Quinoa, Dried Blueberry, and Cashew Salad
with Honey-Lime Dressing
(4-6 servings)

We love grains, but mushy grains are nasty; instead of the usual 2:1 ratio of water: grain, we cut the water by ¼ to ½ Cup, then spread the cooked grain on a cookie sheet to avoid further steaming. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is the ancient cereal of the Incas, who cultivated it for its versatility and nutrition. It’s light and fluffy like couscous, but quinoa is very high in protein and other good-for-you stuff. Try it – especially if you’re on a gluten-free diet.

1-2/3 Cups water
1 Cup quinoa
½ teaspoon salt
½ Cup dried blueberries
½ Cup toasted cashews or peanuts, halved

3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons lime juice
Grated lime zest
¼ Cup fresh mint, chopped
Salt to taste

In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and salt; stir once, then cover. Reduce heat to lowest seating and simmer rice for 10-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Spread quinoa on a cookie sheet to cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, whisk oil, honey, lime juice, zest, and mint. Add quinoa, berries, and nuts and toss well to mix. Taste and add salt. Cover and chill for 1 hour before serving.

Vegetarian Chili with Spicy Pepitas
4-6 servings

Bulgur is a quick-cooking form of whole wheat that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried, ground into particles and sifted into distinct sizes. We like to use either fine or medium bulgur in this recipe. It is generally available; Bob’s Red Mill is a favorite. This recipe doesn’t have any added fat – just throw everything in the pot and go! The pumpkin seeds are a nice, healthier touch to the usual cheese and sour cream topping (but we love those, too.)

1/2 Cup bulgur
1/2 Cup cold water
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained
1/2 Cup dried lentils
1 15-ounce can tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 Cup tomato sauce
1 Cup water, veggie broth, or beer
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 Tablespoon pure chili powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
Salt to taste

½ Cup raw shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pure chili powder.

Soak bulgur in water for 20 minutes; drain well. Add to stock pot with remaining ingredients. Cover and bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 1/2 hour, or until lentils are soft. Stir frequently, adding additional water, broth, or tomato juice if necessary. Taste and adjust seasonings.

While chili cooks, add 1 teaspoon oil to a non-stick skillet. Set over MEDIUM-LOW heat and add pepitas. Cook, stirring frequently, until seeds begin to brown and smell fragrant. Watch they don’t burn! Stir in salt and chili powder. Taste a few and adjust seasonings. Spread on a paper towel to cool.

Years ago when I worked in Cambridge, I became friends with a woman from a big Italian-American family. She grew up on “the Coast”, as the area outside of Central Square in Cambridge was known in those days; her husband was born in Italy and came to the U.S. as a kid, where his family put down roots in East Boston. Fran and Emilio are great friends and fantastic cooks.

One year, they invited Chuck and me to the annual Christmas Eve celebration at their home. What a night! Friends, family, food, fun…it was great. I was puzzled by the menu, however: it was totally seafood. They told me that it was going to be a fish and shellfish blowout – ‘Milio’ had driven to Maine that morning to secure the main ingredient for their signature dish, stuffed lobster – but I never expected the spread that appeared. I didn’t know at the time that this meal was not just an expression of their generosity and hospitality (although it was that, too). The “Feast of the Seven Fishes” is a tradition that originated in Southern Italy and continues today throughout the Italian-American community in the U.S., whose ancestors came hail mainly from southern Italy and Sicily.

The night, or la vigilia (“the vigil”) is traditionally a meatless meal, hence the fish and shellfish. By tradition, there should be a whole fish somewhere in the mix and some fish or shellfish that must be fried (why, I don’t know; because fried fish is delicious?). The number seven is also a mystery – does it represents the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church? The seven virtues? The Pythagorean “perfect” number? The number of days it took to create the earth? The seven wonders of the ancient world? The Seven Dwarfs? Humanist infidel that I am, I can’t answer to the significance of the number on this holy night (nor can the experts). I can only attest to its delicious genius. 

