Just enough…

We as a society of people live in excess.  We over indulge as a force of habit…whether it is with food, or work or our every day demeanor.  Since this is a blog that deals with everything food I say to you all…welcome to the “over eaters club.”  It is very true indeed, so this in turn has us marked as the “fattest people in the world.”  We push ourselves to go to the gym and the like, yet we still are on the go and subject ourselves to “fast food.”  Fast huh?  So fast that it could give us a speedy trip to the grave.  Our alternative would be a little more costly.  The latest Nutra diet or Chef meals dropped off before five a.m. are all the craze…but are just that.  The word “diet” to me is usually something that will make you feel excommunicated from the rest of the world.  If you break the diet you feel sheepish…like you did something very bad.  All you need is to just change the way you do things…and that’s it!  I for one being diabetic have had to make some changes in what I eat.  Not as bad as you think…trust me.  Very simply put…NO WHITE STARCHES!  I do have a host of other things that needed to be addressed as well, so in my case a little more change was in order. 

Before you start a “life style change” such as this you need to be totally sure of what you are doing.  A little cheat every now and then isn’t so bad…it actually will keep you in line.  You also have to change not just what…but how much as well.  That is the harder part I think.  Settle on less and you will be happier.  Being a creature of excess…learn to eat less and you will be happy you did.  This new viewpoint will give you more of everything while being less to deal with.  Don’t count calories or points, just eat better and smaller.  Better doesn’t have to be expensive either.  It can be as simple as a half a sandwhich and a small salad.  Pastrami isn’t a bad thing…unless it is three pounds on your sandwhich.  Try this…order a sandwhich from your favorite deli but ask them to just put two or three thin slices of let’s say ham on it.  A piece of cheese, maybe some lettuce and two slices of tomato too.  A touch of dressing (yes mayo is ok) and give it a whirl.  I bet you will be happy you listened to me.  In that whole bit I never said “diet, give up or don’t have” did I?  Moderation is a good thing…admit it.  Watch what happens when you do that for a while.  Throw in a half an hour walk with that and I promise things will start to change.

That’s all I have for this time.  If you have “Just enough” you might see how much enough can be.  Bye for now.

Sweet, salty, sour & bitter

How many times have you said or heard someone say…”that tastes great!”  In actuality you really didn’t taste it at all.  What you actually did was smell what you thought you tasted.  The olfactory sensation caused a cerebral reaction and your mind “told you” what it was.  Let’s just say for example you make a dish containing rosemary.  You eat the dish, and as you chewed the food the fragrance traveled up past your pallet (located at the roof of your mouth near your throat) and up through the nasal cavity to sensors in your brain.  We have been brain washed to believe we “tasted” it.  All we actually taste is either sweet, salty, sour or bitter.  I know…pretty cool right?  All our lives we have been lied to.  Ah, but there is something good after all.  As science creeps closer to the culinary sector there are always new inovations and techniques merging the two.  These come to us as equipment and gadgets or they come to us as ingredients.  The latter being thickeners or additives used by chef’ (you know who you are) and also as products themselves.  National Starch sells modified tapioca starch which can take the place of geletin in some applications.  Ferran Adria and Herve’ This are the pioneers in the field of “molecular gastronomy” which has also been called avant garde or cutting edge cuisine.  Texturas is the name of the line of the chemicals in which so many chef’ are “recreating” food in the vain of these men.  There still is a place for good old corn starch and geletin and I truly believe there always will.  I do believe these new ways of doing things are only the spark that will light the fire of things to come.

If you are ever in NYC you must stop by “Room 4 Dessert” and check out what Will Goldfarb is doing.  He worked for Chef Adria for a time and from what I have heard is a master of his craft.  I have yet to belly up to his bar, but trust me…I will.

Turning your back on the future is like turning your back on the ocean.  We can only go foreward in life…just remember “Dippin Dots.”  They are a new twist on plain old ice cream…but they are here to stay, and set a standard for things to come.

Thanks again for tuning in.  See you next time…bye.

