The Corn Parties are over!

Last week I helped Bruce's parents with their corn parties. They had 7 parties in 6 days.  There were between 50 to 100 people at each of these parties.  On the menu was corn from the garden, of course, barbecue beef, pot luck salads and deserts.  Mark (Bruce's dad) also makes homemade root beer in the old fashioned way, the way his mother made it with yeast giving it carbonation.  It's always funny to see a bunch of Mormons drink the stuff for the first time because the yeast gives it a slight alcoholic taste, at least to a bunch of tea totalers. Former beer drinkers love the stuff because it has the bitterness that they remember from their days of drinking regular beer.  I've never drunk regular beer on a regular basis so I don't know for sure.  Each day the root beer tastes slightly different and I always try it out to see how it tastes that day.  I usually like it on the sweet side with a touch of bitterness.  Regardless, I find the process of making it fascinating.  I vow to get Mark to teach me how to make it SOON!  He's 82 years old.

Here's a picture I took of Mark last year out in the corn patch.  You can see the trash can in which he cooks the corn.  Cooking corn is the only thing that he uses the can for so don't worry.

Along with corn, anything else that may be ripe is presented at the table.  Tomatoes, peaches and raspberries were all on the table this year.  Some of the best tomatoes are small, orange, cherry tomatoes.

This year my contribution to the Corn Parties was "Cucumber Salad", sometimes I call it "Fresh Cucumber Pickles", New York Jews might call it "New Pickle", made with cucumbers from the garden.  I think my mother started making Cucumber Salad back in the late '70's.    The recipe is in a book published in 1977 by the Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith.   I used to watch Jeff Smith all the time on PBS and I think that I started my love of cooking by watching his shows.  Unfortunately, he was involved in a scandal that ended his television career.

Mom made this all the time and now I make it when the cucumbers are plentiful in the market or in the garden.  It is usually quite popular and very easy to make.  In the recipe book that it comes from there is a comment that it will become a family favorite and beside that comment at some point I wrote "You're right". I made this 6 times last week and started out with a 5 gallon bucket of cucumbers on Monday.  There was less than a quart of "pickles" left over Saturday night.

I like to eat these with sour cream or Greek yogurt but you probably won't miss either if you don't have them on hand.  Here is the recipe:

Cucumber Salad (From Israel)

Peel and thinly slice 4 cucumbers
Mix with 1 thinly sliced yellow onion (I cut them "pole to pole")
Bring to boil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1    cup white vinegar (apple cider vinegar will do)
1/2 T.   dry dill
Pour over the cucumbers and onions and chill.  The hot vinegar cooks them slightly but they still are crisp.  They are best served the same day you make them but can be kept for several days in the fridge.

That's it!

Mayonnaise

I probably make this recipe more than any other.  I don't buy store bought mayonnaise unless I'm going to take mayonnaise camping or on a picnic.  It is very simple and cheep to make and can be made from ingredients that I have on hand most of the time. Oil, eggs, some kind of acid and some seasoning.  It can also be adapted for different flavors depending on how you will be using it.  

What you get is so much better tasting than what you can buy in the store.  Bruce thinks I should find a way to sell the stuff.  I love it on BLTs.  I always sneak a taste when I make it and it always is delicious.

My mother and I started making this recipe when she bought a stick blender off of an infomercial and they showed how to make mayonnaise.  She struggled getting it to work right sometimes.  I have only had problems once or twice.  If it doesn't work the first time there is a way to fix it.  The stick blender is the key kitchen utensil to use when making mayonnaise.  A regular blender can be used but the method is slightly different.  You need to drizzle the oil into the blender in a steady stream while making the mayonnaise.

Oil: I use a simple vegetable oil.  You may use olive oil if you like but I find that it's flavor is too strong and would advise you not to use ONLY olive oil.  Use part olive oil and part vegetable oil.  I use a similar method to make Hollandaise sauce using melted butter.

Eggs: Yes I use raw eggs!  I have never gotten sick in the 20 or so years of making mayonnaise this way.  I am careful about the eggs that I use.  They are always clean and never broken.  If I understand it correctly salmonella occurs when cracked eggs are exposed for extended periods of time.  Also, I think I've heard that the acid will kill the bad stuff.  If you are in doubt I think it is easy to coddle the eggs to cook them slightly.  I'm just not sure that it makes that big of a difference.   I have always had the best luck when I don't use cold eggs.  I usually allow the eggs to come to room temperature before I make the recipe by letting them sit on the kitchen counter for a few minutes or an hour or so.  Sometimes I simply hold the egg in my hand for a few minutes to warm it.

Acid: I use fresh lemon or lime juice and/or vinegar depending on what I have on hand and how I want it to taste.  I don't like Miracle Whip but to make something like Miracle Whip, use vinegar and increase the amount and add sugar.  If I'm making sauce for fish tacos I use lots lime juice.  There are also different kinds of flavored vinegars that can be used.

Seasonings: Usually I add salt, pepper (white pepper if you don't want to see the black spots) and mustard (dried or Dijon style).  Sometimes I use garlic or onion salt instead of regular salt or I use finely grated fresh garlic if I want a stronger garlic flavor (which I like A LOT) which I guess you could then call it "garlic aioli" and then you would be fancy schmancy.  The fish taco sauce has lots of garlic, fresh cilantro and jalapeño.  As mentioned, if I want something that tastes like Miracle Whip I increase vinegar and add sugar. 

Container:  I have containers that I use all the time to make this.  Used to use the glass jars that chip dip came in.  Now I use 2 cup screw top disposable plastic containers that Ziploc makes.  I always make it in the same container that I store it in.  The important thing is that you can fit the stick blender in the container all the way to the bottom.

Stick blender:  These are cheep.  The one that I use cost about $10.  I think Mom paid $100 for the infomercial blender years ago but it was worth every cent she paid for it.  The most difficult part of making mayonnaise is cleaning this darned thing.  

I only keep this in the refrigerator for about a week and then I throw it away...okay maybe I leave it in there longer but your eye will tell you if it should or shouldn't be used.  It is so easy to make and really isn't expensive to make that you can afford to be safe and throw it out if you are in doubt.

Okay... here is how you do it:

Ingredients:

1              Egg

1  C.         Oil

1  Tbls.     Acid (lemon juice, lime juice and/or vinegar)

Salt and pepper to taste

1  tsp.      Mustard (dry or Dijon style)

Method:

Place the egg in the bottom of the container.  Pour the lemon/lime juice and/or vinegar.  Add the seasonings.  Pour the oil into the container.

Place the stick blender into the container through the oil so that the blades rest on top of the egg.  Turn the blender on to a slow speed and leave the blender there until you start to see the mayonnaise form, about 20 seconds.  Turn the blender on to high speed and slowly begin to pull the blender up until it is all blended.  

That is it!  Easy!

Later I'll post the recipes for Hollandaise sauce and for the fish taco sauce.

Why am I doing this blog?

I enjoy cooking.  More importantly I enjoy eating.  I'm not necessarily the best cook in the world but I'm certainly not the worst either.  People ask me for recipes and I don't mind giving them out.  If there is something that you know I cook then ask me and I'll post it.

A couple of Christmas's ago I created a recipe book for family and friends so I'm going to post some of those recipes here and any new recipes that I might come across.  I would love your comments and would love to post recipes from others here.  This may be a place to organize my recipes or just to post my thoughts about food.

Happy eating!