Power Breakfast

Breakfast during the outage has been a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich, hold the bread and double the bacon. 2 eggs with a slice of cheese melted over it and 6 slices of bacon from the little deli in my client's building. With power, but without a fully stocked refrigerator, I made breakfast with what I had on hand.
Left in my fridge, there were...eggs, cheese, and some chorizo.

I'll argue that I prefer the buttermilk blue cheese to the American sliced, that the chorizo is a bit more interesting than paper-thin bacon, and that eggs from pastured chickens do my liberal heart good and may or may not be better for me. But really, it's a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich, hold the bread.

I'm more pedestrian than I'd realized.

I Like Leftover Take-Out as Much as the Next Person...

...OK, so probably that's not true for the most part. But when it's Gored Gored from Bete, my favorite-for-meat Silver Spring Ethiopian restaurant, it is. In the picture, the Gored Gored is the meat on the bottom; the top dish is a cabbage, potato and carrot dish with a sweetness that blends quite nicely with the spicy beef. The raw beef of the Gored Gored is nicely spiced without the spices overwhelming the beef, and being cubes and not ground and marinated like kitfo, you can really tell it's raw.

Yes, the fact that I'm having leftover raw beef means that my power is back on, that I can reclaim my frozen and refrigerated foods from my friends, and that starting tomorrow with breakfast, I'm back in business. This makes me *very* happy.

Powerless Prawns

(Updated to add the picture. These guys were *big.*)

It's a good thing I blog ahead. Went to my high school reunion in Manlius, NY, last weekend and blogged through yesterday figuring I'd be catching up with chores and whatnot for a couple of days. Instead, I came home following a line of severe storms that blew through last Sunday. Still no power at my house and they say it won't be back until Friday the 30th at the earliest. Until then I'll limp along from other locations. Also, no pictures until I get the lights back on and can upload photos (which I am still taking).

The good news: after some scrambling, I found people who could take the important stuff from my freezer so I won't lose too much (thanks, Jen and Dottie!) and dispatched everything non-perishable that wasn't already stuffed into my client's refrigerator to them. In doing so, I found a bag of huge spot prawns (bigger than most crayfish I've eaten) that I'm pretty sure I ordered from Catalina Seafood some time ago. Gently poached them in some homemade fish stock and served them with leftover rice.

The taste of the prawns was excellent, but the texture was off - it was a bit mushy. I've since found out that

Whole frozen freshwater prawns will turn ‘mushy’ if they are frozen and held above -20°C, or if they are thawed and refrozen.

Live and learn.

Tonight I almost certainly will be in the dark again, so it's either grilling or stovetop (thank heavens I have a gas range), and the food will have to be fresh, with no leftovers.

Honestly, though, it's breakfast I'm missing the most.

Easy Food P0rn for Cats - Sous Vide Cat Food

OK this is the depth to which I've fallen, or the heights to which I've soared. Cat food done in the sous vide. Traditionally, because supposedly cats aren't really equipped to deal with burnt food, I've cooked the cats' meat for food in the microwave (yes, I know about the benefits of a raw diet for cats, but mine simply wouldn't accept a raw diet so I had to compromise). Today I decided to cook the turkey (I need to make a batch of poultry-based food) in the sous vide, so I let Kameko-san have at it.

The result was much more uniform, without the solid blocks of overcooked turkey I'm accustomed to.  The end product blended more readily and seemed to incorporate the added fat (for Nadja) and eggs (for Alex) better than microwaved batches. It will be interesting to see if the cats themselves notice a difference.

Jamaican Sous Vide Grilled Boneless Spareribs

OK, so I'm just stuck on the sous vide. This time with some pork ribs from Babes in the Woods. I rubbed them down with some Jamaican pork seasoning I got from a friend who is from the islands, put the generously rubbed ribs (still frozen) in a vacuum bag, then cooked them at 60C for about 48 hours.

After the 48 hours, I pulled the bag out and put it in the fridge while I went to my client's. When I came back, I fired up Minizawa-chan (the small Egg) and seared the ribs for about 3 minutes a side.

