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GINGER BASICS
Buying: Look for firm, dense knobs of ginger with white or yellow flesh and no apparent shriveling. Use the edge of a spoon or a vegetable peeler to remove the peel, and then slice or grate.
Cooking: Ginger’s pungent flavor balances well with earthy winter vegetables like kale, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Adding it to fresh juices and smoothies can aid digestion and add a little punch.
RHIZOMES RULE
Revered for its many health benefits, ginger is often called a root, though it’s actually the plant’s underground rhizome (a type of stem), which grows in the spring and fall, when it can be found at farmers markets and Asian grocery stores.
AROUND RVA
Ginger Juice: Promising an energy boost, the Ginger Berry Smoothie combines ginger with spinach, banana, blueberries and hemp milk to get you moving.
The Jefferson Hotel: Nibble triple ginger crackle cookies studded with crystalized ginger over a cup of tea as you take in the hotel's towering gingerbread house.
Mom’s Siam: Fight the nastiest colds with their rice soup, a tried and true combination of chicken broth, egg, garlic, celery and fresh ginger.
“Ginger's sharp spice and citrus-like brightness adds a fiery harmony to any dish.” —Sarah Tocco, head chef at Fine Creek Brewing Co.
COOK LIKE A LOCAL
Sarah Tocco (Photo by Jess Jones courtesy Fine Creek Brewing Co.)
Stout Gingerbread Cake
By Sarah Tocco, head chef at Fine Creek Brewing Co.
Ginger brings the zing to brothy soups, cookies and cakes. Chef Sarah Tocco revisited past holidays to produce a take on one of her mother’s signature dishes. “My mom made a lot of traditional recipes, and nothing claimed the holidays more than the smell of springerle cookies, homemade caramels and gingerbread cake with lemon curd,” she says.
For the cake
8 ounces Fine Creek Brewing American Stout or Thai Tea Milk Stout (though any stout will work)
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
2 cups (10 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ginger powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
4 ounces sugar
4 ounces brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
For the curd
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a large saucepan, add the stout and bring to a boil; then add the baking soda and stir just enough to incorporate. It will foam up, continuing to foam the more you stir. Set aside and let cool slightly.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the cake’s wet ingredients, as well as the sugar and brown sugar. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients for the cake. Then combine wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, stirring just enough to combine, and then add the beer mixture. Pour into a greased 8-by-8-inch pan, then bake at 325 for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and middle is set.
While the cake is baking, make the lemon curd. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, combine the first six curd ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar and the egg. When the lemon butter mixture begins to boil, slowly pour it into the egg mixture, little bits at a time, whisking constantly. Once you’ve poured it all in, return the resulting mixture to the saucepan and heat on medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Take off the heat as soon as it begins to boil. Pour through a sieve and serve warm over gingerbread.
