Drinking vin d'orange

This is the sequel: for some reason I didn't put enough sugar in, make a nice, bitter aperitif - but I think I might have to slightly increase the sugar content next time.  Also, on this occasion there was a lot of "lees" - and even after 8 weeks the mixture was continuing to ferment - so when it was bottled it was necessary to put the lids on loosely to allow gas to continue to escape.

I strained it several times through muslin - but it didn't really do the trick.  I am not sure why this has happened, but my guess is that the weather has been so cold that the fermentation has been slower.  There has been a little fermentation before, and we once tragically lost a whole bottle when the thing overflowed when it opened...and someone wasn't speedy enough to put the top back on - so.

The other essential for enjoying vin d'orange is sunshine - and although our garden is looking pretty, green and floriferous, yet there hasn't been the "right sort of sunshine" and most of our vin d'orange has been consumed in a chilly, grey atmosphere.  

Something else to do with Seville oranges

Actually, there are tons of things - I made a wonderful Seville orange granita one year, and I'm sure it would do a good ice cream as well.  But the most favoured use of the oranges in this house is making vin d'orange.  This is a knock-out aperitif which is almost addictive.  The drawback is, you can't drink it for 2 months - then again, we wouldn't want to drink it before April usually.

On this occasion I was the proud possessor of the remains of a wine box of rose wine which had gone "past its sell by date".  So although it was not terribly unpleasant to drink, it was a bit flat - dull and unexciting, but this is not problem for vin d'orange.  Take 1.5 lits rose, cheap is good - expensive probably better, but I've never tried, slice 5 seville oranges and a lemon and mix into a large sealable container with the wine (I use a big square tupperware style box).  Then take a vanilla pod, scrape the seads into the mix, add 100ml dark rum and 250 ml vodka and 300 g caster sugar (granulated is fine).   Mix them up, seal them up and keep in a    cool place for 6-8 weeks (this means my cellar - the recipe says chill, so a fridge might be better.).   After 6-8 weeks strain, bottle and serve chilled.

I think there is too much vodka in this, we usually find the drink rather strong - two glasses seems absurd at times.  So this time we used about 150 ml vodka - and hope for the best.

The real trick is whether you can make the vin d'orange last the 6-8 weeks it takes to make the next batch. Perhaps I should just buy another box.   You can also make this wine with sweet oranges - add a bit more lemon or a bit less sugar - it won't be the same but it will still be wonderful.

Marmalade

I haven't made marmalade for a couple of years,  The last time I made it I was meant to be giving a "masterclass" to Claire Dugue - but we started drinking and laughing and forgot about the marmalade which turned into an orangey glue... it loosened up a bit after a few months apparently, but I was deeply ashamed of this terrible production.

This year, feeling ashamed at having had to BUY marmalade, I made a vast quantity.  I made two very large jars to give to aging parents (Stella and Peter) and the rest about 450 g jars - 18 of them.   I used about 3kgs of oranges, and about 5.5kg of sugar.  I do not like to use 1:2 ratio as it is much too sweet to my taste - I also use a mix of granulated sugar (about 70-80%) with dark muscovado sugar.  I bought a 5kg bag of sugar for £4.95 - and the oranges were about 65p per kg (I bought about 3.5kg - the rest I used elsewhere).  The only other ingredient was a lemon and the muscavado sugar, say £1.50 in all... and of course the gas used to cook it.  I started at about 11.30 this morning and finished at about 5.15 - so approximately 5 hours work really... but some of the boiling time was usefully occupied doing other things.

So, 20 jars of marmalade for £8.50 - about 45p a jar,. not a bad bargain at all - bet I could sell them for £2.50 or so if I put pretty labels and covers on them.... but there's no outlet for that, unless I revive my market stall.  But it would be £40 for 5 hours work - £8.00 an hour.  Quite a good whack locally.  I doubt if I could make any other product quite so cheaply... apple chutney perhaps - and if I ever had a bumper quince crop...

The trick that has really made marmalade making a joy, is being able to wash the grotty old pots in the dishwasher - spending hours scrubbing at them and drying them in the oven was a terrible bore. 

Christmas leftovers

There's no shortage of advice on this topic.  I make all the usual turkey curries, and turkey pasta bakes etc.  I saw a very good savoury Bath bun - with turkey stuffing and cranberry filling, instead of the usual fruit filling - which I didn't have a chance to try.

On 6th January I had an "End of Christmas" party - which was great.  I really wanted to get rid of all the Christmas goodies - but ended up with a lot left, because people brought so many nice things.

One thing I did was this, to use up old cheese, cranberry sauce and a packet of filo that was in tatters when I opened it. It was remarkably delicious.

Cranberry & Cheese Baklava

(my recipe)

1 small packet of filo, can be broken up, scraps of fio

Melted butter,

Grated cheese – any mix – basic leftovers

Leftover cranberry sauce – pref. Homemade.,

Mix cranberry with grated cheese

Butter baking dish, put in a layer of bits of filo, dribbled with melted butter, then put in a layer of cheese mix – cover with more layers of filo – and melted butter.  Another layer of cheese, then cover with filo, paint with butter, put into Oven 4-5 at top for 30 mins.... cut into squares immediately – leave to cool for a short time, serve warm.

