Read Saveur: The New Comfort Food Online
Authors: James Oseland
Saveur: The New Comfort Food (29 page)
The ideal flapjack is browned and crisp around the edges and tender and fluffy inside. According to the seasoned cooks at Robie’s Country Store & Deli, in Hooksett, New Hampshire, for the best results, you’ve got to take your time and cook the flapjacks one by one with plenty of butter in a hot skillet.
2 cups flour
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. fine sea salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for serving
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten Maple syrup, for serving Confectioners’ sugar, for serving
Serves 2–4
1. Put the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and whisk to combine; set aside.
2. Melt 4 tbsp. butter. Whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk together until just combined to make a thick batter. (For tender flapjacks, don’t overmix the batter.)
3. Heat an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp. butter and heat until the butter’s foam subsides. Ladle in about ½ cup of the batter. Cook the flapjack, turning once, until deep golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a large ovenproof serving platter and keep warm in a low oven. Repeat the process with additional butter and remaining batter to make 8 flapjacks in all. Serve hot, topped with butter and maple syrup and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
August is the height of the wild huckleberry season in the Pacific Northwest, where the tiny purple, intensely sweet fruit is harvested from mountain meadows and used in pies, milk shakes, tarts, crisps, and even in savory dishes. These individual-size desserts, with their crumbly brown sugar topping, can be made with fresh or frozen huckleberries or with the fruit’s close cousin, blueberries.
6 tbsp. plus ½ cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp. flour
¼ cup rolled oats
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. lemon zest plus
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp. brandy
4 cups huckleberries or blueberries
2 tbsp. cornstarch Crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream, for serving
Serves 4
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place four 6-oz. ceramic ramekins on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, combine 6 tbsp. granulated sugar, flour, oats, brown sugar, walnuts, lemon zest, ¼ tsp. vanilla, ¼ tsp. salt, and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly; transfer the topping to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the remaining granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla, along with the lemon juice, brandy, huckleberries, and cornstarch. Divide the berry mixture between the ramekins. Mound some of the topping over each ramekin and bake until the berries are bubbly and the topping is browned, 35–40 minutes. Top each crisp with a dollop of crème fraîche or ice cream and serve.
Butter is integral to baked goods and sweets: whether we’re creaming it into cake batter, rubbing it into biscuit dough, melting it over pancakes, or blending it with brown sugar to make a streusel topping, it works its rich magic in myriad ways. Various styles have emerged around the world, each one reflecting different regional tastes and production methods.
Cultured butter
1
is made from cream in which fermentation—the conversion of milk sugars into lactic acid—has begun to take place. Most butters are made from pasteurized cream, a process that kills naturally occurring bacteria, so, for this style, lactic-acid bacteria are added to induce fermentation and create a sharper, “cultured” taste that many European bakers prefer.
Salted butter
2
can come in both cultured and uncultured versions. Salted butters make for an emphatically flavored condiment or spread. Pungent-tasting preserved butters such as
smen
3
, a Moroccan delicacy, belong to a variety known as fermented butter; they have been allowed to age for anywhere from two weeks to two years. Among the most prized butters in this country are
raw-cream butters
4
, which are made from unpasteurized farm-fresh cream, an ingredient that’s hard to get your hands on if you don’t live on or near a dairy farm. Butter that’s been heated so that its water content evaporates and has had its milk solids removed is referred to as
clarified butter
5
. This pure, longlasting butterfat, popular in India (where it is called ghee), has a high smoke point and is ideal for frying, as well as baking; it is also mixed with nuts and chickpea flour to make fudge-like sweets called barfi. Uncultured butter made from fresh, pasteurized cream is generally referred to as
sweet cream butter
6
and is the most common choice for baking. Americans’ predilection for chilled yet spreadable butter led to the development of
whipped butter
7
, which has nitrogen gas whipped into it after it has been churned, so that it will remain soft at low temperatures. It’s wonderful spread on a bagel, but is a poor choice for cooking.
The puffy, deep-fried dough squares known as sopaipillas in New Mexico are just one of a number of delicious fried breads found on both sides of the United States–Mexico border. Often dusted with sugar or drizzled with honey, they are a cousin of Mexican buñuelos and American Indian fry bread and are best eaten seconds after coming out of the frying oil, when they’re at their lightest and crispest. Pictured is Gabriela Bojalil, a home cook in Puebla, Mexico, who gave us this recipe.
2¼ cups flour
1½ tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
¼ cup milk, at room temperature
1½ tsp. canola oil, plus more for frying
¼ cup sugar mixed with 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, for serving
1 cup honey, for serving
Serves 8–12
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; add the milk, vegetable oil, and ½ cup of lukewarm water and stir until a sticky dough forms. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and no longer sticky, about 2 minutes. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces, form each into a ball, and cover again; let rest for 30 minutes.
2. Pour canola oil into a 6-qt. Dutch oven to a depth of 2 inches and heat over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 370°F.
3. Working with one dough ball at a time, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into an 8-inch square. Cut the square into 4 equal smaller squares, and repeat with the remaining dough balls to create 12 squares total.
4. Place 4 squares in the oil and fry, turning once, until they’re golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sopaipillas to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining dough squares. While hot, sprinkle the sopaipillas with cinnamon-sugar, drizzle with honey, and serve.
This Key lime pie is based on the one served at Joe’s Stone Crab, a Miami restaurant. You can use tiny, intensely flavorful Key limes or bottled Key lime juice, though ordinary Persian lime juice works well, too.
1 cup plus 2½ tbsp. graham cracker crumbs
1
/
3
cup sugar5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1½ tbsp. lime zest (from 2 limes)
3 egg yolks
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2
/
3
cup fresh lime juice, preferably from Key limes1 cup heavy cream, chilled
1 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
Serves 8
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Pulse cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a food processor to combine. Press evenly into bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Let cool.
2. In a medium bowl, beat lime zest and egg yolks with a hand mixer until pale and thick, about 5 minutes. Add milk and beat until thickened, 3–4 minutes more. Add lime juice; mix until smooth. Pour filling into pie crust; bake until filling is just set in the middle, 8–10 minutes. Let the pie cool.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk cream and confectioners’ sugar to stiff peaks. Spread whipped cream over the top of pie and chill 2–3 hours before serving.