eG Foodblog: Malawry - Expecting a future culinary student

[Malawry]

No more guesses on what I'm teaching tomorrow night? I'm disappointed. Go back and look at my Wal*Mart shopping cart, it contains most of the ingredients I'll be working with tomorrow.

[Jason Perlow]

Well come on, were we even close?

[Malawry]

Jason, you got components of your guesses right.

I'll come fess up in the morning. Right now, I am heading for bed.

[kayswv]

Malawry

When we ran the Carriage Inn, we frequently bought supplies from Sams or Costco in Frederick but also from Frederick Produce Co, now FoodPRO 321 East 5th Street Frederick, MD 21701 800-368-2556. www.fpcfresh.com If you haven’t tried them, have a look. May be useful for your catering work.

Also, have you ever gone to MD Mid Atlantic Expo? Used to be at the Fairgrounds in Timonium, but when Googling it just now, the 2005 show was at Baltimore Convention Center. 2006 website not yet activated. You can preregister as a food professional and it’s worth a day of sampling and getting some preparation ideas. It’s usually held in September.

kayswv

[ruthcooks]

Wal*Mart has a history of setting up shop in a neighborhood or city and pricing their goods as low as possible to the point of driving out smaller businesses.  Given the choice between a store that sells artisanal cheese, for instance, and a Wal*Mart that offers a wide selection of cheese but at a lower quality control (and more importantly, cost), which do you think would people choose?

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OK, time to counter the "New York" view with some Heartland reality. In the small town where my mother and sister live, I doubt that there are more than 5 people who even know what "artisanal cheese" is. No such cheese is available within a 45 minute drive.

On the other hand, their very small Wal-Mart has taken on the flavor of the community, such as the pharmacist doing home delivery of drugs when needed. It's function is almost like a community center where everyone meets. Some businesses failed when Wal-Mart came in, but they were in the nature of a dusty old shoe store which was only staying in business because the mortgage had been paid off on the rickety building.

A similar situation developed here (30 miles west of Philly) with grocery stores. The "local store" (5-6 miles miles away) was a Genuardi's when I moved here about 5 years ago. It was sold to Safeway. Then a new Giant opened about a half mile away with very low prices. Genuardi/Safeway is struggling. I like it because the store is so much smaller--fast in and out, easy on the arthritis--and the staff has little turnover.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to stay loyal, however, as their traffic is so low that produce is suffering. Their prices are totally unreasonable. They try to stock foods if you request them, but certain things become unavailable for no reason. This week, petite diced (canned) tomatoes and tuna in oil disappeared from the shelves, and I got soft (fresh) tomatoes, rotten potatoes and a bad eggplant. I'm about to cave in, but whatcha gonna do?

And I'm curious--isn't Costco a big box store?

[Pan]

Malawry, I'm curious what the approximate ratio of men vs. women is in your courses.

I hope you get a good sleep tonight.

[Genny]

OK, I'll try!

Roasted Whole Chicken: stuff with lemon and onion

Knife skills: Cutting miripoix for chicken thys, braised cacciatore

Strawberries with Whipped Cream (do people really not know how to turn on a freaking hand mixer???) and possibly biscuits for shortcake.

Hmmm, eggs. Just hard boiled eggs?

(eta: whoops, fragement thought...fixed it!)

Are you introducing fresh herbs?

Edited February 16, 2006 by Genny (log)

[eJulia]

My guess:

Roast Chicken 101

Simple tomato sauce 101

Hard boiled eggs 101

Strawberry shortcake for dummies

But I hope your pantry has garlic, evoo, sugar, salt and if they're lucky, you bring some fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme) to the party.

[Kouign Aman]

Good morning. I hope you had a restful sleepful night. They're darned precious.

another guess ...you're going to teach them how to deconstruct a chicken, but use the thighs for the actual cooking.

The eggs are a challenge. Frittata perhaps. I keep wanting to add baked goods, but from what I remember of the syllabus, thats at the end,if ever.

maybe you'll fry the chicken and use the eggs for battering or crumbing them.

dessert - lemon mousse wtih strawberry garnish

Please have mercy, tell us the real menu!

