Cranberry Pie Made for You

The history of pie is rich in flavor. Pies have been around for thousands of years, we know this, since the ancient Egyptians kept records of their practices and pie is included there, along with all the mysteries and charm of those long ago days. The Egyptians would fill their pies with such ingredients as honey, fruit and nuts. The visitors to Egypt learned as many of their secrets as possible. The ancient Greeks liked the idea of pie and took the recipes home with them, then surrendered the recipes to the Romans, who thought so much of pie as to make offerings of pie to their deities. Since then the rich history of pie has grown while traveling to many different lands, many people enjoy pie.

Did you know that pie was originally a simple cooking and serving container fashioned of dough for containing and cooking the enclosed ingredient as well as their juices? When a pie had a crust, it was at that time known as a coffin, although pies with no crust were at that time known as traps. Large, short-sided pies are tarts and very small pies are tartlets. When someone made a pie of some type of bird, he or she would leave the legs of the bird outside the edge of the pie and used the legs for handles.
This traditional New England pie is easy to make. For a slightly different filling, omit the cornstarch and raisins and cook 1 cup of diced apples with cranberries in ½ cup of water until tender. Add the sugar, salt, and butter. There are lots of video recipes online and can you can visit them here.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups hot water
1 cup seedless raisins
2 cups cranberries
1 tablespoon butter (melted)
2 uncooked pie crusts (1 cut into ½ in. strips)


1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a double boiler, stir together the cornstarch with the sugar and salt. Bit by bit, add the hot water and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add the raisins, cranberries, and butter. Cook 5 minutes.

2. Brush the uncooked pie crust with the butter. Spoon the cranberry filling into the pie crust. Lay the ½ in. strips of pie crust over the top of the filling, in a crisscross pattern. Bake for 20 minutes

An Apple Gravy Touch

One of the best accompaniment pork, beef, chicken and etc. It's often severed warm and even though it has plenty of recipe on how to make this one, the fact remain that we all love our gravy. Gravy is a sauce, made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces. The gravy may be further colored and flavored with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt and caramel food colouring) or gravy browning (gravy salt dissolved in water) or ready-made cubes and powders can be used as a substitute for natural meat or vegetable extracts. Canned gravies are also available. Gravy is commonly served with roasts, meatloaf, rice, and mashed potatoes.

Types of gravy

    Chocolate gravy is a variety of gravy made with fat, flour, cocoa powder and sometimes a small amount of sugar.

    Cream gravy or country gravy is made with one to one and a half cups of milk added to the roux. It is seasoned with salt and pepper. It is common to the American South and is frequently served with chicken fried steak.

    Egg gravy is a breakfast gravy that is served over biscuits. Meat drippings (usually from bacon) and flour are used to make a thick roux. The roux is salted and peppered to taste. Water and milk (even parts) are added, and the liquid is brought back up to a boil. A well-beaten egg is then slowly added while the gravy is stirred or whisked swiftly, cooking the egg immediately and separating it into small fragments in the gravy.

    Giblet gravy has the giblets of turkey or chicken added when it is to be served with those types of poultry, or uses stock made from the giblets.

     Onion gravy is made from large quantities of slowly sweated, chopped onions mixed with stock or wine. Commonly served with bangers and mash, eggs, chops, or other grilled or fried meat which by way of the cooking method would not produce their own gravy.

    Red-eye gravy is a gravy made from the drippings of ham fried in a skillet/frying pan. The pan is deglazed with coffee. This gravy is a staple of Southern U.S. cuisine and is usually served over ham, grits or biscuits.

    Vegetable gravy or vegetarian gravy is gravy made with boiled or roasted vegetables. A quick and flavorful vegetable gravy can be made from any combination of vegetable broth or vegetable stock, flour, and one of either butter, oil, or margarine. One recipe uses vegetarian bouillon cubes with cornstarch (corn flour) as a thickener (cowboy roux), which is whisked into boiling water. Sometimes vegetable juices are added to enrich the flavor, which may give the gravy a dark green color. Wine could be added. Brown vegetarian gravy can also be made with savory yeast extract like Marmite or Vegemite. There are also commercially produced instant gravy granules which are suitable for both vegetarians and vegans.

    White gravy (sawmill gravy in Southern U.S. cuisine) is the gravy typically used in biscuits and gravy and chicken fried steak. It is essentially a Béchamel sauce, with the roux being made of meat drippings and flour. Milk or cream is added and thickened by the roux; once prepared, black pepper and bits of mild sausage or chicken liver are sometimes added. Besides white and sawmill gravy, common names include country gravy, milk gravy, and sausage gravy.

 Pork Chops with Apple Gravy

Ingredients

    3 lb. pork chops
    2 tablespoons minced garlic
    1/3 cup flour
    1 tablespoon salt
    1/8 teaspoon pepper
    3 cups boiling water
    2 1/2 cups applesauce
    1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium. Add the pork chops (one or two at a time, if necessary) and brown on both sides.

3. Place the browned chops in a 3 quart casserole dish.

4. In the same skillet, sauté the garlic until barely golden. Add the flour, salt, and pepper and blend well. Add the water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until the liquid thickens.

5. Add the applesauce and lemon juice. Blend well, then pour over the pork chops.

6. Bake 1 ½ hours, basting every half hour.

Pesto the allaround sauce

Pesto (in all its green, tangy, nutty deliciousness) is an Italian favorite that has been enjoyed on

American shores for generations. There many variations or recipes of pesto but did you know its origins?

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy (pesto genovese), and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil, and European pine nuts blended with olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan cheese), and Fiore Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk). The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle. The ingredients in a traditionally made pesto are ground with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle.

