there seems to be a foreign transmission
The Barges refers collectively to three massive barges that journey daily from Flot to the Pier Market, to the Southern Mooring and back again. These barges pick up cut stone from Tinnead and Lumber from Flot for delivery to the Pier Market. The Barges also ferry passengers between these destinations. Each Barge has a modest inn with lodging for up to a hundred people and space for an additional one hundred “1-stop” passengers. In recent years a family of renowned X’ucotia chefs have opened a franchise of highly lauded restaurants on each barge. Nearly all passenger and commercial traffic on Lake Flot is carried on The Barges.
We love sunfruit pickles at The Barges. Not everyone shares our enthusiasm. Sunfruit brings a lot of big flavors. It’s sweet, it’s sour, it’s spicy and, has some powerful aromatic components as well. To stretch our supply of fresh fruit and cut it’s temper we like to pickle it in a simple brine. These pickles are fantastic as a topping for our turtle flatbreads, as the key component in a salsa, or as an aromatic filling in grilled fish.
During last year’s trade embargo we had a lot of trouble sourcing fresh sunfruit. If sunfruit is not available, or prohibitively expensive in your area, you can substitute one pineapple, two habaneros and, one well sized crushed ginger root. We operated under these constraints at all three restaurants and the only difference was the color. Just don’t serve the pepper and ginger pieces with your pickles.
This ice cream is made without any fancy spices or other aromatics, it capitalizes on the deeply complex caramel flavors of its base ingredients. The big players in this recipe are the toasted cream and Field Sugar. The toasted cream is a component of several dishes in this book and there’s a recipe for it in the back. Now I know when I say Field Sugar most of you are thinking of pastoral grannies and roadside souvenirs but I promise there’s real merit to it. When properly employed, Field sugar has a rich dark fruit flavor, like dates and figs. The end result is a fruity, toasty, rich ice cream that tastes like perfectly browned butter.
As for the tools, back in the day we made ice cream with huge double walled metal buckets, filled with saltwater and ice. We had to churn them by hand. Now we have some fancy circuit solutions and you won’t here us complaining. There are some very slick countertop options coming out of the north this year and I can’t recommend them enough.
Tools Small pot 2 medium metal bowls Large metal bowl Sieve Something to churn the ice cream
Method
1. Add yolks to half of the Field Sugar and whip.
2. Place a clean metal bowl into a larger bowl with ice and water. Measure your cold toasted cream into this bowl.
3. Heat the other half of the Field Sugar and the milk until it just begins to boil. 4. Temper egg yolks with hot milk.
5. Bring combined egg yolks, milk and sugar back up to temperature, finger streak on wood spoon does not drip.
6. Strain the custard into into your cold cream. This will stop the cooking.
7. Chill the custard somewhere cold.
8. Churn and freeze.
Notes: If this cookbook has made it far enough north that you can’t get Field sugar, we suggest a 50/50 blend of Dark Muscovado Sugar and Raw palm Sugar. It won’t be exactly the same, but it will be pretty damn close.
This preparation of cream was originally employed to extend its shelf life in warmer months. Although no longer necessary, the subtle brown butter and toffee flavors of toasted cream keep this process alive. We cook the cream at a temperature high enough to kill pathogens and begin caramelization but not high enough to boil it and fully denature its proteins or split its fat. Traditionally this was accomplish by sealing cream in an airtight vessel dropping it into an appropriately temperate hot spring, one that is hot enough to cook an animal, but not hot enough to boil water. Thankfully we can now rely on heated vessels and thermostats.
Ingredients 473ml Fresh Cream 1g Baking Soda
Method 1. Fill a 1 pint canning jar with your cream and baking soda. 2. Mix well and seal. 3. Submerge the jar completely in a hot water bath held at 180 degrees Fahrenheit for an entire day. 4. Remove the jar from the water and allow to cool before storing in a cold place.
When the cream is finished it should look like it went out and got a tan and have a warm nutty aroma. It will taste the slightest bit saltier than normal cream due to the baking soda, so adjust accordingly. This recipe can be scaled up easily by simply toasting more more jars simultaneously in the same hot water bath.We use toasted cream in a number of our dishes at The Barges, such as blossom coffee and pear cake.
In our neck of the woods we have a lot of mineral springs overflowing with effervescent potable water. Legend has it that spring cherry blossoms falling into the springs would flavor this sparkling water and lead to the invention of a local delicacy. I’ve done the math and I’m not sure there are enough cherry trees in this whole country to flavor an entire spring by accident. Regardless of how it was invented, cherry blossom mineral is a very nice beverage and it’s floral almond notes pair very well with coffee. This is a cold and very floral iced beverage, popular in the summer. We serve Blossom coffee over in a glass tumbler, over ice, and with a straw.
Ingredients 235ml Effervescent Spring Water 70ml Steam Decocted Coffee1 60ml Toasted Cream 10ml Brown Sugar Syrup 1 drop Cherry Blossom Extract Crushed Ice
Method: 1. Add the syrup, cherry blossom extract, and toasted to cream to the glass and mix well. 2. Fill the glass with crushed ice and decoct your coffee into it. 3. Give it a couple gentle stirs as you add in your mineral water. 4. Serve with a straw.
Translator’s Note: Most likely this is two shots of Espresso↩︎