IDEAS IN FOOD: 31 entries from August 2017

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31 entries from August 2017

Meatloaf (Melt) Grilled Cheese

We haven't tried that before. That is the starting point for an idea. We sliced our pulled pork meatloaf into 1/4-inch slices. We layered them on challah bread with sharp cheddar cheese. We melted butter in the pan and slid the sandwich into the foaming butter. We cooked one side a foxy brown and flipped the sandwich, pressing it down into the butter. We cooked the sandwich until the second side was crispy and browned. We removed the sandwich from pan and let it rest a minute to allow the cheese to set.

I sliced the sandwich. The cheese had not properly melted. The meatloaf was warm, not hot. I cut the sandwich into quarters and we tasted. Amaya's first comment, "needs ketchup." It did. Next time we'll add a layer of ketchup and then cook it low and slow so that we get melted cheese and golden crust. The first trial with an idea gets the mind moving. The second try is where the process of refinement begins.

Years Past

August 31, 2015

August 31, 2011

August 31, 2010

August 31, 2009

August 31, 2008

August 31, 2007

August 31, 2006

August 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 August 31, 2017 at 07:08 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Steel Pan Pizza

We continue to work on our hybrid interpretation of Colony Grill-esque bar style and St. Louis style cracker pizzas. The drive to create the perfect thin crust is both a want and a need for an instant impromptu pizza, in combination with a canvas for cheese-centric topped pie. We stretch the dough on oiled steel pans and then layer on the toppings. For our pepperoni we started with provolone, added sauce, fresh mozzarella and, finally, the pepperoni. The result was a tender, generously topped pizza that satisfied our pizza craving while still falling short on replicating the style we are chasing. Time to tinker some more.

Years Past

August 30, 2016

August 30, 2015

August 30, 2014

August 30, 2013

August 30, 2012

August 30, 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 August 30, 2017 at 07:18 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, Impromptu Pizza | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peach Breakfast Cake

I think that cake for breakfast has a bad reputation. Mostly because there are a lot of bad breakfast cakes out there. To my mind a good breakfast cake has fruit and flavor, and is moist and tender and delicious. Delicious is important because a single piece has to be satisfying. There's generally enough fat and sugar and calories in the cake to jump start your day and keep you going for a few hours, even on a moderate piece of cake. I generally supplement the cake with fruit and sometimes a little yogurt, but in general a good breakfast cake should be satisfying.

This peach cake is a riff off the classic Nantucket Cranberry Pie by Laurie Colwin. Obviously I used sliced peaches instead of cranberries and eliminated the nuts. I sprinkled 2 tablespoons of cardamom sugar over the peaches and followed the batter recipe as directed, swapping out vanilla extract for the almond. I used a lot of fruit and things almost overflowed the pie pan. It was worth it though because the peaches makes the cake moist to the point of being pudding-like in spots. The flavor of the fruit completely infused into the batter and the finished cake has an incredible peach flavor and aroma, perfect for getting your day off to the right start.

Years Past

August 29, 2015

August 29, 2012

August 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 August 29, 2017 at 01:05 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cinnamon Roll Crullers

My memory of a cinnamon roll is one of soft tender dough, with a slightly fermented flavor, intense cinnamon aroma, and creamy rich frosting. We recreate that iconic experience in our our vanilla-buttermilk glazed cruller topped with cinnamon icing. It's an inside-out cinnamon roll because the cinnamon frosting is on top, giving you the full experience of its intoxicating aroma. The cruller is softer and more tender than the traditional yeasted dough, giving our version less heft and more flavor. It disappears surprisingly quickly, leaving you licking your fingers and wishing for one bite more.

Years Past

August 28, 2015

August 28, 2012

August 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 August 28, 2017 at 03:16 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, Icons and Alliterations | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Best Of Intentions

Some days I feel as though we have spent the summer saving watermelon rinds and then throwing them away. We made some into a rhubarb-watermelon rind jam for the shop. The rest seem to sit in the refrigerator, taunting me every time I open the door. We've done a lot with them in the past: smoking, pickling, searing, spicing, poaching, pressure cooking, and even riffing off BBQ. This year I'm just not feeling the love for the rinds.

I pickled one batch and discovered that ambivalence just doesn't taste good and ended up throwing them in the bin. There's this "use everything" mentality that pervades the culinary world right now. We want to be responsible and sustainable. We don't want to waste good food but--there's a huge amount of rind on every melon. It seems irresponsible to throw them away. We're not farmers, there are no animals to feed them too. We don't compost because every time we've tried it's been a disaster. Did I mention that we seem to have a matching set of black thumbs? Okay, the puppy loves eating chilled watermelon rinds but she can only eat so much--and I'm sure someone will now post a comment telling me the rinds are toxic to dogs or some other such thing.

