Author: John Fladd

Yogurt

• 1 half-gallon (1,900 g) whole milk
• 1 small container – 7 ounces or so – of plain yogurt; it doesn’t matter what brand, although I like Fage, but the ingredient label should say something like “Contains live active yogurt cultures” and then a list of their Latin names

Cucumber Syrup

• 1 large, flavorful cucumber, washed
• An equal amount, by weight, of white sugar

Equipment

• A food thermometer
• A medium-sized cooler. It could even be a disposable, Styrofoam one.

Sometime, an hour or so before bedtime, pour the milk into a saucepan, and cook it over medium heat to 190°F. Remove it from the burner, and keep an eye on it while you clean up the kitchen.

When the temperature of the milk has dropped to around 120°F, whisk in the container of plain yogurt. The “live cultures” the yogurt label referred to are strains of bacteria that feed on sugars in the milk and produce lactic acid, which thickens it up and makes it tangy. The live cultures you are adding to the warm milk have been living in the cold and dark for quite some time. When you plunge them into an infinite vista of untouched milk, they are going to behave much like a bunch of frat brothers given the keys to a brewery. They’re going to go a bit wild and put 110 percent of their effort into partying and reproducing.

Pour your proto-yogurt mixture into two one-quart containers, then place them in the cooler. To keep it warm, fill several bottles or jars with very hot water, and pack them around the yogurt jars. Wish everyone a good night, seal the lid, and go to bed.

The yogurt should do its thing for six to 12 hours. The longer the Bacteria Bros have to party, the more lactic acid they will produce, and the tangier the final yogurt will be. Open one of the jars and taste it. If it’s a little bland for your taste, refill the hot water bottles and leave the party to rage for a while longer.

You will end up with a very creamy full-fat plain yogurt. It will be about as thick as heavy cream. If you want to firm it up, drain it through a tea towel in a colander for half an hour or so. A lot of the liquid — “whey” is the official term — will drain off, leaving you with about a third less yogurt, but much thicker. When it’s at a consistency you like, put it in the refrigerator.

This is good yogurt — creamy, fresh and satisfying. But it is, as noted above, plain. If you’d like a sweeter, flavored yogurt, you could do a lot worse than hitting it with some cucumber syrup.

Before you make that face, consider that cucumbers are technically fruit.

Chop, freeze, and make a syrup out of a medium cucumber, with an equal amount of sugar. Strain it, and add it to your yogurt to taste.

Featured Photo: Photo by John Fladd.

Buena Gave serves summer drinks in a can

If you were to walk into a bar a couple of summers ago and order ranch water, you might have gotten some odd looks. Steve Poirier and the other owners of Buena Gave have been working to change that.

Poirier said that the first year he and his partners in the Manchester-based canned cocktail makers were trying to introduce their canned tequila drinks, their “ranch water” — a common drink across the southern U.S., particularly in Texas — was completely unfamiliar to New England customers.

“We still have ranch dressing conversations all the time,” he said. “Ranch water is obviously a massive thing down in Texas and any of the southern states. The original ranch water recipe is tequila, Topo Chico mineral water, real lime juice, and then salt or no salt, depending on your personal preference.” Now in its third year, Buena Gave Ranch Water is selling well.

“This cocktail is going to continue to boom,” Poirier said, “because tequila is on a rocket ship to the moon right now as a category. People are trying to clean up their drinking right now, and ranch water allows that to happen. It’s basic — no sugar, no sweetness, just back to basic ingredients.”

The Buena Gave team decided to start their own canned cocktail business because they saw an untapped market for simple tequila-based drinks. Poirier and his partners set out to make something different, with clean, easily tasted ingredients.

Poirier said customer demand has also been surprisingly high during the winter. “We see a lot of success with the ski community. We’ve had two great years at Waterville Valley ski resort. It’s the whole convenience factor — lower-calorie, cleaner drinking, cleaner taste, refreshing — that’s definitely becoming more of a thing as we meander through this whole process.”

The decision was made early on to limit the number of Buena Gave products to tequila-based cocktails that are popular in Mexico and the Southwest, near Jalisco, Mexico, where tequila is produced. A strong example of this is Buena Gave’s Cantarito.

“It’s a classic Mexican drink in tequila country,” Poirier said. “You get it at a lot of roadside stands and bars. It’s named after the mug it’s served in — a terracotta mug called a cantarito. It’s grapefruit juice and orange juice, with tequila, some soda water, sugar or no sugar depending on your preference. It’s like a mimosa meets a paloma. It’s super juicy, super citrusy. It’s unique [in this type of product]; the can is close to 28 or 30 percent fruit juice.”

“There are lots of places that just have beer and wine licences and don’t have full liquor licenses,” Poirier said, “and because of our alcohol level [6 percent ABV, or less], we fall into the beer and wine category. [We have customers] who have done really well with our Ranch Water, for instance, because they can’t carry full-proof spirits but they can carry canned cocktails.”

Susan Chung brings Korean food to the Cap Center

The Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord has announced its next Culinary Artist-In-Residence. Her name is Susan Chung, and she specializes in kimbap, a Korean street food.