We’ll be celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fishes in a class on Thursday, December 4. As always with seafood classes, the final menu is dictated by what is freshest and available at the market that day. (I can order ahead, but that’s not always a guarantee.) Lobster Ravioli is on the menu (you’ve gotta have pasta at this celebration, too!) to celebrate this great New England ingredients; East Coast Cioppino gives a local spin to the San Francisco specialty. Pictured above are sea scallops baked quickly in a hot oven with garlic, lemon, breadcrumbs, and Romano cheese, a nod to Fran, who puts breadcrumbs and Romano cheese on everything, bless her Sicilian heart. Just don’t ask about her Stuffed Artichokes; that’s a story for another blog.

Everywhere we look, there are recipes. Do you ever feel just overwhelmed by all the choices? How are we supposed to decide which are good recipes? How should we read them? How do we evaluate them?

Experience is, of course, the best tool you have for perusing recipes, but here are some of Lori’s tips.

• Pictures of the dish or techniques used in creating the recipe are helpful.
• Read the entire recipe first – you may not have ingredients or equipment on hand to prepare it. Do you have enough time to prepare the recipe? The recipe requires a marinating time of 12 hours, for example, and you need to serve dinner tonight.
• See how the recipe is written. Are the directions clear?
• Are all the ingredients listed with the appropriate measurements?
• Do the instructions account for all the ingredients?
• Do the cooking times and temperatures seem appropriate?

At Culinary Underground we try to keep the way we write recipes consistent:

• Tablespoon and teaspoon are written out with Tablespoon having an initial capital to make the two terms easier to differentiate.
• Cup is written out with an initial capital.
• Top of the stove cooking temperature is capitalized (MEDIUM HIGH).
• The number or amount of servings in a recipe appears below the name of the recipe.
• In general, ingredients are listed in the order they are used.

Is this the recipe for you?

• Confine your recipe reading to books and publications that suit you and you know are reliable.
• Will you enjoy making the recipe?
• Is the basic ingredient something you and your family like? (Even if you like the way the calamari is prepared, if you don’t like calamari itself, look elsewhere. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised.)
• Do the flavorings appeal to you? If not, can you come up with substitutes that don’t alter the recipe for the worse?
• Are all the ingredients available to you?
• Do the ingredients fit within your time and budget?
• Keep in mind your family’s preferences and openness to new tastes and textures.
• Trust yourself. Sometimes it’s the recipe, not you; many cookbooks and publications don’t bother to test recipes.

Unless you’ve been meditating in an alpine monastery or pouting under a rock, you are probably aware that there’s a little election coming up in two days that everyone’s been buzzing about. Hey, laugh about it, shout about it, you’re gonna have to choose.

People don’t usually associate food with elections, but it’s part of the whole political tradition in this country. In the days before restaurants were common, American candidates used to be fed by their constituents so they could get through the all the stumping. Nowadays, candidates eat to cultivate votes. I have some cute donkey and elephant cookie cutters and will usually whip up a batch of sugar cookies to eat while watching the returns (an equal number of each animal, if I’m feeling particularly bipartisan).

Then there’s Old Hartford Election Cake. This recipe pre-dates the American Revolution; its origins can be traced to the Connecticut elections of 1771. Because colonial housewives didn’t have chemical leavenings like baking powder, this a yeast risen cake similar to an Austrian Kugelhopf. It must have nutmeg (Connecticut is, after all, the Nutmeg State), preferably freshly grated, and a sugar glaze. It’s terrific with coffee or apple cider, which is probably what the colonists were drinking, if they weren’t drinking rum (and there’s a little of that in the recipe, too).

If you’ve never worked with yeast, you’ll find this cake a nice introduction to the yeast beasties because there’s no kneading involved. You don’t even need a mixer — just a wooden spoon and a strong arm. (Just like those colonial housewives.) Yes, it contains raisins, but you can leave them out. The cake keeps well and even improves with age. If your candidate wins, celebrate by sharing your cake with friends and family. If your candidate’s a loser, well, eat the cake all by yourself, wash it down with the rest of the rum, return to the monastery, and await Armaggedon.

