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Why we should all care about the HONEYBEE

BRIAN AND KATHY SUCHAN foster Carniolan bees in their hive-to-jar production, doing things the old-fashioned way and connecting with their community.

A GUIDE TO SAUSAGE around the world Discover unusual ways to use WATERMELON Everything you ever wanted to know about CHERRIES

Four tasty COCKTAILS straight from the field How to build a better CHARCUTERIE BOARD This Wisconsin company PRESERVES the sweetness of summer

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Make JAMS AND JELLIES in 5 simple steps Growing, preserving and cooking with HERBS LOVE LAVENDER? You’ll love its uses even more

Living the sweet life with honey producer Fat Head Farms

K

athy and Brian Suchan manage hundreds of beehives in more than 25 locations across Nebraska’s Colfax and Stanton counties, so it can be challenging to find time to visit Fat Head Farms, their northeast Nebraska honey operation. But if you’re able to get there, it’s well worth it.

A sweet start

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THE WILD LIFE of Alaska’s small-boat salmon fishers SCHOOL OF FISH: 7 tips for the home cook What’s a SOURDOUGH STARTER, anyway?

Why OATS are no longer (only) old-fashioned SHOP WITH US: fresh picks available in our online marketplace

Kathy grew up in Schuyler, Nebraska, but spent time in South Carolina where her bee obsession began to emerge during the urban farming craze. A fourth-generation beekeeper, Brian grew up in Omaha, spending time with his grandfather and father tending bee yards in Colfax and Stanton counties, as well as the Boys Town farm near his childhood home.

Unassuming, patient and incredibly knowledgeable, Brian keeps his primary focus on the bees, whereas Kathy handles beekeeping duties along with some of the more customer-facing tasks involved in running the business. Pork Chop, the smooshy-faced bulldog depicted on the label and inspiration for the Fat Head name, arrived on the farm as a pup.

Now used as an office and a bottling facility, the farmhouse on the Suchans’ property is more than 100 years old, evoking a comforting nostalgia.

BY AN NA HARTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRAD IWEN

Hive to honey — how it’s made

The worker bees head out for the day, gathering nectar to bring back to the hive. The bees then deposit the nectar into the comb, flapping their wings forcefully to extract water. Once the comb is full, it’s capped with beeswax to preserve the honey inside.

This frenetic activity, referred to as “the flow,” picks up from mid- to late-summer and typically lasts for 4 to 6 weeks. In a stellar year, the flow can take up to 8 weeks.

“It depends on the nectar source and the weather,” Brian says. “Too much rain prevents the bees from gathering. The early honey is delicious — light, floral, not cloying, but definitely sticky.”

“It’s so rewarding to go through the whole hive-to-jar process.”

Know your honey, know your beekeeper

The buzz and the bees

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The Suchans’ hives are scattered around the county in bee yards — local landowners contact the couple to offer up pastures of grasses and wildflowers for hives and are paid rent by way of honey. A nearby yard holds several rows of stacked beehives.

One of the most common questions the Suchans encounter is how often they get stung.

“All the time,” Kathy admits. “It’s just part of the deal.”

When collection time arrives, the scrupulously clean harvest building is abuzz with activity using equipment that dates back to the 1970s and 1980s. “All processing is done the old timey way,” Kathy says. Newer, more automated equipment is available, but the Suchans prefer to stick with the classics they know.

To harvest, the operator removes frames from the supers, then sends them through a conveyor belt with chains that remove the wax cap. On the opposite side, a second person grabs the frame and glides it into the receiving grooves of an extractor that uses centrifugal force to pull the honey out. The honey is strained into barrels, and then goes into drums for storage.

The bottling process proceeds via a tube that runs from the drum to a bottle filler. With the press of a button, the honey streams into labeled bottles and is ready for sale. If the product in the drums crystallizes, it’s cozied up in a warm blanket to return it to hive temp, but is never heated.

An avid and accomplished cook, Kathy develops and tests recipes for the farm’s 17 craft honey flavors. Popular sellers include a bourbon barrel-aged product and creamed salted citrus, chocolate ghost pepper, peanut butter and lavender-matcha varieties.

WA N T TO T RY FAT H E A D H O N E Y ?

TO P U R C H A S E , V I S I T S H O P. F E A STA N D F I E L D. N E T.

When it comes to buying honey, how do you know you’re getting the real deal?

“Know your beekeepers and farmers!” exclaims Kathy. “We produce raw, small-batch honey in a 100 percent hands-on environment using practices passed down for generations. Looking out for the bees, keeping them healthy, and working as a team with Brian make me proud of this life we created.”

Nothing fake about that.

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Why we should all care about the honeybee

BY AN NA HARTMAN

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ebraska’s Fat Head Farms emblazons burlap shopping bags and other bits of packaging swag with the motto, “Save the freaking bees.”

But why? Simply put, honeybees are crucial to our ecosystem. All humans and animals need energy in the form of food to survive. That’s where bees come in.

In perfect conditions, bees will find a home, visit flowers for nectar, pollinate plants and produce honey. Habitat loss can be an unfortunate byproduct of human expansion. When farmland is razed for construction, a colony’s food source is destroyed in the name of progress.

The fruits of bee’s labor

Bees are social insects, and as plants evolved, so have they.

Plants produce nectar that attracts bees and other pollinators.

Honeybees then convert that nectar into honey. In return, these hard-working insects facilitate the pollination process by carrying cross-fertilizing pollen on their furry little bodies from one plant to another. Without pollinators, plants will continue to grow, but they cannot produce fruits and vegetables.

VIDEO:

SEE HOW BEES ARE KEPT AND HONEY IS HARVESTED AT NEBRASKA’S FAT HEAD FARMS. SCAN THE CODE WITH YOUR MOBILE DEVICE TO WATCH!

CHEFS OFTEN CRUSH BEE POLLEN TO SPRINKLE ON BAKED GOODS.

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW

ABOUT HONEY

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oney is a natural, healthy and infinitely fascinating substance that’s been harvested and used by humans for thousands of years. The bees that produce the stickysweet treat take their cues from Mother Nature, cooperating with each other in a symbiotic relationship that benefits both their own colonies and the plants and animals around them.

Like wine, honey is an expression of its environment, or terroir. To put it simply, honey boasts the characteristics of the place where it was made, but there’s a lot more to know about this natural nectar.

FLAVOR AND COLOR

A stroll through the grocery store or farmers’ market reveals a rainbow of different honeys. Available in a range of colors and flavors, honey varieties often adopt the name of the flower from which the honeybee extracted nectar to make them — clover, acacia, orange blossom and so on.

From pale yellow to dark brown in hue, more than 300 types of varietal honey are available in the U.S. Even hives in close proximity can produce varied flavors; honey connoisseurs and beekeepers are adept at discerning the different tasting notes. For example, cotton blossom honey is zingy, yet earthy; palmetto is nutty; and buckwheat honey is malty. The time of harvest can also affect the flavor; early honey is often lighter and more floral than honey harvested later in the season.

CONSISTENCY

Honey also varies in mouthfeel, creating interesting contrasts and textural distinctions. Raw liquid honey is processed as little

as possible, but typically strained to remove bits of beeswax and other impurities. Creamed (or whipped) honey combines liquid honey with crystals in a churn resulting in a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Honeycomb is simply honey in its original comb; chunk-style honey is usually packaged and sold as chunks of comb in a jar of liquid honey.

RAW VERSUS PROCESSED

Most commercially sold honey is processed in some way, meaning it’s been removed from the hive, separated from the comb and packaged. Similar to vegetables and fruits, honey is best enjoyed in its natural state. Raw honey is never heated above hive temperature, around 96 to 98°F, and is strained but not filtered. Heating honey can alter its chemical composition, reducing antibacterial properties and destroying its natural enzymes.

Processed, or pasteurized, honey is typically heated to very high temperatures, then filtered for clarity and ease of bottling.

If your bottle or jar of honey crystallizes at some point, it’s likely the real deal.

HONEY BYPRODUCTS

Bee pollen is collected daily in traps that fit over the entrance to a hive, essentially gathering the pollen as the bees enter. When

BY AN NA HARTMAN

dried and sold either whole or in powder form, it can be used as a culinary garnish or a dietary supplement.

Royal jelly is a protein-rich secretion eaten by the larvae in a hive; only the queen bee gets the privilege of enjoying it for a lifetime. Lauded for its anti-aging properties, it’s a popular herbal supplement.

Bee bread is a combination of pollen, nectar and natural substances that provides sustenance for a brood of young bees. It also can be extracted from a hive and used as a health supplement.

Beeswax shed from honey production can be rendered and used in a number of applications including candles, furniture polish and beauty aids.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Composed of fructose and glucose sugars, honey is an excellent source of natural energy. Low in moisture and naturally acidic, it can be used to soothe cuts and burns. Another benefit — its natural antibacterial properties help reduce chances of infection. These same soothing properties help ease irritated or sore throats, especially when combined with lemon juice and added to tea or other hot beverages. Be aware, though, that honey should not be fed to infants younger than 12 months old because it can carry dormant spores of botulism that are able to germinate in immature digestive systems.

LOVE? YES, EVEN LOVE.

The word “honeymoon” derives from an old European tradition in which newly married couples drank a measure of mead (a fermented honey wine) every day for a month to promote fertility and sweet happiness.

The modern-day bee decline

Bees play a vital role in food production, but their population is precarious.

According to the beekeepers at Fat Head Farms, bee farmers plan for average annual bee loss of around 30 percent, but that number can vary across the country.

Primary factors contributing to bee loss include disease, mites, pesticide use and habitat loss.

Pesticides used on farms and grassy yards are absorbed by plants and, in turn, harm bees as they go about their business of collecting nectar and pollen to bring back to the hive. In some cases, these chemicals remain in the food supply chain for years after application.

Growing native flowers, including dandelions, provides a natural source of pollen for honeybees.

Why care?

You might think it doesn’t matter — bees sting or maybe you don’t like honey. But, perhaps you like to snooze comfortably on cotton sheets at night, savor coffee in the morning or sip a glass of wine with dinner.

All those items require pollination, and happy bees result in strong pollination and better food quality. A healthy hive can cross-pollinate millions of flowers in a day, and bees pollinate billions of dollars’ worth of crops in the United States each year. Fully one-third of the world’s food supply can be traced to the efforts of these fuzzy insects.

How you can help

The National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever and other hunting organizations provide complimentary seed packets or pollinator pots to support a healthy habitat for bees.

To attract pollinators to your home garden, nurture a variety of plants, ensuring bloom times vary from early spring through late fall for a consistent diet. Native plants are ideal.

Other ways to help the honeybees include reducing the size of your lawn and avoiding the use of pesticides. Whatever your honeybees eat ends up in the honey you purchase. Avoid killing or swatting bees, and if you find an unwanted hive on your property, enlist the help of a local bee organization to relocate it.

MANGO MULE MOCKTAIL

RECIPE BY LAUREN BALAK • PHOTO BY BRAD IWEN

GINGER-HONEY SYRUP

• 170 grams honey • 134 grams water • ¼ cup peeled and coarsely chopped fresh ginger MANGO MULE MOCKTAIL

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1 small cucumber, sliced 1 oz ginger-honey syrup 1½ oz fresh lime juice 1½ oz mango puree 1 oz rum (optional) ice 1½ oz ginger beer 1 lime wheel, for garnish

ROASTED SALMON

Prepare GingerHoney Syrup: In medium saucepan, add syrup ingredients; heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until honey dissolves. Reduce the heat to medium-low; simmer about 15 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly.

Remove saucepan from heat; cool to room temperature. Pour syrup through strainer into airtight container. Refrigerate any leftover syrup up to 2 weeks.

Prepare Mocktail: Into cocktail shaker, add cucumber and ginger-honey syrup; muddle cucumber. Add lime juice, mango puree and rum, if using; fill with ice, cover shaker with lid and shake vigorously. Strain into chilled copper mug; top with ginger beer and stir to combine. Garnish with lime wheel.

RECI PE BY CATHY CURTIS • PHOTO

BY BRAD IWEN

WITH HONEY CITRUS DRESSING • • • • •

8 oz extra-virgin olive oil 4 (6-oz) skinless salmon fillets freshly cracked black pepper, to taste kosher salt, to taste 2 oz honey

Preheat oven to 475°F. Line large rimmed baking pan with parchment paper; place roasting rack over parchment. In small saucepan over low heat, warm oil to about 140°F. Sprinkle salmon with black pepper and salt; place salmon, skin-side down, on rack. Set aside.

In medium bowl, with whisk, stir honey,

• 2 oz fresh lemon juice • 2 oz fresh orange juice • 1 tsp ground mustard • 1 large pinch crushed red pepper flakes

juices, ground mustard and crushed red pepper flakes until combined. In slow, steady stream, add oil, whisking constantly. Stir in black pepper and salt.

Pour about 1 cup dressing over salmon; roast 8 to 12 minutes or until dressing caramelizes into a glaze and center of fillets reaches an internal temperature of 120°F. Drizzle salmon with glaze in pan to serve.

Led by a team of foodobsessed editors and contributors, Feast and Field offers readers an up-close look at the story of food. Each week, Feast and Field shares unique stories of people across the country who are growing, processing and producing our food — from field to feast.

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Sausage around the world MEAT THE MANY FLAVORS

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BY AMY LYNCH

ere’s a rundown of some of the most popular types of sausage you’ll see in grocery stores and markets, what to expect from each by way of flavor, and a few suggestions on how to best enjoy them:

Italian

Usually available in sweet, hot and mild varieties, pork-based Italian sausage features flavors that bring old-world spices to mind — basil, garlic, oregano and most distinctively, fennel seed. Sometimes referred to as “salsiccia,” Italian sausage makes a great addition to pasta sauces and rice dishes.

Polish Redolent of garlic and marjoram, traditional Polish sausage — aka kielbasa — must be made with cured pork (sometimes mixed with veal) to be considered the true genuine article. In Poland, diners can expect to find this sausage served hot dog-style on a bun complemented with onions and horseradish, or plated on its own with a side of sauerkraut.

Every country and every culture around the world seem to have a signature sausage all its own based on the influences of its unique native ingredients.

Saucisson

LAP CHEONG ARE OFTEN PART OF CHINESE NEW YEAR MENUS.

Wurst Just walk past any Bavarian meat counter or butcher shop and you’ll quickly find out that Germany is home to a dizzying family of sausage products, from the familiar bratwurst, frankfurters and garlicky knackwurst to fragrantly seasoned currywurst, veal-based weisswurst (white sausage) and rich blutwurst (blood sausage).

