But we still wanted roast pork.

So we were happy when Crofter’s Organic sent us an easy recipe that beginning cooks learn: a pork roast glazed with a jar of apricot jam. How could we resist? We called the butcher and had a pork roast delivered that day.

The apricot jam glaze trick can be used on any meat roast, and it’s tasty and easy. But today’s tip is to be sure that the glaze has more than one-dimensional sweetness—beyond just apricot jam. The fruity glaze in the recipe below is done the right way, with counterpoints of bitter (such as herbs and zest), pungent (such as garlic) and tangy (such as mustard, which also supplies heat).

You can also use the glaze with chicken, duck or lamb.

We enjoyed our pork roast with sides of quinoa (you can use any whole grain); cubed, roasted butternut squash (we roasted it along with the tenderloin); and a mixed green salad with dried cranberries and slivered almonds.

Oh, how delicious! Photo of a glazed pork roast courtesy Crofters Organic.

RECIPE: APRICOT GLAZED PORK TENDERLOIN

Ingredients

Fruit spread contains less sugar than jam,
jelly, marmalade or preserves. Photo
courtesy Crofters Organic.

1. BLEND all ingredients except wine and pork in a food processor or blender. Place the tenderloin in a cast-iron pan and spoon the mixture over it. Let sit for 1/2 hour at room temperature.

2. HEAT the oven to 400°F; place the pan in the middle of the oven and sear for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and continue to cook, 25 minutes per pound.

3. REMOVE cooked tenderloin from the pan and let rest. Meanwhile…

4. DEGLAZE the pan with 2 tablespoons of white wine. Drizzle over sliced tenderloin and garnish with fresh rosemary.

Check on the company website for coupons for Crofter’s spreads.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAM & FRUIT SPREAD?

Crofter’s makes both apricot jam and apricot fruit spread. The difference is in the level of sweetness. Savory recipes like roast pork don’t need the extra sugar, so you can use fruit spread rather than jam.

Jam consists of chopped, crushed or puréed fruit cooked down with sugar—a recipe as old as refined sugar. Fruit spread began to appear in the 1970s as a reduced-calorie product, made with alternative sweeteners such as juice concentrate.

There are distinct differences between chutney, conserve, jelly, jams, marmalades and the rest of the sweet spread category. Take a minute and take a look.
 
MORE WAYS TO USE THE JAM OR FRUIT SPREAD

Breakfast

 
Lunch

 
Appetizers/Snacks

 
Dinner

 
Dessert

Gumbo is a Creole soup from Louisiana, thickened with okra pods. “Gumbo” is an African word for okra.

Okra came to America with the slave trade and was introduced to the Southern white population by African cooks. As with all recipes, there are regional variations and different styles of gumbo.

You can toil for many hours to make your gumbo, or you can make this one quickly to celebrate National Gumbo Day, October 12th.

Made with Swanson Louisana Cajun Flavor Infused Broth, it delivers the taste of New Orleans when combined with your chicken, sausage and vegetables.

Prep time is 25 minutes, total time is 1 hour, 25 minutes. Serve it at your next get-together.

RECIPE: EASY CAJUN GUMBO

Ingredients For 8 Servings

It’s gumbo time! Photo
courtesy Swanson.

 
Serve With

 
*To save time, you can substitute 1 package (12 ounces) fully-cooked andouille sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, for the fresh sausage. Then, skip Step 1 below, and stir the cooked sausage in with the broth in Step 3.

1. HEAT 2 tablespoons oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook until well browned, stirring occasionally. Remove the sausage from the saucepan and drain on paper towels. Do not pour off the drippings from the saucepan.

2. REDUCE the heat to medium-low. Stir the remaining oil and the flour in the saucepan. Cook for 30 minutes or until the flour mixture is dark brown, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir the onion, celery and pepper in the saucepan and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the broth, okra, chicken and sausage and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
 
MORE GUMBO RECIPES

CAJUN VS. CREOLE: THE DIFFERENCE

Some people think of Creole cuisine as “city food” and Cajun cuisine as “country food.” But to eyeball the dish and tell its provenance, here’s a simple trick:

Creole cuisine uses tomatoes and Cajun food typically does not. That’s how to distinguish a Cajun gumbo or jambalaya from a Creole gumbo or jambalaya.

“Creole” referred to people who were born to settlers in French colonial Louisiana, specifically in New Orleans. In the 18th, century Creoles were the descendants of the French and Spanish upper class that ruled the city.

