Tonic Water Experiment #2

I have learned a little about cinchona since my last posting, but not enough to report back too much on. Suffice it to say that the South American tree grows in the hills of Ecuador and has been transplanted on numerous occasions, and people are not so good at classifying it. As such, I highly suspect that not everyone knows what cinchona bark they are purchasing, even if the herb companies claim to know.

My last tonic water was good. The fragrant nose was among its best characteristics. For my second batch, I want to make two big adjustments. The first is to remove all citrus peel. This is not because citrus is undesirable, but because it dominates both nose and flavor profile. So here is the recipe I followed this time:

4 cups water
1/4 cup cinchona bark (heaping, ground into more or less a powder)
15 cardamom pods
1 tsp coriander seeds
about 1/3 cup lavender
1 tbsp jasmine
two big handfuls of lemon balm.
1/4 tsp sea salt

brought it to a boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Then let it steep for an additional hour.

UPDATE:

After one day of steeping in the fridge, I transferred it to a carafe and let it sit another day in the fridge. Then the entire mixture was strained through a paper filter.

honey tonic #2

Then, three different tonics were made with different sugar profiles.

Agave syrup: 3/4 cup agave syrup (plus some) for 1 1/4 cinchona syrup.

Honey: 1/2 cup tupelo honey for 1 cup cinchona syrup.


Sugar: 1 1/4 cup rich syrup (2-1 ratio) for 1 cup cinchona syrup. This was a mistake--I poured more syrup in, carelessly, than I should have. The result will be a cloyingly sweet syrup.

Tonic Water Experiment #1

The bell sounded last night. The tonic water experiment has officially been launched.

Here were the ingredients:

1/4 cup powdered cinchona bark. (this required using about 3/8 of a cup of chips to yield 1/4 cup powdered)
1/4 cup citric acid
1 tbsp fresh lavender
10 juniper berries
1 tsp coriander
15 cardamom pods
1/4 tsp kosher salt
zest of: 3 lemons; 3 limes; 1 grapefruit

first stage

Fresh cut lavender

red gold?

A couple of things I learned this week. Cinchona Officialis, the bark that is most available for purchase, contains only trace quinine. It is Cinchona Pubescens that is the original fever tree. The only cinchona bark I could find was the officinalis variety. However, I also learned that the taxonomy is often muddled, so cinchona calisaya is often mistaken for officinalis, and calisaya is known to produce significant amounts of quinine. Most of the "Peruvian bark" taken from Cinchona trees are, it turns out, no longer cultivated in central and south America. And different encyclopedias (Columbia, etc.) are telling me different things.

I brought the concoction to a boil, covered it and let it simmer for thirty minutes. Then I cooled it, transferred it to a glass carafe and put it in the downstairs fridge, where it will steep for two days. Then I will take it out, strain out the big stuff and let it sit another two days before filtering it finely and mixing it with sugar syrup. Apparently I need a rich one, 2-1 sugar ratio, and almost a 1-1 tonic water to sugar. But that part will be about balance.

UPDATE:

I strained it through cheesecloth after two days, and returned the mixture to the fridge. After one more day, after which more of the sediment settled on the bottom, I strained the mixture through a paper coffee filter. Then I began mixing. One bottle I mixed with a light sugar syrup (1-1 ratio) and the remaining 2 I mixed with a heavier syrup (2-1 ratio). The light syrup required more volume to balance with the concentrate. But basically a 1-1 ratio was necessary.

The result is a potent concentrate syrup. Tasting the syrup to correct the sugar set my stomach on edge. I was not surprised by how bitter the cinchona mixture was, but I was surprised that it took the full 1-1 ratio of cinchona to sugar, and that the ratio did not result in a cloying mouthfeel or flavor.

Now--the appropriate gin and tonic recipe from this will be another matter. Because I am dealing with a concentrate, the ratios will need to be worked out. I tried the following last night to great effect:

3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. concentrate tonic
juice of quarter lime, which comes out to about half the 3/4 oz. jigger, or so.
topped with seltzer water, probably 2 oz.

I initially mixed the ingredients in the glass, then poured it back and forth once into a boston shaker.

This produced a pleasant cocktail with layered flavors. A bitter bite, bright acidity, and a nose of lavender and coriander.

