eG Foodblog: bergerka - An opera about cooking, with pictures

[Megan Blocker]

Yes, yes.. I have moved to a beautiful little place in the suburbs of Manhattan...    A stones throw away from Gap, Godiva, and Ollies.. Oh boy.. Strike me down if I ever go to any of the above..   I have not heard of Regional what and where is it.. I know of a Thai Place called Regional in Chelsea, but I dont think thats what you are talking about..

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The Regional thread is

here. It's on Broadway between 98th and 99th - I've been there with people and just by myself, either way it's a great place to go, although a little noisy. :wub: make sure you try the bigoli with duck ragu.

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I can't believe it! I move, and a good restaurant opens a block from my old place (Amsterdam between 98th and 99th). Shucks!

[bergerka]

Just peeping in. I'm having a glass of Little Penguin Shiraz (I bought it to put in the braising liquid for short ribs for tomorrow night...it's not bad at all!) and relaxing while I recharge the camera batteries. Dinner pix and preliminary braising pix coming soon! This is fun!

But first, if I may, a short stream-of-consciousness open letter to any of you who may have the opportunity to teach someone very inexperienced how to cook.

Dear friends,

If you are teaching someone with very little experience how to cook a fairly simple recipe - let us say, for argument's sake, black bean soup - and the person asks you how long it should be cooked, please do not say "until it is done" (which I heard today from not one, not two, but THREE different people until I finally got my aunt on the phone, who gave me exactly the information I needed in less than ten seconds ). For all the sense that makes to the inexperienced cook, you might as well be speaking Latvian. The reason we are asking is simple: we do not know how to tell when the dish is done, and we need a sample time frame with which to work.

In addition, may I just ask that you at least try to provide guideline measurements? "put in some of this, if you want," is not a measurement. "Around a tablespoon, maybe two, taste it after the first tablespoon and see if it needs more," is a measurement.

Finally, laughing at the person who is asking for your advice is a very good way to get hit over the head with a heavy object (no, Sam was absolutely not the one who laughed. She knows who she is and she's getting hit over the head as soon as we're in the same city again. ).

In simple terms, please deal with us as if you are dealing with a slightly slow and very high-strung poodle, who happens to be in a kitchen filled with heavy and sharp objects. It will be much safer for all concerned.

That is all.

[Marlene]

Finally, laughing at the person who is asking for your advice is a very good way to get hit over the head with a heavy object (no, Sam was absolutely not the one who laughed. She knows who she is and she's getting hit over the head as soon as we're in the same city again. ).

In simple terms, please deal with us as if you are dealing with a slightly slow and very high-strung poodle, who happens to be in a kitchen filled with heavy and sharp objects.  It will be much safer for all concerned.

That is all.

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I don't think this was me.

[maggiethecat]

In simple terms, please deal with us as if you are dealing with a slightly slow and very high-strung poodle, who happens to be in a kitchen filled with heavy and sharp objects.  It will be much safer for all concerned.

That is all.

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Kathleen: I'm a "bit of this, dash of that, cook until done" offender, but you make a great point. How many of us cooks in the infant stage were maddened by our mother's or grandmother's "Just look at it" or "Just poke it with your finger" cooking school? Thank goodness for your Auntie.

But as you gain cooking experience and many pots of soup and braises under your belt, you'll click as we all have: it's all about the aroma, the consistency, the flavor. Even in the anal-retentive world of baking, experience is key. So, although it's relaxing and rewarding on the home front to let the tenor do all the cooking: Ascolta, cara: All those exercises you do for your diaphram, all that bel canto warming up --you're the mistress because of experience and repitition. Like singing, cooking isn't a twice a month passtime, it's daily practice.

Maybe you could start as Sam's commis, responsible for a course a night, every night. Soup, veg, brownies... How do you get to the Met? Practice practice practice.

[Fat Guy]

Dumpling House on Eldridge will, reluctantly, produce most of the items on its menu board. It's over at Fried Dumpling on Allen where they're hard liners from the John Belushi "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, no Coke, Pepsi" school of restaurant operations. I enjoy getting into those extended dialogs with them so much that I even do it when there's no audience. By the way, they sell the dumplings frozen at a discount: 30 for $5. With some practice -- you need to be fearless about combining water and hot oil -- I've been able to make them come out almost as well at home as in the restaurant. And at home you can apply superior condiments: actual Sriracha instead of the watered down product the five-for-a-dollar dumpling places put in the Sriracha bottles, and actual black vinegar instead of the brown colored water they put in the other Sriracha bottles.

