Two Seasonal Sauces

Here are a pair of sauces—cooked up Guardian Service style—that celebrate two end-of-summer flavors: peppers and figs; perfect with any grilled meal or outdoor lunch. Serve them fresh or water bath can them to savor later.

The "waterless cooking" method is especially suited to sauces like these because it intensifies and marries the flavors. These can be made ahead in any medium-sized Guardian Service unit (a "triangle"pot, fryer, dome cooker, etc). Each sauce requires adding ingredients at earlier or later stages, so that all reach the desired texture and don't over or under-cook. 

Sweet Hot Pepper Relish

Serve with hot dogs, hamburgers, sloppy joes...

Makes 3-4 cups

4 sweet peppers

2 hot peppers

2 carrots

1 medium sweet onion

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

juice of 1/2 lemon

pinch celery seed

salt, pepper to taste

1. Prepare hot peppers: wash, seed and remove stems from peppers (you may want to use latex gloves for this). Coat with olive oil, add to GS unit and roast on medium for 20-30 minutes, shaking unit occasionally to keep peppers from sticking. Set lid slightly ajar for last 10 minutes to allow moisture to escape. Remove peppers and allow to cool.
2. Dice carrots into bite-size pieces and add to Guardian service unit. Begin roasting carrots over medium heat.
3. Meanwhile, prepare sweet peppers: wash, seed and remove stems. Dice sweet and hot peppers and sweet onion together. Add to the roasting carrots, reduce heat and allow all vegetables to cook together for 10-15 minutes, just long enough for the carrots, onions and sweet peppers to retain a slight crunch.
4. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients and stir until well-coated; allow to cool. Chill and serve.

Fig and Lavender Chutney

A simple but elegant chutney to serve with pork, chicken, salmon or mahi-mahi, polenta...

Makes 3-4 cups

7-8 large, ripe sweet figs (Turkey, Violette de Bordeaux, Black Mission)

1 medium sweet onion

1 Tbsp butter or oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp agave nectar and/or honey

4 lavender flowers

1 jigger bourbon

pinch fresh ground clove

salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop onion and sauté in butter (or oil) in Guardian Service unit until translucent.
2. Add balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, agave and/or honey and continue to cook.
3. Chop figs and lavender flowers and add to onion. 
4. Add remaining seasoning (clove, salt, pepper and bourbon) and cook for twenty minutes or until the figs cook down into a sauce.
5. Serve warm or cold.

Guardian Service Backyard: Buffalo Ribs, Corn on the Cob and Brownies

As the dog days of August continue, we fixed another meal over coals last night, juggling items on the portable grill in a similar method to the "tandoori" dinner in our last post. Here's another attempt at cooking a complete meal out–of–doors with our Guardian Service cookware.

Last night's menu featured:

  - Grilled Barbecued buffalo ribs and peaches

  - Corn on the cob (steamed with Anaheim pepper and Brussels sprouts)

  - Fruit and nut brownies (almost, see below)

...all prepared over 12-15 briquettes on a portable grill, using the Guardian Service Tureen and Duplex Utility Pans.

Timing and preparation are crucial: Start with the corn (and/or other vegetables) in the Guardian Service Tureen, set to one side of the grill. Once the pot is warm to the touch, stack the marinated ribs (and peaches) on the remaining grill space. When the corn is tender (roughly 30 minutes) remove the Tureen and set nearby to keep warm. Glaze the ribs with remaining barbecue sauce and finish cooking. Remove ribs and cook the brownies in the Duplex Utility pan for half an hour, flipping the pan after 15 minutes.

Corn on the Cob: Smoky, slow cooked peppers are traditional to Southwestern cooking; to get the same flavor with our Guardian Service Tureen, we added Anaheim pepper to our corn on the cob before cooking over the coals. Lined with corn husks and layered with Brussels sprouts (employing the "basket" technique, which I blogged about in our last post), the Guardian Service "waterless cooking" technique marries and infuses flavors with spectacular results: garden–fresh corn tinged with sweet, spicy pepper and caramelized sprouts.

Ribs: We marinated the buffalo ribs (grass-fed and organic from Handy Market in Burbank) in garlic, bacon drippings, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup homemade barbecue sauce, grilled them, then re-glazed them with plenty of sauce, finishing on the grill for another 20 minutes. Alongside the ribs, we grilled barely-ripe, locally-grown peaches, halved and marinated in the same barbecue sauce, as a compliment to the ribs. NOTE: You'll want a damp rag handy as the Tureen is bound to get messy during this process, and clean up is a snap, when it's warm.

Brownies on the Barbie?: Not really. Since the coals were still hot, we whipped up some Trader Joe's packaged brownie mix and threw it on the grill in a buttered Duplex Utility Pan. This turned out not to be the best method for brownies, which need moisture to escape to form a chewy crust—the opposite of what the Guardian Service pans are built to do. Warm from the coals and topped with ice cream, the gooey chocolate lava flow was yummy, just not an ideal brownie.


