Wolfert
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Posts posted by Wolfert
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There are many cookbooks written in Turkish, a language I don't read, but given the size of these Turkish cookbooks, I venture that we are not being introduced to the full range of Turkish cooking by those writing in English.
I couldn't agree with you more. I think I have all the books you listed plus quite a few more. They all present more or less the same recipes. Only the Halici book presents a few new ones and is worth tracking down
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There are hundreds of regional cookbooks being published in Turkey. They include recipes never published in English. I've tried to help some of the writers get published in the States, but no one wants to think outside of the box and take a chance. This isn't just the fault of American and British publishers, a lot of Turks are all bound up in their own "palace" history with tunnel vision based on their 500 year empire. So you end up with yet another collection similar to ones already published.
There is so much more. I just published a story in the July issue of Food and Wine about a very interesting chef based in Istanbul and his view of Anatolian cooking. He focuses on regional dishes from all over Turkey, and he sees the contribution of Iran, the Balkans, the Caucausus and beyond in the country as well. As far as he is concerned it is all Turkish! Chef Musa is fascinated by the diversity of the cuisines of the Anatolian people which includes Kurds, Greek, Jewish, Armenian, Iraqi, and Arab.
His recipes are really wonderful.
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Thanks, Fifi.
Actually, this is no free lunch. It isn't easy to find muscovy or mulard ducks nor is it that easy to find cepes in mid june, thus my hysterical call for help.
Actually, after reading all your postings I think you would like this book.
It has been put out of print by my publishers, but it is still available here and there. You'll probably find it at the library or via bookfinders.com or half.com.
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[quote=. I want to try Chicken stuffed with Almond Paste, but my fiance doesn't like marzipan. Paula, if you are reading this, how sweet is this recipe and does it taste like marzipan? He does like almonds. quote
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It is sweet dish, but it isn't as strong as marizpan. I suggest you try the fish stuffed with prunes first which is a winner then if he likes that one then slowly ease into the fish with almonds.
I want to say thanks to all for being so enthusiastic about the recipes in my latest book. Since you all seem to enjoy testing recipes, please let me know if you'd like to test some for the upcoming revision of my "The Cooking of Southwest France."
This book, which came out in 1981, won lots of awards, and most everyone loved the recipes, but (a Big BUT) it was written before moulard ducks, fresh foie gras, fresh porcini, pancetta and too lean pork were readily available.
I usually test my recipes three times, but this time I could use some help as the manuscript is due in late September. So here's my proposal: if you're interested in participating, I promise that your name will appear in the acknolwledgemnts in a paragraph devoted to the egulleteer commando group, and that I will send you a signed copy of the new edition of the book expressing my gratitude for your help.
If you are interested, please contact me by PM and I'll send you a short list of recipes to choose from. After you test the recipe, I'll need your honest opinion and any suggestions. I can't promise that I'll go along with your ideas, but will appreciate them and consider them. Thanks for your interest!
Paula
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By any chance was the green called snan? In Morocco, we used to gather glassul, a type of glasswort, on the rocks along the atlantic. I think it was called snan in the middle east.
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In Turkey and the middle east you find pickles made from certain thymes and oreganos. See page 147 in my eastern mediterranean cookbook for a recipe using the oregano pickle (imported by Baroodi, and available at kalustyans) in a salad with fresh tomatoes and onions.
Actually, it isn't organo at all, it is thymba spicata, a pungent assertive herb that is often confused with herbs in the same thyme, oregano, marjoram, savory family.
You can grow your own thymba spicata by purchasing plants from well sweep herb farm in new jersey.
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I personally think you have to use bee's wax if you are using copper or silicon to get a crusty exterior. I have tried baking the canneles in the nordic ware when I first started on my search but I baked t hem at 400 or 425 (I can't remember). Amazingly , I got a really nice black crust without the beeswax, but the shape wasn't traditional so I moved on to copper molds.
BTW:You can find bee's wax at farmer's markets wherever honey is sold.
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To get the creamy interior you simply need to mix the butter with the cake flour rather than with the milk.
