This is a follow-up post to one from last Spring. If you ever want a truly humbling experience in the kitchen, try making sourdough bread. Since last March, I have reached some amazing highs and lows with this ongoing experiment.
After getting some great bread in the early going, my sourdough bread became so dense it never seemed fully cooked. I started tinkering with the flour(s) that I was adding to the starter and to the dough. Nothing worked. I re-read some of my notes that I gathered when I first set out to make my own starter. Then I got what I thought was the "wrong" kind of flour delivered one day and I had to use it because I had nothing else. The starter seemed to REALLY like it, it told me so. Then the bread had better texture after a few days of feeding it to the starter. I was on to something. Then all of a sudden, dense bread again. I mean really dense! I hadn't intentionally changed anything. Back to my notes.
I read about some people letting their dough rise for 8-10 hours, or more. What did I have to lose? I made the dough around 1:00 PM and left it to rise in a loosely covered bowl in my kitchen. By 9:00 PM it had tripled in size. Then I rolled it out and shaped it into dinner rolls, covered it well and left it overnight. Bingo! The next day, around 1:00 PM I baked the rolls. They were nothing short of amazing. 24 hours after making the dough, the bread had a great sour flavor, light crumb and chewy crust. This was it. I had finally got what I wanted and it only took me a year! Then, after about 2 weeks the rolls barely rose. The dough gained size, but it went outward instead of up. I deflated too. The next day it was back to normal. Crisis averted. Then, a few days later, flat again. Boy this is fun! I realized that the dough needed to be a little stiffer. The point when I stop adding flour to the mixer is when the dough forms a ball and stops sticking to the sides. Since I make the dough with starter and high-gluten flour it has plenty of protein, as long as I add enough flour. Turns out this is REALLY important. This is where a recipe is useless and you just have to feel your way through it. I follow the same steps everyday, but each day the "right" amount of flour differs just a bit. Humidity is probably the variable. I'll let you know in a few years. Anyway, I now get consistent bread each day that I think I could sell in a bakery.
Last week I took a small amount of leftover starter and started feeding it whole wheat flour daily. Today I'll make a batch of dough with it and follow the same 24 hour cycle. The biggest problem with whole wheat bread is usually the texture so I'm curious to see if this method yields delicious results. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Pots and Pans
Just a quick link to a piece in the NY Times by Harold McGee about buying pots and pans for your kitchen. Thought it was of interest.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Potatoes
Potatoes are such a versatile food. They are readily available in so many forms, but I'm talking about fresh, unprocessed potatoes. My favorite variety is fingerling potatoes. They come in a number of types and they all are delicious. Fresh dug potatoes from your garden are probably the best, but farmer's markets and some better grocery stores have them. Seek them out and expect to pay more than regular potatoes but they are well worth it.
I like to roast them in olive oil with just salt and pepper. They also make great mashed potatoes, but so do Yukon Gold potatoes which cost quite a bit less. Another great way to eat them is in a fancy potato salad with roasted cod or cold poached salmon. Try them any way you cook potatoes and you'll see what I mean.
I like to roast them in olive oil with just salt and pepper. They also make great mashed potatoes, but so do Yukon Gold potatoes which cost quite a bit less. Another great way to eat them is in a fancy potato salad with roasted cod or cold poached salmon. Try them any way you cook potatoes and you'll see what I mean.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Making Risotto
A great restaurant style dish to make at home is risotto. With a little bit of practice you can make it just like a pro. It does require quite a bit of attention so it may not suit every situation.
First of all, what is risotto? It is a northern Italian rice dish made by adding the liquid incrementally rather than all at once. My rice of choice is Carnaroli rice, although Arborio rice makes great risotto too and is easier to find.
The technique here is really important and should be followed for any risotto dish. Start by warming up your liquid of choice, water or stock, with wine or without. Seafood risotto is great made with shrimp stock. Risotto Milanese should be made with chicken stock, although you could substitute water or vegetable stock for a meatless version. Dice an onion and a little garlic and cook them in olive oil or a mixture of olive oil and butter, over a medium heat. You don't want any color on the onions. Stir using a wooden spoon until the onions and garlic are soft. Add the rice and stir well to coat it with oil. Then add about a cup of hot liquid and stir well. Keep adding the hot liquid a cup at a time until the rice is creamy with small al dente bits in the center. The entire process should take about 20 minutes.
