A blog about food, cooking, and life.
A busy day for me that left little time for blogging. Started the day at the Famer’s Market where I bought peas, potatoes, and beets. I will definitely be cooking tomorrow. I then began work on planting some much needed flowers in the front of my house. After weeding, planting, watering, and mulching, I was pretty tired. Yet, I still wanted to head to the lakes and did. Here’s some pictures from the outing:
I can’t believe this article. Written by a dietician named Susan Moore, it talks about the risk of creating carcinogens while grilling and gives some hints as to how to minimize that creation. Apparently:
Cooking over high flames turns chemicals found naturally in muscle meats and fish into cancer-causing substances known as heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both have been linked to an increased risk of several cancers, including colorectal, breast and prostate cancer.
The high heat component of grilling is what seems to be the problem. Any cooking over 300 degrees Fahrenheit triggers the formation of HCAs and the accompanying flare-ups cause the PAHs. But, since grilling is a low-fat method of cooking, this dietician recommends that you keep doing it even if “the same grill — whether gas or charcoal — that gives food its mouth-watering barbecue taste can also turn your burger into a toxic meal.”
To do so, the following hints are given: marinate before grilling, turn, down the heat, use small pieces of meat, avoid overcooking, and pre-cook foods. Some of these nuggets of advice are OK but when you actully read what she proposes, you can’t help but to be aghast. Take this example:
Pre-cook foods. Microwaving meats for a couple of minutes before placing them on the grill can cut the effects of HCAs about 90 percent. The microwave draws liquid out of the meat, which in turn reduces flare-ups on the grill.
Unbelievable! That’s what passes for cooking advice from a dietician! You are to microwave (!!!!) food before the grill. And the benefit for using that method is that liquids are drained out of the meat! I can hardly think of a better way to suck all of the flavor and juiciness of a piece of meat than this method. You also lose precious cooktime on the grill-so you get less browning and less of that grilled flavor. Why even bother grilling after you abuse the meat like that? Why not just microwave it all the way?
Other bad advice in the article is to flip meat frequently (the more you do this, the longer the cooking time and the more juices are lost from the meat), cook all meats to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (yes, yummy well-done filet mignon, just what every steak lover likes), keep the heat lower (again, longer cooking times, less juicy, and more than likely, none of that real nice Maillard reaction (browning) on the surface of the meat), and finally, an exhortation to really not eat meat at all since fruits and vegetables are so much better for you. As far as grilling goes, this article stinks.
Which brings me to this thought: I think dieticians must think food is bad for you, or at least food is dangerous and must be “tamed” to be fit for consumption. Hearken back to the writer’s admonition that grilling “can turn your burger into a toxic meal.” Get it? Food is not cooked to be enjoyed, it is to be cooked so it can be consumed safely. Hence, we get an article like this; an article devoted to destroying everything that makes grilling such a wonderful cooking method in the spirit of “saving it.” I think a former co-worker of mine put the role of dieticians best: “They are there to take ice cream away from old men.” Exactly, let’s take all the fun out of food so as to avoid any possible danger from it. I pray that my diet is never controlled by one of them.
Every summer, I make Alton Brown’s Pulled Pork. The meat is tender, juicy, and full of smoky flavor. When teamed up with some nice burger buns, coleslaw, and tangy bbq sauce, you have a perfect summer entree.
The challenges in making this dish are that you are probably dealing with a 6 to 8 pound of pork shoulder (boston butt). That’s a fairly large piece of meat that you need to submerge in the brining liquid. So a large vessel is needed for brining. On top of that, the pork likes to float in the brine instead of sinking. So, ideally your brining container would be small enough where you could wedge the pork against the sides of the container so it would stay completely submerged in the brine but large enough to hold the pork and the brine. Alton suggests using a small cooler. Not a bad solution but one that seems sort of funky to me because it would be difficult to keep the cooler in the fridge. Remember, the pork needs to be in the brine for at least 8 hours and it needs to stay cool. My solution is to use the smallest stockpot I have and weigh down the pork with a plate and a couple of cans. That should be effective.
