Fall is my favorite season — partly because, at long last, the summer's heat breaks, and I can turn off the air conditioner and open the windows. But mostly, it's my favorite cooking season.
By mid-September, I begin to see signs of fall at the farmers markets. Hard winter squashes like Hubbard, butternut and acorn appear alongside the last of the summer squash. Homegrown cauliflower and Brussels sprouts come just after the end-of-season tomatoes. Baskets of apples with names such as Arkansas Black or Aunt Rachel replace peaches.
Autumn also is the season for pears, a fruit that neither travels well nor stores well — despite the best efforts of commercial growers. If you can find locally grown pears, their flavor and sweetness will amaze you. Even if you must fall back on pears shipped from Oregon or Washington, they'll be at their best in mid- to late fall, when they're picked and shipped immediately.
Persimmons, too, ripen in the fall, and I remember as a kid eating wild persimmons from a tree by our driveway. My siblings and I would pick them from the ground, keeping a sharp eye out for the yellow jackets that so loved them, and then carefully inspect each one for a hint of green. A single bite of the awesomely astringent green persimmon is enough to discourage any further eating for that day.
At this time of year, you may also find wild mushrooms such as morels, chanterelles and oysters. Wild mushrooms can be an iffy proposition because many poisonous varieties are so similar to edible varieties. When I lived in Oregon, I could buy wild mushrooms (for $30 to $35 a pound) at a local supermarket. By the time they reached the grocer's, they'd been vetted by the picker, the wholesaler and the store's buyer. If you're buying directly from a picker, be sure you know the seller's qualifications and reputation.
Don't forget root vegetables this fall. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are at their peak, with the perfect balance of sugar and starch. Turnips and their larger cousins rutabagas (also called Swedes) are also coming into their own, as are parsnips — an often neglected vegetable that's outstanding in gratins and purees, or roasted in the oven.
If you haven't tried it yet, this is the time of year to explore celeriac. It, too, is delicious in gratins and purees, and cut into thin strips, it adds a nice crunch to a green salad.
Fall also is the season for spinach, Swiss chard and Belgian endive. I particularly like chard sauteed in olive oil with pancetta, garlic and minced anchovies. Brussels sprouts also are a fall green vegetable (and one of my favorites), as are broccoli and broccoli raab, a marvelous, slightly tart Italian vegetable only distantly related to broccoli. And don't forget red cabbage.
I also associate fall with fresh pork. Traditionally, hogs were slaughtered after the first couple of frosts. The days were cool enough then to have eliminated the insects and enable butchering a hog without danger of spoilage. And the pigs were at their most robust after a long summer and a fall spent feeding on the mast (acorns, hickory nuts, wild persimmons and various leaves and shrubs) on the forest floor.
Most of the pig was either cured or pickled in some way to preserve the meat. For a few days, however, menus featured fresh pork in all its glory.
Each year, I celebrate fall on the first cold and rainy day of the season — the sort of day when you're glad to be inside standing over a hot stove, listening to the rain on the roof.
A typical celebratory autumnal meal might begin with a soup made from roasted winter squash, followed by pork tenderloin and apples, accompanied by roasted cauliflower and braised Brussels sprouts — and a crisp pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. How better to wind up such a meal than with a rustic pear bread pudding?
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