Capirotada - Spanish pudding, a Pinedo recipe

When I first read Pinedo's recipe on pages 47-48 called "Capirotada," I was astonished at the concepts embedded in it.  This looks like an English bread pudding but doesn't contain the milk-and-egg mixture that soaks the bread.  Instead it uses a sugar syrup.  So I expected it to be a dessert.  Except it has green onions, tomatoes, and hard-boiled eggs.  So savory?  But then it also has raisins.  What is this thing?

Wikipedia provides a brief history of the dish, stating that it originated in Spain as a savory dish with meat and stale bread as early as the 1400s.  Then, with its introduction to Mexico during the Spanish Conquest, it slowly shifted to the sweet dish of today.  In fact, it currently is a favorite to consume during Lent and typically has cheese as its only savory ingredient.

It appears to me that Pinedo's recipe came from a time when the recipe was still shifting from savory to sweet. The 1400s recipe moistens the stale bread with broth and beaten eggs - and those ingredients were available in Mexico, so why the shift to the syrup?  I can't help but think someone like me who has a raging sweet tooth decided to try it, and liked it.  Or perhaps using sugar was a display of wealth used to impress an important person.  

Whatever the reason, I wanted to try it.  

My Translation

My Redaction

one 1-1/2 pound loaf of white bread

10 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

1 tablespoon butter

2 green onions, chopped

3 cups boiling water

1/4 cup fresh tomato, chopped and including the juice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

3/4 teaspoon pepper

3 cups sugar

1 cup sliced almonds

Slice bread very thin, 1/4 inch thickness or less; toast to golden brown.

Slice the cheese or use shredded as I did.

Slice the eggs.

Melt the butter in a skillet, add green onions, tomato, and salt.  Saute it over medium-low heat until the tomato and onions are soft.  Don't let it get too dry.  

Add boiling water, raisins, pepper, and sugar to the skillet.  Simmer it about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  While it is heating, assemble the capirotada.

In a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish, pour enough of the sauce to cover the bottom, distributing the raisins and onions across the bottom.  

Here is the order of the layers that start on top of the syrup on the bottom:

Bread

Cheese

Eggs

Almonds

Repeat until the casserole is full, making the last layer just bread, syrup, and almonds.  

Heat it through in the oven.  Don't bake it, just get it hot.  Then broil it for a few minutes to make the top golden brown.

Very thin!

Golden brown

This is just 2/3 of the syrup.

My Notes

Originally I thought she intended me to use tomato paste, not fresh tomato, but a look around the 'net showed a few recipes that used fresh.

The tomatoes and onion mixture smelled so good while it was frying!  And I didn't let it get "too dry."

Originally I used 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar with the spices, but after assembling the capirotada, I felt it looked too dry.  I let it heat for 20 minutes and checked it - the bread was definitely too dry.  So I made another batch of syrup with just salt and pepper - no onions or tomato - and brushed some over the top layer of bread then poured the rest over all the layers.  Another 10 minutes later, I noticed the cheese was melted.

I actually started with 1 cup of sugar and then kept tasting until it seemed "very sweet."  I realized this gave made a basic simple syrup with a sugar-to-water ratio of 1 to 1.

It wasn't time to serve it, so I dropped the oven temperature to about 225 deg just to keep it warm.  At serving time, I broiled it for just a few minutes to brown the top.

Distribute the veggies and fruit about the bottom of the casserole pan.

First bread layer.

All the layers except the top.

All done.  Maybe broil a little less so as not to scorch the nuts and raisins.

The Verdict

I had several friends as guest tasters - ones confident enough in my cooking that they requested me to experiment on them.  (!)  We had the capirotada along with a tossed green salad and baked chicken thighs.  (Notice that I had the thighs as a backup plan in the case no one liked the experiment; no one would go hungry.)

We liked it!  We found it intriguing to have the sweet syrup and syrup-soaked bread together with the cheese, eggs, raisins, onions, and almonds.  The pepper flavor came through but was not overwhelming, and made an interesting complement to the sweet syrup.  The cheese seemed to add body to each bite but did not, in itself, add much flavor.  Perhaps cotija cheese would be better?  

The almonds were a good idea as they added crunch to an otherwise soft dish.

The general consensus was that it was a good side dish - and it was nice to have the protein and non-sweet of the chicken to go with it.  (Whew!)

