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David Ross

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  1. I'm lazy tonight. On the drive home I started going through my mind all the possibilities of dinner with what I had in the refrigerator. Oh yeah, that braised chicken I made Sunday night. The leftover bit of cream of chicken soup, (and in the cupboard a can of cream of celery soup). Now I seem to remember I had both half and half and a bit of cream, some shredded cheese. Hmmm, maybe a casserole? Maybe a rice casserole? It won't take long to boil the rice and add all the other stuff, I could have a casserole ready in an hour...and lots of leftovers for lunches. I've always been in love with rice casseroles. My favorite-the "Hellsapoppin" that my Mother made and took to holiday potluck suppers. Hellsapoppin was a classic of the 50's and 60's. A combination of cooked rice, a box of frozen chopped spinach, grated cheddar cheese, melted margarine, Worcestershire sauce and seasoned with salt, pepper and dried marjoram. Mother added some chopped canned water chestnuts for texture. Certainly we all have some type(s) of rice in our pantry. What is your favorite classic rice casserole?
  2. Tonight I prepared a filet of monkfish using the pan saute/oven-roast method. The filet was almost 2" thick. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and then sauteed in olive oil in a hot pan on the stovetop for about 6 minutes. Into a 425 oven for another 10 minutes. During the last 4 minutes I added some salted butter to the pan and spooned the butter over the filet as it finished roasting. Monkfish is a bit testy when it comes to determining doneness-it has a texture and flavor like lobster and it just won't taste well if it's not done, but turns rubbery if overcooked. I use the old-fashioned poke with the finger test for doneness. The fish comes to the table with a hint of browning and crispness on the outside yet fully roasted on the inside. The other components of the dish were red chard sauteed with bacon and shallots, fried shallots and a blood-orange vinaigrette. I added some shallots to the roasting pan, deglazed with white wine and then some blood orange balsamic vinegar. A douse of blood orange juice and a knob of butter to finish, with a garnish of tangerine supremes. I wasn't sure how a sweet and sour orange vinaigrette would work with monkfish but it was delicious-the perfect foil for the buttery fish.
  3. Tonight I'm going to be cooking a nice, thick, filet of monkfish. My preferred method for cooking thick cuts of meat, (be it pork, seafood, beef or lamb), is to first saute over fairly high heat on the stovetop and then finish the cooking process in a hot oven. It seems to be a failsafe way to insure that I get a nice sear on the meat and then roasted to the desired doneness in the oven with little work. Do you get good results with the saute/oven-roast method?
  4. Great questions, thanks. As for my background, no, I am not a "professional" chef. I'm what I would describe as a very studied self-taught home cook. And while I've cooked and worked in restaurant kitchens, I've never done so professionally. I'm an average guy with a day job that happened to find a love in food and cooking, and that led me to cooking on television-which has led to me writing about food, cooking and dining. Unlike most people who find a career in television, I didn't start in a small market and then go Hollywood. I actually started my stint in tv by entering a competition that was filmed in Hollywood and ran nationally on PBS-"MasterChef USA." Years before there was "Top Chef" on Bravo, "Iron Chef America" on Food Network, and the abysmal "Hell's Kitchen" on Fox, "MasterChef" on the BBC was the pre-eminent cooking competition on television-with competitions for both professionals and amateurs. The BBC brought "MasterChef" to PBS in 1999 and thus began the competition to name America's top "amateur chef." I happened to catch an episode of Season One of "MasterChef USA," and at the end of the program, I decided to write to the producer's for information about the competition. The competition format for “MasterChef USA” began with written entries. About 20 of the written recipes were selected and the "chefs" were invited to regional cook-offs where three would be selected to be a part of the show. The final group of 26 amateur cooks from around the country came together in Los Angeles for filming a 13-week competition. After 12 weeks of eliminations, I “survived” as one of the top three contestants that would go on to vie for the title of “MasterChef USA,” in the 13th and final episode. You can read about my adventures and travails on “MasterChef USA” on PBS by going to these links: http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_1.htm http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_2.htm http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_3.htm