IDEAS IN FOOD

What We Were Cooking

Imagine baby turnips cooked till just tender. Sweet with a hint of bitterness, yielding and yet still toothsome and juicy. Pair them with a perfect soft boiled egg, silky whites, gently giving way to warm yolky goodness, accented with a hint of garlic and thyme. Toast fingers fried in butter are all the accent needed for a meal fit for me.

 

Chicken Ceasar

 

Inspirations and evolutions come directly from what we already know.

Garlic Butter...

Sure, it sounds cliche and from days long ago. Still, have you looked at its role in cooking? What about its uses? Today we used a decadent garlic butter as a warm bath for reheatable softboiled eggs. The butter seasoned and glazed the exterior of the eggs, providing a welcome mat for the flavors within.

Calamari Crackling

Calamari Crackling
145 grams cleaned squid tentacles
80 grams cleaned squid bodies
5 grams squid ink
260 grams tapioca flour

1.5 liters Canola oil for frying
Salt

Puree the squid tentacles, bodies and ink in a food processor until it reaches a smooth paste. Add the tapioca flour and pulse the mixture to evenly combine the tapioca into the squid paste. Turn the machine on and puree the mixture to form a sticky dough. Divide the dough between two large vacuum bags and seal on high pressure. Use a rolling pin to spread the dough to inside edges of the bag so that a uniform thickness is achieved. The dough should be about two millimeters thick. Place both bags in a steamer large enough to hold them and gently steam the dough for twenty-five minutes. After twenty-five minutes, remove the bags and cut them open. Carefully pull the dough out of the bags and lay it on dehydrator trays.  Dehydrate the sheets for several hours until the dough is completely dry and brittle.  The dough will take on a shiny matte appearance and be easily broken into pieces.  When the dough is dry, remove it from the dehydrator and break the sheet into pieces roughly 4cm wide and 8cm long. This recipe makes more calamari crackers then are needed for the dish. The dried cracker base may be reserved in its dry form in a zip top bag for several weeks.

Heat a pot of canola oil to 177ºC.  Slide the crackers two at a time into the oil.  The cracker will sink to the bottom of the oil and then begin to puff and expand. Fry the crackling until it is completely puffed and there are no dark spots of unexpanded cracker dough.  Remove the puffed cracklings from the oil and drain on a paper towel lined tray.  Sprinkle with salt while still hot from the fryer.

Buttered Noodles

There's something so soothing about buttered noodles. The slick texture giving way to tender pasta yielding against my tongue. The buttery sweetness balanced by slightly gritty, salty cheese. A sprinkling of fresh ground pepper to spice things up. Buttered noodles are often served as a side dish although for a solitary meal they can be pure indulgence. On my rare evenings alone I love a simple dish of pasta. If I'm feeling ambitious I'll dice an onion and melt it with some anchovies, add a few handfuls of al dente capellini and some grated piave vecchio. It's a meal fit for a queen and one that I'm prone to share with a glass of good red wine and my own company. Pictured here is something a bit more social. Potato chip noodles with sweet butter, grated parmigiano, tomato concasse, and king crab meat. This was accompanied by fresh ideas and good company.  Whether fancy or plain, buttered noodles facilitate meditation because they make people feel safe and well taken care of. They're quick, easy, and still incredibly indulgent.

Potato Chip Flour

Using dark roasted instant mashed potatoes we create the flavor of fried potato chips without the fat and the starch. Potato chip gnocchi are being worked on as are cavatelli. Potato chip vichysoisse is also planned as is a refinement on potato chip ice cream. Potato chip bread would also be quite tasty along with potato chip noodles. The rich flavor of the roasted flakes is something we have experienced in past preparations using them as a breading. Their new integration into our cooking refines the steps we have previously taken and reminds us the pleasure of revisiting ideas, ingredients and innovations.

Corn and Miso Soup

This is our corn and miso soup with calamari cous cous and crisp. Glad to feel the weather is warming up.

Tea Sandwiches

Just because you think you know does not mean you know. We were invited to help prepare an array of tea sandwiches for a bridal shower. The menu was loosely based on the tea sandwiches prepared for Aki's baby shower. We saw the list of sandwiches and kept some true to form and interpreted a few others. What is really interesting, humbling and exciting is that the sandwiches we thought would be the go to favorite, the simple ham and egg salad were snubbed. They were, in some peoples minds, boring. Neither sandwich lacked flavor and they both were quite tasty, they happily ended up as my breakfast, and still they were just commonplace. The sandwiches of note, the explosive flavor bites, were the vadouvan chicken salad on cinnamon raisin bread and the smoked turkey with mango chutney, whipped brie and shaved apple on rye. Who knew? I figured these two to be overlooked and perhaps even questioned. Once again I am schooled in what people want, what they enjoy and what really is tasty in particular surroundings.

