eG Foodblog: Chris Hennes (2012) - Chocolate, Tamales, Modernism, etc.

[Chris Hennes]

I missed the lasagna entirely. Where'd it go?

I missed it too! The bolognese and bechamel are both made, but I have to put together the pasta this morning: theory says it's for dinner tonight, but only if I don't bork the pasta again.

[avaserfi]

Onions poached in butter for two hours? Delicious. I expect they would be pretty caramelized. Mix up a quick French Onion soup?

Ever wonder how restaurants get pureed soups so silken and smooth? It's because they're using a high powered pro blender.

Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill.

We never bother. A high powered blender is more than sufficient assuming everything is cooked properly.

[FoodMan]

Chris: Really enjoying your foodblog here.

I was looking at your tortilla press set up. What do you use to cover the surfaces? I tie a big piece of Saran wrap on each side, but it's never satisfactory.

The "covers" you have seem to be fairly stiff?

I use an modern, high-tech material formed from an extremely complex chemical synthesis of various petroleum products. (They are zip-top plastic bags with the sides and zipper cut off. 1 quart size. MUCH easier to deal with than Saran wrap, and you can even wash and re-use if you want to.)

I do the same thing, I use the little ziploc sandwich bags and cut off the zipper and sides. They work great.

A little late comment here, but I am finally convinced to get off my lazy behind and buy a turkey fryer rig to use with my wok after seeing your pictures. It will be great for beer brewing as well.

[Chris Hennes]

Onions poached in butter for two hours? Delicious. I expect they would be pretty caramelized. Mix up a quick French Onion soup?

No, not caramelized at all, if I do it right: they are supposed to remain white, according to the recipe. And no beef stock on hand, alas. I'm trying to think of things I could fry them up with: presumably they will completely disintegrate, so that has to be OK in the dish.

[Chris Hennes]

A little late comment here, but I am finally convinced to get off my lazy behind and buy a turkey fryer rig to use with my wok after seeing your pictures. It will be great for beer brewing as well.

You won't regret it. I use my wok burner for a lot more than wok cooking: it's great for bringing huge pots of water to the boil quickly, for example. And I do all my deep frying outside now, to avoid coating the inside of the house with fryer oil, and the accompanying smell.

[Chris Hennes]

Interesting data point re: dry pasta dough. I just finished making up a new batch of the plain dough using my standard recipe/technique, and it required, for two cups of flour, an entire additional egg above what I normally have to add to get the right texture (I'm usually right at about three large eggs, today I needed just under four). It is bone dry here right now, so I'm guessing that the issue is the flour.

[avaserfi]

Onions poached in butter for two hours? Delicious. I expect they would be pretty caramelized. Mix up a quick French Onion soup?

No, not caramelized at all, if I do it right: they are supposed to remain white, according to the recipe. And no beef stock on hand, alas. I'm trying to think of things I could fry them up with: presumably they will completely disintegrate, so that has to be OK in the dish.

Bacon jam. Alternatively, I think it would work very well in a fried root veg cake (potato/turnip etc.).

[thirtyoneknots]

Save them to put on a steak or sandwich. Or omlette filling.

[Hassouni]

A little late comment here, but I am finally convinced to get off my lazy behind and buy a turkey fryer rig to use with my wok after seeing your pictures. It will be great for beer brewing as well.

You won't regret it. I use my wok burner for a lot more than wok cooking: it's great for bringing huge pots of water to the boil quickly, for example. And I do all my deep frying outside now, to avoid coating the inside of the house with fryer oil, and the accompanying smell.

What do you do when it's bloody cold out?

[Chris Hennes]

A little late comment here, but I am finally convinced to get off my lazy behind and buy a turkey fryer rig to use with my wok after seeing your pictures. It will be great for beer brewing as well.

You won't regret it. I use my wok burner for a lot more than wok cooking: it's great for bringing huge pots of water to the boil quickly, for example. And I do all my deep frying outside now, to avoid coating the inside of the house with fryer oil, and the accompanying smell.

What do you do when it's bloody cold out?

For those three days, I don't wok . The weather is good here.

[heidih]

Regarding the buttery onions - Bruce's pasta dish here seems like it could be adapted to your batch.

[Chris Hennes]

Save them to put on a steak or sandwich. Or omlette filling.

If you could smell my house right now, you would understand that saving them is not an option: I am going to eat them for lunch. Today.

[thirtyoneknots]

Save them to put on a steak or sandwich. Or omlette filling.

If you could smell my house right now, you would understand that saving them is not an option: I am going to eat them for lunch. Today.

Completely understandable. Omlettes make good lunch.

Upon further consideration I think my favored use would be to put them in a quiche or other savory tart/pie.