Pork, over a barrel

Pulled pork is one of my favorite, and most frustrating, experiences. I long ago abandoned the tepid cue that comes out of smoke shacks both makeshift and corporate. The quality of meat is usually bad, and it is usually disguised by saucy squirts of overpowered bbq sauce. These are jars of high fructose corn syrup with pepper flakes and liquid smoke, and they serve to disguise bad meat, not to supplement flavor.

But when I cook good pork shoulder at home, the result is usually frustrating as well. For starters, I have a hard time getting the internal temperature to 190 degrees. The best I've been able to achieve is just a few ticks upward of 160. But because at that point the pork has been in 14 plus hours, I usually give up and pull it, sweat it for a few hours, and then pull it anyway.

But I have now triple-threated my pork shoulder with good results.

brined, kneaded, and basted

 The first step is to brine the meat. While I had once done this with pork shoulder, I had never repeated it. Why not do it? I made up a basic brine from Charred & Scruffed and brined the meat. The brine is essentially water and apple juice with salt, lemons, sugar, garlic, red pepper, and whole peppercorns. You bring it to a boil, chill it overnight, and then pop the pork in the morning of grilling.

I pulled the pork out of the brine about two hours before starting the grill and let it warm up to room temperature. Then I rubbed it with a simple rub--salt, garlic salt, pepper, cayenne. Frankly, the rub could have been more imaginative. Maybe a dusting with smoked paprika, or even nutmeg. Depends on which way you want to go to balance the spice. And note to self--could have used more spice.

230, all day and all night

 Now the meat is ready to go on. So I put the plate setter in the egg, dropped in a foil pan to catch the drippings, filled the foil can with apple sauce, and commenced smoking the pork. I combined hickory chunks with the charcoal. It's the easiest go-to wood. I let it smoke for two hours first at low heat and then let it rise to 230. At the two hour mark, I started the basting. Using an herb brush (sage and rosemary and oregano and thyme), I piled on southern style baste at one hour intervals for the next six hours.

The temperature kept pretty normal, although it was down quite a bit when I picked it up in the morning. After adding more charcoal, I cooked it another two hours. Total cook time: 14 hours and thirty minutes for two boneless Boston butts, weight 15 pounds.

The pork under the lights

But this wasn't the end of the story. This is when it gets interesting. First off, I let the pork sit in the pan under foil cover for another eight hours. This was a long time, and frankly was determined more by my schedule than by any premediated plan on my part. But letting the meat rest is certainly important. Then I pulled the pork. This took a long time, as it turns out that fifteen pounds of pork is a lot of pork. when the pork was entirely pulled, I added the reserve baste. I know, I didn't mention that I reserved any of the baste, but I did. Half of it in fact. I tossed it with the meat.

The pork, at rest

And then, I salted the meat. I have to admit, at this point I wish I had a good finishing salt, like a lime coriander salt. But I didn't. Boo. Hoo.

I'm rambling.

Back to the pork. I put the pork in the oven, under foil, at 400 degrees for forty-five minutes to reheat. At this point, the baste melted, the fat rendered, the salt did its magic, and the pork turned out brilliantly. Beautiful bark. Wonderful smoke ring. Succulent pig.

Pulled!

I do have a few tweaks for next time. I will go ahead and wrap the butts in foil after the eight hour mark. I will also cook it fat side up. I usually avoid this because I don't want the actual barked pork touching the grill, but I need to get over that little problem, especially as I baste. I can always grab the butt, turn it, baste it, and then put it back in place. And I'm going to go ahead and make that lime coriander salt. I also need a vinegar based bbq sauce. I've never made one successfully. Too much tomato paste in my ghost pepper sauce. It's a good sauce, don't get me wrong. But with this kind of meat, there really is no need for sauce at all.

The Rows Beautiful

Alright, lame title. I was looking to play on the architectural term of beautification, and came up with the City Beautiful--since this is the base of my rows, then, well you get the idea.

I've been wanting to add an aesthetic cap to the plain rows for some time. Given the angular nature of the yard, I desired a rounded shape. I initially wanted to plant a concave circle. It may end up this way by the end, but for right now it bulges outward. I planted three hearty perennials: two species of guara (white fountain and pink fountain) and cotoneaster dammeri, a groundcover.

