IDEAS IN FOOD: 31 entries from May 2015

Beneath the Leaves

People don't often peel asparagus. Occasionally they will peel the base of an asparagus spear, mostly for aesthetic purposes. That's because they've never bitten into an asparagus spear that was succulent, juicy, and crunchy from the particles of dirt hidden underneath the the triangular leaves that dot the stems. We insist on removing those flat leaves because they sometimes hide pockets of of dirt.

Asparagus shoots poke through the dirt to reach their heads toward the sun. The leaves grow around the dirt on the stem, encasing the tiny particles, preserving them as an unwelcome surprise for the unsuspecting diner. A good soak will not remove the grit. We slide the tip of a paring knife under each leaf and pare it away. Some days you will find nothing but clean green stem, other times you will be amazed by the gritty particles concealed beneath the surface. We follow the trimming by soaking the asparagus in cold water, rinsing off the newly revealed dirt. It's worth the extra effort to ensure beautiful, clean vegetables are enjoyed by everyone at your table.

Years Past

May 31, 2012

May 31, 2007

May 31, 2006

May 31, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 31, 2015 at 07:04 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chef Spoons

Adam Aschner is a former client and friend. When he contacted us to let us know that he was designing a newer, better Chef Spoon we thought it was a brilliant idea. He sent us a few of the early prototypes to play with and they quickly became our go-to spoons in the kitchen. They have a nice feel our hands. Their weight and shape making them feel well balanced and easy to maneuver. The almost pointed ends make it easier to direct the flow of the contents of the spoon and nicely sized bowl allows us to either baste or portion easily.

In addition to being a chef, Adam is also and artist. He has designed the spoons so that each handle has a small window with a picture. This means you can personalize your spoons using one of his many designs or by sending him your logo or personal design to put into place. He surprised us with an Ideas in Food spoon, imagine how good your logo would look here. You could give them to your staff as gifts, sell them in your restaurant, or gift them to frequent diners so they'll think of you whenever they're cooking at home. Adam is Kickstarting his spoons so please go check out the campaign. The spoons are reasonably priced, essential kitchen tools that you can customize to your taste. What's not to love about that?

Years Past

May 30, 2014

May 30, 2013

May 30, 2012

May 30, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 30, 2015 at 10:46 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, INSPIRATIONS, Kitchen Tools | Permalink | Comments (1)

Saltines Streusel

Imagine saltines with butter and jam. The crackers are light and crisp, the butter is creamy and slightly salty, the jam sweet and floral. Put it all together and you have one delicious bite. It made sense transform broken crackers into a streusel that would help us recreate that experience in a dessert.

We used the Cookie Streusel Recipe from Gluten Free Flour Power as our starting point, substituting Saltine crackers for the broken cookies. We mixed the streusel in a food processor and then baked it on a parchment lined baking pan. The saltines were balanced by the sugar and butter in the mixture. The finished crunchy, yeasty streusel was delicious with ice cream. It would also be a stellar topping on any fruit pie or crisp, and as a crust for cheesecake with fruit topping. Crackers with jam just got upgraded.

Years Past

May 29, 2012

May 29, 2006

May 29, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 29, 2015 at 03:41 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Can You Do In An Hour?

Let's find out. Not everyone knows that one of our most popular services is consulting. We've worked with clients from international food service companies to single restaurant chef-owners. We show talented, visionary chefs who are looking to excel how to become more creative, define their goals, and implement new ideas and techniques in order to reach new heights. Our clients are inquisitive cooks who love food and embrace the idea of continuing education. We provide a supportive environment for them to troubleshoot their issues and help them fine tune ways to make ideas happen.

Our most popular service is the telephone consultation. We spend at least one hour a week refining ideas and troubleshooting any issues that have come up in your world. We talk through menus and dishes and help focus their preparation and execution for maximum flavor and efficiency. We can show you new approaches to overcoming obstacles in your kitchen and help you work with the equipment and resources you already have to decrease waste and streamline service in order to improve your bottom line. For those of you who want a more in depth overhaul we provide hands on consulting to work directly with you and your team to organize and implement new ideas, seasonal menus, and updated processes.

