It is stunning to me how much the world of information around canning, preserving and DIY food arts has expanded in the last couple of years. When I first started this blog in early 2009, it was so easy to be familiar with the canon of books on the topic. I had them all and they took up about 18 inches of space on the bookshelf.
Then suddenly, a new wave of books started to flow onto the market. One of the best of this first round was Karen Solomon’s Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It. It offered instruction on canning, easy home dairy items and a variety of other projects that were universally welcomed by home cooks who wanted slightly more control over their food.
Karen recently published a follow-up volume called Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It that is just as delightful as her first book. It includes a handful traditional preserves, as well as instructions for homemade cereals (cornflakes! puffed rice!), miso, rice milk, smoked nuts and so much more.
For those of you who were intrigued but overwhelmed by Charcutepalooza and its many meaty challenges, you’re going to want to take a peek at the Hunt It section of the book. Karen has included a series of accessible, easy to follow recipes for corned beef, pastrami and hot dogs (as well as instructions for how to transform those hot dogs into corn dogs.
Every time I sit down with this book for more than a few minutes, I start to itch for the kitchen. The urge to cook become irresistible. My apartment has seen her Sesame Rosemary Granola, the Basic Barbecue Sauce and the Pickled Grapes (so good).
Last fall when I was in San Francisco, I got to meet Karen. We were both judges at the Good Food Awards and during a break in the tasting, she bought me a cup of coffee and we shared tales of obsessive preserving and cookbook writing. Somehow, that led to a request that I write a blurb for the book’s back cover. Entirely flattered, I was thrilled to do it.
All that said, here’s the point I really want to make. Even if I’d never known the first book, never met Karen and never spent hours pouring over a xeroxed galley copy trying to concisely say why I thought it was so good, I would still like this book. The recipes are super solid. The head notes are full of personality. And the pictures are pretty. It’s definitely a buy it, use it, love it book.
My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. My project this week will be canning tomatoes. when I have enough sauce – I will start using the green tomatoes and peppers to make my husband’s Great Aunts recipe for Chow Chow.
We have a huge kitchen project to tackle this winter. A very old built in stove and oven needs to come out which calls for some rebuilding of the present cabinets and counter tops.
I’ve gotten a good start on pickling, this year I want to tackle jam making.
I have so many projects I’d like to do! I think the first one is making homemade tomato sauce.
I’d like to do pickled peppers. The garden isn’t thriving with so little rain, but the pepper plants haven’t seemed to notice 🙂
Canning anything smoked, fish or meat. I say anything because I’ve yet to conquer smoking. Then again, one has to try in order to conquer. 🙂 First I really need to get those two HUGE turkeys out of my freezer, get them cooked and can them up into individual meals.
I’d love to tackle a cordial, an alcohol anything. For some reason, these seem mysterious to me even after tackling lots of jarred recipes over the years.
You must try it. Making your own cordials is almost too easy. All you need is patience as it can require several weeks or months before you can taste your final product. One of the oddest yet amazingly delicious is “nocchino” made out of fresh, black walnuts still in their casings and a few simple spices. Super easy.
I’m going to figure out how to make a creamy fennel gratin. If I make it the traditional way, they separate. Delicious, but ugly. I want creamy.
This book looks great. Homemade cornflakes? Soda syrups sound like a great Christmas gift idea.
Next kitchen project is to clean out the spice cupboard. Lord only knows what is in the back of that bad boy.
Oh boy a kitchen project. We are renovating an 1860s farmhouse so there are so many to choose from! This weekend we are tiling the mudroom floor and we are putting sheet rock on the what-will-soon-be-a-pantry walls! Very excited stuff! Thanks for a shot at winning such a great looking book!
I have canned tomatoes but never a pasta sauce so that is next on the list.
I’ve started canning for the first time this year and am loving it. My two goals for the remainder of the season are to can plenty of salsa and plenty of applesauce.
Does is have to be big or anything? I want to tackle under the sink. I need organizers under there…
I want to have organized spices. I have a drawer set aside for spices but need more jars!
Sourdough in all it’s complexity. I just spent a week experimenting with a starter I was given but it was very lazy so now it’s resting in the refrigerator until I try it again. I ordered a free sample of Carl’s 150 year old sourdough starter and am waiting to try that one.
I am new to your site but enjoying it very much.
Thanks for this! I’ve been wanting a starter, but no one around here bakes sourdough bread. 🙂
I have a glut of cherry tomatoes that are begging to be dehydrated!
hey! I’m going to try for this lovely book too! what fun! the one thing in the kitchen I have been wanting to tackle forever and haven’t yet is making homemade pasta. I really have to get on that!
