My Food Degree - AB to Z

Knives - an edgy article

2005-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Cutlery isn't just knives, it's also forks and spoons and any other tool for slicing, dicing, preparing, and eating food. I always associated cutlery with only the knife. It turns out that some primitive tribe using shells to cut their food is, by definition, using cutlery. You can buy knives with pearl-style handles - I wonder if that's a subtle cutlery joke.

This blog is supposed to be about knives, so I'll skip the discussion on proper fork and spoon etiquette and "table" that for another time.

Not all knives are the same. The "best" are made from high-carbon steel. They are tough and long lasting like my deodorant. Knives such as boning and filleting are often made of titanium as they are more flexible than steel and hold their edge longer. Ceramic knives hold their edge 10x long than steel but are more delicate and should only be sharpened by a professional. The lower grades are made from hammering away at steel bars. I've even read some are made from stamped metal. Stainless steel blades are a composite of steel and chromium or are simple coated in chromium. Wow, high-school chemistry could have been so much cooler if only...

A knife is a knife, right? You've got a blade and a handle. Like anything else, there are technical names for these. The part of the blade that is inserted inside the handle is the tang. Some tangs are short and some extend the length of the handle. In this case, the more you stick out your tang, the better...that's my opinion.

Some knives, like bowie knives and swords, have a bolster. This is a thick piece of metal to provide balance as well as safety from a hand slipping over the blade. Ouch.

Knife handles are remarkably still called handles. They can be made of wood, wood/plastic composite, plastic composite, or stainless steel. Some companies take their handle design across all lines of their knives as a way of branding their product.

Growing up, I was in the boy scouts. Ever since then, I always carry a Swiss-army knife with me. Not the 18 piece with the magnifying glass but the 6 piece. I've used it to cut apples, carrots, fishing line...you get the picture. A swiss army knife is a perfect piece of utilitarian cutlery. Working in the kitchen takes a few more tools that are specialized for their purpose. Sorry, the kitchen's just not the place for the swiss...the knife, not the people.

What does it take to load up your kitchen with the ideal knives? Let's see, you'll need a chef's knife, a carving knife, a paring knife, a serrated knife, a utility knife, a boning knife, a filet knife, a cleaver (not June), a santoku knife, a steak knife, a mincing knife, an oyster knife, a deveining knife (disgusting!), a claim knife, a grapefruit knife, a cheese knife, a chestnut knife (only if you have an open fire), a tourne knife, a peeling knife, maybe a ceramic knife, and the slicer.

The chef's knife (aka cook's knife) and the santoku knife are the knives most people commonly use.

The chef's knife is seen an all purpose kitchen knife for chopping, dicing, mincing, and slicing. Blades are straight and thick. These can have blade lengths of 6, 8, 10, and 12 inches. Meaty hands should get the longer blades. The chef's knife has a bit of weight so it's easy to cut poultry and anything else that needs an extra bit of elbow grease to prep.

The santoku is associated with Asian food. This knife has a wide blade with a long straight edge curving up slightly at the end. The santoku is thought to offer better control due to its design of a wider blade that is thinner in thickness, shorter in length, and curves up very gradually at the end. This thinner blade allows for more precise cutting substances such as "dense vegetables" like broccoli. The santoku also has a granton edge. This granton edge reduces food from sticking to the blade. it can be observed as dime-sizes circles along the blade near the edge.

I've read reviews for both. The santoku has the coolness factor with the granton edge and the fancy name but the chef's knife has always won as the "knife of choice." There is a knife for every purpose. Maybe your kitchen calls for both.

Lastly, care of a knife. Wash them by hand with mild detergents. Store them in wooden or plastic knife boxes. Don't throw them in a utensil draw. Surprisingly, discoloration can occur with knive blades, so wipe them off after using.

Hopefully it goes without saying but I'll say it. Sharpen your knives according to the instructions that came with the knife. When in doubt, let someone else do it.

NOTE: Making money from fire

2005-08-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I whipped up my first batch of habanero hot sauce. Home-made recipes tend to create large batches so I brought an extra bottle into work. The best quote so far from one of my Indian friends..."this is better than the stuff I buy."

I can easily see how people can make a sauce for friends and then end up producing a small product line. No grand scheme's here. There are enough hot sauces on the market. But, if I can get a small base of buyers, I might crank out an occasional batch.

J - Jalapenos

2005-08-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

I love cooking with hot peppers.

Jalapenos are probably the most popular hot pepper due to their adequate heat level and availability at the grocery store. So, what's with me saying "adequate" heat level? Have you ever gone to a restaurant and ordered a "hot dish?" I don't mean the waitress. Restaurants like toning down heat so most anyone can tolerate even a spicy dish. For that reason, you won't find a habanero hamburger or a scotch bonnet seared steak but you will find jalapenos a plenty.

Mexican and Thai restaurants are the exception.

