Book Review: Apple Cookbooks, Part II

I checked out from the library a few apple cook books in which I looked over, with this week being the conclusion. Click here to see last week’s reviews.

Apple Orchard Cookbook

This second edition cookbook by Janet M. Christensen and Betty Bergman Levin was published in 1992. It is a smaller cookbook, consisting of 150 pages. It opens with a chapter titled “All About Apples,” which discusses what apples are ripe when, what kind of apples are better for all purpose, eating, or baking uses, a short description of 20 major eating apples, nutritional values, and how to process apples, how to taste apples, and a few other odds and ends about apples. The recipes then fall into “appletizers”, apple entrées, apple side dishes, apple breads, apple pastries, and apple desserts.

Overall, I like this book, as it seems to have some unique but not too outlandish yet simple recipes. It kind of reminds me of home cooking or fairs and festivals. Very hearty – Swedish Ham balls, baked chicken barbecue, jiffy apple stuffing, sour cream apple pie, etc. The layout and organization is nice, and it seems easy to read. There are no pictures, but I don’t think it detracts from the book.

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Apple: A Country Garden Cookbook

Part of a series of “Country Garden Cookbooks,” Apple: A Country Garden Cookbook was written by Christopher Idone with photographs by Kathryn Kelinman in 1993. The introduction consists of Idone’s childhood memories, famous apples in folklore, the saying “as American as apple pie,” and a few other odds and ends. There is a glossy discussing selecting apples, storing apples,and 26 apple varieties with pictures. The recipe portion is then divided into openers, accompaniments, main courses, sweets, and beverages, giving you a total of 45 recipes, most of which have a picture.

Like the pear cookbook in this series, I find this book very easy to use, and the pictures very tempting, but it is overall lacking in substance that it tries to hides with the use of abundant pictures. It does not have all that many recipes, nor does it really talk about apple availability. What recipes it does have seems like something any American would find hearty and filling.

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In Praise of Apples: A Harvest of History, Horticulture, & Recipes

This book was written in 1996 by Mark Rosenstein. After a short introduction, the first chapter is on “Choosing the Right Apple,” in which Rosenstein has a chart of 46 apple varieties to show if they are dessert apples, cooking apples, cider apples, apples that keep, and a short description. The chapter is six pages, in which each page has two apples pictured. The next section is kind of an introduction to the recipes with a word on the recipes, basic kitchen equipment, apple cooking tips, cooking equivalents, and cooking times. There is a cute antidote on different apple eater styles before launching into the recipes, which are organized into beverages, breakfasts, main dishes, “salads, soups, and side dishes,” desserts, and basic recipes. Basic recipes include things that other recipes are built upon, such as apple cider reduction, cider verjus, red-onion and apple purée, apple and leek stock, applesauce and apple butter. The next chapter is “From Fantasy to Applesauce: Planting a Backyard Orchard.” This chapter includes rootstock, selecting a site, selecting trees, planting, orchard management including pruning and pest and diseases, and harvesting. This is followed by a chapter on “Apple Cider and Cider Vinegar,” which does talk about cider apple classifications and talks you though grinding and pressing, and shows pictures of an impressive press. He moves on to testing the sugar and acid content, controlling the tempature of the ferment, and racking before moving on to making cider vinegar. There is a page dedicated to French, English, and North American cider apple varieties, though it is kind of disappointing that after he talks about cider apple classifications that he does not include it here. Next, he moves on to “Canning and Preserving Apples,” including hot-pack canning of various apple products, freezing apples, and drying apples.

