Very cool apartment, but where would I keep all of my STUFF?

Scissorheads -

The travelogue continues… they say that when in Rome do as the Romans do, and so when in Chicago, you do as the Chicagoans do, which it seems is to live large. These are people to whom the word moderation is met with a derisive laugh. The buildings are taller, the streets are broader, the wind is colder. Oh, and the drinks are huge. They serve you a double whether you ask for one or not. Beware!

And today it is as cold as a December day back home, and rainy. I kind of liked it, but I fall into that moody Raymond Chandler atmospheric thing all too easily.

Anyway, for those of you playing along at home, I forgot to mention that last night’s dinner (in which I think I spotted Soylent Blonde was at a joint called The Purple Pig. It is a pseudo Tapas Bar on Michigan Ave, and I wanted to go there because I heard that they did their own charcuterie. Some of you know that I have been curing meats, and so I was curious to see what they were doing, and the short answer was that it was pretty good. But under intense interrogation, the waiter confided to me that much of what they were serving on the charcuterie board was not in-house cured, so I changed the order to be strictly house-made, and it was all very good:

• “Pork-fried” almonds - These are basically like Maracona almonds, but freshly made; the almonds were definitely domestic, probably from California. The almonds were fried with fresh rosemary and had some deep roasted garlic cloves in the bowl. They were lightly salted (under-seasoned in my opinion, but that was quickly dealt with using some fine sea salt). Frying in pork does not make that much of a distinction, I don’t even think that they need to be fried – you could bake them and have the same results, just coat them with olive oil. This was a winner and would be easy to reproduce.
• Charred ramps and scallions with Romesco sauce - Absolutely amazing. Ramps are a wild cousin of leeks, very small and not terribly onion-y; we do not get them in California. I first had ramps, pickled, in a martini in NYC, and I have been enamored of them ever since. They were coated with olive oil and quickly charred over coals (the smokey flavor tells me that it was not just a gas jet). What was interesting about this was that the Romesco sauce was more acidic that the classic recipe calls for; I’m guessing that there was lemon juice in it. At any rate, what happened is that the charred scallions and the ramps sort of completed the Romesco. Tasting the Romesco on its own, it didn’t work; you could not use it in the usual way, typically with seafood. Anyway, for me it was an eye opener to deconstruct a sauce and then use it with an ingredient that makes it come full circle. I’m going to have to think this one through.
• Pork Rillettes - This was a classic dish done classically. They used the neck of the pig (a slightly unusual choice, but it would work). Rilletes are basically a tough cut of meat that is then cooked in the fat of the animal. You pound the cooked mean with some of the fat to make a paste and season it with appropriate herbs, and you usually leave it for a while to ripen under a layer of fat. Americans do not like the ripened version much, and so was a surprise to find someplace that let it age. It was served with sea salt (again, the fear of seasoning food is making us a nation of bland cooks) and a very interesting chutney of sweet cherry peppers and (I think preserved) cherries.
• Fried Pig Ears - OK I admit I ordered this as a tribute to my late hound, Thurber, who never met a pig ear he didn’t like. These ears were cut into a chiffonade and deep fried. They were mixed with some finely shredded pickle and served with a poached egg on top. The whole thing, when sort of mixed up made a sauce that was rich and tart (from the pickles). This is something that would be fun to work through, even though I do not fry food.
• Soft ice cream with olive oil served on brioche – An unusual combination, but it totally works. The ice cream really was that sort of soft self-serve stuff, like at a Foster’s Freeze. The Olive oil was definitely southern France, it had that rough bite at the end that make you cough; I don’t know why it works so well together, but it did. I think if you used a richer ice cream it would be a disaster. The brioche only justified a buck more in the cost; it didn’t add anything (except that the presentation made it look like a gigantic profiterole, so it was kinda cute).

Remember: small plates. No one of these things is a full-sized portion, even for a non-Chicagoan, and da Bears and da Cubs fans would eat a plate of these in a single bite.

