Chasing Khachapuri

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Failed Khachapuri

Failed khachapuri made with NYTimes directions and Adjarian style

Did you know that the Soviet Union once shut off electricity to what is now Georgia, plunging the region into stone age darkness for 14 years? Or that the country’s current leader is an oligarch who has built an enormous modern palace on a hill overlooking the capital city of Tblisi? Both these factoids were provided to me by my Georgian hostess at a B&B where I stayed awhile back, but oddly I can find no reference to either on the internet.

Her khachapuri, though, were very real. She stuffed these rounds of dough with sulugumi cheese and slapped them on the sides of her barrel-shaped Georgian clay oven; when done, they fall to the base of the oven and she scoops them up with a special tool. Served with Georgian honey, they were a decadent treat and I resolved to make them one day for myself.

Today, however, was not the day. There are lots of recipes for khachapuri dough but I decided to play it safe and use Maria Burros’ from the New York Times. I knew I was trouble in the kneading process. The dough in the Kitchenaid mixer was oddly rubbery and refused to show the stretchiness of good gluten development, even when I added extra liquid and hand kneaded after. I used a mixture of 1 part feta to 3 parts mozzarella/provolone mix and followed a strange instruction to fold the dough in on the cheese then pleat it to create a knob on top. The result was crusty and unpleasant and not cheesy enough. Next time I’ll stuff individual rolls following the technique for pupusas and bake them at a considerably lower temperature than Burros’ 375 degrees.

I also tried making Adjarian khachapuri, the better known form of the bread in which the dough is formed into a boat with the cheese in its open middle and an egg broken into it at the last minute. Tearing the bread apart and using it to scoop out the melted cheese and egg must be a sensuous experience—I was inspired to do this baking experiment by a Facebook post from my friend Melanie about her own encounter with a cheesy boat—but not with my sorry dough. Also, the sides of my boat weren’t high enough and I overcooked my egg (and I used just the yolk, whereas I would add an entire raw egg next time).

So, failure, but we can learn from it. I am annoyed by food blogs which take the stance that the blogger is an expert and never makes a mistake, and their technique for boiling water or peeling a tomato is the only way to do it. I will get back on the horse, but not right away. Meanwhile, the dog is enjoying my scraps.

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Recipe: Election Bread (we need it more than ever)

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Election Bread

This Election Bread was baked in a bundt pan and served unadorned. You could also add a sugar glaze or powdered sugar or a squirt of whipped cream.

In the Atlas Obscura article that inspired my Bone Bread recipe, I learned Marie Antoinette never said “let them eat cake”. More likely she said “let them eat brioche” which is a more reasonable suggestion. But there’s no evidence she ever actually uttered what was a catchphrase of 18th century aristocrats. She paid dearly for being part of a stereotype that lumped people together instead of treating them as individuals.

Which brings us to Election 2018, and a reprise of Election Cake which, because of its savory nature, might be better titled Election Bread. It’s hard to imagine today that on November 1, 2016 when this recipe was published Hillary Clinton was all but anointed as the first female President of the USA and the idea of Russian trolls influencing our election would have been a bizarre theory. But this historical recipe, with all its own noble baggage, was as good then as it is now.

If you’re a devotee of Election Bread like me, you’ve already got your preferment going. If not, use the yeast rising method below. Make it tonight, then offer to your neighbors tomorrow, November 6, which is Election Day. It can be a reward for voting, or a bribe to let you drive them to the polls. Remember, the most important thing whatever your political leanings is to vote, and please be civil. Makes 1 bundt mold or 8″ or 10″ round. This recipe is adapted from the home bakers version of the recipe from OWL Bakery.

Tonight:
1 c warm milk
1/2 t instant yeast
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c dried or 1 c fresh fruits (optional)

Method: dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and stir in flour. If you are using dried fruits, chop fine and soak overnight in liquor or water. The preferment is ready in 8-12 hours when it becomes bubbly.