http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...asterchef_4.htm After starting my television cooking career on PBS at such a lofty level, I guess there was one direction to go-back down the media ladder to cooking on local television. But I wouldn’t call it a fall from grace. Rather, after my fast start on PBS, I returned to my roots and found a home cooking on local television in Spokane. I didn't know "who can talk to who"-I didn't know a producer, director or cameraman. I just sent them a letter telling them my story and they responded by inviting me to come cook on "Sunday Morning Northwest." Once I settled in at KXLY, I discovered a respect and admiration for sharing the craft of cooking through the intriguing medium of television. I don’t think I would have found that same appreciation had I gone directly from “MasterChef USA” to become the star of a cooking program on the biggest food network on cable television. One could say that in my case, being humbled by starting big and then finding my way back home became a gift. KXLY-ABC 4 in Spokane, 1950’s television studio architecture at its best-- We tried to vary the people who came on the show to present a dish. One week I might be showing the viewers how to mash potatoes, then the next week it might be the junior winner of the Hershey's baking chocolate competition at the fair. The next week might showcase a local Chef cooking a specialty from their restaurant, or a group from a local Church promoting a Holiday cookie drive. That variety of cooks, chefs, kids and just plain people who liked a good molasses crinkle cookie is part of what makes live, local television so fun and memorable. After a lot of work, I've finally begun the task of putting my shows up on You Tube. This is the first appearance on MasterChef USA on PBS back in 2001 cooking in the Northwest Regional Round. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImOogN6SLCw
  5. Back to the kitchen? To the library? Out for a bike ride? Watch less tv and do stuff? Read internet forums? Cooking shows were created for housewives who were home in the afternoon (before there was cable and VCRs) and were expected to cook. It's not too surprising that there are fewer of those shows as that demographic shrinks relative to the overall population. Now we have cable and DVRs and DVDs and video on demand and everything else: we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want. Everyone wants speed, convenience, entertainment, and vicarious thrills. It's on commercial tv, so it's driven by ads, which mostly means processed foods and family restaurants. They're not going to promote shows that say those things aren't needed. They want you to believe that cooking is best left to professionals and people in places you might never visit. As someone who has had the wonderful opportunity to cook on local, (and live), television and on PBS (national), I have a measure of experience to draw upon when these questions arise. You can read about my adventures cooking on television, here. Yet I think we have to have a respect for the history and tradition of where cooking on television began in order to judge where it is leading in the future. When you reflect upon the history of cooking on television up to the present day, I think you gain a greater appreciation and respect for the foundation the early cooks like Julia built, yet at the same time you don't rue the huge impact that the Food Network has had on television cooking programming in more modern times. Commercial television is a whole different ballgame than the cooking programs you see on PBS. As a traditionalist and a teacher, I of course find a comfortable home both cooking on and watching television programs on PBS. When the motivation is to teach first rather than be pushed by the rush to garner ratings points for advertisers, it allows for both the cook and the viewer to express their pure creativity and share the pleasure of food and cooking. Julia set that standard, and I should like to think the quality of her work lives on today in the minds of the cooks who appear on the cooking programming you see on PBS. True, the audience for the early cooking programs on television were primarily women as they held the vast majority of the demographic that did the cooking in the home and, by turn, women were the target audience of the advertisers. The early network morning shows were often sponsored by, (or the cooking segements were sponsored by), a food-related product. Much like the "Texaco Star Theater," program hosted by Milton Berle, cooking segments may have been sponsored by one advertiser, say "Elsie the Cow and Borden Milk." A local segement in Portland, Oregon, may have been sponsored by Alpenrose Dairy. The other fact to remember is that a number of the early cooking shows and segments appeared on the morning shows, which served as lead-ins to draw viewers to other programs on the networks. That basic format