Red Wine Sauce

So I am back on the cooking from every cookbook in alphabetical order thing. Today we have American Cooks: The General Federation of Women's Clubs Cook Book, edited by Ann Seranne, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, copyright 1967, sixth impression.

I feel like this book was loved... just not so much by me.

This was one hundred and one percent a swing and a miss. 

I want to apologize to Mrs. Franklin Ussery, Jr. of Alice, Texas. I did not do your recipe justice. Revert my awful, awful wine substitution if you are curious but please for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster do NOT repeat what I did.

My shame incarnate.

Resources:

Original 1/3 cup butter 1/4 cup grated onion 1/3 cup presifted flour 1 1/2 cup dry red wine 1/2 cup catsup 1/2 cup beef broth 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper Dash of garlic salt 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon prepared mustard Dash of ground cloves

So Very Wrong 3 tablespoons butter ???* dried minced onion 2 2/3 tablespoons all purpose flour 3/4 cup Chianti red wine vinegar 1/4 cup ketchup 1/4 cup beef broth 1/4 teaspoon salt Dash teaspoon pepper Dash of garlic salt 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar 1/2 tablespoon mustard

Method:
Melt butter in a saucepan. Sauté onions until golden. Sprinkle with flour. Gradually stir in wine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and smooth.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Commentary:
This strictly speaking is an alphabetical cheat. In between deciding to start this up again (ie pulling out the next cookbook and pouring over it) and this post, I was gifted a collection of cookbooks. Thank you to the fine folks who make that happen by the way. So I should be cooking from 30 Minute Kosher, but America Cooks has plagued me. 

Why you ask? Well, it is a very complete cookbook with lots of reference materials, basic methods, cross references, variations, and so much more. But something about this one just did not speak to me. It is a huge book and I generally skipped the pork/beef to keep the wifey happy... and found nothing I wanted to make for dinner. 

Aside: this is a common problem. I find many older cook books to have a craptastic poultry section unless you are cooking a whole bird. 

So I went to the sauces and just made something for which I "had" the ingredients.

And let us just be honest here. The fuck up has nothing to do with Mrs. Franklin Ussery, Jr or the rest of the kind, wonderful women of The General Federation of Women's Clubs. Oh no. I own this mistake. Take a look at the chapter listing: 

1. Appetizers
2. Hearty Sandwiches
3. Quick Breads
4. Yeast Breads
5. Soups
6. Egg and Egg Dishes
7. Cheese and Cheese Dishes
8. Fish, Shellfish and Other Foods Prepared Like Fish
9. Poultry and Game Birds
10. Meat
11. Vegetables
12. Sauces for Fish, Poultry, Meat and Vegetables
13. Stuffings and Garnishes for Fish, Poultry, Meat and Vegetables
14. Dumplings and Other Starch Substitutions
15. Rice and Rice Dishes
16. Pasta Dishes and Sauces for Pasta
17. Salad and Salad Dressings
18. Pies and Pastries
19. Cakes
20. Frostings and Fillings
21. Cookies
22. Desserts
23. Dessert Sauces
24. Candy
25. Preserves
26. Beverages

There are four or five rarebit recipes. Hell, there is a frostings chapter. FROSTING!!! So this falls into the same category as Santa's Whiskers: I should probably revisit this cookbook someday. But seriously why did I make this unholy abomination you ask?

Can I interest you in a side of jellied vinegar and hatred with your nuggets?

Because I have been on a sauce kick. I eat chicken nuggets a lot. They are quick, easy, and (assuming you buy the right ones) reasonably healthy. But there is only so much barbecue or honey mustard one can eat. So I like to mix up my dipping sauces. Lately it has been brown sauce and I thought this might be my "next" thing. I was wrong. So very foolish and wrong.

This smelled delicious. It was such a promising start.

Now that I have gone on at length about nothing important, let us actually talk cooking. I substituted red wine vinegar and dried minced onions (the kind you find in the spice aisle) for red wine and grated onions. Also I did not have any ground clove, so gone. I do not think the dried minced onions was a bad substitution. * - I adjusted the quantity according to the side of the minced onions bottle. I forgot to write it down hence the unknown quantity in the recipe. Anyway they cooked quite nicely. This smelled wonderful... until I added the vinegar. 

Once I added the vinegar this stung the nose. I love vinegar but I have my limits. This tastes like vinegar with a faint hint of beef and onions. 

And the real kicker? Practically speaking, it is garbage for dipping. Way too thick. 

Pretty sure if I pulled this out of the fridge, nothing would have moved days later.

In hopes of saving some face I slathered it all over some chicken thighs, let set in the fridge for an hour or two, and baked. This was not horrible, but just kind of bland ironically. Not much came though.

How the fuck do you have an 1/8 teaspoons?!?

Also as might be obvious, I halved the original. Not because I meant to, but I only had that much ingredients. Sigh. Let us face it, I was bound and determined to get this cookbook off my list and that was all that mattered.

Conclusion:
I want to apologize to anyone who took the time to read this entire rant. 

There are too many recipes and cookbooks I want to try. I will almost certainly never revisit this and give it a fair chance. Sorry again Mrs. Franklin Ussery, Jr. of Alice Texas!

Wine Bread

I like wine. I really like bread. Wine bread? Sign me up!

Carbs, cutlery, and Cabernet

Sorry for the long absence (again). Doing the whole baby thing again. So I am back to changing diapers and making bottles instead of cooking fun things. But baby #2 is a few months old and getting a handle on life, so I had a bit of free time the other weekend.

Aside: I do not remember how I stumbled across this recipe (baby brain and all), but due diligence makes me post the source.

Resources:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh yeast or 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup Cabernet, slightly warmed
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:
Lightly mix together flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, rosemary, and pepper in a large bowl. Dissolve yeast in warm wine, add water to wine and mix all of the liquid into the dry ingredients until incorporated. Do not overmix. Cover the bowl with a towel and put it in a warm place to rise for sixteen hours.

After sixteen hours, fold the dough into itself so the top is tucked in the center and the bottom is now on the top. Place it back in the bowl, cover it, and let rise for 2 hours. When you have 30 minutes left of rise time, place a dutch oven in the oven at 450 degrees. Let it heat up for 30 minutes. Once heated, remove pot from oven, pour in olive oil and swirl to coat. Place the bread into the pot, top with remaining 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, cover, and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the bread has a golden crust.

Commentary:
Homemade bread: to me it is always way too much time to benefit ratio. The grocery has amazing fresh bread. There are bakers and farmer’s markets a plenty with amazing fresh bread. So why did I make this? A couple reasons: 1) this is really super easy (see baby discussion above), 2) the flavor combination looked unique/interesting, and 3) it left me 92% of a bottle of wine to drink. Also since is a lot effort recipe, you are getting a low effort post by the way.

So kind of cool experience with this whole deal, I had only ever used dry active yeast previously. I could not find that in the store and bought fresh yeast. Luckily I did a quick Google and discovered it is a two to one ratio.

Sixteen hours is a really shitty time frame to work with. Sixteen hours after noon? Four AM. Fuck that noise. Schedule according. That said I ended it putting this in the oven closer to nineteen hours later, not eightteen hours. No regrets. 

Conclusion:
Tasty bread and an excuse to buy wine?!? Yes please! Just pull up your schedule before beginning.