JAMMIN' OUT IN THE KITCHEN
Reach for the jam jar to create instant hits at the table!
Happy Friday, y’all! It’s time for long, lazy al fresco dinners with your favorite humans (and critters too!). And since it’s always better to spend more time with guests than in the kitchen, we’re serving up some quick and easy recipes that take a shortcut from your kitchen cupboard—the jam jar! Anthony’s putting his spin on one of Elizabeth’s classic barbecue sauces, and Elizabeth is making the easiest (yet oh-so-impressive) dessert that will be the perfect finish to all your Summer cookouts!
BLACKBERRY DR. PEPPER BARBECUE SAUCE
AU: You ever just crave a really good saucy piece of meat?? In honor of Pride Month, I’m delivering it. 🏳️🌈 In the form of Chicken. While I may be a little long in the tooth to be considered “chicken” in a gay bar, I picked up two young free-range birds at the grocery store that will be the perfect vehicles for an incredible barbecue sauce… but the sauce would also be incredible on pork (chops, tenderloin or ribs!), chicken wings, or duck would be amazing, too!
The sauce, is a tweaked recipe from Elizabeth’s cookbook, Soaked, Slathered, and Seasoned: A Complete Guide to Flavoring Food on the Grill. She calls it a “guide,” but I think it’s a bible! Truly the absolute best collection of marinades, brines, sauces, rubs (and more!) that you’ve ever seen!
EK: Thank you Anthony! The great thing about thinking of it as a guide is that you can use the recipe as I wrote it or tweak it to add your taste and touch, like you did here. And, if you live anywhere where Cheerwine is sold (Iykyk!) sub Cheerwine for the Dr. Pepper for a regional North Carolina treat!!
AU: It’s all true, EK! Plus, I love that it also has a very basic guide to grilling any kind of meat at the beginning—keep it by your grill, y’all—you’ll use it over and over again!
Not that EK’s recipe needed tweaking (bc it didn’t), but that’s the fun of cooking—you get to riff! I decided to add blackberry jam to her famous Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce. And if this sounds like a cloyingly sweet concoction, you couldn’t be more wrong! It is a deeply savory barbecue sauce, with a sweet-tart tang. The blackberries aren’t just adding sweetness, but a fruity note that plays so well with the chili powder, onions, and garlic.
AU: In order to balance the sweetness of the jam, Elizabeth and I decided we should reduce the amount of Dr. Pepper from the original recipe. And, girl, when we’re right, we’re right! It’s a really well-balanced sauce. It’s got tang, sweetness, savoriness, and just a hint of spice on the back of the palate.
Elizabeth, you’ve been an expert griller and around the competition barbecue circuit… what makes a great barbecue sauce??
EK: A great barbecue sauce hits all the flavors on your tongue, sweet up front, sour on the sides, salty all over and just a hint of some bitterness and umami at the end. That is why there are sweet ingredients, sour-tart ingredients, a nice acidic lift, umami and a slight bitterness. In this sauce, both the Dr. Pepper and the blackberries have a bit of a bitter note, as does the chili powder. Btw, if you don’t know umami is now considered one of the five basic tastes and it is a Japanese word that means “meaty or savory” which is found in tomatoes among other things, so barbecue sauce is almost always umami.
AU: Well, I think this is one of the greats! To try it out, I grilled up my chickens (which I cut into pieces) over indirect heat for 30-45 minutes, brushing on the sauce during the last 15 minutes of cooking time. Another grilling rule I’d like to point out, is that contrary to what you see on TV, etc, you don’t need to flip bone-in pieces of chicken on the grill. Right, Elizabeth?
EK: That’s right!! If your meat has a bone in it, use the indirect grilling method, place it on the cooking grates where you have turned the flame off bone-side down, and there is no need to flip!
AU: After I let the chickadees rest, I couldn’t resist biting into a piece before it was served. OOOOOOOOOH WEEEEE!! One of the best pieces of chicken to ever come off my grill—it was so succulent. All thanks to my pal Elizabeth and a jar of Blackberry Jam!
