I thought I was a terrible baker for over 15 years. Everything I made got too brown. It didn't look like the nice stuff they sold at the bakery. Even when I followed the recipe to the letter, measuring everything like a nervous little actuary, my creations still failed to live up to my expectations.
At some point in my cooking life, I found I was going to need a significant number of sheet pans (aka cookie sheets) for a job, so I bought some. I almost hesitated to break them in...they had such a perfect, pretty silvery sheen, it was going to be a shame when they got black bottoms and dark corners where the scrubbing pad never quite fits. But I really needed to put every pan I owned into production, so I did break those pretty new sheet pans in. And as I used the new sheet pans along with the old ones, I noticed the food on the new pans cooked more slowly and more evenly.
And then, the lightbulb went off: dark colors absorb and radiate heat.
Oh, yeah! That's why it hurts the soles of your feet to walk barefoot on asphalt but not on white sand. That's why summer clothing is often white or pastel in hues rather than more dark, saturated shades. And that's why my ancient, no-longer-scrubbable pans were ruining my pastries.
I have kept those new sheet pans shining like newly-minted dimes because they have now made bakery recipes a no-brainer for me. I have not retired the old, dark sheet pans because I actually like how they hasten the caramelization of certain foods. But the important thing is now I understand why. I understand how each pan behaves, how it conducts heat, the situations in which it is the appropriate tool for the job.
Nobody ever told me (I still wish I had gone to culinary school when I toyed with the idea in my nineteenth year), I just eventually figured it out.
That's what I love about cooking. It's science, but it's not impossible science only for pedantic types with beakers and test tubes. If you just keep cooking long enough, and pay attention, you will learn the chemistry and physics behind what you are doing, without anyone making you memorize a chart. If you are a restless type like me who gets fidgety sitting at a desk, then cooking is a far more rewarding way to learn a little science. Plus, you can eat your "homework".
Alton Brown, or somebody, would be proud.
I'm almost pumped up to clean the oven this weekend, so 350 degrees is not really 375 due to a year's worth of carbon build-up on my oven floor. OK, I'm not pumped up at all. But it no longer seems like such a reasonless job only appropriate for fuss-budgety housekeepers. It helps me put better things on the table for my favorite people to enjoy.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Doing Just as I Please: Brussels Sprouts
Mi esposo had some business out of town. I could do just as I pleased for dinner--elaborate or simple, dining in or dining out, rabbit-food or a meaty main course--the possibilities were endless.
But left to my own devices, the self-indulgent meal I wished to savor all by my lonesome, sitting on my grandmother's "davenport", as she used to call the sofa, to maybe even use my fingers (gasp!) to get the last bit of sauce, turned out to be roasted Brussels sprouts with curried mayonnaise and some dry-cured salami.
THAT, my friends, is my idea of a really good dinner.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Terrine of My Dreams
I must have gone to bed hungry last night because I dreamed of variations on chicken liver pate all night long. In one "episode" of the dream, I made a pate that didn't use livers at all. After I awoke, I thought a no-liver-chicken-liver pate was such a great idea, that I should definitely make one for dinner.
My dream hardly presented a novel culinary idea: what I was dreaming up already exists and is often called a terrine. When you get right down to it, terrine is French for "meatloaf". I know the term meatloaf hardly sounds glamorous or gourmet, but when they are done beautifully and inventively, they are really a savory delicacy, absolutely lovely served cold and on crackers.
And with the warm weather today, a cold dinner of appetizer fare, including my dreamed-up terrine, sounded perfect. So I set about making this recipe I had dreamed up. I had no idea how my terrine would really turn out. Of course, I thought it would be pretty good...and probably somewhat different from a creamy chicken-liver pate...but beyond that, I was taking a shot in the dark.
The resulting terrine was very light--in color, flavor, and texture. I would classify the terrine as a delicate item, but it was strangely addictive, and mi esposo, who usually looks askance at such experiments kept refilling crackers with my new concoction instead of telling me he ate a late lunch and he'd try some another time. The two of us actually put a huge dent in that terrine. I think this chicken terrine would be really great as a light lunch, over some tender lettuces and drizzled with some balsamic or even a fruit vinaigrette. So, here is the recipe, seized from my sleepy subconscious:
LIGHT CHICKEN TERRINE
-4 chicken thighs, skin and bones removed
-1 small shallot
-1 clove of garlic
-1 t salt
-1 egg white
-1/8 C brandy
-1/2 stick of butter, softened slightly
-1/4 C half and half
-1/2 red pepper, roasted and diced
-2 t fresh, finely minced rosemary
-3 T roasted sunflower seeds
-Balsamic vinegar, for serving
Preheat oven to 325.
