Category: Pastry

Where do chickens come from?

Is that a trick question, reader Hanna? Because I’ve been down that road before. The whole chicken-egg thing only ends in headache and frustration. But if you want to know where — geographically — chickens come from, the answer is Thailand (or thereabouts). That’s where they were originally domesticated, sometime around 7500 BC.

Chickens are descended from junglefowl, medium-sized ground-dwelling creatures related to pheasants, which inhabit open spots in jungles and forest edges in southeast Asia. That’s about as specific as I can get without inciting argument. For chickens, it turns out, are a highly contentious subject.

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Why should I roast a chicken in a crust?

…asks reader Owen — he has a perfectly good roasting pan! That’s a good question. The answer is because, other than being kinda cool, it provides a different flavor and texture compared to conventional roasting. A chicken baked in a salt crust is essentially steamed, which means the meat has a very tender and succulent quality. The salt in the crust also steadily seasons the meat during roasting. It doesn’t season the meat as thoroughly as as a brine will, but it’s a noticeable improvement over standard roasting. Plus maybe not everybody out there has a good roasting pan, Owen! A salt crust gives you a way to roast if all you have in your kitchen is a cookie sheet.

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Next Up: Roast Chicken in a Salt Crust

Here’s something that’s well outside of what I normally do — and thank goodness because I sorely need a change of pace. Although thinking about it, this technique has a lot more in common with pastry than it does with, say, grilling. Technically speaking, it’s in the same spirit as Medieval pie bakery, which I’ll get into a little later. For now let’s get to the recipe. You’ll need:

1 large, 4-6 pound roasting chicken
1 medium onion
1 lemon
2-3 springs rosemary
2-3 sprigs parsley
2-3 springs thyme
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic

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Arr Yoo Tee

Spells rut. Much as I loved those kolache last week, I feel like I’m in a big-time rut. I’m getting bored with so much sweet baking. I start every calendar year pledging to do more savory stuff, but always seem to get distracted with more and more sweets. So here’s my new pledge: this year I’m going to spend the dog days of summer doing nothing but savory projects. Ready?

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Making Kolacky

I been makin’ kolatch-kee for forty five years…was the mad refrain of a retired ninety-something baker who lived next door to a high school buddy of mine. Back then, as a cocky teenager hanging around in Riverside, Illinois, I thought it was pathetic. Nowadays I can imagine many far less pleasant things to have spinning around in my senile old brain. As a middle-aged man who appreciates a good kolache, I look back on that guy as sorta lucky. I don’t know what he would have thought of these. My guess is he’d have taken one look, waved his hand dismissively and walked the other way. That’s what makes guys like that great.

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Prune Filling

Another fantastic kolache filling that works just as well in Danishes. Funny how that works, isn’t it? You need:

2 cups dried prunes
water or prune juice to cover
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves

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The Filling Files

I’ll be putting up a few filling recipes tomorrow, specifically for kolaches. This got me thinking: I get regular requests for filling recipes…apple, cheese, poppyseed, etc.. Should I create a catch-all category for fillings under the Pastry Components menu? Something that would contain an exhaustive list of fillings for Danishes, blintzes, kolaches and cakes? Many of those recipes are identical from one pastry to the next. The same cream cheese filling, for example, can be used in kolaches, coffee cakes and Danishes. Would it be useful if all my various filling recipes were collected under a single heading? I dunno, you guys use the blog. Tell me what you think!

UPDATE: Well, the verdict seems to be in. I’ll start it today, but I’ll warn you that the category may take some time to complete, so please be patient with me! – Joe

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Frankie Says Relax

Wow, I’m really dating myself with that headline. That was a huge hit back in my high school days. I think I had the 12″ maxi-single, laser-etched. I drew the line at the obnoxious t-shirts.

But where was I? Oh yes: I wanted to make a point of reminding all you folks out there working with short crust to spare no opportunity to rest your dough. Years ago in my bakery days I remember customers asking: how do you get your pies to turn out so well? My crusts always shrink! At first I didn’t know what to say, because as far as I could tell we just made the pies and baked the pies.

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