Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 104

Pork Rib Roast with Caramel Orange Glaze

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A Pork Rib Roast is the most succulent cut of pork, but you don't necessarily have to truss it up all fancy-like to impress your guests. In this recipe, the caramel orange glaze, made with pan drippings is all impressive enough. Even though we're not tying it up like a regular crown roast, go ahead and have your butcher "french" the bones if you wish. They will look a little nicer coming out of the oven. But have him include the scraps in your package…you can put them alongside your roast as it cooks so that you'll wind up with even more drippings for your succulent orange caramel glaze.

Ingredients

1 pork rib roast with 4-6 ribs.

10 cloves garlic, slightly crushed.

1/2 cup olive oil

1 Tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons pepper

5 Tablespoons fresh, finely chopped sage. (Or 1 Tablespoon ground dry sage.)

1/3 cup Beekman 1802 Goat Milk Cajeta (Or other caramel sauce)

2 Oranges

3 cups chicken, veal, or vegetable stock

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place rib roast on rack in heavy roasting pan, fat side up. Rub roast all over with olive oil, salt, pepper, and sage. Cut 1/2 inch slits in fat, and insert one garlic clove in each, deeply. Let set at room temperature for approximately one hour.

Place roast in oven, and cook for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 and cook approximately 35 minutes longer before checking temperature. Insert meat thermometer into thickest portion of roast. While most food safety expert say that pork should be cooked to 145 F, we generally only cook ours to 130 F. It continues cooking a bit after being removed from oven, and we actually like our roasts very moist. (Plus we know where our meat comes from and feel safe about how it's been handled.)

While roast is in oven, use vegetable peeler to cut zest from oranges. Don't cut too deeply. Try to avoid too much white pith on the back side of the zest.

Once temperature has reached 130 – 145 F, remove from oven, and place roast on warmed platter. Immediately separate the fat from the drippings in the pan, and return juices to roasting pan. Place roasting pan on stove top, over medium-low heat. Add stock, stir in cajeta, and add orange peel zest. Scrap bits of browned meat from bottom of pan. Bring to boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Remove orange peels. Salt to taste.

Cut roast between ribs to create individual chops for serving Arrange on platter, and drizzle with caramel orange glaze right before serving.

 

Cinnamon Honey & Roasted Chicory Leg of Lamb

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Leg of lamb is certainly one of the most traditional springtime main courses. We've added a level of earthiness by marinating it in garlic & ground roasted chicory root (you can substitute instant coffee,) and glazing it with our Beekman 1802 Cinnamon Creamed Honey (which you can make yourself, too.)

Ingredients

One 4-6lb leg of lamb

For Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic

1/2 cup Beekman 1802 Cinnamon Creamed Honey (or mix your own honey with cinnamon)

2 teaspoons cardamom

2 Tablespoons roasted chicory root (or substitute 1 packet of Starbucks Via instant coffee)

1 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

juice of 1 lemon

For glaze:

2 cups vegetable stock

2 additional Tablespoons Cinnamon Creamed Honey

 

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Combine all marinade ingredients in food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Rub over lamb, covering completely. Allow to marinate in refrigerator for minimum of 6 hours, up to 24. Allow to come to room temperature before roasting.

To roast, place lamb leg on rack in heavy roasting pan, fattest side facing up. Pour any remaining marinade over lamb.  Add 1 C water to roasting pan to keep drippings from burning.

Roast at 400 F for 20 minutes, then reduce to 325 F. Roast at lower temperature for additional 55 minutes. Use meat thermometer in thickest area of roast. Lamb, in our opinion, is best served rare to medium rare, with an interior temperature of  130-135 F. We don't recommend any higher temperature than 150 F.

Once roast is removed from oven, transfer to a warmed platter, and allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes.  Separate fat from pan drippings and discard fat. Place roasting pan with drippings on stovetop over medium flame, add 2 cups vegetable stock, and reduce by half while lamb is cooling. Salt to taste as reducing. Use as glaze over sliced roast when serving.

