Since I spent today riding the subway for literally hours and making creme anglaise and bread, I hope y'all think it's ok that I recycle some old material and talk to you about candying today. We candied citrus peel in our first couple of weeks of school and I found it to be rather delightful and recently tried it at home. It doesn't take a lot of work and it's actually kind of fun. Plus, when you do candy at home, people will think you are super talented and way cool.
You don't need a lot of ingredients to candy -- sugar (and lots of it), citrus of your choice and water. What you do is cut the top and bottom off of the citrus and then remove the flesh -- it's really the peel you are looking for. Once you have removed the flesh, simply cut the peel into 1/2 inch stripes. Then take a medium-sized saucepan and fill it with enough water to cover the peel. Bring the pan to a boil and drain and then repeat this process of boiling three more times. This takes away the bitterness of the peel and makes it nice and soft. Then, after the last boil, place the peel in a bowl and combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil (you are making a very concentrated sugar syrup when you do this). After it boils, adds the peel back into the simple syrup and let the peel simmer until it is tender. Now for this, you follow my Chef's rule, don't listen to what the recipe says, just boil it until it is translucent and tender. My recipe says that this will take three to four hours but when I made mine at school it took 45 and when I made it at home, it took one hour. Cool the peel in the syrup overnight and then put it in the fridge, it should last for months and months. When you are ready to use it, remove from the syrup, dry out slightly and dip in chocolate or roll in granulated sugar, whichever you think tastes best. For me, a person who usually hates candied peel, I find the chocolate to be the best but actually, the sugared peel is really good too. Maybe it is just the act of making it yourself that makes me like it, I don't know but whatever it is, it's good.
Since the recipe varies depending on what kind of fruit you are using, I will simply give you the verbatim recipe from my school formula book. Follow my directions from above for whichever citrus you choose to use and if you want to use one (say blood oranges or pomellos) just use the quantities for the fruit in the recipe that are closest in size.
CANDIED CITRUS RINDS
3 large oranges or 2 grapefruits or 4 lemons
3 pounds (no, not a typo) sugar
4 cups water
Follow the directions from above and in mere hours you will have your very own citrus rind!
Boiling the rinds -- Don't forget to repeat the process four times
Are they not just so pretty?!
Tomorrow more studying and practicing will be taking place and Collin Murray and I are also going to have brunch at Colicchio and Sons. I promise to provide a full report of the wonderfullness of the restaurant that Collin Murray now calls home. And PS, thanks to those of you who emailed Blog 2.0 name suggestions, they are all on the table for consideration -- what do you think of Delightfully Delicious?
Well I am glad to hear that the mizzley weather did not stop you two from getting out. It sounds like the novelty of taking the subway is wearing off. Or is it that you don't like all those people invading your personal space?
ReplyDeleteI don't mind recycled material on your blog when it comes with such great pictures and detailed instructions.
I just had one question to clarify. You don't make specific instructions to include just the peel with none of the pithy white lining material. So I take it that is why you boil the peel repeatedly. I was told that when you need the peel of a lemon or whatever for a recipe or with zesting, you try and avoid the white part of the peel because it is the bitter part. Is that correct?
We will be waiting to hear back about the details of the brunch and your impression of Collin's workplace. Maybe you can try your hand at being a food critic for the first time. But that might be unfair since you might be biased.
As for the Blog 2.0, I have been racking my brain. I thought about a suitable one just before I fell asleep last night and do you think that I can remember it now!!!
I forgot we were sposed to email the ideas - I foolishly posted mine as a comment on your previous post so here's some more...
ReplyDeleteyour suggestion: "Delightfully Delicious" is an interesting idea because it is simple, fun-sounding & alliterative to boot.
here are a couple of attempts playing on that idea...
"Decadent & Delicious" ?... too eighties
"Delicious & Delightful Culinary Ideas" ?... too wordy
"Dreamy Dishes So Delicious" - didn't know it I'm a poet
"Dee-lish Dee-light" ?... too cutesy
hey I'm tryin here...
Haha! Thanks for the idea Pat -- you knew you were so creative?! Plus, you've got that whole handsome thing working for you too! Man-alive, you are quite the catch!
ReplyDeleteDad, when you candy, you to have the white pith-y stuff. It's different when you are using just the zest in a regular recipe because the zest is where the flavour is and the pith is where the bitterness is. When you candy, you boil away all the bitterness but keep the flesh-y white pith because that's the bulk of what the rind is. Does that help?
Yes, that does help! I am afraid that I have not been as creative with my blog title suggestions. I have more of a scientific brain! Or at least that is my excuse...
ReplyDelete