Apple Family Values - Recap

Alton strolls through an Mercier Orchard in Blue Ridge, Georgia where he extols the virtues of apples. Many food varieties, a record company and a computer have all claimed the apple name. Since man could draw on cave walls, he has held the apple as a kind of “literary fruit fatale” – a dangerous symbol of forbidden knowledge. With the Latin name malus, it’s hard for the apple to be good... even if it is... Good Eats!

At a grocery store, Alton considers the many choices available, and decides to organize them into three broad categories: raw, cooked, and baked. Raw apples are those edible from the hand, and can really be any variety at all. Alton explains what to look for when selecting apples: choose ripe or even slightly underripe fruit that has a good, clean aroma and a nice heft. Look also for tight skin and firm flesh. Different species have different firmness, but generally if the flesh yields to gentle finger pressure the meat is mealy. Good eating choices include Ginger Gold, Fuji, Jonagold, Cortland and Winesap. These hold their texture well and resist browning, making them also good choices for...

...a Waldorf salad. In 1893, Oscar (a legendary maitre d’ at the New York Waldorf hotel) devised a simple, two note salad: chopped apples and mayo on lettuce (lettuce is too bland to count as a note). Alton claims the salad achieves a Zen like balance between creamy, tangy mayo and tart, crisp apples. The Good Eats version starts with Ginger Gold and Red Delicious apples. Other good choices include Fuji, Winesap, Jonagold, Pink Lady and Gala.

There are many tools for whittling apples, but unless you’re looking for something really artistic, a melon baller and a knife are the best choice. Alton starts by cutting the apples in half and then uses the melon baller to remove the core and scrape lightly from stem to blossom. Then he chops the apple into medium sized bites and tosses it with a little vinegar. The acidic vinegar keeps the apple enzymes from browning the fruit. Vitamin C and lemon juice (also acidic) would work – but wouldn’t taste very good. Next, Alton takes quality mayonnaise (nothing labeled salad dressing or topping) and tosses that until it completely surrounds the apples. A little kosher salt and pepper completes the recipe, which Alton serves on a lettuce leaf. A few years after the original Waldorf salad, someone though to add toasted walnuts. These add texture and flavor without destroying the balance of the salad. Alton stirs in some walnuts. But, he wonders, what else might enhance the salad?

In the manner of Regis Philbin and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Alton asks: would the viewer next add golden raisins, sliced grapes or gummy bears? And the correct answer is... golden raisins to balance the earthy crunch of the nuts. Alton invites the viewer to stop here or go on. Very well, what ingredient might boost the mayonnaise? Cayenne pepper, garlic powder, or curry powder? Yes! The right answer is curry powder! “Eat now,” Alton asks, “or keep playing?” As he stirs in curry powder he asks what the next layer should be: toasted croutons, bias sliced celery or popcorn? Croutons? Alton suggests the viewer use a lifeline. Celery? Yes! Bias cut celery adds crunch. Next up, Alton wonders what fresh herb might enhance the salad without disrupting the apples or the curry: fresh mint, chopped lemon grass, or a pinch of potpourri? The answer is mint! With a brief digression, Alton explains how to chiffonade the mint: stack several leaves, roll them tightly and slice them thinly. Do not chop the mint, or the edges will blacken. Finally, Alton suggests that the sweetness could stand the heat of a shredded onion. One could stop anywhere along the way depending on personal preference.

When Alton wants a midnight snack, he reaches for applesauce. When he wants to braise pork chops, or fill crepes or sauce potato pancakes – applesauce again. And the applesauce he chooses is a simple one he can make in ten minutes. First, he mixes unfiltered apple juice, cognac, butter and honey in a microwave safe container. Filtered apple juice will work, but it won’t be as tasty. He adds just a little cinnamon – the butter will enhance the flavor of the cinnamon, so a little is enough. Next, he selects a half dozen apples – some Golden Delicious, and some Fuji, and sets to work peeling these. Once peeled, he quarters them and removes all the seeds, then adds them to the microwave container, covers it, and shakes thoroughly. The ingredients now blended, he puts them into the microwave for ten minutes, being sure to leave a corner open so steam can escape. Otherwise the lid will go off “like a mortar.” If you haven’t got a carousel, consider donating your oven to an appliance museum! Or, get a wind-up carousel or turn the container every two minutes. Why turn food?

