Homemade Butter

Do you fall on the butter or the margarine side of the debate? There's no question where I stand, butter is the better option as it's natural, saturated fats that one's body needs. The French are well known for their diets high in fats, yet they have very low incidence of heart disease. Or perhaps you are a margarine user believing what the marketers have filled your head with, that margarine is healthy for your heart. If that's the case, do a little experiment: place a tub of Becel in a garage and let it sit there for an entire year. You'll be astounded with what you find. Looks the same as the day you put it there. Is that something you really want to consume? If you are a margarine consumer you may want to do some research and reconsider your choice. Trans fats, polyunsaturated fats, hydrogenated oils, not exactly something that you could make yourself at home.



Butter, on the other hand, is something you can easily make in your own kitchen within minutes. Have you ever whipped whipping cream in a mixer for a dessert or perhaps an Irish coffee and over whipped the cream? If you have, than you've already started the butter making process. That simple!

To make your own at home all that is required is whipping cream at room temperature, a mixer, salt, cheese cloth and cold water. Pour the cream into a chilled sterilized bowl and begin to whip.


The cream will become light and fluffy. Continue to whip until the cream starts to resemble scrambled eggs.


The buttermilk will begin to separate from the butter and if you're not watching closely you'll also find yourself having to clean up a big mess.


Once the cream has taken on a solid form, strain off the whey using cheese cloth and submerge in ice cold water and knead your butter squeezing out any excess buttermilk.


Continue this process, kneading and changing the water with fresh water as needed. Using butter pats or your hands shape the butter. You can add salt at this point; we opted for no salt and placed the extra butter wrapped in wax paper in the freezer.


We enjoyed our homemade butter on a baguette with a little sprinkle of salt. The bread was merely a hold device for the butter. Heaven!

"It is a slow roasted pork...

"It is a slow roasted pork, nothing fancy, just happens to be my favorite."

Those were the words spoken by Johnny Depp playing Agent Sands in the movie "Once Upon a Time in Mexico".  One night I decided to check out the DVD Special Features and found a short where the director (Robert Rodriguez) shows you how to make the dish.  I was hooked.

Puerco Pebil

I have made this dish many, many times.  Every time, I am asked for the recipe, so here it is.  One should exercise caution when approaching this dish as in the movie a chef is killed (whacked) for making this dish too well.  Consider yourself warned.  I have very slightly modified this recipe from the one Rodriguez provides on the DVD.

Spices

You will need to make a trip to a specialty grocer as I know you don't have annatto seeds in the pantry.

You can find them at Pete's Frootique.  All the other spices are standard issue.

You should use whole spices, and grind them in a coffee grinder.  As Rodriguez points out, you'll need one dedicated for spices otherwise your coffee will start to taste like spices.

Grind the following into powder, as fine as you can get it:

2 tbsp annatto seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorn
8 allspice
1/2 tsp cloves

The Secret Sauce

In a blender, mix:

1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tbsp salt
8 cloves of garlic
Couple habanero peppers (seeds removed)

Then add:

Juice of five lemons
A splash of the finest tequila you can find

Add the ground spices to the mixture on the blender.

Puerco

Cut up a good sized pork roast into cubes.  Shoulder, butt, whatever you can find.  This dish, incidentally, is also really nice with beef.  And could also be made with chicken, although I've never done that.  Put the pork into a large ziploc bag, and pour the liquid mixture over it and coat it well.

Line an overproof pan with banana leaves.

Pour in the pork, then top with more banana leaves.  Use tinfoil on top of that to seal it.

You want the seal to be as tight as possible, so no moisture escapes.

Cook at 325 F for 4 hours.

Serve on a bed of white or Spanish rice.  I've also used a fork to pull it apart and served it on tortilla chips.  I've also served it in soft tortilla's with guacamole, salsa and cheese.  I've also served it on top of a cornbread biscuit topped with a poached egg and guacamole (a fall out of your chair good eggs benedict).  This stuff is durable, versatile and very, very good.