Chorizo This heavily spiced pork-based sausage is either prepared fresh or dry-cured, depending on which hemisphere you find it. In Spain and Portugal, chorizo is dry-cured, often fermented, sometimes smoked and usually seasoned with garlic, herbs, wine and dulce (sweet) or picante (spicy) smoked pimentón. Latin America favors raw chorizo, usually prepared with local chiles and vinegar instead of wine.

Merguez This North African recipe melds lamb and/ or beef with aromatic seasonings like harissa, cumin, sumac, garlic and chile peppers for a heady scent and characteristic red color. Merguez is usually served broiled or grilled with rice and vegetables.

Breakfast sausage Sometimes referred to as “country-style,” breakfast sausage is what many Americans count on as part of a morning meal in link or patty form alongside pancakes and eggs, or crumbled into gravy and ladled over biscuits.

Usually spiced with sage and black pepper, this fresh pork sausage may also incorporate notes of brown sugar or maple syrup.

Thick, meaty saucisson is the more classic drycured sausage in France, heavy on the garlic and herbs and is an approachable starter sausage for anyone new to charcuterie.

Andouille Originating in France, a melting pot of seasonings that includes thyme, bay leaf, paprika and sage gives andouille its singular flavor, with cayenne added for a bit of spicy kick.

a combination of garlic, chile pepper, ginger and the addition of MSG as a flavor enhancer.

Vegan sausage Plant-based varieties rely on beans, nuts, mushrooms, oats, chickpeas, soy protein and other meat-free building blocks to mimic the texture of traditional sausage with all the traditional seasonings.

Summer sausage Akin to Italian salami, American summer sausage is dried or smoked in order to store safely at room temperature without the need for refrigeration. It’s usually made with pork, beef, venison or a combination of meats and seasoned with curing salt, garlic and mustard seeds.

Lap cheong These Cantonese pork sausages’ distinguishing taste stems from

Fresh chorizo is often cooked and crumbled to stuff inside corn tortillas and empanadas.

4 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

CHEESE TORTELLINI IN

FRESH TOMATO BROTH

Farm Fresh We sampled summer’s sweetest produce, and here are a few of our tastiest tips.

PHOTO BY KATE BLOHM AT FRANNY & THE FOX, the Charleston, South Carolina, chef, Tim Morton, prepares homemade pasta with a fresh tomato broth. His recipe is adapted by Feast and Field.

• 1 package (20 oz) fresh or frozen cheese tortellini • 3 lemons • 2¼ pounds heirloom tomatoes, stem end removed and tomatoes cut into chunks • 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided • ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste • 1 pint cherry tomatoes • freshly ground black pepper • 4 large basil leaves, plus more for garnish • freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Heat large covered saucepot of salted water to boiling over high heat; add tortellini and cook as label directs.

Drain pasta. Meanwhile, from lemons, grate 1 teaspoon peel and squeeze scant ½ cup juice; transfer peel and juice to 3- to 4-quart saucepan. Add heirloom tomatoes, 1 tablespoon oil and ½ teaspoon salt and heat over medium heat just until tomatoes break down and become gently warmed, stirring occasionally.

In large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking; add cherry tomatoes and cook until skins begin to burst, swirling pan occasionally. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and pepper; set aside.

In blender, add basil and remaining 2 tablespoons oil; blend until basil is pureed. Add tomato mixture to oil in blender; cover blender with lid removed to allow steam to escape. Blend until mixture is pureed. Pour tomato mixture through cheesecloth-lined strainer into large bowl, pressing on any solids to release liquid. Add salt to tomato broth to taste.

Divide pasta between each of 4 pasta bowls; pour tomato broth evenly over pasta. Arrange cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with cheese and basil leaves to serve.

WATERMELON SORBET PHOTO BY ZACH STRAW

THIS REFRESHING RECIPE is courtesy of Jeremiah Galey, the executive chef at Amy’s on Franklin in Evansville, Indiana.

• 3 cups fresh watermelon juice • 1 cup raw or granulated sugar • ½ cup water

• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice • 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

In 2- to 3-quart saucepan, add all ingredients; heat over medium heat until mixture reaches 140 to 150°F. The sugar should be dissolved; no need to boil. Remove saucepan from heat; cool completely to room temperature or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Freeze mixture in ice-cream maker as manufacturer directs, allowing sorbet to churn until frozen past the slushy stage. If not serving right away, transfer to airtight container; cover and freeze up to 3 days.

CAST-IRON WATERMELON PHOTO BY ZACH STRAW • RECIPE BY JEREMIAH GALEY

• 1 (1-inch-thick) center slice watermelon, cut into 8 equal wedges • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar • 2 tsp peanut, coconut or grapeseed oil, divided • 1 lime, cut in half • coarse sea salt • ¼ cup crumbled • Tajín seasoning feta cheese In small saucepan, heat balsamic vinegar over medium heat until thick, syrupy and reduced by half, being careful that it doesn’t burn; remove saucepan from heat and allow vinegar to cool.

Meanwhile, preheat 10- to 12-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high; add 1 teaspoon oil and 4 wedges to skillet. Cook 1½ to 2 minutes or until watermelon is heated through and caramelized in spots, turning with tongs to lightly sear both sides.

Transfer wedges as they are done to salad plates, 2 wedges per plate. Drizzle vinegar over watermelon; squeeze lime juice on top and sprinkle with cheese and a pinch each salt and seasoning to serve.

Picking the right tomato for your dish

BY ALEXAN DRA MARVAR

F

or more than two and a half millennia of cultivation, humans have honed the tomato, a beloved, acidic and possibly aphrodisiac fruit from the nightshade family. In the context of time, it was thought to be poisonous up until relatively recently. Today, thousands of varieties are grown around the world. A southern chef shares expert tips on choosing the right one for your culinary pursuit.

end of the size spectrum, mild-flavored, thick-skinned beefsteak tomatoes can weigh a pound each. They’re beloved for slicing on sandwiches.

Tomato types, from hybrid to heirloom

The Green Zebra, the Lucky Cross, the Golden Jubilee: There are some 3,000 types of heirloom tomatoes currently in cultivation, in myriad colors, flavors, shapes and sizes, each with its own clever name and history.

“Heirloom refers to the seed, a seed that can be traced back some number of years,” says chef Tim Morton of Frannie & The Fox. “The heirloom tomatoes that were growing in the ground here in Charleston, South Carolina, are the same tomatoes that they were picking here 100 years ago.”

Other tomato plants change over time, thanks to growers who breed certain types together to tease out and boost their most desirable traits, from climate and blight resilience to certain colors and flavors.

Best tomatoes for eating raw

Among the most snackable are small, sweet and versatile cherry tomatoes.

Similarly bite-sized and slightly more oblong, the grape tomato is another cultivar available year-round. On the far

Any tomato past its prime may lend itself more to a sauce than a salad.

Popular, ready-to-eat heirlooms include the Black Cherry, a bite-sized heirloom with a color that lives up to its name; the Azoychka, a yellow-orange beefsteak with a citrusy flavor; and the Brandywine, an heirloom varietal of the beefsteak that comes in various hues of pink, just as suitable for slicing.

Raw heirloom tomatoes make the perfect addition to a caprese salad or the centerpiece on a bed of greens. They shine on the particularly southern tomato sandwich (tomato, mayo and not much else).

Best tomatoes for cooking: from pizza to pasta sauce

When cooking with tomatoes, look for a cultivator with thinner skin, fewer seeds and lower water content, like Roma or plum tomatoes.

When it comes to pasta sauces, Morton is fan of the San Marzano tomato,

evolved over generations in service to Italy’s culinary tradition. There are plenty of imitations on the market, but the original San Marzano grows mainly in the rich soil of Italy’s Campania region.

Deep red, light on seeds and acidity and heavy on pulp and flavor, these are considered the cream of the crop when it comes to pasta and pizza sauces — and they’re easy to peel, too.

Other popular tomatoes for sauce are the Margherita — named for the same 19th-century Italian queen the pizza takes its name from, Margherita of Savoy — and variations on the Roma tomato, including the Amish Paste, the Orange Roma and the SuperSauce, a hybrid engineered for efficient sauce-making weighing as much as two pounds per fruit.

According to Morton, any tomato past its prime may lend itself more to a sauce than a salad. “Sometimes, tomatoes as they age, can become mealy in texture or soft,” he says. “That’s when we would identify those to be used more in sauces.”

FRO

Tomatoes off the vine

Freshness also dictates use: The fresher the tomato, the simpler the preparation it will require.

“A tomato off the vine has all of its inherent sweetness at its peak, all of its nutrients. It’s still essentially being fed from the plant at that point,” Morton says.

You may spot tomatoes “on the vine” at grocery stores, like the Campari tomato, sold in clusters of four or six. While some say they offer more of a tomato aroma, they are generally still ripened after harvest and can’t quite compare to a tomato you pick by hand in the garden.

5 unusual ways to use watermelon

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BY AMY LYNCH here’s nothing more refreshing than biting into a cold slice of watermelon, but that’s not the only way to enjoy this classic seasonal fruit. Try a few of these unexpected suggestions to make the most of your watermelon.

A SWEET ADDITION TO SAVORY RECIPES. Watermelon makes a fine addition to fresh summer recipes like gazpacho and salsas, subbing in for — or as a complement to — its timely tomato counterparts. Bolder chefs might even consider including it in sushi rolls and lettuce wraps. It also pairs surprisingly well with salty, tangy ingredients like feta cheese and balsamic vinegar as a creative salad or side dish to accompany grilled meats.

Searing, grilling and smoking watermelon on skewers seals in the juice, changes the texture, and brings an interesting, charred element to the party. You can even roast watermelon in the oven to utilize as a vegan meat alternative.

GETTING JUICY WITH IT. Juicing a watermelon is easier

than you think. Just puree seedless or de-seeded cubes in a blender, food processor or juicer, then pour through a strainer to remove the pulp if desired. Even simpler, cut a whole seedless watermelon in half, then zap the inside with a wand immersion blender and strain. Sip the juice on its own for a rehydrating beverage or blend it into a smoothie.

Or, mix the fresh juice with vodka, gin or rum and garnish with lime or mint leaves for a tasty patio cocktail.

THE RINDS CAN BE CUT THEN BOILED AND CHILLED IN A BRINE TO CREATE AN OLDFASHIONED PICKLE.

SPICE THINGS UP. In the melon farming region of southern Indiana, the salt vs. no-salt debate simmers on. Advocates adhere to the belief that a light sprinkle of salt brings out the sweetness of the fruit, but purists wouldn’t dare sully their slices with sodium. There’s no right or wrong way to do it; it’s just a matter of personal preference.

Play around with different herbs and seasonings the next time you slice up some fresh watermelon. Lime juice, fresh ground black pepper, chopped mint, chile peppers, tamarind, cayenne and garam masala all elevate the fruit.

TOP SEEDS. If you’re a fan of roasted pumpkin seeds, you may want to give roasted watermelon seeds a try. The recipe is basically the same — rinse and dry the seeds and toss with a little oil, salt and pepper; roast them in a low-temperature oven, stirring every 10 minutes or so until lightly browned and crunchy. A low-calorie source of fiber, magnesium and zinc, roasted watermelon seeds can be eaten on their own or added to salads, cereal, yogurt and granola.

FEASTANDFIELD.NET

Everything you ever wanted to know about cherries

BY CRAIG MAN N I NG

S

weet or tart? Bright-red or midnight black? On your salad, in your cocktail, filling your pie, topping your meat or on their own? When it comes to cherries, it can’t be understated how versatile they are and how many roles they can play in your menu depending on the variety, flavor preference and season.

To help you understand the full power of cherries, here are four key tidbits to know.

They come in a plethora of varieties

SOUR CHERRIES

ries, for instance, usually go into ARE THE BEST CHOICE FOR cherry pies or other baked desserts, MOST DESSERT RECIPES. and it’s tart cherry juice that has gained popularity in recent years among athletes thanks to its benefits for muscle recovery. Tart cherries are also typically used in jams, preserves, jellies and syrups.

The most well-known tart cherry in the U.S., the Montmorency, is considered the goto cherry variety for cherry pies, but there are other types of sour cherries out there, too, from the Early Richmond to the English Morello.

People don’t tend to think about They offer a range cherries like they do apples, as of health benefits a fruit with a whole plethora of different varieties and flavor proIt’s not just muscle recovery that makes cherries a health enthufiles. You know Red Delicious siast’s best friend. Cherries are and Granny Smith, Honeycrisp VIDEO: packed with fiber; rich in vitaand Fuji, but can you describe the EXPERIENCE A mins C, A and K; brimming with difference between a Bing cherry CHERRY FARM IN NORTHERN key minerals like potassium and and a Montmorency off the top of MICHIGAN — A REGION WHERE calcium; and full of essential anyour head?

40% OF THE tioxidants. Research has proven Although the different cherUNITED STATES’ ANNUAL TART these properties, especially the ry varieties aren’t nearly as well CHERRY CROP IS anti-inflammatory properties of known as the many apple varietPRODUCED ANNUALLY. the antioxidants, are beneficial ies, one may be surprised to learn SCAN THE CODE for runners, cyclists and other enthere are more than a thousand WITH YOUR MOBILE DEVICE durance athletes looking to acceldifferent varieties of cherries TO WATCH! erate their recovery times. There’s grown in the United States alone. also evidence to suggest that addIn other words, even if you think you don’t like cherries, there’s probably a type ing cherries to your diet can help improve sleep quality, relieve symptoms of arthritis and gout, out there that would make you reconsider. boost heart health and more.

They slot into sweet and sour varieties

They are extremely seasonal

The easiest way to categorize cherries, at least in the big-picture sense, is to break them down into sweet and sour, or tart, varieties. The most common type of cherry in the United States is the plump Bing cherry, which has a dark color and sweet flavor. Other sweet varieties include the Rainier cherry with a distinctive yellow color and red blush, and the Chelan cherry, which is black in color and mild in flavor. Some sweet cherries tilt toward tarter flavors, such as the Tulare cherry. However, for the most part, sweet cherries are free of sour tang and are delicious when picked right off the tree and eaten.

Tart cherries aren’t quite as popular for snacking, but still have many uses. Tart cher-

One of the things that makes cherries special is their seasonality. There are certain fruits that your local grocery store will have stocked in its produce section year-round: apples, bananas, even strawberries. With cherries, though, you’ll need to wait for the right season. Specifically, you’ll need to wait for late spring or summer.

