Eat Cook Live

I made bread.  Let me type that I again.  I made bread!  And I am embarrassingly satisfied with myself for accomplishing  something that billions have managed to pull off ever since humans first gave-up hunting and gathering for this whole civilization experiment.

Baking bread, and baking in general, has always been a bit of a barrier to me.  Something outside my core competency.  I’ve seen people make bread, but the recipes just seemed doomed to failure in my hands.  But last week I was reminded of a supposedly simple can’t fail recipe.  I had the ingredients about and figured I’d give it a shot.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• 1 pack instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups water (the original NY Times recipe called for 1 5/8 – I think that’s a really annoying measurement and 1 1/2 works just fine)

In a large bowl combine the flour, yeast, and salt.  You can also add ingredients as desired (raisins, nuts, etc.).  Add water, and stir until blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours,  but preferably about 18, at room temperature.The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.

Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough on it. Sprinkle the dough with a little more flour and fold it over on itself twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape into a ball. Put the dough down on a re-dusted work surface and dust with more flour, bran, cornmeal or whatever you’d like. Cover with a cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will have more than doubled in size.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide the dough into pot.  It might look like a mess, but that’s just fine. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf has browned.

The Results:

Bread!  And a house that is filled with the smell of fresh baked bread. For almost zero active work!

After playing with the basic recipe I’m convinced you would have to intentionally try to make it fail.  At four in the morning, after a night of poker playing and more than my fair share of whiskey, I tried some “creativity.” I’m told I looked like Muppets’ Swedish Chef–arms and flour flying everywhere–and sounded much like the same.  In my enlightened state, I decided beer is better than water and substituted a cup of it in.  A few tablespoons of brown sugar seemed like a good idea, as did a small palm full of black finishing salt.  The next night I was almost afraid to bake the monstrosity.  But, though a little on the salty side and runny before baking, the bread turned out perfectly enjoyable!  (They say a four year old can make it and now I believe it!)

I’m very excited to experiment with additions and twists to this recipe and to have fresh bread around as the weather cools in these dark winter months.

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Everyone wants it.  Dreams of it.  Is disappointed when they don’t get it – when they take a bite out of the thanksgiving turkey and find it to be…. DRY!

This problem that faces our great nation every November can be avoided. Brine to keep your turkey moist.  I really don’t know why the airwaves aren’t full of PSAs informing the public of this process.

A simple brine is just salt water.  When you soak your meat in this salt water you get more tender and more moist meat.  And, as an added bonus, the brine can be used as a vector for flavor conveyance.  BUT YOU NEED TO START EARLY – one to three days before the big day.  So hurry!

Here is how you do it:

For every five pounds of turkey get half a gallon water and a half cup of kosher salt.

In a large pot bring the water to a simmer and dissolve the salt.  Now you have a pot of brine.  Let the brine return to room temperature (we don’t want to soak the bird in warm water).  If your turkey fits in your pot, drop it in and put it in the fridge.  If your turkey is too big, get a heavy duty trash bag, place in the turkey and pour in the brine.  If using the trash bag,  I recommend operating in the sink and double or triple layering on bags to be on the safe side.  The bird should be fully submerged.

Whether in the pot or in the bag, put the turkey and brine in the fridge for one – three days.  Prior to baking, rinse the bird to remove any excess salt and cook how ever family tradition dictates.

A quick Google search will yield countless things you can add to the brine to impart additional flavor (citrus, apple cider, herbs, etc.).  The flavor imparted is usually relatively minor, but can give a bit of an extra dimension.  If the flavors makes you nervous, skip it.  But, unless you are deep frying, don’t skip the brine! The turkey will be moist at the dinner table and for the leftovers in the days to come.

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It’s been a few months, but I’ve finally gotten back to Sloppy Joes. In my earlier attempt, I had a little pantry oversight (I really thought I had tomato sauce in there!) that led to an under sauced meal.  After that tasty, but somewhat failed, attempt I resolved to revisit this messy childhood favorite.

[DDET Click to see the Sloppy Joe Recipe]

Ingredients:

1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 can small red beans or pinto beans, preferably low sodium drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups no-salt-added tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 burger buns (or bread)

Directions:

Brown the meat and the onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Drain the pan. Add the garlic, jalapeno, and red pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes more.

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[/DDET]

This week, the results were much better, though not without a missed step or two.   A proper amount of sauce was a huge improvement. You want the stuff to actually soak into the bun and drip, as well as tumble, out of the sides. However, I was a bit lax in my dicing and ended-up with slightly larger bits of onion and red pepper than I would have liked.  The beans were also a bit on the big side–I only had a can of the large kidney beans about.  As a result of the larger sizes of things, the mixture felt a bit more like chili than Sloppy Joes.  On the next iteration, I’ll spend a bit more time with the knife.  Though I’d like to improve on the sauce as well.

