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New Year's Day Chowder

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deluxestogie

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Garden20180101_3332_smokedOysterChowder_600.jpg


I purchased a tin of smoked oysters for New Year's Eve of 2016. When the date arrived, I discovered that I had failed to make sure I selected the "Baby Oysters" at the store. So I didn't open the tin.

Alas, yesterday, my heart just wasn't into smoked oysters. But the tin is due to expire in two months ago. It won't make it another year.

This photo is the combination of impromptu ingredients I've assembled to turn them into a smoky, savory meal today. That narrow jar with the red lid contains sweet red cherry peppers that I dried and ground to a powder.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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That reminds me, I have a tin of (the same brand name) the "Tiny" fancy smoked Oysters. I don't generally cook with them. I generally just drain them and eat them straight out of the can. I got spoiled on fresh Oysters when I lived in Olympia, where I could go shuck fresh oysters on the beach. Oysters are best when they have only been out of the water for a few hours.

I'm thinking I need to make some whole wheat bread on this new years day. I have a pretty tasty recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, copyright 1937. Said cookbook was my mom's and had been her mom's before that. They didn't spare the fat or salt back in those days like they do today. Combine some of that fresh bread with some (horrors!) canned chowder this evening. Actually, I make a pretty tasty New England style clam chowder, but that's more work than I want to do on this day off from work. Maybe I'll post a picture later.

Happy New Year to all the FTT members! And good growing in this next season.

Wes H.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Whole Wheat bread in the oven. Pictures attached.

Bread 1.jpg Bread 2.jpg Bread 3.jpg Bread 4.jpgBread 5.jpg Bread 6.jpg Bread 7.jpg

Photo 1. Freshly mixed warm water, salt, sugar, yeast, and half the flour.

Photo 2. Photo 1 after ~ 30 minutes of rise time. About double in volume.

Photo 3. After adding more warm water with brown sugar, shortening, and balance of flour, first mixing completed and photo shows my machine is kneading the dough.

Photo 4. Freshly kneaded dough.

Photo 5. Photo 4 after ~ 30 minutes rise time. Volume now about 2.5 - 3.0 times. (6 qt. bowl.)

Photo 6. Fresh dough in the pan for a third rise.

Photo 7. Dough in pan after ~ 20 minutes rise time. It's now ready to go into the oven. Bread will continue to rise in the oven 'till the heat kills the yeast.

With my modern mixer machine, I don't have to fool around with a bunch of kneading and other calisthenics. Bread making mostly takes time because you have to wait around for it to rise three times. Otherwise it is easy. Just a bunch of measuring and mixing. The measuring is the critical part.

I had to hunt high and low to find my bread pan. It produces an American commercial size loaf. That is, nearly square in profile and it is long enough to actually make two loaves. I split my finished loaf in two at the middle point and make two loaves out of it in order that they will now fit into a conventional (again, American) size bread bag for storage.

As it is cooler inside my house, and yeast likes 82 - 85 degrees f. I put my bowls / pans in the sink and bath them in warm water to encourage the little yeast beasties to do their thing.

I will post more photos as the bread is finished. Mmmm, it smells wonderful in the kitchen. Drat that I have to let it cool for an hour or so to let it set up so that I can eat it. But, the timing will b just right to have fresh bread and canned chowder for supper.

Wes H.
 

deluxestogie

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The Chowder Outcome

Preparation:
I decided to divide and conquer. The garlic and onions would need to be sautéed, to brown them, but all the other ingredients did not need cooking.

Using a food processor, I blenderized about 3/4 of the can of diced potatoes and a few of the smoked oysters. To this I added all of the smoky oil from the oyster can, and the herbs, moisturizing the mixture with lemon juice, and finally with milk, until it was the consistency of a thick chowder. The remaining whole oysters and diced potatoes (to retain a moderate chunkiness) were folded in.

The pot with this proto-chowder was slowly heated, with frequent stirring, until steamy.

Separately, I finely diced the onion and garlic (simply crushing the tiniest cloves). This was sautéed in 2+ tbsp of butter, until well caramelized.

Garden20180101_3334_smokedOysterChowder_saute_600.jpg


Once the onions and garlic were a deep golden brown, I dumped them, along with all the sizzling butter, into the heated pot of chowder. This was gently stirred until well mixed.

The last touch was a sprinkle of dill weed into the bowl.

Garden20180101_3335_smokedOysterChowder_inBowl_600.jpg


This made one decadently large serving (or two normal servings). What required the most hands-on time was washing all the parts of the food processor.

I honestly had no idea what I would end up with (other than lemon, butter, and sautéed garlic/onion--always a good start).

Damnations! I'm not a consumer of raw oysters--ever. Smoked oysters work well as an appetizer for a celebration. [When smoked, they don't have the
gushy, "squirrel entrails" texture I associate with raw or steamed oysters.] But this smoked oyster chowder is just wonderful.

I think the ham bouillon packet and the lemon juice are essential to balancing the "fishiness" of the oysters.

Lessons learned:
  • this actually works
  • this tastes real good
Bob gives smoked oyster chowder a 5 oyster rating.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bread results. Photos attached

Bread 8.jpgBread 9.jpgBread 10.jpg

Photo 1. Bread fresh out of the pan on the cooling rack. I had a little extra dough, so I made a mini-loaf also.

Photo 2. Bread cooled and ready to consume.

Photo 3. Fresh bread with pre-fab soup. Just add milk, a pat of butter, and my secret seasoning. Not as good as the home-made stuff, but a lot less work.

Wes H.

P.S. Bob: your home-made chowder looks good enough to eat! I understand about the food-processor. I have a commercial food processor that holds about a gallon. It really works! But it is really a pain to clean.
 

deluxestogie

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My smoked oyster chowder sure would have benefited from a thick slice of your beautiful whole wheat bread...and more butter. But it's too late.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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If I were really ambitious, I have some Dark Northern Spring Wheat that I can grind into flour with an attachment I can put on my mixer. Fresh ground wheat is the sweetest and best flavored. I have a selection of DNS wheats that are all the same variety but have different protein levels due to localized growing conditions. The 14.5% protein wheat makes the stickiest and therefore the best rising bread. The 12.5% protein wheat isn't as sticky and doesn't rise as well, but has the best flavor. One way around the lower protein (less gluten) wheat is to add a half cup of gluten which I buy at the local "Health Hut" store. I also have some White Club Wheat which is low in protein and makes excellent cookies.

Needless to say, if you are gluten intolerant, have seafood allergies, object to tobacco consumption, object to fatty foods, etc, etc, you should probably stay away from my house. Bob would be welcome any time. I might even be induced to go buy a couple of steaks. Red meat...mmm!

Wes H.
Modern day Heretic
Oh...and I cook the heck out of fresh Oysters. I like 'em firm, not soft and slimy.
 
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