I thought it was pretty smart to package both the sweet and hot sausages together. Too often we end up having to either buy one or the other or, when we buy both, we end up with an excess. Having both together makes the decision easy and we can actually use all of what we buy.
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 cooked the (pre-salted) steaks sous vide, from frozen, for 3 hours. I pulled them from the bags and stood them up, fat side down in a medium hot cast iron skillet. The fat slowly rendered and the fat caramelized. When the edge was richly browned I flipped the steaks in the rendered fat to quickly brown the surfaces. The steaks provide the fat and become more flavorfully cooked in the process.
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 pleasure of books can be summed up in the random discovery of joy. We picked up Chicken and Charcoal: Yakitori, Yardbird, Hong Kong by Matt Abergel. The super clean pictures of butchering and the assembling of skewers is complimented by an instinctual and inviting prose describing insights on the cooking process. The obsession with the process is apparent from the first flip and I am certainly eager to dive into the process of yakitori as well as stealing the techniques for other preparations.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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I was brought a couple of slices of pizza from L'industrie Pizzeria. What I felt was exceptional was the post cooking addition of burrata and basil. The pepperoni was cupped and caramelized. The burrata was cool, creamy and elastic. The basil was bright and refreshing. The pizza itself was crisp, foldable, airy and cheese crusted. The balance in flavors, textures and temperatures showed me fresh insight into the combination and addition of ingredients.
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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Pistachio stock was the revelation that brought our mortadella, cabbage and pistachio ragout together. I blended salt roasted pistachios, water and soy sauce together. I strained the mixture and the result was a rich and creamy stock. It had an intense pistachio flavor and was the liquid I needed for our sauce. It carried the element of pistachios throughout the ingredients with a saucy fullness.
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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I love the flavor of prosciutto and speck in cooked dishes. What I do not love is the way the ham dehydrates and gets super salty during the cooking process. In order to eliminate this problem, tonight I laid slices of speck on the bottom of the roasting pan and then added my artichokes and chick peas over the meat. Finally I arranged the chicken thighs in the center and roasted the whole thing. The speck gave a gentle seasoning to all of the other ingredients and remained soft and supple enough to be scooped up with the vegetables. We'll definitely be using this approach again.
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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By seasoning the shells we have the opportunity to let flavors mingle. The seasoning concentrates and changes as we grill the oysters. When we pick up the oysters and slurp them the seasoning compliments and does not overpower the shellfish.
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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What better way is there to celebrate the end of the month than adopting a puppy? Everest is the newest addition to our small family. We got her from Wags Rescue, the same place that we got WIllow. She is settling into her new home very nicely. The next nine months or so will be challenging, and totally worth the effort.
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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I am not sure why it never crossed my mind to season the jalapenos before cooking with them, specifically in oil. I wonder why we don't pre-salt a lot of vegetables before cooking? It makes plenty of sense now that I'm thinking about it.
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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We have used shrimp as base for salumi style preparations from sausage to chorizo. Recently we circled back on the idea. In this revisit we adjusted the flavors to replicate pepperoni. I'm not sure why it took so long for us to do this, but I am sure glad we did.
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 is heat. There is humidity. There is lots and lots of walking. There is a need for cool and comforting refreshments. Insert Dole Whip, the must have pineapple soft serve sorbet featured in Disney World. Bon Appetit has a solid recap of Dole Whip and its popularity growth from cult following to must consume thanks largely in part to social media. We consumed Dole Whip strait up, swirled and as a float. Like many experiences, our first was amazing and the second was good but not otherworldly. That could be a function of the heat, the humidity and the miles walked. It could also be related to the mind and how we sort of knew what was coming. When you know the surprise, it's no longer surprising.
Of course when we get back to reality I have plans for visiting with soft serve sorbet, (you will see its uprising) and particularly swirled and included in combination with ice cream as ripples, swirls and shattered pieces.
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 shaved ice is good on its own. The addition of the the sweetened condensed milk makes it magical. The milk becomes thicker and chewy. It becomes milk taffy for a moment and then melts away into sweet cream. The condensed milk has a light caramel note due to its cooking and reducing, but it is not caramel sauce. The cooked flavor adds depth to the milk, a sweet side umami characteristic.
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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How you see and what you expect can shape your creativity.
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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I searched for the origin of the Stay Silly quote in the poster. I stumbled across a collection of Dr. Seuss Quotes. They brightened up my day. They made me wonder and want to explore. They put gas in my creative think tank.