Cookbook for LIFE

“It’s the recipe’s that you create yourself that are the best.”  That is such a profound statement.  It is actually taken from the up coming movie “No Reservations.”  No…Anthony Bourdain isn’t in it.  That’s the other one by the same name.  This one is about an obsessive perfectionist chef (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who’s sister is killed in a car crash and has to take care of her sisters kid Zoe.  It looks really great…a must see I imagine.  Since I am not a movie critic…I will continue on with the food aspect of things.

If there were such a thing as a cook book for life, there would be unlimited chapters in it because people are as widely varied as their tastes are.  My chapter would be not quite a mystery, not quite a comedy…but a whole array of topics.  Anyone who knows me…or has read my blogs thus far would agree.  I am more like a labyrinth…never really knowing what is around the next corner.  A sort of culinary melting pot combining curiosity with the desire for more.

Now you’re cookin with gas…and more

There comes a time in our lives when we must seek change whether we like it or not.  We used to have only a few choices and that was that.  Gas or electric was the bottom line, depending on where you lived or what we were given.  We all know the advantages to both, and for the most part we liked what we liked.  Little did we know…gas is about 55% efficient and electric about 10% better.  Well, in europe they had another choice, and in asia as well.  It has now come to our attention that induction cooking is the “wave of the future.”  The way it works is very similar to a microwave.  Magnetic energy is projected into your pot or pan (some systems rely on special cookware) and the said same pot or pan heats up almost instantly.  There is an infinate amount of settings which include a setting that you can sear almost as fast as you can put it into the pan.  This method is about 90% efficient.  Induction cooking has made it’s way into the home…and as they develope better technology…it gets more affordable as we go.  You can even get portable induction cooktops.  They look sort of like a hot plate.  You can get a full sized cook top and even an induction range…if you can come up with the cash.  I have yet to get mine…but others are already there.  You can find them in a lot of restaurants…as they can be used in certain situations that require the total usage of space.  Alinea in Chicago uses at least one in there kitchen…and seeing the caliber of food they put out…I would almost expect them to have several.

There is another product out there called the “Turbo Chef 30.”  This oven designed for the home can cook a 12lb. turkey in 42 minutes…and no, I’m not kidding.  The product is being endorsed by Charlie Trotter and it cost a pretty penny.  Oh trust me, if I had it my way I would own 2.  The hefty price tag of around $7,500 and the lack of space I have right now has quelled that idea…but just for now.  A double rack of Lamb in about 5 minutes for perfect mid rare…yummo!  “I see the future, and it is looking bright” and trust me…this Star Trek meets George Jetson future of cooking appliences is just what I see as the new wave of cooking.

THat’s it for now.  Join me next time as I cook up some more tasty topics.  Bye. 

A pinch, a dash & a smidgen…

Not too long ago…well, actually within the last five years or so I came across a curious tool.  I was in the “restoration hardware store” and I came across a set of measureing spoons.  They were in incriments of a pinch, a dash & a smidgen.  Hey, I can’t make this stuff up.  These are not actual chef terms…but rather from a bye gone era.  You might see them in an old cookbook that your grandmother may have had.  Nowadays some may just use the “chef’ pinch” which is about a teaspoon if I were to venture to guess.  We for the most part as chef’ use all of our senses.  Smell, touch, sight, sound and yes taste.  As you start to develope your pallet you will eventually know what to “look for” in the taste dept.  A tip about salt…kosher is best, it get’s stronger over time (or it potentiates) and is one of the toughest things to master in the kitchen.  Once you succeed you will be unstopable  Here’s how it works.  Let’s just say for arguement’s sake you are making five gallons of tomato sauce for a family get together.  This sauce will require a half a cup of kosher salt and fresh black pepper mixed.  So you figure it would save a lot of time if you just add the seasoning at the very beginning.  This way you can do other things and not have to babysit the sauce.  The total cooking time for your sauce is six hours.  You add you seasoning, and simmer away.  When you get the finished product to the table the result is frightening.  That half cup of s & p is now a cup and a half.  Why you might ask?  Simply put, it has multiplied by three times over time.  This rule pretty much goes for all herbs and spices.  Why does it work?  The longer you cook a sauce or gravy, the more it reduces and water is evaporated from it.  As this happens the spices and flavors will get stronger.  My suggestion to eveyone is to add your seasonings in stages.  It is a must to taste as you go, so you can add a bit at the beginning.  I made mention before about learning to cook with salt.  “Cooked” salt is a different flavor than raw salt at the table.  When you cook with it the salt will actually disolve and blend with whatever you are cooking  Salt added at tableside is well…just salt stuck to your food.  If you are using fine, or iodized table salt it actually will bounce off your food.  Sea salt on the other hand is not something I would cook with.  Unless you are using “fleurre de sel” which is the one exception, those fancy colored sea salt’ are actually finishing salt’.  They have a wonderful crunch and a good eye appeal.  They come from all areas and have different flavor profiles.  Gray salt actually comes from areas that have all the minerals that mimic the human body…including zinc, iodine and manganese.  It get’s it’s gray color from the clay in the area it is gathered from.  All in all salt is something we need to live and when used with resepect and knowlege is will be and is a cruitial detail of our everyday culinary life.

