Mmm, homemade bacon

If I had known how easy it is to make bacon, I would have started doing it years ago. Well, technically it's pancetta I make because I don't have the gear to cold-smoke the pork bellies after I cure them. But I have a solution for that, more on that later. I was feeling kind of blue this morning, because I came in second in a thing on the Cooking.com forum to go a housewares show and report on it for the forum. But I think I am happy just to have had my essay selected as one of the three finalists. And I learned some things along the way, like that I have a lot more friends than I thought I did! Anyway, my cure for the sadness was to get back into the kitchen, of course. I'd finished the bacon on Thursday, the last step after curing it for a week is to bake it at a very low temp until it's 150 degrees, then cut off the rind. This time, I added maple syrup to the cure and, to get that smoky flavor, a couple of drops of Liquid Smoke. Since it's made from the same stuff that makes the smoke flavor when you smoke something, the taste is genuine. This morning I sliced up some of it (this might be the hardest part of using homemade bacon) and cooked it to go on bacon and avocado sandwiches (made with my own homemade sourdough bread, baked last night while I waited for that @*&#$@ contest voting to be over). The sandwiches were very good, and comforted my bruised ego ;-)

One more entry about foie gras (for now)

The last thing we tried with the foie gras was a sandwich with kalua pork and seared slices of foie on brioche. I read that it's something that Chef Alan Wong serves, and since I had kalua pork in the freezer, it seemed like a good thing to try. It was very good. We toasted thin slices of brioche and just piled the stuff together. My mouth waters thinking about it again.

Making bresaola

New project this week -- taking eye of round roasts and making bresaola, Italian dried beef. The process really is simple, from Charcuterie by Ruhlman, but you have to be careful. It requires a special curing salt so that when you hang it for three weeks, there is no bacterial growth. So I've also been very careful with sanitation overall, using rubber gloves when handling it. I'm using the same cure on some pork loins, to get something analogous to prosciutto though it won't have the same marbling. It's a five-week process before I have product to taste, so I'll have to get back to you on how it turns out. But I have high hopes. Oh, and the foie gras torchon (salt-cured with cognac) turned out GREAT! Sprinkled with a little fleur-de-sel, it was as good as anything I've had in a restaurant. The brioche was exellent, as well and a great accompaniment to the foie. We'll be doing that again.

Working with foie gras

So the great experiments began on Friday. I picked up the foie, but of course wanted to wait to play with it until Dave was home to share in the adventure. I pulled out more than a dozen cookbooks with references to and recipes for foie, so I felt like I did a pretty decent literature search and research. I settled on two apps to begin: a salt-cured torchon of uncooked foie, to be served with brioche, and seared slices to be served with pomegranate molasses and an apple-rosemary compote. For the first app I used a recipe from "Jacques Pepin Celebrates" but I only used the small lobe of one foie, not an entire 1-1/2 pound liver. The second app I pulled together from several sources, getting the idea of rosemary with fruit from two different recipes and the idea of using the pomegranate molasses from having had pomegranate seeds with a raw foie app in my class. But first came the cleaning of the foie. I am *so* glad that I got to try this in class last summer, because it can be really scary how the thing is just ragged after you pull out all those nasty tough veins. And it did make Dave stop and do a double-take, I could tell he was wondering if this was the way it was supposed to be. But then you just sprinkle it with salt, white pepper, and cognac and roll it up in plastic wrap. A day in the fridge and the salt-cured lobe is nice and firm. That's for eating on Sunday after the brioche is cooked. For the seared application, I just rolled the big lobe back up after the cleaning (not as thorough for this one, as the small veins just shrink up when cooked) and wrapped it in plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge overnight for prep on Saturday. When Saturday dinner time gets here, I start getting nervous. This is very confusing to me, as I know exactly what I am doing. And I've even seared this stuff in class. But for some reason I have a significant panic reaction, I can feel it in my gut. Annoying as all get out, I must say! So I screw my courage to the sticking point and move ahead. The "surf and turf" was the seared foie and seared sea scallops. So I got the sea scallops seared off and put them in a low oven, then the foie slices went into the very hot skillet for about a minute and a half total. I think I would slice them even thicker, on the thick side of 3/4", next time I do them. But they turned out just fine. The plan was to serve baby greens with a vinaigrette of dijon, shallots, sherry vinegar, and walnut oil, and at the last minute I decide to candy some walnuts to go in it. That was a good move, there were too many soft things and not enough texture in this meal without that. Three scallops and three slices of foie on each chop plate, the salad at one end, a little of the apple-rosemary compote on the other, and a little of the pomegranate molasses drizzled at the side of the foie. Looked very nice, and tasted even better. Served with a Quady Essencia wine, as I didn't have a bottle of Sauternes. The sweetness worked well. And the apple compote was absolutely great with the scallops as well as the foie. I'll do that for another scallop meal another day, I think. Time to go, the brioche smells done...

