Homemade almond butter

Update: Please also see my other almond butter posts:

• Raw almond butter
• Can you freeze almond butter?

[Direct link to recipe]

Man, that clementine cake post just won't leave me alone. One of the questions I had while making it was how long I could grind the almonds in a food processor before they turned into almond butter. Well, I went and found out.

Let's get straight to it, shall we? This is a photo sequence of the almonds being processed, taken at intervals of 30 seconds each, and stopping after 6 minutes. You can click on each thumbnail for a larger image:

0:00

0:30
The almonds are nicely ground at this point. Knowing what I know now, this (or earlier, even) is where I would stop if I were making almond meal.

1:00
I don't think the granule size here is really any smaller than at 0:30, and clumping has started as the almonds' cells begin to rupture and release oil.

1:30
Between 1 and 3 minutes, the clumps continue to get bigger as more oil is released.

2:00

2:30

3:00
The clumps start to come together.

3:30
Between 3:15 and 3:30, the clumps are swept into one mass. At this point, the consistency is still thick, dry, and gritty. It is not spreadable yet.

4:00
Soon afterward the ball of almond butter is broken up. With more processing, more oil is released and the texture gets creamier.

4:30

5:00
I didn't notice it at the time, but from these photos it appears that the almond butter got significantly smoother between 4:30 and 5:00.

5:30

6:00
A good visual consistency is reached between 5:30 and 6:00, which is later verified by taste. Further processing may thin out the almond butter a bit as more air is mixed into it and perhaps still more oil get released, but airiness or fluidity aren't qualities we usually look for in nut butters.

If you'd like, you can also see these photos together as an animated sequence (671 KB GIF file).

RECIPE

Makes a little over one cup almond butter (estimated 9–10 fl. oz., or 270–300 ml).

INGREDIENTS

Quantity	Alternate Measures	Item
286 g	10 oz (2 cups)	Raw almonds with skins

EQUIPMENT

• Weighing scale or a dry-ingredient measuring cup
• Rimmed baking sheet (for roasting almonds)
• Food processor, fitted with steel blade
• Rubber spatula
• Canning funnel
• Glass or plastic jar, 10 fl. oz. (300 ml) or larger in capacity

INSTRUCTIONS

Steps 1–4 are optional and only applicable if you want to roast the almonds. If you want to make raw almond butter or use store-bought roasted almonds, you can start at Step 5. Update 2009-03-10: Well, maybe roasting almonds is a bad idea. Yikes.

1. Make sure the oven rack is at the center position. Turn on the oven and set the temperature to 375 °F.
2. Spread the almonds out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Once the oven has reached its temperature, place the baking sheet into the oven and toast until fragrant, about 12 to 15 minutes.
   NOTE: This timing is only a guide. Every oven is different, and baking sheets come in different thicknesses. The best way to tell if the almonds are done is by aroma. USE YOUR NOSE. If you adhere strictly to the time and get burnt almonds, I'm not responsible.
4. Remove baking sheet from oven and let the almonds cool.
5. Once the almonds are at room temperature, place them into the workbowl of the food processor and process for 6 minutes or until the consistency is smooth. Stop the machine a few times to scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Update 2009-03-12: Raw almonds will need between 12 to 15 minutes of processing time.
6. With a rubber spatula, scrape the almond butter from the workbowl into a jar. A canning funnel fitted over the jar will minimize messy drips and spills.
7. Update 2009-09-11: This had completely escaped me, but a question in my raw almond butter post was a reminder: homemade almond butter should be refrigerated, and you should keep it there for no more than four months. This is to prevent (or delay) the oil from going rancid. If you need longer storage, freeze it.

EXTENDING THE RECIPE

Look, I know the way I break down recipes into infinitesimal detail makes them look scary, but all that verbiage can be reduced to one essential procedure: Put almonds in a food processor and run it until the consistency is right. With this knowledge as a foundation, it's a small conceptual step to extend this recipe to other nuts or even seeds, such as sesame seeds for tahini—there is certainly no shortage of recipes on the Internet. Although the specific processing times for each nut or seed may be different, the general idea is the same. You can also add salt or honey to fit your own tastes if you'd like.

