Spork or Foon?

Borders Books, you get me every time.

Why do you have to go all crazy with your guerilla marketing tactics? I go in to buy one book, and you have a crazy display of "bargain books", standing right in the middle of the store, with your heavenly lights shining down, comforting music calling to me like angels, and BRIGHT RED TAGS showing me just how cheap those books really are. 

And I end up walking out with seven cookbooks and not the book I meant to buy.

I’m pretty psyched though.  Topics are:

• Appetizers
• 600 Cookie Recipes
• Mediterrenean
• Sauces, Dips, and Salsas
• Italian
• Chocolates (Cakes, biscuits, desserts, petit fours)
• Healthy Eating (yes, although I love food, I try not to eat it, and begrudgingly stick to the healthy stuff, while making all of those around me fat and happy.)

Food Plating

Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation

There are tons of rules when it comes to food plating. Here are some that I, as an amateur cook and food plater, find very helpful.

• When plating meat that is cooked dry, sauce goes on bottom.  When the meat is cooked via braising or some other form of liquid cookery (my new favorite word. I don’t know if it is a real word, though), the sauce gets spooned on top.
• Plate in odd numbers- aka 5 shrimp. Strange rule, but many people feel that this is important.  But it is the cause of the awkward lone piece of food sitting on the plate, followed by furtive glances during conversation, and finally ending in “Did you want that last piece?”
• Play with color, texture, and height.
• White plates are best. They really allow the colors of the food to pop. 
• For beginners (aka: me), use the clock method: starch at ten o’clock, meat at two o’clock, and vegetables at six o’clock

Thomas Keller (chef and mastermind behind Per Se in NY and French Laundry is California) is probably the best plater around. Everything is pristine. Not that I would know from personal experience, but I’ve seen pictures, so that makes me an expert. :) Wow.

Here are some great tools:

An offset spatula

Photo via Ideas In Food

A foamer

Photo via Ideas In Food

Food mold

Photo via Chow

Tasty To-Dos

I've just recently started compiling a book of recipes that I would like to try, be inspired by, or just drool over.  I'd like to share them with you.   There are so many talented cooks/bakers out there in the "blogosphere". And really, I'm going to try to refrain from using "bloggy" words such as "blogosphere" (-1), "snark" (-1), "foodie" (I know a lot of people use it, but I feel weird saying it), and too many more to list.

I think I'll post this list weekly. Whether I get around to cooking/baking all of these things is yet another story. 

These are some of my favorite websites, and some recipes that have really caught my eye:

• Cafe Johnsonia has seemingly perfected this version of a Mint Layer Cake and has added some really helpful notes.
• Bake or Break. Peanut Butter Brownie Cups. Mouth. Watering. That's all I can say about that. 
• Yum Sugar has posted a beginner/expert version of the Watermelon Bombe. Of course, I'll go with expert, because I'm just that good (cough, cough.) (Editors Note: Totally Joking. I'm not that obnoxious.)
• Baking Bites has redone the Pillsbury Bake Off winner's version of the peanut butter filled ..... peanut butter cookies.  Here, she does Chocolate-Filled Peanut Butter Cookies. Now you're talking.
• And for my savory dish of the week:  Roasted Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Fresh Garlic from TheKitchn.  Goat cheese and garlic? Yes, please. 

I hope you all would like to try these amazing recipes as well. Let me know how it goes!

To Shoot or Not To Shoot?

I stumbled upon this great blog.  Great photos, great thoughts.  His friend recently scored a reservation to Momofuku Ko (lucky S.O.B) and proceeded to whip out his camera.  None other than David Chang popped out of the kitchen and hinted that he would prefer that he didn't continue to shoot. It didn't stop our blogger, though.  And lucky for me, because, wow, are these pictures beautiful.

The question is, do you feel that it is appropriate to take pictures of food in a restaurant?  Typically, chefs and restaurateurs hate bloggers enough as it is, what with our lack of true food expertise (for the most part), and our amateur palettes.  This is the great debate.

It makes me think twice about whipping out my camera tonight when I dine at Central Michel Richard, the lower end version of Citronelle (Michel Richard's famous restaurant.) 

(Side note:  I'm semi-excited for this meal. Chef Richard is supposed to be one of the greatest chefs in DC (that's not saying much), and Citronelle is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in the country (although I have yet to speak to someone who doesn't feel that the restaurant is overrated.)  We'll see. But after reading the above referenced post, I think tomorrow's post will be sans photos.)

Innnnnteresting

Innovative.  But I don't think I'd be able to achieve the necessary balance so that the wine bottles don't topple over and stain my carpet.