Cajuns, on the other hand, emigrated from the Acadia region of Canada, which consisted of present-day New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. They settled in the swampy region of Louisiana that is today known as Acadiana; their name, “les Acadians,” became shortened in the vernacular as “Cajun.”

Enjoy a deeper discussion at LouisianaTravel.com.

 
CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOUP IN OUR SOUP GLOSSARY.

Fall mocktails, of course. You can find many of them online.

For starters, here’s a recipe full of fall flavor: apple, cinnamon and ginger, courtesy of Reed’s Ginger Brew, which has a portfolio of ginger beers from plain, in different strengths, to cherry and raspberry.

Turn it into a cocktail with one of the optional apple liquors.

> The history of ginger beer is below.

> The history of ginger ale.

> The difference between ginger ale and ginger beer.
 
 
RECIPE: APPLE GINGER MOCKTAIL OR COCKTAIL

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. FILL a tumbler with ice. Pour in Spiced Apple Ginger Brew and optional alcohol.

2. STIR with a cinnamon stick and serve.
 
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GINGER ALE & GINGER BEER

Although the name suggests otherwise, ginger beer was never actually a beer, but rather an alcoholic beverage with similar production methods.

Ginger ale is a soft drink, sweetened, carbonated water flavored with ginger extract. There is zero alcohol.

Ginger beer, on the other hand, is brewed for deeper and more complex flavors and a sizzling ginger “burn.” It’s a drier, fermented beverage containing real ginger root and probiotics.

Most genuine ginger beer is made from grated fresh ginger root, acidified with lemon juice and zest, and sweetened with sugar.

Brewers can add citrus zest, cayenne pepper and other hot spices, and blend-ins from nettle or dandelion beers.

It also includes what is known as the ginger beer plant, a fungus that contains specific yeast and bacteria that aid fermentation. Other live cultures can be substituted, including brewers’ or bakers’ yeast, lactic acid bacteria, kefir grains or tibicos, another culture of bacteria and yeasts.

Historically, this blended ingredients were left exposed to the ambient air for about a week for spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts and lactobacilli.

Today, the gelatinous mass of bacteria (Lactobacillus hilgardii) and yeast (Saccharomyces florentinus) that floats on the surface is introduced during production. This is known as a plant or scoby and is similar to what is produced during kefir, kombucha, and tibicos (a.k.a. water kefir) production.

After a few days of fermentation, you’ve got ginger beer, effervescent with natural carbon dioxide (as in the fermentation of beer).

In the 1930s, dry ginger ale, a soft drink became popularand quickly eclipsed the older, more robust ginger beer [source].

There is confusion because some soft drink companies in the U.S. call their product ginger beer, perhaps to make it sound more exotic, when it is in fact simply ginger ale.

Look at the nutrition label on the bottle. Ginger beer ingredients should include real ginger root (no “extract”), a fermenting or souring ingredient, and 30g or lower sugar content per serving.

[2] Reed’s Ginger Beer is available in three strengths.

[3] Ginger root (photo © Jan Schone | Stock Xchange).

[4] Grenadine (photo © Sonoma Syrup).

Ginger beer was first created in Yorkshire, England in the 1700s, using using ginger root and sugar imported from the West Indies.

The recipe was simple. Ginger, sugar water and optional lemon and/or cream of tarter were combined and left to sit and ferment.

Once the mixture was bubbly and slightly alcoholic it would be strained off and a portion of the old batch would be used to make the new.

You can use:

 
Next, pick your flavor. While chocolate and lemon poppy cakes are always popular, think seasonally:

For Halloween, it’s a pumpkin or a jack-o-lantern. Photo courtesy Nordic Ware.

 
If you’re making a two-bundt recipe, with the special pumpkin bundt or a traditional bundt, you can bake two different, complementary flavors (apple and carrot, chocolate and spice cake, for example).

RECIPE: HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BAKE the bundt(s) from your favorite recipe or a cake mix. Cool.

2. MAKE or buy vanilla frosting. Reserve 1/4 to tint green; tint 3/4 of the batch orange with food color. Mix equal parts of yellow and red food coloring to make orange. For a darker blood orange, add more red. For a lighter pumpkin orange, use more yellow.

This recipe was adapted from one we found in Southern Living (September 2005). You can make a plain caramel frosting, or add pecans and/or coconut.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a 3-quart saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring continuously, for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture reaches a pudding-like thickness.

2. ADD optional ingredients: pecans and coconut. Remove from heat. Let cool and frost the cake as shown in the photos above.
  

Remember the Tunnel Of Fudge Cake, a chocolate bundt cake with an inner circle of chocolate pudding? Here’s a sophisticated version for fall: a bundt with a circle of apple streusel.