I was glad that I added more syrup to the mixture.  The bread was not dry, not even the top.  The lower layers of bread were very moist, and I liked that a lot.  

Layers!

Another guest taster tried it the next day and thought that it would make a very good brunch dish, because of the sweet bread (like French toast) and the eggs and onions (like an omelet).  

Success!

I tried the syrup before it all went onto the layers, and loved the mixture of sweet, onion, tomato (very faint, but there), and pepper.  The salt was not discernible, but it needed to be there and none of us felt like the dish needed more.

By the way, it was good hot from the oven and also warmed up as leftovers.

Persimmon Jam, yet another persimmon recipe (1940s)

I know, I know!  You are thinking, "ANOTHER persimmon recipe??"  Did I mention I had a lot of persimmons?  And, well, The California Cook Book also had a recipe for persimmon jam.  (See the February 1 and March 1 posts for the other persimmon recipes.)

Found on Archive.org.

Mine are Fuyu persimmons, which means they are not astringent if not fully ripe, unlike the Hachiya variety I learned to eat first.  You can eat them when they are crisp-firm like an apple or softer or (my favorite) so soft they are like eating pudding.  That is when they are the sweetest.  

Pages 319 - 320

Ms. Callahan said the persimmons for her jam need to be as soft as jelly, and so I saved a bunch of the very soft ones just for this recipe.  They didn't all get soft at the same time, so I kept them in the refrigerator while waiting for enough to make the recipe.  Some were much riper than others.

My Redaction with Notes

2 cups persimmon pulp from very ripe persimmons

2 cups sugar

I used a few more persimmons than what you see here to get 2 cups.

My persimmons were so ripe that cutting them up was not an option.  I broke open the skin and used a spoon to scoop out the pulp.  Remove the seeds as needed -- not all persimmons have seeds, but some do.  I did not include the skin.

Instead of pushing the pulp through a sieve, I used a stick blender to puree it.

I chose to use a double boiler and set the water level so it went up the sides of the insert.  

After I mixed the pulp and the sugar, I put the insert into the double boiler for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, while the pulp got to "simmer" temperature.  I noticed it steamed a little at that time and a few bubbles formed along the edge of the mixture.

The clean jars were filled with water and heated in the microwave for 10 minutes to help sterilize them.  I was not intending to fully can the jam, just get it in very clean jars to store in the refrigerator.

Then I set the timer for 20 minutes and stirred the mixture continuously while it cooked.  I noticed it got thicker as the time went on. 

I ladled the jam into the empty, hot jars, put on the lids, then put them into the refrigerator.

Two cups pulp.

Pureed.

See the bubbles?  I call that "simmering."

Inside the blue circle you can see a little pile-up of jam.  Thicker!

Three jars like this and a little extra.

The Verdict

I managed to keep the mixture from boiling and noticed that the maximum temperature was 175 degrees F.  So I had hoped for no bitterness.

The jam was beautifully thick; just right I would say, for spreading (or even eating off the spoon).

Beautiful!

The flavor was fascinating.  I know it was just persimmons and sugar, but I would swear it tasted like it had spices in it, like cinnamon and ginger or allspice.  I got the persimmon flavor and the sweetness, but it wasn't too sweet, which surprised me.  And no bitterness!  

The texture was intriguing, too.  It was pretty smooth, which is probably because I pureed the pulp.  It also had a slight gelatinous quality to it.  Not in an off-putting way.  I'm not sure what caused that.

So success!  

When I was first contemplating the recipe, I thought I would probably want to add spices to it, but I know now it is not necessary.  The only adaptation I might make would be to add a little lime juice to the jam once it was cooked and before it went into the jars.  Just a thought, anyway.

Adobo para carne de cerdo - Pork Marinade, a Pinedo recipe

Encarnación Pinedo, in her cookbook, El cocinero español, mostly arranged her recipes in categories with those categories in alphabetical order in Spanish.  (I say "mostly" because not all recipes in a category seem to fit into that category.  For example, under her "Fritters" category, we find a recipe for carmelized peanuts.)

Under her "Adobos" category, there is a recipe for a pork roast marinade on page 3.

My Translation

This recipe intrigued me because of her use of mint.  Now I have been experiencing historical cooking for decades, so I am used to seeing ingredients that are otherwise familiar to me being used in ways that are different than what I grew up with.  But mint with meat and it wasn't even a mint sauce or jelly on lamb?  I had to give it a try.

