I was hoping All Gone! was a cleverly delicious ice cream flavor. I tried to order it. Unfortunately is was not a flavor, yet.
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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Original ideas appear simple until you realize you would never have created the connection.
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 seasoned a thick cut rib eye with salt and put it in a 200 degree oven. We inserted a thermometer into the meat. When the steak reached 100°F we removed it from the oven. We put our cast iron pan on the stove and added a layer of cream. We put the steak into the pan and turned the heat onto medium high.
We cooked the steak flipping it every 30 seconds or so. The cream eventually boiled off and cooked into fat and milk solids. We continued to cook and brown the steak. When the steak was evenly browned we removed it from the heat. We let it rest for 10 minutes and sliced it. The steak was medium rare. The outside was browned and flavored with bits of toasted milk solids.
The ongoing joke in our kitchen now is making sure the refrigerator has a full container of cream.
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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As I get older, have experiences and acquire knowledge the phrase I Don't Know becomes more difficult to use. But it is those three words that enabled me to search out experiences and look for learning.
It is not always the fear of saying I don't know. What is harder is realizing that I do know and am too afraid to look at what I find.
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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The musical Wicked and I get along.
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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A huge happy birthday to our baby girl.
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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Duck, particularly the legs, have a sweet spot in my mind. While they fill my mind with joy I do not go out of my way to source and cook duck. Part of that is laziness. Part of that is duck is not always on my mind. But when I stopped by Inferno the other day and they were preparing duck legs for braising I made a point to stop, inhale and reflect on the pleasures of rich and succulent duck. I realized it is time to start cooking more duck.
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 have found that the paddle attachment rather than the dough hook mixes and kneads dough more efficiently and more consistently. That is all.
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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Re-starting
Re-imagining
Re-purposing
Re-mixing
Re-inventing
Re-mastering
None of this is useful if we have not first started, imagined, mixed, purposed, invented and mastered.
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 learn to see with practice. We see the successes and failures. We see what works and what doesn't. Practice is a time to try, test and explore. It is the place where failure opens doors.
As we practice questions emerge. The biggest challenge I face daily is how to practice better? Are there steps I could be taking? Are there motions I could be eliminating? Are there questions I should be asking?
And as I looked to understand practice I came across these words:
"You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail." -- Charlie Parker (1920-1955) Jazz musician
I think we often forget the first step. The learning. In order to excel, we must be willing to learn. Basics become great through our practice.
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 need to create moments. Lots of them. Then we step back and see what we can connect.
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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It is wonderful to indulge in the obsessions of others.
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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Making it simpler allows us to enjoy 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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Alex has a "take no prisoners" approach to gardening. At the end of the summer, he cut the rose bush way back, from a rather large presence to a pretty small one. It only survived because I showed up just in time to explain that I liked the roses and I would be very unhappy if he yanked out the entire bush. So he stopped cutting, at the last possible moment. Thankfully the bush survived. In fact, one could argue that it's thriving, blossoming in spite of the cold. I'm sure my husband will claim that was his plan all along.
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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The form changes the results when the ingredients remain the same. Rigatura, from Arcobaleno, is a shape in the style of rigatoni with wider sloping ridges. We tested this smaller diameter rigatura. It's diameter is more like a ziti or penne. The wider ridges allow for sauce to flow and larger inclusions like soffrito to be captured in them. I think of it as a more delicate, in appearance, version of a rigatoni. We made these noodles with our recent adjustments: eliminating baking soda and using 0.5% salt. These noodles also cooked in 60 seconds for our ideal version of al dente.
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 brined the hunk of boneless pork shoulder in allium infused apple cider for a couple of days. We patted it dry and nestled it on a bed of store bought, diced mirepoix that we seasoned with salt. We tucked the shoulder into a 300°F oven to roast. After an hour or so we added some chicken broth to the bottom of the pan to deglaze the vegetables roasting in rendered pork fat and juices. We flipped the shoulder 3 hours into the roasting and added some additional broth. The shoulder roasted for another two hours. The mirepoix braise-roasted in the broth and fat. The shoulder browned and transformed from tough to tender. We removed the shoulder, covered it, and let it rest for thirty minutes. Then Aki put it on a cutting board and surgically disassembled it. She removed and discarded large pockets of fat, sinew and gristle. (I was just going to hack up the meat, gristle, fat, sinew and not worry about a thing. Aki, thankfully, intervened.) She cut the meat into a large-ish dice and added it back to the decadent vegetables. We stirred the meat and coated it with the juicy soffrito. The meat and vegetables were rich, melting, and crush-worthy. We served half the shoulder soffrito as tacos. We reserved the other half for an otherworldly pasta sauce still to come.
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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Everything bagels are seasoned from the outside in. The combination of onion, garlic, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt, and, occasionally, caraway seeds creates an extremely well rounded and savory bagel. We have explored using everything flavoring in everything from noodles to potatoes to curing salmon. We have been lax in using the everything bagel in its entirety. Today we started repairing our mistake. We cut up a few everything bagels and mixed them with mirepoix, cream cooked turkey soffrito, heavy cream, and stock. We roasted the stuffing underneath a chicken. The bagels were savory sponges that retained their texture while becoming pillowy, tender, and rich. The savory seasoning of the bagels added a depth to the stuffing and the texture of the bagels has me looking for many more opportunities to turn them into stuffing.
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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Make sure your whipped cream game is solid.
