Food: Presentation

I'm sorry to have missed a couple of days. I'll do my best to catch up quickly. Consider this Friday's post.

One of the things that setting my self as enough of an expert to write about food has done, is make me realize how much I don't know and what areas I find particularly lacking in my own cookery.

Presentation tops that list. I never remember to sprinkle the finely chopped parsley over the plate. I always serve my sauces separately (I figure some people may not like much, some people may not be allergic to the meat but are to an ingredient in the sauce...) so nothing is plated on a bed of three coulis. Many of my key recipes are soups or stews and I'll have people hold their plates while I serve from the stove and then go out and find a place at the table. I'd never win Iron Chef because I'd lose the five points for plating every time.

However, in talking to siderea on Saturday night, and can I just say how nice it was that she was willing to come hang out at a train station for two hours to talk, she pointed out that simple presentation didn't mean it was necessarily poor presentation.

The other thing I realized during our talk is that I do some things instinctively. There was a Saveur magazine recipe for venison with three pureed vegetables served on the side a few years ago. When I finally decided to make it, I chose to substitute one of the suggested vegetables with carrots and I chose not to puree the lentils. For me the uniformity of texture and the lack of variety in the colors was a show stopper. I changed the show. It was a great meal, and, as usual, I served everything other than the salad and the dessert from the stove in the kitchen.

If anyone wants to learn the formal arts of presentation, more power to you. Can you come and help me some time? But for most of us, have dishware and glassware you find attractive and makes the food stand out. Don't be afraid of cooking because you can't make it look like something in a restaurant. I've been to a few restaurants where the food looked wonderful and tasted like cardboard.

Honey

Saturday's post.

I own way too much honey, but I bet most of you don't own enough.

American honey tends to be dull. Our three main types, clover, acacia, and orange blossom are all averagely sweet and averagely colored. Some stores have buckwheat honey, which is a nice dark shade, but really has no more flavor than the clover, acacia, or orange blossom.

There are so many other types. My mother has waxed eloquent over the melon honey she used to eat as a child. My grandfather worked for one of the largest melon growing concerns in California. He'd call the beekeepers when it looked like the vines were due to bloom. For the next couple of weeks, the bees would be transported from field to field pollinating the melons. Just before he left, the beekeeper would pull out the honey and give grandfather a jar or two. Mom says the honeydew was her favorite, but the scent of cantaloupe honey was nearly overwhelming.

I've never been lucky enough to find melon honeys. If anyone on my friends list finds it, please let me know where I can get it.

However, on a trip to Italy with Lucy a couple of years back, the local honey growers in Bergamo were holding court in front of the town hall. They had five varieties available. The Rhododendren honey had a dusty, dry flavor. I still regret not getting a jar. The wildflower honey was good, but had the same type of standard sweetness as supermarket honeys. The two that stood out to me, stood out enough to throw out some clothes to make room for it in our luggage home, were the Oak and Pine honey and the chestnut honey.

Chestnut honey is dark and has a slightly bitter aftertaste. It's a winter flavor and, in Italy, it's usually paired with an aged, hard cheese like parmesan as a snack or after dinner course. The best description I can give is that it's a wholly adult treat.

The Oak and Pine honey was darker still, but it had no bitter note. The flavor was rich and I could imagine the little pine nut tarts I've occasionally seen having their taste reinforced with the fresh air and pine aroma of the honey.

Honeys don't have to be imported and expensive. Marshmallow honey is sweeter than anything else I've tasted (I've never tried Tupelo honey which is reputed to be the sweetest). Heather honey is elegant; I wish I could be more descriptive.

One other note: Just as there are different flavors of honey there are different textures. Cream honey spreads better than regular honey. It's my favorite for bread and honey because I can use less. It saves calories that way, but the sweetness is just as intense. Comb honey is honey with the comb in it. It is different, and some people, like my grandfather, adore it.

