A recipe I want to try

Lishapisa, over at the Cookng Blog, posted a recipe for Rice Ball Soup, which comes in both sweet and savory versions. It is made with a chicken-based stock, rice flour, and water. It sounds amazing—and a lot like Matzoh Ball soup. I’m thinking of taking the great original savory version of the recipe and adding a little duck fat and maybe a dash of seltzer to the balls, but otherwise keeping it as is. Here is the link: http://cookng.blogspot.com/2009/12/rice-ball-soup-tong-yuen.html

Glögg

Do you have a favorite holiday beverage?

Glögg is based on a simple ratio: one part each vodka, port, and red wine. Add spices, orange peel and heat. After heating, garnish the individual servings with slivered almonds and raisins. You can substitute other fortified wines or use brandy—but I think vodka, port and red wine work best. As far as quality goes, one step above the bottom for the vodka and port is fine—as long as the vodka isn’t in danger of melting through the plastic, you’re probably ok. The wine should be drinkable and maybe a little fruity, but nothing special.

While you heat the mixture slowly, the smell will fill the house or apartment—partly because some of the alcohol evaporates as it heats. Glögg itself has a wonderful, adult, spicy, winey, citrusy holiday aroma and flavor. As the evening goes on, the glögg gets less boozy—which is a good thing. It never loses its potency, though, and should at all times be treated with respect.

My wife and I use Marcus Samuelsson’s Glögg recipe (again from Saveur): http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/Glogg

The recipe is not inviolate; you can alter it to your taste. If there are other spices you think would work, add them in small amounts. Ginger and peppercorns come to mind. I would not add too much cinnamon though—it is important, but can overwhelm.

Eggnog

My family’s eggnog has been around almost as long as I have. It was first made by my dad to celebrate my birth on Christmas Eve. The next year, they changed the recipe, and it is as printed below.
Eggnog is essentially a custard, made by heating egg yolks, milk and sugar over the stove slowly until the mixture coats the spoon. Then, it is cooled, whipped egg whites and vanilla are added, and the mixture is allowed to settle over night.
For me, eggnog is a matter of balance. It can be too eggy, too nutmegy, or perhaps worst, simply an alcohol delivery system. There should be alcohol in eggnog, yes, but a capful or a little more per cup. It is there to cut the richness. I prefer Myer’s rum, as the vanilla notes work well with the eggnog, but whiskey or brandy work as well.
Eggnog, like all holiday rituals, is as much about its past as its present. I remember making it with my brothers and father (my mother was responsible for the fruitcake that was always served with it) from an early age and each time I drink it, I think of those times.

Here is my dad’s recipe. Enjoy.

Recipe for 1.5 quart of eggnog
Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups whole milk (1 Q)
4 egg whites
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Brandy or rum to flavor
Brandy or rum to add when drinking plus nutmeg to sprinkle over nog
1/2 cup heavy cream (whipped)--optional

Instructions
Separate egg whites and yolks, being careful not to get yellow into the whites.
Beat 1/3 cup sugar into egg yolks, add salt and stir in milk.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture coats spoon.
Cool (the fast way is to put the pan in a basin of cold water)
While the yolk mixture cools, beat egg whites until foamy, add sugar slowly while continuing to beat until soft peaks appear.
Add cool yolk mixture and mix thoroughly.
Add flavorings, stir well, and put in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
When ready to serve, put into punch bowl, add rum or brandy (this can be done for the individual glasses to accomodate different amounts and types of alcohol), dot eggnog with islands of whipped cream (optional), and sprinkle with nutmeg (preferably fresh ground)
6 to 8 servings
NOTE: I usually make three quarts at a time, which means that you double the recipe (use a half gallon of milk), except for the salt

A meal in France I

We stopped at a small, unassuming restaurant in Auxerre, “Le Trou Poinchy”. There was nothing special about it from the outside; the prices were reasonable, the place was crowded. I can’t remember what everyone else ordered, but I had the jambon persillé and the pork cheeks in coarse mustard sauce. The side dish for the pork cheeks was a vegetable ragout made with piment d’espelette. For the second time on the trip, my dad insisted on asking for the recipe—they love being asked, he said—and for the second time he was rebuked.

The two ladies next to us were enjoying their chèvre chaud salads at the end of their meals. I had, as I always did, the cheese.

I got an email from my brother the other day. It turns out that the chef at this restaurant has moved to Las Vegas, where he is the chef at Garfield’s, known more commonly as Chef JD. Here, he turns out Anglo-French classics such as Blackened Mahi-Mahi and, to be fair, 7-hour lamb. No jambon persillé or braised pork cheeks anywhere on the menu.

My favorite recipe for jambon persillé is from the Saveur cooks Authentic French cookbook. You can find the recipe at http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Ham-and-Parsley-Terrine. You don’t have to make a loaf—it works well in ramekins (which, in their turn, work well as appetizer-sized portions).

Candied Brie

Safety tip: If you find yourself with a pan on fire, place the lid on the pan and smother the flames.

When cooking it is important to be humble and pay attention, otherwise you may need to implement the safety tip above. As I did on Thanksgiving this year. The two foot flames and clouds of smoke really made me regret the “cooking Thanksgiving is easy” comment.

