Real Food Wednesday 12/9/09

I’m a slacker, and a snacker so here’s a cracker, or well a cake, but cake doesn’t rhyme with snacker and cracker. I haven’t had a chance to write up any fun and fancy recipes lately so here is a post from good ‘ol cyber Monday on a natural cake mix that qualifies as fun and fancy.

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I did some experimenting to see if I could come up with a frugal way to make coconut milk, and ended up with coconut cream! This week I shared how I made coconut cream, coconut milk, and coconut flour – all from dried coconut that cost less than $2 a pound! It takes more time than opening a container from the store, but the savings are pretty substantial.

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Thanks, Kelly for the great information. We are getting ready to host our wine-making class this Friday and I’ll be using some of the recipes I picked up from cruising your links.

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I posted a recipe for healthy butter toffee. Also a couple other things that have been going on in my kitchen this week!

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I enjoyed the article on Splenda from Lisa. My friend recently switched from Splenda to Truvia. She asked me if I knew anything about it. Do you have any info. on this? Not sure whether this is safe or another chemical sweetener posing as, “natural.”

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Sharing a piece I heard on npr this morning (and also posted on fb and twitter): http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121173780 New Mexico dairy pollution sparks “manure war”

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My post is for homemade peanut butter cups.
They were pretty easy, and really good.

http://momsforsafefood.org/Blog/Entries/2009/12/7_Entry_1.html

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I’m so excited to share a traditional Spanish Christmas cookie called polvorones. Although they use unbleached white flour and organic powdered sugar, I couldn’t make myself alter the orginal recipe dating back to the 1800’s However, the bulk of these beauties are made with home rendered pork lard which makes them so wonderfully crumbly! Aah… I love traditional recipes using REAL food!!

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Gravlax – Elegant and lacto-fermented to boot!

I have been making homemade gravlax for years. Although the recipe couldn’t be easier and the ingredients aren’t particularly expensive or hard to come by, gravlax has a reputation as being a haute cuisine dish. Recently, I learned that it’s actually lacto-fermented*, so it’s the perfect recipe for a healthy, elegant holiday treat (and you have enough time to make a couple of test batches before the Christmas and New Years’ festivities are upon us so you can perfect your recipe and your technique before you try it on company). A word of warning, though. Even “non-real food” people have been known to tear into a plate of gravlax like wild dogs, so be prepared and make plenty.

The recipe, although super-simple, takes a bit of explaining because it’s not a technique we’re familiar. Also, gravlax is very adaptable and forgiving to make so every family or chef seems to have their own personal recipe and technique. I’ll give you a basic recipe, two variations that my family likes, and then provide some guidelines for you to adapt for your own use.

Classic Gravlax (Salt-and-Sugar Cured Salmon)
Takes 15 minutes to prepare and 24-48 hours to “cure”
Serves 2-8, depending on how you are serving it and how generous you’re being.

1 lb salmon filet (previously frozen so parasites are all killed)
2 T coarse (not fine**) salt – best quality
3 T sugar (Rapadura, Sucinat, brown, etc.)
2 t. black pepper
Fresh dill weed to taste — anywhere from 20 sprigs to “a bunch”

1. Rinse off the salmon and pat it dry.

2. Carefully remove any pin bones in the salmon with a tweezers or a clean needle-nosed pliers. Usually any bones are in a line and can be felt if you run your finger lightly over the filet. If you have a larger filet (or a whole side of salmon), you can find the bones more easily if put you “drape” the filet over a curved surface like an inverted bowl or your arm (like a maitre d’hotel drapes his/her towel), skin side down so the bones stick up and are easier to see and pull out.

3. Place the salmon skin side down on a large piece of plastic wrap or in a plastic bag or — if you want to avoid plastic — in a non-reactive dish. Thoroughly mix the salt/sugar/pepper in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over the top (some sources say put the salt on first, and then sprinkle on the sugar/pepper mixture — either method works).

4. Place the dill on top of the salmon. If you aren’t using a lot of dill or if you really love the flavor of dill, you may want to chop it up to get more flavor out of it. If you’re using a lot, the whole sprigs are fine.

5. Now all you need to do is cover and cure the salmon. If using plastic wrap, wrap the salmon/salt/sugar/dill “sandwich” up tightly. Take a second sheet of plastic wrap and wrap again. Place in a non-reactive dish a few inches deep (the container catches the juices that flow out during the curing process). If using a plastic bag, seal the bag after drawing out as much air as possible and put on a non-reactive dish or plate. If you don’t want to use plastic, cover your salmon “sandwich” (which is already in a non-reactive dish) with cheesecloth. Some people say that you get a better cure if you let the juices flow out and away from the salmon during the curing process — other people swear by the plastic bag method. My palate is not refined enough to tell the difference, I just eat the stuff.

6. Many people “weight” their gravlax because they think it improves the texture and evens the curing. “Weights” can be heavy plates, lids or bricks. Some people fill large plastic bags with water and use those as weights because they naturally apply even pressure throughout. Many people (like me) have never weighted their gravlax, and think it tastes just wonderful. It’s your choice.

