Ideas are everywhere. I recently purchased The Art of Lettering: Perfectly Imperfect Hand-Crafted Type Design. I opened to the split page of Be the Inspiration. The irony is thick as I was certainly looking for inspiration.
Years Past
March 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
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The bottom of a cookie is wonderfully flat and ideal for frosting. It took turning the cookie over to discover the potential right in front of us.
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
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I have been intrigued by laminated brioche for awhile. Intrigue and action do not always correspond. I finally took the time to tinker with our vanilla yeasted doughnut and add lamination to the process. The result, thankfully, was worth the wait. Our vanilla yeasted doughnut dough is extremely soft. Because it is I used room temperature butter to laminate the dough. The finished doughnut is lighter but richer and almost custardy in texture. It eats as if our cruller and our doughnut had kids. Now comes the fun part of getting better at the process and adding it to the line up at Curiosity Doughnuts.
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
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We volunteered to donate a basket for Amaya's riding banquet. We, as many know, cannot do things in the traditional way. We wanted to share our love of cookies, both making and eating. We assembled a few sheet pans, parchment paper, a cooling rack, cookie scoops and a favorite cookbook. We attached 3 show cookies: our chocolate chips, and two from the book, Lofthouse-Style and Oatmeal Sandwich cookies. Underneath the trays is a large fish tub container full of all three cookies. The kit gets you crushing cookies and hopefully helps in creating many more.
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
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We make quick frostings by combining butter and powdered sugar. After making and tinkering with the frosting for Lofthouse Style cookies, from Stella Parks' incredible book, I observed what she had discovered. Cream makes a more enjoyable frosting. It adds richness and allows for a smooth silkiness. I'm not sure why it took so long to see this. Thankfully Stella cleared the path for us.
Years Past
March 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
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The plan was a slow roasted beef shoulder. The problem was the results. The shoulder did not want to become tender. It cooked and cooked and cooked. I added broth to the pan and saw hints of tenderizing. But hours later the shoulder was still firm-ish and becoming dry. It chose not to become a falling apart tender piece of beef. Perhaps I was not patient enough. Perhaps my experiences with other chuck shoulders blinded me to the possibilities that this one needed to cook longer.
Years Past
March 1, 2011
March 1, 2009
March 1, 2007
March 1, 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
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It is difficult to put in time and effort only to get back less than great results. I have spent several weeks tinkering with fried dough, specifically our dough knot. Unfortunately for me my efforts have not resulted in a moment of amazement. The tied and fried dough was good. But it did not change me. The tinkering process felt like pushing on a wall to open a door. I just couldn't make it happen.
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
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I made a habit of cooking too much pasta. At first it was the result of poor planning. That and the fact that I refused to scale down portions from a restaurant mentality to that of a family of three. It took time for me to realize that great at the moment leads to good the next day and drudgery dining in the days that followed. After too many years of pushing through and eventually throwing away vast quantities of leftover pasta I began to learn.
As I got my pasta problem in check I observed, well heard about, an interesting eating situation. I don't particularly care for angel hair pasta. Aki and Amaya have a fetish for the stuff. When I travel, they eat daddy's away pasta. It is usually angel hair with butter and cheese or perhaps with red sauce and vegetables. The two of them end up with a small amount of leftover angel hair. It's the coveted portion of the daddy's away pasta. The following morning Aki sautes the noodles in a pan and cracks a few eggs on top. She puts a lid on the pan. The pasta caramelizes, the eggs gently cook. The result is eggs on a rosti-esque nest of noodles. Amaya loves it. Aki hopes Amaya doesn't finish. I don't really get to experience the creation.
After hearing about the fried pasta and eggs one to many times I became envious. I asked Aki to make daddy's away pasta. She made a delicious batch of angel hair, coated in garlic bread butter and enriched with cheese. We crushed the noodles. She made sure to make enough so that there was enough for breakfast noodles. The following morning Amaya went to the fridge and pulled the eggs and the noodles out and placed them on the counter. She looked at me as if of course I knew what to do. I set about following Aki's model. I had to make sure the yolks were runny. Amaya does not do anything but runny yolks. I nailed it. Amaya crushed it. And now I too have a fetish for angel hair pasta.
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
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I have found that the smoked pasta dough recipe from our first book Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work is an excellent model for a filled pasta dough. I made a batch of the dough, un-smoked, and rolled it into sheets. I spread the sheets with a mixture of ricotta cheese, sour cream and Parmigiano Reggiano. I topped the sheets with pasta and stamped out these anolini. We ate them in a quick sauce made with brown butter, miripoix, ham, red pepper flakes, broth and cream.
Years Past
February 26, 2009
February 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
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We have been working on the idea of state fair fried dough and funnel cakes. The process has all tied up. Hopefully soon we will have it ready at Curiosity Doughnuts.
