Okay, I don't knit gifts for every one. This year our beloved editors and publishers of our cook books and food magazines are getting homemade ketchup.First on the list comes a thank you to my neighbor (well she's 1.5 miles down the road, but when you live in the country that counts as being a neighbor) Marty. She and her husband Chip have a huge vegetable garden and donated 50 pounds of tomatoes to the cause. This is their gorgeous house and gardens where the tomatoes came from.
When I ordered the 20 qt all-clad stock pot I thought that would be the largest pot I could ever imagine using at home. I was wrong. It took 2 batches to process all those tomatoes into ketchup. First I had to chop and cook them briefly to soften the skins. Then I passed them all through the food mill to remove the skins and seeds.
Next, I added ground onions (a quick whirl in the food processor did that nicely) along with a little sugar (only about 2 cups for this entire pot), a touch of salt, and cider vinegar that I infused with cinnamon, fennel seed, all spice berries, star anise, garlic, and dill seed (from my own garden of course). Then began the fun. Reduce, reduce, reduce. This large pot took 13 hours to from wet and soupy to thick and ketchup-y.
So tiny needles make you crazy but a 13-hour ketchup-reducing adventure is par for the course? You are a very interesting man, Bruce!
ReplyDeleteIt's not the time involved with tiny needles, I can knit all day and night with pleasure. Tiny needles are just lost in my monster sized hands!
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