The '80s and '90s were a rough time for salads. In those decades of unnecessary excess we dressed them up, drenched them down, and denied them the simplicity that made them great. As for lettuce, what we did to that poor leaf was no less than a crime against nature. This is all about going back to basics...not the easiet thing to do since they've been all but forgotten.
As always, there are a few things to remember when preparing a salad. Above all, lettuce hates violence, so be gentle with it...even as you rip it to shreds. Now, there are two main categories of greens we can use in a salad: mild, sweet greens, such as romaine, bibb and butter; and mean greens, like chicory, watercress, radicchio, and arugula. The art in constructing a salad is to find the right mix of sweet and mean greens, crating a balance of flavor and texture.
When shopping for lettuce, look for blemish-free heads with bright colors and crisp leaves. No slimy spots. Heavily ribbed heads, such as romaine and loose-head raddichios, should stand up straight without any signs of cracks along the ribs. After harvest, lettuces, like most greens, go on metabolizing nutrients and respiring. We want to limit these activities by suspending the leaves' animation, so to speak. Throroughly clean leaves in a sink full of cold water, allowing dirt and debris to sink to the bottom. Then use a salad spiner to dry the greens, wrap them in paper towels, and stash them in a zip-top bag with as much air removed as possible; this will lead to a longer fridge life.
Now we come to dressings, the classic of these being....that's right, a vinagrettte composed of three parts oil to one part vinegar. The problem being, of course, oil and vinegar don't get along. The oil wants to spread out and coat everything, while the vinegar wants to bead up and roll away. We can force the two together, temporarily, by breaking the vinegar into tiny droplets that are suspended in the oil, but they'll come back together and sink to the bottom. Keeping a vinagrette together requires the use of an emulsifying agent such as finely ground garlic or egg yolk. Vinagrettes can also be emulsified with pureed vegetables or even peas such as lentils.
To make my vinagrette I use a cocktail shaker with one tiny addition. I drop two smooth, small pebbles into the shaker to better aid in the emulsification process, but you can use stainless-steel ball bearings if you don't trust pebbles.
Here's my favorite vinagrette recipe.
You'll need:
Hardware: 1-pint canning jar or cocktail shaker
Software: 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 heavy pinch of salt
1 pinch black pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1) Put the vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper into your canning jar or shaker and shake to combine.
2) Add the oil and shake vigorously until the dressing emulsifies and thickens into a creamlike consistency.
3) Leave the dressing alone for 1 hour at room temperature to let the flavors mellow, then strain out the garlic and shake again to re-emulsify. The dressing can be refrigerated but always bring it to room temperature before serving.
Now we come to the Caesar Salad. It is an elegaant dish, but I warn you, it contains raw eggs, so eat at your own risk. (I eat it a lot, and I've never had a problem) But, if you don't trust your megamart's supply of eggs or you can't get them fresh from the farm, just buy some pasteurized eggs.
You'll need:
Hardware: half-sheet pan
2 quart saucepan
motar and pestle (or you can improvise)
fine-mesh sieve
12-inch saute pan
prepared ice-water bath in a small bowl
a very large bowl
tongs
Software: 8 ounces day-old Italian bread (about half a loaf)
3 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 teaspoon (and a pinch) of salt
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 heads (1 pound total) romaine lettuce hearts
7 grinds black pepper
1/2 small lemon, juiced
1/2 tespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 ounces Parmesean cheese (freshly grated, if you can)
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Cut the bread into 3/4 inch cubes and spread on a half sheet pan. Bake until thoroughly dry but not brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside (ta da, croutons)
3) Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan.
4) Meanwhile, place garlic and 1/2 tsp. of salt into a motar and mash with pestle to make a paste. Add 4 tblsp. of oil to the paste and mash to combine. Pour oil through the sieve into a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add croutons and saute, tossing constantly until all the oil is absorbed and croutons turn gold, approximately 5 minutes. Set aside.
5) Add the eggs (in shells) to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Immediately transfer to an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Set aside.
6) In a very large bowl, tear the lettuce and toss, using tongs, with 2 tblsp. of oil.
7) Sprinkle with remaning salt and pepper. Add the remaining oil and toss well.
8) Add the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, and break in the eggs. Toss until a creamy dressing forms. Toss in the Parmesean cheese and serve topped with croutons.