The very first impression I got picking up this book, before I even opened it, was, “Would this book fit in my bookcase?” The answer is yes, if your book case can handle binders, as this is just a tad bit taller than a binder. Flipping though the recipes, all of the ingrediants are listed in italic letters, which I find very hard to read, but the cooking directions is done in bullet points, so that helps. As far as the overall content, it is a bit jack-of-all-trades, where it gives you a little bit of information, but not really enough to be really good. However, when it comes to the recipes with their yummy looking pictures, aside from the font issues, I am impressed. The recipes are a little less common and a little more grommet that may take more time to cook, yet it isn’t snobby or something to unusual for the American palate. Cider smoked London Broil with cider pepper glaze, sea scallops with coriander and cider sauce, cider barbecued shrimp with white beans and apples, apple bread with walnut apple butter, stone fence punch,  apple horseradish sauce, apple fritters and calvados cream, chocolate truffles with cider calvados ganche, cider lemon sorbet with apple crisp, apple pralines, and many more.

Gris Mill

The Cedar Creek Gris Mill outside of Woodland, WA is the only working grain mill in Washington that grinds with stones and is water powered. The last Saturday of October, they do a special event and use the hydropower to crush apples, which they then press and sell as fresh pressed apple juice.

My husband and I went last year. They expect a lot of traffic, so they make the loop road that the mill is on one way. Be prepared to park a little ways a way, and if it rains, the road and surrounding forest will be muddy from all the people walking though. You will also have to cross a covered bridge to get to the mill. Inside the mill is very noisy from the grinding and the water splashing. The apples that they use all have stickers like they were bound for the grocery store, but it makes some tasty juice.

It is a good family event to go to. However, it is a bit of a drive, and we only stayed half an hour or so, as you come and observe and then nothing different happens. However, you can get involved with the pressing. Another downside is that they limit the purchase of fresh pressed apple juice to one half gallon per household. I do not remember how much it cost.

Apples, Cheese, and Wine

In the appendix of The Apple Cookbook by Olwen Woodier, there is a section titled “Have an Apple, Cheese, and Wine Party.” It caught my attention as a blog topic.  Woodier suggests picking out apples, cheeses, and wines, and then serving them with crusty breads and crackers. The apples, he says, should be marked with identification for guests, and “[stacked] in baskets next to those cheese and wines that are considered complementary.” He makes the following suggestions:

• Cortland: Serve with Chèvres (goat cheese), Cheshire, Wensleydale, and Cantal cheeses. Accompany by Codorniu brut (Spanish sparkling), Chablis, Saint Veran, Saint Romain white wines.
• Golden Delicious: Serve with Edam, mild Cheddar, Camembert, and Brie cheeses. Accompany by Medoc and Beaujolais read wines.
• Red Delicious; Ida Red: Serve with Roquefort and Saga blue cheeses. Accompany by Chianti or Beaujolais Villages red wines.
• Empire: Serve with Muenster, Fontina, Bel Paese cheeses. Accompany by Soave white and rose wines.
• Jonagold: Serve with Romano and Gorgonzola cheeses. Accompany by Chianti Borolo, Barbera, Barbersco, and Spanna red wines.
• Jonathan: Serve with Scottish Dunlop (Cheddar), Gruyère, and Provolone cheeses. Accompany by Bardolino and Valpolicella red wines, and Orvieto and Vouvray white wines.
• Jonamac; McIntosh: Serve with sharp Cheddar and blue Stilton cheeses. Accompany by Spanish Rioja red and port wines.
• Macoun: Serve with Caprice des Dieux, Excelsior, Boursault cheeses. Accompany by Moselle, Graves, Pouilly white wines, and red Côte de Beaune.
• Northern Spy: Serve with Italian Parmesan, Roquefort, Pont l’Eveque, other blue cheeses. Accompany by St. Emilion, Côte de Rhone, Fleurie, and Brouilly red wines.

Of course, reading this list, I’m baffled by the wines I’ve never heard of. Also, this topic appears to not have a whole lot of attention on the internet, so doing a pear, cheese, and wine pairing must be much easier.

My solution: break the whole pairing down into, well, pairs, with cheese being the central part. That is to say, rely on books or websites to figure out how to pair cheese with apples and then cheese with wine. First, I would pick out some apples and then pick out some cheeses to go with it, maybe using Woodier’s suggestions. After I’ve made that pairing, I would let the cheese guide me into what wine to drink, abandoning Woodier’s rare wines.

