IDEAS IN FOOD: 31 entries from October 2016

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31 entries from October 2016

Brown Butter Toasted Seaweed

I have spent the past couple of days cooking with Viet Pham in the kitchen of The American Restaurant in Kansas City, MO. We both arrived a day early in order to get our dishes together. I am thankful for the time because it aloowed me observe some of his brilliant techniques and to pepper him with questions. One component of his dish is wakame seaweed cooked in ghee. He toasted the seaweed in the clarified brown butter. The seaweed concentrates in flavor, picking up a nutty buttery overtone. These crunchy cracklings have inspired an avalanche of ideas: from seasoning popcorn to cracker jacks to adding to a baked potato to topping poached fish (in the style of Viet's upcoming dish.)

Years Past

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 October 31, 2016 at 10:51 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Smart Cooling

I was in the kitchen today cooking with Viet Pham. He had finished making an aromatic whey and was going to cool the liquid down. He proceeded to fill a metal bain-marie with ice and put it into the broth. He stirred the broth with the cooling vessel. He added more ice occasionally. He was able to cleanly, efficiently and rapidly chill his whey faster than I've ever seen it done before. I now have a new way to cool foods. I love the collaboration and sharing that takes place when chefs come together.

Years Past

October 30, 2005 (2)

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 October 30, 2016 at 11:42 AM in Approach to Cooking, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (2)

Doing What You Know

It is comforting to be in a situation and do what you know. You can rely on past experiences to guide you through the process, even as difficulties pop up. The challenge is making the time and space to work on what we don't know. Where the falls are harder and the successes are smaller. I'm constantly looking at the balance between what we know and what we want to learn. How do we continue to pursue new as we rely on refining what we have? What amount of resources do we apply to each? As soon as we try something for the first time we know something about it. We get the initial jitters out of the way. After that, the unknown becomes the possible.

Years Past

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 October 29, 2016 at 09:24 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Toasted Oats

In our quest for flavor it can be easy to forget the easy, obvious steps. Case in point, toasting oats. This only takes about 10 minutes in a 350°F oven and the rewards are the great. The flavor of the grain deepens, becoming more pronounced with nutty undertones that make you appreciate the slightly sweet, earthy flavor of the oats. It takes them from being a carrier for other flavors to being a star attraction. The trick is to toast them far enough to make the magic happen. Pale blonde oats won't cut the mustard, you need to bring them to a deep foxy brown, only inches away from that edge where they cross over into burnt. That's the sweet spot where you get the best results. That's what makes granola so darned good. These oats are destined for cookies but they would be equally happy in sweet or savory porridge, cakes, or scones. Try it yourself and you'll understand what a difference ten minutes can make. Just remember to let them cool before using them in a recipe.

Years Past

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 October 28, 2016 at 04:55 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (1)

Free Sample Syndrome

Give something away for free and people are good with it. Attach a price tag to the same thing and the resistance begins. I see this as creative resistance. We are willing and open to exploring and searching and sharing as long as its free. When there is a price, even as low as a dollar and the hackles raise.

Years Past

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 October 27, 2016 at 04:03 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blending Noodles

We have been on a long road exploring the potential of noodles. Our current viewpoint has us revisiting some past creations with intense flavors. With these bases in hand, now we are looking at combining flavors to complement each other. That does not mean we are looking for noodle harmonies. In fact, sometimes the best combinations bounce off each other creating experiences we would not have otherwise encountered.

Today we revisited our cocoa-cayenne noodles and our pumpkin noodles. We kept the cocoa noodles the same and then we substituted smoked paprika for the ras al hanout in the pumpkin dough. After we extruded the two sets of noodles and let them air dry, we combined them. The visual speaks of the season. The flavors bounce off each other, subtle and sweet contrasting with the strong and slightly bitter. Together they are a strong foundation for a cold weather sauce such as our pepperoni bolognese.

