Fried cheese curds 揚げチーズカード

My wife somehow got into making fresh cheese curds. She started this when she made an Indian style spinach curry with cheese curds. We are looking for new ways to serve them. From watching TV food shows, we learned about fried cheese curds. They appear to be specially famous and popular at county fairs in Wisconsin. Although the ones in Wisconsin are "cheddar cheese curds" and are yellow, my wife's are white in color. (I am not sure what the differences is but cheddar cheese curds appear to go through the "cheddaring process" which includes the addition of plant extracts such as annatto seeds which give the curd an orange-yellow color). In any case, regardless of what kind of cheese curds are used, breading and frying a cheese product cannot go wrong. I am sure this is not authentic Wisconsin but it was sure good enough for us.



The cheese curds do not melt, although they do get soft; nice crunchy outside and soft inside.



Batter:
There appears to be several variations, some use beer and others use baking powder for leavening.  I chose one without beer.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs beaten
1/2 milk

This is the original amount for 1 lb of cheese curds.  I made only 8 small cubes as a trial.
I halved the recipe but there was still too much batter for the amount I made.

Instead of deep frying, I use "shallow" frying.



After the surface became nicely golden, I drained them on a paper towel.



We also tried our own style of fried curds. We just coated the curds with the mixture of flour and curry powder like our baked chicken wings.



This time, I used much less oil and turned it frequently so all the surfaces browned.



This was pretty good with crunchy crust but not too oily and easier to make. We tried this without the flour coating and the curd stuck to the bottom of the pan. We will use the flour coating method make this our own fried cheese curds in the future.

Warm sake 燗酒

We rarely drink warm sake but we are in the middle of a very cold spell and the temperature did not go above freezing for almost a week. For a few days, the temperature was in the single digits (Fahrenheit). So, in these frigid conditions, a cold drink was not particularly attractive. We made a nice fire in the fireplace and decided to go with warm sake. My wife found some long forgotten Hagi-ware 萩焼き sake bottles (ochoushi お銚子) . I warmed up the sake the traditional way as seen below.

 

The sake we had was "Gekeikan Black and Gold" 月桂冠 ブッラクアンドゴールド. This is a U.S. brewed sake. Although the details are difficult to come by, the sake was a mixture of sake brewed from rice milled to 60 and 70%. The exact kind of sake rice is not clear. By the degree of milling, this sake would be "Ginjou 吟醸酒" class but they classify this as "Junmai 純米酒" class.


How much to heat up the sake depends on the kind of sake and your preferences but, in general, “Honjouzou  本醸造” and “Junmai” 純米酒 are best suited for drinking warm. I think among the U.S. brewed sake, this one is best for drinking warm. The list below shows the different temperatures and corresponding names for various sakes.

“Jouon” 常温, room temperature 20℃ (68F)
”Hinata kan” 日向燗 sunny side 30℃ (86F)
”Hitohada kan” 人肌燗 skin temperature 35℃ (95F)
”Nuru kan” ぬる燗 luke warm 40℃ (104F)
”Jou kan” 上燗 warm 45℃ (113F)
”Atsu kan” 熱燗 hot 50℃ (122F)

I went for “Atsu kan” at 50C (using a instant read digital thermometer). Since the temperature drops quite quickly, I used a soup bowl filled with boiling water to maintain the temperature which worked well.


These were all leftover from the new year’s dishes I made. I stuffed white and red fish cakes 紅白かまぼこ with tobiko and ikura salmon roe and poured on some wasabi soy sauce. Below the fish cake are kelp salmon rolls, to the right are chicken squares with pine nuts and walnuts. Below that are simmered kabocha pumpkin, in the front on the left is Kimpira burdock root and boiled octopus leg seasoned with wasabi soy sauce.

Warm sake was really nice on this bitter cold evening and warmed us up quickly. The black and gold is a nice gentle sake and perfect for drinking warm.

Of course “Oden” is perfect for warm sake and cold night.

This night, we had an egg, kon-nyaku コンニャク, mochi in a pouch (mochi-kin 餅巾着), carrot 人参, daikon 大根, gobo-ten*ゴボテン and tofu 豆腐 garnished with chopped chives with Japanese hot mustard. All went well with warm sake.

