If you're thinking about the politics of food, it's worth reading this article by Michael Pollan.
- posted by Jenna @ 5:36 PM 0 comments

 
rice cooker pork beans
back on the rice cooker.

wash pinto beans four good times, soak overnight.
in rice cooker add water, some cheap cut of pork and the beans. salt, bay leaf and garlic. turn on, then change to "keep warm" after it boils.

leave it overnight.

throw in a diced half onion, a tomato, roughly chopped, cumin, dry mustard, vinegar, rock sugar, salt, a whole jalapeno. leave it another 6-8 hours.

take out the bones and mix around with a ladel until all the pork meat falls apart and disperses amongst the beans.

- posted by Jesse @ 9:48 AM 0 comments

 
rice cooker braised pork


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01rice.html?scp=1&sq=rice%20cooker&st=cse

for my rice cooker i measured the temperature it maintains in its chamber while on the "keep warm" cycle. it is 150F. at this temperature, if i remember correctly, connective tissue in tough cuts of meat dissolves slowly, and protein-bound water flows minimally. my theory was that you could braise a piece of roasting meat, even if it would take a whole day.

in fact it works.

recipe synopsis:

add a pice of stewing meat (browned on the outside if you want) and enough braising liquid to cover the meat 3/4 of the way to the rice cooker. turn it on. once steam comes out, change it to the "keep warm" setting. wait for 12-18 hours. you can open to turn the meat if you want. the main idea is to put it in at night, then to go sleep and it should be ready by the time you want to eat dinner the next day.

i used pork shoulder roast and a braising liquid taken from the Periplus "Homestyle Chinese Cooking" cookbook:

1c soy sauce
2c rice wine
2c water
.5 c vinegar
.5 c rock sugar
2in. sliced ginger
6 spring onions
peel of one orange
1 stick of cinnamon, broken
1t peppercorns
2 star anise

you are supposed to eat it with blanched spinach.
- posted by Jesse @ 5:35 PM 0 comments

 
minor variants on beef stew
i am explaining how i made a beef stew last night with which i was pleased.  it is loosely based on boeuf bourgignonne, but the idea is to implement some techniques usually reserved for italian sauces and reduce the amount of thickener needed by using purées.  the result is a stew that is thick and a bit sweet, but not heavy or viscous.
- posted by Jesse @ 3:22 PM 0 comments

 
frying

- posted by Jesse @ 7:04 PM 0 comments

 
Meri i boilim wara pinis

we found tía tô in a public park in Buffalo. someone planted it intentionally.
- posted by Jesse @ 9:41 PM 0 comments

 
panem et circenses
The River Cottage Meat Book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is published in a new american edition. it is about how to prepare meat, but also has a substantial discussion about meat ethics and quality, with good contributions to the vegetarian-carnivore debate.

a couple of excerpts

...to those who play the socioeconomic card, saying what about the poor, they'll never be able to afford your fancy, organic, rare-breed meat, from pampered farmyard pets . . . I say don't peddle that hypocritical line to me. Flooding the market with cheap meat would be an obtuse way of tackling poverty and dietary privation in a civilized Western country. Hardly anyone in the West is suffering from problems associated with too little meat, whereas millions are not getting enough fresh fruit and vegetables and wholegrain cereals to maintain good health. p.28-29

(i would say that the author is missing the point, though scarcely by much. flooding the market with cheap meat is a slightly more responsible form of social control than the practice common to poor countries of flooding the market with cheap alcohol. those who say what about the poor are advocating measures to keep the poor happy, but still poor, more often than they are advocating measures to change the social structure so that there is less poverty.)

It is ironic, and also fairly astonishing, that the killing methods of many nonhuman predators are considered such a fascinating aspect of the natural world that films displaying them in graphic detail, often replaying the process several times in slow motion, are considered to be at the classy end of prime-time entertainment, fit for children as well as adults. Whereas the final moments of human predation of our farmed livestock are considered too disturbing and shameful to be made available even for information. In fact, such limited footage as does exist has often been filmed undercover and is more likely to be used to fuel the rage of the militant vegetarian than to educate us dispassionately about the way our meat is made. p.18

(i like this point, because i am generally in favor of probing inflammatory issues lest they be left to radicals. you get to see pictures from a humane slaughterhouse on the next page)
- posted by Jesse @ 10:07 AM 0 comments

 
pot au feu
poaching meat makes something between a soup and a stew. the broth is relatively thin and is served separately from the meat. you use enough liquid to cover the meat. vegetables poached with the meat can be pureed after the cooking is finished and used as a liaison.