More on Guara in an update. In the mean time, notice the way the front has really come along. I have out of control begonias in the planters, giving a nice pink flowering on the steps; a plot of golden pineapple and purple sage, Jethro Tull and wildflowers and French thyme. The Guara and Cotoneaster will fill out the lower area.

before

after

Tonic Water Recipes

I am on a mission to make my own perfect tonic water. The first question: what kind of quinine to get? This recipe calls for citrus and lemongrass with powdered cinchona bark. So does this one. So does this one, but it produces a spiced tonic water.

Whole bark recipes are harder to come by, but here is the first one google turned up for me. And here is another, and this one for a plain tonic water. Finally another, heavily spiced.

The three recipes using cinchona bark call for vastly different proportions. Two of the recipes essentially call for a syrup heavy on the sugar--a little less than 1 to 1 with the water. One of the recipes calls for almost a 1/2 to 1. It is the plain tonic recipe

Here's the recipe advocated by the New York Times Magazine, hence written by God himself:

Quinine Syrup

4 cups water
¼ cup (1 ounce/20 grams) cinchona bark, powdered (a coffee grinder does this well)
3-4 cups rich simple syrup (by volume, two parts sugar to one of boiling water, stirred to dissolve)
¼ cup citric acid, also known as lemon salt
3 limes, only the peeled zests
3 lemons, only the peeled zests
2 sour or Sevilla oranges, only the peeled zests (or peel of 1 grapefruit or pomelo)
1 cup chopped lemongrass (3-4 stalks)
9 whole allspice berries
6 whole cardamom pods
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon lavender

In a covered saucepan, bring all ingredients except the simple syrup to a boil and reduce heat immediately; simmer on low for a half hour, then remove from heat and allow to cool fully. Transfer to a carafe and chill for two days. Strain through a superfine chinois or cheesecloth, or by using a plunger press coffee maker. Return to carafe and refrigerate for a day or two, allowing sediment to accumulate on bottom. When layer seems stable, gently decant off the clearer liquid without disturbing the sediment “mud.” It should be about 3 cups at this point; add to this liquid an equal measure of rich simple syrup, mixing well. Funnel into a clean, cappable bottle and refrigerate. Makes roughly 6 cups or 1.5 liters.

UPDATE:

Here is a fun article on tonic waters that rates Schwepps above Fever Tree and Q's! Above all else, the article reminds us that the best tonic water is homemade. Yet be cautious! Restraint is the name of the game, and sometimes a clean tonic beats out the botanical. Like everything else, you have to fit the style to the mood.

Here's another recipe from the NY Times. This one appears to be a quick and dirty version. No resting period.

RECIPE

Tonic Syrup

Adapted from Frank Cisneros

TOTAL TIME

45 minutes, plus 30 minutes for mixture to settle

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cinchona bark flakes (see note)
• 1/2 cup finely sliced lemon grass (about 3 stalks)
• Zest of 1/2 lime, removed in long strips
• Zest of 1/2 grapefruit, removed in long strips
• 3 ounces grapefruit juice
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 12 allspice berries
• Citric acid (also known as lemon salt)
• Sugar

Preparation

1.

In a medium saucepan, combine cinchona bark, lemon grass, lime zest and grapefruit zest. Add grapefruit juice, lime juice, allspice berries and 2 cups water. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and pass through a fine strainer lined with muslin or cheesecloth into a bowl. Allow mixture to rest for at least 30 minutes, then carefully pour off liquid, leaving behind and discarding grainy particulates that have settled at bottom of bowl.

2.

For each cup of the resulting tonic water, add 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon citric acid. Cover and refrigerate until used.

YIELD

About 1 pint

• NOTE

  Cinchona bark flakes are available from Kalustyan’s, (800) 352-3451, kalustyans.com.

Finishing the Rows

Today I laid out the rest of Maia's plot.

Juliet Tomatoes and Max's Wild Cherries.

Chives (still flowering from last year); Matilda butter lettuce and red arrowhead lettuce; gentry summer squash

Diva -- Jade -- Diva cucumbers -- Matilda butter lettuce -- red arrowhead lettuce -- tomatillo.

I mixed black cow and my homemade compost into the rows and topped them with Miracle Grow Garden Soil. The soil quality doesn't look perfect, so we will see. I added some blood meal along the top, fertilized it all right off the bat and mulched the whole thing. Now I will let benign neglect bring the fruits in.

