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!

MGB part 1, Getting Hired

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

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

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

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

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

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.