[slkinsey]

Ever wonder how restaurants get pureed soups so silken and smooth? It's because they're using a high powered pro blender.

Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill.

We never bother. A high powered blender is more than sufficient assuming everything is cooked properly.

Exactly. I only bother running VitaPrepped purees through a fine sieve if I'm trying to do something like making a very thick puree of a green herb (meaning that I can't have very much liquid in the blender and I also can't run it for a very long time or I'll cook the green out). But for a soup? No need. I forget who I was discussing this with recently (johnder maybe?), but we remarked that there was an obvious positive difference in the quality of these purees immediately upon purchase of the high-power blender and changing nothing else.

Yes: if you find yourself making purees with any frequency, you might actually be able to completely justify the upfront cost of the [high powered] blender in the reduced time you spend in front of the chinois.

I also find that it's a great way to extract extra flavors. For example, say you bought some nice shrimps and you want to make a shrimp sauce out of the shells. You can simmer some aromatics with the shells in white wine or whatever. But if you really want to get a ton of flavor out of those shells, put them into the VitaPrep and liquify the shrimp shells into the water. Then simmer this liquid with your aromatics and pour it through a strainer when you're finished.

Edited February 24, 2012 by slkinsey (log)

[KennethT]

how about a curry? Disintegrated onions + curry spices + some yogurt??

[slkinsey]

Aren't those onions more or less an onion soubise now?

[KennethT]

I was wondering if the onions would have any flavor left at all... most of the flavor transferred either into the butter or into the air.

[weinoo]

Ever wonder how restaurants get pureed soups so silken and smooth? It's because they're using a high powered pro blender.

Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill.

We never bother. A high powered blender is more than sufficient assuming everything is cooked properly.

But for a soup? No need.

I find a textural difference between a soup that has been sieved and one that haasn't - that's the need.

[thirtyoneknots]

Aren't those onions more or less an onion soubise now?

Except there's no liquid dairy, in form of bechamel/white sauce or cream.

I was wondering if the onions would have any flavor left at all... most of the flavor transferred either into the butter or into the air.

They would at least taste like butter, right? Gotta be a use for that.

[Chris Hennes]

Regarding the buttery onions - Bruce's pasta dish here seems like it could be adapted to your batch.

Great idea Heidi: Bruce, thanks for the ideas. The onions were still surprisingly intact, so rather than use spaghetti I used campanelle so the onions would stand apart. I also didn't brown them, and so didn't deglaze the pan. Here's what I ended up with:

[Chris Hennes]

Here is what the onion butter looked like on the stove:

And the drained onions: no browning, and still relatively intact. They tasted like... onion butter. Plenty of onion flavor, but also very buttery (of course).

And the butter:

The butter has separated into three layers, what I presume are the onion and milk solids, water, and butterfat. The recipe for the sable calls generically for the "onion butter": do you suppose that means just the fat part, or should I chill this and try to re-emulsify it, or what?

[FoodMan]

Here is what the onion butter looked like on the stove:

And the drained onions: no browning, and still relatively intact. They tasted like... onion butter. Plenty of onion flavor, but also very buttery (of course).

And the butter:

The butter has separated into three layers, what I presume are the onion and milk solids, water, and butterfat. The recipe for the sable calls generically for the "onion butter": do you suppose that means just the fat part, or should I chill this and try to re-emulsify it, or what?

I would use the whole thing after chilling it.

BTW, I just stopped by Academy at lunchtime and picked up a fryer stand and a propane tank. I'll be frying something outdoors this weekend for sure and making a stir-fry soon after.

Edited February 24, 2012 by FoodMan (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Whoops! I didnt get to the end (I thought I had), and I see that wonderful lunch, and heidi's post.

simmering 200g of sweet onion on 500g of butter for two hours. Throw out the onions, keep the butter. Anyone have any idea for what I should do with those onions? I've got to be able to turn them into some kind of lunch, they are onions cooked in butter!

C. sapidus used some onions as a spaghetti sauce on the dinner thread recently, that looks like you could adapt your 6-hour onions to work in a similar way.

Here.

"Spaghetti with smothered onions sauce – Six cups of thinly-sliced onions, slowly cooked down for an hour in butter and olive oil, and then browned, deglazed with white wine, seasoned with parsley and pepper, and tossed with grated parmigiano reggiano and spaghetti."

Edited February 24, 2012 by Kouign Aman (log)

[KennethT]

well, traditional sables are made by creaming the butter and sugar, so I wonder what would happen if you chilled your onion result and then tried to cream it. I'd imagine it would re-emulsify, especially once you add the egg yolks, right?

[Chris Hennes]

Phew, the pasta was fine this time around, no trouble with it (except that this is the most pasta I ever make at once, which creates some logistic hassles ever since I destroyed my drying rack and switched to broom handles!)