The canneles in Bordeaux are blacker than the ones you made in the nordicware. I would bake them at a higher temperature so you can get that caramelized black crust which is traditional. Note the photo to the left.
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I have found that when I saute a large amount of leafy greens, there are basically five ways to get them down to manageable size so they'll fit into my skillet: (1) hand-chop them, then let them sit awhile in a ceramic colander to wilt; (2) parboil them, drain, squeeze and saute; (3) wilt them by the handful with just the water clinging to their leaves then squeeze them dry and saute ; (4) steam them, drain, squeeze and saute; (5) put them in a ceramic colander, sprinkle with salt, toss, then leave them for an hour while they express their surface moisture. Rinse off the salt and squeeze dry before sauteeing. All of the methods will reduce leafy greens to about one quarter their bulk. My favorite method is the last, a method I learned in the eastern mediterranean. It is particularly good when preparing greens for pies. In all cases the greens keep their color, flavor and nutrients.
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If we had known enough to worry about it, would the danger of salmonella have been present then? or is that a more recent phenomenon, perhaps related to GM feeds and other such marvelous "improvements" in agribusiness?
Salmonella is said to die at 150 to 155 over a period of a few hours. (One hour in an egg. thus my one-hour 3 minute egg.)
Actually, I wasn't worried about salmonella, I was worried about cooking meat and poultry at "the constant low temperature of a pilot light in a warming oven" i.e. 165 degrees. I didn't own a gas oven so I couldn't test it. It made me very uneasy. On the other hand, she later suggests , you can roast a solid or unstuffed piece of meat or poultry in a 300 degree oven for an hour to kill surface bacteria. That's when I went ahead and used her ideas and had fantastic results.
pg 56 Let's cook it Right. Adelle Davis
1970 Harcourt Brace
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Wolfert is an admirer of Davis' work, but she cautions against using some of Davis' methods today, because some of these slow cooking techniques can result in massive bacterial growth. Some of the recipes in Wolfert's book attempt to get Davis' results without some of the dangers.
I admire Wolfert, but I'm always a little suspicious, on general principle, of cautions against bacteria. I mean, why "today"?
Adelle Davis was right concerning her temperatures and timings for poultry and meat. Long cooking, low temperature (LTLT) is accepted by the scientific community. The problem rests with the uncalibrated ovens, crummy thermometers and impatient cooks out there. What if someone with a damaged immune system was given some chicken that was cooked at too low a temperature? I just don't know.
by the way, this is a terrific blog.
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Tiny pouches of brioche stuffed with bits of bone marrrow, grated horseradish and snipped chives and baked until golden brown and puffed -----a wonderful accompaniment to a pot au feu or to serve with drinks.
Makes 15
3/4 pound brioche doubh
3 3-inch marrow bones
1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish
salt and pepper
egg glaze for the brioche
Divide doubh into 15 equal pieces, each the size of a walnut. Pat into 1 1/2 inch rounds. Curve each into a small cup and drop in a seasoned marrow cube.Close up, let rise for 30 minutes, glaze and bake in a 375 oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.
from Pleasures of Cooking Vol 11 No 4, 1979
Brioche and its many uses by Paula Wolfert
This is probably a silly question but here goes anyway...
How does one get from "3 3-inch marrow bones" to "seasoned marrow cubes"?
Thanks!
I'm sorry.
Have the butcher saw the marrow bones for you.
Wash the bones under running water; place in a bowl, cover with warm water, and let soak 2 to 3 minutes. Drain. Using a skewer, loosen the marrow from the bone. Push the marrow out in whole pieces and drop them in to a bowl of cold salted water. Let stand overnight in the refrigerator. This will allow the marrow to rid itself of any blood.
Drain the marrow; divide into 3/8 inch cubes, toss the cubes with horseradish, snipped chives and black pepper. and fill the dough as I described above.
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Tiny pouches of brioche stuffed with bits of bone marrrow, grated horseradish and snipped chives and baked until golden brown and puffed -----a wonderful accompaniment to a pot au feu or to serve with drinks.
