Country Inn Cooking With Gail Greco; 101; Randall's Ordinary

New England recipes bubbling and sizzling over an open hearth. Life goes on the way it did 200 years ago at Randalls ordinary a place I think you'll agree with me is in fact anything but ordinary. And we're in North Stonington Connecticut where chef Cindy Clark cooks everything in the Inspire places from flat jacks to grilled salmon. And today we're going to learn how to do it at home. Towering hardwoods embrace the lantern with drive to Randalls ordinary. The 17th century farmhouse takes its name from the old British term for eatery. What was once a colonial Bar and Grill is now an historic country and.

Spread over 17 acres into historic buildings Randall's ordinary is a harmonious blend of early American traditions and modern comforts. Guest rooms range from colonial style suites with antique four poster bed quilts in the main house to rustic bedrooms in the renovated barn brightened by original 12 pane windows. The heart of Randall's is the dining room fireplace where meals are cooked just as they were in the 16 and 17 hundreds on an open hearth. But some places master of open hearth cooking and she shared some of her secrets as we prepared a delicious dessert called Bird's Nest pudding. I know we're making baked apples but I have a feeling that these are not your ordinary baked apples what are we doing. Well you're right they are not the ordinary recipe. This is a wonderful 18th century recipe or receipt in which we take the

apples Core them which we've already done and we're going to stuff them with raisins. Right. And this is called a bird's nest pudding. And the reason is we're putting a little eggs in the nets. And while you're doing that Gail I'm going to go ahead and start mixing the mustard. It's very simple. It's a very simple custard. There's with flour sugar egg and milk. But we're going to be adding walnuts and nutmeg knew it also so right now I have what I've combined as a cup and a half of milk and three eggs. OK. And I have a half a cup of sugar and when I have teaspoons of flour here. OK. Going to kind of stir that up a little bit before either. And it's best to use tart apples and I will use like Granny Smith. Yes we've got the granny smiths in there but some of the tart red apples are very nice too you know I love the crockery that you're using today. Kind of makes it a little more romantic like pottery of the time but of course we can use any baking dishes. We're at home right.

OK it is a really a simple matter we've combined all of us and when we pour this into in around the apples I'm going to be careful to get them to get the liquid inside and the apples too. Even though we've stuffed them really well you did a good job stuffing and it wasn't hard. This is a very simple recipe. Yes it is in it. It's a real favorite. And it always intrigues your guests with the name Bird's Nest putting on what's wonderful is that when you serve this you want to make sure that each portion has a generous amount of the custard with it and would you like to help me do so or we're going to sprinkle when I put the wallets in I like to make sure that I get them right on the top of the. Raisins but then also you can just sprinkle them throughout. Great. Looks like I met him. Oh yeah and you've got a whole bowl of nutmeg here where the Nutmeg State Connecticut Connecticut. Yeah and I think that grading it fresh is really a lot nicer

and actually when I tell you I honor is what I would do the crowd right because it was like This is not just the cost of doing that. I don't want to overdo it. Well I like NEC so that's fine for trucks and I think that's a very good amount. OK. Now that shot is all such a big but now what I've got to do is get my dutch oven ready. Now this is this is a Dutch oven. It is a flat bottomed iron utensil gale with three feet. I'm just going to move aside right now while I prepare the actual burner. This is where the term open hearth cooking actually comes from because I'm going to cook right out here on the stone hearth. That's incredible. Now what I'm looking for are the red hot embers. I'm trying to as I scoop these up I'm trying to avoid getting any of the gray ash because that's not going to be effective in the cooking. Now I'm just setting the bottom

of the Dutch oven or the big kettle into those embers. OK. Well I have a little trivia here. And this really is acting like a rock in your oven because that way that battery is not going to sit directly on the cake. I'm going lifting this because the edges of the Dutch Oven are hot. OK. And that's great. And try to make sure I don't set my skirt on fire right which is what you said when a problem in colonial days was this. All right now I'm going to reach in what I've actually been doing too which I didn't mention is preheating the lid the oven the lid especially. Because the oven has been here at the hearth Now a Dutch oven has this is a special dome shaped lid. And that way when I put the hot embers on top the lip here is going to help hold them in place and bring in what you're going to do that now Cindy. Yes I need a little bit more embers and I use what I have here and then probably part way through the baking time. I'd want to add more

so that's OK that's part of the adaptation that a hard Cook has to make and sometimes as a matter of fact on some of the things that I bake in the dutch oven I don't put the embers on top until I'm about halfway through. And that's just a matter of learning by experience when to do it. We can lift the lid off part way through the baking time and with the pot hook which is right here we have two of them. You need you need good balance but we can reach down here and lift that straight up and if necessary hold the edge of the lid so that it won't tip. You know that's what a lot of my guests are always worry about. Ashes are on top of my food. No they're not they're not. Don't worry. OK so I know that we'll stay on the hearth and bake for about an hour and a half. Yes. And then again might be less cooking at the hearth is about