Well, I certainly hope this small discourse has pulled you out of the salad daze and into the light. Salads shouldn't be drenched in dressings, but should be enjoy for what they are: culinary masterpieces.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Ever Simple (But Not Always Easy) Egg
Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. There's just been a lot going on what with mid-terms and all that. Anyway, cooking eggs is the basis for all cusine. When people tell me they want to start learning to cook, I say, "Eggs." And when I'm tired of cooking, which does occaisionally happen, I reach for an egg to get back in the groove. Okay, that was probably too much information, but believe me when I say that chicken eggs are, bar none, the most versatile ingredients on the planet.
But, first, a little information on the ovum of Gallus domesticus. The average laying hen produces an egg about every twenty-five hours for one to two years. Her eggs are considered to be the world wide gold standard for protein, nutritionally speaking.
When you're in the grocery store, ever wondered how old that carton of eggs is? Look for a "day of year" number on the end of the carton. Some other dates, such as expiration dates, may be required by state law but, to tell the truth, I never look at these anyway. Most eggs in the United States sell quickly, and I've never seen an expired one. I have, however, seen some improperly stored. You absolutely HAVE to refrigerate them! You see, an unrefrigerated egg ages in a day as much as a refrigerated egg ages in a week. Oh, and never wash store bought eggs. You'll remove a mineral oil coating that the processing plant applies to keep the egss fresher longer.
First off, we'll fix eggs my favorite way: over easy. Before we begin, though, I have a little word on cracking eggs. Although your mother may have taught you to crack eggs on the edges of pans and bowls, I respectfully suggest that this only serves to drive small shards of shell up into the part you want to eat, carrying any germs on the shell with them. By cracking on a flat surface like a counter or a plate, we avoid such inconvenience. The trick is to hold the egg in your hand so that the cracking doesn't progress to smashing. Okay, here we go.
You'll need:
Hardware: 8-inch nonstick skillet
a warmed plate to serve on (just drop it in hot water while you're cooking.)
Software: 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (don't you dare skimp!)
2 large eggs (the fresher, the better)
1 pinch of salt
1 grind black pepper (fresh)
1) Place the skillet over low heat and add the butter.
2) When the butter stops foaming, crack the eggs into the pan, then quickly lift the handle just enough for the eggs to pool slightly on the far side.
3) After 10 to 15 seconds, smoothly lower the handle. Wait another 10 seconds, then jiggle the pan just to make sure nothing's sticking. Season with salt and pepper and cook, still over low heat, for 1 to 1 and one-half minutes. Jiggle again and examine the white for opaqueness; when it is fully set but not hard, it's time to flip.
4) Here comes the hard part: Flip the eggs by pushing the pan away from you and snapping the far edge upward. As the egg turns, try to bring the pan up to meet it, thus preventing a hard, and potentially yolk-busting, landing.
5) Return the pan to the heat and slowly count to 10. Reflip the egg to its original side, it'll be easier this time. Slide onto the warmed plate and serve immediately with toast for wiping up all the goodness.
All right, that's eggs over easy. Let's move on to a slightly harder topic: scrambled eggs. Now, if there's one danger to cooking eggs it's over cooking. This stems from the nature of the proteins in eggs. A perfectly cooked scrambled egg is like Jell-O. You see, Jell-O is a mesh of coagulated proteins gently holding molecules of flavored water. A properly scrambled egg is essentially the same thing.
Now if we lieave the eggs in contact with heat too long, the proteins will coagulate so tightly that they'll squeeze out all the liquid. If you've ever served or been served a plate of scrambled eggs in a puddle of water, that's what happened. All that water was supposed to be in the eggs, not under them. But don't worry, this doesn't have to happen to you. The main thing to remember is that if your eggs are cooked in the pan, they'll be overcooked on the plate. All right, here we go. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more.
You'll need:
Hardware: a warm platter (same as before)
a whisk
a 10- to 12-inch skillet
a rubber or silicone spatula
Software: 3 large eggs
1 pinch salt
1 grind black pepper
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1) Warm a plate as suggested before.
2) Whisk the eggs, salt, pepper, and milk together until light and foamy. Add the butter to the skillet and put it over high heat.
3) When the butter bubbles, pour the eggs straight into the middle of the pan, which will force the butter to the edges where it's needed. Stir slowly with a spatula.
