We love that sweet and sour zip that a good mango chutney brings to curry. But with the high cost of a small jar, wouldn’t a homemade alternative make sense? When Adam Jaffe (of Double Chocolate Sorbet fame) served a lively apple chutney, we realized our orchard-picked Cortlands, simmered with pantry and fridge basics, could do the job. Wouldn’t you know that Adam, an economist, would offer this thrifty solution? We don’t feel so bad forsaking mango chutney, anyway, since we no longer can find our favorite brand. The original Major Grey’s Chutney, invented by Merwanjee Poonjiajee & Sons Pvt. Ltd. and sold under the “Sun Brand” label, has disappeared from the shelves. As…
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Quick Homemade Horseradish: If You Can’t Stand the Fumes….
Making your own horseradish takes just four ingredients: horseradish root, vinegar, salt, and courage. The goal is to get from root to jar as quickly as possible, minimizing the time you spend holding your breath, clenching your eyes, and stumbling out of the kitchen gasping for air. But if you like horseradish, you’ll enjoy the challenge. No store-bought brand can mess with your pleasure/pain center quite like the stuff you make fresh. My dad famously made horseradish from home-grown root, yet it was Mom who consumed it with the most gusto. She heaped it onto her gefilte fish, laughing through her tears about how well it cleared her sinuses. As my neuroscientist daughter points…
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Apple Butter, Pressure-Cooker Fast
I’m declaring October “Cinnamonth,” and kicking it off with harvest-fresh apple butter. Smooth, cinnamon-spiked apple butter on soft challah was my equivalent of a jelly doughnut when I was growing up. So this year, besides our usual tart Cortlands for pie, we also picked Macouns and McIntoshes (which get mushy when cooked) to whip into apple butter. I’d never made it before, but applesauce is a cinch, so how difficult could it be? Turns out it’s easy, but shockingly time-consuming. Besides the cinnamon and other spices, complex flavors bloom from that mysterious process called caramelization. While applesauce cooks up in less than a half-hour, apple butter takes a whopping 3½ hours. This is a…