Run the raw chicken thighs, shallot, garlic and salt through a food processor until it looks like ground meat. Add egg white, brandy, and butter and process until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the processor with a rubber spatula, add half and half, and process until incorporated. Now it should look like a mousse or a pudding. If it doesn't, add another tablespoon or two of half and half. Add the red pepper, herbs, and sunflower seeds and just pulse carefully, on and off, until it is just mixed through...try not to crush this stuff.
Take a small, shallow baking pan (approx. 5" x 8"...you can use a terrine pan or loafdish, but it will take a bit longer to cook....) and line it with plastic wrap, allowing long "tails" to hang outside of the pan. Pour the mixture into the pan, and fold the plastic wrap over the top. Now cover the pan with foil, making sure no plastic wrap is exposed. Put the small baking pan into a larger one with a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan. You will be baking the terrine in a shallow "bath" so it doesn't dry out.
Bake approx. 40- 45 minutes. Deeper terrine pans/loaf dishes will probably take closer to 1 hour to cook through. "Done" is 165 on your meat thermometer or opaquely white throughout...no weird pink tones.
After baking, remove the pan from the bath, carefully remove the foil, and put the pan in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to cool and set. (I cheated and put it in the freezer for a half an hour, but if you forget about it there, you'll ruin it). When set, the terrine is easily lifted onto a serving platter.
Before serving, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve with a rich cracker or melba toast.
My dream hardly presented a novel culinary idea: what I was dreaming up already exists and is often called a terrine. When you get right down to it, terrine is French for "meatloaf". I know the term meatloaf hardly sounds glamorous or gourmet, but when they are done beautifully and inventively, they are really a savory delicacy, absolutely lovely served cold and on crackers.
And with the warm weather today, a cold dinner of appetizer fare, including my dreamed-up terrine, sounded perfect. So I set about making this recipe I had dreamed up. I had no idea how my terrine would really turn out. Of course, I thought it would be pretty good...and probably somewhat different from a creamy chicken-liver pate...but beyond that, I was taking a shot in the dark.
The resulting terrine was very light--in color, flavor, and texture. I would classify the terrine as a delicate item, but it was strangely addictive, and mi esposo, who usually looks askance at such experiments kept refilling crackers with my new concoction instead of telling me he ate a late lunch and he'd try some another time. The two of us actually put a huge dent in that terrine. I think this chicken terrine would be really great as a light lunch, over some tender lettuces and drizzled with some balsamic or even a fruit vinaigrette. So, here is the recipe, seized from my sleepy subconscious:
LIGHT CHICKEN TERRINE
-4 chicken thighs, skin and bones removed
-1 small shallot
-1 clove of garlic
-1 t salt
-1 egg white
-1/8 C brandy
-1/2 stick of butter, softened slightly
-1/4 C half and half
-1/2 red pepper, roasted and diced
-2 t fresh, finely minced rosemary
-3 T roasted sunflower seeds
-Balsamic vinegar, for serving
Preheat oven to 325.
Run the raw chicken thighs, shallot, garlic and salt through a food processor until it looks like ground meat. Add egg white, brandy, and butter and process until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the processor with a rubber spatula, add half and half, and process until incorporated. Now it should look like a mousse or a pudding. If it doesn't, add another tablespoon or two of half and half. Add the red pepper, herbs, and sunflower seeds and just pulse carefully, on and off, until it is just mixed through...try not to crush this stuff.
Take a small, shallow baking pan (approx. 5" x 8"...you can use a terrine pan or loafdish, but it will take a bit longer to cook....) and line it with plastic wrap, allowing long "tails" to hang outside of the pan. Pour the mixture into the pan, and fold the plastic wrap over the top. Now cover the pan with foil, making sure no plastic wrap is exposed. Put the small baking pan into a larger one with a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan. You will be baking the terrine in a shallow "bath" so it doesn't dry out.
Bake approx. 40- 45 minutes. Deeper terrine pans/loaf dishes will probably take closer to 1 hour to cook through. "Done" is 165 on your meat thermometer or opaquely white throughout...no weird pink tones.
After baking, remove the pan from the bath, carefully remove the foil, and put the pan in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to cool and set. (I cheated and put it in the freezer for a half an hour, but if you forget about it there, you'll ruin it). When set, the terrine is easily lifted onto a serving platter.
Before serving, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve with a rich cracker or melba toast.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Breakfast at Mayk-a-lees
Get it? It's like "Breakfast at Tiffany's", except I had to riff on my own last name (Makley) since I'm hosting the breakfast.
