A View From The Kitchen

Recent Happenings

2012-01-26T12:31:00.000-05:00

No better way to start your day! I swear that is for 2 people.

This project involved sprouting a garlic clove that got away from us and hid on the shelf for too long, and a vinegar infusion with dill and Spicehound pickling spice blend. Letting is sit for a few months should do the trick.

Before

After!

Death to and old friend. RIP ol'e mixer.

Empenadas at Barroco Grill are very good.

Churros at Barroco finished of a great meal there. If you haven't been, you should.

Making the Most of Fennel at Home

2012-01-18T23:34:00.001-05:00

Trimmed fennel, the bulb about the size of a baseball.

I really appreciate fennel. I have never had it in a form or flavoring that I didn’t fully enjoy. Unfortunately it is relatively expensiveespecially if trimmed and prepped in a way I have done in restaurants in thepast. I got one small head of fennelfrom the West Side Market earlier this week and it cost a solid $3. I didn’t core it, and used a lot more of thestalk portion than I’ve ever used in the past. There were no adverse results as I expected there to be some tough orstringy pieces. This was not even closeto one of the larger heads of fennel I’ve seen so this might not be the casefor all sizes of fennel. Also, I wasable to successfully stretch out the flavor of the fennel with an equal part ofgreen cabbage cooked in the same way as the fennel. Lastly I seasoned the whole mess with fennelsalt from Spicehound.

Caramelized Fennel at Home

One head of fennel

Equal amount green cabbage

One garlic clove per head of fennel

Half one orange per head of fennel

Fennel salt and pepper

I remove the top two inches of the fennel stalks,assuming your whole piece of fennel included bulb and fonds, if not just removea thin slice. Chop the stalks intorounds the same thickness that you slice the bulb. Slice the cabbage to a similar thickness butkeep separate. Rough chop garlic andalso hold separate. Start by deeply caramelizingthe fennel on med-high heat in a 50/50 mixture of oil and butter. After removing the fennel from the pan searthe cabbage on high heat in a similar mixture of fats. Toss garlic with seared cabbage and cook overreduced heat for one minute then squeeze orange over pan of which the fenneland seasoning have been added. On lowheat cook for another 5 minutes. Pairs well with sweet potatoes, red meat, or hearty fish.

Not what's there, but what I see

2012-01-14T03:19:00.000-05:00

I have come late to the bus as far as the Chowhound chatboards. I found it quite delightful tofind some interesting and beneficial insight opposed to the same 8 peoplebickering among themselves in the comments of every post like what I found onthe Cleveland dot Com food and wine forum. In a way I’ve found the same thing on a more global basis, but much morecivilized and productive to my cause which is education either of myself or helpingothers with what I know. There are somefeeds lately which I’ve found disturbing especially in light or lack thereofwith the shadow of the Slow Food debacle currently taking place. I’d like to take a moment and parody not whatis actually there, rather what I read to myself on the average Chowhoundmessage board.

Topic: I want to makean exceptional grilled cheese Sammy, any suggestions?

Re: I like ham and cheese

Re: Isuppose you don’t care about the bread

Re:good jab dude!

Re: Ilike white bread

Re:do you like to eat chemicals and die?

Re:good jab dude!

Re: Ilike organic, sustainable, locally produced bread from a friend of mine inJackson Hole and that is the only bread I have ever used in my whole life! Do not ever make any sandwich without it.

Re: Wowthat bread sounds great, but I’m not in JH

Re:well here is the website, have it delivered…. www.expensiceassbreadfromthemiddleofnowehere.com

Re:That bread is incredible, but would cost me $2 a slice to get delivered!

Re:well I guess you hate the USA, the environment, the farmers in Wyoming, puppies and most likely are hired my Monsanto to promote basic white breadthat everyone can afford and furthermore are in all chances a terroristassociated with al Qaeda and will eat a white bread sandwich as your last mealbefore becoming a suicide bomber. I hateyou and you suck. Go to McDonalds jerk.

Re: This is how Ilike to make a grilled cheese Sammy:

First Ibuy a whole hog from an organic, sustainable locally produced farmer of which Idrove my gas guzzling SUV 45 miles each way and had to fill up twice (fuckinggas prices) and broke down myself in my totally unclean garage (ha ha ha) causeI like to restore Corvettes, I have like 20 or something..too many to count. Haha ha. So I break down the hog myselfwith my super cool Asian knives from Itokumony, Japan which are totallyawesome! And cut out the back quarter to make a ham. I sold the rest of the pig to my friends at asuper inflated price to cover the cost of my grilled cheese. Next I take the ham section and brine it asdescribed in Michal Rhulman’s book. Thistakes only a few weeks, but I enjoy sitting and watching it while it happenssince the pig died just for my sandwich. Ha ha ha and I read more books like the Modernist Cuisine and all the ElBulli books. If you don’t have them yourjust a hack of a home cook. Ha haha.

I don’t just watch the ham brine I also make thecheese. I get totally organic sustainable,local goat milk from my neighbor….in California and have it shipped here, forsuper cheap cause they are dumb hippies and I sold them a pig ear for $20 apound. Ha ha ha. So I make goat cheese and press it intosquares and color it with organic, sustainable local annatto seeds that Ibought in Mexico and mulled back to the USA in my colon, stupidterrorists. Now if you can’t make yourown cheese just don’t make a sandwich.

Now the bread has to be perfect…not from Jackson Hole, ha haha. You could use the Bitterman no-kneedmethod if you’re a lazy terrorist Monsanto senator hippie jerk, but I’m not! SoI get some wheat from my other neighbor, next to my vacation home in Prague, whom I sold a hog ass hole for $30 a pound...I mean the pig only had one right…ha ha ha. And some eggs from the guy across the street… from the dock where I keepmy yacht in Miami, that I sold the pig’s colon for $40 a pound because hewanted to invite his rapper friends over for chitterlings. What are thoseanyhow? Ha ha ha. After that I wantedsomething holy so I went to the great Amish country of Pennsylvania andprocured a friend starter because I bought a new horse for a young man in acarriage. I would have just given him aride in my Buggati, but he was some kinda weirdo! Yeast procured I went home to make mybread. Honestly I stopped at aChick-fil-a and it was awesome. Justkidding, ha ha ha, not really ha ha ha.

So it’s been about 3 months since I wanted a grilled cheesebut I’ve sustained on Greek yogurt and flax seeds in the time being. I have cooked the hog leg, sliced the cheese,and baked the bread now let’s get to the nitty gritty. Since I’m on a diet I’ll use margarine tolube my George Forman grille and delicately place my homemade self procuredancient age bread onto the grill topped with my organic, sustainable, localcheese and place myself made ham slices (who knows what to do with the other 5pounds of ham). Perfect grilledcheese. Doing it any other way would beun-patriotic and if you do you’re a jerk who should be detained under thepatriotic act and sent to Guantano Bayand waterboarded till near death while your fingernails are pulled out in anattempt to obtain why those fingernails have Mexican heroin and some weird redsubstance under them. Ha ha ha.

Re: wow that is a lot of work for a grilled cheese!

Re: your an ass, this is exactly how I make mygrilled cheese

Re: me too (about 20 times repeated)

Re: thanks for all your suggestions. I used some bread my girl picked up lastweek, but scraped off the green spots, and some Kraft American cheese thatexpired last year paired with Ham I got on sale at Wal-Mart. Man it was awesome. Thanks again!

Winter Roasted Cauliflower

2012-01-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Fresh vegetables have become somewhat scarce at the supermarket this time of the year, and simply boiling out of season flavor lacking vegetables is not all to appetizing. I like cauliflower and the vinager, corriander, garlic flavor combination plays off the wholesome sweetness of roasted cauliflower in a very pleasing way. I've also come to appreciate the results of microwaving cut potatoes. They keep a nice texture, are time effeciant, clean, and are still accepting of flavors after a quick cooking.

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

Half a large head cauliflower, cut into two inch pieces

Four large cloves of garlic, sliced thin

One tablespoon ground coriander

One teaspoon sugar

Two tablespoon olive oil

One generous teaspoon sherry vinegar

Salt & pepper

Optional:

Twelve ounces potato, cut into wedges

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are adding the potatoes I cut them inwedges no larger than an inch and microwave for 4 minutes so they take as longin the oven as the cauliflower. Tosseverything in a bowl together and lay out onto a cookie sheet on a singlelayer. Bake for 18 minutes then increaseheat to 500 degrees and cook another 5 minutes.

Organics Evolving?

2011-12-31T11:17:00.001-05:00

On Friday, November 18, 2011, 90 pounds of tomatoes were harvested from the Victoria's Vegetables greenhouses. This may be the longest tomato growing season ever recorded in Central Oregon.

I found this piece in the New York Times by Elisabeth Rosenthal to be quite interesting. I am not sure I agree that lumping the two terms Organic and Sustainability together is very fair. To me they are seperate ideals but are so easily connected in a wholesome food system. It is refreshing to see information about this topic so consumers aren't blindly flocking thru the snow to their closest mega-grocery and assuming everything is peachy between them and mother nature because their little plastic clamshell of tomatoes is labeled organic. Good luck on your search for organics!

How to Make the Perfect Jell-O Shots

2011-12-27T12:28:00.003-05:00

"Hello, this is Konrad. Yes I've started the Jell-o shots. Telegram all your friends this shin-dig should be outstanding."

You can catch this quick little video on Chow, or you canfollow my even easier 12 step method to making the perfect Jell-O shots:

1. Procure your favorite booze. Usually vodka is used for making Jell-O shots,but anything works.

2. Have a long pull off that freshly opened bottlethen find your favorite flavor of instant Jell-O. It will most likely be in the very back ofthe cupboard and dusty.

3. Take a sip of booze and set measured amount ofwater to heat.

4. Take a sip of booze, and then dissolve Jell-Omix into water.

5. Take a sip of booze and reconsider adding any tothe Jell-O at this point.

6. Take a sip of booze while finding a proper containerto portion the Jell-O. One large bowlwill be fine.

7. Take a sip of booze, and make room in therefrigerator to chill the Jell-O.

8. Take a sip of booze before retiring to the reclinerfor a nap.

9. When you wake up you will have only a little bitof booze left and none in the Jell-O. Not a problem!

10. Take a final sip of booze as you will only needabout 4 ounces to finish things off.

11. Using a whisk stir the Jell-O into chunks andmix in the booze left that didn’t get drunk. It only has to be enough to add bite.

12. Spoon this spiked mixture into shot glasses andget a good laugh off the person who gets WASTED from your Jell-O shots.

Holiday TV Special

2011-12-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

If you are somehow offended by the bullying of Rudolf, nudity or snowmen, or the occasional donning of gay apparel you most definitely do not want to do everything you can to watch No Reservations holiday special episode. You can find some info here, and even more info here, but it will all make more sense after you've seen the full hour show. I highly suggest you spend your time wisely and watch this very special holiday treat.

If nothing else check out one of the gems I took from the show; Vegan Black Metal Chef. There is equally something right and wrong with this, just like what Christmas has become.

Coconut Curry Chicken and Carrots

2011-12-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

This is a quick and easy recipe that brings someinternational flavor to a nice week-night diner.

Four pieces boneless chicken thighs

Twelve ounces carrots cut into inch chunks

One tablespoon chopped garlic

One medium sweet onion, sliced thin

One tablespoon curry powder

Four ounces each chicken stock, coconut milk

One heaping tablespoon spicy mango chutney

Trim chicken of skin to your liking. I like some crispy skin, but usually trimchicken thighs by placing them skin side down on the cutting board and trimmingany skin or fat that is not under the meat. If you are completely removing the skin then quarter chicken thighs because they willbrown more and cook slightly quicker. Using a non-stick skillet start chicken thighs skin down and cook untilsome fat is rendered then increase heat to medium-high. I do this because the skin browns and crispsnicely opposed to putting them in a hot pan in which the skin tends to burnbefore it turnings crisp. Season thechicken meat with salt and curry powder. Once the skin has nicely browned flip then add the carrots, garlic and onion andcook this for about 5 minutes, but be sure not to burn the garlic. Add the liquid to the chicken, reduce heat tomedium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Finally add the chutney and increase heat and reduce till liquid inquite thick and coats the chicken.

Serve with plain brown rice and hot sauce. If you have fresh ginger or coriander goahead and use them, but I don’t keep them on hand at my home.

I like Killing Flies

2011-12-08T18:23:00.001-05:00

I recently watched a documentary called“I Like Killing Flies”. Due to theunique perspective of Kenny and the fact his station in life is behind a hotstove in a small kitchen I found the whole film quite interesting. He offers more than 900 items on the menu,all from scratch in a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet, from which Mr. Shopsinruns his tiny family-owned Greenwich Village restaurant. After spending his day feeding neighbors,during a lull in the cooking Kenny holds court for the camera offering upwisdom and wit on life, death, sex, politics and sometimes food. After 32 years at the same storefront hisfamily must find a new kitchen and this is also a major topic of themovie. I highly suggest viewing this film, but if this sounds only somewhatinteresting let me offer a few of Kenny’s more interesting observations.

On ones duty in life:

The first duty of everybody in life is to realize that they're apiece of shit. Selfish and self-centered and not very good. You're willing tosacrifice 20 thousand people in another country just so you can go to a Wingsconcert. You sacrifice the lives of a hundred thousand Chinese female babiesjust so you can rent this fucking camera and do your stupid art project. Noproblem! You're a piece of shit. Once you realize you're a piece of shit it'snot so hard to take. Because then you don't have this feeling that you're agood person all the time. And let me tell you something, feeling that you're agood person all the time is like having a brand new car with no scratches onit. It's a real responsibility which is almost impossible to live up to. Beinga piece of shit and then occasionally doing something that's good and true is amuch easier place to be. I think that's really important and I always try toraise my kids to understand that they're not that terrific. And that not beingthat terrific, that's okay 'cause most people who say that they're terrific,Bill Clinton, Cardinal Egan, anybody you want to talk about, they're not soterrific. Martha Stewart, they're not so fucking terrific either. And there'snothing wrong with being not-so-terrific. In fact, it's what the whole ballgameis about, being not-so-terrific... and accepting it.

On a sour relationship with an exterminator:

A few years ago someone found a roach in their soup. It certainly doesn’t mean anything in thehistory of the universe, but your relations with that person, is just you, themand the soup. It’s a huge event of incompetenceon your part…..They come to your place for something other than good food,satisfaction, and this women got nothing but abuse. A horrendous event for both parties.

On his culinary standards:

It’s ok to do stupid things, not that we have high standard, butthey are going to put it in their damn mouth.

On cooking:

Most of cooking is a matter of mechanics, not aesthetics, notcuisine.

On how to treat people:

They are all decent, people who treat other people with respect.It’s a mark of high civilization to treat people with respect who don’t deserveit so you try to treat everyone with a morality that makes you a good personregardless of if they deserve it or not.

Tangerine or Clementine?

2011-12-07T15:40:00.001-05:00

A Tangerine is a small orange colored citrus fruit that is asubspecies of the Mandarin orange. It ischaracterized by being much easier to peel, split into segments and less tartthan an orange. Tangerines have been cultivatedin China for over 3,000 years. Chinesetangerines were introduced toFlorida and the U.S. market by a missionary, Rev. Barrington, in 1883. Unlike oranges tangerines can be successfullygrown from seed opposed to grafting which produces a more hearty cold resistantplant. The word ‘tangerine’ was originallyused to describe a native person of Tangier, Morocco in the early 1700’s butstuck as the name for the citrus fruit we now know during the 1800’s.

A clementine isalso a subspecies of the Mandarin orange which is easily peeled and less tartthan an orange. Unlike a tangerine it isalmost always seedless, and in fact has been marketed as a ‘seedless tangerine’in the past. Father Clement Rodier issaid to have discovered an accidental hybrid citrus fruit in the garden of hisorphanage in Algeria and this was the origin of what we call a clementine, butnow know there is a genetically identical variety of citrus known as the Cantonmandarin that has been growing in China for nearly 3,000 years.

Clementines wereintroduced into California as a commercial crop in 1914, but their marketexploded in the U.S. after the historically harsh winter of 1997 devastated thedomestic Florida orange crop. Due totheir short growing season, only from late November thru January and theirincreased price and decreased availability they have very recently beenmarketed as ‘Christmas Oranges’.

Creamy Brown Rice, Braised Greens, Pork Sausage

2011-12-01T11:36:00.001-05:00

Creamy Brown Rice with Greens and Pork

Two slices bacon, cut in one inch lengths

Half pound spicy Italian sausage

One sweet onion, diced

Six garlic cloves, sliced

One bunch mustard or turnip greens, cut in one inchstrips

One tablespoon honey

Three cups water

Two cups chicken stock

Half cup brown rice

In a heavy bottom pot begin to render the bacon. After 5 minutes add the sausage and break upinto small chunks and brown. Sautee theonion and garlic over the meat until soft then stir in greens. Add honey, liquid and rice then bring to aboil. Reduce heat to low and cookuncovered for an hour and half or until the rice has begun to break down. Lastly, season with salt, black pepper and tobaccosauce to taste. Serves as a meal for twoor a side dish for four.

Brown rice (or "hulled rice") is unmilled or partly milled rice, a kind of whole, natural grain. It has a mild nutty flavor, is chewier and more nutritious than white rice.

Eggs Ghetto-dict

2011-11-28T17:27:00.001-05:00

The origin of classic Eggs Benedict is somewhat fuzzy. There are two conflicting stories that seemto be about 30 years apart in age. Ironically almost everything else in either story is the same: A banker type named Benedict wants something ‘different’making the kitchen produce a dish totheir whim of which the maitre d’ ends up manipulating and respectively names Benedictand puts it on his menu. Seems almostsarcastic as if to say, and I imagine it in a very snotty French accent, “Youwant to make up your own dish, fine, I will change it and forever connect yourname with this horribly annoying preparation. Ha.” I’ve never had Eggs Benedictat a restaurant that I’ve actually enjoyed, but I do enjoy the idea of apoached egg on an English muffin.

Unlike what I’ve received on the local restaurant brunch buffetI like my muffin toasted, egg warm, and sauce to be more like a sauce and lesslike a cloying stabilized pad of cheap butter. Since making Hollandaise sauce at home for a single portion is totallyunrealistic toss that out the window. Other than that I enjoy my ghetto Eggs Benedict.