Kathleen, have you noticed that some of the plastic Heinz ketchup bottles are now the color of ketchup, so that no matter how little there is in the bottle it looks full? What's your opinion on this? I'd like to know.

[bergerka]

Finally, laughing at the person who is asking for your advice is a very good way to get hit over the head with a heavy object (no, Sam was absolutely not the one who laughed. She knows who she is and she's getting hit over the head as soon as we're in the same city again. ).

In simple terms, please deal with us as if you are dealing with a slightly slow and very high-strung poodle, who happens to be in a kitchen filled with heavy and sharp objects.  It will be much safer for all concerned.

That is all.

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I don't think this was me.

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No, it wasn't you. It was a certain sister-in-law of mine

[rjwong]

In simple terms, please deal with us as if you are dealing with a slightly slow and very high-strung poodle, who happens to be in a kitchen filled with heavy and sharp objects.  It will be much safer for all concerned.

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So you want to be treated like ... a soprano, Kathleen?? Oh my gosh, Maria Callas ... in the kitchen with knives etc. ... singing the Queen of the Night aria ...

I agree with maggiethecat's idea: be an apprentice under Sam. Watch and see how it's done. For me, as a kid, I had the opportunity of watching my family members prepare Thanksgiving & Christmas meals year after year after year. It's the same thing in music: observe how the great singers do it. Watch. Listen. You can learn fast, but don't rush into it. Great cooking & great music can't be rushed.

[bergerka]

Kathleen, have you noticed that some of the plastic Heinz ketchup bottles are now the color of ketchup, so that no matter how little there is in the bottle it looks full? What's your opinion on this? I'd like to know.

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Scientologist plot.

Ok, here we go, folks - here's what I've been doing all day!

I've decided to braise short ribs for tomorrow night, so my first stop was Oppenheimer Meats, on Broadway between 97th and 98th. Sam gets his meat here all the time, so I know they have amazing stuff. The guys and I talked football while they cut me some beautiful short ribs.

Oppenheimer

Cutting short ribs to order

After stops at Garden of Eden for vegetables and Gristede's for some sundries, I headed home. Since we only have one big Le Creuset and I would need it for both the soup and the short ribs, I decided to make the soup first and then do the meat.

The recipe is sort of an amalgam of several I found - it's remarkably difficult to find an interesting one either in cookbooks or on the 'net.

1 lb black beans, washed, picked over and soaked in cold water overnight

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large onions, diced

6 large garlic cloves, sliced or minced, however you like them

1 large jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 cup bacon, diced

2 teaspoons salt

6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable, I guess, if you must)

1 tablespoon ground cumin (the recipe I mostly took from called for 2 tablespoons, which I thought was WAY too much. I was right. One was plenty)

First I chopped the onions, garlic, bacon and jalapenos

Then...then the camera ran out of batteries. While it was charging, I cooked the onions and the bacon till lightly browned, which took about 10 minutes, then added the cumin, jalapeno, and garlic and sauteed for about five more minutes. Then I poured in the already soaked black beans - and by the way, this was one of the areas where I called my aunt for advice, and I'm glad I did, because the other three people who told me what to do were 100% wrong. The recipe didn't call for the beans to be soaked in advance; instead it had you put the beans and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour. I wasn't sure if soaking them in advance meant I could skip that step or not. Yes, it did. I skipped that step on my aunt's advice, which was a very good thing. After putting in the beans, I added the chicken stock and turned the heat up to bring it all to a boil, then simmered it about 40 minutes, until the beans were soft. I then pureed about 1/2 of it in the blender, as I like a variety of textures in my bean soup, and set it all aside.

Finished soup:

I made a salsa fresca to go with the soup:

4 medium ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded and denuded of their icky, diced

1 red onion, minced

2 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded and minced (oh, and while you're scraping the vein out with your thumbnail? Don't look up to answer the phone. Just at that moment, a seed will pop into your eye. OWWWWWIE).

1 bunch cilantro, leaves only, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, toss well and serve.

Salsa fresca

Then I made some jalapeno cheese biscuits, based on a recipe for cheddar cheese biscuits my brother gave me. Next time I'll up the salt and cheese amounts a little.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt (I doubled this and it still wasn't enough - I think 1/2 to 1 tsp would be more like it)

1 stick butter

1 cup coarsely shredded jalapeno jack cheese (again, could have used more of this)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry knife or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the cheese and milk, mix LIGHTLY with a fork until mixture clings toether and forms a ball of soft dough.

Mixture clinging together in bowl

turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead gently, turning five or six times.

With a floured rolling pin, roll dough out to 1/2 inch thickness.

