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News and Views:
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What the Locals Know:
Bring on the Figgy Pudding from the Inn at Easton, Maryland
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You might want to stay the night at the elegant Inn at Easton, in the pretty town on Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore, just to enjoy the luxurious linens, a hot bath in one of the claw-footed tubs, or morning coffee in one of the white wooden rocking chairs on the second-floor porch. Andrew Evans and his wife, Liz, spent nearly a year renovating the 1790 Federal-style mansion before opening it in 1999. The Inn, at 28 South Harrison Street, is close to antiques stores, craft shops, and an old-fashioned drug store that serves ice cream sodas. If you live nearby, you might already know that the restaurant at the Inn, presided over by Andrew (graduate of the "other" CIA, the Culinary Institute of America), is a not-so-secret weapon in drawing visitors to the town. Andrew’s elegant and inventive menus, which change every three weeks, draw on the freshest seafood from nearby Chesapeake Bay and fresh produce from Eastern Shore farms. The Inn’s Web site, www.theinnateaston.com, gives an updated menu, links to local activities, and essential details on reservations and rates.
Local food-lovers, who often indulge in dinner at the Inn, rave about Andrew’s signature dish, the Sticky Fig and Ginger Pudding, a perfect holiday dessert. Another Bite friend Dawn Mathews recently visited the Inn and sweet-talked the chef into sharing the recipe (in official CIA format). You can try it at home (allow plenty of time to make it), but it might taste better in the Inn at Easton’s lovely green dining room!
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Christmas Sticky Fig and Ginger Pudding
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| From the Inn at Easton, Maryland, courtesy of Chef Andrew Evans |
1. Toss together in a stainless bowl:
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons powdered ginger
18 ounces destemmed and chopped dried figs
Add 28 ounces of boiling water and allow to steep until cool.
2. Cream together:
6 ounces butter
10 ounces brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
3. Add one at a time:
3 whole eggs
4. Fold in:
23 ounces self-rising flour [about 4-1/2 cups]
cooled steeped fig mixture
Spoon mixture into timbale molds or muffin tins. For a final touch insert some chocolate chunks or chips into the center of the batter.
Bake in a water bath covered with tin foil (for the steaming effect) for 30 minutes at 350°F, then for 60 minutes at 315°F. Cool in molds and reheat in microwave as needed. Makes about 12 servings.
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Ginger and Fig Compote
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 Combine in a noncorrosive saucepan and gently simmer for 15 minutes:
8 ounces dried figs, cut into large julienne strips
2 knobs of ginger, peeled and cut into fine julienne strips
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sauterne
Butterscotch Sauce
Place 7 ounces sugar in a small stainless steel pot with 1/4 cup water. Bring sugar to caramel (we let ours get pretty dark just before the caramel turns bitter). Quickly add 1 cup whipping cream to stop the cooking process and then stir in 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.
Composition
Reheat pudding and place in center of plate. Pour over the hot caramel sauce. Place a spoonful of compote on top of the pudding and garnish plate with quenelles of double cream.
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Photos courtesy of Pearson Photography ©2001 Celia Pearson. All rights reserved.
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Always Stop at a Hardware Store
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Ice Box Cookies
1/2 cup Plee-Zing Molasses
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon soda
Cream shortening, then add sugar, then beaten egg. Add vanilla and molasses. Sift dry ingredients and add. Shape in roll and wrap in waxed paper and place in refrigerator.
When wanted, slice and bake in moderate [350°F] oven. 1/2 cup nuts may be added if desired.
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 While driving through Vermont’s beautiful Lake Champlain Islands recently, with splendid views of the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west, I managed to keep my eye on the road ahead just long enough to notice a sign for Robinson’s Hardware Store (established 1890) in South Hero. I pulled in, unable to resist a genuine, independent, small-town hardware store. I love these places second only to bookstores.