This month’s challenge was to incorporate herbs in a canning project, and of course I know that herbs play a huge role in developing flavor for any food product. Used correctly, an herb can build a subtle foundation for the rest of the item – it can lift the ordinary to make it extraordinary; used incorrectly, an herb can overpower, wrestle the food to the ground, and rip out its still-beating heart and… oh, wait. that was a movie. Or Liz Cheney. I forget which.

I went out to the yard to see what was in season and all I had was rosemary and lavender. Rosemary is a terrific herb, and it is often used in Italian desserts, and it is especially well-matched for apricots and other stone fruits. The problem, of course is that stone fruits will not be in season for another couple of months (if at all – the late rains this spring are knocking all the blossoms off the trees before the bees have a chance to do their thing). Lavender, on the other hand, is a very tricky herb to use well. Too little and no one notices it and if you use too much, it is like having a mouthful of soap.

(more…)

The City of San Jose has gone pretty much broke (except of course to buy millions of dollars of land to give away to a billionaire to build a ball park for the Oakland A’s – should they move here), our city is in the process of firing everyone except for the Mayor and City Council, including the Police and the Fire Department. But better to do that than touch raising any taxes here, the third rail of California politics.

Anyway, I digress. So a group of neighbors have taken on maintaining our neighborhood park, and today we were out planting roses that someone donated from their yard. We have no idea what kind of roses they are, colors, sizes, but they were free. As one of the gardeners said, as she pulled the rose out of the plastic container, it’s pot luck. Hopefully the colors and sizes will somehow make sense.

Oy, my aching back. I’m suddenly aware that perhaps some years might have gone by.

Yes, another bread post, and this one might be especially for Scissorhead GRS, who is becoming something of a baker. He has a toddler who likes bread, but it must be soft bread, and so like good daddies of good daughters everywhere, he makes soft bread for his little darlin’. What is it about daddies and their daughters?

This bread, ciabatta, is so soft, and luxurious, the little GRSette will love it, and her lucky parents will love it too. The great breads of Italy differ from most others because of their use of a starter or bigga. This adds a toothsome quality to the bread, with lots of bubbles and character and yet the bread is so soft you can use it for sandwiches even for little kids who only will eat Wonderbread. It is a win-win for the bread maker in the family

The bigga is made the night before you plan to bake the bread. You let it rest overnight to develop character. It is dense and hard and you will doubt that it can possibly be part of a soft bread. Have faith!

(more…)

Scissorheads -

It occurred to me yesterday that we have really accomplished a lot in these little food posts. I thought I should summarize it now in a way that you can see the relationship between all the different things we’ve been doing:

Yes, I’ve been focusing on technique rather than on recipes, but you can see that it all does come together. Learn how to make a roux, and the world suddenly opens up, doesn’t it?

So next time you think that you have nothing in the house to make dinner, start with a little flour and butter – you’ll come up with something.

(And now that it is spring, we will move into different areas of technique.)

Regular readers may recall that I wanted to learn more about preserving food, and got myself involved in the Tigress’ Can Jam Challenge to learn more about the art and science of canning (or as they say in the south, putting up). As most of the rest of the country is still buried under snow, the challenge this month is onions.

I thought about making the famous Zuni pickled onions, but the last two months I’ve made pickled food, and as the Red Queen says to Alice, “Jam yesterday and Jam tomorrow, but no jam today,” well, it has made me cranky.

I WANT JAM!

And so without further ado, here is my recipe for Onion Jam with Pomegranate and Blueberries.

(more…)

So what, you ask, does this have to do with the usual beginnings of a cooking school post? Has ol’ ‘Grain finally slipped off his onion?

Well, yes. Today’s lesson is about how to properly dice an onion! It is probably the most basic thing you do in the kitchen, you probably will dice one sometime this weekend, if not indeed tonight, and so why not learn to do it right?

No tears, Scissorheads, today we win the battle of the onion!

(more…)

The horror, the horror…

Well, it’s finally come to this: I have succumbed to serving food in a bread bowl, something so cliché and truly ’70s awful that I should probably walk the hall of shame, head low, all the way to the last remaining Victoria Station and commit ritual sepuku.