Rolled out dough:

Cut dough into rounds (I use a wine glass for this) and place biscuits 1 inch apart on greased baking sheet. Pierce each several times with a fork.

Biscuits on baking sheet, ready for the oven

Bake 12-15 minutes (in my oven, 12 was perfect) until light brown.

These do not rise as much as biscuits without cheese.

Finished biscuits in a bowl

I'm actually rather proud of those good looking biscuits.

Here's a picture of dinner, all ready to eat. Bean soup with salsa fresca and sour cream, cheese biscuits, yet another glass of Little Penguin Shiraz.

Now on to the main event, the short ribs! I got this recipe from ewindels.

The most important thing I have learned from watching first my mom and then Sam is to read ahead and do as much as you can before you ever start heating the pan, because it really sucks to realize you have to chop that onion if you've already got the olive oil hot (and you'd better believe I've done that before. When I typed up this recipe for myself, I put a big note next to the listing of veggies that said "CHOP THESE FIRST, BEFORE BROWNING RIBS." Yes, I do need things to have THAT much detail).

So I chopped up 1 cup each of red onion, carrot and celery, plus about 6 cloves of garlic.

Then I got the ribs out of the fridge and set them up on a cutting board, ready to go.

Look at all that pretty meat!

I browned the short ribs on all sides in one layer in our big blue Le Creuset, in about 1/4 cup of olive oil (I need to go buy more olive oil).

Short ribs browning happily.

Browned meat.

Then I set the short ribs aside and added 1 heaping tablespoon of tomato paste to the pan, stirring and watching like crazy so it didn't burn, and then added the chopped veggies.

After they had cooked about eight to ten minutes, I added the short ribs back into the pot and covered them with two cups of red wine and an assload (that is too a measurement) of beef stock, enough to cover them. Then I tossed a couple of sprigs of thyme and parsley and one bay leaf on top, covered the pot and put them into a 300 degree oven for 4 hours.

Ribs ready to go into the oven. Two cups of wine for the meat, one glass for the cook! (yes, I know this pic came out blurry, it's cute, so I'm putting it in).

Then I ate dinner and watched Foul Play - haven't seen that movie in years. Chevy Chase was so adorable in 1977...too bad I was *ahem* not in elementary school yet.

Here they are, just out of the oven.

Now I'm just waiting for them to cool down enough to go into the fridge overnight, and I'll be heading toward warm ferrets and bed. Anyone who wants to talk me through reducing the liquid tomorrow is more than welcome.

Thanks for all the encouragement, by the way. The open letter was MOSTLY tongue-in-cheek, and I hope it came off that way - I was laughing hysterically after the third person in a row said "just cook them till they're done" (that was my MOM!). I'm having a really good time figuring this out. My aunt knew just what to say, because her boys are even more rank beginners than I.

Edited November 5, 2005 by bergerka (log)

[bergerka]

In simple terms, please deal with us as if you are dealing with a slightly slow and very high-strung poodle, who happens to be in a kitchen filled with heavy and sharp objects.  It will be much safer for all concerned.

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So you want to be treated like ... a soprano, Kathleen?? Oh my gosh, Maria Callas ... in the kitchen with knives etc. ... singing the Queen of the Night aria ...

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BWAHAHAHAHA YES, EXACTLY. *jumps three feet in air as a car goes by*

I am living proof that you can watch very good cooks - first my grandmother and mom, then my sisters, then Sam - cook every day (and even help - I've been chopping stuff for all of 'em since I was old enough to hold a knife) for a truly disgusting number of years, and still not pick up even the simplest bit of technique or instinct. In truth, I can hold music and phone numbers in my head indefinitely (I can still remember the family phone number that was changed when I was about five years old!), and recipes fly out as soon as they enter. I have to write EVERYTHING down when I cook.

Oh my god, I almost forgot the totally surreal part of my day. I went into our room to get my shoes, just before leaving to shop, and as I walked in the door, I swear to you, I saw Mickey the annoying mouse come STROLLING OUT OF THE FERRET CAGE, with a piece of ferret food in his mouth!!!!!!!!

He had to stand right next to two sleeping ferrets to get that food.

:blink:

I have never seen anything quite like that - wish to hell I'd had the digital camera in my hand. Mickey's either very brave, or the guys have adopted him.

Edited November 5, 2005 by bergerka (log)

[Zucchini Mama]

Hi begerka,

I am really enjoying this glimpse into the life of a glamorous New York opera singer. Do your ferrets wear diamond collars?

When I'm teaching myself to cook something completely new I choose three recipes for the same dish on the web. I line them all up, and get a sense of what's different and what they have in common and then I make my own recipe using that information. I don't know if that works for you, but it's a process I like.