Inside the microwave is a magnetron. It generates microwaves which spray out one end and hit a spinning fan-like deflector that shoots them all around the inner cooking box. There, they penetrate food and their energy vibrates asymmetrical molecules like water, sugar and fat. This creates friction that becomes heat and cooks food. Rotating food helps further distribute the energy evenly. Because the air never gets hot, foods that require browning (like meats and breads) don’t taste or look right cooked in the microwave. But this applesauce cooks nicely.

Alton removes his cooked mixture. One may leave it as is, for a chunky texture, or mash it with a food masher for a finer texture. For the smoothest texture, Alton prefers a stick blender. Once he has mixed it, he lets it cool and then covers it. Kept covered, it will keep in the refrigerator for two or three weeks.

What gives a baking apple its backbone? The same thing that gives us our backbones – calcium. Varieties high in the mineral, like Baldwin, Northern Spy, Granny Smith, Braeburn and Jonagold, will soften when baked but like Weebles, they won’t fall down.

One of the first creations of that hotbed of American dessert design, Pennsylvania Dutch country, was the apple crisp. The idea is simple: cover a bowl of apples with a streusel – a mixture of oats, flour, sugar and butter. Sometimes removing cooked streusel from the baking bowl could all but chip a chisel, so Alton plans a way around this: he will use apples themselves as the bowl.

First he makes the streusel. He puts plain oatmeal (not instant, quick, or envelope varieties) and flour into a bowl together with light brown sugar (he packs the measuring cup and rakes the top), a bit of cinnamon and a bit of ginger, and a pinch of kosher salt to enhance the flavor. Kosher salt enhances flavor by encouraging taste buds; the tiny pinch Alton adds does not make a salty streusel. Alton stirs that with his hands and then works in a stick of butter cut into small pieces. When the streusel is mealy and crumbly but the butter is still firm, it is ready. Should the butter soften too much, Alton would simply stash the streusel in the refrigerator long enough for the butter to firm back up. That’s also where Alton stashes his streusel while he prepares the apples. Alton cuts his apples on a cutting board, warning viewers that holding the apple up by one’s face and cutting can lead to tragedy. First, he slices off the bottom to make a stable base. Then he cuts a quarter of the way down from the top, at about a forty five degree angle and removes a cone of apple containing the stem. He extracts the core and seeds with his melon baller. When he sees a star pattern he knows that he has gotten all the seeds. He fills that reservoir with honey and then packs streusel on top, pressing down gently. He finishes with a light sprinkling of the streusel and sets the completed apple into a baking dish. Alton recommends a baking dish large enough for the desired number of apples (without any of them touching any other) and no larger. Such a dish concentrates heat around the fruit.

Alton deposits his baking dish in a 350° oven on the middle or top rack. He sets a timer for 40 minutes and vows not to even look until the timer goes off. Since every apple is different, it is impossible to suggest a single “good” cooking time. Instead, Alton checks the apples by giving them a gentle squeeze with a pair of tongs. If they don’t budge they need to cook longer, but if the tongs can compress them they are ready. Alton checks all the apples, leaving any that still need to cook in the oven.

Like avocadoes and bananas, apples are “auto stimulators.” That means they can ripen after removal from the tree. This happens because ethylene produced by the fruit itself stimulates ripening. In fact, apples produce so much ethylene that a bunch of bananas sealed in a bag with an apple will ripen twice as quickly. Since ethylene production signals the end of the fruit, keeping apples cold and depriving them of oxygen can slow their ripening. Early apple growers sealed their fruit in barrels and sank them into a lake or river. Apples retrieved following the spring thaw hadn’t aged a day. Today’s growers use cold, nitrogen filled rooms, permitting apples picked in November to ripen in home refrigerators in February. To slow their ripening in the refrigerator, seal them in plastic bags and keep them away from other ethylene producing fruits. And remove bad apples when you spot them – as the apple rots, ethylene production skyrockets. One bad apple will spoil the whole bunch.

Alton hopes he has piqued interest in and appetite for the apple, a fruit with so many characteristics it’s hard to categorize. He advises viewers to get to know the apple on its own terms, perhaps using his three dishes as gauges. And that’s when a doctor knocks on the door – Alton sure hates to see those guys. Fortunately, an apple a day might just keep the doctor away. It’s five grams of fiber are good for digestive health, and the powerful flavinoids in the skin may lower the risk of cancer and heart disease. Alton hands his visitor and apple and sends him off, and promises to see viewers next time on... Good Eats.

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