Roasting the Bones

In my house there are food allergies to deal with. One of those food allergies is beef. No other dark meat, just beef. When I can find it, and afford it, lamb, goat, and ostrich fill the gap some. When hunters can spare venison from their hunts it is wonderful as I can sub it one to one for beef.  But until now the only way to add a deep flavor to many things was to use molasses, sorghum, or coffee. (In our case, decaf coffee.)

Another allergy is mushrooms which is yet another flavor that adds depth to dishes. In the last year I discovered that I can substitute chestnuts for mushrooms and get that flavor profile. And even better, chestnuts can be cooked the same way.

But one of the flavors that I just couldn't get was that deep "brown" flavor. The one you get in brown gravy. If it were music, it'd be that deep bass note in the composition. Until today. It came to my attention that there was an idea to roast the bones of different animals before you used them for stock. The idea has been pecking at the back of my mind for a few months but I just didn't have the energy and time. Or so I thought.  I decided to research it further yesterday and discovered that it doesn't really require any extra energy. And it doesn't really require any extra time on my part.

So my adventure started with stripping the meat from the turkey carcass, something I would have done anyways. But as I stripped it, I just tossed the bones back into the roaster. Then I set the oven to 450 and put the roaster back in the oven for 20 minutes. That's it. I didn't go fancy. The fat from the original roasting was in the pan to provide oil as needed. And since I typically do plain stock, I didn't add anything else.

Twenty minutes later I pulled out brown bones. I still had my doubts but I moved them to the crockpot, added the pan drippings, added water, and set the crockpot on low. This morning I awoke to a wonderful scent coming from the crockpot. A deep brown stock with a deep flavor. Because, yeah, testing was mandatory. And I bet that if I do this with venison bones, when I can get them, that will go from being a bland stock to an absolutely amazing one.

So roasting the bones is now going to be part of making my stocks. It adds wonderful flavor depth and I don't really see a reason not to have that depth of flavor. Although, I'll probably make sure to have some regular chicken stock on hand as well.

Protecting cold sensitive plants in the ground

It's that time of year. Actually, it's a bit past that time of year but, heck, I rarely get this done on time. And to make it more fun, I may actually be adding some in the ground plants this week.

Anyways, I always run across people asking how to keep sensitive plants alive outside through the winter. Here are a few ideas that I've used over the years that might help you.

One, simple frost covers. I have a collection of purchased ones but you can also use old sheets. Or old fluffy quilts. I say fluffy quilts because it's the air caught in the poly fil that makes those warmer but also be aware that no light will get through to aid in winter/early spring growth. So I'd only use old quilts on stuff that I do not expect any winter growth on and I'd pull them when the weather starts warming up. For the most part I stick with white frost covers or sheets because I'm protecting things that can take a little cold, just not a lot.

The tricks for frost covers is to make sure that they are not touching the plants. So use pvc hoops or fence stakes or even your tomato cages to help hold the cover above the plants. Then layer the sides down with mulch or leaves. Lots of mulch or leaves. The white covers let enough sunlight through to encourage early spring growth and I can typically leave them on until the last frost date.

If you want to help stabilize the temperatures a bit under the covers, then add water filled juice or soda bottles. If you can, dye the water black or spray paint the bottle black. That actually does make a difference of between 5 to 10 degrees but even plain water helps. Then lay the bottles among the plants. They will moderate the temperatures some and can help a lot unless you have multiple hard freeze days in a row. (Not common near me.) They will also boost early spring growth on the plants that are most likely to get going early. If you have a really sensitive plant, put a ring of bottles around it. I've had many sensitive plants make it through the winter in such a ring, even in a colder zone than I'm in now. And it's a whole lot easier to do then filling those wall of water things.

Do not use milk jugs or vinegar jugs for this. Both of them will disintegrate by the time spring hits and make a mess to clean out of the garden. The jugs will fall apart as you go to pull them. But, if it's all you have, then just be aware and have a garbage bag on hand for spring. I have to say, it does make a good way to make sure that the jugs will break down at the landfill because they'll already be halfway there before they get to the landfill.

