Moromi Magic

The sake saga continues. Over the past couple days I went from chilling the sake porridge (moromi) in the root cellar at 50 degrees for five days to adding more koji and steamed rice and warming it back to 70 degrees. As I have continued on in this process, I have added three more batches of koji and steamed rice. Each time an additon was made, I cooled the steamed rice by stirring it in cold water and then adding it to the moromi. After this, I had to stir the rice/ yeast/ koji mix for a half an hour non-stop with my hands to break up any clumps of rice. Yes that's right- I was elbow deep in lukewarm in rice porridge. At first, it was kind of boring to sit there with my hands in a bucket of mushy rice, but I have to say after the third addition of rice, I was actually sad I didn't have to do it again. The mixture was pleasantly warm, and smelled deliciously of rice, yeast, and alcohol. As I stirred, a fizzy creamy foam of bubbling of yeast comes to the surface. It smelled so good, I found myself wanting to take a bath in the stuff. I thought it would be kind of like an oatmeal bath- a very expensive, labor intensive, oatmeal bath that is. And now- 3 weeks in the root cellar, which means only 3 more weeks until nigorisake! I really hope it stays cold enough. Note to self: start sake one month earlier next time! The Japanese usually brew this type of sake in winter for the express reason of keeping it cold during the initial fermentation process (they think they are sooo smart). Anyhow, if I was smarter and more motivated I would have done the same and brewed in winter to avoid biting my nails next to the root cellar thermometer every day.

Maggie Had A Little Lamb (More Meat Musings From Lady Pilsner)

Eating healthy is important me and my husband but when we moved to the Czech republic we had very minimal access to organic meat. Since we had a field designated for pasture behind our house, the first thing that came to mind was to raise some. The first question we had was which type of livestock requires the least maintenance? We initially thought about rabbits and sheep, but heard that rabbits were susceptible to disease while sheep were reputed to be "easy." Seeing as neither my husband nor I are serious farmers, sheep won out. We started raising sheep with a group of friends, each party having between 1 and 4 sheep, most of which were less than a year old. Our first year wasn't that successful -- losses included one of our yearlings and two of the first year's lambs. This was due largely to lack of resources and lack of experience. Then there was the time that our ram launched himself through one of the windows in the back of our house. But that’s another story. It didn't take us too long to get the hang of things, though. Lambing was unnerving but exciting. I fondly recall the first warm days in early spring when we'd let the sheep out for a while in the back yard and watch "sheep TV" through our bedroom window.

For years, I had actually been a vegetarian. I wondered whether I would be able to view these cute little lambs as food. However, it did help that even in all my meat free years I still reminisced fondly about Mom's perfect medium rare lamb chops. In the end, I was able to handle "knowing" the meat I was eating. I have always thought that there is something hypocritical about buying meat in a form where its easy to forget that it was ever a living creature. Also, by the time a lamb is ready to slaughter, the adorable factor is gone. Best of all, it has been an absolute luxury to have an abundance of lamb in the freezer.

This winter, however, my husband spent about two and a half months in Moscow for work, leaving me alone with the stamping, bah-ing, gate-kicking oat-addicts in their shed. Which is, why I'm not so sad that he wanted to give up the sheep this year. What makes this easier is that we've had to take down the fence on our field (I'm sure the EU is behind those codes...) So, the sheep are summering on a friend's field, and this year's lambs will be our last, for now, at least.....Anyone know how to raise free-range rabbits?

Here are some things I learned about lamb along the way:

Lamb ribs - cook on high to render the fat as much as possible, then braise a good long while (blackberry jam works for a sweet-and-sour touch)

Ram meat - three year old un-castrated ram meat is NOT too strong, nor are the chops too tough; eliminate as much fat as possible to make the meat milder; leg meat is good in long-cooked stews;

Sausage- 1/3 ram to 2/3 pork meat is good for sausages (with ewes, it seems to be 1/2 and 1/2)

Roasting - insert cloves of garlic and/or pieces of lemon rind into the meat, serve w/ jalapeño or garlic jelly-Yum!