For this reason, many Americans associate cherries with fond memories of summers past.

Most years, cherry season will be complete

by September. The good news? If you still need your cherry fix, you should have no problem finding dried cherries, cherry juice, cherry pie filling and other cherry treats until late spring rolls around next year.

Hallstedt Homestead Cherries in Northport, Michigan, grows eight varieties of sweet cherries.

CHERRY CRISTO PHOTO BY BERYL STRIEWSKI

MICHIGAN-BASED CHEF Bryon “Fig” Figueroa makes this twist on the classic French Monte Cristo, served with a homemade cherry-bacon sauce so good you’ll want to eat it by the spoonful.

• • • • • • • •

6 large eggs ½ cup heavy or whipping cream ¼ cup granulated sugar 1 tsp orange zest 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract 2 bacon strips, cut into ¼-inch pieces 8 oz sweet cherries, pitted ¼ cup (2 oz) maple syrup

In large bowl, with whisk, beat eggs, cream, sugar, zest and vanilla until well blended; set aside.

In large skillet over low heat, cook bacon until most fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, stirring occasionally. Add cherries and maple syrup and cook 4 to 6 minutes over medium heat until cherries soften and mixture thickens slightly. Remove skillet from heat; let stand at room temperature to cool.

In wide-bottomed large skillet, melt butter

• 3 Tbsp butter • 4 (½-inch-thick) slices challah or brioche bread (or bread of your choice) • 6 thin slices capicola ham, prosciutto or good-quality ham • ¼ cup toasted walnuts • 1 lemon over medium heat. Meanwhile, dip bread in egg mixture to coat both sides, then transfer to skillet, in batches if necessary, and cook about 3 minutes on each side or until browned; transfer bread to each of 2 plates. Remove skillet from heat.

Place capicola in skillet and use its residual heat to warm up capicola; place 3 slices capicola on bottom halves of 2 slices of bread, then top with second slice of bread. Pour cherry-bacon sauce on top; crumble walnuts over sandwiches and grate some lemon zest on top to serve.

FROM THE FIELD: 4 DELICIOUS COCKTAILS BLOODY MARY

NIGHT MOVES

ADAM JIMENEZ of Charleston, South Carolina’s Emeline Hotel, offers his take on this classic to kickstart your day.

TRAVERSE CITY WHISKEY CO.’S Diane Corcoran, one of the industry-leading authorities in cherry cocktail mixology, calls this cocktail “Michigan in a glass.” The name is even is a tipof-the-hat to Detroit native son Bob Seger. “The cherry whiskey plays really nicely with the smoky spice of the Ancho Reyes,” Corcoran says. “This is like a sweet, smoky whiskey margarita.”

PHOTO BY KATE BLOHM

• • • • • • • • • • • •

24 oz canned or fresh tomato juice 8 oz vodka, or more to taste ¾ oz fresh lemon juice ¾ oz fresh lime juice ¾ oz orange juice ⅓ oz Worcestershire sauce 3 Tbsp white prepared horseradish 2¼ tsp mushroom powder ¼ oz hot pepper sauce, preferably Tabasco ¼ oz cayenne pepper sauce, preferably Cholula 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 tsp kosher salt

In large pitcher, stir all ingredients with whisk until well blended. Stir before each use.

If not serving right away, refrigerate up to 10 days.

JERRY’S GIN & JUICE

PHOTO BY ZACH STRAW

EXECUTIVE CHEF JEREMIAH GALEY is affectionally called “Jerry” by close friends and co-workers at Amy’s on Franklin in Evansville, Indiana.

• • • • • • •

2 oz fresh watermelon juice 1½ oz gin ½ oz grenadine ½ oz simple syrup juice from ½ lime (scant ½ oz) ice mint leaf or sprig (optional)

In glass, stir together watermelon juice, gin, grenadine, simple syrup and lime juice; top with desired amount of ice, stir and garnish with mint, if using.

PHOTO BY BERYL STRIEWSKI

• 1 oz Ancho Reyes Ancho Chile Liqueur • 1 oz Traverse City Whiskey Co. American Cherry Edition Whiskey • ¾ oz agave nectar • ¾ oz fresh lime juice • kosher salt or coarse sea salt • 1 lime wheel THE ADDITION OF MUSHROOM POWDER ADDS SOME UMAMI FLAVOR.

In cocktail shaker, add all ingredients except for salt and lime wheel. Fill shaker with ice; secure lid and shake vigorously 10 seconds. Strain over salt-rimmed Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with lime.

CHERRY SMASH

RECIPE BY DIANE CORCORAN • PHOTO BY BERYL STRIEWSKI THIS DRINK is elevated with a few twists, like cherryinfused whiskey, for a crisp, sweet and refreshing cocktail.

• 1 oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water stirred until sugar dissolves) • 6 to 8 fresh mint leaves • ½ lemon, cut into 4 wedges • fresh seasonal fruit such as pitted tart or sweet cherries or berries (optional) • 2 oz Traverse City Whiskey Co. American Cherry Edition Whiskey • mint sprigs, fresh cherries or cocktail cherries, for garnish In cocktail shaker, add simple syrup, mint and lemon wedges; muddle ingredients together. If desired, add fresh fruit to mint mixture and muddle. Add whiskey and fill shaker with ice.

Secure lid on shaker and shake vigorously 10 seconds.

Double strain cocktail into rocks glass filled with fresh ice.

Garnish with mint sprigs and cherries.

5

6 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

BUILD A BETTER CHARCUTERIE BOARD (It’s easier than you think)

BY LI N DSAY CH RISTIANS • PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUTH I E HAUGE

T

here’s a secret to a great charcuterie board that Instagram won’t tell you. Here’s a hint: The fridge is not your friend.

Ken Monteleone owns a cheese shop called Fromagination in Madison, Wisconsin. He has seen the same mistake “time and time again.”

“People will do a tray and put it in their refrigerator and take it out right before they serve,” Monteleone says. “That is the worst thing you can do. A lot of people have this fear with cheese that it has to be in the fridge all the time, and no! It really does it an injustice.”

Monteleone has built hundreds of boards since opening on Madison’s Capitol Square in 2007.

Lately, he has curated the shelves to focus on things that go best with cheese and cured meats.

To build your own dream cheese board, here are a few of Monteleone’s tips.

or cave-aged) and a flavored cheese, like a Sartori BellaVitano made with black pepper, Merlot or balsamic vinegar. Roth Cheese makes spicy Goudas, one with sriracha and a three chile pepper variety; Monteleone recommends both.

BAKE IT OFF. “Baked Bries are underrated and would be a nice addition to a tray,” Monteleone says. Add preserves and toasted pistachios on top for another level of flavor.

WEDGES WORK. For cheeses

“A lot of people have this fear with cheese that it has to be in the fridge all the time, and no!”

MIX MILKS. For an easy starting trio, choose cow, goat and sheep’s milk cheeses. If you stay cow-centric, try to balance texture, color and flavor. Monteleone prefers odd numbers of cheeses, like three or five.

PAIR SWEET AND SAVORY. Think maple

syrup with Gouda or pickled onions with cured meat. For a “wow” factor, try honeycomb, Monteleone says. Bacon jam is an unexpected match with cured meat.

“Trying to mix sweet and savory together is our starting point,” he says.

CHOOSE CROWD-PLEASERS. When you

don’t know what everyone likes, stick to proven winners. Monteleone suggests three cheeses: a Gouda, a Cheddar (aged

with edible rinds, like Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Uplands Cheese Company, Monteleone makes long skinny wedges. Cut aged cheeses into chunks for a more rustic, organic look. Cube Cheddar and Havarti.

For soft cheeses, make the first cut for guests.

CHECK THE CLOCK. Arrange cheeses from mild to strong. Plate the accompaniments you want to pair with each cheese or meat close to each one. “It’s like being a designer and looking at elements in a room,” Monteleone says. “You work with color, texture, flavor and dimension as well.”

SEEK SIMILAR STRENGTHS. To go with spicy cheeses, consider chorizo. For Italian-style cheeses, pick soppressata or a Tuscan-style salami. Underground Meats makes a salami called Wisco Old Fashioned with allspice, brandied cherries, orange peel and a hint of red chile that Monteleone likes to pair with Cheddars and Gruyère.

The “strength” idea goes for bread items, too. If you’re serving cured meats with olive tapenade, cornichons or pickles, crostini hold up better than crackers.

New

Lately, Ken Monteleone has been smitten with fruit crisps from a California company called Dardimans with flavors like apple, blood orange and lemon.

“You don’t want a whole tray to be all unusual pairings,” he says. “But putting a dried grapefruit on a tray is fun.”

FLOW THE FINOCCHIONA. Cut cured meats like finocchiona, a fennel salami, very thinly and curl them into flowers for a pretty accent. Monteleone cited a trend he picked up from Marissa Mullen, author of the 2020 book, “That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life.” She created something called the “salami river” that winds down the center of the board.

REMEMBER RESTRICTIONS. Be considerate of those with allergies or dietary preferences. Vegetarians may balk at a tray that crowds cheeses and meats together, and it’s always a kind gesture to offer a rice crisp or quinoa cracker for friends who eat gluten-free.

FIND WAYS TO SURPRISE. Monteleone likes to pair peanut brittle with blue cheese and dried pineapple with Gruyère for a little something unexpected.

THINK SEASONALLY. Spring vegetables like radishes and asparagus are ideal for a spring charcuterie board, while fresh strawberries and colorful carrots are perfect for June. Edible fresh flowers add a bright pop of color.

UTILIZE UTENSILS. Today more than ever, guests are wary around open food. Offer tongs, so they aren’t grabbing with their hands. Or, consider individual plates with a little bit of everything on each.

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7

Make jams, jellies and preserves in 5 simple steps

If

you’ve got great fruit, you’re most of the way to making great jam. The rest is just creativity, time and confidence.

Laurel Burleson, chef and owner of Ugly Apple Café in Madison, Wisconsin, defines the differences among jelly, jam, preserves and marmalade:

Quince & Apple preserves the sweetness of Midwestern summer STORI ES BY LI N DSAY CH RISTIANS PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUTH I E HAUGE

E

ach weekday at 8 a.m., production lead, Taylor Finn, and team member, Lucas Tagney, start work in the Quince & Apple production kitchen to the sounds of an upbeat playlist and the aromas of apples, cherries and tea.

On one recent morning, Tagney steeped bundles of jasmine pearl and moonlight white tea in four big stockpots while 27-pound batches of tart Montmorency cherries slowly thawed in large buckets. On a second quartet of burners, Finn wielded a metal paddle to break up cranberries covered in clumps of snowy sugar.

“It’s sticky and sugary, but there’s always great smells,” Tagney says. “Smuckers is mass-produced in a factory. This is definitely not. You can trace every jar of preserves to one guy or girl making it in a kitchen, right here.”

The husband and wife team of Matt and Clare Stoner Fehsenfeld founded Quince & Apple in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2009. Their delicate, not-too-sweet preserves often include tea — peach chamomile, tart cherry and white tea, figs and black tea — and aromatic elements, like rose oil in raspberry preserves or fresh ginger in honey-scented pear preserves. They’re designed to pair with cheese, crackers and cured meats.

Since that spreadable start, the company has expanded into cocktail syrups (Fix), candies (Modern Candy Co.) and nuts (Treat). Pickled vegetables (Forward Provisions) are coming this summer. Quince & Apple now makes 800 to 1,000 jars of preserves and syrups a day, five days a week.

to grab dinner. Their first idea was to sell at farmers’ markets, but they quickly acknowledged the schedule didn’t appeal to them.

“I was like, ‘Wait, I don’t want to get up at 5 o’clock on Saturdays,’” Matt says.

Instead, the Stoner Fehsenfelds started wholesale with fig and black tea preserves, shallot confit with red wine and painstaking orange marmalade with lemons. That marmalade is now Tagney’s favorite thing to make — “it’s so fresh,” he says, even though “it’s very possible to burn it. It likes to stick to the bottom of the pot.”

Quince & Apple began as two people with two burners. The Stoner Fehsenfelds hosted demos, experimented with flavors and labeled every jar by hand. Matt recalls one early tasting at a local grocery store.

“A person came up to me and was like, ‘Jam to pair with cheese, and it’s $9!

This is a terrible idea,’” Matt says. “I almost lost it. I had been in the kitchen for, like, 12 hours. I had orange under my fingernails.

“But I was polite,” Matt says. He lowered his voice to a mocktense whisper. “I said, ‘The reason it’s $9, is because I peeled and cut every single one of these oranges.’”

The sweet life

In the early days of Quince & Apple, buying fruit could look almost illicit. “I’ve met farmers on the side of the road,” Matt says. “Like, ‘Oh, I’ll meet you at the intersection of County N and County JJ at 7:30 at night.’ I’ve driven out to random produce auctions and bought strawberries from Amish farmers. I’d have them transfer flats from their truck into the trunk of my car.”

Using local fruit for a year-round business is no simple task in the Upper Midwest. By necessity, the company has since scaled up from the very small orchards it started with.

Quince & Apple began like many food start-ups do, as a side project during the Stoner Fehsenfelds’ off-hours. By 2008, Matt had graduated from the culinary program at Madison College and was working at Potter’s Crackers in the Madison Enterprise Center, a business incubator on the city’s Near East Side. Clare, a musician, taught lessons and played in a band.

The couple would make preserves late at night after work, sometimes leaving a pot of jam to set up while they ran home

Scaling up

•

Jelly is made with cooked fruit that is strained and mixed with sugar. Jellies are typically transparent.

•

Jams are like jellies that contain bits of seeds or pulp. These are often made with fruit like strawberries, where the seeds aren’t intrusive.

•

Preserves are jams that use the whole fruit or big pieces of fruit.

•

Marmalades are made with citrus, including the peel or zest. (Some recipes may simulate the texture of the zest by using carrots or beets.)

All of these use pectin and sweetener, usually sugar, to preserve and set. In many applications, jams and preserves can be used interchangeably.

When you’re ready to start preserving, remember Matt Stoner Fehsenfeld’s mantra: Quality in equals quality out. Stoner Fehsenfeld co-owns The Quince & Apple Company in Madison, Wisconsin, a small-batch maker of preserves, nuts, candies and pickles.

Here are Stoner Fehsenfeld’s top tips for making jam.

