Whiskey Apple Pie

This recipe is a modified version from chef Alton Brown, of Food Network fame.  It is easily the best apple pie I've ever had, and I've made it for the last three Thanksgivings in a row (in one variation or another.)

Whiskey Apple Pie

Crust:
6 oz. unsalted butter, cubed
2 oz. vegetable shortening, cubed
5 to 7 T. whiskey or applejack
12 oz. all-purpose flour (about 2-3/4 cups)
Extra flour for dusting
1 t. salt
1 T. granulated sugar.

Filling:
3 to 3-1/2 pounds of apples (a mixture of Granny Smith, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, and Golden Delicious, about 6 large apples.)
2 T. shredded fresh quince
1/2 C. sugar
3 T. tapioca flour
1 T. whiskey or applejack
2 t. fresh lime juice
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground coriander

For the crust:

Place the butter, shortening, and whiskey into the refrigerator for at least one hour.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar by pulsing a few times.  Add the butter and pulse 5 or 6 times until the texture is mealy.  Add the shortening and pulse another 5 or 6 times until everything is incorporated.

Remove the lid of the food processor and sprinkle in 5 tablespoons of the whiskey.  Replace the lid and pulse 5 or 6 times.  Add more whiskey as needed, and pulse again until the mixture holds together when squeezed.  Divide the dough in half (by weight), wrap each in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

For the filling:

Peel and core the apples.  Slice into 1/2" thick wedges.  Toss all of the apples with 1/4 cup of the sugar, place into a colander set over a large bowl, and allow to drain for 2-3 hours.

Transfer the drained liquid to a small saucepan, place over medium heat, and reduce to 2 tablespoons.  Set aside to cool.  Toss the apples with the remaining sugar, tapioca flour, whiskey, quince, lime juice, salt, and coriander.

Making the pie:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove one half of the dough from the refrigerator.  Place the dough onto a lightly-floured piece of waxed paper.  Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll out into a 12-inch circle.  Place into a 9-1/2' to 10" deep-dish pie pan.  Gently press the dough into the sides of the pan, crimping and trimming the edges as necessary.

Place the apples into the unbaked pie shell in concentric circles starting around the edges, working towards the center and forming a slight mound in the center of the pie.  Pour over any liquid that remains in the bowl.  Roll out the second pie dough as the first, and place it over the apples sealing the edges and poking the pie bird through the top crust.

Brush the pie with the reduced apple juice, carefully avoiding the edge of the pie.  Place the pie on a cookie sheet and bake it directly on the floor of the oven for 30 minutes.  Transfer it to the lower rack and bake it for another 20 minutes or until the apples are cooked but not mushy.  Remove and allow to cool.

Killer Bee #2

I've been trying to craft a honey-wheat beer for a couple of months now.  The one I have my heart set on at the moment is a weissenbock, sort of a higher-gravity hefeweizen that I'm calling Killer Bee.  "Killer" because it's final ABV will be above 7%, and "Bee" because it is made with lots of honey.

What can I say?  I love the taste of honey.

Well, the first batch didn't work out so well.  So I made a few adjustments to both the ingredients and to the process, and now I have:

KILLER BEE No. 2

Batch size: 5 gallons

Mash:

6.5 lbs. Light wheat malt

4.0 lbs. Brewer's 2-row malt

2.5 lbs. Cara-Wheat malt

0.3 lbs. Flaked wheat

0.5 lbs. Rice hulls

2.5 lbs. Honey*

Mash water: 4.2 gallons

Hops:

1.0 oz. Hallertauer @ 60 min.

0.5 oz. Cascade @ 6 min.

Yeast:

Wyeast American Wheat 1010

*Add the honey during the last 10 minutes of the boil, 4 minutes before adding the Cascade hops.  Boiling the honey longer than 10 minutes will fade its flavor.

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OG:  1.076

FG:  1.018

IBU:  19.308

SRM: 19.44

ABV: 7.5%

Yep. It's Time.

I've put this off for too long. This page is rebranding, as an online recipe book. It's time for me to be a little more outward-focused.

Thanks for reading.

-Trav

My Next Batch

Last month, I met my friends Aaron and Mike over at the Green Dragon Pub, and I tried a "Dubble Hefeweizen." I can't remember which brewery it came from (there are like a million of them here in Portland), but I remember it was delicious. Dark, rich, high-gravity...

