Excerpt – Life, love, and cooking

Enjoy!

March 10^th – Bacon fat

Today’s society has brought a new font of knowledge on the topics of saturated fats. While looking back in the era of our grandparents cooking some of us may remember the old tin can or glass jar where the drippings of the breakfast bacon would go. As a fat it holds itself much to a use like butter, solid at room temperature.

Cook your bacon in the pan on medium heat making sure to drain the fat after every other batch. Before you get the third batch going take your wire mesh strainer and pour the fat from the pan in to the strainer with the can waiting underneath. The strainer will remove the extra shards of bacon still left in the fat.

Due to the amount of salt in the bacon you will have a lot of salt in the drippings. This was the reason why some people would have the can out because so much salt can act as a preservative. Even if this is the case I keep mine in the fridge so that way there is less chance of accidental spills. Even though it is technically a solid at room temperature that does not mean it is a rigid solid. It will be a little softer then room temperature butter if you need something to associate it to.

Collecting, straining, and storing fat aside what would be some things you would want to use it with. The answer stands anywhere you want a savory fat to be heated. It can be added to warm sauces, used in replacement for oil in sautes as well as stir fry’s.

Wash some potatoes and cut them in to rings a half inch thick dry them off before warming your bacon fat in a pan to medium heat. Drop your slices of potato in to the fat and let them cook until they get a good coloration before flipping. As soon as the second side is finished let dry on a paper towel before sprinkling with old bay seasoning for a tasty snack.

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Excerpt – Life, love, and cooking

So before we go in to the excerpt let me tell you something about this project. It originally started as something that someone read one page per day that would take them from the basics as I had learned them, skills and stories having that all build in to the end of the year. So things like basic sauce making, stocks and doughs in January while in December their would be actual full meal breakdowns.

The problem I found out with that is that makes a lot of writing. Starting off on the editing process I found out that everything ended up just under 125k words. For those who write the National Novel Writing Month has the goal of 50k so in short I wrote a lot for one book. After some thinking about what would be the best way to handle this I may have found an answer. If anyone would like to comment their two cents on it, I would appreciate it.

Options are either release it as one massive book or in two portions. If It gets split in to two portions it won’t be over the year obviously, but it will be easier to handle I would think. Also, I will have one excerpt from each month of the book on this blog. So twelve different excerpts to let you see how it is so far. One down eleven to go and with this, ten to go.

February 20^th –A million starbucks yet

Knowing how popular coffee is in this country; tea has suffered the fate of falling in its shadow. Consisting of so many different flavors from all around the world some exist for taste while some take double duty for a sleeping aid or a caffeinated drink of choice. Since the amount any times is lower then your coffee or soda you can get a small boost without worrying about the crash.

At any house absolutely anywhere one good pot of tea just needs a couple pieces of information and some water. The info you will want will be how much you are steeping, what temp the water needs to be at for best flavor as well, as well how long.

For one 8 ounce cup of tea start with 1.5 tsp of whatever leaves you need except in the case of green and black which can be dropped to 1 tsp. Green is often sold in powders so you will need less of it. Reason is of how much surface area with the powder versus regular leaves. Black tea is often very strong so start off with one tsp just to see if you like that.

Green and white teas are good when steeped at 175 for between two to four minutes. Oolong and black go twenty degrees higher for 3 to 4 minutes. Herbals do best just under boiling at 205 for 5 minutes. Of course other teas are out there and they will have special preparation such as Chai for example. Learn how to maximize the flavor and invite your friends for a cup and a game. When making iced teas double the amount of leaves or powder.

You can have a tea pot, however you do not need one for good tea. If you want one there are many models and styles to choose from. Extra care needs to be taken though as with iron teapots you do not want to over heat a pot to blacken the paint or leave your leaves inside it for a period has that may invite rust or a loss of finish.

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Excerpt – Life, Love and Cooking

Here is something from one of the book projects I currently have in the starting round of editing. Something for every day of the year going over kitchen wisdom, recipes, tips, tricks and my own experiences working in various kitchens.

