How to peel and seed a butternut squash
How to peel and seed a butternut squash
The bright orange flesh of a butternut squash is firm and the skin is tough and thick, like a hard plastic. We've had some success using a sturdy vegetable peeler, but if you have a sharp knife and a plan, butternut squash prep can be pretty easy.
To start, cut off and discard the stem end.
Cut the butternut squash in two at the intersection of the cylindrical neck and the round base.
Peel the skin from the neck: If the skin is too thick to peel with a vegetable peeler, try standing the neck on a flat end and slicing downward around the squash with a paring knife. (If the neck is really long, cut into two shorter pieces before doing this.)
Peel the round base in the same way.
When you've peeled the base, split it in half or into quarters lengthwise.
Using a spoon, scrape to remove the seeds and fibrous flesh.
Now you can cut the peeled and seeded squash into whatever size pieces you need.
A purée is a thick, soft dish that's made by pressing cooked foods through a sieve, or mixing them in a blender or food processor.
Vegetable purées are either used as a base for soup -- thinned with water or stock -- or eaten as a side dish. Tomato purée, used for sauces and soups, is made by removing seeds from lightly cooked tomatoes and straining the pulp. Fruit purées are used to make sauces, mousses, soufflés and other preparations. Purées can also be made from anchovies, chicken livers, shrimp or salmon, and used as a filling for canapés.
Recipe: Butternut Squash And Banana Puree With Whiskey And Pecans (Cookthink)
Recipe: Parsnip And Orange Puree (Cookthink)
Reference: Tomato paste vs. tomato puree vs. tomato sauce (Cookthink)
A sugarhouse, or sugar shack, is a small building -- usually rustic and ramshackle -- where maple sap is boiled to make maple syrup. In New England and Canada, where most maple syrup is produced, the sugaring season runs several weeks in late winter and early spring.
If it's all about the syrup, why is it called a sugarhouse? Until the cheaper production of cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup was developed, most maple sap was used to make sugar. Now, even though almost all of the sap is boiled down to syrup, the language of the sugaring process survives.
That explains why a person who makes maple syrup is called a sugarmaker, and why a grove of tapped maple trees is called a sugarbush.
For more information, visit the Vermont Maple Syrup website, a joint project by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association and the Vermont Maple Foundation.
Recipe: Maple-Walnut Cookies (Diet, Desserts and Dogs)
Recipe: Maple Plum Crumble (Cookthink)
(Image courtesy of Kedron Sugar Makers.)
What are the different grades of maple syrup?
What are the different grades of maple syrup?
The United States Department of Agriculture regulates pure maple syrup with four grades. They are:
Grade A Light Amber: A very light syrup with a mild, delicate maple flavor, this is usually made early in the season when the weather is cold. This is the best grade for making maple candy and maple cream.
Grade A Medium Amber: A darker, mid-season syrup, this is often used as a table syrup. This syrup has a deeper maple flavor.
Grade A Dark Amber: A strong flavored syrup that's made from sap harvested late in the season when there's more sunlight and longer stretches of warm temperatures.
Grade B: Very dark with a forceful maple, caramel-y flavor, this is a common cooking syrup. Die-hards also use it as a pancake syrup.
Recipe: Soy-Maple Vinaigrette (Cookthink)
Recipe: Maple And Apricot-Glazed Meatloaf (Karina's Kitchen)
Reference: What is a sugarhouse? (Cookthink)
Reference: Root Source: Maple Syrup (Cookthink)
Once a prize kept under lock and key in wealthy households, sugar is now ubiquitous and comes in many forms. Most commercial sugar is made from cane or beet root. Here's a look at the most common types of sugar used in the kitchen.
Granulated white sugar: White sugar is highly refined and made from sugarcane or beets. This all-purpose refined white sugar has small but fairly coarse crystals and is used to sprinkle on food, sweeten beverages, or add to dishes during cooking. Golden granulated sugar is a brown sugar made from sugar cane molasses that is similar but has a light brown color.
Castor (caster) or superfine sugar: This refined white sugar has fine crystals that dissolve more quickly than regular granulated sugar, making it a good choice for baking meringues. Golden castor sugar is made from unrefined cane sugar.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar that has been mixed with molasses to color it and give it a moist texture. Light brown sugar has less molasses than dark brown sugar. Brown sugar should not be confused with raw sugar, which has a similar color and taste but is actually the residue from processed sugarcane.
