News – Page 4 – Alice the Cook

January 5, 2011

Cooking Techniques of the Renaissance

Preparing food with heat or fire is an activity unique to humans and over the years it has perfected into an art form. Many anthropologists believe that cooking over a fire developed around 250,000 years ago. From cooking, developed agriculture, commerce, and transportation across different regions, offering cooks new ingredients and techniques. New inventions and technologies, such as pottery to hold and boil water, expanded cooking techniques.

The most common cooking techniques included roasting with a firedog over an open fire where instead of cooking on a single spit, they use multiple spits. Meats roasted on these firedogs included joints of larger animals or multiple smaller animals being cooked together.

Boiling meats was also popular. Using large cauldrons, cooks would place meat in boiling water or wine and place the meat into the pot using large hooks called flesh hooks. Meat was often parboiled before they were roasted on a firedog. Other cooking techniques include frying, hearth baking, and oven baking.

One of the techniques that fell out of favor over the years is salt baking. Baking in salt is not difficult. This technique has become popular in many of the fine dining establishments where servers will crack and remove with flourish. Inside the white salt dome lies perfectly cooked, moist and fragrant fish. Baking fish (or vegetables, even other meats) in a salt crust creates a sort of oven within an oven. The salt seals in moisture essentially steaming the fish inside. Because the salt absorbs the moisture, the texture of the fish ultimately is more like roasted than steamed fish.

Below is a fairly easy-to-follow recipe on how to create your own salt baked fish. I have created this dish using a multitude of seafood including salmon, trout, eel, and other local white fish. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Ingredients:
4 cups kosher salt
1 whole red snapper, striped bass, or porgy (1-1/2 pounds), cleaned and scaled (we used tilapia in this recipe and it was delicious)
1 lemon
3 rosemary or thyme sprigs

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line 13-inch by 9-inch baking pan with foil; spread 2 cups salt in bottom of pan.

Rinse fish inside and out with cold running water; pat dry with paper towels. From lemon, cut 3 slices. Cut remaining lemon into wedges. Place lemon slices and rosemary or thyme in cavity of fish.

Place fish on bed of salt; cover with remaining 2 cups salt. Bake until fish is just opaque throughout when knife is inserted at backbone, about 30 minutes.

During the Renaissance, cooks would place parchment, leaves, or husks in the bottom of the pot and place the fish on top of it. It would allow the fish to bake in the salt without burning or scorching the salt or the fish.

To serve, tap salt crust to release from top of fish; discard. Slide cake server under front section of top fillet and lift off fillet; transfer to platter. Slide server under backbone and lift it away from bottom fillet; discard. Slide cake server between bottom fillet and skin and transfer fillet to platter. Serve with reserved lemon wedges.

Yield: 2 main dish servings

As you can see from the photo timeline, we pulled it from the open fire, removed the crust, and plated the dish for presentation.

November 25, 2009March 5, 2012

Sausage Hash – Perfect side dish for Thanksgiving

This is the latest article from Renaissance Magazine. It offers a great recipe for a side dish that is perfect for Thanksgiving that can be altered for the vegetarian family members. Don’t let the name fool you, the vegetarian version is just as tasty.

Autumn is in full swing and soon the weather will cool and summon winter to come forth. The fall and winter months herald several holidays that celebrate family, togetherness, and love. The holidays also bring forth family feasts that help solidify relationships with family and friends.

As a child, my family’s holiday dinners usually consisted of the standard roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, and stuffing. As an adult who likes to show off their culinary skills, I tend to cook less 20th century traditional recipes and cook more historical dishes; one of which is Sausage Hash.

Food image is credited to: Bill Moss, Moss Fotografica

This particular dish is a favorite among my family and friends and is extremely versatile and easy to make. It can be used as a breakfast dish, a side item for a holiday dinner, or as an entrée. During the holidays, I have been known to prepare this dish in mass quantities, package them up, and give them as gifts to my close friends, one of whom has been known to eat several pounds of this tasty treat in one setting.

This dish can also be altered for vegetarians or those who keep Kosher or Halal, as you will see from the recipe.