Telephone consultations are $150 per hour. On site consulting services and special projects are priced on a case by case basis. Now that you know what's possible, contact us to find out what you can accomplish in an hour.

Years Past

May 28, 2012

May 28, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 28, 2015 at 03:29 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Beyond the Kitchen Doors, Culinary Conversations | Permalink | Comments (1)

Figuring Out a Pork Roast, Again

We tend to shop with an open mind. Years of experience has taught us that if we make up our mind as to what we want before we go shopping, we are bound to be disappointed. But if we peruse the meat, fish, and produce departments with an open mind, great ingredients jump out at us and meals create themselves. Of course some days are easier than others. On a recent trip we picked up this 6 bone shoulder roast. It was a little big for the three of us. And we were up for looking beyond a slow cooked roast. And then the light bulb went off. We break down rib eyes, lobsters, and chuck shoulders into their parts and pieces. Why not a pork roast too?

Now we have lots of possibilities to explore over several meals. The exterior cap to be braised and potentially cured, the ribs and the double cut bone in rib chops. It just required a small change in perspective.

Years Past

May 27, 2012

May 27, 2006

May 27, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 27, 2015 at 04:29 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mustard Mafaldine

We started with our base pasta dough recipe, which calls for 2000 grams of semolina and 600 grams of water. We subtracted 100 grams of semolina and added 126 grams of Coleman's dry mustard in its place. We mixed the semolina and the mustard together in a bowl and poured it into the hopper of the machine. Then we slowly added the water, holding back 50 grams, to see how the hydration of the dough would be affected by the modifications. We ended up adding 20 of the reserved 50 grams of liquid to get the right texture. Inspired by the alliteration, we chose mafaldine as our shape. We are pairing the noodles with peppered salami meat sauce, so the combination of sauce and mustard flavored noodles made deli-sense.

Years Past

May 26, 2012

May 26, 2010

May 26, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 26, 2015 at 11:00 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

A Return to Raisins

Raisins are concentrated grapes. Their sweet and slightly caramelized notes seduce us into using them in ways beyond cookies and condiments. We have made ribbons and crisps. We have used them in sauces to add depth. We have added them to Rye to add sweetness and complexity. We have added them to vermouth and then separated removed the alcohol to make a raisin vermouth concentrate. And of we course we have smoked raisins, using them to add a smoked complexity to sherry.

It dawned on me this morning that we had not used raisins to enhance vinegar. The combination of raisins, vinegar, and time will add the same sweetness and complexity that we experienced in the alcohol infusions. Many vinegars are bracing and thin, leaving you wanting something more when you taste them. So today I added golden raisins to our Tequila vinegar and our sweet vermouth vinegar. And now we wait.

Ideas worth exploring: utilizing other dried fruits and vegetables in all these applications.

Years Past

May 25, 2012

May 25, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 25, 2015 at 08:24 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spare Parts

What are spare parts?

What are the essential spare parts you have on hand?

Are they actually spare the parts?

Can you part with them?

Aren't they essential elements that we will call upon?

When do spare parts become the catalyst for something entirely new?

Is it necessity?

Is it perspective?

Years Past

May 24, 2012

May 24, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 24, 2015 at 07:24 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lobster Rolls

Can we shrink a lobster roll into a bite? We started with the bread. We took Martin's potato bread and rolled it into thin sheets. We have explored this concept before as a crust for fish and as a tortilla variation. We trimmed the bread sheets into strips and brushed them heavily with melted butter.

We rolled the strips around cannoli molds.

We held the molds in place with spoons and baked the tubes for 10 minutes at 350°F.

When the bread was toasted we removed them from the oven and slid them off the tubes. We cooled them completely to give them a chance to crisp up.