The real surprise came when I went to serve the ribs. I realized the the ribs would lift cleanly out with the most gentle pull of the hand - no cutting or tool of any sort was required. So I quickly deboned the rack and served the ribs almost as a steak, with a knife and fork.

And no surprise that once again the flavor result was phenomenal. Outrageously tender without being mushy, perfectly seasoned throughout, and the grilling gave the ribs just enough of a crisp/caramel feel to balance the extremely rich fat of the meat.

I've been trying to figure whether the sous vide introduces more or less fuss into cooking, and I'm coming down on the side of "less." Especially with things like ribs, which have a very long cooking window, it's easy to cycle things in and out. I did the previously posted mackerel and marrow bone while the ribs were cooking, and as soon as I took them out I started the ground turkey that will be the subject of my next post. Everything remarkably easy, the only caveat being that one must plan ahead.

Sous Vide Pickled Mackerel

Continuing the sous vide cooking experiment, I tried letting Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) have some pickled mackerel intended for sashimi. The mackerel was perfectly fine raw, but I wanted to save half for lunch the next day, and eating raw fish that, by that time, would have been sitting out for 5 or 6 hours, struck me as a poor idea. Even Mr. Bento has his limits.

So I carefully slid the frozen mackerel out from its package so its seaweed topper would stay in place, slid it into a vacuum bag and sealed it, and put it, frozen, into the sous vide for 30 minutes.

The result was incredible. I will not be giving up sushi or sashimi any time soon, but this treatment, while completely different in taste, was on a par in quality and an absolutely acceptable substitute. The mackerel retained the fat taste within its muscle, as opposed to as a juice or coating, and the taste of the pickling wasn't lost.

I am left wanting to give Kameko-san some scallops.

Kameko-san Tackles a Marrow Bone

At the farmers' market I was wandering past the folks at Gunpowder Bison (my freezer still is full) when an internal voice said to me, "Marrow Bone. Sous Vide. Marrow Bone..." and so I bought a marrow bone. I told the woman at their booth that it was for me, not my hypothetical dog, so she kindly looked for a bone with a lot of marrow. After that, it would be up to Kameko-san, my sous vide cooker.

I cooked the vacuum-packed bone (shown above) overnight, then poked at it a little through the bag and decided more cooking wouldn't hurt it and left it to continue cooking while I was of at my client's. When I came home I pulled it out and ate it, using one of the marrow scoops Phil gave me for Christmas (arigatou, Phil).

Z.O.M.G. The marrow, as shown in the first post picture, was easy to remove, succulent, and full of beefy umami. I was amazed at how much I was able to retrieve from the bone - I thought initially that I'd be needing a Dinner Part II, but there was plenty for a main course for one person. As an added bonus, the tendon still attached to the bone on the outside was impossibly tender and full of an almost gamy flavor. I have been wanting to try beef tendon for some time, and this has only increased my desire.

Amazing and wonderful and again reminding me why the sous vide already has paid for itself.

Creminelli Tartufo Salami with Black Truffle

One of the indulgences of birthdays is having the excuse to buy something that looks as expensive as it is. So for my birthday I laid out $11 (on sale) for a single Creminelli Tartufo Salami with Black Truffle. And once again I'm reminded that money spent on food is usually returned with interest.

The sausage was perfectly fatty and rich, with sufficient salt and fat to make me feel like I should have a view of the sea and a really good beer in my hand. Perhaps because of the truffle or maybe just because of the spicing of the pork, I tasted a distinct flavor of ripe olives (which is mostly oil and brine) that was accentuated by the dryness of the meat - this sausage was sold at room temperature with only the loose paper wrapper shown in the post picture and with no instructions to refrigerate after it was cut. It is a true dry sausage (at least as I define the term) in that respect. I bought this one as an indulgence; the next will be purchased out of respect.