But you know what? It was good. It was better than good, it was excellent. And my guests ate their bowls. And it made a great presentation for a Caussolet, which is about as far removed from that god-awful Lipton’s frozen spinach and sour cream dip in a hallowed out loaf of bread as you can get.

So, with my head held high, here is how to make the bowl. I’ll leave you to your own devices about what to put in it. If you do make spinach dip, don’t tell anyone!

(more…)

You are never too old to learn something new: using another tray to tamp down the seed starting mix seems so obvious to me now.

Anyway, I think today might be the day that I start some seeds for the garden. We are due for some rain this weekend, and having a project to do in the garage seems like the ticket.

(Video from Vegetable Gardener – this is a great resource if you are just getting started with vegetable gardening, or want to learn new tricks.)

My goal with this food-blog challenge – as regular readers already know – is to learn about how to preserve food. This is a skill that is rapidly leaving most American households and as we enter the second (third?) year of the Great Recession, it strikes me that preserving food might indeed be a useful skill. As a dedicated localvore and seasonal eater, this also makes sense to me: preserve the bounty while it is at its peak and enjoy it year ’round.

So come learn with me while I take the can challenge.

If you want to play along at home, you must read the Tigress’ instructions on canning before you begin.

Everyone loves carrots: from your first taste of stewed carrots as a tiny tot to a surly teenager, carrots are probably the only vegetable that you never rejected; everyone loves carrots. I love the crispness of a carrot, the sweetness. It is one of the perfect foods, giving you texture, flavor, and sound. There’s so much there to love in a carrot. Carrots travel the range from savory stews, to crunchy salads, and to sweet (and usually cream-cheese enhanced) carrot cake. Is there anything carrots cannot do?

Recently, I posted the pickled carrots’ recipe for the Super Bowl Bloody Mary, which featured my favorite refrigerator pickled carrots. What I wanted to do was try to get the same sort of flavor and texture in a properly canned pickled carrot. I think it turned out pretty well.

(more…)

I’ve been buying the expensive organic milk lately — it comes in glass bottles! — and If I don’t drink it before it expires, it seems like a real shame, and I’m out $4 or more. I noticed this morning that the sell-by date on the milk was two days ago (the milk is still perfectly fine, but who knows about tomorrow), so… it’s time to make cheese!

When you think about it, cheese is preserved milk, there is not a lot that is magic about it, just some simple science, a little bit of elbow grease (a very little bit), and in about 30 minutes you have some fresh ricotta cheese, and you’ve made something from the milk that you might have to throw out in a day.

I probably don’t have to tell Scissorheads this (they being amongst the best and brightest on the innernets), but you can use ricotta cheese to make a terrific cannoli, if you want to do such a thing for St. Valentine’s Day.

(more…)

It comes to my attention that there is some sort of televised sporting event this weekend, and I thought Scissorheads might like to know how to make the world’s best Bloody Mary to enjoy while watching the game — and if that swine Graves’ booze and drug addled hints are anything to believe, well, this game will be the sort where having a snort of good booze will be well appreciated. This is much more a recipe post than a technique post, though there is always technique at the end.

The Bloody Mary is a very ingenious drink – with the exception of the booze, the thing is practically health food. If you have an addiction issue, you can enjoy the drink without the vodka, and it will still be delicious.

Every good barkeep will tell you that the secret to the Bloody Mary is to keep the base drink spicy because the hootch and the ice will quickly dilute the flavor. The other secret is to have an excellent garnish. Let’s start with the garnish.

(more…)

OK, I can see your eyes rolling already.

“Another French thing that I will never make, eh ‘Grain?” you say plaintively, with just a soupçon of scorn in your voice.

Yes another French thing, and you will make this, and you will like it. A lot. After one taste, your friends and family will be stopped dead in their tracks, bow down on their knees and say, “I am not worthy.”

Here’s the thing about Pâte à choux, it is extremely easy to make, it is very versatile (appetizers – Gougères, main course – gnocchi, and dessert – éclairs and profiteroles all are made from it), and it costs next to nothing.

