DIY Gourmet Gifts for the Holidays

By CINDA CHAVICH

DIY remains one of the hottest trends of the year and when it comes to holiday gifts for cooks, nothing beats that jar or bottle of something you’ve made from scratch.

Whether it’s a bottle of your own secret hot sauce, a jar of antipasto to pass at impromptu parties, a custom-made bbq rub or a bitter infusion for your favourite cocktail connoisseur, there’s a gourmet gift for every occasion. Yes, you can always make a batch of cookies, peanut brittle or truffles for holiday gifts, but you can also get creative with these contemporary concoctions from the kitchen.

I talked to some of the city’s chefs and mixologists about how to make some tasty treats that you can give away to friends and family this holiday season.

HOT STUFF

Chef Sam Chalmers makes everything from scratch at his popular “modern diner”, North 48, from the house-made “Cheese Whiz” spread, to the ground chuck and bacon burgers, and spicy Andouille sausages for his creative corn dogs.

But Chalmers is also famous for the hot sauces he makes to serve with his braised duck wings and other diner dishes. So famous, in fact, that there’s now a line of Batch 48 hot sauces for sale ($6 and $9), all made and bottled at the restaurant. Sammy’s Red Hot is his Buffalo Style hot sauce, made with Fresno and Thai chilies. The fruity and hot Mango Serrano and green Jalapeno Sriracha sauces take it up a notch on the Scoville scale, while the Habanero Orange and The Wrath sauces are the hottest of the bunch.

Chalmers pickles fresh hot chili peppers in a vinegar, salt and sugar brine, and then purees it all together in a high powered blender with a little xanthan gum (it’s optional but acts as an emulsifier to thicken the sauce and keep it from separating). Here’s his basic recipe:

SAM’S HOT SAUCE

This makes a thin, spicy “Tabasco-style” hot sauce. Feel free to substitute any fresh chilies – but choose either all green or all red/orange varieties for the cleanest, brightest colour.

4 cups (1 L) white vinegar

6 cups (1.5 L) water

½ cup (125 mL) sugar

½ cup (125 mL) kosher salt

2 pounds (1 kg) chili peppers, washed, stems removed

5 g or about ½ tsp (2 mL) xanthan gum per liter of sauce

Combine the vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Place the clean chilies in a large stainless steel pot or glass container and pour the hot brine over top. Set aside for 48 hours in the refrigerator to pickle. Then puree the chilies and brine in a blender until smooth.

Strain the sauce and return to the blender, adding ½ tsp. of xanthum gum per liter of sauce (this will help keep the sauce from separating.) Blend sauce again, then fill small clean jars or bottles and label.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Brine time: 48 hours

Makes: 12 cups (3L)

DIY COCKTAIL BITTERS

If someone on your gift list loves cocktails, they’ll love to receive a bottle of homemade bitters.

Orange bitters are integral to many classic cocktail recipes, adding a subtle orange note to the bourbon-based Old Fashioned, rye whisky Manhattan, or gin and vermouth Martini. At Little Jumbo, bartender Nate Caudle creates his own Burnt Orange Bitters, made by infusing brandy and smoky Scotch whisky with charred orange peel, fresh oranges and bitter gentian root.

Caudle, known for his classic cocktails, says it’s the homemade ingredients, from fresh pressed juices and syrups (he makes his own cola concentrate with a long list of aromatics and botanicals) to custom bitters and cordials that add the wow factor to mixed drinks.

Any cocktail based on brown spirits gets a lift from a splash of this dark, citrusy bitter, he says. While making bitters from scratch can be complex – he usually brews his tinctures separately – this is an easy way to create a unique bitter that will impress any cocktail lover.

NATE’S BURNT ORANGE BITTERS

Bartender Nate Caudle says this citrusy bitter is important when making an Old Fashioned or Manhattan. He recommends looking for botanicals like gentian root and dried orange peel from local herbalists like Self Heal Herbs, where you can also buy small 100- to 150-ml dashing bottles.

the zest of 4 oranges, removed in large strips with a vegetable peeler

4 orange slices, bruléed with 4 Tbsp (1/4 up) demerara sugar

2 cups (500 mL) Marquis de Villard VSOP Brandy (or other brandy)

½ cup (125 mL) smoky Scotch whisky (McClellands’ Islay, Talisker, Laphroig, etc.)

1/4 cup (50 mL) dried orange peel

6 star anise 

heavy pinch of whole cloves

8-10 allspice berries whole

1/2 vanilla bean

1 Tbsp (15 mL) gentian root

honey or agave syrup to taste (optional)

Toast the orange zest over a gas flame or with a brulée torch until lightly charred. Top the orange slices with demerara sugar and brulée with the torch (or under the broiler) until bubbly and browned.

Place the zest and bruléed orange slices in a clean 1-L Mason jar. Pour in the brandy and whisky, then add the dry orange peel, star anise, cloves, allspice, vanilla and gentian root to the jar.

Seal the jar with a lid and let the mixture sit in a cool, dry place for at least 10 days (or for several weeks) for flavors to infuse.