Just about any risotto dish gets parmesan cheese and here is a good way to use the rinds reserved from blocks of parmesan reggiano. Toss a piece of the rind into the pan just as you begin to add liquid. It will give a nice depth of flavor and add richness to your risotto. A few sprigs of fresh thyme added in the beginning works really well too.
Risotto can change with the seasons: asparagus in the Spring; roasted tomatoes and sweet corn in the Summer; Butternut squash in the Fall. The Winter is the perfect time for seafood risotto. Try them all and be creative. If it goes with pasta it probably goes with risotto too.
Risotto can be made ahead of time, then reheated with a bit more liquid when you're ready to serve it. The basic technique is the same, just stop a little sooner and spread it out on a cookie sheet to cool in order to stop the cooking. Then return it to a pan with a little bit of liquid and reheat, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
First of all, what is risotto? It is a northern Italian rice dish made by adding the liquid incrementally rather than all at once. My rice of choice is Carnaroli rice, although Arborio rice makes great risotto too and is easier to find.
The technique here is really important and should be followed for any risotto dish. Start by warming up your liquid of choice, water or stock, with wine or without. Seafood risotto is great made with shrimp stock. Risotto Milanese should be made with chicken stock, although you could substitute water or vegetable stock for a meatless version. Dice an onion and a little garlic and cook them in olive oil or a mixture of olive oil and butter, over a medium heat. You don't want any color on the onions. Stir using a wooden spoon until the onions and garlic are soft. Add the rice and stir well to coat it with oil. Then add about a cup of hot liquid and stir well. Keep adding the hot liquid a cup at a time until the rice is creamy with small al dente bits in the center. The entire process should take about 20 minutes.
Just about any risotto dish gets parmesan cheese and here is a good way to use the rinds reserved from blocks of parmesan reggiano. Toss a piece of the rind into the pan just as you begin to add liquid. It will give a nice depth of flavor and add richness to your risotto. A few sprigs of fresh thyme added in the beginning works really well too.
Risotto can change with the seasons: asparagus in the Spring; roasted tomatoes and sweet corn in the Summer; Butternut squash in the Fall. The Winter is the perfect time for seafood risotto. Try them all and be creative. If it goes with pasta it probably goes with risotto too.
Risotto can be made ahead of time, then reheated with a bit more liquid when you're ready to serve it. The basic technique is the same, just stop a little sooner and spread it out on a cookie sheet to cool in order to stop the cooking. Then return it to a pan with a little bit of liquid and reheat, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Memorial Day Barbecue
If you are lighting the grill this weekend try some natural lump charcoal. It burns much cleaner than charcoal briquettes. Once you start using it I guarantee that you'll never switch back to briquettes.
Briquettes impart a strong flavor from the chemical compounds used in their manufacture. Natural lump charcoal is just what it's name implies, a natural wood product that is 100% carbon. It burns hot and clean and is almost odorless.
I'll be cooking some Griggstown Farm chickens using a rotisserie on my Weber kettle. I like to build a small fire and keep the chickens on the grill for about an hour and a half. I stuff a few sprigs of thyme inside the chickens and season them with just salt and pepper. After taking them off the grill, they rest for about twenty minutes so they will be tender and juicy.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
A No-Brainer
Here's a great idea for repurposing used wine barrels. Hat tip to Phil Ward of Opici Wine Importers for sending me the link.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
My take on Steak
There seems to be quite a bit of confusion when it comes to steak etymology. What is Sirloin? What is a New York Strip Steak? What is a Club Steak? I hear these questions all the time. Sometimes from people who have been cooking professionally for years. Part of the problem comes from regional variations, but mostly it seems to be several persistent misconceptions get repeated so often that they take on a life of their own.