YIELDS

I used a one-pint jar for this post's header photo, and as you can see, this batch filled it to just a bit over the halfway mark. So, two cups of raw almonds makes a bit over one cup of almond butter. As a rough estimate, I'd guess around 9 or 10 fluid ounces (270 or 300 ml).

Another unresolved issue from the clementine cake post was whether roasting the almonds will result in their weight loss. I was disciplined this time and did not snack on any of the in-process almonds. For this batch, 286 grams of raw almonds yielded 280 grams after roasting, so it's apparent that some loss of moisture or perhaps also volatile oils (hence the "done" aroma) does take place in the oven. I don't know if the almond's skin and flesh evaporate in similar fashion, though, so we will need further confirmation with blanched almonds.

Update 2009-08-18: Just found some photos of roasted nuts under an electron microscope (scroll about halfway down the page). You can see that their cell contents have shrunken after roasting, so a weight reduction should be expected.

Read more inside...

Clementine cake

With inspiration from smitten kitchen and knowledge that oranges are (one of the) symbols representing fortune for the Chinese New Year, it seemed only appropriate to mark the occasion by baking this cake. The ingredients list is short enough: oranges, eggs, sugar, almonds, and baking powder. Among the distinguishing features of this cake is the exclusion of both flour and butter from its recipe; however, I think what people will find most unusual here is the usage of whole oranges—both flesh and peel—as its main ingredient.

Before I can make this cake, though, there are hurdles to overcome...like, not owning a springform pan. Okay, no problem, I'll just call my friends to borrow one. Now, with a springform pan in hand, are we all set to bake? Uh, not so fast. It's the wrong size: the recipe is written for an 8-inch cake, but what I have is a 10-inch pan. This means that, to avoid ending up with an orange-flavored chapati, I need to make changes to an untried recipe before even taking the first step. Yikes.

Volumetrically, a 10" diameter cake is 56% larger than an 8" cake of the same height, and the most straightforward way to modify the recipe is simply to increase all ingredients by this amount. However, orange and egg quantities aren't amenable to being altered with such precision. The only practicable solution, then, is to change the recipe in whole-orange or whole-egg increments, change the other ingredient quantities accordingly, and make a cake that will be somewhat different in height from the original recipe and monitor the baking time to accommodate these changes. As it happens, the original recipe makes it easy to increase the egg quantity by 50%, and I was able to parallel this increase fairly well with the oranges I had on hand.

Oh, Just so you know, I did bake this cake in time for Chinese New Year, but it's taken me until now to finish this post. On to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

Makes one 10-inch cake.

Quantity	Alternate Measures	Item
560 g	1 lb 4 oz  (6 to 8 ea.)	Clementine oranges
375 g	13¼ oz  (3½ cups)	Ground almonds
338 g	12 oz  (1½ cups + 3 tbsp)	Granulated sugar
10 ml	2 tsp	Baking powder
9 large	9 large	Eggs
As needed	As needed	Butter or shortening, for greasing cake pan

EQUIPMENT

• 3- to 4-qt. saucepan, for boiling oranges.
  
• Electric kettle or small saucepan, for boiling water to blanch almonds.
  
• Medium-sized bowl (about 4 qt.), for blanching almonds. You can use this same bowl later to whisk the eggs.
  
• Large bowl (about 6 to 8 qt.), for final mixing of cake ingredients.
  
• Rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
  
• Whisk.
  
• Colander.
  
• Knife and cutting board.
  
• Wide and shallow baking pan (such as a rimmed baking sheet, aka jelly roll pan), for toasting almonds.
  
• Food processor, fitted with steel blade. This will be used for both grinding the almonds and pureeing the oranges. There is no need to clean the workbowl between the two operations.
  
• 10" springform pan.
  
• Parchment paper and kitchen shears/scissors.
  
• Toothpick, for testing cake for doneness.
  
• Kitchen timer, or other time-keeping device.
  
• Kitchen scale and/or dry-ingredient measuring cups and spoons.

INSTRUCTIONS

You can also click on each of the images below to zoom in for more details.

PREPARE ORANGES AND ALMONDS

Oranges

1. Wash the oranges thoroughly. Remember, you'll be eating the skin.
   
2. Remove and discard any stem and calyx still attached to the fruits. I've found that these hard remnants tend not to get pureed in the food processor (see Step 8 photo), so it's best to remove them beforehand.
   
