(Bittman enters stage left, breathes audible sigh of relief.) Or is that stage riiiiiight….
The rift between us began a few years ago as a run-in with some painfully dry and bitter bouillabaisse broth that had to be dumped down the drain. Now, I’m not saying that there’s no way in hell this recipe had been tested; but I do usually reserve my culinary disasters for poorly conceived ideas of my own creation. Tragic results from published recipes are rare, usually become the stuff of family lore, and always – always – get blamed on the author. There was the box of brownie mix in the early 90s that yielded a pan of chocolate bricks, all of which were consumed by my wonderful, loyal grandma with the weak stomach. There was a more recent incident with the brioche recipe that burned out the motor of my stand mixer. (Secrets of Baking, number 162: This brioche recipe has only ever been made in a professional kitchen and directly contravenes your Artisan mixer’s manual on how “never” to use the paddle attachment. Shhh.) And then, the bouillabaisse.
Thankfully I tasted the broth before adding the seafood; but there was the matter of wasted saffron – those poor, delicate crocus stamens now weeping their way through the sewer system – that would forever stand in the way of the unquestioning trust we once had for each other. You know, Mark and me, mutually. In real life. Then, I’ll admit, I became a paranoid food-lover. When he said he didn’t like sundried tomatoes, I started to look for bits of them on his collar. When he claimed a particular jam could be canned, I wondered whether he was trying to take me out with botulism poisoning. (Actually, I still need help with this one – please weigh in below.) And it was all a quick downward spiral from there. He would always be a genius writer, entertainer and democratizer of food for the American public, but I didn’t touch his recipes for quite a while.
Well, this past week, a recipe for tomato jam appeared in the Times, which Mr. Bittman may or may not have developed for the express purpose of extending an olive branch in my direction. Either way, let’s just say that as of dinnertime last night, all prior transgressions have been forgiven. What’s a pinch or two of the world’s most expensive spice between friends, really, when a guy proves to be an alchemist with cumin and cloves, a peddler of ginger-scented rubies?
We served the jam spooned onto grilled cod, to delicious effect, with leftover ratatouille and – in what must have been some kind of Freudian move on my part – saffron risotto with peas.
Anyway, since hell hath no fury and all, I do still have some lingering trust issues; and I couldn’t help but notice a substantial number of discrepancies – one of which may be life-threatening – between the recipe and the video embedded in the article. If you have the inclination and some experience canning things that you didn’t die from eating, I’d appreciate it if you could take a look at the recipe and the video and let me know whether you agree that the jam could be safely put by for less abundant times, since I am an anxious canner in both senses of the word.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I know someone who is having trouble forgiving Mark Bittman for a disastrous pan of cornbread.
I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t can the tomato jam, but I’ve never canned anything that wasn’t straight out of the pot I cooked it in–ie, I’ve never reheated and then canned. Is that your question?
Thanks, momvee. I’d make a new batch for canning (the first one is mostly gone anyway). As far as safety, maybe I’m just paranoid or clueless (or both!), but I don’t have a pressure canner, so was thinking that just because something is called a “jam” doesn’t mean it has enough sugar, acid, etc. to be safely canned in a water bath. Bittman’s sort of off the cuff “feel free to can this baby” didn’t really convince me that the recipe had been developed with preserving in mind. What am I missing?
It’s a great question to which I too would love to have the answer…
Bittman failed me recently with a no-bake blueberry cheesecake – totally nothing special and a complete waste of blueberries. That said, the man does know how to cook pretty much everything pretty much well, so gonna have to let a few things slide… can’t wait to taste this jam, I’m gonna make it this week!
I suffered from a Mark Bittman ‘rubber chicken” recipe about 10 years ago. I still read his recipes but always hesitate.
I’ll be honest, I never process my canned stuff and no one has died in our house. This includes jams, chutneys, antipasto, and pickles. As long as the jars, sealers, and lids are clean and as hot as you can handle, the jam (or whatever you are using) is also hot off the stove, and the jars are sealed immediately. I’ll also admit that I don’t sterilize my stuff by boiling it. I just wash in super hot water and let them sit in as hot as I can get from the tap water until ready to fill. After you’ve filled the jars and let them sit on the counter, just refrigerate those that don’t seal. No one is going to die.