equivalent. To cooking in your regular kitchen. I think that our. Putting is done. I can't wait for you reveal it under that hood of ashes. And I'm going to lift straight up on this so as to not down the path. Yes there we go. Tomorrow's apples are definitely done. Put it on a. Trip It is going to be hot. But not serve you. Right. Perfect. Look at the texture and see what I want to do is make sure that you get some of the custard all gone. Try it. I like to serve it with a dollop of whipped cream. All right. Don't get burned. I love it. All right. One of my favorite recipes

is going to be you know addition to the dutch oven there are a number of other ways to cook on an open hearth at Randalls warming. You can use the hanging riddle for everything from hot cakes to fish cakes. And if you really want to get into the act at home there's the reflector of which Cindy frequently roasts an entire chicken or leg of lamb on a rotating spit. Now you can't buy these. Walk into any kitchen store and find these now so what do you suggest. Well you can look at shows and outdoor flea markets are a good source and some dealers specialize in cooking cooking equipment so it's good to look for them. But some places like Old Sturbridge Village and other museum gift shops are offering reproductions of some of this cookware. Like the turn of events. Before fizzy from breakfast to lunch to dinner. Randall's consumes vast quantities of

fire. Chopping wood is a full time job. An official lumberjack. Clayton Lopez Allen. To find out what car would to use and even how to chop it. I joined soon the entire plate and I piled. All right. I think the woodpile is an appropriate place to ask you what are best for cooking and what type should we use. Where you want to avoid soft woods like pines and hemlock because they just spit and sputter too much and they they create a lot of creosote and they burn themselves right up and they don't create the kind of embers you want a good constant fire which is what you want with hearth cooking can be achieved with hickory ash maple cherry fruit trees Apple. If I could get out when I drive to work with apple wood all the time at the hearth. Great Well I think Wayne should give us a dam on how to do this. Good idea. Nice. OK bring it up like this.

Completely. With a new found skill. I decided to leave the job to Clayton and return to the kitchen with Cindy for a gentler pursuit baking bread. The Randalls fireplace has an adjoining beehive oven which Cindy's assistant Gary bond preheat with a roaring fire. Then after an hour or so he removes the burnt logs to the fireplace. The oven pre-heated Cindy and I began the bread a brown bag of bread and glasses and raisins. We're literally going to bake something all right for today. Brown bread a traditional New England brown bread that we're going to take in our beehive and this is a recipe that's often steamed also traditionally but I wanted to demonstrate to you that use of our beehive your head what can I do for you. First of all when you add this vinegar to melt I want to set that aside. That's an old way of doing it

giving but a little 10. Because this bread is not a yeast bread and it's not really a sweet bread. That's right sort of it's a wonderful accompaniment to big beans or to our cod fishcakes. And while I'm mixing the flowers if you want to. Well now we want that to set aside. OK now we're doing about a cup or so. That's a brown slices rifle. Raw and this is yellow cornmeal. That's a nice mixture. That's great. And the little bit. And some salt. I guess that's kind of optional but actually since it's not too sweet. It's good to have that little little bit of salt America give it some flavor. And the raw and the brown flour tends to be really pretty plain. OK. This is really nice and now what we want to do is were you mix the molasses and the extra rotten apple.

I should know there's molasses in this recipe in New England. That's right. OK. Half a cup or three quarters of a cup. I think it's about a cup. OK. Looks good. It's in the cookbook. OK. Now this is Jack. Yes yes. It is very rich. And I can see that's called argument is that what we wanted to do a little kernel. Right. Or just sort of just mix it a bit it doesn't have to be really mixed well OK dries OK. And I guess do it quick so that we make sure that the bread we've got the right power in here already. Oh. And so we have some sense with

the batter. That's right. Right. And again I think traditionally you're more apt to find the dark rays and I just really like the golden rays and so that's my choice. I think it would be nice with currents also maybe even some knots. Yeah. I don't think I've ever met someone in Brown I like. I want you to. Be Greece. And. And actually I'm OK. Oh wait a minute you think I'm. Right. There are. Bad. And it's pretty hot. Now.

I'm going to the flu. Well. Surrender. And there we go. Yes I think it must be just about done right. Take off our oven door. Oh yes it looks perfect. I'm going to reach in with the peel. Yeah. Yeah. Go. Out with a hoe that they had here. And just. Throw in a smell that was. OK. So there we go.

He says for us I'd love to probably have to look great for a while but we'll just cut it up so we can see what it looks like. There is raisins. Nice and warm. Look at you've got a plate. A little bit of magic. The traditional No England there. Century America the day after which the women I know I can't really count but. Randall's in search of more adventures. Our first stop was the world Mystic Seaport an authentic 18th century fishing village where tall ships into the skyline.

