Pickled Cherries

Sometimes you just need to go outside and do something yourself.  I visited the Mile High Ranch recently to pick cherries off their 60+ year old trees.  It was fun and felt like I was getting in touch with nature and history.  Sure, I could have gone to the store and bought cherries, but why not have an adventure?

Luscious, sweet cherries

I came home with 9 pounds of cherries, so of course I had to find something historical to do with them.  I decided against making wine or infusing liquor with them.  I was tempted by desserts and may end up doing one of the boiled or steamed pudding recipes I found.

Today's recipe appealed to me because of the pickled loquats I made while my tree was in full production.  They were tasty to eat and the leftover liquid was good in my tea.  Pickling cherries was high up there on the "Ooooo!  I want to try this!" scale.

I found it in my digital copy of the The White House Cook Book, 1887 version.



The authors, Fanny Lemira Gillette and Hugo Ziemann, have impressive credentials.

Hugo Ziemann was at one time caterer for that Prince Napoleon who was killed while fighting the Zulus in Africa.  He was afterwards steward of the famous Hotel Splendide in Paris.  Later he conducted the celebrated Brunswick Cafe in New York, and still later he gave to the Hotel Richelieu, in Chicago, a cuisine which won the applause of even the gourmets of foreign lands.  ...

Mrs. F. L. Gillette is no less proficient and capable, having made a life-long and thorough study of cookery and housekeeping, especially as adapted to the practical wants of average American homes.

(Publisher's Preface)

The books starts off with directions for carving.  Then it covers a wide range of recipe categories and includes menus for the various seasons, months, and holidays.  It concludes with helpful household management ideas, ranging from "Housekeepers' Time-Table", to dyeing, etiquette, giving dinners, and even measures and weights. 

Today's recipe is from the Pickles section.

Ground spices, not whole

My Notes

I was completely out of whole cloves and never had whole blades of mace, so I chose to use ground spices.  Unfortunately, I didn't see their note about putting the ground spices into a bag, so I put them right into the vinegar/sugar mix for cooking and for pouring over the cherries in the jar.

I chose apple cider vinegar and white sugar.  The authors suggested either apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar for pickling.

The recipe did not specify removing the seeds, so I left the cherries unstoned.  I picked through my haul and chose only the cherries that were firm and unblemished.  I decided to make one quart's worth.

Sure enough, one quart in my measuring cup fit a one quart canning jar!



As per directions, I used "a large cupful" of vinegar, measuring just over 8 ounces.

The vinegar, sugar, and spices went into a small saucepan, brought to a boil, and then simmered for five minutes.

Some spices stuck to the walls.  I did not worry about this.

Once it had cooled, I poured it over the cherries.  It did not fill the jar up; it only filled to about halfway.

Not enough!

So I estimated it needed another 6 ounces of the vinegar/sugar mix, which I made but did not add any more spices to it.  Once that was boiled and cooled, I poured it over the cherries.  It still wasn't enough and I was out of apple cider vinegar, so I topped it off with some white wine vinegar.  I poured straight from the bottle, without adding any sugar or spices.  It only took a few tablespoons to nearly cover the cherries.

Close enough

Then I put on the lid and put it into the refrigerator to pickle.  Lately I have been making refrigerator pickled vegetables, so I know they need at least a few hours for the pickling juice to have an effect on them.  I decided to let them sit overnight.

The Verdict

To recap, I needed twice as much of the vinegar/sugar/spice liquid to cover the cherries.  Roughly 16 to 20 ounces of vinegar.

I tried them the next day.  My reaction was this:  they need more time to actually taste pickled -- mostly they tasted like cherries with a vinegar coating.  Another day is needed for the process.

The next day they were more pickled but were too sour from the vinegar.  I added more sugar, shook the jar, and waited more.

A week later it was still too sour except for a guest taster who REALLY loves vinegar/pickled foods.  I added more sugar and waited again.

A few weeks later, I thought it was almost right.  The liquor is still very sour but the cherries themselves are slightly translucent and pickled all the way through.  The spices add a light note and were not dominant in flavor.



I like them!  Success!  I think they would be good over vanilla ice cream or mixed into a fruit salad (remove the pits first), and they are also good just out of the jar.  I think the liquor would be a good base for a shrub, to have a syrup of some sort mixed into it and then diluted with water.

They were still somewhat sour (that made them "almost right") so I added more sugar.  I'll keep doing that until I am happy with the sweet-sour balance.   I have probably used more than 1/2 cup of white sugar to get it this far.

Pork Chops Normandie -- A Train Recipe

I have several cookbooks pertaining to U.S. railroads.  Some I got at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.  Others I found at various other railroad museums around California.   My travel companion often finds these for us to visit, and I love looking through the museum stores to see what cookbooks they might have.