Serve with:

Spring Foraging Salad with Forsythia

Risi i Bisi – Pea Pod Risotto

Glenmere

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Who doesn't love a story of restoration, resurrection and rebirth?   We've found another couple (perhaps even more fabulous) who caught the bucolic plague.  Their feverish pursuit has turned into a gilded dream.

Glenmere was built in 1911 for Robert Goelet, heir to an immense real estate fortune amassed over many generations.  As a prominent member of New York society, the Goelets were celebrated even within the patrician beau monde of the Gilded Age.  Like many of his class, Robert Goelet wanted a place in the country to pursue his recreational interests.

Architects Carrere and Hastings designed the house, situated at the top of a gently rolling hill overlooking Glenmere Lake.  Turn of the century architecture emphasized the application of European ideals of beauty to American country houses.  Glenmere exists as a understated embodiment of this ideal.  The balance and symmetry of the floor plan are complemented by the use of statuary and classical materials in construction.  The original marble fountain imported from Italy acted as the centerpiece of the courtyard; marble columns, hand-carved mantles, hand plastered moldings and antiquities imported from Europe embellish interior and exterior spaces.

Robert Goelet's wealth and status allowed him access to the very best craftsmen, and Glenmere exhibits the work of some of the most historically significant artists of the day.  Beatrix Farrand, America's first female landscape architect (and a relative of Edith Wharton), designed the approach to the estate and the surrounding grounds.  Reimagining classical design to suit the existing landscape, her genius is most apparent in the sunken Italian garden tucked into a natural depression leading to the lake.  Iron balustrades and window grilles designed and manufactured by Samuel Yellin anchor the house in the Italian vernacular, and murals painted by J. Alden Twachtman ornament the center courtyard.

Robert Goelet was exceptional even within his rarefied circle.  As one of the wealthiest men in America, he entertained royalty, heads of state, entertainers, sports figures, and high society.  Newspapers breathlessly followed his every move, with his departures and arrivals appearing regularly in the society pages.  (Perhaps he was among the elite to travel to Sharon Springs during the high season.)  The press followed his three marriages and two divorces, with each dinner party, dance and trip abroad dissected for significance.

In the late 1930′s, Goelet, comfortable in his third marriage and nearing 60 years old, began to tire of the 3000 acre estate.  He began selling off parcels of land and finally sold the house the remaining acreage to development company in the 1940s.  For the next few decades, the estate operated as a hotel and resort with golfing, horseback riding and boating on the lake.  By the late 1960′s the property bean to change hands often and gradually fell into disrepair.

Any person who has ever dreamed of living in an Edith Wharton novel can now experience what life was like in the Gilded Age (Josh wrote his senior thesis on Wharton and even named his first cat Edith)  Glenmere has been completely restored and now houses a Relais & Chateau hotel property (one of the most distinguished awards in the hospitality industry), a tavern, a fine restaurant, and an incredible day spa.  It's a resurrection worth noting and an ideal marriage of commerce and stewardship.

 

Take a tour with us

 

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Learn more about the great estates that used to flank the Hudson River Valley.  Click here

Springtime Comfort

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Springtime Comfort

In a Shaker:

3/4 ounce Plymouth Sloe Gin

1/2 ounce Apricot Liqueur

1/2 ounce Appleton Gold Rum

1/4 ounce Aperol

2 ounces Orange Juice

dash orange bitters

 

Add ice and shake 20X.  Pour 1/2 ounce Sloe Gin on bottom of ice filled Hurricane glass.  Strain over ice.