Mystic's 20th century equivalent can be found in nearby Stonington. The last working Connecticut. Stonington is the quintessential fishing village with its rocky shores salt box houses and Storybook Stonington seem to have it all to local merchants might think he was purchasing some freshly caught Cod and offered assistance on what. For. Mike I think I need about 20 pounds of fish. What would you recommend here. Well we've got a good tow to choose from here this this fish came off of the boat which fished about five miles from here so these fish were caught. Caught this morning and. What you're looking for here is in the clarity of the gills one of the other things that you look for is the color of the skin and these cod you notice that they're nice and green on the outside which is one of the criteria. The other

thing is the amount of slime on the skin is as bizarre as it may sound. People think of not good but in the case of a cod The more slime the fresher the fish in this particular case this whole toad is a crime. So I'm quite sure we can cut 20 pounds without a problem with fresh cod in tow we return to Randalls we're soon to prepare that Greenland classic cod fish cakes. And what I've got in this bowl is a mixture of our current Cod and cooked potatoes. About two and a half pounds of cod in about a pound and a half of potatoes so that's all set. But I'm going to saute onions here at the hearth in my spider and I've been preheating it over a bed of hot embers here. And I'm just going to put the butter right in here and melt in a little about three tablespoons. Yes I think that's probably about right. And you've got about a cup of chopped onions

coarsely chopped. Yes is probably one of our really large onions or a couple of us in my hand with that. Fresh parsley and that right now a little bit of carrot on terrorism you know and we can use fresh or dried on that. Yes. Yes. Yeah this is all over now. There's a little pepper. Yes. And doing this while it is cooking out at the hearth is great because you don't have the direct flame of the fire to do it around us. OK. All right. Now actually there. While I get the griddle ready you might add the. Egg and our bread crumbs. Were holding it together with basically with a potato and the bread crumb. Yes. Yes. Now. I've been preheating the griddle having it over the side and just sliding it down a little bit on the green

so that it's directly over the fire now. OK. Anything I should be doing with these bread crumb a little at a time is good or Oh I think you're going to use Michael. As a little but you're right at home then. Right exactly. Her degrade into this car. And it probably helps once we have this because they have a lot more than a one and I think you can add this now. OK. Watch out because we do a little well and get it in there I won't get my hands hollering right back up so that I don't get you in this fire and this. One definitely the heart of this recipe for sure I love. It. After good reason to lose I know it's not your. And I love my time fairly is it's a good good size Patty. About like well my December. Yeah yeah that's a good just wait on it. For how long do we saw those.

We're just about three or four minutes on this each side. But again because we may have them thicker or thinner I think voters are fairly thick here today. They might take a little bit longer. OK. And you know we don't have to put a lot of oil which is what's nice they're not deep fry you know they're you know quickly picking up a little brown color. Now this is nice served with a green salad and what do you do you usually do here at Randalls. Well I like to serve these with minted carrots which is a wonderful 18th century recipe really called cakes are very versatile. Those look like white brown and they look if they could go they could go a little longer around but not cooked too much but there is so much cod in this recipe that it really stays very moist. And we can add a little bit more oil and we think it's not quite enough. I think maybe I just a little bit more in the center. I guess this is really not much part of cooking is not much different in this sense then

cooking in your kitchen and watching things and seeing if you know if an adjustment is needed. Is it about that time since it is they look just right to me. So imagine now that a fiesta. OK I just thought I'm going to put it up on the wouldn't trip. It looks like it's serving on the table like now. That the Millikan I thought OK I'm going to. BE Maybe pretty generous sized portions and I think two of these are going to make a really nice lunch. OK and we have. Some carrots here. These are cut like carrot but they've been cooked right here. They're still pretty. And of course cranberry concert for this relish. That is so England.

Oh that is a wonderful local recipe that our guests really really enjoy here. One of our favorites and a nice complement to the fish cakes. Yes and I think it's. Which of lemon would be nice sounds top of it with yes men actually along. That looks exceptional. With kitchen chores completed I decided to explore Randall 17 acres before dinner and met two of their permanent guests named Rusty. There you go. They are pretty well as they were when my friend to rest is just one of the reasons why this place is anything but ordinary. A few minutes with a team of oxen was more than enough before losing life and limb. I regained my senses and returned to the inn to get ready for dinner. Erica works hard to recreate his early American period.

Oh yes I do have a friend back Oscar in my. Case. Here's a tribute to your wonderful cooking here. You're probably one of the only one of the very few people certainly in this country who really carried this. Are you keeping it alive. I have learned a lot today and I am for sure going to do this now that I have two fireplaces when I first met you I didn't have any. Thank you very much for a super time. Oh you're very welcome very special here at Randalls. Thank you Gail it was really a pleasure having you with us again. Thanks so much. And good luck with your fireplace cooking. That evening back at the hearth I remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Happiness consists of a little a little fire and an immense quiet.