January 5^th– Ratios vs. recipes (quick pie crust)

Things do not need to be difficult to be good. Some times I will crack a cook book to find a recipe with too many ingredients, and many of which serving no purpose to the final dish. Pie crust is an ingredient that is a great example of this. Dozens of possible combinations between fats, flours, and flavorings may make things confusing. You will need a pastry cutter for this. Otherwise a pie crust is always within a three step countdown. Ratios you will find to be much more useful then complicated recipes. I will try to give ratios whenever possible in the future.

So three parts all purpose flour with two parts fat either shortening or butter and one part ice cold water. Pinch some salt in with the flour and give it a light stir with the hand. So which fat do you use? Shortening would be useful if you’re new to the crust game for the simple fact that it will not melt as easily so you have more time. Butter will bring better flavor and richer texture just realize that you will need to chill the butter even freezing it may be suggested. If you want to go halvsies on the fats I have found that will give you the best of both worlds.

Put your fat in the flour and using your pastry knife cut the fat in to the flour. This will take some time if you’re not used to it that’s ok. Now how much you cut it to depends on what you are using it for if you need a flaky crust such as the top cover to a double crust pie then you want to cut the fat to the size of frozen peas. Cutting to rice size fat granules will create a mealy crust. Reason for this is that when you roll the dough the fat flattens and the larger size lends itself to creating layers while the mealy crust will be structurally sound. Next add the water do so slowly stopping at the last tenth before kneading together if it seems a little dry then continue with the last tenth until amalgamated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap before putting it in the fridge to chill before rolling out to whatever you need.

3 parts all purpose flour 2 parts cold fat 1 part ice cold water 1/8 tsp salt for 8 oz of dough.

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Speaking of Food – Sauces

Haven’t done a food post for a while so with the holidays in a few months are some sauces you can use to brush up your meals so to speak. The sauce is a lot like the wing man in a fully composed meal. It should not compete with the other elements of the dish, but work with them to bring out their very best. So here are some sauces defined.

Pomodoro – One can look at this is as the basic tomato sauce. Fresh picked tomatoes with very little extra seasoning cooked down to a sauce consistency. Tomato puree can add thickening power if you find through the simmering process that it just is not the texture you wish.

Marinara – Usually seasoned with onion as well as more herbs and garlic then a pomodoro sauce would be. Due to the additions of other flavors stirring to keep any possible items from sticking to the bottom of the pot may be critical. Finding a a good bodied red wine can add a flavor boost near the end of the simmering process.

Arrabiata – This is known as the angry sauce due to the amount of chili pepper in it. It is made from a tomato base like the marinara and the spice should be calculated carefully as I have found acidic elements – such as the tomatoes in the base make the heat of the peppers a little more pronounced. When simmering try to keep the heat on the pot on the lower side of simmer (medium low on most stoves) Simmering sauces to high after the inclusion of spices may add unwanted bitterness or a metallic flavor to your sauce

Gastrique – A sauce comprised of vinegar, sugar and seasonings under low heat. With the holidays coming up a cranberry gastrique is often a nice way to bring a fresher cranberry sauce to the table. The biggest thing to be careful of is let everything come together slowly as if you leave it for a moment on high heat after it has just absorbed all the sugar then you could burn it.

Compound butter – A forgotten sauce for some reason it can be made and frozen and holds very well in the freezer. It really is butter plus (x). You can mix some apple sauce and honey in it and do a sweeter one. Mix herbs and lemon and use that for grilling or roasting. It is so easy to make you just take what you want to mix add it to cold butter and let it warm to room temp before mixing it thoroughly.

Stock is also something that yo ushould make and usually is good with whatever is left over from a roast. It is in a lot of different sauces and can add body to just about everything that has to be simmered.

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Speaking of Food – Technique

So talking with some strangers about the subject of food while I was out led me to realize something. When it comes to terms of food some people do not know their marinara from their Monte Cristo. For those who don’t know the difference one is a sauce and the other is a sandwich. Being new to all the terms may find in a cookbook may think that cooking is some form of magic and despite the language being a bit odd at first here are some words that may describe techniques. You never know when one of these will be a jeopardy answer so off we go.

Blanch and Shock – This is a technique that simply means that it was boiled just long enough to heat through (seconds to a minute usually) before dumping the food items in to ice water to manipulate the color and texture. This is normally done for very small pieces of red meat or vegetables.

Whipping – This just means putting a lot of air in to. This is normally done with mixes like cream or egg whites. This can be done usually with a reference of some kind of custard.

Creaming – If you ask a baker and a line cook what this word is then they will give you two different answers. Both are correct, but we will start with the one appropriate to baking. Creaming when your baking something means to mix the butter and sugar in to a paste. On the culinary side, creaming something is something usually cooked in heavy cream.

Chiffonade – This a fancy term that means to cut something to small strips after rolling them up.

Flambe – When you add enough of a high proof alcohol to a pan before lighting it with a match, spark, or lighter. This is often done to add an extra layer of flavor to something as it cooks down. Bananas Foster uses this technique.

After some classes a couple things made something apparent. When anyone learns a new school one of the biggest hurdles is to learn to language associated with the skill. So in hopes that more people cook more their will be various posts to go over some terms. Cooking is something that every person on this planet does. We can communicate through it and learn about culture from it. Before I break my harp on this subject, and I will if this goes much longer from me harping on the subject.

I just love using bad jokes.

Enjoy the day.

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Spicy Pork in Lettuce Cups

So here is a dish that you can make and if you do not have the lettuce then you can use the pork mix as a topping for salads. This makes a great meal and really is simpler then one would expect. Once again this is for a big old pot of the stuff so if you think this is too much then chop the recipe in half or even to a quarter if needed. They also work well tossed with noodles warm in a bowl.

Ingredients
3*1 lb package of Pork Chorizo
2 lbs small diced Pork
1 lb package Beef Chorizo
4 Bell Peppers of your choice
Mine was 1 orange, 2 red, and 1 yellow
1 bunch of Green Onions
1/2 can of Chipotle in Adobo
1/2 lb Honey Roasted Peanuts
1/2 clove of Elephant Garlic or 2 cloves Garlic
1 head Iceburg Lettuce

Get your all your meat in the pot on medium heat first to cook up and their will be a fair amount of fat coming out we are going to use this to help flavor all the veggies. It will be the base of the sauce for everything to contribute to. While this is going on you can chop up your veggies. Roughly dice everything before tossing the green onions and garlic in when the meat seems to be almost cooked through. Continue to heat until warmed through before removing from the

Toss your veggies on with the remnants of fat in the pot to help saute the all the beautiful colors. Toss your peanuts when you are ready to pull the trigger, and if you are worried about the sugar of the peanuts burning then a quick stir every so often will make sure to stop that. You want to cook everything until peppers begin to shimmer like little gems from sauteing.

When you put the meat back in to heat together you can add your Chipotle in Adobo before mixing it all together and warming it up. If there happens to be a couple of caramelized things at the bottom of the pan then you can deglaze with a couple drops of Rice Wine Vinegar before continuing to finish it up

Take your Iceberg Lettuce and get your filling in to the cup. I find a quarter cup of the filling per leaf is right about good for me before rolling up and chowing down. If you do not want the little amount of sauce to leak then you could always double up on your leaves with no problems.

Delicious.

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Three Ages Of Cuisine

In cooking one can boil the where of their culinary homeland pretty easily. When it comes to recipes the case is a little harder, but still manageable. Many times though when people ask someone who cooks what kind of food they like to cook this little detail goes out the window. In any case here are the three general time frames of cuisine.

Classical
This would be the recipes that are often heralded by many critics. These are the ones that have passed from generation to generation. Things that have been around for many years in some cases hundreds or even thousands. From here you will see less technical ways with common ingredients of the era. This food often while have a higher bar of detail in flavoring using a strict set of ingredients while still trying to create new recipes within it. Le Tour D’argent’s more popular recipes could be seen as classical french food. Often times also the French, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian cuisines will go more back in to their culinary history as they have many centuries of recipes to go through in a style of food that has been found pleasing on the world stage.

