As American as Maple Syrup

Have you ever wondered why there are different colors of maple syrup when there is only one ingredient in them?  With the good stuff, the label will grade the syrup from AAA to B, and on extreme rarities grade C. This grading system doesn't rate one above the other, instead it separates the syrups into categories of color and flavor.  

Because the syrup depends greatly on the weather, it can only be harvested a few weeks out of every year.  During the day the temperature must be above freezing and during the night it must be below freezing.  After a tree is tapped its sap will start to flow.  this sap is mostly water. It is so dilute that it will take 40 gallons of raw sap to make one  gallon of usable syrup.  The first grade to come out in a season is AAA this is the lightest of all, also it is the sweetest. However it is also the least maple flavored. As the temperature raises day to day the trees gradually start using their sugar for food, and start producing more sap. This occurrence is what causes the difference in color and flavor in the syrups. In the late season, when the nights are no longer going below freezing, the syrup will be very dark and full maple flavored, but it will be nowhere near as sweet as the early stuff. 

All of this also applies to birch and palm syrup as well, but these trees are more scarce and also produce much more dilute sap, which is why they are hardly ever seen at market.

Scallops

This is an old picture from the Equinox hotel in Manchester. It is much simpler then it looks. You will need some "U 10 scallops" (that just means each one ways about 1/10 of a pound. ) some wild mushrooms, basil, oil, butter, and a bottle of port or a sweet red wine. 

to make the green sauce take the basil still on the stem and hold it in boiling water for about 15 seconds before letting it cool in ice water.  this isn't really necessary, but it is the only way to get a bright green color. Next use a bar blender or food processor to puree the basil, slowly adding in the oil in a steady stream. if you do it all at once you will break the emulsion. If your processor tends to get hot, do this with a bit of an icecube in the mixer to keep it under control.

The red sauce is simply a reduction of the port. pour some of the bottle into a pot and let it cook on the stove. It is ready when it can coat the back of a metal teaspoon on its own.

The Mushrooms are quick and simple, just cut them into strips and saute them till there tender, remember a little salt and pepper too.

And now for the fun part. get a saute pan thats preferably stainless steal, or in the perfect world copper.  just try to avoid teflon. Anyway, get the pan good and hot with just enough oil to coat the pan. Do not put the scallops in the pan till you see little whisps of smoke coming off the pan. now put the scallops on the pan one flat side down. turn the heat to medium and dont touch them until you see the sides of the scallops look cooked about 1/3 of the way up. Now flip them and spoon in a tablespoon of butter. tilt the pan to yourself and use the spoon to baste the scallops with the butter. this only takes about 15 seconds. Now just plate up and enjoy.

Blogging

I guess it's appropriate that my first blog on here is about actually making the blog. I'm in Scotland, and my computer thinks its in Germany for some reason, so all normal websites like google come in German. first i had to guess and check how to get this set up, then after an hour of failed attempts, I found out that I already have an account for some reason.  

Now that this is all set up and working so I can understand it. i've decided that I should use this for posting things about the culinary world around me, from recipes to pictures of food, or just new ideas to try.