Confit

Too much goose and goose fat lying around after the holidays? Me too! Everybody should have these sorts of problems. I can't believe it has been over a year since our first goose butchering escapade at farmer Kate's- but goose D-day has come and gone. We have cooked our Christmas goose (a bona-fide young goose this time- thank god!), and had an extra goose and plenty of goose fat left over so we made confit!

A while back, at a party, I was given an excellent recipe for confit by a young aspiring chef named Anthony. He is a very patient man. Because he is a chef, and we are completely obsessed with food, every time we see him, we gather around him and bombard him with culinary questions. I am sure he would rather be drinking his beer in peace, but he is always nice enough to indulge us with all sorts of useful tidbits of knowledge. I am not sure what poor Tony gets out of it, perhaps semi-entertaining stories about us elbow deep in goose guts? Who knows.

Anyhow, here's his recipe for Conft. Because we now have an annual arrangement with our farmer friend for fresh geese, we use goose for this recipe, although, traditionally, it's made with duck. You are probably thinking that you would never try this, but believe me, it's worth it. And I know that if you are still reading Hops and Chops your are not a fat-a-phobe. The fat used here, is mostly just to preserve the meat while it's aging. The meat comes out super silky, with an intensely rich flavor that gets better the longer you let it hangout in the frige. It's great straight up, in cassoulets, or even on a sandwich! Feel free to fry up some slices of potato in with all your extra goose fat when re-heating the confit. Add some salad and you've got an easy (and oh-so-fancy) dinner

Basic Confit:

Break down your poultry eight-ways ( leg, thigh, wing, breast )
Put the breasts aside for another use, weigh and toss the rest of the cuts in the following:

1/4 oz (or 1/2 Tblspn) kosher salt PER POUND

1 clove garlic, smashed PER POUND

2 springs fresh thyme PER POUND

...toss together, place in oven-proof pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight.The next day remove the pieces and rinse all the salt off and place back into pan with aromatics. Just cover the meat with rendered duck (or goose fat) , cover with foil, and place in 325F over for 2 - 3 hours until overtly fork tender. Allow to cool a bit, place meat in a seal-able container, strain the fat, and cover the meat with the now strained fat. This can be placed in the fridge and kept for months! Just pull it out and heat it in a little of the fat when ready to eat.

We have tried this recipe twice. Once, successfully, the other not. The problem that occurred was an error on our part. When packing confit you absolutely must leave a nice thick layer of fat on top of your last layer of meat or else it will get moldy, and not age gracefully as directed. !

Confessions of a Wayward Blogger

In the spirit of the new year I have looked deeply inside myself and realized these truths about my blog: 1) I possess subconscious, deep-seeded guilt about not blogging 2) I am much better at blogging in the winter, preferably when crippled. 3)I actually need my blog because otherwise, I have no idea what the hell I did last year.

So, since being crippled isn't an attractive option, my New Year's resolution will be to bank my blog entries when I have the time (winter) and distribute them evenly throughout the year so as not to frustrate my Mom and the very few other regular readers who have not forsaken me. Also, while I am confessing- I actually promised to persist with Hops and Chops because I sold my soul to Miss Yum Yum for this box of free Dove chocolates.

I do feel that the key to having a guilt-free blog means maintaining consistency. I feel readers should expect something at least every week. Therefore, I will try to make one weekly post, perhaps more. This should not be too difficult considering there is so much to tell. This would be a lot easier as well if some of you lurkers would come out of the shadows and help me like I asked.

At the risk of sounding like my boss- I really have been very busy. Although, unlike my boss who uses this phrase as a euphemism for "I have to go to the yacht club and put my boat in the water" I really do have a lot of stuff to blog about.

The Naughty Nurse is responsible for much of this new found content of interest.

If you had a Hops and Chops time line you would see that the same time we met the Naughty Nurse directly corresponds with the egregious lack of blog entries. This is because our new found friend is not only a very knowledgeable home brewer, but also a very serious task-master. As a result, we have had a very full beer schedule in 2008. The good news is- Mr. Chops and I have been learning to brew beer! We attended home brew beer meetings, and home brew competitions, and learned to brew beer using all grain. We have also been introduced to the wonderful world of making hard cider. Not only this- but the Nurse has also showed us to how to roast coffee at home! All this, of course, would keep any normal people busy, but not us! We have also made our first confit, venison sausage, malt vinegar, gone on a smoked meat pilgrimage and discovered goose bacon.

