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Improving my cooking skills (2003)


MatthewB

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I have not had it with grapes but it sounded pretty good to me. Maybe I'll try that next week. Sounds like a tasty base for sausage. :hmmm:

Seth, you are in for a treat. I loooooove chard. If you make some extra fold it into some risotto cooked a little dry. Stir in an egg, press into a pan and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next day cut rectangles, coat with bread crumbs and pan-fry in EVOO. Serve with spicy tomato sauce. Idea from Jim Dixon, nickname ("Swiss Chard Rice Krispie Treats") from my classmates at L'academie. I make extra risotto so I can make this if I'm making it anyway.

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Oh, I've tasted chard! I just haven't cooked it myself.

And that risotto treat thing sounds great.

And of course, because I went to the library to get it, the book finally came in the mail today. :smile:

Edited by SethG (log)

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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Got it! Thanks. I'll try it soon. But that's another topic.

I went looking for ANWTC in paperback but was unsuccessful.

I swear I saw it the other day in a Borders in Manhattan. You can get it on Amazon.com.

Edited by SethG (log)

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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Hey guys, my Beef Bourguignon is in the oven. A warning for any of you who may not yet have begun: it takes a while-- a good hour and a half of work for me, maybe a little more, although I may be slow.

Also: now that I'm making the menu, I realize that there's a scheduling issue. The creme brulee custard should cool at least four hours (!) after it's baked-- meaning I should have made it this morning. I'm going to try to stick it in the oven right after the beef comes out, so I can serve it this evening, around nine or nine-thirty. But if you want to serve it right after dinner, you gotta spend the whole day (or parts of multiple days) in the kitchen.

Edited by SethG (log)

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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So am I the only idiot who spent all of this beautiful afternoon (in NYC, anyway) cooking Beef Bourguignon? I'll reserve comment, but I want to say two things:

1. Beef Bourguignon is a pain in the butt to make in one day.

2. Beef Bourguignon is worth the trouble.

I still haven't fired up my new torch; I'm letting the Creme Brulee harden a bit more-- I've actually stuck it in the freezer for fifteen minutes, because I'm insecure. But I'm looking forward to that. And to our discussion.

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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Since I had to back way the hell up and make stock, I'd already settled on Sunday. But thanks for reminding me about the custard, Seth; I can do those tonight.

Some shopping notes:

- The available chard was slimy. If I have a chance, I'll get to another market tomorrow, but just in case, I got a bunch of rapini. From a skill-development standpoint, this is equivalent, since I've never prepared either rapini or chard. I'm disappointed, though, in the community and culinary repercussions. That chard recipe sounded really good. (Suggestions for rapini prep gladly accepted -- solicited, even.)

- There were a couple of beautiful top blade roasts, Jacques' favorite, I think. Unfortunately, none were more than 2-1/2 pounds, well below what was called for. I got a "boneless shoulder roast," what ever that might be. The only other chuck cuts available were underblade roasts, which have not impressed me. I'm wondering how everone else did.

- No Seven Moons Pinot Noir. However, I found Echelon '02 for about the same price ($8.49). I don't have a wine guy to advise me, except the ones I run into on eGullet, so if this is going to suck, please let me know.

- No 1-1/2" onions. Got pearls instead, and found some relatively small mushrooms, since aesthetics seemed to require sizes that were roughly the same.

Edited by Dave the Cook (log)

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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Since I had to back way the hell up and make stock, I'd already settled on Sunday.

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. I didn't have any beef stock on hand, but I remembered Ms. Tillie saying something in her stock course about how you can get away with prepared stock if it's a long-cooked stew. Since the sauce in our menu was mostly wine, not stock, I fell back on Better Than Bouillon. And when I cooked the onions, I didn't even bother with that; I used water.

But I did find a six pound chuck roast at Costco this morning. I cut off two pounds of it and put it in the freezer.

And the chard at the Brooklyn greenmarket this morning was very nice-- golden yellow stems-- but I didn't want the oven on any longer, so I sauteed it instead of roasting it.

As for the wine, I don't know anything about your wine, but I did get recommendations at a local shop. In the dish I used a Vin De Pays D'Oc called Bouchard Aine & Fils Pinossimo Pinot Noir. $8.95. I tasted it before I poured it in, and it was wholly unremarkable. Worked out great in the dish, though. And to drink with the food, the shop owner recommended a California Pinot Noir. Edna Valley Vineyard, 2000, for $19.95. Edna Valley is owned by somebody else, and I would remember who that is if I knew anything about California wine. Anyway, after it was decanted for about an hour and a half, it was really nice. I'm no expert, but this is the first time I've been directed to a relatively reasonable pinot noir and not been disappointed. I'm going to buy more.