Sorry about the lack of quantities - it doesn't really matter very much, if you like it fruity put in more cranberry, more cheese if you like it less fruity,  I used c. 100g cheese which included goat cheese and feta cheese, and about 5 tbsps of cranberry sauce, quite a tart homemade one.  It was quite a good balance.  This will make a small tray of "baklava" - can be cut into c. 24 bits.   

Christmas cooking

Now that it's over, I can think about it a bit more clearly.

This year I delved into Elizabeth David - her Christmas recommendations are always rather good - traditional British foods using domestic ingredients - not a lot of virgin olive oil required.

I made absolutely traditional things: gammon studded with cloves (2!) a tongue (a regular feature) and spiced beef - which was a new one on me.  I saw some heavily reduced silverside in Sainsbury's - £7.50 for a sizeable piece - froze it for a week or so, and took it out to make it.  I was a little suspicious of it, because it spends all its time outside the fridge... it was a little salty, but the spices (all spice, pepper and juniper berries) came through well - and the lack of saltpetre was not a problem - it was a nice enough colour - looking like well-cooked cold roast beef.  It cut into nice thin slices, lovely with all those pickles and chutnies and lasted several days.

I made a new mincemeat recipe - using clarified butter rather than suet - it was delicious and of course, suitable for vegetarians.  I wish I could make a decent crumbly soft pastry for them.  We also had a new Christmas pudding recipe - which was utterly delicious the best ever - no stout, no treacle so it didn't look quite so Victorian.  I always found those very dark puddings a bit of a shock.  I made "brandy butter" ice cream which was rather nice - but it's necessary not to eat it until it's slightly melted, otherwise there's a slightly off greasy mouth feeling - not good!  I also made the usual Myrtle Allen Ballymaloe Christmas cake which I like - it's lighter I feel than the Jane Grigson one I used to make.

As usual we had turkey - the boys all wanted it.  I made the usual chestnut and sausagemeat stuffing - I found it a bit bland this year, even though I'd improved it with chopped chestnuts, etc.  More salt and pepper  perhaps?

We had three large meals - Mark's birthday - I made croquetas de jamon, then hot baked ham with cumberland sauce, pommes dauphinoise, and other veg. followed by Christmas pudding, brandy butter ice cream and chocolate brownies and vanilla ice cream for the children.

The second was Christmas Day - we had turkey, followed by the Bakewell Cheesecake - which really is delicious.

The final delights were on 29th December when my family came.  Polly brought chicken pies and green beans, and fantastic cheeses, and a wonderful chocolate cake ( a Nigella Lawson Chocolate and Marsala cake).  Coellie brought some party snacks for pre-dinner drinks and I made tongue, ham and spiced beef and salads, and a trifle and the Yule log.

Yule log works well with chocolate ganache icing rather than butter icing - and the filling of chestnut and whipped cream was fine, but needed more vanilla.  I always forget that the plain chestnut puree needs a lot of things added to it to make it better - whether used in savory or sweet things.

Blueberry fool

I always think blueberries are a bit over-rated, but I found some relatively cheap ones - and they've been hiding in the fridge for a while.  Desperate for a pudding, I first made them into a sauce, with sugar, orange juice, water and orange zest - thickened with a little cornflour.  Then I discovered some cream that needed to be used - so whipped that and mixed it in - and a wonderful purple fool emerged... very good with the coconut cake I was making - and generally nice.   It occurred to me that a fruit fool like this could make a good layer in a really wonderful trifle... maybe I'll make one in the summer.

A History of Cheese Making in America

Well - this is the fantasy title of the book I will one day write - alternatively, a rather short book that will never be written.  I am still trying to get to the bottom of the US cheesemaking tradition - it seems pretty clear that there isn't one.  I know that there is Monterey Jack, "yellow cheese" "white cheese", Kraft, Cheese Whizz - and a number of tiny locally made artisan cheeses.

The US was primarily peopled by Italians, Germans, the English, the French (initially), the Spanish, the Dutch (initially), the Irish, Scandinavians - these are all cheese-making peoples (I am not excluding Afro-Chinese etc. americans, but they aren't great cheesemakers).  So what happened when they got to America? Presumably those who farmed carried on making cheese when possible (I don't remember any cheese making scenes in Little House on the Prarie though)?  Presumably mass production killed it off, and now it is being revived on an artisan basis in small isolated spots...

Recently I have tried asking Americans and Canadians about this... they don't seem to recognise that there is any sort of deficiency in not having at least a dozen decent, enjoyable domestic cheeses which are as different from each other as Stilton from Cheddar, as Aged Red Leicester is from Cornish brie, Yarg from Ashmore or Fleur Marie or Blacksticks or.... well, you get the picture, and we are not really a Great Cheesemaking Nation.