3. Place oranges in a 3- to 4-qt. saucepan and fill with enough water to float the oranges up by one-half to one inch.
   
4. Place saucepan on the stove. Bring water to boil over high heat, then place a lid over the pan, reduce heat to between Low and Med-Low, and simmer for two hours.
   
   
5. While the oranges are being boiled, check occasionally and refill the water if necessary.
   
6. Remove oranges from the cookpot (or drain into a colander) and let the oranges cool.
   
   
7. Once cooled, cut the oranges in half crosswise to check for seeds (pips). Remove and discard any seeds that you find. As you slice open the fruit, juice will run out. Be very careful to save as much juice as possible.
   
   
8. Now chop the oranges into pulp. This can be done with a knife, but is easier with either a food processor or a blender.
   

Almonds

Commercially-ground almonds, sold as either almond flour or almond meal (different terms for the same product), can be purchased online or in natural- and health-food stores. I've seen Bob's Red Mill almond meal in the natural foods section at a Kroger store near me, so I'm guessing it's the most widely available brand for local purchase. If you have or plan to buy commercially-ground almonds, then you can skip this entire almond-prepping section.

Before grinding the almonds, I removed their skins by blanching to avoid a mottled appearance in the cake and possibly avoid any additional bitterness from the skins. This is probably an optional step, though, depending on your preference. You can also buy blanched almonds in the store, in which case you can grind them up immediately.

The advantage of commercially-ground almonds, beyond the obvious labor savings, is a finer and more consistent grain size than almonds ground with a food processor. However, toasting nuts before adding them to recipes enhances their flavor, and, as far as I can tell, almond flour sold in stores is not toasted before grinding. Can you toast store-bought almond flour? Maybe, but I'd imagine the margin of error between "toasted" and "burnt" is a lot smaller with the flour than with whole almonds. Commercially-ground almonds also retail for about $12 per pound, whereas raw (skin-on) almonds cost around $6/lb. Update 2009-03-10: Well, maybe you shouldn't roast the almonds. Yikes.

You should prepare the almonds while the oranges are being cooked.

1. Place raw (skin-on) almonds into a bowl. As I mentioned above, if you have already-blanched almonds on hand, steps 2–5 are unnecessary.
   
2. In a separate pot (not the one with the oranges in it), boil some water. The quantity is not critical—you just need enough to cover the almonds.
   
3. Pour the boiling water over the almonds to cover, and soak for 1 minute.
   
   
4. Drain the almonds into a colander and rinse with cold water. Pinch the almonds between your thumb and forefinger, and the skin should slip off. Discard the skins.
   
   
5. Place blanched almonds on a towel and pat to dry.
   
6. Make sure the oven rack is at the center position. Turn on the oven and set the temperature to 375 °F.
   
7. Spread the almonds out on a wide baking pan. Place the pan into the preheated oven and toast until fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes.
   
8. Remove almonds from oven and let cool.
   
9. Place the almonds into a food processor and grind into flour. I did not record how much time this took and simply stopped processing once the almond grains appeared "fine enough." The top image at left shows the ground almond's texture in the food processor, and the bottom image is a closer-in photo of the almonds in a mixing bowl. I don't know if it's possible to get the grain size to be much smaller and more consistent than this without using millstones, and I was afraid that I'd end up with almond butter if I had let the food processor run for much longer. Update 2009-03-03: Grind for no more than 30 seconds. See my homemade almond butter post.
   
   
10. Pour the ground almonds into a large mixing bowl so that the food processor can be used for pureeing the oranges.

PREPARE BAKING PAN

• If you haven't already done so for toasting the almonds, make sure the cake rack is at the center position, turn on the oven, and set the temperature to 375 °F.
  
• The original recipe (see Nigella Lawson, below) instructs to prep. the pan with both butter and parchment paper but doesn't explain why. The 1997 Joy of Cooking mentions that butter can applied between the pan and the parchment to keep the paper in place, yet How To Cook Everything has a recipe that instructs adding butter to the top (exposed) surface of the paper, which seems redundant to me. (I mean, isn't parchment non-stick already? Why add butter on top of it? Isn't that just gilding the lily?) Now that I've baked this cake, though, and know how sticky it is, this is what I think the procedure should be:
  1. Cut a 10" diameter disc of parchment paper and place it onto the bottom of the cake pan. Apply butter to the top side of the parchment. With this cake, this is not redundant, as it needs all the help it can get to release from the pan.
     