No one was hurt and the pan was salvaged after a great deal of scrubbing. Burnt sugar is much easier to clean than burnt oil. When oil is overheated it polymerizes which is essentially turning to plastic, sugar just burns to ash which does not adhere to stainless steel very well.

The culprit was the appetizer. Isn’t it always the appetizer, or the dessert? The first is always lost in a sea of other priorities, salad, main course etc. The latter is often finished after a few glasses of wine. Wine is good for sauce but rarely helps the cook.

Here is the recipe
This is a crowd pleaser, showy like baked brie but a lot easier, even with the fire we were able to remake it and serve it without throwing off our timing.

Candied Brie
1 small soft cheese round, brie or camembert work well
1/2 cup sugar
A little water, enough to help the sugar dissolve any extra will just take more time to boil off.

1. Place cheese on serving plate.
2. Put sugar and water in sauce pan bring to a boil. Boil until sugar caramelizes.
3. Pour hot sugar syrup over cheese. Tilt cheese plate to get even coating if needed. Careful it is very hot.
4. Allow to sit for a few minutes or so to harden. Serve with crackers or bread.

For the Flaming version replace step 2 with Put sugar and water in sauce pan bring to a boil, leave the kitchen to attend to arriving guests and then watch some TV with the kids until your wife screams “The kitchen is on fire” Then repeat steps 2-4 above.

Every cook needs to have a little kitchen fire now and again.

Beef Brisket

Do you have a favorite comfort food recipe?

There is nothing quite like a good beef brisket. Unfortunately, too often it is dried out or stringy. These are easy conditions to cure. A brisket should be cooked at as low a temperature as possible. If you can keep the meat at a simmer or even below, it won’t get stringy or dried out.

The bigger problem is the balance of flavor. Too often, a brisket ends up overwhelmed by a bottle of wine or can of tomato paste that are poured into the braising liquid. A little tomato paste and a little wine are all you need. And I never add carrots. They dissolve into the liquid and make it too sweet. Brisket doesn’t really need them—just serve with mashed potatoes and buttered carrots on the side.

The real secret to brisket is the onions. Deeply browned onions add a rich sweetness that perfectly complements the brisket.

Recipe:

1 3-4 lb brisket.
Salt, pepper
4-5 onions, thinly sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced.
2 tb flour
2 tb tomato paste
¼ cup red or white wine
1 cup beef broth
neutral oil, such as grapeseed
1-2 sprigs thyme


1. Salt, pepper brisket. In a heavy Dutch oven (Le Creuset works perfectly), brown both sides in oil. Brown for at least five minutes on a side. You want a good, dark brown on the outside of the meat. Remove brisket from pot and set aside.
2. Place onions in pan. salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, until onions are soft, and have given off some water. If they are browning, add a little liquid. After 15 minutes, turn the heat up, boil off the liquid. Turn the heat to low and slowly cook the onions until they turn a medium brown. Stir frequently. The darker the onions get, the more frequently you stir.
3. Add the garlic and sauté for 3 minutes.
4. Add the tomato paste and sauté for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the flour and cook for about five minutes.
6. Add wine, beef broth, brisket and bring to a boil.
7. Throw a sprig or two of thyme into the pot.
8. Cook at 250 for 4 hours.
9. Remove from oven, check texture. Cook longer, if needed.
10. Remove brisket from cooking liquid and degrease. Reduce sauce, if needed. Return brisket to pot and reheat. Let beef sit for a few minutes before cutting into it.

Dan's Introduction

As Frank said we both grew up in the early days of the California food movement. My parents were early adopters of foreign foods. They would buy cookbooks and try recipes. It started with Chinese, then Indian followed by Thai, Mexican, Korean, Japanese etc. Like them, I learned to cook through cookbooks. To be honest, there was some outside motivation. When I reached the fourth grade, I was given the choice of cooking dinner or cleaning the kitchen two nights a week. To this day I don’t really like doing the dishes.

In college I found that being able to cook really paid off. Friends would buy the ingredients and I would cook the meal. As Frank already explained we ended up waiting tables together after college, where my Political Science degree came in handy. This is where our culinary collaboration began, Cowboy Bob’s Gourmet Experience. We did two editions.

I moved on to work for Starbuck’s back when it sold coffee. Where one day a customer asked me “Dan, what do you want to be doing? Because you clearly don’t want to be here anymore” My reply was “I would love to be in a room somewhere working on a better non fat pudding.” So I left there to go into the restaurant world and quickly moved from that into product development. I landed an internship at a food development company. Within minutes I knew that I finally had the job I was supposed to have.

I have spent the last 12 years working in product development. I create food on an industrial scale. Truck loads of meat. Recipes that are measured in percent by weight and above all it must stay the same. Variety may be the spice of life, but variation is the enemy of food production.

This gives me a very different view of food than Frank and pretty much everyone else outside of the industry. But what this blog is for me is a chance to explore the fundamental principles of food and taste. As has been the case throughout our lives Frank and I will continue the dialogue that I have always found so personally enriching.

We are hoping that others will join the conversation.