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 were thrilled to share our caramelized cream cooked eggs with Kristin Miglore, of Genius Recipe Fame, over at Food52. In conversation, she was able to get us to dive deeper into our thoughts as she asked about our process on the eggs, cream caramelized carrots, and potatoes. We discussed the technique's potential overall. She put together a brilliant video on the egg cooking process and mapped it out, step by step. Go check it out.
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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Without the question we have no direction.
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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Adding a second shop is teaching us a lot about what we don't know. It's hard to toot your own horn and to reach out to people and ask for help. This new project has forced us to do both of those things, sometimes at the same time. It's helped us to own our accomplishments in a way that we may have shied away from in the past. We've never been big on bragging about our achievements but we've realized that acknowledging them can be empowering. It reminds us that even when things get tough we can push through and make things happen. We know that we can create magic because we've done it before. This is very helpful knowledge when we're chasing doughnut unicorns in Virginia and beyond...
Years Past
October 4, 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
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How do we improve? That is the constant question. We look at the elements of what we do and see how they perform. We adjust and tinker. We don't always know what needs improvement. It takes breaking what works to see opportunities to explore.
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 grabbed this quote and imagery from Austin Kleon, author of the brilliant book, Steal Like an Artist.
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 were able to preserve yuzu in their dry and blackened form. It allows as to integrate the aromatic flavor into dishes when we want, seasonally or not.
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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In addition to time, it takes repetition and analysis. We are coming up on our fifth year of Curiosity Doughnuts. It is amazing to look back at where we started. Here are the first and second articles that dove down our rabbit hole. When we opened I believed we were amazing and we had put in the work. Now, if you take a look at our updated website for Curiosity Doughnuts you can see where we are today. What is exciting is that I was not really aware of our growth, development and improvement as it happened. But as I stepped back and looked at what we have created, I am thrilled with both where we started and how things have grown.
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 always play with our food. It's time we started playing with art.
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 pushed back against the idea of pumpkin doughnuts for as long as we have had a doughnut shop. This week I had an epiphany. Suddenly the idea that we shouldn't have a pumpkin doughnut on principle seemed as silly as my refusal to serve lobster when we ran a restaurant in Maine. In both cases I stonewalled the item because "everyone does it." I decided that there was no need for me to do it too. As I eventually learned with the lobster situation, it is not whether or not someone else is doing it that matters. It is whether or not we can do it better. Now we are diving into the pumpkin patch with this perspective to motivate 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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We have returned to the roll. We are looking to bring our fried chicken sandwich back from its prolonged vacation. Before it returns we need to go through the elements and make sure they are all crushworthy. My first obstacle is the roll. It is easier and most likely smarter to buy rolls. Thankfully I'm allergic to easy and smart. I started with our own potato roll recipe. Then I dismantled it and started building it back together. The first version was a first draft. It was an idea that needed a lot of work. I made some dramatic changes in hydration that created a gorgeous looking second draft. Looks can be deceiving. I enjoyed the chew the roll had. Everyone else who ate the roll was not into the chew as a feature. Now I need to take these observations into consideration and begin tinkering with a third draft. How long will it take to get the rolls right? Time, tests and tinkering will tell.
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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There has never been a great pot clip for thermometers. There have been plenty of adequate at best and multiple hack-able solutions. When Breville-Polyscience introduced the Control °Freak they changed the game with induction burners. But they also had a brilliant solution with there pot clip. It is a round silicone ball that fits over the lip of most pots and has 2 slits for the thermometer. When the Control °Freak was first introduced the pot clips were only available with the induction burner. But in kitchens, sometimes you need multiple pot clips and not every situation calls for the precision the Control °Freak offers. Sometimes you want a pot, a thermometer and a burner. But the damn thermometer does not easily stay in the pot. Thankfully the folks at Breville-Polyscience now sell the pot clip. I don't know what I have done without them for so long. Good thing I just bought 5.
You're Welcome.
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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While the crisp lies in the shadow of pie it is the master of dessert. The crisp allows for improvisational combinations and is not subject to advance preparation. Crisps are not subject to conventions and size constraints. The key to a crisp is more fruit than you would think appropriate and more thickener to absorb and capture all the amazing juices. Having some vanilla ice cream on hand is a bonus.
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 came across a collection of new to me noodles while walking the aisles of a local Asian Market. I have no idea what the names mean, but the names spark thought. They make me curious about the origin of the names. They also make me wonder about influences on our own creations, noodles and beyond.
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 made it to Solebury Orchards today. The sun was out, the air was cool with a breeze and the apples were plentiful. We filled out bag with gala and honeycrisp apples. It was great to get to the orchard early today, as opposed to our fiasco last year when we couldn't even find parking and went with our staple backup plan, soft serve custard. Amaya made an interesting assessment of the morning, wishing the apples were less plentiful so that the actual picking experience would have been longer and more challenging.
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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Mornings become magical when the air is cool and crisp, I have a hot cup of creamy coffee in my hand and the sky is painted with watercolors.
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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It is always exciting to come across imported candies. They have a style that is different than what we are exposed to on a daily basis. Aki and I had the good fortune to tour the Cadbury Factory in New Zealand. That experience has stayed with me for years. The exposure to the chocolates has had me constantly searching out confections from outside the USA for new looks, techniques, flavors and ideas. Today I picked up a some bars of delight, featuring honeycomb, air bubbles and pop rocks.
Years Past
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
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It's always fun to come across a diamond in the rough.
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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