1966 WDEC - Austrian Cookery

It's a good thing Austria is smaller than the U.S., because even so the editors of the 1966 Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery devote 8 pages of loving text and a fair number of recipes to the country (photo of a Wiener Schnitzel by Rüdiger Wölk, Münster, via Wikimedia). Late July is not the optimal time to come to this section of what many Americans who grew up in 1960s suburbia would identify as traditional comfort food. Hearty stews and casseroles dominate the main dishes, while there are a number of pastries, cookies and cakes and a multi-page ode to schnitzels. The (rather long; and apologies because I couldn't figure out how to easily incorporate diacriticals so I've just added an e instead of fussing over umlauts) run-down:

Gerstensuppe (Barley Soup): A basic barley example. I'll pass.
Kuecherlkraut (Beef and Sauerkraut): A casserole. I'll pass again.
Pichelsteiner Fleissh (Pichelsteiner Casserole): Another casserole, another pass.
Parmesanschlegel (Leg of Veal with Cheese): Roast leg of veal laced through with pencil-sized rods of cheese. Odd enough that I will try the recipe, perhaps with a smaller cut of meat.
Kalbsgulasch (Veal Goulash): Yes, another Casserolepass (to Germanize the word)
Geroestete Kalbsleber (Sauteed Calf's Liver): Instructions, rather than a recipe
Schinkenkraut (Ham and Sauerkraut): Casserolepass.
Selchfleisch (Smoked Butt): Boiled smoked pork butt. No thanks.
Schinkenfleckerln (Noodles with Ham): Casserolepass.
Backhendl (Fried Chicken): Breaded and deep fried. They have you bread and deep fry the liver, gizzard and heart as well, which is a nice touch.
Paprikahuehner (Paprika Chicken): Actually looks pretty good, but another casserole, so I'll pass while the mercury is in the 90s.
Hausente als Wildente (Duck Cooked like Wild Duck): I probably won't make this whole roast duck with a wine marinade as described, but I may adapt it for sous vide cooking.
Paradeiskraut (Cabbage with Tomato): Casserolepass.
Geroestete mit Rosmarin (Home-Fried Potatoes with Rosemary): Instructions, not a recipe.
Kopfsalat mit Erbsen (Romain Lettuce with Peas): The lettuce is cooked. Again, I may try it, but not in this weather.
Gurkensalat (Cucumber Salad): Finalloy, something good for July. It looks like a standard cold cucumber/sour cream salad, but I'll give it a go just to see.
Kaisershmarrn (The Emperor's Omelet): "A cross between a pancake and an omelet. Easy to make because it's shredded." Easy, except that it requires two skillets to cook. I've been drastically reducing the grain in my diet, but I may try a small batch just for grins.
Salzburger Nockerln (Dessert Puffs): Butter and eggs cooked in a way I've never tried. I'll check it out.
Kanari Milch (Canary's Milk): A sort of sabayon for pouring over other things.
Wiener Eiskaffee (Viennese Iced Coffee): A cup of strong cold coffee poured over a scoop of softened vanilla ice cream. Sort of a thinking man's Frappucino.
Kugelhupf (Coffee Cake): A yeast coffee cake that looks fine, but I'll pass on.
Dobostorte (7-Layer Cake): The classic. More fuss than it's worth for a person who avoids grain, gluten and sugar. Perhaps Mike will make one?
Ischler Torteletten (Almond Butter Cookies): Almond cookies frosted with chocolate. Again, something I may try when the temperature drops.
Nusskipferln (Nut Crescents): Tiny (1-1/2" long) nut cookies. Ditto comment above.
A dozen schnitzels: Truly. A possibly offensive treatise on Austrians written by a woman with an Austrian husband, followed by 12 varied recipes for dressing up thinly sliced veal rump. Light schnitzels actually are pleasant on hot evenings, so I may give one or two a try.

So! It's off to the kitchen.

Easy Food Pr0n: Amazing Strawberries

I've ranted time and again about my general dislike of fruit because of its sweetness. I do try to get at least one fruit thing at the farmer's market while it is in season, but usually it's a challenge. This week, it was easy. Sligo Creek Farms (I think that's their name; unfortunately I can't find a website and they're new enough not to be listed on the FreshFarm site) had three lovely pints of tiny strawberries. The kind I used to pick when I was a kid. And they did not disappoint. Intensely fruit flavored with incredible aromatics and not too much sweetness at all. Dense fruit without the hollow, watery middles a lot of strawberries have. Perfect with a bit of heavy cream, a cup of coffee, and nothing else but the time to enjoy.