 

 

Eben Klemm is a freelance beverage consultant based in New York City.  Yes, people pay him to invent cocktails.  No, he is not invited to speak at many high school career days.  He grew up on a small family farm in Sharon, five miles from the Beekman Mansion and is proud to say that the first cocktails he ever consumed were rejected from his body, at very high speed, not far from its shadow. His book "The Cocktail Primer: All You Need to Know to Make the Perfect Drink" was published in 2009 by Andrews McNeel.  He'll be creating signature Beekman 1802 elixirs once a month

Mary and Violets

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Mary Beekman is a four-year-old ghost who resides in The Beekman Mansion, and considers Brent and Josh her "imaginary friends." Follow Mary Beekman's Diary to learn what it's like to be a young child in early 19th century America

I could see them from my window this spring morning.  I have been searching each morning and today is the first fine day I saw them! VIOLETS!! The sun must have been  in just the proper place in the sky . The purple flowers were sprinkled across the grass. The dark green of their heart shaped leaves was louder than the pale green blades of grass surrounding them.  Josh said his mother has some violets that are spotted with white and purple.  Brent and I had not seen those. When I am outside, I shall have to look for those.

I love all things the seasons bring,

All buds that start,

all birds that sing,

All leaves, from white to jet,

But chief the violet.

                                                               –Brian Waller Proctor (1787 – 1874)

We are going to visit Grandmere tomorrow.  It is her birthday.  She loves violets and I am going to be able to pick her many bunches to take to her. I will pick as many as my hand can hold.  Mother said she will help me tie a piece of long grass around them.  Then I am going to select the largest leaves and carefully surround the violets with an outside wreath of the heart shaped leaves.  Mother and I will  fasten both the inside bunch of violets and the outer circle of leaves with a piece of ribbon.  I will make the very best bow I can.  I would like to make a bouquet for Grandmere's parlour and one for her bedroom.  The bouquet that will be the best is the one I will make for Grandmere to pin on her dress.

Mother is taking her a cake.  We are going to decorate the cake with candied violets.  Mother is going to show me how.  Grandmere says she loves the scent of violets even though it does not last for long.  She says the violet means humility and perhaps it does not wish  to show off it's scent for too long a time.  Grandmere has violet scented powder and she sprinkles some on her handkerchiefs to hold under her nose when we walk through the barnyard.  Father teases her that perhaps he should sprinkle the barn with her powder!

To Candy Violets Whole   -  The Lady' Assistant for Regulating and Supplying her Table – Charlotte Mason   1777

Take some double violets, and pick off the green stalks; boil some sugar til it blows very strong, put in the violets and let them boil till the sugar blows again, then rub the sugar against the sides of the pan with a spoon till it is white, stir all together till the sugar leaves them, and then sift and dry them.

5 Beautiful Things

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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We're calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week

 

Springing Forward

I have always preferred the transitional seasons, spring and autumn, to the stasis of winter and summer with their extremes of heat and cold. I appreciate every season, but I think it's the witness to change that inspires change within myself.

Spring is especially lovely because it is so optimistic: brave little bulbs that have survived a cold and lonely spell in frozen soil suddenly awaken and reveal their beautiful secrets. Bare branches put on their emerald armor and everything begins to move again. We are drawn outdoors by the sunlight and the warmth and we can't help but feel better.

As hopeful as any New Year's Eve party we could conjure up, with resolutions and promises we may or may not keep, Spring revels in her renewal and commits to it. She scrubs away the grey and melts the ice. She paints irreplaceable palettes of spectacular colour across the landscape and dares us to indulge in happiness, indoors and out. Put away the bulky sweaters, leave behind the gloves and take heart in the freedom of change.

 

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Photos:

1.  Sweet Paul magazine, Spring 2012 issue

2.  Lily of the Valley

3.  Bright kitchen: Honeyhouses.tumblr.com

4.  Laundry on the line: Julia Stotz

5.  Samantha Robinson's porcelain watermelon bowls

 

Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he'll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.

Blaak + Mac

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This is a recipe brought to you by Facebook.

We've made Mac + Cheese using Blaak quite often.  Every time we post on Facebook that we're having it (sometimes Brent even eats it for breakfast), we get hundreds of requests for the recipe.