Election Day:
1/2 c unsalted butter
1/3 cup unrefined sugar
1 egg
2 T whole-milk yoghurt
2 T honey or sorghum syrup
Last night’s preferment

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 t grond cinnamon
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground cardamon
Pinch ground black pepper
1 t salt
Last night’s rehydrated or fresh fruit (optional)

Method: using paddle attachment in stand mixer, cream butter then add sugar, mixing until very light and fluffy. Mix in the egg on medium speed, then the the sorghum/honey and yogurt.

Exchange the paddle with a dough hook. Add the preferment and mix until just incorporated. Combine all of the dry ingredients before adding them to liquid ingredients and mix until just incorporated, being careful not to over-mix. Gently fold in the rehydrated fruit. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan or cake round.

Proof 2-4 hours, covered, until cake has risen by about 1/3 of its volume. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting and eating.

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Recipe: Leftover Halloween Candy Snack Mix

Posted on November 1, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Christina Tosi Snack Mix

Leftover Halloween Candy Snack Mix uses up those mini-Snickers (my favorite), Milky Ways, Butterfingers etc

What to do with your leftover Halloween mini-candies? Turn them into Leftover Halloween Candy Snack Mix! This is a modification of an original recipe we referenced awhile back from Momofuku Milk Bar maven Christina Tosi. Makes 4 cups.

Ingredients:
2 c pretzels, broken into 1-inch or smaller pieces
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T sugar
1/3 c dry milk powder
6 T melted butter
2 c leftover chocolate Halloween mini-candies, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

Method: mix all ingredients except candy and spread out on a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper. Heat in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes or until toasty and fragrant. Cool to room temperature or a little warmer and mix in mini-candies. Eat and enjoy your Leftover Halloween Candy Snack Mix.

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Special Recipe: Bone Bread

Posted on October 31, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Secret Ingredient Bread

Can you guess the secret ingredient?

16th Century Parisians ate a LOT of bread… as much as 2.5 pounds per person per day, according to this academic source. So imagine their consternation when Henri VII of Navarre blockaded the city, creating widespread starvation. The solution, reports Atlas Obscura, was to disinter dead people and grind their bones into flour to bake into bread.

Unfortunately, the bones had very little nutritional value. The article quotes medical historian Gabriel Venel: ““The idea of reducing human bones to powder […] could only come from a mind essentially ignorant and overcome by hunger and by despair. Bones are not floury, and when they are spent by a long stay in humid soil, they contain no nourishing element.” Eyewitness Enrico Davillia called the bread “vile and macabre,” an “abominable food so contagious that, the substance having come from the dead, it so increased by many the number.”

At Burnt My Fingers, we can do better at making a flavorsome and nutritious Bone Bread. The key is to approach the project similar to Stone Soup, in which the stone is removed before serving and has no effect on taste or wholesomeness. Makes one 1 1/2 lb sandwich loaf or batard.

Ingredients:
1 package (1/4 ounce) OR 1 1/2 t active dry yeast
2-1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1 small beef bone or 2 chicken drumstick bones, boiled clean
1 T honey
2 T butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
4 c King Arthur All-Purpose Flour

Method: dissolve the yeast and honey in warm milk, then add bone(s). Proof a few minutes until yeast begins to foam slightly. Remove and discard bone. Add melted butter, then pour this liquid mixture into a bowl containing the flour and salt. Mix thoroughly with a spoon, then knead 8 minutes or until the dough develops resilience and will not tear apart quickly when you pull the edges to create a “gluten window”.

Allow to rise in covered bowl until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours in a warm room. Punch down the bread, then into loaves or transfer to a bread pan and rise 1 hour, covered. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes, or until bread develops a light crust and reaches an internal temperature of 206 degrees. Trick or treat!

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Recipe: Smashed Salt Potatoes

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Salt Smashed Potatoes

Smashed Salt Potatoes

Salt potatoes are a thing in upstate New York. Stores sell a bag of white potatoes which includes a sack of salt, and charge more than the items would cost separately. Michele, our hostess at Orchard Slope airbnb in Amherst MA, had a much better idea: Smashed Salt Potatoes. She boils small new potatoes with herbs and salt, then smashes the tops and sautées before serving. 1 lb serves 4-6; just multiply the quantities if you want to make more.