Hot peppers are unique in they contain capsaicin. Capsaicin is produced as an oil within the reproductive membrane of the pepper. Capsaicin bonds with all types of tastebuds on the tongue and gives the feeling of burning. The higher the capsaicin level, the more burn. Yes, people like a safe burn for the same reason they like the thrill of a rollercoaster. The best part - you get an adrenalin rush.

Long before people were busy with jobs and kids and little league practice, a man invented a means of measuring the level of capsaicin in a pepper. Mr. Scoville's methods were later enhanced with computers and high-tech wizardry and we got a nice Scoville chart for determining the heat of a pepper variety. I've listed just a few common peppers with their heat level.

0-100 Scoville Units includes most Bell/Sweet pepper varieties.
1,000-2,000 Ancho & Pasilla peppers
1,000-2,500 Cherry peppers
2,500-5,000 Jalapeno peppers
5,000-15,000 Serrano peppers
30,000-50,000 Cayenne & Tabasco peppers.
100,000-350,000 Scotch Bonnet & Thai peppers.
200,000 to 300,000 Habanero peppers.
Around 16,000,000 is Pure Capsaicin.

Note the Scotch Bonnets and Habaneros overlap.

I thought Jalapeno's were hot until I stumbled upon a version of this chart. I discovered I was a wimpy pepper eater - AND I WANTED TO TEST THE LIMIT!

If a Jalapeno is rated at up to 5,000 Scoville units, why would anyone in their right mind eat a Habanero? Beats me, I'm not in my right mind. In fact, it's a good question. Each pepper has it's own distinct flavor. I fancy a scotch bonnet pepper with it's high heat and amazingly fruity flavor. This pepper rippens as a beautiful orange or red round wrinkly pepper. As a bit of an aside, the 3000+ hot sauces available on the market blend peppers with complimentary flavors to bring an unexpected bouquet of flavor. Bouquet of flavor? Scotch bonnets, for example, might be blended with orange juice to enhance the citris flavor. Fact is, a 200,000 Habanero can have a great flavor in addition to the heat.

Peach salsa is a great way of discovering jalapenos. I found a simple recipe that called for peaches, jalapenos, red onions, cilantro, tomatoes, and a few spices. I hit the farmer's market for the fixings and then went to work. I made two amazing discovers. First, salsa tends to reduce down to about half of it's original volume within the first 24 hours of refridgeration. Second, cilantro makes a difference. I didn't have any when I made the recipe and figured it was probably just for looks. But then the salsa had a very oniony, vinegary taste - I thought it just needed more time. After four days in the fridge, the taste was still way off. Then I ran out and bought some cilantro, diced it, and mixed it in. IMMEDIATELY, the taste of the salsa changed. Gone were the strong vinegar flavors and suddenly I could taste all the individual flavors of the tomatos, peaches, etc.

A final note about peppers and heat...I love Taco Bell because it's fast and cheap. One day I found my refridgerator had every heat level of Taco Bell "hot sauce...mild to FIRE. I lined them up and started comparing ingredients. The difference between the FIRE sauce and the HOT was garlic. Who would have though garlic could bring up the heat? Enjoy you next hot dish but don't think peppers are the only way to bring the heat.

Where am I

2005-08-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ye ol' blogger suddenly hit the brakes!

Life gets busy and I haven't had anything to add for the letter J until I made my own salsa this weekend. More to come on that. The pickles (I-infusion) were such a hit that my oldest daughter and I made a second batch.

Remember that stir-fry pan I was raving about? Either it was a poor quality pan or I missed something important. If I let water sit in it for an hour or so after cooking...it would get light rust. Weird. I COULD easily scrub it off but..oh, it just didn't seem like it should be doing that.

I noticed Target and Kmart stores are now selling cooking kits. Table setting for 4, a few bowls, a few pots, a few utencils, a few knives, etc. I'm not saying that I need something like that, but for those looking for a portable travel cooking kit, it's pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, OH MY, my rambling is being cut by low laptop battery power and an impending storm.

Toodles.

NOTE: Cost of Cooking

2005-08-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

I thought our kitchen was well stocked until I started "cooking like Alton Brown." I also thought we were good in the spice department. No on both accounts.

We don't have any cast iron cookware. We don't have any metal mixing bowls - I'm a bit skeptical they are necessary since we've got the pyrex. No KitchenAid mixer, no electric hand mixer, no thermonuclear temperature scanner, no digital oven thermometer, and no stainless steel pans. If there are two spices called for in a recipe, we'll have only one in the cupboard.

Truth of the matter, my wife is 3rd generation Italian and cooks with an Italian flair. Most of her dishes are usually low in fat and generally healthy (red sause vs. white - that sort of thing). Additionally, she's not the frying type. Therefore, our meals are simplier. I have only complained about her cooking once in seven years so simple does not mean bad. She's a great cook. Here -I- come wanting to sear a piece of fish and cook omlets every day. My heart reminds me the latter should be reserved for an occasional weekend. In fact, my recent egg craze now has me completely uninterested in anything with eggs.

Ok, I'm rambling but I must ramble.

I'm experiencing high-priced cooking because I'm cooking in new ways with new items. I was eager for daily cooking experiences that would have me frying, searing, poaching, and juggling new foods. Real life kicked in and said "Chris, cook one new dish each week. The other days, just cook your standard meals - there is education in that as well."

In the meantime, if you see a guy walking with a placard that says "will work for kitchenaid mixer" wish him the best.

I - Infusion

2005-08-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Tea, a drink that's been around since I don't know when. Who came up with the idea? Steep water with a plant leaf and then drink it. Simple concept. I wonder how many different plant species were tried until stumbling on the tea leaf. Personally, I don't think the tea leaf was the final answer. The best tea I drink is sweet tea but that's more straight sugar-water than anything.

Marinades. Ahhhhh, food soaked in a fluid of spices and tasty liquids which, when cooked, presents a tender juicy and scrumptious...GREAT PIECE OF FOOD! Be it beef or chicken or pork, I love marinated meat. Yes, I'm sure fruits and vegetables could be marinated but nothing has ever stood out like a great piece of juicy meat.

"What the heck do tea and marinades have to do with each other," you are asking. Infusion. Infusion is the process of introducing a new flavor into an existing food via liquid. In the case of tea, the final drink is known as an infusion.

The best example of infusion is pickling. Pickling is a rather easy process. Introduce ANYTHING into a flavored water/vinegar solution and in time, you'll get pickles. Apple pickles, pear pickles, peach pickles, cucumber pickles (a.k.a. pickles), carrots, anything you can slice and fit in a jar. Alright, peaches might not be a good idea but I'm game for trying - just not today. Sunday evening rolled around and I was ready to pickle something, anything, I was ready to re-pickle a pickle!

Ever get a strange feeling of deja vu? Ah, never mind.

Introducing...the ever popular, always available, bread and butter pickles. Don't ask where the name came from, as there are neither bread nor butter in the recipe. Just me and the kitchen to produce the best tasting, worst smelling pickles you've ever seen. Here's the thing, when the wife is cooking Mexican in the same kitchen as "The Pickler," you get some mighty weird scents...BUT I WAS ITCHING TO PICKLE SO NOTHING WAS GOING TO STOP ME.

Bread and butter pickles are an infusion of water, apple vinegar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, pickling spices, turmeric, and a little kosher salt. The infusion is boiled and then simmered for approximately four minutes. Then, the infusion is poured over diced cucumbers and yellow onions, sealed, and refrigerated for a few days. As of this writing, it's been 19 hours. My best calculations put me chomping into my first homemade pickle on Wednesday evening - after work. That's another important part of infusions, time.

Time for tea, time for marinades, time for pickles, time, time, TIME. Food infusions don't allow for quick results. Most new kitchen recipes can produce a taste of failure or success within an hour or so. Infusions, instant tea not included, take more time.

The next time I write, I'll tell you how my pickles faired. And now some parting words from Arlo...

I don't want a pickle
Just want to ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want a tickle
'Cause I'd rather ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want to die
I just want to ride on my motorcy...cle

See my other blog for my pickling perplexities.

H - Heat

2005-07-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

The history of heat goes way back to the beginning of time. All how-we-got-here debates aside, the sun has been a huge source of heat ever since I can remember. But how did humans first create heat or fire? If I recall correctly, man started rubbing two sticks together, producing friction which causes heat and eventually fire. Then a woman told the man to get inside and use the new stove they bought at Christmas.

Once man figured out he could produce fire, he started getting creative with his cooking. He'd cook meat over charcoal. He'd cook on his carburator. He would even burn ants with a magnifying glass. All valid ways of cooking mind you.

Then man invented the microwave and T.V. dinners. This began a dark ugly era of cooking. Man found he could cook food faster and dryer. Leftover pizza was given a new life. Suddenly, everything that could fit in a microwave was cooked in a microwave.

We are now in a time where all methods of cooking - even solar cooking, are available. So what's the best type of cooking? That depends on the food, the need, and the speed. First, we have to look at the types of heat. All heat is not the same.

There are three main types of heat sources; radiation, conduction, and convection. Radiation is energy that travels in waves. Ovens, flames, microwaves, heck even lightbulbs produce heat via radiation. Conduction is when heat moves from something that is hot to something that is cold. Slap a raw egg on a skillet - you get conduction. Convection is heat through friction. Friction from moving air or boiling water are both examples of convection.

Broiling and grilling have already been covered in this blog and they are both perfect examples of cooking with radiation. So is using a microwave but I'd rather not encourage the use of the magic box.

Most other types of cooking combine convection and conduction. For the most part, conduction heats the cooking medium like water or oil, and convection is the heated medium acting upon the food. There's submersion cooking with water or oil that's common in boiling, frying, simmering, poaching, and stewing. Then contact cooking like searing, sauteing, and pan-frying where oil is commonly used to increase the surface area between the pan and the food.