You see, the girls are coming over for brunch. The moms insist that I keep it simple, but I can't make it too simple or else they may as well have stayed home with a bowl of corn flakes. I'd like to give them a lovely start to their Sunday...after all, it is Mothers' Day.
Here's what's on the menu:
Virgin Mimosas made with freshly-squeezed orange juice
Florentine Egg Pie with Ohio bacon
Asparagus with Bearnaise Sauce
Fresh Fruit Salad
Assorted Muffins and Pastries
That might not be so fancy to some, but the gals in my family are plain-toast-with-black-coffee-and-out-the-door types, so I think they'll feel pretty special. And we all know they are pretty special.
Happy Mothers' Day, ladies!
You see, the girls are coming over for brunch. The moms insist that I keep it simple, but I can't make it too simple or else they may as well have stayed home with a bowl of corn flakes. I'd like to give them a lovely start to their Sunday...after all, it is Mothers' Day.
Here's what's on the menu:
Virgin Mimosas made with freshly-squeezed orange juice
Florentine Egg Pie with Ohio bacon
Asparagus with Bearnaise Sauce
Fresh Fruit Salad
Assorted Muffins and Pastries
That might not be so fancy to some, but the gals in my family are plain-toast-with-black-coffee-and-out-the-door types, so I think they'll feel pretty special. And we all know they are pretty special.
Happy Mothers' Day, ladies!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
The "Cucina de Povera" Challenge
I used to work in a rustic Italian restaurant whose menu paid homage to the comforting fare of the common man. The big muckety-mucks at the restaurant called this concept "cucina de povera" which roughly translated into "the cooking of the poor." Some of those big-wigs could probably remember their grandmothers, back in the old country, mixing pasta dough by hand and treating the meats they rarely had the opportunity to enjoy like the delicacies that they were. In true cucina de povera style, we did most things from scratch at that restaurant. Our food was not fancy, but it was good quality.
If anything has improved my cooking over time, it has not been classes or recipes, it has been a lack of financial resources. I will not spin a tale of abject poverty to you, because I have been lucky enough to enjoy an abundance of good fortune in life, but there have been many times that my food budget has gotten impractically small in order to assign my liquid capital to some other category. The translation--sometimes getting the rent paid takes almost everything you've got. Since I really like good food and was only willing to take so much cabbage and ramen noodles, I had to figure something out. So I sharpened my cooking skills to eat like a princess while still earning a pauper's wages.
I always liked those 4.99 per loaf artisan breads, but a five-spot for some bread was NOT happenin'. So I learned to bake my own bread, which broke down to something like .35 a loaf.
Those shoe-leather cuts of meat can be made delicious if they are cooked properly, so I read and read and read and learned how to make a cheap cut taste steakhouse-worthy. Buying a whole chicken gets you so many meals...and makes you a beautiful pot of soup if you save the bones, all for the cost of a couple boneless breasts (which only gets you one meal). Learning how not to abuse and overcook eggs opens you up to a cornucopia of amazing, high-protein entrees for about .20 an egg. I finally paid close enough attention on how to fillet a whole fish so that I can now make quick work of it with a sharp knife. Yes, it takes a little longer and can be a little messy, but I can now get lovely whole fish that, pound for pound, is literally almost 70% less expensive than the prepared fillets. That big 70% discount makes it worth taking a few minutes to line the countertops with some old newspapers.
You do not need special equipment...except maybe a sharp knife or two. In fact, lately I have stopped using a mixer and dough hooks when I make my own bread. The equipment is messy and a pain to clean. I can actually knead the dough by hand much better... and then the only equipment I have to wash is my own little set of paws. And if you think about it, your favorite cuisine probably grew out of kitchens without any special equipment. When you think of some of the best-loved ethnic cuisines: southern Italian, Mexican, Southeast Asian, you don't think about a lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous kitchen with imported granite, high BTU ranges, and fancy stand mixers. If regular people all over the world can make delicious, nutritious meals without all the fine appointments of convenience, then so can you.
