Lucy and Desi Love Guardian Service Ware

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz argue over the Guardian Service Casserole/Tureen

In "The Long, Long Trailer" (1954), M-G-M Studios showcased the bounty of post-war America in cross-promotional arrangements with several manufacturers. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz play newlyweds who travel through the National Parks in a new travel trailer, outfitted from stem to stern with every modern convenience, including the finest in home cookware: Guardian Service Ware.  As "Tacy" (Ball) states, "You know, you just can't set up housekeeping and expect to rough it."

Cooking Pizza with Guardian Service Cookware

Homemade pizza is easy, economical and nutritious (hallmarks of the Guardian Service Cookware marketing mantra, "good health, pleasure and profit"). Although, as I mention in our original post on pizza, the creators and makers of Guardian Service Ware couldn't have imagined the 15" service tray being used for "pizza," a modern staple, which was only gaining popular appeal in America in the mid-fifties, by which time the company had ceased production.

We've cooked many pizzas on our Guardian Service tray (the round, flat, service tray works ideally for thin to medium crust pizzas and the "hammer" finish creates little pockets of air that aid in the crisping of the crust). But Mark Bitmann's recent post on pizza dough inspired us to further employ the Guardian Service griddle as a pizza stone. Placed upside–down on the center rack of the oven, the thick aluminum plate retains additional heat, creating an extra crispy crust.

And then this week, members of a Guardian Service fan group posted that they use the octagonal griddle itself to cook the pizza, which sounds ideal for a deep-dish pizza pie. (We'll experiment and report back with an update).

Pictured: Walnut pesto, caramelized onion and sausage pizza with mozzarella, on a whole wheat and cornmeal crust (see pizza dough recipe and instructions).

Join the conversation on the Guardian Service Facebook page.

Pork Barbecue (or "Pulled Pork," North Carolina style)

If you own Guardian Service Cookware, you have at your fingertips everything you need to explore the ancient cooking method of barbarcoa or barbecue, slow-cooking meat until it falls off the bone. Regional barbecue recipes have spurred competitions and festivals worldwide, but this pork barbecue recipe is a favorite of Andrew's family (a gift from Harold Hutchins, a family friend and native of North Carolina). We've further adapted the recipe for Guardian Service Cookware.

In Western North Carolina, "barbecue" refers to pork shoulder, typically slow-cooked in foil over coals. The Guardian Service method, slow-roasting on low radiant heat until the meat is soft enough to pull from the bones, beautifully simulates coal-roasting. After roasting and pulling, the shredded meat is added to the prepared sauce and simmered further.

The original recipe is classic Depression Era cooking—turning a difficult, muscular cut of darker meat into a delectable meal. This recipe transforms a cheap cut with a few supermarket items (8 oz. of "Catalina" Russian salad dressing and ketchup, a package of onion soup mix, vinegar, worcestershire, tabasco and apricot jam).

We took it as a challenge to use fewer prepared foods containing multiple (or mystery) ingredients. All the sauce ingredients up to the apricot jam replace the aforementioned dressing and soup mix. We've also added spring herbs, garlic and onions to infuse the meat during the roasting process. (Note that the original recipe also calls for the roast to be wrapped in foil, a technique we'll experiment with and post again about here).

Guardian Service Pork Barbecue
(or "Pulled Pork," Western North Carolina style)
Barbecue Sauce
2/3 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard (i.e., Colman's)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 Tbsp honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp dried minced onion
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
additional vinegar, pepper sauce, smoked salt to taste

Pork Roast
1 large pork shoulder roast, trimmed
4 cloves garlic, sliced into slivers
1 sprig bay leaves
2 sprigs rosemary
1 onion, chopped
5-6 spring onions

Trimming shoulder roast of exterior fat.

The roast, studded with garlic slivers and herbs, bedded in spring onions.

Apricot jam added to the barbecue sauce in the Guardian Service Dome Cooker.

Pulling the pork.

1. Trim a large pork shoulder roast of its exterior fat and stud with garlic (use a paring knife to insert slivers of garlic).
2. Line the base of the Guardian Service Roaster with chopped onion and spring onions. Position the prepared roast on the onion bed, cover and cook over LOW heat for 3 hours or more, checking on the hour, until it relaxes from the bone. NOTE: It's extremely important to keep the heat LOW. Turn the heat off at intervals over the course of cooking time (roughly half the time) or, if needed, vent the cover at an angle to keep too much heat from building up within the roaster.
3. Meanwhile, in a large Guardian Service unit (pictured above, the 4 qt. straight-sided Guardian Service Dome Cooker) combine sauce ingredients and simmer over low heat until flavors marry (15 minutes). (Additional juice from the pork will further thin the sauce after incorporation).
4. When roast is tender, cool and remove meat from the bone, discarding the fat and gristle. Notes Kathi Martin, "This is messy and tiresome, so be prepared… and get over it."
5. Add meat to the simmering sauce and continue to cook over low heat until ready to serve (with coleslaw, by tradition!). 