There is one bit of bad news- I still can't bring myself to eat a squirrel. But perhaps, if Mr. Goodbar and Ms. Yum Yum had called us when they had six of them living in their house, we could have crossed that one of our list and had a delicious dinner to boot!

Blame Canada

Hello again! No, I didn't enter the witness protection program- I just went on vacation and forgot to tell anyone. Or perhaps that was on purpose so no one would raid the kegerator while we were gone. But as consolation for all those long weeks with out any new H&C, I have tales from Nova Scotia to serve up soon as I figure out how to pay all these bills that piled up while I was away. But first- I have to warn all those unsuspecting folk out there who might be packing up for Nova Scotia: Pack your own beer friends! So what if the Canadian Government says you can only bring one case into the country without penalty! Trust me- whatever the penalty is- it is not nearly as grim as having to drink Nova Scotian beer!

Clams and Beer

In the summertime, we eat a lot of clams, and, as you may already know- beer goes well with clams. Especially nice is this Hazed and Infused Ale from Boulder Brewing. You may remember this brew from my post about really hoppy beers. It is a consummate summer beer; low in alcohol, high in refreshing hops, and very finely carbonated. It is brewed with chinook, willamette, and cascade hops and then dry hopped with crystal and centennial hops. We like it so much we bought a keg of it so we could have it on tap.

As I have stated previously, there are few redeeming qualities to living in CT when it comes to beer and beer culture. However, we are lucky enough to have easy access to fresh clams at wholesale prices. We buy cherry stones, right off the boat, one hundred count at a time, and leave them in our beer fridge where they stay fresh and delicious for two weeks or more (as long as you keep them dry, no ice or salted water please!). Mr. Chops likes them raw, straight up. But we both like them grilled. We throw a whole bunch on the grill, cover them until they start to open up, ripping the empty side of the shell off so the clam side sits flat on the grill. Then douse the side with the clam in mixture of garlic simmered in butter, lemon, hot sauce, and parsley. We pull them off as the butter starts to simmer inside the shell. Of course, there are many variations to be had on this according to taste. If I feel like going all out, I put little pieces of crispy bacon in too. Yum! These make a really easy appetizer too. My usual ratio is 1 stick of butter, 2 cloves of garlic, juices of half a lemon, a handful of parsley and a couple teaspoons of hot sauce. Sometimes I put the mixture in a squeezy bottle to make it easier to squirt in the clams shells, but recently I have just been using a spoon with a long handle and scooping a little of the mix into each shell. Hazed and Infused is the perfect foil for briny clams and the richness of the garlic and butter.

Sake Update

A few of you have asked how the sake is coming along. Well, things are actually pretty good.

After some serious self doubt, I have concluded that the whole process went pretty well for a first try at fermenting. So far, here's what I have learned:

First: Sake definitely is easier to make if you start it in colder months like I was instructed, but then foolishly ignored

Second: I now know that you need something finer than cheese cloth to strain your sake, I had way too much solid in my finished product which wasted as much as a half gallon of sake overall.

Third: Bob Taylor, the sake guru, is a most patient and helpful man. I would have been pretty lost if not for his constant cooperation in my endeavor. Cheers to him and his excellent blog. Thanks Bob!

Fourth: I think the most enjoyable sake was the unpasteurized sake right out of the fermenter. It had a very light fresh taste with hints of vanilla, coconut, and flowers. After it was pasteurized, the fresh flowery taste disappeared.

Fifth: Now, my sake seems to be better if it is opened and allowed to breath for a day before drinking. The flavor mellows a bit and loses its sharper overtones. It is very full-flavored robust sake. It has a dry finish which I like, but there's fruity, almost acid quality I am not so sure about. Perhaps I should age it some more? Bob, any thoughts on this?

So there you have it! I think I am going to take a bottle and save it for a couple more months to see if the taste improves any. Perhaps by then, Geof and Carla will be brave enough to revisit Sue's sake and give me another review? Perhaps they could even come up with a name for it like those really fancy sakes have like, "Misty Maiden's Folly" or perhaps "Wandering Lunatic" or even "Drunken Deer". But seriously, I really enjoyed making sake, and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest.

More From Lady Pilsner on Walnut Liqueur

My sister sent me an unusual contra-band present this year for xmas. It was a very mysterious unlabeled glass bottle full of inky liquid wrapped entirely in clear packing tape to prevent spillage in its 1500 mile journey from central Europe to the States. There was a small handwritten note explaining that this was nocino, or walnut liqueur, and that baby Jesus wanted us to have some. We figured that if baby Jesus wanted us to have it we better damn' well try some. After examining it for a good long while, shaking it, sniffing it, and staring at it in a glass we finally got up enough courage to try it. It was earthy, nutty, sweet, spicy and mmm mmm good! Perfect for the holidays. We also tried it in coffee and hot chocolate with favorable results. So now, my sis, the L o' P, has been good enough to share with us how nocino is made...