Day-old Sous Vide Steak, Grilled

The plan was to cook a single-serving Delmonico steak in Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) and then quickly crisp it on the grill. Everything started fine; the steak, sealed in its vacuum bag, was dropped into the cooker at 56C/133F and left for the day. But work dragged on longer than expected, and by the time I was home it was late and I wasn't terribly hungry. I pulled the steak out and, keeping it in its bag, popped it in the fridge until the next day. Picture below shows it.

The next day I was quite hungry and ready for the steak. So, out it came and it went onto a preheated Minizawa-chan (the small Egg) for 3 minutes on a side. Served it with some leeks and sliced Anaheim pepper sauteed in leftover fat from some sliced jowl I'd fried up for breakfast. The finished dish is shown in the first post picture.

The result? I'm still in awe. The steak was cooked to a perfectly pink medium rare, and the marbles of fat were indescribably buttery and almost sweet. And while I suppose there was effort, it was so minimal as to be embarrassing when compared to the results. The leeks and pepper added just enough extra without taking away from the taste of the steak. Eventually I'm going to start letting Kameko-chan cook things with sauce, but right now I'm just too happy exploring what sous vide cooking is doing to the flavors of the creature itself.

1966 WDEC - Au!

Combining several definitional entries in one post, the next series in the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery is the "au" terms. The editors helpfully devote the first entry to explaining that au (plural, aux) means "with." As menus that say "with au jus" are a pet peeve of mine, I didn't think this excessive.

Then follows "au gratin" in which I learned that you can call something au gratin even without a coating of a crisping agent, such as cheese or buttered breadcrumbs. Even foods that will crisp up and form a crust on their own can have the term applied. I am thinking of ideas for self-crusting foods cooked by Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) and finished in the broiler. (A more traditional gratin of Kasseler (a German-style smoked pork loin) is shown in the post picture.

Au jus , au lait, and au naturel follow; no surprises for any of these.

1966 WDEC - Attelet

The next Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery entry is for a useless kitchen tool that was new to me. The attelet (pronounced AT-lay) is a decorative skewer used "only for decorating hot or cold dishes in the elaborate grand manner which is becoming rarer and rarer." They recommend using it to skewer such items as "truffles, shrimps, cocks' combs, or olives," separated if desired by paper ruffles "for greater effect." The skewers then are arranged in a circle, to give the effect of a crown. I simply must start looking for a set while I'm out antiquing. Then will come the search for cocks' combs.

5-Course Dinner Fail: Or, Why I Don't Get Out Much

Updates: Lane informs me (and he is right!) that risotto has to be made with rice. For almost half a century, I have mistakenly believed you could make it with rice or with that rice-shaped pasta, risoni (or orzo), and it was still risotto. The big pile of meh that came to me (see Course 5 below) I thought was somewhat dried out pasta and cheese and peas. But it seems from both the menu and close examination of the picture, that it was somewhat dried out rice and cheese and peas. So, I could not have had a gluten response to it, and the stomach pains must have simply been because it wasn't any good, not because of any nutritional response. Interesting, but not making me any more inclined to try it again!

Went last night to an organized dinner at a well-recognized restaurant/bar in the Adams Morgan section of Washington. I'm not going to name the restaurant, because it's not my nature to dis something on one pass. If anyone is that interested, send an email.

But I am going to rant.

The meal was supposed to be Japanese-themed, although the restaurant in question offers a broad (too broad?) variety of cuisines. Dinner "course" one, shown in the first picture and served at about 7:10, was a bit of pureed avocado and a tiny sliver of salmon, wrapped in paper-thin slices of avocado and served on a rice cracker. I thought it was a bit of a stretch to call this small appetizer a course, but it was good, a nice blend of textures and just the right amount of salt on the rice cracker to set off the sweetness of the avocado.

Course 2 was another appetizer - this time a single scallop, sliced crosswise into thirds, with each round topped with a Mexican-style salsa. The presentation was pretty, but the scallop sections were too thin to hold up the salsa, which was fairly bland and accented by what tasted for all the world like anchovy paste.

Course 3 - yet another appetizer, and another single piece of seafood - a tempura shrimp - cut into thirds. In this case each piece of the portioned shrimp had been made into rice sushi. The rice was flat and tasted like it had sat for quite a while - little better than warmed-over supermarket sushi.

