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chileheadmike

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Posts posted by chileheadmike

    Culinary Signs of the Apocalypse: 2010

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Mozzarella cheese...SUBSTITUTE! Sure, you have to keep production costs low to sell a Totino's Pizza for $1.05, but seriously, mozzarella cheese substitute?!? I think it's made from potato starch, salt, oil and a hint of real cheese. (Full disclosure, Totino's was a childhood favorite of mine/occasional lapse of judgment I would enjoy until I, rather foolishly, read the ingredients.)

    Didn't totino's used to have the "real seal"? What ever happened to that?

    I'll still eat one on occasion, but I would never read the ingredients.

    pig's feet- does anyone like them?

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I have not made them at home but there's a Mexican restaurant in Kansas City KS (El Taco Nazzo) that sells pigs feet tacos. Really, really good. Gelatinous and porky. They serve them on two soft corn tortillas with onion and cilantro, with lime and a firey hot sauce on the side.

    Once-is-Enough Kitchen Feats

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I think I saw this on Great Chefs on New Oleans one time, and I just had to do it.

    I completely boned out a whole chicken while leaving the skin and meat intact, Only the wings and drumstick remained. I then sewed up the neck, stuffed, sewed up the rear, and roasted. It was pretty good, but now I just roast the damn thing and make dressing.

    Mushroom Powder

    in Cooking

    Posted

    At one point I had too many morels (yeah, big problem I know). I cut them in half and dried them then ground them up. I used the resulting powder in my pasta dough and made a sauce out of the rest of the fresh mushrooms with cream and parm.

    Not bat at all.

    Kitchen Adages

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted · Edited by chileheadmike (log)

    A chef I trained under said something to the effect of, "Grease is for cars, this is oil or fat. If you call it Grease, you're fired." That was 30 years ago and the stuff is still called oil or fat.

    Edited Because I can't spell grease.

    Cilantro and chilies and lime, oh my!

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Which other three ingredients would you recommend that The Minimalist use instead?

    That's my point exactly. These "southwestern" flavors have taken over American cuisine to the point where we can't even think of anything else. Corn and tomatoes, of course, are a natural for this combination, but other flavors could be used as well. How about Cajun? Carribbean? Thai? Greek? I think there are probably several other flavor profiles (if that's what you would call it; I'm not sure about the correct use of that term) that I can't even think of because I've never had them... because we've allowed this particular combination to take over our cuisine.

    My point is that we're stuck, and we've been stuck for a number of years, and it's to our detriment. These flavors are lovely and wonderful, and I do like them myself, but I'm very, very tired of seeing them EVERYWHERE. Actually, they are classic, as Katie pointed out, and it's virtually a no-brainer to add them to nearly anything because they can enhance so many foods.

    Quite truthfully, I remember telling a friend of mine back in 1990 that I had stopped reading cooking magazines on an every-month basis, because even then, it seemed that every recipe contained chilies. I had grown tired of these flavors 20 years ago, and I'm still tired of them.

    I probably wouldn't be quite so tired of them if they weren't utterly ubiquitous. It seems to me that we've gotten lazy and we've allowed them to destroy our culinary imaginations.

    Case in point: At the Heartland Gathering, we had a wonderful dinner Friday night at Bluestem. Even though one of the dishes was gazpacho, NONE of the courses we were served that evening contained the cilantro/chilies/lime combination. (You can imagine how grateful I was!) We did have an incredible fish course, which consisted of a Hawaiian walu, vaquero beans (which I'd never had before, and which were just wonderful), and a lemon verbena broth which was so delicious, many of us picked up our bowls and drank the last of it straight out of the bowl. This is a wonderful example of how we can enjoy even a fish-and-beans combination WITHOUT incorporating our current go-to, habitual flavors.

    There are many, many wonderful flavors out there, and it's a shame we're not enjoying them.

    Lemon verbena broth? With beans? Not black beans, but vaquero beans! Who'da thunk it? Thank God Colby Garrelts did. He'll forever have a special place in my heart.

    And then some knucklehead comes up with a green chile risotto for the main event.

    :laugh:

    Report: 2009 Heartland Gathering in Kansas City

    in The Heartland: Dining

    Posted · Edited by chileheadmike (log)

    I don’t think anyone has mentioned the impromptu lunch some of us had at El Camino Real in KCK. I mentioned that my daughter and I were “heading over to the “Dotte for some tacos”. There sure were a lot or me too’s. Aaron and I discussed the merits of Laura’s, El Taco Nazzo, and El Comino Real and decided on the later. Good choice, it may in fact have better tacos than my favorite El Taco Nazzo. May.

    First off they press and grill the tortillas to order, which is awesome. Between about 12 of us we had

    Al pastor

    Cabeza

    Carnitas

    Lengue

    Some sort of Mexican sausage that I can't remember (not chorizo)

    Pescado

    The Al pastor were great, grilled on a vertical spit with a pinapple on top and sliced like gyro meat.

