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October 16, 2008
Amuse Bouche- a simple version
I've mentioned the phrase "amuse bouche" before, but I guess it's been long enough for me to bring it up again. It's a simple "amusement for the mouth", and in this case it was the few last slices of hot Italian bread we had on hand, along with a small ramekin filled with Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva with some parm reggiano tossed in.
It was sort of a joke when I presented it to Julie, but it really did serve to wake our palettes up before dinner last night. The Tibvrtini oils we carry are absolutely magical all by themselves, but the parm gave it a really nice flavor. I just wish we would have had more bread left!
Note: Apparently there's no accent in amuse. Thanks, Gail!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 7:17 PM | Comments (2)
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May 10, 2006
From the Archives- Mascerate vs. Marinate
(TPC's Standing Rib Roast with Salt Crust)
I'm traveling until the 17th, so here's something from the archives that I thought merited updating. It's been a year since I wrote it, and one thing I would add is how important salt is to cooking.
Salt increases the succulence of food by stimulating saliva production on the tongue and in your mouth. More saliva spreads the food you're eating over more taste buds, so more taste bud contact, more perception of flavor. This is why even sweet foods like fruit and dessert benefit from light salting. There are so many types of salt out there that the topic deserves its own post at some point, but whatever salt you use, get rid of the table salt! If you need iodine in your diet, fine, supplement it but at least upgrade your pantry to include kosher salt!
What's your favorite salt? I have some Hawaiian Sea Salt from a friend's back yard that just blows me away every time I use it on a great steak.
Here's my original post:
Continue reading "From the Archives- Mascerate vs. Marinate"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 7:29 AM
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August 24, 2005
Kinky Proteins gone against their Denature!!!!
Or, denaturization of proteins during cooking. I heard the crickets when I mentioned this before, believe me, but I had an interesting conversation during an excellent brisket dinner I had over the weekend, so I thought I'd share it.
Brisket is an excellent example of a cut of meat that can easily be ruined by improper cooking. The cut, located at the breast area of the cow, is heavily exercized and contains a great deal of elastin and collegen, the two types of connective tissue found in meat. There is a third type, located only in the hide, so a cook never encounters it. Elastin is the tougher of the two, it is the tough thread-like sinew you find and is little affected by the cooking process, so proper fabrication and slicing before service are required to remove as much of it as possible.
The other type of connective tissue, collagen, can be mitigated by proper cooking. A piece of meat has pretty much done all the contracting it's going to do by the time it reaches around 170º. As this contraction occurs as collagen begins to denature, liquid is squeezed out that used to be trapped between the fibers that used to allow them to move freely. This is the time that fat is so important. Without fat entering to keep the collagen fibers seperated, it becomes more difficult for the fibers to break down and you get the dry, mealy, over-cooked pot roast most of us grew up with. (Except me- Mom makes an excellent pot roast! Whew!!)
Let's talk about temperature now. We know that the meat has shrunk and lost as much juice as it's going to by the time it reaches 170º. Is it time to eat? The answer is, sometimes. If you've been lucky enough to get a cut with a nice fat cap, and you've cooked it fat side up so the fat can melt through the collagen fibers, they may be denturing nicely and you're good to go. But if you're not so lucky, you're going to dry your brisket out at 170º while you're biding your time.
The solution? The breakdown of collagens happens most effeciently around 205º, just below boiling. By smoking or baking at 205º, you're going to expedite the secondary denaturization, and you're going to do it more quickly, so your brisket will actually retain more of the fat that's dripped down into the fibers and keep the afore-mentioned mealy texture from developing.
And slicing. Terribly important. Take the time to figure out exactly which way the grain is running, and slice across it. This helps cut whatever elastin is present and any collagen remaining into short enough pieces that you won't notice them.
Our host, Chad, was doing all this instinctively. Served with a great homemade BBQ sauce, some awesome mashed potatoes and a terrific selection of grilled veggies I almost felt guilty about not helping to cook. Almost.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 7:08 AM
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August 11, 2005
Hollandaise sauce
(Photo: www.wayward.com , which looks like a nice B & B)
Love it or hate it?
Have you ever tried to make Hollandaise or Bearnaise?
Horror stories or tips to share? Me, I've got a few but I want to hear what you have to say.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 8:23 AM | Comments (5)
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August 10, 2005
Slow cooking. Who knew it was trendy?
I found a very good article at Slate on the re-emergence of sous vide, or slow cooking. It's such a good read that I won't belabor it here, other than to emphasize what Sara Dickerman said about the idea of cooking something at its finished temperature to eliminate the possibility of over-cooking. This is especially important when poaching fish or chicken.