Cornflakes! I had no idea! I would like to make some pickled carrots this week. Never tried those.
Just washed 4 bushels of green apples. We’ll be making apple butter and pepper apple preserves today. Canning tomorrow. Then, something fun with the skins!
I just moved into a new house, so my biggest kitchen project is getting everything organized! Right now everything is shoved into cabinets and drawers , and I can’t find anything!
Cheesemaking & pressure canning are the top two on my list. But first I need to make an inventory of everything I’ve canned so far this season!
Nocino! Finally, something to do with those walnut trees sprouting in my yard. (And if I miss this season… walnut ice cream!)
My next project should be cleaning out the pantry, but will more realistically be making a peach pie:@)
I think my next attempt will be using the pressure canner.
in two weeks: me vs. the tomatoes. I’m taking a whole week off from work to can puree and juice. I am serious!
the last time I tried to make jam, I terribly failed. I ended up with two jars of balsamic strawberry syrup. so I still need to tackle the jam making. I think with more knowledge behind me I can do it. oh and bake a pie. that’s been on my list for a looong time now.
Oh, so many! Root beer, ginger ale, lacto-fermented pickles….yum!!
I’ve been wanting to put in some sort of backsplash. Cookingwise? Canning, of course!
I would love to refinish the floors in our kitchen! Cooking wise, I have been wanting to make crockpot yogurt and ricotta cheese for some time…maybe this week!
I want to get all my summer canning done before the doctor ok’s my knee replacement surgery. Salsa verde, jams, jellies, so many pears to can. Clean out the basement to make more room for my canned goods. So much to do, so little time. And wouldn’t it be nice to make my own hotdogs so that I’d know what REALLY goes into them.
My husband is an avid fisherman and we are running out of freezer space with dish, I’d love to try to can salmon sometime
I want to make Watermelon Pickles. I remember having these as a child and I’ve been
dreaming of them.
Pressure canning, there is so much more you can preserve, but it makes a bit nervous.
Home cured bacon!
I would like to build maybe 4″ wide shelves with sliding doors to hold my canned goods ~ just narrow the dining room by that 5″ all along one wall! I only have 3 walls because my guests can sit in the dining room and see everything that’s going on in the kitchen.
New to canning but got the hang of jams, jellies and preserves…would love to start on other things like veggies and sauces for the winter. Can’t believe I started all this at almost 60 years old! Who knew I would love it….even more than quilting!
I would like to design and have made (by my husband) a vertical pot rack on one end of my kitchen island. After 50+ years of marriage I deserve one! Also looking for a new jelly making pot! While making basil peach jam last year my old enamel jelly pan suffered a bad scorch. It was so good , we were able to salvage some of it.
The corn flake recipe intrigues me, hope I win the new give-away!
The new book looks great; we love the first one. We’re picking peaches this morning and putting them up this afternoon – –
Pressure canning – my goal for next year (as I am up to my neck in canning projects this season – I think I’ll wait ’till the winter to take on a new challenge!)
We are hoping to tackle sausage making this year…and I’ve just started canning again for the first time in years and am loving it.
I would love to smoke some fish so I can send it back home to my family for Christmas gifts.
My next kitchen project is to grind breakfast sausuage this weekend, use the bones to make pork stock, and think of something to do with the 12 pounds of tomatoes that are left over from making salsa yesterday.
My current kitchen project is trying to teach my teenage daughter how to turn the knob on the dishwasher! LOL! Once I conquer that feat, I’d love to write a cookbook just like Karen’s. And until then, I’d love to have a copy of this book!
I just ordered 2 boxes of pickling cucumbers and 48 lbs of peaches. I found a recipe for a peach jalapeno jelly and can’t wait to try it!!!
would love to finally try making fruit leather, as it’s just so hard to snack on a handful of jam on the go…
I want to make more jam. Jam is my favorite food group.
I would love to process my own meat when my husband comes home with a moose. I want to learn how to make my own sausage!!
I would love to try and make real fermented cucumber pickles and sauerkraut! This book looks amazing!
The next kitchen project is a complete gut and remodel. While I love the original 1950’s styling, the small plywood cupboards do not have enough space except for the very basics, do not have enough depth for a built in dishwasher and the cupboards underneath the drawers are always filled with sawdust. Can’t wait!