If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of styles of cooking. 101 ways to skin a cat and just as many to cook an egg.

We're not finished. I can sear a piece of fish for three minutes with my oven on a heat setting of eight. What if you've got a gas stove and I've got electric? Don't forget that not all pans are make of the same material and therefore distribute heat differently. Therefore, I give you this important tip - if you follow a recipe and it fails, don't be surprised. Take notes so the next time you try that recipe, you'll know to raise or lower a cooking time or increase a heat setting.

Thinking back on all my years of bad cooking, I realize that I didn't know how to apply the right type of heat to the right type of food. My recommendation, and what I'm trying myself, is concentrating on one style of cooking for a while until it's not a scary subject anymore. I'm not ready for blanching but I've got a good handle on broiling and grilling.

Iron Chefs can create masterpieces from secret ingredients because they know two key pieces of information. They know how to cook using any style of cooking and they know when to use those styles. There might be other styles of cooking, but these are foundational. I figure if you can blanch vegetables, you can do anything.

A second blog - lab time.

2005-07-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

http://fooddegreelab.blogspot.com

I'll post to it more regularly. In essence, it's:
applied cooking theory
OR
what I learned while I messed up that day's meal and how I tried to fix it
OR
one man and a pan

NOTE: General Observation

2005-07-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that my kitchen is always short one or two key ingredients for anything I want to make. My wife, bless her heart, has added a refridgerator notepad specifically so she can pick up anything I write down.

I'd love to see some comments to this post about standard kitchen foodstuff (tomato's always on hand, etc.) that YOU keep stocked.

G - Grilling

2005-07-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

G is for grilling, that's good enough for me.

I almost went with garlic. An old myth says people should wear cloves of garlic around their necks to keep the vampires away. I think the vampires started that one. I mean, who wouldn't want fresh garlic with their next meal. Either way, I'm all for garlic jewerly.

Back to this grilling idea. I'm not here to debate charcoal versus gas. I'm here to discuss grilling and how grilling can make any meal better.

You might like to grill tuna steaks, t-bone, chicken breasts, bananas, and bologna, ok, maybe not bologna but you can grill just about anything. My personal favorite is bratwurst.

Let me take you on the narrow windy journey that is grilling bratwurst. Bratwurst comes in as many colors as Crayola crayons, mostly dependent on the filling and spices. I spent a short time in Germany and found brat's could be the size of small dogs or pencils depending on the city. Regional food in the best sence of the term.

Grilling brat's is a journey each person must take. My friend, Ben, goes with direct heat until the brat looks like a burned rodent - and that's how he likes it. It's a little too much gnawing for my taste. I have cooked a few over direct heat but only because I was pressed for time. It can be done without a leather exterior forming around the brat's core, but it's not style that's fit for everyone.

I'm a slow cooker when it comes to my Johnsonville's. Slow cooking over indirect heat. This style of grilling results in the juiciest brat's you've ever had - only if you can tell when it's done. You see, slow cooking a brat is a lot like cooking a salmon. Pretty much the same color when it's done as when it's raw. [whispers] My time gauge is a beer. If I can sit and relax with something smooth like a Corona, I know that when the beer is done, so are the brat's. Either grilling method you use, remember to flip the brat's every few minutes.

I want to mention indoor grilling. No, I'm not talking a George Foreman grill. I do have one and I do like it, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking a stovetop and a frying pan.

Let's be honest, not all foods need thrown on the grill. Many foods, like a ham and cheese sandwich, however, could definitely used a bit of grilling. For many years, I ate ham and cheese sammys. The routine was usually 1) toast the bread, 2) toss on ham and cheese 3) heat in microwave. Simple and quick. But what about presentation and taste? This isn't food fit for a microwave, it's food meant for a grill. If you doubt that, look at all the trendy "california style" restaurants that serve hot ham and cheese for six bucks. How can they do it? Easy, they grill their sandwiches for even heating with a nice bit of bread crunch.

Grilling a sandwich is easy. You can either grill just the bread or use my style; make your sandwich then turn on the stovetop and get out your pan. Butter up the top of the sandwich bread, Toss in the sandwich and let it grill, butter-side down. After a little time, butter the side that's on the top of the sandwich and then flip it over. When you are done, you'll have a nicely grilled sandwich that's heated throughout with perfectly melted cheese and a nice toasty texture.

You don't have to grill your sandwichs. You don't have to put parsley on the side of your meals. You don't have to make a pretty presentation. But why not take those few extra steps and few extra moments to present a meal that's plated for a king? Sometimes the $30 per plate restaurant and the $10 per plate restaurant are only separated by those few extra touches. Why not present those at home?

F -Fats, Fresh F&V, French Words

2005-07-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

I was going to have a lot of F-words for today. I had big cooking plans for this past weekend. Lots of time to use F-words. As luck would have it, I only had one chance; Saturday morning breakfast. One chance and I came up with three.