We filled the tubes with king crab salad to test them out. The tubes were buttery and rich. They retained their crunch even after being filled for 30 minutes. Some of the tubes were overcooked and had a burnt toast finish. The bread was buttery but would benefit from additional seasonings. So we have a solid platform to build and improve upon. Lowering the cooking temperature a bit will allow us to eliminate the burnt bread. And flavoring the butter will allow us to impart additional seasoning. And if we went further and made our own flavored bread, the possibilities for expanding delicious expand exponentially.

Years Past

May 23, 2012

May 23, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 23, 2015 at 06:20 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (2)

Octo-Puffs

The most difficult part in achieving anything is asking the question. During a recent workshop we were asked if it was possible to make an octopus Chicharron. We have explored the technique of making puffed snacks and chicharron-like products. We have an amazing recipe for kimchi cracklings (chicharron) in Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work. Our calamari crackling recipe is here.

Once asked, we set about achieving the desired results. Instead of using actual octopus we started with the intensely seasoned and oceanic broth left over from cooking the octopus. This is a flavorful by-product that is often discarded. We combined roughly one part octopus stock with 2 parts tapioca flour and pureed them into a wet dough in the food processor. Then we divided the dough between two large vacuum bags and sealed them at high pressure. We used a rolling pin to spread the dough to inside edges of the bag so that a uniform thickness was achieved, about two millimeters thick. We placed both bags in a steamer large enough to hold them and gently steamed the dough for 45 minutes. Then we removed the bags from the steamer and cut them open. We carefully removed the dough and laid it on dehydrator trays. We dehydrated the sheets for several hours until the dough was completely dry and brittle. When fully dry, the sheets took on a shiny, opaque appearance and were easily broken into pieces. We removed it from the dehydrator and broke the sheet into pieces roughly 4-cm wide and 8-cm long.

When we were ready to fry we heated a pot of peanut oil to 204ºC. We slid two pieces at a time into the oil. The dried dough sank to the bottom of the oil and then began to puff and expand. We flipped the puffed cracklings once or twice to make sure they are completely puffed and cooked. Then we removed the puffed cracklings from the oil with the spider and drained them on a tray with a cooling rack. We seasoned the Octo-Puffs with a sprinkling of salt and Espelette pepper.

The Octo-Puffs are light, airy, crispy, and taste like the essence of octopus. The under-valued octopus stock has been utilized to create a delicious chicharron.

Years Past

May 22, 2012

May 22, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 22, 2015 at 04:03 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oat Flour

Anyone who's been around for a while knows that we are passionate about cookies. While we love all kinds of cookies, the house favorite is chocolate chip in all of its myriad combinations. We even wrote an essay about them for the book: The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History). One of the perks of writing a gluten free cookbook was experimenting with different flours. We found that oat flour (we use Bob's Red Mill) is uniquely suited to certain cookies, brownies, and blondies because it helps deliver a great chewy texture, along with some fiber and whole grains, so it's a win-win. I love a chewy cookie, there's just something about sinking your teeth into one that is very satisfying to me. I add about 40% oat flour to any chocolate chip cookie recipe, being sure to chill the dough for a couple of hours before baking, to give the flour time to hydrate. This also gives your ingredients time to mesh and develop their flaovrs, so again, win-win. Try it yourself, while I won't say it makes the cookies guilt free, it does make me feel better about eating an extra one or two or three..

Years Past

May 21, 2012

May 21, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 21, 2015 at 03:39 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Ingredients | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's A Process

First you start with a strong foundation. These Kouign-amann are adapted from our recipe in Gluten Free Flour Power. We used sprouted spelt flour instead of gluten free, but other than that we stayed pretty true to the original. Kouignn-amann are one of those indulgent treats, rich and sweet, with flaky layers and crisp edges. I like to pull them apart and nibble on all the different textures. Alex isn't afraid to slather butter over them and really gild the lily.

Technique is what really matters here. You have to pay attention to the details. You want to be patient with yourself and with the dough as you make these. Oven time is especially important because there's nothing good about under-cooked pastry. If you can be watchful and patient you will be rewarded with a super-caramelized crust full of deep flavors, and who doesn't want that?

