Ode To A Cranberry

For years now I have been making cranberry sauce from scratch for Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas. This year was the first when I canned cranberry sauce. Using my age old recipe and harnessing the awesome power of canning I have achieved I made me some cranberry sauce in jars.

My history of cranberry sauce is rather short in my food life. I only started to make it not more than 10 years ago. I would never eat cranberry sauce when I was a kid, it was the jelled canned type that was sliced into rings. The plate would be passed around on Thanksgiving and I would keep it going past me. The texture looked horrible and the one time that I actually tasted it was worse. I just remember it tasting way too sweet and slimy. Slimy I can deal with, sweet I cannot. So all throughout my childhood, adolescence and adulthood I avoided cranberry sauce.

One Thanksgiving, sometime last decade, I had a bag of cranberries that I somehow obtained, legally I hope. I went to my cooking bible, Fanny Farmer, and looked up how to make cranberry sauce. I was amazed, well not amazed more surprised, at how simple it was.

Cranberry Sauce
12 oz bag of Cranberries
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar

Wash the cranberries, boil the water, add cranberries and sugar. Scrape off froth as cranberries pop, cook for about 10 minutes or until all the cranberries pop, cool and serve.

OK, so it's easy, but how does it taste. It tasted great. It was enjoyed by everyone that year and I then added it the annual Thanksgiving menu. This is known as whole berry cranberry sauce which is different than jelled cranberry sauce like the type in the can. The difference is that with jelled you would strain out the cranberry skins. I like this better, it seems more natural, tastier and I'll admit I'm too lazy to strain it once it's cooked. I think you need to keep cooking it as well and you know how I feel about overcooking anything.

So every year I'd make a batch, or a double batch of sauce. I get a few extra bags and leave them in the freezer to make whenever I, or my wife, has a craving for some. Somehow between last year, this year and a great sale on cranberries, I found myself with nine bags of cranberries. Since I still have all of my fingers, limbs and internal organs from my previous attempts to can, I was ready to roll the pressure caner dice again.

There was a great sale on the 12 ounce tall mason jars, as seen on the top of the post, so I got two cases of them. The smaller jars cost more and who wants to only get 2 ounces of cranberry sauce. At the same time no one would want a quart either, so this seems like the perfect size to use for Christmas gifts. Reading up on how to can cranberry sauce, since it has a high acid content, a simple hot water bath for fifteen minutes will safely work.

I debated whether to use my pressure caner, it can hold 23 quarts or the regular stainless steel tall pot that we use for pasta and other general items. I'm not sure of the size but I think it holds about 12 quarts. I wasn't sure if all of the cranberries would fit in the smaller pot, but I didn't want to have to clean out the pressure caner just before I use it. I used the steamer/pasta basket that fits inside the pot to wash the cranberries and eight bags seemed to fit. I poured them into the pot, they fit, I decided to be daring and make the sauce in the smaller pot.

Added the eight cups of water, when it boiled I added the cranberries, which went right to the top since they float in water, and poured the sugar over all of it. Carefully shifting the cranberries I got the sugar to drop into the pot and moved the cranberries on the edge to the center. As the water began to boil again and the froth started to rise, so did the cranberries. I was fighting Mt. Vesuvius, frantically I kept moving cranberries to the center, making a pyramid, while scraping off froth and pushing the berries back down. By sheer determination and some luck I was able to keep the cranberry volcano from erupting all over my stove and the floor. I knew as the cranberries would pop, they would sink down. To be honest I panicked and lowered the heat and kept scraping. Finally about fifteen minutes later it was ready. And to avoid the red cabbage disaster of not adding the canning perseve, I added the proper amount, about three tablespoons to the sauce. I put the pot in the refrigerator and let it cool until the next day.

The funny thing was that while the cranberries were cooling I was more concerned with how to cook the black beans I was going to make for dinner. I've done a few hot water canings but never used the pressure cooker to cook food. I went through all the steps in my head how to sterilize the jars, heat the cranberry sauce, put the jars in hot water, blah blah blah. But to cook beans in the pressure cooker, that was getting me worried. More on that later, time to can cranberry sauce.