You generally find gnocchi only in better restaurants, and hardly anyone ever makes it at home, and that’s a shame. It really is one of the great foods of the world, and it is easy to make. Gnocchi is one of those foods that can warm you and comfort you when times are rough. You can nap it with any sort of sauce you want, whatever suits your mood. You can serve it as an early course in a multi-course dinner, or it can be the main deal — so you see, it can be as elaborate or as simple as you want.

My plan for tonight is to saute some fresh chopped chard with a little onion and garlic, and to saute these gnocchi in some butter with a little sage and then mix them together. I’m thinking that the chard will act as a sauce of some sort, maybe I’ll blend it with some stock…

So let’s get started.

(more…)

As some of you have probably noticed from the top of the blog, I entered the Tigress’ in a Jam canning challenge. I know absolutely nothing about canning, and so for me this will be a real learning experience.

The thing with challenges is to learn something new, to do new things. To push yourself. In culinary schools, you will probably have some work on preserving food in the Garde Manger station work: charcuterie, confit, rillettes, sausages, and so forth. You will absolutely learn about brines, and you may even make some refrigerator pickles. Will you make jam? Probably not. Will you actually can it? Absolutely not.

So come learn with me while I take the can challenge.

(more…)

It is time to open up TENGRAIN’S LITTLE COOKING SCHOOL, which is a sort of on-again, off-again recurring feature. It all started when a SCISSORHEAD had to take care of his ill wife and three kids, and did not know anything about how to cook, and was panicked. These posts are not about recipes, though there are almost always some; these posts are about technique. You can find recipes anywhere, but once you have mastered a technique, your cooking, your food, your creativity will improve.

Earlier this week, I received an email from one of the Scissorheads asking if I could write something about making bread. He is a newish father, and everything he reads on the internet about making bread begins with a bread machine, and he wants to be in touch with his food. So this post is for you, GRS.

Bread is elemental, but not elementary. All traditional bread is made with four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt. That’s it. And yet with these simple ingredients, pretty much every country in the world has a rich bread tradition. France even has laws about bread to ensure that no one gets snookered when they buy a baguette: it must meet certain standards. When I was learning about bread in cooking school, we were told that in France, the medieval Popes put unscrupulous bakers in the stocks, naked, in the village square, and encouraged the villagers to poke them with a stick. Let them eat cake, indeed.

(more…)

Custards are the dead-simple, go-to dessert for many fine dining establishments and excellent home chefs need to embrace them more. From the Spanish flan, to the British bread pudding and with the French crème brulée, there is a custard for every occasion and for every cook. Ice cream is a custard that is frozen. Custards rule.

And as always, I want to demystify it for you.

(more…)

As we are at the start of the holiday cooking season, it is time to open up Tengrain’s Little Cooking School, which is a sort of on-again, off-again recurring feature. It all started when a Scissorhead had to take care of his ill wife and three kids, and did not know anything about how to cook, and was panicked.

Today’s topic is a fun one: cakes. Since everyone is broke this year, I am guessing that there will be a lot of baking going on, and probably a lot of cakes will be made. From the box. Terrible, horrible and expensive stuff. Ditch the box this year. Just once. Try it.

Cakes are really pretty simple, and they represent a great lesson in technique.

Here’s the great thing about pound cakes: all the ingredients weigh the same.

Here’s the great thing about sponge cakes: all the ingredients weigh the same.

So, whether you want to make a pound cake or a sponge cake, it’s all in the technique!

(more…)

For those of you who say that California has no seasons…

This is the grape arbor in my backyard, this morning. The grape is a California Native called Roger’s Red, and it is grown for the leaves not for the fruit. The birds seem to like the grapes, though, but they are pretty bitter to me. I’m told that I can preserve the leaves for Dolmas, but I think I like them better when the sunshines through them.

As we are at the start of the holiday cooking season, it is time to open up Tengrain’s Little Cooking School, which is a sort of on-again, off-again recurring feature. It all started when a Scissorhead had to take care of his ill wife and three kids, and did not know anything about how to cook, and was panicked.

Not to panic you further, but if you are planning on brining your bird, you better start today. (And as always, it is far better to roast two small turkeys than it is to roast Birdzilla. Trust me on this.)

