Food Porn: Bing Cherries from Frog Hollow Farm

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
FrogHollowBingCherries

Bing is King… from Frog Hollow Farm

These organic beauties showed up Friday night and were promptly devoured. Each one perfectly sweet and as big as your head (assuming you’re a woodcock that is). Get your own Bing Cherries here.

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Recipe: Caesar Salad

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
CaesarSalad

Caesar Salad

You really can’t make an authentic Caesar Salad without breaking (raw) eggs. Use a sous vide setup to heat through to 140 degrees if you have any health concerns. 8 side salad servings.

Ingredients:
2 heads romaine, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
3 salted anchovy fillets (the kind that come packed in oil in a can or jar)*
1/2 t Kosher salt
1/4 t ground pepper
1/4 t powdered dry mustard
1 large egg, raw or coddled, approx. 1/4 c
1/4 c grated parmesan plus a couple spoonfuls for finishing
1/4 c good olive oil
2 T fresh lemon juice
Garlic croutons

Method: mash the anchovies in the bottom of a wooden salad bowl that has been rubbed with garlic. (If using a glass or metal bowl, add a bit of chopped garlic.) Add the egg and beat with a fork. Add other dressing ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined; taste and add a bit more oil or lemon juice as required. Mix thoroughly with romaine. Add 1/2 c garlic croutons and sprinkle on some more parm before serving.

*If you hate anchovies or don’t have any, substitute a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce.

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Food for Thought: Very Good Recipes

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers

Very Good Recipes is an aggregator that gathers recipes from food blogs all over the world. The international focus is what makes it great… an example being the okra recipes. (Burnt My Fingers is on page 2.)

To quote the proprietor, Stephane Gigandet, “There’s nothing as bland as a huge database of recipes without soul and personality: it’s missing salt and spices! On Very Good Recipes, all the listed recipes are original recipes imagined and cooked by passionate bloggers, photographed like top models, written with passion and humor, and proudly shared online.” Check it out.

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Recipe: Garlic Croutons

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
GarlicCroutonsInBag

Sack o’ Garlic Croutons

I learned this technique for garlic croutons from Jacques Pepin. It’s a lot more efficient than browning croutons in a skillet and uses less oil too. Makes 4 cups, enough for about 6-9 bowls of Caesar or other salad.

Ingredients:
A loaf or two of day old levain-style bread* (4 c when cut into croutons)
1/2 c good olive oil
half a dozen garlic cloves (1/4 c when chopped)
Salt**
Parmesan cheese, grated**

Method: The night before prep, chop the garlic very fine and macerate in the olive oil in a large bowl. (If you’re short on time, heat the oil to 200 degrees F or so and steep the garlic for a couple of hours; make sure the oil doesn’t get so hot it cooks the garlic.) Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Slice the bread then cut it into cubes no larger than 3/4 inch square. Dump the cubes into the oil and mix with your hands until all cubes are evenly coated; be gentle so the cubes don’t break into crumbs. Transfer cubes to a half-sheet pan and spread out in a single layer. Bake 40 minutes or so, until the croutons are well toasted and dry but not so hard they break your teeth.

*My Tartine-style Kettle Bread is a good choice as is most any sturdy loaf made with white flour. It’s ok to throw in a few rye or whole wheat squares as well.
**Optional; taste before adding salt.

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Food for Thought: Ridiculous Food Society

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers

Mr. Dave of Ridiculous Food Society is a native upstate New Yorker who admires my benighted region for some of the same things that drive me up the wall. He has a mysterious job that causes him to spend time in remote towns where he turns up strange local customs and foodstuffs. (My hunch is that he’s a land man for the oil & gas industry.)

On his website you can revel in Mr. Dave’s home made charcuterie, his love of “piss beer”, and his ongoing delight (which I share) in the local Stewart’s convenience store chain. Check it out.

UPDATE: Note that the actual links have been removed due to Mr. Dave’s quirky habit of repeatedly taking down his website and then putting it up on a different URL. Just do a search to find out where he’s hunkering down at present.

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Food for Thought: Market Manila

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers

Let’s try something new. From time to time, I’ll share a link and a bit of info about a food blog that I read and recommend. We will mostly stay off the beaten track… don’t hold your breath, Rachael Ray.

We’ll start with Market Manila, written by a semi-retired management consultant who gets “most annoyed by people who lack logic and reason… but second on my list of irritants is the need to go to a dozen or so stores, markets, groceries, etc. all over Manila just to pull off a reasonably interesting dinner.” My kind of guy.

Market Manila is written as a guide to food shoppers on the ground in Manila, but there are plenty of recipes and food preparation tips you can enjoy from afar. Check it out!

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Are coddled eggs safe to eat?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers

Next week I’m going to share my Caesar salad recipe, but I thought I better put out an advance health advisory: it has raw egg in it. Well, not absolutely raw but as close I can get while observing minimal food safety standards: heated through to 140 degrees in a sous vide bath, at which point the white is developing the slightest milky-ness but is still entirely liquid and capable of being emulsified with other ingredients. Almost but not quite coddled, in other words.

