Cooking instruction and recipes

[dbarrow]

I can cook...
I could always cook.
But, it's thanks to a wonderful man and great Italian Chef that I had a unique opportunity to learn all the skills of the restaurant saute line and branch out on my own without formal training.

Mastering the basic gravies (sauces) is a must.
Learning and knowing your spices is a must.
Technique is important and you have to master it.
A sense of taste and proportion is essential.

Our family does not go out to eat...
We eat better at home!
Most restaurant fare is sadly lacking compared to what we eat all the time!
The menu at a four star restaurant is simple table fare to us, on a regular basis.

For those of you who may need a little lift for your palate, I will add a few of my recipes that I actually have written down. I hope you can follow and have success with them.

[dbarrow]

CLAMS BARROW
Clams white
Clams red
Clam stuffed mushrooms

The following contains the basic root recipe and derivative instruction for three different meals
stemming from the same base preparation.

HISTORY:
I had exhausted my Chinese period, going through the standard Chinese dishes by province and style until I was getting rather tired of it. A large restaurant in town that had been closed for a year or two was suddenly occupied and being remodeled. When the new owner set off the burglar alarm late one night, I was introduced to Claudio Caldini, a wild Roman trained in northern Italy and France as a classical chef and a former managing chef for a major airline. Not being shy, I frequently stopped by on my midnight shift rounds at closing time to make sure everything was ok, and to raid the kitchen for a snack. I guess Claudio decided it was easier to teach me to cook than to be interrupted while he was cleaning up to go home. Thus began my introduction and instruction to the classic Italian and French cuisine on the sauté line. He taught me all the basics of Italian restaurant cuisine. My stomach will forever be indebted to Claudio for teaching me the basics and cooking skills I master today. I enjoyed about five years at his stoves and the wine tastings we attended until he sold out. I miss his kitchen.
(Update) If in the Maple Shade, NJ area, visit Claudio at Pasta Vino on Kings Hgwy across from BJ’s. It’s the only Italian restaurant up to my standards in this area!


CLAMS
The base

Nothing beats the classic Italian clam sauce over pasta, a clear sauce with clams, garlic, and wine, except my version of course! I took a liking to this early on and its various modifications have become a staple of our diet. The base of this sauce is easily modified into several different dishes and even a pizza topping, or it can be eaten as is.

Note: in this recipe, clams come from cans, not shells. If you want to go to the trouble of getting fresh clams, steaming them, getting out the sand, chopping, ect., feel free, just add an extra hour of prep time. I find Gortons or Snow canned minced and chopped clams in the 6.5 oz. can speed things up and taste just fine. They have the right amount of clam juice, no sand, are pre-cooked, and make measuring easier.

INGREDIENTS: based on serving for 4
clams: 5 6.5oz cans minced or chopped clams. (1 can per person serving +1 for the dog or leftovers) If you like larger pieces, substitute 1 or 2 cans whole baby clams.
Chablis 3 cups or more to taste (keep the gallon jug handy if drinking while cooking)
Garlic 6 - 10 large cloves , one small head, or about 1/3 cup when sliced
While fresh sliced garlic adds a more subtle taste, there are now several brands of minced garlic in 1 qt jars that are more than adequate. A jar is always on the door of my fridge!
Remember… there is no such thing as too much garlic! You should come away from the table with that “Ahh!” crisp garlic taste in your mouth!
Basil 2 tbs.
Thyme 1 tsp
Oregano 1 tbs.
Black pepper 1 tsp (May also add white pepper 1 tsp for more zip)

Cornstarch ½ cup
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3oz
1 small onion, minced
1/8 cup fresh or dried Chives

PREPARATION
time: 20 min

Open cans and set aside. Peel and SLICE garlic very thin, trimming ends of cloves and discarding (both ends contain bitter oils so remove 1/8" of tip and stem ends) For stronger garlic flavor, mince or dice, or use minced garlic from the jar. Slice, dice, or otherwise prepare anything else that will get thrown in and set aside ie: mushrooms, etc.
In 12" aluminum saute pan, heat on high until pan is hot. Add olive oil and coat evenly. Add onion and stir until clarified. Add garlic slices and stir in oil 60 sec. Do not brown or burn garlic, it will get bitter! Add clams and all juice in can. Add spices. Leave on high and bring to active boil. Reduce on high boil until liquid volume is ½ what you started with. Replace liquid volume with white wine back to original level.
Note that choice of the wine greatly affects finished taste. Chablis is the preferred but you can experiment with stale Champagne, or any white that is slightly on the tart side.
Continue on boil until liquid volume reduces again by ½.

Traditional Italian clam sauce
The above may now be finished as a traditional clear sauce by mixing 1/3 cup cornstarch with ½ cup white wine. Stir in slowly until mixture just begins to thicken slightly. Serve over linguini. Traditional requires a slight bit more olive oil.
I find the traditional sauce a little lacking for my tastes!

Barrow Clams White
The traditional favorite of the family we serve at least once a month. A quick meal that can be done start to finish in ½ hour or less. Nobody else does it this way, but we like it best!

Using the above instructions, this can be varied to taste. I usually add 1 lb of sliced Portabella or Baby bella mushrooms. Mushrooms are added with garlic and allowed to cook down until just tender ( adding a small splash of wine as necessary to keep liquid in pan and prevent garlic from browning until mushrooms break down and release liquid).
Fresh scallions add another taste variation. 1 bunch 12 small scallions. Trim green ends and remove white ends. Fine slice ½ the white ends (remainder can go in the salad) . Slice greens into ½" pieces. Add the white part with the garlic and the green part after clams and juice. If you can’t find scallions, ½ small white onion, chopped, can be substituted but the greens are the good part. Also works with red or vedalia onion.
Zucchini or yellow squash can also be added for variations.

When mixture in base instruction has reached the final reduction to ½ original volume,
add 1 pt heavy cream. Bring to boil (don’t let it go past this or the cream breaks down) Stir in the cornstarch slowly until mixture begins to thicken (This requires continuous stirring until the cornstarch is completely mixed to avoid any lumps). I like it just about as thick as oatmeal. Usually,1/3 to ½ cup of cornstarch and wine is adequate, if you find it to thin, just add more. Immediately reduce to low simmer. Add one half cup grated Parm cheese and stir in until well integrated. For a different and stronger cheese flavor, try Romano.
The longer it sits, the better it gets, as the tastes begin to blend. Keep the heat down low and stir frequently being careful not to let cream break down. It can be served immediately if you are in a rush but 30 min of simmering does wonders. Left to age overnight in the fridge makes it absolutely awesome ( late night battles for the leftovers are common)



CLAMS RED

Add 1 tsp crushed red pepper to “spices” in the base mix. Mushroom, scallion, etc. are optional as above. After final reduction, add 1 qt. of any decent red sauce. I like the “Classico” sauces as they are about as close to a scratch red sauce as you can buy and if you use the Classico
red sauce with red pepper you can skip all the peppers in the base as it has more than enough zip to make your hair stand up. To skip thickening with cornstarch, just reduce the base mix to 1/3 original volume and simmer finished sauce for 20 min to thicken. This can also be done as clams pink by adding the heavy cream... different...
Clams Red is a different alternative, just remember it should have plenty of zip and bite!

CLAM STUFFED MUSHROOMS

We all know and love ‘em! Easy and cheap to make ! Cheap is the reason it’s clams and not crab as the crab meat is pricy stuff and I like the clams better anyway! The clam mix has much more flavor than the traditional crab meat stuffing.

Select about 3 doz white or portabella mushrooms with 2" to 3" caps. ( I know, you actually have to go to the produce section and pick them out!) Wash, drain, core out stem by cutting down into cap with circular motion or paring knife leaving a depression in the cap about 1/4" deep. Save the stems.
Mushrooms can be cooked one of two ways. If you happen to have the oven going, which is traditional in the restaurant, place mushroom caps and stems on baking tray, coat with olive oil, chopped garlic, oregano, and drizzle with soy sauce. Bake 350 for 20 minutes or until soft. Set aside to cool. Saute is quicker! Coat 12" sauté pan with olive oil, on medium heat, place caps stem side up, splash with Chablis, soy sauce, minced garlic, oregano, and saute until they begin to soften. Don’t overcook or they get too soggy to stuff! Reserve any juice. Cool.
Take about ½ of the cooked stems and either fine chop or run through a food processor (about 1 cup after chopping) Sauté in the pan until they soften up.

Prepare clam mix as in base above using minced or fine chopped clams only. Reduce liquid to 1/3 instead of ½ volume, do not thicken with cornstarch. Allow to cool.
Add chopped stems to clam base. In large mixing bowl, combine with seasoned Italian bread crumbs ( about 2-3 cups) and mix until you have a very thick, doughy, pasty mixture that you can mold by hand into little 1" balls. ( if it gets too dry, add some of the liquid you saved from the mushrooms)
This is easier if everything is cool but you can rush it at whatever temp you can stick your hands into it. Either make little balls of mix or spoon it out into the mushroom caps. It tends to be very sticky! Make sure that all liquid is drained from the mushroom cap or the mix tends to slide off of them which is one reason you make the little depression in the cap when removing the stem.
They stain when they land in your lap! Fill each cap with as much mix as you can get it to hold. It should protrude above the mushroom cap as a little mountain.
Sprinkle the stuffed tops with grated parm and top with a small chunk of extra sharp cheddar about 1/4" x 1/4". A small strip of cooked bacon can also be added. Dust with paprika
(for show) and that’s all! For real zip, add a small strip of Jalapeno pepper!

The stuffed mushrooms can be laid out on a baking tray and frozen. They travel well this way and will stay together. This is really handy when you have to bring something to a dinner as you can prepare several trays weeks in advance!
Reheat 20-30 min at 350 before serving, just watch to make sure the mushroom is not breaking down into liquid and shrinking.
These are a big party favorite but do require much more work and prep time. They are best made far in advance and frozen on the trays you will use to reheat and serve them.
Your biggest problem is finding 3” mushrooms in the store as they will shrink to 1.5” when finished so plan well ahead of time and do your shopping early!

[kelly]

I haven't read the entire receipt but it sounds great so far.
- Tony

[Vivienne]

Hi Doug

I can cook...
I could always cook.

:-) It certainly sounds like it!! Thanks so much for sharing your recipes. They sound delicious! Unfortunately my husband doesn't like clams and I have never tasted them. :( I'm, therefore, very much looking forward to others!!

Thanks again!

Vivienne

[dbarrow]

Peppers&Eggplant

8 lg green bell peppers, diced (3cup)
6 lg cloves garlic, minced
1 lg eggplant (4cup), skinned, cubed
1 lg onion, fine sliced
1 Red pepper (hot) 4” , fine minced
8 Basil leaves, minced (2tbl dried)
1tsp Oregano
2tbl butter
¼ cup olive oil
1 tbl chicken soup base (can chicken broth)
2 cup Chablis

Skinned and cubed eggplant is soaked in large bowl with hot water and ¼ cup salt for 30 min. (salt water removes bitterness and fluid from eggplant) When water in bowl turns medium brown, drain.
Add olive oil to hot sauté pan and sauté all solids on high until onion begins to clarify
Add butter, chicken stock (or soup base paste), wine
Cook high-medium until liquid reduces, simmer to keep warm
Cooking time 30 min.

[dbarrow]

Curry bbq sauce

www.spicesetc.com Item # 12050-PT 8oz curry powder

You will find several different flavors of curry powder here and at reasonable prices.
There is a difference between good curry and bad curry. The stuff you buy in the supermarket is NOT good curry!

2 tbls curry powder (heaping tbls, about 1 oz or 1/8 cup)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup sweet red wine … port or merlot
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp Basil
2 tbls minced garlic


In large sauté pan, combine ingredients and wisp together over very low heat
Red wine and honey can be adjusted to desired sweetness. * this is very difficult to tell from tasting the sauce with your finger and the curry will pucker your mouth!