The Black Krim and the Morado

I am a fan of the black tomato. The prize of my 2012 garden were my two cherokee purple plants. The yield was moderate to large, and the fruit was dark and succulent. My predilection for strong flavors probably pushes me in the direction of dark tomatoes, and as such the cherokee purple was a wonderful introduction.

This year I have planted two varieties of black tomatoes, both heirlooms from the east.

The Black Krim comes from the Isle of Krim on the Crimean peninsula. The dark red mahogany beefsteak tomato should bring big yields and a slightly salty taste.

The Morado tomato is quite similar, but the seed is Spanish in origin. The climate conditions of its initial growth seem to favor Atlanta, as it likes both heat and elevation. I'm hoping it will be a big producer in the years to come.

The advantage this year is that I can compare the fruit of these two black tomatoes to see if there is any substantial (or subtle!) difference. And i am continuing my pattern of planting two black tomato plants a year. Sadly missing this year are yellow and orange varietals, but alas! I went light on reds last year,  We'll see how the Whopper and Rose tomatoes turn out.

Garden plantings, 2013

The tomatoes are in! For reasons well beyond my control, I was unable to plant early this year, which had been my hope. It is my dream to have early June tomatoes, but alas, not this year.

This year I bought tomatoes from GardenHood, which stocked tomato seedings from a Decatur farm. I settled on the following:

Black Krim
Beefy Big Boy
Yellow BrandywineWhopper
Morado
Rose

In the front planter, I put in Black Cherry.

More on the

I am also adding a bed to the front, and I began with lemongrass. I will add creeping perennials next, and probably put one more row in behind it, hopefully stocked with radishes, carrots, lettuces, et al.

Tomatillos are the first plant in Maia's plot.

That's all for planting--technically done on Saturday, one day before this post.

Peppers are in, ribs are smoked

So, yesterday I did a little yard work. After mulching the entire back, planting a few happy looking flowers in the herb garden and pruning the weeping bush and the Japanese Maple, I went ahead and planted a row of peppers in the front. I went with 2 yellow bells, 2 red bells, 1 banana (hot) and 1 mammoth jalapeno.

Hickory all Dickory Day

The peppers are in the tomato row of last year. The soil was sandy and black. I amended it with about three inches of homemade compost, but otherwise did not fertilize, or even lay down blood meal. Given that I've never had success with peppers, I have nothing to lose from this little experiment.

I also smoked some ribs for the occasion. I took a pair of baby backs, used the Four Seasonings blend to create a meat paste on them, and then smoked them at 220 for three hours over chunks of hickory. They came out black with a bark. I wrapped them and sweated them in the cooler for an hour. Then I put them on the grill and basted them (southern baste) for about fifteen minutes, medium heat (300 degrees).

NEXT TIME, will try foil wrapping them after 1 hour to keep the meat even more moist. I felt like the ribs were a little dry, although good. Grilling them afterwards will crust them enough, so no need to smoke em dead after one hour.

Ghost of BBQ Past Sauce, Proprietary Blend #24613

So I've made my own sauce. Again. Given that it's the second one, I have big hopes. I actually I have no hopes whatsoever. The last sauce I made did quite well, but only after it had sat for some time. Like all good sauces, the flavors have to meld.

I decided to run the same recipe I did last time. I started with 1 cup of white vinegar, added 2 tsp of coarsely ground black pepper, 2 tbsp of light brown sugar, 2 tsp of crushed red pepper, 1/2 tsp of ghost pepper sauce, 1 tsp of hot sauce, a few dashes of worcestershire sauce, 2 TBSP of tomato paste and let it simmer on the stove. The first taste was all vinegar, so I added some brown sugar and 2 more tbsp of tomato paste. And I grated in about a tbsp of white onion. Then I let that cook down a little, and added some salt. Just a few pinches until I felt like the flavors were melding.

The product is a thick red tomato based sauce, not at all like my Carolina Style Proprietary blend that I made up last time. The difference here is that I doubled the tomato paste and cooked it down more.

The sauce is still hot and the heat lingers. It needs aging. The last sauce lasted more than nine months, so we'll see how long this can make it. I'll call it The Ghost Sauce, Proprietary Blend #24613. Numbering system remains intact, obviously.