The sauce was present this time and, though good, could be stepped up.  There was mutual agreement at the table that the Sloppy Joe improved with a little dunk in some BBQ sauce.  So why not take the Sloppy Joe sauce a bit more down the road from a chili to a BBQ sauce?  I’m thinking maybe a bit more molasses might do the trick. And maybe, just maybe, a little more heat–though playing with some burn may need to wait until Take 4.

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A while back I tried my hand at an apple cobbler.  Having some cranberries in the freezer I decided to give them a try this time around.

The prep was as insanely easy as before and the result was a tart, sweet, doughy goodness that was fantastic with a little ice cream.  I think blueberries could work great as well, when they finally come back in season.

I think next up may be looking at some other cobbler batter recipes to start figuring out the differences how this whole baking thing works.

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups cranberries (frozen or fresh)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt the butter in a 9 x 9 inch baking dish.  Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and milk. Pour the batter in the baking dish over the butter. Sprinkle cranberries on top of the batter, do not stir. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.

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A frosted bowl of garlic butter.

On my way home from watching the glorious Vikings’ victory over the Lions, my mind was on the beef stew simmering away in the slow cooker on the counter at home.

My Saturday idleness meant that I didn’t experiment with baking bread as I had planned–so I picked-up a loaf from a neighborhood bakery on my walk from the train.  There was just one thing missing: butter.

I had butter in the fridge, but I wanted something more.  I wanted garlic butter.

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Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 garlic cloves

Directions:

If you have a mortar and pestle, give the fresh garlic a course dice and mash until you have paste.  (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, dice finely and use the side of a knife to smash out a garlic paste.)  Combine the butter and garlic in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds until mostly liquefied   Stir/mash the warm butter garlic mixture.  Set in the freezer for 10 minutes if you want it to harden quickly or place in the fridge until ready to serve.

The Result:

Vampires beware!  Here there be garlic buttered bread that goes great with stew!

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If you’re a line cook, a dishwasher, a porter? Chances are, you’re paid by the hour. Even if your employer wanted to pay you for sick days and vacations, chances are, he can’t. If you’re anything like I was during my 28 years in the business, you’re already living paycheck to paycheck. You’re already struggling to make rent. Any unplanned cash flow interruption is going to cause some serious problems…

So, let’s do what we can. Just cause a little DIY place has got its power back on, doesn’t mean the bleeding has stopped. While there is no doubt that there are still people with direct, immediate, emergency needs, it would be a great help if those who can afford to do it would eat in the most seriously afflicted areas as early and as often as they can, patronizing local businesses in areas that were clearly hit hardest.

Tip heavily. And maybe send a $20 back to the dishwasher.

That’s not charity. It’s just neighborly.

Anthony Bourdain’s full article/blog post can be found at Eatocracy.

While this should not take the place of more targeted relief, I may need to make a trip this weekend to some of my favorite spots in hard hit Red Hook.

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I’ve already spent half a post singing the praises of this incredible cookbook so I won’t rehash those details.  Lucky for me, my brother got me this for my birthday over the summer, and I’ve been slowly easing into it. Being a meat-themed cookbook, some of the recipes are not quite so easy to try as they might require you to have access to a meat grinder, if you want to make your own sausage, or to shell out for a lamb roast, but there are definitely approachable recipes in there if that’s what you’re looking for. When I saw this recipe I was immediately intrigued because I love chile spice rubs on grilled steaks, and I also enjoy looking for ways to incorporate the flavor of coffee into cooking.

4 steaks (8-12 oz)

SPICE RUB:

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp EVOO

PAN SAUCE:

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp ancho chili powder

3 tbsp light brown sugar

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp bourbon (this is definitely optional, as it’s not in the original recipe)

¼ cup strong black coffee

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp butter, cut into several pieces

For the steaks: Mix the spices and the salt in the first section, rub into the meat, then drizzle the olive oil onto both sides and rub the meat again to evenly distribute. I have seen conflicting opinions regarding whether one should apply a spice rub to a steak dry, or to include olive oil. I’ve tried both methods a fair amount (Grilled steak is probably my favorite food), and I am definitely a pro-oil person. It seems to make a big difference in terms of  getting the best possible crust on the meat, which really enhances both the flavor and the texture of a steak. Of course, the other key to a great crust on your steak is to use charcoal, especially hardwood charcoal. Propane is certainly convenient, but unless you want to spend the same amount on your grill as a used car, you will never be able to get that kind of intense heat. And even if you splurge for the cadillac propane grill, you’re still not going to get that smoky flavor. Either way, get your steaks prepped and grill them medium rare, then let them rest for a few minutes.