Celebrate fall’s apple harvest with this recipe from Zulka, a family-owned business that makes premium sugar.
 
 
RECIPE: APPLE STREUSEL BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients For The Cake

 
Ingredients For The Apple Streusel

 
Ingredients For The Icing

Preparation

1. MAKE the apple streusel. Combine 1½ cups brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, 2 tablespoons flour and 6 tablespoons butter in a medium bowl, and stir until the butter is evenly mixed in. Add the apples and pecans and stir well. Keep chilled until ready to use.

2. PREHEAT the oven to 325°F. Butter a 12-cup bundt pan and coat with flour, tapping the sides to shake out excess flour.

3. MAKE the cake. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl, then add the yogurt, apple sauce and 1½ teaspoons vanilla. Mix well and set aside.

4. COMBINE the remaining 3 cups flour, 2 cups brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Mix on low speed until just combined. Add 2 sticks of butter one tablespoon at a time, and mix on low until well combined. Add half of the egg mixture and beat on low. Add the remaining mixture and raise speed to medium and mix for 30 seconds.

5. POUR half of the batter into the bundt pan, spreading evenly. Spoon the apple streusel filling in the middle of the batter, making sure none reaches the edge of the pan; gently press into the batter. Top with the remaining batter and carefully spread so that no streusel is showing.

6. BAKE for 40-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip onto a cake plate or serving platter and carefully remove the bundt pan. Let cool completely before icing.

7. MAKE the icing: Combine the cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1½ cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix well with an electric mixer. Drizzle or pour over the top of the cake.
_________________

*Best apples for this recipe: Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Mutsu, Pink Lady.

[1] An apple streusel-filled bundt cake, perfect for fall feasting (photo © Zulka).

[2] Granny Smith apples are a good choice for this recipe (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Pecans (photo © American Pecans)

[4] The apple streusel bundt, inside (photo © Zulka).

The bundt pan was created in 1950 by H. David Dahlquist, the founder of Minneapolis-based Nordic Ware, a manufacturer of kitchenware products. He did so at the request of Rose Joshua and Fannie Schanfield, members of the Minneapolis chapter of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s service organization.

According to an article in the Fall 2005 issue of Generations, the newsletter of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, Fannie remembers a Hadassah luncheon when Rose lamented the quality of light and fluffy American-style cakes, and longed for the rich, dense cakes of her European childhood. These, however, required a special type of of pan—one with a hole in the center that allowed heat to penetrate heavy cake batter from all sides. With this type of form, a heavier batter could be baked without leaving under-baked dough in the center.

Fannie’s husband arranged a meeting with Dahlquist, and Rose joined her to show Rose’s mother’s ceramic kugelhopf cake pan. This became the prototype for the Bundt pan.

Dahlquist modified the design by introducing folds in the fluted edges, and fashioned the pan out of aluminum. Some months later, a dozen Nordic Ware factory “seconds” were delivered to Hadassah member Mary Juster’s home, and Hadassah sold the pans to members for $4.00 each.
 
How The Bundt Got Its Name

The way the story is told, the name bundt comes from the German word bund, which means “community” or “a gathering of people”; and that Dahlquist just added the letter “t” to the end and trademarked the word.

However, there is a citation for a “bundt form” as early as the 1903 edition of the famous Milwaukee Settlement Cookbook†, 63 years before Dahlquist filed for his trademark on March 24, 1966. One can surmise that the Jewish women of Milwaukee had the cookbook and asked for a bundt pan. Still, Dahlquist was granted the patent.

In 1960, the Good Housekeeping Cookbook showed a pound cake baked in a Bundt pan; that feature turned the Bundt into the number-one selling cake pan in America. But it was the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off, where the Tunnel of Fudge Cake recipe baked in a Bundt won second place, that launched the Bundt trend.
 
________________

†In the 1903 Milwaukee Settlement Cookbook, “Bundt form” is found on page 319 in the following text (under BUNDT KUCHEN, No. 2): “Grease Bundt form (a heavy round fluted pan with tube in center) well, and flour lightly. Cream butter and sugar well, add beaten yolks and beat, then the raised mixture and the rest of the flour, and lastly the beaten whites. Pour in pan, let rise until very light, and bake until well done and brown in a moderately hot oven, about forty-five minutes.” (Read details of the Settlement Cookbook source material). The Settlement Cookbook, first published in 1901 in Milwaukee to raise funds for the Settlement House for immigrants, is considered to be the most successful fund-raising cookbook in American history. It is still in print; the 1976 edition was named to the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame.