so, last weekend my friend sent me off to buy some eggs at the FARMER'S MARKET just a couple of blocks away from his place. he handed me five bucks and off i ran. i returned 30 minutes later.
"just a couple of blocks away? 30 minutes later?" you ask?
well, yes! of course! going to a farmer's market isn't like running down to your corner store to pick up a "loaf of bread, a gallon of milk and a stick of buttah"! (does anybody remember this from sesame street?)">
it's a farmer's market! i'm a CHEF! are you kidding me? lol! besides that, the farmer's markets here are
awesome! i am blessed to live in a place that produces (amongst many other things!) such amazing produce! of course i had to have a lookie-loo around! aside from the large, fresh brown eggs that i was sent out to get, i came back with a couple of other items: the most amazingly beautiful and fragrant purple basil for...well, at the time i didn't know for what...but i just had to have some...it's "basil season" for cryin' out loud! i also came away with a 10lb. sack of seville oranges. typically, citrus is best in the fall and winter seasons. but when i saw the sign for these oranges and could see that they looked pretty darned good, "marmalade" popped into my head and i had to have me some! but until i, chef davis, made the goo myself, i'd have to go on "preserve reserve". that's the problem with grocery shopping when you're hungry!anyway, i finally made the stuff last night
and it's pretty darned yummy! i recall making orange marmalade when i first started in pastry-land with Earl Darney (now owner of Lotta's Bakery) at BAYWOLF restaurant. i also recall that it was pretty darned easy! but you know how the mind works, or doesn't work, as the years go by and i hadn't ever made marmalade but that one 
time which was nearly 10 years ago. recollections collected, i elected to quickly cross-reference for correction. "epicurious.com" here i come! well, i found gobs of recipes for marmalade....as a component in another dish! i began to check them out and, wouldn't you know, every bloody recipe called out for marmalade...FROM A JAR! finally, i came across a scratch recipe that looked pretty darned good! except it was WAY more complicated than that of my "recollects"!by this time, i'd already spent a good 10 minutes looking for recipes for comparison...and if you know me, that was about 5 minutes too long. frustrated, i blurted out, "screw it! i'm just going to do it!" and, boy, did i do it! ...and then some!
ORANGE MARMALADE W/ VARIATIONS
5 lbs. seville oranges
5 c. sugar
1 c. oj
at the end of cooking, add to taste if needed:
smidge of kosher salt
a little lemon juice to "brighten" it up
NOTE: add to and prep the same as the oranges: 2 eureka lemons, 2 meyer lemons.
wash the oranges. no mold, dirt or schmegma of any kind, please! slice into 1/8" rounds. i cut the stem-side off completely just down far enough until the "flesh" began to show it's pulpy head! slice slice slice! and when my little fingers couldn't hold on to the darned thing any longer, i just fliped'er on the flat side and sliced up the rest in the same manner. it don't mattah! (IDM) it's all gonna get cooked down all schmoosheey-like anyway....right? after slicin' those puppies up, i quickly went thru and removed the seeds...the big'uns anyway. i didn't worry too much about the littl'uns...isn't that one of M's endearing qualities? a little seedy! (bah-dump-BAH!)
slide that citrus and all the juicy goodness on your cutting board into a heavy pot! i used my 8 qt. all-clad. add the sugar, sugar! followed by some juicey-juice...
...to get things rollin, ya know...fire up the burner and away we go. (that's called a "rhyme". it comes naturally.)
cook it down a good long while...'bout an hour and a half - that's 90 minutes, ya'll! (DOWN paula!) meanwhile, start a load of laundry, fold the load of laundry you forgot to take out of the dryer the night before, talk to your friend scott on the phone and so on. oh! and give the pot a good stir from time to time. once the juices reduce down, yer gettin' close to wrappin' this baby up.
and here's a thought: do not attempt in an aluminum pot!!! (see? rhyming is easy...just like cooking.)
"how do you know it's done, chef john?"
here are two done-ness tests:
1) the "wrinkle" test - (see below)
2) the candy thermometer test - concoction should register somewheres in the 220ish range.
"wrinkle" test: place a small plate in the freezer for a few minutes unless, of course, you have plates in the freezer already. KUDOS, you! you're ahead of the game! pull plate from freezer, spoon out some of the marmalade onto the plate. next, hold the plate up vertically as if you were going to hang the thing on your wall. then ask yourself,
"is it too high? too low? is it straight? does it even go with the decor in this room? hmmmm...."
all great questions! but a better question is,
"is da jammy-jam slippidy-slip-sliding all around?" (and i know that's hard to say)
OR...
"is it wrinkly?"
ANSWER(S): if your piece of art ends up on the floor, it needs more time in the ole pot...unless, of course you like sticky persian rugs. but if it resembles moving molten lava where the front-running edge dashes off and then slows down followed by the buildup up from behind that wants to get thru to see what all the excitement is about but then realizes there's nothing to see so it slows down and so forth and so on, thereby creating this "wrinkle" upon "wrinkle" look, then by golly, it's jam! i wonder if this is where the term "traffic jam" comes from? or perhaps the inspiration behind revitalizing clay masques? these questions i cannot answer. finish the marmalade by rounding out the flavors...smidge of kosher salt...a splash of lemon juice.
VARIATIONS
below are some variations i made with just some other things i had in the fridge or cabinet...use whatever you like...swing it in whatever direction you want...whether sweet (for toast, dessert, french toast) or savory (thai, spanish, fish, pork, vinaigrette, cheese/crackers, dip, marinade)...use your imagination!
1) small dice dried pineapple and orange-scented craisins
2) ginger, cinnamon, allspice....more ginger....
3) chili flake, ancho chilli powder, raspberry preserves
4) cardamom
5) toasted, ground fennel seed
6) curry - but not the crap you buy in a store! make your own! i used: turmeric, fennel seed, cumin, corrainder