For our next post, I'll try using the Duplex Utility Pan to make a classic "Knickerbocker Nut Bread" from the recipe in the original accompanying leaflet—will the result be a doorstop or delectable?

The Food Movement, Rising - Michael Pollan, NY Review of Books

We were foodies long before we became fans of Guardian Service Ware or "waterless cooking" techniques, but much of what attracted us to the heirloom cookware line was the reduced energy consumption of food production and increased retention of nutrition and flavor, topics explored in a recent essay by Michael Pollan (The Food Movement, Rising, New York Review of Books, June 10, 2010).

Pollan presents an excellent overview of the Food Movement from the 1970s to the present and addresses the ways in which the industrialization of food has effected our health, culture, politics and environment and have given rise to a variety of food movements from organic, sustainable and urban farming to slow food, local food, animal welfare, etc.:

"Food is invisible no longer and, in light of the mounting costs we’ve incurred by ignoring it, it is likely to demand much more of our attention in the future, as eaters, parents, and citizens."

Getty Images

Michelle Obama at a farmers’ market near the White House, September 17, 2009

Cooking Potatoes in Guardian Service Cookware

POTATOES À LA GUARDIAN SERVICE

Potatoes are what made us fanboys of this whole lost line of cookware. A friend of ours, upon cooking potatoes in his Guardian Service Economy Trio cooker for the first time, called us to say he couldn't believe the flavor—"I can taste the Earth!" he gushed. So you can.

Keep the skins on. (As with most vegetables, but especially true of potatoes; so much of their nutritional value is in that precious skin). Shake the roaster a couple of times during cooking to let the potatoes re-position themselves, and they'll all brown nicely. Try for a happy medium: a few crisp, golden edges, and flaky mealy insides. A little bit over a half hour of cooking time seems to hit it just right, depending on how many potatoes and how big the chunks are.

It’s nearly impossible to overcook potatoes in GS. I once left the roaster on, very low of course, and forgot it for several hours... Instead of being ruined, the potatoes were mealy and ambrosial (though the caramelization on the pan was thick and took some soaking to get out. A little caramelized goodness is a beautiful thing but avoid burning, which produces potentially carcinogenic acrylamides... besides being no fun to clean).


POTATOES

(from "Guardian Service Tested Recipes")

Time: 35-55 minutes, depending on the size

Scrub the potatoes, place in cold unit. Cover, start over medium flame for 5-7 min. or until cover of unit is quite warm to touch. Reduce heat to low until potatoes are tender.

Baked: When potatoes are softened, pierce skins several times with a fork or cut crossed slits on one side. Leave unit over a low flame with cover partially open 7-10 min. to allow surplus moisture to escape.

GARLIC, ONION, SHALLOT, PEPPER...

Since Waterless Cooking works like a pressure cooker (only slower), you can work magic with foods which readily absorb flavors (like the humble spud). Add chopped cloves of garlic (or an onion, or shallot... or jalapeno if you'd like some added heat) in with cubed potatoes and cook them all at the same time.

When potatoes are done, turn off the heat and add a pat or two of butter (or cream cheese, milk, cream, yogurt or sour cream) and fresh herbs (parsley, chives, rosemary, savory, dill, whatever suits your taste). Stir and let sit for a moment with the lid on to let the flavors marry. Finish with freshly ground pepper and a nice salt, garnish and serve. 

If there’s anything left over: re-heat the mash the following morning (I like to use the Duplex Utility (omelet) pan, heat them up, shift the mash to one side and cook up some eggs in the other). Very little fat—the tiny bit you added just after cooking—goes a long way!

Vegetables, "The Guardian Service Way"

COOKING VEGETABLES
Of all the food we prepare with our Guardian Service cookware, vegetables shine—literally. The superior color and texture of vegetables prepared “The Guardian Service Way,” are a result of the nutrient-retaining method of waterless cooking. Of course, the real beauty is that those vitamins and minerals, which would go up in steam or down the drain in other cooking methods, will instead nourish you and your beloveds.

“Waterless” doesn't mean no water at all—in fact what you actually are doing is super-heating the water within the food itself as pressure slowly drives heat into the cells of the food, vaporizing its own juices.

photo: Chris Martin

THE BASIC METHOD

In brief, the technique is to get your Guardian Service pan hot at first to encourage steam, then turn the heat down to cook gently. Water vaporizes inside the vegetables’ cells, which stay intact, and every bite is delicious and nutritious.

First, clean and prep your vegetables, but with most, avoid peeling: it requires more scrubbing, but it preserves so much flavor and nutrition—another argument to buy organic produce when you can.

Remember that the finer something is chopped, the quicker it will cook. You can bake whole potatoes in GS (and they are spectacular) but to speed up the process, chop them—true for parsnips, carrots, turnips, beets, any of the starchy vegetables. When we want it fast, we chop it fine, but if we’re not in a hurry, we quarter them or chop them in half and let them linger on low flame for a bit longer.

