How to Stuff an Egg

I've been a fool for stuffed eggs since I was a kid. You can call them deviled eggs if you wish, but I like to distinguish between the spicy, paprika, pickle and onion egg concoctions most often presented and the creamy, mild, slightly piquant stuffed eggs of my youth. That being established, I can honestly say I've never met an egg, be it stuffed or deviled, that I didn't like.

Stuffed eggs are another of those southernisms that have as many versions as cooks who make them, but the women in my family had a touch that was unique, and unfortunately they passed on before passing on the secret to me, which I still consider terribly inconsiderate of them.

To say I spent years searching for this recipe would not be an exaggeration, and although I made some lovely eggs along the way, even discovered entire books of deviled egg recipes, the formula for the melt-in-your mouth treats of my childhood remained elusive.

Then I saw this recipe in "The Gift of Southern Cooking" by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, (which just may be the best southern cookbook of all time), and eureka! The minute I read it I knew I'd found it, the Holy Grail of stuffed/deviled eggs was mine at long last. The secret? Vinegar and cream!
They're smooth and fluffy with just the right amount of tang and such a bite of heaven there's no way you could call them deviled. And since I don't think there's any such word as angeled, (if there was, these would definitely be angeled eggs), I call them simply sublime.


Before you begin though, a few tips. Let's face it, eggs can be a bitch to peel. The secret to getting a perfectly peeled egg is not to use the freshest eggs in the store. Buy them at least a week before using, if you can, and, that failing, always purchase the eggs with the nearest "sell by" date, (just the opposite of what you would usually do). Make sure the eggs are at room temperature before boiling them and they'll be much less likely to crack. Finally, to assure that the yolk is in the center, turn the cartons on their sides the night before. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but, hey, it's worth a try.


SIMPLY SUBLIME STUFFED EGGS

1 dozen large eggs
1 tablespoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Finely chopped chives

Put the eggs in a large saucepan, cover with water and add 1 tablespoon of the salt and 1 tablespoon of the vinegar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let them sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Pour off the hot water and immediately run cold tap water over the eggs to stop the cooking, shaking the pan as you do to crack the eggshells.

When cool enough to handle, peel the eggs. Slice in half and remove yolks to a mixing bowl. Finely mash yolks with a fork or potato masher (or put them through a potato ricer). Mix in remaining 1/2 tablespoon vinegar (1 1/2 teaspoons), 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar and mayonnaise. Blend until smooth. Beat in cream. (If you want them really smooth, use a hand mixer.) Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt, sugar or vinegar if needed. If too dry, add a bit more cream or mayonnaise.

Using a teaspoon, (or pastry bag if you want to get fancy), fill the egg white halves. Arrange on an egg plate, (You DO have an egg plate, don’t you?), and sprinkle with chopped chives.

"That" Boeuf Bourguignon

You knew I'd have to do it -- make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. Once I saw the movie, Julie and Julia, it was inevitable. Either that or Pate De Canard En Croute, and I'm sure as hell not boning a duck. I'm not chopping a beef roast into little cubes either for that matter, not as long as there's a butcher or supermarket to do it for me, but if one has to make something from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, (and I did), Boeuf Bourguignon seems a good place to start.
Hey basically it's a beef stew, all right. A fancy and refined beef stew to be sure, but stew all the same. (OK, Julia would have me modify that to say that, strictly speaking, Boeuf Bourguignon is a fricassee, which is the term used to label any preparation in which the meat is browned before it is simmered. Got it?) And unlike other beef stews where you just throw everything into one pot and put it on the stove, THIS beef stew is an invitation to mess up every pot, pan and utensil in the kitchen. Is is worth it? I dunno. It is pretty darn delicious, and I'd say for an occasion you might want to go for it.

It's a lot of trouble, and time consuming, (plan on spending an afternoon in the kitchen), though not terribly fussy, and I'm guessing that after making it a few times one will learn one's own little short cuts (forgive me, Julia) to make it easier and more worthwhile. Plus, it's one of those dishes you can make entirely the day before and just reheat, and there's always something to be said for that. (In fact, it's actually better the second day after the flavors have melded and the beef has mulled overnight in the rich sauce.)

One important note; the recipe calls for a chunk of bacon cut into sticks. It is worth it to try and find fresh, uncured bacon, which isn't as difficult as it may seem. Most any good butcher or meat market will have it. If you end up using cured bacon, it will need to be blanched (see recipe), but will work fine. It's just an extra step that's good to avoid if possible.