* deep fried fish cake with center of burdock root or "satsuma"age with burdock root ゴボウ入りさつま揚げ.

Cauliflower Rice with Safran カリフラワーライス

I saw this interesting recipe in the food section of the WashingtonPost. Since I had a package of Iranian saffran (the second picture upper left) from one of my friends, I thought this is the dish I must try.  I served it with my wife's indian style lamb curry and homemade naan.



Ingredients: (for 2-3 servings)

Cauliflower, medium
Saffron, generous pinch
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Olive oil 1/2 tbs
Salt to taste

Using a box grater (coarsest side), I grated the cauliflower by holding the stem end. I only grated the florets.

I added the saffron threads to a small bowl with a small amount of hot water (below, right upper).  I added the olive oil to a frying pan on medium high flame and added the cumin seeds. I sautéed it for one minute until fragrant and added the grated cauliflower (below, lower left) and cooked for 2 minutes. I then added the saffron and the water it soaked in and salt. I sautéed for 1 more minute (below, right lower).



When I read the recipe, the combination of cumin seeds and saffran sounded good but we did not particularly like this flavor profile. I may change the seasonings in the future.

PD Lebanon Bologna roll-up レバノンボロニャロールアップ

This is continuation of the Pennsylvania Dutch Lebanon Bologna saga. After making sandwiches, my wife made this snack several times. It goes so well with red wine. She said it was a classic PA Dutch snack. It is very simple to make and tastes great, although may not be good for you.



I am not sure, but I suspect, my wife did not enjoyed this with wine as a child.



It is rather simple to make. It is usually made with Philadelphia cream cheese (of course). This time, however, my wife used "cream cheese spread". We like the one with onion and chives. Just smear the cream cheese spread on one side of the bologna and roll it up, then cut into small tubes. If you wrap the rolls with a plastic wrap and refrigerate, it could probably be cut more neatly but it will taste the same. We tried this with both the sweet and the regular bologna and I have to say that although both taste good we much prefer the sweet variety.

This is a good snack for Cabernet. The bologna has nice smokey note with some sweetness, particularly if we use the sweet variety.

Super frozen Otoro from Fish-for-sushi, follow-up 超冷凍大トロ

I posted super-frozen Otoro from Fish-For-Sushi. The piece I got was not the best with large amounts of pure fat. Aside from writing my review, I did not contact the company to complain about the tuna we received. I was surprise when Fish-for-sushi customer support contacted me via email. Apparently, they came across my less than stellar review of their super-frozen otoro tuna and decided to take the initiative to reach out to a clearly less than satisfied customer. They said that the amount of fat varies and since I was not 100% satisfied, they offered to send another otoro tuna for me to taste.

The picture below is one of two servings I made from this otoro. As you can see, I sliced rather thick pieces. One set (on the right) was done in "aburi" 炙り or seared with a kitchen torch.


For libation, we opened American brewed dai-ginjou from California Yamadanishiki, "Shou-Chiku-Bai" 松竹梅.　



We are happy to report, this otoro was much much better than the previous one. It was nicely fatty and melted in the mouth. The Aburi" preparation adds an almost rare beef-like texture and additional charred flavor which nicely cuts the unctuous fattiness.



This is how it arrived 260 grams.



After thawing as per the instruction. Nice layering of fat.

We were impressed with Fish-for-sushi. They really redeemed themselves with their response. Adding them to our repertoire gives us two good sources of tuna sashimi (Catalina offshore products and Fish-For-Sushi). Having frozen sushi fish is nice since we can buy and hold it until needed like for New Year's Eve.

Addendum: Since I was so delighted I decided to order another otoro. The below was what I received.



Again, it had a quite large amount of pure fat which I removed (below).



Since the fat has a very firm texture, I generally don't include it as part of the otoro slice.  So, as usual, I cut the fat which I had separated from the block into small cubes and mixed with chopped chives and dressed with karashi sumiso 芥子酢味噌.



I sliced the rest of the otoro. I served this with ankimo 鮟肝 and vinegared octopus also dressed in karashi sumiso.



Here is the close up.



When all was said and done of the 260 grams (the same amount as in the first pictures above) the amount of otoro itself was just enough for two servings of otoro but there was not enough for the serving of aburi included in the first pictured serving above. Instead we had a nice serving of fat, as they said, things could be variable.