poached beef with potatoes

a roast of 1-2 lbs is sprinkled with salt, then patted dry. if it is not dry, then the water left on it will become steam and hinder the browning. in a dutch oven brown all sides in just enough vegetable oil.

sweat a half onion, diced, in the same pot, having added butter and vegetable oil in equal amounts. when the onion starts to become translucent, add two carrots and two stalks of celery diced. cook until the celery is softened. lay the roast on top of the diced vegetables. add two bay leaves and enough beef or chicken stock to cover the meat by an inch or so.

then you poach for an hour. the liquid should be just below boiling, but should not actually boil. boiling causes the meat's protein-bound water to be released before the collagen is dissolved, making it tough and dry. if your stove cannot go low enough, then bring it to an almost boil, then cover the pot and wrap a towel around it. repeat after a half hour.

add the potatoes and poach for another hour, until the meat is fork-tender and the potatoes are completely cooked.

remove the meat and all but one of the potatoes, put them in a covered dish. skim any excess oil from the surface of the broth. pass the broth with the vegetables and one potato through a food mill. stir for uniform consistency. salt to taste.

finishing options

1. stir in baked garlic purée and black pepper

2. whisk in a cup of heavy cream

3. for something close to cameroon pepper soup, stir in puréed habanero pepper and ground njansang.
- posted by Jesse @ 3:14 PM 0 comments

 
selecting cookbooks
when my students had to pass a class whose subject matter didn't interested them, i found that they preferred to learn a bag of tricks rather than learn the concepts that could generate all of the "tricks."

if you go to a bookstore and look at the cookbooks, most of them are bags of tricks, with pretty, pretty pictures. they show you how to create something that resembles the picture, but do not give much guidance if you want to improvise or make your own recipes.

so to be picky about cookbooks, look for ones that have been awarded:

James Beard Foundation

International Association of Culinary Professionals

Gourmand Awards (French)

other ideas for finding good cookbooks?

- posted by Jesse @ 8:38 PM 0 comments

 
pure
i moved and i threw out most of my old kitchen so that i'd have an excuse to re-outfit myself. two things that i've come to like are the dutch oven and the food mill.

apple sauce

take as many apples as you like. even pears. cut them into octants, removing the seeds. place them in the dutch oven, which you place in the oven at about 200F, 1-2 hours, until they are mushy and carmelized. run them through the food mill. add sugar and cinnamon to taste, or not.

pan-americas beans

soak a pound of kidney beans overnight. rinse twice or thrice. prepare a garlic stock. cook them at a simmer, open, in enough stock to cover by 1", having added a few bay leaves, until done. in the end, there should be just enough broth to cover the beans. be vigilant during the cooking so that the liquid level does not go below the beans.

cut a half pound of pig skin into thin strips, like tagliatelle. add them to the dutch oven along with a bit of ham fat. cook on the stove at low heat, until all of the fat is rendered and the skin becomes cracklins. remove the cracklins, salt them and set aside. remove all of the rendered fat except for as much as you want to have in your pot of beans.

in the fat, fry on medium heat one diced onion and, optionally, several jalapeños, scorched on a gas flame, seeded and deveined, diced. let the onions become diaphanous.

add the beans and their broth. bring to a slight boil for up to a half hour. add tomato coulis to chicken and to improve the color. add cumin to taste and the cracklins. if you added jalapeños, finish with chopped cilantro.

it is done.

serve with rice or tortillas.

potage parmentier

it is convenient to make this with the food mill.

- posted by Jesse @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

 
sugo alla puttanesca
"sauce à la sex worker" got its name, say the old wives, because prostitutes do not have as much time as house wives do to shop for ingredients and cook. it's a sauce that you can make in the time it takes for pasta to cook. if you have access to an italian grocer, you can get everything there.

-due denti d'aglio
-due pimenti secchi, arbol or italian
-olio, extra virgine
-pommodori interi in latta, 28 oz. (san marzano is best)
-filetti di sardina
-olive sott'olio, 1 cup
-prezzemolo

optionally,
-tonno
-funghi

start your pasta cooking.
coat the bottom of your skillet generously with the olive oil, heat it strongly.
add the garlic, crushed and slivered, and the dried peppers (as many as you like). fry for an instant, until the garlic starts to change color, then add the sardines (to taste) and the olives, chopped. you let it fry for a few seconds, longer if you like the sardine flavor to penetrate the oil. add the tuna and mushrooms at this time if you are using them. add your can of tomatoes. san marzano are worth the investment. you can alternately put fresh, diced roma tomatoes, seeded. crush the tomatoes with the spatula or potato masher as they fry. let the sauce reduce and thicken. add the chopped parsley.
- posted by Jesse @ 3:26 PM 0 comments