That’s right….Freshly toasted English muffin, runny poachedegg, microwaved sandwich style ham, good ole’ American cheese topped withSirachi hot sauce presented on a fine paper plate. Hmmmm Hm!

Do it Yourself Oyster Mushrooms

2011-11-23T10:52:00.001-05:00

Oh they joy of growing mushrooms!

Sometime doing things yourself can make financial sense and be a soul satisfyingexperience,very much unlike the home mushroomcultivating kit described by Florence Fabricant in today NYTimes. If you arenot familiar with oyster mushrooms they are somewhat under satisfying.They lack a very distinctive flavor and/or texture and produce a mostly flaccidslimy cooked fungus product.

Instructions include placing box in a dark place and misting with water.Sounds like a nice place to do some serious reflection. Alone, in the dark,watching a box of mushrooms grow!?! If you escape the self-destructivedepression this might induce you can take a picture of your bounty, post it to Facebookand receivea complimentaryrefill of mushrooms in mulch. Worth a try.

Thanksgiving Countdown Part 3

2011-11-22T16:28:00.001-05:00

Remember as a kid when you read the mystery/choose yourway book in which short episodes where capped with notations like, “turn topage 43 if you think Stephan chooses Culinary Arts or turn to page 52 if youthink Stephan sticks with Microbiology.” In this case, if you are going to work Thanksgiving good for you, butpiss off if you think we are going to listen to your bitching about it for verylong, and proceed to the next post. Forthose of us who will be home bodies I suppose you could invest in some of thecoming advice, but that is a questionable proposition at best.

Let’s assume the whole working on Thursday thing didn’twork out. Oh well, time to move on….tothe Liquor Store that is! Going thruthis whole thing completely sober is just ridiculous. Not going to happen no matter how hard youtry. The same thing will happencompletely sane of mind sober as if you are totally insane shit your pants pukeon the turkey drunk. That is you aregoing to get pushed to the limit of mental tolerance before lashing out at someasinine comment followed with a giggle of innocence meant to lower its infuriatingpotential. Screw it, grab a bottle,share it, finish it, but for fucks sake don’t poop your grown up diaper.

My personal list of Thanksgiving libation suggestionsgoes like this:

Dark liquor: Wild Turkey 101. Also known as where it all started.

Clear/tasteless: Smirnoff Blue Label 100 proof vodka. Just cause it has no flavor doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel it goingdown. Beside from here on out it’s allcost comparative.

Clear/flavored: Bombay Blue Sapphire Gin. Don’t waste any extra money on tonic, get alottery ticket instead. This Gin willthank you.

Beer: Steel Reserve. Best 22 on the market, don’t taste too badeither.

Wine: Whatever thewife likes, obviously you’re not going to pick out the right wine!

Well, a trip to the liquor store alone might not fly withthe high and mighty but a trip to pick up gravy is the exact double whammy thatworks for everyone. Start with, “Honeylet me run to the store and pick up some turkey gravy,” and trail off into alow mumbling yet 100% honest “and stop off at the liquor store. Do you want anything?” See perfectly honest. Be sure to bring plenty of cash. No not forthe liquid happiness, for the gravy since it will most likely be the singlething you can pour over that whole plate of Thanksgiving meal that might makeit slide down your throat with the slightest disagreement.

Almost there, the pumpkin pie is almost in the oven.

Food Fashion Fusion

2011-11-21T07:18:00.001-05:00

The work of Fulvio Bonavia.

Find more about Fulvio and his great photography here.

Thanksgiving Countdown Part 2

2011-11-19T19:09:00.001-05:00

It’s been a restful wait since the great purge that beganon the seventh day out. Well rested, andmost likely still overworked it is time to get cracking again. Being just another fucking Saturday called into work let us ride this wave of self tragedy like Kerry Mullis on his favoritelong board. Never mind we are happy tonot be mending the lawn, whitewashing the picket fence, shampooing Fido, attendingyet another mindless youth soccer match or assigned Glee club taxis duty. Shifting into mindless drone on the clock isthat much easier and damn right it will be come next Thursday when if all goesright we will be sucking up the ironic glory of straddling the high and mightyfence where the waves of guilt and pleasure collide. The guilt is from others, “oh no poor me hadto work today, and everyone misses me, that is the best gift any swell guy likeme could give a co-worker on Thanksgiving.” The pleasure, “Thank the unseen overlord of the universe for saving mefrom that diabolic spectacle of giving thanks and joy centered around overindulgenceand family feud!”

Don’t just come out and ask, one most position himself. This is like playing tic-tac toe with thedevil: mostly ties, but eventually there will be a winner. Try a one two punch like this for example, “Jeeboss, will the company be up and running on Thanksgiving. We are having the family at my house thisyear, but I know everyone else has obligations too. If you need someone in the office I’ll takeone for the team this year.” Funnel thesupposed rage on the way home from work. If this is not easy try stopping off at some dump watering hole near thehouse set a flutter with college football fans, slug down two shots of tequila,and for everyone’s benefit don’t overdo it. It is so good when it hit your lips though so go ahead and take two morelike a man. By the time you get home allslant eyed and stumbling don’t dare lie! Stick this one out. You DID stopoff after work for a drink. Because, “I’mso upset honey. I just wanted a niceThanksgiving with the family, but that fucking soul sucking whore of a boss ismaking Jhonny and I come in and run the whole place those penny pinchingbastards can’t give a hard working man like me a single day off.” If everything has gone right it is mostlikely within a short time you will be sitting in the recliner munching ahandmade Dagwood, sipping craft beer, enjoying those afore mentioned collegefootball games all the time no one will ever know the better and you can slipaway into a deep and well deserved nap. Mustering up such emotion on que is very taxing. Wasting it all under fake context nextThursday under the vail of joy and happiness would just be criminal.

Don’t neglect the shrine. Keep it in a shoebox under the bed, or let it take up the wholenightstand, who cares. It is yours so beproud of it. It is my opinion that everygood shrine has three tiers: Level oneis made up of the usual and acceptable culprits. You will likely know them by a single name,Mario, Emerill, Rachel, Martha, Julia, Bobby, Guy, Tony or Gordan. This is the easiest tier to build as theseicons image has been seared into our weak and feable minds over many years andsome of us would not know so much as how to order take out without theirguidance. While this top tier is heavilypopulated. It can also feel somewhat hollowand emotionally detached as that is why we create the second tier of ourshrine. The second tier subjects aremore personal. Characters we feel morecomfortable liking in light of the fact that bitch from work might not feel soinclined to enshrine them. Level two ofthe shrine is one that you are willing to share, but only with someone who hasalso captured the essence of all your mutual first tier suspects. Most level two subjects are culled fromsimilar places; The Cooking Network, PBS, late night re-runs, or one off appearancesthat left a lasting impression. Thefinal tier is very special to most shrine constructers as this is where theykeep what would be considered the, ‘ace in the hole’ or the secret culinarianthat you hope with all your heart never ascends to the top because they areyours, and yours alone like when you were the first kid to score some porn andactually thought any of the girls in Big Busty Black Butts Volume 63 might beanywhere in your future. Oh those sillydreams. After that analogy the nowcommon phrase ‘food porn’ just seems a bit sick, but yes it is, and tier threeis your own personal food porn collection. It’s yours, go ahead and cherish it. Build it but keep it hidden just like that copy of Volume 63.

Interesting Meat Art

2011-11-19T09:36:00.001-05:00

Check out Mark Rydens work. He is also the cover story for Juxtapose Magazine this month, a great publication for all your modern art needs.

Thanksgiving Countdown

2011-11-18T10:53:00.000-05:00

The countdown has begun for most normal people; one solid week. We are currently being oversaturated with an absolutely horrid bombardment of overzealous Thanksgiving propaganda. Every media outlet is pumping lies into our skulls at a rate unimaginable to most level headed human beings. I hope you have not fallen ill with this sickness and applied the balm provided in my last post recommending my personal suggestions on how to make Thanksgiving 2011 the best of the past year. I’m sure to speak for many of us when I say we have staved off numerable instances of motivation to get a jump on this holiday, but it is the unfortunate reality that we must face now with 6 days and counting so it’s time to get to work.

First gather up those morbid culinary magazines that subconsciously make most of us feel filthy and inadequate. Indulge your guilty pleasure; go ahead and clip out photos of your favorite celebrity chef for their respective shrine then quickly dispose of the remaining few pages. This will make the coming task much easier. Think back to last year, now demand of yourself to purchase far less food overall. Don’t worry about recipes; they will come….preferable stick to the ones on the back of the Stover’s Stuffing, French’s fried onions, and the plastic skin of the frozen turkey. They are most reliable.

If you are feeling guilty that your ‘The Chew’ or ‘Next Iron Chef’ shrine is not up to par as you imagine that the bitch from work has crafted one of greater depth then go ahead and clip those photos from the newly arrived culinary page turners bemoaning the absolute hysterical euphoria your family (dog) will display upon you trying to jerry-rig a meal out of Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s a lie….no her shrine might very well trump yours, but not for long. Rid your life, my life and the life of your loved ones from this scourge once and for all.

That is enough for the first day of preparation.

Three weeks of Top Chef WTF moments.

2011-11-17T12:39:00.002-05:00

Let me start by saying I don’t even bother absorbing any cheftestant’s names until there are less than 10, or I find them uncontrollably annoying so I apologize for not even taking the time to look up their names, but I’m guessing if you have read so far into this post you will know who I’m referring to.

WTF #1 I’m sure there are a lot of people who try out for Top Chef and I can only image the daunting task of wading through all the bull shit, but it seems reasonable to think there are most likely around 100 or so quality applicants. For this season they brought in 32 of them. They all took time off their job maybe even quit, said heartfelt good-byes to their family, and spent a fair amount of cash outfitting themselves, traveling, photo shoots, Bravo spent a decant amount of money on them as well I’m sure. The first guy sent off can’t find the tenderloin on a whole loin of pork?!?! WTF This was one of the top 32 applicants? For that chef somewhere out there who assumes he was #33, man he must be one pissed off motherfucker right now.

WTF #2 We only got three episodes in to find out that even the top 16 have neglected to prepare themselves to bake a god damned cake. WTF Did these wonder chefs not watch any of the past 8 seasons

WFT #3 James Beard Foundation WTF. It seems like every one of these goofballs is blurting out, “I’m a James Beard blah blah blah.” Dear James Beard Foundation, start being a little more selective before the mention of you becomes as meaningless as the words, “organic” “local” or “artisanal”. Please, we have trusted you so far.

WTF #4 Did any of the 18 cheftestants sent away do any kind of prep to be on the show? WTF Guy who ran out of time obviously should have went in his kitchen, set a timer for 20 minutes and figured out how much he could get done in that time. Seafood restaurant guy that bought pre-cooked shrimp WTF I hope no one ever comes to your restaurant again, ever! Unless they want a refund on their gift certificate. Lastly, everyone except the Mexican chef, did you know where season 9 was set? WTF Open a book for fucks sake. Did the idea of authentic Mexican, tex-mex, cowboy, snake or other regional ingredients elude you? Did you pack your winter boots for this trip as well? Click your clogs three times and maybe you will be transported back to Chicago three months ago where you can turn around, walk out of the tattoo parlor, get back in the car and find the big building filled with books called a Library. Someone there will show you where to find a book about Texas and more than a few shelves of cookbooks. Try one with the name Rick Bayless on it for starters.

Thanksgiving Success

2011-11-16T10:21:00.001-05:00

Top Ten Keys to a Successful Thanksgiving 2011

10. Throw out any current cooking magazines that might erroneously cause you to try something new. You only have one shot at this meal till next year so don’t screw it up.

9. Cook the Turkey same as the past 10 years.

8. Cook the green bean casserole same as the past 10 years.

7. Cook the stuffing same as the past 10 years.

6. Try not to cook twice as much food as needed. Lying to yourself that anyone really will enjoy leftovers is not part of anyone’s reality.

5. Throw out any forthcoming cooking magazines that extol the fantastic creations that can be made with Thursday’s leftovers. The dog will enjoy this much more than your human friends.

4. Secretly volunteer to work that day.

3. Invest in one top shelf bottle of liquor. Don’t overdo it as the climax of positive results has the potential to spiral downward rather quickly.

2. Find the best gravy you can and consider applying it in heavy doses to everything you plan to and/or in an act of compassion toward the cook place on your gloriously overflowing Thanksgiving plate.

1. Take great pains to capitalize on the openness of other to let you watch football, nap, and overindulge. Consider it resting up for the rest of the year.

Savory Fall Quick Bread

2011-11-10T10:20:00.000-05:00

Apple-Fig & Blue Cheese Quick Bread
with Port Wine Curd

For the bread:

Two cups AP flour
One tblsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
One tsp black pepper
One half tsp thyme

Three ounces crumbled blue cheese
One and a half cups tart local apple, grated
One half cup dried figs, rough chopped

Three eggs
Two thirds cup milk
Four tblsp melted butter
Mix dry ingredients before tossing in cheese and figs till the pieces are separated and coated in flour. Wisk eggs and mix with other wet ingredients before gently combining with four mixture. Be careful not to overmix and be aware the batter will be very thick. Cook in a nine by five inch loaf pan that has been coated with butter at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 20 minutes before turning it out to rest until cooled to room temperature.

For the curd:
Two cups port wine
One each star anise, cinnamon stick
Three whole cloves

One and one third cups sugar
Four whole eggs
One and three quarters sticks of butter (seven ounces)

In a heavy bottom saucepan combine wine and aromatics, reduce wine over medium heat by half. Remove aromatics from wine. Off heat add sugar and butter. Return pan to low heat and add the eggs once the sugar has dissolved. Whisk constantly until curd is thick enough to hold marks from the whisk. Push this mixture through a fine sieve and chill with a cover of plastic wrap pushed onto the top of the curd in an effort to prevent a toothsome skin from forming.

Wish List

2011-11-08T16:07:00.002-05:00

Things I would really like….like right now!

Octopus, foie gras, brioche, Wild Turkey, raw oyster, real/good sushi, sturgeon with truffled leeks and black lentils, Allegrini Amarone, aged Manchego with truffle honey, Dogfish Head Raison D Etre, fennel, Italian sparkling water, oil cured olives with Bulgarian feta and grilled lamb chops with rosemary, ice cold tap water.

I would like to be making sweet potato brioche, lobster consume, pork pate, gougeres with real gruyere cheese, Makers Mark gelee over foie terrine with pickled cherries, broccoli-beer-cheese soup, vanilla panna cotta, Brown chicken stock….in large amounts.

I would like to go to Crop, Noodlecat, Phnom Penh, Chinato, anywhere authentically ethnic.

Things I’d like to do less of: drinking diet soda products, eating white bread and Idaho potatoes, not being able to bend my knee, eating without a conscious, thinking about reacting without acting at all.

Sometimes it's the simple things you desire the most....other times it's not that simple.

Focaccia at home

2011-11-02T15:23:00.006-05:00

Bacon-Onion Focaccia Bread

One package instant yeast

One and a half cups warm water
One tsp honey
Five cups AP flour
One tblsp salt
One tblsp black pepper
Six tblsp EVOO
One tblsp Italian seasoning blend

Seven slices of bacon, medium dice

One sweet onion, medium dice
Four garlic cloves, rough chop
One and a half cups mashed potatoes

Bloom yeast in water with honey. In a sauté pan brown bacon and onion, add garlic and cook another 3 minutes, lastly add the herbs. I used yesterday’s mashed potatoes so I put them in this pan to warm up. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl then the water. Kneed this mixture for 6 minutes. Blend in the bacon mixture and work the dough another 2 minutes. Return to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let raise 2-3 hours.

After the dough has risen turn it out into an oiled baking dish about 18x11x3 inches and bake in a pre-heated oven for 35 minutes until golden. After removing dish from oven let the bread rest in the pan for ten minutes before removing it to a wire rack to finish cooling.

My Top Chef Revelation

2011-10-27T16:18:00.002-05:00

I recently watched the final episode of Top Chef: Just Desserts and found it quite pleasing. I achieved to get my food competition fix sure, but I was in awe. I don’t think I could really get into a whole season of just desserts, but what it did was give me a whole different perspective on why Top Chef has such a broad appeal. Quite simply put; I couldn’t do what those pastry chefs do! I’ve tried my hand at simple cakes, cookies, sugars, truffles, and bread, but not even on the same planet as what the pastry chefs of Top Chef produced. It is absolutely mind bending to me that in a little over ten hours three chefs can put together 5 different pastry disciplines. I will critique and say that I am somewhat underwhelmed by the sugar sculpture/show piece aspect of Just Desserts. I think what the chefs create is just amazing to look at, but in my opinion it is more art than culinary. I am totally and whole heartedly impressed with the Entremet the final three chefs made; pleasing to the eye and the tongue.

Well, my revelation does not stop with the impressive work of the pastry chefs on Just Desserts. My lasting revelation is that the Top Chef Institution projects something that most people feel they are not capable of reproducing. I have not looked at Top Chef that way in the past. With the first episode of Top Chef: Texas set to premier next Wednesday on Bravo I want to give it a try with this new perspective. I’m sure to get frustrated by silly quick-fire challenges or overproduced personal conflicts between contestants, but I’m willing to forgo those road bumps in order to enjoy the cooking through a more open mind.

Enough with the polls and the lists

2011-10-25T11:01:00.003-05:00

It recently occurred to me that sometime in the recent past mainstream media outlets have turned over the decision on what is newsworthy/presentable to any knucklehead capable of social networking. Surely providing content centered on things people are interested in is an important part of providing news and entertainment to the masses, but turning what seems like over 50% of the process over results in many shortcomings. There are a lot of cases where viewer provided content makes up an increasingly larger portion of what we consider modern news and entertainment. For example, shows including local Fox morning news, the Jimmy Fallon show, and Sportsnation include large segements devoted completely to viewer provided content via social media including Twitter and Facebook. Polls, lists, and questions that generate viewer’s comments are not of much interest to me in most traditional media outlets like television and newspaper. They have a place, and we know where to find them, that would be where they are generated. News is not the results of a poll, jokes told by Mr. Fallon should not be the brainstorm of his Tweeter following, and proposing a question and reporting it’s responses off a Facebook page is not journalism.