My Redaction

2 dried New Mexico chiles

8 dried costeño chiles

4 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup chopped peppermint, stems and all

1 cup chopped Italian oregano (a cross between oregano and marjoram)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2.8 pounds boneless pork cushion meat

I love the colors!

Remove stems and seeds from the chiles.  Soak the chiles in hot water to cover until soft, about 15 minutes.

While they are soaking, chop herbs.  Put into a container large enough to comfortably hold the pork.  Add the salt and pepper.

Put the chiles and garlic into a blender with just enough of the soaking water to blend it.  I got a thick, red liquid with small chunks of chile and garlic in it. Pour this into the container.

Use the vinegar to rinse out the blender, pouring it all into the container.

Mix the marinade in the container.

Add the pork.  Turn the meat until all sides are covered by the marinade.   Spoon some marinade over the top.

Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours, turning the meat occasionally.

Drain off liquid but leave the paste and herbs on the surface until ready to roast.* See note below.

When you are ready to roast the meat

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  

Remove pork from the refrigerator.  Rinse off marinade and pat dry.

Place the pork on a baking sheet with low sides. 

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 375 degrees F to finish the baking.  Start checking the internal temperature about 30 minutes in - the goal is 145 degrees F.  Recommended baking time is 15 to 20 minutes per pound.

When baking is done, cover the meat with a tent of foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Slice thin and serve.

Pureed chiles and garlic

Herbs, pepper, and salt

Have not yet added the vinegar

At the start of the marinating process

After 3 hours

Two days later, ready for the oven.

My Notes

The goal was a strongly-flavored marinade, and that is what decided the amount of ingredients I used.

I used those amounts of chiles because that is what I had available.  Feel free to change the amounts and the varieties.

I know that different mints have different flavor profiles, but peppermint was the only mint available in my yard at the time I made the recipe.

Similarly, my oregano is nearly dead so I turned to Italian oregano as a substitute.

*My reading on using vinegar in a marinade is that if you leave the meat in it too long, the meat gets "chalky" in flavor and possibly gets a weird texture.  So I chose three hours for the meat to have contact with the vinegar part.  

Once the meat was just in the paste and herbs, it rested in the refrigerator for two days until I had time to bake it.

I removed the meat from the oven when its internal temperature was 140 deg F because resting will allow for more cooking and we like our pork rare.

The Verdict

It looked beautiful just out of the oven.  

Mmmmmmmmm!

Slicing it showed the pale pink we want in our pork roasts. (Note:  The US pork industry is well-known for being safe from trichinosis - but if your local pork supply is suspect, cook it to an internal temperature of 145 deg F to be safe.)

Yes, mmmmmmmm!

My guest taster and I tried various parts of the sliced meat to see how the marinade worked.  We both noticed that the flavor was stronger near the edges and got lighter more towards the middle.  This is not surprising because the marinade was near the edges!

Overall, the marinade flavor was not strong, which I think was good.  It was there and it definitely enhanced the flavor of the meat.  

We both liked the subtle mint flavor!  The mixture of chiles, garlic, oregano, and mint was good, although we couldn't really distinguish the chiles, garlic, and oregano from each other.  I suspect that you could use more of each and still make a good marinade.  Or let it marinate longer, but I don't know how long until the vinegar makes the meat chalky.

It was a pork roast with additional flavors that were good and not overwhelming.  Success!  The leftovers were tasty, too.  Reheating allowed the marinade flavors to shine through better than eating the meat cold.

Fluffy Fruit Dressing, AKA Women's Club Fruit Dressing (1940s)

In the two previous posts I wrote about Genevieve Callahan's The California Cook Book for Indoor and Outdoor Eating.  Click here to see the post with the dressing in it.

Found on archive.org.  An amazing source!

She mentioned a "Fluffy Fruit Dressing" several times but does not have a recipe specifically named that.  One clue she left was that it was in the dressing section, so after reading all the recipes carefully, I concluded that what she really meant was the "Women's Club Fruit Dressing." (Pages 38-39) It is a cooked, flavored dressing that is blended with whipped cream just before serving, thus "fluffy".  

To be fair, it could also be the recipe above it, "Old Fashioned Cooked Dressing" because it, too, is mixed with whipped cream when used with fruit salads.  But its main flavors are vinegar, mustard, and celery seed whereas the Women's Club dressing's flavors were mainly currant and lemon.