Years Past
February 25, 2010
February 25, 2007
February 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
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Years Past
February 23, 2007
February 23, 2006
February 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
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The logic of making meatloaf.
If there is meatloaf then there will be comfort.
Years Past
February 20, 2011
February 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
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I have been working on a new dough for Curiosity Doughnuts. It is light, flaky and delicate. I spent an excessive amount of time trying to wrap the dough around a filling. That time was filled with ongoing failures. It turned out the dough preferred to be on its own. When we fried it as beautiful pinwheel it was inanely delicious. Now we need to dial in the production.
Years Past
February 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
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The chill in the air sparked my desire for oatmeal. I cooked a pot of rolled oats and topped them with heavy cream, maple syrup and blueberries. The combination was classic pancake style. It struck a chord of happy memories. It was warm gruel that I was able to become lost in thought while eating. Now it is time to turn it into a doughnut.
Years Past
February 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
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It is amazing to see the variety of doughnut fillings ready to dispense.
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
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When the designs of the tools evolve so do the creations.
Years Past
February 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
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We brushed the rib eye with our gochujang-mustard. We wrapped it in nor and held the nori in place with plastic wrap. We refrigerated the meat for an hour and then vacuum sealed the meat to press the nori tightly in place. We unwrapped the meat and cut it into portions. We cooked the portions in a combi oven set at 52°C and cooked the meat for 2 hours. We removed the meat and seared the exterior in sunflower seed oil. The meat browned and the nori toasted. It was a delicious surf and turf.
Years Past
February 12, 2006
February 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
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We combined equal parts gochujang and mustard. The two made each other better. The mustard added a sharpness. The gochujang provided a full rich foundation of sweet heat. It's honey mustard with character.
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
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These cakes certainly look pretty. Unfortunately they were completely under-cooked. Meringue topped cakes have a definite learning curve. Especially if you have an oven that habitually runs low. Sometimes a new obsession can be quite challenging. On the bright side, I've rediscovered classic chocolate mousse, and I am quite enjoying it, possibly for the very first time. When I was younger it was all about the pudding. Now, back to drawing board....
Years Past
February10, 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
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Aki has been playing around with baking meringue straight onto cakes. The inspiration is the blitz torte. She puts the cake batter in the pans and spreads meringue over the top. The meringue and cake cook together. The result is a delicate crispy and tender meringue on top of moist cake. To me, its as though frosting is baked directly on the cake.
Years Past
February 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
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We freeze our Boston cream custard in sphere molds. We dip the frozen spheres in our doughnut magic shell and roll them in white chocolate pretzel crumbs. We thaw the spheres in the refrigerator. The shell forms on the outside and the inside is creamy decadent custard.
Years Past
February 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
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I took the sfogliatella dough and cut it into disks. I rolled each disk granulated sugar. I baked the cookies until they were caramelized, about 18 minutes. The cookies unwind in crisp delicate threads. They are addictive and crushworthy. Though the process to make them makes them a cookie worth making when time is not being counted.
Years Past
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Actually, what I made is closer to a lobster tail. Rather than filling the layered dough with a ricotta custard or a pate choux I opted for a quick biscuit. The layers of dough provide a crisp exterior and the biscuit is moist and tender inside. I baked our first version to see how the components came together. It gave me a general idea on the processes needed to create the pastry. It also alleviated my impatience. I have a base to tinker with as we transform the classic pastry into a doughnut.
Years Past
February 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
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I am now tinkering with our yeasted dumpling dough.
I rolled the dough out into a thin sheet. I spread a mixture of ricotta and cream cheese over half the dough and folded the dough over the top. I punched the dough into ravioli.
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
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I have become smitten with yeast leavened filled dumplings. In Chinese they would be sheng jian bao. A yeasted dumpling dough adds flavor, lightness and substance to the dumpling. There is an excitement surrounding this dumpling. There is the potential for variety in flavoring the dough. There is the need for mastery in folding the dumpling. There is the insane potential for fillings.
Years Past
January 29, 2006
January 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
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I have needed to have chocolate and caramel together. The chocolate highlights the caramel. The caramel highlights the chocolate. They make each other better.
Years Past
January 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
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I cubed up the remaining meat after I removed the coppa from the pork shoulder. I seasoned the meat with 0.75% salt and 0.25% gochugaru, Korean chile flakes. I refrigerated the meat for 48 hours to allow the salt and chile to penetrate the meat. I ground the meat, twice, through a 1/4 inch size meat grinder die. The meat is now ready to be put to use.
Years Past
January 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
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I enjoy the deep rich flavor of a roast chicken. I appreciate the gelatinous mouth feel that a pork shank can add to a broth. I do not enjoy de-glazing roasting pans to capture the fond for making broths.