Ingredients:
1 lb small red potatoes or white potatoes, uniform in size
1/3 c Kosher salt
3 bay leaves
Half a dozen peppercorns
3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 t dried thyme
2 unpeeled garlic cloves (optional)

Salt Smashed Potato Breakfast

Serving suggestion for Smashed Salt Potatoes

Method: dissolve salt in a good amount of water, sufficient to cover the potatoes. Add herbs and potatoes and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Drain and remove herbs.

At serving time, lightly smash each potato with the side of a chef’s knife blade so the skin is broken but they are not falling apart. Sauté in butter, olive oil, bacon fat or a combination until crispy, turning to coat both sides. Serve for breakfast in place of hash browns, or as a side with meat dishes.

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Recipe: Sichuan Pickled Vegetables

Posted on October 25, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Sichuan Pickles

Sichuan Pickles in proofing jar (not really necessary; because the fermentation is slight you can use a regular lid but don’t tighten all the way).

Here is a taste of the treats which await in Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty. My only modification was to use wine instead of vodka, since I feared too much alcohol might slow the fermentation. (It got just a little fizz, less than salt-cured pickles.) She recommends serving as a side dish with chili oil and sugar; I’ve found the pickles are fine on their own and are excellent when stirred into a mild dish like jook. Makes 1 quart.

Ingredients:
2 ¼ c water
½ c Kosher salt
4 dried chilis (Sichuan chilis are relatively mild; reduce the quantity if using stronger chilis)
½ t whole Sichuan peppercorn
2 T Xiao Xing wine or dry sherry
½ of a star anise
1 T brown sugar
1 inch knob of ginger, no need to peel
1 cinnamon stick
¾ lb daikon (white radish)*
½ lb carrots*

Method: dissolve salt in water and bring to boil. Cool, then add other brine ingredients and transfer to a quart canning jar. Peel the vegetables and cut into ¾ inch chunks; add to canning jar and add more water if necessary to fill within ½ inch of top. Cover loosely and cure in a cool dark place for one week or longer, until the brine develops a slight fizz. Use as a condiment with Sichuan dishes and add more vegetables to the brine after you finish the first batch; it will get better with age.

*Use other root vegetables like turnips, parsnips, rutabagas etc if you like.

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Food for Thought: Land of Plenty

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers


Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop has just come back into stock at Amazon after being unavailable for several months and costing as much as $100 on the used market. This is fantastic news and I recommend you grab a copy while you can.

Fuchsia Dunlop is an English journalist who studied Sichuan cooking at a full-time school for professional chefs in Chengdu. She has roamed the back alleys and countryside collecting authentic recipes and translating them into directions for home cooks. Many of these are from shuttered restaurants or legacy methods that are no longer practiced, so you may get a better introduction to Sichuan cooking by preparing dishes from this book than by actually visiting Sichuan province. (The exception being a food tour which Dunlop herself conducts, a couple of times a year.)

I have never been to China, sadly, but I can say the explosive seasonings and complex tastes mirror the very best dishes I’ve found at well-regarded Sichuan restaurants in the U.S. Be aware you will definitely need to expand your Asian food pantry to make these dishes. Most items should be available at a good Asian supermarket, but I would also recommend you take extra care in purchasing two key ingredients: doubanjiang sauce and Sichuan peppercorns. There is a range of quality levels and you want the best. I purchased mine from Amazon, which is where those links will take you.

Published in 2003, Land of Plenty is long on clear descriptions and well-written text but short on photos. There are several blocks of photo pages within the book but they are not up to today’s food porn standards. Get over it. Land of Plenty belongs in your cookbook collection and now that it is available again you should run, not walk, to the order button to get your copy. Check it out.

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The travails and triumphs of a Thermador Professional range owner

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Thermador Professional

Old Thermy, our vintage Thermador Professional range

UPDATE: a little more than two years after this post was written, our Thermador went to the big kitchen in the sky. See this post to meet the replacement.

