The Lost Art of… Marmalade?

Nibbles
Blueberry Toast with Mixed-Citrus Marmalade

Blueberry Toast with Mixed-Citrus Marmalade

On our second trip to the farmers’ market (Todd came with, this time), I spotted kumquats and thought making marmalade would be a good way to use the fruit and have it available for more than just one meal. Now, I’d made marmalade in the past, but it had been maybe 10 years since, so I wanted to check what I thought I remembered (namely that it didn’t require added pectin) and how much sugar per pound of citrus and so forth.

Would you believe that I went through 6 cookbooks before finding marmalade instructions? We have an entire bookcase of cookbooks and not all of them are general-use, so it’s not like I was looking in the specialty books and striking out, these were the massive tomes of all-purpose food knowledge. And while my “textbook” from Culinary School did have a definition and basic method listed, it still wasn’t telling me what I needed to know. Even Joy of Cooking only had a Red Onion Marmalade (which, by the way, is stretching the definition just a bit).

It’s no wonder, then, that the one book to finally come to my rescue was Forgotten Skills of Cooking. It had a whole section on marmalade and even featured a kumquat one. I ended up cobbling together several recipes to fit my time constraints (it was already Sunday and I wanted to use the finished marmalade Monday night, so doing an overnight soak of the seeds and membranes wasn’t practical) and did a mixed citrus marmalade using up some leftover lemons (from Lemon Curd-making the day before), tangerines from Christmas and a couple of pink grapefruits, too.

What I ended up with, after analyzing the various recipes I’d found, was a basic formula that can be used for any sort of citrus you’ve got:

Marmalade Formula

Per pound of citrus (weighed whole) you’ll need:

1 quart water plus 1 cup for the pot
2-3 cups granulated sugar, depending on the kind of citrus you’re using and how sweet you want your finished marmalade to be

And it really is that simple–which is probably why only 7 of our 95 cookbooks mention it at all. (The other reason being that most people buy their marmalade, of course.)

The reason you don’t need additional pectin is because you get that from the seeds and membranes of the fruit, itself–you use everything in some way, shape or form.

Marmalade Procedure

Break Down the Citrus Break down the fruit into its basic components: juice, seeds and peels. Juice each lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit, reserving the juice and placing the seeds in a cheesecloth-lined bowl. Remove the membranes from the squeezed-out fruit halves and add those to the seed-pile. Since kumquats don’t really juice so well, just slice those and remove the seeds, and slice the other citrus peels into bite-sized strips.
Combine and Simmer The initial simmer. Combine the reserved juice, the peels, water and the seeds and membranes tied up in their cheesecloth sack in a deep stock pot. Choose one deeper than I did to prevent boil-overs in later steps–learn from my mistakes, folks! Simmer this mixture, covered, for an hour or so. Don’t let it boil or your marmalade could end up very bitter. Unless, of course, you prefer your marmalade with a lot of bite, then boil it covered through the next step.
The Volume Decreased by Half Cook and concentrate. Right now you’ve got a lot of liquid and some still-tough peels in your pot. Remove the cheesecloth bag with the seeds and membranes (you’ve already harvested the required pectin from them). Bring the mixture to a boil and cook, at a low boil and uncovered, until the liquid has reduced your preferred amount and the peel is as soft as you want it to be.
Adding the sugar before the final boil Add the sugar and cook until set, approximately 15-20 minutes. Here’s the tricky part. According to Forgotten Skills you can test for doneness by placing a small amount of the marmalade onto a cold saucer and see if it gels. This didn’t work for me so I kept cooking the marmalade (on medium-low) for another hour or more (honestly, I lost track). It still hadn’t passed the set-test as described, but I pulled it off the heat and let it cool, anyway, figuring something had to have happened by now.
The finished Marmalade I started with 2.5 pounds of citrus and ended up with 2 quarts of marmalade. I’ve never been into canning so I just divided the spread between 4 pint containers and popping them into the fridge once they’d had a chance to cool off a bit on the counter. If you don’t go the sterilized jars and heat sealing method, you’ll want to store any marmalade you’re not going to use in the next couple of weeks in the freezer.