Steamed brown bread with honey cream cheese 蒸し黒パン

When I made pork buns, I remembered that my wife at one time made steamed brown bread and reminded her of it. She immediately got into action and, on one weekend, made this steamed brown bread. According to her, the classic should have been steamed in a can but she made it in deep ramekins. She said she reduced the amount of molasses since I am not particularly fond of strong molass-y flavor. According to her, this bread is eaten with honey cream cheese which she also whipped up by mixing honey and cream cheese. She sliced thin disks of the bread and smeared on the honey cream cheese. This was really good as a snack or even breakfast.

First, she arranged thusly (above). I said it looks like packman. So she rearranged below.

Here I ask my wife to take over.

This recipe is from a book entitle “Quick Breads” by Beatrice A. Ojakangas
Ingredients:
2 cups All Purpose flour
2 cups cornmeal
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup karo syrup + 1/3 cup dark molasses (This combination is what Pa Dutch recipes call “table molasses”. I did this to tone down the molasses flavor to accommodate my husband who is not overly fond of it. If you really like molasses then just use molasses and no Karo for  2/3 cup molasses).
2/3 cup raisins.

In a large mixing bowl stir the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt until blended. Combine the buttermilk and molasses. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry. Mix until well blended. Add the raisins. 

This bread is steamed. Generously grease the ramekins as well as the aluminum foil used to cover them. I prepared the large pot we used for sous vide and the Dutch oven by putting egg steaming trivets from the instant pot on the bottom of each and filling with enough water to come half way up the side of the ramekins (see pictures below).  I used 2 large ramekins and 4 medium sized ones. The two large ramekins plus an optional smaller one could fit in the large sous vide pot. The 4 smaller ramekins, however, also fit well in the Dutch oven so just the large ramekins could go in the sous vide pot. I spooned the batter into the ramekins until they were 2/3 full. I tightly covered them with aluminum foil held on with a rubber band then put them in the steaming pot, water gently boiling so the water came 1/2 the way up the ramekin. I covered the pot and steamed them for about 45 minutes or until a tooth pick came out clean. I removed the bread from the ramekins and let it cool. I sliced the small round loaves in 1/2 inch slices and slathered them with cream cheese with honey mixed in.

This is a very hearty flavorful bread with a bit of tang from the molasses and the buttermilk. The texture is pleasingly dense but moist. The cream cheese offsets the tang and is a perfect accompaniment.

Gravlax グラブラックス

Some years ago, I made gravlax but somehow I have not made it for some time. I even forgot that I had made it. But this year, my wife requested I make the gravlax for New Year. She even remembered and was able to specified the recipe I had used. I have been serving this with my "Russian" marinated salmon for several days of the new year.



Although both are "chemically" cooked or cured salmon, the flavor and texture are totally different giving a nice contrast of two salmon dishes. Here I served my gravlax on a bed of thinly sliced Japanese cucumber with capers. The "Russian" marinated salmon was garnished with Ikura salmon roe and fresh dill. The gravlax has the texture of smoked salmon (without smoke) but also nice flavors of coriander seeds and tequila predominate with subtle fresh herbs (mint, dill, basil and citrus). The marinated salmon has soft "cooked" texture with lemon flavor. The onion (I used sweet onion) became marinated and goes so well with the marinated salmon.



In another serving example, I served the gravlax (arranged in a rose flower shape) on a bed of water cress (mostly leaves removing large stems) with my wife's home made creme fraiche and "ikura" salmon roe garnish. I also added salmon-kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き and daikon namasu 大根なます with thinly sliced boiled and vinegar seasoned octopus 酢だこ.



My wife's creme fraiche took some time (4 days as opposed to usual 2 days) to form (probably due to the rather cool room temperature but it tasted great.



Although sake or Champaign will go well with these dishes, we decided either scotch or good bourbon is better. Here we served Kentucky's Maker's mark (now a part of Suntory of Japan along with Jim Bean),



The recipe for the gravlax came from Julia Child's "In Julia's Kitchen with Master chefs" and by Monique Barbeau. Although I followed her recipe, some of the measurements are clearly off and I made adjustments.

Ingredients:
Salmon: Side of fresh salmon, skin on all pin bones removed.

