Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/596547
ByKimBoatman BayAreaNewsGroup Jerkyisn'thardtofind. Just pull into any conve- nience store. On the road, you're sure to find big plastic tubs of jerky, alongside the dan- gly air fresheners, cheap sunglasses and rub-off lot- tery tickets, at one of those combo gas stations/fast- food restaurants. But I don't think I could grab a strip of jerky from a communal tub with- out dousing it in hand sanitizer, which surely wouldn't do much for the flavor. And the jerky some- how reminds me of those ice age hunters they occa- sionally dig out of moun- tainsides with all their well-preserved tools and supplies. Yes, preserving meat is an ancient art. But I'd feel better knowing it hasn't been around since guys were gnawing on woolly mammoth jerky. And after my recent transcendent jerky expe- rience, I'm thinking I'll never settle for anything mass-produced. Headed for college orientation, my son and I pulled off in Santa Maria hoping for tri- tip. Instead, we settled for sandwiches from Woody's Butcher Block and bought a couple of packs of jerky to bring home to his dad. We certainly were swayed by the irresistible aromas wafting from the jerky- making operation. Oh my. The jerky is irresistibly sa- vory and flavorful too, and I've been nibbling away at our meager supply, hop- ing the intended recipient doesn't notice. Even I can't justify driv- ing to Santa Maria for jerky, so like Marge Apel, I'll make my own. Apel promised her great-grand- kids homemade beef jerky, and a number of you helped with recipes. E.L. Olson, of Concord, contributed the yellowed newspaper clipping of the 1970 grand-prize winner in the Contra Costa Times' then-annual recipe con- test. Linda Fagerstrom emailed the same beef jerky recipe, which must have been quite popular, and Lori Wheeler and Bar- bara Zivica sent similar ones. The meat gets its fla- vor from a marinade that includes plenty of Worces- tershire sauce, soy sauce, chili powder, onion and garlic. This recipe and other reader submissions of- fer several key tips for successful jerky-making. First, the meat should be well trimmed of fat. Most recipes suggest using flank steak. It's easier to achieve the thin strips you want for jerky if you freeze the meat first. Some recipes suggest freezing it over- night. But Faith Simon, of Concord, found instruc- tions that caution against freezing the meat too long; you don't want to be saw- ing away at a solid block. You can lay the strips of meat across an oven rack or skewer it and hang the skewers from the rack us- ing opened paper clips. If this sounds too messy, try lining the racks with foil. (Simon's instructions ad- vise making slits in the foil so the juice can drain as the meat dehydrates.) And Zivica's version simply calls for laying the meat strips on a baking sheet. You will need to leave the oven door open a crack as the meat cooks. "I use a ¼- to ½-inch piece of wood to hold the oven door ajar," says Wheeler, of Antioch. Temperature matters, of course. The recipe calls for 125 degrees or the lowest possible oven temperature. Wheeler's oven doesn't go lower than 175 degrees, and six hours left the meat too dry and hard to chew. I'm curious to see how another recipe sent by Ziv- ica works. It calls for an hour at 250 degrees, which is very different from most jerky recipes. AsianBeefJerky INGREDIENTS 1/2poundflanksteak 1teaspoon salt 2teaspoons sherry 4teaspoons honey 3teaspoons sugar 1teaspoon ketchup 1teaspoon hoisin 1teaspoon oyster sauce 1teaspoon light soy sauce 1teaspoon dark soy sauce DIRECTIONS 1. Trim all fat from steak and partially freeze the meat. Slice with the grain into thin st ri ps , 1 /8 t o 1 /4 i nc h t hi ck . 2. Combine marinade ingredients. Marinate meat overnight. 3. Heat oven to 250de- grees. Place meat strips in a single layer in the oven, us- ing a pan or aluminum foil to catch the drips below. Bake for 1hour. — Barbara Zivica Prizewinning Beef Jerky Makes: about ½ a pound of jerky INGREDIENTS 1flank steak 1teaspoon seasoned salt 1teaspoon liquid smoke 1clove garlic, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder) 1small onion, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon onion powder) 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup soy sauce DIRECTIONS 1. Trim away all possible fat from meat. Freeze meat for easier slicing. Slice meat, with the grain into thin strips, 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick. 2. In a glass dish, combine remaining ingredients, stir- ring well. Marinate meat overnight in marinade. 