About the setting thing? I needn’t have worried. The next day You could stand a knife in the marmalade and it wouldn’t even wobble. And despite it’s dark color (probably from the extra cooking time), it wasn’t bitter at all. Added to warm, buttered toast, it’s quite tasty!

Oh, and the main reason I purchased the kumquats and the redfish fillet on the same day? Monday’s dinner was marmalade redfish and it was wonderful!

Season the redfish (or any other firm, white-fleshed fish like cod or monkfish) with salt and pepper and place, skin-side down, on a bed of sliced lemons. Heat half a cup of marmalade with a tablespoon of white wine, just until pourable, and spoon over the fish. Broil the fish 10-15 minutes until done (the flesh is opaque and flakes easily when pressed with a fork), moving it a few inches farther away from the heat if the pieces of peel in the marmalade start to get too dark.

Marmalade Redfish

Marmalade Redfish

The Cure for What Ails You

Sips

Or, at the very least, something to make you more comfortable while nature takes its course.

I’m a bit under the weather, this week, so designing a cocktail for the Dakotas isn’t on the menu anymore. Not only does a case of the sniffles interfere with the tasting functions, booze is contraindicated with my current cough medicine.

Meanwhile, for those not on cold meds or just looking for an easy way to warm up from Winter’s chill, there is a recipe that can come in handy:

The Hot Toddy

1.5 oz Brandy
.5 oz Simple Syrup
2.5 oz Water

Combine the brandy and simple syrup in a heat-safe glass or mug. Warm the water until almost boiling and pour over the brandy mixture and stir until combined.

That’s the basic toddy from A.J. Rathbun’s Good Spirits. Some variations on the theme are to use a cinnamon stick as your swizzle stick, dropping in a slice of lemon or substituting a brandy-based liqueur (like I did in the Tuaca Toddy, Oct. 09).

Until next time, stay warm & healthy!

Random Number Generator

And the Winner Is…

Everyday Adventures

Random Number GeneratorDrum roll please!

After a quick consult with random.org, we have a winner!

It’s comment #10, Ashley from Artificially Fertile Myrtle.

Wohoo! Three cheers and a warm, wooly cowl for Ashley!