Note:

1. The recipe states 1 and 1/2 lb side of salmon but if that was the case, it is a very small salmon indeed. Mine weighted at least 2 and 1/2 lbs. even after I removed the very thick head and very thin belly portions. Next time I will use the mid portions of two sides of salmon with identical size and thickness. The meat of the thin tail portion got cured too much and became a bit leathery and salty (but still very edible). 
2. I prefer scaling the skin as well because while slicing the final products, the scales did come off sometimes and attach to the slices of gravlax.

Dry cure:
3/4 cups kosher salt
1 and 1/2 cups of light brown sugar
(In contrast to a very small side of salmon, the amount of the dry cure is way too much in the original recipe which specify 1 and 1/2 cups of kosher salt and 2 cups of brown sugar. I only used 1/3-1/2 of the total of 3 and 1/2 dry cure I prepared for my 2.5 lb side of salmon. I will cut the amount of the dry cure by half next time which is listed above.)

Liquid cure: ( the amount of liquid cure was perfect)
1/2 cup tequila
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Zest of one lemon (I used my micrograter)
Zest of one orange (I used my micrograter)
2 tsp of whole coriander seeds
3 sprigs of fresh dill, with stems
3 sprigs of fresh mint, with stems
3 sprigs of fresh basil, with stems

Day one - Dry cure
I used a rectangular Pyrex baking dish (13 x 9 inches) in which my side of the salmon just fit. I lined the inside with plastic wrap with excess portions on both ends so that I could wrap the salmon completely. I layered the dry cure in 1/4 inch thick on the bottom (preserving at least 1/3 for the next day). I placed the salmon skin side up (or meat side in contact with the cure). I placed additional cure on the sides and the ends and wrapped the salmon with plastic wrap. I covered (loosely) with aluminum foil and placed it in another Pylex baking dish which was slightly smaller than the bottom baking dish. I put 3 heavy cans of vegetables (I think they were either beans or tomato but the weight is what needed here, about 5 lb) on the top. I placed this in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Day two - liquid cure
I roughly chopped the herbs and mixed them with the tequila, lime juice, and orange and lemon zests. I placed whole coriander seeds in a small Ziploc bag and using a heavy pot, I crushed the seeds and added to the liquid cure.

When I removed the vegetable can weights and unwrapped the salmon, the dry cure was all melted and a quite good amount of liquid had exuded from the fish. The salmon was noticeably dark and firm.  I removed the salmon and set aside. I discarded the liquid and plastic wraps, washed and dried the baking pans. I lined the bottom pan with plastic wrap exactly as I did for the dry cure process. I poured in the liquid cure and spread the  herbs and spices evenly on the bottom. I sprinkled the dry cure on the liquid bed (no exact amount specified, so I just lightly sprinkled) and placed the salmon back with fresh side down. I also placed the dry cure on the cut end and on the sides. I wrapped the salmon using the excess ends of plastic wrap, loosely covered with a sheet of aluminum foil, placed it in the upper baking dish and the weight (3 cans) and placed back to the refrigerator for another 24 hours.

If the curing is completed, the salmon fresh should be uniformly firm and dark red (That was the case for me at the end of 24 hours liquid cure). But if not, the original recipe recommends to place it back in the liquid cure for 1-2 more days. The original recipe indicates that the gravlax will last for 10 days stored in the liquid cure.

I forgot to take pictures during these curing processes.

Slicing:
I happened to have a long flexible knife (Global) for slicing smoked salmon and gravlax. I sliced it very thinly turning the knife blade horizontally to release it from the skin. I sliced the thin tail portion of the meat obliquely but as the meat became thick, I slanted my knife only slightly.



The thin tail meat got a bit over cured in the dry cure process and got slightly too firm and salty. Next time I will use two portions of salmon of equal size and thickness rather than one side with a thin tail portion. Since we had consumed all the tail portion at this point, I poured the liquid cure into a gallon Ziploc bag, put in the gravlax, removed the air as much as possible before sealing. This made it much easier to store in the refrigerator.



After the salmon feast, we switched to cold sake and enjoyed more small dishes from the box. From right to left are; herring roe on kelp, steamed sea urchin, kumquat simmered in syrup, sweet fish with its roe simmered for 10 hours, chestnut "shibukawa-ni", and sake braised prawn.