Duck-fat poaching of potatoes and mushrooms

Last November, when I made my first batch of pancetta, I took some of it and made a confit of it in duck fat. There was still some left on Friday night when I was looking to do some kind of a side for steak. So I took the rest of that and put it and the duck fat into a saucepan. Then I added tiny fingerling potatoes and some crimini mushrooms that we halved. Poached them for about 45 minutes, very low heat, while I did other stuff in the kitchen. Poured it through a sieve, broke up the pork and served small tenderloin steaks beside the "ragout," sprinkled with coarse salt and minced chives. Not bad, not bad at all!

Sous Vide: not that hard

Sous vide: under vaccuum What it really means is that if you have a FoodSaver, you can cook sous vide. You don't need one of those fancy Japanese or French vaccuum boxes, and you don't need some fancy immersion cooker as long as you're willing to pay attention a little bit. I have a FoodSaver, and I finally realized that sous vide cookery is just a fancified version of boil-in bags! My approach? I bagged up some duck breasts with salt and herbes de provence. In fact, the duck ended up in the freezer for a couple of weeks. Then into the pot they go, bring the water up to a simmer at 140 degrees. Use a big pot with a lot of water, the mass of the water means the temp stays more stable. You can pretty much keep it there indefinitely, but it does require watching if you don't have something with a thermostatic control. I put a probe thermometer into the pot, with the alarm set to go off if the temp got a few degrees too high. What do you do with something you cook sous vide? Well, consider the texture. Proteins cooked that gently are very soft -- they don't have the "trauma" of heat that makes them get springy. So go for either a big contrast with something crunchy, or complimentary. I took the latter route, and served the duck breasts sliced over Shanghai noodles, with duck stock flavored along the lines of pho. Added some steamed baby bok choy on the side of the bowl along with some shiitake mushrooms, and it was a very nice meal. Up next? I will try my hand at foie gras preparations. I just read about chef Alan Wong's kalua pork and foie gras sandwiches, and so I need to make some brioche before Dave gets home from his trip tomorrow so we can try that out!

Fancy brownies

We wanted something sweet, and I knew we had dried cherries and toasted hazelnuts. So now our new favorite dessert is chocolate brownies chock full of chopped dried cherries and hazelnuts, topped with a chocolate ganache. It's really easy, use a brownie recipe that is made in a 9x13 pan, put in about a cup of each add-in, then when cool pour over a ganache made with equal weights of bittersweet chocolate and heavy cream. Even better, make a cream cheese swirl to marble in (1/2 c sugar, 8oz cream cheese, 1 egg, 1 t vanilla) before you put it in the oven. Yummy!