    Cabeza were also great, beefy gelatinous goodness

    The canritas were good but the Cabeza and Al Pastor were tough competition.

    My daughter had the Pescado, a whole filet grilled and chopped up. She really enjoyed it.

    Sad to say I didn't have any of the sausage, but those who did really enjoyed it.

    It was pretty funny watching a bunch of white guys with cameras running around the place taking pictures of everything and the staff looking at us like WTF? But they seemed to enjoy our enthusiasm as much as we enjoyed the tacos.

    ETA, they served the tacos with separate sides of chopped onion, cilantro, a pico di gallo, and a hot sauce in a squeeze bottle. Niether the pico nor the hot sauce had much of a punch, my only dissapointment. I mean even my daughter thought it was on the mild side.

    Report: 2009 Heartland Gathering in Kansas City

    in The Heartland: Dining

    Posted · Edited by chileheadmike (log)

    OK, I'll start

    Roasted Green Chile Risotto

    1.5 Boxes Arborio Rice

    5 Poblano Chiles

    5 Anaheim Chiles

    1 Jalapeno Chiles

    1 Onion

    2-3 Cloves Garlic

    6-8 Tomatillos

    Ground Cumin

    Dried Whole Leaf Oregano

    Ground Coriander

    Olive Oil

    Salt

    Pepper

    Chicken Stock

    Roast chiles on a grill until all of the skin is blackened. Place in a covered plastic container until cool. Peel off the skin, slit them open and scrape out the seeds. I do not rinse.

    Dice the chiles

    Peel the paper off of the tomatillos and quarter

    Peel the garlic and smash

    Add tomatillos and garlic to blender and blend until smooth

    Heat stock season with salt, you want the stock simmering but not boiling

    Heat heavy Dutch oven over medium heat

    Add olive oil to coat bottom of pan

    Add diced onion with a little salt

    Once onion is translucent (about 15 minutes on med-low) add spices

    Stir for 1 minute

    Add tomatillo/garlic mixture and continue stirring until most of the liquid has cooked out.

    Add diced green chiles

    Add rice and stir

    Begin to add stock 1 ladle at a time and stir constantly

    Stir until liquid has been absorbed

    Add another ladle of stock and continue to stir

    Repeat

    At about the 10 minute mark, taste the rice and adjust the stock for salt. Rice will not be done, but you’re just checking for salt.

    Continue to add stock and stir until rice is tender. About 20 minutes in all.

    You may add butter or cheese to complete. Cilantro may be added at the end as well.

    Report: 2009 Heartland Gathering in Kansas City

    in The Heartland: Dining

    Posted

    I wrote up a quick review of the barbecue joints we visited today. Please feel free to correct and/or add

    Bryant's.18th and Brooklyn. Meh. Ok I guess. Ribs were fine, tender and juicy. Brisket was OK, not much in the way of smoke flavor. Burnt ends were chopped finely and too much sauce, but were tender and pretty good.

    LC's Blue Parkway and Sni A Bar. Their burnt ends are the best food on the planet. Ribs were good. Pork was sliced and very good. Brisket was good as well. The out of town people liked this place the best. The beans were a big hit here as well.

    Oklahoma Joes. 47th and Mission. Brisket was very very good. Lots of flavor and very tender. Onion rings were a big hit. Pulled pork was smokey and tender, porkey goodness. I had Zman (sliced brisket, provelone, barbebcue sauce, and onion rings). Pretty good sandwich and the onion rings do make it. I still have a cheese/barbecue aversion though.

    Woodyard Somewhere on Merriam Drive. I didn't eat much here. I had a bite of salmon that was very good. And 1 rib that had great flavor and subtle smoke. The beans weren't much more than Van Camps. There was some corn that everyone seemed to like a lot. The owner, Frank, came out to talk with everyone and had some great stories to tell. Really a lot of fun and I'll be back when I'm not already loaded up on 'cue.

    Top Chef Season 5

    in Food Media & Arts

    Posted

    One wonders how last night might have turned out if the knife choosing had gone differently. If you assume that last night's sous were all competent at prep work, Richard's real value would have been moral support for whoever he worked with. IIRC, the times last year when Richard faltered, he faulted himself for not sticking with his strengths (which, I'd argue, are not avant-garde techniques but imagination, wit and precision) and choking in the finale. 

    At one point, Hosea said something like "Venison. That's my food" -- given Richard's experience, I'd be surprised if hadn't encouraged Hosea in that conviction. If Carla had ended up with Richard instead, her meal might have been quite different -- more of her, and better executed.

    I get the feeling Carla would have chosen Casey if she had drawn first. But with a different sous, I think she could have pulled off the win. No way would she sous vide anything. Seems that experimenting in the finals loses finals.

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