Honey is not a vegan food. Until the eighteenth century, most Western European beekeepers killed the entire hive to harvest the honey. The Greeks worked out a better way much earlier, but it didn't catch on. Queen excluders and the hive techniques developed over the past three hundred years have made it less damaging to the bees, but some may die in the process. Modern honey usually meets vegetarian standards.

Recipe: Cassoulet

Since Sunday is recipe day, consider this Sunday's post.

This is from the Time/Life series on Provincial French cooking from the late 1960s. MFK Fisher wrote it.

At the vow renewal ceremony for thorbol and moria923 on Saturday, someone asked me how long cassoulet took. When I started by saying, "I usually get up early so it will be done by 8 pm," they somehow lost interest.

Tomorrow (which will be today's post), I'll go over some of the variations I've used.

Cassoulet.
Casserole of White Beans Baked with Meats

To Serve 10 to 12

Section 1: The Beans and Sausage
Ingredients
4 quarts chicken stock, fresh or canned
2 pounds or 4 cups dry white beans (Great Northern, marrow, or navy)
1 pound lean salt pork in one piece
Half pound fresh pork rind (optional)
1 quart water
1 pound uncooked plain or garlic pork sausage, fresh or smoked (French, Italian, or Polish) (note: Stop and Shop makes their own sausage, and does a really nice garlic and cheese one. You can freeze them until needed if you see them available more than a week before you plan to make the recipe. Whole Foods also does some lovely sausages, and, I've even used the spicy lamb sausage called mergez for this recipe.)
3 whole peeled onions
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
a Bouquet Garni made of 4 parsley sprigs, 3 celery tops, white part of 1 leek, and 2 bay leaves wrapped and tied in cheesecloth (note: I just tie the long ones with kitchen twine and toss in the bay leaves. )
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a heavy 6- to 8- quart pot or soup kettle, bring the chicken stock to a bubbling boil over high heat. Drop the beans in and boil them briskly for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let the beans soak for 1 hour. Meanwhile simmer the salt pork and optional pork rind in 1 quart of water for 15 minutes; drain and set aside.
With the point of a sharp knife, pierce 5 or 6 holes in the sausage (note: prod it twice with a fork, it's faster and the holes are smaller and more evenly spaced.); then add the sausage, salt pork and pork rind to the beans. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming the top of scum. (note: This is one step that I don't know how to explain to you. You can't hear scum, and you should just keep agitating the water. I've been known to ignore this step in other recipes so that might be the solution.) When the stock looks fairly clear, add the whole onions, garlic, thyme, bouquet garni, salt and a few grinding of black pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, adding stock or water if needed. With tongs, transfer the sausage to a plate and set it aside. Cook the beans and salt pork for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the beans are tender, drain and transfer the salt pork and rind to the plate with the sausage; discard the onions and bouquet garni. Strain the stock through a large sieve or colander into a mixing bowl. Skim the fat from the stock (note: this is easiest if you chill the stock until the fat solidifies on the top -- I try to do this step the day before) and taste for seasoning. Then set the beans, stock and meats aside in separate containers. If they are to be kept overnight, cool, cover, and refrigerate them.

Section 2: The Duck
Ingredients
4 tablespoons of soft butter (note: it doesn't say, but I always used unsalted)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
a 4- to 5- pound duck, quartered (note: I usually go to the Chinese market. It's possible to get duck legs or leg quarters there the same way you'd get chicken legs or leg quarters at Stop and Shop -- much easier and cheaper that way. I've also just roasted a duck, let it cool, and raked the meat off with two forks.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degress. Cream the butter by beating it vigorously against the sides of a small bowl with a wooden spoon until it is fluffy, then beat in the oil. Dry the duck with paper towels, and coat the quarters with creamed butter and oil. Lay them skin side down on the broiler rack, and broil them 4 inches from the heat for 15 minutes, basting them once with pan juices and broil 5 minutes more. Then increase the heat to 400 degrees and broil for 15 minutes, basting the duck once or twice. With tongs, turn the quarters over, baste, and broil skin side up for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to 450 degrees, baste again, and broil for 10 minutes more. Remove the duck to a plate and pour the drppings from the broiler pan into a bowl, scraping in any browned bits that cling to the pan. Let the drippings settle, the skim the fat from the top and save it in a small bowl (see note above about chilling to separate fat). Pour the degreased drippings into the bean stock. When the duck is cool, trim off the excess fat and gristle, and use poultry shears to cut the quarters into small serving pieces (see note above). If they are to be kept overnight, cool and cover the duck and bowl of fat and refrigerate them.