A dish so good, you might get whacked just for making it.  Enjoy!

A Bloody Valentine to Local Eating

This Valentine's Day dinner included a rack of Bill Wood's lamb.  Bill Wood, of Wood 'N Hart Farm in Tatamagouche, needs no introduction.  His is the lamb on the menus of the best restaurants in the region.   But this isn't a story about Wood 'N Hart Farms.  It's my Valentine's Card to Nova Scotia food.

The preparation of this lamb couldn't be simpler.  I seasoned it with salt & pepper.  I browned it quickly with butter in a saute pan, sprinkled it with rosemary & thyme from the window box, then finished it in the oven.

That's it.  When I carved the rack, the lamb was a beautiful, blushing shade of pink (I like my lamb rare, in the British tradition of my family).  A glorious juice which reminded me of pinot noir spilled out onto the cutting board.  I served it with mint sauce made from my grandmother's recipe.

I'm not a proponent of local eating per se.  I'm a proponent of eating the best quality food I can find.  It just so happens that the best you can find, in Nova Scotia, is what is produced right here.  Cooking this rack of Nova Scotia lamb and making it part of a special family meal was my way to send a Valentine's Card to all of the Nova Scotia food producers out there.  Keep up the great work!

The Best Beef in Nova Scotia

A lot of people have been asking me where I buy my beef from.  So I'm going to tell you, along with the story of how I found it.

Kelly and I are steadfast Halifax Farmer's Market shoppers.  Relocating to Nova Scotia in 2008 forced us to seek out new purveyors for all the things we love, and one of my "loves" is steak.  Over the course of a summer I purchased the same cut of steak (rib-eye), at the same thickness, from every supplier of beef I could find.  This included all of the Farmer's Market vendors, the local grocery chains (high-end and low-end), little butcher shops tucked away in corners, farm outlets, anyone selling cow.  Some were really disappointing, most were decent, some were great.  But there was a clear winner.

Highview Farms

LeRoy Little of Highview Farms is one of the many vendors at the Halifax Farmer's Market that Kelly and I have developed a relationship with.  LeRoy and his wonderful wife Kathy raise Highland cattle on a beautiful farm in the Annapolis Valley, overlooking the Minas Basin.  Highland cattle are an ancient, hardy breed developed in the Scottish Highlands.  The royal family maintains a fold of Highland's at Balmoral Castle, and it is considered the royal beef of choice.  And LeRoy can well attest to that, as he provided beef for "her majesty" when she was visiting Halifax in July 2010.

Farm Visit

Kelly and I visited Highview Farm in October 2009.  The cattle live outdoors year round and feed on natural grass and hay.

Many of the cows have names and they are treated on the farm like pets.  Here Kelly is getting to know "Ruby" the cow.

The cattle receive no growth hormones, steroids or antibiotics.  These are happy cows enjoying a comfortable, healthy, natural life.

LeRoy giving one of the bulls some scratches on the chin.

Beef

A result of their natural diet and typical of the breed, Highview Farms Highland cattle are slow to  reach a size suitable for processing.  Once finished, the resulting beef has a beautiful marbling of fat.  It should also be mentioned that Highland beef has some incredible nutritional benefits as well, such as being a third lower in fat and cholesterol than other breeds.

The beef has a wonderful grassy aroma.  Above is a Highview Farms rib-eye that I requested have the bone left in.

Custom and obscure cuts are no problem here.

Dry Aging

Highview Farms beef is dry aged for between 21 to 30 days, which concentrates the flavour.  You can only dry age the best cuts of beef to begin with, plus it adds additional cost as you lose some beef during the aging process.  So if you're wondering why you don't see dry aged beef at the Sobey's or Costco, now you know.  It's typically only available at steakhouses or high-end butchers.

A Highview Farm Steak

I usually grill my steaks on the BBQ, but a recent post on the Brooklyn Warehouse chef's blog led me to try pan grilling in butter, and I've found the recents fantastic.

