Orange Marmalade

The pressure was on!  I received a canning starter kit for Christmas and the proposition of making my own preserves stared me right in the face.  I love jams, jellies, and other preserves, but the thought of doing it myself intimidated me.  Now that I had the starter kit, I had no more excuses, it was time to start canning!

Orange marmalade came to mind when I first thought about what to make first.  I enjoy the sweetness of the jelly paired with the bitter if the rind.  A flavor sensation!  So, I picked up some organic oranges at the store, grabbed Alton Brown's orange marmalade recipe and got to work.


Orange Marmalade
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
1 3/4 pounds oranges, 4 to 5 medium
1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced
6 cups water
3 pounds plus 12 ounces sugar

Special Equipment: 10 (8-ounce) canning jars with rings and lids, funnel, tongs, ladle, and 12-quart pot

Directions
Wash the oranges and lemon thoroughly. Cut the oranges into 1/8-inch slices using a mandoline, removing the seeds as you go. Stack the orange slices and cut them into quarters. Place the oranges into an 8-quart stainless steel pot.

Add the lemon zest and juice and the water to the pot, set over high heat and bring to a boil, approximately 10 minutes. Once boiling, reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft.

While the fruit is cooking, fill a large pot (at least 12-quart) 3/4 full with water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Place 10 (8-ounce) jars and rings, canning funnel, ladle, and tongs into the boiling water and make sure the water covers the jars by at least an inch. Boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the lids and leave everything in the pot until the marmalade is ready.

Meanwhile, place a small plate in the freezer. Increase the heat under the orange mixture to return to full boil. Add the sugar and stir the mixture continually, until it reaches 222 to 223 degrees F on a deep-fry or candy thermometer, and darkens in color, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat in order to prevent boil over. Test the readiness of the marmalade by placing a teaspoon of the mixture onto the chilled plate and allowing it to sit for 30 seconds. Tilt the plate. The mixture should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If mixture is thin and runs easily, it is not ready.

Remove jars from the water and drain on a clean towel. Place a canning funnel onto the top of 1 of the jars and ladle in the marmalade just to below the bottom of the threads of the jar. Repeat until all of the mixture has been used. The amount of marmalade may vary by 1 to 2 jars. Wipe the rims and threads of the jars with a moist paper towel and top each with a lid. Place a ring on each jar and tighten.

Return the jars to the pot with boiling water, being certain that they don't touch the bottom of the pot or each other. (If you don't have a jar rack, try a round cake rack, or metal mesh basket. Even a folded kitchen towel on the pot bottom will do in a pinch.) Add additional water if necessary to cover the jars by at least an inch. Boil for 10 minutes. Using canning tongs, carefully remove the jars from the water, place in a cool dry place and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours before opening. Once open, store in the refrigerator. Unopened marmalade will last for up to 6 months.

The canning process wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  It was actually a lot of fun, and the jars of marmalade were so beautiful to look at.  The twenty-four wait before I could open my first jar was gruelling, but well worth it.  I made biscuits that evening just for the occasion.

The marmalade is even better than I could have dreamed.  It's the perfect balance between sweet and bitter and the texture of the orange rind is almost like candy.  It was wonderful on the biscuits, but is also very tasty on toast.

My first canning experience was a resounding success and I am already thinking about what to do next.  With strawberries coming into season, strawberry rhubarb preserves sound awfully tempting.  Oh, the possibilities!

Biscuits and Gravy

A family tradition. When I was young, we went to my grandparent's house every Sunday morning for biscuits and gravy. As I got older we stopped going as often, then we stopped going altogether. I decided that if my grandma didn't want to make biscuits and gravy every Sunday, I should learn how to make them, and everyone could come to our house. So, I asked my grandma to teach me how to make them, and she agreed. I was so excited to learn from her and get the recipe!

