Grow your own morels

There are thousands of people out there with a mushroom obsession. Specifically an obsession for a wild mushroom called a morel, and the hunting thereof.

Morel hunting--which occurs in the spring--inspires contests to find the most or the biggest (or the smallest) morel. It inspires artists to carve morels out of wood or cast them in resin. For example, check out a store called Morel Mania where you can buy a morel-topped walking stick to use when you're in the forest looking for morels.

So, why am I talking about morel hunting in November? Because this is the time you need to order a tree that has been inoculated with morel fungus for planting in early winter. This way, when morel hunting season hits in the spring, you'll have your own personal morel orchard.

The trees--which are elms--are inoculated with a process patented by an avid morel hunter and are available from a company called Morel Farms. The trees cost $15 each, with a minimum order of 10 trees.

While you're waiting for your morels to mushroom in the spring, read this extremely informative book called Morels by Michael Kuo (University of Michigan Press).

Specialized rolling pins

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is pie. So naturally, now that we're in the run-up to that great American tryptophan festival, I'm in a pie frame of mind.
This brings me to this fine collection of rolling pins, many of which belong in the Who Knew? category:

The first one in the collection isn't a Who Knew?, it's more of a I Wish I Owned One. This is an antique folk art pin. There are nine images carved into the 5-inch pin, which presses the pattern into a stiff cookie dough such as springerle. The images are then cut out and baked. It's $59 from House on the Hill.










Next up is a rolling pin for making hard tack, which is a very hard (duh), thick cracker/bread designed to withstand no refrigeration and months at sea. It was the standard fare of sailors (and soldiers) in the 18th century. To keep the crackers flat as they bake, the cook needs to work the air pockets out of the dough. The knobs on this pin do the job. Hard tack (and other crackers) also have holes pricked in the dough to give any remaining trapped air an escape route. This hardwood pin is 10 inches long and is $23 from Creative Kitchen.





This pin is here because I like the sleek, ergonomic design. Or maybe I like it because if Darth Vader baked pies, this is the pin he would use. It's from OXO Good Grips, and the barrel of the pin is nonstick. It's $32 from Sur La Table.











I love the look of this guy. It's made of cherry wood and is actually designed to cut noodles, not roll pie dough. It's $28 from Lehman's, where you'll also find a .pdf with a recipe and an instructional on how to make noodles using the noodle cutter.












This pin is cool. Literally. It has a stainless steel barrel with an opening at one end so you can fill the rolling pin with cold water. The water gives the pin weight and keeps it cool for working with buttery doughs. It's $38 from Fantes.











 Last but not least, a meat tenderizer masquerading as a rolling pin. Instead of pounding meat to tenderize or flatten, the knobbledy surface of the pin, and the pressure put on it by the human, evenly, and less violently, tenderize meat. The pin is almost 10 inches long and the barrel is made of silicone. Although sold as a meat tenderizer, this would clearly work as a hard tack rolling pin, too. It's $20 from Lehman's.

The art of the cracker pie

For background information on cracker pies, you should read my post on drying apples and also on Mock Apple Pie (the quintessential cracker pie). A mock apple pie is made with Ritz crackers, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, but no apples. The combination of flavors fools your tastebuds into believing that it's a real apple pie.

This got me to wondering how else I could fool the tastebuds. It seemed to me that the specific flavor cues in the mock apple version came from the lemon, sugar and cinnamon. What if I switched it up?

What follows are three cracker pies that do NOT taste like apples. Try one and see what your brain makes of it.

Almond Cream Cracker Pie
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Pastry for two 9-inch crusts, store-bought or homemade
45 Ritz Crackers (5 ounces), broken in half

1. In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and cream of tartar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce to a high simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to warm (about 30 minutes). Stir in the sour cream and almond extract.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out the bottom crust and fit into a 9-inch pie plate.
3. Place the crackers in the crust and pour the warm sugar-cream over them. Roll out the top crust and place over the pie. Trim the edges and seal. Put 3 or 4 slits in the top of the crust to let steam escape.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Makes 10 servings

Butterscotch Cracker Pie
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
Pastry for two 9-inch crusts, store-bought or homemade
45 Ritz Crackers (5 ounces), broken in half