If you get everything right--and it's really not that hard to do, you end up with something delicious that you can share with the people you love. Cooking is about the process, following the steps correctly in order to get the desired results. As with any other skill, practice makes perfect. It's not that the steps can't change, but you have to understand the process in order to determine the best way to rearrange them. Mistakes teach you more than success but success tastes better.

Years Past

May 20, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 20, 2015 at 03:03 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coffee to Go

Aki and Amaya put together an incredible birthday gift for me. They brought together a miniature hand cranked burr grinder, a scale, an Aero-Press, a mini-electric kettle and good coffee beans. Everything fits into a compact, bright orange cooler bag that was decorated by Amaya. This traveling coffee kit allows me to make great coffee anywhere I go, as we travel for workshops, consulting, and dinners.

Years Past

May 19, 2012

May 19, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 19, 2015 at 09:03 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Doing What They Do Best

It's always fun to be around people who are passionate about what they do. It tends to inspire us to find our own passion projects. Sometimes that leads to a new career and sometimes that leads to a new friend. Only time can tell which is more important in your world. A good friend who we don't see very often stopped by this weekend. Bonjwing and Alex were having fun with the pizza oven. When you bring people together who have complementary talents, it's always a treat to just sit back and watch things unfold.

Years Past

May 18, 2012

May 18, 2006

May 18, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 18, 2015 at 06:49 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (2)

Roasted on a Bed of Cabbage

We took a head of red cabbage and shredded it. We seasoned it with Minus 8 Brix Ver Jus and BLiS Smoked Soy Sauce. We formed it into a large mound. We seasoned a rack of ribs pork ribs with salt and laid it on the cabbage. We put the ribs in a 275° oven and roasted them for 5 hours. As the ribs and cabbage cooked we used the juices and fats from the bottom of the pan to baste the meat. The cabbage tenderized and we pushed it underneath the ribs to prevent it from burning during the long cooking time. The cabbage steamed beneath the ribs, absorbing all of their rich flavor. The pork juices blended with the vegetables. The vegetable juices, enhanced with soy sauce and verjus, happily glazed the meat.

After cooking for 5 hours we let the ribs and cabbage rest for 30 minutes. Then we cut up the ribs and arranged them on a platter. We mixed the cabbage with the residual pan drippings and a pinch of salt to bring everything into balance.

The process of cooking of meats and vegetables together continues to fascinate us.

Years Past

May 17, 2012

May 17, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 17, 2015 at 02:49 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dig In

We were at the first farmers market of the season in Concord. We were captivated by Joan's Famous Composting Worms. Amaya was taken in by the pink sign with the words Dig In. She could watch the worms dig and squirm in the soil. We were drawn in by her interest. We did some research on worm composting in years past. Then we let the idea get buried by other distractions. Hopefully we can dig in this year and make it happen for Amaya, us, and the worms. I'm sure we'd have plenty of good eats for them to devour.

Years Past

May 16, 2012

May 16, 2009

May 16, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 16, 2015 at 06:04 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Instant Museli

We have been on a muesli kick. Aki drives the bus mixing a blend of seeds, grains, and dried fruits with yoghurt and letting it hydrate overnight. Unfortunately yesterday I forgot to let her know that I finished the muesli. And when we woke there was none. I needed to fix my mistake. And I did. I blended the yogurt and muesli mix and then vacuum sealed the mixture. The process quickly hydrated the ingredients. Thanks to technology and a bit of know how, we avoided the hangries this morning.

Years Past

May 14, 2012

May 14, 2006

May 14, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 14, 2015 at 06:19 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mixing Differently

We have taken to mixing our cakes in a different order. The idea stems from our no-knead danish dough in Maximum Flavor. We mix the fat with the flour first so that the fat mixes evenly with the flour. Then we fold in the liquids. This technique is often used for biscuits and pie doughs because the individual starch granules in the flour are coated with fat and this limits gluten development. And it makes mixing batters and doughs much easier because you don't have to worry about over-mixing the batter.

In the case of our vanilla cake, we put the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in the food processor and pulse to blend. Then we add the peanut oil and puree the mixture together.