I already do just about everything I can with edibles, herbs, meat and even dry flowers, plants and seed pods and make wreathes from woodland findings here in the Santa Cruz mountains in California. It is always fun to find something new and I believe I will in the give-away book you have to offer this week. Thanks for the chance to win and for your great blogs!
Smoked Salmon! Great to have around for fall parties.
I want to make some dilly beans when my next picking of beans is large enough. My son complained mightily last night when I froze the 2 gallons I had picked instead of making dilly beans 😀
This is my first time posting here. What I really to do is can a lot of things like we used to do. My youngest daughter didn’t know you could get tomatoes in a can until she was 10 years old.
I am wanting to make my own cheese. Being a born and raised Wisconsin girl I feel it is something I should try in my own kitchen at least once.
We just made a family cookbook and I can’t wait to tackle some of the difficult Chinese recipes inside. http://www.trailergypsy.net/2011/08/our-family-cookbook.html
I would love to learn how to use a pressure cooker for canning!
My next project is going to be dumplings from scratch!
Marshmallows seem to be a fun, accessible project. It’s on my to-do list.
Today I just completed my last goal which was to pressure can home made chicken and beef stock. Yeah! The next goal I’ve been avoiding is learning to bake Cuban bread. I haven’t found a Cuban bakery in the Seattle area so it’s time to learn to make my own.
A friend just offered to make cheese with me next weekend. That is definitely my next kitchen experiment – I can’t wait!
Just one job? 😉 I need to tackle a bucket of currants tomorrow…jam?…and teach my sister how to can in the process. When I get back home I’m intending to steal the green walnuts off my neighbour’s tree to make nocino!
My project is to organize all my canning supplies. Maybe set my husband up for a Honey Do cupboard to store all the big equipment. Then I would have room for all my cookbooks and hopefully this new one. I am a cookbook junkie and hoarder I have my Mothers and Mother In Laws books from 1932 when they were married. Very interesting reads.
Cheesemaking. Creating a workable pantry. Figuring out a way to make a really good blood orange shrub. The list could go on and on 🙂
I’m going to organize my spice cupboard.
Sounds like a fantastic book! I was a vegitarian for most of my youth and though I love to eat meat now I have no idea how to cook it (other than roasted chickens). I have been eyeing goat recipes of all things and would love to learn to cook it.
I have many kitchen projects I would like to tackle, but one of the biggest (to me, at least) is mastering a from-scratch pie crust. It was one of my resolutions this year, and I need to just do it. 🙂
I need new shelves for my extended canning.
I want to make and can my own tomato sauce.
i loved her first book! my next kitchen project is homemade mustard.
Tomatoes are in full season here so my next week will be concerned with all things tomato. Salsa (can I can?), stewed, sauced, juiced, roasted and BLT (hold the L).
In the last three weeks I have made/started basil liquer, brandied cherries, cherry-mint liquer, cherry marmalade, cherry jam, butter, and pickled green tomatoes. Tomorrow I am pickling zucchini and canning tomatoes.
I really want to brew my own beer and make my own kefir!
Making gluten free bagels from scratch…and have them taste like real gluten full NY bagels. Nothing like impossibly high standards.
KK
In the last 3 weeks I have made/started: basil liquer, brandied cherries, butter, mint-cherry liquer, pickled green tomatoes, cherry marmelade, and cherry jam. Tomorrow I am pickling zucchini and canning tomatoes. Full throttle!
I really want to learn how to brew my own beer and make my own kefir…
I have a list of kitchen projects I’d like to tackle! I’ve ventured into jelly/jam making a few times, but need much work on my technique and would love to do a chutney. But perhaps the thing that most intrigues me is cheese making. I’m planning on starting with easier cheeses – queso fresco tops my list – and have contemplated perhaps taking the easy way out and starting with a kit. I feel like I’m still such a novice in the kitchen, it can feel a bit overwhelming thinking about all the things I’ve to learn and undertake!
I would love to invest in a pressure canner and can my own albacore tuna someday!
I need to get the kitchen painted- coral cabinet doors, aqua cabinets, white walls and coral trim above the cabinets- all to go with the aqua boomerang formica….
I’ll feel like the kitchen actually looks clean since it’s so dingy in spite of scrubbing now.
I have too many appliances and gadgets that I’ve never used…and they’ve collected dust, taken up space and are neglected! I need to purge and organize.
i’m excited to try pressure canning (mom’s getting me the canner for christmas) and i borrowed my friends dehydrator, learning that… took the master preservers course at the cooperative extension… i’m hoping to build a cold smoker this fall so i can do smoked cheese, sausages, and chipotles… i already have 3 smokers… (1 propane, 1 electric, and 1 wood/coal) lol… big plans!!!!