Stews -- a Moroccan stew w/prunes from Nourishing Traditions (marinate overnight w/cumin, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, olive oil, and lots of pepper; add prunes and grated lemon rind near the end of the cooking time) and a tinkered-with version of this Tuscan stew by the American lamb board were among the favorites:

And, if you plan on raising sheep- oats are to sheep as crack cocaine is to humans -- they do become addicted, and when the oat junkies hear you coming (or just opening the front door), the noise is deafening.

Radish Sandwich

Radishes, I am told, are a traditional European accompaniment to beer. Germans and Belgians in particular. I always wondered how this worked. Do they just serve big ol' piles of radishes layed out on a plate? Since the radishes I planted earlier this spring are ready for harvest, I was just dying to know how to serve them appropriately with beer. That's when Lynne Rossetto Kasper's Splendid Table, a public radio show about food, came to my rescue with a recipe for a Belgian tartine. I discovered The Splendid Table this winter while I was sacked out on the couch with my foot in a cast. Since then, I have been whipping through the podcast archive and subsequently boring my friends and family with fascinating factoids from the show. So much so, that I have shortened "The Splendid Table" to just "the S.T." The thing is, that the show seems to read my mind. I think about radishes and beer, and there's Lynne with a recipe. I wonder what to do with all my leftover goose fat- Lynne is suddenly full of suggestions. Anyhow, I heard Lynne mention a radish sandwich, or tartine, as perfect accompaniment to beer. You better belive my ears perked up! Here's her recipe: basically cut up some crusty bread, and spread it with a soft, tasty cheese- I chose goat cheese because that was what I had around. Thinly slice radishes and fan them over the top of your bread and cheese. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Problem solved! Delicious! Lynne suggested a Belgian wit beer, but we have Schneider Edel Weiss on tap and I must say it seemed to do the trick!

Boundary Bay

Every once in a while, we are blessed with a visitor from the West Coast. And no visit from a "west coaster" is complete without sumptuous tales of delicious locally roasted coffee, micro-breweries a-plenty, weekends in wine country, exotic cuisine, the miraculous lack of mosquitoes, black flies, and bad attitudes. So, when Mr. Chops's friend from Bellingham came to stay last weekend, we were not surprised that he came with tales of the totally hip beer scene in Washington. However, being a consummate excellent house guest- he also brought some samples! And yes, these two beers were truly delicious.


Usually, I object to showing off photos of beer I've sampled and most of my local readers can't find anywhere, but in this case, I made an exception. These beers were really tasty and they came from brew pub. Being from CT, when I hear "brew pub", I think of insipid beers and lackluster food in a buffed up over-priced bar/restaurant. There's usually an unused brewing set up in the middle of the dining room for "atmosphere". I thought perhaps some of these CT brew pubs might like to go and take notes from Boundary Bay on how it's really done. I hear the place has a nice atmosphere, beer garden, decent food, live music, and of course, really good beer. Judging from the two samples we had, I believe this is true. The IPA was clean, refreshing, nicely hopped and pretty much everything an IPA should be. The scotch ale was surprisingly balanced with a malty nose, subtle sweetness, and pleasantly dry hoppy finish. According to their website, Boundary Bay also just brought home a silver medal from the 2008 World Beer Cup for their brew "Cabin Fever". At any rate, they must be doing something right because Boundary has also just been crowned "largest brew pub" selling over 5300 barrels of beer in 2007. That's a lot of beer. But, in Bellingham, "the City of Subdued Excitement", one would expect nothing less.

Some Updates

I know all of you stay up a night wondering how Mr. Chop's kraut came out. I am happy to report it did come out wonderfully, but sadly, the persistent human need to mess with perfection won out in the end. The kraut was really good, it tasted quite a bit like "Bubbie's Sauerkraut" the specialty natural kraut we found from the health food store. Fresh tasting, crunchy, slightly sour, and generally yummy- not like that steamed, mushy, vinegary glop you get on top of a ballpark frank. It didn't even smell up the house! Anyhow, the only problem was that there wasn't quite enough kraut juice to cover the cabbage, so Mr. Chops figured he'd add some more water and salt to the crock the way he did when he first put the mix together. Well, within days the cabbage was a slimy moldy mess. Sniff! Sniff! In hind sight, he admitted he should have boiled the extra brine before adding it. I guess there's always next time when we'll use fresh cabbage from the garden. This way, we'll be sure to have plenty of cabbage juice.