In his 2010 book "Steak: One Man's Search for the World's Tastiest Piece of Beef", Mark Schatzker rates a grass-fed Highland steak (sampled in Scotland) as A+.

I carved this steak up into slices and heaped it onto a plate, reserving the bone for gnawing on once the beef was all gone.

Highview Farms beef has a beautiful, rich flavour, and a juicy, meaty texture.  In my continual search for the finest beef available, it's the best I've found.

Beyond Restaurant Quality

I recently had a steak at a Halifax high-end steakhouse.  The appetizer was incredible, the side dish great, the cocktails delicious.  But the steak was a disappointment.  It was cooked to a turn but flavourless.

A typical large scale beef producer will sell their finest quality beef to restaurants at a premium cost, rendering this product largely unavailable to the retail consumer.  Because of the low production at Highview Farms (they process one animal every couple of months), they can't supply restaurants as they don't produce the volumes.  What this means for you is that all of their beef is available for sale, not just the leftovers after the commercial customers have picked them over.  And when Highview Farms does sell to a professional chef (which they often do), they are selling them the same product they would sell to you.

You can find LeRoy Little selling his beef at the Halifax Historic Farmer's Market, and his wife Kathy at the Wolfville Farmer's Market, every Saturday morning.

Lamb Bellies with Mint Stuffing

I love the challenge of turning something that others might not consider ever eating, let alone cooking, into a regular household favourite. Lamb bellies has been one of those discoveries that we look forward to having and like to introduce to others.


Being a fan, no make that a lover of pork belly, I was intrigued the first time I saw lamb bellies at Wood n Hart Farms at the Halifax Farmer's Market. My inquires led to the discovery that the lamb belly cut was the result of an American chef's request and Bill thought he would introduce it to his Halifax clientele to see if there was any interest. I was keen to try it using Bill's recommendation of an apricot stuffing. The first attempt involved a stuffing made of bread crumbs, apricots, onions, herbs, butter and salt and pepper. It was good! Since that first attempt I continue to seek out the perfect lamb belly stuffing and after close to 10 variations, I've found our household favorite. The stuffing...mint, lots of it from the garden or indoor herb pot, stale bread crumbs, finely chopped onion, butter, egg and salt & pepper.


As mentioned, for those that you that live in Halifax, you can find lamb bellies at the old historic Halifax market at Wood n Hart, provided I've not been there before you and purchased the lot. Should you not be fortunate enough to live in this city, check with your local butcher who might be able to obtain this unappreciated cut.

Remove some of the fat and most the membrane from the bellies. Mix up the bread crumbs, mint, onion, butter, egg salt and pepper. You'll need butcher's string, 2 pieces per belly to keep the belly together. Roll the stuffed lamb bellies, membrane side out. Slice a clove of garlic and place a few pieces of garlic in your lamb belly roll.


Add a little oil and butter to a cast iron pan, brown the bellies and place in the oven to finish cooking for about a half hour.


Serve with braised leeks, celeriac or any side vegetable that you have available.


Bon appetit!

World's Greatest Fried Chicken

We recently purchased a deep fryer, breaking down after years of healthy-eating objections.  I've used it a couple of times so far and I must say it really is handy.  It's great to have so much more control over the oil temperature, along with the added benefit of being inherintly safer than a pot of scorching hot oil on the stovetop.  I've made some terrific french fries and potato chips with it, but I felt it was time to try something a little more complicated.  I settled on Buttermilk Fried Chicken, from Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc" cookbook.  According to Keller, if there is a better recipe for fried chicken he hasn't tried it, which is good enough for me.

First to find a suitable chicken.  I've been buying whole chickens from Maple and Ewe Farm for a little over a year and I'm convinced it's the best chicken in Nova Scotia.  The chickens are lovingly raised outdoors in the Annapolis Valley, foraging for their food and eating a chicken's natural diet of grubs, worms and seeds.  I buy them from LeRoy Little of Highview Farms, who sells his product at the old Halifax Farmer's Market. 