4) As soon as curds (big lumps) of eggs form, drop the heat to low and shift from stirring to folding the curds over on themselves while gently shaking the pan with your other hand.
5) As soon as no more liquidous egg is running around the pan, kill the heat and gently transfer the scramble to the warmed plate.
6) Let the eggs rest for 1 minute to finish cooking before serving.
Ta-da! Perfect, fluffy, creamy scrambled eggs. And, best of all, they aren't drowning in a pool of their own liquids!
But, first, a little information on the ovum of Gallus domesticus. The average laying hen produces an egg about every twenty-five hours for one to two years. Her eggs are considered to be the world wide gold standard for protein, nutritionally speaking.
When you're in the grocery store, ever wondered how old that carton of eggs is? Look for a "day of year" number on the end of the carton. Some other dates, such as expiration dates, may be required by state law but, to tell the truth, I never look at these anyway. Most eggs in the United States sell quickly, and I've never seen an expired one. I have, however, seen some improperly stored. You absolutely HAVE to refrigerate them! You see, an unrefrigerated egg ages in a day as much as a refrigerated egg ages in a week. Oh, and never wash store bought eggs. You'll remove a mineral oil coating that the processing plant applies to keep the egss fresher longer.
First off, we'll fix eggs my favorite way: over easy. Before we begin, though, I have a little word on cracking eggs. Although your mother may have taught you to crack eggs on the edges of pans and bowls, I respectfully suggest that this only serves to drive small shards of shell up into the part you want to eat, carrying any germs on the shell with them. By cracking on a flat surface like a counter or a plate, we avoid such inconvenience. The trick is to hold the egg in your hand so that the cracking doesn't progress to smashing. Okay, here we go.
You'll need:
Hardware: 8-inch nonstick skillet
a warmed plate to serve on (just drop it in hot water while you're cooking.)
Software: 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (don't you dare skimp!)
2 large eggs (the fresher, the better)
1 pinch of salt
1 grind black pepper (fresh)
1) Place the skillet over low heat and add the butter.
2) When the butter stops foaming, crack the eggs into the pan, then quickly lift the handle just enough for the eggs to pool slightly on the far side.
3) After 10 to 15 seconds, smoothly lower the handle. Wait another 10 seconds, then jiggle the pan just to make sure nothing's sticking. Season with salt and pepper and cook, still over low heat, for 1 to 1 and one-half minutes. Jiggle again and examine the white for opaqueness; when it is fully set but not hard, it's time to flip.
4) Here comes the hard part: Flip the eggs by pushing the pan away from you and snapping the far edge upward. As the egg turns, try to bring the pan up to meet it, thus preventing a hard, and potentially yolk-busting, landing.
5) Return the pan to the heat and slowly count to 10. Reflip the egg to its original side, it'll be easier this time. Slide onto the warmed plate and serve immediately with toast for wiping up all the goodness.
All right, that's eggs over easy. Let's move on to a slightly harder topic: scrambled eggs. Now, if there's one danger to cooking eggs it's over cooking. This stems from the nature of the proteins in eggs. A perfectly cooked scrambled egg is like Jell-O. You see, Jell-O is a mesh of coagulated proteins gently holding molecules of flavored water. A properly scrambled egg is essentially the same thing.
Now if we lieave the eggs in contact with heat too long, the proteins will coagulate so tightly that they'll squeeze out all the liquid. If you've ever served or been served a plate of scrambled eggs in a puddle of water, that's what happened. All that water was supposed to be in the eggs, not under them. But don't worry, this doesn't have to happen to you. The main thing to remember is that if your eggs are cooked in the pan, they'll be overcooked on the plate. All right, here we go. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more.
You'll need:
Hardware: a warm platter (same as before)
a whisk
a 10- to 12-inch skillet
a rubber or silicone spatula
Software: 3 large eggs
1 pinch salt
1 grind black pepper
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1) Warm a plate as suggested before.
2) Whisk the eggs, salt, pepper, and milk together until light and foamy. Add the butter to the skillet and put it over high heat.
3) When the butter bubbles, pour the eggs straight into the middle of the pan, which will force the butter to the edges where it's needed. Stir slowly with a spatula.