Fats, Fresh Fruits and Veggies, and French Words.
Let's talk fats and get this subject out of the way. Butter, buttery spreads, margarine, and butter spreads are all different. I don't care if the buttery spread says it can be used for cooking, it's not the same as butter. Different smoke points, different contents, different results, and differences in how your crepes turn out. Crepes - is that a French word? My point is this - if it calls for butter, USE BUTTER. Don't substitute on key ingredients, especially if you're cooking a dish for the first time. There are too many unanswered questions when a dish is botched and there's no excuse to blame a faulty ingredient.

And speaking of key ingredients, for the sake of all that is good in this world, can we PLEASE use fresh fruits and vegetables? Go to your local farmer's market or road-side stand and get fresh tomatos, peaches, beans, lettuce, carrots, apples, peppers, SQUASH, MELLONS, IT'S ALL GOOD! [takes deep breath] And it's cheaper. My local grocery store sells jalapeno peppers for $3.00 for a very small handfull of the green goodies. My local farmer's market sells about 12 peppers for $1.00. If you'd rather buy for convenience, go right ahead. And when you spend $15 for pickling peppers to my $2.00, know that convenience runs around thirteen bucks.

Remember when I said crepes? French cooking terms are easily found via search engines. That's the good news. Bad news is many french glossaries leave you with a la carte, a la mode, and a la-la-boom-de-a. Great education for reading a menu but it's not helpful when you must create a mirepoix. And with that, I want to discuss the single most important French term; mise en place. Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs) refers to having all ingredients necessary for a dish prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking. Mise en place is simply dicing/slicing/prepping/chopping/grading/measuring all ingredients ahead of time. This means when it's time to add chopped carrots at a crucial time, you aren't stuck holding a pan off the heat with one hand and whacking at a carrot with the other. I've found this method has saved me from starting a meal without all the required ingredients.

All this leads up to one thing - my attempt at the Saturday morning breakfast. The main dish - Fresh fruit fixed in Crepes using Fat. It started out great, mono-e-kitchen. Then whooooooooooosh, my plan goes out the window. We were out of bananas and butter was no where to be found. So I improvised. We did have peaches and a "buttery spread." At this point, I'll admit I should have grabbed my car keys and gone for some butter. Instead, I decided to use the "buttery spread." Oh, it worked well enough but I'm still stuck wondering "how much better could it have been?" Anyway, using AB's crepe recipe, I eventually found myself over the stove with a 1-ounce cup of crepe-batter and a hot pan. By the time it was all over, I was left with 14 good crepes, 2 crepes that suffered from poor flipping, 1 burned crepe, and 1 burned finger. Then it was on to the crepe filling. Ricotto cheese whipped with powdered sugar and then folded in some chopped peaches. And FoodDude said "it is good."

Finally, I found crepes were great for chinese leftovers. I think I'll keep crepes on hand as often as tortillas and loaves of bread.

The blog entry on eggs flowed like a runny yolk. This entry is much like my first attempt at crepes - affective with room for improvement. I'm off to get a stick of butter.

Note: Grilling Times

2005-07-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

Both assume "hot" coals.

Hamburger - 4 minutes per side.

Marinated Chicken Breast (boneless) - 8 minutes per side. First 8 - over coals with skin side down. Second 8 - just off the coals with the grill cover closed.

I'll probably keep this one updated with new listings.

E -Eggs

2005-06-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Eggs
Egg punnery has been around since the chicken. No yolk. And as long as I have been around, I’ve loved the little guys. These complex elliptical orbs of protein and nutritional goodness cook up as many ways as a human can devise.

Eggs are chicken potential. No, you’ll never find a beak inside a shell, but the cellular stuff is all there for sprouting a chicken. Eggs are made up of five basic parts; a shell, a small pocket of air, the albumen, the yolk, and the chalazae. Despite what you might think, the last is not a small Frenchman, it’s a thin cordal structure that holds the yolk in the center of the egg. Nature’s safety packaging. The albumen exists in two forms, the outer thin albumen and the inner thick albumen. Crack an egg and watch the liquid pour out – that’s the thin stuff. Hold a cracked egg open long enough and a thick gelatinous goo will appear – that’s the thick. I think we all know about the yolk. So what about the air? Beats me. I figure an egg is like a snow globe. No matter how beautiful the contents, it’s near impossible to fill with water without letting in a bit of air. Air is just a natural thing and it works for me.

Why my fascination with the white one? I’m not sure where to begin! They are filling, easy to use, taste great with almost anything, and after eating huevos rancheros in Costa Rica, I’m convinced they are perfect with just about anything.

I could write pages and pages on egg grades, sizes, and types. But I won’t. I’ll keep it simple. Grade AA is fresh from the chicken. Grade A has been around a few weeks. Small, large, super-sized, it has nothing to do with quality. Finally, the older the egg, the better for cooking hard-boiled eggs but not much else. It’s about chemistry and while time might heal all wounds, time also breaks down all membranes. Broken membranes are not good for keeping a yolk together but are good for peeling.

