Exploring a Cookbook: "Ratio"

LTH,

Received Ratio by Michael Ruhlman as a B-day present from Crrush/Colleen Rush glanced through it, set it on a shelf, picked it up a few times but it wasn't jelling for me. I'm a fan of Ruhlman, my copy of Charcuterie is well worn, but Ratio was simply opaque, a number based method of cooking that seemed geared to Engineers, not Keep It Simple Stupid BBQ guys. Then the light shined, clarity, Ruhlman's Ratio simplified, broke 33 basics into, now simple, ratios with multiple tasty interesting variations on a theme.

First up -

Pate a Choux (two ways)

Made a pot of chicken stock and double batch of Pate a Choux. Used half for drop dumplings in the soup and the other half, to which I added grated Parmesan cheese, for Gougeres.

Recipe interpreted from "Ratio" by Michael Ruhlman.

Basic Pate a Choux ratio: 2 parts water : 1 part butter : 1 part
flour : 2 parts egg, plus 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

- Bring water, butter and salt to a simmer, reduce heat, add flour and stir rapidly to incorporate flour. Keep stirring to incorporate flour, another 2-3 minutes, flour will pull from the sides.
- Let cool slightly
- Add eggs one at a time stirring rapidly. Paste will go from "shiny to flat, slippery to furry when eggs are fully in" This step is easier in a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
- Use immediately or keep for a day.





- For Gougeres add 1 teaspoon of salt to initial mix and half a cup of grated Parmesan after eggs have been incorporated.
- If gougeres are piped onto baking sheet wet finger and lightly press peaks or they will burn.



- Bake at 425 for ten minutes, lower to 350 for an additional 15 (plus or minus) 5 minutes.



Same dough was used for both gougeres and drop dumplings.



Enjoy,
Gary

I read Ratio this summer and I believe it to be one of the most valuable "cookbooks" I've ever read. At first it may seem like an exercise in precision but I believe it to be the opposite. Yes, you have to remember the basic ratios, but that's it really...as long as your units of measurement are consistent. Whether your measurements are in grams or tea cups, as long as you stick to the ratio, you're cool.

It's a book that stresses technique over recipe. Which is what I believe and how I cook.

This book sounds fantastic! I always wanted to bake my own stuff without looking at a recipe but I never could remember proper ratios. I'll have to look for this asap.

Thanks for the critique!

I haven't read the book, but I'm sort of surprised that in baking applications, the same ratios work whether applied to volume or weights of ingredients.

rickster wrote:I haven't read the book, but I'm sort of surprised that in baking applications, the same ratios work whether applied to volume or weights of ingredients.

"One of the facts underlying the universality of ratios is that they are based on weight rather than on volume measurements"

"One of the facts underlying the universality of ratios is that they are based on weight rather than on volume measurements"

Thanks for the clarification. I was in fact responding to this post from someone who had read the book, who I guess was mistaken. Not sure why it was necessary to highlight a portion of my post.

Yes, you have to remember the basic ratios, but that's it really...as long as your units of measurement are consistent. Whether your measurements are in grams or tea cups, as long as you stick to the ratio, you're cool.

G Wiv wrote:

rickster wrote:I haven't read the book, but I'm sort of surprised that in baking applications, the same ratios work whether applied to volume or weights of ingredients.

"One of the facts underlying the universality of ratios is that they are based on weight rather than on volume measurements"

True, but he does say that if you are going to use volume measurements, that shouldn't stop you. For me, I felt the spirit of the book was more about learning the techniques rather than being bogged down by trying to remember a specific recipe.

That being said, I should not have been so casual about the importance of weight measurements.

I think it is a really good book, but not a great book. Even doing many of his dough ratios by weight I end up doing what I always do - add a bit of liquid or a bit of flour until it gets to be the right texture.

He doesn't spend a lot of time describing what the texture should be (unlike the Bread Baker's Apprentice, which I found very helpful because of it's descriptions of textures and techniques). I think the concept of ratios is very important to learn, but it is mostly helpful as a starting point for things like doughs and batters - other types of cooking don't lend themselves to ratios quite as well. I found myself disagreeing with some of his sausage and stock ratios, but they make a great starting point. I like the book, and I think anyone can take something away from it, but at points he pushes the ratio concept a bit hard into areas where technique and experience will serve you better.

LTH,

Never occurred to me to make popovers, like them in restaurants, but they seemed somehow 'sensitive' easily subject to disaster not unlike a souffle. Then I came across them in the Quick Cakes section of Ratio and thought, "sounds simple" and they are.