Years Past
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The inspiration comes from the imagination.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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The milkshake is the canvas. The obsession is in the details. In the case of our simple chocolate milk shake the decadent chocolate whipped cream and chocolate sauce made it crushworthy. The whip cream was as flavorful, rich and thick as the shake. The shake was thick and still sippable. But it was the whip cream that caught my attention. It was chocolaty, super thick and not really meltable. It was dream cream. It raised the bar for what whip cream can and should be.
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 are off to Orlando tomorrow. It's our first official family vacation, just the three of us. It's also the first vacation Alex has taken since before we opened Curiosity Doughnuts. It's been a long time coming, we had to postpone it twice. So for the next nine days we'll be changing things up. We're clearly incapable of leaving Ideas In Food entirely so we'll be posting snapshots from our vacation. These will be short and sweet because--vacation.
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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A little inspiration for the beginning of the week from Tina Seelig via TED.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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I wanted fried calamari. Aki wanted belly clams and fried shrimp. Amaya wanted clam strips and fried calamari. We debated our wants and explored the menu. We could get a combo platter with most of what we all wanted. Or we could each get our own fried seafood basket. Experience has taught me to be a bit cautious with unknown, or new to us, restaurants. But we were on a mini vacation. We chose as individuals and agreed to share. I learned my lesson again. First of all, it was way too much seafood for the three of us. Second, at least one of the three selections was under fried. The second was debatable. It may have been influenced by my realization that I've lost my love for belly clams.
The combo would have limited our losses. It would have added fries to the mix. It would have allowed us to experience more and give us the opportunity to double down if we weren't already excessively full. Next time, it's the combination platter all the way, one, to share.
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 bunch of thin burgers. I was going to cook them on the grill, layer cheese between the patties off the heat and let the juices and cheese mingle and melt. Then I started cooking the burgers on the vacation house grill. The first few burgers were fine. But, as I cooked and the fat dripped through the grill, it ignited the residual grease underneath and it turned into a fire box. I used the not-quite a spatula that came with the house to move, flip and adjust the burgers. I tried to make sure that neither the burgers nor myself turned into charcoal. I still proceeded with my plan of layering burgers and cheese, though I ended up pulling the burgers a bit early. I put the burgers into a 375°F oven for 5 minutes once they were all rescued from the grill. The cheese melted fully and encased the meat. Remarkably, the resulting burger experience was one of the most delicious I have had in a long time. Perhaps I need a bit more fire on the front side and the gentle-ish heated finish and rest to make a better burger. Working with the extremes seems to deliver the greatest results.
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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Bacon, Egg, Avocado, Tomato on Toast
Summer provides the relaxed framework to make anything into dinner. Summer is the excuse to cook and not cook what makes you happy. Summer inspires a mindset that is worth taking beyond the season. It's worth making summertime cooking a style that we can use all year long.
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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Ideas, like fruits and vegetables, benefit from maceration.
Years Past
August 11, 2008
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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I am in search of the nostalgic and delicious Ice cream experience. R&D is hard work. Someday we will capture that lightning in a bottle.
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 spent years trying to succinctly explain what science is. A few years ago I was able to piece together the answer.
Science is the continuous quest to verify observations.
Recently I came across another elegant and eloquent solution to my question. The question was asked and answered well before my 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
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We found this in the aisles of Whole Foods. Niman Ranch Steak House Bacon is an extra thick, extra tender, flavorful slab of pork belly. Its thickness provides a decadent eating pleasure. It also increases the cooking time, something which requires a bit more planning for bacon cravings.
The feature of the thick bacon is also its flaw. It remains rich, fatty and meaty, a plus for many though the extra thick fat causes a few grumbles at the table.
The bacon is tremendous in breakfast sandwiches and now seasonal BLT. It makes bacon a central theme rather than something served on the side.
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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After creating we discover hidden beauty.
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 allowed the process of book writing to kill my creativity. I am still able to harness the energy for others. But writing our first and subsequent books squashed the risk taking and slowed the drive. We were constantly asked to create for a home audience, an audience that for the most part we never knew and who did not know us. We have had our creative platform, this blog, for 14 plus years. But as we wrote books I became distracted and frustrated by the need to create for an audience rather than for myself. Occasionally over the years we have broken free of the shackles. But more often that freedom has come working with others, as we help connect their dots and create with them.
The reality is that most of my ideas don't translate into the everyday. Sure, I cook everyday. But the ideas, dishes and elements I want to make take time, energy and a ton of dishes. I am always looking for a broader outlet. I was able to take this approach with Curiosity Doughnuts. It has allowed us to take doughnuts to the extreme.