Course 4 and (somewhat astonishingly) another appetizer, with more seafood - three thin slices of yellowtail (I think) with slivers of jalapeno in a piquant, slightly citrus fish sauce. The balance of fish and sauce actually was quite good, and if this had been my first, or maybe even my second, appetizer I would have been pleased.

If this were a tapas bar I'd have been expecting this type of serving and serving size, but I was expecting a more traditional dining experience and I hadn't eaten before coming to dinner. By now it was past 8:30 and I was excruciatingly hungry. And so they came with the final dinner course, an now-much-larger portion of somewhat dry risotto with cheese and a few peas. Essentially, a big pile of meh.

I was starving and so I sucked it down, knowing I'd pay the price of eating something so carb-heavy on an essentially empty stomach. I forgot, though, about the gluten. I haven't eaten this much gluten at one sitting in more than a year. About 20 minutes after the risotto course the dessert came, and so did the stomach cramps.

Not such a bad thing, because dessert also was traditional American comfort food - a large individual chocolate brownie cake with chocolate sauce over and raspberry sauce surrounding it. The raspberry sauce I liked, as it was intense and not too terribly sweet. The cake was perfectly acceptable but had nothing at all special going on - it could have come straight from a mix. I didn't really want more than a forkful by then anyway, though, so it's just as well that it wasn't compelling.

And that was dinner at a fairly tony restaurant in a reasonably restaurant-laden section of town. The next night, I stayed home.

Kameko-san Makes Dinner - That Same Night

So far I've been planning ahead when using Kameko-san - the sous vide cooker - to do dinner. This night, though, I'd planned to grill a steak but thunderstorms threatened and I decided at the last minute to cook a black cod fillet and to warm up some previously cooked and vacuum-packed string beans with cilantro.

The cod already had been cut into individual serving pieces and vacuum-packed. So rather than unpack it, season it, and reseal the bags, I put two in, frozen, at 60C/140F, for 50 minutes (the upper range of the 40-50 minute suggested time for fatty fish). At the same time I took out the 8-oz package of string beans and left it on the counter. About 15 minutes before the fish was to come out, I put the bean pouch, still mostly frozen, in.the water bath as well.

Serving the beans was easy - I just drained the bag, plated the beans, and threw a bit of rice seasoning and some slivered almonds on top. For the fish, I drained the fillets and sauteed them in hot coconut oil just to crisp the skin. A simple sauce of yogurt with a bit of mirin and youzu kosho paste mixed in topped the fish nicely. Dinner was started at about 5:30 and finished cooking at about 6:45 with very little effort at all.

The results, though, were incredible. I'm still amazed at how buttery and flavorful everything Kameko-san touches turns out. The flesh was perfectly done - moist but flakey and full of umami. She really is Mechazawa-san's kissing cousin, even if their heating methods couldn't be more different.

And knowing I can "fire up" the water bath just as easily as starting the grill opens all manner of new possibilities.

Easy Food Pr0n: Jellied Tomato Soup

The recipe is taken from the 1966 Woman's Day Encyclopedia recipe given previously. It's easier than aspic with inclusions, because there is no need to wait until it is semi-jelled. Once the gelatin has been stirred in and combined, it can be placed into individual molds, or even directly into soup cups for service, and chilled until firm.


OK, really this is just plain tomato aspic. But call it jellied soup because, well, it makes it a lot more fun on a hot summer day.

Sous Vide Barbecue Ribs a la Kameko-san and Minizawa-Chan

Wow. Alone each is great. Combined they are magnificent.

Cooked a rack of baby back ribs from Babes in the Woods in Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) for about 24 hours after rubbing them with the rest of the lamb rub that came with the machine. Picture below shows them just out of Kameko-san and still in the vacuum bag.

Already they were so tender they cut easily with a table knife, as shown below.

All that was required was to sear them for five minutes on each side on Minizawa-chan (the small Big Green Egg) to yield perfection.