Thoughts on foie gras

I'm been deliberating for a few days now about whether to even mention this here, as it seems to be such a touchy subject. But dang it, I love foie gras. And I think it may be more humane to eat foie gras (from the right supplier) than it is to eat chicken. I even like it raw, now. I took a class on Friday night where we used about 7 pounds of foie, and it was just decadently wonderful. (Good thing I don't have a cholesterol test scheduled this week!) I learned how to sear it, which was a biggie for me. Also to make a mousseline, and to do a couple of raw preparations. (I had no idea how complimentary the textures of raw foie and perfectly ripe avocado are, and how well pomegranate works with that.) I'd already learned how to devein it last summer in another class. Now I feel prepared to deal with this luxury, if it ever comes my way. And a little birdie tells me it will, along about the middle of February...yum, yum.

Dinner party fun

Well, maybe cooking dinner for two of my good friends isn't quite a dinner party to some people, but it is to me. It's kind of a delayed birthday dinner for both of them so I want it to be special. So here's the menu: Mediterranean Ahi Tartare in Cucumber Boats Baby greens with lemon viniagrette, orange supremes, and tapenade North African-Spiced Lamb Shanks Mashed potatoes, roasted zucchimi Chocolate Creme Brulee Spiced palmieres and house brandied cherries And of course I am baking bread (as I write this). The good thing about this menu is that the lamb cooked yesterday, as did the custards. The ahi can be a little labor-intensive because you have to mince it, but that's not bad when you're only doing three portions. I just keep finding new ways to serve it. The lamb is an evolution of what I've done a couple of times now, and it's just the most wonderful braise. And the good thing is that I made extra, since Dave is traveling and I know he'll love having it for dinner when he gets home later this week. I'm serving a Cotes du Rhone with dinner, ought to work well and I know both of my friends like it. Should be a very fun evening. Guess I'd better get back to the kitchen!

New gadgets

Just bought a 45-blade meat tenderizer. So now I can make cube steaks, and also pork chop sandwiches. Gee, that sounds healthy ;-) but since it's winter my tummy craves comfort foods!I'm waiting for my Benriner rotary slicer, I have no idea why I bought it except that I've always coveted one. So I guess we're going to have lots of vegetable shreds and ribbons, and I can make shredded potato-wrapped fish fillets. It's fortunate that one thing Dave never begrudges me are kitchen gadgets! My favorite current gadget is a cheap juice extractor. Mostly right now it's for carrot-celery-apple juice for my breakfast, but I had the bright idea this week that I can use the leftover carrot and celery pulp as "fodder" for the mirepoix in a bolognese sauce, since that needs to be pulped anyway. We'll see how that goes later today. I'm also going to juice some cucumbers and make a gelee of them with lemongrass flavor to go with some oysters for a dinner party in March. I'm also thinking of a celery and green peppercorn ice as a shellfish accompaniment. So it will come in handy there, too.

Duck again?

Yep. Gotta face it, Dave loves duck and I think he'd eat it until he started quacking! Made duck confit this weekend, froze the breasts. Kind of a reverse of the usual routine. Also made duck glace, so now I have a nice supply of concentrated stock in the freezer. Poached some fingerling potatoes in duck fat to have with the confit legs, that was very nice.

Filet au Poivre

I did promise to talk about how we fixed that whole tenderloin we bought in Hawaii. Actually, this is what we often do to them at home, too. This recipe is courtesy of my friend Anne. After trimming, I cut one 6-inch roast from the middle, that's for the filet au poivre. For that, you mix up 2 t of kosher salt, two T of minced shallot, 2 T minced parsley, 2 t of herbes de provence, about a T of coarsely crushed peppercorns. Add enough olive oil to make a paste and smear it all over the roast. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, bring meat to room temp and heat oven to 450. Roast for 20 minutes, or until internal temp is 120. Take out of the oven, put on a tray and put into the freezer for about an hour. Slice thinly and serve with horseradish cream. Yum. That's our traditional New Years Eve meal. I made another roast and stuffed it with sauteed shallots, minced parsley, and gorgonzola. Then roasted the same way, but took it to 125-130 internal temp. The chain and tips get to be teriyaki nibbles, and the rest were steaks. Almost too much beef for two people over two weeks.

