Pork, cabbage, apples, grains: several stews

In August, I taught a class I called "Early Period Cooking Demo: Recipes for 10th Century England" at an SCA event. I've been trying to push myself this year to create recipes that could be appropriate for my 10th Century Saxon/Norse persona and to practice starting and controlling open fires for cooking.

My desire for the class was to offer 1) a demonstration of the ways in which a fire for cooking is maintained differently from a fire for warming a room, 2) a demonstration of different cooking methods known to people in 10th Century England, 3) recipes that could be appropriate to the time and place I'm portraying, a task complicated by the lack of recipe books for this period, 4) recipes I could reproduce on camping outings to reduce my reliance on modern recipes and foods.

The following recipe is influenced by two things: reading about food combinations in Ann Hagen's Bible of early English cooking, Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production, Processing, Distribution and Consumption; and thinking about combinations of foods that would be in season together for a culture that was restricted in dietary choices by seasonal availability of foodstuffs. Bacon is a pork product that can be kept a few months in a cool place after the slaughter of a hog, so it's not tied to only one season. Apples, cabbages and fresh herbs are fall foods known to Anglo-Saxons as well as modern Americans. It's possible that my choice of kale for the later two versions of the stew is more authentic than heading cabbages, but I'm not certain the heading cabbages were unknown to 10th Century England.

Pork, Apple and Cabbage Stew
serves 4-6

1/2 pound wood-smoked bacon or other fresh or preserved pork, chopped
lard or bacon drippings or butter, if needed
1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
1 small green cabbage, cored and chopped
1 pound apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small sprig fresh rosemary, chopped fine or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves
1/2 cup barley, oat groats or wheat berries
chicken broth or water
salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in pot until it starts to crisp, or cook other pork in fat until browned. Skim some fat with a spoon if desired. Add onions and cook in fat until translucent. Add cabbage, apples, grain and herbs, then cover with water or broth and bring to a low boil over open flame. Move pot over to cooler area of fire and simmer with pot covered until the grains are tender. Stir occasionally. Add more water/broth if stew starts to become too thick and sticks to bottom of pot. Season with salt and pepper.

On the first cooking attempt, this stew was tasty. The apples were an interesting sweet contrast to the savory bacon and herbs. It was a little watered down because I added probably twice the amount of broth that would be necessary to keep the grains moist. It may have been more flavorful had I left in the bacon drippings, but I spooned them off to use in making a flatbread for the class.

Later at home, I tried out a similar stew to combine leftover bacon from the class, some rice that had been left from a previous meal, and kale from a friend's garden. Kale is a member of the same family of vegetables as green cabbage, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. The herbs are replaced by cumin, one of my favorite spices.

With this photo, I learn that really good food photographers wait until the stew is done steaming to take the photo so the food shows up clearly. Unlike those really good food photographers, if I let the food cool off first, I have to eat a cold supper.


Pork, Apple and Cabbage Stew play-at-home version
serves 4

1/2 pound hardwood-smoked bacon, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 bunch kale (large handful of stems), destemmed and chopped
2 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp cumin 
1 heaping cup leftover brown rice
salt and pepper to taste

For home stove, never mind the bits in the directions about moving the pot around on the fire.

While camping out this past weekend, I made the stew from memory over our little campfire and added in some fresh radishes from our weekly box from Henry's Farm. Once again, kale from our friends' garden substitutes for green cabbage. Thank you, "vegetable fairies" Viv and Nicole! I didn't chop the bacon in order to keep my cutting board from having both uncooked meat and raw veggies on it. Because I cooked it very crisp, it fell apart into bite-sized chunks as I stirred it around the pot with other ingredients. I forgot to bring onions, so this stew was yet another variant of the original. I left in the bacon grease because there was no other recipe to use it in later. The finished stew needed very little salt.

Pork, Apple and Cabbage Stew another way
serves 3 very hungry people
 
1/2 pound hardwood-smoked bacon
8 small radishes, chopped
2 large apples, cored and chopped, but with peels on
1 pound kale, destemmed and chopped
1/2 cup barley
3 cups chicken stock
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves stripped from stems
freshly ground white peppercorns and salt to taste

Follow directions as in first stew, but leave all the bacon drippings in the pot and omit the step of cooking onions in bacon fat.