1 START WITH EXCELLENT FRUIT.

“Fundamentally, what (jam) should be is an expression of the fruit being really amazing,” Stoner Fehsenfield says, adding that “amazing” here doesn’t necessarily mean fresh — quality frozen fruit is fine from producers you trust.

2 USE JUST ENOUGH SUGAR TO HELP THE JAM COME TOGETHER AND PRESERVE.

Sugar is an essential ingredient in preservation, and many older recipes use quite a lot, Stoner Fehsenfeld says. “For jam, a lot of older recipes are really sweet,” he says. “If I find a recipe like that, I immediately LAUREL cut the sugar in half.”

BURLESON PREPS RHUBARB BOURBON JAM FOR COOKIES. YOU CAN FIND THE RECIPE ON OUR SITE!

Working with nature’s bounty

Quince & Apple are expanding operations again, this time within their current building. They’ve signed a lease on 1,200 square feet of kitchen space, which will allow them to ramp up a line of pickled vegetables they started as an experiment in 2020.

In a quirk of FDA rules, Quince & Apple was already certified to make pickles. Legally that’s what their artisan preserves are — they don’t have a high enough ratio of sugar to fruit to qualify as a jam.

Similar to those early days, Matt and Quince & Apple director of operations Sarah Woolworth picked up the pickling project as a late-night endeavor. They would work until midnight to jar spicy carrot sticks, pickled turnips and pickled kohlrabi.

At Quince & Apple, “We want to be intentional about how we do things,” he adds. “We can grow slow and steady, try to buy as much local produce as we can. We can create good jobs and enjoy our jobs. We have this business — how can we use it to create not just good food, but social good?”

MATT AND CLARE STONER FEHSENFELD

PAN-SEARED HALIBUT WITH TOMATO-ONION JAM

THIS DEEPLY SAVORY tomato-onion jam from chef Laurel Burleson of Ugly Apple Café in Madison, Wisconsin, is an excellent opportunity to ask for scratch-and-dent tomatoes at your local farmers’ market. Burleson uses heirloom tomatoes but notes that beefsteak and Roma tomatoes also work well.

TOMATO-ONION JAM

• 1 Tbsp canola oil • 1 medium yellow onion (about 6 oz), cut into ¼-inch pieces (⅔ cup) • 1 garlic clove, minced • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar • 1 lb tomatoes, diced (3¼ cups) • ⅓ cup granulated sugar • ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes • ¼ tsp salt, plus more to taste

• pinch freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste PAN-SEARED HALIBUT

• 4 thick halibut fillets (about 6 oz each), skin removed • freshly ground black pepper • salt • 2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter • ¼ cup dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio)

Prepare Tomato-Onion Jam: In large sauté pan, heat oil over medium-high heat until oil shimmers.

Add onion and cook just until it starts to brown around their edges, stirring frequently with spatula. Reduce heat to medium; add garlic and cook 1 minute, stirring. Stir in vinegar and cook until liquid evaporates. Add tomatoes, sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, ¼ teaspoon salt and pinch black pepper; stir gently to combine, then spread mixture evenly in pan.

Increase heat to medium-high. Depending on size of pan, cook tomato mixture 2 to 10 minutes or until thick, stirring bottom and sides of pan frequently to prevent browning. To know when jam is done, scrape bottom of pan with spatula; when line remains and doesn’t fill in with juice, the jam is ready. Stir in salt and black pepper to taste. (Saltiness will decrease slightly as it cools, but heat from crushed red pepper flakes may increase.) Transfer jam to bowl; set aside.

Makes about 1¼ cups.

Prepare Pan-Seared Halibut: Sprinkle halibut fillets with pepper and salt. In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until oil shimmers. Carefully place halibut in skillet; cook 4 to 5 minutes, depending on thickness. Add butter to center of skillet; swirl skillet to distribute butter around halibut. With thin metal spatula, turn halibut; reduce heat to medium-low. Add wine; cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until halibut turns opaque throughout and flakes when knife is inserted in center.

Place 1 fillet on each of 4 dinner plates; top with a heaping spoonful of Tomato-Onion Jam to serve.

3 ADD ONE OR TWO OTHER INGREDIENTS TO COMPLEMENT THE FRUIT . Resist the

urge to overcomplicate. Think lemon juice and zest to accentuate raspberries, or basil with strawberries. Consider Quince & Apple’s streamlined combinations: fig and black tea; pear with honey and ginger; or raspberry rose.

4 GO EASY ON THE PECTIN (the polysaccharide in fruit that helps jellies gel).

Stoner Fehsenfeld likes Pomona’s Universal Pectin, which is derived from citrus peel and requires less sugar than other types.

5 BE WILLING TO FAIL. “We make a lot of bad jam to invent new flavors,” Stoner Fehsenfeld says. “People get scared about jam. I don’t know if it’s the sort of general fear of canning at home? But don’t be scared.”

The trickiest part of jam making, according to Ugly Apple Café’s Burleson, is finding the gel point. One trick is to put a teaspoon of jam on a plate you’ve kept in the freezer and let it chill for a minute.

When it wrinkles, the jam is set. You know the jam has reached its gel point when that process is achieved in one minute’s time.

As for the final sealing water bath, that’s easy, Burleson says. Leave a little space between the top of the jam and the lid.

Keep everything hot, and drop the jars into boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove them, wait for the lids to pop, and you’re done.

“Once you know what you’re doing, you can play around,” Burleson says.

Stoner Fehsenfeld agrees.

“Give yourself permission — be comfortable with making bad jam,” Stoner Fehsenfeld says. “Because that’s the only way to make good jam.”

8 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

BRAISE, BROIL, SMOKE, SEAR: 9 techniques for cooking beef

T

natural sugars in beef forming a rich, brown crust that seals in juices. This method is typically used before braising beef or after beef is cooked with the sous vide method. A hot, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet produces the best results.

he beauty of beef is the many ways it can be prepared: on the stove, in the oven or on the grill, just to name a few. Want to get more out of your beef?

Here are the 9 essential techniques to master.

1 BRAISING is to cook food using dry and wet heats starting with the meat seared or sautéed at a high temperature and finished in a covered pot with some liquid at a lower temperature. The benefit of braising is to render a tougher cut of meat fork-tender. Braising can be done on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker, oven or slow cooker. Popular braised dishes include beef stew, short ribs and brisket.

2 BROILING is a method of dry heat cooking using direct, radiant heat from above with the oven’s broiler. The best results come from broiling a flat piece of meat with an even thickness to create a rich, brown crust. Broiling works best when meat is cooked two to four inches from the heat source. Flat iron steak, ranch steak, or center-cut chuck shoulder steak, and top sirloin steak work well for broiling.

3 ROASTING is a simple method of cooking meat as it can

BY STELLA FONG

COOK WHOLE CUTS TO 145 DEGREES F PLUS THREE MINUTES TO REST.

dering material, usually wood. Different hardwoods infuse different flavors, from the deep, smoky characteristics of mesquite to the mild sweetness of Applewood. Brisket, roasts and ribs are best for this method.

be left at a lower temperature for a prolonged period in an oven or over indirect fire. Place larger cuts of meat in a shallow pan with the fat-side up. Inserting a meat or probe thermometer will help monitor the meat temperature as it cooks without having to open the oven door or grill. One should resist testing the temperature too often; poking holes into the meat releases juices. The eye of round roast or prime rib roast are great options for this method.

5 GRILLING is a method of dry heat cooking using direct, radiant heat from below such as on a barbecue. This is the most popular method for preparing steak. It is best to grill on one side and flip once. Rib-eye, filet mignon, T-bone, New York strip and other steaks are ideal on the grill.

4 SMOKING is to brown, cook, flavor or preserve food by exposing it to smoke created from burning or smol-

6 SEARING is to caramelize the surface of food with a sudden, intense heat. This technique quickly browns the

7 SAUTÉING is to cook large or small pieces of food in a wide, shallow pan in a small amount of hot fat over medium-high heat without frequent stirring. The browning from sautéing adds color and richness and is best accomplished using a large skillet or sauté pan. Ground beef for crumbles or burgers and shaved or thinly sliced strips or cubes of beef benefit from sautéing.

8 STIR-FRYING is to cook quickly over high heat in a lightly oiled pan such as a wok with frequent stirring.

This Chinese cooking method is best accomplished with bite-sized pieces of meat with uniform thickness and size.

Traditionally meats are marinated in seasoning such as soy sauce and tenderized for a smooth mouth feel with the addition of cornstarch.

9 SOUS VIDE relates to the process of sealing food in an airtight container — usually a vacuum-sealed bag — to cook in a low temperature-controlled water bath. Sous vide cooking minimizes overcooking and results in tender, juicy meat. In French, the term pronounced “soo-VEED,” translates to “under vacuum.” It is best to use food-grade plastic bags designed specifically for sous vide cooking, but food grade resealable zip-tight plastic bags are also adequate. Use a vacuum seal unit with the designated bags to remove any excess air. After cooking, the meat is best seared for additional color and flavor before plating.

Wendy and Bart Morris on their ranch just outside of Missoula, Montana.

GRILLED FLANK STEAK

WITH ASIAN CHIMICHURRI SAUCE AUTHOR OF “Flavor Under the Big Sky: Recipes and Stories from Yellowstone Public Radio and Beyond,” Stella Fong’s recipe for Korean beef is inspired by the one served at Whistle Pig Korean in Bozeman, Montana. Thinly sliced beef chuck marinated with ginger, garlic, Asian apple, brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and mirin is seared in a hot wok. The result is savory-sweet, caramelized meat with heightened spice.

• • • • • •

Regenerative ranching under the big sky at Oxbow Cattle Company

W

BY STELLA FONG PHOTOGRAPHY BY REBECCA STUM PF

ith the Bitterroot Mountains crowning the landscape just south of Missoula, Montana, Bart Morris, owner of Oxbow Cattle Company stands in shin-high grass. As he explains his regenerative ranching practices, 100 pair of brown eyes watch him. While he talks of rebuilding soil’s organic matter and restoring degraded biodiversity, he is two strides away from several long-lashed cows.

He prides himself in raising his cows with utmost care. “We don’t want them to fear us. We want them to respect us,” he says.

He points out the blades of grass with their tops missing, just chewed off by his cows. He explains how these ruminants get their nutrients from plant-based food. After the tips are nipped off, Morris sees the blade of grass now having a larger “solar panel,” the leaves now better able to receive energy from the sun for photosynthesis. Management intensive grazing, the practice which Morris follows, allows the grassland to recover more quickly versus if the cattle ate to the root of the grass.

Grazing on neighboring land

Morris and his wife Wendy, own 245 acres named the Oxbow Cattle Company. In 2017,

the property was established into a conservation easement. Here, abandoned channels shaped like a “U” called oxbows from the Bitterroot River run through the acreage. The subirrigated land patches provide lush grass for finishing the cows before they go to slaughter.

Morris leases 4500 acres on the Sapphire Ranch adjacent to Oxbow Cattle Company to feed his herd of about 350 cows, not counting the calves. Every day he and Caroline Caldwell, Oxbow Cattle Company’s only permanent employee, stretch out poly wire for the cattle’s 10 acres or less of grazing area. The amount of space the cows are allotted depends on the time of year, forage and water availability and the herd size. Day after day, the cows move to new acreage with fresh grass for grazing during the midday. After the cows have eaten and are content, Morris says, “We try to move them on a full stomach.”

Grass-fed and happy

His cows feast on grass their entire lives, never eating grain, and in winter, consume hay. Salt harvested from ancient seabeds and apple cider vinegar are added to their water. Morris explains that the vinegar “promotes gut health to fight parasites and disease” and contributes to a shiny coat. Morris depends on the natural grazing cycle of his cows so antibiotics and chemical worming “pour-on” insecticides are never administered.

Natural practices continue with major

drives using quarter horses with the herding help of Addi, a “cowboy corgi” or Welsh corgi-Red Heeler cattle dog mix, to move the cattle from one area to the next. “We are big into stockmanship and horsemanship. We never move with an ATV. We move cows with our bodies,” Morris says. His goal is to preserve the land, “not hit the same place and to mix up the length of stay in that place,” allowing the land to grow back from the cattle’s impact. This follows the holistic land management practices of regenerative agriculture that continues to build soil health.

From pasture-to-pasture preserves land

Morris raises Angus cows and Angus cows crossed with other breeds that are specifically bred to efficiently convert grass into beef.

He says, “These cows have genetics that have better carcass traits. They have good genetics for marbling. The animals we want will have good beef.” This means tenderness and better flavor.

The regenerative impact

After working in wildlife management for 16 years, Morris believes he is making more of an impact on the habitat and ecology as an individual rancher. He sells his beef directly to the same consumers who appreciate his methods, though he admits it can be challenging to wear the many hats required to oversee his store, contact chefs and run his cows. “We are trying to bridge that gap for agriculture and the people who consume the product.”

While Morris continues to ranch with integrity, he advises the consumer who wants continued regenerative practices, “You vote with where you put your money.”

• • • • • • • •

½ tsp chile powder ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp ground black pepper 1 flank steak (about 1½ lbs) 4 garlic cloves 2 green onions, coarsely chopped ½ jalapeño chile, stem and seeds removed 2 cups fresh cilantro leaves and stems 1 cup fresh parsley leaves and stems ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice 1 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger 1 Tbsp soy sauce

In bowl, stir together chile powder, salt and pepper; rub both sides of steak with seasoning. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

In food processor with knife blade attached, add remaining ingredients; pulse until cilantro and parsley are finely chopped. Transfer chimichurri sauce to medium bowl; cover and let stand at room temperature about 1 hour to allow flavors to meld. Yields about 1¼ cups chimichurri sauce.

Prepare outdoor grill for direct grilling over high heat. Place steak on the grill and cook, uncovered, 4 to 5 minutes or until nicely charred. Turn steak and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer or until internal temperature reaches 135°F for medium-rare doneness. If desired, after turning steak, for medium doneness, cook 5 to 7 minutes longer or until 140°F, or for mediumwell, 8 to 10 minutes or 150°F. Transfer steak to cutting board; loosely tent steak with foil and let stand 5 minutes before thinly slicing across the grain. Serve steak with chimichurri sauce. Store any leftover chimichurri sauce in airtight container up to 1 week.

FEASTANDFIELD.NET

Purple Sage Farms employs organic farming practices to promote a healthy and diverse ecosystem

9

What grows together, goes together PHOTOGRAPHY BY LESLI E RODRIGUEZ

Growing, preserving and storing your own herbs

BY ALX STEVENS • PHOTOGRAPHY BY LESLI E RODRIGUEZ

F

armer and owner of Purple Sage Farms in Middleton, Idaho, Tim Sommer believes that growing herbs goes hand-in-hand with cooking at home.