Years Past

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

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Posted on October 26, 2016 at 08:40 PM in American Noodles, Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (2)

Red Pizza

I finally got around to finding a new health care practice in our new neighborhood here in PA. After hearing a recap of my recent health issues, it was decided that I should be tested for celiac. The upside of this decision is that for the last couple of weeks I've been allowed to eat small amounts of gluten each day. The test looks for antibodies in the bloodstream and the only way that these will appear is if I'm ingesting gluten. So if you're thinking about getting tested for celiac or a gluten intolerance, smarter people than me would do it before they cut out the gluten. Although I haven't taken the test yet, it's clear that my system is not appreciating the reintroduction. So I'm trying to have a few of my favorite things, in moderation, in case I decide that it's not in my best interests to repeat this experiment again, even if I don't have celiac. Of course pizza made the list. Last Friday night Alex made me a red pizza (still off dairy) with anchovies. I made the dough and he cooked it perfectly. I can honestly say that I didn't miss the cheese at all. We use a simple tomato sauce of canned organic San Marzano tomatoes and salt. They had a rich fruity flavor with just a hint of tang that balanced perfectly against the salty anchovies and the light, airy crust. I savored every bite. It's been an interesting process in that as much as I may have missed some of my favorite foods, I find that I have to force myself to eat something with gluten every day. I'm just not that into it anymore. That could be very helpful down the line because one of my issues was not knowing if I really needed to give up certain foods. Now that I've brought back the gluten I know that I'm better off without it. Although I have to admit that I'm hoping for a different result when I reintroduce the dairy. Life without ice cream is just hard to imagine.

Years Past

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 October 25, 2016 at 05:56 PM in At the Table, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (3)

Beauty Is...

...in the little details that define our differences. Seen from a distance a bunch of berries looks uniform, as though they were all the same, except perhaps in size. A closer look reveals the details, the small differences in color and texture that result in such a pleasurable experience when you savor the berries one at time. Some are firmer and tart, some are plump and sweet, some are somewhere in between. When we eat our berries, Amaya analyzes their color and texture. She prefers firm, slightly sour berries, while I like the ones that are tender and juicy. While we may not always end up with the berries we are hoping for, each bite is a moment of anticipation and experience. It's fun to wonder what lies inside each small morsel, will it be woody or supple, will it be satisfying or stimulating? There's a certain pleasure in choosing each berry and the experience is teaching her how to experience food and life. Each bite matters, each choice is an opportunity for joy.

Years Past

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 October 24, 2016 at 03:06 PM in Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eggs for Doughnuts

As much as we enjoy selling out, it doesn't always happen. We never sell day old doughnuts so sometimes we make doughnut bread pudding. It's a good use for leftover doughnuts but we don't use it very often at the shop. So we began to think about other alternatives. Fortunately for us, there is a family that works at the market who raises chickens. We give them leftover doughnuts to feed to their chickens and we get fresh eggs. The right solution is the one that works at the right time.

Years Past

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 October 23, 2016 at 05:36 PM in Balancing Tastes, Curiosity Doughnuts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Exploring with Fresh Eyes

I took a walk in the woods with Amaya. What she saw and what I saw were quite different. Until I was able to begin to let the world fall away and begin to see through her eyes. Her vibrant pink umbrella became a beacon of light guiding my gaze. We searched for leaves as big as her head, because they were the best. Trees had crazy rivers of texture. Fallen leaves were a stunning collage on the ground in front of us. I'm curious to find out what I discover tomorrow with bright eyes and insights.

Years Past

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 October 22, 2016 at 07:08 PM in Approach to Cooking, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nduja Grilled Cheese

Wish we had thought of the Nduja grilled cheese years ago. Thankfully we made it today. We started with HIgh Street on Market potato bread. We added comte and cheddar. We slathered Nduja Americana in the middle. We pressed the sandwich dry on our waffle iron/griddler hybrid. The result, a sublime oozy, crispy, spicy, nutty, meaty sandwich.