Makes 15
3/4 pound brioche doubh
3 3-inch marrow bones
1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish
salt and pepper
egg glaze for the brioche
Divide doubh into 15 equal pieces, each the size of a walnut. Pat into 1 1/2 inch rounds. Curve each into a small cup and drop in a seasoned marrow cube.Close up, let rise for 30 minutes, glaze and bake in a 375 oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.
from Pleasures of Cooking Vol 11 No 4, 1979
Brioche and its many uses by Paula Wolfert
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What's all this worrying about "juice loss"? If your scallop is moist and tasty why should you worry about a little juice on the plate? Searing is NOT sealing (see McGee et al) and anything you cook in this high temperature fashion will leak a little if left to rest, even steaks.
As others have said if your scallops are the correct size then a minute or less per side is ideal, and this also works for frozen, thawed and dried scallops, not just "fresh out of the sea" one. If your scallops are too big for this then you should either consider cutting them or using a different cooking method.
When you let scallops rest after sauteeing (and in this case I let them rest in a slow oven on a rack) they turn out fabulously succulent. You just don't get this incredible texture with the ordinary quick searing method.
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i dont know how old this concept is, but i have been doing it in one form or another for AT LEAST twenty years maybe 25...
I think brie in brioche is an old recipe. There is a variation in southwest france called Le Gatis which combine Cantal and Roquefort cheeses.
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slow cooking at a low temperature does take longer to execute, but the results are exceptional.
At 250 or 275, the scallops are more or less "on hold" as they slowly finish cooking. BTW, I was referring to really large diver or day boat scallops and a total of 2 minutes wouldn't be enough to cook them through.
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Is there a reason that I have to finish them in the oven as opposed to letting them cook through after I turn them on the skillet?
Yes, it allows the outside of the scallops to dry just enough to hold in all the juices. AT the same time cooking at a low temperature not only allows the scallops to remain very juicy but extremely tender. I think this two step method is worth trying.
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I'm wondering if you are using defrosted scallops.
For large sea scallops, this is the way I would do it:wash and dry the scallops; remove the tough muscle; and keep chilled.
About twenty minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
About ten minutes before serving, set a large skillet over medium high heat and when hot, add enough oil to coat the bottom and heat. Season the scallops and brown, about l minute to a side. Be sure to leave room between the scallops to avoid steaming them.
Set on a cake rack in a shallow pan, arrange the scallops about 1/2 inch apart and finish their cooking in the oven.
Meanwhile, throw out the oil and finish making a pan sauce with the brown scrapings.
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Try searing large sea scallops in a hot skillet then transferring them to a cake rack set over a pan to finish cooking in a slow oven. You can make a sauce with the pan scrapings.
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used to make my own marzipan and freeze it in logs to use in Moroccan pastries like "the snake" that I made while catering ... but, if left in the freezer for too long, the taste can dissipate and weaken .. too long being a year, when I misplaced it in the deep dark recesses of my freezer!
ii HAVE NEVER STORED MARZIPAN OR ALMOND PASTE THAT LONG, BUT i WOULD THINK YOU COULD SPIKE UP THE FLAVOR WITH A FEW DROPS OF BITTER ALMOND.
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Chef, Mary Dumont, at Sonoma Saveurs, told me the newspaper reports are not quite reporting the whole story: seems the state of Califoernia will spend 5 years finding some other "humane way" to fatten the livers of ducks while the raising and sale of foie gras continues. Hurrah for freedom of choice.
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ıf ıt smells great ı doubt there are any buggıes ın your jar of preserved lemons.
By the way, preserved lemons are used uncooked ın salads, tto. Just be sure to wash off all the salty brıne and remove the pulp. You can use the pulp for marınatıng ıf you wısh.
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you wash the lemons twıce
fırst tıme ıs before you brıne them to soften the skın and remove any anımal peeö etc as lısted above.
you must wash off the salty brıne before usıng or you wıll alter the recıpe.
Turkish cookbooks
in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking
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