For some reason, a Pink Lady apple paired with an Irish Cheddar paired with a Riesling wine sounds good to me. It has a sharp apple, nutty cheese, and slightly sweet wine. However, thinking about my experience with cider and fondue, the Reisling might clash with the apple due to sugar contents and so a drier white wine might be more suitable, such as a Chardonnay. Of course one just has to experiment!

One last note that Woodier makes on the topic is a good one:

When selecting your apples, be prepared to experiment when a recommended variety is not available or is not in peak condition. Any of the good eaters will taste delicious with cheese… Also, don’t feel obliged to serve only wine. Try a sampling of fruit and light beers, cider, or Calvados (which is a little smoother than applejack).

Apple Sauce, Pie, and Crisp

Admittedly, I just kind of throw together things when I cook, and so making apple sauce, pie, or crisp is exception. I don’t have a recipe to provide you of what I do, but I can talk about the process a little bit.

First off, I’m lazy – I don’t peel my apples when I make any of them. Why should I? There are a lot of nutrients in apple peels that you would be removing. One half of an apple’s vitamin C is located just under the skin, which would be removed with peeling.  One peeled apple has 1 grams of fiber, while an unpeeled apple has 3 grams of fiber. It is this fiber content that scientists say helps reduce the risk of chronic health problems. In addition, scientists believe that the peel contains beneficial phytochemicals, which help give apples an anti-cancer effect. Besides, sometimes leaving apple peels on, especially when red, creates a pleasant color splash to the apple sauce and apple pie. Some could argue that thick apple peels make for a weird texture in cooking, but I think removing apple peels are for finicky eaters and the rich who can afford the labor to remove them – only to be striping the apple of some of its health benefits.

"Cricket Bread" blogger cooking apple sauce

To make apple sauce, I simply cut up an apple into chunks. I actually have a medical condition that makes it difficult for me to eat apples unless they are cut up, so I have an apple slicer. Once I use the apple slicer, which saves time on cutting and actually reduces waste compared to manual cutting, I then cut up the apple into chunks and throw it into a large pot and start to cook them on medium heat while stirring. At the beginning, it will need about ¼ cup of liquid, which could come from apple juice or water. I might add some lemon juice to help make it a little tart. When the apples get softer, I’ll think about adding spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. My father and I agree there is no such thing as too much cinnamon. If I am making sauce out of pears instead of apples, I will primarily use cinnamon and ginger. Anyway, I’ll cook it until it is a consistency I like, and then I will either can the sauce, or I will put it in Ziploc bags and freeze it.

As far as making an apple pie, I make a pie out of whatever apples I have, and don’t worry if they aren’t granny smiths or something. Again, I chop them up into bite sized pieces, but smaller this time. I put the apple bits into a bowl, and then I season them and add a little bit of sugar, but not much. My father gets a little creative, sometime substituting things like maple syrup for sugar, or throwing in raisins. Raisins do add sugar, so ease up on sweeteners if you use them, but be aware that raisins will reabsorb liquid and plump up, leaving the pie a little bit drier than a pie without them. From there, I put the now ready apple filling into a pre made pie crust. My mother gave up a long time ago making pie crusts from scratch and simply buys pre made pie crusts from the refrigerator section in a grocery store. If I’m lazy enough not to peel the apples, then I’m not going to make a crust from scratch, either. Then I bake the pie usually according the pie crust instructions. Make sure if you put a second crust on the top of the pie to poke holes in the crust with a fork to prevent a buildup of gas and steam that will otherwise pocket into the crust.

Actually, to be really lazy, I make an apple crisp instead. Mix up the apples as before, and then put them in a casserole pan. Then I make up the “crust”, which consists of oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter, and I will pat it down on top of the apples. If I’m going to use a recipe for this one, which is usually just for the crust and cooking time, I turn to Betty Crocker’s Apple Crisp Recipe.

Regardless if it is an apple pie or an apple crisp, both are very good with whipped cream or ice cream, and even better if it is homemade whipped cream or ice cream. Though, admittedly, I will have my apple crisp with a little bit of milk for breakfast.