Years Past

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 October 21, 2016 at 07:03 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pretzel Crusted Fried Chicken Sandwich

Yesterday we unveiled our pretzel crusted fried chicken sandwich at our Curiosity Doughnuts road show. We served our pretzel crusted thigh on a butter griddled Martin's potato roll with smoked thousand island slaw and dressing and our cherry pepper caramel sauce. I have not eaten a tastier chicken sandwich. Now we need to figure out how we can logistically bring these sandwiches back home to the shop.

Years Past

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 October 20, 2016 at 03:11 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Evolution of an Apple Cake

I've been eyeing this apple cake sold at the local butcher shop. It has a creamy, moist-looking crumb with a layer of thinly sliced apples running through the center and a layer of them on top. It looks ever so tempting but I've been burned by retail baked goods before. I've had good apple cakes in the past. In my memory they were very similar to the apple cake I've been contemplating. Now it's apple season and with a few good pies under my belt, it's time to start making some cake.

An internet search led me to Smitten Kitchen's Mom's Apple Cake and I immediately decided to start there. I was drawn to the little chunks of apple in this cake, rather than the standard apple slices. Also, since there is no picture of the cut cake, I wanted to know what the crumb looked like. My curiosity ignited and that recipe became my starting point. I decided to make it whole grain because I wanted to be able to use it for breakfast and after school snacks. To that end I used 1.5 cups barley flour and 1.25 cups oat flour instead of the 2.75 cups of all-purpose flour called. I swapped apple cider for the orange juice and apple sauce for half of the oil to really emphasize the flavor of the fruit. Once the apples were macerating and everything else was mixed together, I began spooning batter into the prepared cake pan, followed by a layer of apples. As I was beginning to spoon in the second layer of batter I happened to lick my finger. Hmm, this wasn't very sweet. I tasted the batter again, it had a hint of sweetness but it tasted more like bread than cake. A quick mental run-through and I knew what the problem was. I had forgotten the sugar.

To be sure, I had been a little distracted when I made the cake, my mind on a million other things, and now I was faced with a dilemma. Let it be and serve it as a quick bread? Nope, that probably wouldn't fly in my house. So I scraped the fruit and batter back out of the pan, mixed it with remaining batter and stirred in the missing sugar. Then I simply poured the mixed batter back into the pan and sprinkled the remaining apples over the top, as directed. The finished cake was everything I wanted it to be: tender, wholesome, spicy with cinnamon, full of rich apple flavor, and studded with the toothsome bites of roasted apples. Sometimes a moment's distraction is the catalyst for some of our best evolutions.

Years Past

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 October 19, 2016 at 03:36 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Leftover Pickle Brine

Sometimes good cooking is all about seeing the ingredients that are in front of you. We saved the pickle brine from the pickles that we used to make smoked thousand island dressing for our chicken sandwiches for tomorrow's pop up at ITV. We decided to use some of the sauce for coleslaw because vegetables always make a good sandwich better. I was shredding the cabbage today and thinking about salting it, when I remembered the brine in the fridge. I added it to the cabbage along with a judicious dose of salt and let it sit for a few hours to soften and absorb the flavor of the brine. Later on I will drain the liquid and mix it with the dressing. This way I'm starting with seasoned cabbage to pair with the dressing rather than having it leach all of the salt out of the sauce and throw everything out of balance. Plain old salt would have been just fine but by using the brine from the pickles in the sauce there's this extra level of flavor that will help bring it all together. And I'll have to see how the salted cabbage flavored pickle brine tastes. It may have another home in our kitchen.

Years Past

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 October 18, 2016 at 07:30 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Curiosity Doughnuts | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Root of Root Caramel

We are in the thick of transporting Curiosity Doughnuts to Philadelphia for the day, Wednesday October 19. We will be preparing doughnuts and pretzel crusted fried chicken at Nick Elmi's second restaurant ITV. For the occasion and the space we have prepared a few new additions. The first is that our pretzel crusted fried chicken will be done sandwich style with the its cherry pepper caramel sauce and the new addition of smoked thousand island dressing. The other additions are modifications of our Bourbon Caramel sauce. We upped the alcohol in the sauces to create intense, slightly boozy dipping sauces for those in the mood for Drunken Doughnuts. We have made Root, Snap and Four Roses drunken caramels to compliment the doughnuts, or just dip your fingers into and consume.