  2. Butter the sides of the springform pan, then line with a parchment. A total length of 31½" is needed to fit a 10" pan, although it is not necessary to have this in one continuous strip. Add butter the exposed surface of the parchment.

COMBINE INGREDIENTS AND BAKE

1. Add the sugar and baking powder to the ground almonds in the large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
   
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs.
   
3. Pour the whisked eggs into the large bowl and mix with the dry ingredients already in the bowl.
   
4. Pour the orange puree into the large bowl. Mix thoroughly with the egg/almond batter.
   
5. Pour cake batter into the prepared springform pan.
   
6. Place cake pan into the preheated oven and bake at 375 °F for approximately 1 hour. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into its center comes out clean. When I checked my cake at 45 minutes, it was still jiggly, but had firmed up at 1 hour. My cake was done at 1 hr 10 min., which is consistent with other recipes that call for 1-hour bake times.
   
7. Once done, remove cake from oven and let cool in the pan.

Note: The original recipe suggests that you may need to cover the cake with aluminum foil after 40 minutes to avoid burning its top. I did not find this extra step to be necessary.

RECIPE COMMENTARY

• First of all, this cake is easier than my recipe makes it look—it's actually easy, period. I just didn't want to leave out any details or render any steps ambiguous. If you've read this far, congratulations, and go make the cake. If you know anyone who wants to make a simple cake but got scared by the length of my post, tell them they can follow Nigella Lawson's recipe for it.
  
• This is apparently a very popular recipe, and copies of it are all over the Internet, most of which refer back to Nigella Lawson. However, from what I can tell this cake is probably Middle Eastern in origin, and Claudia Roden has a variant that uses large oranges (such as Valencias or navels) instead of clementines; you can find her recipe at the bottom of this page. It was also pointed out on Chowhound that James Beard had included a large-orange cake recipe in one of his cookbooks from the early 1980s.
  
• I think the original recipe is a bit vague in its instruction to boil the oranges. Should I cover the pot with a lid? How hard should I boil them? With the amount of water originally specified (just enough to cover the oranges), I'd be afraid of cooking the pot dry if it's left on high heat without a lid for two hours. It's much safer, I believe, to cover the pot and leave it at a gentle simmer for this amount of time.
  
• Speaking of vagueness, I have a feeling this recipe can tolerate pretty broad variations in the ingredient quantities, so measurement accuracy isn't a crucial factor in its outcome. As an example, the original recipe called for one heaping teaspoon of baking powder for an 8-inch cake, which is an imprecise quantity that can vary up to about 2x depending on how tall the heap is. For the sake removing ambiguity, though, I've specified exact quantities for all ingredients.

CAKE COMMENTARY

• The cake domed up during baking, but it fell as it cooled so that the top of the cake flattened nicely.
  
• The texture of this cake is denser than those made with wheat flour; however, it is not heavy.
  
• The cake is also very moist—so moist, in fact, that it almost feels underdone. However, as the toothpick came out clean, my cake was properly baked by that test. I've seen descriptions that range from a soaked sponge to being almost pudding-like.
  
• There is a bit of graininess from the almonds, though it is not unpleasant. I'd imagine that commercially-ground almonds will result in a smoother texture. The occasional bites of orange zest provide zing to the cake.
  
• I like this cake, and, judging by the comments from the Food Network page, so do most people; the few negative reviews, however, are rather strident. Aside from just a matter of individual taste, I think it's possible that the negative reviewers may have expected a cake similar to those made with wheat flour instead of something so dense and moist. Another issue is that clementine oranges are by no means uniformly sweet, and it may be difficult to predict their flavor until they're baked into the cake; it is possible, then, that the negative reviewers may have mixed bitter oranges into their cakes.
  
• It's not entirely clear to me why this cake is so sticky. I tried to compare it to cake recipes that contain butter, which only revealed to me that either a) there is no such thing as a standardized cake recipe (and therefore no comparison is possible), or b) my search skills stink. At any rate, my guess is that it's a combination of the number of eggs (more than most recipes, it seems, though not excessively so) and the amount of butter used (zero). While almonds contain a lot of fat, I think they're still bound up in the ground particles, and thus are not useful for lubricating the cake. On the flip side, the protein in the almonds is similarly bound up, so it should not contribute to making the cake any stickier.