Apples!

Today I am going to post up some interesting links about apples.

Apple Facts:

• All About Apples – Varieties
• University of Illinois Extension – Apple Facts
• US Apple Association – Apple Bits & Core Facts
• Wikipedia

Apples and Health:

• University of Illinois Extension – Apple Nutrition
• Washington State Apple Commission – Apples Keep Your Family Healthy
• Drinking Apple Juice Improves Mood in Alzheimer’s Patients.

Some websites of apple recipes:

• Apple Recipes
• Eating Well Magazine
• The Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture, published in 1914
• Portland Nursery
• Virginia Apples
• Washington Apple Commission
• University of Illinois Extension Apple Recipes
• University of Illinois Extension Preserving Apples
• U.S. Apple

Weekend Special: My Views on Liquor Initiatives 1100 & 1105

Last weekend I presented Washington State Initiatives 1100 and 1105 with lots of opinions and statistics for and against them. Here how I am going to vote:

My Stance on I-1100:

I previously stated I am pro I-1100, and I have not changed my opinion on that. I believe more in a free market trade, where a local winery can go to a local store or local restaurant and have them sell their product without a distributor. It allows things to be done locally and direct. I believe that distributors will still exist, because at some point, doing self distribution is too difficult. However, if you are too small for a distributor to really spend any of their time to promote your product, you can work around them.

Some critics (mostly major out of state micro brew beer companies) claim that hard alcohol will take the shelf space of beer and wine in grocery stores. I don’t think the beer industry has anything to worry about, as I highly doubt grocery stores would chill hard alcohol, which would be more inclined to use wine shelf space. However, I don’t really think there would be that much of a consumer shift, as people would still want their beer when they get home and their glass of wine with dinner. Look at college students – even though they will make special alcohol purchasing trips for parties, they go to both grocery stores and liquor stores, and they always still beer.

The craft beer industry is also afraid of the volume discounts, claiming that new and smaller breweries would not be able to compete. Thing is, they are already competing against discounted mass produced beers and able to do well, so the only difference is that they would now be competing against each other, but they are already doing that, too. I really predict no change.

Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure how the whole employment factor of I-1100 will settle out, and I do feel sorry for the mom and pop shops. Yet, I find it ironic that some many other government services are closing and people are becoming unemployed, and yet this is where the fight appears to keep jobs?

My Stance on I-1105:

I would rather keep our system the way it is than see I-1105 pass.

First off, you would be breaking one monopoly, the State sales, only to keep in place another monopoly, mandatory third party distributors. This is not a free market. To quote a Seattle Times Editorial, “It would also close the state liquor stores, but it would keep the anti-competitive rules in beer and wine, and end the state monopoly in spirits by giving it to a private cartel.”

I-1105 also will be repealing the state liquor taxes. I think the government is hurting too much for money right now to be cutting a tax on such a vice. You do not hear of anyone proposing to cut taxes on cigarettes, so they shouldn’t be on alcohol, either.

I just feel that this measure isn’t completely right or fair, and I would rather keep our flawed system in tack than see us switch to this.

What Happens Both Pass:

According to KHQ TV in Spokane, “It’s up to the State Legislature to amend both measures together, with a 2/3 majority vote. If they can’t do that, the initiatives get turned over to the courts.”

How I Would Feel if Both Fail:

Honestly, I can handle status quo. I would be a little disappointed that the mandatory distribution system was not done away with as I-1100 would give, but I feel that remaining status quo is better than I-1105 passing.

Book Review: Apple Cookbooks, Part I

I checked out from the library a few apple cook books in which I looked over. I will present three books this week, and three books next week.