Turbinado sugar: A sugar cane extract that is made by steaming unrefined raw sugar. It has large crystals and a slight molasses flavor. It's a shade paler than brown sugar and can be substituted for brown sugar in recipes. We like to use turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of muffins, cookies and scones. It holds its texture well and, when cooked, has a nice sweet crunch.
Demerara Sugar: True Demerara sugar is raw or partly refined sugar with large crystals, but some impostors are nothing more than white sugar stained with molasses.
Muscovado Sugar: This raw cane sugar comes in light and dark varieties and is used to make cakes and desserts.
Powdered, icing or confectioner's sugar: This sugar is made by reducing granulated sugar to a powder and mixing it with starch to prevent it from lumping up. It's used to decorate cakes and can also be used in making sweet dishes and baked goods.
what you should know
Up north, the brief maple syrup season is underway. The sap is flowing and the louvered sugar shacks are at full boil.
Real maple syrup is made from the sap of sugar maples. The sap flows up the tree during the cold night, then flows back down the tree as the temperature rises during the day.
sapped The sap is clear and light, like a mild sugar water. It's poured into an evaporator where it's boiled for hours to thicken. About 40 gallons of sap will get you only one gallon of syrup.
lingua dolce Until the cheap production of cane sugar and, later, high fructose corn syrup, maple sap was mostly used to make sugar. Today, even though almost maple sap is used for syrup, the old language of "sugaring" survives.
maple state In the U.S., most real maple syrup comes from Vermont, where sugaring (like cheesemaking) is practically a birthright. Syrups are graded based on when in the season they're made. (There's evidence that terroir comes into play as well.)
coatlicker Imitation syrups are made mostly with high fructose corn syrup and an aroma compound called sotolon. Chip's friend Mark, an amateur sugarer, says that going back to commercial stuff after years of making his own "is like taking a shower with a raincoat on. And then licking the raincoat."
what you need
Though it doesn't have the classic beehive shape of your local diner's tabletop syrup pourer, this WMF Satin Steel contraption is sleek and relatively drip-free.
For pancakes, it's hard to beat Calphalon's stove-top nonstick griddle. The square shape and low ridges make it easy to flip the flapjacks.
Maple sap's not just for syrup and sugar. Vermont Spirits makes a clean, rustic maple sap vodka.
what you do
We like to use the darker, richer Grade B syrup for this maple plum crumble.
Syrup, butter and pecans are just the right dressing for these maple-glazed pears.
Try this salty-sweet soy-maple vinaigrette on simple green or single-vegetable salads. Or use it as a glaze for grilled fish and meats.
We love the lush tang of this maple and apricot-glazed meatloaf, from new Cookthinktanker, Karina's Kitchen.
If you'd rather save the maple syrup for the pancakes, try hogwash's Whole-Grain Flapjacks and VeganYumYum's Easy Weekend Pancakes.
Featured recipe: Tahini and apple cider vinegar are two of the ingredients that makes these maple-walnut cookies so distinctive. The recipe comes from Diet, Dessert, and Dogs and is the featured recipe for this week's Root Source Challenge.
what you should know
Unsalted butter is always equally unsalted, but salted butter is never quite salted the same.
The NaCl uncertainty is the main reason we prefer to use unsalted butter when we cook. Often that salt can subdue the sweet flavor of butter. (Unsalted butter is often labeled as "sweet butter.")
salt conversion In most recipes, the little extra salt will go unnoticed. Still, as a general rule if a recipe calls for unsalted butter but all you've got is salted butter, cut 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick of butter (1/2 cup) you use.
stick it up Salt acts as a preservative for butter. Tightly wrapped in foil and stored in the fridge, salted butter can last for five months, while unsalted butter lasts about three before going stale. (Spot stale butter by slicing into the stick; the outside will be darker than the inside.) Then again, many people don't store butter in the fridge to begin with.
cooking with butter Sometimes, when you want a nuttier flavor, you'll want to let the butter's foam subside. But butter has a low smoke point, so be careful using it as your cooking fat. It'll burn easily. Clarified butter, or ghee, has a higher smoke point (and also makes a tasty dipping sauce for crab, lobster and anything else).
roux-dimentary Butter forms the foundation for countless classic sauces and thickeners, including béchamel, beurre manié and roux.
what you need
Have you ever wanted to make fresh butter at home? This traditional butter churn is based on the famous Dazey churn from the early 20th century.
You can also make a small batch of butter by putting cream in a jar and shaking it for a long, long time until you've shaken it solid.
The water-cooled crock owners we know swear by the constant supply of creamy, spreadable butter they keep on their tables.