Old Hartford Election Cake
(10-12 servings)

1 Cup milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 package active dry yeast
3-1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, softened
1 Cup white or brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 Cup rum
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 Cup raisins
1 Cup confectioner’s sugar
2 Tablespoons orange juice

Mix the milk and sugar together in a glass measuring cup. Place in the microwave and heat for 1 minute on HIGH. Let cool to lukewarm (about 105 degrees F). Stir in the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes or until it develops a head, like a beer. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and gradually beat in 1-1/2 cups of flour with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let rise until the batter has doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Toss remaining flour with spices and raisins and set aside. Spray a 9” Bundt pan with cooking spray. Whisk together confectioner’s sugar and orange juice; cover and set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, mixing them in completely. Beat in the yeast mixture. Gradually add the remaining flour mixture into creamed mixture. Spoon into prepared Bundt pan. Cover loosely with cling wrap and let rise until almost doubled, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes; an instant read thermometer should register 200-220 degrees F. Cool, then invert out of pan onto a wire rack. When cool, drizzle with confectioner’s sugar glaze.

My mother was a frugal food shopper. She bought fresh, healthy ingredients, but counted every penny. She bought only one kind of cereal, one kind of cracker, and no dessert. There was one kind of cheese as well – sharp, store brand cheddar. It was great for open-faced cheese sandwiches toasted under the broiler, and for cheese and crackers, and helped me develop a taste for cheese.

When I became an adult I indulged in exploring other kinds of cheeses, but I must have inherited the frugal gene because I balked at paying $10 and $14 a pound. Now I find that I am thinking about cheese in a different way. I’m thinking about the kind of milk that goes into the cheese, the texture and flavorings, and I am thinking about ways to make my own cheese. It seems to me that the combination of healthier ingredients and lower cost is a winning one.

So, I jumped at the chance when Lori said, ”Let’s take a cheese making class.” One overcast September day we drove into the Berkshires to Ricki Carrol’s “Cheesemaking 101” course. Ricki has been making cheese for more than 30 years. She’s published a book (Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses) and established the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, which offers cheese making equipment, cultures, books, and more.

Rikki Carroll has long been known by her fans as the Cheese Queen. In fact, she is a down-to-earth woman with masses of ringlets and a low-key manner that belies her considerable experience. Her workshops have become wildly popular due, among other things, to an account in Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

There were 44 students from all over the U.S. in our class. Ricki demonstrated making mozzarella, ricotta, queso blanco, fromage blanc, and we all participated in making farmhouse cheddar. Lori and I left class with a lot of information and some simple equipment, plus enthusiasm for making cheese in Culinary Underground classes.

Cheese making is not rocket science. You can start small, with only what you have in your house, making the kinds of cheese you like or use most. The results are simply delicious!

Why not join us on Thursday, October 16^th at 6 PM for an adventure in making mozzarella, ricotta, mascarpone, and Lebneh (middle eastern yogurt cheese). Your appreciation of cheeses will never be the same!

Here’s my football story and it’s no exaggeration. Just out of college, I moved to California and got a job at Stanford University’s math department. On my way into the office one morning, I was physically assaulted by a strange woman because I was wearing a Winnie-the-Pooh sweater. She actually grabbed my arm – hard – swung me around, pressed her nose against mine, and hissed, “I suppose you think you’re pretty funny, wearing that!” After a lot of confusion and explanations, it turned out that Stanford’s football team was facing their rivals, the University of California Golden Bears, the next day in The Big Game. She half-kiddingly suggested I lose the shirt. Shaken, I stumbled into my office to find about a million red-and-white iced cupcakes and a notice to put them out for the office pep rally that afternoon, sponsored by the grad students. Jeez, even the nerds were football fanatics. That day marked the beginning of my hate-affair with football. (My only consolation: Stanford lost, 21-14.)

Football does have its amusing aspects, though. Tailgate party food is always big on salt, fat, calories, and alcohol – lots of alcohol. Football is corporate, their players major assets; these gazillion-dollar athletes are serious about diet and exercise. What the fans eat ain’t what the players eat. Those guys won’t be caught scarfin’ down buffalo wings – at least not until the off-season.