The result is a compact streusel-like mass.

We add the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk all at once and puree the mixture into a smooth batter.

The fat coats the flour and prevents extensive gluten formation in the mixing.

The result is an even finely crumbed tender cake. And we end up with way fewer dishes in the process.

Years Past

May 13, 2012

May 13, 2009

May 13, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 13, 2015 at 01:45 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Culinary Psychology: Don't Get Psyched Out

Last weekend we were visiting family and they were doing a cookbook themed dinner. The books chosen were by a famous t.v. personality, known for well written, easy to follow recipes. The husband was to grill the marinated chickens and he was puzzled as he read the recipe. "It calls for me to cook the half chickens for 15 minutes per side, but there's no way they will finished in that amount of time." I shrugged and told him to cook the chickens until he thought they were done and not worry about it. He nodded at me but his wife had hand-picked the recipe and he wanted to follow it correctly. I could see him mentally debating it as we continued to get stuff ready for dinner and the chickens went on the grill. This is a man who grills often and well. Because he had this recipe in his head, he second guessed the cooking process. He did cook them for longer than the recipe called for, but still pulled them from the grill before he thought they were done. Fast forward to dinner where one of the guests cut into his chicken and pointed out that it was kind of raw in the center. The look of utter frustration on the cook's face spoke volumes. We've all been there at some time. No matter how accomplished we may be, someone else's "expertise" can cause us to stumble. Eventually we learn, and are sometimes reminded, to follow our guts. That way, even when following a recipe, you know that no matter what happens in the kitchen, you own the results.

Years Past

May 12, 2012

May 12, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 12, 2015 at 03:30 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ramen Seasoning

Last year we were working on a project with Hooni Kim and he was telling me about ramen seasoning. Apparently in Korean households, families stockpile extra soup packets from their favorite ramen and use it as an all purpose seasoning for home cooking. One of the only issues I have with instant ramen is the salt level and that was the first time I realized that I could simply use part of a packet and save the rest. Sometimes I'm a little slow like that. Fast forward a year or two and I have my own little stockpile of ramen seasoning in the spice cabinet. So when we brought home some ridiculously beautiful artichokes the other day, Alex used them to make a flavorful broth for braising them in. Amaya, who is a huge artichoke fan, said they were the best ones she ever tasted. We've also used it in vinaigrettes, to season fried chicken brine, and as a dry rub on asparagus, shrimp, and steaks. Ramen Seasoning. It's the next big thing.

Years Past

May 11, 2012

May 11, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 11, 2015 at 03:37 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (2)

Open to Observation

The oven deck emits a ton of heat. We wanted to utilize the heat to maximum effect. We heated a cast iron skillet in the oven. We put a generous layer of bacon fat in the bottom of the skillet and then added day old rice. We topped this with escarole and a spatchcocked chicken and then roasted everything in the oven for about 45 minutes. The juices from the bird dripped into the rice. The bottom layer and edges of the rice browned, bringing to mind the socarrat in a paella. The interior rice steamed and soaked up the flavorful juices. We pulled the pan from the oven and let everything rest for 10 minutes. We carved the bird up with scissors. We mixed the rice, greens, crispy bits, and drippings together and served them alongside the meat. In doing so, we gained a great appreciation for this one pan pick up. And everything was consumed with gusto.

Years Past

May 10, 2012

May 10, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 10, 2015 at 04:18 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everything Ranch Asparagus

Too much? Actually it's a model starting point. We blanched and shocked the asparagus, and then sprinkled our Pressure Toasted Everything Blend on the stems. We added some olive oil and coarse salt. I wanted a creamy, tangy, intense element to tie things together so I reached for our Ranch Dip. It is savory, tangy, rich and a no-brainer as a complement to the tender, crisp, sweet, grassy asparagus.