For my final point about general egg information, check your eggs before you cash. Make sure they are cold and check them for cracks and breaks.

Eggs are great for leftovers. I’ve mentioned one such method in my post on broiling. Here’s another one. Tonight I was privileged to be in my house all alone, just me and my kitchen. Like a putting on a comfortable sweater, I turned on the broiler. Then, I opened up two English muffins and let the creativity flow. First, I placed roughly two teaspoons of scotch bonnet hot sauce in the middle of each muffin. Next, I cracked each egg and carefully placed it on top of the muffin. Finally, added slices of thin ham and cheese; prosciutto and american. Three to four minutes under the broiler and then topped with roughly a tablespoon of mild salsa on each. Ok, I did burn a little of the American cheese but until I get a new oven light, I’m cooking in the dark.

Poach ‘em, fry ‘em, wine and dine ‘em. Eggs are great. I challenge you to stop making scrambled eggs because it’s easy. Cook them sunny-side up. Poach them for a salad. Or paint them and stick them in the yard. Be creative.

NOTE: What's in your fridge

2005-06-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Driving home last night, my wife called me and asked what I wanted for dinner. As she and the kids were out all day in the 90 degree weather, I recommended something quick and easy like hot dogs and mac/cheese. I spent the next 25 minutes thinking about what we had in the fridge to add some color to the meal. I thought it would be great to walk in the door and "whip up a nice little side dish." Pulling into the driveway, I couldn't think of anything. Partially because we are near time for another grocery shopping and partially because I'm new at all this. The best idea I had was something salty - but what? My wife knew - she always does. She had prepared an easy tomato and cucumber salad with a nice Italian dressing. Perfect. As a final note, I thought about adding something to the mac and cheese but came up empty....except for chipotle powder which I added to my serving.

D - Dishes, a confessional

2005-06-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

D was a much harder letter than I had expected. For the life of me, I couldn't think of a style of cooking that began with D. "Broiling, grilling, braising, d, d, darn it I can't think of anything." D was becoming an elusive letter.

Write what you know, that's what I've always heard. There it was, in bright spinning neon letters twirling in my head. Dishes.

Dishes are an integral part of the dining/cooking experience. Paper plates are ok for outdoors, but don't serve up pasta primavera on paper plates. Set the table for enjoyable dining.

You know, I'm not here to talk about setting the table. Yes, proper food display does matter. Fine China, Fiesta-ware, or standard tableware it doesn't matter that much as long as you make the presentation of the food as well as the food itself. How do you present a hotdog? Well, that's another show. But do have a beautiful table for dining and whatever you do, don't have a centerpiece that forces you to crane your neck for talking to your guests.

I'm here to make a confession about dishes. I have never been a good dishwasher. Fix dinner and then put stuff back in the fridge - someone else can do the dishes, that was my mindset. I didn't think myself too good to do the dishes. I found myself lazy with a capital L. My wife told me once "I don't mind you making dinner, I just wish you'd clean up your mess afterward." She was right. I could use the pots and pans but scrubbing them clean? That just wasn't in me to do. So for that, I asked her forgiveness and I ask yours as well.

A few weeks ago, I changed my way of cooking and cleaning. I had an epiphany. A breakthrough moment. The kitchen ceiling opened and I saw the light. I pictured a pottery maker squeezing clay through their hands, feeling the textures of the clay, the smell, and then creating their art. Knives, pans, utencils, those are part of the art as much as the food itself. The more time i could spend familiarizing myself with their nuances, the better I could use them. A knife is like a golf putter. It has a distinct feel and weight. You know how far you can take it before you need to switch to a wedge. A knife is the same. Sometimes you need a different knife, but gosh darn it at least now I KNOW when I need a different knife. Familiarity, that's why I should "do the dishes." Knowing where everything gets put away, knowing the texture of a bowl has changed a bit since the last time I used it, knowing it's time to season a pan. And then the kitchen ceiling closed.

Turning out the lights as I left the kitchen, I imagined a carpenters workshop with all the wood shavings swept up, all the tools put away, the lingering smell from freshly cut timber. Just like a woodworker, I had used the tools of my trade, created something beautiful, and then just like any responsible tradesman, cleaned and checked my tools for the next days work.

Doing dishes isn't about cleaning up a mess, it's about cooking.

NOTE : Grocery Stores

2005-06-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Within a few minutes of my home, I've got Kroger, Marsh and a Super Wal-mart. I don't think it's that super, but that's another story. What kind of produce could a guy in central Indiana find at his local grocery? Mangos! WTF, I thought. That stands for What's This Fruit? I love mangos, so I know what they are, but what are they doing in central Indiana? I like to keep these NOTES sections short, so I'll end with this. Take a stroll through your local produce sections and you might find some hidden treasures behind the onions and celery.