Edited by SethG (log)

"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast;

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast!"

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You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.  I didn't have any beef stock on hand, but I remembered Ms. Tillie saying something in her stock course about how you can get away with prepared stock if it's a long-cooked stew.  Since the sauce in our menu was mostly wine, not stock, I fell back on Better Than Bouillon.  And when I cooked the onions, I didn't even bother with that; I used water.

When I'm stuck for stock, I fall back on the reduced stocks from More than Gourmet. I usually keep 16oz. tubs of their "Fond de Poulet" and "Demi-Glace Gold" in the fridge for just such emergencies. They work great for pan sauces, quick soups and just about anytime you'd need a stock but don't have one on hand. Good stuff. And they have duck fat! Whoo hooo! Nothing better than potatoes sauted in duck fat.

Sorry for the digression, but these folks make good stuff. I can't detect the weird chemical flavors I've found in other pre-packaged stock reductions. Nice to have on hand.

Chad

Chad Ward

An Edge in the Kitchen

William Morrow Cookbooks

www.chadwrites.com

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We completed our assignment yesterday.

Matthew, I hope you're either taking the day off or working at home. Seth is right about the time commitment on this dinner.

Day off today.

Creme brulee has been in the fridge since 11 am this morning & I'll be starting the stew in about 5 minutes.

ETA for dinner is at 8 pm. Am I behind schedule?

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A sidenote . . .

Anyone picked up Cooking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America?

I very briefly looked at it over the weekend. However, I didn't purchase it. But I was very tempted.

Looks kind of like the type of book we've been discussing/looking for in this thread.

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As will often be the case, I failed to do the assignment. If I had a dog, I'd say my dog ate my assignment, but I don't have one, so I won't say it. :wacko:

My participation may be vicarious, but I'll do my best to try something from time to time.

Dean McCord

VarmintBites

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A sidenote . . .

Anyone picked up Cooking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America?

No, I haven't. Let me see if my library has it.

Varmint, you get to stay after school and help clean the erasers. :raz:

I did not complete the assignment myself. We got as far as browning the beef and assembling the ingredients, then lost the will to go on.

Next menu will be less time consuming. Sole Muniere anyone?

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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I did not complete the assignment myself.  We got as far as browning the beef and assembling the ingredients, then lost the will to go on.

Next menu will be less time consuming. Sole Muniere anyone?

So what did you do with the browned beef?

I did not participate in this one since I had made it about 3 weeks ago. It is a boatload of work, but a very close friend and I made it together and it was really fun to cook together. We had a great time cooking, drinking wine, listening to music and talking.

Bet those of you that did it are glad you didn't do the glazed carrots and turnips -- the tourne would have put you over the work edge. That's one to save for a simpler main dish.

Yes, Heather, something simpler next time.

I'd also like to add duck to the roster of ideas.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Stew has been in the oven for an hour. I'm nearly ready to do the onions & mushrooms. Mashed potatoes & roasted chard w/ grapes at the appropriate time.

Sun Ra on stereo & a Manhattan down the gullet.

Starter this evening will be:

Pineau des Charentes with a foie gras sampler that's new to my favorite local Italian grocery. One ounce each of . . . (Descriptions taken from the package.)

Mousse of duck foie gras with port wine

Perigord pork & duck pate with its medallion of duck foie gras

Block of duck foie gras with armagnac

The foie gras will be served on thinly sliced fresh baguette.

Why not? Life is short.

More later.

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Stew has been in the oven for an hour.  I'm nearly ready to do the onions & mushrooms.  Mashed potatoes & roasted chard w/ grapes at the appropriate time.

Sun Ra on stereo & a Manhattan down the gullet.

Starter this evening will be:

Pineau des Charentes with a foie gras sampler that's new to my favorite local Italian grocery.  One ounce each of . . .  (Descriptions taken from the package.)

Mousse of duck foie gras with port wine

Perigord pork & duck pate with its medallion of duck foie gras

Block of duck foie gras with armagnac

The foie gras will be served on thinly sliced fresh baguette.

Why not?  Life is short.

More later.

did you finish the beaucastel? or did you save it for tonight?

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First off, the best thing about being vegetarian in this case, I started cooking and ate dinner an hour later. Bet none of you managed that with your beef. Of course, it made the wait for the creme brulee that much more agonizing. :)

Eggplant, Tomato and Zucchini Gratin - adoxograph sticks to the printed recipe. Mostly.

We were in the car on our way home from the grocery store when my live-in black hole asked when we would be eating. Ignoring that, we arrived home and I set up to make the gratin. I could live on ratatouille during the summer, so the ingredients were fairly straightforward to me, but I like a robust ratatouille, lemon, basil, and lots of et cetera, so I was skeptical about the minimal nature of the seasoning. Still, I remained true to exploring the book, and decided I would keep to the recipe as much as I could stand.