Imagine my delight when I saw a small wooden sign out front: Old Books. I entered the store, noticing with pleasure the old-fashioned bins of bolts, brass hooks, mousetraps, sandpaper, hinges, and other good stuff. Up a flight of stairs to the second floor, next to the foul-weather gear, was a low-ceilinged room filled with used books, an ongoing project of co-owner Frances Robinson.
I gravitated to the cookbooks and found a copy of The Cheese Book (Simon and Schuster, 1964) in perfect condition for only $5. I ruffled through a box of old recipe booklets published by food companies and admired the beauty of an old Baker’s Chocolate ad. Then, for 25 cents, I found a little folder of recipes put out by the Plee-Zing Molasses Company of New York and Chicago. The booklet was undated, but the illustrations suggested the 1930s. Recipes include Gingerbread, Brown Bread, Ice Box Cookies, Stretched Molasses Candy, and many more. Here’s the recipe for Ice Box Cookies, a sweet reminder that it’s always good to stop at a hardware store. Especially if it’s also a bookstore.
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Gourmet Beef Jerky (Is That an Oxymoron?)
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"Some claim
pemmican
could
last up to
30 years!
Think about it:
would you
eat 30-year-old
meat soaked
in bone
marrow?
Or would you
save it for
the next
generation?"
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If you define beef jerky as shoe leather without the polish, it’s possible you will never come to think of it as a gourmet food. Unless, that is, you join the enthusiasts at www.greatjerky.com, www.alljerky.com, www.microwebtech.com, and other Web sites run by devotees or marketers of the popular snack food. When you type in "beef jerky" on Digitalhearth.com’s search engine, you get a good introduction to the world of jerked meat, from mail-order sources to recipes for everything from beef and venison jerky to tuna jerky, turkey jerky, emu jerky, and even scarier jerky!
First off, what does "jerky" mean? Our English word "jerky" comes from the Spanish charqui, which means "dried meat." Basically, it’s the oldest meat preservation technique known to mankind — sun-drying strips of meat. Evaporating the water from the meat stops enzyme reactions that lead to spoilage. Ancient Egyptians and others used the technique for any animal too big to eat all at once (elephants, crocodiles, water buffalo, and so on). Meat dries best when it’s cut into thin strips; salt and seasonings add flavor and help with preservation.
North American Indians took jerky to new heights (if that’s the word) with their invention of pemmican, which solved the age-old problem of jerky becoming moldy in wet weather. To make pemmican, Indians made rawhide bags about the size of pillowcases, filled them with bits of dried meat and dried berries, and poured in hot melted bone marrow and fat. Then they sewed the bags shut and walked on them to compress the mixture and drive out air. The bone marrow and fat cooled and congealed around the meat, effectively sealing it. Some claim pemmican could last up to 30 years! Think about it: would you eat 30-year-old meat soaked in bone marrow? Or would you save it for the next generation? (For a complete discussion of the superiority of pemmican, see the section on Jerky Stories and Recipes at greatjerky.com.)
In a more safety-conscious age, people who decide to make their own jerky (or even pemmican, a favorite of modern survivalists) first should read the information at www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/pubs/jerky.htm. (The most important advice is that meat should be precooked to 160°F before drying.) There’s also a jerky hotline for those last-minute questions: 1-800-535-4555.
Many recipes on the Web don’t adhere to the 160°F rule, but you can always add this step yourself. The following recipe, adapted from one at greatjerky.com, is a good starter effort that is made in an oven. There might be a certain person on your Christmas list who would think this is the best Christmas present ever, so give it a try!
Home-Style Jerky
1 pound round steak
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder, or 2 teaspoons onion juice
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
Partially freeze the steak, then slice it into strips about 4 inches long and 1/8th inch thick. Combine all the ingredients in a ziplock plastic bag and marinate the meat in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, turning frequently. Run bamboo skewers through the ends of the strips and hang them from the oven rack with a pan underneath to catch the drips. Be sure to allow air space between the strips. Start the oven at about 175°F and turn it to its lowest setting (about 130°F to 140°F) after an hour. Prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon and let the jerky bake until it is dry, about 8 to 10 hours. Makes about 5 ounces of beef jerky.
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