A couple of years ago we moved into a house with a Thermador Professional 48” range already in place. It has two ovens, 4 burners, a grill and a griddle. The larger oven is big enough to accommodate a sheet pan; the smaller has a proofing function, which I appreciate as a bread baker. A similar range is currently being marketed by Thermador but ours is one of the very first in the series, built around 1990. The model number is GCR484GG.

Thermador Professional Griddle

Burner grate, grill and griddle are built to last

We’ve had two “semi-pro” ranges in our last two houses, a Dacor and an NGX. The immediate thing you notice that’s different about the Thermador vs these competitors is that its burners and stovetop grates are made of really heavy cast iron, like commercial stoves. The tiny holes in the burners can get clogged and you clean them out with a paper clip-like tool, but the burners themselves seem indestructible. And they’re super hot, each putting out 15,000 BTUs. You can ruin a saucepan really quickly if you don’t pay attention.

We use the grill and griddle quite a lot and have learned to adjust for their eccentricities. The heat source is obviously two converted round gas elements so there are hot spots in the middle and they cool off toward the edges. But the thick steel on the griddle and the well-designed fake charcoal surface under the heavy grill make this less of a problem than it might be. These two surfaces also come in handy when we’re cooking on the burners because we can offload a pot (without spilling, please) to a heat-safe holding area.

What we don’t love about this range is the electronics. With an old-school restaurant stove, you light the pilot each day with a scrap of paper; consumers wouldn’t stand for that plus it would probably be illegal for home use (as are a number of other features on a commercial stove, which is why you can’t just buy a used stove from a restaurant supply and bring it home). Our range has piezo electric clickers like most home ranges but they seem pretty reliable. (And there are always matches to fall back on.) But our broiler in the big oven doesn’t work, which means the self-cleaning function doesn’t work.

The sellers of our house thought the problem was the latch on the door, the thing that locks it shut when self-cleaning begins. I found a replacement switch on eBay and installed it myself, but the switch itself was $270 and it didn’t fix the problem. Our excellent tech from Best Appliance came out and said the broiler element was bad. I found a replacement broiler element for $100 and he installed that, but we still can’t use the broiler because now it turns out the thermostat is bad. A used thermos for this model on eBay can be as much as $600 (if you can find it, which I haven’t so far). My tech is advising that these stoves have a life expectancy of 15 years and we are pushing twice that, so should be looking to replace it.

Thermador Professional Manual

We still have the original manual, copyright 1990

Replace? A new Thermador range (or a BlueStar, the other brand I’d consider) with the same features costs $12,000. I’m also tempted by Thor, a Chinese brand that gets great reviews on Amazon and costs a fraction of this price (now maybe a lot more, with tariffs). I would never buy another Thermador based on the terrible customer service reviews they get plus the fact they discontinue their spare parts after about 8 years. That’s why I am scrambling for used parts from salvaged stoves instead of simply ordering from the manufacturer as you’d expect.

But in the meantime, I’m grateful for the parts of Old Thermy that do work and keeping fingers crossed they’ll last a little longer.

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How do I know when my steak is done?

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
How do I know when my steak is done

Jean O’Toole of the New York Beef Council shows how to grill a perfect steak, with assistance from Community Ambassador Daniel B of Yelp.

The other day I had a tour of Trowbridge Farm, a cow-calf operation in the Hudson Valley, courtesy of Yelp and the New York Beef Council. At the end of the tour Beef Council President Jean O’Toole gave us a steak grilling lesson. Answering the eternal question, how do I know when my steak is done? she produced a meat thermometer! And jammed that bad boy into the New York strip sideways from the edge to get a good center reading.

I know what you are thinking: if I tried that stunt at my own cookout, I’d have my grill chef’s license taken away. But it does give you an accurate measure, as long as you’re careful to stick the probe in the center of the meat and away from any bone.

However, knowing the steak’s current temperature does not necessarily translate into knowing its degree of doneness. You’ll find a variety of different temperature recommendations if you google how do I know when my steak is done, including two different sets on the canonical Beef What’s for Dinner site.