As we taste and think things through, the ranch could be a hollandaise sauce, savory yogurt, creme fraiche or a cultured creamy vegan puree. We reached for our toasted everything crumbs. They have caramel notes, a deep savoriness, and a heady aroma from the seeds and roasted garlic and onion flakes. These were a base to be built upon and customized. Folding in citrus zests, toasted nori, and cayenne pepper would transform and elevate the impact of the spice blend. Flavoring the olive oil with aromatics from citrus to smoke would be another way to fine tune the flavors of the dish. We blanched the asparagus and served it chilled. We could poach the asparagus in dashi, grill it, smoke it, or roast it while still working off the foundation of asparagus, everything spice blend, and ranch. As we reflect upon these ideas, other variations rise to the surface.

Ideas worth exploring: Adding nori to our everything blend to make a furikake of sorts, Everything ranch, Everything hollandaise sauce, Ranch hollandaise sauce, mushrooms poached in Everything beurre monte, Ranch furikake.

Years Past

May 9, 2012

May 9, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 09, 2015 at 09:42 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Miso Garlic Butter

We put a mixture of garlic, butter, and olive oil in a medium pot on a very low heat. We cooked it until the garlic was tender and almost falling apart, about an hour and a half. Then we folded in sweet white miso and let the mixture rest and infuse. After thirty minutes, we pureed it until smooth. The fat rose to the top. The garlic and miso were a creamy paste hidden below the surface. The separation has us thinking of a number of ideas. The liquid fat is a miso-garlic clarified butter, of sorts. The paste is a sweet miso garlic and butter puree. We can whip the two back together or we can emulsify them if we wish. Or we can use them separately and together in different parts of a recipe. First cooking foods in the clarified fat and then brushing the flavorful paste on at the end and vice versa. As we build ideas using the miso-garlic butter as the foundation, the inspirations compound and evolve.

Ideas worth exploring: Miso-Garlic Butter biscuits, Everything enriched Miso-Garlic Butter, Miso-Garlic Butter shrimp toast, Miso-Garlic Butter puff pastry...

Miso Garlic Butter

340 grams peeled garlic

450 grams unsalted butter

225 grams olive oil

290 grams sweet white miso

Put the garlic, butter, and oil in a medium pot set over very low heat. Cook for 90 minutes or until the garlic is very tender. Remove from heat, stir in the white miso, cover, and let the mixture infuse at room temperature for 30 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Cooled Miso-Garlic Butter may be kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Years Past

May 8, 2012

May 8, 2007

May 8, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 08, 2015 at 02:48 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anchovy Zest

We were getting ready for pizza night and I was ranting about anchovies, wondering why nobody ever chops them up before adding them to pizzas. I happen to love anchovies on my pizza but having to bite through giant pieces while hot cheese pulls and sauce spatters is not my favorite thing to do. Spreading them over the pizza in small bits makes a world of difference. Alex happened to be opening a new jar of anchovies as I was having my moment and light bulb went off in his head. He decided to freeze them, with their oil, so he could zest them over the pizza for a more even dispersion of flavor. He tucked them in a container in the freezer and told me I'd either thank him or kill him. Safe to say, he's still here...

Years Past

May 7, 2012

May 7, 2010

May 7, 2006

May 7, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 07, 2015 at 01:27 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (5)

00 Pie

We can never leave well enough alone. That is why our recipes are building blocks. We're constantly tinkering with them in order to be sure that they form a solid base for new ideas, that they are pieces in an ever evolving system of creation.

We took our base no-knead pizza recipe and used 00 flour in place of the combination of all purpose and bread flour that we had previously evolved into using. The dough was softer and stretched more easily. It seemed to cook more evenly. The pizzas were more tender.

And as good as the pizzas were, I was missing something. A bit of bite. A touch more texture. And as I type this and mentally recount last evening's hard won pizza tasting adventure, I have an idea for another element to explore. Hopefully we'll be sharing the results soon.

Years Past

May 6, 2012

May 6, 2010

May 6, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 06, 2015 at 03:10 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Red-Eye Rubbed Pork

We started with stunning pork chops. We took our meat seasoning a combination of salt, brown sugar and cayenne, and added a few grams of ground coffee to it. We rubbed the seasoning over the chops and let them air dry and absorb the seasoning overnight.

