Cocktail Codex

In the interest of full disclosure, I am more of a cocktail drinker than a cocktail maker.  I do not even choose the backbone alcohol of a drink on most evenings that I drink cocktails.  I have been known to choose sweet over bitter, but that is about as far as I usually go.  I recently said to my spouse, who was searching for cocktail inspiration, that it would be perfectly fine to make a margarita.  He blanched at the thought.  That is simply not how we have been rolling this pandemic.  While there is a sameness about everything when all you do is work and home, the attention to the food and drink has been exquisite.  It has been astoundingly good to eat and drink at our home, but a part of me worries that we might not return to going out for these sorts of provisions when it feels safe to return to them, at least not in our home town.

This book comes from the Death and Company folks, and that is also a very good cocktail book.  This book breaks down drinks into their fundamental components and then offers suggestions about how to build them up again into a variety of different cocktails with different sorts of flavor profiles.  I will warn you that the ingredients required to make all of these wonderful creations run into the dozens, and many of them are pricey.  It is a real investment to serve superior craft cocktails at home, both in the cash outlay and the making a flavor elements to elevate your cocktails to the next level.  If you choose to try this route, you will not be disappointed.  And it may help in planning your first trip out of the country post COVID.  My spouse informed me France was our destination, and we would be bringing home aperitifs and such that are not available outside of there.  Fine by me.
 

Corpse Reviver

If you were not successful at raising the dead yesterday on the Day of the Dead, I hope you at least remembered them, and here is your second chance.  Drink today and be merry, and tomorrow vote like your life depends on it and take back your country. 

This drink is equal parts gin, lemon juice, Lillet blanc, and Cointreau, with an absinthe rinse of the glass.

Shake with ice, and pour into your favorite glass. 

Remembering The Dead

 Today we turn back the clocks an hour, but on Tuesday those of us in the United States have the opportunity to take back our country.  Do not miss it. This is the job of each and every one of us to accomplish.  If you haven't voted already, make a plan.  If those who went before us did not give Andrew Johnson a mandate, then let us tell the current administration that their system of government, based on who you know and how much money you have is not the country we want.

For this Day of the Dead I am remembering my Puritan roots, my forefathers who fought for and established this country.  For all of it's flaws, it was the only successful revolution of it's time, and I pray that it will move forward, imperfectly but the process for change in tact.

Ghost Music by Robert Graves

We live in a spooky house that has its own sort of ghost music.  I hope you find a way to enjoy the season, despite the pandemic.  Be Safe.

Gloomy and bare the organ-loft,
Bent-backed and blind the organist.
From rafters looming shadowy,
From the pipes’ tuneful company,
Drifted together drowsily,
Innumerable, formless, dim,
The ghosts of long-dead melodies,
Of anthems, stately, thunderous,
Of Kyries shrill and tremulous:
In melancholy drowsy-sweet
They huddled there in harmony.
Like bats at noontide rafter-hung.

 

Chile Peanut Rice

This is another great recipe if you want to use up rice.  These days we seem to have rice that is already dolled up, and only occasionally are searching from something to do with the leftovers, but this is really nice.

• 3 cups cooked basmati rice (from about 1 cup dry rice)
• 2 Tbsp. (or more) fresh lime juice (from about 1 lime)
• 1 tsp. (or more) kosher salt
• ½ cup ghee or extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 Tbsp. black mustard seeds
• 10 fresh curry leaves
• 1 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
• 1 medium onion, sliced into thin strips
• 2 small Indian green chiles or serrano chiles, halved lengthwise (no need to stem them)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro leaves with tender stems
  • Combine rice, lime juice, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

  • Heat ¼ cup ghee in a shallow medium pan over medium. Once ghee melts (or oil begins to shimmer), add mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to pop and dance around in the ghee, which should be within seconds, remove pan from heat. Add curry leaves, making sure they get fully coated in ghee (there may be more popping and splattering, and that’s okay!). The leaves should immediately crisp up in the residual heat.