Also: freezes exceptionally well, make extra or ahead to "get the mess over with at once with a summer's worth of BBQ."

Guardian Service Water Bath Cooking: Eggs Baked in Ramekins

The Guardian Service Roaster platter and lid doubling as a stove-top water bath.

In her PBS series, "The French Chef," Julia Child devoted an entire episode to "Elegance with Eggs," bringing the egg beyond breakfast. She starts with simple baked eggs in ramekins in a bain marie or oven water bath.

We've adapted her method for the Guardian Service Ware oval roaster platter and cover, creating a stove-top water bath that yields eggs which are tender and infused with flavor.

As Child points out in the accompanying Mastering the Art of French Cooking, "eggs offer a variety of presentations and you can draw on practically your whole cooking experience for its saucing and garnishing." In other words: check the refrigerator for leftovers! For eggs baked in ramekins, Child recommends "minced mushrooms, asparagus, spinach, artichoke hearts, diced lobster, shrimp, crab, truffles and/or a slice of foie gras."

As it happens, a foodie Santa brought us not only a free-range goose to cook Guardian Service style for the holidays, but a bit of foie gras. I placed a slice of day-old polenta and a thin slice of foie gras in each ramekin, then topped with eggs and cream.

Eggs Baked in Ramekins
Les Oeufs en Cocotte
(Adapted for Guardian Service Ware from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

Individual servings of 1 or 2 eggs baked in porcelain, pyrex or earthenware ramekins. (Any variety of small baking dish will work, here we've used two FireKing lusterware handled ramekins).

For each serving:

1/2 Tbsp butter
1 ramekin 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter and about 1 1/2 inches high
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 or 2 eggs

Variations:
Herbs, sauces, cheese, leftovers.

Some day-old polenta and a little foie gras dress up simple baked eggs.

1. Butter the ramekins, saving a dot for later. Add 1 tablespoon of cream and set the ramekin in the simmering water over moderate heat. When the cream is hot, break into it one or two eggs. Pour the remaining spoonful of cream over the egg and top with a dot of butter.
2. Cover with roaster lid and bake in simmering water bath for 7-10 minutes, less if cooking one egg per cup. The eggs are done when they are just set but still tremble slightly in the ramekins. They will set a little more when the ramekins are removed, so they should not be overcooked.
3. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
4. The ramekins may remain in the pan of hot water, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes before serving. To prevent overcooking, remove from heat when slightly underdone.

NOTE: Alkaline substances can cause aluminum to darken, so boiling water may cause the aluminum to stain, depending on your water's pH. While the staining is harmless, you can prevent it by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or a few drops of lemon juice to the water bath.

Candied Orange Slices

Citrus in California is like zucchini in the midwest: abundant. In North Dakota, where I was raised, folks will warn you to lock your car in late summer for fear of finding bags of squash when you return. We're lucky to have a neighbor who leaves bags of oranges on the handle of our back door from time to time, and at this time of year, if we're not snacking on them or juicing them, we make a few pomanders to place around the apartment and some candied peel or orange slices.

I like to make batches of these candied orange slices and keep them handy for everything from cookie platters to garnishing salads, desserts or meat dishes. Candied slices won't keep as long as dried peel, but the method preserves more of the orange (and doesn't require as much drying time).

This simple recipe can be multiplied as you wish and can be used with grapefruit or lemon (adjust sugar to taste). I candied four oranges using the large Guardian Service fryer and reduced the remaining syrup for drizzling on pancakes or yogurt or mixing into cocktails or marinades, etc.

Candied Orange Slices

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup granulated organic sugar
1 organic navel orange, halved and sliced crosswise in 1/4 inch thick slices (about 10 per orange)

1. In a Guardian Service fryer, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the orange slices and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to a thin syrup and the orange slices are translucent, about 20 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the syrup thickens and the slices are tender but still intact, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer the orange slices to a rack to cool.
4. Further reduce syrup to desired consistency and reserve for another use.
5. The candied slices can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Reducing the remaining syrup.

Marmalade syrup, cooling on the window ledge