[SobaAddict70]

Wal*Mart has a history of setting up shop in a neighborhood or city and pricing their goods as low as possible to the point of driving out smaller businesses.  Given the choice between a store that sells artisanal cheese, for instance, and a Wal*Mart that offers a wide selection of cheese but at a lower quality control (and more importantly, cost), which do you think would people choose?

←

OK, time to counter the "New York" view with some Heartland reality. In the small town where my mother and sister live, I doubt that there are more than 5 people who even know what "artisanal cheese" is. No such cheese is available within a 45 minute drive.

On the other hand, their very small Wal-Mart has taken on the flavor of the community, such as the pharmacist doing home delivery of drugs when needed. It's function is almost like a community center where everyone meets. Some businesses failed when Wal-Mart came in, but they were in the nature of a dusty old shoe store which was only staying in business because the mortgage had been paid off on the rickety building.

A similar situation developed here (30 miles west of Philly) with grocery stores. The "local store" (5-6 miles miles away) was a Genuardi's when I moved here about 5 years ago. It was sold to Safeway. Then a new Giant opened about a half mile away with very low prices. Genuardi/Safeway is struggling. I like it because the store is so much smaller--fast in and out, easy on the arthritis--and the staff has little turnover.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to stay loyal, however, as their traffic is so low that produce is suffering. Their prices are totally unreasonable. They try to stock foods if you request them, but certain things become unavailable for no reason. This week, petite diced (canned) tomatoes and tuna in oil disappeared from the shelves, and I got soft (fresh) tomatoes, rotten potatoes and a bad eggplant. I'm about to cave in, but whatcha gonna do?

Correct. It is as Rochelle noted, a rather complex subject that's difficult to delve into without crossing certain boundaries on eGullet. I gave one viewpoint which tends to hold in some urban areas. Your view is equally valid.

And I'm curious--isn't Costco a big box store?

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Not to derail Rochelle's blog -- but Costco is for the most part, open only to members and their guests, not the general public. There are other substantive differences. More information (not that Wikipedia is necessarily a good source but it'll suffice for now) can be found here.

[Malawry]

Good morning, all. I did sleep reasonably well last night for once, aided by two kitty-cats curled up on and beside me. (Plus a warm spouse always helps too!) We are owned by three cats in this house, but their dietary habits are fairly uninteresting...they are limited to Iams and filtered water, and the occasional human-grade tuna from a can when we're fixing some for ourselves. Sometimes we like to say that we're having a child to even up the cat-human ratio--it is a dangerous thing when the feline lobby outnumbers the human lobby in any situation, makes it very hard for the humans to retain alpha position.

Tonight's menu is much more simple than many of you were guessing. Chicken stock, tomato soup and a lemon tart. They are very into the desserts and specifically requested that I try to fit in a dessert for each class. I think stocks are essential as learning tools. I make my chicken stock like Fat Guy does, with a whole chicken plus some supplemental thighs (or backs or something, but Wal*Mart doesn't carry any interesting chicken parts...no feet either).

Stock takes several hours, and my class is only 2 hours long. So I'm gonna make one batch of stock this afternoon and take it to class to strain and reduce it, and we'll start a fresh batch while I'm there so everybody can see what stock looks like in the early phases and practice their knife skills on the mirepoix. I like to include a recipe that uses the stock, and tomato soup (finished with heavy cream) is a quick, easy and popular stock-based dish. (Though I usually make my tomato soup with vegetarian stock at home.)

The lemons, butter and egg are for that tart. I have flour and sugar and whatnot already on hand for adding to the mixtures. The strawberries will just be a garnish on the tart, along with a little whipped cream--I guess they threw a lot of you off!

I would have liked to have covered a braised dish tonight as well, but there's only so much one can fit into 2 hours of classwork--it's really not a lot of time! We may hold back the chicken thighs, a little mirepoix and a can of tomatoes and try to do braised chicken thighs if it looks like we have time.