A is for Apple

The subtitle on this book, written by Greg Patent and Dorothy Hinshaw Patent in 1999, reads “More than 200 Recipes for Eating, Munching, and Cooking with America’s Favorite Fruit.” The first chapter, “Introduction: Our Favorite Fruit” covers a lot of topics, including some history, nutrition, general advice for selecting apples based on eating, juice, sauces, pies, baking, and more, how to buy and store apples, working with apples, apple sizes in recipes, various apple sauces, juice vs cider, and other apple brews. The book has pepper though out it antidote pages, talking about various apple varities, Johnny Appleseed, “As American as Apple Pie,” waxing an apple, the difference between a pie and a tort, and many more. The chapters are divided into pies and tarts, desserts, cakes, cookies, breads, soups and salads, seafood and game, poultry, “beef, pork, and lamb,” side dishes, and “Apple Thises ‘n’ That’s.” The last chapter of the book actually talks about growing your own apples.

The formatting makes it a little hard to read and follow recipes, but I like the recipes that I see in it. Apple rice pudding, apple hot cross buns, smoked turkey and apple salad, salmon in hard cider cream sauce, chicken breasts stuffed with apple and goat cheese, apple and potato gratin, and many more. The antidotes make it fun to read, though I wouldn’t really use the last chapter on growing apples, as it a clunky section and I would use an actual apple orcharding book instead.

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The Apple Cookbook

I obtained from the library a 1984 copy of The Apple Cookbook written by Owen Woodier, but there appears to be an update in 2001. It opens with a chapter on apple facts, which contains some history, nutrition, descriptions of 26 popular apples including a table on when they are available and if they are good for eating, salad, sauce, baking, pies, or freezing, and then concludes with a section on how to store apples.  The next chapter is “Cooking with Apples” before moving on to recipes. The recipes are organized into apple beverages, appetizers and snacks, apple salads, apple side dishes, apples for dinner, apples for breakfast, quick breads and muffins, apples for dessert, and preserving the harvest, which has info on canning but a lot of recipes for apple jams. The appendix contains a short blurb on hosting an apple, cheese, and wine party and also information on hardy antique apple varieties.

The layout of the recipes is very easy to read, and the recipes themselves are good country food that is easy to create. That doesn’t mean it is stock standard stuff – apple eggnog, prosciutto apple wedges, apple ratatouille, apple kabobs, black bean soup made with granny smith apples, apple meatloaf, sausage and apple omelet, apple blackberry crisp, and much more. I think one of the reasons I’m attracted to this book is that it only talks about apples in relationship to the kitchen, and leaves other topics, such as growing apples, to other books that would do a better job discussing it.

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An Apple Harvest: Recipes and Orchard Lore

The copy of An Apple Harvest: Recipes and Orchard Lore I looked at was published in 1999, though it seems to have been republished in January 2010. Written by Frank Browning and Sharon Silva and full of photographs, the introduction talks about apples in society, Browning’s orchard, some different apple varieties in casual conversation before moving on to some apple history, choosing apples based on use, need, and location, storing apples, peeling apples, cider and its shifting meaning in the United States, cider vinegar, and even calvados and applejack. The next chapter is 26 different apple pictures with a brief culinary description. The recipe sections are broken into first course, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts and beverages. Each section has its own index, giving the book about 65 dishes total.

While this book was published in Berkley, California and even talks about cider in America, this book has a very European feel when it comes to the recipes. They are not exactly recipes one just throws together, and they sometimes require unique ingredients. In fact, the very first recipe is Duck Breast and Fuji Apples on Watercrest, and there are other recipes that call for monkfish liver, goose, rabbit, crayfish, calf’s liver, and herring. Some of the recipes do seem very American, but I would not recommend this book for the average cook, but instead for someone with a passion for the culinary arts and willing take the time required in finding ingredients and cooking.

Cider Review: Irvine’s Vintage Cider

I’ve been trying to drink more cider recently. My husband has been putting bottles out of my cider collection into his little beer fridge for me to have. This time, I grabbed Irvine’s Vintage Cider, based out of Vashon Island, WA.

Photo by Old Time Cider

It looked really nice when I poured it into a glass – kind of a pale yellow, maybe straw color. The bubbles were really tiny and coming from localized places in the bottle, both signs of in bottle natural carbonation. The label reads, “Vintage Blend is refreshingly light in alcohol with a delicate petulance that causes a natural sediment.” This confirms I’m right about natural bottle carbonation.