Is this safe? There is a lot of contradictory information on the web, some of it within the USDA itself. Have you ever wonder why they advise you to cook some foods to an internal temperature of 145 degrees and others to 160? Which is it? You’re trying to kill salmonella and either you do it or you don’t.

The bottom line (and this is a consensus of my casual research, not an actual fact) seems to be that salmonella dies at about 136 degrees and eggs don’t start to change their composition significantly till around 142 degrees. So if you thoroughly heat your egg to 140 degrees throughout, you should be golden, right?

SousVideEgg

Here’s what an egg looks like after sous vide… still plenty soft for beating.

I used to “coddle” my eggs in order to coddle my nervous eaters: I’d briefly dip an egg into boiling water, then into ice water, then crack it into the bowl where I planned to prepare the salad. This definitely has a food safety benefit because it kills any bad stuff on the shell, but I’m sure the yolk doesn’t change at all. Now that I’ve got my SideKIC sous vide cooker I can heat it to 140 all the way through and, in an imperfect world, that’s about as good as it gets.

(If you’re curious about the changes an egg goes through as it cooks, here is a fabulous demonstration in pictures.)

If you eat raw sushi, you’re already rolling the dice on food safety. For me, the egg in a Caesar salad is equally fundamental to my quality of life. And I think the best way to be sure your eggs are safe (beyond the 140 degree bath) is to buy them right from the farmer who has to look customers in the eye every day. The eggs are likely to taste a lot better, too.

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Recipe: Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
ButtermilkBluecheeseDressing

Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing atop The Wedge

After experimenting with a number of blends, this buttermilk blue cheese dressing had me lapping my plate like a hungry kitten. Sturdy enough to hold its own as a salad dressing, dipping sauce, or fried wing accompaniment. Makes about 1 1/2 c.

Ingredients:
1/4-1/2 c whole buttermilk (see NOTE)*
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c salad oil
1/2 c crumbled blue cheese**
1 large garlic clove
2 anchovy fillets (the salted, canned variety)***
1 T red wine vinegar
1/2 t Kosher salt
1/4 t pepper

Method: Reserve 1/4 c blue cheese and blend everything else until smooth. Add blue cheese crumbles and refrigerate at least 2 hours, and preferably overnight, before using.

*I usually make this with the wonderful whole milk buttermilk from Argyle Cheese Farmer in Washington County, New York. The first time I had to substitute store-bought buttermilk, it was too thin. So, I recommend you start with 1/4 cup of whatever buttermilk you are using then add more as needed to get it to a dippable consistency.
**You don’t have to use high quality cheese, but it does need to be dry vs. vs creamy.
***If you don’t have anchovies, substitute a couple good squirts of Worchestershire sauce. But anchovies are better.

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Recipe: Wilted Lettuce Salad (Kopfsalat)

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
Wilted Lettuce Salad

Wilted Lettuce Salad

How come nobody makes wilted lettuce salad any more? It’s great stuff. This is another classic recipe from Chicago Culinary Institute, updated for modern tastes (I’ve reduced the sugar). Serves 8.

Ingredients:
1 medium head iceberg lettuce*
¼ c cider vinegar
¼ c salad oil (not olive oil)
1 ½ T sugar
3/4 t Kosher salt
1/8 t ground pepper
1 hardboiled egg, peeled and sliced or chopped

Method: remove core and outer leaves from lettuce and coarsely chop or shred. Wash if necessary then chill thoroughly. Just before serving, combine the dressing ingredients in a small skillet and heat to boiling. Pour over lettuce, toss to combine, garnish with egg and serve immediately.

*If you refuse to use iceberg, romaine is a passable substitute. Do NOT use micro greens, baby greens, mesclun etc as these would not stand up to the hot dressing.

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Recipe: German Potato Salad (Warmer Kartoffelsalat)

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Burnt My Fingers
German Potato Salad

German Potato Salad

The Culinary Institute of Chicago published the original version of this potato salad recipe in a book called “New World Encyclopedia of Cooking” in 1972, as well as a pamphlet of German standbys. I’ve modified it slightly for modern tastes. 8-10 servings.

Ingredients:
3 lbs potatoes, preferably Yukon gold or another variety that won’t fall apart when boiled
1 ½ c onions, chopped
2 T bacon grease
2 T olive oil
½ c cider vinegar
2 T sugar
2 t salt
¾ t MSG (optional)*
¼ t ground black pepper
½ c celery with leaves or parsley, finally chopped*
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Method: Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water until they are just tender, about 20 minutes; drain and return to the warm pot, where they will absorb any remaining liquid. Saute the onions in the oils till translucent then add all other ingredients except celery or parsley. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle but still warm, slice them coarsely back into their cooking pot. Add the celery/parsley, mix, then add the onions and liquid and stir to mix thoroughly. Allow to rest at least 1 hour so potatoes can absorb the sauce. Crumble the bacon over the top before serving, preferably warm or at room temperature.

*I tried the recipe with and without the MSG and it definitely adds a flavor dimension, but the dish is fine without it. The greenery is non-traditional but I wanted to relieve the monochrome nature of the dish.

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