[Malawry]

When we ran the Carriage Inn, we frequently bought supplies from Sams or Costco in Frederick but also from Frederick Produce Co, now FoodPRO 321 East 5th Street Frederick, MD 21701  800-368-2556. www.fpcfresh.com If you haven’t tried them, have a look.  May be useful for your catering work.

Also, have you ever gone to MD Mid Atlantic Expo? Used to be at the Fairgrounds in Timonium, but when Googling it just now, the 2005 show was at Baltimore Convention Center.  2006 website not yet activated. You can preregister as a food professional and it’s worth a day of sampling and getting some preparation ideas. It’s usually held in September.

kayswv

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Thanks for the tips! I have gone to Sysco's trade shows in Baltimore, but not to the MD Mid-atlantic Expo. I'll definitely look into it.

I have also purchased a lot of equipment from Gilbert Restaurant Supply in Frederick.

[Lori in PA]

The big box store conflict gives me mixed feelings. I also live in a rural area. We don't even merit a Superwalmart, just a regular one! When the regular Walmart moved it, it did put some smaller stores out of business, but they were the ones with the lousy, lousy service. As far as food goes, one of the downtown buildings vacated by one of the above out-of-business stores has been replaced by a gourmet grocery and take-out. It's tiny, but it seems to be doing very well. Also, the Super Walmart 30 minutes away is my source for White Lily self-rising flour, so for that reason alone I'm thankful it's there.

[Malawry]

And I'm curious--isn't Costco a big box store?

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This will be my last word on the whole Wal*Mart issue. Costco is a world apart from Wal*Mart in terms of how they treat their employees, and employee treatment is one of the top things that concern me when I decide where to spend my dollars. I am also very happy with their product line, their service and their low prices. But yes, Costco is a big box store--I am not opposed to every big box store out there, though I am more limited in my big-box shopping than most American consumers because I am very specific about where I spend my money.

I may be only about 85 miles from Washington, but this is definitely the rural edge of suburbia, and there are not a lot of small retailers in my neck of the woods. My life would be simplified greatly by shopping at Wal*Mart, and my checkout slips would definitely reflect lower prices there as well. I drive 30 minutes to Martinsburg to visit K-mart rather than going to Wal*Mart 3 miles down the road. I am willing to go to great lengths to speak with my dollars, and I feel fortunate that I'm in an economic position that I can make that choice. Lots of other people are mostly stuck. I don't judge people for their choices, but I do hope that people who are in a position to do so make specific choices rather than sticking with what's convenient or cheap. I think making specific choices about food shopping, in particular, has a big impact on what foods are available in any given market. Ruth, it sounds like you are making choices about where you shop, and I'm all in favor of that!

[Malawry]

Malawry, I'm curious what the approximate ratio of men vs. women is in your courses.

I hope you get a good sleep tonight.

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In both Frederick and Jefferson County classes, I have about 20% men/80% women. In Frederick it varies by class. Men seem much more likely to come with a spouse, while women usually come alone. I've only taught one man who came alone so far.

Thanks, I did sleep fairly well last night. Who knows, though, there may be a nap in my future this afternoon!

[Malawry]

But I hope your pantry has garlic, evoo, sugar, salt and if they're lucky, you bring some fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme) to the party.

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I actually have all those things on hand. I even have some fresh herbs leftover from another class, including some thyme that I'll add to the stock and probably the soup as well. I bought parsley yesterday.

[Rachel Perlow]

I make my chicken stock like Fat Guy does, with a whole chicken plus some supplemental thighs (or backs or something, but Wal*Mart doesn't carry any interesting chicken parts...no feet either).

Stock takes several hours, and my class is only 2 hours long. So I'm gonna make one batch of stock this afternoon and take it to class to strain and reduce it, and we'll start a fresh batch while I'm there so everybody can see what stock looks like in the early phases and practice their knife skills on the mirepoix. I like to include a recipe that uses the stock, and tomato soup (finished with heavy cream) is a quick, easy and popular stock-based dish. (Though I usually make my tomato soup with vegetarian stock at home.)