7. You can start your cure with 6 hours in the garage, basement, porch or anywhere where the temperature is below 70 degrees, or you can put your gravlax directly into the refrigerator. Refrigerate anywhere from 24 hours (if you started your cure in the garage/basement/porch) to 48 hours (if you went directly into the refrigerator). The longer it cures, the saltier it gets …. Some recipes say to turn the salmon every 24 hours or so, but others don’t. Again, it’s your choice.

8. Unwrap the salmon, rinse off the cure and pat dry. If not serving immediately, re-wrap in new plastic wrap or put into non-reactive container with a lid and put back in the refrigerator. Keeps 3-7 days, depending on how cold your frige is.

9. To serve, slice off the skin in very very thin slices on the bias. Serve with plain or with lemon wedges, crème fraïche, sour cream, a light vinaigrette or mustard sauce. The skin (which will inevitably have bits of cured salmon clinging to it) is fabulous run under the broiler for about 2 seconds (skin side up). If you serve gravlax at a Christmas/New Years’ buffet, slice the cooked skin and serve it on a separate plate for people who prefer their seafood cooked.

Other Serving Ideas: At our house, we serve gravlax spread out on a bed of greens with our favorite vinaigrette (and fresh cherry tomatoes in the summer) and call it our “diet plate.” For New Years, we make little potato pancakes (the kind using grated potatoes, not mashed) and top them with a dollop of crème fraïche, a slice of gravlax and a little bit of salmon roe caviar. Yum!

If you have any leftovers (as if!), gravlax is a fabulous addition to scrambled eggs.

Variations on Classic Gravlax — all made as per classic recipe

Citrus Gravlax

1 lb salmon filet
2 T coarse salt
4 T Sucinat / brown sugar / Rapadura / maple sugar granules
2 t cinnamon pieces / chunks
1/2 – 1 t. juniper berries
citrus zest – one each orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit, or any combination thereof. We usually use oranges and lemons, but it depends on what you like

5-Spice Gravlax

1 lb salmon filet
2 T coarse salt
4 T Sucinat / brown sugar / Rapadura / maple sugar granules
1 T soy sauce
1/2 t. grated ginger

There are many more gravlax recipes available online, if you really want to start experimenting.

Here are some other ideas you might want to use in developing your own gravlax recipe:

The salt/sugar proportions are extremely flexible. I’ve seen ratios anywhere from equal parts sugar/salt to 2/1 sugar/salt — it depends on your personal preference and the kind of salt and sugar you are using. Since the sweeteners we all use are less sweet than refined, white sugar, as a general rule I use a slightly higher percentage of sugar than most recipes call for.

At our house, we almost always substitute maple sugar granules or maple syrup for the sugar ….

Some people like a bit of a smoky taste to their gravlax. There are three ways of doing this. The first is to put some of your favorite coarse salt in a pan and “smoke” it the next time you use your smoker or your grill. Second, you could add a bit of lapsang suchong tea to the salt/sugar rub so that some of its smoky flavor is absorbed by the fish (no, I don’t know how much, maybe a teaspoon?). Finally, you could rub a drop or two of Liquid Smoke all over the fleshy side of the salmon if you don’t mind using Liquid Smoke. (Liquid Smoke is supposedly all natural and does not contain chemicals, but I wonder ….)

You can vary your recipes by adding any of the following: citrus zest, juniper berries, caraway seeds, peppercorns, tarragon, shallots, bay leaves, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, anise seeds, cardomom pods, cloves, cumin seeds, cinnamon. Generally whole or cracked spices or spice chunks are better than ground/chopped, if you have a choice.

Some people rub the salmon with vodka, gin, aquavit, brandy, etc. before the salt/sugar are sprinkled on. Other people say this either doesn’t make a difference or it tastes awful….

We don’t like pepper and never use it.

*The salt in the cure inhibits the growth of the microorganisms that cause spoilage through osmosis by drawing out water from the cells. As the unwanted bacteria decrease, beneficial bacteria, primarily of the Lactobacillus genus, thrive and generate an acidic environment with a pH of around 4.5. The sugar in the cure is used as food by the lactobacilli. This process is a form of fermentation and, in addition to further reducing the ability of spoilage-causing bacteria to grow, accounts for the tangy flavor of some cured products.

**If you use fine salt, you’ll need to either reduce the amount or reduce the curing time — if you don’t, your gravlax will be much too salty.

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Soli,

Me, too (although I’m not Swedish) — although I put that down to the fact that I’m probably the least informed on “things lacto-fermented” of anyone who visits this site!

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I posted a recipe for Spaghetti Bolgognese, not sure if you can edit the links but if so please delete #26. I accidentally posted my blog post title from last week.

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I also subscribed.

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I will post next week. The Suburban Jungle shared enough for all of us;-)

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Tangerine-Glazed Pork Belly with Ginger and Green Garlic

Fresh pork belly is cured for 24 hours with sea salt, chilies and spices before being braised in stock, white wine, cinnamon and garlic. Chilled overnight en confit, then pan-fried with green garlic, fresh ginger and tangerines..

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I don’t know what a good solution is I
My gut reaction is, that since this is a part of Real Food Media, and the common goal is educating and supporting others on the subject of real food, that participants should meet the standards set.
But that is me, and I have a hard time working with things outside the box, LOL!

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Thank you, Kelly.

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