Other butter lovers who shun the refrigerator prefer the classic rectangular butter dish.
what you do
Sage and butter are absolutely delicious together. How delicious? Try this rich and pillowy tortellini with sage brown butter and parmesan to find out.
Steamy Kitchen likes to top her slow butter- braised asparagus with parmesan and sea salt. With that savory finale, you definitely don't need salted butter.
Drizzling roasted sweet potatoes with cilantro-lime butter gives them a burst of tart richness.
Salted butter might interfere with the complex sugar-spice interaction in these orange-scented popovers with cinnamon-orange honey.
These better-for-you whole-grain flapjacks from hogwash are made with quinoa, millet and flaxseed. After using butter to grease the pan, you can afford to use a little extra on the cakes themselves.
Coconut & Lime's worked out one of the fastest and tastiest cinnamon bun recipes out there.
Golden, fragrant and naturally sweet, honey is the fruit of a long-standing arrangement between men and bees. Worker bees buzz around snatching nectar from the flowers, returning to the hive to concentrate the nectar and stash it in the viscous form of honey. Then the beekeeper snatches the honey from the bees.
Honey can be drizzled in its liquid form, whipped to prevent crystallization or creamed and spread like butter. Finding crystals in your honey is actually a testament to its high quality. To smooth it out, set the honey jar in a pan of freshly boiled water, until the honey turns liquid again.
Honey has longstanding connections to love and sensuality. In the fifth century B.C., Hippocrates prescribed it for "sexual vigor." And Rosh Hashanah is celebrated with honey and honey desserts, to help ensure a sweet coming year.
Recipe: Honey Cake (Cookthink)
Recipe: Breakfast Quinoa With Dried Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts, And Honey (Cookthink)
Recipe: Greek-Inspired Honey-Roasted Shallots (hogwash)
Brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar (which is highly refined and made from cane or beets) that has been mixed with molasses to color it and give it a more moist texture. Light brown sugar has less molasses than dark brown sugar.
Brown sugar should not be confused with raw sugar, that has a similar color and taste but is actually the residue from processed sugarcane.
what you should know
Golden, fragrant and naturally sweet, honey is the fruit of a long-standing arrangement between men and bees.
Worker bees buzz around snatching nectar from the flowers, returning to the hive to concentrate the nectar and stash it in the viscous form of honey. Then the beekeeper snatches the honey from the bees.
crystal clear Finding crystals in your honey is actually a testament to its high quality. To smooth it out, set the honey jar in a pan of freshly boiled water, until the honey turns liquid again.
the buzz Colony Collapse Disorder has been killing off honey bees in the last several years. Since honey flavors so many food products, some companies are rallying to help the bees.
honey bunch According to Martha Hopkins of The New The New InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook, honey has longstanding connections to love and sensuality. In the fifth century B.C., Hippocrates prescribed it for "sexual vigor."
more than bears Honey can be drizzled in its liquid form, whipped to prevent crystallization or creamed and spread like butter.
sweet wishes Rosh Hashanah is celebrated with honey and honey desserts, to help ensure a sweet coming year.
what you need
Searching for some fine literature about bees and honey? Start with Sue Hubbell's A Book of Bees or Holley Bishop's Robbing the Bees.
If your table setting calls for something more elegant than a plastic bear, you might want a honey dispenser.
Instead of a spoon, try using a honey wand to coax the golden liquid from the jar without spilling a drop.
And while you're whipping up some of our honey recipes, Sweet Honey In The Rock makes the ideal background music.
what you do
Jaden's fantastic pecan-crusted tilapia is sweetened with a honey glaze.
hogwash roasts shallots with honey and feta for a Greek-inspired twist on the French classic.
Before winter spoils the mood, freeze a batch of honey ice cream with ginger-spiced pecans.
Easier than baklava, these flaky honey and almond triangles are a delight.
Glaze your carrots with honey for a smooth, golden sweetness.
Featured: Satisfy your sweet tooth with Honey, Pistachio And Chocolate Chip Biscotti -- this week's Root Source Challenge featured recipe. Congratulations to Dishing Up Delights!
Find more honey recipes at Cookthink.com. And if you haven't yet signed up for a free account at Cookthink, do it now!
what you should know
You've got your tender summer squashes -- zucchini and yellow squash among them -- which are eaten skin-and-all well before they're fully grown.