Popover pans would be nice, the narrow bottom encourages rise, but ramekins work fine. In fact the first time I made them I used oven proof coffee mugs. Seriously simple, festive and delicious.

Whisk 8-oz milk and two eggs.
Scant teaspoon salt
Fully incorporate one cup flour.
Let rest 30-minutes. (very important)

Preheat ramekins, 2-teaspoons melted butter in bottom of ramekin, fill to just below top.

10-minutes, 450
20-minutes, 375

Popovers, light airy yet substantial



Enjoy,
Gary

LTH,

New issuse of Saveur is Ham for the Holidays and a picture of Country Ham Biscuits motivated me to roll my own. No country ham in the house, and not sure where to buy any in Chicago, I opted for prosciutto and the biscuit recipe from Ratio.

I have a couple of regular rotation biscuit recipes, though have been faithful to the Cook's Illustrated Buttermilk Drop Biscuit the last few years, and have had the pleasure of past master biscuit maker Josephine otherworldly biscuits, but as I am currently enamored with Ratio went with Ruhlman's Chicago Biscuits, thus named as the ratio is 3-1-2.

Biscuits looked surprisingly like the Saveur picture, and were a nice foil for the prosciutto, but while nicely layered I did not get much rise. I may have simply rolled the dough too thin, or started it too cold, next time out I will correct both.

Biscuits and Ham





Proscutto (sic) from Fresh Farms (Imported from where?)



Enjoy,
Gary

(Imported from where?)

I recent purchased pancetta from Fresh Farms and noted from the bulk packaging that it was imported from Canada so maybe from there. I have noticed over the past few years a number of cured meat products imported from Canada. I have no idea why.

I think Ratio will definitely earn a spot on the Christmas wish list this year.

I wish I had a local suggestion on where to get country ham, but if you're open to ordering online I can recommend http://www.broadbenthams.com. My in-laws give me a box of country meat (bacon, sausage and ham) every year around the holidays. Can't wait to break into it this year!

G Wiv wrote:No country ham in the house, and not sure where to buy any in Chicago...

Paulina Meat Market has country hams. They are $8/lb and weight about 12 lbs (if I recall). They usually have them in stock, but I'm told that they will likely run out before Christmas.

Paulina Meat Market
https://www.paulinameatmarket.com/
773.248.6272
3501 N. Lincoln Avenue (corner of Lincoln & Cornelia)
Chicago, IL 60657

Ruhlman's ratio book's been on my wishlist for awhile. As for country ham: The Fresh Market should have it available in both the meat department(as pre-packaged Smithfield center cuts and/or small whole hams from a boutique producer whose name escapes at the moment) AND in the deli(the deli can order Smithfield country hams for slicing...not a big seller in the Midwest, but still distributed). It would be assy to special order an entire ham if one only required, say, a quarter pound.

Screw Smithfield. They're only good for throwing at Paula Deen.

I have been extremely happy with both of the hams I've ordered here: http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/

Mike G wrote:Screw Smithfield. They're only good for throwing at Paula Deen.

Are you referring to the Smithfield the company, or any ham from that specific area of VA? Could you elaborate on how the KY ham you buy is different from the Smithfield one?

See this:

viewtopic.php?p=61931#p61931

The Smithfield Co. bought up a lot of little ham producers and kind of priced the old school way (in terms of both aging and feed) out of the market, in the meantime getting the statute changed to allow a ham that's been aged for a much shorter time to bear the Smithfield name, so pretty soon a Smithfield ham went from being a guarantee that it was aged a certain time... to a guarantee that it wasn't. Peter Kaminsky in Pig Perfect:

A country ham, full of the complex flavors developed in the course of aging, is one of the glories of American cuisine. Actually, "faded glories" would be more accurate, because the days of the small farmer or service-station owner having a few home-cured hams to sell are pretty much gone. So are the "real" Smithfield hams that once upon a time were fattened on peanuts and left to hang for a year. Today, by Virginia statute, "Genuine Smithfield hams are hereby defined to be hams processed, treated, smoked, aged, cured by the long-cure, dry salt method of cure and aged for a minimum period of six months; such six-month period to commence when the green pork cut is first introduced to dry salt, all such salting, processing, treating, smoking, curing and aging to be done within the corporate limits of the town of Smithfield, Virginia." Six months, in my opinion, is barely — actually not even close to — enough time to make a great ham.

Also gone, it would seem, are all the hog farmers in eastern North Carolina who used to hog down their peanut fields (i.e., let their pigs out in the fields to finish the harvest of nuts and greens). A hundred phone calls had turned up exactly zero farmers who fed their pigs the old-fashioned way...