How do you see the world?

Scientific Method

 

What do you see?

Buffalo Wing Stock

Stocks are traditionally building blocks. If we are in search of focusing flavors we should create stocks from "bones" with taste already infused in them. In practice, stocks are the backbone which many sauces and preparations may be built upon. However, if we look at the final product, the flavors we are looking for we may save time and increase flavor by narrowing our focus. Today we started with buffalo wings. The flavors of wings come together and their popularity is not do to randomness. Wings are tasty. Why would we not try making a stock with finished wings? This idea has been executed in some of our other explorations in sauces and what they are. The use of this iconic barroom staple as a stock begins to open doors to how we develop and define dishes.

In a Pickle

As grilling season commences, the pickle becomes so much more than a cucumber. Our latest article at Popular Science is all about this popular condiment. Check it out & let us know what you think.

Fresh Garbanzo Beans

We found these at our local H Mart. We were drawn in by their fuzzy, pale green beauty and pleasantly surprised to discover that they were old favorites in an unfamiliar form. One of the nice things about moving to PA is being able to visit local farms. This time we found something special in the local market. These fresh garbanzo beans were a wonderful reminder of how beautiful our food can be right off the vine.

Garbanzo beans are quite possibly the most popular legume in the world. There are two basic types. Desi garbanzos are smaller seeds with a thick, irregular skin that ranges in color from beige to black. Kabuli garbanzos are larger and lighter in color, usually appearing in creamy shades of beige and tan. Chick peas are typically a spring crop, although the seeds are easy to sprout at home on a windowsill. They are beneficial to a garden because they help deposit nitrogen into the soil without the use of fertilizer.

Chick peas are high in protein with fiber and folate. The seeds can be used fresh, dried, or ground as a flour. The young plants can be sauteed and eaten as a vegetable. The  beans are hearty and satisfying and have many different uses in the kitchen. Although hummus is practically synonomous with garbanzos, they are found in many classic regional recipes such as socca, panelle, halo halo, kabuli chana dal, and falafel.

Ingredient Specific

Ingredients and how we eat them are often inspiring. Asparagus, long and slender, brittle and toothsome screams to be eaten with your fingers. Often times fingers and setting do not mingle well. Thankfully we were not alone in wanting to pick up and nibble vibrant and crisp asparagus. Asparagus tongs exist so that the child in us can visit with the adult world of dining. Eating asparagus with these beauties is something special. Now we are forced with the task of designing an asparagus dish which does our vegetable pincers justice.

Opening Doors

Dave Arnold and Nils Noren have opened their doors. If you do not know of Dave and Nils now is a good time to become introduced. If you know them, you are as happy as we are to realize they are sharing their kitchen their and minds with the digital world. Take some time and dive in; reading their musings, discoveries and insightful approaches to cooking.

Love at First Sight

It arrived on Alex's birthday, almost as if I had planned it. Peg was here to help him put it together. Tonight we're grilling steaks, our first home cooked meal because we still haven't unearthed the pots and pans. I see a beautiful future with this beauty...

Fennel

 

Fennel is a versatile ingredient. Its role in court bouillon and shaved in salads is well recognized. Baby fennel, the miniature relative of the larger bulb, has gained popularity. Unfortunately, in its small state baby fennel is not that tender and delicious. It seems to be all fiber and no flesh. Recently we tried a smaller version of baby fennel. The bulb just shows its shape and since it is so young the fibers we disliked have yet to develop. These just sprouted fennel bulbs show promise in salads and as an accompaniment to just cooked fish and meat. The flavor in these tiny sprouts is intense, an explosive representation of the full grown product.

Chaos Theory

In times of duress or stress it is important to eat well. The body needs nourishment to support physical activities and mental acuity. Of course these are the times when diets go out the window, we eat whatever is easy and quick, and if sugar and fat are involved, the more the better. We're in the midst of moving into our new home, Mother's Day weekend had it's own unnecessary dramas, and combined with the single biggest purchase and move we've ever made, it's safe to say that we haven't been eating well. It's hard to cook a good meal when you have no idea where the pots and pans are. Tonight after we picked up the cats and finally reunited the family (they've been boarding with family for the last two months) we drew a line in the sand. Alex ran out to the market for a roasted chicken and good salad greens. We cracked open a very nice bottle of wine. There was no bread, butter, or frills and none were needed. It may not have been home cooked but it was a simple, healthy and delicious meal.  Nourishment is what we were after and we rediscovered how much better the world looks after a good meal. No pictures because I've never seen a chicken disappear so fast. We were tearing into it before we even had it on the plates. Tomorrow is another day for fun in the kitchen, today we're just greatfull to have had access to someone else's cooking.

Bacon and Swiss

I saw the signage and had another you've got to be kidding me moments. I am having more of them these days. We were walking through the Newtown Amish farmers market and came across the butcher. The meats looked good and we looked closer. That is when I saw it, out of the corner of my eye...Bacon and Swiss Cheese Sausage. Sure we have had parsley and cheese sausage and broccoli rabe ground into the meat, even apple and jalapeno. The idea of using one essential pork product to make another and then gilding the lilly with cheese seemed so obvious once I saw it in action. I knew we had to buy some. After a quick turn on the grill we were enjoying a delicious addition to our kitchen and wondering what else could be sausage or for that matter what had we not combined simply because the answer was so simple we had yet to ask the question.

Apricots and Chanterelles

Getting to know ingredients is exciting. Utilizing their synergy is enlightening. Blending the knowledge of ingredients and their synergistic qualities is what cooking is all about. Cooking with apricots and chanterelle mushrooms is a great way to begin to understand the pleasures of combining seemingly disparate ingredients. The following recipes follow the path of cooking with both apricots and chanterelles, looking to pique the flavor of them both and creating a greater whole.
 
Dried Apricot Stock

1000g water
310g dried un-sulfured apricots
110g peeled and sliced fresh ginger
65g chopped and bruised lemongrass
25g rose syrup
4g salt

Place all the ingredients in a pressure cooker.  Seal the lid, bring up to full pressure and cook for thirty minutes.  After thirty minutes, turn off the heat and let the pressure dissipate.  Remove the lid of the pressure cooker and strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer.  Discard the solids and cool the stock.

Apricot Infused Chanterelle Mushrooms

280g chanterelle mushrooms
270g dried apricot stock
2g salt

Use a pairing knife to peel the chanterelle mushrooms stems and cut off the ends.  Once the mushrooms are peeled, rinse the mushrooms in warm water.  Pull the mushrooms out of the water and repeat the rinsing two more times in warm water.  After the third rinsing, pull the mushrooms out and pat them dry on paper towels.

Place the cleaned mushrooms in the pressure cooker and add the apricot stock and the salt.  Place the lid on the pressure cooker and cook the mushrooms for five minutes.  Let the pressure dissipate, remove the lid and cool the mushrooms.  Cool the mushrooms and reserve them in the refrigerator.

Apricot Poached Apricots

500g Apricots
200g Apricot stock
2g salt

Cut the apricots in half and remove the pits.  Place the apricots, the apricot stock and the salt in a vacuum bag and seal.  Place the bag in an 83 degree Celsius water bath and cook for fifteen minutes.  Remove the bag and cool in an ice bath.

Apricot Gel

590g poached apricots and poaching liquid
1.18g high acyl gellan (0.2%)
1.18g low acyl gellan (0.2%)

Put the apricots and their poaching liquid in a blender.  Puree the apricots until they are smooth.  When the mixture is smooth, sprinkle in both types of gellan.  Shear the mixture to disperse the gellan.  Put the mixture in a pot and slowly heat, stirring frequently until the mixture reaches 90 degrees Celsius.  As the mixture is heated, skim any impurities that rise to the surface.  The apricot puree will darken in color as the foam is removed from the surface.  When the mixture reaches 90 degrees Celsius, remove any last foam on the surface of the mixture, then pour the mixture into a 20 by 20 centimeter glass dish.  The mixture will gel quickly so pour the mixture into the dish quickly.

Place the dish in the refrigerator to cool. 

Apricot Puree and Crisp

250g apricot gel

8 acetate sheets cut into 10 cm rounds
Pan release

Put the 250g of apricot gel into the blender and puree until silky and smooth.  Press the apricot puree through a fine meshed strainer.  Spray the acetate sheets with the pan release and then wipe clean.  The fine film remaining on the sheet will prevent the crisp from sticking to the acetate.  Spread a uniform thin layer of the apricot puree on each acetate sheet.  Place the apricot covered acetate sheets in a dehydrator.  Reserve the apricot puree.  Dry the crisps for one hour.  The apricot should be dry to the touch.  Remove from the dehydrator and peel the apricot off the acetate.  Place the apricot back in the dehydrator to finish drying.  Remove the crisps from the dehydrator and lay on a clean countertop to cool.  When the crisps are cool, place them in an air tight container with a silica gel pack to keep the crisps brittle and crunchy.