Interesting to me was that the eggplant wasn't salted, but in the sidebar Julia suggested salting the zucchini, so I did. I think this definitely contributed to a less juicy gratin, in a good way.

I thought the end result was fabulous, the herbs de Provence wonderful for seasoning, although I did give it a spritz of lemon juice. The boyfriend complained it was a bit too veg as he was getting his third helping. I think he just wanted more overt cheese, but then again he's been know to ask for food without onions. Freak.

The gratin also made a great sandwich a couple days later with some goat cheese on multigrain bread.

Creme Brulee - adoxograph discovers life beyond the vanilla bean

cremebrulee.jpg

I used the J & J recipe for creme brulee mostly because it was not my usual creme brulee recipe. I love vanilla in custard, so tend to stick with recipes that steep the bean, scrape it in and then don't muck around with other flavors. But I like making creme brulee because I can use my torch, even if I do always forget the necessary refrigeration time after cooking. Actually I loved the orange zest. Perhaps flavor variations in creme brulee are acceptable. Sometimes. Oh yeah, and I only let it cool for about two and a half hours. I could only wait so long. No discernable difference between that one, and the leftover one I had the next day.

Overall, with some happily mashed potatoes, this worked out to be a very nice dinner for an unseasonably warm evening - although I love that most of my protein came from dessert. :)

--adoxograph

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I did not complete the assignment myself.  We got as far as browning the beef and assembling the ingredients, then lost the will to go on.

Next menu will be less time consuming. Sole Muniere anyone?

So what did you do with the browned beef?

We made chili. :smile:

So people, duck or fish next time?

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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Didn't get to the chard last night but will do that tonight with the leftovers.

Thoughts . . .

The Beef Bourguignon definitely took some time but it was well worth it. Next time around, I'd shoot for stages over 2 to 3 days.

The creme brulee was the tricky one. I picked up a blow-torch at Home Depot. (Thanks, Dave!) Here was the problem . . .

The light brown sugar clumped--even after whisking--and the top wasn't as "glassy" & smooth & thin as I aimed for. My SO suggested running the sugar through the food processor next time. Where did I go wrong on the topping? (I made 4 & I'm going to do the remaining two tonight.)

BTW, I now think that Pineau des Charentes goes well with creme brulee.

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I use granulated white sugar on my brulees at the restaurant. I take the chilled brulee out of the fridge and dump a generous portion of sugar on top. Ever so gently press the sugar into the surface, then invert the ramekin and let any excess fall off. Then i torch it - but not up close; from as far away as i can hold the torch and still see some change in the color. Patience is the key. I think of it as "spray painting" the carmelization onto the sugar, does that make sense? Start at the edges, end in the middle.

Actually, it's not just white sugar; it's white sugar infused with bourbon. Since it's infused with bourbon, it tends to get clumpy, so i run it through a hand-held sifter first.

Marsha Lynch aka "zilla369"

Has anyone ever actually seen a bandit making out?

Uh-huh: just as I thought. Stereotyping.

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I torched a million brulees at Ortanique, and gradually I got reasonably good at it. It is a skill. First I'd coat the top with too much sugar. I'd shake all the excess sugar back and forth until the all wet surface had sugar sticking to it. Then I'd dump out the excess sugar. (If you're doing multiple brulees you can dump the excess onto the next ramekin.)

I held the ramekin in my left hand and the torch in my right. (I'm right-handed.) Start the flame. Hold the ramekin up at a 35-40 degree angle and train the flame so its tip is about 1" away from the creme surface, right at the top of the creme edge against the ramekin surface. DO NOT BE AFRAID. If there is excess sugar you may experience one or two hot crystals jumping onto your hand but these will barely be noticeable as they are tiny, and you will not burn yourself at all unless you stop paying attention to where the flame is. As soon as the sugar starts to melt at the edge, BEFORE it is browned, start rotating the ramekin with your left hand. The idea is to use the angle to get the melted sugar flowing down towards the center of the ramekin, and to get most of the sugar melted but not yet browned. (There will be a few light brown spots, which is fine.) Then rotate and burn a second time to color the melted sugar. Usually two rotations is enough for me, but I rotate the ramekin really slowly. You may need to move the flame around a little on the second rotation to keep the color even. Remember, you want the colored sugar always flowing towards the center, so maintain the angle and keep the flame mostly towards the edge of the creme against the ramekin.

If you see the creme bubble at all you're too close, back off with the flame a little. You can stop and add more sugar after the first rotation if you insist on a thick caramel crust but assuming your ramekins are broad and shallow you won't need more crust on it.

This method was the fastest, most consistent one for me.

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