I am wrestling with the creative process and with bringing the ideas to light. I am looking to move our thoughts and processes out of the shadows. Too often I edit before creating, wondering if something would be repeatable and able to be made for a book rather than enjoying the process of creativity.
I still need an outlet for the results of the our tinkering. But realizing what has been hindering me is the first step in getting new ideas into action.
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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Aki continues to hone her dumpling skills. She enjoys the process. Her deliberate folding and pinching is highlighted in the results. It means Amaya and I are treated to ever improving dumplings. It also means she is able to bust them out when we have nothing planned. Dumplings in a pinch.
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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Lately I've been adding cabbage to our pasta sauce. It melts down and absorbs the flavors of the other ingredients. It adds an earthy sweetness and a luscious richness. But that was shredded fresh cabbage. Tonight I roughly chopped up kimchi and added it to our browning blend of beef, veal and pork. I figured if cabbage was good, flavored cabbage would be amazing. The kimchi brought all its funk and acidity to the sauce. I added canned tomatoes, white wine, and soy sauce and let things simmer for about an hour. The kimchi addition was a home run. Now I need to remember to keep minced kimchi on hand to enhance different sauces in the future.
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 continue to chase udon. Last night I opted to try store bought udon to re-introduce myself as to what I was chasing. The noodles are cooked, chilled, frozen and packaged. To use them the instructions say to boil for one minute. I followed the directions and added them to my impromptu meat sauce. As we ate the noodles, something was off. They had a chew and a pleasant firm-tender bite, but were framed by a slippery, to my mind, alkaline-like coating. Amaya was not a fan, though she persevered. Aki was non-committal, simply mentioning that perhaps the slippery texture would have been alleviated in a broth. The noodles were not the udon I was chasing. But the experience re-upped my drive to make an incredible udon noodle for the next round.
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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Find happiness in your own way.
Years Past
June 18, 2005
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
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Over dinner last night Amaya shared her thoughts on making slime. "Slime is the new bacon." Amaya has been smitten with the need to make slime. What is slime? It's a stretchy, sticky mess taking over the kitchens of 3rd graders. It's made with a short list of a variety of ingredients. Amaya's most recent slime is edible-ish. It's made with gummy bears, coconut oil, powdered sugar and cornstarch. As someone who hates messes, slime is close to my worst nightmare. But the creation, the need to create, the desire to explore is inspiring.
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 sketches express the style of the artists even to those without prior knowledge of their work. The idea is brilliant. I wonder how we can adapt the approach to clearly express other ideas.
Years Past
June 15, 2006
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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I saw a guest wearing the shirt over the weekend. I paused and asked to take a picture. It caught my eye and the phrase struck a chord. At the time, I did not know the story behind the shirt. Even to the uninitiated, the phrase makes a good point. If we try not to suck, as opposed to aiming for perfection, we can all loosen up and have a bit more fun with whatever we're doing. A little more fun leads to more creative ideas and that leads to more fun, so let's all try not to suck, every single day.
Years Past
June 13, 2008
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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The thinly sliced, marbled meat screamed to be cooked with caramelized onions. I wanted cheesesteaks and envisioned them when picking up the packages. Aki saw an acidic salad balanced by the rich meat. Both ideas need to be explored. Tonight Aki won the coin toss.
Besides the staightforward direction we took the meat to the table we now have a growing list of potential dishes to explore: from chicken fried steak to rib eye negimaki.
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 was in Manhattan and had lunch at Hanjan the other day. Hooni's food never disappoints and this particular dish was my favorite of the meal. As a child I remember slurping down bowls of icy soba noodles with dipping sauce in the heat of the summer. When I saw the chilled buckwheat noodles on his menu, I knew that I had to have it. This bowl of mul naengmyun is completely different from the Japanese noodles of my memory. The icy broth had a surprisingly deep flavor and, in addition to the egg, there is thinly sliced brisket and shaved pickled vegetables to brighten things up. The hidden noodles are super thin and surprisingly springy. They had that sweet, earthy flavor that I associate with buckwheat. The dish was delicate and refreshing and incredibly satisfying. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the city anytime soon. I'll certainly be attempting to replicate it in my own kitchen this summer.
Years Past
June 7, 2005
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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I have been craving stracciatella, the torn shreds of mozzarella mixed with cream that fills the inside of burrata. There are a few makers out there but it not easy to get outside the restaurant world. Then, as I was reading a recipe for homemade stracciatella, it occurred to me I could make a quick and potentially improvised version with the ingredients in our refrigerator. I tore up a ball of mozzarella and added several spoonfuls of creme fraiche. I mixed the two together and added some salt. The thicker creme fraiche clung to the mozzarella. The combination was a bit thick. I thinned the mixture with a bit of heavy cream. The mixture resembles stracciatella in appearance and texture. The use of the creme fraiche adds a fuller flavor to the decadent mixture.