4) As soon as curds (big lumps) of eggs form, drop the heat to low and shift from stirring to folding the curds over on themselves while gently shaking the pan with your other hand.
5) As soon as no more liquidous egg is running around the pan, kill the heat and gently transfer the scramble to the warmed plate.
6) Let the eggs rest for 1 minute to finish cooking before serving.
Ta-da! Perfect, fluffy, creamy scrambled eggs. And, best of all, they aren't drowning in a pool of their own liquids!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Humble Steak
I know, I know, "Steak? Really? C'mon man!" I've chosen steak for my first topic for one simple reason. Steak is recognized, uncontestedly, as the quintessential American dinner. Eating a nice, fat, juicy steak is a truly wonderful experience. While this may be true, it is also true that a lot of Americans can't put a decent steak on a plate to save their lives. This I hope to change.
Think about it. Aside from some oil, salt, and pepper, it's all technique. Good technique can make a mediocre steak exquisite, while bad techniqe can ruin a good one.
Before we get to cooking, let's look at just what a steak is. A steak is any cross-cut slab of meat, generally beef and usually between one and two inches thick, that is meant to be cooked quickly over high heat. They are cut from large chunks of meat called sub-primals. A steer has two of each of the following sub-primals: chuck, rib, short loin, sirloin, round, flank, plate, brisket, and shank.
Now we choose out steak. I prefer the rib-eye, or eye steak. It contains lots of intramuscular fat which melts when cooked, lubricating the muscle strands, making it oh so tender. That's why this steak is excellent for beginner cooks and why it feels so juicy even if it is a bit overcooked.
In my opinion, a perfect steak is one darkly seared on the outside with an interior cooked not one degree past 130 F. While this can be accomplished on a grill or in a broiler, those are tricky propositions at best, especially with rib-eyes because all that intramuscular fat, when it melts, drips and tends to cause rather nasty flare ups in open flame environments. So, your best bet is pan roasting; searing the outside in a hot cast-iron skillet and finishing the interior in the oven.
Oh, and after you cook your steak to perfection, let it rest for at least five minutes. Heat is like pressure, and cutting your steak before it cools a bit is akin to opening a spigot. Just cover the meat in aluminum foil or a metal bown while it rests and it'll stay plenty warm.
Okay, are you ready to cook now? I hope so, because here we go!
You'll need:
Hardware: a 12-inch cast-iron skillet
tongs
a colander
a metal bowl
a pot lid
Software: 2 boneless rib-eye steaks
1 teaspoon canola oil (enough to coat the steaks)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground, of course)
1) Allow your steaks to come to room temperature for 1 hour. (Trust me, it helps in the browning process.)
2) Preheat your oven to 500 F and slide in your skillet
3) When your oven finishes preheating, carefully move your skillet to your cook top over high heat for five minutes.
4) Lightly coat the steaks with canola oil, then sprinkly with salt and pepper, place carefully in the skillet and do not touch for 30 seconds.
5) Flip the steaks with the tongs (they keep the juices in the steaks, unlike a fork which releases them into the pan) and cook for another 30 seconds.
6) Move the skillet back into the oven for 2 minutes. Flip the steaks and cook for another 2 minutes.
7) Remove the skillet to a heat-safe surface. For medium-rare, the internal temperature of the steaks should be between 130-140 F.
8) Allow the steaks to rest in a colander, set inside a metal bowl, covered with the pot lid for 5 minutes.
9) For a fast and easy steak sauce, remove the colander and move the metal bowl (along with the drippings from the steaks) to the stovetop over high heat and whisk in a little butter.
Well, now you've cooked a delicious steak and made a sauce for it. It wasn't that hard, was it? Enjoy!
Think about it. Aside from some oil, salt, and pepper, it's all technique. Good technique can make a mediocre steak exquisite, while bad techniqe can ruin a good one.
Before we get to cooking, let's look at just what a steak is. A steak is any cross-cut slab of meat, generally beef and usually between one and two inches thick, that is meant to be cooked quickly over high heat. They are cut from large chunks of meat called sub-primals. A steer has two of each of the following sub-primals: chuck, rib, short loin, sirloin, round, flank, plate, brisket, and shank.