Years Past

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 October 17, 2016 at 08:00 PM in American Noodles, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cricket and Corn Cresta De Gallo

We created the corn and black lime noodles to compliment a primary noodle. That noodle is made with exo cricket flour blended into our noodle base. The combination of corn and cricket was sparked by numerous Mexican applications using the insect as a textural seasoning. The cricket flour has an intense full earthiness, similar to the flavor profile of huitlacoche. The two noodles elevate the flavors each other in a synergistic combination.

Years Past

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 October 16, 2016 at 07:21 PM in American Noodles, Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coffee, Custard, and Doughnuts

We topped a cinnamon cardamom doughnut with our frozen custard and our coffee caramel sauce. It took us way to long to put the ingredients we had on hand together into this delicious Freeze Brain. Sure it took us over a year to put this together. Don't slack like we did and make it happen in your kitchen or stop by ours.

Years Past

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 October 15, 2016 at 07:16 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Curiosity Doughnuts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Corn and Black Lime Cresta de Gallo

We are beginning to fine tune the opening roster of noodles for v2 of American Noodles.We revisited our corn pasta today. I introduced black lime to the mix. The funky acidity added a bright definition to the headiness of the corn. The noodles are an excellent canvas for seafood from sea urchin to smoked and dried scallops.

Corn and Black Lime Noodles

600 grams semolina flour

300 grams corn flour

100 grams instant masa

6 grams powdered black lime

3 grams salt

3 grams baking soda

340 grams water

Put the semolina, corn flour, instant masa, powdered black lime, salt and baking soda into the pasta machine and mix to distribute in the hopper. With the machine running, drizzle the water into the machine. Mix the dough for 6-7 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough after four minutes. It should begin to resemble course streusel. Squeeze the dough together in your hand. Break the dough apart. If it breaks cleanly the dough has enough water. If it crumbles, add additional water in 20-gram increments. Once the dough is the right consistency let it knead in the machine for a few minutes. If you are in a hurry you could begin extruding immediately but it's better to let it rest for in the machine for 10 minutes for ideal hydration.

Years Past

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 October 14, 2016 at 08:20 PM in American Noodles, Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wild Brook Trout Roe 2016

Some know the beginning of fall as September 22. On that day our calendar is marked by the arrival of amazing wild brook trout roe from our friend Steve Stallard of Blis. Steve is the consummate professional, working hard to create delicious ingredients that allow chefs to be genius rock stars. This roe has been part of our arsenal since its first arrival in our kitchen in 2005.

It is always exciting when the roe reappears in our kitchen. Maybe this year we will follow Steve's original guidance and serve the roe with buttered toast; buttered toast ice cream that is.

Years Past

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 October 13, 2016 at 05:16 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple Cider Doughnuts

Our copy of the November issue of Food and Wine magazine arrived today and we were so excited to see the spread on our Apple CIder Doughnuts in The Gastronaut Files. If you've tasted them at Curiosity Doughnuts, or just wanted to make some great doughnuts at home, now you can check out our recipe and see what all the fuss is about.

A big thank you to Tina Ujlaki and her team for doing such a great job with our doughnut recipe. It's so much fun to see it in one of our favorite magazines.

Years Past

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 October 12, 2016 at 06:31 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

Picking Ideas

It is great fun to dive back into our archives and pick through our past works. The ideas seem fresh, alive, and renewed. These are a few of our apple ideas, hidden in plain sight, ripe for the picking.

