sprinklefingers

i’ve had something on my mind for a while now, and i thought i’d share it with you. you are really lucky. you feel lucky, don’t you?

okay, here goes. i’ve been wondering whether or not it REALLY matters if you stir a kitchen concoction in one direction only as some recipes instruct. (clue #3429 that i have a lot of time on my hands AND clearly have no life.)

before turning to the internets, i thought i’d test the theory in my own kitchen. over the weekend i made 24 quarts of oregon hood strawberry jam…which means i was standing, sweaty and stirring for the majority of saturday. as i was stirring my 4th batch of jam, the whole ‘stir in one direction’ thing popped into my head.

slow-cooked jam making involves a lot of stirring - basically you want the fruit & sugar to boil without burning, so you want the heat to be gentle and you want to take your time arriving at the boil - which means stirring, stirring and more stirring. and the only way to make sure your jam has boiled enough is to wait until it is hot enough to boil so that stirring doesn’t make the boil go away.

here’s what i did to test the theory:

• just as the jam was about to reach the type of boil that wouldn’t go away with stirring, i stirred in the other direction a few strokes, then the original direction a few strokes.
• each time i did this, i noticed the jam would quickly reduce its bubbly/boiling action. it would take half a minute or so to come up to the boil again.

BUT, if i stirred in the SAME direction as the jam was about to reach the ‘big’ boil, it would:

• continue on its path to the type of boil that couldn’t be stirred away.

to further test the theory, i then waited for the type of boil that couldn’t be stirred away to be in full swing and i:

• stirred in one direction then quickly changed directions only to watch the boil wane a bit!

what do these tests prove? that stirring in one direction only simply stirs the pot, while continuously changing direction not only stirs but also incorporates more air - which can cool down your concoction enough to effect a rapid boil. incredible! and so scientific, right? yes, right.

just call me dr. sprinklefingers.

ps: when i finally did turn to the internet to prove my theory, there was a lot of talk about custards, dumplings & mayos, etc. and stirring in one direction. to be perfectly honest with you, i had already tested the theory for myself where temperature was concerned and didn’t really have the desire to wade through so & so’s crummy blog to find out what multi-directional stirring does (or doesn’t do, more likely) to custards.

my kid loves bars. i have stash of them that i use when i reaaaally, reaaaaally need him to do something - translation: i bribe my kid with them.

kid bars are one of the last frontiers of ‘making everything myself.’ up until now, i’ve just simply ignored the fact that i really should be making them myself. it just seemed too hard. both in making them AND in coming up with a recipe the kid would deem an acceptable substitute for something clif was doing pretty well to begin with.

until last weekend when i had a few empty hours, a pound of blueberries and a surplus of whole grain flours. i tweaked, i tasted, i tweaked, i tasted…and i came up with a bar that works. the only criticism i got from the kid: where’s the wrapper?

blueberry kid bars

for the base layer and the topping you need:

it’s no secret that many recipes are very specific about avoiding ‘reactive’ prep bowls & cookware…but why?

maybe you already know the answer - look at you go, smartypants!

clearly i’m not a smartypants, because the whole ‘nonreactive’ thing stumped me for a long time before i bothered to do a bit of research and sort the whole thing out. and i’m here now to report my findings. lucky you!

most cookware is made of metal. and a few of the most popular metals for crafting cookware are indeed reactive. meaning, they are metals which conduct & hold heat very well, but also can react to acid in your recipes. the top three ‘reactive’ metals are:

• copper
• aluminum
• cast iron

when working with a recipe containing highly acidic foods (tomatoes, jams, etc.) it’s best to avoid cookware made from the above metals because the acid in the food reacts to the metal in the pan - and you can most definitely taste it in your end product. that tinny, metallic-y taste? that’s your pan reacting to the acid in your recipe. icky.

of course there are lots of cookware manufacturers who have created cookware that has a reactive metal at its core (because of its superior ability to conduct & hold heat) yet ‘clad’ the cookware in a non-reactive metal (like stainless steel.) the best known example of this ‘technology’ - enameled cast iron cookware - my cookware of choice in nearly every situation. another example? copper-core cookware.

now, there are a few situations where a ‘reaction’ with reactive cookware is welcome. take, for example, copper bowls & egg whites. when whipping egg whites in a copper bowl, some copper ions leach out of the bowl and partner up with a protein in the egg whites called conalbumin. this teaming of copper & conalbumin is extremely stable - meaning your egg whites are less likely to unfold once you’ve done the work of whipping them into a frenzy. lovely.