Where this seems to hit home for me right now is The Plain Dealer's recent reporting on the local restaurant happening. Spending three weeks polling people as to their favorite pizza shop seems like a waste. Printing a list of the areas 100 best bars is not news. I understand that any establishment that can get their name in print might get excited, but this does not provide any meaningful information to us as readers. I cannot remember the last time I looked to the PD for any meaningful local restaurant information or news. Cleveland Foodie is leaps and bounds ahead of the PD in quality, consistent, trustworthy local restaurant news.

What would make for quality content? It would be great to read short bites about local restaurant menu changes, wine/beer dinners, and or promotions. Connecting home cooks to restaurant quality product would also be a nice read specifically when it concerns two local establishments. Honest reviews of smaller community bases restaurants with a lower price point would be great. In a lot of cases it’s difficult to weed through these types of establishments, but there is a huge difference in quality between a scratch kitchen and a thaw and heat kitchen. Lastly take a look into the little guys. There seems to be less than 10 local chefs/restaurateurs/culinary establishments that are constantly in the paper, and they deserve it in most cases, on the other hand I think someone is just lazy and not willing to look any further. There are hard working dedicated food service workers on every corner, everywhere you look, behind everywhere you look and most likely beyond that as well. Many people are working very hard long honest days to connect with a customer base and it seems like a golden opportunity for everyone if the PD was to drop the pizza poll and put a little effort into their local restaurant coverage.

Crispy Italian sausage with spaghetti squash, sweet potatoe and carrots

2011-10-23T11:35:00.006-05:00

With a pleasant chill in the air these fall flavors just begged to make it onto my dinner table.

One pound bulk Italian sausage
One two pound spaghetti squash
Three carrots cut into inch lengths
Three sweet potatoes, medium diced
One small onion sliced
Two garlic cloves sliced

For the apple-mustard sauce…

Half sweet onion small diced
One tablespoon honey mustard
One small local apple peeled and diced
Three quarters cup chicken stock or apple cider
Two tablespoons chilled whole butter

While I’ve been cooking at home much more these days I’ve become even more interested in being extremely efficient and clean. I think this procedure emphasizes this.

Wash the squash of any dirt. Slice into one inch think disks. Do not cut length wise because the strands that resemble ‘spaghetti’ run in a circular pattern and would all be cut in half if you cut the squash length wise. Scrape the seeds from the squash donuts and discard. In a large skillet place the squash donuts and a cup of water, cover and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling add the carrots, salt and cook for ten minutes adding water if necessary so it never totally evaporates. Remove the vegetables to a plate and cover allowing to cool. Wipe out the same pan and crisp the Italian sausage in a small amount of oil. I like to pinch small free form meatballs into the pan. Cook on med-high heat. While that cooks use a spoon to scrape the squash pulp away from the skin. On a paper plate microwave the sweet potatoes for 90 seconds covered with a paper towel. Remove the sausage from the skillet; add a small pad of butter, the onion and garlic and let cook on med-high for about 3 minutes. Add the squash, carrots and sweet potatoes and let caramelize on one side. Flip, add sausage and reduce heat as low as possible just to keep warm, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.

For the sauce caramelize the onion in a generous amount of butter, add the apple and cook another few minutes. Combine the mustard and stock allowing the mixture to reduce by half. Off heat add two tablespoons of butter and season.

There has been nothing on this blog!

2011-10-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

It has been some time since I’ve posted anything on this blog, and even longer since I posted something of interest. Some might even say there has been nothing on this site. Maybe?In nontechnical usage ‘nothing’ denotes the state of nonexistence of anything or, the property of having nothing. Surely there has been a lack of posts, but nothing?One prominent existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre equates a second king of being, etre-pour-soi or consciousness as being nothing since consciousness itself cannot be an object of consciousness and can possess no essence. Seems to make sense right!The modern concept of consciousness, attributed to John Locke, describes consciousness as the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind. I can assure you that a lot has passed through my mind since my last post, and since these ideas have stayed in my mind only and make up my consciousness then in light of Sartre there in fact has been nothing posted on this blog in some time.That is my long, but not too long way of letting it be known, I’m back on track to making more frequent posts!

Pressure Cooker Experience

2011-09-19T10:25:00.002-05:00

It was my foodie sister’s birthday recently and I pulled the trigger and gifted her a pressure cooker. I had never used one, and they almost sounded too good to be true. She has mastered the art of the slow-cooker/crock-pot but I thought taking the cooking times in a different direction might widen the array of dishes she prepares. We both have a mutual and deserving respect for hand crafted stocks of which I thought a pressure cooker would be quite effective. I am happy to see how well this gift has worked out.

The earliest pressure cooker was designed by Frenchman Denis Papin in 1679. The devise is most often used during the process of canning in the United States. Outside the food industry worldwide hospitals and laboratories use modified pressure cookers to sterilize their equipment. On top of those two very trivial and not so inspiring facts most all our mothers assure us that we are going to blow up the kitchen dare we even fathom the use of a modern food quality pressure cooker. Fortunately this has not happened just yet to us.

I purchased a 6 quart T-Fal pressure cooker through an E-bay store. It has three built in pressure safety devices which erased any lingering idea I had that Mom was right about catastrophic failure. The 6 quart is a very handy size for making meals for 3-5 people. Eight quarts might be ideal for making slightly richer/larger batches of stock, but then finding a place to store it becomes an implication. Meat sears nicely in the pot before braising which is great not to have multiple pans involved. To my surprise it takes only one minute to reduce the pressure of the unit enough to remove the lid. On the other hand the unit works great on our flat glass topped stovetop. It comes to heat nicely and it didn’t take long to find the lowest possible temperature to hold the pressure steady. This has as much to do with the quality off the stovetop, but the directions included with the pressure cooker warn of complications using a flat glass topped unit. We experienced none.

For our first experience we cooked boneless western style pork ribs with apples, potatoes, cinnamon, coriander, thyme and smoked pork neck bones. We seared the seasoned meat in the pot then nearly covered it with chicken stock and cooked it following the procedure described in the unit’s instruction book. This involved cooking the meat for 20 minutes, reducing the pressure till we could safely remove the lid then we added the apples and potatoes and returned to the heat and cooked another 10 minutes under pressure. Under running tap water for about 30 seconds the unit can be disassembled. This was no big deal in my opinion. After cooking under pressure for 30 minutes (about 40 total) the meat was very tender, juicy, and flavorful. The apples completely disintegrated, but the potatoes come out perfectly cooked. We strained out the solids and returned the quite flavorful liquid to the same pot and thickened with cornstarch. I was very surprised by how well the final meal came out, but even more impressed with the ease and speed of using the pressure cooker.

A lot of home cooks seem to have a misguided romantic relationship with their slow-cooker and instinctively think that the amount of time spent cooking increases the quality of the final product. Personally I find that sometimes using a slow-cooker with disregard for cooking times leads to meat that is in fact overcooked meaning they are either dry, lacking in texture or both. I’m sure you can end up with the same problems in a pressure cooker, but at least you only invested an hour or so! Secondly, using a single pot to sear, braise under pressure, and reduce/thicken broths is infinitely more efficient than starting 4 hours out, searing in a sauté pan, transferring to a slow-cooker, waiting, and finally using another pot to create a sauce. On the other hand you have plenty of time to clean dishes while the cock-pot chugs along like the little engine that could….I think I can…I think I can.

We also used the pressure cooker to make a quick corn stock with corn cobs and vegetable scraps to complete corn chowder. In nearly 20 minutes we had a stiff corny broth to use. This leads me to believe a rich roasted chicken stock is in the near future.

If you have ever thought about using a pressure cooker I suggest you give it a try. They are priced reasonably, come in an array of sizes, and deliver as promised. I’m sure you’ll find more than a handful of gadgets around your kitchen that see much less use.

Useful software

2011-09-16T16:32:00.004-05:00

I stumbled upon this tool and found it very usefull: JCopia 4.7.27255. I

Have you ever thought how to download video and audio from flash players on internet sites like Youtube, Google Video, MySpace, DailyMotion, Metacafe, Break, Blog sites of your friends with embedded audio and video content and so on?

So, JCopia does it all. It captures flash video / audio / stream from any website to your computer as files. Just play your media online and watch as JCopia 4.7.27255 saves any clip / music / movie to your computer. JCopia detects and begins to download any clip, video, music, radio stream, video stream, Flash game or presentation that is played in your browser. Increase your video and audio collection with JCopia now!

It is a very convenient tool for collections video and audio files on disk.

Here is the link: Capture flash video and audio from any
website to your computer

Roll the Dice on Bacteria

2011-08-24T18:28:00.002-05:00

I’m not sure if this piece in The New York Times makes me more confused about food temperature safety than I was before or even more skeptical about accepted government guidelines regarding such acts of culinary hazards. Is Rhulman sipping from his own death stew? Will the most heralded of all food scientists be found sucking on his own vomit in a heap on the kitchen floor after pressing his lips to a batch of overnight meat stock? I hope not.

It’s somewhat a relief to know that if a parcel of leftover cooked food is left out overnight it is most likely safe to go ahead, heat it up good and hot then munch it down. On the other hand, why in the hell would you roll the dice and leave it out day after day? It’s like snubbing your nose at the grim reaper. We all understand he is after us as it is, why leave a snack trail of deadly bacteria, spores, and mold so he can hunt you down like a pack of hounds snapping at a foxes tail?

I would claim that this article is irresponsible, but as of now at least it can only be found in the NYT, and I don’t see many NYT readers being so intellectually challenged that they might extrapolate a scenario where it would seem acceptable to say, oh, think it’s ok to eat that package of raw chicken that fell out of the grocery bag and has been in the trunk of the family jalopy the past few days. On the minds of home cooks good food handling is important. On the other hand it is of upmost importance that restaurant patrons can trust that the food they receive has been handled with great caution and respect. If I choose to take a chance on some food left in the ‘danger zone’ that is my choice, but when I dine out I don’t want to take chances, and as a chef I have no right to compromise the health of others.

Summer Vegetable Pickle

2011-08-04T14:17:00.004-05:00

I have been waiting for just the right set of ingredients to become available in order to put a large batch of local baby vegetables under a pickle. The stars have finally aligned and in a few short weeks we will have a batch of beautiful pickled veggies.

As you can see I went for a varied assortment of vegetables. I was lucky to come upon some absolutely heavenly small yellow cucumbers that had not developed much of a skin or toothsome seeds. They are just perfect. I also found wonderfully sweet Mars Onions. They are rather small, red, mild and sweet. There are also some finger length green zucchini, carrots, whole local garlic cloves, and lastly sugar snap peas. I've never pickled peas so we will have to cross our fingers on how they come out.

I acquired a standard pickling spice blend from Spicehound and added that to my standard pickle ratios along with a handful of thyme, sage and rosemary. I put a layer of lemons over the whole mess for a little added twang and put a "do not disturb" label on the bowl and set it away to magically transform.

My standard pickle ratios are very simple; equal parts sugar, water, and vinegar. I usually prefer rice wine vinegar as it has a smoother tartness in my opinion compared to wine or cider vinegars. In this specific batch I used three parts rice wine to one part cider vinegar because I planned on adding a full assortment of other strong flavored herbs and wanted to assure a strong tang in the end product.

Pickled Summer Vegetables

Four cups finger sized baby summer vegetables
Six garlic cloves
One lemon sliced

Two cups each sugar and vinegar
Two cups cold water
Two heaping tablespoons pickling spice
One teaspoon salt
One quarter ounce thyme
One large sprig each rosemary and sage

The amount of liquid is roughly the amount needed to cover the amount of vegetables. This may change with regard to the size of the vegetables and/or the container but what is really important is the ratio of sugar, vinegar and water. I start by heating the sugar, vinegar, garlic, and pickling spices over medium heat. Once the sugar dissolves remove from heat and add cold water to chill the liquid and set aside while preparing the vegetables. As long as the liquid is room temperature when added to the vegetables it will work fine, but steer away from adding hot pickling liquid over the vegetables as this will make for a very limp and soft end product. That's all, pack it up and let it sit for about two weeks. Feel free to stir it up every so often.

Summer Squash

2011-07-21T02:23:00.003-05:00

The past few weeks our local farmers markets have been overflowing with summer squash. Be it zucchini, yellow squash, patty pan and even a few sizable 8-ball varieties have been available in great supply. It seems every week the price goes down and their size increases which I consider a good thing. It is quite easy to simply sauté a sliced up squash or toss planks on the grill. But there a lot other ways to use this summer fruit, yes like tomatoes summer squash are botanically considered a fruit. The key to working with summer squash in most of recipes comes down to controlling the moisture level. This can be accomplished in a few different ways; quick high heat cooking is the simplest way to accomplish a plate of squash that hasn’t turned into a pile of mush. There is the physical method of removing excess moisture from squash which would be to simply squeeze the hell out of it. Lastly there is the chemical method off leaching out moisture which would be allowing squash and salt to come together which after some straining results in a very useful squash product.

Summer squash has it’s ancestry in the Americas. Lewis and Clark in 1804 observed great quantities of crookneck summer squash being raised by southern Indian tribes. After a trip to the Italian country side where the culinary use of summer squash became very popular it returned to the U.S. in the early 1920’s when Italian immigrants brought it to our tables and planted a large variety of squash which we are all thankful for today. While overwhelmingly abundant in the U.S. today summer squash are enjoyed worldwide in classic dished like French ratatouille, Mexican squash flower dishes, Turkish zucchini pancakes and Greek stuffed squash.

I recently acquired a rather large yellow squash. It made it into two preparations that hopefully give you a little nudge to grab some on your next trip to the market

Summer Squash Pancakes

Two pounds squash grated
Two tablespoons salt

One egg
One quarter cup flour
Pinch sugar
One tablespoon mix fresh herbs
Fresh cracked black pepper

Combine the grated squash and salt in a colander and let sit for half hour. Squeeze the squash in a clean dishtowel before combining the remaining ingredients. Working in a pan on medium heat sauté tablespoon dollops of batter in butter. Serve warm with sour cream, yogurt, topped with cheese or your favorite tomato based condiment.

Baked Yellow Squash

Large diameter squash cut into inch thick rounds

Two cloves fresh garlic chopped
One teaspoon fresh thyme
One third cup each bread crumbs and parmesan cheese
Good quality olive oil
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Coat disks of squash with oil, salt and pepper. Top with cheese mixture and bake in hot oven for about 8 minutes.

I've Got a Taste

2011-07-19T07:17:00.002-05:00

Triple threat lemon-lime-orange!

Ever since I left the hospital I've had a taste, a taste for something that only has one cure.... J-ell-O !

Licorice

2011-07-15T11:28:00.002-05:00

I find the flavor of licorice quite pleasant. The somewhat moist yet firm dark black herbal, sweet candies that come to mind when you think of licorice make up one of my favorite treats. It seems like nobody is ‘on the fence’ when it comes to licorice; either you love it or despise it like the plaque. I picked up a bag of these little gems and after chomping down a few of them and being mesmerized by their herbal, bitter-sweet chewiness it occurred to me that I really have no clue what licorice actually is. So I put in a little work and decided to share.

Licorice is a legume plant from which a sweet flavored extract can be obtained from its root. The plant is native to southern Europe and parts of Asia. The plant is in no way related to anise, star anise or fennel which are plants that share a similar flavor profile. It is a chemical called anethole that the previously stated plants all share giving the impression they might be related. Speaking of chemicals licorice contains a compound glycyrrhizin which provided the sweetness. In fact glycyrrhizin is about 40 times sweeter than cane sugar.

The Dutch, French and Greeks seem to have taken a historically early liking to the flavor of licorice and produced mostly sweet candies from the extracts obtained from the licorice plant root. Ironically the use of aniseed oil has become popular to enhance the herbal flavor in modern licorice candies.

In Spain and Italy licorice is usually used in its most pure form. That being the plant is upended and the root is simply washed, cut up, and chewed on. In this case the herbal flavor is quite strong and considered a mouth freshener. It must cut through that garlic fog (Italian breath) like nobody’s business.

In Asia the use of licorice has been more medicinal. The Japanese found licorice to be a strong anti-viral agent. The Chinese have a long history of using licorice to aid in a large number of digestive issues; everything from its effectiveness in relieving the common cough to aiding in the healing of stomach ulcers, irritable bowels, and even as a mild laxative. More recently licorice has been implicated as a source of help in treating auto-immune conditions like lupus and respiratory problems.

Sounds all rosy around the edges, BUT…. Excessive consumption of licorice can be toxic. As little as 2 oz of licorice daily over a 2 week period has shown to cause fluid retention due to liver problems as well as a sharp spike in blood pressure. Fortunately for us who love licorice that is just about the amount of time it takes to eat the whole pound of licorice we bought and it has been shown that those detrimental effects are completely reversible after only a few short days.

I’m quite a bit happy with my finding. I can feel hella-eurotrash cool while nibbling on my licorice candies all the while my inner chi (digestive system) will stay in good shape. I’ll try not to OD on licorice anytime soon, but damn…it’s so good when it hits your lips.

Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin & Sweet Corn Potato Cake

2011-07-10T11:59:00.003-05:00

Saturday night was my turn to cook dinner for the family. We had a lemon-garlic pork tenderloin earlier in the week that my sister cooked on the grill to absolute perfection. I wanted to do something different not only with the pork, but I've tired of corn on the cobb and baked potatoes. This meal was all about doing something a little different from what we've done the past few weeks.

I made one extra large sweet corn potato cake. The important thing when cooking one of these collosal potato cakes is controlling the temperature so the potato cake is cooked fully through. Using a non-stick skillet I started on medium heat until I got a nice color then turned the heat down even lower allowing for a total cooking time of nearly half an hour.

Sweet Corn - Potato Cake

One sweet onion
Three ears of corn kernals
Four medium sized starchy potato
One Tablespoon corn starch
One Teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
Salt and Pepper

Grate the onion and the potato in to a bowl. Cut the corn kernals off the cobb and use the back off a knife to scrape the cobb giving up some of it's sweet juices. Season well with salt and pepper, mix in thyme and corn starch.