Well, that’s it for now.  As always I had a great time sharing with you my quest for knowlege and information and as always I will see you next time.  Bye. 

At their mercy.

Being a chef I can appreciate what goes into a dish or menu.  Between the rising cost of ingredients or supply versus demand during hard times…it can almost made your head spin.  Talent comes with a price too.  Some even will tack on the extra cost of their inflated ego’.  Now, I don’t think I would complain about a $500 tasting because knowing who, what and when they are.  I mean, I don’t think people who would go to a high end restaurant would look at the bill and say “$75 dollars for trans what??”  The word is actually transglutamanaise and it is actually an enzyme used in the commercial production of sausage and the like.  What you are paying for at any restaurant is actually not just the food.  It is the service, the decor, the space (meaning the restaurant itself) and the creative knowlege that the chef has gained over the course of his career.  In the case of Chicago’ Alinea, Moto and of course Trotters you are experiencing food’ created by some of this countries greatest culinary minds.  Grant Achatz studied under Thomas Keller (he is my idol) of the French Laundry, so it is safe to say that chef Keller’ style is reflected in the Alinea menu.  Sort of a French Laundry of the future.  Homoro cantu was sous chef for Charlie Trotter so you can see the same style in Moto’ design.  The big difference here is that chef Cantu is more of the scientist.  It goes to show that he focus’ on what he calls “the minds eye.”  He has more that 30 patents pending on his inventions to include a polymer box that will cook the food for you at your table.  All this being said, you are still subject to being at their mercy.

It used to be that they needed you, but now the tables have turned.  More and more chef’ are drifting away from honoring your request for subbing out ingredients for another.  I worked at a restaurant recently that the chef actually told the manager that the host could not get what ever soup she liked, but rather what the chef felt like making.  I disagree with that.  if someone is booking a party then they should get certain conciderations…don’t you?  The only choices that some of these chef offer is the size or selection of the tasting items.  Most are pretty much set in their components though.  If you are not a fan of PB & J I understand, but at Alinea the dish is set one way and cannot be altered.  Now…in a case such as that, I would understand the “no substitution” rule.  There is the choice of which menu to pick from, but that is the limitation.  I don’t think you should be “told” to have truffles or what wines to have.  A sommolier is a helper, with great knowlege of wine, but being dibetic I don’t imbibe very often.  Just remember that YOU are chosing to dine wherever, so the chef should cut you some slack.  Even if they don’t think so…they still need us more.  With great power comes great responsibility…so give us some room for indipendant thinking. 

Today I am not going to give you a recipe but rather some choices.  It is up to you to decide what, where, why and how to use the choices I give you.  If you like them, use them.  If not, you don’t have to.  The choices are a good steak such as Hanger Steak or Sirloin, Game Hen or Duck breast, Cod or Sea Bass and finally potatoes, rice, pasta and Asparagus or Spinach or Carrots.  It is up to you to chose what you like, how you like and which method to cook them.  Remember, if they aren’t what you like…pick something else to either cook at home, or have it in a restaurant.  The choice here is yours, and don’t be afraid to ask them to substitute something else.  A good chef will honor what you wish because he is happy that you decided to dine in his restaurant.

That’s it for today…I hope you liked what you read, and tune in next week for more.  Bye