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I hope you also show them to pull the whole chicken out after about 45 minutes, carve out the breast meat and return the carcass to the pot. There are so many things to do with the simply poached breast meat, including just throwing some in, pulled, with additional mirepoix veggies, after the stock is finished, for a hearty chicken soup. You could do a simple tasting of the meat pulled from the stock early vs the meat that has given everything to the stock.

I sure wish my mom know about that, way back when. She served her chicken soup with meat that had all the flavor cooked out of it. And, with the carrots & celery that were nearly as mushy as the liquid of the broth itself.

[jackal10]

OK, time to counter the "New York" view with some Heartland reality.  In the small town where my mother and sister live, I doubt that there are more than 5 people who even know what "artisanal cheese" is.  No such cheese is available within a 45 minute drive.

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Its curious that the romantic rural idyll is of small locally produced artisanal produce, including cheeses, breads, and the like. Yet in practice in most of small town USA (and most of the developed world) its the poor end of mass production, and the place to get "artisanal" goods are in expensive stores in big towns, manufactured by refugees from that life trying to live a dream that never really existed...

I guess it may be different in Amish and other special areas.

[Malawry]

I hope you also show them to pull the whole chicken out after about 45 minutes, carve out the breast meat and return the carcass to the pot.

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Yes, Rachel, as I said above, I use the Fat-Guy method for chicken stock--complete with yanking out the chicken when it is cooked and stripping off the meat. Otherwise, IMO there's no real reason to use whole chickens.

For those of you who want more detail on this method, check out the eGCI Stocks and Sauces class.

[Pan]

[...]I may be only about 85 miles from Washington, but this is definitely the rural edge of suburbia[...]

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Are there people who actually commute to Washington daily from that distance? And are there more than a couple of people in the area where you're now living who go to DC more than once every couple of months for a special dinner or to stock up on hard-to-find specialty items?

[Malawry]

Here's some images from last night's culinary hijinks.

Dinner was dry-rubbed ribs, baked slowly in a cool oven, and some coleslaw. We're big rib fans around here, and the dry-rub means they're very low in carbs. (BBQ sauces are usually very sweet, and IMO they really need things like molasses in them--Splenda just doesn't cut it for that sort of thing.) If there wasn't snow on the ground I might have slow-grilled rather than slow-baking them, but I'm not as tough as Dave, Marlene or especially Snowangel in that regard.

The dry rub contains all kinds of stuff...paprika, cumin, salt, a small amount of sugar, and a bunch of other spices I can't recall offhand. I prepared two racks last night because that's how the ribs came from Costco (these were simple pork spareribs, which Costco only sells as 2 racks cryo'ed together). They'll get eaten in short order, but if not I can always freeze some. I've never done two racks in one pan like this before, but with some periodic rotating it worked out just fine.

Before:

After:

I made a typical slaw to go with. I forgot to take a pic of the finished slaw, but here's the MEP:

I also added salt and a little Splenda for sweetness. The vinegar came back from Paris with us a little over a year ago, it's a great Normandy apple cider vinegar that I purchased at Hediard.

The rest of last night's culinary messing-about had several class-related themes:

1. I've been baking like a fiend lately to use up the 5 dozen eggs we barely touched in class 2 weeks ago tonight. Also, I've been in the mood to bake.

2. There's only so much warm ganache people can use in a class.

3. Nobody seemed that into taking home leftover chocolate Tuesday night.

Also, there is this very nice lady who is throwing me a baby shower this Saturday, with some help from my close friend Abi. This lady is the spouse of another faculty member in my husband's dept at Shepherd U, and she offered to throw me this shower before she even met me in person, as a way to welcome us to the area. Wow! I feel like I should do something nice for her by way of thanking her for all this effort for a near-total-stranger. So, I made some truffles with leftover ganache and dark chocolate last night, and I picked up a gift card to Borders while I was in Frederick yesterday. (She homeschools her two kids, so I figure if she can't think of a book for herself she has a million she wants to buy her children.)

Here's the centers and the chopped assorted dark chocolates from Tuesday's class:

Here's all the MEP for the truffles: empty parchmented half-sheet for the finished product, powdered sugar and a sugar-cocoa powder blend for rolling the truffles in, centers, and melted chocolate.