So after the Seahawks beat the 49ers on a last second field goal (Yah Olindo Mare), I started the process. Nothing exciting, filled the jars, boiled for fifteen minutes, removed, tested, looks great. I filled 14 twelve ounce jars, so I have over a gallon of whole berry cranberry sauce. Most will go as gifts along with some pumpkin bread. Or just when there is a craving a few months from now for some cranberry sauce, I can pop open a jar.

But my main concern was how to use the pressure cooker. When I first got the caner I looked at the recipes in the book. Besides how to make twelve pounds of corned beef in twenty minutes there were recipes for dried beans. The time chart listed on average two to four minutes. I'm thinking to myself "This can't be true, this is a filthy lie!" I'm starting to eat dried beans again, it would be nice to have them cook quickly, but in four minutes?

Back in the early nineties when things were really tight financially for my wife and I, dried beans were a staple of our diet. Along with pork shoulders and chicken drumstick/thigh quarters, our diet was limited to what we could afford. Doing food shopping in New York City for $25 a week won't get you much. Dried beans were cheap and filling. Since I didn't know much of what I was doing, I would soak them but would mess up the cooking process. The few times that they didn't taste like pebbles, they didn't have much flavor or taste good. It didn't taste like what you would get out of a can, and after making some more money we moved to store canned beans.

As I now realize the health benefits of making beans from scratch, mainly much less salt than the factory canned, having a faster way to cook dried beans would be great. I read over and over again and realized that all I had to do is after I soaked the beans, add them to the pressure cooker, cover with water, add one tablespoon of vegetable oil (keeps the vent from getting clogged I believe), put the lid on, put the weight over the vent and turn on the heat. When the gauge reaches 15psi time for four minutes, less if you want them firmer, turn off heat, remove and wait for pressure to drop.

I soaked the beans for about six hours. I drained them, added them to the pot covered them with water and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Sealed the lid, but the cover on top of the vent and turned the heat up to high. I stood watching until the pressure gauge started to rise and then thought that if this thing blows up right now I'll be covered in shrapnel and the gauge would get wedged in my throat. Somewhere around the 10psi mark the vent cover started to rock, and I didn't touch it this time! I placed a pot holder over it to still allow steam out but to keep it from rolling. Not sure if this is proper, or safe, but when the gauge got to 15 I lowered the heat, set the timer for four minutes and adjusted the heat to keep the gauge at 15psi. The time went off, I turned off the heat, moved the pressure cooker off the heat and waited to the steam escape valve to drop.

I looked inside after I opened it, the beans didn't explode. I tasted one. It tasted as soft as if it came out of a can! I was amazed, unlike the cranberry sauce, this was true amazement. The total time from start to finish after I drained the beans from soaking, no more than 25 minutes. I remembered back to the early 90's waiting hours for the beans to be cooked and somehow they would never get there. Now in less than 30 minutes it was done. I then proceeded to make a black bean soup. I looked online for recipes, many different types but none seemed to impress me, even one with a tomato base. So I made one up, see if it works for you.

Black Bean Soup
2 cups prepared black beans (or two to three 14.5 ounce cans)
1/2 pound of smoked sausage
1 onion
1/2 head of garlic
4 cups chicken broth
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup dry sherry
Cilantro
Salt
Pepper

1. Saute onion, garlic and sausage to just tender, add broth
2. Add beans, remaining ingredients and stir.
3. Using a masher, mash about half to two-thirds of the beans. Leave some whole but mash up enough to thicken.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least thirty minutes, longer if possible.
5. Add seasoning according to taste.

Substituting vegetable broth and omitting the sausage will make it a vegetarian soup. The taste was terrific, savory beans, smoked sausage, there were lots of umami going on in my mouth. The soup didn't last long, but I will be making it again, as well as many other bean dishes this winter. I recommend getting a pressure caner, it's a two for one deal. You can can foods and you can cook in so much less time and it still tastes great, unlike the microwave where it cooks fast and tastes like death. In fact only use your microwave for defrosting and maybe making nachos. Use your pressure cooker to make magic, or at least black beans in four minutes.