Suzanne Johnson suggested a Healthy Game Day Class, and I’m happy to offer it on Wednesday, October 15. I think there are better options out there than the usual eats and not just because the stuff is fattening, but because it’s always the same stuff. Wings, chips, dips, beer, nachos. Yawn. I’m not suggesting bleu cheese and Merlot (which Chuck consumes while watching football; he must be an Alien). We can offer alternatives that are great-tasting without being twee.

To get you started, I revert back to a childhood favorite, updated and improved. It’s Chex Party Mix – the original stuff, not the pre-made, stale ‘n salty stuff they sell in the box. This is my own formula, and a favorite of one of my bridge partners.

Karen’s Favorite Munchie Mix

(8 Cups)

4 Tablespoons melted butter or canola oil 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 Cups Quaker Oat Squares

3 Cups Cracklin’ O’s cereal

3 Cups Crispix cereal

1 Cup small pretzels

1 Cup cashews

1 Cup raisins

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Lightly spray a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

In large bowl, mix together butter, Worcestershire, Old Bay seasoning, and lemon juice. Add cereal, pretzels, and nuts and toss lightly to coat. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. Remove from oven and mix in raisins. Spread on a couple of paper towels to cool. Store airtight.

The idea of natural casings may be a turn off, but you don’t even have to involve them in the process. The sausage mixture, or forcemeat, can be formed into patties or made without casing, as I do in this recipe. (It’s going on Chuck’s pizza.) If you have a food processor, you can even forgo the meat grinder.

Sweet-Hot Italian Sausage
(1 pound)

1 pound boneless pork sirloin cutlets
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1-2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut meat into 1” cubes; don’t bother to trim the fat – it will moisturize the sausage. The meat should be chilled. Pass the pork through the large holes of a meat grinder. (Alternatively, place cubes in the food processor and pulse to grind – it’s finer this way, but still acceptable.) Combine with remaining ingredients, mixing lightly but thoroughly; you don’t want to overwork the meat. Fry up a small piece in a skillet and taste; adjust seasonings. Cover and refrigerate overnight for the best flavor, but you can proceed immediately with the recipe.

Divide the mixture in half. Shape each half into a log about 1-1/2” in diameter. Place on a 10×12” piece of cling wrap and roll up tightly. Then roll up in a piece if aluminum foil. Twist the ends in opposite directions to form a tight, round roll. In a large sauté pan, bring water to a simmer. Poach the sausages for 12-15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Allow to cool, unwrap sausages. Grill or sauté sausages in olive oil until browned.

Here’s a pictorial of the process:

I used to do a lot more canning and preserving when we lived on our “farmette” in Royalston, MA. We had a very large garden, dwarf fruit trees, an asparagus bed, Christmas tree plot, and a rhubarb patch. My husband kept bees and made his own beer long before it became fashionable to do so. (Back then, there were no beer-making supply stores; many supplies had to be mail-ordered, even the seeds for our pterodactyl feeder.)

Anyway, it was a time of great experimentation for me. Crock pickles, homemade root beer, sourdough starters, and lots of jams and jellies. Since I had a big freezer and no pressure cooker, I eschewed canning vegetables and stuck to fruits and pickles. I had so much stuff that big batch canning was necessary; these days, I do small-batch canning, which doesn’t require dragging out the massive canning pot. It’s easy to do a half-dozen jars in about an hour.

The last of the summer peaches are still available at the market, so here is a recipe that makes use of them and doesn’t require that you preserve them in a canning kettle. Simply store the jars in the back of the refrigerator and they’ll be ready for the holidays. They’re excellent with ice cream or cake, or as a garnish to roasted pork or poultry.

Brandied Peaches
(2 pints)

2 pounds medium peaches
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup water
¼ Cup brandy

To prepare peaches: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Use the tip of a small knife to cut an “x” in the bottom of each peach (this facilitates peeling). Drop the peaches into the water for 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a bowl. When cool enough to handle, peel the peaches, then halve and pit them.