Everything tastes better when eaten outside, and this stew is no exception to that rule. On a chilly fall night when dinner wasn't ready until after dark, it warmed me and my two camping companions physically and emotionally from the inside out.
 

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Easter leftovers idea: orange stew

This stew gets its name not because it has oranges in it, but because it is a bright-orange-colored, warm and nutritious resting place for the last bits of ham left over from Easter dinner. Since our balmy spring weather of March this year turned chilly and wetter as April went on, a new soupy dish was exactly what I needed to stay invigorated.

Orange Stew
2 Tbsp butter
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked (about 2 to 2.5 pounds)
4 medium-sized carrots, peeled and chunked
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp ground sage
seasoning salt (such as Lowry's) to taste
black pepper to taste
1/2 pound leftover Easter ham, diced

Melt the butter in a large pot. add the vegetables, stock and seasonings (go easy on the salt, the ham will add more later) and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender enough to mash. Add additional stock if stew is too thick for your liking. Mash vegetables, add ham and cook over medium-low heat until ham is heated through. Reseason if needed.

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Summer sweet corn revival

Sweet corn is sunny and yellow, storing up in its sugars the energy of the grilling-hot summer sunshine. In the winter, looking at the sweet corn from August that I stored in the freezer is a reminder of when I enjoyed longer hours of daylight, farmer's markets and CSA boxes and seeing green growing things outside.

In Bloomington-Normal, the arrival of the sweet corn harvest is cause for a public celebration. In the photo, I'm at the Sweet Corn Blues Festival in Normal, eating an ear of the crop that covers our county and listening to blues music. I bought a sack of corn at the latest festival to take home. This week, on the day of the first snowstorm of the winter season, I made a soup from some of that corn to bring back a little of summer's warmth.

Corn Chowder
recommended vessel: stockpot of at least 8 quarts

4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 medium onions, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp flour (for a thicker soup, use 4 Tbsp)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
8 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried epazote
1 tsp cumin powder
2 pounds sweet corn kernels
2 cups soy milk (unsweetened) or dairy milk (for a thicker soup, use cream)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat butter with the oil in the stockpot. Cook the carrots a couple of minutes, then add the onions and cook a couple of minutes, then add the bell pepper. When the vegetables start to become tender, sprinkle with flour and stir well. Add stock and scrape the bottom of the pot thoroughly to pull up any flour stuck to the bottom. Add potatoes and spices. Bring to a rapid boil, then turn down the heat and simmer until potatoes are tender. Add corn and milk and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Possible garnishes: yogurt/sour cream and chopped chives, chopped fresh basil, sliced scallions, drizzle of cumin-infused olive oil

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Magenta-colored love in a bowl

The simplest summer soup, made with new beets that arrived in our CSA box. Lotsa beets, not much else going on. Andrew and I make certain soups for each other that end up being code for "I love you," such as his curried squash winter stew, because I told him the first time he made it that it made me fall in love with him all over again. If reading that last sentence hasn't made you ill, try making this soup for someone you adore.

Be sure to keep the beet greens. They are edible, too, and they taste just like beets.

Beets, borscht-ish
serves 3-4

About 1 pound beets with greens
chicken stock (or water w/chicken broth powder)
a handful of fresh dill
sour cream (soy sour cream is what I used)
salt and pepper to taste

After washing the beets and their greens, cut off and keep the greens. Then slice the tops and the root ends off the beets and peel. Cut beets into bite-sized chunks and place in a pot. Chop the greens finely and add to the pot. Pour over enough chicken stock to cover the beets and greens and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until the greens are softening and the roots are becoming tender. Chop up the dill finely and cook it in the soup until it wilts and the rest of the veggies are done. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a generous dollop of sour cream as garnish for each bowl.