Strain bitters through a coffee filter for clarity. Sweeten with a little honey or agave syrup if desired. Bottle bitters in six small 100-mL dashing bottles and use a few drops in classic cocktails.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Infusion time: 10-14 days

Makes: 2¼ cups (600 mL)

JARRED JEWELS

You’ll find chefs David Mincey and Paige Robinson in their Circle Canning kitchen throughout the harvest season, putting local fruits and vegetables up in delicious jams, salsas, pickles and sauces.

You’ll also find them at several farm markets or teaching canning classes, and master canner Mincey says he’s always happy to share recipes and basic advice about preserving food in jars.

But it’s fun to get creative when making preserves for holiday gifts, he says.

“People like to bake so I like to give a fruit tart filling – maybe a cranberry pecan jam that they can just spoon into prebaked tart shells or fold into a puff pastry turnover,” he says. “Make these fruit fillings exactly the way you’d make jam, then include a recipe with your gift.”

If you’re veering away from standard canning recipes, it’s always best to get a sample of your preserves tested at a local lab to insure the pH is below 4.6. Mincey says sugar and vinegar will safely preserve fruits and vegetables, though jars should be sealed and properly processed for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath to make them shelf stable at room temperature.

Always the chef, Mincey is happy to riff away on what to put in a jar - quince, vanilla and brandy conserve to brush over roast pork or a leek, apple and hazelnut conserve to combine with breadcrumbs for instant holiday stuffing. For martini lovers, make your own spiced olives with extras like sundried tomatoes and pickled onions, chilies and balsamic vinegar, or stuffed with blue cheese and roasted garlic, he says.

Any pickled local vegetable makes a colourful condiment. Here’s how:

CIRCLE CANNING JARDINAIRE

Use this basic brine to pickle any vegetable (or combination of veggies) – try peeled carrots, green beans, cucumbers, asparagus, zucchini, peppers, peeled baby onions, even winter squash.

Fresh local vegetables for pickling (washed and peeled if necessary)

Pickling spice (buy a commercial mix or make your own combo of mustard seed, coriander, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and celery seed)

4 cups (1L) white vinegar

1 cup (250 mL) water

1 Tbsp (15 mL) kosher salt

1 Tbsp (15 mL) chili paste (like sambal oelek)

 

Wash vegetables (leave whole or chop).

In a clean canning jar, place a pinch of pickling spice, a whole dried chili (for spicier pickles), a bay leaf and/or garlic clove. Then pack the vegetables into the jar as tight as possible (upright for carrot sticks, beans or asparagus, other vegetables may be chopped in bite-sized chunks or even minced for relish).

Bring the brine ingredients to a boil and pour over the vegetables in the jars. Let stand 10 minutes, then pack more vegetables in. Make sure everything is covered with brine and there is a little headspace in the jar.

Seal the jars with two-part metal lids, and refrigerate (for a fridge pickle) or, for gift giving, process the jars so they are stable at room temperature. Place jars in a single layer in a water bath canner, cover with boiling water and process (boil) for 10 minutes. Set jars on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool.

In the fridge, pickles take about 2 weeks to fully develop flavour. If you can them in a water bath, the heat speeds this process up and they are ready in about 3 days, Mincey says. You can easily multiply the recipe to make more brine.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Pickling time: 3 days to 2 weeks

Makes: 5 cups brine

DRY RUBS AND BAKING MIXES

The easiest thing to put in a jar for gift giving is something dry that needs no special preservation.

Think about spice mixtures for seasoning fish, barbecue rubs, or even baking mixes.

Anyone will thank you for a jar filled with the dry ingredients for your famous cranberry loaf or breakfast scones on Christmas morning. Just package it all in a pretty jar with instructions on what other ingredients (i.e. eggs or milk) need to be stirred into the batter before baking.

Artisan chocolate expert David Mincey makes a Chocolate Dry Rub with cocoa powder, juniper berries and paprika (all blitzed in a spice grinder) to rub on pork or chicken, and to crust strip loins or elk steaks for the grill.

Chef Chalmers is also famed for his BBQ rub (and sells it under the Batch 48 label). Or just try making a flavored salt with Vancouver Island Salt Co. sea salt and your favourite herbs and spices (think wasabi/nori salt or sweet maple sugar sea salt with cracked pepper).

Barbecue rubs classically include salt, sugar and spices – as long as there’s salt and sugar, your rub recipe can be tweaked to include any of your favourite herbs and flavourings. Here’s my go-to combination:

CINDA’S BASIC BBQ RUB

I use this rub for almost anything that goes on the grill, from pulled pork and ribs to BBQ chicken. Slather the meat with ballpark mustard, then pat on a heavy coating of this rub, and slow-smoke over charcoal (or in the oven) at 200-250˚F for several hours.

1 Tbsp (15 mL) salt

¼ cup (60 mL) white sugar

2 Tbsp (25 mL) each: brown sugar, ground cumin, ground ginger, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder

¼ cup (50 mL) sweet Hungarian paprika

1 Tbsp (15 mL) dry mustard

Combine ingredients well and store in a jar.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Makes: about 11/2 cup spice rub

This feature first appeared in Boulevard Magazine (page 79) in December 2015

©Cinda Chavich 2015

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