Storing Fat For The Winter
(Nature • Garden)
This is the time when the stars align, and we rush to set aside the year’s/decade’s surplus for the coming winter/Great Recession, in hopes we may thus sustain ourselves and carry through to another spring/middle-class bubble ecstasy time.
Thus we swim into the late-season sea to surf the cusp of death in a cycle that has always defaulted to rebirth in the past, so why worry now? These things have always been the same.
Passed deadlines, present regrets and root canals future fall out of sight, temporarily out of mind, and into the cracks of a Medeski-Scofield jazz rendition of the Beatles Julia, while all the while a semi-authentic Texas chili (less heat in deference to the children) simmers on the stove.
Three searing hot sauce species and one excellent persimmon jam batch cool their respective heals in canning jars nestled in the fridge.
Meanwhile, this year’s pecan recipe:
Oven-Roasted Brazos Pecans
Ingredients:
→ 5 pounds shelled native Texas pecans
→ 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
→ 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
→ 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
→ 4 tablespoons brown sugar
→ Baking parchment
Method
→ Pour about 2 gallons of cold water into a large pot. Stir in 3/4 cup of salt until dissolved. Pour pecans into water and stir. Allow to soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
→ Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees. Remove pecans from pot, and drain in colanders. Spread out on cutting boards, cookie sheets or paper towels until somewhat dry.
→ Combine remaining salt, garlic, pepper and sugar in a small bowl. Place pecans in large paper bag. Sprinkle seasoning into bag. Roll top of bag shut and shake vigorously for a couple of minutes to evenly distribute ingredients.
→ Line 3 to 5 aluminum foil pans with baking parchment. Remove pecans from bag and spread in thick single layer across bottoms of the pans. Place in hot oven.
→ Roast for about 25-35 minutes until pecans have turned reddish-gold. Remove pans every 10 minutes and stir pecans, to assure they cook evenly.
→ When pecans are completely dry and “roasted” taste is apparent, they’re done. Don’t allow them to roast too long, or they’ll turn dark and bitter. Remove from heat, allow to cool in pans, and store in sterile air-tight jars in the refrigerator or freezer if you can keep them out of the hands of your children or spouse.
→ B.Dunn, Dec 06, 2009, 06 19 pm
Bob, we have two big, old pecans left in our yard since Ike. Most years, one of them produces anywhere from sixty to a hundred pounds of mid-size natives. Sometimes, in the rare years when there are few produced, we supplement these with pecans from the cemetary next door, or at the school yard a few blocks away.
This year, there are none in any of those places. The drought, I guess. But I’m keeping your recipe – sounds good.
jd
— jdallen Dec 7, 05:46 am #
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