Valentines day

Food in the home January

Start off with a nice Mexican Martini

Just thought I would try to photograph my "Year in Food"

Taking Stock

  Who’d of thought, that one could devote and entire Sunday afternoon, trying to turn water from its original clarity, to a muddy greasy yellowish liquid, then back to as close to a clear liquid again. But, I have proved that yes, you can.  I’m living proof.

 Why, you ask? Well, for the shear pleasure of standing over a hot steaming pot, with a spoon skimming off fat droplets, and other foamy looking nastiness. Doesn’t everyone?

Going into this project, I figured the time spent would be fairly low once everything was dumped into the pot. That really didn’t turn out to be the case. Seemed like every 15-20 minutes, I would find myself hovering over the pot, picking out pockets of fat, and skimming off brownish foam.

 After a few hours of this, I finally got to the point of running the stock through the Chinois for the first time, only to put it back onto the heat, and continue with the process of skimming, then letting this reduce as well. 

 One more run through the Chinois, then put the stock into the fridge and let cool for a couple of hours.

Even after all that damn skimming, I still found minute pieces of fat!!

All said and done, I didn’t leave the house the entire afternoon, and found it hard to even read or watch a movie, from all the interruptions.

On a positive note, I will admit that when I finished and poured the stock into containers for freezing, it was very clear, and had a wonderful flavor.

Will I do this again?  Sigh……Yeah, probably.

  I went back to my French laundry book, and see that Keller recommends dropping ice into the stock half-way through the cooking procedure to allow the fat to settle to the top for easy removal. He also waits until after that to place the vegetables into the stock. I failed to do either of these, thus, making the procedure much harder than needed.

Chicken Stock:

Bones from one whole chicken (you might want to spend more time trimming the fat, unlike me).

1+ gallon of water

4 large carrots (diced)

3 stalks celery (diced)

1 large yellow onion (diced)

4 cloves garlic (whole)

1 tablespoon peppercorns

Instructions: Hours of mindless skimming (Didn’t you read the first part??)

Protein

In this day and age of Political Correctness, it’s quite difficult to find a lifestyle that everyone can still continue to sit around in public and make ridicule. Thankfully we still have Vegans! Now don’t mistake my contempt as, well, contempt. It’s more of “What the fuck are they thinking?” There are all the obvious reasons that we as a society should be tolerant of our dear anemic, pale, sickly little friends. There are conditions like allergies, and digestive disorders that condemn some unfortunate souls to a life without flavor, but that is more left to Vegetarian style diets, and I will succumb to the fact that it's just a necessity for some. Hell, there might even be a very small part of my subconscious that understands the mentality of not wanting to kill another animal for sustenance. Albeit such a small fragment of my subconscious that I consider it non-existent, but I will entertain the thought at least.

But this whole “Veganism” ?

“Veganism (also strict or pure vegetarianism) is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.^[1] Vegans do not use or consume animal products of any kind.^[2] The most popular reasons for becoming a vegan are concerns for animal rights, the environment, or human health, and spiritual or religious concerns.^[3][4] Of particular concern are the practices involved in factory farming and animal testing, and the intensive use of land and other resources required for animal farming.”

In the Spirit of giving, I offer this to my Vegan friends,

Meat Loaf:

1 lb ground sirloin

1 lb lean ground pork

2 eggs (mixed)

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper

½ tsp finely chopped Haberno pepper (careful now)

1 tablespoon fresh chopped Oregano

Dash of fresh thyme

2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce

Enough plain (unseasoned) breadcrumbs to dry mixture

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Place half of mixture into a deep baking dish, and then cover with a think layer of Ketchup. Put remaining mixture into dish, and cover top with another layer of Ketchup.

Bake for around 1 hour in 375 degree oven until Ketchup has began to caramelize.

Ok, you can have a salad with this!

Ode to Sauté

Isn’t Sauté just a fancy French term for frying? Au contraire, mon frère!

Being a come-here from the North, I’m not going to even attempt to make and argument about frying technique’s while surrounded by all of these Southerners. I will though, discuss the intricacies of Sauté. Being a recent graduate of the world renowned culinary training center’s Whole Foods Market Culinary Center grueling “Sauté for beginners” course (well, it was 3 hours, and you got to eat everything you made, so how bad can that be?), I feel completely qualified.

Let me see what I remember:

Seems those French bastards don’t always have to make everything difficult. The technique of Sautéing, is rather straight forward.

1. Use high heat: The purpose of Sauté is to sear or caramelize the food so that the natural water/juices are sealed into the food. If you use a lower heat, you will actually just steam the food (which is another technique all together). It’s best to start with the pan temperature a little higher, than what you want to actually cook with, since whenever you place the food in the pan, you will drop the temperature of the oil. Once you have the food in the pan, and the temperature comes back up to heat, you can adjust your flame back down.

2. Use only enough oil (butter, etc..) to make a light layer (coating) of the pan: Keep your cooking oil/fat to a minimum, Remember, this is called Sautéing, not Frying.