History
The ancient Romans ate a paste called moretum, which was made by crushing cheese, garlic and herbs together. Basil, the main ingredient of modern pesto, likely originated in India and was first domesticated there.  Basil took the firmest root in the regions of Liguria, Italy and Provence, France. The Ligurians around Genoa took the dish and adapted it, using a combination of basil, crushed garlic, grated hard cheese (a mix of parmigiano-reggiano and pecorino or just one of the two), and pine nuts with a little olive oil to form pesto. The first mention of recipe for pesto as it is known today, is from the book La Cuciniera Genovese written in 1863 by Giovanni Battista Ratto. In French Provence, the dish evolved into the modern pistou, a combination of basil, parsley, crushed garlic, and grated cheese (optional). Pine nuts are not included.

Art Smiths Pesto Sauce

In 1944, The New York Times mentioned an imported canned pesto paste. In 1946, Sunset magazine published a pesto recipe by Angelo Pellegrini. Pesto did not become popular in North America until the 1980s and 1990s.

Ingredients

    4 cloves garlic
    2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
    1 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
    ½ cup packed fresh parsley leaves
    ½ cup toasted walnuts
    ½ cup+ extra-virgin olive oil
    Salt
    Freshly ground pepper

1. Run the garlic through a food processor. With the machine still running, add the basil, Parmesan, parsley, walnuts, and the oil, a little at a time, to make a thick paste. Stop the machine and season with salt and pepper.

2. Pour the pesto sauce into one or more air tight containers. Pour just a little oil over the surface of the pesto sauce. Secure the container lid.

3. The pesto will stay fresh for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. If kept in a freezer-appropriate container, it will store for 2 months.

A Soup to Bring Home

What better way to enjoy bacon is to pair with potatoes.  Well why not play with it a little bit and make soup out it? It's not bad to play with your food nowadays for we are just learning or making new recipes with our own touch.  Well here are things about bacon that surely others won't know about.

Bacon history

Until well into the sixteenth century, bacon or bacoun was a Middle English term used to refer to all pork in general. The term bacon comes from various Germanic and French dialects. It derives from the French bako, Common Germanic bakkon and Old Teutonic backe, all of which refer to the back. There are breeds of pigs particularly grown for bacon, notably the Yorkshire and Tamworth. In England, a side of bacon is called a gammon, and a slice of bacon is known as a rasher. Seventy percent of the bacon in America is consumed at the breakfast table.

You are probably familiar with the phrase "bring home the bacon." In the twelfth century, a church in the English town of Dunmow promised a side of bacon to any married man who could swear before the congregation and God that he had not quarreled with his wife for a year and a day. A husband who could bring home the bacon was held in high esteem by the community for his forebearance. 

In this health-conscious day and age, you would think that bacon would be low on the list of preferred foods due to its fat content. Yet, as anyone who dabbles in pork belly commodities can tell you, bacon is solely responsible for giving a boost to the pork market. Bacon has become so popular as a sandwich ingredient and a favorite of chefs in fine dining establishments that bacon shortages have caused prices to soar. However, bacon is still a bargain that can't be beat when it comes to adding flavor. With low-sodium and lean varieties available, even the dieter can partake in moderation. 

Potato Bacon Soup

Ingredients

    5 strips bacon
    28 oz. chicken stock
    1 ¾ lbs. potatoes (peeled and cut into ½ in. cubes)
    1 medium onion (chopped)
    1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
    Sea salt
    Pepper (freshly ground)
    ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Cook the bacon in the microwave or in a skillet. Crumble.
2. In a Dutch oven, pour the stock, potatoes, onion, and thyme. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium high and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Add the bacon; simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese

Pork and Blackberry Fusion

Overview

Blackberries are used in recipes, but the berries and other parts of the plant have been used in medicine and has been used in many ways. Almost every corner of the earth has a blackberry species that has adapted to its specific climate and conditions.

The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the Rubus genus in the Rosaceae family, hybrids among these species within the Rubus subgenus, as well as hybrids between the Rubus and Idaeobatus subgenera. What distinguishes blackberries from its raspberry relatives is whether the torus (receptacle) picks with the fruit, a blackberry, or remains on the plant when picked leaving a hole in the fruit, a raspberry. The term 'bramble', a word meaning any impenetrable scrub, has traditionally been applied specifically to the blackberry or its products, though in the United States it applies to all members of the Rubus genus. In the western US, the term caneberry is used to refer to blackberries and raspberries as a group rather than the term bramble.

The (usually) black fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. It is a widespread and well-known group of over 375 species, many of which are closely related apomictic microspecies native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere and South America.

Origin

It is hard to trace the exact origin since blackberries proliferate all over the globe, but it is likely the first were in Asia, North or South America or in Europe. Greeks and Romans used blackberries in medicine, and Native Americans used them for food, medicine and to dye animal skins. Blackberries are also known as bramble, brummel, brambleberry and bly.

Blackberry Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

    Pork tenderloin
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    Fresh lime juice
    Sea salt
    Pepper (freshly ground)
    For the Sauce:
    1 lb. fresh blackberries
    2 lemons
    1 ½ oz. granulated sugar
    4 oz. butter (softened)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the olive oil in an oven proof skillet and warm over medium high heat. Add the tenderloin and sear both sides. Add the limejuice, salt, and pepper. Bake until cooked through.

2. In the meantime, make the sauce by pouring all the sauce ingredients into a saucepan. Crush the ingredients. Simmer until reduced by 1/3. Remove from the stove and strain. Add the butter, stirring constantly until it’s melted.

3. Serve the tenderloin with the sauce poured over the meat.