Tales From The Harvest Market

The last farmers market of the season in Beaverton is the harvest market. I've been there previously, it's the Saturday just before Thanksgiving. People bring down the last of their fruits and vegetables. It's a good time to get fresh items for your Thanksgiving dinner and to stock up. This year, since I haven't blown up my house yet, I can can (jar) the last items of the season. Over the past two years, when I have gone to the harvest market I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to stock up for the winter, but that changed this year. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for.

My wife and I arrived about 9am, she went to get some coffee or cider or hot chocolate (or a mix of the three I think) and I decided to walk around and see what was there. There was one less aisle than usual, but the market was still full. Being a choosy shopper I looked at the prices and the quality. My first good deal was cauliflower. I bought two large heads from a woman who was taking them off a truck. They were two dollars for large heads and three for monster sized. I got two of the monster sized and then got a hernia carrying them with me.

To add to that weight I got two red cabbages that were 39 cents a pound, cost about five and a half (done the math yet?) dollars. Also grabbed a brussel sprout tree for half the price of what other boots were selling for. By this time I had no room in my bags so when I found my wife we walked back to our car and got some more bags. They were then filled with apples, Italian artichokes, cherry tomatoes and I can't remember if there was anything else. My mind was on the cauliflower and cabbage that I snagged at a great deal. Time to start canning.

But first let me talk about how the other items were served. The brussel sprouts were cut from the stalk, to clean remove any part of the outer leaves that look worn or spotty, just like a cabbage. I then split them in half, top to bottom not across the center, and then steam them for about five to ten minutes. The cabbage should be tender but not mushy. I also sometimes add some chopped garlic to steam as well. Remove the brussel sprouts from the steamer and drop into a hot frying pan with olive oil. Saute for a minute or two and then add balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice, Italian seasoning and mix well. Lower heat and simmer until the sauce begins to thicken.

The Italian artichokes, only different from the standard artichoke in that the leaves are more meatier, were boiled for about twenty five minutes. They were eaten plain since they were so fresh and tasty, why smother the flavor? The apples, at least five different types ranging from sweet to super tart, were used in an apple pie. May I add that it was with a cheddar cheese crust. One problem with the pie, since I made it on Thanksgiving and prepared it in a hurry to get it in the oven right after the turkey came out, I forgot to add flour or corn starch with the apples and sugar (half cup white and half cup brown, so much better that way). So the crust was a bit soggy on the bottom and you almost needed a spoon to eat it. The one thing that everyone said was "The pie is good but these apples are the best I have ever tasted!" The tomatoes were eaten pretty much every time we walked by them in the kitchen.

Now to the main focus of the post, using my newly acquired skills as a canning ninja to can the cauliflower and the red cabbage. I weighed them both, there was eleven and a half pounds of cauliflower and fourteen pounds of cabbage. I figure that's enough to last through the winter. I put the cabbages into the garage since I know that they would last the week and that I need to make sure I had enough red currant jelly since that is part of my basting sauce for the turkey. I decided to pickle the cauliflower and make German style red cabbage, I knew I had enough jars since I had been stocking up on them over the past few weeks whenever there was a sale.

My good friends, and pretty much unrelated family, Rene and Wayne brought with them over the summer pickled cauliflower for my wife and I. It was a bit too salty for her, I was amazed. Trying to recapture that wonderful flavor I decided to use the same brine that I had left over from the pickled tomatoes but used cauliflower instead. I also had a bunch of really, really hot peppers one of my co-workers dropped off at work from his garden. I decided to mix them in with some of the cauliflower. It is a hot water canning method that I used, see here for how I did the tomatoes.