It's the guilt that's driving me and guilt does not inspire creativity. I've decided that from now on it's going to be okay to throw them out. We don't have a restaurant. There are only three mouths to feed on a regular basis and while everyone who walks through our doors will happily scarf down large quantities of melon, nobody wants the rinds. We can't give them away and I'm going to stop trying. I just can't seem to drum up any enthusiasm for them this year and that has to be okay. Besides, once I give myself permission to throw them away, I'll probably think of something wonderful to make with them. Maybe.

Years Past

August 27, 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 August 27, 2017 at 02:21 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (2)

Cake Season, improving The Foundation

We love cake. After a season of pies and crisps, we're ready to dive back into cake. This is a variation of 1-2-3-4 cake with a thick fudgey frosting. For the cake, I swapped out oil for half the butter and bumped the liquid up by 25%. I used a blend of sunflower and avocado oils because I didn't have enough of one to complete the cake. I also used a blend of almond milk and regular milk because I wanted a hint of that almond flavor without overpowering the vanilla. It's a work in progress. I mixed the batter in a food processor to speed things up and the resulting cake was light and moist with a rich vanilla flavor. I was trying out a frosting recipe from a new book and things went awry, so we added some cream and then some more cream and finally we ended up with an almost perfect frosting. Except now we have to figure out how to duplicate it...Long story short, it's cake season again and we're so glad.

Years Past

August 26, 2012

August 26, 2011

August 26, 2008

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 August 26, 2017 at 07:13 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, Icons and Alliterations | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pulled Pork Meatloaf

The loaf is a always ready for inclusions. Today we folded in pulled pork. The result was a smokey meat-centric loaf with a variety of textures. It was beautiful sliced and eaten. The remainder is destined for a few sandwiches and maybe even a pasta sauce. I do believe we have some work on our hands. A good meatloaf is easy to throw together. Creating a base that is solid on its own and easily messed with, as we are prone to do, is the challenge.

Years Past

August 25, 2015

August 25, 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 August 25, 2017 at 06:37 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Icons and Alliterations | Permalink | Comments (0)

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage

The union of broccoli rabe, sausage and tomatoes is a perfect storm of flavors destined for noodles. The way to improve the dish is to improve the elements we add and look at the cooking process. Haphazardly thrown together these ingredients will produce deliciousness. With thought in sourcing and care in cooking the combination becomes revelatory.

What was originally left off this post was the improvement that can be made in messing with the original ingredients. In quick thoughts cooking the broccoli rabe with yuzu kosho and fish sauce, enriching the tomatoes with gochujang and folding fermented black beans into the sausage would provide delightful elements of enhancement, altering the original and building upon the foundation. Are all three adjustments needed? Probably not. Looking at one of the three would make the classic contemporary. But using a judicious approach with all three might lead to a bowl of noodles that improves upon the original.

Years Past

August 24, 2016

August 24, 2015

August 24, 2013

August 24, 2012

August 24, 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 August 24, 2017 at 05:50 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, Icons and Alliterations | Permalink | Comments (0)

Icons and Alliterations as Improvisational Inspirations

Corn Kimchi

It is amazing what happens when we combine the existing with the similar sounding. As we mixed the corn and the minced kimchi to make a quick salad a flood gate of ideas opened: kimchi butter to slather on corn, dried powdered kimchi on popcorn, kimchi and corn salsa for tacos and nachos, corn soup with kimchi cracklings, creamed corn enriched with kimchi mayonnaise, corn slathered with kimchi mayonnaise and cotija cheese. All of these ideas are viable, delicious sounding and now on our to do list.

Years Past

August 23, 2015

August 23, 2012

August 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 August 23, 2017 at 05:10 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Corn, From Ear To Ear

