Fried Apples n’ Onions

He knelt on the ice, pushing sawdust into the cracks with his mittened hands, and pounding it down with a stick as fast as he could, and he asked Royal, “What would you like best to eat?”
They talked about spareribs, and turkey with dressing, and baked beans, and crackling cornbread, and other good things. But Almanzo said that what he liked most in the world was fried apples ‘n’ onions.
When, at last, they went into dinner, there on the table was a big dish of them! Mother knew what he liked best, and she had cooked it for them. –Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy

fried apples n' onions

Of all the Little House books, which are so often concerned with how and what the family ate, it is Farmer Boy that features the most food, and is a virtually paean to the pleasures of old fashioned home cooking. The Wilder family breakfasts and suppers are Lucullan feasts of suckling pig, ham, roast goose, chicken pies, doughnuts, mincemeat, custard, raisin, berry, vinegar and apple pies, ice cream, and so on. The amounts of food Almanzo tucks away seem wildly improbable and indulgent–and also may have finally satisfied a writer who remembered living through periods of near starvation on the country’s frontiers.

Thinking again about the Little House–as I am wont to do–I remembered Almanzo’s beloved fried apples n’ onions when deciding what to have alongside Eli’s porkchops. They are a perfect accompaniment to pork, with an excellent balance of salty, savory, and sweet. We had the porkchops (that Eli is still perfecting), garlicky mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, and fried apples n’ onions. We’d planned on Brussel sprouts, too, but sadly did not see any we liked.

Eli devised these based on my suggestion; we feel that equal parts of apples and onions are important to balance it. We used more of my heirloom apples, Spitzenburgs this time, which were fantastic–and more likely to be similar to the apples consumed by Almanzo in nineteenth century New York. Be sure to use a good cooking apple that will retain both shape and bite. And we used white onions for a good onion flavor. I’m sure one could skip the bacon and simply use butter for a pork or meat-free version, or used sausage even. Ooh, good idea! The leftovers were great with fried eggs and bacon this morning.

Tuesday Supper: Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

Schatzi: Due to our service industry jobs, Eli and I have odd weekends. Sundays are our Fridays, and Tuesdays are our Sundays–which allows us not one, but two opportunities a week for Sunday Suppers! Jealous? Last Tuesday (sorry to be so laggardly about posting, but I’ve been writing papers for midterms), Eli and I, and our beloved Jon & Maiya, all went to Sauvie Island for some prime pumpkin patching. Sadly, our usual patch had a sub-par selection, and we’ve decided that we will check out different patches next year. But we did get pumpkins, which is the important thing. Well, one of the important things, as after a long day tramping about in the brisk fall air and thinking about pumpkins and crafts, we needed a good Sunday Supper.

We decided to do pork chops, and I also roasted some carrots with parsnips I picked up at the pumpkin patch. We used Shake n’ Bake for  our pork chops, as we both have fond childhood memories of the stuff (like when my eldest sister Heather would babysit Maiya and me, and she’d let us do the shaking!). Eli’s been working on some different coatings for his porkchops, which we hope to soon have up here. For a vegetable, we had frozen organic peas. It was filling, and we made it together. That’s the other important part, because Eli proposed to me during our supper-making, and I accepted. So it seems there will be plenty of Gourmanderie in our future. Hooray for us!

Parsnips are the carrot’s eccentric cousin–white rather than orange (or purple as carrots once were), with a more intense, nutty flavor. Both parsnips and carrots were consumed by the Greeks and Romans, though descriptions of both are largely interchangeable as they were both described by the same word, pastinaca. The Romans considered parsnips an aphrodisiac (so maybe that’s why . . . ?).

the apple of my pie

Secret Apple Pie a la mode

Schatzi: Portland has been beautifully autumnal this past week, with crisp, sunny days and cold nights, and most surprisingly, no rain! Capitalizing on the perfect weather, I made an apple pie last week. It’s not the prettiest of pictures–maybe I should have styled it–but it tasted damn fine. Unfortunately for you, I can’t share the recipe, as Maiya was sworn to secrecy, but I have a few things to say about it.

I used some of my heirloom apples, Cox’s Orange Pippins, to be specific, and if you can find them, I urge you to use them. Or to try any one or a melange of heirloom varieties, because the apples in this pie were the finest pie apples I or Eli have ever tasted. They were firm, kept their shape, and had a perfect bite, and also had amazing apple flavor which was not masked by sugar and spices. Cox’s Orange Pippin is by far my all-time favorite apple. Martha Stewart Living also has an heirloom apple pie recipe this month, check it out.