Chef Chung explained that kimbap is traditionally a rice dish for Koreans on the go: “Kim’ is seaweed and ‘bap’ is rice. It’s a finger food. It’s not just like eating sushi with chopsticks and all that. It’s very different from sushi actually.”

Born in Korea, Chung was adopted by American parents and grew up in western Massachusetts. It wasn’t until she met her now-husband, Hyun, in college that she was introduced to traditional Korean food. When she moved to California to study design, Hyun went with her.

“That’s when I started experiencing a lot with different Korean foods,” she said. “There’s a huge Korean community in Los Angeles, Koreatown. I was exposed to a lot of the authentic food. My husband, who grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil — his parents are Korean and everything — has been surrounded around it for his whole life. So I was able to, in my 20s, start to kind of experiment with it, and so now, 25 years later, I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“We’re excited to have Sue joining us,” Salvatore Prizio, the executive director of the Capitol Center, said in a telephone interview. “We’re thrilled to be working with her. And she’s going to be moving in a couple of weeks just to get, you know, used to the spaces and start with some soft opening events and things like that before we officially kick it off with a ribbon cutting and stuff in September.”

As the Capitol Center’s Culinary Artist-In-Residence, Chung will be able to use the Center’s two commercial kitchens for a year, while she gets her business, Sue’s Kimbap House, established. In addition, her food will be sold at CCA and Bank of NH Stage concession stands throughout her residency. She will also be able to use the facilities to do catering work. At the same time, she will be able to learn how to run a restaurant.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for anybody new to Concord to have a chance to basically experiment with any new food,” she said. “It’s very low risk, but it’s getting [my food] out there.”

The Capitol Center’s Culinary Artist-In-Residence program started two and a half years ago. “We started it shortly after I arrived at the CCA,” Prizio said. “Post-pandemic, both of our commercial kitchens were essentially sitting dormant, and running a food service business while trying to to run a nonprofit organization is quite a tall lift.” So the Capitol Center decided to host a fellowship to give an opportunity to some of Concord’s talented cooks who need help starting a restaurant.

Last year’s Culinary Artist-In-Residence was Somali Chef Batula Mohammed, who started Batula’s Kitchen (find her at facebook.com/BatulosKitchen).

“Betulo was able to save up enough money,” Prizio said, “through not only the stuff she was doing with us but also these catering gigs, that she was able to buy her own food truck. So now she has a food truck and she’s booked all summer, which is great for her. Our first [fellowship] out of the gate was a success story.”

Chung feels like the timing of her Culinary Artist-In-Residence position was excellent. She thinks New Hampshire eaters are ready to accept Korean food in a major way. She points to the success of Trader Joe’s frozen kimbap as a good omen.

“It did so well that Costco has its own version as well,” she said. “Frozen kimbap, compared to fresh homemade kimbap is completely different, of course, but at least it got people thinking about it. And then, with the K-dramas and K-pop, and people being more exposed to Korean culture in general, people are more willing to give Korean food a try.”

Susan Chung will officially start her Culinary Artist residency program and open Sue’s Kimbap House at the BNH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Thursday, Sept. 5.

News from the local food scene

• Saturday eats: Chef Keith Sarasin’s pop-up Indian restaurant, Aatma, now has a brick-and-mortar location. Aatma: Curry House is at 75 Mont Vernon St. in Milford; see aatmacurryhouse.com. Place an order online Sunday through Wednesday, for pickup on Saturday between 1 and 4 p.m.

• New sparkling wines: LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst, 672-9898; 14 Route 111 in Derry; labellewinery.com) has announced the release of its new Méthode Champenoise wines, marking the first time the winery has crafted sparkling wines using this traditional French method. LaBelle’s Méthode Champenoise collection includes three wines showcasing a blend of grape varietals: a rosé made from baco noir grapes, a demi-sec made with seyval blanc grapes, and a brut made with chardonnay grapes. The wines are for sale at the Derry and Amherst locations for $65 per bottle, according to a press release.

• Sit and eat: Taquaria y Pastelitos to Go (917 Valley St, Manchester, 232-3348, taqueriaypastelitos.com) has opened its dining room for in-house seating. Take-out only since the 2020 Covid lockdown, the restaurant is currently only offering counter service, but there are plans to add table service in the near future.

• A whiskey-lover’s dream raffle: Tickets are on sale now for New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet’s 2024 Buddy-Up! Raffle to benefit Best Buddies New Hampshire (bestbuddies.org/newhampshire). The winner will receive 15 bottles of premium bourbon, including three bottles of the legendary Pappy Van Winkle; tickets for two or three premium bourbon events, including airfare and hotel accommodations; and spending money. Tickets cost $100 each and will be available until Sept. 27. Visit liquorandwineoutlets.com.

• Hot sauce on the coast: The New England Hot Sauce Fest (newenglandhotsaucefest.com) will take place at Smuttynose Brewery (105 Towle Farm Road, Hampton, 601-8200, smuttynose.com) on Saturday, July 27, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. More than 30 hot sauce companies will offer samples and here will be hot pepper and a hot wing contest, food trucks and live music all day. General admission tickets cost $13 online, $15 at the door. VIP tickets cost $17 online and allow early access to the Festival.