Of course since I am learning, I had to make a mistake. Today's lesson, as I hear J. Walter Weathermen in my head, "...and that's why you always fill your jars with hot liquid." I heated my brine, as well as the jars, filled them with cauliflower and sometimes with peppers, lots of garlic (did you think otherwise) and some dill seed and peppercorns. I turned off the heat on the burner for the brine so when I got to the last jar it had cooled to room temperature. I went to check on the jars just before the water was to boil and noticed that one of the jars was floating near the top. This is strange since I had at least three inches of water over the top of the jars. Upon closer review I saw that the jar split on the bottom. I fished it out, removed the broken base and threw them out. I was debating reusing the cauliflower but my wife offered wisdom by stating that who knows if there are any bits of glass in the mix. Good point and now I know that's why you always....(blah, blah, blah)....hot liquid.

The red cabbage I knew would take longer so I waited for the Friday after Thanksgiving. While I was making turkey soup I also made red cabbage. The recipe I use is from a German cookbook that I've had for years, I had to start making it since it's almost impossible to find it out here in Oregon. Back in New York it was everywhere, seriously. I remember once back in the early 90's going into a C-Town (supermarket chain on the east coast) in Harlem on 125th street and buying a jar of red cabbage. It was everywhere back there but nowhere out here. So I have to make it. It is a bit of a time consuming process, but one that is well worth it. I always make a batch for my birthday and usually around Christmas, Easter and whenever I get the craving. So if I make fourteen pounds of red cabbage, it'll save me time through the rest of the year. Right! Right?

First the recipe I used:

Ingredients
Red Cabbage
1/4 lb bacon
1 Tbs sugar
1 Apple chopped (peeled and cored)
1 Onion minced
1 cup beef broth
3/4 cup white vinegar
Salt
8 to 10 oz Red Currant Jelly

1) Remove outer spotted leaves from cabbage, quarter and remove core. Slice cabbage and set aside.
2) Mince bacon and saute slowly until it melts, when it begins to brown add sugar and mix.
3) Add chopped apple and minced onion, mix, cover for 4 to 5 minutes.
4) Add cabbage and stir around to get it coated and add vinegar. Add salt to taste. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until cabbage becomes bright purple.
5) Add beef broth, allow to boil and then reduce to simmer and cook until cabbage is tender, about 90 minutes to 2 hours.
6) Stir in red currant jelly about an hour before serving.

I used my pressure caner since it would be large enough to hold everything. I let it cook all day, transferred it to a smaller pot and some on the side since we were having dinner guests on Saturday. Got up Saturday morning and started to can. I spend most of the previous day looking for an official recipe for canning the red cabbage. Officially there is no approved method of canning plain red cabbage, no problem with me. The only recipes I found were either pickled cabbage or spiced cabbage, which was basically pickled cabbage with allspice. Since I couldn't find instructions I started to use logic. 1) You buy it in the store in a jar, so someone in a factory or nuclear power plant is putting this into a jar and I haven't died yet, not that I am aware of. 2) Seeing that there is a process, using 11psi for twenty five minutes will kill all the bacteria. It could kill the flavor too, but I wouldn't die of botulism. 3) Other people mentioned that they do this too, so I decided to thumb my nose at the USDA and can my cabbage.

Guess what, I made another canning mistake. I followed all the steps like when I used the pressure caner for my diced tomatoes, see here for that post, and all looked well. None of the jars exploded, they looked like they sealed well, I was going to have seven quarts of red cabbage. I then noticed something shortly after the cabbage came out of the caner. It wasn't red or purplish, it was brown. I'm starting to panic and think what has happened to my beautiful cabbage, but since I've never done this before I decided to just wait and see. That night at dinner my friend Peter told me that when you can fruits or vegetables like that you need to add a preserver. He wasn't sure what it was called but that they sell it next to the canning supplies in the supermarket. He said by adding small amount of that it will keep the color. I asked about the flavor and he told me that it will still taste the same just not look the same. A second d'oh is that I didn't season with canning salt but regular table salt. The amount of salt is minimal in the recipe, but since it was going to end up in a can it should have been seasoned with canning salt.

Anyway, it was good practice using the pressure caner and I do have a bunch of food to last all winter and probably next spring as well. One thing I want to add is a preserving e-book I found while looking for a process to can red cabbage. It's called The Beginners Guide to Preserving, click the link to see the pdf. It talks about the history of canning, how to can, how dry, how to freeze, just an over good online guide.