The rub is something I admit to cheating on. I have not invested in a dedicated spice grinder, although I know I should, and I use bad quality dried herbs and spices. But for a recipe like this, I think a little cheating is OK. Really, after 6 to 8 hours in the smoke, the quality of the herbs and spices in your rub really doesn’t come through as pungently as it would in other, quicker cooking recipes. Don’t think you can do without the rub, however, it turns into a slightly crispy, ultra-flavorful piece of meat that is quite delightful.
Now, cooking. I wrote about my smoking method in an earlier post. All I can say is use really low heat and watch it. You can overcook this meat and get the outside of the pork too crispy. This is undesirable because really good pulled pork is tender, tender, tender. If you think it is getting too crispy, pull it off the smoker, and throw it in your 325 degree oven until it is done. It’s done when the internal temperature is above 160 degrees but, more importantly, the meat is tender and almost (if not all) of the fat and connective tissue in the shoulder have “melted” away. After cooking, cover the meat with foil and let it rest for a half hour.
I know this recipe is an all day affair and is very labor intensive (especially when pulling the pork). But it is worth it. Not only does this dish taste great but there is a real sense of accomplishment when you’re done.
Cooking Terms
Yes, this clip is funny but strangely intriguing. I guess cooks in the 1950’s also didn’t know what basic cooking terms meant (see this post). I also must say that I don’t 100% agree with their definitions of certain cooking terms.
ADDED: Where does one even begin unpacking this little nugget from the 1950’s. It seems to capture every negative and positive stereotype from that era. Obviously, a feminist critique of it would be suitably scathing. The wife is portrayed as a bumbling idiot whose sole purpose in life after marriage is to create an idyllic home life for her husband. So much so that she makes a cake for her spouse for lunch. Who does that???!!!! Also interesting was the fact that the narrator was male while the person demonstrating proper cooking techniques was female. Is it all women who need cooking advice from this benevolent narrator? Also, what’s the deal with the narrator saying, “even Margie” all the time. Is she really that stupid? And nice marital advice, your husband’s first day of work after the honeymoon and you are already encouraged to cover up your mistatkes in the kitchen. Yeah, let’s start keeping secrets early in the marriage-one can’t start that too soon.
But, politics aside, let’s talk about the food. This clip purported to explain a number of cooking terms and it did: cream, stir, beat, fold, boil, soft-ball stage, knead, stew, simmer, braise, dredge, brown, roast, bake, sear, marinate, scald, white sauce, and jelly making. Whew, that’s quite a few cooking concepts to explain in 10 minutes.
What struck me was how poorly all the food looked. The cake was a little lopsided and the frosting was so messy. The braised meats looked like astronaut food. I know some of this has to do with the camera and film quality but considering their cooking methods, I’m not surprised. It brings to mind a book by James Lileks, The Gallery of Regrettable Food (buy here). You won’t believe how poorly food from the 1950’s looked and the ghastly recipes.
I also was struck by the recipe for Scalloped Cauliflower. Why the milk was scalded is beyond me and the incorporation of the milk into the roux (a term the movie did not choose to explain-that’s the fat and flour mixture) was guaranteed to create a lumpy sauce. The cook in the clip didn’t even use a whisk! (Perhaps those did not exist in America then, I suppose, but how do you manage without a whisk?) Plus, I love how the narrator calls for cheese but does not specify what kind of cheese. The whole thing is just so high-flown that the instructions are almost unusuable. No one as idiotic as Margie would be able to make any of those dishes just because she had seen this video. There’s just not enough detail in the clip to provide any sort of real cooking advice.