Country ham makers still follow the same steps but with a more compressed narrative. They start with leaner pigs, usually from a factory farm. The green ham (fresh and uncured) has less fat than an old-fashioned porker, which means it cannot age as long as ham did in the old days; it will dry out before the flavors mature...

There are fewer American ham makers now than there were in 1974 when Villas wrote, and their hams are rarely aged as long as they used to be. Smithfield, a name that once meant hams made from pigs raised on peanuts and hung for a year and a day, now means neither of those things, and the fine old Smithfield Company has the biggest operation in the country of environmentally ruinous hog factories.

Father's says they age theirs 8 months to a year, which isn't a lot more. But at least they aren't the guys who are responsible for everyone doing it that way.

I'm sure there are much better hams, but I don't know that there are many better hams you can easily order for around $50 including shipping and get them at your door three days later. The truly great hams probably take some more getting, which is how it should be.

This info. might belong in another thread, but the VA ham that changed my mind about country ham comes from Kite's, outside of Charlottesville, VA. It was a favorite at a ham tasting a few years ago. They ship, and their cooked, sugar-cured bone-in hams are $6/lb. I always order the "Kite's Ham" (8-12 mos), not the "Happy Ham" (4-6 mos.). Or, you can buy it pre-sliced and vacuum-packed for $11/lb.

Kite's Ham
3957 Wolftown-Hood Road
Wolftown, VA 22748
Fax# (540) 948-3263
E-mail: kiteshams@hughes.net


I recently bought a country ham from Edwards in Surry, VA, and plan to soak and cook it this weekend. I learned about Edwards from this piece in the NYTimes. Haven't cracked into the Surryano (Edwards' take on prosciutto) yet...saving it for Christmas morning ham biscuits (bringing it back around to thread topic) made with Ruhlman's 3-1-2 biscuit.

I don't propose Smithfield as a paragon of country ham excellence; however, they offer a passable product, a product you won't find in other grocery stores of The Fresh Market's stature. The word "stature" can slide for the moment. As per TFM; all deli rotisserie pork-based products derive from Smithfield(ribs, hams, loins, crown roasts)...the meat department is another story, offering
divers boutique purveyors.

LTH,

Thanks for the suggestions on where to order hams. After looking at the various web sites, I've come to the conclusion all country hams look delicious on the internet. Of the hams mentioned I've had Kite's and Newsom's and would not hesitate to go with either.

If I remember correctly the old Hyde Park Co-Op on 57th sold country ham, and there may be a place Evil Ronnie goes on the south side that carries country ham. Last I was at Publican they were serving sliced Newsom's ham with house made bread and goat butter, absolutely delicious by the way, but a glance at their on-line menu reveals they have replaced Newsome with Benton Country Ham. I've not tried Benton, might be terrific, but I do love Col. Bill Newsom's country style ham.

Enjoy,
Gary

Just saw that Smithfield stopped selling the Peanut City brand, which was very nice and one I picked up in VA for a song a few years back. Unfortunate.

By the way, I've been telling people to drop into the olde Cracker Barrel when in a jam for a ham for some years now. I just ran across this interesting piece noting that Cracker Barrel sources from Burgers' in Missouri. http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:-i ... 473-34.stm

You could do worse.

The pancake recipe in Ratio is now my standard pancake recipe, however I add a bit more baking powder because I like a bit more fluff.

The butterscotch sauce recipe is fantastic and simple. It is one of the best dessert sauces I've ever tasted.

A Ratio iPhone app is now available for purchase from iTunes for five bucks. Apparently it features all 32 "critical ratios", plus a bunch of converters & calculators.

I haven't read the actual cookbook, but this app sounds like it could be a handle little reference.

LTH,

"Ratio" by Michael Ruhlman is on sale at Amazon for $10.80. Hell of a price for a useful and interesting book.

Enjoy,
Gary

Khaopaat wrote:A Ratio iPhone app is now available for purchase from iTunes for five bucks. Apparently it features all 32 "critical ratios", plus a bunch of converters & calculators.

I haven't read the actual cookbook, but this app sounds like it could be a handle little reference.

I have the app and I haven't used it a whole lot, but I like it so far. It's slightly puzzling till you get the hang of it. Ruhlman posted a video demo of the app here

G Wiv wrote:LTH,

"Ratio" by Michael Ruhlman is on sale at Amazon for $10.80. Hell of a price for a useful and interesting book.

Enjoy,
Gary

I just bought this from Barnes and Noble online for $4.98, Couldn't believe the price! I think I am going to get the iPhone app, too.