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First squash soup of autumn

Fall has truly arrived in the kitchen when one of us makes the first soup from farmer's market squash. Butternut is definitely the favorite soup squash in our household. In fall and winter, we often have a container of roasted squash hanging around in the refrigerator or freezer, waiting to be turned into stew or casserole or dessert. My long-time favorite squash soup recipe is a spicy bisque with coriander and jalapeño scalded with the (soy) milk, and Andrew's is a thick curry stew with potatoes.

This year's first squash soup was a team effort. We both were hungry and in a little bit of a hurry to get to other engagements after dinner, so we tossed together a quick soup that combined elements of both favorite recipes, plus the new additions of apples and The Spice House's Vadovan curry mixture.

Curry Squash Bisque with Apples
makes four large servings

2 or 3 Tbsp oil or butter
1 medium-sized butternut squash, previously roasted
1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced large
3 carrots, sliced thickly
4 small apples, sliced thickly
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
2 or 3 hot peppers (jalapeño preferred, but others are great too), halved
2 cups unsweetened soy milk or 2 percent milk
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 or 2 Tbsp Spice House Vadovan curry mix
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot, heat oil/butter and cook potatoes, carrots, onion until the onion is tender. In a separate pot, scald the milk with the hot peppers and coriander seeds. When hot, remove from heat and cover. Let stand until other soup ingredients are cooked. Going back to the vegetable pot, sprinkle on the curry mix and toss in the apples. After a minute of stirring, add the butternut squash and the stock. Bring to a boil, then cook covered over medium-low heat until the potatoes and carrots are tender (about 20 minutes). Stir occasionally. Lastly, pour the milk through a strainer held over the vegetable pot. Heat through, stirring often, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

[To roast squash, cut in half, oil cut sides and place cut-side-down in a baking pan and roast at 400 degrees until tender, then scoop out flesh from squash halves]

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Easy chicken stock

Flavorful, frugal and lowfat, homemade chicken stock adds special taste without salt and artificial additives. My freezer always has containers of stock and of ingredients waiting to become stock.

The most exciting part to me about making stock at home is that it re-uses ingredients from other dishes. Just keep freezer bags or plastic containers with bones from roasted chickens and trimmings of vegetables in your freezer and add to them (keep the vegetables separate from the bones). The best vegetable trimmings are the ends of carrots, the tops of celery, the washed tops of leeks, the stems of parsley and the ends of summer squashes (minus the hard stem). Cookbook author Crescent Dragonwagon recommended adding apple peels to stock, and I've done that with good results too.
If you're in no mood to keep vegetable trimmings, just make simple stocks with the bones only.

I used to leave a stock pot on the stove all afternoon a few times a year, but I found a way to make stock that requires even less attention to the pot: use the slow cooker (aka Crock-Pot).

Fill a slow cooker with bones. Cover all the bones with water, put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on the low setting about eight or ten hours. After about four or five hours, add vegetable trimmings and a couple cloves of garlic if desired. If I'm cooking stock overnight, I have no desire to set an alarm clock for four hours later to add veggies, so I just make the bones-only stock if I'm not awake while it's cooking.

If you forget about the stock and cook longer than 10 hours, the more the bones and connective tissues dissolve, and the more jelly-like the stock will become when it is cooled. This gel is nutritious, containing protein and calcium, and it returns to its liquid state when reheated.

When the stock is finished cooking, put the bones in a mesh strainer over a pot so they will drain. Then toss them out and ladle the stock through the strainer into the pot. Use the ladle so that sediment in the stock stays at the bottom of the slow cooker. Put the pot into the refrigerator overnight to cool. Remove the fat layer the next day and store the stock in plastic containers in the freezer. My favorites are 32-oz yogurt containers because it's a way to re-use what would otherwise be trash, and 4 cups of stock is a convenient quantity to use.

Although I don't make other stocks like beef or veal or fish, I'm sure the only part of this process that would change is a slightly longer cooking time for beef bones and shorter time for fish bones. The same stock process I describe works for turkey carcasses after the holidays, too, or for starting a soup from a ham bone.

Save your food containers and food "waste" for stock, and you get a large quantity of nutritious liquid for the cost of leaving a light bulb on for the day.

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