still follows today. The Today Show on NBC has a variety of lifestyle segments, including cooking, that are smattered throughout the show with news updates and interviews. But the primary format of the morning shows is to give a lure to the viewers to watch other NBC programming. For example you'll be given a two-minute tidbit on a consumer fraud story thinking you'll get more only to find Matt Lauer remind you to tune in at 9pm that evening for the full story on Dateline NBC. Of course, those early cooking shows on television were primarily geared toward selling a product, be it a cookbook, local event or coconut cream pie made with Elsie's condensed milk. The products are different today, but the format, selling something and using cooking as the vehicle, is the same as it was 50 years ago. The advent of cable opened a whole new window for cooks in terms of the variety of cooking programs on television, and, whether serious home cooks choose to admit it or not, the Food Network is largely responsible for the continuing popularity of cooking programming. Yes, they introduced us to the inane, sophmoric grammar of Ms. Rachel Ray and the grating laugh of Ms. Deen. But at the same time, Food Network turned on a whole new audience to cooking "meals in 30 minutes" and "gooey butter cake." As Martha would say, "that's a good thing." And then we evoled into another new world of cooking related media being sent via iPhones and YouTube--a "quick fix" if you will for a new generation of cooks whose patience doesn't allow waiting for, (and watching), a Saturday morning run of cooking programming on their local PBS Station. (Not to mention the suffering one endures during the annual Spring pledge break). PBS doesn't live alone in the world of quality television cooking programs today. There are a number of quality cooking programs that are currently running on the Cooking Channel and other cable networks also have and will offer quality cooking programs geared toward serious cooks. "Cooking with Heart and Soul" featuring Kylie Kwong, (Style Network, 2003), was a television cooking program with the passion and educational benefits of a program on PBS, yet with up-close, highly defined camera work showcasing exotic ingredients and a cool vibe and contemporary music to accent the cooking. That's not the typical style you'll see on PBS but cable networks are pulling it together today. And yes, we have Martha on Lifetime, in my view the leader of the pack in terms of the quality of what she teaches and how she teaches it. Her recipes are far less complicated than they were ten years ago, (not as many fussy dishes with foie gras and truffles), and her passion and fun in the kitchen shows through. So here we are today--a bowl of something for everyone, with every type of lettuce, radish, onion, vinegar, salt and pepper tossed in the salad. And a delicious salad it is. A taste for every palate if you will. One can only wonder what the future holds, and far be it from me to even venture into offering a prediction. (I don't own a cell phone if that gives you a clue). For me personally, my viewers and the people who I know share the same passion and joy that comes from cooking, I think the old guard will still stand, (PBS and some cooking on local television), while the e-applications will take the forefront. Who knows, maybe we will see "Modernist Cuisine" with Nathan coming to a station near you soon. (And a mobile application).
  6. A bottle of Grey Goose and a bottle of Old Ezra 101 proof Kentucky Bourbon. I usually buy Maker's Mark, but thought I'd break away this time. Haven't tried the Old Ezra yet.
  7. Nearly as bad as Bitchin Kitchen on Cooking Channel. Nearly.
  8. David Ross

    Fish Sticks

    I like two brands-Trident Seafood and Ocean Beauty, both based in Seattle. We can buy Trident brand at some markets in the Northwest and at Costco. Ocean Beauty is more widely available in supermarkets. Both companies offer a variety of frozen seafood, but I especially like their "fish sticks" made with Alaskan Halibut.
  9. Of the many things that both my Mother and Father taught me how to cook- -Bacon. Yes, Mother taught me how to fry bacon. And one of my fondest food memories is that little tin can of bacon grease she kept on the counter. Owing in part to the German butcher where Mother bought her bacon, (thick, meaty and smoky), her bacon was always crisp yet never dried out. -Deviled Eggs and Hot Crab Dip. My Father taught me how to make deviled eggs using a recipe handed down from his Mother. He said he used to "dress-up" the eggs by adding some cayenne pepper or tabasco. And he always made a delicious hot crab dip during the Holidays using the first of the season Dungeness Crab we got off the Oregon Coast. He mixed it with cream cheese, mayonnaise, sliced almonds, green onions and lots of Worcestershire sauce. I was good hot, but even better when we ate it cold the next day on saltine crackers.