CHERRY-ALMOND JAM TART
EK: Years ago, I traveled to Florence to learn about Italian cuisine and I discovered the secret of an easy dessert made with pantry staples from an Italian wife who is an American expat and chef. Judy Witts Francini is a wealth of knowledge on how real Italians cook, and has a Substack newsletter, as well.
The dessert was a crostata, a.k.a. an amazing jam tart. And the secret ingredient was an excellent jar of ‘ready-to-eat’ jam that we bought at a local bakery that became the filling.
AU: Jellies and Jams are such a great hack in the kitchen… mix a spoonful into cocktails, nuke some apricot jam in the microwave and use it as a glaze for a fruit tart, or make it THE tart like Elizabeth is doing!
EK: After learning about the butter-sugar-flour-egg ratios for the classic Italian Crostata, we made one with the fig jam that we had purchased. The Crostata, I learned during the class, can be filled with just about anything and a good jam is the easiest filling.
Because you essentially purchase the filling, choose a jam—preferably low in sugar—that is exploding with flavor and good enough to eat by the spoonful. I always buy jam or preserves with whole chunks of fruit in it and cherry is my favorite. There is something about the combination of cherry and almond that is so appealing.
EK: This is one of those treasured recipes where the sum is greater than its parts! The recipe’s list of ingredients is small and basic, and that day, the secret to the tart was a beautiful jar of fig jam scented with lemon zest and almonds. I was incredulous that something so easy to make could taste so good.
AU: Isn’t that the case with so many Italian dishes? Simple yet impactful.
EK: And, this is also a great recipe for anyone who thinks that they can’t bake! The simple butter crust is like working with play-dough and the filling can be whatever jam you want it to be—even Nutella!
When I came home, I was obsessed with making the tart. Because our flour and our eggs are different from Italian flour and eggs, it was more difficult to replicate the crust than I thought it was going to be.
I consulted Judy via email and she said to think of it as a cross between pie dough and a sugar cookie. That statement made me eliminate the egg that we had used in Florence and go with a shortbread type of crust—that means that my jam tart is “inspired by” the Italian and not an authentic crostata.
EK: I cream the butter and the sugar together, as if I am making a cake, and add an extract like vanilla or almond (or even orange blossom water) to the dough for a hint of flavor. I whisk the flour and salt and any spices that I use together and add it to the butter mixture little by little, mixing it just until it resembles cookie dough.
EK: In Italy, these crostatas are generally finished with a lattice top, but I prefer a more organic top. I remove a handful of the dough and mix-in sliced almonds before placing the dough in the freezer so that it crumbles easily. I then use the crumbled ”crust” to sprinkle over the tart—it becomes a kind of streusel topping.
EK: Chill the crust in the pan, and once cold, spread a thin layer of jam around the center leaving a ½-inch border around the sides so that it forms a distinct crust as it bakes. Sprinkle the top with the frozen “crust” crumbs for a tender, Italian “streusel” topping.
That’s all there is to it.
EK: Look how pretty it bakes up! One thing about this tart is that you must let it cool completely before slicing and serving. And if you store it well—I use a 2 gallon resealable bag to store the whole pie plate—it tastes even better the second day.
Every time I make this and eat it, it reminds me of a Linzer Torte which are more well known and so popular that even Pepperidge Farm sells a Linzer cookie during the holidays.
AU: Linzer Cookies are my favorite!! This is just like one. A simple recipe where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts!
EK: A Linzer Torte is essentially an Austrian shortbread pastry that uses egg yolks, and ground nuts in addition to the flour with a filling of fruit preserves like raspberry or apricot and topped with a lattice pattern. The authentic, lattice-topped Italian version is so similar that one must have influenced the other.
Let the tart cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!!
I love the boy-yoy-YOING!!!!! Xxo!
Sicily and Huckleberries sound wonderful!! Let us know if you try one or both!
Best wishes to you!!!
Elizabeth