To prepare syrup: Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over LOW heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Raise heat to MEDIUM-HIGH and bring to a boil. Simmer briskly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the brandy.

Pack the peaches into two pint or one quart jars. Pour the syrup over the peaches and close the jars snugly. Cool, then store in the refrigerator for 8-12 weeks

What do we mean by artisan, or artisanal, breads? Definitions vary. Some insist that they are any breads that are hand-crafted, not mass-produced, while others insist that they also must be low leaven/long rise breads. If you’re a bread lover and you’ve been paying attention for the last ten years, you’ve probably come across Old World style loaves with tough, gum-bleedin’ crusts, soft interiors with large holes, and complex, well-developed flavors.  Ciabiatta, boules, baguettes, great crusty rolls, peasant loaves, ficelle – all are breads that contain the simplest ingredients, yet the texture and flavor is unsurpassed. These are what we think of when we talk about artisan breads.

These breads are prepared using a starter or pre-ferment. This is simply flour, water, and yeast, mixed together and allowed to stand and work for anywhere from several hours to several days. (In the case of sourdoughs, no yeast other than the wild ones in the air around us is used – by purists, that is.) Starters can be made fresh each time or replenished and re-used. They can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer until you’re ready to bake. The dough produced from these starters are “slack”, or very wet and soft and take a bit of practice to master kneading and forming them. But the results are well worth it.

I prefer to make my pre-ferments fresh, which means planning on my part, but it’s easy enough to mix up the starter before bed and let it do its thing overnight in the fridge. Then, it’s simply a matter of mixing in the remaining flour, water, and salt and kneading either by hand or machine. When I’m home, I’ll make the bread straight through. If I’m out running around, I’ll just pop the dough in the fridge. Artisanal breads actually do better with a slow, cool rise.

If you love bread or are intrigued by the idea of making your own the way people have been doing for millennia, join us in the Artisanal Bread class on Sunday, September 28.

Oven-Roasted Chickpeas with Dried Cranberries
(about 2 Cups)

These are a great low-fat and inexpensive alternative to nuts. We flavored ours with the Indian spice mix called garam masala, but feel free to use your favorite ground herbs or fresh or dried herbs (rosemary is especially nice). Doubling or tripling the recipe isn’t a bad idea, but use more than one baking sheet because the chickepeas crisp less when crowded.

1 15 ounce can chickpeas
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1-2 teaspoons ground spices (ginger, cumin, chili powder, etc.)
1/3 Cup dried cranberries

Heat the oven 400°F. Pour the chickpeas into a colander and drain. Rinse very well under running water. Pat dry well with a clean dishtowel.

Toss the chickpeas with the olive oil and spread out on a large cookie sheet. Roast for 35-45 minutes, shaking the pan every 10 minutes to prevent burning. When done they should be brown and crunchy. Taste one. If they still seem a little soft in the center, return to the oven and continue to cook. When crunchiness is achieved, remove from oven and toss with salt and spices, then cranberries. Shelf life: unknown. They only last a nanosecond around here, but store airtight if necessary.

Dessert Bruschetta
(16 servings)

This is a favorite at Culinary Underground. We must have dessert but prefer low sugar treats these days. These make a nice cheese course with a great dessert wine or Champagne. Fresh berries, mangoes, or kiwi are our summertime choices for toppings, but in the fall fresh applesauce or spicy apple butter trumps all. You don’t have to use homemade ricotta, but it helps!

We were happily surprised at the number of kids who sampled these at Applefest and liked them. It occurred to us that these bruschetta really are a perfect after-school snack that kids can assemble quickly. The toasts can be made ahead and stored airtight for up to a week and the ricotta is good for that long, too. In fact, have the kids make the ricotta, too – it’s that easy.

1 plain baguette, sliced into ½” pieces
½ Cup olive oil
¼ Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 Cup whole milk ricotta
2 Tablespoons sugar
Diced fresh fruit, jam, or apple butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine olive oil, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add bread slices and toss to coat evenly. Arrange slices on a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until toasted and golden, turning once. Cool slightly. Mix ricotta with sugar. Top each baguette with some ricotta and garnish with fruit, jam, or apple butter. Serve immediately.