  • Return pan to medium-low heat and add peanuts. Cook, stirring, until peanuts turn a medium shade of brown and become fragrant, 5–8 minutes. Pour peanut mixture over reserved rice mixture and toss gently to incorporate.

  • Heat remaining ¼ cup ghee in same pan over medium. Once ghee melts (or oil begins to shimmer), add onion and chiles, spreading in an even layer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is lightly browned and starting to caramelize, 5–7 minutes. Stir onion mixture into rice. Taste and add more salt and lime juice, if needed. Garnish with cilantro before serving.

   

 

Sticky Buns (Possibly The Best)

We have been in pursuit of the perfect sticky bun recipe this whole pandemic (truthfully, my spouse has been doing the baking, and has a greater love of sticky buns than I do, but I have been an avid eater of the buns and I do like them alot).  This Food Lab recipe might be the best.  I ate two of them the morning they were made, which in and of itself is unusual and therefore indicative of a good recipe.  They are also easier than some.

For the Dough

• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 4 cups (20 ounces) unbleached, all-purpose flour

For the Pecan-Caramel Sauce

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk, well-shaken
• 4 ounces (1 cup) toasted pecans, roughly chopped
• Pinch of kosher salt

For the Filling

• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

The Recipe

1.  To make the dough:  Whisk the eggs in a large bowl well. Add the sugar, buttermilk, salt, yeast and melted butter and whisk until well mixed--it may be clumpy but this is OK. Now use a wooden spoon to mix in the flour until there is a well-formed ball of dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board or countertop and knead for about 2 minutes, until the dough is smooth and silky. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for about 2 hours, until roughly doubled in volume.

2.  Meanwhile make the pecan-caramel sauce:  Place the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring every now and then, until sugar is totally dissolved and the mixture is bubbling. This should take about 2 minutes. Add in the buttermilk, pecans and salt and mix well and pour into a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Set aside.

3.  To make the filling:  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and set aside.

4.  Once the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured surface and lightly sprinkle flour on top of it as well. Push the dough into a rough rectangle with your hands and then use a rolling pin to roll it into a 16 x12-inch rectangle with the short end facing you. Use a pastry brush to brush the melted butter all over the dough, leaving about a 1-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture all over the dough and use your hands to push it into the butter a bit and make sure it's spread evenly. Roll the dough up jelly-roll-style into a tight cylinder, using a bench scraper to help release the dough from the surface and allow you to make the roll tight. Pinch the seam shut and turn the dough so that it's seam side down. If you need to even out the shape a bit.

5.  Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 12 even slices. The easiest way to do this is to cut the log in half and then cut each half in half, and then cut those into thirds. Place each roll on top of the sauce in the dish with the swirl side facing up, nestling the rolls together. Make sure the end slices go cut side down. Cover with plastic wrap and either leave at room temperature for about 2 hours until doubled in volume, the rolls should be well puffed and pressed tightly against each other or place in the fridge overnight to proof for up to 12 hours.

5.  In either case, before baking, preheat oven to 350ºF. If rolls have chilled overnight, take them out of the fridge when you start the oven so that they can warm up a bit. Bake for about 30 minutes until buns are golden brown and well puffed, turning the dish halfway through the baking process so that they cook evenly. Let the buns rest for about 5 minutes, then invert the buns onto plates and scrape out excess sauce and nuts and spoon over the buns. Serve immediately.

6.  Leftovers can be refrigerated and popped into the microwave for a quick reheat.

 

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

I have not seen this movie in many years, but had the opportunity to see it up on the big screen recently.  It still holds up after all these years.  The story is that a couple of New York kids are driving to Southern California to start graduate school and they choose to drive through the American South.  The casual assumptions about the rural South are remarkable, and given how we are reexamining our treatment of blacks in the post-slavery South right now, it is sobering how causally it is assumed that everyone will be treated differently and unfairly  if they are not a Southerner.  The premise is that the scales of justice have fingers on them tilted in favor of the status quo, and in the movie that is a comedic element of tension, but in real life almost 30 years after the movie was made it doesn't seem so funny.  The scenario is that the two boys get pulled over for what they believe to be inadvertent shop lifting (one of them slipped a can of tuna in his pocket without thinking--or paying--for it, but what they are actually in trouble for is murder.  The ramshackle rush to judgment is both believable (they do fit the description) and without critical examination. There are many good lessons in here and it is well worth watching with 2020 eyes.
 