Using a pre-heated non-stick 12 inch skillet press the potato mixture into the pan to form a solid large pattie. The best way to flip the cake after about 10 minutes is to place a plate over the cake and flip the whole pan over so the potato sit on the plate and can be slid off back into the pan. I used a bit of butter after the first flip to help add some depth of flavor and color.

After the first flip.

Spice Rubbed Pork

Two Tablespooons smoked paprika
One Tablespoon chili powder
One Tablespoon ground corriander
Half Tablespoon each garlic powder and cumin
One Tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper

Coat the pork with oil and roll in spice mixture. Cook on a medium-hot grill for about 15 minutes or untill an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Remove from the heat and let rest a solid 10 minutes.

Potato cake ready to eat!

Black and Blue Mussels

2011-07-08T06:39:00.003-05:00

Blue Moon is a great light summer beer and mussels are a great light summer meal. It is something of a classic to cook mussels in beer, but by adding ingredients that highlight the flavores of Blue Moon this dish brings the beer’s character to the for front.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound mussels rinsed and cleaned
6 ounces Blue Moon Beer
2 shallots sliced
Zest and juice of one orange
1 teaspoon ground corriander
3 tablespoons butter, split
pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Parsley, rough chopped

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat a large sautee pan or pot over med-high heat. Sautee shallot in 1 tablespoon butter untill soft then stir in coriander for about 20 seconds. Top this with orange zest and juice. Add the mussels and Blue Moon Beer top with salt and pepper and cook on high for about 5 minutes or untill the liquid has reduced by 1/2. Gently stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and parsley over high heat for another 2-3 minutes or until the butter has melted. Serve with a hunk of crusty bread to soak of the perfect Blue Moon broth

This recipe is part of the The Great Beer Recipe Challenge. Click here to vote for my recipe and view others featuring Blue Moon Beer.

Farmers Market...Where are the Veggies?

2011-07-07T07:16:00.002-05:00

I went to both the Kamm’s Corners Farmers Market on Sunday and the Lakewood Farmers Market on Wendsday. There aren’t a ton of veggies available yet, but I’ve warmed up to some other vendors who in the past I have walked past without such as a feeble stare. I can now understand that in certain situations and at certain times these vendors are the backbone of the market that allow other vendors that might not show up or withonly a low yield of vegetables or berries this time of a year a reason to come into the city where customers are attracted to the market in lean times.

There was a new baker at Lakewood; French Creek Bakery had some good looking bread. The flowers at Lakewood are always nice. There was a vendor at both that was selling what I can only explain as ‘rock gardens,’ but they are really nice looking rock containers for hearty cactus looking plants. You can also get you knife sharpened now. Kamm’s market also featured an organic meat and egg vendor out of Oberlin. I am planning on getting some eggs at the very least from them this Sunday. I took the leap yesterday and bought some non veggie items from the market and I’m very pleased. Let me explain:

I spoke with Grace Mehall-Vitale from Grace’s Green Garden. She has created a line of skincare products for both you and your favorite pet. It is just wonderful to speak with some who is passionate and educated about what they do and how the things they believe in can help you. I have this silly knee immobilizer on 24/7 and my skin is all weird and feels funny so I got the talc-free Jasmine Breeze body powder. Not only does it smell great, but it has brought feeling back to my weak skin in less than 2 applications. If you have any skin problems or are interested in aroma therapy I suggest you take a second and chat with Grace at the farmers market.

Paula at Storehouse Tea was nice enough to offer me a taste of her tea at the market yesterday. For the most part, and for most people we think of tea as Brisk overly sweet brownish drink out of a can. As you can learn on the Storehouse Tea website the history of tea is rich and long. I’ve taken tea for granted in the recent past, but it takes coming across a great product that make you take consideration and move tea up on you priority list. I jumped on the Zesty Ginger Lime which is all organic like all of Paula’s tea as well as certified Free Trade. The Rooibos based tea I bought taste like the best tea with lemon ever! In line with leaving a low carbon footprint I’ll let the sun do its work on a jar of Storehouse Tea and in a few hours I’ll have liquid gold!

Best BBQ Chicken I've Ever Made

2011-07-04T10:10:00.002-05:00

I normally don’t like boneless skinless chicken breasts. They always seem to turn out tasteless, dry, and demanding some heavy sauce to cover up those shortfalls. I did a little research and came up with this treatment for some B/S breasts we caught on sale last week.

BBQ Chicken Breast

Three to four pounds boneless skinless chicken breast

Brine:

One cup water
One quarter cup sugar
Two tablespoons salt if fine ground, one quarter cup if course
One large garlic clove smashed
Twenty cranks of fresh ground black pepper
Assorted herbs, a few twigs of thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil

Three cups ice water

Half cup BBQ sauce

Pound out the chicken breast. They don’t need to be paper thin, just so they are an even thickness throughout.

For the brine combine all the aromatics, salt and sugar with one cup of water and bring up to heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and stir in the ice water. This should cool the brine enough that you can add the chicken now. I brined the pounded out breasts or one hour and they turned out very nice.

Heat your outdoor grill to high. Cook the chicken on one side with the cover down on the grill for about 5 minutes. Flip the chicken and immediately apply a thin layer of your favorite BBQ sauce. Return the cover to the grill and cook another five minutes. Flip the chicken again and apply a thin layer of BBQ sauce return the cover to the grill wait one minute then turn the grill off. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes while you get the rest of the meal to the table.

Bananna Pancakes

2011-07-03T13:56:00.003-05:00

I had some browning soft banannas on hand and was in need of a breakfast that didn't consist of eggs on bread. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some pancakes. The recipe makes enough for 4 people. We didn't have any maple syrup but blueberry jam and maple-pumkin butter worked even better.

Bananna Pancakes

Two eggs
Two cups milk
Two tablespoons sugar
Three quarters of a stick of butter, melted

One and a half cups flour
One teaspoon baking soda

Two banannas large dice

Mix the wet items then add the dry. Don't overmix. Stir in the banannas and let sit for five minutes. I used a electric flat top griddle set at 350 degrees and they came out perfect. To keep them warm I put a wet paper towel in the microwave for 30 seconds to creat a moist warm box and held the done cakes on a plate in the microwave until they all got griddled. No need to actually microwave them.

Recant Photo Observations

2011-07-01T16:13:00.006-05:00

Market Garden Brewery second/patio bar under construction

Second/patio bar almost complete

Market Garden Brewery downstairs kitchen line

Market Garden Brewery main kitchen line under construction

Market Garden Brewery beer holding tanks downstairs

I discovered this little gem in a restaurant. Note to all restaurant managers...make sure the person you ask to post a sign can spell!

Some things in life you can control, others you can't.

You Got a Boo-Boo Poll Resaults

2011-06-30T16:35:00.006-05:00

Cuts aren't too bad of an injury. Band-aids work great, cover them with a finger cot and you're ready to go back to work. Even a cut that requires stitches are more of a nuisance than pain. Need help with that cut, check this out.

Burns are far worse than a cut in my opinion. They hurt a lot, and often. Burns are ugly and turn into noticeable scars. Ice, cold water, salve...nothing really takes that constant sting of a burn away. I've found nothing that really helps a burn feel better but start here with a few suggestions.

Puncture wounds got no respect on this poll, but from my experience are more troublesome than either a cut or a burn. A puncture wound is difficult to clean first off. Second a puncture closes itself quickly trapping any infections bodies that might be; oh lets say a lobster tail or a fish's fin spines. I had a finger that was swollen up twice its size and required a doctor slicing the area open to clean it followed up with a large dose of antibiotics.

Lastly, and most unfortunately we examine how a torn quadriceps fit in with the above. I have to admit this is a far more detrimental injury. Physically and emotionally a torn quad will tear you down. Read about my personal experience with a torn quad here

Rib-eye Butchering

2011-06-29T11:11:00.005-05:00

Every chef, cook even, worth his weight can clean up a whole rib-eye and portion out a few Delmonicos, but Chef Sebastian of the blog Salty's Kitchen has taken it up a notch by isolating the Spinalis Dorsi or the rib-eye cap. Watch his video here on his new expanded blog more specific to his extended knowledge and passion for knives.

Chef Sebastian rolls the cap up and ties it into steaks that look a lot like a filet mignon. The whole muscle laid flat looks like a flank steak, or cut long ways resembles a flat iron steak. I'd think that this would be a great steak to slice over a salad or as a classic bistro steak frites. All the while you end up with a 'center cut' rib-eye which is a true and honest description that surely warrants a hefty price tag on the evening's specials.

Market Garden Brewery Journal, The Prequel

2011-06-27T16:00:00.002-05:00

I was hired to be the opening PM Sous Chef at the Market Garden Brewery. I started this journal with the intent on publishing it once the restaurant opened. The restaurant has since opened, unfortunately without me on hand. I’ve published the following blog posts in reverse order so it is easier to read. There are 4 parts. Enjoy!

MGB part 1, Getting Hired

2011-06-27T15:37:00.006-05:00

Market Garden Brewery Journal

May 16, 2011

I had a smashing interview with the Chef and GM of Bar Cento. I come to understand at that time the Market Garden Brewery and Bar Cento are all under the same management which is very encouraging to me as I have a great amount of respect for Cento. We chatted about cooking style, management style, and my previous places of employment. Personally I can get really uptight and nervous during an interview, but this was very relaxed as if I just met two new guys at a bar. Oh wait, I did! I was asked back for a cooking interview.

One week and a day went by before I came back to cook at Cento as part of my interview. Little did I know the Chef d’Cuisine was the man working next to me. As par course I kept things chilled, my area small, clean, and was polite. I was given a box with a few things in it as well as free range to any other ingredients that interested me. It turned out like this:

Mussel App; Mussel pizza with black olive-orange tapenade, arugula and parmesan cheese next to fennel and Hoggarden braised mussels.

Chicken entrée; Half Chicken three ways….Oregano marinated chicken breast over cauliflower-fingerling potato puree studded with black olives topped with caramelized ramps, pimento esppelite encrusted chicken thighs over black eye and English peas topped with jalapeno-almond brown butter, lastly frenched chicken wings drenched in olive oil and chili flakes.

It went well. We walked through a construction zone that was a restaurant only in ones daydreams. I was offered the job. Accepted it, and explained my situation to my current employer who was more than understanding, even supportive of my opportunity. It was a five star day.

June 6, 2011
Today was my first day on the job. I was instructed to be In ‘around noon’. Cool! I thought I was on time as it takes about 8 minutes to get to Ohio City. What I didn’t plan for was the ten minutes you drive around looking for a safe place to park and the resulting 5 minute walk. So I was about 15 minutes late on my first day. WTF was I thinking. I couldn’t embarrass myself anymore could I?

Yes is the answer. Turns out a management meeting was planned for noon. After walking around the block to where it was I was drenched in sweat, and late. Throw out that first impression, “Hello my name is Michael, I’m late, and now completely soaking wet.” Meeting 7 new people at one time is no easy task add on myself inflicted drama. But I was damn happy to be in a management meeting with a group of people getting organized by a leader and the matter of getting things done most efficiently was conquer and divide.

At this point we walked through a construction zone that only looked faintly more like a restaurant than 2 weeks ago.

I helped a bit on the line at Cento that night aka did some ‘bitch work’ which was, in retrospect, a cool way to ease into things. If it wasn’t 110 degrees with 101 percent humidity that is. The guys seemed cool, everyone was pleasant. Monday night is “Happy Hour all Night” day. It was crazy busy to me, but the crew thought it was kind of slow. The griddle guy had like 11 burgers going on at once with a fryer chocked full of fries all the while the other feller has like 6 pizzas to go into the over. And it’s not even 5 o’clock!

Oh, I forgot the stairs that I thought for sure were going to be my death. I must have gone up and down those fucking stairs 30 times, and about 24 of them I was only centimeters away from breaking my neck.

June 7, 20011
Early in the afternoon we walked through MGB and labeled where we want everything to go. A very interesting task looking at an empty, dark, dusty room and trying to invasion where tables, racks, sinks and shelves should be. Lucky for me most of this was prepared in advance and we just had to apply the tape. At the time of writing this all our equipment will be in position on Friday, it’s Tuesday today.

I got to actually work the line at Cento tonight. Much more satisfying than peeling beets watching other guys cook. Now, today I will say was slow. Compared to last night a real sleeper. Everyone was really cool with showing me what to do, and how to do it to their speck. It’s not my kitchen so it’s just right that I prepare everything the way they want it done. They have a very successful operation.

MGB part 2, Getting My Hands Dirty

2011-06-27T15:34:00.004-05:00

June 8, 2011
I didn’t actually show up on time again… talked to my mom too long on the phone. Damn it.

We worked on putting together shelving and stainless steel table tops. The racks came together nicely after the first two, but the fucking tables really showed us what ass’s we are outside the kitchen. The combo of different length legs and a weird hex bolt Allen wrench thing that we only had one of was a bloody nightmare. We built two tables in the basement of MGB where I’ll tell you there is not ventilation less AC. Not even a blessed fan! Turns out we built them with different length legs and had to take them completely apart and redo them. And then we had another 6 to do properly once we figured out the puzzle.

After a few hours in the sweet shop putting together racks and tables we walked across the street and Cento is getting fucking slammed. I mean def con 9 kind of shit. All men on deck, grab a life preserver and hope for the best. I feel comfortable claiming a 300+ cover night.

There was also a beer tasting of MGB beer at The Speakeasy of which there was also some food prepared which made everything just a bit, and I mean just a tiny bit more interesting. Until I walked down stairs to see the deboning of pig heads being prepared and the parade of friends and family just amazed at the procedure. What a way to end the night.

June 9, 20011
Today was an interesting day. I took the online Serve-Safe exam. What a joke. The easiest exam I ever took, especially after a 2 hour lesson from which they culled all the questions. If you failed this exam you have to just hit restart, in life I mean.

Made some beef cheek ravioli, picked duck confit, chopped rosemary and dropped some sweat. On to the next day as not much construction has happened in the places we need it to happen for the sake of improving the status of our kitchen completion.

June 10, 2011
This Friday turned out to be a very interesting day. We started with banging out about 400 beef cheek ravioli. No problem! Then our attention was turned to plucking peas out of their casing. No, not out of the pod. Individual peas out of their little tiny casings. Cubby hands got no rhythm. I also rinsed off and dried a dozen halved pig faces and set them out to dry as we would eventually braise them overnight.

The guys said it was just an “alright” night, but it was fucking amazingly busy from my recent experience. I was only helping out the burger guy and was amazed at just the volume he did let alone the entrees that Chef did and the nonstop flow of pizzas.

It’s very exciting to think that I can go to work, bust my ass, and come home with a whole huge overwhelming feeling of, “I did a good job today.” It’s been a long time since I can say that to myself deep down inside. I’m not quite there yet, as I feel I’m the Cento cook stand in who is mostly in the way, but right around the corner is a bearded grin for all to see.

MGB part 3, Almost Ready to Cook

2011-06-27T15:29:00.005-05:00

June 13, 2011

Yes, two days have passed since my last entry and that is because I was given a much appreciated and unsuspected week-end off. Wow, what a little R&R can do for an old man. I think I went 9 straight days between Nemo and Cento and they got harder and harder every day. I am so mentally, physically, and emotionally recharged I’m ready to conquer this week like a Viking.

Today consisted of a lot of cleaning and re-cleaning of things that got dirty and re-dirtied. The place is really coming together fast, both front and back of the house. The upstairs line is set. All the heavy equipment is in place and ready to fire up. The pass is set, things are getting bolted in…as in ‘they aren’t moving any time soon bolted in’. The prep kitchen is coming together alright. The upstairs line seems to be larger than I imagined while the prep area is quickly and drastically shrinking like Rick Moranis’ kids. We have a steam kettle that for operational code doesn’t need any ventilation, but sooner than later that little prep kitchen is going to be an 120 degree fog of dead meat.

You think to yourself “cheese tasting that sounds great!” Well, if you’re wandering around and nibbling a bit and stand next to what you like and ignore the rest then you’re in paradise. When as a professional you HAVE to taste every cheese with four different beers peppered in with three different meats and some pallet cleansing water and bread. That is a job! I sized up what we were getting into when all the cheese came out and knew I had to pace myself. Really only 3 of us out of 7 tasted every combination possible, and I’m pretty sure I can say we enjoyed it. I know I did at least. Putting a cheese board together isn’t as easy as you think.

Oh, and a lead into tomorrow is that we unpacked an 815 piece small wares delivery. Holy fucking cardboard boxes Batman! And on the docket for tomorrow is a trip to Dean Supply to pick up what we forgot in an effort to pull off the always stomach wrenching food service health inspection.

June 14 2001
Food inspection passed. Now we clean all 815 pieces of small wares. Mop, clean, mop, clean, mop clean seems to be the theme for the day aside from ordering our first official, legally storable food at MGB. A good day to say the least.

June, 15 2011
More of the clean-mop procedure, but we had the whole kitchen staff in for an orientation and information sharing session. The crew moved pickles over from Cento to MGB. Had the guys clean some stuff and get a feel for the place. Everyone seems to have a place and have a priority. We will get a feel for the crew the next few days. We placed thousands of dollars worth or orders today between food and small wares so we should be ready to hit the floor wheeling tomorrow. Tomorrow, Thursday is our first hot food day. I have to admit to a few butterflies with this. I don’t know who I can trust to not fuck up or who needs only a watchful hand? I guess we will all just dive right in and it’s either sink or swim?

MGB part 4, Four Inches that Changed Everything

2011-06-27T15:23:00.005-05:00

Four inches that changed everything

The day started out great. It was the first day in our brand new kitchen with our brand new staff. Everyone together working for the purpose of putting this kitchen, menu, and restaurant together just in the nick of time. A bunch of guys working in the new prep kitchen, heads down content on accomplishing their tasks. I was feeling great. I was breaking down whole chickens with one of our lead line cooks. We chatted it up a bit till my next task required me to go across the street and get a recipe. It was pleasantly cool day, but I was thirsty so I walked behind the bar and grabbed an ice tea and sugar-free red bull. I took a healthy swig off the bottled ice tea and dumped in the red bull, grabbed a pen and walked with a purpose off to find that recipe. Three seconds later everything changed.