For a hotter sauce, use different curry powder or add a little red pepper or white pepper.
This can be as potent or mild as you want depending on quantities.

Marinate pork ribs for at least 4 hrs in sauce, turning frequently

Place ribs on grill and cook over low heat about 15 min per side depending on thickness.
Do not burn sauce and brush or dip in sauce when turning every five minutes.

Just before ribs come off flame, heat remainder of sauce over medium heat until boiling to kill any germs transferred from raw meat. Wisk constantly to keep together and don’t burn. Drizzle a small amount of sauce over ribs before serving.

For added garnish, slice and fry 1-2 large onions in butter until soft, add to curry sauce and stir in over low heat. Can also be poured over steamed rice.

Don’t go overboard with this stuff as it is very potent! You should still be able to taste the ribs through the sauce which will have a tangy sweet curry flavor and leave a noticeable curry aftertaste. If your lips go numb… you used too much!

[dbarrow]

Soup base

What is the secret ingredient in most fancy restaurant food that gives it that special flavor?
Simple! A soup stock!

Almost all gravies include some form of soup stock in the mix. Vegetables of all kinds benefit from being cooked in a soup stock to enhance and bring out their flavors. Soup stocks form the foundation for flavoring in many dishes.

How do you get a soup base or stock?
In any restaurant kitchen, there is usually a huge pot of boiling water simmering away on a back burner used to make the crucial ingredient of soup stock. Restaurants buy their meats by the case or in large segments or halves. To prepare for serving, these meats have to be boned out and cut into individual serving sizes. The result is a large amount of material that will not be used.
Into the pot it goes!

This material and bones are simmered in the pot along with celery, carrots, onions, and various spices until all the fat has risen to the top and can be scooped off. After a day or night of simmering, the resulting soup stock is strained and portioned off into smaller pots.
A pot of chicken or beef stock is continually left simmering on a back burner where the chef can quickly ladle a portion into whatever gravy he is preparing in the sauté pan for the dish he is working on.

For the home chef, this is not something easily accomplished as we don’t buy out meats by the case and we can’t leave a stock pot simmering on the stove. We can accomplish the task in one of several ways.

At one time, I did buy my chicken by the case. It required most of the day to skin and bone out, wrap individually, and store in the freezer. The remains would simmer in a stock pot overnight and cool the next day. After straining it out, I would spoon it into ice cube trays and freeze it into ice cubes which could be stored in ziplock bags in the freezer.
The only drawback to this is that it is a lot of work and you quickly run out of freezer space.
The second problem is volume.
Frozen stock contains a considerable volume of water which must be reduced down by boiling so as not to water down your gravy and to concentrate the flavor. Even if you boil down your large pot of stock to ¼ the original volume, it still contains a lot of water which can be a decided disadvantage when adding it to your finished dish or gravy.

Years back, I discovered commercial soup base concentrates. These are now appearing as common items in the supermarket but I still obtain mine at a restaurant supply store.
Not all of these are equal and you will have to experiment to find a brand that is right for you.

My mainstay is the Major brand of bases.
Major Products Co., Inc. Little Ferry, NJ 07643 (201)641-5555
You may be able to call them and find a retailer near you.

These bases come in 8oz or 32oz plastic jars. I get the 8oz jar as one will last me several months, with heavy use. They store forever in the cabinet unopened. Once open, I do suggest keeping it in the fridge.
I generally keep one of each flavor active in the fridge and a backup in the cabinet as you don’t want to run out in the middle of making a big meal.
They have chicken, beef, seafood, and French onion bases.

This is a highly concentrated paste, except for the French onion which is powder with dehydrated onion slices. Yes, they do contain a lot of salt but that is a big part of the flavor. Just remember not to add any additional salt to your finished product as the base contains more than enough.
The big advantage is that it has no water volume so there is no need to reduce your gravy. In fact, you will be adding a certain amount of water as well as the wine to reach your desired liquid content. 1 tablespoon of this concentrate equals roughly one quart of normal stock!

Chicken base is the most common flavor used in many dishes. Almost all clear, butter, and yellow gravies use chicken base as their main ingredient. Beef base is used for brown gravies.
French Onion base is a handy splash of flavor for many things but the base powder is more a beef flavor. Seafood base will embolden any seafood dish and amplify the flavor.
Aside from everyday cooking, where you will use these bases, they are also, as the name implies, a soup base used to quickly start off any kind of soup, something you may want to try more often as these bases make it quick and easy!

HOW TO USE

Given that 1 tbs = 1 qt of stock, 1 teaspoon is just about the right proportion for a dish of 4-5 servings.
Roughly 1 tsp, more or less depending on taste preference, is what you will add to your gravy or sauté pan as you make your dish. This is a learning curve where you will become accustomed to eye balling about the right amount to add to your dish depending on the strength of the flavor you are aiming for. Start off using half of what you think you will need. You can always add more if you need more intensity. If you start with too much, it can be overwhelming and the only way to reduce that is vastly increasing the volume of your gravy.

The base does contain oil and fat which binds it together. The best way I have found to quickly disperse a solid lump from the spoon is to:
1. Add directly to the olive oil in the sauté pan and stir in briskly as it melts, like butter, being careful not to brown or burn it. Then add remaining ingredients, water, wine and it will incorporate smoothly and quickly.
2. If you know you will be adding a cup or so of water to the gravy, pour a measuring cup of boiling water and add the base to it, stirring until dissolved. This is preferred when you don’t want to subject the ingredients of the gravy to high heat

Once you discover what these bases do to enhance flavor, you will be using them as a key ingredient in just about everything! That’s why you will always have an “in use” jar of each in the fridge as it is so convenient to grab a spoonful.

Even if not making a gravy for your dish, you can enhance the flavor of almost anything with a small portion of base!
For any vegetable dish, just add an once or so of olive oil, a little pat of butter, 2 oz Chablis and ¼ tsp of chicken base to your pan. Heat until dissolved and incorporated, then add your veggies and stir quickly over medium to high heat until they are thoroughly warmed through and coated.
A dash of spices or a spoon of garlic and you have created a unique and different veggie dish!
I am not a veggie eater but I find that cooked this way, I eat a great deal more of them including many that I would not normally touch!

Try adding ¼ tsp to your mashed potatoes for a different flavor!
A little soup base and some grated parm makes for some yummy taters topped off with melted cheddar!

There are so many things you can use these soup bases for that I can’t even begin to describe them all! Just get them and experiment with them to open up a whole new world of flavor and methods of cooking!

SEAFOOD STOCK

When they are on sale, I just can’t pass up lobster and shrimp!
Who can’t resist the taste and smell of lobster and shrimp?
The problem is, how to extend that wonderful shrimp or lobster taste to the rest of a dish and make something spectacular out of it?

Save those shells!
As little as 1 lb of shrimp, in the shells or 2 small lobsters can yield a potent stock that can be carried over to a gravy to go with your dish!

Boil them in as little water as you can to begin with. Save the water.
Once they have cooled down and you peel them, throw the shells back into the water and bring it to a fast boil. Add a little onion, garlic, and some spices to it and let it boil down to as little volume as you intend to use. Taste and adjust flavor with spices as you go. It may require a little salt. The end result will be a stock with powerful flavor.

Lobster stock, with some butter, flour, garlic, wine and basil and heavy cream makes a wonderful gravy! I’ll detail my famous lobster in pink sauce recipe later.
Add chunks of the cooked lobster and serve over linguine. The gravy will carry the lobster flavor throughout! You can easily stretch two of those little lobsters into a grand meal for four people!

When doing the same with shrimp, you will find you can extend the volume of your dish with far fewer shrimp making 1-2 lbs enough for a serving of four! You can actually make an affordable seafood dish and eat it more often!

Should you end up with leftover stock, you can always pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze it.
Just remember to store and label them … shrimp cubes won’t taste too good in your drink!

Start experimenting with soup stocks today and you will change your cooking habits forever!

[June]

Doug, thanks for the soup base info. This has always been a problem for me. I made my own stock once and it was terrible. Now I know I probably didn't cook it down enough. I will have to find a place in MD that sells the soup base.

P.S. I am starting a DBarrow Cooking Folder.

Thanks again.

[dbarrow]

how about a nice steak with garlic sauce recipe


Steak is a staple in our house to the point where I get tired of it! Even in the dead of winter, it has to go on the grill as a steak just isn't a steak without that charbroiled flavor!

There are too many excellent commercial marinades out there to bother making one!
The only thing I do additionally is to add several onces of red wine, Merlot, Port, Burgundy, Chianti.

Red wine contains enzymes that break down and tenderize that piece of shoe leather you bought and can make it edible, unlike the roast I had last week I swear was kin to the cow that made my boots!

In order for this to work, it has to marinate at least 24 hours in the fridge for the enzymes to do their work and penetrate.

Yes, there is no such thing as too much garlic!
But, you want to be careful adding it to the marinade as it will burn on the grill on the surface of the meat. Burned garlic imparts a very bitter taste!

If you keep the "perpetual jar" of minced garlic in the fridge as I do, use just the oil/water in the jar. A teaspoon full added to the marinade will impart the required garlic flavor without risk of burnt garlic ruining the meat.

This is about the only application, aside from garlic bread, where I will use Garlic Salt. It's just made for steak, in small quantity.

Steak and other beef on the grill is not a hard concept and almost impossible to screw up no matter what you soak it in.
The big challenge is what to serve with it that will light up your taste buds to enhance that great meat flavor.

A side of zucchini and yellow squash with onion and garlic (I'll have to write that one down but it's a favorite of mine)
replaces hum drum mashed taters.

Try egg noodles with brown gravy and portabella mushrooms with garlic and burgundy wine.
Brown gravy is made using the beef stock previously mentioned, butter, spices, wine, flour.
A rich brown burgundy gravy will surely light up that steak!

It's more about complimenting or contrasting flavors that allows your taste buds to get more out of each.
I love A1 sauce but drowning your steak in it can kill the taste of everything that accompanies it on the plate!

Remember that a salad is just the trick to alternate tastes and flavors. Lettuce is simply the vehicle to carry the salad dressing. Find a good ranch or Italian dressing you like and pick a dressing that matches up with or compliments the rest of your meal and your steak. A good olive oil and vinegar with garlic and some basil over fresh sliced tomatoes with a sprinkle of grated Romano goes good with steak and carries that garlic flavor. That, and steak alone, makes a great meal. Throw in some toasted garlic bread with cheddar cheese and all you need is a big glass of port to wash it all down.

[dbarrow]

Red Gravy

Let’s deal with the big topic of Red Gravy or sauces.
All spaghetti sauce is not created equal!

A staple of most Italian cuisine is some form of tomato sauce in one form or another.
Tomatoes are good for you! Besides the many other things you can do with them, they make a great base for a very varied array of red gravies. As tomatoes spoil quickly, when faced with an abundance of them, you have to make some quick decisions what to do with them before they rot! Cooking them down into a sauce is the perfect solution.
Are all Italians skilled in the art of the tomato from birth? I don’t know, I’m not Italian!
I know a Sicilian gal who can turn two tomatoes into a meal for four!

For starters, a good red gravy can take a day or more to make! To properly prepare and simmer down a basket of tomatoes from raw product to superb red gravy is time consuming.
I’ve had a couple years where the tomato patch got out of hand and over produced leaving me with no choice but to make huge quantities of scratch tomato sauce.
If not up to your eyeballs in fresh red orbs, you can greatly reduce the time by using canned products from the store. They are already peeled, blanched, chopped, minced, diced, whole, or paste and you can easily mix and match to desired coarseness of your finished sauce.

Ingredients of a scratch red gravy will vary depending where you want to go with it and the acidity or sweetness of the tomatoes used. Taste is adjusted with sugar, spices, red wine vinegar and a host of other choices. Your best scratch red gravy recipe may have been handed down through many generations.