  10. Top Chef did come out after the original Iron Chef series and history actually records that cooking competitions on television, (i.e. Art Linkletter doing interviews of contestants at the Pillsbury Bake-off in the early days of television), are not a new concept. However, it seems to me that in this case, Top Chef All Stars and Chopped: All Stars are incredibly close together in terms of format and timing.
  11. This morning I came across the new iteration of "Chopped" on Food Network-"Chopped: All-Stars." The Chefs included Robert Irvine, Anne Burrell and Duff Goldman, all Food Network "Stars" with their own shows. (You can read our discussion of Chopped: All-Stars here). After just a few minutes, a thought that has been at the back of my mind came to the forefront-is this another woeful attempt by Food Network to rip-off Bravo's "Top Chef?" I've been thinking about this issue for some time now and it seems as though "Chopped" and "The Next Food Network Star" are incredibly similar to "Top Chef." Is it just a coincidence? Is it a case of "we were first," or "no you weren't, we had the idea first?" Is Food Network tagging on to the success of Top Chef on Bravo along with a few jabs of "in your face?" While I'm not always fawning over "Top Chef" and I supply plenty of criticism for the often inane challenges they present to the cheftestants, (go here for a review of our current discussion of Top Chef All-Stars), at least a see some quality on Top Chef in terms of the Chefs in the competition, the level of the elimination challenges and the level of the judges on the panel. Seems like Food Network is just lagging way, way behind in terms of copying Bravo. What do you think? Is the "reality" of the situation that Food Network ripped off ideas from Bravo?
  12. The other day I set out on a quest for some curing salt to use in a brine for corned beef. I typically buy my curing salt at one of two different large outdoor/sporting goods stores that are part of national chains. The two stores I visited have a focus on fishing and hunting. Typically outdoor stores have a large selection of different curing salts, brine mixes and spices. All I wanted was a small packet of curing salt, but everything on display came in a large box-curing salt, spice mix and in some cases, sausage casings included. Defeated, I stopped at a local grocery store to see if in a last ditch effort they had curing salt available. There, on the bottom shelf in the spice section was a display of bags of Morton "Tender Quick." I read the instructions, seemed simple enough. The ingredients were what I was looking for, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. Everything was in a 2lb. bag and it was far cheaper than the curing salt and brine mixes at the outdoor stores. I'm planning on using the Tender Quick to make corned beef, maybe a ham this Spring. Have you had any experience with using Morton Tender Quick?
  13. I once saw a television interview with Julia Child where she admitted to a fondness for Cheetos Cheese Puffs. I'm sure it raised some eyebrows from the food elite who probably felt it sacrilegious that a noted French Cookbook Author would gorge on commercial cheese puffs. Personally, I don't think one's personal indulgences frame who they are as a cook or Chef. Have you heard of other Chefs who have a guilty pleasure for junk food? Would Thomas Keller even eat a Dorito?
  14. David Ross

    Bacon Bits

    Like a lot of us, I keep the odd bottle or bag of commercial bacon bits in the door of the fridge for emergencies, or, like tonight, when I'm lazy. Tonight I'm making some stuffed, baked potatoes but I didn't want to take the time to saute some real bacon and then break it into bits. I'm using Hormel brand "Real" bacon bits with 50% less fat "than USDA Data for Pan-Fried Bacon." They actually taste o.k., albeit a bit heavy on the salt and I don't mind the fake smoke flavor. My main problem is that the bacon is almost ground rather than cut into bits, and the whole lot sort of clumps together. I'm sure it will be passable for tonight's potatoes. Are there any decent commercial brands of bacon bits out there?
  15. I'm starting to think about this year's Easter Ham. For a few years I've been toying with the idea of braising the ham in Coke. (Pepsi not allowed). I've seen a number of recipes that call for either braising the ham in Coke, or glazing the ham with a paste made with Coke and brown Sugar. Have you ever cooked a ham with Coke? Is it best to use a basic smoked, bone-in ham or will a real Kentucky "country ham" work?