I do have experience with baking and I am getting better at telling when something's done by the way it smells. I got this idea from a documentary on Mexican cooking I saw several years back narrated by Allan Alda. He asked a woman making tortillas how she knew they were done and she said "They smell like they're done." Did anyone else see that? I think it's a matter of developing a sense of intuition, but using the written or spoken directions as scaffolding in the meantime. My friend completely disagrees with my process and just likes to use recipes from Cooks Illustrated magazines because they're "infallible."

I was trained as a classical singer, so have had my share of "breathing lessons". It's so wonderful when you can just forget about the lessons and sing.

Zuke

[bergerka]

Hi begerka,

I am really enjoying this glimpse into the life of a glamorous New York opera singer. Do your ferrets wear diamond collars?

Hey! The ferrets don't get any diamonds till I get some!

When I'm teaching myself to cook something completely new I choose three recipes for the same dish on the web. I line them all up, and get a sense of what's different and what they have in common and then I make my own recipe using that information. I don't know if that works for you, but it's a process I like.

I think our brains work alike - that's what I'm finding that I'm doing more and more. That way, if something is unclear in one recipe I can look at the other for a different explanation.

I do have experience with baking and I am getting better at telling when something's done by the way it smells. I got this idea from a documentary on Mexican cooking I saw several years back narrated by Allan Alda. He asked a woman making tortillas how she knew they were done and she said "They smell like they're done." Did anyone else see that? I think it's a matter of developing a sense of intuition, but using the written or spoken directions as scaffolding in the meantime. My friend completely disagrees with my process and just likes to use recipes from Cooks Illustrated magazines because they're "infallible."

I was trained as a classical singer, so have had my share of "breathing lessons". It's so wonderful when you can just forget about the lessons and sing.

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I didn't see the documentary, but that sounds wonderful. I see where she's coming from with tortillas - my mom made Mexican food a lot when I was growing up, and we did find that the smell of corn tortillas changes just when they're done (the best explanation I can give is that they go from smelling "raw" to smelling "cooked").

I got into a good groove tonight with the short ribs - that went like clockwork, although I was thinking furiously the whole time about what came next. It was a great feeling - a cooking high!

K

[Pan]

[...]I am living proof that you can watch very good cooks - first my grandmother and mom, then my sisters, then Sam - cook every day (and even help - I've been chopping stuff for all of 'em since I was old enough to hold a knife) for a truly disgusting number of years, and still not pick up even the simplest bit of technique or instinct.[...]

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I find that very hard to believe, in your case. Look how evenly you chop vegetables!

All the food you cooked tonight looks excellent!

It's a funny sensation to look at pictures of Harry Oppenheimer's butcher shop, because that was my parents' local butcher shop from before I can remember. They do have some good stuff, but my father's problem with them was that they didn't carry really good organic free-range chickens (Bell & Evans doesn't impress us much, as they tend to have a noticeable cod liver oil taste) and it used to be tough to get the butchers to cut off fat for my father's low-fat diet ("Fat is good!"). But whenever my folks had the money for better than supermarket meat, Harry was the usual source for chop meat, lamb, roast beef, flanken, and of course soup bones, which they used to give us for free. Harry was a crotchety old German World War II vet, and now a younger guy is running the store and it's been brightened up and such.

[Eric_Malson]

Hi begerka,

I am really enjoying this glimpse into the life of a glamorous New York opera singer. Do your ferrets wear diamond collars?

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As someone who has been coaching opera singers for over 20 years now (um, yeah, ever since bergerka was in elementary school...that's right....), I can tell you just how completely unglamorous the lives of most opera singers are (but I probably shouldn't and ruin the mystique). They do tend to know how to have fun, though!

And as the lurker behind the scenes for the latter part of the evening, I can attest to the deliciousness of the black bean soup. Kathleen is a good friend for (among many other reasons) feeding me after an extremely long day that began with a 10 a.m. Orchestra of St. Luke's rehearsal, wended its way through about a dozen opera auditions (which involved running between venues 3 times), and ended with performing an art song recital. I was exhausted and hungry, and she plied me with food and drink and the odd tidbit of gossip (although I think I gave better than I got--just this once--this evening!).

Those simmering short ribs smelled truly wonderful. (Strange--the Carly Simon song "Anticipation" just popped into my head....)

[Daniel]

I think I played someone like you in pool once.. Bergerka, they call your kind hustlers.. You knew how to cook all along To quote Goodfellas I say, "Dont give me the babe in the woods routine, Karen".. So much fun to read and you seriously are doing such a great job!!!

P.S Oppenheimers is getting a whole pig on this Tuesday.. I already have requested snout and tail..

