couscous or other pasta and of course a crisp white wine.

For you sportsmen who catch Blue Gill or Croppie or Bass, this also an excellent way to cook those fishes.

Chinese Steamed Buns

Char Sui Bao. I pronounce it bow as in put a bow in your hair. These are great little portable morsels of meat and bread. Normally they are part of a dim-sum luncheon. Mmmmmm. If you have never had a dim-sum experience, I highly recommend it. When I left San Francisco, the main thing that I missed was the eclectic selection of restaurants. You could eat at any time of the day or night in any type of restaurant. Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Soul Food, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese.... you name it. It is a foodie's heaven. I learned to cook many of these ethnic dishes out of self defense when I moved to an area that had basically the blue plate special type of restaurant. Nothing wrong with diner fare, in fact I have some great comfort food recipies that I wil post at a later date. However, variety is the spice of life.


I've made this recipe for years based on a cookbook that my Aunt Rachel brought back from the Philippines where she and her Air Force Colonel husband were stationed. The wives of the officers were pretty much bored with lots of time on their hands. They spent their time taking classes and of course shopping. In addition to learning how to cook oriental food, she could also make and arrange silk flowers Japanese style. She was quite the elegant lady and a world traveler.


Often I will make Bao ahead of time and either reheat them for a snack or just put into a lunchbox to take to work. They are also good camping fare because they can be put into a backpack without harm and eaten cold.


Bao

1/2 tsp yeast
2/3 cup warm water
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp sugar
3 Tbs sugar

1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ginger
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 lbs pork, cubed small (march chopped)
1 Tbs sherry (or sake)
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbs soy sauce

DOUGH: Dissolve yeast in water. Add flour, salt and sugar. Knead well. Cover with a wet cloth and let rise until the dough doubles. Prepare filling while the dough rises. Roll out dough slightly and cut into 12 pieces. Roll or form with fingers into 3 inch rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Place 2 tbsp of prepared filling in the center and bring up sides to the top. Pinch closed. Place seam side down and let rise. for 20 minutes.

FILLING: In a small dish combine the 1 tbsp sherry, 2 tsp sugar and 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1/4 cup of water. Stir and set aside. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan add the pork and cook stirring 5 minutes. Add the onion and cook two more minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook 30 seconds more. Cool mixture before adding to the dough rounds.

To cook the dumplings. Use a bamboo steamer or other rack. Spray rack with cooking spray or use a layer of lettuce leaves. Cover and steam for 20 minutes.


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If you like a sweet dessert roll, instead of savory, use fermented sweetened bean paste as the filling instead of meat.

March Chopping. Technique. Using a chinese cleaver or good sharp chopping knife you rock the knife back and forth through the meat. More or less marching it through the meat. Take the cleaver and flip the meat over and continue marching and chopping and flipping, until the meat is fairly finely chopped. For this recipe I chop the pork into pieces about the size of peas.