It's been a good year for corn. The season started in July and we are still enjoying bountiful quantities at our local markets. While we haven't had much luck with white corn, the bi-color corn has been delicious. At our favorite farm stand the kernels have been small, succulent, and slightly translucent. When cooked properly they burst like caviar beneath our teeth spreading their sweet, juicy goodness over our palates. We still haven't moved past savoring whole ears of corn to soups and salads and whatnot. It's been that good. Yesterday we were down in our old neighborhood in Lower Bucks and decided to get some corn at Shady Brook Farm. The ears and their kernels were large and well formed. At first bite I was stumped, the kernels were sweet and slightly starchy. We're not fans of starchy corn so I chewed cautiously, wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. As I evaluated the corn, I realized that this was a totally different breed from the corn we had been enjoying all summer. This corn was more substantial, toothsome, slightly chewy, and very good--in its own way. It took me a few bites to get used to it and then I slathered on some miso butter and happily consumed two whole ears. It was a learning moment for me because it took some time to realize that the corn was not bad, it was simply unexpected. After so many ears of one kind of corn, I was completely blindsided by this new experience. We often get set in our ways without realizing that it's happened and it's important to break out of our comfort zones every so often in order to experience something new and wonderful in a different way. This corn is perfect for corn salad and I've got a small bowl full to play with today. I'm thinking herbs, green onions, and feta cheese, something bright and fresh to savor while corn is still in season before it's time to move on to the fall.

Years Past

August 22, 2016

August 22, 2015

August 22, 2014

August 22, 2013

August 22, 2012

August 22, 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 August 22, 2017 at 02:35 PM in At the Table, Food For Thoughts, Ingredients | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suggestion Box

In the digital world we often forget the importance of paper.

Years Past

August 21, 2015

August 21, 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 August 21, 2017 at 07:30 PM in Approach to Cooking, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Smoked Brisket Meatballs and Sauce

The meatball is iconic. It is classically delicious and the perfect canvas for creativity. I took a base blend of ground beef, veal and pork and folded in chopped, smoked brisket, roughly chopped onions, eggs, and parmigiano reggiano cheese. I seasoned it with salt and smoked soy sauce and shaped the mixture into balls. Then I cooked them for 2 hours in the CVap at 55°C/131°F to set the delicate spheres. I made sauce with my remaining brisket, while the meatballs were in the CVap. I used canned tomatoes, white wine, more onions, brisket, and smoked soy sauce. I simmered the sauce until the meatballs were set and then I poured the sauce over the meatballs and put the pan in a 250°F oven to bring everything together and let the tomato caramelize. I cooked it for about an hour longer. I pulled the pan from the oven and let the meatballs rest for about 20 minutes minutes before serving. The meatballs were smokey, meaty, and rich with a toothsome bite from the brisket and onions. The sauce was thick and flavorful, perfect for coating fresh spaghetti or moistening a meatball sandwich. Tender bits of smoked meat were a brilliant addition to the classic meatball and open the doors to other kinds of additions to make our meatballs even more delicious.

Years Past

August 20, 2015

August 20, 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 August 20, 2017 at 03:32 PM in American Noodles, Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Chef Salad"

In a hurry at the market, I picked up a prepackaged kale salad with carrots and beets (and red cabbage though it wasn't mentioned on the label). It was from a farm and made by "real chefs." It looked pretty but what a disappointment. It was a stem festival of hard chewy vegetables that nobody wanted to eat. It was a good reminder that I'm always better off making my own salads. I may be tired and and hungry and feeling lazy but the quick fix is always a letdown. Better to expend a little more effort to have a meal that I can enjoy, rather than spend extra money on something to feed the garbage.

Years Past

August 19, 2016

August 19, 2015

August 19, 2014

August 19, 2013

August 19, 2012

August 19, 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 August 19, 2017 at 06:56 PM in Balancing Tastes, Food For Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peppers And Olives

We continue to explore seasoning with intensely flavored ingredients, currently dry cured olives. We stewed Italian long hot peppers in olive oil with the olives and a bit of crushed red pepper for a sharper accent of heat. We did use a bit of salt but held back considerably because of our generous use of the olives. The peppers gently steamed and cooked down in the oil. The olives absorbed the moisture in the pot, plumped up and seasoned the peppers. The additional pepper flakes punctuated the olives and peppers with a clean heat.

Years Past

August 18, 2016

August 18, 2015

August 18, 2014

August 18, 2013

August 18, 2012

August 18, 2011

August 18, 2010

August 18, 2009

August 18, 2008

August 18, 2007

August 18 2006

August 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 August 18, 2017 at 07:05 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Equipment As Art

Not many people have a slicer in their living room. Our kitchen flows into the living room and straddling the space between the two rooms is a rolling cart and an electric lime green slicer from Arcobaleno. For those who have been with us since the beginning, you may remember that Alex used to have an electric lime green jeep that he gave up when Amaya was about a year old. I hated driving it because it was stick shift and I ended up practically sitting in the dashboard in order to reach he pedals. Getting to Amaya's carseat became more challenging as she grew bigger and eventually he gave it up in order to have a more functional ride. He mourned that car for years. This slicer brings that Jeep back to him in some small way. Everybody who comes to visit comments on it and has to have a turn at the wheel. It's beautiful and functional and if we don't slice things on it as often as we could, it seems to make everybody smile--especially Alex.