Edited November 5, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[bergerka]

Hi begerka,

I am really enjoying this glimpse into the life of a glamorous New York opera singer. Do your ferrets wear diamond collars?

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As someone who has been coaching opera singers for over 20 years now (um, yeah, ever since bergerka was in elementary school...that's right....), I can tell you just how completely unglamorous the lives of most opera singers are (but I probably shouldn't and ruin the mystique). They do tend to know how to have fun, though!

And as the lurker behind the scenes for the latter part of the evening, I can attest to the deliciousness of the black bean soup. Kathleen is a good friend for (among many other reasons) feeding me after an extremely long day that began with a 10 a.m. Orchestra of St. Luke's rehearsal, wended its way through about a dozen opera auditions (which involved running between venues 3 times), and ended with performing an art song recital. I was exhausted and hungry, and she plied me with food and drink and the odd tidbit of gossip (although I think I gave better than I got--just this once--this evening!).

Those simmering short ribs smelled truly wonderful. (Strange--the Carly Simon song "Anticipation" just popped into my head....)

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I AM tired. I forgot to a) MENTION THAT ERIC WAS THERE, hello, an extremely important part of my evening! and b) take a picture of the whiskey smashes (sort of - no mint) we had after dinner. MEA CULPA....I have to stagger across the room beating my breast and tearing my hair now. And um, yes, Eric had some awesome opera gossip tonight.

...Mickey just scooted across the living room right in front of me. This is getting very creepy. I'm being stalked by a fat little brown mouse.

Good night, all!

[M.X.Hassett]

Those short ribs look like they are going to be great. I just made myself a whiskey smash with no mint in your honor. Cheers.

[Chris Amirault]

Goodness gracious! As Michael and Matthew said, that soup and those short ribs both look outstanding -- and all in one night, in one dutch oven? You're clearly a veritable Norse goddess of cooking, Kathleen!

[daniellewiley]

I can't wait to see the final short ribs - they look awesome!

Regarding Mickey, you might want to try this:

Covered Mouse Trap

It is a snap trap, but the mouse has to walk into the little house first, which would protect your sweet little ferrets.

Plus, it's not a gross clean-up.

[BarbaraY]

It is so much fun reading your blog. We are a world apart in all things from age, to living situation, and careers.

Maybe Mickie is me in disguise peeping into another world that I can only imagine.

[Chufi]

...Mickey just scooted across the living room right in front of me.  This is getting very creepy.  I'm being stalked by a fat little brown mouse.

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I think Mickey knows that you a) gave him a name, b) talk about him to people all over the plant in a "I hate you but still think you're kind of cute" sort of way. Why would he want to leave such a loving home?

Or maybe he just likes your singing.

[Marlene]

I think Daniel's right. We've been hustled.

Very nicely done Kathleen!

[Abra]

So, on your short ribs. Remove the chilled layer of fat that will by now be covering the pot. Remove meat from pot. Set the pan over high heat and boil until the liquid is thick and glossy. Only then taste for salt and pepper, and add if needed. Return meat to pan, warm through, and there you have it. Judging from how it looked last night, it's going to be yum.

Oh, and you can get your biscuits to rise more, even with cheese, by: patting out the dough instead of rolling it, and leaving it thicker. You had it pretty thin in that picture. And then, you need to use something with a sharp edge to cut them out, not a wineglass. When you smoosh down the cut edge of the dough with a dull edge, you inhibit the rise.

Those are alto tricks. Basic, non-flashy, grounded, but necessary.

[*Deborah*]

I lived in a little old house on a little island with two cats in my bed every night, and a mouse that lived beneath the bed and ate cat food, for a very comfortable life. I would wake up to hear him chewing on my sheets, and shout at the cats, "what use are you anyway?!"

Eventually he was caught by my grandmother, whose Indian name was "Woman-Who-Whacks-Mouse-with-Broom."

An erstwhile first soprano (you know that little obbligato in Hark, The Herald Angels Sing? my fave!), I am very much enjoying your blog! I can almost taste those ribs.

[M.X.Hassett]

You're clearly a veritable Norse goddess of cooking, Kathleen!

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Oh my, Siegfried, Brunhild, and (v)Wagner what a blog

[rjwong]

I think I played someone like you in pool once.. Bergerka, they call your kind hustlers.. You knew how to cook all along  To quote Goodfellas I say, "Dont give me the babe in the woods routine,  Karen"..  So much fun to read and you seriously are doing such a great job!!!

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Daniel, if you're correct, then Mozart was correct: "Cosi fan tutte!"

All right, bergerka, "spill the beans!"