Date I made this recipe:
October 5, 2016
Fork in the Road – Michigan
Published by Huron River Press (Ann
Arbor , Michigan
ISBN: 13: 978-1-932399-17-2; © 2007
Purchased at Canterbury Book Store in Escanaba , Michigan
Recipe: Michigan
Last week, I returned to my home state, Michigan , to have an early birthday
celebration with my Aunt Mary, who will be 95 years old next week. My birthday
is the day before hers and we have always been thick as thieves so it was great
to see her to "pre"-celebrate.
She rode shotgun with me on trips to into town as well as one longer one
to Traverse City
to deal with a rental car issue. Make
that issues, plural, but that's another story for another day.
And while we were traversing Traverse City (and greater
Traverse City), we stopped to eat and had a nice chat with our server who said
that he was originally from "The Soo," which translated means
"Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan" (or, but not in this case, Sault Ste.
Marie, Ontario, Canada).
The Michigan
"Soo" is located in the Upper Peninsula . Although Aunt Mary has lived
"downstate" (i.e. the lower peninsula) for many years, she was born
and raised in the Upper Peninsula as was
I. We informed our server of this cosmic
connection, and it is cosmic in that it a rare thing to find three people
hanging out "downstate" who can all lay claim to having Upper
Peninsula roots. So that was fun.
Anyway, I was hoping to have time to scrounge around for a Michigan cookbook to commemorate this trip, but I did not
and so I pulled what I think is the last of my Michigan cookbooks off the shelf and set to
work.
This cookbook is based on the PBS show, Fork in the Road,
and is all about Michigan . The author, who is also the show's host,
showcases Michigan
foods by regions and then makes recipes using these foods.
As a native to the state, I am very familiar with some of
these "native" incredible edibles such as whitefish, cherries and
blueberries. Naturally, the author
suggests using "Michigan "
ingredients for many of these dishes but that was pretty impossible. For one thing, I am not hauling whitefish on
a plane with me (plus, you'll mostly find it in Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula ) and it was way too late for blueberries
and cherries. You should know that the
area I was in, Traverse City, hosts the National Cherry Festival every July (1st
part) and you cannot turn around in that town without spotting a cherry
"whatnot," regardless of whether or not the festival is in full
swing. In fact, I am quite enjoying some hot coffee in my "Traverse City – Cherry
Capital of the World" mug as we speak!
The book is broken out into recipes by region: "Freshwater;" "The Fruit
Belt;" "Middle of the Mitt" (i.e. the lower peninsula);
"The Thumb" (the area along Lake Huron's lakeshore, home to such
cities as Port Sanilac and Port Huron
(I've been to both); "The U.P." (my home turf), and then "Great
Lakes Pantry," which features side dishes, spices, vinaigrettes, and other
items used in cooking. That said, I'm
not sure these are necessarily native to Michigan
but we'll run with it.
Recipes from these regions are as follows:
Freshwater:
- Freshwater Whitefish Chowder with Bacon, Potatoes and basil – p. 15
- Smoked Whitefish Nachos with White Cheddar, Smoked Tomato Salsa and Cilantro – p. 19
The Fruit Belt:
- Balaton
Cherry and
- Barbecued
Pork Ribs with Blueberry Chipotle
Middle of the Mitt:
- Grilled
Ears of
The Thumb:
- Maple Sage Breakfast Sausage – p. 140
- Maple Corndogs – p. 147
The U.P.:
- Beef and Pork Pasty with a Classic Suet Crust – p. 166
- Maple Chocolate Truffles – p. 169
A few of these sections need an explanation:
If you live along Lake Superior (in either the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan or the Duluth area of Minnesota ), then you
probably know that Whitefish is considered the poor man's lobster. I am not fond of fish so I don't eat it, but
the rest of my family loved it. There is
hardly a restaurant in these regions that doesn't have it on the menu. Even though many of you won't be able to get
your hands on Whitefish, you might want to try some of these recipes with a
comparable fish from your area. Check
out Google for a home-turf
equivalent.
Another wildly popular food from the U.P. (if not the most
popular) is the Cornish pasty (pronounced pass-tee). The Upper Peninsula (and northern Minnesota ) is big into
mining (of iron ore) and immigrants came from all over to work the mines. The Cornish pasty was popular in the mining
community but then caught on throughout the region. Today, you will find pasty
shops everywhere and if you are traveling the area and find one, give it a try.
The crust for this recipe (which I did not try) is made with a traditional suet crust but I've
eaten plenty in my day that were made from vegetable shortening or lard and all
was well. Where disputes arise is the
filling (rutabagas or not) and whether or not a pasty should be eaten with
gravy, ketchup, or plain. We were always
a "ketchup" family as a pasty is really like a meat and potato
casserole/meatloaf, wrapped in crust.
Then there's the "Fruit Belt" of the lower peninsula. The area I was just in, Traverse City (and environs) is the cherry
capital of the world. Also found in the
"Fruit Belt" (as well as the U.P.) are blueberries and maple trees
that yield maple syrup. My dad used to
tap the trees on our property to make syrup, and we also went blueberry picking
several times when I was a kid. Rounding
out the fruit selection are recipes featuring Michigan apples.
As to the corn chowder I made, of course the recipe
suggested using Michigan sweet corn, but alas,
I used up some Iowa
sweet corn brought to us by friends this summer. I am no corn connoisseur but I doubt anyone
could tell the difference.
So, with cheating on my mind (!), I set to work making this
dish and I have to tell you that it failed because I failed. The chowder itself is really flavorful and
very good but I screwed up the corn situation and it was basically
inedible.