The first step is to cut the bird into it's 10 pieces (two backs, two drumsticks, four half breasts and two wings).  This was the first time I had ever cut up a whole chicken, and it made me feel pretty dumb for buying just breasts or drumsticks for all those years.  Teach yourself to cut up a whole chicken and you'll save yourself a lot of money over the years by not paying someone else to do it for you.

The next step is to brine the chicken.

Even the recipes from this cookbook, which are intended to be informal, casual cooking, are still more complicated than most.  This chicken brine, for instance; simply salt and water isn't good enough, this one calls for lemons, bay leaves, honey, garlic, peppercorns, thyme and parsley.  I guess my definition of casual differs from Thomas Keller's.

Once the chicken is brined, it's time for the buttermilk batter.  

The chicken pieces are first dredged in seasoned flour, then dipped in buttermilk, then dredged a second time in the seasoned flour, then into the deep fryer.

The recipe says to fry the chicken 11 to 12 minutes, but I found it very subject to the size of the pieces.  My instant read thermometer came in handy, since it's really tricky to gauge whether the chicken is fully cooked in this preparation.  I ended up frying my chicken more like 16 minutes per piece.

The finished product, Thomas Keller's Buttermilk Fried Chicken.

The verdict?  Unbelievably good.  Having only eaten the Colonel's fried chicken up to this point, I had no idea that fried chicken could be so delicious.  You'd better buy a deep fryer.

Leek Potato Oyster Soup

During the fall and winter I often find myself craving homey foods like stews and soups. Or perhaps the reason we eat this way is more predicated on the fact that during this time of the year vegetable options are limited and much of what we can find locally are root vegetables. I prefer to think that it is something that I long for and we'll stick with that. So back to it, there is something very comforting in such foods, but this mid December I wanted something a little different and Fergus Henderson had just that something...leek potato oyster soup.

Off to the Halifax historic farmer's market on Saturday morning with my list. Hutten's Family Farms for leeks, potatoes and onions and Indian Point Mussels for the briny juicy oysters. This dish was extremely simple to prepare, using very basic ingredients that when combined together resulted in a delicious and very filling soup.

Chop 4 potatoes, slice one onion, 6 or 7 leeks and 5 cloves of garlic. Toss all but the potatoes into a heavy bottomed pot with 7 tablespoons of butter and allow them to sweat on a low heat.

I love using Henderson's recipes for a number of reasons, the challenge and sometimes great results, but also for his style of writing. He writes of food with such respect, giving it life, no other cookbook we have in our home is written in this manner and it always leaves me feeling grateful. In Henderson's words, once the leeks, onions and garlic start 'giving' add potatoes and cook for 8 minutes and then add stock and bring to a gentil boil.

I used fish stock as we have plenty in the freezer from our fall and winter shares in Off the Hook. Tossing all those fish heads was not something I could bring myself to do, it just seemed wrong, wasteful and disrespectful when we could turn it into something that we could later use. Making stock is effortless and a good way to use those food scrapes that may not have any other use. For those of you that think it's too much effort, bullocks....more effort is required in going to the grocery store and waiting in line to buy it. If you don't have fish stock, chicken stock is a great second option.

While the vegetable mixture fills your kitchen with a wonderful aroma, it's time to start shucking those oysters. This is by far the most challenging aspect of the dish. Rinse the oysters and use a tea towel to protect your hand while opening. Do be careful with that oyster shucker, otherwise you may NOT be enjoying your soup, but off to the doctor's office for stitches muttering a few choice words.

Reserve the briny juices from the oysters to add to the soup.

Once the potatoes are soft, toss the mixture into a blender and puree. Return pureed mixture to the pot and add salt and pepper to taste, mix in the oyster brine, plate (or in this case bowl) and top with a couple of fresh juicy oysters.

Enjoy!