Section 3: The Pork and the Lamb
Ingredients
Half pound fresh pork fat, diced
1 pound boned pork loin, cut in 2-inch chunks
1 pound boned lamb shoulder, cut in 2-inch chunks
1 cup finely chopped onion
Half cup finely chopped celery
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 cup dry white wine (note: I like a Riesling for this)
1 and a half pounds firm ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped ( about 2 to 2 and a half cups) or substitute 2 cups chopped, drained, canned whole-pack tomatoes (note: I've never used the fresh because tomatoes available in Boston in the winter have nearly no flavor. In using the canned make sure they don't have seasonings of any sort (besides salt) added in.)
1 bay leaf (note: I use 2 and a teaspoon of thyme)
Half teaspoon of salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a heavy 10- to 12- inch skillet, saute the diced pork fat over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until crisp and brown (note: the sound gets higher pitched and the sizzle is softer when it's ready). Remove the dice and reserve. Pour all but 2 or 3 tablespoons of rendered fat into a small mixing bowl. Heat the fat remaining in the skillet almost to the smoking point, and in brown the pork and the lamb, 4 or 5 chunks at a time, adding more pork fat as needed. When the chunks are a rich brown on all sides, transfer them with tongs to a 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy flameproof casserole.
Now discard all but 3 tablespoons of fat from the skillet and cook the chopped onions over low heat for 5 minutes. Scrape in any browned bits clinging to the pan. Stir in the celery and the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Then pour in the wine, bring to a boil and cook over high heat until the mixture has been reduced to about half. With a rubber spatula, scrape the contents of the skillet into the casserole. Gently stir the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, and a few grindings of pepper into the casserole. Bring to a boil on top of the stove, cover, and bake on the middle shelf of the oven (adding a little stock or water if the meat looks dry) for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender. With tongs, tranfer the meat to a bowl. If it is to be kept overnight, cool, cover and refrigerate. Skim the fat from the juices in the casserole, then strain the juices into the bean stock and discard the vegetables.

Section 4: Assembly
Ingredients
1 and a half cups fine, dry bread crumbs (note: prepackaged are fine as long as they have no seasoning of any sort)
Half cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel the sausage (note: I don't bother) and cut it into quarter-inch slices; cut the salt pork and pork rind into 1-inch squares. In a heavy flame proof 6- to 8- quart casserole (or Dutch oven) at least 5 inches deep spread an inch-deep layer of beans. Arrange half of the sausage, salt pork, pork rind, diced pork fat, duck, braised pork, and braised lamb on top. Cover with another layer of beans, then the rest of the meat, finally a last layer of beans, with a few slices of sausage on top. Slowly pour in the bean stock until it almost covers the beans. If there isn't enough stock, add fresh or canned chicken stock. Spread the bread crumbs in a thick layer on top and sprinkle them with 3 or 4 tablespoons of duck fat. Bring the casserole to a boil on top of the stove, then bake it uncovered in the upper third of the oven for 1 and a quarter hours, or until the crumbs have formed a firm, dark crust. If desired, the first gratin, or crust, can be pused gently into the cassoulet, and the dish baked until a new crust forms. This can be repeated two or three times if you wish. Serve directly from the casserole, sprinkled with parsley.

(note: I do break the crust and push it in, usually three times -- every twenty minutes -- during the final baking. I like the texture better that way.)