To put it simply, while I can make great scratch red gravy, I don’t have the time for it!
Unless you have a day to waste away in the kitchen, which most of us don’t, we have to look at a way of cutting out that process.

They sell good stuff in the store!
Any supermarket has at least one aisle devoted to a wide selection of tomato sauces and products. The difficulty is weeding out the good ones.
There are a couple brands, that start with R and P, that I wouldn’t even consider a gravy let alone decent spaghetti sauce. More like watered down ketchup, they are bland, thin and downright nasty.

Not there are not some other very good tomato sauces on the shelf, I just happen to prefer Classico brand sauces as the closest to what I can make from scratch. They have a wide variety of flavor combinations available and all are just as good as anything you can make from scratch spending days at the stove. Choosing these widely varied flavor combinations will yield an almost infinite choice in your red gravies. Not to mention, a jar is just the right amount to prepare a serving for four with no waste and no leftover.

Just remember, prepared, jarred tomato sauce is your starting point not the finished product!

As good as the various Classico sauces are, they are just the base for my finished product.
None, including the roasted garlic, contain enough garlic to suite my taste. At least a ¼ cup of minced garlic is a minimum addition on my stove. I also like to add at least ½ a large onion, diced. Spices in these sauces are adequate for the mild palate but I like a little more zip.
My standard additions:
¼ tsp Thyme
¼ tsp Sage
½ tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil
A couple turns of the pepper mill for fresh ground black pepper
1 cup Chablis
¼ cup minced garlic
¼ cup minced onion
2 oz extra virgin olive oil or the stronger olive oil if you want more of that flavor

WINE

Next to soup stock, what is the other secret ingredient in restaurant food that makes it different from what comes out of a jar at home?
It’s the wine!

Cooking with wine is a whole topic unto itself but for our purpose here, a liberal splash of wine is essential to a good red gravy!
Wine is used to impart taste, sweeten or sour the gravy. It can be used to “adjust” the tartness or compensate for acidity.

What wine to use?
One simple rule: If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it!
Stay far away from “cooking wine”, wine concentrates, or imitation wine flavorings.
Cheap is fine! You are going to cook with it and use it in great quantity so buy the “jug” wines or even the new “boxed” wines by the gallon. Just remember to sample a few glasses and make sure it tastes good.
For my purpose, Carlo Rossi jug wines have been quite satisfactory, prices reasonable, and the wife and I drink them as well. Besides, they line the wall on the first aisle of the liquor store where I buy them so I don’t have to waste time looking around.

Wines, like spices, are just something you have to learn the taste of.
You will be confronted with a wide variety of tastes in both whites and reds.
Each has a particular characteristic that will carry over to your food. Each has a particular flavor that will “cook out” leaving a distinct taste in any dish. The only way to appreciate this is to experiment with different brands and styles and get to know the taste. Then, like using a spice, you will be able to quickly judge how to adjust the flavor using a particular wine.

My wine shelf in the kitchen always is stocked with:
Chablis … not too sweet, not to tart, middle of the road and goes in almost anything
Burgundy … slightly sweeter red with a good body
Chianti … Tart crisp red used for a crisp tart taste
Port … sweet red good to sweeten things up or add body to brown gravies
Marcella … very sweet, good for desert toppings
Merlot … not as tart as Chianti or as sweet as port or burgundy

Dry whites, like a Rhine, are often a bit too tart for cooking unless you are looking for that tart flavor. Stale leftover champagne or even cheap champagnes can add a unique flavor.

Once you start cooking with wines, you will find yourself using them in just about everything!

FINE or COARSE

Divide red gravies into two lines, fine and coarse.

Fine reds are pulverized and cooked down to a thick soup like consistency.
Fine gravy has more “stick to” ability to cling to whatever pasta you put it on.
More of the sauce and flavor will cling to your pasta as you fork it to your mouth.
Fine reds can be beefed up, if you desire some larger chunks of tomato, by adding diced, crushed or whole tomato while cooking. They will still have the cling factor even though they will be thicker and coarser.

Coarse, or marinara, red gravies on the other hand do not cling to the pasta.
The taste of the sauce and the taste of the pasta are separate entities unto themselves.
While some of the oil will adhere to the pasta yielding a gentle flavoring, the body of the gravy will stand alone.
Coarse gravies are particularly good when using a flavored pasta like spinach linguine or egg noodles where you want the particular flavor of the pasta to stand out and apart.
Coarse gravies also let the other components, like onion slices or veggies stand out as single flavors.
The trick with coarse gravies is not to overcook to the point where larger pieces start breaking down or cooking down into a fine sauce. Where fine gravies are simmered for some time to accomplish this, coarse gravies are rapidly sautéed just until everything is cooked and heated through. Other ingredients, like onion chunks, mushrooms, veggies, and the tomato chunks themselves will have that “just about cooked” consistency and retain their own individual flavors.

You can mix or match depending on what you want to accomplish by adding coarse sauce components such as diced tomatoes to a fine sauce or adding a bit of fine sauce or tomato paste to a coarse sauce. It depends on how distinct you want individual tastes to be.

Coarse gravies lend themselves to chicken soup base!
Generally, coarse gravies will be using crushed, diced, minced or whole tomato.
By themselves, these tend to be on the bitter side and lacking flavor.
Coarse gravies require “base” to bring them to life and this is accomplished with a tsp of the chicken soup base we discussed previously along with a pat of butter as well as the wine and spices. Don’t be afraid to sprinkle sugar into the gravy if you find it too tart!

The butter serves as the basis of the rue to thicken the rough gravy and give it some cling.
As the sauce starts to heat up and the chicken base dissolves, hollow out a section in the middle clearing the big pieces and leaving the liquid. Melt the butter in the center and then add a heaping tablespoon of flour quickly mixing into a rue. As soon as the flour is incorporated, distribute and stir throughout the sauce. It will quickly thicken the overall sauce. How thick you make it depends on how much “cling” you want to stick it to your pasta. For less cling, use more olive oil and less flour.

Variation of red gravy is endless!
Experiment to quickly learn how just about anything can be added to a red gravy to make it different and unusual.
A small amount of soup base adds a whole new flavor.
Different wines open up a vast array of widely different flavors.
Reds can be as sweet as you want or, with some red pepper, as hot and spicy as you want.
Many veggies go good in reds!
Sweet peppers, hot peppers, any peppers go with reds.

Pasta comes in all assortment of shapes, sizes and flavors.
The pasta you choose to carry your red gravy can have great impact on the flavor.
Experiment and try different pastas. Don’t just tick to plain old #9 spaghetti! Try some of the whole wheat or flavored pastas. Do try some of the rather pricy fresh gourmet pastas in the fridge cases in most supermarkets. These are not cheap but often extremely good and worth the price!
If you happen to have one of those specialty shops nearby where they make their own fresh pasta, it’s worth the trip!

Cooking fabulous meals with red gravies is fast and easy. Almost any red gravy meal can be whipped up in under thirty minutes.
With almost infinite variety, you never have to have the same meal twice even if you serve it every day! If you don’t think reds are versatile, next up is Ham Linguine. That’s right! Ham in a red gravy over spinach linguine!

Get off the mundane and starchy baked potatoes and wake up your palate with a good red gravy!
Once your taste buds experience good old Italian tradition, you will never go back to plain food again!

[mommalina]

Gracie Allen's Classic Recipe for Roast Beef

1 large Roast of beef

1 small Roast of beef

Take the two roasts and put them in the oven. When the little one burns, the big one is done.


(and if you have to ask, "Who is Gracie Allen?" please just delete this.)

[Vivienne]

Doug:

Thank you so very much for taking the time to teach us - especially me :-) - how to cook. It is *so* appreciated!! I go food shopping on Tuesday and I'll get ingredients to make a great soup. How I have envied those who could!!

I'm looking forward to more - I have a ham and I'm waiting for the promised red sauce for it. :-)

P.S. I am starting a DBarrow Cooking Folder.

:-) I am making a Doug Barrow Cooking *subfolder*. I already have one for a Doug Barrow folder - and now it has two subfolders in it. The computer one is also invaluable. :-)

Thank you so much yet once again!!

Vivienne

ps Lina: I remember Gracie Allen - just loved that show!! And the recipe for roast beef made me laugh!! Thanks! :

[dbarrow]

BM - OMG! Of the six million things you can do with chicken, boiling would rank at the very bottom of my list and would be reserved for making soup!

TG my british heritage never passed on the pot of boiling water! Love to visit but afraid I would starve to death.
Now, eating my way north from Sicily into Germany is still something I would like to accomplish before I die.

[mommalina]

While we're talking about chicken.....someone gave me this simple
recipe years ago. Served it often, family liked it.

Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken

Sprinkle whole chicken or chicken parts with garlic salt
and brown sugar.

Bake in oven as usual.

Lina

[mommalina]

Another simple way to bake chicken:

Momma's Chicken w/Lemon

Ingredients

- Whole chicken or chicken parts

- Fresh-squeezed juice of one or two lemons, diluted with
water (about half water, half lemon juice). Doesn't work with
bottled juice.

Instructions

- Bake in oven. When 3/4 done (partially browned), pour
lemon-water mixture over it. Continue baking until done.

Notes

My mother would get the oven temperature to almost
broil before we put chicken in, bake at that high temperature
until browned, pour the lemon-water over chicken, turn
off oven, let it stay there until ready to serve (should be
fully cooked by then). Momma always had a gas oven, and I
have had better results with a gas oven than an electric oven.

I read somewhere that the French often use the high-heat,
turn-off method. (Maybe my Italian mother had French
roots?)

I've heard of success using frozen lemonade if you don't
have fresh lemons around. Never tried it. That would be
a completely different taste because of the added sugar.

Lina

[mommalina]

Peas w/Eggs - Momma's Friday-Night Poor-Man's
Supper

Religious Catholic Momma would not serve meat on Friday
nights. Peas were the only vegetable my father would eat
canned - every other vegetable had to be fresh. Times were
tough in the 30's and early 40's, and this dish was a penny-
pincher. This was also good for a quick lunch.

Ingredients

- one 15-1/2 oz can of peas
- two eggs
- grated cheese
- optional: salt, pepper, basil or parsley, garlic (crushed or
powder)

Directions

- In a bowl, beat two eggs (with a fork will do) and add whichever
condiments suit you. (Momma used Locatelli cheese and parsley.)
Set aside.

- Into a saucepan, empty entire contents of can (liquid and peas) into
saucepan. Heat to simmer on the stove top (microwave just
doesn't give same results).

- Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and stir until all, or almost
all of the liquid has been absorbed by the eggs. Remove from stove.

Note

Don't overcook; the dish will be too dry. You'll achieve the
consistency you prefer, after a few tries.

I've tried the recipe with fresh and frozen peas, but it's just
not Momma's and not a super time saver.

I can't guarantee you'll like this dish.....you may have to have
loved Momma, be a penny-pincher, or be in a rush.:)

Lina

[dbarrow]

Of spices and stuff

Cookbooks and recipes are in such abundance that they fill the aisles in the bookstore and library shelves. There are many excellent cookbooks.

The difficulty lies in the difference between reading and following a recipe with your eyes and developing the ability to “read” a recipe with your nose, tongue, palate and eyes.
There are those people who read and follow precisely only to discover the result tastes bad when they finish. This is opposed to the chef who never follows or writes down a recipe because they “read” the dish using their sense of taste as they go.
I tend to be in the latter group as cooking is an art, not a science and good cooking is based on learning fundamentals not following strict recipes. I often have difficulty making the same thing the same way twice as I never write things down and my base of measurement is “just about that much” by eye and taste.

This ability comes from learning “foundations” and tastes, all sorts of tastes!
Once you master the “foundation” of clear or yellow gravy, everything else is just a variation on the taste. How many people in your family can’t cook grandma’s favorite dish the same way just because they have a different size hand and their “pinch” is slightly different?