Triple Crust Apple Pie

Apple Cheddar Soup

Candied Apples

Apple Core Charcoal

Apple Pie Ice Cream and Cheddar Cheese

Apple Pie Ice Cream

Brown Butter Apple Cider

Apple Crisp Ice Cream and Wild Char Roe

Years Past

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 October 11, 2016 at 07:50 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pumpkin Seed Crumble

We added the pumpkin glazed doughnut to the lineup at Curiosity Doughnuts several weeks ago. We topped it with our signature, possibly too familiar, topping of pretzels and white chocolate. The doughnut is sweet, salty, savory, rich, and decadent. But something about using our doughnut shop crutch left me feeling unsettled. As I stewed on the idea, it finally hit me. Why not use salted pumpkin seeds as the savory seasoning to punctuate the pumpkin doughnut? It's what we all would call a no-brainer. And yet it still took weeks to get there.

We roasted the pumpkin seeds in a 300°F oven for 20 minutes until they were lightly browned. We cooled the seeds and combined them with 3 parts white chocolate and 0.75% salt. We put the mixture into the food processor and pulverized the mixture into a coarse crumb. The result was a toasty, nutty, pumpkin seed crumble with a decadent sweetness and forward saltiness. Now this is the right topping for our pumpkin doughnut. It is also an amazing catalyst for thought: pumpkin seed shortbread, pumpkin seed praline, pumpkin seed gremolata, pumpkin seed mole to braise and glaze pumpkin and pork. It takes time, stewing and some not quite right directions to get to where we need to go.

Years Past

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 October 10, 2016 at 05:48 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Curiosity Doughnuts | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jalapeno Poppers 2016

These are an old favorite, discovered back in Pagosa Springs, when Frieda, one of our staff members, introduced us to them. Halved jalapeno peppers, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and baked until the bacon is crisp, the cheese is molten, and the peppers are tender with an earthy heat. She played cowboy roulette with them, removing the skin and seeds from about half of her peppers. These are so simple and delicious that we've been enjoying them ever since. Since I'm having issues with dairy right now, I stuffed half of them with garlic hummus. While the hummus is not as sweet as the cream cheese, it has it's own savory, creamy flavor that works beautifully with the bacon and the peppers. Now we have twice the delicious jalapeno poppers to share.

Years Past

October 9, 2015

October 9, 2011

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 October 09, 2016 at 07:32 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amplifying Savoriness: smoking dried mushrooms

Today we looked at dried mushrooms with fresh eyes. We have used dried mushrooms in broths, baked goods, crusts, noodles and rubs. We have even made an Italian Dashi of sorts using dried mushrooms and smoked sun dried tomatoes. But we had not thought of smoking the dried mushrooms until now. The catalyst was a blend of dried mushrooms, but smoking individual varieties will also be very exciting.

Years Past

October 8, 2015

October 8, 2014

October 8, 2013

October 8, 2012

October 8, 2011

October 8, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

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

Posted on October 08, 2016 at 05:55 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Luchito Rubbed Asparagus

Ready for the grill. If you haven't tried this spice paste, you should because it's addictively delicious. And that's all we're going to say about that.

Years Past

October 7, 2015

October 7, 2014

October 7, 2013

October 7, 2012

October 7, 2011

October 7, 2005

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

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Posted on October 07, 2016 at 06:03 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

When All Else Fails...

...get out the food mill. Alex found some prosciutto ends on sale and decided to braise them in tomato sauce. When it was done he pulled the meat and left it in the sauce to cool. The next day, when I had a chuck shoulder to cook he suggested I add it to his braise and cook the sauce again. I added some water and some more tomatoes and took his advice, slipping the pot into a 250 oven. Oddly the chuck shoulder just wouldn't tenderize, I ended up cooking it for almost eight hours. Good thing it was pizza night. At this point it was late, so I cooled the whole thing down and refrigerated it overnight. The next day I went to shred the meat and it was tender but dry and lacking flavor. The bits of prosciutto were tough and salty. The sauce itself was delicious, but thick. What to do? Alex whipped out the food mill and we pressed all the juices (what little was left) out of the meat as removed it from the sauce. What was left was a rich, succulent tomato sauce with an earthy, meaty flavor. The actual meat won't be missed at all.