Many people across the country have recently started new or expanded their home gardening efforts, planting lettuces, vegetables and herbs for culinary or medicinal uses. Knowing what’s in season assures opatimal flavor and freshness.

During growing season, Sommer recommends visiting local farmers’ markets, nurseries or farms to get live plant starts or naturally harvested seeds, both of which often come with growing advice from local experts.

Getting started

CINNAMON BASIL

that the farm in turn uses to grow Miner’s lettuce and comfrey, which can be made into a compost tea to spray in a garden or onto crops as a fertilizer.

Feverfew, lemongrass and mint can act as natural insect repellents.

If you’re interested in growing a variety of your own herbs, Idaho Botanical Garden suggests considering a greenhouse sited in a sunny section of your property. If you’re growing herbs in beds, regular weeding is beneficial.

“Herbs love to be harvested, so cut and use them often.”

Herbs thrive in well-drained soil, says Mike Sommer, Tim’s son and Purple Sage Farms operations manager.

“The herbs don’t need to be pampered,” Mike adds. Some herbs, like coriander, actually gain more flavor when stressed.

Be aware that too much water can lead to fungus growth, and certain plants may require different watering techniques.

Growing pollinator plants along with herbs will attract local bees while repelling more harmful insects. When choosing flowers to support pollination, Idaho Botanical Garden advises adding plants that bloom at different times throughout the growing season. For example, crocus flowers support the first wave of bumblebees in late winter, while Oregon grape flowers and catmint continue to feed the insects through late spring.

Good choices for summer include blanketflower, fernbush and Harvesting, use and storage coneflower to feed butterflies; asters and rabbitbrush continue Purple Sage Farms advises hand-harvesting herbs in their prime to provide nectar and pollen through the fall months. at the peak of their nutritional value and flavor when essential oils Once spring arrives, the Idaho Botanical Garden discourages are the most abundant. “Herbs love to be harvested, so against removing dried plant stems that may house hibercut and use them often,” Mike says. nating bees and raking leaves that can provide compost.

ONCE IN The Sommers advise keeping herbs on the stem THE GROUND Purple Sage Farms utilizes sheep manure for compost OR POTTED, when drying them. If you live in a warm, dry geoHERBS THRIVE graphical area, place herbs on paper towels to dry IN WELLDRAINED naturally on a flat counter space out of the sun.

SOIL It may be tempting to speed up the process in the oven, but Jackie Sommer, Mike’s wife and Purple Sage Farms manager, doesn’t recommend it.

“Most ovens do not have a setting to go below 170 degrees, which is way too hot to dry herbs,” she says. “It’s best to dry herbs at 110 degrees or lower to preserve their flavor, nutrients, color and shelf life.”

Freezing is another preservation option, but not all herbs do well with the process.

“Rosemary would not be a good herb to freeze due to all of the essential oils,” Jackie continues.

“Some herbs like basil can be excellent to freeze once processed into foods like pesto. We really prefer freshly dried herbs over any other method; nothing else compares in our experience.”

Dried herbs can maintain their quality for up to three years if stored in an airtight jar in a cool, dry, dark space out of the sun.

Love lavender?

BY ALX STEVENS • PHOTOS BY H EATH ER BARN ES AN D ARLI E SOM M ER

N

ative to the Mediterranean region, lavender is known for its beauty with bright purple or white flowers and a sweet floral aroma. Lavender grows well, and abundantly, in climates that features cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers, but thanks to drying and other preservation techniques, this versatile plant can be used in many different forms — and ways.

Lavender shrubs are fairly easy to maintain and grow in a variety of heights from petite variations like the 10-inch-high dwarf cultivar of English lavender called “Wee One” to 18-inchhigh plants like Munstead lavender.

The “Wee One” is ideal to use for troughs or rock gardens, while larger lavender plants can grow in open dirt.

According to the Nampa, Idaho, Franz Witte plant nursery website, Munstead lavender is well-suited for any landscape thanks to its prolific blooms, hearty nature and growing ability in outdoor pots, containers and soil. Aesthetically speaking, this and other lavenders can be used in “spiller-thriller-filler” combinations. Lavender acts as a colorful “filler” of flowers and foliage, the perfect backdrop for more showy “thriller” plants.

Slow-growing and drought-tolerant, perennial lavender can live 10 to

15 years. It thrives in direct, full sunlight, but be aware, it will not survive if overwatered.

Known for its adaptability, lavender is used in everything from bath and body products to baked goods — particularly cookies or scones. It also works well in beverages, such as kombucha, tea and even spirits.

When placed in a closet or drawer, lavender helps keep clothes free of moths and smelling fresh. Outside the home, lavender is an excellent pollinator and commonly included in gardens to attract butterflies.

You’ll love its many uses even more Add lavender to soaps or oils for its color, skin-soothing properties and fragrance. It’s also frequently used for aromatherapy thanks to its relaxing qualities, and diffusing lavender essential oil into the air 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime can promote peaceful sleep.

In addition to encouraging mental relaxation, Everyday Health suggests that lavender may offer other therapeutic health benefits by treating skin blemishes and inflammation, relieving acute or chronic pain, lowering blood pressure, improving asthma symptoms, combating fungus growth and reducing menopausal hot flashes.

Next time you’re at your local nursery, farmers’ market or beauty supply store, be sure to grab some in order to experience the wonders and many uses of lavender.

Herb-growers and chefs recommend using fresh herbs in your cooking, and Alex Cardoza, Boise-based chef and owner of Wild Plum Events, couldn’t agree more.

SALSA VERDE CARDOZA recommends using this on grilled meats and vegetables, adding it to sandwiches with a schmear of mayonnaise, or stirring it into a soup for added brightness.

• 4 oz mixed fresh herbs including parsley, cilantro, tarragon and mint • 1 small garlic clove, coarsely chopped • ⅓ cup olive oil • 3 Tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice • 2 Tbsp cold water • 1 tsp salt • 1 tsp hot chile sauce (such as sriracha or Cholula) • ¼ tsp fish sauce (optional) In food processor with knife blade attached or blender, add all ingredients; process until sauce reaches desired consistency, chunky to smooth. If not serving right away, transfer to airtight container; cover and refrigerate up to 1 week. Yields: about 2 cups.

PECAN HERB PESTO

ALTHOUGH TRADITIONAL PESTO is made with basil and pine nuts, it can also be made using any combination of seasonal herbs or nuts.

• 4 oz mixed fresh herbs including basil, parsley, tarragon and mint • 2 oz grated Parmesan cheese (about ¾ cup) • ¾ cup olive oil • 2 oz toasted pecans or other nuts (about ½ cup) • ½ tsp salt In food processor with knife blade attached or blender, add all ingredients; process until smooth.

If not serving right away, transfer to airtight container; cover and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. Yields: about 2 cups.

SIMPLE SALAD WITH

HERBS, LEMON & OLIVE OIL

A SIMPLE GREEN SALAD is a delicious addition to any meal — breakfast, lunch or dinner, says Cardoza.

• 4 oz salad greens (such as mesclun, baby spinach and/or baby arugula) • about 1 oz fresh herb sprigs or leaves (such as basil, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, mint, tarragon and/or thyme) • 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil • ⅛ tsp salt • 2 tsp fresh lemon juice • freshly grated Parmesan cheese In large bowl, add salad greens and herbs; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Toss gently to coat. Taste greens, adding more oil or salt if necessary. Salad should be flavorful but not soggy or too oily. Add lemon juice and gently toss to coat. Serve salad immediately with Parmesan to sprinkle on top. Yields: 4 servings.

10 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

Bett

LINDA BEHNKEN founded Alaskans Own with a mission to support local fishers, preserve the ecosystem and provide the community with sustainably caught seafood.

The wild life

VIDEO:

STORI ES BY BERETT WI LBER PHOTOS BY BETHANY GOODRICH

of Alaska’s small-boat salmon fishers

L

inda Behnken has been fishing out of Sitka, Alaska, for almost 40 years. Despite long hours, harsh weather conditions and the intrinsically difficult nature of pinpointing individual fish in the Pacific Ocean, it hasn’t gotten old.

“I think it’s very fundamental to human nature to want to grow, harvest and produce food,” Behnken says. “It’s so tangible to come into town with a load of this beautiful fish that you’ve caught and taken care of. I love being able to be part of that.”

She fishes with her husband and their two teenage sons — but she’s also a passionate advocate, working to protect fishers and the ocean ecosystem that sustains their livelihood.

She sees it as a natural extension of her work at sea.

Behnken helped found Alaskans Own, which sells and delivers frozen, wild Alaska seafood directly to customers’ doors. Alaskans Own is a community supported fishery (CSF), a membership program that ships boxes of seasonal, premium seafood monthly anywhere in the U.S. For locals living nearby or willing to travel to several major Alaska cities and Seattle, they offer shares that allow customers to customize their order with a variety of wild, sustainable seafood, including salmon, halibut, sablefish, spot prawns and more.

A not-for-profit, Behnken’s organization reinvests in resource stewardship and advocacy so people who enjoy eating seafood understand what it means to be a fisher: Beyond physical labor, it’s a commitment to promoting healthy oceans to ensure salmon can continue traveling to their home streams each year.

The subtle stewardship of salmon

Salmon are excellent role models in understanding one’s place in the world. They return to Southeast Alaska each summer, traveling through the ocean and returning to the streams where they were born to spawn.

It’s a rhythm Southeast fishers understand because they head out to sea each summer to meet them. Waking up at three or four in the morning, trollers like Linda Behnken run their gear all day — each fish is caught individually by hook and line. After a trip that can last up to five days at sea and involve miles of travel offshore into the northern Pacific Ocean,

fishers steam back toward town to deliver their catch, which stays packed in ice in the hold for maximum freshness.

Once a salmon arrives at the co-op, it’s sorted by size and species and graded for quality.

Co-op employees assess the appearance and inner temperature of each salmon delivery, sorting through them to ensure they fall within their strict quality requirements.

By the time the head is removed and the fish filleted, flash-frozen, vacuum-packed and ready to be shipped, it has been stewarded by many careful hands. And once Alaskans Own is ready to box and ship the fish they catch, they make sure each piece of seafood they send out includes documentation about the boat and fishers responsible for bringing the fish to shore.

Making sure that level of knowledge follows through to the customer is one of the things Behnken knew she wanted to focus on when she helped start Alaskans Own.

up, even though restaurants are reopening,” Behnken said. “And Alaska fish commands a definite premium. People know Alaska fish is good quality.”

Alaska’s wild salmon fishery offers key lessons to helping rebuild our relationship with the planet. They’re an example of moving back toward food production that includes repairing and reinforcing natural systems — instead of disrupting them — for the benefit of our diet, economy and culture.

Supporting Alaska’s smallboat salmon fleet helps support the health of the oceans, research and management, even political advocacy and habitat protection for keystone species.

TAD FUJIOKA IS ONE OF SITKA’S MANY FISHERS WHO CATCHES EACH SALMON

BY HOOK AND LINE.

Why support sustainability

For Alaska’s small-boat fishers, there’s just no separating economic questions from the community or environment. A sustainable fishery is infinitely valuable: As opposed to an extractive industry, sustainable fishing is a regenerative one. As long as they have a healthy habitat to rely on, salmon flourish when we leave them alone. For fishers like Behnken, that means food producers must have a dedicated commitment to caring for the resource first. And when you buy fish from them, that system of protecting salmon is what you’re supporting.

“Last year was a tough year, but the sort of lasting positive is that the amount of seafood, the number of people buying seafood to cook at home has gone up, and seems to be staying

SMOKED SALMON SUSHI LOLLIPOPS THIS RECIPE IS A HIT across age groups because of its playful presentation and tasty flavors.

• • • • • • • • • •

2 cups sushi rice 2 cups water 2 Tbsp granulated sugar 2 Tbsp rice vinegar 4 oz cream cheese, softened 4 oz smoked wild salmon ½ red bell pepper ½ seedless cucumber sushi nori watermelon berry greens, washed and patted dry (optional)

Place rice in fine-mesh strainer; run water over rice until water runs clear. Transfer rice to medium saucepan. Add 2 cups water; cover and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook 15 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat; let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small saucepan, heat sugar and vinegar over low heat just until sugar dissolves. Toss vinegar mixture into rice very well after rice stands 10 minutes.

Allow rice to cool to room temperature.

In small bowl, with fork, combine cream cheese and salmon. Cut bell pepper and cucumber into long, thin strips.

Use sushi roller to assemble sushi, layering rice with salmon mixture, bell pepper and cucumber. Slice roll crosswise into desired number of pieces. Garnish sushi with watermelon berry greens, if using. If desired, to make “lollipops,” carefully insert wooden skewer into sushi slices.

Salmon: Super in more ways than one

Of course, there’s a delicious reward for all that work. Wild Alaska salmon is a juggernaut of a superfood, a lean protein full of B12 vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids with a health profile that simply can’t be beat by anything we humans have managed to design on our own.

When you ask Linda Behnken about the future of wild Alaska salmon, she hopes in 50 years the small-scale fisheries rooted in Alaska communities are still going strong, and families like hers are still heading out to make a living on the water.

Whether buying at a restaurant, grocery store or directly from the fisher, asking for wild Alaska salmon means supporting the men and women who pulled a wild fish from the sea and fastidiously prepared it by hand. It offers a meal that’s good for the planet and the plate. It offers a reminder about the truth of being human that we too often forget: We’re just as dependent on our environment as are the fish we eat.

SCHOOL OF FISH

How to serve salmon Mary and Lucas Goddard each grew up in fishing communities in Southeast Alaska, the homeland of the Tlingit people. They craft amazing meals with local ingredients for their Forest Fresh Alaska blog.

VISIT ALASKA, GO FISHING FOR SALMON, AND GET THE FULL WILD-CAUGHTTO-TABLE EXPERIENCE. SCAN THE CODE WITH YOUR MOBILE DEVICE TO WATCH!

DEER HEARTWRAPPED SOCKEYE FILLETS • 8 deer heart leaves (or use large Italian kale, Swiss chard or escarole leaves) • 4 sockeye salmon fillets (4 to 6 oz each) • freshly ground black pepper • salt • 1 Tbsp olive oil • 4 lemon slices Preheat oven to 350°F. Rinse leaves and pat dry. Arrange 4 leaves on large rimmed baking pan; place 1 salmon fillet on top of each leaf. Sprinkle each with pepper and salt and drizzle with oil; top with 1 lemon slice, then place leaf on top to cover. Gently tie cooking twine around fillets to secure leaves so that they will be easy to untie upon serving. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, depending on size of fillet. Serve salmon in their leaves on dinner plates or platter, allowing guests to unwrap them like a gift.