I just did a simple sort of truffle here...putting melted chocolate on my hand, rolling a center until coated, and then rolling the wet truffle in one or the other powder mixture to coat. This way I didn't have to temper my chocolate. The finished truffles went onto the half-sheet and set out overnight to set up. I'll package them up later this morning.

Finally, my mom is coming up Friday for the weekend to hang out, escape taking care of my grandfather for a couple days, and especially attend the shower Saturday. So I'll be making us dinner Friday night. We need a dessert, right? I made a cheesecake a few days ago, from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible...I forgot to add an ENTIRE POUND of sour cream, but the cake came out okay anyway. So, per Sugarella's suggestion in a Pastry and Baking thread, I decided to cut it into pieces and coat them with chocolate.

The cheesecake fell apart rather easily and was very hard to coat, even though I tried to work quickly. The end result doesn't look so hot, but who cares...it tastes great and it's just for me and Mom, right? I'll pretty up the plates with some berries and whipped cream or something when I serve these. They're residing in the freezer until then. I don't pretend I'm a pastry chef, and I don't get worked up when dessert-y things don't look as nice as I hoped as a result.

[Malawry]

Are there people who actually commute to Washington daily from that distance? And are there more than a couple of people in the area where you're now living who go to DC more than once every couple of months for a special dinner or to stock up on hard-to-find specialty items?

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Yes, people commute from here to Washington from my neighborhood every day! People also commute to other suburbs, especially Frederick, MD and Loudoun County, VA. (Frederick is home to Ft Detrick, and there are several military types in my hood who work there...including my next-door neighbor. Loudoun County is a major technology center, with major companies including the old AOL HQ.) There is a MARC station (Maryland rail transit) about 2 miles from my home so you can even take the train into the city every day, or to a Maryland suburb if you work there. Housing is significantly cheaper in Jefferson County, WV than it is over the border in Maryland or Virginia, partly because tax rates are rock-bottom in all of WV. I live about 3 miles from Loudoun County and about 5 miles from the Maryland state line.

I go to DC every other month or so to do stuff (especially dining, which is not so great out here, or visiting with friends), but for food specialty items I actually do better in Rockville, MD or out in Sterling, VA where there are Asian and other ethnic markets, places like Wegman's or Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, and of course my beloved Costco. (Though I usually hit Costco in Frederick...it's the closest location, and unlike the Sterling, VA or Gaithersburg, MD locations, it's not insanely crowded.)

[snowangel]

Rochelle, the ribs look great. I love ribs, but have not purchased them at Costo, since my local supermarket has them on sale occasionally for $.99/lb. You're right, I would grill or smoke the ribs; I've even done them outside at 10 below. For a rub, you might want to take a look at Klink's Dry Rub -- it's very good, and includes sumac. I wasn't familiar at all with sumac until I saw this recipe, and found it at a local Middleeastern market. I've really taken it, and find it a wonderful addition to hummus, bean salads, etc.

I think the cheesecake bites look beautiful!

[Kouign Aman]

I am stopping work almost an entire month before my due date, and plan to spend much of that month preparing food for the freezer...braises, soups, chili, whatever freezes well. ...and comb consignment shops ...

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In your opinion, what vegie/non-meat dishes freeze well? I've done ok with rice bowls (precooked vegies) (note - OK, not great), and frozen portions of spaghetti (sauce & cheese frozen on top) & vegie lasagna, but would like to branch out with other homemade frozen dinners. I also appreciate food that can be eaten with one hand (because the other is supporting "the baby").

Those truffles look delish. Cheesecake squares might be easier to cover if the coating is poured on, but that would take a lot more melted chocolate. And they look perfectly delicious as they are. (with thanks to Bergerka: its 8 am and I do not need chocolate....).

[jm chen]

Cheesecake squares might be easier to cover if the coating is poured on, but that would take a lot more melted chocolate. And they look perfectly delicious as they are.

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Semi-freezing the squares of cheesecake also makes them easier to dip. Though, as others have said, they certainly look good enough to eat just as you made them!