3. Once you have put the food in the pan STOP MOVING IT AROUND JACKASS!!: I know how tempting it is, but once you have placed the food in the hot pan, leave it the hell alone! Yes, I know, it sticks to the pan immediately, but if you would just be patient, you will discover that at a certain point, once the food has developed a good outer crust, it will loosen from the pan. The best way to watch for this, is just to gently move the pan back and forth. The other purpose for doing this, is to keep any oil/fat that is not in direct contact with the food, from burning. If your oil/fat starts to smoke, you have already burnt it, Toss it out, and start over with new oil.

4. Refrain from using non-stick type pans: The purpose for non-stick pan’s, are to extract water/juices from the food, which creates the non-stick effect. Remember, the idea behind Sautéing is to retain the water/juices.

5. Always make sure your ingredients are dry: #1 reason, it’s just plain dangerous. If you like having grease burns all over your body, and the potential for burning your house to the ground, then disregard this rule. Besides the fact, you will probably end up semi-steaming your food.

6. Food should be at room temperature or higher before placing in pan: For one, if you place cold food into the hot oil/fat, it will drop the temperature dramatically (remember rule #1). You will also end up over cooking the outside of the food, with the center under-cooked.

Now that you have all the official secrets of Sautéing, give it a try.

Perhaps:

Chicken Sauté provencal?

Sautéed Wild Mushrooms, with wilted Baby Spinach and Chevre ?

Carrots in a caramelized Balsamic reduction?

Well, that was actually what they had us make. So, if and old-stoned-out idiot like myself can do this, I’m sure anyone stupid enough to read to the end of this thread is capable as well.

The Secret Killer

  I have devised and elaborate plan of retribution against my annoying coworkers. This plan consists of baiting them with extremely fatty and rich foods. Slowly causing a company wide plague of High Blood Pressure, and possible cases of Gout. I will bide my time, quietly observing them gorge themselves on pork fat. Oh yes, I might lift a slight smile when one chokes briefly on a chunk of dripping Lamb Shank. But they will be no wiser of this diabolical preparation.

 Today I begin:

Innocently enough, just a “Simple Company Potluck” with offerings of potato salads and Spaghetti, Chicken, and all the other little light weight entrée’s brought by my prey.

 For me?

 Ha!!

First of all, call the dish something most can’t even pronounce “Cassoulet”. Then if one the victims actually bothers to ask “what’s in it?”, just respond with a non-emotional “Eh, it’s just pork & beans”.

So today, my own Guyana Kool-Aid:

Cassoulet: (Pork & Beans)

1 lb Pork Loin (Don’t you dare trim that fat!)

1 lb Short Ribs

1 lb Lamb Shank

½ lb Bacon

½ lb Fresh Sausage

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large yellow onion, sliced

6 cups chicken stock

2 cups dried white beans,

2 cups chopped, seeded tomatoes and their juices

1 Head minced garlic 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons creole mustard

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 bay leaf (Fresh)

1 tsp dry thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup water

Beginning with Braising all of the meat (not the bacon) after coating with a Paprika based rub. Braise the meat with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, in a pressure cooker. Making sure to do in batch’s so that you don’t crowd the meat, and end up cooking the meat instead of browning it. Remove meat, and then sauté the onions in the remaining oil. Add stock and beans, making sure to scrap any bits from the bottom of the pot.

 Place lid on Pressure cooker, and pressure cook on high for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and let the pressure release slowly (About 15 minutes)

 Remove lid and  now add all remaining ingredients, and replace lid to cooker. Once again, cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. And then remove from heat, and allow pressure to release on it’s own.

Have your crock-pot heated up in advance to high, and now transfer contents from pressure cooker to crock-pot. Let simmer (stirring occasionally) until meat has separated from the bone. The sauce should be well combined to a thick creamy consistency. There should be no obvious sign of floating fat or oil (they might suspect something)

What you now have, should be capable of causing a 10 point increase in everyone’s cholesterol count. And triple digit Diastolic readings for my targeted audience.

Enjoy my little Pretties!!!

Why Start Now?

 Although I’ve always enjoyed food, I had never given much interest in how it was made, or “what exactly is in this?” until the last 10 years. Now I feel obsessed with everything, from the history of ingredients, to techniques of preparation, and the joining of all the elements.

 

 I look at everything I put in my mouth now, and give it thought as to what makes this. what it is. The old saying “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know” is my driving force. Food is a wonderful conversation. Every individual you talk with, has a different story, they look at the same ingredient at another view. I firmly believe that people can be as fanatical about food, as they are about religion.

 As I study the disciplines of French techniques, or Asian methods, I find myself learning even more from inquiring with the home cook. Someone that spends day in and day out, cooking for the worst critics “The Family”. Creativity abounds, from dealing with finicky children, to lack of ingredients, to budgetary concerns. Thomas Keller may be a genius, but the real evolution of food, comes straight from the family cook next door.

I hope to use this space as a way to document my discoveries, and to also share that with others.

This is just another of those conversations with and audience that has no barriers.