 
ngbang ze li ngong etchem
CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.” (the taste-altering berry on NYTimes)
- posted by Jesse @ 6:31 AM 0 comments

 
lenonge
 

an obscure technique for arousing women. oysters with muscadet sauce and veuve clicquot.
- posted by Jesse @ 6:35 PM 0 comments

 
pizza margherita



it's good to always know where to get fresh basil.
- posted by Jesse @ 9:00 PM 0 comments

 
ecrevisses



crawfish are in season!
- posted by Jesse @ 7:45 AM 1 comments

 
risotto
i prepared risotto for the first time today. i see it is a technique that could be applied with interesting results to many dishes of rice cooked in broth e.g. jollof rice, arroz con pollo, turmeric rice... instead of leaving rice undisturbed, you add the liquor gradually and stir tirelessly.
- posted by Jesse @ 1:48 PM 4 comments

 
teleology
here is a recipe with five ingredients that can be prepared even by people who take pride in not knowing how to cook. i am told it is japanese.

canned or pouched tuna
honey
soy sauce
eggs
rice

proceed thus:

cook the rice. short-grain is preferred here.
add tuna to a warmed frying pan at medium-low heat. if the tuna is packed in water you will need to drain and oil the pan. now add honey, about a quarter cup for a can of tuna, and cook until the tuna begins to get dry. add honey to adjust the sweetness. now add soy sauce to the level that you like, which is 1-2 tablespoons / can tuna for most people. fry until it is dry.
scramble the eggs. you would like a relatively large curd, so cook them quickly at a strong heat.

fill your bowl with rice, then add egg and tuna on top. eat with chopsticks.

variations are welcome.
- posted by Jesse @ 1:26 PM 1 comments

 
coagulate
according to Hervé This, a pinch of flour added to the egg mixture for custards, sabayons and quiches, makes them more forgiving and more tolerant of higher temperatures during the baking. do pro chefs agree with this advice?
- posted by Jesse @ 3:44 PM 1 comments

 
Why not?
If you're looking for something to fry up...consider coating it with french fries as well.
- posted by Jenna @ 7:47 PM 0 comments

 
soup and french scientists
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier convinced the French that potatoes were edible. many french dishes made with potatoes bear his name.

Potage Parmentier (Potato Leek soup):

i am making some changes to the joy of cooking recipe. it is satisfying and light at the same time.

you will gently fry the firmer parts of as many leeks as you can afford (no less than two, no more than eight) in half a stick of butter (70g) until they are quite soft.

have some potatoes peeled, about three large ones. those of the type "gold" do well here. slice them in centimeter thick disks.

you then add about five cups of liquid. my preference is that the soup be light, so i would not advise making it entirely stock. also be wary that your stock may have some gelatin in it that can stiffen the soup. therefore i advise one cup of stock (fish, chicken, or shrimp) and four cups of water. simmer covered until the potatoes are well cooked.

now the place where i differ most sharply with joy of cooking. they say to purée the mixture, but i advise using a simple potato masher (one of which i bought in the aftermath of the recent scandal, and the recent scandal is probably the reason why i had this change of heart about puréeing, because i am now so cautious about making things too stiff, or horresco referens, "gluey", by wounding the potato starches.) until you have a thick of porridge with small but palpable lumps of potato in it.

now add salt, white pepper, and a touch of milk or creme.

dip crusty bread in it. good with ale.


--------------------------------------
Louis Camille Maillard has a reaction named after him. quoth wikipedia:

The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat. Like caramelization, it is a form of non-enzymatic browning. The reactive carbonyl group of the sugar reacts with the nucleophilic amino group of the amino acid, and forms a variety of interesting but poorly characterized molecules responsible for a range of odors and flavors. This process is accelerated in an alkaline environment as the amino groups are deprotonated and hence have an increased nucleophilicity.

