Volume 8, Issue 085 - April 29, 2005

Hello Recipe Club,

Today we will finish our week on the topic of Flavorings and Seasonings. I want to cover Condiments, Sauces and Jellies today. These ready-to-use products can liven up almost any dish quickly.

CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES:

Condiments are something you use to flavor foods, like ketchup and mustard. We all know how to add a little flavor to our hot dog, right? But we can also use these items in the preparation of our dishes or in a sauce to accompany a dish. 

Mustard is a very pungent seed that comes two ways, either white or yellow and brown. You can buy it ground, whole or prepared. There are so many prepared mustards out there, it is unbelievable! Mustard can be used in cheese and egg dishes, pickling meats, vinaigrettes, marinades, sauces and gravies. We are all familiar with ketchup, but now I am wondering if anyone has made a BBQ sauce out of the new green or purple ketchup. I do not think I could eat green baby back ribs, do you? Here is a recipe for lamb that uses mustard as a flavoring.

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Rack of Lamb with Mustard and Herb Crumb Crust

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 each 1 pound racks of lamb 
Mustard Coating, (recipe follows)
Herb Crumb Topping, (recipe follows)

Preparation:

To prepare the racks for cooking, place them on a cutting board meat side up. The thin layer of fat over the ends of the bone and the edge of the eye is good. You will also notice a layer of silver skin over the top of this eye beyond the fat. This is not good. Cooking the rack with this silver skin on would cause the meat to curl as the skin shrunk, ultimately creating a tough piece of meat. 

Place a thin boning knife under the silver skin at one end and slide the knife, being careful not to remove any meat, towards the other end removing as much of the silver skin as possible. If a little is left behind, don't panic. 

Repeat with the other four racks. Once all four racks are cleaned, make tiny, lengthwise incisions along the length of the eye so the mustard will penetrate the meat somewhat during cooking. 

One half-hour before cooking, brush the top and ends of the meat liberally with the mustard coating and allow to set out at room temperature. Just before cooking pat the top and ends with the herb crumb topping. 

Place the racks on a pan MEAT SIDE UP in a preheated oven of 400 degrees for twenty minutes until the topping is brown and the internal temperature is 130 degrees (medium rare) at the center of the eye. 

Remove from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Mustard Coating

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Combine ingredients in a bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended.

Herb Crumb Topping

Ingredients:

3/4 cup bread crumbs, plain
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons butter

Preparation:

Combine breadcrumbs and fresh herbs. Melt the butter in a non-stick sauté pan, add garlic and sauté for two minutes. Add herbed bread crumbs and toss in a pan for 2 minutes over medium heat. Do not brown the crumbs.

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Sauces/Condiments can also include Worcestershire Sauce, any kind of hot sauce, soy sauce, A-1 sauce, BBQ sauce and countless others.

If I am going to cook a beef roast like prime rib, I will place it in the roasting pan on a rack and pour a cup of hearty red wine over the whole roast. First I will massage about 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce into the meat. Next, I will massage about 2 to 3 tablespoons of fresh minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of rosemary leaves onto the surface. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little water to the bottom of the pan and into the oven it goes. The whole house smells wonderful. You know it is going to taste good!

I am a big fan of hot sauces like Tabasco and Cholula. Sometimes, if I want to knock a little kick into a dish that calls for some vinegar, I will use a little Tabasco instead, as vinegar is a key component. Recently my Mom visited from New Hampshire, so we had some fried scallops. As I was making the tartar sauce, she noticed me adding a couple drops of Tabasco and nearly fainted. Raised as a New Englander, I should have known better than to do such a thing. The tartar sauce was wonderful, but she new it was in there!

Used in combination, a number of these condiments/sauces can make a truly unique sauce of their own. The following is a BBQ sauce recipe we came up with one night while drinking a little rum at Del and Laurel's house! We make it quite frequently now. It is great on grilled St. Louis Style Pork Ribs.

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Dave's BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup dark rum
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon fresh gingerroot, chopped finely
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup peach or orange marmalade
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 dash black pepper

Preparation:

Combine ingredients in a bowl and blend thoroughly until the brown sugar has dissolved. Pour into a saucepan and bring to just a boil. Chill and store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

Note: Hoisin sauce can be found in the Oriental section of your store.

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Jams and jellies are not just for breakfast any more. You will notice I used some peach preserves in the above recipe. Peach preserves combined with ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and Hoisin sauce? Yep! All the stuff on the door of your refrigerator can be used in more than one way. Cut loose and experiment. 

Jellies can be used as an ingredient in a sauce like above or as the base of a sauce. You can make a very simple sauce using a jar of orange preserves, a teaspoon of tomato paste (to cut the sweetness and add color), and a splash of rum, Grand Marnier or Southern Comfort. Just heat and baste a chicken breast while grilling. Add a bit of minced jalapeño to it for a kick!

Use a jelly or jam to make simple summer salad dressings. The door on your fridge is full of stuff to make great dressings. I think I published this one last fall, but it is appropriate here too.

Raspberry Vinaigrette

This recipe is almost too simple to be this good! Tell your friends that you put in years of research to perfect it.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
1/3 cup canola oil

Preparation:

Blend the vinegar and the jam in a covered blender for 10 to 15 seconds, then add the oil in a slow, steady stream. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.