If you have something super sensitive, or you are in colder climes, there is one more trick that you can use. That trick is the old incandescent outdoor Christmas lights. When used with a frost cover, the old style lights can create a warmer zone to hold off the frost which is so damaging. Just remember, make sure the frost cover isn't touching the plant. And make sure the lights aren't touching the frost cover. If you are protecting trees you might consider just leaving the lights year round and maybe adding new lights in the fall, on new growth, if needed. Otherwise, set up the rig when it's time and take it all off when the season is once again safe for the plant. Note, this is not something you can do with the quilts. It must be a frost cover.

Other than that, pull the dead plants, mulch under any beds you aren't using for the winter season, and go plot next year. Make sure to plot early this year. Apparently gardening has become a major national hobby again and seeds are going fast.

Appreciating Bounty

I haven't forgotten about the blog. I've just been a bit busy. First it was a well paying, temporary job that sapped most of my strength, time, and energy. Then it was making use of the bounty of funds to provide for other things needed in and around our home. And lately it's been the bounty of food that need to be preserved to be available for later times.

About 5 years ago, I canned caramelized onions. They turned out well but in the intervening time frame, with the demands of the job I had taken on then, I just didn't have time to do it again. And then surprise, surprise, a recipe was released for canning onions that basically verified the recipe I had already been using. And I had an abundance of sweet onions on hand. So I did two batches of caramelized onions and one of French Onion soup.

This is where you get to take a moment and laugh at me. I misread the instructions originally so the caramelized onions were pressure canned for 70 minutes @ 10 psi. Doesn't seem to have hurt them any but I laughed at myself for it.

Anyways, I have a really simple way of doing caramelized onions when I want to do them in bulk. I slice onions on the mandolin until my crockpot is full. I use a 6 quart crockpot. It takes 4 to 5 lbs of sliced onions. I add a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and about half a tablespoon of garlic juice. Then I turn the crockpot on low and walk away for 8 to 12 hours. That's it. When I come back to the crockpot, first I pull the onions and fill the jars to a 1" headspace. Then I fill with the onion juice from the bottom of the crockpot, up to the 1" headspace. Since some onions don't provide enough natural juices, I go evenly between the jars and then top off with stock or water if needed. This year there was plenty of natural juices and no need for extra fluids. I get approximately a dozen jelly jars full from each batch.

After that, it's into the pressure canner at 10 psi for 60 minutes. Yes, I know, there is an approved recipe that says 40 minutes but I'm being cautious since this is more like French Onion soup than just plain 1 inch onions.  And since 70 minutes didn't mess up the yummy flavor, I doubt 60 minutes will either.  

By the way, the first time I did these I used 4 oz jars. I quickly realized that I needed to do larger jars. So this time I used 8 oz jars. I did put the French Onion Soup batch into pints. (And I also canned up all the extra broth from that recipe.) 

Anyways, now on to bell peppers. Yeah, there's a tested recipe for bell peppers. And I love it. 

Those of us that have been canning for a long time tend to not get the new Ball books when they come out. In the past there really weren't many changes between books and someone would give a heads up on what recipes were new. If you wanted the new recipes, you bought the new book. Well, somehow I missed the updates on the newest books that were released after Ball sold the canning division off. And those newest books have some recipes that many of us have wanted for years. 

Now, when I went looking the physical books were thin on the ground and expensive, even online. So I got the Kindle versions. I'll get the physical books when the prices come back down into the reasonable range. The links for the Kindle version, and the print version, of the books are below so that you know which ones I'm talking about because there have been quite a few released in the past few years. There are some interesting and fun recipes in them that I will definitely be trying, and probably adding to my list of pantry shelf stock for each year.

And a sincere thank you to those who are watching out for my son and I, and guiding the blessings of bounty our way. They are truly appreciated.

Kindle version:  https://amzn.to/36AeXRS

Print version: https://amzn.to/32LloQR

Kindle version:  https://amzn.to/3puJzgb

Print version:  https://amzn.to/3nuGomC

I hope you enjoy the new recipes as much as I do. And happy canning.