Now we choose out steak. I prefer the rib-eye, or eye steak. It contains lots of intramuscular fat which melts when cooked, lubricating the muscle strands, making it oh so tender. That's why this steak is excellent for beginner cooks and why it feels so juicy even if it is a bit overcooked.
In my opinion, a perfect steak is one darkly seared on the outside with an interior cooked not one degree past 130 F. While this can be accomplished on a grill or in a broiler, those are tricky propositions at best, especially with rib-eyes because all that intramuscular fat, when it melts, drips and tends to cause rather nasty flare ups in open flame environments. So, your best bet is pan roasting; searing the outside in a hot cast-iron skillet and finishing the interior in the oven.
Oh, and after you cook your steak to perfection, let it rest for at least five minutes. Heat is like pressure, and cutting your steak before it cools a bit is akin to opening a spigot. Just cover the meat in aluminum foil or a metal bown while it rests and it'll stay plenty warm.
Okay, are you ready to cook now? I hope so, because here we go!
You'll need:
Hardware: a 12-inch cast-iron skillet
tongs
a colander
a metal bowl
a pot lid
Software: 2 boneless rib-eye steaks
1 teaspoon canola oil (enough to coat the steaks)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground, of course)
1) Allow your steaks to come to room temperature for 1 hour. (Trust me, it helps in the browning process.)
2) Preheat your oven to 500 F and slide in your skillet
3) When your oven finishes preheating, carefully move your skillet to your cook top over high heat for five minutes.
4) Lightly coat the steaks with canola oil, then sprinkly with salt and pepper, place carefully in the skillet and do not touch for 30 seconds.
5) Flip the steaks with the tongs (they keep the juices in the steaks, unlike a fork which releases them into the pan) and cook for another 30 seconds.
6) Move the skillet back into the oven for 2 minutes. Flip the steaks and cook for another 2 minutes.
7) Remove the skillet to a heat-safe surface. For medium-rare, the internal temperature of the steaks should be between 130-140 F.
8) Allow the steaks to rest in a colander, set inside a metal bowl, covered with the pot lid for 5 minutes.
9) For a fast and easy steak sauce, remove the colander and move the metal bowl (along with the drippings from the steaks) to the stovetop over high heat and whisk in a little butter.
Well, now you've cooked a delicious steak and made a sauce for it. It wasn't that hard, was it? Enjoy!
Anyone Can Cook
I am happy to say that in today's society more and more people are realizing the exciting and gratifying experience that is cooking. It is an unfortunate truth, however, that for every culinary success story, there are dozens of people who take one look at a cookbook and exclaim "I can't do it!" They promptly turn away and never lay a finger on that book again, only cooking things that come in boxes with the instructions written on the back (add water, stir to combine, cook for 18-20 minutes, let set for 5 minutes, serve.) Or, perhaps, they go on the adventureous side and cook things THEIR way. Either way, more often than not, produces meals that would be ashamed to show their faces to the light of day. These people end up putting themselves, not to mention their families, through unimaginable torture.
The simple truth is, these people don't have the patience to learn. They won't allow themselves to make a single mistake; and if they do make a mistake, which they invariably do, they exclaim "I can't do it" and stop any efforts to explore the culinary world further. It's rather pitiful, isn't it?
What these culinary younglings don't realize is that, with the right equipment, the right technique, and some patience, anyone, even a 17-year old high school student (that's me), can cook.
Over the next few weeks, it will be my mission to demonstrate this to you. I won't beat you over the head with recipes, but I won't bore you with milions of details either. Instead, I'll provide you with all of the information you need to cook a simply magnificent meal. Hopefully, you'll be so entertained that you won't even know you're learning.
all recipes credited to Alton Brown
The simple truth is, these people don't have the patience to learn. They won't allow themselves to make a single mistake; and if they do make a mistake, which they invariably do, they exclaim "I can't do it" and stop any efforts to explore the culinary world further. It's rather pitiful, isn't it?
What these culinary younglings don't realize is that, with the right equipment, the right technique, and some patience, anyone, even a 17-year old high school student (that's me), can cook.
Over the next few weeks, it will be my mission to demonstrate this to you. I won't beat you over the head with recipes, but I won't bore you with milions of details either. Instead, I'll provide you with all of the information you need to cook a simply magnificent meal. Hopefully, you'll be so entertained that you won't even know you're learning.
all recipes credited to Alton Brown
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