Modern
This would be the most popular time frame of cooking simply with what you have using the basic techniques that the common person has access to. Most places nowadays will go through this era of food as it is often the easiest to create often by here say or just by the equipment and time available to cook. Here is where will we say newer countries really begin to make their stand as well as some who maybe have not been given the same opportunities due to simple lack of knowledge about it. This would include a fair mix of countries including the America’s, Spain, Indian, Korean, and most of the Arabic states.

Neo or New Age cuisine
This is where fusion would be situated, and the realm of neo cuisine is the unexplored the new and brash scientific edge meeting a different set of flavor combinations that neither era of cuisine before it could have dealt with. David Chang has a great penchant for making good food no matter the ingredients. Another style of food that would be here is molecular gastronomy. Where more of the new ground is still being made. Every national cuisine can be done in to a new style making it an interesting exchange between the new style and the older version. A restaurant idea could be even made on highlighting the difference between the old and the new while having the tasters enjoy them both in their own special ways.

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Enchilada Casserole

You will need the following ingredients to fill one deep baking tray/casserole dish.
2.5 lb 75/25 Ground Beef
1 lb Beef or Pork Chorizo
1 White Onion
1 can Refried Beans of choice or 1 1/2 C homemade Refried Beans
4 cups dried Rice
1 bunch of Cilantro leaves
1 cup grated Cheddar
Garlic and Chilies to season
Your Tortilla of choice. If 12 inch you will need about a dozen. 10 inch you will need close to 15
1 pt finely diced Salsa or Enchilada Sauce if you want

So first you want to get your rice going 6-8 cups of water (out with six and keep the other two off to the side just in case it needs it. Due to variances between rice when farmed it is not impossible to hear of or have happen. While this is going on chop up your cilantro, grate your cheddar, chop up your onion, and get your beans warm. After your rice is cooked take it out of the pot and let it cool for a moment.

So toss your chorizo, beef, and onion in to the pot on medium heat until the onions are soft.

When it is almost done you can toss your cilantro in with your rice and whatever seasonings you wish and give that a good mix.

At this point you may want to preheat your oven to about 300 F. It doesn’t take me that long and while that is going it is time to take our baking tray out and begin construction on each burrito just as soon as the meat finishes.

As you can see we get more then just meat or cheese. You can also see from the shadow that my kitchen lighting needs some work.(oh well no fancy foodie pictures here what you see is still good enough to eat) A spoonful of meat, a spoonful of rice, a half spoonful of warm refried beans and a heavy pinch of cheddar before being rolled up. Prep for the baking tray if you want is to spoon a little bit of your sauce or salsa in. Finely diced salsa was on heavy sale so I just grabbed that. If you make it or buy it you will need about a pint.

Almost a dozen big ol’ beefy burritos before saucing and cheese on top. If you do not want use all your sauce do not feel the need to with thinner sauces you may find a little less works or some people really like theirs saucy. In any case play it how you wish to play it as you can see below mine is a little drier.You can tell this will definitely get you full in hurry. Dress up the top with some more of the sauce and the remainder of the cheese before being put in for 20 minutes.

You want it in the oven long enough just for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to absorb some of the liquid. This makes 5-6 servings and does really well in the microwave after being kept in the fridge.

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Roasted Corn and Bean Salad

For this meal you will need the following for this:

1/2 a bunch of washed Spinach stems
1/2 bunch washed Cilantro stems
1 can or 1 1/2 C Golden Corn cut from the cob
1 can Pinto Beans or 1 1/2 C Cooked Pinto Beans
1 can Black Beans or 1 1/2 C Cooked Black Beans
1/2 Bunch Green Onion, Chopped
1/2 Medium Diced White Onion
Chili powder, Salt and Pepper to season
Vegetable Oil to saute

Now this can give 2-3 servings or with a good guacamole make a great layer in a dip which was the fate of mine tossed on some tortilla chips with a small grinding of cheese. Happy days are here again because I mad a nacho plate I can eat without wondering how thick my blood will be due to all the cholesterol. Sarcasm is showing, sorry.