7 tips for the home cook

M

ore and more high-quality, affordable seafood options available year-round means home cooks are embracing varieties beyond catfish and cod. Here are a few tips for the adventurous chef striving to diversify your diet and dinner menu:

STAY INFORMED. Educate yourself about sustainable fishing practices and choose seafood that is wild or farmed in ways that promote a healthy ecosystem.

USE YOUR SENSES. When choosing fish at the counter, look for fillets that are firm, appear moist without any dryness around the edges and feel cold. The seafood should smell fresh and mild without any hint of a sour odor.

STORE IT PROPERLY. Wrap seafood tightly in plastic wrap to remove excess air, then refrigerate it at 40°F or less as soon as it arrives from the store. Consume as soon as possible for maximum flavor and nutritional benefits.

SHARPEN YOUR KNIFE. Use a sharp knife to glide between the skin and flesh for its easy removal or to slice perfectly portioned steaks or fillets.

MARINATE IT, BUT FOR NOT TOO LONG. It helps to marinate seafood to keep it moist for high-heat methods such as grilling, broiling or roasting. Most fish should not be marinated more than an hour.

EMBRACE THE SKIN. Cook skin such as salmon, trout, sea bass, flounder and barramundi until it is wellbrowned. Always serve these fillets skin-side-up; otherwise, when the skin is touching the plate or a puddle of sauce, it will begin to steam and lose its crunch.

DON’T OVERCOOK YOUR FISH. Salmon is ready when the layers of its fillet flake apart with a fork while there’s still a hint of deep-pink translucence in the middle. For other varieties, the general rule of thumb is to cook fish 10 minutes per inch, turning it halfway through cooking.

The final internal temperature should reach 145°F.

FEASTANDFIELD.NET

11

Better than beef? 3 bison recipes to try at home Nicholas Skajewski, owner and executive chef of Skajewski Catering in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, shares his favorite bison dishes. “Bison is a leaner protein than beef, offering a healthier option for those looking to reduce their fat or calorie intake,” he explains. “Like beef, bison also has intramuscular marbling.

However, it’s finer and offers a softer and more tender texture.”

BISON SALAMI SANDWICHES WITH DILL CREAM CHEESE

CAN’T FIND BISON SALAMI? This sandwich will be just as delicious with any traditional salami.

• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened • 2 garlic cloves, crushed with press or minced • ¼ cup chopped green onions • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill fronds • freshly ground black pepper, to taste • salt, to taste

• 1 oval or round loaf sourdough bread (about 1 pound), ends removed and loaf cut into 8 (¾-inch-thick) slices • 1 package (8 oz) bison salami, thinly sliced • 4 large green leaf lettuce leaves • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter • 1 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil

In medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, garlic, green onions, dill and pepper and salt to taste until well combined.

Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on 1 side of slices of bread. Arrange salami evenly over cream cheese mixture on 4 slices of bread; top with lettuce. Place remaining 4 slices of bread, cream cheese mixture-side down, over lettuce.

Preheat large skillet over medium-low heat. Add butter and oil and heat until butter melts, swirling pan to combine. Place sandwiches in skillet and cook 6 to 7 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking, or until browned on both sides. Cut sandwich in half to serve.

BISON BURGERS

WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS THIS OVER-THE-TOP bison burger is served on a sweet brioche bun and pairs well with summer sides.

• 2 medium red onions (6 to 8 oz each), sliced • 4 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter • freshly ground black pepper • salt • ½ cup dry red wine (such as Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon) • ½ cup granulated sugar

• • • • • • • • • •

½ cup red wine vinegar 2 lbs ground bison 4 oz blue cheese, sliced ½ cup mayonnaise 2 large garlic cloves, crushed with press or minced 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 Tbsp minced shallot 4 brioche buns, split about 2 cups spring mix salad greens 1 large tomato, cut into 4 slices

In large skillet over medium heat, add onions, 2 tablespoons oil and butter; sprinkle lightly with pepper and salt. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until onions soften and start to brown or caramelize, stirring frequently.

Stir in wine, sugar and vinegar; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until onions are reduced to a thick, syrup-like consistency, stirring occasionally; set aside.

Meanwhile, shape ground bison evenly into 4 thick burgers. Sprinkle both sides well with pepper and salt. Preheat large skillet, preferably cast-iron, over medium-high heat until smoking. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, swirling skillet to coat; add burgers and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 140°F for medium doneness, turning burgers occasionally to brown both sides. Place blue cheese on top of burgers during last few minutes of cooking to soften slightly. Transfer burgers to plate; let stand 5 minutes. Internal temperature will rise about 5°F upon standing.

In bowl, stir together mayonnaise, garlic, lemon juice and shallot. Toast buns.

Assemble burgers: Arrange salad greens evenly on bottom halves of buns; top with 1 slice tomato and burger. Place some caramelized onions over burger; spread lemongarlic aÏoli on top halves of buns, then place over burgers to serve.

BISON COWBOY RIB EYE WITH

SMOKED SALT, BUTTER & HERBS

THIS SAVORY BISON RIB EYE garnished with smoked salt and pepper is a great skillet entrée that is fast and easy.

• 2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil • 1 (1½-inch-thick) bison bone-in rib eye steak (about 1½ lbs) • 3 garlic cloves, crushed • 2 sprigs fresh oregano • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary • 2 sprigs fresh thyme • 4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter • freshly ground black pepper • smoked salt Preheat large skillet, preferably cast-iron, over medium-high heat until smoking. Pat rib eye dry with paper towels. Drizzle oil in skillet, then add steak to skillet. Cook 6 to 8 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 125°F, turning every few minutes to evenly sear both sides.

Reduce heat to low; add garlic, herbs and butter. Move rib eye to far side of skillet. Tilt skillet slightly over heat, and baste rib eye with infused butter mixture 3 to 4 minutes, turning once halfway through basting.

Transfer rib eye to cutting board; loosely tent with foil. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Internal temperature will rise about 10°F upon standing for medium-rare. Slice rib eye across the grain.

Sprinkle with pepper and salt to serve.

Come Visit Usour national All about Before We Close mammal, the bison For The Season

B

BY EVELYN RED LODGE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZACH STRAW

ison have roamed North American prairies and grasslands for thousands of years. Just recently, in 2016, they were officially named the national mammal when President Barack Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act. According to the National Park Service, “This majestic animal joins the ranks of the bald eagle as the official symbol of our country — and much like the eagle, it’s one of the greatest conservation success stories of all time.”

BISON ARE THE LARGEST MAMMALS IN NORTH AMERICA. NEWBORN CALVES WEIGH 30 TO 70 POUNDS.

But first: What’s the difference between bison and buffalo?

Although these terms are often used interchangeably due to similar body structure and coloring, they are actually different animals. Both bison and buffalo are in the Bovidae family, along with sheep, goat and domestic cattle. One can spot bison from a protruding hump near their shoulders and long goatee. Their horns are shorter than a buffalo’s, and they have larger heads.

There are two types of buffalo: those native to Africa (African or Cape buffalo) and Asia (water buffalo), the latter of which were introduced in Europe (think buffalo-milk mozzarella). Bison are found in North America and Europe.

Box Quantities of Pickling Cucumbers, Green Beans and Tomatoes available.

Monday-Saturday Gentle giants they are not 9am to 5pm

Available Now:

Programs like the Wolakota Buffalo Range intend to return bison, a keystone species, back to their original habitat.

• Lettuce • Kale • Pickles • commonly Cucumbers • Green Beans those used to make the European buff coats worn nately, there are programs today, such as the Wolakota Iniby military men at the time, inspiring the name. tiative, which aims to reconnect the bison with their native • Zucchini • on Candy Onions The analogy continues today, even among those who habitat the Lakota Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. raise bison. South Dakota’s Lakota Sioux refer to bison ei- Once it is fully stocked with 1,500 bison, the project will be • Beets •largest Baked Goods ther as buffalo or with the word in their native language, the Native-owned and -managed buffalo herd.

It’s all in a name tatanka. This has been the case for hundreds of years. The Now Available: So how did buffalo become synonymous with American bison? word, buffalo, meaning bison, is mentioned • Yellow • Sweet Corn in Lakota trea-Squash Essential for environmental harmony There is no definitive answer why or when bison became syn- ties with the United States in the 19th century.

Bison are a keystone species and play a role in their biome. onymous with buffalo. According toPumpkins the National Park Service, • Jams • Pickles • have Tomatoes Keystone animals a symbiotic relationship with other it’s possible it stemmed from the French word “boeuf,” meanThe history of the bison species and their environment.

When a keystone species is • Potatoes •its Honey ing beef. Others suggest explorers called them buffalo because — and where they stand today removed from native habitat, its loss impacts the environthey resemble the familiar water buffalo seen throughout ment, resulting in an imbalance of the ecosystem.

“In prehistoric times, millions of bison roamed North America • Maple Syrup • Bell Peppers Europe. Another theory speculates that bison hides resemble The American bison creates favorable habitats for the va— from the forests of Alaska and the grasslands of Mexico to Bison are not particularly docile animals. Males can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and females weigh up to 1,000 pounds.

Although nearsighted, they have keen hearing and smell, and they can run up to 35 miles per hour. If they feel threatened, bison will show aggression and should be treated with caution.

Watermelon still available riety of animals and plants of the Great Plains grasslands. AcNevada’s Great Basin and the eastern Appalachian • Mountains.

Homemade Candles while supplies last This 1871 etching But by the late 1800s, there were only a few hundred bison left cordingly, the bison trap plant seeds within their fur resultdepicts the massacre of bison during westward expansion.

in the United States after European settlers pushed west, reducing the animal’s habitat and hunting the bison to near extinction. Had it not been for a few private individuals working with tribes, states and the Interior Department, the bison would be extinct today,” according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Today, there are roughly a half million bison in the United States. Nearly all are raised for livestock, which will be processed for meat. It is estimated that about 30,000 are managed on tribal property federal land including some national 819andOld Fredericktown Rd parks.

Although their numbers have steadily increased over to the From Farmington take Hwy OO to DD past 100 years, they are still considered threatened, and biOldson’s Fredericktown Watch for Signs! survival is dependentRd. on conservation efforts.

Fortu-

The Home Gardens Community Market NOT OPEN ON SUNDAYS

ing in the distribution of those seeds across the region as the bison move about the Plains. The bison also use their large head and horns to search for food, scooping large swaths of snow out of the way which exposes vegetation. This allows prairie dogs, another keystone species, to find spots to burrow for shelter, according to North American Nature.

The loss of a keystone species ultimately has cascading effects on humans. The threat to these habitats have lasting economic and social consequences globally. Establishing environmental harmony and biodiversity, including the reintroduction of bison to North America, is one way to preserve the fragile ecosystem for future generations.

12 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

Ready, set, start — What’s a sourdough starter, anyway?

BY SUM M ER WH ITFORD PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN DON N ELL AN D DEBBI E WI DJAJA

D

uring the COVID pandemic, the amount of Americans seeking solace by baking sourdough bread resulted in flour shortages and record-breaking baking-ingredient sales in 2020. According to Nielsen data reported by Bloomberg Reports, sales of baking yeast were up 457%, flour increased by 155%, baking powder by 178%, butter by 73%, and eggs sales also went up 48%.

Whether you have already taken the plunge, are ready to try sourdough-bread baking for the first time, or want to learn more, here’s what you need to know about sourdough and starters.

What is sourdough, and how is it different from other bread?

Sourdough is a slow-rise bread naturally leavened by a live-fermented culture or “starter.” This is what makes the dough rise rather than dry yeast. The benefit of a starter is that it slows down the proofing time and allows the bread to develop deep flavors. This versatile bread is a favorite with bakers because it produces delicious flavors and textures from a wide range of flours, including white, oat, rye, millet and whole-grain.

If you’re a beginner, consider using white bread flour for your first foray into sourdough bread. It’s easy to work with, easy to find, and not as expensive as specialty flours.

However, there is one caveat: If you’ve found a sourdough recipe you’d like to try, you should be aware that the bread might only take a few hours to proof and bake. Still, depending on how warm or cold you keep your home, the starter takes a minimum of five days and up to two weeks to ferment before it’s ready to use in your recipe.

Plan accordingly.

A short ingredient list

Believe it or not, sourdough bread includes only four ingredients: flour (your choice), water, salt (sea salt or kosher salt) and the starter, unless you want to add flavorings or textures with ingredients such as honey, molasses, herbs, seeds and nuts.

So, what actually is a starter, and how is it made? A starter is a culture made from flour and water that relies on ambient yeasts in the air and natural yeasts and bacteria in the flour to start the fermentation process and leaven the bread.

The beauty of using a starter is that it, combined with a lengthier proofing time, produces the sour, tangy, earthy flavor and slightly chewy texture people love in sourdough bread.

cup warm water that is 90 to 100°F. Yeast will become inactive if the temperature exceeds 100°F. Place the water and flour into a foodsafe container. A 32-ounce, wide-mouth Mason jar works well. With a small whisk or fork, stir well until the texture is smooth and thick like a heavy batter.

Secure the lid and allow the mixture to rest in a warm place that’s around 75°F for 24 hours.

»

DAY TWO Look for signs of fermentation bubbles, but don’t worry if there aren’t any; just let the starter rest for another day.

How to prepare and “feed” your starter

As previously mentioned, the starter can take from five days to two weeks to fully develop, and it must be “fed” fresh flour and water almost daily to maintain proper fermentation. Here are the instructions:

»

LEARNING HOW TO MAKE A STARTER IS KEY TO BAKING BREAD WITH A SLIGHT TANG AND TENDER CRUMB.

DAY ONE Starter ingredients: 1 cup whole wheat or rye flour (they ferment better than all-purpose flour) and ½

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DAY THREE TO DAY SIX “Feed” ingredients: 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, ½ cup warm water (90 to 100°F).

Whether you see bubbles or not, first, discard half of the starter.

This prevents too much fermentation; otherwise, each day’s feeding would grow and exceed the container’s capacity. Add the flour and water. Stir with whisk or fork until the consistency resembles a thick pancake batter; cover and allow the mixture to rest in a warm place for 24 hours. Repeat this process for the next three days.

EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE TIPS FOR MAKING HOMEMADE BREAD

BY SUM M ER WH ITFORD PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN DON N ELL

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Baking bread can appear difficult, intimidating or even magical, but anyone can make

Seasoned bakers know that mise en place, which in French means, “everything in its place,” keeps you organized, saves time, and could even help avoid a recipe flop. Proper mise en place ensures all of your ingredients and tools are laid out in order of need and are easily accessible.

This kind of organization will prevent accidents, missed ingredients, forgotten steps and failed recipes.

As with any craft, the right tools make a difference. At the top of most bakers’ list is a properly calibrated oven (this ensures exact temperatures) — preferably a large, 30-inch oven.

Bakers love a good, heavy-duty stand mixer and go for a 5-quart-capacity mixer every time with dough hook, paddle and whisk attachments. Its size ensures the bowl and motor are large enough for big recipes, and it can easily mix and knead stiff doughs.

Bread is only as good as its ingredients

Keep it simple

Mise en place

Bigger isn’t better, but it helps

he acclaimed food writer James Beard once said, “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” If you agree with this premise, why not make your own?

It might seem intimidating, but bread-baking is a delicious chemistry anyone can master, and here are some tips to get you started.

Always insist on nothing but the best, freshest ingredients for your bread, from the water (chlorinated tap water imparts terrible tastes and smells and could kill the live yeast and bacteria in your sourdough starter) to the flour, yeast, etc.

Like flour, never rely strictly on the sell-by date on the bag; use your eyes and nose to see if the sack looks clean and smells like flour, and then stick your nose into it. The flour should smell like ripe grain, nothing else. If it smells musty, mildewy or rancid, throw it out.

Without yeast, there is no bread, so testing it for freshness is essential for success. To do this, in a small bowl, mix ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ cup warm, not hot, water in the range of 90 to 100°F, and ¼ ounce active dry yeast. Wait 10 minutes, see if the mixture bubbles, and then wait 10 more minutes. By then, you should have a light, frothy dome and the certainty of knowing your yeast is fresh.

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DAY SEVEN AND BEYOND By now, you should have an active starter that is ready to use. How can you tell? The volume will have doubled in quantity, and there should be lots of fluffy, spongy bubbles that smell yeasty and look lively. Feed your starter correctly by keeping it at room temperature, feeding it every day. Or, if you want to feed it less often for future bread baking, store it in the refrigerator and feed it about every five days or when the volume deflates by more than half and the bubbles drop and become less active and visible.

To know with certainty your starter is active and ready for baking bread, try the float test: Place a large glass of room-temperature water on the counter. Drop a spoonful of starter into the glass. If it floats, it’s ready to use. If it sinks, let the starter sit longer to develop more bubbles, or feed it again and let it sit for six hours or as long as 12 hours before repeating the float test.

For a more “sour” sourdough, consider using rye flour and adding a touch of onions for that distinctive tangy flavor. And, when you’re looking to deliver a gift to “the person who has everything,” consider baking homemade bread to give with some quality butter — along with the bread’s recipe and enough starter for friends or family to prepare bread from scratch at home.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

terrific bread. However, rather than dive into the deep end for your first bread, try a forgiving recipe, such as focaccia. This homey, Italian bread is easy to make, can be easily transformed with toppings, and feeds a hungry crowd.

Read the recipe, and then read it again Even bread with just four ingredients relies on a formula; the ingredient amounts and instructions are there for a reason, so read the recipe carefully from start to finish. Resist the urge to improvise; baking bread involves complex chemical reactions that can create aromatic loaves as easily as disasters.

Scratch that. Go ahead and sweat the small stuff because small wares, such as brushes, various cookie sheets and rimmed baking pans and cooling racks, are essential in every baker’s toolbox.

They make specific tasks more manageable. Instant-read thermometers give you accurate water and dough temperatures, and metal bench scrapers or dough cutters cut the dough into sections without tearing and destroying the gluten strands.

At the same time, plastic or silicone bowl scrapers let you quickly remove every last bit of sticky dough from inside a mixing bowl, and stainless steel mixing bowls can be used for whisking eggs and to proof dough and hold ingredients.

Your recipe won’t be accurate without tools to weigh and measure ingredients, and that’s why an accurate scale, digital or old-school, is required, along with more than one set of measuring spoons and cups.

FEASTANDFIELD.NET

4 recipes that will inspire you to bake Whether your bread-making skills qualify as entry-level or expert, these recipes by Washington chef and culinary instructor Summer Whitford have a little something for everyone. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN DON N ELL

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BAGELS • • • • •

WHITFORD SHARES, “The secret to a bagel’s chewy texture is the boiling step — the longer you let the bagel boil, the chewier and thicker the crust.”

1 cup whole or 2% milk 4 Tbsp unsalted butter 2 Tbsp granulated sugar ¼ oz active dry yeast 1 extra-large egg, separated

• • • • •

Lightly dust work surface with all-purpose flour. Divide dough into 8 to 10 pieces, each about the size of a small lemon; shape each piece into 4-inch rounds. Place finger into center of each round of dough until it reaches the work surface; move and twirl finger in a circle to widen the hole until it is about one-third the width of the bagel’s diameter.

Transfer bagel rounds to cookie sheets; cover with damp cloth. Let stand about 10 minutes to puff slightly. Meanwhile, fill 4- to 6-quart saucepot of water halfway; heat to boiling.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray 2 cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Carefully place each bagel round, 1 at a time, into boiling water; boil about 30 seconds or until

it puffs. With spider-style skimmer strainer or slotted spoon, flip dough and boil 30 seconds longer. Overboiling will make the bagel break up, lose its shape, and it may split or crack during baking. With strainer, remove each bagel from water, allowing excess water to drip into saucepot; transfer to greased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining bagel rounds.

In cup, with fork, mix egg yolk and water until well mixed. Brush egg mixture on top of bagels.

If using, sprinkle top of bagels with desired toppings. Bake about 20 minutes or until bagels are brown with a crisp top. Transfer bagels to wire cooling rack to cool slightly to serve warm, or cool completely to enjoy later. Yields: 8 to 10

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INSIDE SEYLOU, THE PURPOSEDRIVEN DC BAKERY Feast and Field gets an up-close look at the intimate art of bread making at Washington’s Seylou Bakery & Mill.

BRIOCHE

ALTHOUGH IT IS SIMILAR TO CHALLAH, a staple in Jewish bakeries, brioche includes butter, which adds richness and a moist crumb.

SPONGE

1 oz dry active yeast 1 oz granulated sugar ½ cup warm water (90 to 100°F) unbleached all-purpose flour

• 2 lbs unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting • 10 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg to brush on top • 3 oz granulated sugar

• 1½ tsp sea salt • 1 lb unsalted butter, each stick cut into 6 chunks, then softened to room temperature • nonstick cooking spray • 1 tsp cold water

Prepare Sponge: In 5-quart mixing bowl for heavy-duty mixer, add yeast, sugar and water and stir with whisk until combined. With spatula, stir in enough flour until a thick, sticky dough forms. Set aside and let stand in warm place (about 75°F) up to 30 minutes to allow dough to rise and almost double in size.

Prepare Dough: Attach paddle attachment to mixer. To sponge, add flour, sugar, beaten eggs and salt. With mixer on low speed, beat until a well-mixed dough starts to form. Add butter and mix until all ingredients are well combined. The dough will be beige in color, not entirely smooth and may appear unfinished.

Cover dough with plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick cooking spray; refrigerate at least 12 hours. This allows dough to proof slowly and develop a good gluten structure.

Place dough on well-floured work surface;

divide into two equal pieces, each about 24 ounces. Knead each piece of dough by hand 10 to 15 minutes or until smooth and silky. Spray two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Form dough into 2 loaves, then transfer to loaf pans.

Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray; let stand in warm place (about 75°F) until dough rises and doubles in size.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F. In cup, with fork, mix remaining egg and water until well mixed. Brush egg mixture on top of dough.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. To check for doneness, skewer inserted into side of loaf should come out clean. (This preserves the flawless appearance on top of loaf.) Or, remove bread from pan; thump bottom of bread.

If it sounds hollow like a drum, it is done. Cool bread slightly on wire rack to serve warm, or cool completely to enjoy later. Yields: 2 loaves.

DOUGH

JEWISH RYE BREAD BEGIN SEVEN DAYS in advance by making 3 cups of the sourdough starter recipe on the opposite page, but use medium rye flour and add 2 tablespoons caraway seeds and 1 teaspoon finely minced yellow onion to the starter on Day 1.

• • • • •

Watch

1 tsp sea salt • bagel toppings such as kosher 3½ cups bread flour salt, sesame or unbleached all-purpose flour for dusting poppy seeds, pepitas, nonstick cooking spray rolled oats or grated cheese (optional) 1 tsp cold water

In small saucepan, heat milk to boiling; remove saucepan from heat. Add butter and sugar; stir until butter melts. Transfer milk mixture to mixing bowl for heavy-duty mixer; cool until 90 to 100°F. With whisk, stir yeast into milk mixture; let stand about 10 minutes or until a frothy sponge forms. Add egg white and salt to milk mixture.

Attach dough hook attachment to mixer and secure bowl. With mixer on low speed, gradually add bread flour and beat just until a smooth, soft dough forms.

Increase speed to medium. Knead dough until smooth and no longer sticky. Form dough into a ball.

Place dough in large bowl sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Cover dough with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray and leave in a warm place (about 75°F) about 1 hour to rise and nearly double in size.

• • • •

13

3 cups rye starter 3¾ cups warm water (90 to 100°F) 2 oz granulated sugar 1½ oz active dry yeast 1¼ lbs medium rye flour

Add starter and water to 5-quart mixing bowl for heavy-duty mixer; stir until well mixed, making sure that the temperature of the water is hot enough to bring the combined temperature of the starter and water to 100°F. Add sugar and yeast and stir to mix well, followed by rye flour. Attach dough hook to mixer and, on low speed, mix just until combined (mixture will look lumpy). Let stand, uncovered, until mixture rises and nearly doubles in size.

Add bread flour, caraway seeds and salt to rye mixture; return bowl to mixer with dough hook attached. Knead 10 minutes on low speed until a smooth, elastic dough forms. Do not increase speed; the dough will become too sticky and difficult to remove.

Spray extra-large bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to bowl; cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.

Allow dough to stand in warm place (about 75°F) 2 to 4 hours to rise and double in size. To know if dough is ready, do a “poke test.” If you gently poke dough in its center and it slowly springs back and leaves a slight indentation,

• 3½ lbs bread flour • 4 oz caraway seeds • 1½ oz sea salt • nonstick cooking spray the dough is ready for the next rise.

Remove and set aside plastic wrap. Punch dough in bowl to release gases. Replace plastic wrap to cover dough. Allow dough to rise a second time in a warm place. To know if this stage of proofing is done, the dough should be larger and the top domed, smooth and glossy with bubbles visible just under the surface of the dough and sometimes along the outer edges.

Spray two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Divide dough in half; form dough into 2 loaves, then transfer to loaf pans. Cover loaves with sprayed plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place loaf pans on middle oven rack and bake about 30 minutes or until top is golden brown on top. Check for doneness by removing loaves from pans; thump bottom of bread. If it sounds hollow, it is done.

Or place instant-read thermometer in center of loaf; temperature should be around 190°F. Cool bread slightly on wire cooking rack to serve warm, or cool completely to enjoy later. If desired, place bread in freezer-safe container and freeze up to 2 months. Yields: 2 loaves.

FOCACCIA

WHITFORD LOVES to introduce beginner bakers to focaccia because it is an uncomplicated recipe that also teaches the basics of the craft.

• ½ oz active dry yeast • scant 3 cups warm water (90 to 100°F) • 4 tsp granulated sugar • 5 cups bread flour • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting • 4 tsp sea salt, plus more for sprinkling on top of dough • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan and brushing on top of dough • nonstick cooking spray • dried herbs such as rosemary and thyme or herbes de Provence In 5-quart mixing bowl for heavy-duty mixer, add yeast, water and sugar; stir with whisk until combined. Let stand 5 to 8 minutes or until yeast proofs and becomes bubbly and foamy.

With dough hook attached and mixer on low speed, gradually add flours and salt alternately with oil. Beat about 5 minutes or until a sticky dough forms that clings to sides of bowl. Increase speed to medium; knead until dough forms into a smooth, elastic ball that pulls away from sides of bowl. If dough is still very sticky, slowly add a small amount of oil and knead until dough cleanly pulls away from sides of bowl to form a ball around hook.

Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface; shape dough into smooth ball.

Spray inside of same mixing bowl with nonstick cooking spray; place dough inside mixing bowl. Spray 1 side of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place over dough to cover.

Place dough in warm spot (about 75°F); let stand about 1 hour or until dough nearly doubles in size. Meanwhile, brush large rimmed baking pan (about 18-by-13-by-1½-inch) well with oil.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. With floured rolling pin, roll dough into rectangle, about ½-inchthick. Carefully transfer rectangle to prepared pan. Spray enough plastic wrap to cover dough with cooking spray; let stand 20 to 30 minutes in warm place until dough rises and almost doubles in size. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F. Remove and discard plastic wrap.

With fingers, make deep indentations about 1 inch apart over entire surface of dough. Lightly brush top of dough with oil, then sprinkle evenly with salt and herbs. Bake about 25 minutes or until top is golden brown and focaccia’s underside is golden. Cool focaccia slightly in pan on wire cooling rack. Cut into rectangles to serve warm. Yields: 8 to 10 servings.

THE STORY BEHIND ORGANIC WINE — AND HOW IT’S MADE Meet the minds behind Odette Estate, one of Napa Valley’s leading organic wine producers.

HOW TO MAKE ICE CREAM: FROM SCRATCH TO SMALL BATCH Kiahna Malloy, entrepreneur, ice cream connoisseur and owner of Kreme & Krumbs, takes us behind the counter of her New Jersey artisan ice cream shop.

14 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

Why oats are no longer (only) old-fashioned

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BY CELI N E ROBERTS PHOTO BY CH RISTI N E ARM BRUSTER

f you’re like many Americans, the word “oats’’ immediately conjures up thoughts of golden fields, steaming bowls of oatmeal and maybe even a favorite, white-haired, blue hat-wearing Quaker of old-fashioned Quaker Oats fame. Although these are classic images of Americana, oat products are experiencing a resurgence and culinary moment that benefit the consumer with a wide array of promising products that provide variety, nutrition and flavor.