3. Place meat in a single layer on oven racks, placing aluminum foil over bottom rack or using pans to catch drips. Crack open oven door and bake at lowest possible temperature for 6to 8hours. — Contra Costa Times, 1970 Find recent Home Plates recipes online at www. mercurynews.com/home- plates. HOME PLATES Tipsandtrickstoflavorfulbeefjerkymadetheeasyway By Joan Morris Bay Area News Group Root vegetables and leafy greens, all standards in the winter garden, have such strong, earthy fla- vors, and you can tire of eating them day after day, and preparing them in different ways takes some work. Because the fall has been so warm, a lot of home gardeners still are harvesting summer vege- tables. Think outside the box when it comes to pre- paring these foods. Eggplant can be off- putting to some because of the texture. The key to making even the most de- vout eggplant hater eat the vegetable is to slice it thin and get the moisture out by cooking it before putting it into dishes. Fry- ing or broiling is a good way to do that. Zucchini seems to hang around forever. The best way to use it in other dishes is to shred it and remove the high water content. You can do this in a food processor or by using a box grater and then squeezing out the water. Root vegetables of- ten are used in soups, but think of ways to incorpo- rate them in other recipes. All root vegetables pair well with other foods, ab- sorbing some of the flavor with whatever they are mixed with. Leafy greens can be as- sertive, especially when eaten raw. Try combining them with other foods to reduce their flavor dom- inance. Greens, such as dandelions and chard, can even be mixed into pasta. Summer Salad of Grilled Squash, Eggplant and Tomato Prep time: 30minutes Serves: 4 Yields: 12cups INGREDIENTS 8large heirloom toma- toes, peeled, seeded and chopped 4-6medium sized summer squash, cut into slices for grilling, about a half-inch wide 2large globe eggplant (about 1½ pounds) or other varieties, sliced lengthwise for grilling Two ears of fresh, sweet white corn, cleaned and shucked (If it's out of sea- son, you can eliminate it.) Extra virgin olive oil for brushing on the vegetables Sea salt Freshly ground black pepper Canola oil or other high heat oil DRESSING 1medium clove garlic 3tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 1tbsp. high quality red wine vinegar Sea salt Freshly ground black pepper Garnish: ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped roughly DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat the grill for direct cooking and boil water to blanch the tomatoes. While the water and grill are heating, brush olive oil on both sides of the squash and eggplant, and season each side well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Set aside. 2. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch for 30seconds; peel and seed them, then place them in a colander with a half teaspoon of salt; stir; place colander in the sink to allow the juice to drain. 3. Remove corn from the cob and set aside in a salad bowl. 4. Clean and season the grill with high heat oil. Cook the squash for 3minutes on each side and the egg- plant for 2minutes a side. Remove and let cool, then chop into 1-inch pieces. Add the squash and eggplant to the serving bowl with the corn. 5. Whisk garlic, oil, vinegar, pepper and a pinch of salt to create a dressing. Add the drained tomatoes to the serving bowl, toss with dressing and sprinkle the basil on top. FROM THE GARDEN Finishing the last of the summer produce We know how life goes. One minute we're happily intrigued with some new informa- tion, and the next we're scratching our heads saying, "Re- ally?" So goes what I thought would be a slam dunk col- umn this week, featuring very cool food ideas for- warded to me from a friend in cyberspace. Titled "In- genious Innovations that Really Work," I was indeed intrigued, especially with the last item on this list: • Need to slice a bunch of small cherry tomatoes? Sandwich them between two plastic lids and slide a long knife through them all at once. Yep, it really works ... if you have a sharp knife. • To keep brown sugar from becoming rock hard in a dry climate, add one or two large marshmallows to your storage container. It will keep your sugar soft. Another winner. • Baking stuffed pep- pers? Keep them upright in the oven by placing them in a large muffin tin. Great idea. • Store an apple with po- tatoes to keep them from budding. Really? I was curious about this one. After some digging (pardon the pun), I'm still not able to con- firm if apples keep pota- toes from sprouting. Ripe apples emit ethylene gas and other compounds that some experts say sup- press the sprouting mecha- nism of potatoes. Other ex- perts say ethylene gas from apples actually promotes sprouting of potatoes; they say it's not a good idea to let fruit (apples) and