1. In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and cream of tartar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce to a high simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the bourbon, vanilla and butter, stirring until the butter is melted. Let cool to warm (about 30 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out the bottom crust and fit into a 9-inch pie plate.
3. Place the crackers in the crust and pour the warm butterscotch syrup over them. Roll out the top crust and place over the pie. Trim the edges and seal. Put 3 or 4 slits in the top of the crust to let steam escape.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Makes 10 servings

Lime Cracker Pie
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
Pastry for two 9-inch crusts, store-bought or homemade
45 Ritz Crackers (5 ounces), broken in half

1. In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and cream of tartar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce to a high simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime zest, lime juice and butter, stirring until the butter is melted. Let cool to warm (about 30 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out the bottom crust and fit into a 9-inch pie plate.
3. Place the crackers in the crust and pour the warm lime syrup over them. Roll out the top crust and place over the pie. Trim the edges and seal. Put 3 or 4 slits in the top of the crust to let steam escape.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Makes 10 servings

More apple gadgets

If you're not interested in giving up the storage space to the wonderful apple peeler/corer mentioned in yesterday's post, then maybe you could go for one of these more elementary apple cutting devices.

1 Possibly more objet d'art than kitchen utensil, this stainless steel Giro Apple Slicer twists to cut perfectly even slices. $38 at Uncommon Goods.

2 From the OXO Good Grips line, the Apple Divider. It cores and wedges in one motion. $10 from OXO

3 A straight-up apple corer from Kitchenaid. $10 from Amazon.

4 This tong-style apple corer solves the sometimes thorny problem of how to get the apple core out of the corer. With the tongs closed, you push through an apple as you would with any corer. When you pull the core out, you open up the tongs to release the core. $10 from Lehman's.

5 This old-fashioned looking apple corer addresses the issue differently. It provides a plunger to push the core out of the corer. $5 from Applesource.

6 And finally a really Old Skool apple corer from Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. This tin apple corer is made by the tinsmith at the museum and sells for $12.95 from their online store. It can be a little tricky to navigate the website and there's no way to provide a direct link. But if you go to the storefront and click on "Made at Old Sturbridge Village" and then "Tinware," you'll find it.

The essential gadget for making apple butter

This contraption is manufactured by many folks and has been around forever. If you're serious about cooking mass quantities of apples (now that it's apple-picking season), you absolutely need to have one. These pictures are from the day I made Apple Butter. You start by jamming an apple onto the prongs at the end of a long crank.

As you turn the crank, the apple is rotated and pushed forward at the same time. It passes by a spring-loaded blade that takes off the peel as the apple turns.








At the same time, another blade slices the apple into a thin spiral cut and removes the core.

You can find this style of apple peeler in lots of places. The Back to Basics brand I use sells for $23 from Amazon.

Apple butter

I love apple butter.
That's it.
That's the blog post.
Though if you scroll to the bottom you'll see a cool cooking tool.

Apple Butter
I used Rome apples because they are usually cheaper than other apples (except for Red Delicious, which are disgusting). They aren't quite as tart, so that's what the lemon juice is for. Also, the reason for the tall sides on the pot is because as the apples cook (especially in the early stages), they spit steam and hot apple.



1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
4-3/4 pounds Rome apples (about 7), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Combine the sugar, lemon juice and water in a tall-sided, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven.
2. Add the apples. Cover and bring the sugar mixture to a boil over high heat, about 1 minute. Reduce to a high simmer and cook until the apples are very tender, 35 to 40 minutes, stirring once or twice.
3. Sprinkle the apples with the cinnamon, allspice and salt. With an immersible blender, blend the apples until smooth (or transfer to a food processor or regular blender to do the same).
4. Bring the applesauce back to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until the mixture is very thick, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. This will take 1 hour or more, depending on the size and weight of the pot, the heat of the burner and the moisture content of the apples. The apple butter is done when you can draw a spoon through it and it is very slow to close back up again.
Makes 1 generous quart

And just in case you feel the urge to make a truly gigantic batch of apple butter, you'll be happy to know that for $130 you can buy a lovely hardwood apple butter stirrer (say that without sounding drunk) from Lehman's. The paddle of the stirrer is 2 feet long; the handle is over 5 feet.