KOSHER FOR PASSOVER?

Well, I'm not going to get into details about Jewish dietary laws, because I know almost nothing about them. From what little I understand, though, I believe chemical leaveners are acceptable for Passover, and the only offending ingredient in most baking powders is cornstarch. If that's the case, then it's easy to make this recipe kosher by mixing your own baking powder at home.

The standard formula for homemade baking powder is two parts cream of tartar to one part baking soda by volume. Cornstarch is sometimes added (same quantity as baking soda) to absorb moisture during storage, but if you're going to make and use your own powder right away, this is a non-issue. For this recipe, the quantities are:

1 tsp	Cream of tartar
½ tsp	Baking soda

Sift together the two ingredients. This will make 1½ tsp of baking powder, which at first appears less than what I had specified above; however, please realize that the original quantity assumes usage of commercially-made baking powder, which has added bulk from cornstarch whereas this homemade powder doesn't.

This is a single-action baking powder, which is activated by mixing with a liquid. All the baking powders I've seen in stores are double-acting, which are activated again by the high temperature inside an oven. To make sure the leavening action from this baking powder doesn't fizzle out, make sure to place the cake into the oven as soon as possible after the batter is mixed.

Of course, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

CLEMENTINES, MANDARINS, & TANGERINES

So what's the difference between a clementine orange, a mandarin orange, and a tangerine anyway? Well, to start with, the tangerine is a type of mandarin orange, not a different variety of citrus fruit. While the clementine is commonly thought to be an accidental cross between a mandarin and a sweet orange discovered in the Algeria by Father Clement (Vincent Rodier) in the early 1900s, some scholars maintain that "it is indistinguishable from and probably identical to" the mandarin orange common in the Guangzhou (Canton) province of China. Now, I'm no expert so don't take my word as gospel, but it seems the short answer is: they're all mandarins.

The satsuma is yet another member of the mandarin family, though I don't think I've seen it in the stores around here lately. This may well mean that, in terms of eating and cooking, the question of distinguishing between different mandarin breeds will become moot as the clementine increases its market share and displaces other mandarins. Specifically with regard to this recipe, considering that a large-orange variant of it exists, I'd venture to say that all mandarin types can be used interchangeably for it.

YIELDS

I did not record this, but if my memory is correct, I started with 388 grams of raw almonds. After removing the skins and toasting them (and eating a few along the way, I admit), I weighed them again and got 358 g of almonds and 14 g of skins. Did I eat that many? Almonds with skins weigh, roughly, around 1.7 to 2 grams each, which calculates out to a loss of between 8 to 10 almonds. Except I don't think I ate that many. Really, I don't. My guess is that the difference between the original quantity, what I ate, and the final weight is the result of moisture lost during toasting, but I don't have enough data to be sure. For future planning, though, I think that the weight ratio of these blanched/toasted almonds and skins (358:14) is a good place to start.

For this cake, I added a second batch of almonds to bring the blanched/toasted almond weight up to 375 g, although as noted above, exactly quantities are probably not imperative for this recipe.

Update 2009-03-03: From my homemade almond butter post, 286 grams of skin-on almonds yield 280 grams after roasting. If whole almonds and blanched almonds evaporate similarly, we should expect an after-roast weight of 380 g for a start weight of 388 g. From above, the blanched almonds and skins add up to 372 g, meaning an unaccounted-for loss of 8 grams. Taking into consideration how much an individual almond weighs, this calculates to a loss of 4 or 5 almonds—which actually sounds about how many I snacked on, so the data appears correct.

Read more inside...

Texas caviar

Update: For a simplified version of this recipe, using canned products, go here.

A belated Happy New Year to everyone. Around these parts, black-eyed peas are traditionally eaten on New Year's Day for good luck. Given how the last half of 2008 went, I think 2009 will need all the help it can get. While one can simply prepare black-eyed peas (which are also called cowpeas, but are actually beans) with just a few flavorings, I like to mix it with other ingredients into a bean salsa called Texas Caviar. As far as I know, there is no such thing as a canonical Texas Caviar, and a search on the Internet shows that recipes are certainly all over the map. My version is based on the recipe from p. 280 of American Home Cooking by Bill and Cheryl Jamison, but in reality I'm still tweaking it. The recipe below, then, is not what I had just made for this past New Year's, but what I'm planning for the next time around. (It's pretty close, though—the base ingredients are in good shape, I just need to get the after-cooking yields straightened out, as you'll see.)