Spices
Spices are just that, things to spice up your foods and change the flavors!
While boiled chicken is just boiled chicken, with a single taste (slightly akin to wet newspaper),
chicken in rosemary and lemon or chicken in Marcella and sage are vastly different tastes and completely different meals. The lowly chicken can be a hundred thousand completely different meals and never cooked the same way, with the same taste twice!

There is only one way to learn spices, cook with them!
Learn each individual taste of each individual spice.
Learn how a different quantity of a spice can make radical changes in finished taste.
Learn how each spice can be used to sweeten flavor or increase tartness.
Learn how one spice will bring out or blend in the flavor of another.
Learn how fresh vs. dried spices are very different in both potency and flavor.

The art of spices, just as in the art of cooking with wine, is just something you have to learn over time through constant experimentation and tasting. The only way to accomplish your “sense” of spices is by using them on a regular basis whether the result is good or bad, until you develop that “sense”, feel, and particular taste.

A “pinch” of Basil may mean one flavor at ¼ tsp vs. an entirely different result at 1 tbl.
Garlic has a multitude of different and distinct flavors depending on whether it is sliced, diced, smashed, raw or roasted. It can be sweet, sour, bitter, or mild all depending how you prepare and cook it.
Red pepper can be a mild background hint or a screaming four alarm fire. Variations in green red, white, and black pepper make for infinite combinations and characteristics.

Spices change while cooking.
Some may blend out or lose their individual flavor depending on how long and how hot you cook your dish. While a crisp potent rosemary taste can be the “body” of your dish when cooked one way, it can blend away into the other spices as a backdrop when cooked another way.
Crushed red pepper can be an individual taste sensation when added in small quantity late in the game or it can creep up and take over a dish when added too early and left to “creep up” to mouth numbing proportion as it builds up power in the pan.
Learning “timing” with spices is another thing that only comes through experience.

The “how much” and when becomes a big factor in developing your own particular taste to any particular dish. I can’t write down a specific recipe with ¼ tsp or ½ tbl for each spice as it has to be “about that much” depending on what other spices will be added, which flavor I want to bring out, how long it will cook in the pan, and which wine I am balancing it against. That all comes from your developed and experienced sense of taste and smell along with a good eye.

Suffice to say, the only way to learn spices is to cook with them.
Many people will usually have an old crusty jar of this and that tucked away in a drawer somewhere and occasionally may use a pinch.
That’s not how we learn spices!

Get yourself a BIG spice rack to put on the wall away from the stove where heat will not damage them, and fill it with those 2 oz pretty matching glass jars so it looks attractive.
Remember to change your spices regularly. While many dried spices will keep forever in the jar, others can quickly lose potency and taste. If you can no longer read the label or remember the last time you used it, it’s time to replace with a fresh jar!

Fresh vs. dried

An herb garden is great!
A healthy bunch of thyme, chives, sage and basil can be a wonderful addition to your deck or patio or even an indoor window box. The aromas of fresh spices are better than any commercial air freshener! I just gained a rosemary tree that fills the kitchen with a wonderful scent that compliments the batch of fresh basil growing on the windowsill. You get hungry just walking into the room.

Major point to remember!
Fresh spices are up to ten times more potent than dried!
Many supermarket produce departments now carry a good assortment of fresh spices and it may be tempting to pick some up now and then or a pre-packaged windowsill spice garden may get your attention.

Some fresh spices contain medicinal properties!
Fresh sage is a very potent diuretic! A mistake I once made when the whole side of the house was overrun with fresh sage was going a little overboard. It took me some time to realize why I was constantly running to the bathroom all night following dinner!
Too much fresh basil can do nasty things to your innards as well! If you require a good clean out…
Nothing is quite as tasty as a good Italian bread dipped in quality olive oil with pesto, a side commonly found in any good Italian restaurant. But, this is best taken in moderation as I once had to admonish a friend who enjoyed it so much, she quickly emptied the dipping bowl. I warned her to cease and desist but she continued with seconds and thirds and paid the price for the next three days!

Chopping, pounding, mincing, crushing all greatly effect the potency of any fresh spice as the finer you chop it, the more oils are released from the leaves.
While long strands of fresh chives can add a subtle background flavor, finely minced chives can be a potent onion flavor.
Running a little short on the fresh basil leaves? Simply mince what you have, gather into a pile, and smack once or twice with a meat hammer to release ten times the flavor!

Just remember a word of caution is in order when using fresh vs. dried spices as your quantities will be considerably less and you will have to adjust your “pinch” accordingly. The individual plants or batch can vary considerably in taste depending on the variety. I once had a patch of red basil that in no way resembled the flavor of green basil plants.

If you have not developed your sense of “taste as you go” when adding spices, better to stick with known quantities of dried and prepared spices until you do if you wish to maintain any consistency.

Get into your spices and get out of hum drum plain food!
Remember that the “spice trade” made and broke nations throughout recorded history!

[dbarrow]

Lina, try it this way:
in a saute pan, add 2oz olive oil, 1 small pat of butter, 1 tsp lemon concentrate, 1 tbl brown sugar, 1 tsp flour, 1 tsp rosemary, 1/4 cup Chablis, 1/2 tsp minced garlic with the oil from the jar. Reduce until it thickens stirring constantly.
Spread that over your chicken breast and then bake. You can marinate it for a few hours in the mix before for better flavor.
For a little extra, add 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced or 3 oz canned Capers or artichoke hearts.

[mommalina]

Lina, try it this way:
in a saute pan, add 2oz olive oil, 1 small pat of butter, 1 tsp lemon concentrate, 1 tbl brown sugar, 1 tsp flour, 1 tsp rosemary, 1/4 cup Chablis, 1/2 tsp minced garlic with the oil from the jar. Reduce until it thickens stirring constantly.
Spread that over your chicken breast and then bake. You can marinate it for a few hours in the mix before for better flavor.
For a little extra, add 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced or 3 oz canned Capers or artichoke hearts.

Doug, what's lemon concentrate? I used to use Minute Maid
frozen lemon juice in a pinch, but I can't find it any more.

BTW, will edit my chicken recipes to indicate that skinless chicken
breasts may not produce same results as whole chicken or chicken
parts with skin. The skinless chicken breasts would probably dry
up in the oven, especially a hot oven.

Lina

[mommalina]

BTW, will edit my chicken recipes to indicate that skinless chicken
breasts may not produce same results as whole chicken or chicken
parts with skin. The skinless chicken breasts would probably dry
up in the oven, especially a hot oven.


My chicken-recipe posts are missing EDIT buttons. Please note
the above clarification about type of chicken for recipes.

Lina

[dbarrow]

Lemon concentrate can be found in 8oz bottles in the store.
It is very potent! A few drops equal a whole squeezed lemon.
It keeps forever in the fridge and should be on your shelf beside the lime extract (for gin and tonics).

Skiness vs. skin on chicken.
Unless you like that crispy brown skin, I only get skinless chicken breast. There is a layer of fat in the skin and just under it. Even when buying whole, I skin it and toss the skin.

Skin is used for oven to seal in juices, otherwise your chicken will quickly dry out in the oven.

Oven is something I rarely use and reserve for baking.
Saute in the pan is considerably faster, retains much more moisture, and is easier to make the accompanying gravy as you cook.
Breaded, is the next most popular followed by grill...
Grill is a whole different topic, suffice to say, my grill goes all winter even if I have to dig it out of the snow!

Fast saute of skinless chicken breast in the pan, with gravy, is twenty minutes at best from start to finish.
I like to keep my meals in the thirty minute or less range
Besides, I was restaurant trained where quick saute is what gets your meal in front of you in ten minutes or less!

Restaurant is slightly different as they keep pre-cooked with ten minutes to go meats in the fridge, in quantity.
Simply grab a couple hunks of chicken or veal and throw in the saute pan as you build your gravy and sides.
Not having volume to support a tray of pre-cooked chicken resting in the fridge, I have to account for prep time for the meat with a quick browning on the grill or in the pan.

Once you get used to restaurant style, you will find no meal will take more than 30 minutes to an hour to prepare, gourmet style complete with all the extras!

[dbarrow]

Olive oil

As old as recorded history! The olive oil trade has ruled with world since recorded time!
Thousands of amphorae still filled with olive oil line the seabed of the Mediterranean to this day.

Why olive oil?
Many other oils, such as sesame and peanut oil can add a specific flavor or have a particular cooking quality such as the high heat ability of a peanut oil, olive oil has been a staple in cooking so far back as to be lost in history.

Olive oil has flavor!
Each brand of olive oil and style of olive oil has its’ own particular flavor characteristics much like a fine wine. There are gourmet olive oils that are very pricy and come in quart bottles which are used solely for dipping bread!
You can greatly alter the flavor of whatever you are cooking with different brands or styles of olive oil just as you alter the taste with whatever wine you add.

Corn and vegetable oils lack the flavor and characteristics of olive oil. Corn oil is corn oil no matter what brand you use and, while it may be adequate for fried chicken, it will impart no flavor to the meal.

Olive oil, on the other hand, can be a versatile cooking tool that can make or break the meal.

Virgin, extra virgin, second pressing, flavored or specialty olive oils. Variety is the key!

Extra virgin adds little flavor. While some tend to have a particular flavor characteristic all their own, they generally do not impart a great deal if influence on the finished dish. Some can have a very crisp and light flavor all their own.

Virgin oils can have subtle but distinct flavor differences.

Full bodied second pressing and specialty olive oils are the ones that have very noticeable flavor characteristics. These are the ones that have a particular olive oil taste that can range from dank and musty to robust and full bodied.
Once again, this is a matter of taste and must be experimented with to find different brands that have a particular flavor you desire.

Olive oil goes in everything!

I can’t make scrambled eggs without doing them in olive oil!
A few ounces of olive oil will end up in just about everything I cook, including baking where I will always substitute olive oil for vegetable oil or shortening!

As previously mentioned, nothing beats great bread dipped into olive oil and pesto or some other spice combination and eaten straight! It has a flavor that butter can’t beat.

Olive oil is healthy!

Research has proven, beyond doubt, that olive oil is a key ingredient to healthy eating with much good cholesterol and little of the bad as opposed to fatty oils with transfats. Several enzymes have been identified in olive oil which reduce plaque buildup in the arteries and do many other good things for our bodies!
Olive oil healthy… other oil bad!

How to buy

Once you get into the olive oil habit, you will need it in quantity!
I buy my olive oil in the 1gal tin cans.
A 1 gal tin will last you for several months so don’t get upset at the price!

It’s always worthwhile to have several smaller bottles of the expensive, specialty olive oils in the cabinet as you will find uses for the different oils.

Extra virgin is your primary cooking oil as you will use it for everything but don’t forget to have a couple smaller bottles of the really heavy, full bodied olive oils for added flavor. A few ounces of those, added to extra virgin, can greatly enhance flavor if you want to experience the olive oil flavoring.

Start out by comparing prices.
The shelves are lined with olive oil! It is often difficult to make your choices.
Start with smaller quantities of one particular brand, taste them, cook with them. Narrow things down to one brand for the bulk of your cooking and a few smaller bottles of specialty oil for extra flavor. Don’t shoot for the expensive oil right off as you may find the cheapest brand on the shelf has the taste you want.
The simple test, pour a small amount of oil and dip a bread slice in it. Olive oil is like wine, if you can’t drink it, don’t cook with it! If it has a yummy taste on bread, it will have that same yummy taste in your finished dish!
Sit down with several olive oils, a loaf of good bread, a glass of wine and a few hunks of cheese and taste away! You may find this a regular meal or appetizer in the future! Once you find one you really like, add a tbl of pesto to it or a dash of wine and enjoy!

[AL DOM]

Doug,

This cooking thread is a great idea for this forum. I am also a good cook. My mom taught me. Although, these days, I am hard pressed to find the time to cook a good meal.