At 6.8% alcohol, there are “lighter” ciders on the market at 5%, though the others would be coyingly sweet, where as this was balanced and light as it claimed. However, I found it to taste a lot like club soda.

Further on the label it reads, “Serve with crunchy bread, sharp farmhouse cheeses or your favorite pork dish.” I went to the fridge and grabbed out an open parmesan cheese. I ate some, and then tried the cider, and suddenly I got the more normal cider tastes that I have grown used to and love. “Well that sucks,” I told my husband, “if I have to eat a piece of cheese just to get a cider to taste like cider.”

It is still a decent cider – light, balanced, and refreshing, but it has a different flavor that is like club soda, and I don’t care for club soda.

Apple Tasting Review: Venersborg School

Last Sunday, my husband and I drove out east of Battle Ground, WA to the Venersborg School for their Heirloom Apple Tasting.

The event claimed to have 216 apples to taste, and was set up very similar to the Home Orchard Society’s All About Fruit Show. They said they had 216 apples to try, which were placed on plates with written identification only. The apples were also in alphabetical order, and there were volunteers there who would cut you off a piece to eat. In fact, there were Home Orchard Society members there running it, and there was also a similar panel of Home Orchard Society members there to identify apples. They did have some cider apples, but not as many.

The Venersborg School Heirloom Apple Tasting was strictly for apples, though, unlike the Home Orchard Society’s All About Fruit Show. In addition to tasting apples and apple identification, they did have some apple food products such as pies available for purchase. They also had a small handful of apple trees to buy.

It cost $5 per person or $10 for a family to go. They did not heat the little schoolhouse, for which I was glad I took my lightweight jacket to on such a nice October day. There was a picnic area set up outside.

I think I would go to this event on years I do not go to the Home Orchard Society’s All About Fruit Show. I say this because the two events are so similar and cost about the same to attend, but the All About Fruit Show is much larger with more apples and other fruits such as pears, but further away from where I live.

Apple Tasting Review: Portland Nursery

After we got done tasting fruit at the Home Orchard Society’s “All About Fruit Show,” we all piled back into the car to head to the Portland Nursery’s 23^rd Annual Apple Tasting Event. It was in the car that I found out that one person of our party had been so overwhelmed by the apple varieties at the All About Fruit Show that he didn’t try any, and I realized that pre-made list of interesting apples would have been very helpful. I promised that would not be an issue at the Portland Nursery.

The Portland Nursery arranges with various apple growers out of Hood River to obtain various apples and a few pears to taste and a few to sell for about 99 cents a pound. This year, they acquired 45 apples, 11 pears, and 4 Asian pears. They provided a handout of what fruit there was to sample, which included a little description about the origins if known, taste, and uses. The nursery staff cut up the apples and put them on labeled plates, which you then use a toothpick to pick up a sample, so the sampling goes much faster. Since there were so many people, you stand in line and then proceed though the samplings in alphabetical order.

I was a little bit disappointed with their selection this year, as about 15 of the apples seemed to be ones you could get from the grocery store. I seem to remember last year there being a better selection, including two my husband really loved that did not return this year. However, it has not been a good year for apples, so this could have been the root of the situation.

Wandering Aengus Ciderworks was also there with many ciders to sample (link may be temporary). What tickled me about this is that they had a lot of East Coast ciders that I normally can’t find here. Foolishly, I put my notebook away, and I kick myself for it.

The Portland Nursery Apple Tasting is probably a little easier for most people to deal with, and it is really kid friendly with a tent full of activities for children. They also had some fresh pressed apple juice to sample and buy, and they were also selling apple strudel. There was a table set up providing some samples of foods cooked with apples. Of course, the Nursery itself is open to sell plants and other gardening needs.

I think the biggest difference with this apple tasting is that it is aimed more at the apple consumer and finding apples you like to eat, where as the All About Fruit Show is aimed more at the home orchardist and finding apples you like to eat and grow.