ISBN 978-0-8018-9323-0 

This one, Dining on the B&O, by Thomas J. Greco and Karl D. Spence, I probably got at the Sacramento museum, but I honestly can't remember right now.  In case you don't already know, the Baltimore and Ohio (B & O) Railroad took special pains to offer its customers excellent food, as an enticement to bring in more customers.  From the inside front cover:

Passengers who dined on the Baltimore and Ohio during the heyday of American railroading received five-star service:  white tablecloths, china, and silver; food cooked from scratch; and the undivided attention of skilled waiters.  The B&O's cuisine won wide acclaim as the finest railway food in the country.  Passengers enjoyed it as the slightly swaying dining car clicked along over the rails.

The authors, "captivated by the romance of the subject", researched the original sources of the recipes.  Most of them were from the 1940s and 1950s.  In this book, they give the original recipes along with modern interpretations, and photographs of the dining cars from the period.

The foreword is particularly fun to read as it describes your experience as a passenger, from beginning to end, as it could have been in autumn, 1957.  Written by the last Director of Passenger Services, William F. Howes, Jr., so you know it is authentic!

Most of the recipes remind me of the food my grandparents from the U.S. Midwest would have fixed and enjoyed.  Most of the spicing is with salt and pepper; many recipes include cream, butter, tomato sauce, bell peppers.  For me, who doesn't normally cook these types of dishes, this is a reminder of my childhood.

I would not label the recipes as unusual or surprising.  They are solid meals, some with a bit of flair, that could be "prepared from scratch in a kitchen that occupied a space about 16 feet long and only 7 1/2 feet wide."  (page 3)  If you get this book, take the time to read pages 3 and 4, which describe how they managed to prepare all this food as well as store it and all the utensils, pots, china, crockery, glassware, and silverware in that tiny space.  Truly impressive.

One recipe that appealed to me, because I love meat combined with fruit flavors, is on page 80.

Pork Chops Normandie

When ordering chops for this item show on requisition number of chops desired.  These will be furnished ready cut and four to the pound.  To prepare, place in a greased baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour apple cider over chops until juice is even with chops.  Pare and slice firm tart apples over the chops.  About two applies to six chops.  Over the apple sprinkle cinnamon, a little ground clove and ground nutmeg.  Add two bay leaves and bake in a moderate oven about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The apple cider, apples, and spice flavor impart a most delicious flavor to these chops and is something different from the average pork chop dinner.  Two chops are to be served to the order.



The "Chef's Comments" (modern interpretation) gives specific measurements for three chops, but I think the original recipe is easy enough to follow.  I already knew that a moderate oven is 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  I used one bay leaf for three chops.

My Notes

I greased the baking dish with olive oil. Salt and pepper went on both sides of the chops, which were at least 3/4" thick and weighed about 1/2 pound each.

It took about 1/3 of the bottle of apple juice you see above to get it "even with the chops", meaning to their tops.  Between 2 and 3 cups of juice into the baking dish I used.

I only needed about 3/4 of the green apple to cover the chops, so the rest was cut smaller (unpared) and put into the apple juice next to the chops.  I decided to place the apple slices decoratively on the chops, with a hope they would stay there and look good when I served the chops.

A slight dusting of cloves, a heavier dusting of cinnamon, and a medium dusting of nutmeg were applied.  The bay leaf went into the juice.

The air was scented with the spices and apple juice while it was baking.  Heavenly!

Ready for the oven!

This how they were after one hour at 350 degrees.  The recipe called for 1 1/4 hours, but when I tested them with a thermometer, the interior was over 180 degrees, which worried me.



The Verdict

These chops were two to a pound, so I only served one per person.  They were joined by a tossed green salad and sourdough bread.



It was easy to move the chops from the baking dish to the plate without losing the decoratively placed apples on top.  I chose not to include the apple juice as part of the serving.

First let me say that the flavors of apple and spices was present in every bite, and I loved it.  I thought the spices would be more in the meat than they were, but that didn't make sense because they didn't touch the meat much.  The apple flavor had penetrated the meat, which was wonderful.

My guest taster felt the same, and we both noticed that the meat was drier than we wanted.  I believe that one hour in the oven was too long.  If I do this again, I would check the internal temperature after 30 minutes.  But it was not bad or too dry -- we still ate every bite and enjoyed it!

Success!  I think my grandparents would have liked it and my grandmother would have fixed it more than once.  I recommend it, as it was easy to put together and fun to eat.

I am tempted to reduce the apple juice baking liquid to make some sort of sauce to serve with the chops, though, or to use it with some other dish, or to cook more meat in it (pork or chicken) before tossing it out.  It just seemed like a waste of a beautiful thing.