Category: Grains

Porridge - on cooking oats and living longer

1/31/2018

Porridge is any type of edible mush made from grains. To the extent that cooking porridge is actually cooking may be to tacitly extend an invitation to toast and coffee into the exalted halls of the culinary arts. (Is it really food if you don’t need teeth to eat it?)

Its simplicity aside, I want to write about porridge in this whimsical food blog of mine, damn it. Call it self-indulgent, but there’s something about porridge that, as someone drawn to a keyboard and newline button, I simply want to type about. Hemingway said “write what you know.” He knew about bullfights, stiff drinks, and grace under pressure. Well, I know about porridge. As the old adage goes, "you are what you eat." And I’m at least four bags of Quaker rolled oats.

My faithful jar of oats, barley, and rye greets me first thing in the morning.

In this post I’m gonna share a few stories about my all-time favourite breakfast: porridge oats. I’ll offer my opinion of the best varieties of oats and other grains, too. And as the food I’ve cooked the most in my life, the recipes I’ll share are arguably my most finely-tuned.

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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault - and a tale about food security

5/1/2017

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In April I was fortunate to have been invited on a scientific expedition to the Arctic waters off the coast of the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Having flown 1 ½ hours due North from Tromso, a city at the very northern end of mainland Norway, I emerged from the plane straight onto a frozen tarmac. It was mid-April and it was 15 below. The purpose of the visit was to work alongside researchers and gather valuable field data about Arctic sea ice. My attention was focused on work, but just outside the airport something caught my eye that made me stop and think about something else entirely. On the steep flanks of a windswept mountain, a solitary concrete wedge stood out prominently against the snow: the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Me loitering outside the concrete door-stop structure that marks the entrance to Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The structure is designed to make you stop and think. And as my Russian driver informed me on the ride from the airport, it's about all a visitor like me was permitted to do. Entry to this facility is prohibited for the general public. Which only served to heighten my interest in this mysterious concrete aberration. And so during my three-week stay in Svalbard I was inspired to learn as much as I could about it. This post tells the story of what I learned about the Svalbard Global Seed Bank.

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Sprouted grains - how to turn grains into veggies (...kinda)

1/30/2017

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A grain, like any seed, will grow into a plant if it’s given the chance. The process is called sprouting - or germination - and it’s a lot like you might imagine. Give a dormant grain a little water and care and before long a small shoot will emerge: a sprout!

Incidentally, during this process a host of vibrant flavours emerge from their dormancy, too. What’s more, the sprouting process conveniently transforms dry, tooth-cracking grains into lovely, crunchy edibles. All this is to say that sprouted grains are ideal for maximizing flavour in bread, which, of course, is made up of thousands of individual grains.

This post is about how to sprout grains at home. I'll share tips for baking with whole sprouted grains, too, and show you one recipe I've developed: Sprouted Rye-Sunflower Bread with Coriander & Honey.

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Rye spice - the secret to great tasting rye bread

1/21/2017

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“It’s good. But it’s missing a little … oomf.” They say everyone’s a critic; but I would add, especially Germans, when it comes to rye bread.

This post is about adding a little spice to your rye. The secret, it turns out, to getting that missing "oomf". I’ll tell you which spices to use and in order to make exceptional tasting rye bread.

My friend’s German mother become the de facto taste tester during several rye bread trials. On one particular day she suggested I make up for “flat flavour” by adding spices. At first I was appalled by her remark. Why hide the subtle and nuanced flavour of fermented grains!? That’s precisely the joy of bread - isn’t it? But then she showed me a small bag of rye spice she had picked up on her latest trip to Germany (see side image). One smell of this spice mix and I was convinced: this is what was missing from my loaf.

The Germans are serious about their rye. Here's a bag of German rye bread spice mix.

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Rye bread - and translating recipes from Finnish tradition

12/27/2016

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I’ve translated an excerpt from a classic Finnish cookbook - and it has given me incredible insights into rye bread.

There are two reasons I wanted to do this:

Baking relies heavily on tradition and culture to inform good recipes. So what better way to look for advice than from a classic Finnish cookbook steeped in rye baking history?
Supposedly Charlemagne, a King of France, once said, “to possess another language is to possess another soul.” Well, I’d like to add to that: to possess another recipe language is to possess another soul food. So where better to use my bilingual skills than to translate Finnish rye bread recipes?

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Baking on a snow day - and an epic quest for a ficelle

12/13/2016

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I woke up this morning to something I hadn’t seen since the last winter I spent in St. John's three years ago: a snow day. While looking out my bedroom window in the morning it immediately occurred to me: instead of studying for the next day's statistics exam I could play in the kitchen all day.

You’re right. There’s no logic there. But the term "snow day" is ingrained in people from St. John’s since childhood to mean a day where the seemingly unshakeable concepts of “deadlines” and “school” and “work “ lose all meaning in a glorious white-out of snow.

Bakers apparently, see things a little differently, as is evidenced by Georgetown Bakery staying open today despite the blizzard. (Check out the images of Brian as he made an epic quest this morning to get his ficelle.) I agree with the bakers at Georgetown: baking is a perfect snow storm activity.

This post records some notes and shenanigans from inside a kitchen entombed in snow: how to the get the crumb of rye bread just right, how to check your oven for hot spots, and how to get perfect crust.

Brian makes his way up Bonaventure Ave towards Georgetown Bakery despite the blizzard

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Rye bread - and how to make your own sourdough

12/10/2016

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FINALLY... the end of a busy semester - which means I have time to focus on what really matters: food!

For some time now I've wanted to write a post about rye bread and especially about how to make it at home using sourdough leaven. So here it is: everything you need to know about what makes sourdough rye so freaking great and exactly how to make it. I'll show you two delicious recipes I've managed to concoct in my flour-dusted kitchen: the Danish Rye Loaf (rugbrød) and the Finnish Sourdough Rye (hapanleipä). After reading this post you can have your starter up and running in five days, and have amazing bread on the sixth.

Finnish Sourdough Rye (Hapanleipä)

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Author

I'm Erik, the Burnt Chef. I'm a Finnish-born Newfoundlander living in Norway. I have a passion for cooking and a deep fascination for the culinary history of the North. Simplicity guides my cooking. Time, place, and history guide my storytelling. This is my personal blog about food.

burnt chef

Porridge - on cooking oats and living longer

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault - and a tale about food security

Sprouted grains - how to turn grains into veggies (...kinda)

Rye spice - the secret to great tasting rye bread

Rye bread - and translating recipes from Finnish tradition

Baking on a snow day - and an epic quest for a ficelle

Rye bread - and how to make your own sourdough

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burnt chef

Porridge - on cooking oats and living longer

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault - and a tale about food security

﻿Sprouted grains - how to turn grains into veggies (...kinda)

Rye spice - the secret to great tasting rye bread

﻿Rye bread - and translating recipes from Finnish tradition

Baking on a snow day - and an epic quest for a ficelle

﻿Rye bread - and how to make your own sourdough

Author

Archives

Categories

Sprouted grains - how to turn grains into veggies (...kinda)

Rye bread - and translating recipes from Finnish tradition

Rye bread - and how to make your own sourdough