Also, we are on day 15 of brewing sake, with a month and a half left to go. So far, I'm still playing with fermented rice porridge, or, as the Japanese say, "moto". Ooh, the anticipation! Actually, this is torture for me, I am not really into deferred gratification.

Beer Makes News!

Not to brag, but, it just so happens that two of my recent blog topics have made NPR this week: women brewing AND the rising price of beer. What can I say? You read it here first!

The biggest news is that for the first time EVER a woman won the Brewmaster Award at the World Beer Cup. Way to go, Tanya Cornett of Bend Brewing Company in Colorado! Sadly, Tanya's beer is only available in Bend. I included the link to the interview on "The Bryant Park Project" here out of respect for Tanya, but it's kind of dumb. The guy interviewing this poor lady describes himself as a "big beer guy" and then goes on to ask if bock beer means that the beer is made from scraping the bottom of beer barrels. Huh? Then they discuss maibock and he asks if a maibock is "one of those thick beers?" What?????

Link to interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90425216

Then, while listening to "All Things Considered" I thought I had found a small sliver of solace in this short commentary by Dennis O'Toole about the rising price of beer.

Link to interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90483748

But the solace was short lived and just made me get on this here soap box.



The rising price of beer is certainly not a new topic, so I think the only way Mr. O'Toole got his lame piece accepted was through some gratuitous democratic candidate name-dropping to keep things "current". He mentions in his commentary that Obama was seen drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon. He gives us this random tidbit to prove that Barack might care about the rising price of beer. All I've got to say is- anyone drinking a PBR definitely doesn't care about the cost of beer, or beer at all for that matter. Clearly, there must have been an ulterior motive. Um, I don't know- maybe he's drinking it for political points? Have you been listening to all the media blather labeling this guy an "elitist"? Personally, I have no problem with a presidential candidate being an elitist. I don't want "average guys" running the free world- that's how we got the Bush administration. We can probably surmise that Obama got way more out of publicly imbibing this classic "average guy beer" than any of the poor shmoes that actually drink it. I guess this is what actually links a guy like Barack to the "average guy"- they're both not drinking Pabst for the taste. On the contrary, Mr. O'Toole! This beer wasn't expensive! It was probably the CHEAPEST public relations play Barack made in years. What a deal! Drink a crappy brew and look instantly "average" for 5 bucks or less! (assuming he payed for it, which he probably didn't)
I'm just trying to imagine the conversation.
Obama to Bartender: "Make it a Pabst!"
Bartender to Obama: "OK, that'll be five dollars."
Obama to bartender and roaring of the crowd of average admirers:
"Hey now, beer is getting more and more expensive, isn't it? Don't worry people! Change is on the way!"


However, perhaps there might be a glimmer of hope here. At least Obama, unlike Bush, is allowed to drink a beer in public. This is because, unlike George W., Barack knows when to say when.


Recently, there was a huge media twit over Bush drinking what turned out to be a non-alcoholic beer with Angela Merkel in France at the G8 summit. Oh no! Bush is off the wagon! Trust me here folks, this is the least of our concerns. Which brings me to the question: if we can't trust our president with a non-alcoholic beer, just what can we trust him with?




Here he is folks, Mr. Average Guy! Nothing elite here! Admire the poise, the dignity, the patronizing look on Ms. Merkel's face.... I bet she had a couple glasses of scotch and a tranquilizer after having to spend the whole day with George. Now what do you suppose Ms. Clinton and Mr. McCain drink?



http://gawker.com/news/pretty-dry/george-w-bush-actually-isnt-drinking-again-yet-267173.php

A Word From The Carnivorous Regalis!

Those of you loyal followers of my blog already know that the "Carnivorous Regalis" is my dad- the consummate meatatarian. This is a man that can pack in an entire roast beef in a single sitting. He refers to this affectionately as a "Piggy Dinner". This dinner may or may not include a potato side dish. Vegetables? Clearly, you jest! Anyhow, my Dad, who in all my years of living in the same house with me, has only cooked me one thing that I can remember- scrambled eggs. When I was three. That's it. As a graduate of MIT, and a bonafide original computer geek, his interests were understandably elsewhere. He is still the only person I know that uses all the math I never learned in school on a daily basis. But now, for the first time ever, math and cooking have melded for my dad in his endeavor to cook a perfect prime rib! He referred me to this article on How To Cook A Prime Rib from the extremely informative site http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

Carnivorous Regalis writes....