Ashley, just send me your snail mail address and I’ll get your prize right out to you!

~~~oOo~~~

Okay, folks, we’re onto the next art starting next Tuesday. It’s jewelry and I can see a few giveaways in the future for that art, too!

Episode 9: I Need a Drink

Podcast

Whether it’s celebrating the new year, starting off the 12th Night celebration or congratulating yourself for getting the mammoth end-of-year to-do list, done, a drink with a kick can do wonders. After all, what we call cordials and liqueurs were once known as restoratives!

As I rambled mentioned on the show, one of my many sites is Sips & Shots, where I create a new cocktail a week and post about other beverage interests from time to time. And if my voice sounds a little rough on the recording, all I can say is it’s a good thing I recorded when I did as I woke up with practically no voice at all the next day!

Now, what you’re really here for, the music:

Pumpkin Pie–Russell Wolff
Alcohol–O Sweet Static
In the Bar Tonight–Dakota
Crazy When She Drinks–Lee Rocker
Sipping Tea–The Gentlemen Callers
Cold Beer–Jeff Ronay
Glass of Wine–The New Autonomous Folksingers
Wine of Her Lips–Billy Bourbon
Vodka Kosovo–On Wave
Martini Time–AirFerg
Ginned Up–John Hughes
Gin & Tonic–Sammy Barker
The Old Black Rum–Great Big Sea
The Saltee Tango–Stoat
Only the Tequila Talking (feat. John Popper)–Lisa Bouchelle
Sweet Tequila–Brain Buckit
Whiskey Time–The Whiskey River Band
Nancy Whisky–Murder the Stout
Drinking Like a Fiddler–Dust Rhinos

And that’s us for another month. Please, everyone, if you do imbibe, don’t be a drunken monkey–use a designated drive, take a cab, or drink at home and do so in moderation.

Fun’s better if you can remember it the next day!

If I’d Known You Were Coming…

Everyday Adventures

Oh, wait, I totally did! So I baked a cake.

Hidden Strawberry Cake

Hidden Strawberry Cake*

Alright Artsies (how does that sounds for a name for us? thoughts?), we’re going to have some new folks around the blog, today tomorrrow, because… tadaa! It’s Wedneday’s my SITS Day!

UPDATE: Due to some tech issues–they happen, we roll with it–my SITS day is now Wednesday, so if you come here on Tuesday and are a bit confuzzled, no worries, we’re just having a little fun with the timestream 😉

What’s SITS? It’s the Secret’s in the Sauce–a line from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes AND an amazing group of women that are all about supporting each other in the Blogosphere. If you’re a blogger and haven’t checked them out, you really might want to!

Cocktail, Anyone?

Cocktail, Anyone?

For those of you who have happened here because of that lovely linkie they gave me, today, welcome to Scraps of Life and the 64 Arts! I’m so glad you’ve stopped by. I love all things creative, about as much as I love lists (and crossing things off them!) and the 64 Arts is a list of accomplishments pulled from a very old source but it still pertinent to this day and age. To find out more, check out the beginning of this odyssey: A New Direction. For the cliff’s notes about what we’ve done so far, check out the Arts so Far for topics and some of my favorite posts.

But, silly me, can I offer you a drink before we get on with the getting to know me?

Bits and Scraps

My name is Jennifer but that name was incredibly popular in the mid-70s and, after being one of 4 Jennifer’s in my 3rd grade class I began my search for the perfect nom de plume. After buying this domain in 2003, I ended up stumbling into the screenname and nickname Scraps, so that’s what I go by online for writing and comics.

See, I have a very uncreative day-job…

I have a very understanding boss.

I have a very understanding boss.

And my need for a creative outlet (or 10) is immense. First it was food: I did double duty as a full-time bookkeeper and a full-time (evenings) culinary student and took a leave of absence to do my internship and beyond as a Pastry Chef. Funny thing, though, I like paying my bills (on time, even) and cheffing wasn’t being too helpful on that front. So I checked it off my master to-do list and went back to bookkeeping.

Next was art: More night classes and a plan to go back full-time but, divorce happened and I needed to support myself. I’ve always been a crafter and a long-time scrapbooker, and around the same time I started my autobiographical webcomic (like a blog, but with lots of drawings and fewer words) I became the Arts & Craft Expert (their title, not mine) for eHow.com. When the writing gig ended I got more time to do my own work, and that’s when I went a little blog-overboard.

Plenty to go Around

… and a little something for everyone!

I’ve now got 2 comics online: my life-inspired one, Cocktail Hour, and a geeky dating comic, Where the Geeks Are.

Even though they are both on hiatus, there’s plenty of archives to read through. Comics aren’t just for boys and they aren’t all super-heroes, either! Me? I’ve been described as the heroine in my own chick-lit novel.

Not that that’s a bad thing (keeps life interesting).

The reason they’re on hiatus is my current project: What to Feed Your Raiding Party. I’m combing my love of food and comics and the desire to help and creating a cookbook that half comic book, too! If this is something you’d like to know more about, feel free to check out the progress diary.

Speaking of food, I’ve got a dedicated food blog: Nibbles ‘n Bites. The occasional recipe (like the one for the Hidden Strawberry Cake, above) interspersed with plenty of foodie opinions and ideas.

And, if you’re in need of a drink, you might find my cocktail blog, Sips & Shots, to your taste. Each Friday I post a new drink recipe to get your weekend started off right.

Finally, if you’re like me and like music playing pretty much all. the. time. you might find yourself getting into some musical ruts. I like a wide variety of music and really love finding music no one (okay, few) have heard before. Get in on the secret at my monthly podcast: Random Acts Radio.

Okay, that’s Me!

Now, I’d really love to find out who you are! Comments are great and I do my best to respond (either via comments/email or by visiting your blog) to every one I get. Let’s get to know each other better!

Oh, and one more thing–If you like hand-knit items and want a chance to win one, check out last week’s post (Today’s Cowl)–all it takes is a comment (on that entry) to enter the drawing!