  16. Speaking as a consumer, it's not at all hard for me to see Subway surpass McDonald's in terms of the perception of the quality of the food. Subway hit on what would become a trend by turning away from burgers and fries, (i.e. Quizno's, Qdoba), and going with sandwiches which, for the most part, are perceived as "healthier." The advertising campaigns that one could lose weight while still eating "fast food" certainly were a boost to their business. It seems as though McD's was slow to get on the bandwagon with revising their menu and scuffing away the beef fat for the fries. While I will forever crave a Big Mac, I'd choose Subway twice over McD's.
  17. David Ross

    Dinner! 2011

    Short Ribs with Crispy Potato Pancakes- This is a very easy recipe that works well for both short ribs and pot roast or any cut from the chuck. It's best to start the day before service so the ribs have time to braise, settle and then come back to heat. Just season the short ribs with salt and pepper, dust with flour then sear in oil in a casserole pot until browned. Remove the short ribs and in the pot add carrot, celery, onion and garlic and saute until tender. Add some bay leaf, peppercorns and maybe some allspice berries. Add a few tablespoons of flour and stir to coat. Add red wine, beef stock and some tomato paste. Rest the short ribs on top of the vegetable mixture, cover and oven-braise at 250 for about 8 hours. Cool, then the day of service bring back to heat in a 300 oven. Skim the sauce and serve. The potato pancakes aren't the traditional version. I used mashed potatoes mixed with chopped onion, form them into little patties, dip in egg then dip in panko and fry until brown. Sorry, forget to give you a photo of how tender the meat was when I tucked into it. I was so hungry after waiting two days for these short ribs I couldn't resist.
  18. Asparagus. It's "pointless" to even buy and even more inane to cook with shriveled, "unfresh" asparagus.
  19. Are we confirmed for August 4-7? I'm ready to look at making some reservations for my flights and hotel. Any suggestions on a primary hotel for those of us coming from out of town?
  20. Spaghetti Carbonara Spaghetti (although any dried pasta you have in the cupboard will work) Bacon Egg Parmesan Butter If you have it and want it: Parsley Cream
  21. I guess we've both been unlucky. The profiteroles at Bouchon in Las Vegas, (which some rave about), fall into the C- category. The pastry is properly baked and is light yet has a delicate crunch. No problems there. Yet everytime I've ordered the profiteroles the ice cream has been hard as a rock, a texture that basically creates a cement ball that rolls out of the pastry. Then they drench the whole lot with hot chocolate sauce and the pastry gets soggy but the ice cream cement is still hard as a rock. I've had the dish more than a few times and always been disappointed.
  22. So true, and the association between modern cuisine and art is also comparable to American "Modernist" painters like Frank Stella, Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock whose works were initially written-off by formal critics in a manner similar to the criticism that the French Impressionists received a generation earlier.
  23. Today the IACP, (International Association of Culinary Professionals), announced their 2011 Award Nominees. Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table," is a finalist in the Food Photography and Styling category. The full list of award finalists can be found here.
  24. I have a number of books by Beard in my personal collection. The most cherished cookbook being a first edition of "The Fireside Cookbook," Simon and Schuster, 1949. It's a special family heirloom if you will because it was my Grandmother's-who shared her strong Oregon heritage with Mr. Beard, also a native Oregonian. This is what Beard wrote about Globe Artichokes in 1949- "The globe-sometimes called the French-artichoke is in reality the bud of a thistle-like flower which is as decorative as the bud is palatable." Imagine such creative writing about an artichoke some 62 years ago.
  25. While the sense of smell may be the primary facet of our overall sensory experiences, one could argue that strong scents like fresh-cut grass could overpower the subtle aroma, (and consequently the taste), of a fresh, local, seasonal tomato. I agree that innovative Chefs like Grant could find a measure of success in experimenting with "enhancing" the flavor of a local, seasonal tomato by first presenting the diner with the scent of the Earth from which the tomato was grown. Yes, that would be an interesting concept to explore and to compare the local tomato to the super-hydro-flavorless tomato. In the end, it seems to me that one shouldn't have to resort to experimentation in either masking or enhancing any sense to replicate what Mother Nature gives us naturally each season.
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