In my opinion, a really tasty pasta gravy must be made with meat. I have tried gravies without meat, and I never liked any of them. I am sure that these comments will spur a lively discussion of gravies, and that's good!

I look forward to all of the posts here.

Doug, I can smell and almost taste the delicious Sunday dinner your family and you have eaten this Sunday evening. It's almost 8 PM here, but I think I will go to the kitchen and make some pasta with Parmesan and Romana cheese. YUMMMMMMM ....

ANDIAMO A MANGIARE !!

AL

[dbarrow]

Of pots and pans

Your cookware may need serious revision!

It’s amazing how many people get by with a few $3 pots and pans from the supermarket shelf and others with the fancy super expensive cookware sets they got suckered into buying!
Either extreme is a no-no!

Visit any restaurant kitchen and discover that most everything in it is designed for speed and efficiency and pretty much universal. The same common items will be found in all!
The staple of any restaurant kitchen is the sauté line and the accompanying sauté pans.
The vast majority of food coming out the door will pass across the stove top at some point in time through the same common pans.

There is one common thread in a restaurant kitchen, everything in it is either aluminum or stainless steel. You do not find glass, ceramic, or cast iron cookware in it for very specific reasons.

IRON

The pioneers wouldn’t have thought about heading west without their trusty iron skillet, iron pot, and iron dutch oven. There was a time when that was the only cookware you could get.
Griswold was produced from 1865 through the late 1950s.
http://antiques.about.com/cs/miscellaneous/a/aa013000.htm
I believe I have a Griswold buried in my pan cabinet somewhere!

Iron rusts!
While extremely durable, cast iron rusts. Aggressively scrub an iron skillet with steel wool and detergent and put it away for a while, it will be caked with rust when you next go to use it.
Iron cooking items must be “seasoned” to protect against rust and should never be scrubbed, just washed out and thoroughly dried.
To season cast iron cookware, lightly wash the new pan, rinse, and then bake a few hours.
Once cooled, coat with oil or shortening and bake again. Some people even add salt and pepper to the shortening to bake it in. The resulting black “crust” protects food from the iron. When used, rinse the pan out, dry, and wipe a light coat of oil on it before putting away.

Iron doesn’t taste good!
No matter how well “Seasoned” your iron cookware, acidity and chemicals in food or even water can react with the iron ions in the pan and release some of them to bind with foods of all kinds resulting in a distinct iron flavor much like cooking with rusty water or iron rich well water.
I don’t know of any foods that benefit from a metallic taste!

Iron conducts “spot heat”
An iron skillet has the unfortunate quality of transferring heat directly above flame.
While the entire pan will heat up, there will always be a hot spot directly above the flame when used on a stove top burner. Without much stirring, food will actually burn into a ring the size of the flame or burner in the bottom of the pan. Besides the nasty taste of scorched food, the residue can be very difficult to scrape and scrub off revealing fresh base metal that once again must be seasoned. Iron is best used in an oven where the entire container will be heated evenly. The black iron pan can still be a good choice for that roast beef in the oven.

GLASS & CERAMIC

The invention of high temperature glass and ceramic cookware just about killed off iron cookware. From the 1950’s on, these were highly touted as “the modern way” to cook.
Corning ware made a big production out of advertising fancy dishes you could cook in and then transfer to the table as serving dishes. They came with a variety of handles and stands to make them “convertible” with the main objective on reducing the amount of dishes to be washed.
High temperature glassware, like Pyrex, became a staple for things like baking dishes. They were much easier to bake in and less food stuck to them for easier cleaning. I’m sure everyone has a few glass baking dishes tucked away on a shelf.

While much easier to clean than iron, burn something onto glass and it is still tough to remove requiring much scraping. At least they don’t have to be seasoned afterwards.

One major drawback to glass and ceramic… they are DANGEROUS!
While I can recall a commercial for Corning ware with half the container frozen in ice and the other half over a blow torch, and “freezer to oven” claims, extreme temperature differentials with any of these products can lead to catastrophic failure!

Over time and constant use, micro-fractures can spread through them making them extremely brittle and prone to failure. At any time, a temperature differential can cause these fractures to suddenly and unexpectedly let go or even explode!
Some of these products carry explicit warnings not to expose to direct heat, like a stove top burner. Years after you chucked the box it came in, how do you tell which ones?

Glass and ceramic are primarily intended for the oven where the container and contents are heated evenly together. They are best reserved for strictly oven use!
But, even in the oven, being too close to the burner on the bottom rack or any sudden temperature differentials can still lead to catastrophic failure. Removing a hot glass baking dish from the oven and placing to rest on a cold surface, even cool stove top burners can cause an explosion!

I have experienced this! Fortunately, I was out of the room when it happened. With a loud pop, the glass shatters into a million chunks, much like a shattered car windshield, and sprays all over launching boiling hot food along with it! There is potential for serious bodily injury and burns!
The cleanup from lasagna that went nuclear took days!
I had another one fail inside the oven and dump the contents all over the bottom burner. Ruined meal and another day long cleanup!

Fancy ceramic serving dishes are best warmed up to the temperature of the food to be placed into them with hot water before pouring the contents of a boiling pan of food directly into them, unless you fell like wearing it!

STAINLESS STEEL

Stainless of every size shape and variety is commonly found in any restaurant kitchen.
Stainless is virtually indestructible and chemically inert to most foods and cooking processes.
Stainless is easily cleaned, often with just a “scrubby” sponge or a little steel wool.
Stainless can go from fridge to stovetop without worry.

You want to stick with “commercial grade” stainless products designed for the cooking trade.
Stainless still suffers the “hot spot” heat transfer problem to some degree.
When choosing stainless pots or pans designed for the stovetop, purchase them in restaurant supply stores. They are usually much cheaper there than in a fancy specialty shop or department store as they sell a high volume of them. Commercial grade usually has a much thicker bottom to avoid the “hot spot” and are designed to sit on a burner.

A selection of quality, restaurant grade, stainless pots from 16oz up to giant 64oz stock pots is a must! Don’t forget to get the proper accompanying lid to go with it as you will use them.
Stainless trays, the rectangular trays inserted into steam tables, racks, and many commercial restaurant appliances are another item you want a few of. The 4”x6”x 2” trays are perfect for mixing and stack one inside the other in the cabinet. The larger and deeper trays are something else you may want. These are very inexpensive in a restaurant supply store, usually only a few dollars.
While you are there, don’t forget to buy a selection of restaurant size stainless spoons, ladles, and other cooking accessories you will use daily. These are very cheap and functional and can be hung in quantity on a peg rack above the stove. My rack contains at least a dozen spoons, solid and slotted, along with several size ladles. They are easily cleaned with just a sponge and water and returned to the rack without requiring a trip through the dishwasher.

ALUMINUM

The tool of choice for the sauté line in any restaurant is the solid aluminum sauté pan.
They range in size from small 4” pans up to giant 16” rounds and even rectangular two burner pans. The preferred size is the 12” x 2” deep sauté pan.

Quality aluminum pans are generally found in the restaurant supply store. Beware the cheaper and thinner foreign brands often found in the department store as they will not hold up the same.
The cheap pans often lack the up to ¼” thick bottoms of the commercial grade pans which is extremely important to even heat distribution.
Restaurant grade sauté pans are virtually indestructible and will last forever! Prices are actually very reasonable when compared to any fancy department store cookware at about one third the price. They never wear out!

Fancy copper bottom pans are great for show, if you hang them on a rack, but offer little advantage over straight aluminum and they are usually quite pricy. Cleaning them is often a laborious task as they will blacken on the bottom just like aluminum.

The 12” sauté pan holds enough for a serving of four, without contents slopping over the sides of the pan. With a thick bottom, heat is distributed very evenly across the bottom of the pan. They have a long flat handle making them easy to pick up with one hand even when full or the handle is long enough to grasp with both hands for a really full load. Avoid the ones with a rubber handle as these loosen over time and fall off. For a hot handle, a dish towel is sufficient and usually something every chef has hanging from his belt or apron.
Food does not stick to these much at all and even if burned, a crusty patch on the bottom can easily be scraped off with a stainless scrubby pad or even a kitchen sponge with the scrubby side.
They are easily wiped clean between dishes with just a swirl of a sponge and a few drops of detergent. This is one of the major reasons they are used in restaurants as they are quickly cycled through the sink and put back on the rack for the next dish, often before they even cool down!

Beware when transferring a hot aluminum pan to the sink to wash!
Cold water running into the pan will “chase” the heat right up the handle! It will get very hot very quick! Start by running your water on the handle and work down into the pan keeping the handle cool or get a sudden surprise.

Aluminum is chemically inert to most food, except tomato sauce or products, and will not impart any unwanted flavoring to your food. It’s fine to cook tomato products in them but NEVER leave any tomato product sitting in one for extended times as it will react with the aluminum.
Acid in tomato can actually dissolve aluminum, as you may have experienced if you ever put aluminum foil over a leftover tomato dish only to discover holes eaten in it in a few hours. If you leave your tomato sauce in one too long, it will discolor it and leave a dark film that can be scrubbed away with a Brillo pad.

The handles are usually attached through the pan with three aluminum rivets. Over time, these will loosen up and may start to leak a little fluid as you cook above the level where they pass through the side of the pan. This is easily fixed by smacking both sides of the rivet at the same time with two hammers. A couple taps will seal them right up again and tighten the handle.

The bottoms, particularly on the larger pans will warp over time leaving them slightly concave.
When it reaches the point where they start to rock or sit unevenly on the burner, they are easily pounded back into shape. Simply borrow a log from a neighbor with firewood that is approximately the same diameter as the flat bottom. Cut a flat and level surface on it and make it long enough that an inverted pan will sit flat on the top side. Place another section or flat piece of wood on the pan bottom and smack a few times with a large hammer or sledge. The bottom will flatten right out just like new. Once a year, I take each of my pans and bang them out. Most are quite a few years old now. In a pinch, place a piece of plywood on concrete and holding the handle firmly, swat the wood hard with the bottom of the pan being careful to land a level blow.
This will often cure a rocking bottom pan quickly but can loosen the rivets of the handle.

The outside and bottom of the pan will blacken over time and use with a thick black crust.
This is normal. Anything that spills or boils over the top will run down the sides and burn onto the bottom. Once a year or so, scrub the sides and bottom with a coarse stainless scrubbing pad or wire brush to break off the majority of the crust.

Sauté pans are built for “flipping”.
I’m sure you have all seen the cooking shows where the chef “flips” the food in the pan rather than stirring. This is not that hard to learn! It’s also a much faster means of mixing the food.
The sloping sides of the pan are designed to launch the food on a particular angle when flipping.
Grasp the handle firmly in one hand. Lift the pan slightly above the burner. Rapidly shove the pan forward four to six inches and angle up at the end of your movement. As you complete the forward and upward movement, reverse and pull back rapidly. The food inside will go airborne a few inches above the pan. Before it starts to descend, rapidly push the pan forward and down placing it under the food. Done right, the food will flip upside down from where it started and you will catch all of it in the pan. Performed in rapid succession, you can thoroughly mix the contents easily.
This is best practiced with some water over the sink until you get the knack of it, unless you feel like cleaning the stove top!

Pans are lids
Another reason to maintain four to six 12” sauté pans in the cabinet is that they fit over top one another to act as a lid. For anything that splatters, simply place one pan upside down over the other. Should you have to strain something, simply place the clean top pan on the bottom and strain the full pan off into it. In the end, it cuts down on the amount of dish washing to be done and the pans are easily reused multiple times for different things in the same cooking session.
Note that many stainless lids that came with your stainless pots often fit these pans exactly.

Stack or hang
These pans have slots in the handle designed to hang from hooks on commercial racks.
You can either hang them or stack one inside the other in the cabinet.
If stacking inside the cabinet, you want to scrub the crust on the bottom frequently or it will transfer to the inside of the pan under it. You can get a whole pile of these stacked easily in the bottom of a kitchen cabinet.