I am proposing a standard chicken soup that uses all of the same ingredients as your standard recipe, but makes use of the Maillard reaction to improve the sapidity.

do so:

prepare a hot oven, 425-450F, and roast on your broiler pan:

1 celery heart
1 large carrot
1-2 lbs chicken necks or other unappreciated
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled

turn everything over with tongs every 10 minutes or so. when something becomes very well browned, put it in your stockpot and wait for everything else to finish browning. when everything is finished browning, add water to just cover everything, then a bouquet garni. simmer your stock, skimming, leaving uncovered, adding water as necessary, 1-4 hours.

meanwhile, put three or four chicken thighs, their skin on, on the broiler pan and roast them, turning every 10 minutes, until they are done (about 30 minutes). it the skin should be crispy, dry and browned. remove the skin, salt it, and eat it or give it out as a snack. the reason i advocate the broiler pan is because moist conditions (viz. steam in equillibrium with wtaer) slow down the glorious maillard reaction. let the meat cool, then remove the bone and slice it across the grain. crumble the slices and reserve them. the reason we roasted the meat separately and have delayed adding it to the soup is so that it doesn't lose any flavor to the boiling stock.

once the stock is done, remove the solids, return it to the pot, then add

salt to taste
chopped carrots
diced potatoes

the potatoes will absorb some of the salt you added as they cook. when they are done, turn off the heat and stir in the chicken meat. add black pepper to taste.
- posted by Jesse @ 9:09 PM 1 comments

 
herrings
I have unearthed a valuable document about herrings. if anyone is going to write a history of herrings, then let this serve as a signpost.

Dodd, James Solas. An essay towards a natural history of the herring. By James Solas Dodd, ... London, 1752. 197pp. General Reference

here is a fragment thereof:

The Method of salting and curing Herring was found out, as some say, A. D. 1397 ;tho' others bring it down to A. D. 1416. And it is observ'd, that William Buckelsz, or Bachelen, a Native of Bier Uliet, render'd his Name immortal, by the Discovery of the Secret of curing and pickling Herrings ; and the Emperor Charles V. coming into the Low Countries made a Journey to the Isle of Bier Uliet with the Queen of Hungary, on Purpose to view the Tomb of the first Barreller of Herrings. The Method is as follows: When the Herrings are design'd for the white Pickle, as soon as they are taken out of the Sea, one of the Crew appointed for this Office cuts them open, and carefully separates the Guts from the Rows, the Firmness of which is a great Mark of their being well done ; then casting away the Guts, and leaving the Rows sticking whole to the Fish, they are first well washed in fresh Water, then put into a strong Brine, that will bear an Egg, made of fresh Water and Sea-salt, where they are suffer'd to lay fourteen or fifteen Hours ; then taking them out, they drain them, and when well drain'd, dispose them evenly in Rows in the Barrels, pressing them well down, and strewing a Layer of Salt both at Top, and at the Bottom. When the Barrel is thus filled, they stop it close down, lest any Air should get in, or Brine run out ; for the Air rusts the Herring, and the Loss of the Brine, by depriving some Part of their due Proportion of Salt, may cause them to stink ; and when they are repack'd, take the same Care. There hath been Objections made, that the Dutch Herrings eat not so rancid, more mellow, and taste less of the Salt than ours ; but let the Objectors consider how long they have been in Salt, and the short Time ours have. It is not with Fish as with Flesh, where, when the salt hath insinuated itself into the more close Texture of the Meat, after a Time it ceases to preserve, and preys on and destroys the Substance of the Meat ; but the Fish being more lax, and containing more Moisture, its longer Continuance mellows the Substance, and takes off the fiery Heat of the saline Particles. Thus as they sell no Herrings at home till foreign Marts aare serv'd, they may well in Holland eat more mellow than those here, that are sold and eaten almost as soon as caught ; and whatever some may imagine, it is certain that the longer a Barrel of Herrings is kept unopen'd the less of the Salt and more of the Delicacy of the Fish will be tasted. The later in the Season the Fish are caught, as they are fatter ; so is it, that they are more rancid, unless they are stronger press'd, which indeed is the only real Difference. The Curers of the Pilchards take especial Care in their Pressing, and was a little more Force used to our Herrings, none could tell any Difference between them and the Dutch.
- posted by Jesse @ 8:45 PM 0 comments

 
spring rolls revisited
having had a bit more experience than last time i posted, and having learned from various experts, I want to give some advice on how to elevate the level of your spring rolls.

in the area of herbs, you may want to expand beyond cilantro, basil and mint.

all of these herbs work well, and can be combined at will: (i looked up their names at this website)

kinh gioi: vietnamese balm
tia to: purple perilla
diep ca: fishscale mint
ngo gai: sawtooth mint
fresh chives

for the rice vermicelli, use it sparingly. let the herbs and meat carry the flavor of the roll. using too much is what unscrupulous restauranteurs do.