Ingredients:
Approximately 2 lbs of course ground country-style pork sausage or vegetarian sausage crumbles (Morning Star Farms has a great product – if using the vegetarian sausage, 3 TB of olive oil will be needed)
1 large onion or 3 leeks (a mild onion flavored vegetable), diced
2 lbs of carrots, thick julienned (size of twig or finger, but not matchstick sized)
1 lb of sweet potatoes, peeled and thick julienned
3 lbs of red potatoes, thick julienned
4 gloved of garlic, minced
2 sprigs of rosemary
Fistful of fresh chives, minced and divided
Kosher or sea salt (to taste)
Black pepper (to taste)

Using a large pot, begin to sauté the sausage on medium heat to brown. While sautéing, break the sausage up into smaller pieces and add the onions and the garlic. The higher end sausage such as farm made, Amish made, or home made sausage is best, but standard course ground sausage may be used as well. Avoid using Italian or spicy sausage blends as it alters the flavor. Additional spices or hot sauces can be added after serving to suit individual tastes. Instead of the pork-based sausage, vegetarians or those trying to cut back the fat content, can sauté the vegetarian sausage in the olive oil to brown.

When the sausage with the onions and garlic has begun to brown, add the carrots and potatoes, stirring occasionally. If you notice the pan has a low fat content, add a cup of water to assist in the cooking process. When the potatoes and the carrots are nearly tender, remove the rosemary from the stems and add half of the chives. Continue stirring to blend the ingredients. Add a couple of pinches of salt and pepper to taste. It is important that table salt is not used in this dish and only sea or Kosher salt is used.

When the vegetables are fork tender, pull off the heat while continuing to stir. The left over chives should be used as a garnish sprinkled on top of the hash after serving.

This recipe can be duplicated as a vegetable hash by leaving out the meat or vegetarian sausage, and sautéing the same vegetables in the olive oil until fork tender. This makes a colorful side dish for any family dinner or special event.

October 12, 2009October 12, 2009

Gratitude

This past season and year have been amazing. First, I became the official food writer for “Renaissance Magazine.”

Second, despite the weather, the appearance at Siouxland was well w mrf090913143 orth it between the demonstrations and cookbook sales. The cold and rainy weather did not diminish our spirits!

Third, we experienced some amazing weather at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. There was no rain until final weekend. The demos went well, fed an average of 100 people each day, amd sold more cookbooks. Also, the community kitchen in which we help feed the cast members, were nominated and received the “Best Group Award” in 2009 at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We were touched by everyone’s generosity and kindness; we couldn’t have done it without your help.

I almost forgot to add that I also won a $100 gift certificate for my website as part of a Passion and Quality campaign.

We plan on returning in 2010. Thank you all.

May 5, 2009

Giving Back

One of the non-profits I support is Second Harvest Heartland. Second Harvest Heartland is the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization with a mission of ending hunger through community partnerships, and is a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization. They count on volunteer hours, food and cash donations.

Last month, my place of employment hosted a Week of Service where employees are encouraged to give back to the community via donations of goods or services. Several of us volunteered a couple of hours to Second Harvest. It was fun and educational.

At the end of the run each year at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, my members of my kitchen donate our tips to Second Harvest Heartland. For every $1 that is raised $9 of food is purchased for the community.

If you would like to consider a donation, visit their donation website HERE. Every little bit helps and offers an opportunity to help those less fortunate.

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May 4, 2009July 7, 2009

Keeping it Local

Each weekend, I visit our local farmer’s markets to pick up produce for the household. I visit the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market on Saturdays and the St. Paul Farmer’s Market on Sundays. I pick up fresh vegetables, herbs, meats, and dairy. I take pride in knowing that I am helping local farmers and other entrepreneurial spirits by visiting and purchasing from their booths. I still shop at our local grocery stores, but I do tend to favor the local shops and vendors.

Some of the delicacies I have encountered include Hope Butter, which provides a delicious finish to any dish or topping, Amish butter, or free-range dairy goods. Some people may not realize that grass-fed cattle and dairy cows are happy and their produce are high in Omega-3 fatty acids (good for you) and have less instances of illnesses and require less antibiotics and growth hormones (also good for you).

In the Twin Cities, I tend to favor plenty of local restaurants because they are not large conglomerates or they use locally raised produce. Among my favorites include Ngon Vietnamese Bistro, Wild Onion, or Lucia’s. Because of the economy, all restaurants are hurting, but if you take a moment to think about where you eat and who benefits from your dining out, you can make it worthwhile.