[dbarrow]

Of pots and pans 2

NO STICK TEFLON

Since the first “no stick” Teflon coated pan was first introduced, it was touted as the greatest cooking invention ever! You can still find a wide variety of “no stick” pans, even in the commercial restaurant aluminum sauté pans.

Not until recently did medical science determine that Teflon is a potent carcinogen and suggest that we may have been eating far too much of it for too many years leading to an increase in all kinds of GI related cancers!

There is no such thing as a “no stick” Teflon coated pan that never wears, scratches, or loses the coating! Even if you are very careful only to use plastic and wooden utensils, eventually all these coatings begin to break down. The result gets eaten!

While these pans may be very convenient for things like scrambled eggs or crepes, as soon as the coating shows any kind of wear or scratching, CHUCK IT!
Replace these pans ASAP and don’t be afraid to send them to the garbage!
Considering that the price of these pans is often higher than plain aluminum, they are not a great investment and will be thrown out much sooner.
A good quality solid aluminum pan is just about as “stick proof” if used properly and carries no risk compared to Teflon.

Remember one simple rule, hot pan, cold oil, heat oil to pan temp and then add food and things will not stick to aluminum pans. Pre-heat your pan until you can feel the heat with the palm of your hand coming off the bottom, add olive oil and stir or swish around until anything placed in it immediately starts to bubble, then add food. The result will be just as good as any “no stick” Teflon coated pan.

With any “no stick” Teflon pan, NEVER use any metal utensils to stir, NEVER scrub aggressively even with a nylon “scrubby” sponge or pad, and NEVER use a steel wool pad of any kind. Wipe out with a kitchen sponge and detergent only and if things start to stick to it, time to be rid of it!

UTENSILS

Besides the restaurant grade stainless spoons and the like, a good selection of WOODEN spoons and spatulas are a must in the kitchen!
Wood can’t scratch any metal pan.
Wood is easily cleaned
Wood is cheap enough to throw away and replace
Wood won’t melt like plastic

My favorite stirring spoons and spatulas are all wood!
These are easily obtained in a variety of sizes and shapes and often you can find a complete set in the dollar store… for a dollar!
Choose a selection where spoons or flat spatulas easily fit inside the various jars you will be using.

Wash by hand!
They fall apart in dishwashers!
A sponge and detergent are more than enough to clean off any wood utensil quickly.
Put them in a dishwasher on extended hot cycles and they will crack, shrink, or otherwise become useless.

Never let a wooden stirring spoon rest or sit in a boiling pot!
Always remove to the counter when done stirring.
It only takes a minute resting in the pan to swell up or crack and split.
Replace when you start noticing splinters!

Learn and use tools of the restaurant trade in your kitchen and greatly speed up your cooking and cleanup time! You will greatly reduce the time spent cleaning things up and find that these have many advantages over other choices which is why they are used by the “pros”.
Find a restaurant supply store near you. It’s the “candy store” for any serious cook!

[dbarrow]

Of pots and pans 3

WOK

Let’s not forget that wonder from the Orient that is also as old as time, the WOK!

Many forms of traditional Chinese and Asian cooking rely on an implement that has been around for eons. You may want to have one of these, even if it takes up considerable space in the cabinet.

A traditional wok is made of steel. They are usually very thin and light. The bottom can be round or slightly flat. They are made to sit securely in a “fire ring”, made of steel, to hold the rounded pan upright. The fire ring goes over and surrounds the burner to concentrate heat on the bottom of the wok.

A wok is made for high heat and constant motion!
The rounded bottom is on purpose to concentrate high heat in the very bottom of the pan and to then pass the food quickly through the hot spot. Unlike more conventional pots and pans, a wok is not intended for any kind of slow simmering or letting food sit in it for any time. The wok is for very quick preparation and cooking of food.

I’m sure all of us have ordered in the Chinese restaurant take out fast food outlet and stood there marveling at how fast they prepare each dish. It only takes a few seconds for each item in your order to go into and out of the wok.

The delight to Chinese cooking with a wok is the wonderful crisp characteristics it lends to all vegetables as they are heated very quickly to done but still retain that crisp and almost raw flavor. Chinese cooking never has that soggy quality if done right.

Key to successful use of the wok is the use of high temperature oils like peanut and sesame oils that can withstand the extreme heat that olive oil and other vegetable oils can not. The small quantity of oil in the bottom of the wok is often brought almost to ignition temperature before the food is rapidly tossed through it.

The second key is constant motion. Items are not left to sit still for any length of time in a wok.
They are stirred or tossed continuously until desired doneness is achieve. This is done either with the ladle or flipping with a handle on the wok. In any case, cooking on a wok is done fast and furiously!

As is done in the Chinese restaurant, cleaning a wok is done by simply running water and a very tiny amount of soap into the wok, over heat, swishing out with a long handled scrub brush, dumping out, and rinsing with clean water. Done right, very little will stick to a wok and cleaning is quick and easy!

When purchasing a wok, make sure it is:
Stainless steel, as they don’t stick or tarnish and clean easily
Has a round bottom, as they are not intended to rest directly on a stove burner
Has a fire ring, to concentrate heat and support the wok
Has a long handle, to make management and movement of the wok easier.

While the traditional wok with small side handles is good in the Chinese restaurant, as they have water and drains right in the stove, for the home kitchen, a wok with a long handle makes it much easier to transport back and forth to the sink.

Almost all vegetables will benefit from traditional Chinese wok style cooking with much more brilliant flavor and crispy characteristics as opposed to any other long term simmering where they get bland and soggy.

Remember that in Chinese cooking, all items are cut or chopped into bite size pieces prior to reaching the cooking pan. Chinese tradition is that food should not require effort to cut into bite size portions by the consumer, rather, this chore is performed by the chef. It also makes it much faster to cook small pieces than it is to cook larger pieces that require much more time and heat to penetrate and cook through. Everything that goes into the wok is already in a size that transfers directly to fork or chop sticks.

Experiment with a wok and find that it deserves a place in your kitchen and on your stove!

[dbarrow]

Now that the cooking lesson has progressed to the point where you understand pots and pans, utensils, wine, spices, ect. are we ready to move on to fundamentals of each of the prime gravies?

You may still have to educate your tastebuds to wines and spices but are you ready to progress to one of the most common base gravies, yellow or clear?

Yellow or clear gravy refers to a basic butter or oil base sauce that will contain a chicken stock. It is one of the most widely used "base" gravies that can be modified a thousand different ways for thousands of different taste delights.

Let me know how well you are following and we will progress.

[dbarrow]

Rosemary chicken and red potatoes

Tonights dinner was:

3 chicken breasts, skinless, cut into 1" strips
8 3" red potatoes sliced into 1/8" slices with skins still on
2 tbl fresh rosemary leaves, cut off my new rosemary tree
1 tbl basil leaves
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp thyme
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp chicken soup base
1/4 cup Chablis
4 oz extra virgin olive oil
1 cup frozen zucchini slices
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tbl butter

In one 12" saute pan, heat and coat bottom with olive oil
Add butter and melt along with chicken base
Add lemon concentrate
Once hot, throw in chicken slices, toss until quickly browned on the outside
Add rosemary leaves and spices
Toss and stir.
Add garlic and wine
Toss and stir rapidly until chicken is cooked, about 15 min.

While doing this, in second saute pan, add olive oil and heat
Add sliced red potatoes
Coat liberally with fresh ground pepper
Stir and brown until potato slices start to soften
Ad frozen zucchini slices and stir in until soft

By now, you have achieved about twenty minutes cooking time on each pan.
Drain the liquid contents of the chicken pan into the potato pan and set the chicken aside.

Mix and stir the potato pan and contents on high heat until potatoes soften up and zucchini has cooked.
Add in the chicken
Cover and let simmer 10 minutes.

Serve, 4 servings, total time about 35 minutes
Pretty tasty, if I do say so, with distinctive rosemary and lemon taste.
2 pans to quickly wipe clean.
4 plates and silverware for the dishwasher
3 cups wine for the chef
0 leftovers

[dbarrow]

Thanksgiving

I know this is a little late for those of you who have already started your prep.
Seeing it is now 7pm T-Day minus 1, I have already completed the grunt work for tomorrow.

Tom is soaking

If you want a really juicy turkey with flavor, the secret is brine.
There are numerous brine recipes for turkey on the web, I glanced at quite a few earlier.
The important thing is to get Tom into the brine overnight.

64oz stock pot
1gal hot water
1 orange, quartered
4-6 sprigs Rosemary or about 1 tbl.
1 cup Chablis
1 tbl basil
1 bay leaf
1 tbl pepper corns
1 cup Kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
¼ stick butter

Bring to a boil and mix. Cool to fridge temp (outside)
Drop in defrosted and washed Tom and place in fridge overnight

Sausage stuffing w/ mushrooms

The stuffing is a meal in itself and often serves as same with leftovers for the next few days.

1lb pack or 3 large Italian Sweet Sausage
1 onion, minced
1 tbl garlic minced
2 bags unseasoned stuffing
1 lb mushrooms
¼ cup walnuts, fine chopped
3 stalks celery, fine chopped
1 tsp black ground pepper
1 tbl basil
½ tsp sage
½ tsp thyme
1 cup Chablis
2 oz olive oil
½ stick butter
1 tsp chicken soup base
Running this through a food processor takes the work out of it, otherwise, everything is chopped fine and placed aside before getting ready to cook.

In 12” sauté pan, brown sausage on all side and reduce heat to medium.
When sausage has been browned, add turkey giblets, neck, tail.
This all cooks for 30-40 minutes being careful add a little water if needed.

While that cooks, in another 12” sauté pan, warm, add olive oil and coat bottom, add butter and melt. Add mushrooms and brown, add celery, onion and spices, soup base. Cook on low 20 min until it starts breaking down being careful not to let it dry out or burn.

Take the cooked sausage and chop or run through food processor, add with walnuts to the other pan. Remove the turkey parts and reserve for tomorrow and the gravy.
Add half cup of water to sausage pan, bring to a boil while stirring. Dissolve any brown residue on the bottom into the water. Add this flavored base to the other pan. Blend it all together adding the wine.

In 32oz pot, add 1 to 1 ½ bags of stuffing. Pour in hot water while stirring until thoroughly soft and mixed throughout. Add the contents of the pan and continue to mix until everything is evenly distributed and all the bread is thoroughly moist and gooey. Add more wine and water if needed. Let sit a half hour and stir occasionally to make sure everything mixes and the flavor spreads.

Butter a 12x24 baking dish, spoon the stuffing into it and flatten out. Sprinkle the top with grated parm. Cover with aluminum foil and put in fridge.

You have two options:
Bake the stuffing as is in the pan for 30 minutes at 350. Slice like cake.
Don’t start the stuffing until the turkey is half done (with an empty cavity that will have an apple and onion in it during this time). Take stuffing out of the baking dish and stuff Tom on both ends about 30 minutes before he is due to come out of the oven. Bake the remainder in the pan along with the turkey.
I will do the latter as it gains more flavor in the bird but the extra in the pan is for stuffing and gravy the next day or even freeze for another day.

Cranberry Relish

1 bag whole cranberries
1 orange, reserve 1 tsp of zest from peel.
1 cup sugar
2 oz vodka

Double this if you need more as this is a small bowl.

Dump cranberries and orange slices into food processor and grind to coarse.
Place in a bowl with sugar, add vodka. Let sit overnight
Excess juice can be strained off later and reserved for drinks, cranberry juice, tonic water and vodka.

Tom

Of course the center piece of the whole meal is the turkey.
Tom has spent the night in his brine bath. Rinse and pat dry.

Place 1 stick of butter in a bowl and let it reach room temp or use whipped butter.
You need soft butter for this step.