A New York strip steak is NOT sirloin. This steak is cut from the short loin which is next to the sirloin, but not sirloin. The short loin is the lower rib section of the back. It includes the tenderloin which lies inside the ribs and the strip loin which is on top of the ribs. Porterhouse steaks, T-Bones and Delmonico steaks are cut from the short loin. If you remove the tenderloin then you call it a shell steak, and if you remove the bones it is called a strip steak. The short loin offers the best compromise between flavor and tenderness. Muscles that work a lot are generally flavorful but tougher. The muscles that make up the short loin do some work but not too much. Muscles that really work generally require long slow cooking.
To further add to the confusion, rib-eye steaks are also called Delmonico steaks, or club steaks. There is some discrepancy about what a real Delmonico steak is. The name comes from a 19th century dining club called the Delmonico Club. I believe that a real Delmonico steak is a steak cut from the rib end of the short loin, basically a porterhouse steak without the attached piece of filet mignon.
Going from head to tail on the animal, the next section of meat is the sirloin. While not as tender as the short loin, the sirloin is probably the tastiest steak. Bone-in sirloin steaks are cut from the top sirloin and are considered superior to boneless sirloin steaks. They are named after the shape of the bone that is attached to the adjacent muscle. The pin bone sirloin is right next to the short loin. It is the king of sirloin steaks. Sirloin tip steak or steaks labeled "boneless sirloin" come from the bottom sirloin. The bottom sirloin does a bit more work than the top sirloin, so they are a bit tougher, though very tasty.
Next, at the rear of the animal is the round. This is where top round and inside round come from, the steaks most commonly labeled "London Broil". If you plan to marinate your London broil this is the steak to use. It is quite lean and will be tender enough as long as you slice it thin and against the grain. Flank steak and skirt steak though more expensive are both much more flavorful. They still benefit from a marinade to flavor and tenderize the meat.
This chart should help with understanding the different cuts that I have mentioned.
The next time you want to grill steak for a crowd, try a bone-in sirloin, grilled rare to medium-rare on a hot charcoal fire. Let it rest for 5 minutes and slice it against the grain. Spoon some of the juices that have collected on the cutting board over the steak and really enjoy the beef flavor with nothing more than salt and pepper.
A New York strip steak is NOT sirloin. This steak is cut from the short loin which is next to the sirloin, but not sirloin. The short loin is the lower rib section of the back. It includes the tenderloin which lies inside the ribs and the strip loin which is on top of the ribs. Porterhouse steaks, T-Bones and Delmonico steaks are cut from the short loin. If you remove the tenderloin then you call it a shell steak, and if you remove the bones it is called a strip steak. The short loin offers the best compromise between flavor and tenderness. Muscles that work a lot are generally flavorful but tougher. The muscles that make up the short loin do some work but not too much. Muscles that really work generally require long slow cooking.
To further add to the confusion, rib-eye steaks are also called Delmonico steaks, or club steaks. There is some discrepancy about what a real Delmonico steak is. The name comes from a 19th century dining club called the Delmonico Club. I believe that a real Delmonico steak is a steak cut from the rib end of the short loin, basically a porterhouse steak without the attached piece of filet mignon.
Going from head to tail on the animal, the next section of meat is the sirloin. While not as tender as the short loin, the sirloin is probably the tastiest steak. Bone-in sirloin steaks are cut from the top sirloin and are considered superior to boneless sirloin steaks. They are named after the shape of the bone that is attached to the adjacent muscle. The pin bone sirloin is right next to the short loin. It is the king of sirloin steaks. Sirloin tip steak or steaks labeled "boneless sirloin" come from the bottom sirloin. The bottom sirloin does a bit more work than the top sirloin, so they are a bit tougher, though very tasty.
Next, at the rear of the animal is the round. This is where top round and inside round come from, the steaks most commonly labeled "London Broil". If you plan to marinate your London broil this is the steak to use. It is quite lean and will be tender enough as long as you slice it thin and against the grain. Flank steak and skirt steak though more expensive are both much more flavorful. They still benefit from a marinade to flavor and tenderize the meat.
This chart should help with understanding the different cuts that I have mentioned.
The next time you want to grill steak for a crowd, try a bone-in sirloin, grilled rare to medium-rare on a hot charcoal fire. Let it rest for 5 minutes and slice it against the grain. Spoon some of the juices that have collected on the cutting board over the steak and really enjoy the beef flavor with nothing more than salt and pepper.
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