Homemade Ricotta
(2 Cups)

This produces a fairly dry curd. If you like a creamier cheese, fold in heavy cream to a desired consistency. It’s unsalted, so you may want to add salt to taste depending on how you are using it. The leftover whey is great for baking, adding protein to smoothies or soups, or pour it on your garden – the plants love it. You can double the recipe.

2 quarts whole milk
2 Cups commercial buttermilk

Cut a large square of doubled cheesecloth; rinse in cold water and wring it out. Use it to line a colander or fine-meshed sieve. (If you don’t have cheesecloth, cut up an old, bleached pillow case and use that!)

Pour the whole milk and buttermilk into a large saucepan. (If you have a candy or deep-fry thermometer, clip it to the side of the pan; if not, use an instant-read thermometer.) Place over MEDIUM heat and cook until the temperature reaches about 195 degrees F. (Don’t let it boil.) Stir gently every once in a while to prevent sticking. Remove pan from the heat and use a skimmer or large slotted spoon to carefully transfer curds to the lined colander.

Carefully gather the edges of the cloth around the cheese; tie tight with a rubber band or large twist tie. Hang the bag over the sink faucet and continue to drain for about 20 minutes, or until cool. Remove the cheese from the cloth and refrigerate.

Easy Crockpot Apple Butter
(2 Cups)

Homemade apple butter can be an all-day affair of peeling, chopping, and cooking down, with lots and lots of stirring. To make things easier, start with unsweetened applesauce from the store and bring out the trusty crockpot. The pumpkin pie spice makes it even easier – only one jar to open! Feel free to double the recipe.

1 (32 ounce) jar unsweetened applesauce
1 Cup apple cider
1 Cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and stir well. Cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then reduce to LOW and cook for 8-10 hours. For thicker apple butter, uncover and let cook for 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Oven-Roasted Brisket with Maple BB Sauce
(8-10 servings)

This recipe requires time but little actual work on the cook’s part. We recommend leaving the fat on the brisket while cooking because it keeps the meat moist and the fat is easier to remove once it’s cooked. Tightly sealing the pan with aluminum foil is key: we want to braise, not roast, this tough cut. The crockpot comes into play again if you like (we do!) to finish off the dish in the barbecue sauce.

The demand, worldwide for maple syrup and honey is driving up prices. Feel free to substitute molasses or even brown sugar in the recipe, cup for cup. Don’t use maple-flavored pancake syrup, please.

4-5 pounds beef brisket
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 Cup ketchup
1/2 C. maple syrup
2 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1-2 chipotle peppers, mashed
1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread onions and garlic in the pan and place the brisket on top, fat side up. Pour water into the pan and cover the pan tightly with heavy-duty or double-thick aluminum foil, sealing well. Bake for 30 minutes; reduce heat to 300 and bake 3 hours longer.

In a medium saucepan, combine ketchup, maple syrup, vinegar, and chipotle. Bring to a boil over MEDIUM heat, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Transfer brisket to a cutting board. Strain about ½ Cup) in the barbecue sauce. Remove fat from meat and slice thinly against the grain. Return slices to pan and cover with barbecue sauce. Cover with foil and return to the oven for 1-2 hours. (You can also use your crockpot for this last part; cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.) When ready to serve, the meat should fall into pieces, but you can use a couple of forks to shred it.

Spiced Concord Grape Juice
(1 quart)

Purple grape juice is a nostalgic favorite for adults of a certain age. Grape juice, grape soda, grape popsicles - and all before the days of Shout! Just make sure your juice is 100% juice with no added sugars. If the juice is too tart, you can add a little sugar or honey to taste. We love this served hot in a mug, a nice change from hot cider.

1 quart Concord grape juice
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
½ teaspoon anise seed
2-3 black peppercorns

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain to remove spices. Serve hot or cold. It’s also good mixed with a little ginger ale for a fizzy drink.