As we were in the kitchen together getting ready to make biscuits and gravy, I asked her where the recipe was. To my surprise, she told me there wasn't a recipe; she just knew how to make them. At that point, I knew I had my work cut out for me. We got started on the biscuits. She put some shortening in a bowl and then added some flour. I asked her how much flour she added, and she told me she didn't know. She just knew what it supposed to look and feel like. I was beside myself. Then came the buttermilk, again, no measuring. Same with the sausage gravy; no measuring there either. Learning how to make biscuits and gravy proved to be no simple task.

We finished making breakfast together that morning, and the biscuits and gravy turned out to be delicious. I studied her every move in the kitchen that day, but I was nervous to try it myself. I was finally ready to try it myself, and my parents invited my grandparents over for biscuits and gravy. I had all my ingredients ready and got started. My grandparents arrived before breakfast was done and I remember my grandma asking me if I needed any help. I politely declined since I wanted to try to do it myself. The biscuits were in the oven and I was working on the sausage gravy. As I added the milk, little lumps were scattered throughout the gravy. I whisked and whisked to no avail; my gravy was lumpy. To add insult to injury, my biscuits were dry and crumbly.

Everyone ate my biscuits and gravy that morning, but I think they were just being nice. They really weren't very good. I had a long way to go before my biscuits and gravy would be like my grandma's. I didn't give up though, I was determined to make them right. The gravy technique came fairly easy, after a couple more tries, it was no longer lumpy and had good flavor. The biscuits, though, those posed more of a problem. Some were too dry, some were too dense, some fell apart, and some were just plain inedible. Then, one day, it all clicked.

Learning from all my past biscuit failures, I soon learned what the batter was supposed to look and feel like at each stage of the mixing process. My biscuits were consistently coming out of the oven light, fluffy, golden, brown and delicious. The only variation was how many biscuits each batch would make; sometimes 12, sometimes 14 or 16 or more! I had the technique down, and I was making biscuits like crazy. I was the first time I really understood what I was doing in the kitchen, not just blindly following a recipe. Learning how to make biscuits is really what developed my love of cooking.

I don't make biscuits and gravy every Sunday, but I do make them quite often throughout the year. Whenever we visit my dad in Louisville, I almost always make biscuits and gravy on Sunday morning before we leave. I also make them when they come to visit, too. It has become tradition for me to make them on Christmas morning for the in-laws. I've thought about writing down a recipe, measuring out the ingredients as I go, but I haven't done that yet; and honestly, I don't know if I want to. I'm just happy that I was able to keep the tradition alive.

Biscuits anyone?

One of Ari's favorite things to help me make is biscuits because we really get our hands dirty. I enjoy making biscuits as well. Not only because I can get my hands dirty, but because it takes me back to my childhood.

When I was young, we would go to my grandparent's house every Sunday for biscuits and gravy. The smell of cooked bacon still takes me back to those times. To me, there was nothing better than biscuits and gravy for breakfast, especially my grandma's biscuits and gravy. I don't remember when or why we stopped going every Sunday, slowly we started going less and less.

When I was older, I remember asking my grandma to teach me how to make them and she agreed. I was thinking she would just give me a couple recipe cards and some helpful hints, but I was wrong. There were no recipe cards at all, the recipe was in her head, and the only was I was going to learn was to watch her and then do it myself.

The first few batches I made by myself were tough. I remember asking her how much flour to add to the biscuits or how much milk to add to the gravy. She responded just by showing me what it was supposed to look like and how it was supposed to feel. Those were pretty hard concepts for me to grasp as I have never cooked like that before.

After several failed attempts where my biscuits didn't rise or were too crumbly and my gravy was too thin or lumpy, I finally started to understand what needed to be done to get the results I wanted. I was so relieved the first time my biscuits came out light and fluffy. They were so delicious, and while they didn't taste exactly like grandma's, they were pretty darn close.

So now I can make biscuits or gravy without a second thought, it is almost like I have also known how to make them. It's so much fun making biscuits with Ari because I am able to show him the little tricks that I know and what to look for and how it should feel. It's a lot of responsibility making sure the boy knows how to make a good biscuit when he grows up.