Beef stock

At 6500 feet, 13 1/2 lbs. of pressure = 240+ degrees

With the high-pressure canner I bought this summer and 30 lbs. of beef bones from El Morro Valley Ranch in the freezer, I had to make my own version of all natural organic beef stock this past weekend. I started with a bike ride to the coop for organic celery and carrots. They had both.  The next stop with the BOB trailer was The Water Store for 4 gallons of purified water, and then back home, slowly. 

5 pounds of thawed beef bones

I browned batches of the bones in olive oil, and then, with about 15 lbs of the bones and gravy, I filled the stainless steel brewing kettle with nearly all the water. After bringing it all to rolling boil, I skimmed foam from the top for about 10 minutes.  I simmered the bones alone for about 3 hours before adding a pound each of the celery, carrots, and onions, a handful of bay leaves, whole peppercorns, sea salt. Then everything simmered overnight. In the morning I carefully skimmed and set aside about an inch of fat from the surface of the broth, and used a slotted ladle to remove all the solids. After heating the cans and lids to 180, I filled 6 quarts with the rich smelling broth. Using a fine steel mesh sifter I was able to filter out all of the particles of meat and vegetables, and was left with a uniform dark tan broth. 

Removing the jars after waiting the hour or more it takes the canner to depressurize

The Ball Blue Book calls for 20 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure for stocks (a considerable difference from any meat stew recipe which is processed for 120 minutes or more). In Gallup at 6500', to achieve the safe temperature of 240 inside the jars, I try to keep at 13.5 lbs of pressure. The pressure weight on the Presto canner I bought is set for 15 lbs, so I adjust the big burner on the stove to around med-low to low to keep that pressure, and adjust frequently to keep it above the minimum of 13 lbs. and the over processing (higher temperature) of 14 lbs. and above.

Gallup-grown Pear and Poblano Chutney

The peppers and pears

The lack of a late spring freeze on the Colorado Plateau this year has led to bountiful fruit harvests all over the region and here in our frosty morning town. And so when a friend dropped off a bushel basket of bosch pears, grown in the Hill/Green region of Gallup, the first preserving recipe that came to mind was a gingery sweet pear and poblano chutney. 

The Gallup Trails 2010 annual party in McGaffey gave us the perfect opportunity to try the recipe on a grand scale. We peeled and peeled and peeled the pears, without a peeler, and then seeded and charred the poblanos over the grill, finally we diced it all with fresh ginger, garlic, red onion, and a few hot peppers from the garden (jalapeno, bird's eye, and thai).  Simmering in white vinegar and brown sugar for 4 hours, delivered a tasty sweet sauce to accompany the banana leaf-wrapped pork shoulders beautifully pit-roasted (fired by oak from 4-7am) for 11 hours by Mike S, Jake G and the GT2010 kitchen crew. Bill's tamed, yet still kicking, habanero salsa puree was said to give the chutney some zing, and in return, the chutney gave some cooling relief from the fiery hot orange peppers. In the end, all the sauces where gone mid-service, and 6 picnic-cut pork shoulders (whole bone and skin), a huge brisket, and two turkey breasts disappeared into the crowd of cyclists and Gallup Trails 2010 member/supporters within an hour. The local home-brewing competition, won by Brian Culligan's #4, washed it all down, and greased the dance floor for the southwest's best bluegrass: The Back Porch Band!

late season vegetables

Brussel sprouts

The rows of corn, chile, and tomatoes have now been reduced to the rusty orange, tan, and red hues common to our sandstone and coal formations around here, and common to both I guess, they speak to a prior era of lush green growth. Each day now, the more recent palate of those colors sheds a few more rattling dry leaves and reveals the scaly dark stems to the fall winds. A few chile that had matured enough--ripened and red or nearing red--still hang like a NM postcard come to life. Though, many of the fruit, poblano and chile, that were still growing and green by the time of the first freeze, seem to have been irreversibly damaged by the abundant and swelling ice-crystals within their watery cells.  Those chiles are now a pale soggy semblance of their ripened brethren. 

I've digressed long enough in remembering the native vegetable garden behind the house, the aim of this post was the cold favoring vegetables of my front gardens: green onion, radish, chard, collard greens, mixed greens, cabbage (green and purple varieties), broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  Plus a few hardy herbs like mint, rosemary, and sage. 

 

Northern lights chard

These plants benefit from the physical protection and thermal mass of the neighboring houses when the cold dry air begins to snake down Black Diamond Canyon from the mesas to the north; I've found a 2-4 degree temperature differential between the exposed rear gardens and the front gardens.  Though, more than the location of their garden beds, the season-extending benefit of these plants comes from their genetics. The brassica family (e.g. cabbage) seems to be filled with some type of natures anti-freeze.  I'm especially thankful for the longest possible growing season due to the hour or so less of direct sunlight that hits my gardens during the growing season due to the depth and high walls of the narrow canyon, and the under-fertilized clay soil I forced all the under-sized brassicas to grow in this year.

  

Sage and rosemary

Using the biological control NOLO Bait for grasshoppers this year has really improved the appearance of my cabbage and brussel sprouts.  The latter being a favorite of my local grasshoppers; I lost my entire crop of brussels sprouts- three stout plants- to the little creatures last year.

Storage and purple cabbage

Poblano Farewell

Mid-season indication of the bountiful harvest to come

Planted on June 9th as 6" starts I nursed for over a month before planting, sadly, tonight the poblanos are dying as ice crystals swell inside of each watery cell of those beautiful peppers of Mexico--a result of the thermometer plunging into the low 20's. Alas, as they proved to be the most fecund pepper in the garden for a second year in a row; 12 plants yielded 3/4 of a bushel of juicy, broad 3-6" peppers.  

A bee covered in zucchini pollen methodically explores the Poblano flowers

Here in northern New Mexico, perennial Poblanos are doomed to live for only a single year of what could be many in a warmer locale--I had to apologize to the peppers this afternoon as I removed their protective plastic cover and heating lights that had extended their season for an additional week and a half. More than gaining additional growth in the fruit, the cheap cold-frames spread the harvest out over a couple of weeks and made the processes of drying (ancho the name becomes), pickling, and freezing a little more manageable for one.