After cleaning and prepping your vegetables, place them in an unheated, corresponding-sized pot and rinse them with a small amount of cold water (1/2 cup or so), then pour off the excess liquid. That small amount of moisture is all that’s needed. You may notice that discarded water is already tinged with the vegetables’ color from a quick cold rinse—just imagine what you lose when you boil...

Cover unit and set over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the lid is warm to the touch. Within minutes you'll see steam rolling down the inside of the glass lid like a delicious science project. Now turn the heat way, way down, until (if you’re cooking with gas) the flame is barely flickering.

Check for doneness after 15 minutes or so, depending on the vegetable. You may wish to add a pat of butter and dash of salt, then stir or shake and serve (right in the unit—another economic benefit: each Guardian Service piece is designed to go from stove to table-top, so there are fewer pots to clean).

SCRAPS AND TRIMMINGS AREN'T GARBAGE

We typically reserve organic vegetable scraps in a freezer bag, then cook them down into soup stock when we have a surplus. But some trimmings can be profitably cooked right along with your vegetables. For example, broccoli: instead of throwing out the woody stalks, lay them at the bottom of the pot, then layer the broccoli florets on top. As you cook them together, the stalks will protect the upper florets and suffuse them with extra moisture, flavor, and even vitamins.

FRUGALITY AND ECONOMY FOR THE NEW DEPRESSION

Guardian Service is Depression-era cooking not only because of the conservation of nutrition but because it is incredibly frugal with carbon (meaning heating energy, whether gas or electric). Aluminum is highly efficient at conducting and retaining heat, and when the amount of heat that is streaming into the pan from the burner equals the amount of heat radiating off the outside, your food cooks at its ideal temperature. The technique “slow cooks” your food (but quickly!) with the heat that is initially built up inside the metal.

KEEP YOUR LID ON

It's common sense: keeping the lid on conserves heat and moisture. You may have noticed the succulent aromas sealed inside the lid, which only escape when you lift it. This is key to flavor—aromas are flavor essence, and scents that are in your kitchen, delightful as they may be, are in the air, not in your food.

10 STEPS OF VEGETABLE PREPARATION

(Excerpt from the 1935 "GUARDIAN SERVICE Tested Recipes" Cookbook by "Director, Betty Gay")

1. Wash vegetables carefully, even though they look clean. Scrub, remove only decayed portions and tough outer stalks or leaves as necessary. Remember, when you are tempted to peel—vital food values are wasted in parings. A wire vegetable brush is less of a culprit than the paring knife.
2. Select a GUARDIAN SERVICE unit that corresponds in size to quanity of vegetable.
3. Place in unheated unit. If vegetables are not strictly fresh or if, when peeled, some of the natural moisture has been removed, then replace moisture by adding a very small amount of water. This also applies in the case of preparing a small quantity of food in a large unit, there being insufficient moisture in the food to fill the unity with vapor.
4. Cover unit and start over MEDIUM HEAT. Never use high heat. Heat will spread evenly and quickly to every part of your GUARDIAN SERVICE unit. Too much heat at first may cause food to stick before vapor has formed with unit.
5. Keep on MEDIUM flame about 5 minutes, until cover of unit becomes quite warm to touch.
6. Reduce heat to LOW. Do not wait for vapor to escape before reducing heat. Escaping vapor, at any time, means that flame is too high. Low heat will be as easy on the vegetables as on the fuel bill.
7. Season any time after vapor forms. Because rich, natural mineral salts and juices are largely retained, very little or no seasoning is required. The addition of butter just before serving is sufficient in most cases. Never, never add soda to vegetables as it not only gives them an artificial appearance, but actually breaks down the fiber and destroys flavor and vitamin content.
8. Avoid lifting covers unnecessarily during preparation period as this prolongs time and allow vapor to escape. Raising the heat will not speed up the process, and may cause food to dry out and stick or burn.
9. Test for tenderness at end of preparation period (See time chart, page 9.) Vegetables are done when tender, but still firm and natural in color. Do not soften to mushy, breaking apart stage.
10. GUARDIAN SERVICE is constructed to retain heat over a long period of time. Therefore to prevent loss of color through over cooking, remove cover from the following vegetables as soon as tender: Asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, green beans, peas, greens, cabbage and cauliflower.

Welcome to the Guardian Service Ware Blog

photo: Chris Martin

We first stumbled upon a Guardian Service coffee pot in a Burbank thrift store going out of business, victim of the recent depression. The bullet-proof, vaguely aeuronautical design snared us first, but the more we researched, the more impressed we became by the esteem in which this long-defunct brand has been held by generations of chefs and nutritionists, and by the part it played in the evolution and spread of “California cooking”—meaning modern, healthy, diverse, fresh, and holistic in the post-War period.

We've since been cooking most every meal with the cookware and are always researching and improving our techniques. We're always impressed by the versatility of the cookware and the economy of energy it uses, but above all the flavor of foods prepared "the Guardian Service Way." Whether you are new to Waterless Cooking or an experienced enthusiast, we hope that the ideas and recipes presented here will help you get the most out of your Guardian Service cookware in pursuit of "Good Health, Pleasure and Profit."