There is a small four inch step that I didn't notice and took a bad fall on my knee, "ouch, I'll lay here for a second then get up," is what I thought would happen. Unfortunately my knee just didn't feel right. It didn't hurt, but I knew something was not right. Within seconds I was assisted by a few co-workers and in their eyes I could see that something was wrong. They wouldn't let me even try to get up; which in retrospect I am very thankful to them for, and 911 was called immediately. Within seconds of the fall my knee was described as looking like a 'pumpkin'.

The EMS ride, the ER, the x-rays, the discomfort was all quite foreign to me, but most of all I could see in the eyes of everyone who walked by and looked at my leg that something was seriously wrong. "No fracture," were sweet words to hear, but little did I know that the words, "torn quadriceps muscle," would come to haunt me.

I was admitted to the hospital that late afternoon with the hopes of an early morning MRI the next day. In the moment I was still holding out hope that it was just a bad bruise and a little ice and a wrap would fix me up. You know, "take two of these, rest, and see you at work tomorrow." That defiantly was not in the cards. In fact by the time I woke up to go for the MRI a surgery time had been scheduled. I think that is when it hit me: no back to work tomorrow, no prepping a new menu, no friends and family night, no opening night, no opening month, no feeling of accomplishment after a 14 hour day, everything that I was excited for, even the hard, the really hard parts of the restaurant opening were gone for me. Talk about emotional devastation.

I now have two pins screwed into my knee cap that anchor the four muscles that make up my quadriceps. There is a good six inch incision that will physically scar me forever. I will keep my left leg completely immobile for two months before beginning rehab to bend the knee and re-gain strength in the leg which should take around another 2 months. Somewhere around October I should be able to function properly. I'm sure there will be a lot of pain between now and then, as well as the lasting discomfort that inevitably haunts anyone with this type of injury.

There is one story about my surgery I just have to share. It was about half way through the surgery itself when I gained enough consciousness to hear the metal on metal pounding that was the doctor going to town on my knee. I couldn't feel a thing as I'd been numbed from the waist down and would stay that way for about an hour until they were done. I really wanted to see what they were doing, but all I could mutter though the oxygen mask I had on was, "are you guys building a table of fixing my knee." I'd imagine someone immediately jumped on feeding me some more sleeping medication. I tried as hard as I could to ask for a peek at my knee, the insides you know, but I was back to cloud nine before I could even get it out. The day after surgery I was fairly confident that this episode did in fact take place and was not only of my imagination so I came straight and asked the doctor. He smiled and laughed concurring, "Yes, we all chuckled at that."

Baked Beans Master

2011-06-11T09:47:00.003-05:00

It occured to me that perhaps I've been hogging up all the space on this blog so I decided to ask my sister who is the self declared "Baked Bean Master" to share her recipe. She was nice enough to prepare the following as my first Guest Blogger. And now.....Michelle Walsh.

As the "Baked Beans master" I've been asked to share my top secret recipe with
the blog world...so here it goes. I'm not good at making things up off the top
of my head so I usually start with a basic recipe and make my personal changes
from there. Just about any baked bean recipe calls for canned beans, brown
sugar, maybe some bacon and onions, and throw it in the oven for about an hour. Much too simple for me...and why bother baking something for an hour that can be done on a stove top quicker? Although my most recent beans were done in a small crock pot...it was too hot to stand over the over oven!

I've never really measured the additional ingredients, just add and taste. The measurements will be my best guess at how much of what I added this last time I made them. I used to just open the fridge and grab condiments to throw in, but recently I've noticed that a little less of everything is much better, adjust to your own liking.

Ingredients
1 28oz. can good baked beans (Busch's)
2 11-12oz cans plain Pork 'n Beans
1/2 lb. (6-8 slices depending on the cut) Bacon
1 small or 1/2 large onion chopped or diced, your preference (I prefer sweet
Vandalia, but a yellow cooking onion will do)
1/4 tsp. Liquid Smoke
1/4 c. ketchup
2 TBS. Mustard...yellow, Dijon, honey Dijon...whatever's in the fridge
1 TBS. Worcestershire sauce...A-1 will work too
this last time I used about 1/4 c. leftover BBQ sauce (usually I use the same
amount brown sugar, but the BBQ sauce came out good this time) Depends on how sweet ya want it...use both!

Cooking it!
I ALWAYS start with the bacon first, using Kitchen scissors, 'cause it's easier,
I cut it right into the pan, rendering as much good stuff as I can, some people
call it Fat, I call it Flavor. Cook over medium heat until just crisp, about 10
min. Add Onions and cook a few minutes longer, until soft. This part is
KEY...add the Liquid Smoke to the pan or pot. I never drain the "liquid" from
the pan...there's that nasty "F" word again...Flavor not Fat. Continue to cook
the bacon, onion and smoke together until the house is nice and fragrant! Time
for the Beans! Add beans to crock, pot, pan...whatever. Mix. Time to squirt and
dash in the rest! Mix in ketchup, mustard, A-1, brown sugar/BBQ sauce.
Don't mix to vigorously ya break up the fragile canned beans! If you do stove
top, bring to a slight boil and reduce, taste, and adjust flavor (I find Hot
Sauce works good you've gone too far sweet). On the stove top, 20-30 min
cook time is plenty, stirring gently, occasionally, until beans just start to
break down a bit. The crockpot I set to High for about 2-3hrs, until it all just
started to breakdown and set to "keep warm" until ready to serve. I've never
done the whole "Baked" in the oven kind so you're on your own with times and
temps...generally I've seen 350 for 45 min. - 1hr...good luck with tasting that
though. The beans need to warm through to get a good taste, that's why I prefer
the stove top method, even the crock gave me a chance to adjust flavors if
needed.

That's my first/best recipe...so take it as you will, add or subtract whatever
you like...I saw a recipe that called for a whole bottle of chili sauce...not
gonna go there but the next batch may have a couple tablespoons in it. Also
wanted to try adding a can of pinto or kidney beans next time, just to mix
things up and maybe add a different texture. Remember a recipe is just a guide,
don't be afraid to mix it up a little and call it your own!

Two Day Feast

2011-05-31T01:47:00.000-05:00

Just had the best Memorial Day feasts..Yes more than one, that you can imagine. My sister posted up on day one ‘Sunday’. We had the most awesome BBQ baby back ribs. I ate over half a rack when my belly said stop, but my taste buds said, “I want more.” There was corn on the cob that was very good for this time of the year. My sister is the baked beans master. Whatever she does they are always good, but this time they where over the top good. Ironically the usually overlooked, overly mayonnaise pasta salad was fucking kick ass. I couldn’t get enough. I think that is what filled me up so much. Damn good job.

Monday was my day! I just didn’t have the heart to compete. I was beat by the ribs, beans, pasta salad combo. I just had to keep up. I went to bat with a soy-garlic beef tips, grilled corn on the cob, baked potato, and I just couldn’t get enough of yesterday’s pasta salad so we had that again. I love a good baked potato. I especially like when they have a nice crunchy skin which can’t be accomplished in the microwave, but baking the thing in the oven when it’s 90 awful degrees outside is unrealistic. A few minutes in the magic box then a few on the grill suffice. I also put the grill to the corn so it was a little different. I swear there is a one square inch spot on this grill that is hotter than a Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’, so a few tips got a little ‘crispy’ aka dog treats. See even the dogs had a great week-end feast.

Drinks where flowing too! Bet your ass. We had a nice combo of cheap vodka, Four Louko, cherry rum, muscato, ales, porters, and IPAs along with a little water, ice tea and lemonade. Plus we ate ¾ of a huge watermelon, which counts as a drink to me as it’s about 90% water.

Hope your week-end went as well. But last but most important thanks to those of service, and their families who spent the week-end wanting their loved ones closer to home.

A leap toward sweets

2011-05-22T23:08:00.006-05:00

I've undertaken the job of creating some unique desserts. I have a great number of ideas, but execution is my issue as following precise instructions is something that comes a bit troublesome to most hot side line cooks one of which I am.

My first attempt this time around was:

Pomegranate Pound Cake topped with Jim Beam Red Stag soaked berries, and vanilla ice cream.

Went over somewhat well.

My next attempt is going to be:

Blueberry claffoutie, gingersnaps, lime whipped cream.

We will have to give it a day or two to see what happens?

Silliness

2011-05-15T21:17:00.002-05:00

It is with the saddest heart that I pass on the following. Please join me in remembering a great icon. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection andcomplications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly-greased coffin. Dozens of celebritiesturned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, HungryJack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, andCap'n Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours as long- timefriend, Aunt Jemima, delivered the eulogy, describing Doughboy as a manwho never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in showbusiness, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very "smart" cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes.

Despite being a little flaky at times, he -- evenstill, as a crusty old man -- was considered a roll model for millions. Toward the end, it was thought he would rise again, but alas, he was notart.Doughboy is survived by his wife, Play Dough; two children, John Doughand Jane Dough; plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived byhis elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about twenty minutes.

Bourdain Book Review

2011-05-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

I just finished Anthony Bourdain’s most recent book; Medium Raw. It was a very easy and interesting read. Having watched quite a few No Reservations episodes I found about a third of the book seemed quite familiar. Bourdain has a like him or hate him kind of persona. I’m still on the fence. Sure I’d like to have a beer with the guy, but likewise he seems like the kind of prick that would make me pay for it, along with the camera guy, sound guy, and whoever else. But that is also what there is to like about him, his opinions, and his writings…no reservations.

I skipped Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential mostly because at that time when it was released I was very impressionable and it most likely would have shoved me into a twisted and evil attempt at mimicking his misadventures. Something I’m glad has passed. His Cooks Tour also was something I had little interest in, not that I wasn’t interested in that book per-se, but rather I was knee deep in Art Culaire and Food Arts. Why did I pick up Medium Raw? And why the fuck did I read the whole damn thing? It called out some big wigs, talked trash about other chefs, spoke to me as a wage earning grunt, and encouraged me in a very weird and twisted way that someday, maybe if something very strange and wonderful happened I might too be sipping Mai Tai’s in a hammock in Vietnam with a seemingly endless expenses account and a reputation that rivals Hunter S. Thompson….. Who’s paying for this hotel anyhow, Travel Channel or Rolling Stone?

For quite a few pages Bourdain calls out the Hero’s and Villains of the culinary world. Not only that but he explains his stance. Very ballsy, as expected for him, but to commit that to print that is just PUNK. There are almost as many pages attributed to disparaging his previous employer, the Food Network. How he explains this relationship might be the most objective part of the book. Admitting they went on to be successful (in a soulless money grabbing way) without him was somewhat refreshing. The most revealing insight in my opinion is that Bourdain considered his upbringing in the teenage years to be both the best parenting yet the eventual downfall of his character. Coming from a privileged house hold with caring parents who did their best for him it seemed all he wanted to do was fuck it up, and for some amount of time he did, but he came out the other end to brag to the rest of us about it

Tony’s got a soft side. You can tell about how he talks about his relationships, and most of all about his daughter. This is something a reader of only Kitchen Confidential wouldn’t really understand. Sex, drugs, rock & roll, and cooking can actually result in a good father. Whether you’re interested in children or not there is some inspiration there.

I’m really glad I bought this book. It was a very cool read. It was rather emotional as well. There were times I hated Bourdain, others when I loved him. I laughed a lot, cried a bit, but was mostly encouraged by the book. I would suggest it to anyone who cooks, anyone who read Kitchen Confidential, anyone who has ever watched No Reservations, or any foodie worth his/her CSA.

Increasing Food Costs

2011-04-30T11:34:00.002-05:00

It seemed like the cost of everything was going up as I paged through some invoices at work recently, then I went to the grocery store! Wow.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer presented an interesting read on exactly how mush things have changed recently and what local stores and customers are doing to deal with it.

Foie Gras Butter

2011-04-28T18:17:00.000-05:00

If you enjoy the flavor of Foie Gras you will like this recipe. First, it is a great way to stretch a relatively small amount of very pricey Foie. Secondly, there seem to be a lot of people who have trouble with the texture, and this technique eliminates that issue. The main ingredient is obviously Foie Gras. There is no need to seek out the most perfect piece of grade A super fresh liver. When I can find them Foie Gras Pieces (company’s trim from portioned slices) work great especially in light of their price point which is usually a third of the price as whole/portioned pieces. Also, don’t skimp on the booze. Use whatever you like, but don’t cheat yourself. Most liquor stores have a variety of pints if not little ‘airline’ bottles. Take the time to find what you want.

Foie Gras Butter

Eight oz room temp. Butter

Four to six oz Foie Gras

One shallot, sliced
One tsp thyme
One tblsp brown sugar
Two to four oz booze, I like Jack Daniels, port works well, scotch if you like, even sherry.

Salt and Black Pepper

Sear the Foie just as if you were preparing it to eat meaning one to two minutes per side. Strain the solids away and chill while returning the rendered fat to the pan. Over medium heat caramelize the shallots, and then add the thyme and sugar. Deglaze with the booze and remove from the heat as soon as the alcohol has burnt off. Chill this mixture to room temp.

You can use a fork to mix this up if need be but a food processer works best. Blend everything together at room temp. Roll this mixture up into a log with plastic wrap and refrigerate. This log of Foie Gras goodness can be frozen and used straight from frozen with great effect.

How to use Foie Gras Butter you might be asking. This recipe was designed as a compound butter to top steaks with. It would also work great in mashed potatoes, on a piece of tuna, over vegetables, or in a soup. If the butter is heated too much all the fat seems to separate, which isn’t totally bad, but just be warned.

Michael Rhulman recently had a nice post about eating Foie Gras at home. I hope we can open people’s minds to such a wonderful product.

When a lack of resources is a resource!?!?!

2011-04-23T22:12:00.000-05:00

I’ve had the great pleasure of looking into the crystal ball and seeing, well, something, or nothing. I mean what is the difference really? Any specific something could quite possibly be nothing. Likewise staring at nothing might well end up being something! It’s just too early to understand the whole thing.

I’ve dined on very exquisite food as of late. Let me think, grocery store fried chicken. It’s better than you think. Tomato soup out of the can taste a little….wait…. not a lot like ketchup and milk. The grilled cheese Sammy on the side is great! Papa John’s pizza is good, the more toppings the better. I stopped by K&K meats the other day. Salami, Bologna, and bread, now I’m good to go. I hit up the West Side Market, on Good Friday no less. Well they must have sold all the butter lambs, but what I did find is some lamb balls……yes, testacies, and I purchased just one. I’ll eat it today. Or that is the plan at least. Like tongue I enjoy eating it, but prepping it is the shit. I also had some pork shoulder chops in a rice and beans mix from the $ store. That shit was tasty.

Which came first the Peep or the Egg?

2011-04-18T10:28:00.002-05:00

Well as it turns out the egg, the deviled egg that is. The preparation of boiling an egg, cutting it in half and refilling the yolk cavity with a spicy mixture of yolk, and mustard can be traced back to ancient Rome. The term ‘deviled’ was first put to print in 1786 in reference to this particular egg preparation. A time when other ‘deviled’ foods implied something prepared in a spicy manner. In the U.S. we mostly prepare deviled eggs around Easter. They are more commonly made throughout the year in Europe especially in the warm summer months. Currently chef’s in the U.S. have beamed their creative powers into making unique yolk mixtures by adding more upscale ingredients such as lobster, crab, smoked salmon, caviar, wasabi or mushrooms.

Peeps are a more recent addition to the Easter holiday table. In 1953 Just Born, a Russian immigrant, acquired the Rodda Candy Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where small yellow marshmallow chicks were being made by hand. Mr. Born transformed this timely process and began mechanically mass producing the chicks. Peeps are made from marshmallow, corn syrup, gelatin, and wax. In the recent past the Peep product line has expanded to include other shapes and colors that are appropriate for any Holiday season.

While those two Easter foods will draw most of our attention come Sunday we will also have to suffer through the Baked Ham with pineapple and maraschino cherries toothpick’d into it as well as the crappy chocolate Easter Bunny who in a sadistic manner everyone who eats it will contemplate, “Do I bite off the feet first or just go for the head?”

Big Daddy's Cheessteaks

2011-04-12T21:09:00.009-05:00

I took my first trip to Big Daddy’s Cheesesteaks recently with a to-go order intended to be a nice lunch with my mum. It turned out to be a great lunch, and not just cause it was with my mum. Jason Noyes has built something great in BDC. It’s in the Kamm’s Corner neiborhood of Cleveland. Not just in my personal opinion, but one of the best neiborhoods on the Cleveland west side. Rich in Irish themed places with a growing number of shot & beer kind of places the area is filled with hard working people who have carved out a stable, safe, functional neiborhood. The BDC is a great addition. It brings something new/unique to the street (Lorain) meaning there aren’t fake ass Guinness posters or Jameson ad’s in the window. This is where you find the good stuff!

We tried the Philly with Cuyahoga brown gravy, a simple Reuben and some horseradish-dijon slaw. Everything was awesome. We expected to save half of each sandwich for later and have a light lunch, but it was so good we ate everything in one sitting. The Philly was awesome; the bread was pleasant even after a few minute drive home. The gravy I was hesitant about, but it worked really well over the sandwich. I’m not a ‘French dip’ fan, but I’ll dip my sammy in BDC’s C-town gravy all day. The Reuben was equally impressive. Nice lean meat is something I like in a sandwich and this delivered. The sandwiches all came with a bit of slaw which would be perfect, but I wanted something different and the horsey-dijon slay was like my taste buds went to the county fair and made out with the bearded lady….. Yeah, that means it was good.

Ambiance, décor, service? Jason took my order, cooked my food, and chatted a bit all time about 8 minutes went by. That is service that even Mr. Trotter could appreciate. The product is superior from top to bottom.

Jason Noyes and Big Daddy Cheesesteaks will hopefully become a Kamm’s Corner institution!

That's a lot of pasta

2011-04-07T06:39:00.001-05:00

What kind of pasta is on your plate? by Charming Italy Click on image to enlarge.