another situation where reactive cookware is welcome? non-enameled cast iron. when cast iron is used in meal preparation, a bit of the iron is leached into your foods - which means it goes into your body - which is like a magic iron supplement. you didn’t even have to take pill! truly magical.

so, smartypants, that’s my breakdown of nonreactive cookware. i know, i know - so interesting you can hardly contain yourself.

in an earlier post, i reprimanded you for not saving your vanilla beans.

i hate to say it, but i’m back to do the same - and this time it’s about parmesan rinds. more specifically, the rind of a wedge of parmigiano-reggiano. no, this cheese isn’t cheap. and after you’ve used all of its salty, nutty goodness on food, why not stretch it a bit further and also put the rind to good use?

how?
good question!

after you’ve grated all of the cheese away, stick the rind in a refrigerator container and place it in the fridge. or freezer! [note: don’t forget it’s there!]

the next time you’re making anything brothy - a soup, a stock, a braise - grab that rind out of the fridge/freezer and plop it into your cooking liquid.

the rind imparts a difficult-to-describe sweet, nutty flavor…something that will elevate even a simple soup to new heights.

after your soup/stock/braise has finished cooking, simply fish the rind out - it will be a soggy (somewhat icky) mass - but it will have done its job deliciously.

don’t believe me? well, you should because many specialty grocers are now selling parmigiano-reggiano rinds by the pound. nose-to-tail eatingwithout the actual nose & tail!

and now, because you are so sweet, a recipe using parm rinds:
minestrone soup from sunset magazine (a soup we have literally eaten about one hundred times since the recipe was published. crazy, crazy, crazy good. especially if you use homemade broth.)

…that you can use your strawberry compote & strawberry syrup.

compote

• warm a scoop or two, serve it over ice cream
• homemade ice cream: as your cream base is swirling in your ice cream maker, mix in a few scoops of the compote
• slather it on a thick slice of artisan bread with butter
• mix into your morning oatmeal
• mix into plain greek yogurt
• plop a dollop onto your granola
• mix a bit with cream cheese = the most delicious strawberry cream cheese, ever
• add some to your cottage cheese
• serve along side seasoned ricotta cheese - add in some perfect bread/crackers

syrup

• use in place of maple syrup on pancakes & waffles
• pour a bit into a champagne flute and top with bubbly (cava or prosecco or champagne!)
• pour a bit into a glass and top with bubbly water (for those non-drinkers out there)
• use in place of flavored syrups in all your mixed drinks
• stir into oatmeal
• warm the syrup a bit and serve it over a brownie sundae
• use a drip or two to flavor your daily 8 glasses of water
• add a bit to steamed milk for a delicious strawberry steamer

and when all else fails: eat the compote with a spoon and drink the syrup straight.

or, if you’ve got too much of both and don’t think you can use it all within a few weeks, freeze it! both the syrup and the compote can be frozen in any freezer-safe jam jar. when you’re ready to use it, simply defrost in the fridge overnight.

just kidding about that last part, but it is so delicious that i know you’ll be tempted.

finding a warm, draft-free spot for bread to proof is kinda difficult in my house. first of all, the house is never truly warm. second of all, there’s always a whirlwind of activity going on - someone is literally always coming and going - slamming doors, opening doors…you get the picture.

but this warm spot is essential to bread, and seeing as how my bread addiction isn’t going to wane for some time, i started to look for inexpensive solutions - on the internet, of course.

first up came this. the easyrise. i couldn’t find any other information on it…aside from a few random blog posts stating that the company was trying to prove to investors that it’s worth investing in. and this was a while ago, so i have a feeling it may never come to market. i have to admit, i like kitchen gadgets and i’d probably be convinced to buy this thing - especially because it apparently folds flat for storage. weird but clever.

after the easyrise folding proofing box came lots & lots of wacky diy projects. one person uses a fish tank heater to heat water in a plastic bin, then she sets another plastic bin filled with dough down into the water. i’m not doing that.

then came ideas on using the microwave. a styrofoam cooler with boiling water. the oven with just the oven light on.

and then it came to me. while my oven is indeed original to our 1961 house, it is a built-in. above it and below it? cabinets. so, i pre-heated the oven to 400, then stuck a thermometer into the lower cabinet - it was right around the 85 degrees most suggest for a good rise.

i simply cleared a spot for my loaf pans (which meant taking a long, hard look at how varied & vast my baking pan collection is…whoa…) and started proofing away.

perfect!

look around your kitchen. turn on your oven and feel inside the cabinets next to it - do they get warm? warm enough? maybe…probably! experiment and find out, won’t you?