Finally, I am mystified as to their distinction between the terms braise and stew. Apparently, braising requires a dredge in flour while stewing does not. That distinction just doesn’t do it for me. I am also similarly mystified by their description of marinating. The instruction is to saturate the food you mean to marinade. I found that to be a rather curious term to use becuase, to me, saturation means a lot of liquid in proportion to the amount of food. In fact, there is so much liquid so as to make sure that the food is unable to absord any more liquid. Seems like a poor way to make vegetables-I imagine soggy, over-flavored veggies. Uggghhh.
ADDED: I forgot that Mr. Lileks has some very regrettable food on his website here. Check it out; both for the pictures and the commentary.
The LA Times had a nice article on vinaigrettes. It has some nice recipes and what looks to be a good salmon recipe. But the main reason I posted this link is because I think it is precisely the type of thing that a home cook can do without much trouble at all. It takes next to no time to whip up a vinaigrette that I imagine will be twice as good as any prepared dressing. I think I am going to try the Warm Cider Vinaigrette. I love cider vinegar and a salad of spinach, peppered Billionaire’s Bacon, goat cheese, and homemade croutons sounds wonderful.
If you think you need to increase your dietary bacon intake, here’s a great recipe:
Take one pound of bacon slices and blot dry with paper towels. Then, put 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar into a wide, shallow dish. Place the bacon in the dish and coat both sides with brown sugar, using your fingers to firmly press the sugar onto each strip. Lay the bacon on an oiled, aluminum foil lined cookie sheet. (You could skip the aluminum foil but you might end up buying a new cookie sheet because of the burnt sugar. Also oil the foil, not the cookie sheet.) Cook the bacon in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once. When correctly done, bacon should be brown and lacquered. Transfer to a lightly oiled sheet pan to cool. Inspired by a recipe from Saveur magazine.
What you will end up with is a salty, sweet, and smoky treat. It is so delicious. It’s good enough to eat it on its own but other uses could be a topping for pizza, a salad topper (especially spinach salads), or in a pasta (perhaps with tomatoes, garlic, and some caramelized onions). You could also vary the recipe a bit-add some seaonings to the brown sugar. Coarsely ground black pepper is a natural choice as would be cayenne pepper, cumin, fennel seed, or perhaps even ground mustard (I haven’t tried anything except the black pepper).
One of the surprisingly difficult things for a home cook to master is how to perfectly hard cook eggs. So many times in my life have I seen either slightly underdone eggs or eggs that were so far past done that they were almost inedible. Let me describe a perfect hard-cooked egg: The albumen (white part) should be fully set but tender with a slightly firm bite. The yolk should be fully set as well but only just so. There should be no green on any part of the yolk and it should not be chalky at all. The yolk, when cut, should cut cleanly and stay together but show a little distress on the cut surface. The overall taste of the egg should be one of firm creaminess.
So, how to best achieve this goal? Boiling and all other water methods of cooking eggs, I think, are far too violent to create a perfectly hard-cooked egg. I say violent because of the rapid heat transfer between water and anything it comes into contact with. (You can easily put your hand in a 200 degree oven but you cannot put your hand in a pot of 200 degree water for any amount of time.) The eggs cook so darn fast in hot water that it is difficult to find that perfect time to pull them out. The window of perfectly cooked eggs is small since the cooking process is happening so quickly.
What I do instead (thanks to Alton Brown) is to forget using water altogether. Instead, use your oven and the gentle cooking medium of air. Here’s what I do: Put the oven racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Place the eggs directly on the rack an bake for 30 minutes. After cooking, place in ice water until cool. This method is easy, clean and foolproof. And the eggs are wonderful. Everything I said about perfect hard-cooked eggs above apply to these eggs. Try it out, you won’t be disappointed.
I don’t have this game for the Nintendo Wii and after seeing this, I don’t plan on it anytime soon. What a stupid idea.
Well, is there anything that marijuana can’t do? Check out this link. Apparently pot is illegal in Indonesia but can be used in the kitchen as a seasoning. What if this was commonplace in the U.S.? Do you think there might be some enforcement issues? Would it be safe to have pot in an American kitchen? I can see some problems.
