Cookbook Club – Baco

Our September cookbook was Josef Centeno’s Baco. Centeno has several restaurants in LA – I’ve been to Baco Mercat, for which the cookbook was named, and really enjoyed the sandwiches made from the flatbread he calls “baco”. To find out how our homemade versions of the baco and other selections from his restaurants turned out, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish!

Pickled Rooibos Grapes was one of the first recipes in the cookbook. They sounded so different and compelling that I almost just stopped right there. I did force myself to flip through the rest of the book, but ended up coming back to the grapes. While I jump at any chance to eat pickled things, I’d never had pickled grapes before, and found the idea I formed in my mind of this tangy yet sweet treat very appealing.

I heated a cinnamon stick, star anise, black peppercorns, coriander, and fennel seeds for about a minute, just until they started to release some of their oils. Then I added sugar, water, and apple cider vinegar. I stirred and brought the mixture to a boil, then removed from heat.

I added Rooibos tea leaves and steeped for 2 minutes.

I strained the hot pickling liquid into jars in an ice bath, discarding all of the solids.

Once the pickling liquid cooled to lukewarm, I added halved grapes. The recipe said you could eat them immediately or store for up to 3 days. I made the grapes a couple days in advance of the party, so they had a good amount of time to pickle.

The grapes came out exactly as I had imagined – they picked up the spice and tang of the pickling liquid, but also seemed to have their natural sweetness enhanced by it. And the grapes maintained a nice poppy crunch. The recipe was a bit vague on how they should be eaten, noting they could be used to accompany meat, pasta, soup, or salad, which seems like almost everything. But perhaps that’s the case, as so far I’ve enjoyed them with meat, in a salad, and just snacking on them out of the jar.