My Top Chef Revelation

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!