That all being said, I still think that Julie chick from the movie is bat-shit crazy, obsessive compulsive at the very least, either that or she's lying like a dog. 524 recipes in 365 days in a 900 square foot apartment with a husband, three cats and "something" named Buffy, (according to her blog)? Give me a break. And that husband of hers? He's not a saint, he's a major enabler. I mean seriously, I live in a 1700 square foot apartment with just two cats and a husband, (no Buffy), and it's all I can do to make Beouf Bourguignon on a quiet Sunday afternoon when the Mr. is out. And guess what? We liked it so much I may just do it again.

JULIA CHILD’S BOEUF BOURGUIGNON
(Makes 6 servings)

8-ounce chunk bacon (fresh, uncured and unsmoked, if you can find it)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 large carrot, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups full-bodied red wine, such as a Beaujolais, Burgundy or Chianti
3 cups brown beef stock (I used canned beef bouillon)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, mashed through a garlic press
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf, crumbled

25 small white onions
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup of brown beef stock or red wine
Herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon thyme tied in cheese cloth
Salt & pepper to taste

1 pound fresh mushrooms - whole if small, otherwise cut into halves or quarters
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil

Remove the rind and cut bacon into sticks 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long. If using cured bacon, simmer the bacon sticks and rind for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 cups water. Drain and pat dry. This is called blanching the bacon, assuring that the smoked flavor of cured bacon doesn't overwhelm the other, subtler flavors in the dish. Also, if you are using cured bacon you may need to add a little oil for sauteing the meat as blanching cooks some of the fat out of the bacon.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Saute the bacon in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large oven proof, flameproof casserole (9 to 10- inches) for 2 to 5 minutes until lightly browned. Remove to a side dish. Reheat the fat until it is almost smoking.

Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Saute a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Set aside with the bacon.

Brown the sliced carrot and onion in the same fat. Drain. Pour out fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole, uncovered, in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to over for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and coats the meat with a light crust.) remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Add carrot and onions to casserole. Stir in the wine and beef stock. Add tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover casserole and set in lower third of the 325 degree oven. Cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until the meat is easily pierced by a fork. Do not overcook.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

Peel the onions. (If you want to use frozen onions, fine by me. Peeling them is a pain and Julia will never know.) Heat 1 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1 1/2 tablespoon oil in a 9 to 10-inch skillet until bubbling. Add onions and saute over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them about so they brown as evenly as possible. Pour in beef broth or wine, add herb bouquet, and simmer slowly for 40 minutes until the onions are tender but retain their shape and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
(Is it just me, or do these look like eyeballs rolling around in the pan?)

Trim and slice mushrooms. Place 9 to 10-inch skillet over high heat with 4 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. As soon as the foam has begun to subside, add mushrooms. Toss and shake the pan for 4 to 5 minutes. (During the saute the mushrooms will absorb the fat, but you don't need to add more.) Continue to saute until mushrooms are lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

When the beef is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a large saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.
Skim the fat off the sauce in the saucepan. Simmer sauce for a few minutes until thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce. If it is too thin, boil it down to the desired consistency. If too thick, add a little wine or beef stock. Taste and adjust seasonings. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. (NOTE: I'm not altogether sure this sieving and simmering step is absolutely necessary. My sauce was perfectly seasoned, coated a spoon and didn't need boiling down right, out of the pot. Still, Julia said to do it, so I did.)

Cover the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Bon appetit!

Lard Is Just A Four Letter Word

Time was when dropping the L-bomb at mealtime was enough to send any "modern" cook screaming from the kitchen and the average dinner guest running from the table, clutching his heart with one hand and dialing his cardiologist on his cell phone with the other. But I'm here to tell you that lard has gotten a bad rap, and like any other good four letter word a dollop of it can add a little something special in any number of situations, culinary and otherwise.

Now I won't lie. It ain't health food, but it's not as bad for you as you may have been led to believe, and it may actually be better for you than some of the allegedly healthier fats you've been using instead. And let's face it, there are some things that are just plain better with lard. Pie pastry and fried chicken come to mind, (absolutely nothing gives pastry the tender, flaky texture that lard does and, trust me, if you ever eat chicken fried in lard, you'll never go back.), and since, in our house at least, these are treat foods that we don't eat very often, I say, go for it.