Why hasn't sous vide cooking been more prominent until recently? Sara has some good points:
Initially, American chefs may have avoided sous vide because they had concerns about food safety, but I suspect a more significant reason for this delay was aesthetic. For a couple of decades now, we have been carrying on a romance with the fire-bitten flavors and textures produced by high-heat roasting, pan-searing, and grilling. Because we Americans are so closely associated with the bad aspects of the food industry—mushy white breads, microwaveable pap, skinless boneless chicken breasts—high-minded American chefs have felt more of a need to distance themselves from the food industry than Europeans. Burnished, crackly food was the obvious alternative. In the late '80s and '90s, restaurant menus were rife with crusts, be they horseradish, potato, cornmeal, or just the dark amber veneer of a well-seared piece of meat. Barbara Kafka, who had written the definitive microwave cookbook, wrote a very popular book on roasting that advocated daringly high oven temperatures. Photographs in magazines like Saveur further fetishized the crust, lingering on the caramelized pan juices, for example, pooled beneath a glorious roast. And we shouldn't overlook dentistry: Food scientist and texture specialist Malcolm Bourne also argues that as more Americans kept their teeth longer in life, they chose to eat more challenging foods: "A lot of [the] crunchier, tougher food on the marketplace has been a result of a revolution in the dental industry."
Good stuff. Check it out if you have the time.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)
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August 3, 2005
Follow Up- Interesting Sushi series
My post on sushi a few weeks ago got a lot of great comments from those familiar with sushi and some who had never tried it, so I thought I would link to an interesting series of posts from Noriko Takiguchi on how to eat sushi along with some of sushi's great traditions. Check it out.
h/t Instapundit
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 2:39 PM
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July 20, 2005
Sauce of the Day- Supreme
For those who aren't familiar with the term, a Supreme sauce is an incredibly rich sauce traditionally based on chicken velouté that is terrific on roasted chicken or even pork. A bit time consuming but the WOW factor is huge if done properly. It's sort of a very upscale country gravy in a way.
The recipe is in the extended entry.
Continue reading "Sauce of the Day- Supreme"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 8:42 AM
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July 19, 2005
Dovetailing a menu
A dovetail joint is a strong, efficent way to join 2 pieces of wood. Dovetailing is also a restaurant term you may have never heard but probably do without knowing it. To dovetail your menu refers is to efficiently use of your ingredients in inventory to reduce (and ideally eliminate) waste.
In the molé dinner, I had used chicken thighs that were cooked but not eaten the day before, the chile pureé was made in bulk earlier to fully utilize the large bag of New Mexico chiles I got a great deal on, the dried oregano was once fresh home-grown, and I had bought the tortillas to make grilled quesadillas the day before.
Restaurants must do this to keep food costs down, and you should, too. Knowing how to dovetail will keep your grocery bills down, and challenge you to create new dishes with what you have, which will make you a better cook!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 9:10 AM
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July 11, 2005
Amusé Bouche
(Photo:Smoked Salmon wrapped around Chardonnay-marinated onions and English cucumber tied with chive with crème fraîche, chive oil and caviar. Googled from Wendy Brodie.com)
Okay, after getting a few emails, I'll expand on my amusé bouche reference in the Chirac post below.
Amusé Bouche literally translates to "Amusement of the Mouth". Presented to a guest usually as a gift from the chef, it is traditionally rarely more than a bite or two. They have become larger and more elaborate in some establishments over the years, which to me gets away from its true function, to awaken the palate before the first ordered dish comes from the kitchen, a sort of pre-appetizer appetizer.
I haven't seen this book, but the reviews seem very favorable and Rick Tramonto is a respected chef. This book is not for the faint of heart, though, not a peanut-butter stuffed celery stick or Vienna sausage anywhere to be found:
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 8:34 AM
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June 14, 2005
Barding vs. Larding
Photo: Holmen Meat Market
Dr. Biggles, proprietor of the terrific food blog MeatHenge, mentioned lardonaise yesterday and it got me thinking about larding and barding.
A lot of you might not know these terms, so here's my take on it. They both involve adding fat to prevent moisture loss and contribute flavor to a dish. The main difference is that larding involves adding fat to the inside of your dish and barding is outside. Larding can be done by creating pockets stuffed with your fat of choice, bacon, salt pork, etc. or just rolling it up inside to create a roulade.
Barding is wrapping with fat on the exterior. Again it can be strips of bacon, pancetta, ham, or sheets of cowl fat. What's cowl fat? That's another post...
While I'm thinking about keeping meat moist, let's talk about basting. You should never baste with a liquid with less fat than what you're basting or you'll actually dry your dish out, because the hot liquids (your basting liquid and the juices in your turkey, for example) will try to reach equilibrium, which translates to a dry bird.