INGREDIENTS

Beans and Corn

6 oz.	Black beans (dried, about 3/4 cup), plus
	3 cups water and 1 tsp table salt
8 oz.	Black-eyed peas, fresh or frozen, plus
	4 cups water and 1 tsp table salt
3/4 cup	Yellow corn kernels

Aromatic Vegetables

1 small	Red bell pepper (about 2/3 cup diced)
3 stalks	Celery (about 2/3 cup diced)
1 small	Onion (about 1/2 cup diced)
1 medium	Jalapeno chile, fresh or pickled

Dressing and Seasoning

1/4 tsp	Ground cumin, or
	1/4 heaping tsp whole cumin seeds (preferred)
2 medium	Garlic cloves
1 tsp	Coarsely ground black pepper, or more to taste
1/2 tsp	Table salt, or more to taste
1/4 cup	Apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup	Neutral-tasting vegetable oil

INSTRUCTIONS

COOK THE BEANS AND CORN

For beans, there are evidently some pretty strongly-held opinions on soaking methods (long soak, quick soak, or no soak) and when to add salt during cooking. From all I've read, none of it really matters, as soaking vs. not-soaking merely changes the cooking time, and, contrary to much handed-down advice, adding salt early doesn't toughen the beans. But if you disagree with this and have another way that you have (and can be) relied upon, then hey, do whatever works for you; I'm not going to argue.

Black beans

• Spread the beans out on a flat surface and pick out any pebbles, loose skins, and broken bits and discard.
  
• Place the beans in a cooking pot and fill with water. Pick out any floaters and discard.
  
• If you are able to plan ahead, soak the beans overnight (8 to 12 hours) before cooking. If not, it's no problem to cook the beans right away, it'll just take more time.
  
• If you've let the beans soak, drain the soaking water.
  
• Fill the pot with 3 cups water and place on a stove.
  
• Bring the water to boil over High heat, then reduce heat to between Low and Med-Low so that the water is simmering. Skim off the foam, add 1 tsp salt, then place a lid on the pot and let simmer until the texture is to your liking. Check on the beans starting at about 30 minutes. Soaked beans that are fresh will cook the quickest, while old and/or unsoaked beans will take longer.

Black-eyed peas

• Place the beans in a cooking pot (approx. 3 qt. capacity) and fill with water. Pick out the floaters, loose skins, and broken bits and discard. Drain water and rinse/drain a few more times until the water is clear.
  
• Now fill the pot with 4 cups of water and place on a stove.
  
• Bring the water to boil over High heat, then reduce heat to between Low and Med-Low so that the water is simmering. Skim off the foam, add 1 tsp salt, then place a lid on the pot and let simmer for until bean texture is to your liking. As with the black beans, start checking at about 30 minutes.

Corn

• You can use kernels cut off a cob or frozen kernels. Here in the middle of winter, I just zapped some corn straight from the freezer into the microwave on high power for about 2 minutes.
  
• Place the cooked corn into a mixing bowl (6 qts is a good size) to combine with other ingredients later.

PREPARE THE VEGETABLES

Red bell pepper

• Remove and discard the stem, core, and seeds. Then trim away the white portions of the ribs.
  
• Cut the pepper into 1/4" square pieces (technically, a small dice).
  
• Place the pepper dices into the mixing bowl with the corn.

Celery

• Either wash the stalks under running water or swish them in a bowl of water to make sure that all the dirt and grit have been removed.
  
• Remove the leaves if there are any. Cut off approx. the bottom 1" of each stalk. Either discard these trimmings or save them for making stock another time.
  
• Cut each stalk into 1/4" squares.
  
• Place the celery dices into the mixing bowl with the corn and bell pepper.

Onion

• Cut off the very top and bottom portions of the onion. Remove the papery skin. Discard trimmings or save for stock.
  
• Chop the onion into 1/4" squares.
  
