Wow - Life Get’s Busy
Life really does get busy sometimes. Writing, cooking, dealing with health issues, etc. The past month and a half have been a whirlwind for me – Best news – the Artisan Spice Rubs are officially under HKA supervision (kosher certified)!!! At my first in person event, I sold half of my stock! So exciting. The spices are available in the store here on the website and I will ship anywhere (shipping fees to be added). My days are spent cooking for clients, testing new recipes, writing for Unorthoboxed Magazine and continuing to work on my cookbook. I also had minor surgery a few weeks ago that has kept me out of the loop for a bit. I am well on the road to recovery and attending PT regularly. It is my plan (please Gd) to hit the road again this coming summer and visit new cities and have cooking demos in new areas. It will depend on many things – the cost of travel, the state of Covid being the two most impacting factors, unfortunately.
One thing that has been on my radar and on many of yours is the rising cost of groceries. This can have an effect on not only cooking at home but the cost of dining out and planning for special occasions. Whatever has caused this increase in prices it isn’t getting better anytime soon and that is scary. It has caused my fees to clients to increase and has changed the way I am cooking for my own family. Relying on convenience items is no longer completely viable. For years I have been making certain things in my pantry from scratch and have found that not only are these items less expensive than store bought prepared items they really are less expensive. Some things that I make from scratch and keep on hand are bakers’ goop, extracts, salsa, pesto and salad dressings.
Bakers have watched the price of vanilla extract skyrocket over the past few years. What once sold for $10 per kilo in 2019 was selling for $500 per kilo. No that isn’t a typo. Poor weather and an array of other issues in Madagascar where most of the world’s vanilla comes from cause the price to go off the charts. Suddenly purchasing this staple of baking became extremely costly. Like many others I turned to the internet and found inspiration from one of my favorite chefs, Ina Garten. She has been making her own vanilla for years and I figured it was worth a shot. My first foray into this project had my DH snickering. I purchased my vanilla beans from Amazon, B grade is just fine for making extract and I put them into a 32oz. wide mouth sized mason jar with most of a bottle of Tito’s Vodka (I do live in Texas – is there any other Vodka) and put the tightly sealed jar into the back of my dry goods pantry and waited. After about a month of waiting I pulled out the jar and unscrewed the lid to the best smelling sweetest vanilla extract ever. This was beyond my expectations. Since that first jar, I have tweaked the recipe a bit and will never look back or buy commercially made extract again. The best part is this jar can sit tightly sealed on the counter in your kitchen and requires no special preservatives or refrigeration. Jars of this homemade extract make amazing gifts for your favorite foodies as well. Click here to go to Ina Garten’s original recipe. My tweaked southern style vanilla extract recipe is below. Whichever recipe you follow I have found it pays to have two jars of this – one that is in use and one in the pantry steeping. This way you won’t find yourself short.
Southern Vanilla Bourbon Extract makes 32 oz.
Ingredients:
10 to 12 B grade Vanilla Beans
Bottle of Bourbon (my preferred choice is 1835 Bourbon Whiskey bottled in Texas!)
32 oz. wide mouthed mason jar & lid (the wide mouth is easier to use)
Step by Step Instructions:
Remove the vanilla beans from the packaging they shipped in.
Using a kitchen mallet lightly bang on the beans, being careful not to crush them.
Place the beans into a 32 oz. wide mouthed mason jar.
Pour in the bourbon to completely cover the beans.
Seal the lid tightly.
Store in a cool dark place (kitchen pantry) for at least one month before using.
Enjoy!
I have also started experimenting with making other extracts. Homemade is sooo much better than any of the imitation flavored extracts you can purchase, and it really is super easy. Here are two additional extracts to make at home. Vodka is used as the alcohol base since it has no significant flavor of its own that might change the flavor of the extract.
Almond Extract makes 16 oz.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw unsalted slivered almonds
Vodka of choice
16 oz. mason jar or glass bottle with tightly fitting lid
Step by Step Instructions:
Put the almond slivers into the jar or bottle.
Fill the bottle with the vodka.
Put in a cool dark place (pantry or spice cabinet) for 4 to 5 weeks to allow the almonds to steep.
Enjoy! Store in a dark place.
Lemon Extract makes 16 oz.
Ingredients:
The rinds of 4 large lemons
Vodka of choice
16 oz. mason jar or bottle with tightly fitting lid
Step by Step Instructions:
Using a zester or a sharp vegetable peeler, zest the 4 lemons. Be sure to not include the pith as that will cause the extract to be bitter.
Place the zest into a jar or bottle.
Fill the bottle with vodka.
Seal tightly and place in a dark cabinet for 4 to 5 weeks.
Enjoy!
*Note – extracts will keep indefinitely in a dark place because of the high alcohol content.