And then you've got your doorstop winter squashes -- most notably the pear-shaped butternut -- which are fully matured and have a hard, thick (and, as far as we're concerned, inedible) shell.
squash picking Look for a butternut that is heavy for its size and free of any cuts or scars. The skin coloring should be similarly pale all over.
wolverines! In many places, butternut squash is now available year-round. But if you suddenly find yourself a guerrilla fighter in the Colorado mountains who has to scrounge for and ration food, you can store one in a cool, dry place for weeks.
butternut cracked There's no easy way to prep a butternut squash. You just have to get in there and hack away at it. When prepping one, we find it helpful to think of it as two separate objects, the narrow neck and the bulbous, seedy end.
oh gourd part III Squashes date back thousands of years. Along with beans and corn, the squash is one of the "Three Sisters," the cornerstones of Native American cuisine.
what you need
Earlier this spring, Claire investigated the pros and cons of Y and straight peelers, which some find helpful in dealing with butternuts.
We usually find a large paring knife to be the most effective way to remove the tough skin of a butternut (even if it means losing a little of the squash's flesh).
With Amy Goldman's The Compleat Squash in hand, there is nothing about butternut squash that you will not know. (No joke.)
For the (really, really good) butternut-banana puree below, try using Jameson or Tullamore Dew.
what you do
Make this butternut squash and sausage casserole with sage for breakfast, then have the leftovers with dinner.
If you like sweet potato fries, you'll love butternut squash tempura with soy-lime dipping sauce
Everyone who starts a food blog has to take a blood oath to post, at some point, on butternut squash risotto.
For a peppery take on a tired old stand-by, try this curried butternut squash soup.
Dessert or Thanksgiving side: butternut squash and banana puree with whiskey and pecans.
what you should know
What makes brown sugar brown? Molasses. That's what.
While raw sugar (like demarara or turbinado) comes by its golden color naturally, brown sugar is refined white sugar tarted up with a bit of molasses. (Dark brown sugar has more molasses than light).
pour some sugar The water in molasses adds moisture to brown sugar that makes it ideal for baked goods, giving them a crumbly texture and a deeper flavor than ordinary white sugar does.
keep it tight Be sure to store your brown sugar in a tightly sealed container to keep it soft and pliant.
dirty sugar Domino sugar launched a smear campaign against brown sugar at the end of the 1800s, replete with nasty photographs of benign microbes living in brown sugar.
sticky fingers Sugar formed one leg of history's most notorious triangle trade route, one of many taboo subjects that might have inspired Sir Lips when he sat down and wrote, "Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields..."
what you need
Try this classic for some good, old-school ideas about how to use brown sugar.
Use these stainless steel measuring cups to dole out the sweet stuff.
Along with a song, brown sugar has inspired a movie and an album.
Winter's coming and with it hard times: stock up on this steel-cut oatmeal. Top it with brown sugar and raisins to make a wholesome and warming breakfast.
what you do
For a sweet but stimulating breakfast, try these carrot and ginger muffins.
Scandinavian gravlax gets an American twist with a brown sugar cure.
Dark brown sugar and red wine vinegar give this brisket its rich, balanced flavor.
Spicy squash would make a fine addition to the Thanksgiving (or any) table.
We always look forward to making these crispy spice cookies around the holidays.
Simultaneously rustic and elegant, black plum tarte tatin makes the most of brown sugar's caramel quality.
Featured: A deliciously autumnal recipe for Apple Almond Upside-Down Cake from Wine Imbiber won this week's Root Source Challenge. Congratulations, Rich and Leah!
Find more brown sugar recipes at Cookthink.com. And if you haven't yet signed up for a free account at Cookthink, do it now!
Whether carved into jack-o'-lanterns, baked into pies or covered in proverbial frost, pumpkins symbolize our annual descent into winter.
Giant pumpkins are best for carving; the flesh has little taste. For cooking, look for the smaller specimens known as sugar pumpkins (or "pie pumpkins").
Thin-skinned summer squash are harvested before maturity; thick-skinned pumpkins aren't picked until after the first frost. A grooved woody stem and deep orange color set the pumpkin apart from other winter squash.
Many American holiday recipes call for canned supermarket pumpkin -- but pumpkin purée is easily made from scratch.
Unlike their summer squash cousins, which are harvested when thin-skinned and immature, winter squash are left to mature late into the growing season (pumpkins are picked after the first frost).
With fully developed seeds (that must be scraped out before cooking) and tough, rind-like yet edible skin, winter squash can last for months if kept cool and dry.
Some winter squash varieties to look for are butternut, buttercup, delicata, spaghetti squash and pumpkin.
