October Cookouts

You would expect mid October t have a bit of a nip in the air. That would mean hot chocolate and warm , hearty meals. Not so. Many of the areas around the country are experiencing a second summer? WHat to do? Barbecue  but with a fall twist.

With temps in the almost eighties, many home chefs just don't want to cook or bake. yet fall has some of the tastiest ingredients and recipes out there. What to do? Incorporate them into easy to grill, easy to cook and easy to bake recipes. Pork chops with apples have always been a popular  October dish.It can easily be put on the grill and till deliver the same rich taste/There is a slight problem with pork.It can dry out quickly when cooked on a high heat/Baste the chops with a barbecue sauce or marinade. To keep the fall themed try an apple cider marinade.The is a blend of apple cider, brown sugar and such spices as dry mustard and garlic powder. To give it some silkiness and body add a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Brush the pork chop with this every fifteen minutes. To maintain the juiciness let the pork chops sit for about five minutes before cutting into them. This allows the meat to bathe in the juices a bit more. You can serve with grilled apple halves. This is just putting them on the grill for six to eight minutes , then flipping them over for another five. You can also whip up a potato salad but add a small diced apple for texture and flavor.

Baking is a big part of the fall canon. You can easily bake an apple or pear galette on the grill.You will need those cheap foil pie pans.The fruit filled dough is placed in it and then on top of an inverted foil roasting pan.Doing such will prevent the  pies' bottom from burning. The grill's temperature should be the same as your oven. Bake at 350 to 400 degrees Farenheit for about twenty to thirty minutes. as with any pie , keep an eye on it, making sure it doesn't burn. Serve with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel.If you made ice cream over the summer, don;t stop because it is autumn. It's a hot autumn and that means the cooling relief of a frosty dessert. Try a salted caramel ice cream to go with those apples. You will need to use your stovetop to create the caramel.It's cooking a cup and a quarter of granulated sugar until it becomes a syrup.whole cream is then added to this to create the caramel. it's cooled and then the sea salt (try Malden's flaky sea salt) and vanilla are added. while this cools make the ice cream base. This is eggs being whisked with a blend of cooked milk ,and cream.The caramel is added to this then strained through a fine mesh sieve. This is chilled  for three to six hours and then you can put the mixture through an ice cream maker. Freeze until solid. Serve with cinnamon coated apple slices.

THis is a rare October heat wave. Cook like it's summer ,using fall ingredients. You can still get a taste of autumn but with a hot weather twist.

The Perfect Chai Wissotzki Tea

The temperatures may be in the eighties but it's still good weather for a hot cup if tea. One of the most flavorful is chai and Wissotzki Tea has a wide variety to try. The variety of flavors are the perfect sip on a summer's night,

Wissotzki Tea is one of the oldest tea companies in the world starting in 1849 by Russian Jew, Zeev Kalonymus Wissotzki and was one of the first international companies , having branches in Germany, France, New York and Canada. The founder was also responsible for the Hovevei Zion , a response to the dreadful pogroms happening in Russia at the time. The company is still family owned and has a wide variety of delicious teas.They sell everything from black tea to chais and infusions. Their chais are the best, although they're usually served with a milk of some sort, mine are not. I don't like milk in any tea and would prefer it without.

                                   There are four flavors, Spiced Nana Mint Chai,Pumpkin Spiced Chai, Salted
                          Caramel Chai and Ginger and Turmeric .

I am a big fan of anything mint and love their Nana mint that's also loaded with cinnamon bark, ginger leaf and clove. Cardamon and black pepper mellow out the spearmint .

The Salted Caramel is a lovely treat, with the added kick of sea salt. It's a nice tea for the evening, especially when sitting outside on a cool night. The ginger and turmeric blend is not only healthy but a great way to start the morning. I love the strong taste of the turmeric, as it blends with the other spices. A nice after dinner chai is the pumpkin pie spice made with  - what else - actual pumpkin pieces. It sounds like the perfect beverage on a chilly fall night but it also works on a humid summer one, especially with a simple dessert.

Wissotzki Teas may be one of the oldest tea companies in the world but their chai line is one of the hippest and most modern. It combines ancient spices with flavor trends to produce a cup of flavor. They're the perfect teas for a warm summer's evening.

Sweet and Savory Switch Up

Can salt and sugar be interchanged? Good question. Sugar is used primarily in dessert and baking, Salt and other savories are used in meat and vegetable courses. Change it up a bit. Both tastes unexpectedly used can create a new and exciting spin on ordinary dishes.

Salt has been primarily used in savory dishes for millennia. Maybe a pinch of it was used in baking recipes to bring out a cake or pie's flavor.. Things started to change with the invention of Crackerjack and tin roof sundaes.The first was invented in 1896 and married the flavor of salted  popcorn with a caramel coating. People love the rash pairing of two distinct flavors. It was around this time that a savory sweet concoction hit ice cream parlors first in the Chicago area then around the country. The creation was the tin roof sundae, a layer of salty peanuts on top of chocolate sauce, and ice cream and topped by a cloud of sweet whipped cream. Of course there's salted caramel, the best flavor sensation since - well salted caramel. It was sheer genius to combine flaky sea salt with the sometimes over sweet caramel.It's everywhere now, from cookies to ice cream to ice cream topping.It does make sense because the flavors are exact opposites of each other and together they balance each other out.Another good marriage is sea salt with dark chocolate Imagine a rich dark bark highlighted with nuts and crunchy nuggets of fleur du sel.