veg- etables (potatoes) play to- gether. Why the discrepancy? According to Washington State University, ethylene is considered the "aging hor- mone" of plants. It causes fruit to ripen. Yet ethyl- ene has a wide range of ef- fects on the sprouting of potatoes, depending on the quantity and length of ex- posure, say other plant ex- perts. One older study from UC Davis, for example, found that short-term ex- posure of potatoes to eth- ylene gas encouraged more sprouting while long-term exposure suppressed it. Go figure. In 2008, the test kitchen of Cooks Illustrated maga- zine did an actual experi- ment on this dilemma. Af- ter eight weeks, they found that potatoes stored with an apple did not sprout as much as those stored with- out an apple. What we do know for sure, according to the U.S. Library of Medicine, is that potato sprouts or any part of the plant that turns green contain a poisonous ingredient called solanine. We should always discard sprouts or any green on po- tatoes since this where the toxin resides. All experts, including Dr. Potato of the Idaho Potato Commission, say the saf- est way to keep our spuds in good shape for the long- est time is to store them in a cool (45 to 55 degrees F.) and dark place (not the re- frigerator). So much for simple ad- vice. Send me your com- ments and we'll figure this out together. Barbara Quinn is a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes educator. QUINN ON NUTRITION Neat food tricks to try — if they work Barbara Quinn Recipes Needed Juicer Ingredients 6carrots 1sweet potato 1pear Cinnamon powder Cardamom powder Instructions 1. Wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly 2. Chop all fruit and vegeta- bles to size of your juicer's feeding tube 3. Feed all ingredients ex- cept for the spices through your juicer 4. Once liquefied, add a dash of cinnamon and car- damom Optional: Add a squeeze of lemon to taste Optional: Pour it over ice or blend juice with ice Live Life Juice Co.'s Spice Of Life TERCIUS BUFETE — ENTERPRISE-RECORD Lauren Scarborough makes her way to the Live Life Juice Co.'s booth at the Saturday farmers market in downtown Chico. The company offers 50cents off juice when clean, used bottles are returned. This is not so much a recipe as it is a really good idea for a lunchbox — and a great vehicle for le overs. We in- vested in a Japanese-style bento box, but any divided lunchbox will work just as well. If you want a few extra "awesome lunchbox bonus points," you can decorate your rice bowl with a variety of fun garnishes — use cookie cutters to cut out vegetable stars, for ex- ample — but that's not at all necessary. IDEAS FOR A LUNCHBOX RICE BOWL Rice: Steamed brown or white rice (le overs work great). If you want to be a little more creative or adventurous, try couscous or quinoa. Eggs: This rice-bowl staple provides a good source of protein. For lunch on the go, opt for hard-boiled. Store-bought dumplings or gyoza: We always keep our favorite brand of frozen vegetarian pot stickers on hand. Just cook them according the package in- structions, then nestle them into the bento box. Edamame: Frozen eda- mame are another handy freezer item. They're also great for a quick, healthy a er-school snack. Raw vegetables: Chopped or sliced snap peas, cucum- bers, carrots, tomatoes or peppers Avocado: Sliced or diced, dressed with salt or soy sauce and a squeeze of fresh lemon Tofu: Stir-fry diced firm tofu with soy sauce, sugar and mirin for another protein boost. Le overs: Shred or cube le over chicken, then drizzle on your favorite dressing. — Bay Area News Group Bento Rice Bowls For a slightly different twist on a basic sandwich, try packing the ingredients for make-your-own smørrebrød. It adds a bit of fun to lunch- time when kids can stack their own mix-and-match open-face sandwiches. The bread: For authen- tic Danish taste, look for a dense, whole-grain rye bread. Whole grains add great flavor and tremen- dous nutritional value. A er getting your hands on some great bread and slicing it thin, spread on some good quality butter and add a light sprinkle of sea salt. Toppings: Pack a combina- tion of sweet and savory toppings, preferably with a variety of textures. Some ideas: • Danish havarti or your favorite so cheeses •Ham, salami or smoked salmon • Thinly sliced apple, pear, cucumber, carrots or rad- ishes • Crisp potato chips •Sliced pickles or other pickled vegetables — Bay Area News Group DIY Danish Smørrebrød Peking Chinese Restaurant DineIn,CarryOut&Lounge 860MainStreet 530-527-0523 10%Off yourticketwiththisad. Limit 1 coupon per ticket/table. No other discounts apply. Alcohol, taxes or gratuity are not included. 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