William Penn Life, 2010 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-09-01 / 9. szám
The Hungarian Kitchen with Főszokás Béla Quick Picklin FÁRADJON BE A MAGYAR KONYHÁBA Have a wonderful time at the WPA Picnic at Scenic View. Unfortunately, Chef Vilmos and I cannot attend this year but will try for 2011. We are working on upgrading The Hungarian Kitchen web site and other projects for future release. My job as adjunct chef/instructor at Southern New Hampshire University officially starts on Sept. 8, but I have spent the better part of August working on school assignments. Personally, I think it would be nice to have the picnic in July or August when more folks are on vacation. Summer provided many opportunities for cooking and culinary growth. The garden is still producing and the house mates are waiting for the first batch of stuffed cabbage. Seventy-three heads of cabbage will make lots of sauerkraut for the smoked kolbász we will enjoy during football season. To all of those starting or going back to school, have a wonderful year! Monthly Trivia: Which company started in marketing and advertisi?ig then later became a leading food producer? The answer is at the bottom of the pickle jar! Now let us go into the kitchen. Pickling is one of the oldest forms of preserving food. It is the art of preserving food in a seasoned brine or vinegar mixture. The pH of the liquid used should be at 4.6 or lower which is acidic and will not let the harmful bacteria grow in the jar. When pickling, you must first draw out as much moisture as possible from the food you are pickling. Sprinkling salt on the food will draw out most of the moisture. After you pack the food in a jar, fill it with the brine or vinegar concoction. The jarred food soaks up the liquid and becomes "pickled." There are three ways you can pickle foods. Fresh Pack cures the food in a matter of hours, usually overnight. The food placed in a jar is then covered with hot brine, cooled to room temperature, then placed in the refrigerator. The 24 Hour pickle recipe in the WPA cookbook is a great example that is included this month with three other recipes. Fermented takes weeks, usually four to six, to cure food using a salt and brine solution. A lactic acid bacterium on the surface of the food grows creating a safe environment § where harmful microbes cannot destroy the food. Salt in the brine controls other microbes. Sauerkraut is a food that is fermented. yf Processed foods go through a series of steps using sterilized jars, and hot water medium of cooking. The food can be stored at room temperature out of the sunlight for many months. Quick pickling is a good way to enjoy fresh veggies from your garden. Pick them in the afternoon warm from the summer sun, and enjoy them for dinner. The brine solution used is stronger than for regular fresh pack and cuts the time factor from hours to minutes. Pickling at home is simple if you follow the recipes precisely. You can create flavor profiles from sweet to spicy to tropical for cabbage, peppers, olives and other vegetables. The two main ingredients when pickling are salt and vinegar. Avoid using tap water as it contains chemical additives that may distort the flavor profile of the food you are pickling. The salt used can be common table salt or sea salt. You can also try flavored garlic salt to add more flavor to pickles or vegetables. Same thought with the vinegar: there are many flavored vinegars on the market available for use in pickling. As a final touch, use the pickling spice or create your own blend of aromatic spices to obtain a taste that will compliment your food. Experiment with different concentrations of salt, vinegar and water to obtain different tastes. Try the recipes and enjoy your pickled food anytime. Trivia Answer: H.J. Heinz was a marketing and advertising person who later started a food business based in Pittsburgh, Pa. His first major project in 1900 was erecting a forty-foot electrical sign in the shape of a pickle in New York City. Have a great month. (Jó ótv-áfófó'dÁ' Jöszaldce The Hungarian Kitchen is a trademark of William S. Vasvary. Pickle Jars (c) Viesturs Kalvans/Dreamstime.com Visit Chef Béla online at www.hungariankitchen.com 10 0 September 2010 0 William Penn Life