Sound familiar? Now you know why.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 10:05 AM
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May 20, 2005
Macerate/Marinate- What's the difference?
I was asked recently what the difference is between macerate and marinate. There are varying interpretations in the cooking world, but here's what I was taught in culinary school smashed up with my own opinion:
While both involve soaking something in a liquid to impart the flavor of the liquid, marinating is generally done under refrigeration and can frequently involve an acidic element in the liquid, which will tenderize and begin to 'cook' the meat or whatever is being marinated. You should be aware of this, especially if you intend to marinate overnight or even longer. Doing this with potentially tough cuts of meat such as flank steak will make your next London Broil much more tender.
Macerating is done at room temperature. It most frequently involves fruits and vegetables in liquid, but macerating also refers to a technique to draw out moisture using salt or sugar. It's a good idea to salt eggplant, for example, fairly heavily for an hour before using if you want to remove some of the bitterness. As the salt enters, it bursts the cells of the eggplant, releasing moisture. Make sure you wipe off unabsorbed salt and press out the remaining liquid before breading or grilling.
Sugar is also a powerful macerating agent. Try adding sugar to shredded cabbage before making coleslaw. Let it macerate for an hour or so, pouring off the liquid that leeches from the cabbage. Your cabbage will absorb much more of whatever dressing you add later and you won't get that watery mess you see frequently. You can and should also do this with apples or other fruit before making pies.
I hope that helps. If you have any other questions about cooking techniques or food science, email me. I'll post questions I think a lot of people are curious about.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 8:02 AM
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May 17, 2005
Nebuchadnezzar
Today's word is "nebuchadnezzar". The largest wine commercially available to my knowledge, it holds 15 liters of wine, about 20 standard-size bottles. The other sizes, from next-largest to smallest, are Balthazar (12L), Salmanazar (9L), Imperial (6L), Methuselah (6L), Rehoboam (4.5L), Jeroboam and double magnum (3L), magnum (1.5L), standard, half bottle (375ml), and split (1/4 bottle or 187 ml)
When buying a nebuchadnezzar or something more modest, keep in mind that a larger volume of wine will age far more slowly than a standard 750 ml bottle, especially a cabernet/Bordeaux type of red. A lot of people have enjoyed a specific vintage of a red wine in a standard bottle and then bought a larger size for a special occasion and have been really disappointed when they learned that it really wasn't drinkable yet.
If you do splurge, invite me over to drink it, won't you? I'd be happy to bring the cheese and crackers...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 8:51 AM
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May 10, 2005
Invert Sugar
The phrase of the day is "invert sugar". Used primarily in candies, baked goods and syrups due to its smaller, more stable crystals, it is created by heating a simple syrup (equal parts of sugar and water) with an acid of some sort, usually lemon juice or cream of tartar until it breaks down into glucose and fructose.
Without getting too nerdy about it, invert sugar gets its name from the fact that reflected light is inverted when viewed in a polarimeter compared to pure sucrose.
Mixtures of pure sugar and invert sugar are used because they are even sweeter than 100% sugar or inverts. This medium invert sugar will extend shelf life, especially in low fat versions of baked goods because they moisten products so less water needs to be used, which accelerates staling and spoilage.
Invert sugars also assist in the browning of caramels and make frozen foods softer by lowering the freezing point of the mixture.
Cool stuff, huh?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 9:09 AM
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May 9, 2005
Our friend, the Avocado
Fast facts from the pragmatic chef™. Did you know:
• The name comes from the Indian word 'ahuacatl', which translates to 'testicle', referring to its shape?
• They can weigh up to 4 pounds?
• Avocados have 60% more potassium pound for pound than banannas?
• Adding lemon juice or other acids will slow the browning for a few hours?
• You can keep your guacamole green for up to 24 hours by refrigerating it covered with Saran Wrap™, pressing it down so it touches the surface? Saran Wrap™ is made from PVDC, which is far less permeable to oxygen than other types of plastic wrap, up to 500 times less, I've read. Try it and let me know if it works for you. [I have no affiliation with Saran Wrap™, BTW, I just think it kicks ass.]
• That I don't particularly care for avocados? I compile tasty tidbits like this because I care about you, the faithful TPC reader. And because it's kind of a slow news day.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 7:30 AM
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May 6, 2005
A la Polonaise
The phrase of the day is "a la polonaise", a French phrase meaning 'in the style of Poland'. There are a million interpretations of this, of course, but generally it refers to a cooked vegetable topped with a mixture of finely chopped hard-boiled eggs, bread crumbs, parsley and butter then broiled briefly to brown the breadcrumbs.
Try it on cauliflower, asparagus or brocolli some time!
Or one of your favorite jokes, for that matter...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 9:23 AM