He said produce

[pecunium]

libertango recently added to his info page.

His choice in quotations is always interesting, often amusing and leads those with wit (as do all strings of quotations) to moderate introspection.

"Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a Product, produce it, in God's name! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee: out with it, then. Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called Today; for the night cometh, wherein no man can work."
-- Thomas Carlyle

That one struck me. It fits well with the blessed holdovers of my flirtation with Holy Orders (or perhaps those orders were flirting with me), because the Jesuits have a motto, Omnia ad majorem Dei gloriam (All for the greater glory of God). It is meant as a meditation, and a focus. A way to see the presence of the Divine in everything, from digging a ditch, to painting the Sistine Chapel. Each of us does things, we can do them mindfully, or not.

Ok.

Me, I fail in that. There are hours of the day when I merely do, without thinking. And I am, as are we all, heterodox. I tend to do most of my offering up when I am doing something which will go to someone else. The Quakerish part of me (six years living with one will affect how one sees the world) says I am offering it up to the spark of the Divine in everyone. The Catholic part of me says that's narrow minded, as the Divine suffuses more than just those aspects of The Creation which are quick.

One of the times I am most likely to be more than merely doing, by rote, is when I cook. The most mundane aspects of cooking are, to me, infused with awe.

So, todays lesson, a reading from the book of grace notes:

Carmelized onions

Take you some onions, cut them up to the size you want.

In a heavy skillet place some butter, to this add the onions, and set them on a low heat.

Be certain you have a lid, for if one just leave the onions in the skillet those on the top will merely wilt, and those below shall be singed; and burnt, of no good to any man but the gardener; who may use them in his compost.

Leave them be, attending them only with your nose, for the lid will gather up the water the fire drives out; which water will remove the sugars the heat has released and those sugars will blend with the softening onions, and the butter, to a browned and sweet mass. Every so often, when the smell reminds you they are cooking, look on them, and stir the paler ones to the bottom; where they too may go limp, and become brown.

This may then be used in such wise as needed, to line the bottom of a quiche, to dress a steak, to round out a casserole, to be eaten out hand; steaming from the stove, simmered into a reduction, or to such other use as the mind and palate may see fit; be they dominant note, or harmony, the secret is the cover.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, good old Jesuit contemplation in action.

[selinawoman.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I honestly didnt know how to carmelize onions properly! I was cooking them very well, and sometimes they would get that flavor, now I know how to do it right!

Red onoins on sale today .69cents a pound, I bought 4 for a small sauce I am making to cover some tortalini later this week. I didnt have much to spend so I forgot about bell pepers and most everything else. Meat. No way.

Just sauce with an extraordinary amount of onions and garlic, chopped fresh spinach and mushrooms. Now it will be even better than I thought.

Anything you do can be of/for/like God as you know him. It's in the attitude.
No job is beneath me. I push broom for the joyful giving of a clean floor.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

For intensification, remove the lid for a while before using them (this is what I do when making onion soup) as that drys the sugar water at the bottom.

I made some tonight, to go with sausages, and they simmered for about two hours, mostly ignored.

TK

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try your system; the rather different one I use seems to work adequately and is somewhat faster, but more labor intensive.

Chop three or more large onions into small pieces. Heat some butter (or, perhaps, chicken fat/schmaltz) in a large cast-iron skillet (or frying-pan, or spider) over a fairly high flame, add onion and stir with a wooden spatula until translucent. Add a few tablespoons of chicken stock (or water) -- just enough to de-grease -- and scrape away any bits that are sticking to the pan. Cook until the onion is sticking again, but not quite burning. Repeat with more liquid, several times, until the onion becomes a dark brown paste, or nearly so. Use appropriately. (If one begins with a deep skillet or a dutch oven and enough onions, there may be a surplus to freeze for later use.) I consider this almost a canonical necessity for dressings and stuffings, especially for turkey, but also use it in many gravies, soups, stews, and chilies. (The addition of finely-chopped or mashed garlic is an option you might wish to consider.)

[selinawoman.livejournal.com]

Will garlic caramelize as well? I ask because I think it would be quite nice to slice the garlic and cook it at the same time I cook the onlions. Is there a problem with that? I mean are onions hardier than garlic? or can I mix the two?

I will leave the lid off for a time before using, then layer the finely chopped fresh spinach on top!~ My thinking is the heat of the onions and the pan will nicely blanc the spinach as well, so it will be mostly cooked by the time I add it to my sauce!

There is something awfully spiritual about cooking, especially for large groups of people. I love it. I must add to the list of things to do; find larger groups to feed. That's an easy one, isn't it?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Garlic has fewer sugars and (this is the important part) when it burns, it tastes nasty, really nasty.

When making a sofritto one has to make sure the garlic doesn't burn, because if it does, you have to throw the whole thing away.

So, the thing to do is to heat it very slowly, and pay attention to it more often than you would the onions.

TK

[selinawoman.livejournal.com]

Wow! I didn't know that about the garlic! Thank you! Glad I asked!
I tried to look up sofritto in the dictionary online and there isn't a definition, what is a sofritto? Just curious!

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

It's a base dish, for the making of various italian sauces.

At it's plainest

Fat (I use either olive oil or butter, depending on the end result)

Onions

Garlic.

Stop bath

When the onions are where you want them (from just limp, to translucent, to light brown) add the slivered garlic. The thinner the slices the better.

When the garlic is translucent, and perhaps just a little yellowed, add the stop bath.

This can be tomato sauce, white wind, red wine, vinegar, chicken stock, brown stock, broth, even (though I can't imagine why) water. You want to keep the garlic from burning (which is why one can't use a garlic press into a sauté, the liquid burns and the stuff is horrid. I think the reason so many chefs say garlic presses are evil is that people do this. If you want to saute fine garlic, use a knife and mince it, or smash it).

TK