for the wrappers, they are not all created equal. you want one that absorbs water well, is of even thickness, and is flexible when moistened. the brand i trust is hieu 2 ca vang (two goldfish brand).

for the dipping sauce, give it the flavor of the meat that you choose. for example, if you use shrimp, save the shells and make a shrimp shell stock. simmer hoisin sauce with the stock. if you use pork, braise it or roast it, then simmer the hoisin sauce with some braising liquid or deglazed pan drippings. nuoc cham can be added to your sauce profile.
- posted by Jesse @ 9:29 AM 1 comments

 
educating our palates
from Les secrets de la casserole, by This Hervé:

In the early 80's, it was discovered that the limit of detection of saccarose, or the smallest noticeable quantity of sweetener that can be detected in a given quantity of water varies by individual ; likewise, different sweeteners are perceived with different limits according to the person. In other words, the amount of sugar that we put in our coffee depends not only on the sensation that we like to have, but also on our personal sensibility to the sweetening molecule . . . What is fascinating, and perhaps not astounding, is that these limits evolve through "education" : in a string of tests, the limits diminish, i.e. sensibility increases . . . This type of observation shows that, if we wish, we can train ourselves to develop a refined palate.
- posted by Jesse @ 9:19 PM 0 comments

 
pav bhaji
i developed a taste for this at the 3am punjab apartments of college when the prepackaged food sent from home by auntie was broken out.

it is a potato curry that you eat with toasted, buttered buns. you will want a potato masher to make it properly. this is my rendition.

for the bhaji:

either buy pav bhaji massala or follow a recipe online, like this:

roast these things:
50 grams coriander seeds
25 grams cumin seeds
25 grams black peppercorns
25 grams cinnamon stick
25 grams cloves
seeds of 4-5 black cardamom pods
10 grams fennel seeds

now grind everything, then add

50g chili powder
25g dry mango powder
1T turmeric powder

now you melt about two tablespoons or more of ghee
fry at a good pace in the hot oil:

1 large onion, diced

add now:
5 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 T ginger paste or fresh ground ginger
3 cloves garlic, smashed
4T pav bhaji massala
1T chili powder
stems from a bunch of cilantro, finely chopped (you can make use of the whole cilantro plant if you add the stems at the start of your cooking, and the leaves at the end, instead of discarding the stems)

cook until a smooth sauce with oil floating atop.

meanwhile, you will have boiled some or all of the following, remembering that the potatoes are the sine quibus non:

3 large potatoes
2 large carrots
1 cup of peas
about 250g cauliflower
a green capsicum, seeded
a cup of boiled beans or lentils

add these things along with a cup or so of water

now stir and mash with the masher, until you have a curry that is thick but can still be stirred easily. use water to adjust the thickness. once it is all well mashed and has a smooth consistency, turn off the heat and add:

salt to taste
juice of a lemon or a lime (the lime will be more sour)
the leaves from your bunch of cilantro, in generous amount

your pav (pão) is buns that are toasted then buttered or buttered then grilled. dinner rolls or bolillos work well.
- posted by Jesse @ 2:35 PM 1 comments

 
tartiflette
for me, the standard tartiflette is layers of the following baked in a casserole dish:

bacon fried with onions
boiled, sliced potatoes
crème fraîche

after the last layer you pour in enough dry white wine to fill the interstices and then lay over the top a reblochon cut through the thickness like a sandwich roll. it's then baked for 30-45 minutes, until the cheese is melted and a bit browned on top, and the liquid has stiffened somewhat. a more standard recipe is here

i chose this dish for a potluck in buffalo, NY, this weekend, since buffalo is cold and showy. i made the following improvisations:

i used waxy white potatoes, peeled them, boiled them whole, then cut them into thick slices. this is standard.

i couldn't find suitable bacon, so i got a hunk of salt pork and fried it until it was crispy. it gave crackly bits of flesh that was almost purely fat. this is a welcome effect, i say, since the overall texture of the dish was made smoother and these pieces soaked up some of the liquid.

i forgot to fry onions in the pork fat.

there was no crème fraîche, so I used sour cream. about a pint and a half went into the casserole with three pounds of potatoes.

most importantly, there was no reblochon, so i experimented with Le pié d'Angloys, another washed-rind cow cheese that has a powerful fragrance when ripe. this cheese lived up to its expectation, and its flavor completely overtook the dish.

from this, i recommend further innovation in the area of cheeses. i would try époisse or pont l'evêque next time.
- posted by Jesse @ 1:47 PM 0 comments