This seemed just right to go with the persimmon and pineapple salad.  And, as you saw in the previous post, it was!

My Notes

I could not find currant jelly at the store, but I did buy a jar of currant preserves -- currants in a sweetened syrup.  So I drained the syrup off the fruit by pressing it through a sieve and used 1/2 cup of the syrup.  I did not need to melt it because it was already liquid.

I think it is better to beat the egg whites with the salt and sugar before cooking the lemon, sugar, and yolks mixture.  That way you don't overcook the mixture while beating the whites and it is still hot when the whites are mixed in.

The yolk mixture never got thick while cooking, but it did thicken, so I call that a win.  After it chilled, it was thick.  

I used 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream that was, after beating, mixed with most of the cooked dressing.

The cooked dressing ingredients

With the currant syrup.

Folding in the egg whites.

              

Cooking is done.

The finished product.

The Verdict

Yes, this was good.  It was acidic from the lemon, flavorful from the lemon and currant, not too sweet, and the fluffy part was a nice complement to the persimmon and pineapple gelatin salad.

Everyone particularly liked the currant flavor, although most said they never had it before.  It adds a deep fruity flavor that balanced out the other flavors of the dish.

I wonder how it would taste if frozen like ice cream.  I think it would be a good topping on a vanilla cake or angel food cake, too.  Honestly, it was good just eaten off the spoon!

Success!  

Fashionable Ox - a Beef Stew (Pinedo recipe)

I am continuing to try out some of Encarnación Pinedo's stews.  Today's is a beef stew, one that I would consider a "standard" European (really French, I think) style with an interesting historical direction. It is on page 39, and I love the name.

My Translation

My Redaction

2 1/2 pounds of beef

1/4 cup broth, any flavor

1/4 cup white wine

2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce cans)

1/2 pound ham, cubed (about 1/2-inch size)

8 ounces carrots

1/2 cup chives, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon coriander

First cut the beef into cubes, about 1-inch on a side, roughly.  Place in a slow cooker, add the broth and the wine.

Cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours.

Cut the carrots into bite-sized pieces as needed. 

In a skillet, combine the tomatoes, ham, carrots, chives, and spices.  Bring to a slow simmer.  Cook about 30 minute or until carrots are tender, stirring occasionally.

Mix in the drained beef and serve.

Sauce before cooking

Sauce after cooking

Beef after cooking.  Just use the meat and discard the liquid.

My Notes

I had some pork broth in my refrigerator, so I used that with the meat.  

Pinedo specifies "especies finas", "fine spices", and this is the only recipe that calls for that mix.  I interpreted it as a medieval spice blend called "powder fines", which can contain any number of spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, cardamon, coriander, grains of paradise, ginger, nutmeg, and so on.  The basic idea is a savory (vs sweet) mixture even though it uses many spices I consider "sweet", as in "I expect to see them in cookies, cakes, etc."

In making my choices, I knew one of my guest tasters does not like cinnamon, so I avoided that.  Putting in two savory spices (pepper and coriander) and two sweet spices (mace and cardamom) seemed like a good combination without risking making the spice blend too strong and overwhelming the dish.

Notice that she didn't call for salt.  I believe that the ham is a good way to introduce salt into the stew.

I used small carrots, so I didn't cut them.  I wanted the look of the bright orange carrots as part of the stew.  

This was so simple to prepare.  I appreciated that because it was a busy few days and I could easily prepare all in advance.  In fact, after the meat and sauce were done, I cooled and stored them separately in the refrigerator overnight.  The day of the meal I reheated the sauce, added the meat, and let the whole stew slowly warm through on the stove.

There was no need to defat anything before reheating.  Most of that fat had been left behind when I took the meat out of the slow cooker.

The Verdict

I served it with shell macaroni on the side and a tossed green salad.  And wine!

Visually, the stew was appealing with its colors and shapes.

The meat was tender and everyone noticed that.  

The sauce was flavorful and the carrots were tender, too, but not mushy.  I really liked that.

The entire mixture was good with the meats, tomatoes, chives, and carrots all contributing to the taste experience.  I suggested that the spice blend was too strong and was quickly outvoted by the guest tasters.  No one wanted salt on it.

The stew was well-received.  When I had the leftovers the next day, I decided that spice mixture wasn't too strong, but I thought it was close to being so.  If this worries you, I would cut down on the pepper a little.  

Success!

The stew matches the tablecloth...