"I ran across this recipe a while ago, and thought you might be interested, given your web site. It was amazing to see guys time-graphing the roast temperature every 20 minutes or so, or another guy using a calibrated lab thermometer to measure his roast. It was really that old anal-retentive engineer approach to cooking that I thought you might find amusing.

Then, I decided to try the "roast in 200 F oven" technique described in the article on a tenderized / marinated eye round roast.
FANTASTIC!
It was, as they described almost uniformly, beautifully medium-rare pink right to within 1/8" of the edge of the meat.
I probably pigged down about 2 lbs. tonight, with the rest for dinner tomorrow (maybe with a potato next time to make up for the shorter ration).

My differences:
* roast 3.5 lbs.
* took 4 hours, almost 68 mins / pound
* my digital, probe in the meat, display outside the oven thermometer read 150 F when pulled it out.

Just to show you how anal retentive your father is, I now have 3 digital thermos of the type described above, plus 2 ostensibly high-quality glass dial-type thermometers (looks like a great big thumb tack).
* all 3 digitals read within 1 degree of each other, from 130 F to 208 F (boiling water at 2600 ft)
* The 2 glass thermos read within approx. 5 degrees (lower) than the digitals in hot water tests on the stove.
* When you use both types in a real roast, the glass thermos read anywhere between 6 to 16 degrees lower than any of the digitals. The glass thermos hit around 135 F (claimed to be medium rare) when the digitals hit 150 F (almost medium). The 135 glass / 150 digital reading seems to produce what I consider "perfect medium rare".
* I've googled my brains out trying to find out why the difference, and why the difference gets worse in real-life cooking, but so far nothing."

Sake anyone?

Brewing sake? What happened to brewing beer? Technically, I can actually say I am brewing beer- sort of. Sake, although we like to call it "rice wine", is actually more like an un-carbonated beer. Wine, by definition is a one step fermentation process involving soft fruit or vegetable matter. Beer on the other hand is a grain-based process that involves more than one fermentation step. Sake basically falls into the latter description, but, in the end it is not carbonated, but filtered, pasteurized, and aged for a brief time, more like wine. So you see where we westerners could get confused.


So why the hell am I brewing sake? I just started reading about it and it intrigued me. I read that if you live in Japan, you aren't allowed to brew sake in your home! For this reason, there are many of the old-style rice wines Japanese people traditionally use for ceremonies and cooking that are becoming extinct. Also, the more I read, the more I found out about all the different kinds of sake that aren't available in the United States. Particularly a "fresh" version of sake called namazake that is unpasteurized, unfiltered and only available in Japan early in spring at the end of the sake brewing season. It's human nature to obsess over things you can't have right? That's why I've got to have namazake! Sake also seemed to be a simpler, less ingredient intensive process to me than beer making, but now I am not so sure. What you lack in special ingredients, you make up for in the intricate process.


Basically all you need to brew sake is:


Quality sushi grade rice
Koji (rice inoculated w/ yeast that breaks down rice starch)
Brewing Yeast (Sake #9)
Yeast nutrient
Water
A rice steamer
Fermentation Container (like for brewing beer)
3 Gallon jugs for storing your sake


It's what you do with these ingredients that's the key. It all starts with soaking koji and rice over night in water and then steaming the rice the next day and adding it to the koji in the fermentation bucket. This starts the "moto" which is basically a porridgey mixture of koji, rice and yeast that builds up alcohol converting strength that then leads to primary fermentation. This process lasts 17 days. I know- primary fermentation for beer only takes a couple hours. For sake you must add more yeast, rice, koji, and take the mixture from a warm 70 degree environment back to 50 degree temp for varying amounts of time. So far, it's like agreeing to feed your neighbor's hamster- out of sight, out of mind. I have a constant feeling like I'm forgetting something. The rice mixture (or hamster) sits so silently in the corner that you forget it's there. Every couple of days you think- oh my Gosh! I forgot to stir the moto/ Oh no! I starved the hamster! Well, so far I have not forgotten my moto, and thank god I am not babysitting anyone's pet rodent! But there are 14 more days to go for step one, so let's hope for the best.