I had almost forgotten about Nocino or, in Czech, Orechovka or in plain English, walnut liqueur. My friend (also American, also here in E. Bohemia but with years in Italy behind her) reminded me of it when I was at her house last week, but I forgot about it until today, a good 2+ weeks late. The trick to Nocino is to catch the walnuts when they are still soft enough to eat after being saturated for 2 months in alcohol. Warning! This is not a treat for the faint of heart! I wasn't able to manage perfect timing this year, but I'm sure the Nocino will be fine, though I'm trying to forget this image I have of me gnawing away on those boozy nuts amidst Christmas festivities....



Nocino
1.5 L vodka or slivovice (plum brandy) in my case
30 green walnuts – ideally picked at the end of June – between the 24th and 25th to be precise
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
the cut up rind of one lemon in strips
3 cups of sugar
Quarter the nuts and mix them in a mason jar with all the remaining ingredients. Place the mason jar in a warm place and let sit for 2 months. Filter and bottle. Age for 6 months in a cool dark place.
The Czech recipe I found is surprisingly similar – they substitute “5 circles of orange rind in sugar” for the lemon rind and halve the amount of cloves and cinnamon. As to the taste – maybe Ms. Chops can describe it better (she got a bottle for Christmas last year ) – it is definitely not a walnut liqueur on the lines of amaretto. The liqueur is strong and (as I recall) somewhat herbal, and there's definitely bitter mixed in with the sweet. Right now, two days in, my nocino is this inky green tourmaline color, but it turns nearly black with time.
I can't say last year's batch made it past Christmas, so much for the aging 6 months. By its rate of disappearance, it seemed that last year's batch – my first – was a success. I think the toughest customer was a friend's father (and a court psychiatrist at that) who is a strict follower of the Czech/Moravian cult of slivovice. The look of disdain on his face when offered this walnut liqueur was daunting, but after being assured that it was no weak girly drink and was indeed based on slivovice, he managed to down a good couple shots of the stuff.

Not too hot to bake!

Today it is 95 in the shade. Definitely not the kind of day you'd want to be baking bread. But, I confess dear readers, this is what I am up to. Remember way back when I told you all about the 5 minute artisan bread recipe? Well, I am still baking bread- in fact, I can't stop! It is a personal crusade of mine to not buy bread from the store if I can help it. But since it's so hot, I have discovered that I can bake bread in my grill with the top down. This, I actually discovered this past winter when, I broke the stove. How do you break a stove, you ask? Well, you take it apart so well you can't get it back together again! This left us with no stove for over two weeks while we waited for our new one to arrive. It was an interesting psychological experiment though because, having no stove, it turns out, instantly transforms me into a raving lunatic. The minute I didn't have a working oven all I could think of to eat were things that had to be baked, broiled, or roasted. One day, in a moment of desperation, I just threw the baking stone on a medium high grill and when it heated up to about 450, I put the bread in and cooked until done! Surprisingly enough, it turned out great. This method is now my preferred way to bake bread in the summer so I don't have to heat up the house with 450 degree oven. So far, I have had good results with the white/wheat french loaf, oat bran bread, rolls, and even challah (in a loaf pan)!

More about Elderflowers

I was intrigued by the thought of elderflower soda, so I did some research on elderflowers and came up with a bunch of factoids. First, I will answer my own question- Elderflowers taste, not like elders, but slightly like anisette as best I can guess. St. Germaine liqueur is made out of elderflower. Though Sambuca, which is named after elder (the species name for elder is Sambucus) is not made out of elder. In Hungary they make an elderflower wine and apparently Europeans employ elderflowers and elderberries in many other applications such as tea, syrups, sodas (Fanta makes an elder flavored soda believe it or not). Who knew? Secondly, wiccan folklore has it that if you remove an eldertree from your land, a spirit called an "elder mother" will seek revenge upon you. Third, the woodear fungus made famous by Asian cuisine, prefers elder trees as its host. Fourth, biblical legend has it that Judas hanged himself from an eldertree so woodear fungus is also called judas ear fungus. Sounds delicious, right? So there you go! I also think I found a variety of elder growing on my own property, although it doesn't taste very good. Too bad! Now I have to do some more research to see if American Elder is good for anything...