scratch marshmallows

marshmallows I made

Schatzi: I remember my tutu (Hawaiian for “grandmother”) telling me how much she missed marshmallows sans corn syrup. After all, corn syrup has invaded virtually everything sweet made in the country–and much that isn’t sweet. As I grew up a bit, and sampled things like Mexican Coke (sweetened with cane syrup), I began to see her point. One of my aunts is allergic to corn, too, so finding a treat for her seemed like a nice idea. Since it can be difficult and somewhat costly to find corn syrup-free marshmallows, I decided I ought to make some for her; after all, there ought to be plenty of recipes floating around that use sugar instead, since people cooked with cane sugar long before corn syrup became ubiquitous. Like many things I mean to do, I would forget about it, then remember my quest from time to time, but I did one day remember and seek such a recipe out. I chose to follow this one from Rosehaven Cottage’s Kitchen and this one from Cuisine du Monde–the two I could find that were neither sugar-free nor corn syrup-full. They were perfect: simple, timeworn (in the case of Grammy’s), and entirely lacking in corn syrup. So I borrowed a candy thermometer from my sister Malia, girded my loins, and tried it.

the Carnivore’s 100-Elisha Edition

Eli: Meat!

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the dishes you’ve eaten–or make them a different type color.
3) Cross out any of them that you’d never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your “To Do” List.

1. American-style bacon (Oh yes. Bacon is an acceptable gift for us for Christmas as long as it’s 1/4 inch thick.)
2. Canadian bacon
3. Prosciutto with melon as it is (It’s good!)
4. Pork belly, braised
5. Pork butt, smoked
6. Pork ribs, smoked (This is one of my favorite foods.)
7. Roasted leg of lamb with mint jelly
8. Gyros
9. Duck confit
10. Roasted chicken (This is definitely somewhere in my top 5.)
11. Standing rib roast, rare (I ate this a lot on holidays at my grandma’s.)
12. Chitlins (or chitterlings)
13. Cracklins
14. Boudin or blood sausage
15. Haggis
16. Peking duck
17. Roasted turkey with traditional American accompaniments
18. Roasted goose with traditional English accompaniments
19. Foie gras
20. Pate campagne
21. Moo Shu pork
22. Shepherd’s pie (I get this at Gustav’s in Portland off the happy hour menu for 4.99.)
23. Steak and Kidney pie
24. Chicken and dumplings (This is on my top 5. I make this a lot.)
25. Turducken (: ( not yet)
26. Venison sausage
27. Pork cheeks
28. Pickled pigs’ feet
29. Barbacoa
30. Birria
31. Chicken Marbella
32. Steak tartare (Delicious)
33. Beef Bourguignon (Schatzi is supposed to make this for me; hopefully soon.)
34. Potatoes roasted in duck fat (I have been known to do this to acompany roast duck.)
35. Spam (see Spam Musubi)
36. Tandoori chicken
37. Lamb vindaloo
38. Spaghetti Bolognese
39. Cuban sandwich
40. Croque Monsieur
41. Philadelphia cheesesteak
42. Chicken Satay
43. Shabu-shabu
44. Teppanaki
45. Schwarma
46. Meatloaf (classic)
47. Beef Wellington
48. Beef tenderloin with béarnaise
49. Taco salad
50. Chili con carne
51. Pastisto
52. Corned beef brisket
53. Bangers and mash
54. Guinea pig ( I would love to try guinea pig.)
55. Ropa vieja
56. Wurst (any) (….and every wurst I come across.)
57. Lamb tagine
58. Kosher hot dog (New York-style) (I love hot dogs. I crave them.)
59. Jerk chicken
60. Chorizo ( Chorizo is great, just not the stuff that comes in a red tube and is comprised mostly of fat.)
61. All-American hamburger
62. Pigeon/Squab
63. Steak frites
64. Pastrami ( I worked at Cascioppo Brothers in Seattle that made the best hot pastrami I’ve ever had.)
65. Salami
66. Sweetbreads
67. Wiener schnitzel
68. Goulash
69. Pho (Schatzi and I get this for each other when one of us is sick.)
70. Char siu bao
71. Kalua pig (*Sigh*. I’m a haole.)
72. Pork rinds (I love ‘em! Try to find the microwave cracklin’s that cook in the bag. You eat them hot and come with hot sauce.)
73. Scrapple or goetta
74. Jaegerspaetzle
75. Sauerbraten
76. Tongue sandwich ( All the tongue I’ve eaten has been dry. It was probably the way I made it. Sure is a crazy thing to see a 50 gallon kettle filled boiling water and beef tongues.)
77. Baked ham
78. Frog legs
79. Alligator
80. Squirrel (Haha. Squirrel.)
81. Liver and onions
82. Bone marrow and marmalade
83. Cevapcici (Mmmmm. I’ve tried this at 2 Brothers in Portland on one of my earlier dates with Schatzi.)
84. Creamed beef on toast (shit on a shingle)
85. Red-eye gravy
86. Head cheese
87. Jambalaya
88. Steak Diane
89. Veal piccata
90. Bulgogi
91. Smoked chicken (barbecue)
92. Beer can chicken ( I’ll just bet that Schatzi and I will try this sometime.)
93. Chicken teriyaki
94. Coronation chicken (curried chicken salad)
95. Ostrich
96. Rogan josh
97. Poutine
98. Chicken mole
99. Irish beef stew
100. Loose meat