The following day we cooked them for 3 hours at 55°C in the CVap. We pulled them from the CVap, rubbed them with butter and let them rest for 10 minutes. Then we seared them in a cast iron skillet in more butter. Another 5-7 minute rest and then we sliced the chops and consumed them with gusto.

Years Past

May 5, 2012

May 5, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 05, 2015 at 03:07 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Everyday Doughnuts

My new obsession is an everyday doughnut. Doughnut cravings can arise quickly. While our off the charts, worth the price of the book itself doughnut recipe in Maximum Flavor produces The Ultimate Doughnut, it is not a quick fix recipe.

I recently had a cruller style doughnut that was less airy than I've had in the past. It came close to a cake doughnut but with all its cruller-ness still intact. It had a lightly sweet, eggy interior with a honeycomb texture and a crisp, deep brown crust. As I contemplated the cruller, a light dawned. What if we blended pate choux with a cake batter? Then we would gain structure and lightness without having to wait for any yeast action.

I used the base pate choux and easy one bowl cake from Gluten Free Flour Power as my base models. Then I modified and combined the two recipes. A few mid-stream adjustments were necessary. In the end we had a rack of super crispy, moist and tender doughnuts. They were delicious plain and rolled in cinnamon sugar and just as good warmed up in the toaster oven the next morning.

The final recipe will surface somewhere, somehow, sometime. For now get in your kitchen and start tinkering.

Years Past

May 4, 2012

May 4, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 04, 2015 at 01:38 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Innovation

We're an idea company. Our philosophy is all about looking at things from different angles and trying to do things in new ways. We use all of the tools at our disposal and they range through ingredients, equipment, research, food science, serve ware, and personal experience. Innovation is the action or process of innovating a new method, idea, product, etc. Innovation doesn't have to be complicated to make food more interesting and delicious. Sometimes it can be as simple as slipping sliced pepperoni into the folds of a soft pretzel before baking, so that it bastes the dough with its fat and crisps up in the oven. The resulting flavors and textures are off the charts and you've got something new and different and very familiar all in one bite. That's Ideas in Food.

Years Past

May 3, 2012

May 3, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 03, 2015 at 06:51 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Danielle Lin Show

Aki's over on the Danielle Lin Show talking about Gluten Free Flour Power. In case you missed it, our latest book was released in March. It's all about mixing up your own gluten free flour blends and using them to make some of your favorite foods. When we gave people samples to try no one guessed they were gluten free. And if you're not gluten free, have no fear because these recipes work with all purpose flour too. A gram for gram substitution will let you make any of these recipes, which include Asian dumplings, breads, coconut canneles, pizza, homemade pastas, pies, cookies, and Japanese fried chicken, with or without gluten. In the end it's all about creating delicious food that everyone can enjoy.

Years Past

May 2, 2014

May 2, 2013

May 2, 2012

May 2, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

Posted on May 02, 2015 at 04:19 PM in Approach to Cooking, Beyond the Kitchen Doors, Books | Permalink | Comments (1)

Smeared On Fats

We took a head each of radicchio and cauliflower and smeared the cut surfaces with bacon fat. Then we put them on a medium grill and let the fats ease into the cut surfaces.

The vegetables cooked slowly. The fats caused occasional flare ups. We cooked the radicchio cut side up for the whole time. The denser cauliflower needed to be turned in order to cook evenly.

As the vegetables cooked, we added some local sausages to the grill. In order to create a lower temperature zone to finish cooking the sausage we propped them on the cooking vegetables. The juices and fats from the sausages dripped onto and into the cut vegetables. At the very end we put the sausages back on direct heat to brown. When the medley was cooked we put everything into a large baking dish to rest and blend their flavors together.

Ideas worth exploring: slower cooking of vegetables on the grill, creating more adjustable temperature zones with edibles, the pressing and juices of grilled ingredients as a sauce.

Years Past

May 1, 2012

May 1, 2006

May 1, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work