Fathead will prevail

2011-04-01T21:46:00.002-05:00

I have talked about Fatheads Brew Pub before. We recently went back, and it was still great. The place is so clean and fresh I can’t stand it. I don’t work there. I don’t know anyone who does. I don’t know the chef. All I know is the Smoked Wings are fucking amazing. The menu is an absolute encyclopedia of every cliché’s ‘local’ take on popular sandwich combinations so just forget about all that unless the only way you can go out is if your girl can get something ‘healthy’ in this situation just point out all the salads while you order some smokey wings, a tasty pint, and stare at the large-flat screen HD TV playing whatever sport it takes to numb her voice, all the time just nodding like you are listening….and don’t forget to make occasional eye contact. During commercials of course. It goes a long way! “That bitch!” works about 95% of the time in response to anything she is saying. The trick is to find that 5% of the time where she will trick you and know you aren’t listening then storm off to the bathroom crying. That will happen though, just like fries get soggy sometimes. Shit happens you know. Even if you have to listen to how her best friend said she might want to think about getting a size bigger pants five months ago when both were drunk and that is only part of the night she remembers beside the whisky, champagne and beers….I’ll tell you what; the smoked wings are worth it.

Just remember to make eye contact and smile.

It sure ain't the 90's anymore.

2011-03-31T09:43:00.007-05:00

When I dedicated myself to the culinary arts as a profession there was a lot of buzz about cooking, chefs, restaurants, and nutrition that gave birth to the celebrity chef. You had to seek out a cooking show on television back then. Liquid Nitrogen and agar-agar where things I saw more of in chemistry labs than kitchens. The last decade of the past millennium completely turned professional cooking upside down. The champion of the guys I started cooking with was Charlie Trotter. We shared his cookbooks, watched him on PBS, and shared little bits of news about him and this Chef’s Garden place. I still look through a few Trotter books I have. While they do seem a bit dated to me since I’ve looked through them 100 times over the past 12 years, there is always a source of inspiration to be found.

David Kamp writes a piece in the New York Times this week about the rise, but mostly the lack of what we all wanted 22 years ago, a Charlie Trotter Restaurant Empire! It is a good read especially for those of us who can wax poetic about the one chef, for a time and especially to us was the only Chef we were interested in.

56 West last night

2011-03-29T13:23:00.002-05:00

Went to 56 West last night. It is a smallish restaurant in the heart of Lakewood, Oh. I’ve been looking for a reason to go there for a long time now, and last night we decided to roll the dice.

It was very pleasant. The kitchen is in full view as you walk in the door, but most of the seating is in a long rectangular room next to the kitchen. The table and décor is sparse, which I kind of enjoy most times. We were approached as soon as we walked in and seated in a half full dining room….on a Monday night after 7…not bad!

The menu is arranged very nice. There are no set entrees. Rather you have the choice of a few proteins, some salads, and an even mixture of sides. It is an interesting idea that I can appreciate. We shared the Thai Mussels which I truly enjoyed. It had an upfront spice that I really appreciate. It pops on your tongue, but five minutes later your taste buds are back to normal. We both ordered a beer off the small yet well stocked drink menu, and those drinks arrived exceptionally cold and tasty. We decided to share a little bit of each other’s entrees so we went with the vegan sandwich and Dr. Pepper braised pork sandwich on a pretzel bun. One came with sweet potato fries topped with a house blended spice mix that made them very unique. For the other we ordered a three cheese gratin (it had a cool hipster name I don’t remember.) Both sides were great. The pork sandwich was pleasantly sweet and the pretzel bun was nice and soft. If you know me I might owe you a new keyboard because you just spit your coffee up after hearing me admit I actually order something vegan. It was really good. It would have been great with a few slices of pastrami on top, like most vegan things I enjoy.

Our server was exceptional. He was on top of things and very pleasant to exchange conversation with. Everything came up promptly, hot, and exactly as ordered. The only downside I can possibly see is that it would only take 25 or so people to fill up the space. Good for them though!!! Check out 56 West ASAP I waited way too long. I’m sure I’ll be back again

Only one of these statements is true....

2011-03-29T12:59:00.001-05:00

Current Links of Interest

2011-03-28T08:15:00.003-05:00

Every couple of months I stumple upon a few interesting links, but it seems silly to post about just one. Even if it is a really good one. I've accumulated a small batch that might be of interest. Ismail the Chef is a nice site with a chef's blog with a local connection. C2 Catering Concepts presents some interesting menu ideas and nice photos. Nutrition53 is the home to a line of performance enhancing products that have the support of both Bill Romanowski and Jim Rome. I haven't ordered anything yet, but I really want to try the Lean1. Tricks of the body puts forth some interesting remedies to common problems concering bodily functions. A fun read for sure. Best of French Food website is a very pleasantly put together area full of chef bios, recipies, and tricks to make all that fancy French stuff more approachable. FoodPairings provides two very worth while applications. First you have access to how you can replace one food with another. Second, as the name implies there are very intersting visual maps of which foods combine well together. GeneralLoko, or chef Eddie Huang out of NYC has a great blog that centers around food, but also provides ample access to the chef's opionions and musical interests. Ever wonder if the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition? Well if you did go here for a thorough investigation. Interested in some new music for you Ipod? I'm liking The Flies right now. Streaming music can be heard here.

Re-visiting Winters Pleasure

2011-03-26T21:33:00.004-05:00

The current winter blast has blown off the zombie like hand reaching out of the frozen tundra reaching for those ramps, fiddleheads, and morels. So be it lets warm up next to the fire for what be the last time of the season with a nice warm artichoke dip.

I live to lightly fry pita bread as a side, but it’s defiantly a more healthy option to reach for some crackers or pretzel chips.

Artichoke Bake

one eight ounce can of artichoke hearts
one ounce of parmesan cheese
one heaping tablespoon each mayo, ricotta and sour cream
a bit of thyme chopped up
one leek diced and sautéed with.....one half of a red bell pepper

Sautee the leek and pepper in butter adding the thyme at the very end. Chill this mixture before combining everything. Top with some more parmesan in a baking dish and cook until warm and golden on top, most likely about 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Top Chef All-Star Finale

2011-03-25T09:34:00.000-05:00

Top Chef All Stars Finale

You know I disliked the All-Star Top Chef season as a retread of ‘losers’. For the most part I went out of my way to NOT watch the first few episodes, and I feel I was wise not to. There were chefs, especially those hungry to be on TV that felt a need to venture outside their proven knowledge and experiences. It is most likely and now proven that this will lead you nowhere other than packing your knives.

It has been my guilty pleasure of watching the past 3 weeks of Top Chef. I have been surprisingly pleased with how things have progressed. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t see a bit of content about the previous episodes, but for the most part I didn’t care about that rubbish.

The past few episodes have given us exactly what I like to see from top chefs; the ability to use their skills in professional kitchens with time being the most looming obstacle. These situations have proven to me that marking this season a “retread of losers” was quite a bit out of line. The judges table has been a tough place to play recently. No one has made any glaring mistakes or failed completely like how we’ve seen a few participants go down in the past even so late in the game. When that panel of super critics can’t decide who to send packing, well that is good TV in my opinion.

The finale is just around the corner pitting Richard Blais against Mike Isabella. Mike has been on a roll and his ego has grown by leaps and bounds at this point. He has worked his way into the chef we love to hate even if he does do a hell of a job. I have always liked Richard’s food and his demeanor especially interacting with Mike with a “just look at the score board” attitude. I don’t see either of them making any mistakes next week in another gut wrenching judges table. I’ll have my popcorn ready and be pulling for Richard.

Guinness Mac & Cheese

2011-03-15T22:03:00.002-05:00

With the upcoming celebration of a mass snake killing I’m putting forth my most thought out ‘Irish’ themed items. Let’s go with the supper hipster Mac & cheese. M&C is the culinary equivalent of tight jean'd black skateboarders in neon Nike’s speaking lyrics about tough times in the suburbs. Completely under the radar, but somehow it’s cool.

Guinness…I’m so hipster I’m not even going to lower myself to investigating it…you know what a search engine is so bing it out damn hipsters. Hopefully you won’t spill your $8 mucho grandee café’ NOT.

Guinness Mac and Cheese

Three pints of Guinness beer
One large teaspoon cornstarch
One quart heavy cream

One large onion diced
One pound thick sliced bacon
One cup of cheddar and whatever other cheeses you enjoy

One cup bread crumbs
A bit of herbs like thyme, parsley, basil, ect.

One pound cooked pasta

I totally wrote the recipe in a mixed up order because that is So Fucking Hipster! Wait a second while I reposition my bow tie over my flannel shirt and slick back my dome after laughing so hard at my statements. You guys owe me a new keyboard and grandee gaucho café because I’m so hip I spit my coffee all over my lap top…ok, ok, ok, enough is enough.

Cook the bacon till almost crispy, then caramelize the onion in this bacon/fat mixture. This is a great effect that allows the bacon to caramelize yet keep a chew factor instead of turning into ‘bits’ Add the beer and cornstarch. Reduce this mixture to about one cup, add the HC and bring to a boil reduce the heat and add the cheese. Toss with pasta and bake with breadcrumb/herb mixture on top.

I suggest having light American lager with this dish, maybe a Bud Light or a Miller High Life…NOT.

Bubbles and Squeak

2011-03-14T20:41:00.002-05:00

Due to the upcoming event this Thursday to celebrate the banishment of snakes from a small island in western Europe we here in Cleveland take to the streets spending large sums of money on anything green and coming to a point of alcohol intoxication that matches none other except when our beloved Browns take on the unanimously hated Steelers. Young women will swing around old white haired men who want little more than to finish their pints and move on like most other nights. Young men will look to fight the same mild mannered white haired older men for ‘hitting’ on their ladies….all the while drinking copious amounts of shit American beer and shots of Bushmills or Jameson, and that is decided on who put the biggest advertisement in the front window. If you are going to put in a proper session at a pub for bloody sake don’t attempt it this Thursday.

That being said come Friday and assuming you had the sane mind to save some of that rubbish corned beef and cabbage dinner that you ordered at 5pm just before passing out, Friday gives you a chance at redeeming yourself and preparing an ethnic gem. For those with a true hang over opt for the authentic Irish colcannon which is traditionally just mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale. For those looking for a challenge give the ‘overachieving’ British version a try. Without much of an effort, less passing out again you can put together a good batch of Bubble and Squeak in no time. The difference in the two is that the BS is composed of whatever is left over after a good beef, cabbage, potato and vegetable boil, while the Irish go out of their way to create a dish of cabbage and potatoes. That is not all. The Irish version is just a good mixing of two ingredients where the BS is more of a cooking method in which the mixture is browned in the pan adding a depth of flavor unique to the BS. I’ll give you my best recipe.

Bubble and Squeak

Everything left over from the past nights roast
Butter
Pickles

In a mixing bowl mash up all the bits from the left over roast meat dinner while in a pan heat the butter to med-high and add the mashed up bits. When the bottom starts to caramelize flip it over, and once the bottom starts to caramelize again mix the whole thing up and repeat 3-4 more times. Grab a fresh pint, a few pickles and have at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeCUlSPLYEM

A Foodie Day With My Lill' Sister

2011-02-27T14:31:00.004-05:00

With a few personal days in between jobs this week-end it seems to only make sense that at least one of these days would center around food. I picked Michelle up somewhere around noon, time was not an issue. We spoke about going to one of the Asian markets in Chinatown in the neighborhood around East 30th and Payne. It also seemed like a no brainer to stop off at the West Side Market. I have not been there in quite some time and I now regret such a long sabbatical. While I’m a professional chef Michelle is a true foodie and it’s great to have that bridge, that common communication to relay on.

The Hong Kong Market is the most hard core of all the Asian markets in town. You are very lucky if anyone approaches you, and count it a true blessing if someone speaks English to you. I consider this part of the intrigue. They have great fresh produce, golden chives, boc choy of every variety, durian, pears, citrus, eggs…a lot of very interesting stuff. The seafood area was a real eye opener too. Live lobster, crabs, clams, really nice looking razor clams, tilapia and the always heart wrenching frogs are available for purchase at very reasonable prices. We bought some sandalwood soap, wonton soup base, Thai logan fruit, a dragon fruit, pickled Thai gooseberries, and a dolphin snow globe thingy for Kari! We figured a lot of things out on our own on this trip, but we are still not sure what a code “5199” is? I’m guessing it’s “we need help at the registers,” or “there are silly white people here.” Being able to laugh at yourself is true humility.

And, on to the next one. The West Side Market looked crazy, and I even questioned myself, “Why bother on a Saturday?” In retrospect why the hell did I even question myself? I’ve visited the WSM an uncountable number of times. When I was child we did a considerable amount of shopping for the family there. When I worked east of the WSM I went there often in search of inspiration and/or something specific. While working on East 4th we went to the market every Wednesday for 8 months. Why did I take something so great for granted? It’s been about a year since I went to the WSM, and I’m so happy we went yesterday. Almost every stall was full, open and well stocked. There were a lot of people there. Not an insanely mass you ask yourself, “How many kids am I going to knock down to get out of here?” It was very encouraging to see so many younger people shopping there. Surely you can imagine grandma with here push cart shopping at the same meat stand for the past 30 years. Hopefully the young people there yesterday are forging the same type of relationships.

I love the apple wood smoked stand, and bought some wicked awesome pastrami, smoked sauerkraut, and pork chops there. I also grabbed huge loaf of asiago bread from a stand just down the way. Lil’ sis got some dill pickle popcorn, interesting! Sabastian Meats is one of my all time favorite stands and we got some brisket, ground beef and a veal tongue. Kate’s Fish looked well stocked. The Ohio City Pasta and herbs at Chef Cubed looked ready to rock. Our final buy was a small slab of double smoked paprika rubbed bacon from the Hungarian stand. A nod to our great grandmother.

While gazing at the variety of cuts at the Sebastian stand I was asked a perfectly honest question, “Have you ever eaten tongue? What is it like?” Well that was an idea to run with. And sure enough 4 hours later we munched on braised veal tongue. Michelle was the brave one to peel it. That makes my stomach turn and I’ve done it a few times. To my great surprise everyone found it as pleasant as possible. The undertone of the situation was, “If I didn’t know what it was I’d eat more, but…..tongue is kinda gross,” and I don’t deny that sentiment.

Veal Tongue

One small veal tongue about one pound
Five whole cloves
Two bay leaf
One tablespoon whole black peppercorns
One tablespoon coriander
One small onion chopped in half
Water to cover

I rinsed the tongue under cold water for a few minutes cause there seemed to be some blood and guts that come with it at no extra charge. Put everything in a pot, bring to a boil, and simmer on low for an hour. Now the gross out part is peeling the skin off the meat. After that eat it with some mustard, pickles and bread.

Kitchen Talk...take one.

2011-02-25T22:57:00.003-05:00

I took my gift card to books-a-million and bought two books. 1001 Smartest Things Ever Said, and I doubt most of them were ever uttered, rather written, but that is pins and needles. The other book was Anthony Bourdains newest semi-non-fiction concoction and it's so intense I can't put it down, but I picked this gem out, and those of you who know me will get the humor "Dean" I'm not sure which book the quote should be in but let's go.....

"And they don't even ask for a reach around.
It kind of begs to question: why?'

The most simple easy soup ever.

2011-02-25T14:41:00.003-05:00

There will come a time, and you are never sure when it will creep up, but it will and you have to throw something together that Works. Yes, capital W...it just needs to work! Because when there are 20 something other equally important things to prep some things are just going to have to Work, not shine but not suck either. This is my go to Work soup.

Roasted Red Pepper - Tomato Bisque

One onion carmalized in butter
One part can/jar roasted red pepper
Two parts whole peeled canned tomato
One big pinch black pepper
salt

Simple....sautee onion then add everything else. Bring to a boil, simmer for 2o min. Puree! Hurray! Add some basil, blue cheese and/or croutons.

Wreckfish

2011-02-10T22:33:00.003-05:00

We brought in a wonderfull fish as a feature a few weeks back and it was amazing. I’ve seen Wreckfish on sales sheets on and off the past few years and always stayed away from it mostly and ignorantly in favor of a more universally named species. Well, when this same fish is marketed as American Sea Bass we jumped on it. We received large off white filets that were easy to bone out and produced beautiful rectangular portions. The fish cooks up very moist with a large sweet flake. It is like the best attributes of Red Grouper and Chilean Sea Bass. I looked into Wreckfish a bit so let me share what I found.

There are currently only 7 commercial vessels harvesting Wreckfish in the American fishery. All the fresh fish brought to market in the U.S. is caught domestically off the south-east coast. The fishery is completely shut down from the end of January till mid-April allowing the fish to spawn. This makes the Wreckfish fishery a sustainability success story.

Wreckfish and named as such because the often eat and spawn in and around ship wrecks and the aquaculture that surrounds such events. Fishing boats us heavy duty hydraulic reels and cables with multiple hooks usually baited with squid lowered just above the sea floor to catch Wreckfish. There is considered little bycatch among the 7 commercial vessels.

Wreakfish can be found in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans usually in water depths from 140 feet up to 3000 feet. The upper end of the size range reaches 220 pounds and 6.5 feet long. The fish do migrate but most of the domestic commercial catch comes off the South Carolina coast.

If you have the opportunity to enjoy Wreckfish I highly suggest it. You won’t be disappointed.

Soup D'jour

2011-02-04T23:49:00.000-05:00

Thrown together

I’m not going to lie to you and make up a story of how I contemplated this recipe for years or anything of that BS. I needed chicken wings and the pack size from the purveyor was 40 pounds. That is way more than I actually needed so I had to come up with a way to use the surplus. I have seen a few recipes in the past for chicken stock that called or a considerable amount of chicken wings so I went with that idea. The reason I’m sharing this with you is that the soup turned out great, made a lot of customers happy, my boss especially, and it’s something that can translate to the home kitchen easily.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

5# chicken wings

One large carrot
Three ribs of celery
One large onion
3 garlic cloves

Six quarts of water or enough to cover everything in the pot you use

One quart cream
One teaspoon each chopped thyme and parsley
Salt and pepper

One batch of spatzle, purchased spatzle or egg noodles

Put the chicken wings on a sheet tray and roast in a hot oven till they are browned successfully. Disguard the chicken fat or save it for something else? In a large pot combine the vegetables cut in a large dice, the browned chicken wings and water. Bring this to a boil then set on simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain off the liquid and return to the oven. Pick the wings off the bone. Be careful to remove the hard tendons at the end yet don’t worry about the skin. It is very tasty. Rough chop the meat and return to the liquid. Puree the vegetable until smooth with some of the warm liquid. Return everything to the same pot add the cream and herbs. Season with salt and black pepper. Let this mixture simmer for half an hour.