• Place the onion dices into the mixing bowl with the corn, bell pepper, and celery.

Jalapeno

• I recommend handling hot chiles (such as jalapenos) with gloves. Disposable or surgical gloves are nice for this purpose. Otherwise, at least be very careful not to touch sensitive parts of your body, such as your eyes or any cut skin, if you've handled hot chiles with bare hands.
  
• Remove and discard the stem. You may keep or discard the core and seeds depending on your desired level or heat. Chiles with removed core and seeds will be less hot.
  
• Cut the jalapeno into 1/8" squares. For you fancy-schmancy types, this is a brunoise.
  
• Place the jalapeno pieces into the mixing bowl with the previous ingredients. Stir to mix.

PREPARE THE DRESSING

Ideally, you'd like to have a good oil/acid emulsion, and the best emulsions are achieved by running a blender with vinegar in its pitcher while slowly drizzling oil into it. However, this is potentially a messy operation (I'll get to that in a bit). The next-best method as far as emulsion quality goes is to keep whisking the vinegar by hand while drizzling oil into it. But you need three arms to whisk, drizzle, and hold the bowl! Well, you can put a wet towel on the counter and set the bowl on that to keep it stationary. But if you're just not up to that, simply putting the oil, vinegar, and seasonings together and whisking them all at once works, too; the emulsion won't hold, but the taste really doesn't suffer much.

I should also mention here that classic oil:acid ratio is 3:1 for vinaigrettes, but I think this recipe has enough sweet ingredients in it (corn, bell pepper, and celery) that a stronger acidic bite in the dressing serves to balance out the flavors better.

• If using ground cumin, place it into a mixing vessel—either a small mixing bowl or a blender's pitcher. Otherwise, put the whole seeds into a small skillet and place it on the stove. Toast the seeds over medium heat until fragrant. Stir the seeds or shake the pan to prevent burning. After toasting, grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle, spice grinder, or coffee mill, then place the ground seeds into the mixing vessel.
  
• Peel and mince the garlic cloves, then place into the mixing vessel.
  
• Add the vinegar to a mixing vessel, either a small mixing bowl or a blender's pitcher.
  
• Add the salt and pepper to the mixing vessel. You can adjust for taste later.
  
• Add the vinegar to the mixing vessel and combine with the oil as mentioned above, either by running the blender or whisking manually.

Now, about the blender mess. I don't know how common this is, but evidently the "small" hole in my blender's lid is still big enough to allow vinegar and oil to spew out of it when the blender is running. Result? Oil and vinegar droplets all over the countertop and upper cabinets. I'm thinking that maybe next time I should put a funnel over the lid to cover up most of this opening. That'll probably help with the drizzling, too. Or use a stick blender in a cup. I just have to remember to make sure the blades are fully immersed before turning it on, otherwise I'll have another mess. Or, maybe I could practice first. With water. Outdoors.

COMBINE BEANS AND DRESSING

• Pour the cooked black beans and black-eyed peas into a colander and drain completely.
  
• Empty the colander into the mixing bowl that already contains the corn, celery, bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno.
  
• Pour the oil/vinegar mixture over the cooked beans and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon to mix. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
  
• You can serve this immediately, but it's better to let it rest in a refrigerator for at least a few hours for the flavors to combine.

YIELDS

Measurements taken while making this year's batch:

• 8 oz. raw black-eyed peas measure approx. 2 cups (!?)
  
• 8 oz. raw black-eyed peas weigh 9.6 oz. and measure approx. 1-2/3 cups by volume after cooking. This makes no sense. Either the before or after cooking volumetric measure is wrong, or some of these beans mysteriously disappeared during cooking.
  
• 8 oz. dried black beans weigh 1 lb. and measure 2 cups after soaking but before cooking.
  
• 8 oz. dried black beans weigh 1 lb. 2 oz. and measure approx. 3 cups by volume after cooking. This is somewhat in conflict with my earlier measurements, which showed that 8 oz. dried black beans yield between 2-2/3 and 2-3/4 cups after cooking. Also, we can see that there is additional water absorption during cooking, but I'm surprised that the volume increased by 50%. I'll have to see where this data anomaly comes from.

Adding all the ingredients together and considering the uncertainties, this recipe should make between 6 to 6.5 cups of finished Texas Caviar.

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