Here is your challenge: Cook meals for one full week on a rock-bottom low grocery budget. Do this when you have time, because it will take some effort. It's not like watching re-runs of Friends while you wait for the pizza delivery guy. You have to do the work. Sometimes it's a lot of work. But it is rewarding and it's certainly cost-effective. So set a low budget...I cook for two of us, fairly regularly, on about 80 bucks a week...but I have some staples in my pantry already, so you can adjust your numbers, if necessary. (And of course there are weeks during which I exceed that budget, but I'm issuing a challenge here!) Once you have your low budget in mind, make a menu. Don't think lofty. Think of what fits the assigned budget. If you want a more expensive piece of protein, that's totally fine...but then you may plan on a rice-and-beans dish for another dinner to offset the cost. Based on that proposed menu, make a grocery list. Then kind of "guesstimate" the prices of the items you'll need. Tally it up. If you are on-budget or close to it, go for it! If you have landed in a higher range, make adjustments. Do you really need everything on that list? Can you do something more cost-effectively? Can something else be made from scratch?
I can almost hear people telling me that this is way too much work. It is a lot of work. But it is important work. It is work that some families must do every week to keep everyone healthy. Once you get the hang of it, you also have a complex skill set that can serve you for many years. You will learn so much about cooking technique in such a short period of time. You can share this knowledge with people you care about. You can actually help create momentum that begins to slow the epidemic of diet-related illnesses in our country. WOW.
...and all you were trying to do was to eat healthy for cheap...!
If anything has improved my cooking over time, it has not been classes or recipes, it has been a lack of financial resources. I will not spin a tale of abject poverty to you, because I have been lucky enough to enjoy an abundance of good fortune in life, but there have been many times that my food budget has gotten impractically small in order to assign my liquid capital to some other category. The translation--sometimes getting the rent paid takes almost everything you've got. Since I really like good food and was only willing to take so much cabbage and ramen noodles, I had to figure something out. So I sharpened my cooking skills to eat like a princess while still earning a pauper's wages.
I always liked those 4.99 per loaf artisan breads, but a five-spot for some bread was NOT happenin'. So I learned to bake my own bread, which broke down to something like .35 a loaf.
Those shoe-leather cuts of meat can be made delicious if they are cooked properly, so I read and read and read and learned how to make a cheap cut taste steakhouse-worthy. Buying a whole chicken gets you so many meals...and makes you a beautiful pot of soup if you save the bones, all for the cost of a couple boneless breasts (which only gets you one meal). Learning how not to abuse and overcook eggs opens you up to a cornucopia of amazing, high-protein entrees for about .20 an egg. I finally paid close enough attention on how to fillet a whole fish so that I can now make quick work of it with a sharp knife. Yes, it takes a little longer and can be a little messy, but I can now get lovely whole fish that, pound for pound, is literally almost 70% less expensive than the prepared fillets. That big 70% discount makes it worth taking a few minutes to line the countertops with some old newspapers.
You do not need special equipment...except maybe a sharp knife or two. In fact, lately I have stopped using a mixer and dough hooks when I make my own bread. The equipment is messy and a pain to clean. I can actually knead the dough by hand much better... and then the only equipment I have to wash is my own little set of paws. And if you think about it, your favorite cuisine probably grew out of kitchens without any special equipment. When you think of some of the best-loved ethnic cuisines: southern Italian, Mexican, Southeast Asian, you don't think about a lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous kitchen with imported granite, high BTU ranges, and fancy stand mixers. If regular people all over the world can make delicious, nutritious meals without all the fine appointments of convenience, then so can you.
Here is your challenge: Cook meals for one full week on a rock-bottom low grocery budget. Do this when you have time, because it will take some effort. It's not like watching re-runs of Friends while you wait for the pizza delivery guy. You have to do the work. Sometimes it's a lot of work. But it is rewarding and it's certainly cost-effective. So set a low budget...I cook for two of us, fairly regularly, on about 80 bucks a week...but I have some staples in my pantry already, so you can adjust your numbers, if necessary. (And of course there are weeks during which I exceed that budget, but I'm issuing a challenge here!) Once you have your low budget in mind, make a menu. Don't think lofty. Think of what fits the assigned budget. If you want a more expensive piece of protein, that's totally fine...but then you may plan on a rice-and-beans dish for another dinner to offset the cost. Based on that proposed menu, make a grocery list. Then kind of "guesstimate" the prices of the items you'll need. Tally it up. If you are on-budget or close to it, go for it! If you have landed in a higher range, make adjustments. Do you really need everything on that list? Can you do something more cost-effectively? Can something else be made from scratch?
I can almost hear people telling me that this is way too much work. It is a lot of work. But it is important work. It is work that some families must do every week to keep everyone healthy. Once you get the hang of it, you also have a complex skill set that can serve you for many years. You will learn so much about cooking technique in such a short period of time. You can share this knowledge with people you care about. You can actually help create momentum that begins to slow the epidemic of diet-related illnesses in our country. WOW.
...and all you were trying to do was to eat healthy for cheap...!
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