To serve brown off the spatzle. Then heat the soup over it. Garnish with some more fresh herbs, parmesan or croutons.

Grocery Store Nightmare

2011-02-04T00:23:00.003-05:00

Sometimes in life you don’t really understand how good you have it. I experienced this earlier in the evening when Kari and I decided to make our monthly trip to the grocery store. We went to the Giant Eagle in Lakewood, Ohio. I was absolutely disgusted by what I saw. I feel so bad for the people who go there and think they are getting something of quality. And it isn’t cheap by any means.

The Super Bowl set up was in full swing. About 100# of ‘hard as a rock avocados’ sat next to dried guacamole mix in pouch. Really? There was a fair selection of mushrooms….. if you wanted ‘dried out been sitting on the shelf the past week’ kind of mushrooms. All the green herbs, which are ridiculously expensive, were either yellow or brown yet shelved above tubes of herb puree. The parsnips and carrots I actually touched were so flaccid I don’t believe anyone would actually buy them. They are root vegetables not marshmallows.

The seafood was even worse. The oysters where all dried out and open. If the shrimp wasn’t frozen it looked either dehydrated or slimy. Salmon was all the tail cuts, which are not prime seafood. The rest of the case was full of things in various shapes and sizes that where coated in bread crumbs. What a dishonor to seafood.

I understand that breadcrumbs are cheap, but half the stuff in the meat case consisted of a good amount of breadcrumbs as well. The meat was too red to be true. The ‘filet mignon’ they are charging twenty some dollars a pound for was cut into steaks, but completely un-trimmed of any sliverskin and cut at an angle making the steak look quite big, but not so thick. Is this what people want I have to ask myself. There were a few rib-eyes out and it looked as If someone pushed all the fat out of them and they were all loose, flabby, and full of holes. Amazingly none of the meat was covered yet it was more red than anything we ever get at the restaurant in cryo.

In the end we found one ripe avocado (nobody else in Lakewood is eating a ripe avocado cause I think I squeezed them all) some cherry tomatoes that won’t last more than 2 days, the only stiff cucumber in the place, four bananas, some cold cuts and bread. What an eye opener. It turned my stomach and it makes me more worrisome than ever that people don’t have a grasp of what quality food should be.

Breakfast at Night

2011-02-03T09:35:00.002-05:00

Cooking breakfast food for dinner just seems to make sense. Figuring that fast and furious meal while half asleep and starving is the most efficient meal of the day. Come on, we can slip In a lunch, especially if it’s not the home cooked kind, and dinner can go in a crock-pot or take a few hours of unattended cooking time. Breakfast has to take less than 10 minutes to cook, if that much time at all. So in this day and age why wouldn’t we just sync up and make the nighttime food just as efficient as the morning one.

Eggs and most likely bacon came in as the most popular breakfast item to cook for dinner with a whole %42 of votes. The very similar dish of an omelet came in second. Eggs are wonderful. It takes no longer than 3 minutes to cook a good egg, and I personally do love eggs. In the past few years I’ve come to fully enjoy a poached egg which for the remaining early years of my life I would have refused with great passion. See all it takes a some water, a nip of vinegar, and a hand that doesn’t break the yolk. Oh, and three minutes! That is it. Put a good soft succulent poached egg over toast…wow.

Winter pics

2011-01-30T23:03:00.004-05:00

Sear Tuna over an orzo salad topped with beet-dill salad around a beat-balsamic reduction.

A fun pic of our crap.

Pancetta...sliced and diced

Wings for a creamy chicken noodles and herb soup

Wings!

Cooking at home

2011-01-25T12:02:00.000-05:00

Here is how I cook at home….

I recently enjoyed a very nice meal with my family. Things turned out great. I only got three pans dirty, but I was cooking for 5. I thought it would be interesting to share my recipes from that night keeping in mind that I do get paid to cook…. as my day job.
First go to Marc’s Discount Store and don’t even think of going any further. Just decide in the beginning that if it isn’t here, we aren’t going to get it on this night.

Mexican chicken stew with Avacado salsa

Three # boneless skinless chicken breast cut into large chunks
One package southwest marinade

One box “Tortilla & Black Bean Soup” calling for 8 cups of water
One can diced tomato

One avocado
Half bottle of Ortega brand green salsa
Few dashes of Sweet and Spicy Tabasco

One sleeve Chicken flavored rice calling for one and half cups water

First dice up the chicken and marinade it. There are directions on the package. Next start water boiling for the rice and soup. Their respective boxes say the both take 20 minutes, and those directions work perfect. Dice the avocado and add it to the salsa. Using a fork mash up this mixture while adding some salt and black pepper. For presentation put this in a bowl and top with a few dashes of Tabasco. Red on green is just stunning. Drain the marinade off the chicken after the proper amount of time has been reached as directed on the package of marinade. Get a very large skillet hot, or two skillets, or do in two batches but in the end just brown off the chicken and add it to the soup. The box of soup says to cook for 20 minutes but I cooked it, and in the end with the chicken in it for about 35. Fluff the rice, put two hot pads down on the table and chow down.

Foodie Subcultures

2011-01-20T12:19:00.003-05:00

Are you into local, raw, adventurous, competitive, beer, bbq, or state fair food? Well there are some people completely occupied with these foodie subcultures and you can investigate them more here. Or pick an new obsession and stick with it. Enjoy.

Top Ten Things About '10

2011-01-05T23:00:00.001-05:00

Top ten things about 2010

I worked all year at one place. Continuity at its best.

Me being allowed the opportunity to create weekly specials with little to no restraint.

Working with Sean from Michaels Finer Meats and Seafood.

Feeling genuinely appreciated by a few regular guests at Nemo Grille.

Taking individual pride in the ordering, organization and overall well being of a prosperous and well regarded kitchen.

Are you kidding me I have to come up with five more………….

Give my shout out to those who left, and those still around: Halla at Steve, James, Sean, Dean, Alyssa, Lucianio, Brain, Jenny Poo, Ramone and his flower shop, and everyone who got left off the list who wanted to be on it.

We started listening to the Jim Rome show at work from noon till 3. That shit is funny. We laugh out loud sometimes. It is a real stress breaker when you are busting ass on a huge prep list.

New music I found I like, or kinda like the past year: Diabolic, Kid Cudi, MGK, old school Dirtbombs, The Black Keys, DJ Foodstamp, LCD Sound System, King Britt, Mumford&Suns, The Bees, Mayer Haythorn, and seeing the one and only Pearl Jam LIVE with my lil sis.

Keeping up with this blog including chit chats with Salty, being dumped from Rhulmans blog roll, warming up to The Chef’s Widow, and taking interest in everyone included in ClevelanDelicious.

The final top ten thing about 2010 is being alive and moving on to 2011. While it might not have been a great year for many of us the new year allots us the opportunity to turn the page and take the best of ’10 and parlay it into the best we can do in ’11. There is nothing better than looking at a clean slate, wanting the best, and pushing ourselves to do better. For those of you who know me….your laughing your ass off at my optimism, but this is a turn for the better.

Best Thing Ever Poll

2011-01-01T00:56:00.000-05:00

There is a show on the Cooking Channel called The Best Ever, or maybe it’s on Food Network too? The point is that a few personalities say all nice things about a restaurant, space, chef or dish. So that is where the question for this poll came from. The show doesn’t come across as very honest that is why I started the question off that way.
I’ll share with you my quick takes:

Best dish by a chef at a restaurant would be king crab legs under spicy Americana sauce at Morimoto in Philly. Ironicly Kari ordered this dish while I ate the 7 course Omikase. I’m not a fan of saffron at all, but add the right amount of spice and it worked great. By no means do I intent to discount the awesomeness of the sushi, scallop noodles, foie gras with Kobe beef or the octopus that was also part of the meal.

Best dish by a loved one would be my sister’s baked beans with bacon and some other ingredients that she keeps to herself. Then again Mom’s city chicken and Beef Stew could make it a three way tie. Wait…Kari makes some good pasta especially when it involves bacon…..four way tie!

Best dish by me would have to be poached eggs on toast topped with hot sauce. Best dish by me served in a restaurant would be foie gras mousse with Makers Mark gelee and granny smith apple emulsion.

You Cook a Pretty Cake Too?

2010-12-27T23:16:00.000-05:00

The Amateur Cake Decorating Competition at the 201 Central Ohio Home & Garden Show needs five (5) talented amateur cake decorators as participants on stage at the show. The top three winners receive cash prizes and bragging rights, with the Grand Prize winner receiving $500 cash. Second place recieves $250 cash and thirst place receives $100 cash. Entries are due by noon, Wednesday, February 2 to cakes@dispatch.com.

For rules and detailed information visit www.DispatchEvents.com

Christmas Menu

2010-12-24T20:59:00.004-05:00

While I'm one lucky cook to have the eve and the day of Christmas off work I'm still working with my wonderful fam' on a menu. I think this is what we are having, and this post might get updated to the actuall happenings.

Baked Ham
Baked Beans
Cheesy potato casserole (mine)
some random vegetable
lot's of cookies
beer, wine, spirits!

Done, Hey'yo.

For the Intellectual Foodie

2010-12-16T12:41:00.003-05:00

I recieved a link from one of this blog's readers for 20 Great TED Talks for Total Foodies. This was a few weeks ago and I took the time to look into almost all 20. They are all very interesting. I'm sure if you visit the site you will find something plesantly intellectual, educational, and inspirational. Enjoy!

Funniest Thing I've Seen in a While

2010-12-16T12:17:00.003-05:00

The folks over at Xtranormal have put together some seriously funny stuff. Check it out HERE.

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Coconut-Vegetable Chowder

2010-12-12T10:18:00.003-05:00

Last week I used this recipe as both the sauce and vegetable component to our weekly fish special. As the name implies it would work equally well as a stand alone soup.

Coconut-Vegetable Chowder

one onion, small dice
one inch piece of ginger chopped fine
one small jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine
one clove garlic chopped fine
one teaspoon curry powder
one quart coconut milk
two cups vegetable stock
two cups carrot juice
two tablespoons brown sugar
two tablespoons fish sauce
juice and zest of one lime

one each sweet potato, idaho potato, carrot, celery, red bell pepper, diced
one cup sugar snap peas large diced

------Sweat the onion till soft then add the ginger, garlic and jalapeno and cook another 2 minutes before adding the curry powder and topping that with the rest of the liquid ingredients. Bring this to a boil then reduce to low while chopping up all the vegetables. Add the vegetables to the soup holding back the peas as they take only a few minutes to cook. Set the soup over medium heat and simmer for about 10 minutes untill the vegetables are tender. Optional garnishes would be fresh cilantro, chopped scallions or rice.

Random Pics

2010-12-02T23:18:00.004-05:00

No we didn't cook'em you sick'o. That's my dude Mojo

A lil' carrot snow man, how cute?

Mr. carrot snow man went for a swim in the soup d'jour.

Wild stripped bass, herb rice, coconut-vegetable chowder.

BBQ Shrimp and Veal Sweetbreads, cheesy grits, fresh herbs.

Food Truck Poll Examined

2010-12-01T08:51:00.001-05:00

Let us swing our sporks in the air and lay claim to conquering the mighty food truck…..or not!?!?

The only conclusion to be drawn from the recent food truck poll is that people are very polarized as to their willingness to embrace this up and coming trend. Either you’re willing to drive across town for a food truck treat or you wouldn’t touch their tacos if they pulled right up in your cull de sac. Eliminate my vote and it’s split straight 50/50.

Is that biodesial? Does that fryer oil run straight through the engine? How does the Department of Health visit if you don’t have an address? How long have those dogs been in that water or how long has that foie terrine been around? I got some warm nuts while in NYC a long time ago. They where the best nuts I’ve ever had. I tried the hot dog cart a few times working down town….give it up for the dog cart guys that’s a tough life! I think I even had a bite from the famed OU burrito buggy back in the day. Obviously I’ve not died since and it seems logical that for these individuals to continue doing business they need to be clean which seems to be a lot of peoples concern.

There seems to be a lot more prepared food out there for our consumption. For instance I remember going to the West Side Market as a child and the only prepared food available was a pizza bagel, and boy these were a great treat, but now there are an overflowing handful of prepared food stands. The deli counter has made similar progressions, along with the frozen food sections. People want a meal, they want it quick and easy, and the food truck is helping us get that.

Here in Cleveland we are just now embracing the food truck, but in Columbus there seems to be a much more established community. Blogger Bethia Woolff has a great insight on the capital cities local taco truck scene. And Jamie Wright brought to light some other transportable kitchens of interest such as the Rad Dog offering some vegan items, or Foodie Cart which offers Japanese crepes and can be accessed on Facebook.

What’s my take? As a chef I can appreciate the food truck as a now viable option to get a foothold in the business aspect of the culinary arts. As a consumer I can appreciate the price point that comes with a food truck. Yet I’m somewhat skeptical about food safety, but like I stated before it is in the best interest of the food truck operator to keep up sanitary conditions. Looking into it more I would be interested in seeking out an ethnic based food truck, something unique. On the other hand if I can get the same thing at the corner restaurant I’m willing to pay a few extra dollars for the giant flat screen with Sportscenter and the A/C blasting.

Visiting Deagan's Kitchen & Bar

2010-11-25T22:43:00.007-05:00

While downtown Lakewood, Ohio might not be a flexing metropolitan hub there are plenty of quality, unique and affordable dining options: Alladins, Pacers, Melt, Souper Market, Chipotle, a brand spanking new Panera, Einstein Bro's, The Root Cafe, Dave's Cosmic, and I'll even throw in Boston Market, Burger King, and Taco Bell just to bulk up the list. The new kid on the block is Deagan's Kitchen & Bar. Taking up the old digs of the oft mentioned Crazy Rita's and short lived Cleats the people behind Deagans have revamped what was the red headed stepchild of a kitsch Mexican come sports bar space with great success. Pounding shots of tequila then getting a roll of paper towels with my wings was nice, but I'm a bit older now, a bit smarter, wiser, and more sophisticated and so is Deagan's K&B

.I visited during a week-day lunch service with a rather large group of around 15 people including 3 children. One of which was only 9 days old. Babies are so cute, and luckily for us she was very quiet too. The server was great with the group as we all arrived independently over a 20 minute span, and by no means was the place empty! Our server quite easily could have got an attitude and been salty with us as a whole, but instead we were treated very, very well with a visit from both the chef and the owner. It is amazing how good service can slip below the radar when you dine out, but we didn't even have good service… I would call this excellent service!

Deagan's K&B is a self proclaimed gastropub. The idea of beer and food paired together occurred about 5 minutes after the first beer was made so it's not unique, but what Deagan's brings to the table is a great selection of beers and a superb menu. There is a definition of 'gastropub' on the chalk board near the front door; you'll see it right next to the specials and the seasonal beer selections. I just dig the chalk boards. Chalk boards are way cooler than the wholesome 'I picked this font out special' sheet of ream paper with a mix match of ingredients most likely miss spelled with someone else’s greasy fingerprints on it "Daily Specials" sheet.There is a lot of cross over between the lunch and dinner menus. I totally appreciate this and think it is a very wise business discussion. Then again there is just enough difference that exists both a lunch and dinner experiences are available. Along with the afore mentioned daily specials.

I had two glasses of water, a heifwiezen, and the house salad. To me a house salad doesn't have avocado, hearts of palm, tomatoes, mushrooms and shallot vinaigrette, but Deagan's does. What a great salad. Everyone was very happy with their food. Even the kids couldn't eat enough. We were warned that the mac&cheese wasn't up to par by one of the tables guests who had been to Deagan's before yet the description was so tempting another in the party went for it and she was pleased. Around the table we had the reuben, burger, chicken and waffles, grilled cheese and vegan chili. Duck confit mac&cheese, I mean are you kidding me? On this day everyone walked away full and happy.

The space is sparse yet occupied. There are a few painting, and very interesting ones at that. Just enough to keep your eye occupied when the child across from you sticks a fork in his mouth and you just hope he doesn't poke out a tooth and by no means do you want to be held responsible. The walls are covered with recovered barn shingles as I understand along with the exposed ceiling and steel beams the room has a lot of texture. The bathrooms, the most overlooked rooms that we tend not to speak about were just amazing! The bar area is a full circle centered around a few giant flat screen TVs’so you can have your sports and eat lunch too.

I just loved my Deagan's experience. On the flip side I can't leave a table un-leveled and unfortunately I was the culprit of just that. I sat at a split in the four tables put together and one was wholly and annoyingly unlevel. Since they were most likely pushed together at the last moment I'll give it a pass and try the amazingly sounding duck confit mac&cheese upon my next visit.

Random Thankgiving Day Thoughts

2010-11-25T07:30:00.007-05:00

FIGS!!!

TOMATOS!!!

My regularly scheduled day off...Thursday....Thanksgiving...Thursday....I don't skip a beat!

I took my camera in for service about two months ago and I get an e-mail today, of all days. The day before the busiest shopping day of the year...."Your camera is fixed come get it!!!" It has to be a scam.

What is up with Four Loko? I just found it to be way too sweet.

If you might be interested in a long lost descendant of Genghis Khan who is currently interested in wack food and dope hip-hop then there is a good chance you would enjoy the chef of Xiao Ye's blog.

My fantasy football team is currently 5-6 and projected to lose my more than 100 points this week-end. Bet I would kill it if there was fantasy Iron Chef!

Salty sold his knife for 8g's. Who uses a 8g knife? I wouldn't cut a mushy carrot with 8g's. I'll stick with my pink Pure Komachi.

If I see another in depth piece about cooking turkey, stuffing or cranberry sauce I might very well explode.

Is bacon over rated? I mean it's good and all, but come on. Some people have taken it a bit too far for a bit too long.