For the sauce: Mix everything but the butter in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. As soon as the liquid boils,  immediately lower the heat and simmer on your stove’s lowest setting until the liquid has reduced by about half. Cover and keep warm. There is a little bit of flexibility here in regards to timing, in that you can cover the  pan and keep the sauce warm for a bit while you wait for the steaks to get off the grill, or for your side dish to cook. HOWEVER, do not allow this to fully cool and congeal. It might not completely ruin it, but it definitely won’t get restored to its ideal version.

When the steaks are ready, bring the liquid back to a simmer and whisk in the butter until thoroughly incorporated. Drizzle the sauce over the steaks, and whatever else you want to taste amazing. Seriously, the combination of the sweet, sour, smoky and spicy notes of the sauce make for a very interesting steak accompaniment, and was so addictive that I was trying to think of other things this sauce would go with. I’m thinking it would be good with vanilla ice cream, or on top of some kind of pastry like coffee cake or a german chocolate cake. What I think would be a truly intriguing application for it would be in a tiramisu. More to come on this later.

Look at that CRUST!

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The following are two hurricane Sandy inspired cocktails.  Warning: these drinks have been linked to serious and prolonged blackouts.

Hurricane Sandy Manhattan

• 2 oz rye whiskey
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 oz salt water
• Maraschino cherry for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes and stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry.

Hurricane Sandy Long Island Ice Tea

• 1/2 oz triple sec
• 1/2 oz light rum
• 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz tequila
• 1 oz sour mix
• 2 oz salt water
• Cola
• Lemon wedge for garnish

Pour the spirits and sour mix into a collins glass with ice and stir well or shake. Top the glass off with cola. Garnish with the lemon wedge.

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In all seriousness, the effects of the storm are still being felt strongly by many in the tri-state area.  Donate today to the Red Cross hurricane relief.  Or find a local volunteer opportunity to help those in need.

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This morning, as I was eating a simple little breakfast at home, I heard a great little song:  Memphis Minnie – Keep on Eat’n.  It’s a classic female blues artist singing about feeding her man.

It’s a bit hard to find online, but I wanted to drop a post on it to keep it on my radar.  If you like blues, add this little ditty to a cooking or dinner play list.

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On another note, I’m out of excuses when it comes to my lack of posts over the last few weeks.  Any excuses I had have been erased by hurricane Sandy.  Despite the trouble in much of the region, my little corner of Brooklyn was safe and sound with power, water, and internet.  The storm just lulled me into minimal productivity.

As the weekend starts, and power is being restored to Manhattan, I’m getting back to the key board.  There are two posts I’ve been struggling with for months on two of my favorite spots.  Fingers crossed on finally being able to get the words out.

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Few things hit the spot on a tipsy Saturday night better than a spicy pork and noodle dish with just the right amount of grease. This recipe doesn’t take a lot of planning either, as its short on unique ingredients and, once your mise en place is done, everything comes together in 15 minutes or so.

Stir together well in a small bowl:

• 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons black bean garlic sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat, when it is hot pour in 2 tablespoons of peanut oil, swirl around the pan until very hot but not smoking.  Add and stir fry very briefly until the garlic is slightly brown:

• 2 tablespoons finely minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced chile peppers (I used seeded serrano peppers)
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped canned bamboo shoots

Add 1 lb ground pork and stir fry the meat, breaking it up, until it is no longer pink but not yet browned. Meanwhile, cook in a large pot of boiling unsalted water, 1 pound chinese egg noodles (or spaghetti, if you must).

Add the stock mixture to the pork, stir well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add and stir fry briefly 1/2 cup of 2 inch scallion pieces, cut on the bias.  Remove the pan from the heat, drain the noodles (they should only take 2-3 minutes), add to the pan and toss with the pork and sauce.  Season with 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, stir well, and garnish with 1/4 cup finely chopped scallions.

As I was getting into the final stretch of putting this together, I was really wondering if it was going well. As you can see above, the recipe (from Joy of Cooking) makes repeated references to stir frying, even after adding the pork. For me, as soon as I added the pork, there was way too much liquid coming out of the meat to do any stir frying, from there on out everything was being simmered in a sauce, especially once the brother mixture was added. Typically when that happens it means that your pan isn’t big enough to allow the liquid to evaporate as it comes out of the meat, or you don’t have the pan on high enough heat. In this case, I was using my widest pan and had the heat on the highest setting. Absent using a wok and a commercial grade heat source like on the badass mofos below, I’m not sure how I could solve this problem although I will be experimenting with using chicken thigh pieces rather than a ground meat to see if it releases less moisture.  Either way, by adding the noodles to the pan it helped soak up some of the additional moisture and the end result was fantastic, with a soy-ish sauce, with just the right amount of spice and fresh ginger, and enough fat from the pork to coat the noodles.

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