C - Charcoal

2005-06-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

Charcoal.

Dateline: Last Monday.
Location: My driveway.

I spent a lot of time camping when I was growing up. Cooking over an open flame with the standards; hotdogs, marshmallows, and I’m sure other grocery goods. I managed to carry that back home in the form of a little Weber grill. My backyard had a small concrete slab where a water well used to be. Perfect grill location. Yes, one time the grill was a wee bit close to the house and I bubbled a little paint but we don’t need to reminisce any more.

My history proves I can grill. I can start charcoal. I can cook with charcoal. I can do it!

Standing in my driveway with a new grill, a bag full of charcoal, and a small torch I went to doing what I’d done before. Twenty-five looooooooooong minutes later, I came to a sad realization. I had always bought easy-start charcoal. Easy-start means soak the suckers in a combustible liquid before bagging and selling to customers who like food that tastes a bit like kerosene. When a man can’t get a fire to burn for more than a minute or two, it really drives him UP THE FREAKING WALL! Granted, it was a very windy day, but I’d done it before. Finally, after a combination of lighter fluid and oiled paper, which I’ll get to later, the fire started and stayed burning.

Monday afternoon, an hour later than expected, I served up lunch. Grilled Hamburgers, grilled yellow squash, and grilled romaine lettuce. The lettuce was for a salad from in AB’s “I’m Just Here For The Food.” My wife commented the salad dressing (apple vinegar, capers, and Dijon mustard) would go great on any salad. So noted.

Dateline: Friday evening.
Location: My driveway.

Starting with a Killian’s beer in hand, I tried making fire for the second time in five days. This time, success came sooner than before. I started with a sheet of newspaper and folded in several times, while occasionally spraying it with vegetable oil, until it was about the size of a 3x5 card which is, well, 3x5. Then I built my charcoal pyramid on top of the 3x5 newspaper. Initially, it was hard to get the paper to light. A little too much oil, I suspect. A small squirt of lighter fluid on top did the trick. The fluid penetrated enough of the paper to get it going while the vegetable oil/paper acted like a wick so a flame was produced for a long period of time. Just long enough to start the charcoal burning. By the time the charcoal was hot enough to grill, all the paper had burned up.

Friday evening, we dined on brats, yellow squash, mushrooms, and pineapple rings – all grilled.

What have I learned about grilling and grilling with good charcoal. Buy two spray bottles and label them water and oil. The water is for putting out the sudden flames that grease produces. The oil is great for lighting spraying veggies and whatever else will be grilled for preventing grill sticking. Truthfully, I don’t have my bottles labeled. I bought two colors; red and green. Red reminds me of a fire extinguisher so that’s my water bottle. These bottles run about a dollar each. Next, use 30 charcoal briquettes per pound of meat. I ran long on the brats as I put the veggies on too late in the game. So grilled pineapple took 10 minutes instead of 3. Finally, I don’t need to buy a charcoal chimney if I stick with the oil and paper.

Charcoal is a cruel mistress. Respect her, treat her well, know her limits, and she will treat you well. Do none of these things and you’ll have your grill on the roadside in no time.

NOTE: Filling the kitchen Pt 2

2005-06-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Inches away from buying an iron skillet, I turned my gaze upon a deep frying pan. Think stir-fry. Stir-fry in my house occurs every other week. The high walls make this thing great.

B - Broiling

2005-06-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

Broiling: Open your oven. Stick your head in as far as you can. Now look up. Congratulations, you've found the broiler. If you're anything like me, the broiler button on your stove is the cleanest button and without wear. After all, typical back-of-the-box instructions start with "preheat oven." The birth of cooking stones, in my humble opinion, is another reason the broiler has gone un-used. The stone can produce even cooking with an occasional nice crust - cook a frozen pizza on a stone and you'll see what I mean. Broiler? I don't need to stinkin' broiler.

The truth is I do need a broiler and so do you.

A broiler is a heat source located in the roof of the oven. It has two heat settings, "high" and "low." My oven is user-friendly so when I turn on the broiler, it says "hi." Who say truncation is a bad thing? Broiling requires the oven rack to be at either the highest or second highest setting. Think of broiling as grilling with the coals levatating over the food instead of under. Broiling is high heat from a close source.

Time for hunting. In fact, this should be easy. Find where you keep your cooking pans (cookie sheets, etc) and take out everything you see. On the bottom of the stack is the broiling pan. Looks like a vented piece of metal. The broiling "pan" is two pans. One is the vented pan, the other is a grease/gunk catcher. Always use the two together. I know, this is very basic to some of you, but for me...not so much. You have found your primary cooking pan for this method.

Broiling is a great method for cooking fish. I'm not saying you have to go out and buy the freshest fish possible. Fresh is better but not necessary. We all have a budget. We tend to buy frozen tilipia for a quick easy meal. My wife has always cooked it on a stone in the oven - usually 8 minutes. I tried broiling. Same results in 5 minutes. Maybe not the same, I prefer the broiled version as it seems
flakier. My kids say they taste the same. Plate the two side by side and they're both great.