So I thought, hmm, I should make some of that.

And then the wheels started turning in my head a bit, and I started thinking about wheat beer and all of the things that taste good with it. Honey is one of my favorite flavors in fermented beverages, for example, and it goes great with wheat. So after tweaking things around a bit, I ended up with this.

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Double Honey Wheat
(Double Hefeweizen)

Water:
5 gallons

Malt:
1.50 lbs. Dark Wheat Malt
2.50 lbs. White Wheat Malt
0.25 lbs. Flaked Wheat
5.50 lbs. Pale Malt (Brewer's 2-row)
1.00 lbs. Munich Malt
0.50 lbs. Crystal Malt 40
0.50 lbs. Rice solids

Sugars:
1.50 lbs. Mesquite honey

Hops:
1.00 oz. Hallertauer Gold (@60 min.)
1.00 oz. Tettnanger (@30 min.)

Yeast:
Wyeast American Wheat 1010

Statistics:
OG : 1.064
FG : 1.015
IBU: 36.225
SRM: 13.32
ABV: 6.3%

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The hard part will be finding some mesquite honey; it's out of season right now, and even when it is in season it is rare. If I can't find it, I will just have to go with pure wildflower honey. Which will work, but the beer won't taste as honey-y.

With a little luck, I'll start this batch up this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out.

EDIT: I had to dial this recipe back quite a bit. The previous version (if you saw it) had a finishing ABV of 9.9%, which I think would be too high to bottle. (If I had a keg and CO₂ system, it would be a different story...but with that much alcohol, I doubt I would have enough healthy yeast to give it adequate carbonation. I'd have to use wine yeast.)

This version is a straight-up "double" brew, which uses twice the ingredients for a single batch of regular hefeweizen. I'm not sure I can call it an "imperial" now.

Homemade Chicken Soup

A friend of mine is feeling a bit under the weather...sore throat, headache, runny nose, all that rubbish. So this recipe is for her: nothing soothes a cold like homemade chicken soup.

Illness aside, this is one of my all-time favorite soup recipes. Fresh herbs and spices really bring a lot to this recipe...so try to use them as much as possible.

Trav's Homemade Chicken Soup
1 whole chicken, cooked
2 quarts of water
3 carrots
2 red potatoes
3 stalks of celery
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1, 3" sprig of fresh thyme
1, 3" sprig of fresh rosemary
1, 4" clutch of fresh sage leaves
1 t. whole peppercorns
2 t. salt
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
1 t. grated lemon zest

First, make a stock from the chicken. Start with a whole roasted chicken from the grocery deli. Pull the meat from the chicken, dice it up, and refrigerate it in a plastic container. Put the skin and bones in a large stock pot, and cover with water. Scrub the vegetables thoroughly under running water. Peel and dice the vegetables, refrigerating the good parts and putting the peels and end pieces into the stock pot with the chicken bones. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 to 4 hours.

Strain the broth, and discard the solids. Bring the liquid to a medium boil, and cook uncovered until it is reduced to about 4 cups. Add the chopped chicken meat, carrots, celery, potato, and onion.

Tie the rosemary, sage, and thyme sprigs together with cotton string, and toss them into the soup. Crack the peppercorns coarsely with a mortar and pestile, and add them as well. Stir in the salt, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Return the soup to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer slowly for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the bundle of herbs, adjust the salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately with fresh crusty bread and a glass of pinot noir (or herbal tea and fuzzy slippers, if you are Heather.)

VARIATIONS

Don't have any fresh herbs handy? Use 1 tsp. of dried rosemary, 1 tsp. of dried thyme, 1/2 tsp. of rubbed sage, and 1 Tbsp. of dried parsley.

To make a hearty chicken stew: double the amount of vegetables and chop everything into larger, fork-sized pieces.

For chicken noodle soup, omit the potatoes. Cook your favorite pasta according to the package instructions, drain it, and stir it into the soup a few minutes before serving. Use as little or as much of it as you like; I like to use about 2 cups of macaroni.

For chicken and rice soup, omit the potatoes. Cook your favorite rice according to the package instructions, and stir it into the soup a few minutes before serving. Use as little or as much of it as you like; I use about 2 cups of wild rice.