We didn't share because we were being stingy but because we hadn't quite perfected the recipe.

And then we were scooped.

At a recent potluck dinner, Megan Holken, the COO of Beekman 1802, came up with a version with just the right amount of crunch and spicy zest.

Now it's official.

We "like" it.

 

BLAAK & MAC

 

Ingredients

Kosher salt
Vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi
1 quart fresh goats milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces BLAAK, remove rind & grate (4 cups)
2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs or Panko (5 slices, crusts removed)

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the BLAAK,  salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

 

Revolutionary

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Breadbasket of the American Revolution

 

Schoharie is an Iroquoian word for "floating driftwood." The Schoharie Creek drains out of the Catskill Mountains and runs 93 miles northward, reaching the Mohawk River near the hamlet of Fort Hunter, NY. The greater Schoharie Valley – much of which became designated as Schoharie County in 1795 (the creek begins in Greene County and ends in Montgomery County, crossing the full length of Schoharie between them) – is known in the historical record as "the breadbasket of the American Revolution." With rich farmland suitable for wheat crops – as well as corn, vegetables, and apples – the region became an essential source of food for Revolutionary troops.

Settlements in this productive region, including Sharon Springs and Cherry Valley to the west of the Schoharie Creek, became targets for raids by Tories and their Native American allies. To escape these attacks, non-Loyalist residents had little recourse other than hiding out in forests. In 1777, Colonel Samuel Campbell of Cherry Valley (yes, an ancestor of one of the bloggers!) petitioned the Marquis de Lafayette, French general in the Continental Army, for fortifications along the creek. The Dutch Reformed Church in the village of Schoharie was reinforced, with blockhouses and palisades added, creating the Lower Fort. The Middle Fort and Upper Fort were founded to the south at four mile intervals along the river. (The Lower Fort is now known as the Old Stone Fort and is part of the Old Stone Fort Museum Complex run by the Schoharie Colonial Historical Society in the Village of Schoharie.)

Raids continued throughout the war and led to repeated attacks on the forts and other settlements, including the Battle of Kobus Kill (Cobleskill) in May 1778, the Cherry Valley Massacre in November 1778, and the Battle of Dorlach (also known as the Battle of Sharon) in July 1781. Even when forts held, crops were destroyed and livestock killed. Mohawk leader Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), a Loyalist ally, took part in many of these raids. Rebel hero Timothy Murphy – a militia rifleman – helped defend the Middle Fort, located just north of Middleburgh, under siege in October 1780.

After the war, because of the great loss of homes and crops, Benjamin Franklin arranged for tax exemption for the people of the Schoharie Valley, giving them time to rebuild their lives and reestablish the "breadbasket."

The entire area – the Schoharie, Mohawk, and Susquehanna Valleys – has a rich Revolutionary history, and in future blogs we'll be touching upon related events and personalities, including Thayendanegea, important to both American and Canadian history, and "Sure Shot Tim" Murphy, one of the most famous marksman of his time. And we'll be tracing the illustrious Campbell family tree!

 

 

The History Boys are

Chris Campbell has made his permanent home in Cherry Valley, NY. The Campbell family dates back to 1739 in this town, situated about eight miles from Sharon Springs. Some family members were captured by Tories and Iroquois allies in the Cherry Valley Massacre of 1778 during the American Revolution and taken to Canada, released two years later in Albany as part of a prisoner exchange. Chris is a rare book and map collector and has had a lifelong interest in history, especially relating to upstate New York and colonial land patents. He was the founder and first chairman of the Cherry Valley Planning Board and has worked as a surveyor and realtor as well as a researcher for the Otsego County map department. His hobbies include Ham radio.