Ideas Bloom

With spring in it's full glory, it is always exciting to see what inspiration blossoms in the field. During a recent trip to Blue Moon Acres we were able to smell the benefits of sun and rain. This patch of Johnny Jump Ups, a member of the violet family, reawakened my passion for edible flowers. We did a bit of research and came across a wonderful page sharing information about these and other culinary beauties, exploring more than we had thought of to pursue.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

A Reminder of Spring

The Better Butter Burger

The components:

Ground Beef
Ground Loose Sausage
Grated Frozen Butter
Grated Sweet Onion
Braised Pork Rib Pan Drippings

A small tweak led to a gigantic realization. Why do we use plain salt? Why not use the essence of an ingredient to flavor a dish? In this case we could use freeze dried french onion soup to really get to the essence of beef into our burger. However, we had pan drippings on hand and they were the catalyst for the idea, which has now sparked an evolution and fueled an internal revolution. How often do we reach for salt to pique flavor without asking what else we could use to pique a specific dish? This is not an easy answer. This is not a universal solution. It is a new approach, a way of cooking, a fresh view through the looking glass. We have asked what can be water and what can be fat. We have challenged flours and stocks. Our basic seasoning has sat unscathed and unquestioned. We have missed out on many opportunities to cook better. Thankfully, with dinner looming we glanced through the refrigerator and took the leap. Wish you could join us, at least you may ask the question. What else can we use for seasoning?

 

The Process of Cooking

Captured and Consumed by John Sconzo on May 1, 2009

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

and Philadining over at egullet from the May 2 dinner.

 

A Down Home Classic

You can teach an old dog new tricks. "Fried hot dogs and potatoes? Seriously?" "I'm telling you everybody loves them. I grew up on this dish, all my kids love it and so does my husband. It's the perfect meal for when no one wants to cook but everyone wants something really good to eat." This conversation took place a week or two ago. Not long after that we had grilled hot dogs. The leftover dogs were like a siren's song calling softly until tonight. "Hey Peg, how do you feel about frying up some hot dogs and potatoes for dinner?" We got a big smile in return. "Why honey I'd love too." She peeled seven potatoes for four people and I raised my eyebrows. "How many people are you cooking for?" She smiled serenely. "Just the four of us." There were no leftovers. Enough said.

Lemongrass Sabayon

How do you build flavors? We are not building dishes. We are looking at expressions of flavor. Tastes, experiences, beliefs and impressions often guide our process. A visual aesthetic is essential to the assemblage of delicious. In fact, without an aesthetic driving our approach cooking is inherently simple. Weaving taste and beauty together is both inspiring and difficult. Striving to do this is essential in the refinement of cooking.

In working with flavors very often ingredients that look beautiful together also taste great and harmonize. We were working on the development of a lemongrass sabayon and started bringing components together. The first was the lemongrass. We knew we wanted something lighter so we reached for coconut water rather than coconut milk. To balance these two base flavors we added Thai basil and lime juice. The acidity brought the rich flavors of the coconut together and accented the floral notes of the lemongrass. The basil filled in the blanks.

The ingredients look beautiful together in their raw state. Their clarity and pristine qualitly set the stage for the dynamic tastes of the end result: lemongrass sabayon.

Rosemary Blossoms

Roll Your Own: Potato Gnocchi

Shades of Green, Taste of Spring

From last night's dinner. Picture by Shola.

May 1, 2009

Ideas in Food-Studio Kitchen


Shades of Green, Tastes of Spring

Liquid Lovage
crabmeat

Cream of Watercress Ice Cream
sake cured steelhead trout roe, croissant croustillant

Wild King Salmon
pecorino, fava beans, pimenton

Mozzarella Pudding
frozen rhubarb, olive oil

Russet Potato Gnocchi
ramp leaves, country ham, shaved l’etivaz

Wild King Salmon
grilled zucchini puree, lemongrass sabayon, rye bread

Chicken Marsala
egg yolk, morels, nasturtium

Skirt Steak
honeydew melon, rosemary, fermented vadouvan

Langres
strawberry-lychee mostarda, red ribbon sorrel

Aero Chocolate
blood orange infusion, crispy cashews