(Source)

"Meat? Gooooooooooood."- Joey Tribbiani

Photo Courtesy Boston.com

I thought yesterday’s Top Chef Challenge was pretty interesting. For the Quickfire Challenge, each “cheftestant” (I’d like to think that I just made up that word, but I don’t think I’m that creative. I’m sure I’ve heard it a million times before) had to properly butcher a tomahawk steak and cook it to the medium rare request of chef Rick Tramonto (p.s.- Love that Spike called him out for having frozen scallops in his walk-in. Stupid, yes, but did you love it or did you LOVE it?). I’m just learning the techniques regarding a propery cooked piece of meat, and my two favorites are properly searing the meat and the rule of thumb flesh. You read that right.

Searing:

Heat a thin coat of oil until it gets very hot.  This helps get a good surface between the meat and the pan, and it provides a nice caramelization of the meat. Many recipes call for olive oil, but peanut oil is also a fantastic oil to use for searing due to it’s high smoking point (the temperature to which an oil can be heated before it smokes and discolors—indications of decomposition, and fire (see previous post).

Most importantly, don’t crowd the pan. This ensures even cooking. It also prevents the meat from steaming inside instead of searing (resulting in uneven, overcooked meat). And don’t touch it! Allow each side to sit for a few minutes to get a nice crust. Once the meat releases from the pan, it is time to flip it! Once you’ve seared all sides of the meat, you’re ready to transfer the meat to your braise, roast, or continue with whatever cooking method your dish calls for. Finally, let the meat rest. It allows the juices, which have concentrated in the center during cooking, redistribute throughout.

Rule of Thumb Flesh:

This is so handy, but I don’t think I’ve quite mastered it yet.

Rare: Touch your thumb and forefinger together and feel the fleshy part below the thumb — it will feel soft and a little bouncy. Medium: Touch your thumb and middle finger and press the fleshy part. There is a little give and it springs to the touch.

Well done: Touch your thumb and little finger together and press on the fleshy part. There is no give and it is firm.

I’m not going to lie, quite often, I still have to cut the meat and see how red it is. Which is very bad- it leads to the “bullseye effect”- red meat in the center, grey meat surrounding it. But I’m getting better with this.

Amen.

Holy Taco has made up a list of the 8 types of annoying people you’ll find inside Starbucks.  I could probably add about 15 other types of annoying people you’ll find inside of Starbucks, but I will refrain.

My personal favorites are: 

4. Complicated Order Guy Who Needs his Coffee Right The F*&K Now.

“When you order coffee, it shouldn’t sound like you’re giving the pass code to a missile defense system”.

3. The Guy Who Hates Starbucks But Goes There Every Day

“He won’t shut up about how Starbucks is bad for the environment and how they’re taking over the world and how their coffee totally “doesn’t taste like the gourmet stuff downtown.” But when you bring up the fact that he’s ranting about Starbucks while he’s actually inside a Starbucks, his crappy hippie-wannabe excuses just start piling up.”

I know plenty of #3’s but I would say I am a bit like #4.  Especially in DC, because everything takes twice as long here.

100 Best Restaurants

Conde Nast Traveler has listed the 100 top restaurants in the world.  Not many surprises here (though I am a bit surprised about Merkato 55 making the list and French Laundry’s snub). 

I’d love to try out Ubuntu in Napa; a restaurant/yoga studio (???). Their entire menu is vegetarian (which I am not: see previous post) and most the ingredients are picked from their “biodynamic garden”.  Check out the website. The food looks unreal.

http://www.ubuntunapa.com

And, of course, the restaurant that tops my list of restaurants to frequent is El Bulli in Spain.  If you’ve never heard about it or it’s chef, Ferran Adria` (some would call him the father and pioneer of molecular gastronomy), check it out. There are rumors that Adria` wants to close the restaurant soon. I just hope he waits until I visit first. I mean, why wouldn’t he?

Gremolata.

Tonight’s dinner was fantastic. We had grilled pork loin with herb gremolata and polenta.  The best part is, this takes about 10 minutes to prepare.   

Gremolata. It really is amazing. So simple, but it adds so much to a dish. Alice Waters, chef and author of The Art of Simple Food- aka my bible- gives this recipe for gremolata.

• 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

You can add gremolata to anything and it amps up the flavor like you wouldn’t believe. 

Polenta is another amazing dish, and again, is so simple.  Some believe that you must serve it right away, but it is much easier to shape when it has cooled a bit. 

• 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 1 cup polenta (or coarse yellow cornmeal)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

There are so many ways to make polenta, but this is my personal favorite. Cooking the polenta in chicken stock adds a nice depth of flavor that you (obviously) can’t get from water, and the Parmesan cheese brings it to a different level.

And then there are the sauteed onions. Well… I guess you can’t really say much about sauteed onions. They’re onions in a pan. Sorry.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

So I have an herb garden. I never thought I'd see the day.

From left to right:

Sage, chives, flat leaf parsley, rosemary, oregano (the stuff that looks like it is trying to climb out of the pot), curly parsley, thyme, and basil.

There is nothing like going into your bedroom (yes, that is where I keep my garden) and clipping off your own fresh herbs to use in your meal.  Pretty cool. I hope my black thumb doesn’t take over and kill this plant. I’ve never been good with plants.