Place Tom on the counter. Start at the back and work your fingers under the skin between the breast and skin working all the way to the front on each side and down to the legs. The skin should now form a loose flap.
Add 1 tbl minced garlic to the butter and stir in until blended.
Take a gob of the butter on your fingers and work it under the skin between the skin and breast on both sides. Get a good amount in there and spread evenly.
Take the remainder and smear completely over the outside of the skin.
Stand Tom on his neck so the back opening is up in your roasting pan.
Pour ½ cup Chablis under the skin on both sides. Let any excess run into the cavity and pan.
Skewer or stitch the skin flap closed. There will be a pocket of wine trapped under it.
Lay Tom down in the pan.
Sprinkle sage and black pepper liberally over the outer skin, other spices like oregano, rosemary, thyme etc. if you are a skin eater.

I am known to inject Chablis directly into the breast with a 10cc syringe as well….

Place one whole unpeeled apple and one whole onion in the cavity.
A handful of fresh chives or scallions can be a much more subtle taste if you have them.
The apple will sweeten the flavor and soak up excess grease like a sponge.
Both are discarded when cooking is done unless you want a tiny bit of the apple and onion in your gravy.

You can cook Tom uncovered as the meat will not dry out. The skin should get a deep crispy brown. Use a meat thermometer! I have one of those electronic jobs that is very accurate. For God’s sake, don’t overcook the bird! If in doubt, undercook! You can always reheat later after you slice it.

If adding stuffing, as above, 30 minutes before done, remove the apple and onion, blot out the cavity with a paper towel, pack solid with stuffing.

Gravy

Gravy is on you! Some people can make gravy, others can not….
I like scratch and in great quantity. It’s ok to add pre-made if you think you won’t have enough.
The important part is to get the flavor by thoroughly mixing with scratch.

Believe it or not, the apple soaks up a lot of the grease. When you chuck the apple, much of the grease goes with it. Still, you may want to strain off much of the grease in the pan.
As all the other ingredients, spices, wine, ect. were already on the turkey and have now combined in the bottom of the pan, your gravy base is almost already complete.
After adjusting the grease content (I hate greasy turkey gravy), add 2 oz olive oil, butter, a bit of gravy master starter, flour, water, and milk (much smoother with ½ cup of milk or even heavy cream). Dice giblets (if you like them) and add to pan. In fact, add them anyway and strain off later if you don’t as it adds flavor! Boil on high stirring constantly. Adjust liquid content. Add flour/milk mixture. Stir until it thickens.
I like to end up with 2 qts at least as hot turkey sandwiches are on the agenda for another day along with plenty to ladle over that extra stuffing.

Don’t be afraid to use a strainer!
One thing I can’t abide by is lumpy gravy!
The second thing is lumpy mashed potatoes. We invented the food processor for a reason!
(and I actually prefer Betty Crocker instant anyway!)

The Thanksgiving feast is something I look forward to all year. It is a consummate art!
This year, I am thanking God that I don’t have to visit the in-laws and endure dried out over cooked turkey with greasy gravy and lumpy mashed ‘taters with bland stuffing!
My prep is already out of the way. Tom is taking his bath. The stuffing is already done and delicious. The pumpkin pie (ok I cheated and bought one from the best bakery around this morning so I know it will be great) is chilling in the fridge waiting on the whipped cream.
My anticipation at firing up the stove tomorrow is growing!

[kelly]

Doug - you're amazing
-td

[mommalina]

Stuffing sounds scrumptious, Doug. I always liked sausage
in poultry stuffing. Now the Chablis is a great idea!

What I miss in stuffing today are cleaned, fried, chopped
chicken or turkey intestines.....Momma wasted nothing,
including poultry intestines. The only way to get them
today is to buy a live turkey/chicken.

I don't have an exact stuffing recipe. We used to beat a
couple of eggs, add grated Locatelli cheese, parsley, garlic,
and stir it into ricotta. Then we'd add pine nuts, raisins,
cooked/fried chopped sausage/giblets/livers/intestines......and,
yes, as Momma would say, "just-a lil-la bit-ta bread-a
crum," just enough to hold it together. The bread crumbs
would be made by wetting stale Italian bread, squeezing
the water out and crumbling it. We always stuffed the raw
poultry....and no one ever got sick!

Thanks for your fascinating turkey recipe, Doug. I'm
passing it on to family and friends.

Lina

[dbarrow]

BM, I fish but rarely eat fish... catch and release mostly,except for tuna.
Now there have been times when I ended up with a nice fish that got hooked and bled out so rather than let it go to waste it came home.

Grill is my favorite approach for fish and shellfish.
I think you get much more flavor by grilling.
Coating the fillet with olive oil keeps it from sticking or grill skin side down only and then slice off the skin.
I don't like "blackened" anything as deliberately burning the fish does little for it.
One rule for grilling fish, firm but tender... don't overcook.
A tuna steak on the grill is best at slightly pink yet firm and goes quickly to dried out and tasteless if cooked too long.
As Larry would say "Shrimp on the barbie" is a treat no matter what marinade you use. Skewer them up and quickly broil on the grill.

If you want the taste of the fish, skip the marinade and just lightly oil. Add a sauce, thinly, for serving to accent the flavor not mask it.
If you want a marinade flavor, let it sit in the marinade overnight.
A tuna steak steeped in lemon marinade and wine is totally different than a tuna steak grilled and then served with a line of lemon sauce down the middle.

Another problem with fish is bones. People, unless they are true fish lovers, hate to sit at the plate and pick bones.
Even when dealing with shellfish, you should be able to plow through the meat without making a job out of picking through that which you can't eat.
Get a good fillet knife and learn how to properly fillet a completely boneless serving paying careful attention not to leave unexpected surprises for the table. Feel for bones with your finger tips and pluck out any left behind.
With proper fillet technique, you can serve completely boneless fish.

Another point is the "lateral line".
If you look at any fish, particularly after it has been skinned, you will see a clear line of dark meat running down each side as a stripe.
This is the "lateral line" of nerve tissue, the primary sensory organ used by fish to sense their environment.
It is surrounded by a thick mat of blood vessels and fatty tissues with high concentration of fishy oils.
In some species, like blue fish and mackerel, the lateral line is what yields that strong fishy taste that is extremely pronounced.
Always remove and trim away all of the lateral line and any dark tissue associated with this stripe. If you leave it there when cooking, the oils rapidly distribute to the remainder of the fillet giving it that strong fishy taste.
A proper fillet is all one color from one muscle.
Even if cooking a fish whole, take the time to trim the lateral line out with a sharp fillet knife first.

Stay away from small fish.
Unless you like fish enough to eat around the bones and scrape off every little bit of meat, make sure your fish is large enough to get a decent fillet, without bones, and the fillet is large enough to equal one serving.
A 5-6lb bass can yield enough for 4 servings with 4 decent size fillets.

Farm raised or fresh caught.
As much as I dislike bony little trout, one of the tastiest I ever had was a native 3lb brooky no more than ten minutes from water to the pan. It had the most unique wild flavor of any trout I ever ate.
Anyone who has trout fished can attest to the vastly different flavor of a native trout compared to a stocked trout.
That's because they have been raised on fish pellets that contain, among other things, anise oil which flavors the fish with an artificial taste and unpleasant taste.
While commercial farm raised fish can be decent, the taste will be nowhere near the same as a wild fish because, they are what they eat!
There is one commercial catfish farm that raises them on the leftovers from an adjacent shrimp farm. They actually have a shrimp flavor! Of course, they still don't compare to a wild river channel cat.
The same applies to commercial raised shellfish as well as they are also fed on fish pellets.

Fresh fish has little or no smell!
If you ever yanked a fish from the water and took it straight home to the pan, you know it had no fishy odor even as you cooked it.
Fishy odor comes from cell decomposition as the fish begins to rot.
If it smells fishy, it will taste fishy, and maybe not all that good. If you can smell it, pass on it!
Fresh fish flesh is firm, not mushy! If you press a finger into it and it feels mushy or soggy, again, pass it by.
Freezing is another thing that breaks down the meat.
Almost all commercial fish is frozen at some point in time.
Even fresh fish from the docks has been iced. The portion in contact with the ice will freeze while the remainder is chilled. You can spot this by pressing the flesh where you may find one side soggy and the other firm.
Flash freezing is good. Slow freezing is bad.
Fresh tuna steaks quickly frozen in a deep freezer at -30 will retain their original quality for over a year in the freezer. Slow freeze them in your kitchen fridge freezer and they may turn into a pile of mush when defrosted for cooking.

Easy on the spices
Fish rapidly absorbs other flavors, much more so than beef.
Unless you are going for the rip roaring flavor of blackened Cajun catfish, be more gentle with all your flavoring elements or they will overpower the dish.
A few drops of lemon will add subtle flavor where a soak in lemon marinade will yield a fish that tastes like a lemon!
Resist the temptation to "lay it on" as you would with meat dishes.
The same applies to any oil used for cooking. This is where extra extra virgin olive oil is worth the price for very light flavoring from the oil. Use heavy olive oil and that's what it will taste like!

Don't forget batter fried!
Most fish goes well in a deep fried batter where the batter is what has the flavoring and spices. Deep frying is done in a large amount of oil, at high heat, and quickly so as not to let the oil soak in and penetrate to the fish.
Deep fried and cornmeal battered Walleye fillets are delicious!

Have a glass of wine with it.
Choosing the right wine to compliment a particular fish can greatly enhance the flavor when eating it.
The general rule of whites with fish isn't always true and some reds or pinks can easily compliment the dish. You just have to know your wines and match tastes accordingly.

Fish stocks and sauces
Proper fillets mean a lot of leftover fish to be discarded.
Before chucking this out, consider rendering it down in a saute pan into a stock to make a sauce to pour over the fish or a little pasta.
Cook it down and simmer with a little water and wine plus spices for 20 minutes until you form a little base in the pan. Strain off, add butter, flour, and a little more wine and make a gravy.
The resulting sauce can be placed on the finished fillet, poured around the fillet on the plate, or spooned onto some pasta.
One of my favorites is lobster in pink sauce which is derived from boiling the shells down to a lobster stock.
That's a whole complete recipe I'll have to write down.

Beware the restaurant fish!
Stuffed flounder is one item usually found on the menu.
Unless you are in a seafood specialty restaurant, located near the docks at the shore, consider this:
The fish came from a commercial trawler.
It was iced and rode around on the sea for quite a while until the hold was full.
It came back to the docks where it went to a commercial processing house where it sat around until it was processed and frozen or shipped on ice.
The chef from the restaurant made his weekly trip to the fish market, brought it back and threw it in the walk in fridge where it sits around until used.
By the time it gets to your plate, it may be several weeks old! You have no way of knowing how long this fish has been dead and decaying or at what temperatures and what conditions. If you think about that, you won't order fish in a restaurant!

Even if you catch them yourself, proper handling is essential! Leaving a flounder to lay around the bottom of the boat for an hour in the sun will ruin it. Overstocking a poorly iced cooler can be just as bad. Make sure there is more than enough ice for the trip home on a hot summer day. Don't clean and fillet your fresh fish on a hot day in the broiling sun and leave it sit around for any time.
If the boat has a livewell, keep the fish alive and swimming until you arrive wherever you are going to clean it and do the deed while it is still kicking! Or, clean it as soon as it comes into the boat and quickly ice the fillets.
Pay close attention to this and you will get much better quality from your fresh caught fish!

[dbarrow]

Good cook

You know you can cook when:
You rarely eat out because you eat better at home.
When you do eat out, the family complains it’s not as good as what they eat at home.
When you taste the meal, you can tick off every ingredient in it to the letter.
When you taste the meal, you know you can make it better.
When you find yourself sending things back to the kitchen.
When you find the chef coming out to get in your face.

It would seem my daughter (at least she appreciates my cooking) has picked up my embarrassing habit of criticizing the food. She goes out on a date, to a fancy restaurant, and has the nerve to announce she eats better at home. Her poor date was ready to crawl under the table.