Years Past

October 6, 2015

October 6, 2014

October 6, 2013

October 6, 2012

October 6, 2011

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 October 06, 2016 at 06:01 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

Crispy Salmon Skin

This falls into the category of guilty pleasures, things I eat when I'm home alone, for two reasons. The first is that not everyone can appreciate the pleasures of this dish and the second is because I don't particularly want to share it. As with many choice bites, there is rarely enough to go around.

As a kid, salmon skin hand rolls were a favorite of mine at the local sushi restaurant. I was slightly horrified at the idea of sushi that revolved around the skin of a fish but after I was coaxed into taking a bite, I was hooked. I had to have one every single time we visited that restaurant. The skin was crispy and chewy, salty and redolent of the sea. Wrapped in a cone of warm rice and seaweed with a few julienned vegetables tucked inside, the hand roll hit every note my mouth was looking for. Sadly it's been years since I tasted one of these, but the memory still makes me smile.

These days I have my own method for cooking and eating salmon skin. If we're using fillets for dinner, I remove the skin in the afternoon, taking care to leave some meat on it for flavor. I season both sides with salt and lay it, skin side down on an oiled sizzle pan. I broil it in the toaster oven for 5 minutes, flip it over, and then broil the skin side for 10 minutes until it becomes bubbled, brown, and perfectly crispy. Then I slide it onto a plate and try not to burn my fingers as I enjoy my snack. Nobody ever has to know what they missed out on. Except you. And now you can make your own crispy salmon skin. Seriously, make it. You'll thank me afterwards.

Years Past

October 5, 2015

October 5, 2012

October 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 October 05, 2016 at 04:49 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

Colony Grill Pizza

Thin crust is not the hallowed pizza in the pizza lexicon. There is a special place in the pizza kitchen for thin crust pizza. Tonight I had the opportunity to crush Colony Grill pizza. The crust was thin and pliable. Each slice folded beautifully. The toppings were generous but not gluttonous. I had my pie with cherry peppers, bacon and pepperoni. The grease dripped onto the pan and I happily mopped up the flavorful fat with the last bits of crust. Now it's time now to get back in our kitchen and tinker with replicating this delicious experience.

Years Past

October 4, 2015

October 4, 2012

October 4, 2008

October 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 October 04, 2016 at 10:25 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (4)

Peanut Butter Cookie Crepe Cake

We started with our original cookie crepe cake. To make the shaved cookie curls we used our shaved shortbread as our model. We made a batch of peanut butter cookies for our cookie base. For the filling we used the custard base from our banana butterfingers pie. The pieces came together in a similar form with a brand new flavor. It was exciting to see how we may create the new with the knowledge base we have. Sampling ourselves only gets old when we forget to do it.

Years Past

October 3, 2015

October 3, 2012

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 October 03, 2016 at 09:16 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pizza Dough vFall2016

We continue to tweak and tinker with our pizza. On Friday we, Aki, put together a stunning batch. Our pizza dough is no-knead. We let it rise for 24ish hours. We refrigerate the dough after rising to firm it up and make it easier to shape. We shape our dough into 210 gram portions. After shaping we hold the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. But usually we are making pizza soon. We pull the dough out of the refrigerator 2 hours prior to our cook time. This gives it plenty of time to come to room temperature, soften and rise one last time.

Pizza Dough vFall2016

100 grams smoked 00 flour

50 grams durum flour

750 grams AP flour

1.5 grams yeast

18 grams salt

28 grams olive oil

600 grams water

210 grams old dough

Years Past

October 2, 2015

October 2, 2012

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 October 02, 2016 at 08:27 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, Impromptu Pizza | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cereal Series

We have added 2 more cereal crumbs to our repertoire. We combined Cinnamon Toast Crunch with caramelized white chocolate. We combined Cocoa Pebbles with milk chocolate. Both cereal chocolate combinations were better than the individual parts. We use these crumbs on doughnuts. But I believe they have incredible possibilities beyond doughnut land: from topping ice cream to being shaped into truffles, to being processed into full fledged chocolate bars.

Years Past

October 1, 2015

October 1, 2014

October 1, 2013

October 1, 2012

October 1, 2011

October 1, 2005