Let's consider the alternatives for pastry.

Like most cooks in the last century or so, my mother swore by Crisco, and it does make an altogether acceptable, even delicious, pie crust. The original Frankenfood, Crisco, strictly speaking, isn't food at all but rather a hydrogenated cottonseed oil concoction invented by Procter & Gamble and put on the market in 1911. It sort of looked like lard. It was odorless and tasteless, it didn't go rancid quickly, as lard was want to do, and it was a real boon for "our Jewish friends," (as a 1922 Crisco booklet pointed out), because it was Kosher! If anybody missed the richer, fuller flavor and delectable crumb of lard made pastry, they were loath to admit it, and within a generation most people had forgotten how it tasted anyway. Lard was off the table and Crisco was king.

Oh, and did I mention it was hydrogenated with trans fats? Well, sometime around the middle of the 20th century scientists discovered that trans fats, and therefore Crisco and the other hydrogenated vegetable shortening spin-offs, weren't very good for the human body, and were at least as bad for you as, if not worse than, solidified pig fat. (To be fair, Crisco recently introduced a zero trans fat shortening, in the green can. I haven't tried it so I can't comment on its' merits or not.)

Butter made pie pastry is melt in your mouth good, but, in my experience, often too tender and therefore difficult to handle, and will literally crumble if you breathe on it. Plus, with a whooping 60 percent saturated fat content, (compared with just 40 percent for lard), it's definitely not a healthier choice.

Because solid vegetable shortening is tasteless, some cooks have made a respectable pie crust by combining it with butter, again, probably worse for you than lard, but tasty if you like the butter flavor. As for oil made pastry? Forget about it. Seriously. If you really like pie, you won't like it.

I have seen some pie pastry recipes that use a combination of butter and lard, which sounds pretty good to me. Haven't tried it, but I will and when I do, I'll get back to you.

And that brings me back to LARD, our grandmother's gold standard, which I have rediscovered and embraced. Here's my recipe for basic pie pastry, lifted straight from the pages of Southern Cooking From Mary Mac's Tea Room. After you've made the pastry I can't think of anything better to do with it than make up a batch of one of my favorite guilty pleasures -- peach turnovers. Bake them if you want to cut down on the fat a bit, (I've actually come to prefer them this way), or stick with tradition and fry them up in hot peanut oil, (save the lard to fry chicken). You'll be glad you did.

NOTE: Some commercial supermarket lards have been hydrogenated to enhance shelf life. Read the label. If it's hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, you do not want this lard. You want one that contains zero trans fats.



BASIC PIE PASTRY

1 cup lard (or other solid shortening, if you must)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I swear by White Lily)
2/3 cup ice water, with crushed ice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Cream lard with salt and sugar in large bowl of electric mixer. Add one cup of the flour. When the mixture becomes stiff, add 1 tablespoon of the ice and water. Repeat process until all the flour and water is used. Mixture should be soft but not wet.

If making turnovers, roll the dough into 10 equal balls and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. (This pastry can be kept for several weeks in a sealed plastic bag in fridge or frozen for up to a month.)



PEACH TURNOVERS
(Makes 10 pies - Baked or Fried)

12 ounces dried peaches
2 cups water
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup whiskey or bourbon (I use Jack Daniels -- optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, bring peaches and water to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer until the peaches have reconstituted, are very tender and have absorbed most of the water. (About 2o minutes).

Mash peaches. Add sugar, whiskey, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes more, stirring frequently, until the peach mixture is thick like preserves. Cool.

On floured board with floured rolling pin, flatten dough balls into circles about 6-inches round and 1/8 inch thick. Place about 2 tablespoons of the peach mixture in the center of each circle. Brush edges with cold water, fold over and seal by pressing fork tines around edge. Trim excess dough.

TO FRY: Heat 2 1/2 cups peanut oil in a large skillet (cast iron if you have it) until the oil is very hot (about 375 degrees). Fry pies in batches, turning once, for about 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with sugar before serving if desired.

TO BAKE: Prick top of pies with fork several times to vent. Brush with melted butter or an egg wash, (1 egg lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons milk and a pinch of salt). Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Place on prepared baking sheet, (lightly greased, or, my preferred method, lined with a sheet of non-stick tin-foil). Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly brown.

Either way, serve these puppies warm with a couple of big scoops of vanilla ice cream. Yum!