According to a 2019 IMARC report, the global market for oats reached 23.5 million tons in 2018 and is projected to reach a value of $7.4 billion by 2026. Try picturing that in bowls of oatmeal. Grains and oats have always been a significant part of the American diet, but with the rise of brands like Oatly and companies like Chobani launching a line of oat products, oats are gaining popularity at an almost meteoric rate.

Why the sudden surge?

For one, oats are a versatile crop. This seed makes an excellent breakfast food, provides a dairy milk alternative, creates gluten-free flour and adds texture to a variety of baked goods.

Today, we see recipes using both the whole grain and its flour as nutritious replacements. With the rising

OAT GROATS ARE STEAMED AND FLATTENED TO BECOME OLD-FASHIONED OR ROLLED OATS.

awareness of food allergies, particularly gluten and lactose intolerance and sensitivities, oats have provided a flavorful alternative to wheat flour and dairy.

Milking it

Oat milk is lauded by dairy-free coffee drinkers as the creamiest and least flavor-disruptive alternative milk. Once only available at third wave coffee shops, Starbucks added Oatly’s oat milk to its menus nationwide in March 2021. The demand became so high that the company is now reporting shortages.

A push for sustainability has also helped the oat gain popularity. Unlike almonds, which require about a gallon of water to grow a single nut, oats require about six times less water to grow. Of the alternatives for flours and milks, oats generally use the least amount of water to produce the greatest amount of yield, making them a darling for environmentalists.

Delicious and nutritious

Ultimately, food is, above all, about flavor, and the humble oat doesn’t fall short on that either. The buttery, nutty and warm notes of oats translate well into baked goods, breads and your morning bowl of oatmeal.

Oats may be in vogue, but they are still plain, old-fashioned nutritious. Packed magnewith fiber, phosphorus, thiamine, magne sium and zinc, the cereal grain is both fiberand protein-dense.

The anatomy of an oat

Oats come from a type of grass that grows up to five feet tall, but only the kernel, the seed of the oat grass, is used for culinary purposes.

The kernel holds the vast majority of the plant’s nutrients and is made up of four parts: the hull, bran, endosperm and germ. The hull is the hard, inedible husk that protects the kernel. During processing, the hull must be cracked and removed. This leaves what’s known as the oat groat, the most complete form of edible oat. The groat is what is used to make steel-cut, rolled and crushed oats.

OATMEAL COOKIES RECI PE BY AN DREW STUM P PHOTO COURTESY OF MADELEI N E BAKERY & BISTRO

THIS RECIPE calls for patent flour, which discerning bakers like to use for its high quality and consistency.

• nonstick cooking spray • 318 g old-fashioned oats, preferably toasted • 221 g white baking flour (patent flour) or bread flour • 150 g oat flour • 75 g steel-cut oats • 14 g baking soda

• 11 g salt • 2.6 g ground cinnamon • 454 g unsalted butter, softened • 285 g brown sugar • 195 g granulated sugar • 98 g eggs • 27 g vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper; spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir together old-fashioned oats, flours, steel-cut oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

In large bowl, with mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugars until mixture is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low; add eggs and vanilla

• 234 g coarsely chopped dried apricots • 208 g white chocolate chips (or roughly chopped chocolate bar) • 156 g coarsely chopped pistachios

in 3 additions, scraping bowl between each addition. Add half of oat mixture and beat until blended; scrape bowl. Add remaining oat mixture and beat just until combined. Stir in apricots, chocolate and pistachios.

Drop dough by ¼ cupfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until golden brown. Cool cookies on pans 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Yields: about 35 cookies.

CHUNKY, CRUNCHY GRANOLA RECIPE BY ROSANNE TOROIAN • PHOTO BY ZACH STRAW

MAKE A BIG BATCH of this customizable granola recipe to keep on hand for family, friends or guests — it keeps for a month!

• 4 Tbsp salted or unsalted butter • ¾ cup packed light brown sugar • ½ cup smooth peanut butter • ⅓ cup honey • ⅓ cup maple syrup

• ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil • 2 tsp ground cinnamon • ½ tsp salt • 1 container (18 oz or about 5¾ cups) oldfashioned oats (do not use quick oats)

Preheat oven to 300°F. In large microwave-safe bowl, heat butter in microwave oven on high 50 to 60 seconds or until melted. With whisk, stir in remaining ingredients except for oats and add-ins until well combined. Add oats and stir with spatula until well-coated with peanut-butter mixture.

Line large rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Spread and gently press oat mixture evenly

• 5 cups desired add-ins, such as toasted and sliced almonds, chopped pecans or walnuts or sesame seeds, dark or golden raisins, dried cranberries, cherries or blueberries, diced dates, dried figs or apricots, toasted sweetened flaked coconut, or chocolate chips

in pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until granola becomes deep brown in color, rotating pan once halfway through baking, but do not stir granola while it bakes. Cool granola completely in its pan on cooling rack.

Break granola into desired-sized pieces. Stir in desired add-ins. Store granola in opaque, airtight container in cool, dark place up to 1 month. Yields: about 16 cups or 3¾ lbs.

Fun for the Whole Family!

This authentic ca. 1909 General Store in the historic Village of Caledonia is listed on the National Register. Two floors filled with Handmade Artisan Ice Cream, candy, fudge, a coffee bar, fresh roasted coffee beans, antiques, and gifts.

Check us out on Facebook or at OldVillageMercantile.com Open 7 Days A Week

573-779-3907

219 South State Hwy. 21

Five miles north of Elephant Rocks State Park

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15

Colorado Jack Popcorn If you’re feeling indecisive on which of Colorado Jack’s legendary popcorns to try first, no problem. A sampler pack is just for you. The variety offers a little bit of every flavor profile: Salty, sweet, spicy, simple – you name it, they’ve got it.

Plus, feel good knowing their product is farm-to-table and bagged by those with special needs.

FLAVORS INCLUDE WHITE CHEDDAR, WHITE CHEDDAR & JALAPEÑO, COLORADO MIX AND CARAMEL.

Two Men and a Garden

EACH JAR IS STILL MADE BY HAND USING ORGANIC PRODUCE FRESH FROM AREA FARMS!

We guess you could say the name speaks for itself. Two St. Louisans were on a quest to make some backyard-grown, organic salsa and pickles. And well, they did just that. With a plethora of flavors to boot, try anything from strawberry salsa to bread & butter kicker pickles. (Try saying that three times fast!) Choose from a 2-pack, 4-pack or 6-pack and mixand-match jars.

READY TO FILL UP YOUR CART? SCAN THE CODE WITH YOUR MOBILE DEVICE TO GO SHOPPING!

Honeymoon Chocolates Saving the bees and caring for our bodies? Sign us up. With zero trace of refined sugar in their product, all sweetened with solely raw honey, the team at Honeymoon Chocolates is mindful of the source and the consumer.

FLAVORS INCLUDE 70% PERU + RASPBERRY AND 85% HAITI.

Fat Head Farms At Fat Head, the bees create unique flavors based on the local floral aromas. We promise: Once you taste the difference, you will never go back to your average grocery-store honey.

PRODUCTS ALSO INCLUDE MILD SALSA, MEDIUM SALSA, HOT SALSA, HOT MANGO SALSA, SCREAMING HOT SALSA, PEACH SALSA, DILL PICKLES, SPICY DILL PICKLES AND BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES.

PRODUCTS INCLUDE RAW HONEY, BOURBON BARREL AGED HONEY, TEA LOVERS HONEY BUNDLE AND THREE DIFFERENT HONEY SETS.

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These fresh picks are available in our online marketplace at shop.feastandfield.net.

Hubbard Peanut Company Hubbard Peanut Company is the OG of the specialty peanut category. They proudly serve the highest quality peanuts available from the harvest — ensuring peace of mind with each purchase.

Go for the savvy & savory trio to sample all their flavors. Trust us, you’ll be reaching for these again and again … and again.

PRODUCTS INCLUDE SALTED PEANUTS, PEANUT BRITTLE AND SWEET HEAT PEANUTS.

Idle Roasting Co. Old State Farms Not to sound sappy, but we really love these syrups. Unlike with big producers, each bottle comes from a single drum of syrup, never blended.

Ever had maple syrup infused with chai?

What about chipotle?

Now’s your chance to try up to six different varieties. We’ve tasted them all and still can’t pick a favorite.

PRODUCTS INCLUDE GINGER ROOT, CHIPOTLE, CHAI, AND CINNAMON VANILLA INFUSED PURE MAPLE SYRUPS, RUM AND BOURBON BARREL AGED PURE MAPLE SYRUPS

Although a stimulant by nature, Idle Roasting Co. believes that coffee calls for a pause. From bean to bag, each small-batch order of Idle’s specialty coffee is carefully roasted for the moments of stillness in our everyday lives.

Try out their Ethiopian single origin or Hats Off varieties, and let us know which one you love the most.

VARIETIES INCLUDE COMMON BLEND (RICH, MEDIUM-BODIED AND CLASSIC ), SCENIC ROUTE (RICH AND CARAMELY), HATS OFF (BRIGHT AND FRUITY), BUSY BLEND (BRIGHT, JUICY AND COMPLEX) AND GOOD BOY (CLEAN AND COMPLEX).

THEIR FANCY JUMBO PECANS REALLY ARE BIG!

Selman Nut Company Pecans aren’t just for pie. They’re also prime for snacking too. As a family-owned business that has been in the nut industry for generations, Selman Nut Company prides themselves on being nuts about nuts (go figure!) – and they’re here to give us next-level nuts that are snack-able, bake-able and pack a healthy punch. Their roasted and salted pecan halves are the savory treat you didn’t know you needed — until now.

PRODUCTS ALSO INCLUDE FANCY JUMBO PECAN HALVES, FANCY MEDIUM PECAN PIECES, PRALINE PECANS, ROASTED AND SALTED CASHEWS AND ROASTED AND SALTED ALMONDS.

SHOP.FEASTANDFIELD.NET

16 FEAST AND FIELD • FALL 2021

CHEESE FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH OR DESSERT Diego Rodriguez, executive chef of Proof restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa, offers three cheesy dishes.

RICOTTA PANCAKES WITH BANANA JAM BANANA JAM

• • • • • • • • •

1 cinnamon stick 6 ripe bananas 1¼ cups granulated sugar 2 Tbsp brown sugar 2 limes, juiced (about ⅓ cup) 2 Tbsp water ½ tsp salt 1 Tbsp dark rum 1 tsp vanilla extract

PANCAKES

• • • • • • • •

1½ cups all-purpose flour 3½ Tbsp sugar 2 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt 3 large eggs 1 cup whole milk ¾ cup whole-milk ricotta cheese

“THE RICOTTA melts right into the batter and they hold a lot of moisture, so it’s nearly impossible to overcook them,” Rodriguez says.

• 1 tsp vanilla extract • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice • 1 Tbsp butter, melted, plus more for griddle Preheat small cast iron skillet or small skillet over medium-high heat; add cinnamon stick and toast until it darkens slightly, turning frequently.

Remove cinnamon stick from heat.

In 2- to 3-quart saucepan, mash bananas with sugars; add cinnamon stick. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture simmers, stirring occasionally.

Add lime juice, water, and salt. Cook until mixture thickens slightly. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in rum and vanilla. Cool slightly before serving warm over pancakes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, with whisk, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In medium bowl, with whisk, lightly beat eggs; add milk, ricotta cheese, and vanilla and beat until well blended.

Stir in lemon juice and butter.

Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Pour milk mixture in center, then stir with whisk to incorporate wet ingredients into dry ingredients until no lumps remain.

Preheat griddle over medium heat.

Brush with melted butter. Ladle ¼ cupfuls of batter onto griddle; cook until bubbles appear on top of pancakes and bottoms are golden. Flip pancakes, then cook until bottoms are golden.

Serve pancakes with Banana Jam.

APPLE & CHEDDAR SANDWICH

CHEESECAKE

DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE with only six ingredients, Rodriguez loves the balance of salty sharp Cheddar with the sweet jam, peppery arugula and tart apple over soft cinnamon bread.

• • • • • •

ORANGE MASCARPONE “THE ORANGE ZEST balances the rich mascarpone cheese,” Rodriguez says.

WITH FIG JAM • • • •

2 slices cinnamon swirl bread 1 Tbsp butter, softened 2 tsp fig jam ½ small Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced • 4 oz extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, thinly sliced • baby arugula, optional Heat dry cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, spread butter evenly

NILLA WAFER CRUST

on 1 side of both pieces of bread.

On opposite side of 1 slice of bread, spread fig jam. Top with apple and Cheddar. Place second slice of bread, butter-side up, over cheese.

Place sandwich in preheated skillet and cook 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown on both sides and cheese melts, turning halfway through cooking. If desired, open up sandwich and add several leaves of arugula; replace top of bread. Slice sandwich in half to serve.

35 Nilla wafer cookies 4½ Tbsp butter ¼ cup packed brown sugar ¼ tsp ground cinnamon 1 pinch salt nonstick cooking spray

ORANGE MASCARPONE FILLING

• 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened • 4 large eggs • 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk • 2 oranges, zested (about 1 Tbsp) • ½ cup mascarpone cheese (4 oz) • ½ cup whole milk • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 1 pinch salt

Prepare crust: Preheat oven to 350ºF. In food processor with knife blade attached, add cookies and process until crumbs form. You want 1¼ cups crumbs.

In microwave-safe bowl, add butter; heat on high 1 minute or until melted.

Add crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt, and stir until well-combined.

Spray bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Press crumb mixture evenly on bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool crust while preparing filling. Do not turn off oven.

In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese 4 to 5 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping sides of bowl. Add eggs and beat 2 minutes or until well-combined, scraping bowl once. Add remaining filling ingredients. With mixer on low speed, beat until blended. Gradually increase speed to medium-high and beat 4 to 5 minutes or until few lumps remain, scraping sides of bowl once halfway through mixing. Pour batter into cooled crust. Bake at 350ºF for 40 to 45 minutes or until cheesecake jiggles slightly in center.

Cool cheesecake completely at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 2 days before serving.

REAL PEOPLE, REAL STORIES

Seattle-based Myles Burroughs knows whiskey. His current venture as owner of Bevy Co. seeks to revolutionize in-home cocktailing. At Westland Distillery, Burroughs shows us how to make 6 whiskey classics. Find them at feastandfield.net.

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THE STORY OF FOOD BEGINS IN THE FIELD