(more…)

As we are at the start of the holiday cooking season, it is time to open up Tengrain’s Little Cooking School, which is a sort of on-again, off-again recurring feature. It all started when a Scissorhead had to take care of his ill wife and three kids, and did not know anything about how to cook, and was panicked.

And speaking of panic, I know of few things in the kitchen that panic people more than making the holiday pies, and usually the panic all comes down to one word: dough. There are only three ingredients in pie dough, so how hard can this be? Well, plenty. Even gourmand Scissorhead LiberalDemDave tells me that he always buys the pre-made pie crust in the grocery store.

Besides being outrageously expensive, the quality of the ingredients in the pre-made kind are shameful, and there is no point in spending a fortune when in way under 10 minutes you can have a high-quality dough pulled together for a fraction of the cost.
(more…)

It seems we are at the start of the holiday cooking season, and so once again, it is time to open up Tengrain’s Little Cooking School, which is a sort of on-again, off-again recurring feature. It all started when a Scissorhead had to take care of his ill wife and three kids, and did not know anything about how to cook, and was panicked.

The School is not about recipes – you can find recipes just about anywhere on the web, and many of them are good. No, these posts are about technique, my theory being that if you know how to do something, then you can be creative on your own.. When you master a technique, no recipe will ever cause panic.
(more…)

Our good friend and scissorhead Elspeth Ravenwind knows how to make fireworks that are environmentally friendly and yummy to boot! These are lemon on the inside and fondant frosting. Thanks Elspeth!

OK, I heard the silence. No one misses the cooking posts. They started out as a way to try to rescue my good blogging friend Spartacus when he was suddenly left to his own devices to feed his three kids (and sick wife) on his own. I think I failed him because I am all about technique, and not recipe. My theory is that if you have certain techniques under your belt, you can do just about anything.

And yet, these cooking posts go unnoticed, uncommented. What is a ‘Grain to do?

(more…)

Seed sales are up, Up, UP!

It seems that so many of us are either unemployed, broke, or so worried about being unemployed and broke that we are growing our own food more than at any time since World War 2.

Victory Gardens? Not really. More like food insecurity gardens.

However, as Alice Waters (chef at Chez Panisse) will tell you, this is actually a good thing: fresh veggies, pesticide (and GMO) free might really help us see that monoculture farming is not our friend.

Even Michelle O is growing a vegetable garden at the White House.

The Washington Post tells us:

The D. Landreth Seed Co., one of the oldest surviving corporations in the nation, has seen several owners and many shifts in its fortunes in the intervening 225 years. But if Landreth were looking down on his enterprise today, he probably would be grinning. After years in the doldrums, the consumer demand for vegetable seeds has abruptly climbed at a rate even industry veterans have never seen.

This spring, sales at Landreth are “up 75 percent over last year,” said Barbara Melera, a former venture capitalist who bought the company in 2003. Moving between the shelves of bulk seed containers in her warehouse in New Freedom, Pa., she pointed out varieties that are almost sold out: Detroit Dark Red beets, Danvers Half Long carrots, Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach. She had no kale or a popular beet variety, Lutz. “We have a modest amount of beans left.”

Inside the chicken skin of course!

Don’t mind me if I stick with vegetarian fare.

El Pollo Loco has a beef with KFC’s grilled chicken

The Costa Mesa-based restaurant chain says competitor KFC uses beef products in the marinade for its grilled chicken, and plans to play up that fact in a new advertising campaign.

By Jerry Hirsch

Here’s the beef: It’s in KFC chicken.

The marinade on the chain’s new grilled chicken contains beef powder and rendered beef fat. And competitor El Pollo Loco wants you to know every finger-licking detail.

The plucky Costa Mesa restaurant company is making those beef byproducts the centerpiece of a new advertising campaign tweaking KFC.”The use of beef ingredients in grilled chicken just seems wrong to me, and we believe most consumers would agree,” said Steve Carley, chief executive of El Pollo Loco. El Pollo learned that KFC was using beef thanks to a customer’s tweet to the Southern California chain’s Twitter account.In one television commercial, Carley stands in a cow pasture and talks about a “fun fact” concerning KFC’s grilled chicken, then discloses the beef ingredients.

