New Cookbook

May 23, 2006 at 4:09 am (food)

This one, in fact:

Right now I am cooking the Brown Stock recipe. It smells fantastic. I'm using marrow bones from Skagit River Ranch, which is a wonderful local farm that humanely raises all its animals. I am what I like to call an ethical omnivore, so I am happy to support them.

This attempt at stock comes about because of childhood memories and because of an adult fascination with food experimentation. One of the recipes I've made since I was little is Swedish Meatballs. To paraphrase Babylon 5, every culture in the known universe has a version of Swedish Meatballs. I've heard of versions that used red sauce, versions that included rice, versions with kolrabies. What I'm making involves a brown sauce, pepper, paprika, and, of course, meatballs that have been seared and then cooked through in the simmering sauce. It's a very simple but very delicious (not to mention hearty) recipe that's helped cement many a friendship.

It's possible to make a rather white trash version of this which involves Jimmy Dean sausage and various other grocery store ingredients of no particular merit. However, I tried it with all organic ingredients last time, and the quality just elevated the dish to a whole new level.

So, this time I'm aiming to make everything I can from scratch. The recipe calls for four cups of beef broth, so the stock is the first thing I am trying. I got a pasta maker for my birthday recently, so next I will try doing the noodles. Sadly, I can't get a good picture of my stock pot with my digital camera.