Saturday, January 24, 2009

More Demi-glace and Those Long Awaited English Muffins

The saga of the demi-glace continues. First, this is the recipe I have been using to make my demi-glace. After reading through at least a dozen recipes this appeared to be the most straight-forward while remaining fairly authentic.

I am now at the second step. I ignored the brown sauce in the fridge for two days. It kept staring back at me, taunting me to not let it sit there and go bad before I got the energy up to go on to the next step. So this afternoon, after a bit of a nap, I chopped away at mire-poix and stirred the roux til it was nice and brown and now it simmers away nicely on the stove, filling the house with a pleasant aroma that is piquing my appetite. I ended up with a quart and a half more brown stock than I need, but I don't really see that as a problem. I am going to use some of it tonight to make a mushroom risotto. Yuummmmy!!! I think the recipe will also produce more espangole sauce than is needed, but I'm sure it will freeze nicely, too. The one thing I haven't solved is deciding what I shall cook with the demi-glace tomorrow. I'm leaning toward pan searing some steaks and making a marchand du vin sauce. My mom would be appalled that I am pan searing steaks, but it is eleven degrees outside right now and I'm not going out to barbeque! I'll fill you in on how the rest of goes....

So, here is the long awaited English Muffin recipe. It is from the Joy of Cooking. Don't forget to toast them after they come off the griddle, then spread with butter, (don't even consider using margarine, okay. Just don't) and some homemade blackberry jam. Alas, I didn't make any jam this summer, so I have to beg some off of Priscilla. She'll give me some. If she wants demi-glace. If you want two tablespoons of demi-glace and you live in Rochester, leave a comment saying so and you can come by on sunday afternoon and I will give you some. If I approve of how you plan to use it. Come on, now. How nice do you think I can be? Not that nice.

Combine in a mixing bowl:
1 C water
1/2 c scalded milk
2 tsps sugar
1 tsp salt

Disolve for 3-5 minutes :
2 T 105-115 degree water
1 package active dry yeast

Combine the two mixtures.

Sift before measuring: 4 C flour

Add 2 cups flour gradually into the milk mixture. Cover bowl with a cloth. Let the sponge rise in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours or until it collapses back into the bowl.

Beat in
2 T softened butter

Beat or knead in the remaining flour. Pat the dough into a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut the dough into 3 inch circles and cover and let rise again until doubled. Transfer carefully to a hot well-buttered griddle and cook until light brown. Turn once while cooking. Cool slightly. Enjoy!

There, anonymous, are you happy now? You will be once you make these muffins!

8 comments:

Deb said...

Two tablespoons? TWO? June, your generosity is just overwhelming, what an example you're setting.

In other news, I made pumpkin pie today. Yes, with THE pie crust. Thank you for the education. I decided to substitute vodka for the white vinegar. We'll see how it goes.

I've just made an awesome dinner of a steak with this fabulous sauce I threw together, which involved the marinade for the steak (including lots of garlic, of course), some hot pepper jelly that came in some shi-shi gift basket I was given at some point, a little flour, and then the leftover carrots from a brazillian pot roast I'd made last week, and some mushrooms I sauteed, plus some red wine. Then, puree all together with some extra-virgin olive oil until beautifully blended. It was awesome on the steak and the brussels sprouts. We are all stuffed, so the pumpkin pie may have to wait until tomorrow. I'll let you know about the vodka.

Anonymous said...

Well, I do appreciate your effort - though you neglected to post a picture for purposes of inspiration. But then, (*begin confession*) I served dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets for [one of the courses of] tonight's dinner (*end confession*) so none of us are perfect.

I am off to the kitchen to try your recipe.

The Mendon Foodie said...

Deb, you doofus, you only NEED two tablespoons to create a fabulous, luscious sauce. I suppose I have to post some sauce recipes using demi-glace for you now? Do I have to do everything for you people? Obviously, yes, I do.

Also, I wish my stupid digital camera software was easier to work with. I would post more photos if it were. Anybody know any Kodak engineers to let them know how lame their software is? Oh wait. I do.

Deb said...

Update: June, we tried the pie. Seriously, try using the vodka instead of the vinegar. It's great.

Sarah said...

I LOVE English muffins and will have to try this soon - tomorrow?? But my kitchen is really cold, so I'll have to bake something else so the dough will rise . . . .

My new recipe this week was a dried apple pie -- after some digging around in cookbooks and combining recipes, I think it turned out pretty good . . . .

Sarah said...

I LOVE English muffins and will have to try this soon - tomorrow?? But my kitchen is really cold, so I'll have to bake something else so the dough will rise . . . .

My new recipe this week was a dried apple pie -- after some digging around in cookbooks and combining recipes, I think it turned out pretty good . . . .

Anonymous said...

I tried your recipe. You're right: we were happy. Even my "this is too bland, this is too dry" husband was happy -- with two caveats:

-He had expected they would look "craggier" inside once split. But, when we compared to a Wegmans whole wheat muffin (will probably never buy again, incidentally), the look was the same.

-We ate them with inferior grocery store jam. So, how about posting a fool-proof recipe for homemade jam?

Anonymous said...

I will give you some homemade jam for your demi-glace. Does it taste good on vegetables?

Priscilla