Making these in the AM
Thanks for the help.
If he doesn’t see this thread soon, send a PM or E-mail to Dick Krueger. I think he’s mentioned that there’s a recipe he likes.
I’ll get the one Kristi used when I get home laters.
Carollee makes great blinis using the recipe in Joy of Cooking, subsituting buckwheat flour for the second addition of flour. Then they are cooked on an old Sunbeam grill in about silver dollar sized units. They are great with crême frâiche and caviar.
Exactly what they will be used for.
The edition of JoC that Carollee used was the 1975 edition. I don’t know if other editions have different recipes.
Hard not to link this post to the blini thread in the NSFW forum 
Carollee’s blinis are fantastic. I don’t like caviar, but love the blinis.
OK, with caviar, we need good blini. I have made the Moroccan Beghrir from Mourad’s “New Moroccan” cookbook and had those with caviar, pretty good but a lot of fuss. I have made Thomas Keller’s Yukon Gold potato blini from The French Laundry, ditto. I am looking at Gary Danko’s recipe, which is probably delicious but takes all day to make (story on page 1, recipe on page 2):
And I think in the dim past I made the recipe from Joy of Cooking like Dick suggests. What do I do this time? I went out and bought some buckwheat flour, I think I want to go back to that flavor. And I want to buy some crème fraiche. I think I’d rather not have to spend a day working on these. And I might want to use my ebelskiver pan with the round holes. Hmmm.
Buckwheat Blinis (from Joy of Cooking):
(makes about 24 2-inch blinis)
1/2 c buckwheat flour
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
3 tbs unsalted butter
3/4 c whole milk
1 tsp and 1/8 tsp dry active yeast (half a packet)
2 eggs
Sour cream, cream cheese and/or creme fraiche
Smoked salmon
Caviar
Chives, chopped
Dill, chopped
Directions:
Heat milk in a small saucepan, add butter and heat just until butter melts. Remove from heat and add yeast, let stand 5 minutes, then stir to ensure yeast is dissolved.
Meanwhile, mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour milk mixture over dry mixture and stir to incorporate. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 hour in a warm place.
After 1 hour, batter should be almost doubled in size (mine wasn’t, but they turned out fine). Stir down batter and add 2 eggs. Let stand 5 minutes, then make blinis using a tablespoon to ensure they are the same size. Cook in the same manner as pancakes.
Thanks for the transcription work, Don! I had looked up the recommended recipe in my own Joy of Cooking (1967 edition) – it is a little different and I just loved the end:
Serve each blini filled with:
1 > tablespoon > caviar
garnished with:
cultured sour cream
So, let’s see, 24 TABLESPOONS of caviar. I know it used to be cheaper than it is now but that’s amazingly lavish.
Depending on what you’re measuring, a tablespoon is either an ounce, or a half ounce.
I was going to take an ounce and a half to a party on Friday – hoping to give all the guests a taste.
Here is the recipe from my Joy of Cooking, evidently an older edition. The whipped egg whites remind me of the Gary Danko recipe I linked above. No mention of buckwheat flour blinis in my old edition, just buckwheat cakes with molasses.
Makes 24 (2 inch) cakes.
I like this one Frank. Lighter with those whipped egg whites.
That is about 12 oz of caviar total. You need to be rich to do that.
OK, I decided to go with the Gary Danko recipe, see below. The bad thing is that it takes all day. The good thing is that the all day recipe develops extra flavor, and there are steps that ensure very light and delicate blini. And that you aren’t actually interacting with the recipe all day, you leave it alone for 4 hours here and there. I think these are going to be really good.
Buckwheat Blini With Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche & Caviar
Makes about 18 blinisThis recipe, adapted from Gary Danko, incorporates whipped egg whites and whipped cream, and has several resting periods - all of which helps give these blini a lighter, more delicate texture. You can make the batter in the morning or a day ahead since it needs two fairly lengthy resting periods. The blini themselves are best served right after cooking.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk, about 98°
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg, separated
2 tablespoons cold heavy cream
1/4 cup clarified butter or 2 tablespoons clarified butter + 2 tablespoons canola, rice bran or vegetable oil
Garnishes
– Creme fraiche
– Smoked salmon or smoked sturgeon
– Chives, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
– Caviar (optional)For the batter: Sift the all-purpose flour and sugar into a small bowl. Add the yeast, then 1/2 cup of the warm milk; whisk until smooth.
Combine the buckwheat flour and salt in a medium-size bowl. Add the egg yolk and remaining milk; whisk until smooth.
Cover both bowls with plastic wrap set aside at room temperature for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours. After resting, pour the yeast mixture into the buckwheat mixture and whisk to combine.
Whisk the egg white in a small bowl until soft peaks form; scrape it onto the top of the batter. Add heavy cream to the now-empty egg white bowl and whip it to soft peaks; scrape it onto the egg white and gently fold everything together.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 1 hour or so. Letting it rest longer - 2 to 6 hours - in a slightly cool place develops more flavor and the blini will also cook up crisper. The batter can rest up to 24 hours - it will develop a slight sourdough flavor. If the kitchen is warm, refrigerate the batter overnight, then bring to room temperature.
To cook: Pour clarified butter or butter/oil mixture into a small non-stick skillet, just enough to form a thin film. Drop about 1/2 tablespoon of batter into the hot fat and spread to about 1 1/2-2 inches in diameter, if necessary. Cook until golden brown (about 10 seconds); turn and cook the other side until golden brown and done at the center, about another 10 seconds. Remove to a paper towel to drain briefly, then serve hot with a dollop of creme fraiche, smoked salmon or smoked sturgeon, and 2 chive pieces. For something extra special, dab with caviar.
Made the Danko blinis yesterday for party last night. Good news, the flavor is near perfect, if you want that buckwheat flavor without having it dominate. Bad news, the batch I made seemed a bit too liquid and spread out to paper-flat circles on the griddle. If I had been doing this at home I might have tried to stir in some more flour. In the pictures it looks like these are supposed to be thick, like a “regular” pancake. It was a very glutinous batter, after rising all day, and the step where whipped cream and egg whites are folded in probably makes stirring in more flour without killing the loft rather difficult. At any rate I’m thinking of reducing the liquid a bit for the next round, at Christmas.
All in all – I had pre-cut lox into “postage stamp” size and sandwiched it between wax paper and saran wrap (for portability). We had a container of creme fraiche and some nice chives which I snipped into 2 inch lengths. So as I produced the flat little blini, my wife put a dab of creme fraiche and a square of lox and a couple of chives onto each one and put them on a platter. When I finished cooking blini I decorated the top of each one with a dab of the good caviar. And we served flutes of Champagne. I think the “wrong shaped” blini pretty much fit everyone’s expectations of what a blini should look like, and the flavors were wonderful. It was a nice moment at the party.