Here's what happened:
twice now, our Iowa
friends have given us corn (Thanks, Doug and Emily!) and twice I've frozen it
on the cob. Methinks I should have
blanched the corn or something but I didn't because what do I know? And so twice
it ended up being soggy when I thawed it – no surprise, right?
So this time around, I decided to try to dry the kernels by
spreading them on a baking pan and setting my oven to 275. When that didn't work, I thought maybe I
should roast the kernels and so I put them in the oven at 425 just for a short
period of time but by then, it was too late.
I was bereft.
Naturally, I should have looked online to see if I could
find instructions, but I thought my solution would work. It didn't.
As Andy said "Well, this is how we learn." Ha!
So here's my advice to you if you make this dish (which you
should because everything else was delicious): 1) if you use sweet corn (and the dish calls
for you to add the de-kerneled cobs to the
chowder), do it when the corn is fresh, period, end of discussion. 2) if
you cannot do that and want to make this dish, use frozen corn (proportionate
to what you would remove from the cob) and cook it as directed. And this is because 3) even though the recipe
says to pour the hot chowder broth over the raw kernels to cook them, I am not
sure that will happen unless you are using fresh kernels. That said 4) the only ingredient in this
chowder's "broth" is cream.
That's it. My cream simmered
nicely but it also thickened which is fine for the end result, but not so much
to cook the kernels – at least in my completely inexpert opinion, emphasis on
the "in."
I found I wanted to add chicken broth or water to the
chowder so it was less thick but did not as I almost always stick to the recipe
and the recipe said to use cream (and only cream). You might want to tinker with it.
Finally, this recipe calls for you to use 1 tablespoon (less,
if you make half the recipe as I did) of Roasted
Garlic Puree, found on page 88, but you have to roast a lot of garlic for
that 1 tablespoon and I didn't want to deal with it. So here's what I did instead: I caramelized one small onion along with some
sliced garlic cloves, then pureed that and added it to the dish. Worked just fine without the added fuss of
roasting garlic.
And so kids, if you rework the recipe for either fresh corn
or frozen (but cooked) corn, I think this might work. Heck, you could probably
even use canned corn because who's going to know?
After we picked our way around the corn, Andy suggested that
maybe I could try again but I am not that fond of corn that I wanted to do so
and so I passed. Besides, I know where I
sinned and shall now say the kitchen equivalent of five Hail Mary's and move on. And if you don't want to make corn chowder,
there are plenty of other delicious recipes in this book with fabulous photos
to boot (I am so hungry right now).
This concludes "Michigan ,
My Michigan," a look back at my home state and the fond memories I had of
living and touring it. As an aside, many
people (including me) think that "Michigan ,
My Michigan" is the name of our state song but it isn't. According to Wiki, the state song is just "My
Michigan." I can see why there is
confusion though, as the lyrics say "Michigan ,
my Michigan ..."
over and over but details, details.
4 tablespoons unsalted sweet butter
1 cup white onions, peeled and diced
½ up leeks, white part only, diced
1 tablespoon Roasted Garlic Puree (recipe below) Ann's Note: or substitute caramelized onions and garlic –
see below
½ pound red skin potatoes, washed and sliced
*9-10 ears ultra fresh double sweet corn, preferably from
Michigan, shucked, kernels removed, reserving "bones" (ears) *Ann's Note – Important see notes above
and below about the corn situation
3 ½ - 4 cups heavy cream
Sea salt, to taste
Clancy's Fancy Hot Sauce, or similar, to taste
½ small lemon, juiced
For the roasted garlic
puree – makes about 1 cup (of which you need ½-1 tablespoon)
1 pound fresh hardnecked garlic, whole heads or similar
½ cup extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
Fresh rosemary sprigs
And if you want to skip that, you can caramelize one small
onion and a couple of garlic cloves (sliced) and then puree that.
To make the garlic puree:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Peel the outermost layers of skin off the heads of garlic
leaving an intact whole head free of any scrap.
Split the heads in half (horizontally) opening the cloves. Put the heads, cut sides up, in a small
baking dish and pour the olive oil over them.
Season with salt, pepper, and top with the rosemary.
Cover tightly with foil or lid, place in the oven, and roast
until about three-fourths cooked, about 45 minutes. Uncover and return to the oven until the
cloves begin to pop out of their skins and brown, about 15 minutes.
When cool enough to handle easily, squeeze the roasted
garlic into a small bowl. Press firmly
against the skins to extract as much of the sweet roasted garlic as you can.
Add the oil from the baking dish and puree with the back of
a spoon or in a small food processor until a paste forms.
Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator, for up to 1
week.
To make the chowder:
In a 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter; sauté the onions and
leeks over a moderate heat until translucent and wilted, about 10 minutes.
Add the Roasted Garlic Puree (Ann's Note: or pureed
caramelized onions/garlic mixture or skip this all together!) and the sliced
red skin potatoes. Cook for another 3
minutes or until the potatoes are warmed and completely coated in the
butter. Add the heavy cream, "corn
bones" and season with the salt and hot sauce.
Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender
and the "bones" have released their flavor. Remove and discard the "bones."
***Place the rest of the raw corn kernels in the bottom of a
soup tureen and pour the hot soup base over all, season to taste with the lemon
juice. Serve immediately.
***Ann's Note: Since I screwed up the corn portion of our
program, let me just remind you that to achieve the results above, use fresh
corn otherwise, frozen but cooked corn is probably your best bet. I just didn't think the "hot soup
base" was hot enough to cook the corn but that's just me. I also think the base was too thick and needs
more than just cream but that's not what the recipe says!
If you get the corn right though, this chowder will be a
home run instead of a slight swing and a miss.