If anyone is interested in joining the sake brewing challenge I got my instructions fro this excellent website:
http://www.taylor-madeak.org/index.php


This site is an exhaustive collection of info on sake including a glossary for Japanese sake vocab:

http://www.sake-world.com/index.html

Trout Season

Sometimes there's an up side to being slow at work- you get to go fishing instead! Mr. Chops brought back these beauties for lunch the other day. You just can't beat a couple of nice fresh trout. Just gut, dredge in seasoned flour, and fry whole. Serve with salad, and a beer of your choice. As Mr. Chops remarked, it reminded him of his trip to Germany. You know what would go well this spread? Schneider Brooklyner hopfen-weiss. This beer is a cooperative effort between, as you would assume from the name, Schneider and Sons and Brooklyn Brewery. Head brewmasters Hans-Peter Drexler and Garret Oliver both brew their own batches of the same beer recipe. Personally, my taste lends towards the Schneider Brooklyner, not the Brooklyn Schneider- however, it would be fun to compare and decide for yourself. I find the Schneider version is less sweet and more balanced with a lovely extra-hoppy finish- which is pretty unusual for a German brew. This is only the second year both breweries have released this special beer and supplies are limited. Last year, I had to wrestle the owners of more than one liquor store to buy the last bottles on the shelf that they had secretly been hoarding for themselves. Bastards!

Meat from Way Back

A friend from the Bellingham, Washington sent me this gem of a website, http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/spec.html. It contains excerpts from a book called the "Gallery of Regrettable Food". The author, James Lileks has compiled a truly exhaustive collection of vintage meat, vegetable, and jello illustrations (such as the one pictured above) from antique cook books. For the main course try Meat!, Meat!, Meat!. Go for a side dish with the Unbearable Sadness of Vegetables. And when you're ready for dessert, why not try some Jello? This site is chock full of food nostalgia and twisted humor. It reminds me of being a kid and looking through all my Mom's New York Times Cookbooks from the 1970's, only scarier. I was always so fascinated by those Jello molds...

Forget Burning Your Bra, Brew Beer Instead!

Traditionally, beer was brewed at home by housewives-at least until the church and the government got involved. Yes, you heard that right, it was a wifely duty to brew beer. In the 1700's, female brewers were the norm. In England during the 1700s, a survey found 78% of licensed brewers were women. In fact, certain laws stated that the tools used in brewing were solely the woman's property. Hah! Back off, man! Git yer hands off MY fermentin' vessel!

It is said that in medieval times, female herbalists and healers used to make the best beer of all. But, that gave these industrious women too much status and power- so the Catholic church took that power away from them. These women then became widely known as "witches". From this time on, monasteries took over most of the brewing of beer and used the proceeds to supplement there cost of living. Now, fast forward a couple hundred years to that ugly thing called prohibition (perpetuated by housewives I am embarrassed to say). Thank God Jimmy Carter finally put an end to that when he signed the bill that allowed people to brew beer at home again! Finally, a president who did something useful AND democratic. The truth is, that beer making has almost always been associated with power, and financial independence. And who doesn't want that, right? Ahhh, imagine if you will, that instead of having to work full time jobs and endlessly driving children to soccer practice, violin lessons, etc. women all over the world were brewing beer instead!

Previously, I have wondered why I should learn to brew when there are so many beers out there that I already liked. But what's a beer drinkin' lady like myself supposed to do when my favorite beers are now priced out of my budget? REVOLT!!! I guess I finally have to show all these greedy capitalists how it's done and brew some beer of my own. And, since I am a chick, no doubt I'll be really good at it. So ladies, let's go where Martha Stewart has never gone before, and get back to some real hardcore domesticity! Forget Desperate Housewives and making beaded napkin rings! Make your kid late for gymnastics and brew the good stuff! I'm guessing your husband wouldn't mind a bit. Except, perhaps, when you lord your newly acquired power over him by pronouncing that no more beer will be brewed for the summer unless he gets his butt out there and mows the lawn..... To be fair though, this could really work both ways. She or he who brews the best beer gets to wear the pants!