Years Past
June 6, 2005
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
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I am unable to stop tinkering. I am also a sucker for quirky ideas. The idea of mayonnaise cakes has always caught my attention. But I have never gotten farther than intrigue. At the same time I have a new favorite mayonnaise. It is actually not mayonnaise but it is Just Mayo. Cakes are not my current canvas. Doughnuts are. Today I started interchanging parts in our recipes allowing me integrate the mayonnaise. Its structure and ingredients has me curious how it will translate and effect a sweet fried bread.
Years Past
June 4, 2005
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
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I was getting a caramel macchiato at Starbucks. I was having a conversation with the barista about there new cold foam. It looks like that is thanks to the the foaming beaker (aerating container) made by Vitamix. From cold foam we got to drinking the cold beverage. She showed me the new lid, designed for enjoying the drink and the foam without a straw. It makes enjoying the drink a better experience and it eliminates the need for a straw. The lid is a simple and elegant solution.
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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Aki was craving Chicken Francese. None of the local places we've tried do it justice, so she decided to make a version of it at home. She started with a few chicken breasts. I butterflied them and pounded them flat. I seasoned them with salt and left them for her to finish. Aki dredged them in flour and then dipped them into a mixture of beaten eggs with Parmiginao-Reggiano cheese and few drops of soy sauce. Then she fried them in olive oil and transferred the chicken to a low oven. She seared off some lemon slices in the remaining oil and draped them over the pieces of chicken. Finally she made a quick pan sauce with white wine, lemon and butter. It was simple and delicious, served with nothing more than a green salad. Lemon Chicken will definitely be a staple in our house this summer.
Years Past
May 23, 2017
May 23, 2005
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
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We started with the classic, vitello tonnato, as the model. I made our tonnato sauce not with tuna, but with fish sauce and worcestershire sauce mixed with mayonnaise, hot sauce, lemon juice and salt. I omitted the tuna because it makes the sauce grainy and I was tired of grainy. I was exploring ideas with turnips and the alliteration sparked the combination. I sliced the turnip on a mandoline and put it in the bowl with our tonnato sauce. I coated the turnips with the sauce and vacuum sealed them to tenderize the vegetables and pull the dressing into the slices. Then I refrigerated the turnips for a half an hour.
The turnips absorbed the sauce and retained a crisp and spicy brightness. We played around serving them with assorted herbs from the weed patch and an additional drizzle of the tonnato sauce.
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 love the look of whole strawberries in our raw and cooked strawberry pie. But when eating the pie it is difficult to cut through the whole fruit and make manageable bites that don't send the pie flying across the plate. As I was cutting the fruit for the cooked portion of the pie it dawned on me to cut the uncooked fruit and keep it together so that it looked whole. I could fill the pie with the pre-cut fruit and pour the filling over the fruit. When we sliced the pie and ate our slices we were able to enjoy the vision of whole berries, while also being able to devour the pie in manageable bites.
Years Past
May 7, 2006
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 bought the monster soapstone sink off of Craigslist when we were in New Hampshire. I had plans of using it in our workshop as a massive pot sink. My ambition was far larger than my ability to make it happen. The sink sat in our garage. Then I moved it, with some serious help, to the barn. It sat there until we were moving back to Pennsylvania. I almost convinced my aunt to take the sink to her country house. But my charm was not as good as I thought. We moved the sink to our new house. The movers placed it on the edge of our covered porch next to the wood oven. I needed to find a use for this sink. It was now well traveled and I was committed. Rather I should have been committed. The sink sat on our porch for 2.5 years. I entertained the idea of hooking it up as an outdoor sink. I thought long and hard about converting the sink into some sort of outdoor grill. Both never happened. Yesterday we were getting herbs for this years weed patch. At one nursery I saw plenty of re-purposed items used to plant and hold an array of green things. It finally hit me. The sink would make an amazing and beautiful planter. We bought our go to herbs: globe basil, lovage (ours didn't survive the winter), parsley and an old favorite nasturtiums. We turned the planting into a family affair and we all took turns getting dirty and laughing. The planter is in place by our back door for easy herb access. I now look at the sink with great pleasure instead of tremendous uncertainty. It only took a few years to get there.
Years Past
May 2, 2005
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Amazing things can happen when one person is willing to step up and show others how they can help.
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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