I coated chicken bones and pork shank with a mixture of sunflower seed oil and soy sauce and roasted them in a deep roasting pan for 2 hours. I added water and cooked the broth for 3 more hours. The result was a clean and rich broth that was made in one vessel.
Years Past
January 25, 2009
January 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
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I cut the coppa off of a bone in pork shoulder. I seasoned it with salt and refrigerated the shoulder overnight. I roasted the shoulder roast for 4 ish hours at 300°F. I cooked the meat until it was tender but not falling apart. I sliced it and served it along cream smashed potatoes and a crisp salad.
The roast tasted of pork. It was caramelized, juicy and rich. The shoulder roast was a first step in maximizing the eating experience of a pork shoulder and utilizing the entire shoulder.
Years Past
January 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
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Years ago we made beef rib ramen. I wanted to revisit the element of the beef rib. We salted racks of ribs and cooked them in a chicken and pork broth. We cooked the ribs at 300°F for 4 hours. The meat was tender with a juicy bite. I let the ribs cool for 30 minutes in the broth and then cut the meat free from the bones. It is destined to be folded into a rich bowl of noodles.
Years Past
January 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
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Brandon, the chef of Curiosity Doughnuts in Tyson's Corner VA, made a small adjustment in drying doughnut biscotti. He put them on racks. The small step shortened the drying time and made the overall drying more consistent. A brilliant adjustment.
Years Past
January 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
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Years Past
January 18, 2009
January 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
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Upgrading an icon.
Years Past
January 18, 2009
January 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
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I do not have a ton of sauces on hand. And frankly, since I do not have a pasta project, currently, I tinker when time allows. Our newly developed ricotta dumplings are special. Their full body and lightness make them crushworthy. But I did not want to leave them alone to my laziness and eating them with a browned butter sauce.
I took the dumplings down to our friends at Charcoal BYOB. They have an insane pasta program and plenty of sauces to play with. On the drive I started thinking more about our dumplings. I figured their texture would easily allow for me to stuff them. This was a thought I most likely would not have tripped over had I not had time to ponder during the drive.
When I arrived we started cooking the dumplings and I set to stuffing a few with a delicious nduja. The dumplings behaved wonderfully and perfectly resealed around the filling. We ate the stuffed dumplings with a coarse red sauce. The other tests, beautiful plates of pasta, were equally delicious, thanks to the synergy of the sauce and the dumplings.
Years Past
January 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
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I love looking for delicious outlets for doughnuts. This week I have been tinkering with biscotti and using them as a vehicle for unsold doughnuts. The biscotti incorporates the doughnuts and captures their flavor. And they go great with a cup of coffee.
Years Past
January 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
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What is sweet Hawaiian style? Is there a technique to sweet Hawaiian something? Is there a sweet Hawaiian extract? And how do you sweet Hawaiian a flaky biscuit?
Years Past
January 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
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Most ricotta gnocchi are so light they have no structure. I wanted to create a ricotta based dough that had structure and some substance. In my mind and in my mouth I needed to differentiate what we were making. I blended ricotta, cream cheese, non-fat milk powder, flour and salt into a wet dough. I scooped the dough and rolled the scoops in flour to create a presentable shape.
The dumplings cook in 3 minutes. The have a light spring and a tender bight. They are not clouds. They are ricotta dumplings.
Years Past
January 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
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How we make the repairs is where we like to explore.
Years Past
January 10, 2007
January 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
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Cookies are vehicles for mix ins. Knowing that, I don't think enough about the layering of flavors in the inclusions in cookies. I rely on the dump it all in there mentality. Aki was making biscotti. She was being thoughtful as she was creating new flavors. She started with a lemon scented dough. She added milk chocolate, pistachios and white chocolate to humor me. She was concerned and aware of how the cookies would come together. It's remarkable what we pay attention to and what we gloss over. Watching someone else's process is enlightening.
Years Past
January 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
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Years ago, for our book Maximum Flavor, we created a BBQ potato chip gnocchi, built on the foundation of pate choux. We used the same model for our smoked masa gnocchi with oat mole. In recent years my connection to pate choux has been tied to our insanely delicious Curiosity Cruller.
What we learned from these experiences is that pate choux is a fantastic model that consistently can be built upon. Today we revisited our pate choux gnocchi, using semolina as the flour. I borrowed the idea of piping the gnocchi onto a sheet of parchment paper sprayed with pan release as we do in the doughnut shop. I chilled the strips of dough and cut them into gnocchi. I then went to our cream cooking crutch and cream seared the gnocchi, finishing them with some stock at the end to enrich the glaze.
Years Past
January 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
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