Where do vegan eggs come from? Vegan chickens of course.

Why are people so hung up on what wine to drink with their Thanksgiving dinner. I mean the only thing I can think of that will make that dry ass turkey taste any better is some bourbon, or rum, or vodka......

Best Thanksgiving dinner idea ever? Tacos. Pure genius un-realized.

I got cool knives too!

2010-11-19T23:12:00.004-05:00

My blogger friend Salty has an amazing collection of knives. Some of which he has currently offered up for sale. F'ing amazing stuff. So I thought I would show off my collection also.

On top is my favorite Pure Komachi II that I got at Target almost 3 years ago. The handle is cheap ass plastic aka. very light, and the blade is very thin and sharp as a razor. The best part is it only takes about 5 swipes over a stone and I could shave with this thing.

Second is my Nenohi Nenox G-Type Sujihiki. It is a single edged blade which I find dificult to sharpen, but when sharp is stays that way for a long time. This knife was a gift and I'm very embarassed that the tip has since been broken off. Fortunatly it's a clean break and I can manage to manuver the knife in a way that makes it fully usefull.

Lastly is a nice Kyocera peeler. Actually I'm not 100% sure it's a Kyocera, but if it isn't it should be cause I had one of their fixed blade mandolines and it was awsome.

Obviously I have a limited collection, but I have a great respect for those who are more educated about blades, and even more appreciation for the producers of excusite knives like those that Bob Framer and Michael Rader make.

Oh, wait, the best thing about the pink Pure Komachi is that it is in fact PINK, and nobody in the kitchen will ever ask, "hey dude, can I dig on that sharp ass pink knife for a quick second?" ha ha ha.

Coconut Curry Sauce

2010-11-19T02:10:00.004-05:00

I found myself battling another installment of insomnia a few nights back and two great things happened at the same time; I began to nod off, and which ever cooking show airs around 3 am had a chef preparing a Southern Indian coconut curry. I took the basic idea, from what I remember at least, and put something rather tastey together. It's my own sort of Indian-Thai fusion.

The basic ingredients included sliced onions, coconut milk, garam massala, chili flakes, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.

After cooking the onions to a deep dark brown I removed some from the main pot, added fresh ginger, lemongrass, the dried spiced and sauteed till fragrant. This mixture was then pureed smooth with a can of coconut milk and married back into the main onion pot then topped off with more coconut milk, a bit of soy sauce and lime juice.

Part of the whole dish was nice and naturally sweet Jasmine rice to which I added chopped dried dates and raisins. I like to add the fruit at the begining of the rice cooking because I enjoy the more toothsome fruit allowing it to actually flavor the rice as opposed to having plain rice with some fruit tossed in.

Pan seared Mahi-Mahi in coconut curry with vegetable egg-rolls and date-raisin rice. I plan on adding fresh corriander and a squeeze of lime juice over everything before serving this week-end.

Candy Corn Poll Results

2010-10-31T06:51:00.003-05:00

Turn that frown upside down Mr. Candy Corn cause we love you!

I’m not sure what there is not to like about candy corn. Especially compared to some other Halloween related candies, for instance wax lips. Three quarters of the poll results showed love toward those little candy kernels. So soft, chewy and sweet with the wonderful fall hues!

It was in the 1880’s that George Renninger created candy corn while working for the Wunderlee Candy Company. The kernels are made from a secret mixture of sugar, corn syrup, stabalizers, and artificial coloring. It is estimated that over 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually. Brach’s is currently the top peddler of candy corn boasting that they sell enough kernels each year that if laid end to end would circle the Earth…over four times!

For those who love candy corn, but have spent their whole life wishing it was acceptable in social circles to eat year round. You are lucky! Candy companies are currently launching kernels with a variety of color variations intended to suit other holidays like Christmas and Easter.

Thai Seafood Stew

2010-10-28T15:53:00.004-05:00

With the help of Blogger these photos got uploaded backwards. So we are going to breakdown the Thai Fish Stew I prepard In reverse order of how it was actually made.

This is the final product...Thai seafood stew with meifun rice noodles, squid, crab, sea bass, marlin, swordfish and mussels in a Thai vegetable broth.

Her we have iced portions of the seafood that goes in the stew.

The broth cooking with easily extraced yet smashed lemongrass.

The flavorings.

Everything nicely diced, choped and microplane'd.

All the raw ingrediants.

I love my veggies....

2010-10-27T22:51:00.001-05:00

This might give all my vegan friends nighmares...Oh wait, do I have any? Click here to check it out.

Fresh French Innards

2010-10-27T07:19:00.001-05:00

In today’s issue of the New York Times Maia de La Baume wrote a great piece about ‘A Feast of Innards Nourishes French Nostalgia.’ There is great insight into the who and why of La Frairie des Petits Ventures or the brotherhood of small bellies. It’s a festival in Limoges, France that celebrates the old world culinary traditions that center on, well, sheep testicles cooked in garlic, parsley and port. If for no other reason and I greatly suggest you read the whole article as it is worth the time, there is a wonderful picture that looks almost medieval…and who gave those kids swords?

I would love to try some of the sautéed sheep testicles. I have not enjoyed testicles in my culinary adventures. I saw some bull’s testicles at the West Side Market, but I didn’t have the ‘balls’ to buy them and cook them for myself. It’s a lot like how I feel about tongue. Its great meat that I’ve enjoyed a few times, but if I am the one who has to peel that thick gross skin off it…yuck!

Blood sausage is another major item at this French festival. I’ve had Black Pudding in the setting of an Irish restaurant, and if I scoop enough egg yolk over it I’ll manage to get it down. By no means am I going to order a side of it though, and I said that before I even knew what it was I had eaten.

Tripe is another item that I’ve managed to avoid. It is featured in the hot counter of every Asian Market in town, but I just have not had the ‘stomach’ to order it. I am not offended by it. Nor am I avoiding it, the right time just has not come up. I’ve never asked, “instead of the General Tao’s chicken do you have a tripe dish.” I will have to think about that next time.

As for other innards…I love foie gras, sweetbreads, cheeks and tails. I’ve made pork head cheese and it’s great, but I’m not sure what that stuff is at the deli counter? Crackling, pig ears, braised snout, and even baby duck egg have all been agreeable to me. Chicken liver I’ll take ‘em or leave ‘em as they are great deep fried with a crunchy crust, but then again what isn’t? Other livers taste like eating a penny to me….yet I’ve not had them deep fried with a crunchy crust. Ha!

Rabbit hearts and livers skewered on a rosemary stem were very pleasing as they got sent to the grill on a whim one day. Pig’s feet I’ve used in stock, but there doesn’t seem to be enough there worth eating as a standalone item. Chicken feet are right next to the tripe at the Asian Market, but I’ve not ‘stepped’ up to the plate on that item either. They look crispy and good though.

We don’t eat much fish innards do we? Monk fish liver is something I’ve seen on TV. Shad roe was just downright nasty, and I was so excited to try it. Sturgeon caviars are just not worth it to me considering the environmental strain, even though farmed product is available these days. Tabiko is ok, it’s like fishy pop rocks, but unlike sheep testicles you wouldn’t dare to center a whole dish around it, let alone a whole festival.

Street Art Meets Foodie

2010-10-23T07:52:00.002-05:00

I found my way onto this pretty amazing collection of street art (graffiti) that centers around food. I once displayed some public art, but that was a long time ago. Check out graffEATinyc for a good show.

The Imaginary Poll Results

2010-10-20T09:35:00.001-05:00

What an interesting poll. I surely thought it would have caught some more attention that the whole un-impressive 5 votes. But what the hell, let’s talk about it.

I constructed the idea that we might be invited to a hypothetical dinner party thrown by some of the most popular cartoon families of the past 50 years. Since it’s my imagination let me explain what might be expected.

One vote went to the mumbling Peanuts parents. Since I think of only three things when it comes to Peanuts and they are Snoopy, The Great Pumpkin, and the needless Christmas tree I am going to say the PP (Peanuts Parents) are going to stick with the regular holiday foods. Think roast turkey, stuffing, mashers, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce…ect. I also figure they would have a NA punch bowl seeing there are a bunch of neighborhood kids around and they are already mumbling. The PP would do a great party, but only for that 5 week period of the year when such foods are acceptable.

Lois Griffin also got one vote. There are plenty of scenes in Family Guy where the family sits around the dinner table, but more times than not it’s not about the food. Food just isn’t that funny. Plus they don’t have a proper dining room with the table dropped right in the middle of the kitchen. Based solely on this clip I am guessing Lois would replicate that meatloaf.

Lastly, and sole winners of more than one vote Ms. Flintstone and Ms Rubble would undoutably put for the best dinner party. I envision a full bar of gin martinis, imported champagne, huge wooden mugs of fermented barley and hops and clean water filtered through the wing of a bird that giggles and says something witty like, “I’m all wet” when you pour water on him. Bam Bam would hit Dino over the head, steal his dinosaur treat and share it with the little Flintstone girl. Fred would attempt to grill out, but after leaving Barney to man the grill while he chased a little green fairy Martian Barney would let everything burn because he is a big wimp and the grill was hot. So the final straw is the baked dinasor shank casserole, but everyone would be so full of gin they pass out and in a few hours when Bam Bam needs a diaper change he would bang on the ground shaking the whole house until everyone wakes up.

Those with no votes are Marge Simpson who I don’t recall cooking much so that dinner party would center on Duff beer. Frylock, Meatwad, and Master Shake are all food stuffs themselves so that is just kind of weird to think about. Granddad Freeman and Riley would fully enjoy a picnic of fried chicken and watermelon while Uncle and Huey would chastise them for such stereotypical choices most likely opting for some type of Italian dish.

Comfort Food ???

2010-10-17T08:19:00.001-05:00

I saw this piece about comfort food at Epicurious.com and it got me thinking about what ‘comfort food’ means. Well, after some thought I’ve decided that comfort food has a few different personalities. One is nice, sweet and sincere, another is unhealthy yet therapeutic, and yet another is out to get your money (aka get me a pay check). Let me share what I’ve found.

The pairing of the words comfort and food first appeared in Webster’s Dictionary in 1977 and refers to food that improve one’s emotional state, sense of well-being, or comfort…go figure. It is a rather current development that American chef’s in an effort to define ‘American cuisine’ invented a fine dining model of comfort food that includes expert cooking, quality ingredients, but also higher prices compared to the Mom & Pop places costumers previously went for comfort food. What it comes down to from my viewpoint is that in the past comfort food at a restaurant might have consisted of instant mashed potatoes topped with a goopy brown graves and beef meatloaf topped with ketchup, costing you about $7. Today, and in the same fashion we have been tricked with horribly effective marketing that we will be comforted spending $34 on Yukon gold whipped potatoes topped with Veal demi-glace and truffled veal meatloaf under a heirloom tomato compote…Oh, and it will be even better paired with a silky smooth bottle of Siler Oak wine. I agree and I’m sure most readers agree that the second option sounds just divine, but why? Whicked nasty marketing, the boys down in R&D got the mission accomplished.

How could something that is supposed to make you feel emotionally good be physically unhealthy? Well it is all about where we look for comfort. What isn’t comforting to anyone…and I mean anyone? Let’s start with some rice wafers with fake cheese flavoring, some raw carrots, yogurt, and alfalfa sprouts. Does that sound like it would make you feel better? No, it sounds like a colon cleanse. What does sound good and consequently make us feel good unfortunately does not turn out to be very healthy. It doesn’t take much explaining really. Just think chocolate, ice cream, chips, Big Mac, even ‘Happy Hour’ are things we all take comfort in but turn on us after consumption. According to good ole’ Wikipedia somewhere around 33% of college age women make healthy eating choices when looking to improve their mental well being.

So what is that nice, sweet and sincere part that was mentioned? It all looks like cloaks and mirrors of unhealthy eating and overspending all of a sudden. Do not distress. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. What brings me comfort in the culinary world? Surely it isn’t the duck confit, grilled pizza, or vegetable pie as Epicurious might have you think. What brings me comfort is what I grew up on. Whatever it is that my mom pieced together after work that we shared as a family all sitting at one table. Sure at the time I would rather have played football in the street with by buddies or kicking my sister under the table or done anything else than eat what my mom made while not understand why dad was so grumpy (I understand now, The Grind). So what really brings me comfort in food and for most readers who fall into the same generation/economic class? I’ll start with city chicken, that shit is good. Taco night and we are talking straight Ortega out of the box powdered taco blend! The f’ing shells always broke, but a scoopable mixture of meat, cheese and sour cream was fine. Lastly is Beef Stew, which is very basic yet executed to a tee even under a chef’s scrutiny? Plus I learned from my father, to the chagrin of my mother that mashing up the vegetables and meat made something of a homogenous porridge that tasted even better than eating all the pieces parts separately.

Comfort food is quite diverse. Does Epicurious hit the nail on the head? Not a chance, but I still like Epicurious. Can dumfoundedly mixed results be expected from our comfort food habits? Yes! Yet Mom is most likely still the best cook we know.

Respecting Apple Butter

2010-10-14T08:36:00.002-05:00

How time flies! It seems like not all that long ago we were sweating away long hours, now I’m looking for a sweater! The copious amounts of water and Gatorade have given way to warming cups of coffee and sore throat soothing teas. Oh, and the food, what a rollercoaster. First the ramps, fiddleheads and soft shell crabs, then we got slammed with a ton (literally) of tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant. Now I’m staring at a butternut squash the size of my leg! I wonder to myself “Did we give all the food its proper respect? Did we cherish our short time with each?”

Apples are something we tend not to cherish or respect as much as a proper apple deserves respect. By a ‘proper’ apple I’m talking about one without wax, without a sticker on it, one that hasn’t been on an airplane, cargo ship, or big rig truck. Luckily this is the best time of year for just such a thing. While taking a bite out of a big sweet rosey red apple is awesome I prefer to stretch out my apple expedience by making apple butter. On a whim I tossed in a bunch of butternut squash in my apple butter pot and was very excited about what turned out.

Apple-butternut squash butter

Five large local Macintosh apples
Equal amount of butternut squash
Half cup liquid (apple juice, cider, hard cider, whiskey, bourbon, applejack….water)
One teaspoon each ground cinnamon & coriander
Two cloves
One quarter to three quarters of a cup brown sugar
One pinch salt

The key to making successful apple butter is understanding that this will take some time on the stove and if you try to hurry things up at any point there is a good chance that it will burn! Also a stick blender is perfect for this recipe because you keep it a one pot dish, and a stick blender is a very inexpensive and useful piece of kitchen equipment.

Start with a large heavy bottom pot and add diced apples, squash and liquid. Leave the peel on the apples because this is where the natural pectin is and this will help the butter firm up upon chilling. As for your choice of liquid it just depends on what flavors you want to add to the game. Water works just fine for the purpose of breaking down the apple and getting those juices flowing without burning anything.

Over medium heat cover this pot and cook for ten minutes giving a stir every so often until the apples give up their liquid and everything starts to break down. Now comes the patience. Turn the heat to low, keep off the lid, and wait. It doesn’t do any harm to give the pot a stir every so often. It is tempting to turn up the heat at this point, but I guarantee you it will burn if you do. I’m guessing this will cook for about 45 minutes and at this point blend the mixture smooth and add the spices.

When is it done? I test the doneness by taking a teaspoon from the pot, let it cool off for a few seconds and putting it out onto a plate. If liquid separates from the mound of pulp it’s got to cook some more. Once enough liquid reduces out of the butter this will not happen. When this happens add the sugar and cook another five minutes making sure to keep the heat low and stir. Adding the sugar earlier, and/or not keeping a stir on the pot at this point and I guarantee it will burn. Why can I make such bold promises of burnt butter, because I’ve made those critical mistakes before.

Now it’s apple butter.

Textures of Fall

2010-10-07T14:52:00.001-05:00

Butternut squash edged out root vegetables as a favorite fall cooking item. I have to agree that the versatility of butternut squash and in turn other fall root vegetables is very agreeable. For a long time I thought of butternut squash along with acorn squash, Cinderella, spaghetti and the many other varieties as nothing more than a puree-able pulp to be made into soup. I’ve learned the past few years that spaghetti squash is great when you cut it into rings and oh yes, it does in fact resemble spaghetti. Also butternut and acorn take well to being diced and sautéed. The key is not to overcook them, thus controlling their texture. The easy out is to cook the hell out of it and puree it into a soup like I’ve done so many times before, instead leaving a bite to it and getting a good sear will give you a great fall vegetable item.

While thinking about texture you can use parsnips, celery root, rutabaga and turnips the same way as squash. It is easy to cook them to death and puree them, but if you enjoy that flavor you will ultimately enjoy the caramelized and firm textured version as well. I’m really excited about the fall flavors this year and hope to share a few more ideas with you, but for now, here are two non-pureed ideas that I’ve found success with in the past.

Vegan Curry Butternut Squash Stew

One large onion diced
Just enough oil or roasted garlic oil

One tablespoon ginger
One teaspoon garlic if you don’t have roasted garlic oil

Two quarts medium diced butternut squash
Two tablespoons curry powder
Fresh crack black pepper
Salt

One quart diced tomatoes

Two quarts vegetable stock

Deeply caramelize the onions in oil. Add ginger, squash and curry powder to onion mix and cook a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and let its juices run, then add the stock and bring to a boil. This should take about ten minutes and at this point the squash should be tender but not mushy…perfect.

Butternut squash risotto

This is less of a recipe. What I like about it is the procedure so we will skip all the measurements and such. We all know how to make risotto. I like to take a large squash and make a perfect medium dice, but reserve all the scraps and chop them up in the food processor. I sauté this processed squash with an onion then proceed with making risotto. After the second third of liquid to the risotto I add the diced squash and continue on my way. This way I get a nice orange risotto with a resounding flavor of butternut squash, but also have the diced pieces of squash kind of like ‘flavor crystals’ in your gum. This is especially good with maple syrup!

Food Songs

2010-09-30T18:26:00.003-05:00

I was thinking about songs that involved food and decided that this one is my favorite: Satan Gave Me a Taco by Beck. It is and older song, but there are some nice animations on YouTube. Check out this version or a black and white one. This song always makes me smile...from taco shack to rock star and back to taco shack.