 

Carl Waldman, also living in Cherry Valley, is a former archivist for the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. He is he author of a number of reference books published by Facts On File, including Atlas of the North American Indian and Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, both originally published in the 1980s and both in their third editions. He is the co-author of Encyclopedia of Exploration (2005) and Encyclopedia of European Peoples (2006). Carl has also done screenwriting about Native Americans, including an episode of Miami Vice entitled "Indian Wars" and the Legend of Two-Path, a drama about the Native American side of Raleigh's Lost Colony, shown at Festival Park on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. His hobbies include music and he works with young people in the Performance and Production Workshops at the Cherry Valley Old School.

"Silver" Spoons

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As seen in House Beautiful.  Click here to buy.

When we created Beekman 1802, our goal was to breathe life into the historic 19th century farm and into the mercantile business that the honest William Beekman founded over 2 centuries ago and at the same time provide opportunities for our neighbors in the surrounding village to thrive as well.

From the beginning, we've been devoted to the artisanal, the hand-made, and to the belief that each season gives us cause for celebration and we are pleased to announce the b. 1802 Rural Artist Collective.

Over the next year, we'll be working with local craftsmen skilled in traditional methodologies to develop new and beautiful items for your home, hearth, and pantry.  Bringing a little piece of Beekman 1802 into your home supports the preservation of these true American masters.

It has been a tradition in many countries for wealthy godparents to give a silver spoon to their godchildren at christening ceremonies.

Regardless the origin of the phrase, you, too, can have a "silver" spoon in your mouth.

Our exceptional b. 1802 Fruit Spoon is fashioned from Britannia, a metal alloy common in the 18th century.  The alloy becomes molten over hot coals and is then hand-poured into an authentic  18th century spoon mold.

"The trifid spoon with it's broad handle face and it's tripartite top and its oval bowl with level edges and it's long rattail on it's underside, inaugurates the modern phase of spoon design.  It arrived in England in developed form from France around 1660.

The portraiture on the handle of the spoon is of Queen Anne, homely as she was, and this would date the mold from 1665 – 1714 : the decorations seem to confirm this, having gone out of style soon thereafter.

The b.1802 mark on the stem of each spoon was designed to imitate owner's stamps of the period, very common on pewter of the time.

See how metal artist Michael McCarthy crafts each spoon exclusively for Beekman 1802.

Visit the Beekman 1802 Mercantile to see more of the collection.

5 Beautiful Things

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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We're calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week.

 

Tea Time

I never let a day pass without a cup of tea. It is a ritual I come by honestly, likely due to my British heritage. I grew up with tea at every meal, even on camping trips! My 88 year-old grandmother, who is from Bedfordshire, is still particular about how her tea is made and I can foresee myself as an ornery old man demanding my cup of tea at 4 pm, sharp, served in a specific cup, brewed in a specific way.

I prefer black teas like orange pekoe, earl grey and chai, which all have citrus notes. These are the ones I drink at breakfast and in the late afternoon.  Green tea is nice after a heavy meal and herbal white teas are especially nice when you're feeling under the weather.

The English science-fiction writer George Orwell was a tea fanatic. In a 1946 essay for the Evening Standard entitled A Nice Cup of Tea, he shared some of his tips for the perfect cup. You can read his essay here.

If his practices are a little too idiomatic for your taste, here are some basic tips for a good cup of tea:

Preheat the teapot with very hot water to ensure the tea stays warm, and use a tea cozy.


Make sure the water is boiling when you pour it over the tea leaves or tea bags. It must be boiling for the best flavour. (Green tea is an exception. The water should be poured over the leaves just before boiling.)


Let the tea steep in the pot for 4 to 5 minutes. If you're making a single cup, less than a minute is usually enough. (Green tea should steep for no more than 3 minutes or it may become bitter.)


Good-quality tea can be infused up to three times before the flavor diminishes. Simply pour boiling water over the leaves again, letting it steep for less time with each infusion.

 

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Photos:

1.       http://lesapea.tumblr.com/

2.       http://browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com/

3.       Ceramic teapot by artist Magie Smith-Fleisher

4.       A photo of teacups from my personal collection

5.       Laser-cut paper design by artist Julene Harrison

 

Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he'll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.