Years Past

August 17, 2016

August 17, 2015

August 17, 2014

August 17, 2013

August 17, 2012

August 17, 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 August 17, 2017 at 07:53 PM in Balancing Tastes | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Flavor is Your Salt?

We can create delicious and be creative by easily substituting ingredients as our source of salt. Last year we made yuzu kosho yogurt to dress tomatoes. Today I came across dry cured olives. I opted to replace and adjust the yogurt with the olives. The dish was completely different and basically the same.

Years Past

August 16, 2016

August 16, 2015

August 16, 2014

August 16, 2013

August 16, 2012

August 16, 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 August 16, 2017 at 05:10 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

What are You Teaching?

Looking to learn.

Years Past

August 15, 2016

August 15, 2015

August 15, 2014

August 15, 2013

August 15, 2012

August 15, 2011

August 15, 2010

August 15, 2009

August 15, 2008

August 15, 2007

August 15, 2006

August 15, 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 August 15, 2017 at 07:56 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Testing Page

The pleasure is the smudging, smearing, synchronizing.

The beauty is in the testing, tinkering, exploring, combining and seeing.

Years Past

August 14, 2015

August 14, 2011

August 14, 2010

August 14, 2009

August 14, 2008

August 14, 2007

August 14, 2006

August 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 August 14, 2017 at 09:16 AM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Natural Beauty

Amaya attended a great art camp this summer. Among the many different techniques that they explored, one involved looking at the natural landscape and using what you find to create art in the natural environment. It inspired her to look for possibilities in everything in her environment. It reminded me of what we do in the kitchen. Pulling from the available ingredients to create something delicious. The kids spread out around the circumference of a small pond and created their individual pieces of art. Although they all worked from the same environment, every small creation was different. That's the beauty of expression. We all find our own inspirations and unique ways to exhibit them.

Years Past

August 13, 2012

August 13, 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 August 13, 2017 at 04:00 PM in Approach to Cooking, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Toffee In Action

We put the toffee crumbs to action at the shop. I put the first sprinkling was on our custard. They added a sweet caramel crunch to the the rich tangy vanilla laden swirls. The second was an idea I had been craving, banoffee. To make it happen, we topped our super cake doughnuts with a banana glaze and a heavy sprinkling of the crumbs. Banoffee doughnuts are now here to stay.

Years Past

August 12, 2015

August 12, 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 August 12, 2017 at 07:23 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chasing Spaghetti

Pasta, for the most part, is flour and water. Realizing this we need to ask ourselves what can be flour and what can be water? Then the spectacular nature of the noodle can come from the cook.

Years Past

August 11, 2011

August 11, 2008

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 August 11, 2017 at 05:17 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Toffee-tastic

We created toffee crumbs. The inspiration was toffee. The catalyst was the smart as heck toffee recipe in Stella Parks', aka Bravetart's, debut book: Bravetart, Iconic American Desserts. We made the toffee, sorry no spoilers. We broke it up into pieces. We ground the toffee up with white chocolate, Rice Krispies and salt. The result is the addictive toffee crumbs we will put into action at Curiosity Doughnuts and as many other places I can think of.

Toffee Crumbs

350 grams Bravetart Toffee

475 grams white chocolate

255 grams Rice Krispies

4 grams salt

Pulverize in a food processor. Reserve in a zip top bag until ready to use, if you didn't eat them all already.

Years Past

August 10, 2016

August 10, 2015

August 10, 2014

August 10, 2013

August 10, 2012

August 10, 2011

August 10, 2009

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 August 10, 2017 at 07:07 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, Curiosity Doughnuts, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Many Montes

We rely on our bulletproof beurre monte as a flavorful base and foundation for sauces. During our dinner at Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana we built off our base model and made three flavorful montes, actually four, to support our sauces. We started with the base monte and then flavored one variation with sunchoke miso, one with fermented black beans and truffle oil, one with pecorino, and (the one not pictured) a green curry version enriched with steamed cockles and aromatics. Using the model and then interchanging the parts has allowed us to create limitless flavor bases. We build a solid foundation and then decorate it in new and delicious ways.

Years Past

August 9, 2015

August 9, 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 August 09, 2017 at 07:47 PM in American Noodles, Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking at Lighting

The same image with different lighting. Both are alluring. They tell different stories.