First get your Corn in to a pan and with just a couple drops of oil on medium heat and leave it alone except to shake it as it begins to color and develop those tasty sugars and flavors so essential later. If you like it a little spicy you can add some chili powder to the corn to give it a lovely little zing adding to the Jalapeno at the end.

While this is cooking organize all of your stems and the Green Onions on to the nearest cutting board of choice and go to town on them like its the last day of the guillotine’s career and your trying for his job. Both Spinach and Cilantro stems should be chopped finely before using and made sure to remove any brown parts before ginsu-ing it up. Doing so will give you a nice little flavor as well a notice able crunch that will hold up to the remaining cook time rather well giving everything more aroma and a larger cast of flavors you will be able to notice in the end product. Once again, perfection is only for those who do not understand the word. We are working to build flavors so if you feel that you will enjoy a bit of fresh Cilantro to be chopped then go for it. In the picture you can see a few leaves. I added mine to give a little more aroma barely a teaspoon in the grand scheme though.

Next turn the heat up a little higher and (medium high now) toss your crunchy bits in to the pan. If the corn is stuck then you can add a couple small drops of liquid it does happen in some pans, DO NOT WORRY! A teaspoon of liquid can be used to help maneuver everything in to form again if you absolutely have to when you see it, and if you do not mind waiting a minute the liquid given off from the stem choppings can save you here as well. Next are beans, drain and add to the pan as after a couple minutes for the stems and the corn to exchange greetings. (3 tops)

After warming everything up take it all out and let it cool for a moment. You may notice that we have some brown colored bits in pan from the cooking of natural sugars well we will be dragging those out of the pan with a simple Onion. Medium Dice works well, think about the size of the face of a penny for general-ish dimensions. Low heat here for a few minutes (4-8 depending on the variables).

We want to caramelize the sugars in the onion instead of browning them that we do on medium heat with the corn. Caramelizing at medium heat will give you a different flavor profile and texture then at low and if you do not believe me then try it yourself. Once they have been softened and given a sweeter aroma you con toss the whole salad in to warm up and taste test before plating. If you want to season do it now or hold your peace.

Here is the finished product around a center of refried beans topped with green chilies chopped in to rings. It was delicious.

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Chili Mac – Home Cooking

So after thinking about some thing I decided to get back in the kitchen to make some meals so I don’t eat the same thing 18 times in a row when writing, drawing or learning some stuff on Alison (free education website). A nice little stretch of macaroni and actually a nice dish overall. If you like cheese on top of your chili this will actually turn a couple meals in to about a week’s worth. Here is what you will need for a large pot of Chili Mac.

Ingredients

6 C Dry Macaroni
3 Cans of Chili
1/2 Lb Cheddar, Shredded
1/3 C Grated Parmesan Romano
1 pt or 2 C Heavy Cream
1/2 stick Butter
Chopped Green Onions to Garnish.

Makes 6-8 servings

Just to let you know my cream is frozen. So first we start with the macaroni. Boil that up.

After its cooked you can drain the noodles to begin working on the cheese sauce make sure the cheddar is shredded. If you have the boxed mac and cheese just make it as you see fit. On low heat you want your butter, cream, and cheeses until everything becomes one. Push the heat higher and the sauce may curdle.

After everything has been melted and the sauce been tasted and seasoned here is where you have the option to add some green onion. I add some to mine to give a little bit more color to the whole affair. It is not needed however.

After your sauce is simmering heat your chili up in another sauce pan or in the microwave whichever is easier just until it all becomes more fluid. Put your noodles back in the sauce, add your chili making sure the chili and noodles have a nice meet and greet of flavors in the pot.

After all that is done. finish with your garnishes and serve or in my case freeze and eat as you see fit. Add some hot sauce if you like to give it a little more heat.

I had a little cheddar left over so that was used as a garnish as well. In any case its a mild dish without being boring and it holds long enough that I will have been eating it while working on my other projects.

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