Broiling is also great for eggs. Say it with me...broiling is also great for eggs. This time, ignore the broiling pan and grab a small saute pan - and wrap the handle in aluminium foil. I don't want to go into the exact instructions/recipe but this is the basic idea. Broiler on high, over rack on 2nd to top. Toss a little olive oil in the pan. In a mixing bowl, add two eggs, salt and pepper to taste, and leftovers (tomato, green pepper, sliced lunchmeat, etc). Pour these contents into the saute pan and broil for 1-2 minutes. Slide results onto a plate. Continue this process while adding a layer of salsa in between. You'll have the fluffiest egg dish you've ever had. That's the basic's. Check out "I'm Just Here For the Food" for the exact recipe and instructions.

I'm learning the broiler is my friend. I'm sticking with recipes before I venture into the realm of "what happens if I broil this?"

If you've got any good recipes, post them. I was going to say "if you have any good broiling stories" but that caused me to question my sanity.

NOTE: Filling the kitchen

2005-06-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

Expect to pick up a few kitchen items when you first start your cooking education. I need an iron skillet, splatter guard, a few spray bottles (water, oil,etc), a basting brush, and more oil.

AB - Alton Brown

2005-06-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

AB (Alton Brown) has a show called Good Eats on the Food Network television channel. www.altonbrown.com for those who are curious. Some people say he reminds them of me. Some say I remind them of him. As luck would have it, I was able to tell Alton that little anticdotal bit myself when I met him at a book signing. I told him I took it as a compliment and he replied he took it as one as well. My wife says we seem like two kindred spirits. Yes, we both have spikey hair and similiar glasses but I'm not going to dye my hair to look exactly like him no matter what the tabloids have suggested. Well, anyway, the point I'm trying to make is it took a like-minded person to show me what cooking is and what it isn't.

What type of stuff does he teach? COOKING - that it's the proper combination of food and heat, with a little kosher salt thrown in on occasion. Alton, pronounced Al-ton, says cooking is about thinking and understanding food and heat. For example, when cooking in the oven, where does the heat come from? Either a flame or a calrod, right? Technically that's correct but knowing that doesn't make me a better cook. If I'm broiling, the heat comes in the form of radiation. If I'm frying, heat comes from conduction (from the fluid medium) and convection (of the fluid medium). This is the stuff Alton teaches that gives a person the knowledge to walk into a kitchen and make a meal from almost anything. For example, through studying his book "I'm Just Here For The Food," I learned that different cuts of meat cannot all be cooked via the same method. No big deal to some of you, for me, a big deal.

This blog will track my learning from Alton (from his show and first book) and let you know what I'm learning, where I've messed up, how I've improvised, and what great tools I've had to buy. Not all the postings will be directly about AB and/or the book. Heck, if you want that - BUY HIS BOOK. I'm currently without a cast iron skillet but not for long.

Before I forget, last night I sorted out all the pots, pans, glassware, and common kitchen tools for easier access. What did my wife say about that? I'll let you know when she gets back in town.

That's it for AB. I hope D will stand for Duck or Density of Meat and not Disaster.

Why I never learned.

2005-06-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

The more I think about it, the more I like the AB to Z concept. Learn a little and share a little. Increment the letter for each post. E might be eggs but it's too earily to tell. Once I'm up to Z, I might start back with AB. Why AB? I don't want to tackle that one quite yet.

I first want to tackle a question that will perhaps save me a few months of psycho-analysis. Why, at my age, am I just learning to cook? The short and sweet story is my mother was never much of a cook and didn't teach me canola oil from canned soup. My mother taught me a lot of things, no doubt about that, but culinary skills weren't in the mix. I skated through most of my life having people, like my wife, cook for me. Oh, I can make deli sandwiches and whip up an ok pot of chili (thank God for male genes) or make something on the stove top. I have a black-belt in Microwave - not that I'm bragging. Only with supervision had I ever used the oven.

The most perplexing part has been my personal culinary history. I grew up watching Jeff Smith and Justin Wilson, two fine cooks in their own right, but I never had it in me to put a whisk in a bowl.

Why, after all this time, have I decided to make myself a decent chef? Because I have recently discovered what I'd been missing all these years - the understanding of cooking. I thought you cooked to eat. But then why my fasination with cooking shows? I don't care THAT much about how my food is made. We cook TO cook - that's what I finally learned. I thought peole cook just to eat - 30 mintes of prep for a 10 minutes meal seemed too much for me. Truth is, cooking is creative, it's fun, it's productive, it's science, it involves fire(!), and it's a benefit to those around us. I just never realized that before.

Off I go

2005-06-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

This blog is intended to provide hope for those who haven't learned to cook. It's a journey of my own cooking life and how, at the age of 32, I'm finally understanding that cooking is a marriage of food and heat - and a little kosher salt.