I have tackled quite a few things lately. The one I still haven’t gotten to is canning tomato sauce. I’d like to can spaghetti sauce, but I’ll settle for a bunch of homemade tomato sauce that I can use during the winter instead of the canned goods we buy now.
I want to learn to can … growing up I remember Mom and both Grandmothers canning, often, but sadly, this was not passed down. They made jams and bottled cherries, peaches, apricots, you name it – all delicious!
While I have canned and frozen foods for many years we are making an attempt to delve into dehydrating and smoking meats. I would love to learn more about herbs, growing and preserving them and using them.
I just discovered this website via Smitten Kitchen, and I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did! I’ve done a little cucumber pickling, but my goal is to do some other-veggie pickling… cocktail onions, green beans, carrots! Beets? Garlic? You name it, I want to eat it, pickled.
I’ve tackled water bath canning enough times that I think I’m ready to try out pressure canning. Now to figure out the supplies and not be afraid of a pressure canner!
I love canning…. love, love, love collecting canning cookbooks (even old books that I think *might* have a canning reciepe in them). My never ending project is to actually get labels on my canned goods…. so easy to prepare, can and let cool… then I totally fail at labeling. A happy jar is a full jar! 🙂
Just candied some rhubarb. Next up, dill pickles or dried cherries, whichever looks best at the farm stand.
I’ve been wanting to actually make jam (instead of just pouring over recipes and fantasizing). I also want to make beef stock.
I love Karen’s first book. This one looks great as well.
The project I wish to tackle is to try creating smoked salt.
I want to can as well. It was something I did growing up with my grandpa and he is gone now, would love to bring those memories back more. That and I want to be able to sustain my family and feed them better food!
I’ve been wanting to make homemade vanilla extract for xmas gifts and pickle yellow beans.
I would love to try something completely new like making gourmet mustards by growing my own mustard plants. I do mostly baking, so developing recipes for mustards would be a fun challenge. This book looks inspirational!
I would LOVE to conquer canning. Still intimidated, but I have spent this past week of vacation trying purchased cans of asparagus pickles, the beginning of my desire to learn. Ive had PERFECT ones, woody ones, and some that are yellow and TOOOOOOOOOO vinegary. Heading over to another post. BUT as for the question, I will learn to can. I hope to begin with PEAR relish!
I’m a new canner getting ready to travel for at least a year on my sailboat. Self sufficiency is my big goal and my project is to basically plan our staple foods for a year and get lots of recipes scanned for later. Making my own cornflakes like in that picture sounds awesome!
I’ve been dying to try Not Derby Pie’s roasted corn & tomatillo soup because it sounds deleeshus.
I need to make jam! Any kind of berry jam will do.
Oh the joys of possibly receiving the book you offer! YUM! What an adventure that will be! It would be very comparable to the adventure that I want to make in my kitchen… taking a 4 year old normal kitchen and make it into an old farmhouse style kitchen, using floor to ceiling shelving instead of cupboards and having a pantry, too–complete with a screen door on the pantry to keep my kitties out!
This book sounds great. I am just starting out with different things lke canning, dehydrating and my husband doing the smoking. It has taken time to gather things needed and now to get things organized in small spaces in my kitchen. proect in the making. Maybe I can talk him into building a canning,/ smoke house for us to work in one day. Thanks for shaing so much info.
Someday, I will get the second pantry put together and have a place to store all my odd size baking dishes and my giant stockpot. Someday…
Cleaning our my cupboards is the one thing I hope to get done next week.
Oh, man. The big kitchen project I need to tackle this year is doing something (anything!) with the deluge of blackberries I’m facing this month. We have 3 super-productive bushes, and seriously, how much jam and jelly can 2 people eat in a year???
Susteph,
I’m more than willing to help take some of those blackberries off your hands. Haha! Our 2 blackberry bushes aren’t doing so well this year.
Susteph,
While I don’t have any plants on my apt patio – I did purchase quite a few and am right now making Blackberry Cordial. I will bottle it (label and bottle hood) and place a hang tag on the bottle with a couple of recipes (Steak Diane) for usage. Also making blackberry vinegar and will do the same thing. You are sooo lucky to have so many! Wanna share? 🙂
My list of kitchen projects that I want to try far exceeds my free time or kitchen space. Right now, I am dreaming of making lemon-lime marmalade, liqueurs in every summery fruit flavor and bacon from Karen Solomon’s first book. I am very excited to see her next book!