Just as salt enhances sweet, sweetness can add to savory dishes.The mark of a good tomato sauce is its' balance of sweet and salty. Generations of  chefs, both here  and  in Italy have added grated carrot to their sauces. Its' sweetness takes away the acidic tang of the tomatoes. Some here in the States had refined white sugar. I've tried this and was not happy with the candylike taste of the sauce. Instead I used dark wildflower honey which gives a sweet, earthy mellowness to the blend,Usually a teaspoon does the trick. The darker the honey the better.It has more nutrients and minerals than the light golden type. A teaspoon of this also helps balances out chili too, eliminating the tartness of store bought tomato sauce.For years  chefs , both restaurant and home, have gilded varieties of roast foul with all sorts of sweet glazes.Honey glazed chicken and Cornish hen have pleased palates for generations.It's usually mixed with both orange zest and juice to overcome the sugary taste. Fruits have always been used with different roasts, namely  pork, ham and chicken. The Germans have been marrying apples and pork roast for centuries, The apple's taste is enhances as well as tones down the meat's intensity.

Go ahead. Mix it up by giving savory dishes a touch of sweet and sugary dishes a jolt of saltiness. It's a great way of enhancing opposite flavors and making them stand out and memorable.

The Perfect Ice Cream Cake

A summer birthday or a summer party deserves a good ending namely an ice cream cake. Most people usually head to their local ice cream shop to get this treat. However an ice cream cake is easy to make and assemble. What  is great about a home made one is that it can be customized with favorite fillings.

The first step is deciding is how elaborate you want to make it. There is one recipe that just calls for layering ice cream sandwiches in a nine by thirteen baking pan. Hot fudge and Cool Whip is slathered on between layers. The icing is another layer of Cool Whip with a heavy dusting of shaved chocolate.It is then covered and frozen for an hour before serving.Caramel sauce can be subbed in for the fudge for a different spin. Another idea that takes a little more work but has a lot of flavor is one that takes inspiration from those Dairy Queen and Carvel cakes. It's easy but has a lot of steps. The recipe involves first placing a springform pan in the freezer for fifteen minutes.  Vanilla and chocolate ice cream is used, however you can vary the flavors. Try chocolate and mint chip for mint lovers. Coffee lovers should have layers of coffee ice cream. The filling is crushed Nabisco chocolate wafers mixed with that hard shell topping (although you could use a fudge sauce as a binder too.)  The three layers are frozen for two hours and then iced with whipped cream. Multicolored sprinkles are then scattered on it.You can also pipe whipped cream rosettes  around the bottom and top or even make buttercream roses if you're feeling ambitious.

Another idea is baking a cake and filling it with ice cream. If you don't have time buy the mixes. There are some good ones such as Red Velvet  and German Chocolate. You can also make scratch cakes too, and make them a bit healthier by using whole wheat flour. These can be made in layers or as a sheet cake, depending on the size of your party. The ice cream can also be homemade if you have an ice cream maker. You can try different fruit varieties here too. Think a vanilla sheet cake with a peach, blueberry or strawberry ice cream along with a topping of fresh fruit too. A fun idea is a "naked" ice cream cake , one without icing. Bake three scratch cakes, try a marble or chocolate chip one  and then  as you would with filling, cover the layers with about an inch of softened ice cream. You can even blend in candy, fruit or cereal for some texture and more flavor.Just "ice" the top most layer with a thin layer of ice cream and decorate with sugar gel or with sprinkles. Some home bakers recommend using a "dense" cake like pound cake because it holds better than the lighter , more crumbly cakes. It's up to you with what kind of cake to use..Any ice cream cake can be served with chocolate or salted caramel sauce.

An ice cream cake adds so much to a summer party. Making one and customizing it is a real treat  because it's full of favorite flavors.It's a nice way to welcome a warm summer night.

Smuckers Sundae Side

Everyone hears Smuckers and think jams.That is true.The company does produce a wide and delicious array of jams and jellies but they also have a line of syrups and toppings ranging from the gourmet to All American.All that is needed is ice cream and a spoon and you can create a fun summer sundae. Smuckers was the company behind the hard shell coating on ice cream.This is what you usually get at ice cream chains like Dairy Queen.It starts out as a thin liquid and then hardens to a crunchy shell.This was an instant hit when it went public almost thirty years ago.It's still fun to use.Smuckers now has expanded the flavors from just chocolate to caramel, fudge, pink lemonade rainbow sherbet and root beer.There's even a dark chocolate and pretzel one for a taste of salty and sweet.They are great and different if you're creating a kids cone bar at a summer birthday party.They also have regular syrups too as well as toppings.The company has some fruit ones such as pineapple and strawberry.It also has the jarred toppings which have always been classics.Try the old fashioned butterscotch with their pecan or walnut syrups or layer hot fudge and marshmallow toppings for making a rocky road sundae. Smuckers has a sophisticated side as well.There are gourmet toppings that could also be used on crepes or dessert waffles.I've tried their chocolate coconut which is amazing. It is so rich and thick, it's more like a pudding.It was good with ice cream but it can be used for so many other desserts like a sauce for beignets.The other flavors are salted caramel which would even be good as a spread for brioches and croissants.There is also dark chocolate and hot fudge.You could serve these last two with sliced strawberries or sliced bananas as a spin on a fruit sundae.Smuckers also has the syrups in squeezable microwaveable bottles for a true hot sundae experience.These are in both light and dark chocolate as well as with caramel and butterscotch,.There are also sugar free toppings, both in the fruit and the microwaveable caramel and chocolate.Splenda is used instead of sugar so the taste is still pretty true to the original flavors. Make Smuckers your go to with ice cream this summer.You can make fantastic sundaes and cones.Try a hot fudge sundae or a fruity split. Go sophisticated with their salted caramel or chocolate coconut ladled over a crepe or waffle.Smuckers let's you go wild with creating sweet treats.