Blue days, part I

I used to watch a lot of Food Network shows back when they had real chefs teaching you how to cook, but I hadn't watched it in years since it became more about Guy Fieri and random cooking competitions. Lately, though, I've been taking comfort in Alton Brown's fun and informative manner in old and new episodes of Good Eats and Good Eats: Reloaded (in which AB "reloads" old episodes to fix some gaffes and pokes fun at his earlier self in the process).

Brad watches Good Eats with me fairly enthusiastically. Cassie will tolerate it if she is already doing a craft project in the living room. Mom, on the other hand, has never shown any interest. Until this week. Mom had brought home a small mountain of blueberries that she had picked with Brad, Cass, and JC and was wondering what to do with them all, other than make blueberry muffins, blueberry jam, or the exalted Blueberry Tart.

Enter the "Kinda Blue" episode from season 11 of Good Eats. I had only made it through the beginning part of the episode, where AB explains how to freeze blueberries for six months to a year, so you can use your summer blueberries to make, for example, Mr. Graham's award-winning Sweet Potato-Blueberry Pie in the fall, which is what I did last year. Then Brad and Cass came down and we were going to switch over to watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine together, until something mystifying, but truly miraculous, happened: Mom insisted that we watch the entire episode of a cooking show through to the end! I have never loved your mother more. 💗

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I rewarded and sought to encourage Mom's newfound interest in Good Eats by making this blueberry buckle* for her the very next day. If you want to use up a large quantity of blueberries, this is a good recipe, as it packs nearly a pound of blueberries into one cake. A 2019 review on the kitchn website calls this AB's "greatest recipe" ("The Best Alton Brown Recipe *Isn’t* the One You’re Thinking Of"), and it did not disappoint. Brad went so far as to say that the buckle rivals, though it does not surpass, the Blueberry Tart. Nuff said.
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*AB explains that a buckle is "an old-fashioned streusel-topped coffee cake." It's called a "buckle" because the top rises during baking but then sinks and buckles as the cake cools, creating nooks and crannies.

Blueberry Buckle

Adapted from Alton Brown via his website (slightly different directions and a video also available on Food Network from Good Eats S11)

Time: ~1:05 (25 minutes active)

The recipe calls for cake flour, which I don’t regularly keep around anymore. I don’t think it’s necessary for the topping, so I just used straight all-purpose flour for that. I think all-purpose flour would also work fine for the cake, but I used homemade cake flour instead, which I made by sifting together 210 grams all-purpose flour + 45 grams cornstarch. If you make this with frozen blueberries, mix them in straight from the freezer, transfer the batter to the baking dish, then let the pan sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before baking.

Topping
100 grams (½ cup) white granulated sugar
45 grams (~⅓ cup) cake flour (see note)
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
57 grams (½ stick; 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter

Cake
255 grams (~2 cups + 2 tablespoons) cake flour (see note) 
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
57 grams (½ stick; 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
150 grams (¾ cup) white granulated sugar
1 large egg (~57 grams in the shell
120 grams (½ cup) whole milk
425 grams/15 ounces (3 cups) fresh blueberries (see note)

    1. Take a stick of butter out of the fridge and cut it in half. Cut one half into small cubes and put them back in the fridge. Cut the other half into 8 pieces and leave them out to come to cool room temperature.
    2. For the topping: When the butter is whisk the sugar, flour, and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Scatter the chilled butter cubes over the mixture. Using your clean fingers, a fork, or a pastry blender, work the butter into the mixture until it has a crumb-like texture.
    3. For the cake: Place a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square or 11-by-7-inch glass (Pyrex) baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
    4. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and sugar together on medium speed (4 on our KitchenAid) until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg on medium speed. Using a silicone spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer running on the lowest speed (Stir), stir in ⅓ of the flour mixture until no big streaks of flour remain. Stir in ⅓ of the milk until incorporated. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and milk, adding each in ⅓ increments and alternating between the two. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Gently stir everything together with the spatula to make sure it’s well combined.
    5. Gently stir in the blueberries, trying to keep them intact as much as possible. Scrape the stiff batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.
    6. Bake until cooked through and golden brown and delicious all over, about 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Yields at least 9 or 10 good-sized pieces depending on the shape of your pan.