The best calamari

While we were in Hawaii we ate at Bamboo, way up at the north tip of the island in Hawi. Boy, was it worth the trip. One thing we really like are fried calamari strips, and they had the best we've ever tasted. Simple preparation, done perfectly. They cut their own, dredge in cornstarch, egg, and panko. Then deep fry them. The house-made tartar sauce they serve includes pickled ginger (gari) and pineapple. Absolutely delicious. They also have a Thai coconut sauce that is great, so good that I bought their little cookbook for $5 so I could have the recipe. It's pretty complex with lots of ingredients but they say it keeps well. It would make rocks taste good, so I will have to try it out soon. They also have chicken potstickers that have peanut butter in the filling. I hear those are really good, but being allergic to peanuts I'll have to settle for the hearsay!

We're baaaack....

Mmm. I just love cooking in Hawaii. So many new things to try, and old favorites that only taste right with ingredients I can get there. And of course, the cool things that Costco only carries in Hawaii! Let's start with Costco. We were on the Big Island, so that means a store just north of Kailua town on the Kona side. My favorite thing there are the avocados, Sharwill grown right there on the island. They are firmer than Haas when ripe, and larger. Perfect texture for including in makizushi! Of course, for that you need fresh ahi and they carry that at Costco, too. Toss in a slab of pipikaula (Hawaiian beef jerky), a whole pork butt ($1.59/lb) for making kalua pork, and a tub of Hawaiian-style mac salad and you have all the basic makings for ono grinds (aka great meals). I'm a huge fan of plate lunch, so gotta have the mac salad. I always take along some rice, that way when I use it up I know I have a couple of pounds in the luggage for bringing home Kona coffee (oh, yeah, Costco has that, too). For the kalua pork, since I can't dig an imu (underground oven) at the condos where we stay you make it this way: for each 6-lb chunk of pork butt, rub it with 1T coarse salt (Hawaiian red alae salt is fun, but kosher is fine) and 1T of liquid smoke in the morning. Let it sit all day, then roast (covered) overnight at 225 degrees. I just use a big foil steam pan for 12-15 lbs of pork butt. Then when the meat is cool enough, shred it and pick out the fat at the same time. Bag it up and freeze some, keep some in fridge. This will feed four people generously for lots of things for two weeks. For a kalua pork plate lunch, use about 6 oz pork and a cup of shredded green cabbage, steam together for about 15 minutes. Serve with rice and mac salad. Other ways to use the pork: in a kalua pork quesadilla, you see these on menus all over the island but great homemade. Just some pork, sliced sweet maui onion (easy to get at one of the farmers markets all over the place), a little hot chile (ditto), some shredded jack cheese and of course flour tortillas (okay, yes I go to Safeway for those). You can use a bottled salsa, but why not chop up a papaya, some chile, some onion, and a little cilantro and have a fresh fruit salsa with it? Keeps several days. And you can change it up by adding some pineapple or even some apple bananas as the week goes on. We also use the kalua pork in BBQ pork sandwiches, toss some minced fresh pineapple and maybe some dark rum into the sauce for an island touch. More on all this later, next time I'll tell you what we do with the whole tenderloin we buy at Costco at the beginning of our trip...