The last time I took the wife out, I found the food passable but not anything spectacular.
She was particularly pleased with her dish.
I sampled it and quickly broke it down in my mind with a retort of “It could use a little more of …” Nothing further mentioned.
A week later, she raises the challenge to replicate it. I did. Mine was better. She admitted it, along with the fact we didn’t need to drop a hundred bucks on something we just ate at home for ten. She is rarely eager to go out but quick to list a menu on the board for me to cook for dinner!

It can be the ruination of the “dining experience”. You become very hard pressed to find anything that meets your standards. The only reason you are going is for atmosphere and service which, if lacking in either regard, tends to turn into a most aggravating experience. After all, you are spending good money on something you are not pleased with.

I do have to relate the tale of one experience my wife will never let me live down. It ranks among the prime reasons she isn’t so keen on going out to eat.

We were in Brooklyn where she was participating in a body building competition (yes, she has a few trophies). I can’t stand these things and am employed merely as the chauffeur. As I won’t watch them, my job was to seek out a suitable restaurant for afterwards as with the strict diet before the competition, she would launch into a ravenous pig out once it was over. We had another couple with us.

I drove around and circled a five block radius from where we were. Going down a street not two blocks away, my nose caught the scent of food. It was a good smell and I quickly tracked it down to a little hole in the wall Italian restaurant so small you would never notice just looking. The nose never lies.

The show was over by early afternoon, well before the dinner hour. We made tracks for the restaurant. By now, I was hungry as well and she was ready to eat a horse, raw.
They had just opened the doors and there were, as of yet, no customers. The few staff were all Italian with heavy accents, probably family, and very nice. We scanned the menu and ordered.

I got an original “special of the day” with shrimp, scallops, fresh basil and tomatoes over pasta.
It was quite tasty but my mind just kept nagging that it needed a little more….
She was busy scarfing down everything in sight.

When the nice waiter came by to inquire how things were, I slipped.
It just fell out of my mouth, by accident. “Well, it could use a little more garlic and a different wine with a little more flour to thicken the sauce and…” I couldn’t help myself.
He quickly fled to the kitchen.

Moments later, I was confronted by a huge hairy Italian guy wearing an apron. With a scowl and broken English he challenged me with a “Watsa matta you” conversation obviously insulted that I dared to criticize his food. My tone was polite but I couldn’t stop myself from repeating my suggestions to him. With hand on hips, he scowled “You think you can cook it better?”
By now, my wife is doing her best to hide under the table and the other couple has suddenly found need of a bathroom trip as the entire staff has surrounded the table and I think they are fearing broken arms or something.

Not to be shy to accept a challenge, I stand up and whip off my jacket. “Where’s the kitchen?”
The wife is ready to faint or flee, I don’t know which.
Off to the kitchen we go….

The chef was kind enough to hand me an apron. Putting the chef’s hat on my head was his little joke for the rest of the family and a good chuckle all around.
It was a quick dish to make, only a few minutes at the stove.
Tasting it, I was confident of the result.
He had made sure to bring my plate back with him for comparison purposes.
The tasting began. The look on his face was blank. Without saying a word, the two plates passed among the rest of the staff. Heads nodded but there was an ominous silence as each one tasted in turn.

Finally, he throws his hand up and says “You win! Yours better than mine!” and everyone nods in agreement. “What elsa you make?”. The two of us spend the next hour throwing things together on the stove tasting and comparing as we go, piling up a whole tray loaded with an assortment of food. Then, everybody adjourns back to the tables. There are still no customers and we all end up eating like pigs.
Drinks, desserts, espresso, good conversation. It turned into a real party. The wife got over her mortification and went back to stuffing her face. The other couple was having a grand time once they found it safe to come out of the bathroom. It turned into a great dining experience. By the time the dinner crowd started to come in, we were all so full we couldn’t move and the staff was pie eyed from all the wine.

It was time to leave. I asked for the bill. The manager, papa, says “It’s on me!” with invitations to stop back anytime. Too bad we never got back to Brooklyn. They turned out to be really fun people!

Of course, whenever we go out now and a waiter asks…
The wife is real quick to shoot me the look and say “Don’t open your mouth!”

[kelly]

Doug - I envy you.

-td

[Vivienne]

Doug - I envy you.

-td

I envy his wife!!!

:-)

Vivienne

[dbarrow]

T-Day post script

Turkey was golden brown at a perfect 175 degrees.
Juice flowed from the breast when carved and the meat was tender enough to cut with a fork with a subtle hint of orange and rosemary from the brine.
Sausage stuffing was a hit as usual, so much so that we skipped the mashed potatoes and loaded up on it floating in the rich brown gravy.
String beans look funny purple but the burgundy gives them a unique taste.
The bottle of Chardonnay was an exceptional match even though I normally only pay that much for something that comes in gallon jugs.
Cranberry relish is much improved with the vodka in it.
The best part, despite the fact we demolished the bird with seconds and thirds, I have leftovers for tonight!

The really funny thing...
The turkey flock which I have not seen for the last week was strutting around the yard this morning.
I still have my eye on that one big Tom, Christmas is coming!

[dbarrow]

Care packages for England?
I'm sure we could UPS you some but keeping it hot would be difficult.

[mommalina]

The following may not be as great as turkey recipes
by Doug or Momma, but like the faux apple pie
using Ritz crackers, it may just hit the spot:

Thanksgiving Turkey New Recipe

Here is a turkey recipe that also includes the use of popcorn as a stuffing, imagine that.

When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.

10-12 lb. Turkey

1 cup melted butter

1 bag stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good.)

1 cup uncooked popcorn (ORVILLE REDENBACHER'S LOW FAT)

Salt/pepper to taste

· Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven.

· Listen for the popping sounds.

· When the turkey's ass blows the oven door open and the bird flies across the room, it's done!!!.

(…..And you thought I couldn't cook...)

Lina:)

[mommalina]

Pumpkin Pie Recipe Instructions....for our dyslexic friends

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=HY27482779

Seriously, do any of you dyslexics cook and like to cook?
Your perseverance and resulting computer expertise amaze
me. I would imagine some of you have found a way to
cook without recipes and have a "white" thumb. My mother
could barely read and never used a cookbook.

Lina

[dbarrow]

HAM YELLOW and RED

What to do with that leftover ham?
You bought your gigantic ham and cooked it up for a fine ham dinner.
Now you have the proverbial leftovers stuffed in the fridge.

Aside from ham sandwiches, and I do love my ham sandwiches, you are getting to down to ham and eggs, bean soup and a few of the other old ham standby recipes.
Well, here’s something different that I doubt anyone else ever tired!
Ham as a main dish over linguini or other pasta!
Surprisingly, ham is a very potent flavor that goes extremely well over pasta.

Ham yellow is a butter sauce.
Ham red is a marinara sauce.

We’ll start here with what is on the plate for tonight, ham yellow.

½ to 2 cups chopped ham. This is coarse chopped pieces about 1/2x1/2” or bite size
1 tsp chicken soup base
2 large onions, diced
12 olives, Spanish or black
1 cup chopped spinach (frozen)
1 cup Chablis
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp red pepper
2 tbl garlic, minced
2 tbl flour
3 oz olive oil
¾ stick butter
¼ tsp sage
½ tsp thyme
2 tbl Pesto

Chop and dice ham and onions
In 12” sauté pan, add oil and evenly coat bottom and heat on high
Add butter and melt
Add onion and reduce to clarified
Add spices
Add soup base, pesto, wine, olives
Mix in flour (to thicken sauce) Add water if necessary to thin or increase volume
Add ham, garlic, spinach

Stir on high until it starts to thicken.
When it reaches desired thickness, reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes to bring out flavors.
The sauce should be just thick enough to cling to the pasta.

Modifications:
You can add more or less olives to taste. Black olives add a unique flavor and you can go up to a cup or more.
Diced tomatoes, 6 oz can adds another different flavor.
Alternate veggies, you can add frozen sliced zucchini, eggplant, or anything else that fits your fancy! Canned Capers are a very unique flavor addition!
Pearl onions can add a splash.

Serve over a bed of linguini or pasta of your choice. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.

HAM RED

Same as above except add
16oz diced tomato
½ to one jar Classico tomato sauce, I like peppers and onions
1 cup sliced green pepper
Increase red pepper to 1-2 tsp as well as double black pepper. This should have considerable ZIP bordering on flaming hot!
Mushrooms are always good.
Top with 4 cheeses, sharp, Romano, Parmesan, Provelone


Leftover ham need not be boring!
These are really tasty alternatives to the point we specifically reserve enough leftover ham to make this down the road after any other ham dinner.
Either one takes only 30 minutes to prepare and is a quick and easy way to stretch a small amount of ham into dinner for four. Different and unique, you will find it a zesty and delicious alternative to the ham sandwich.
These are bold, spicy, very flavor rich dishes that are quick and easy to prepare.
They make a great and quick alternative meal when figuring out what to do with leftovers!

Daughter insists that this is the PRIMARY dish for ham and prefers it to any other ham dinner!
Wife likes it enough to make sure all the necessary ingredients are there when she gets a ham.
This could well become your favorite as well!

[kelly]

YES - love it - keep 'em coming
-td

[dbarrow]

Begs the question... do we need a forum or just continue the thread?

Glad to be of service!

[dbarrow]

Cooking

Ok gang, I don’t want to brag or anything but eating well is an important part of life.
Only a limited number of people can really cook... I mean really good food that is ranked somewhere up there with sex as one of those things that make the value of life.
Rather eat well than have sex… A good meal is orgasmic…

I am among the fortunate who learned who learned how to cook. I value that as one of the best learning experiences of life. Good cooking is not only satisfying, it prolongs life with a healthy diet. Healthy food need not necessarily be bad for you. The Mediterranean diet has been proven to be among the most healthy with less incidence of heart disease and other ailments.
Olive oil, wine, garlic and other spices that go in that diet have been proven to be key to long life. Besides, who cares? It tastes better than anything else! Cooking good not only means healthy eating, you will lose weight in the process! Cut your fat intake and eat healthy and well and you will enjoy your food much more. Learn how to stretch a limited quantity of anything into a gourmet meal for several servings and still serve something that tastes terrific! A good Sicilian momma can turn two tomatoes into a meal for 4 people!

I don’t particularly care if it extends my lifespan. I would rather die sooner than give up my food! Enjoy what you can while you can! Life is short. Eat well! I enjoy good food! I intend to eat well until I die! When I can’t eat it anymore, time for the silver bullet! I often chide them that they better learn while they can! The old chef may not be around forever.

I have an objective in posting recipes.
I have to write these things down for the family as none of them have acquired many of the basics necessary to master the stove. When I am dead and gone, they may be sadly deprived!
Too bad for them they have grown accustomed to gourmet meals.

Good cooking is mastery of spices, wines, basic gravies. Once you accomplish that, everything else is just a variation on a theme. Learn how to taste. It is as important as learning how to see and hear. Let your tongue be the guide! The only way to learn is to taste and learn the various tastes. Master the simple basics and everything else is easy. Variation on a theme is nothing once you have a basic mastered. No need to pay for these things by eating out when you can do them yourself and better at home!

Good cooking is neither time nor labor intensive!
You can easily learn to whip up a meal for 4-6 people in 30 minutes or less.
Restaurant cooking on the sauté line is predicated on churning out several dishes per table in less than 15 minutes! You can do the same at home in the same amount of time and make your family meals a restaurant experience. Pick up on that and you can whip up a great meal in minutes when you have to.

Master the basic steps and shop accordingly, and you will quickly learn all you need to know to whip together a gourmet meal in minutes! Once you have learned basic tastes, you will rapidly expand your ability to various dishes you won’t even remember how to make again!
If anything, my memory of a memorable dinner is often blurred as I just create it by what I have available at the moment and often fail to write it down for another time. Maintain