Indian-ish Chhole

My Food 52 Cookbook group is cooking out of Priya Krishna's cookbook Indian-ish, where she embraces short cuts and Americanizations of Indian food.  this has way more turmeric than my usual chhole, as well aw whole spices, cinnamon, and yogurt, all of which make it an entirely different chickpea dish and quite delicious.  I re hydrated my own chickpeas rather than using a can, because I think they come out creamier this way, and some tomatoes that I had canned rather than fresh, but those were my only alterations.

1/4 cup olive oil 

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

4 whole cloves

1 small cinnamon stick

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

3 medium Roma tomatoes, diced into 1/2-inch pieces  

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cups chickpeas

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from about 1 lime)

1/4 cup full-fat plain yogurt

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed

1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro (stems and leaves), for garnish

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the cumin seeds and fenugreek and cook, stirring, until they turn a medium shade of brown, no more than 30 seconds. Add the turmeric, cloves, and cinnamon stick and cook for another minute, until the turmeric has mostly dissolved into the oil and the spices become very fragrant. Toss in the onion and ginger and saute until the onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high, add the tomatoes, and cook until they have fully wilted, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the chickpeas, lime juice, yogurt, and salt. Use a potato masher or the back of a fork to mash the chickpeas slightly so they become incorporated with the sauce (but don't go too crazy -- you want to leave the chickpeas relatively intact). Cook, uncovered, until the chickpeas have taken on a soft, baked potato-like texture, 20 to 25 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt if needed. Garnish with the cilantro before serving.

 

Crab and Coconut Fried Rice

 

Andrea Nguyen strikes again.  This rice, with a mere 1/4 of a pound of crab, has a delicate and delicious flavor.  Between her and Toni Tipton Martin you could get four recipes worth of food out of a single pound of crab, really enjoying in many different ways.

3 c. of cooked rice

2 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil

1 garlic clove minced

½ c. cooked crab

¼ tsp. black pepper

1 ½ Tbsp.  fish sauce

1 green onion thinly sliced

chopped cilantro

 

In a non-stick skillet or wok, melt 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil.  When it is hot, add garlic, stir and let sauté a minute, then add the crab, black pepper, and fish sauce.  Add the green onion soon thereafter, and then transfer contents to a bowl.

Add the other tablespoon of coconut oil to the pan.  Once melted, add the rice, and stir until the rice is hot.  Add in the crab mixture, stir another minute, toss in the cilantro and serve.

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

This book has so much interesting premise which is that the most effective way to look at, think about, and talk about racism in America is to view it through the lens of a caste system.  Interestingly, even a book about caste has two different lenses, one for an American audience and one for a British one.  The American subtitle of the book is "The Origins of Our Discontent" whereas the UK version, pictured here, is "The Lies That Divide Us".
The book makes a strong case for adopting a term associated with traditional society and heritable hierarchy to describe American racism. Caste is typically viewed as both intensely local, and essentially Indian. Wilkerson suggests the opposite and she makes a very strong case. She boldly argues that what we call race in the United States is actually a caste system. “Caste is the infrastructure of our divisions,” Wilkerson writes, “the architecture of human hierarchy” that “embeds into our bones an unconscious ranking of human characteristics and sets forth the rules, expectations and stereotypes that have been used to justify brutalities against entire groups within our species.”  It has the added advantage of not using the trigger word racist, but rather a person who supports a separation of people based on race, that race is something rather than nothing.  This is a must read, a book so well written and thought out that it is sure to become a classic on the topic.