Chili for Christmas

Or sort of. Since Dave and I are off to Hawaii for Christmas this year, we're having a family get-together before we leave, and I'm making a pot of chili. I don't use ground meat in my chili. Instead I'm using a mix of meats for different textures -- chuck that will break down and shred, so I cut that in 1/2" pieces, and round for a little chew, cut into 1/4" dice. I do put beans in my chili, and cook them right in the stew without soaking. Since I want to cook it for several hours, there's plenty of time for the beans to get done, even with the salt and acid in the pot. And in fact they hold together better this way. I also use tomato, in the form of sauce and crushed tomatoes. This is a big batch, with 7 pounds of meat, six cups of onion, and a pound of dried beans. But I'm serving 12-14 with it. The good thing is that I get to ask everyone else to provide all the side dishes and garnishes, so I'm done with chopping after I get done with the chili. I'm making it today so we can reheat it tomorrow, always better the day after of course! Which reminds me, I'm taking a break from my computer for the entire time we're in Hawaii, so you won't see another entry here for about three weeks. But when I come back I'll have lots to say about what ingredients I found and how I used them, since we'll be in a condo and I get to keep cooking. Happy holidays to whoever out there reads this!

Using Tom Kha soup as a poaching liquid

Wanted to poach some snapper yesterday and had a hankering for some Thai flavor. One of my pantry staples is tom kha soup base, and I had a little coconut cream left over from making that Whiskey Crab Bisque. So I chopped up some red onion, some carrot, some boiling potatoes hanging around in the fridge (still trying to clean out some before vacation) and a sweet potato. Sauteed the veggies, then added a couple of tablespoons of tom kha paste, a cup of coconut cream, a can of chicken broth, and a can of water as well as the zest from a lime. Simmered about 15 minutes until the sweet potato was about done. Turned the heat to very low and laid the fish fillets on top, covered and let them sit about 15 minutes. Served with rice, it was very nice.

Fondue is fun

I made cheese fondue again this year for my wine groups' annual Champagne tasting. The tasting was fun this year partly because we had magnums, seemed to make it even more festive. Proportions for fondue are pretty simple, after reviewing 6 or 8 different recipies there wasn't much variance from 1 cup of white wine to 1 pound of cheese. I like tossing the cheese with a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch, I think flour ends up tasting too pasty. I've learned to be patient in stirring in the cheese, even though it starts out looking awful it works just fine in the end, especially if you remember to add a tablespoon of lemon juice since the additional acidity seems to help keep the cheese from clumping (I know, it has to do with denaturing the proteins in the cheese, right?). Final addition is a little kirsch mixed with some dry mustard and a grating of nutmeg. Seemed to go over well with the group, and makes me feel justified in having purchased a fondue pot a few years ago :)

Creamy soup with corn...not

Lesson learned the other day. Was using up some turban squash in soup, wanted a nice smooth puree. Also was just trying to clean out the fridge before leaving on vacation, so thought some fresh corn I had would be a nice addition. Taste-wise, it was. Used that along with some ground coriander, fresh ginger, and lemon. Blended it with a stick blender. But there's just no way to blend it enough to get rid of the bits of skin from the corn kernels. Have to use a fine disk on the food mill or a chinoise, way more trouble than I was planning. At least it tasted really good!

Looks like I'll have more artichokes

Last summer I wrote about my one lone little artichoke, harvested after tending a big pot of plants for two years out on our balcony. I thought that was the end of the story, and I gave up on artichokes. Just not much of an ROI! But... I had Dave clean out the pot, pull out all the dead leaves and such, a couple of months ago. I figured to dig out the dead roots and plant some herbs in there next spring. But, lo and behold, the roots are not dead. I now have five 4" tall artichoke plants growing in there. If they can make it through the winter with little or no attention from me, I guess I'll give it another go. I'm still leery, since I haven't figured out how to deal with the biggest pest problem, thousands of little black flying gnats or something that suck the leaves and kill them. Maybe that just means I need to do a little research.

Update to my ahi tartare recipe

I did the ahi tartare thing again this past weekend for a holiday party. Added some minced shallot to the mix, as my chives were looking pretty sad. And served it with cucumber slices, which I have to say was brilliant. Went great with the citrus tang of the preserved lemon, and the texture was a perfect match with the softness of the tartare. Yum. For about 12 oz of minced ahi, I added 1/2 of a preserved lemon, minced, and 1 T minced shallot, salt, and olive oil.