The temperature chart I like best is from Certified Angus Beef: 125 degrees Fahrenheit for rare, 135 medium rare, 145 medium, 150 medium well, 160 well; these are finished temps so remove from heat when 5 degrees below desired serving temp (10 degrees if it’s a really thick steak) and let it rest 5 minutes or more.

You could also use the fingertip feel method: touch your index finger to your thumb, use the index finger of the other hand to gauge the firmness of the muscle on the outside edge of your palm that joins the two digits, then compare it to the surface of your steak on the grill. If they feel the same, that steak is rare. Move the thumb to the middle finger for medium rare, ring finger for medium, little finger for well-done. This sort of works but it’s subjective, and I will contend that different hands feel different: a cowpoke’s callused mitt is going to be inherently firmer than that of a callow teenage dishwasher.

Or you could test your steak for doneness like we do at Burnt My Fingers. Start by searing one side of the steak to a nice crust, moving it once if you want an attractive cross hatched grill mark. This will take perhaps 3 minutes on a good hot grill (or a hot cast iron pan). Now, flip it over. Poke that seared surface and you will find it hard and crisp on the outside but the flesh beneath is soft and yielding with very little resistance.

Cook for 2 more minutes and press again. The steak should now push back at you a bit. When you feel that resistance, TAKE IT OFF THE GRILL and you will have a beautiful rare to medium rare steak after resting. I would never cook my steak past this point but if you want medium give it another minute; the interior will feel quite firm and solid. And well-done? There is really no way to please the well-done diner* who, I think, really wants meat that doesn’t look like meat. It will still be edible, vs shoe leather, if you leave it on a further minute or two but immediately take it off if the surface starts to lose its moisture.

Is this method perfect? No, but there can be no such thing as perfection when degrees of doneness are subjective even on official industry websites. The best thing about our method is that you are unlikely to end up with an overdone steak; if it is too rare the worst that can happen is you’ll have to throw it back on the grill for a little longer.

*One of the longest shifts I ever worked as a grill cook was a New Years day, when I got multiple orders for well-done steaks. The steaks kept coming back as not done enough, and I’d grill them some more until finally the diner sent the steak back as inedible. One wonders why people so hung over they could not stand the sight of red meat would come to a steak and prime rib place to begin with.

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Apples as condiment: the crunchy chameleon

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Burnt My Fingers
Apple Beef Sandwich

Apples as condiment along with blue cheese, fennel and caramelized onion

The other day I had one of the best sandwiches of my life at a place called Big Mountain Deli in Lake Placid, New York. Called the MARCY, it mixed roast turkey, cranberry horseradish sauce, cheddar, apple & cracked pepper mayo. Actually that was my son’s sandwich which I finished when he didn’t. My sandwich was the GOTHICS combining roast beef, caramelized onion, blue cheese & horseradish mayo. These are two of 46 varieties on offer, in honor of the Adirondack high peaks, and you can also make your own combinations.

There were several factors that made these sandwiches fabulous: a great house made roll. A sharp funky cheese. Lubrication from the flavored mayo. Perfectly matched condiments. And an ample portion of quality meat.

I resolved to do a mashup when I got home and ended up with what you see above. I cut one of my baguettes lengthwise down the middle and spread each half with a mixture of mayo, horseradish and crumbled blue cheese. I grilled off some tri-tip which had been marinated in fish sauce, red wine, olive oil, pepper and Persian spices and sliced it thin. I added thin sliced apples and onion which I’d caramelized along with some fennel. It’s not as pretty as Big Mountain but was awful good and will get better as I improve my technique.

What I want to talk about, though, is those apples. Apple slices make a great condiment on a sandwich, it turns out, adding crunch like crisp lettuce plus a sweetness to balance the other ingredients. I have lots of apples from the trees in our yard and am going to add apple-dressed sandwiches to my regular rotation.

Apple season is big business in upstate New York where I live. We go touring for tastes of apple cider donuts and u-pick apple orchards. There are hay rides and corn mazes celebrating what used to be the first cold, crisp days and are now some of the last warm (or warmish) days before winter sets in. Then we end up with a lot of apples that have to be eaten. Using apples as condiment is a good way to do it.

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