So how does KFC respond?

KFC pitches “a new secret blend of herbs and spices” when it talks about its recently introduced grilled chicken. To learn what’s in that secret blend, you have to turn to Page 14 of a 37-page ingredient document posted by KFC on its website.

That disclosure is “more than adequate,” said Rick Maynard, spokesman of the Louisville, Ky., chain, which has 5,200 restaurants nationally.

He said “small amounts of beef flavors are commonly used in seasonings for many food products, for both restaurant and retail use. For Kentucky Grilled Chicken’s topical seasoning, beef flavors account for only 0.2% of the total seasoning.”

via LATimes

Scissorheads –

Heads up, kids! While the Wingnuts are running around teabagging on July 4th, a group of us lefty bloggers are planning to do something constructive: we are going to try to get 1 million cans of food into food banks across the country, and you can participate!

Here’s the deal: Reverand Phat over at Les Enragés and the unruly mob over there decided that they wanted to do something positive to counteract all the silliness of Wingnuttia, and to co-opt their event they are challenging the conservatives to participate in the food drive. Clever, n’est-ce pas?

Please see this post over at Les Enragés for details.

Now then, being such a nice guy, and having time on my hand, I have designed some badges to put on your websites and blogs for anyone who wants to participate. Besides the 4-color design shown here, I also have created badges with each of the individual cans in two sizes: 150 pixels and 250 pixels — for small and wider sidebars. The full sized versions are also available if you want to use them in a post.

Feel free to download them and use them, and I hope that everyone has a chance to participate. Let’s show the Teabaggers something constructive instead of something negative!

For the next hour, LiberalmeDave will be over at the beach house telling us about his vegetable garden (with a full slideshow of both the vegetable and flower gardens at his place). Come on by!

From Drop Box

Vegetarian Chorizo & Vegetable Meal, Over Noodles*

Ingredients:

• half an onion
• 3 sections of garlic clove
• 1 small potato
• half a jar of marinara sauce
• 1/2 a vegetarian chorizo
• a handful of frozen peas
• full can of garbanzo beans or black beans
• half a box of noodles

Instructions:

1. Saute the diced onion, pressed garlic & thinly sliced potato in olive oil in a large pan.
2. Add beans in their water.
3. Crumble chorizo into pan.
4. Add marinara sauce & frozen peas.
5. Lower heat and take photos.
6. Write a blog post while it all simmers at a low heat.
7. Boil water and cook noodles according to instructions.

From Shabbat Dinner May 1

* Totally vegan unless you use egg noodles.

Betsy's GIANT matzoh balls in vegetable broth

Texteen is home sick today, so we’re actually having our first seder here instead of going out. Which means …. lots of cooking for me and running my own seder for the first time ever! (Did one with the Tex-Ex a few times, but he did most of the directing.)

Matzoh ball soup is one of the most traditional foods of a Passover seder, but ours is a little different. First of all, I am cooking a vegetable broth instead of chicken soup, and including potatoes, celery, carrots, turnip, onion, scallion, & garlic. Definitely NOT a clear broth.

Matzoh Spheres

When most people make matzoh balls for their soup, they make them round, but my grandma always made oblong matzoh balls instead of spheres.

Feeling the need to do something traditional in my vegetarian kitchen, I decided to make mine in her style. Texteen also pointed out that they turn out bigger this way.

Grandma’s recipe:

1) Call them k’neidlach.  They’re a Yiddish food!

4 eggs, slightly beaten

4 tablespoons of oil

4 tablespoons of  cold water

1 cup matza meal

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoons of pepper

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. After mixing refrigerate for one hour covered in the refrigerator, (where else?).

Fill a large pot with 8 cups of water and one teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. The matzah balls will expand in the pot as they cook.

After the water comes to a boil, reduce the flame to low. Take the mixture out from the refrigerator and in your hand gently make the balls. Make sure that your hands are wet before proceeding to make the balls. Slowly add the newly formed balls to the hot water.

Cook for 20 minutes, then turn off fire, but keep the pot covered and let it cool for another ten minutes.