Years Past

August 8, 2015

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 August 08, 2017 at 08:00 PM in American Noodles, Approach to Cooking, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cooking with Fire

We added jalapenos to the griddled jalapeno kielbasa at the last minute in order to incorporate the flavor of fresh, lightly cooked peppers. Too often we add aromatics in the beginning of a longer process when we cook fish and meat, overlooking the ability to integrate flavors into quick cooking methods. The griddle is a great opportunity to integrate a final hit of flavor at the very end of cooking, in the same way that we baste with butter and herbs to add flavor after pan roasting. This has me looking more closely at what we are cooking, how we are cooking it, and the final ingredients we can add to amplify flavors and textures in the finished dish.

Years Past

August 7, 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 August 07, 2017 at 04:04 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

Two Tier Cooking

Something for everyone.

Years Past

August 6, 2015

August 6, 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 August 06, 2017 at 03:41 PM in Approach to Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gluten Free Buttermilk Lime Crullers

We substituted gluten free flour in our cruller recipe. We fried the dough in its own pot. We glazed the fried dough in our buttermilk lime glaze. The result was a moist, tender, rich and tangy cruller. For those not gluten free and fans of our original cruller our gluten free version fell a bit short. (Not to worry the original cruller is not going anywhere.) For those who have never had our cruller, it was a delightful and decadent indulgence. A smile in the round. We learned two lessons: context is key and there is always more to improve upon.

Years Past

August 5, 2015

August 5, 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 August 05, 2017 at 07:13 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, Curiosity Doughnuts | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Beauty Of Being A Misfit

A TED talk by Lidia Yuknavitch to remind us that life is constant evolution, who you are today is not who you will be forever. Every story deserves to be told.

Years Past

August 4, 2015

August 4, 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 August 04, 2017 at 05:52 PM in INSPIRATIONS, Videos | Permalink | Comments (0)

Japanese Kimchi

When I saw the Wild Brine label that read: Kimchi, Japanese, I had to put one in my shopping cart. Japanese Kimchi? There's no way that could be bad. As you can see from the empty bottle in the picture, it is tasty stuff. I should mention that the kimchi is not spicy. At first I was disappointed by the lack of heat, especially since it has both horseradish and chile pepper in the ingredient list. The fact that the kimchi was tangy rather hot ended up making it a much more functional ingredient in our house. Amaya's palate is getting spicier by the day, but moderate heat is still a smarter option at our table. The ingredient list also contains Napa cabbage, daikon radish, carrots, water, tamari soy sauce, red miso, sea salt, ginger, garlic, and orange peel. The Kimchi tasted very Japanese to me, with a deep earthy, umami flavor, and the fact that it wasn't spicy is completely in line with traditional Japanese pickles. It was delicious paired with simple steamed rice and nori, and a great addition to fried rice and ramen. It was also fabulous on top of hard boiled eggs--what can I say, I'm on an egg kick. That was pretty much the whole jar. I picked up another one today though and I've got lots of ideas...

Years Past

August 3, 2015

August 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 August 03, 2017 at 04:16 PM in Approach to Cooking, Ingredients | Permalink | Comments (0)

Deviled Egg Salad

Some mornings you make too many hard boiled eggs. Then you look in the refrigerator to find the mayo and it happens to be sitting next to some Tutto Calabria Hot Spread Sauce, and a new salad is born. It's rich, creamy, spicy, and delicious on cheddar cheese nachos because that just happened to be on the menu last night. Sometimes inspiration is equal parts inventory and opportunity.

Years Past

August 2, 2015

August 2, 2012

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 August 02, 2017 at 02:51 PM in Approach to Cooking, Balancing Tastes, CULINARY EVOLUTIONS, INSPIRATIONS | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Difficulty with Changing the Familiar

At Curiosity Doughnuts our cruller has developed a devoted audience. The cruller is glazed with our vanilla buttermilk glaze. One day I changed up the glaze to our buttermilk lime. Chaos followed. I couldn't understand why. Until I realized that changing the existing, the familiar the expected for our audience led to disappointment. When we were at Inferno, there were no expectations on what are crullers were. It allowed us to start with a clean slate. And we took advantage of the opportunity. We made our original buttermilk crullers and added blood orange, blackberry and passion fruit. These new flavors were accents on the base vanilla glazed crullers. These flavored crullers sold quickly and were well received. The response rekindled my desire and drive to mess with our original. Over the weekend we kept our original glazed crullers, reintroduced the passion fruit (a flavor we tried once previously at the shop) and a new adaptation a blackberry lime. The new flavors took off. I'm not sure exactly why. Perhaps because we had the vanilla cruller our devoted audience desired. By having the options we opened doors we couldn't see before.

August 1, 2015

August 1, 2012

August 1, 2009