These were without a doubt the best lean ribs I've ever made in terms of tender, juicy meat. The spicing was pretty good but a bit salty for my taste, but it was a small problem greatly overshadowed by the tender, umami-laden flavor of the meat as set off by the slightly sharp mint/pepper spicing of the lamb rub. I have some spare ribs to try later on, and despite being completely full, I'm starting to salivate just thinking of them.

1966 WDEC - Tomato Aspic with Sardines and Eggs

I was planning to make tomato aspic with some vegetables, but made it with sardines and eggs instead, to serve as a lunch dish or stand-alone main course instead of a side.

Tomato Aspic with Sardines and Eggs
(to serve 4 - 6 as a light main course or side)
3-1/2 cups tomato juice
1 celery stalk, cut up
1 onion, chopped
1/2 lemon, cut [I didn't quite know what that meant, so I cut it in quarters]
1 tsp ground basil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Dash of cayenne
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cider vinegar
4 sardines
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 6 wedges each
5 large ripe black olives, quartered
(other garnishes or inclusions to taste)

Combine tomato juice with vegetables and seasonings. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Strain through several layers of moistened cheesecloth. Soften gelatin in vinegar and stir until dissolved. Add to strained tomato mixture and stir until dissolved. Chill until aspic is of the consistency of unbeaten egg white.

Lightly oil a mold. Arrange eggs, sardines, and olives in mold and carefully pour chilled aspic over. Alternatively, gently fold these ingredients into the aspic. Chill until firm.

Cooking Notes: Aside from omitting the sugar and salt (because I used prepared tomato juice that had salt in it already) all ingredients were to spec.

I made this before the World Cup final match, so that it could set during the game and be an easy dinner dish. Everything started out to plan. The sauce simmered away, and I hit upon draining it efficiently by laying the cheesecloth in a bowl so that it was hanging over the edge on all sides, adding the tomato mixture to the bowl, then pulling the cheescloth into a little sack and tying it over my kitchen faucet as shown in the picture below.

I then carefully laid out the sardines, the eggs, and the olives just so, as shown in the next picture.

Unfortunately, it now was 2:15. Half time was not going to be long enough for me to take a break and deal with the aspic besides. So, although the aspic wasn't yet thickened to the desired egg white consistency, I carefully poured it in, figuring that if I were careful enough everything would be fine. I forgot, though, about things floating. The eggs stayed basically in their little channels and the sardines happily stayed sunk on the bottom, but the olives weren't so well-behaved. Oh, well, I wanted to be there at the toss, so it just went into the fridge as it was. As it turned out, this was the right decision. I sat down just as the toss was made, and by half time the aspic already was too set for me to have worked with even if I'd wanted to.

The result, shown above just out of the fridge, was a bit of a jumble, but basically fine. When cut, as shown below, it was hard to tell that the olives weren't intended to just be floating.

Eating Notes: Refreshing and filling, the sardine/egg/tomato combination is classic enough to be comfort food without being too heavy. Visually, it is attractive both molded and sliced, which adds to the appeal. Worthy of guests or just fun for a summer day.

1966 WDEC - Aspic

The next entry in the 1966 Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery is a fun one - aspic. Photo (by Anthony Georgeff via Wikimedia) is of "Terrine de mère et de fille" -- literally, "pot of mother and daughter," a terrine that features chicken and egg.

I have a fascination with aspic, a sort-of savory Jello that has fallen out of favor since my childhood. So I'll take almost any excuse to make these gelled treats, especially as they're a great response to summer heat. The WDEC tells you how to make a true aspic from scratch, using the natural gelatin from bones and feet of the animal. I'd like to try that, but probably will demur until the weather is a bit cooler. They also give suggestions for making aspics molds or for serving them in the mold or as jellied soup (I would love to do this with tomato aspic for a summer side) or as garnishes (the real use for my aspic cutters). Recipeseggs in aspic, jellied tongue, tomato aspic, and vegetables in chicken aspic. I'll definitely make tomato aspic, both with and without vegetables. At some point I may try the jellied tongue ring, which sounds like a good use for leftover tongue. The eggs in aspic I might make jelled as a chicken soup, in individual bowls.

So! To the kitchen.

Sous Vide Spleen

Spleen recipes are nearly impossible to find, so I usually end up cooking spleen like I do liver slices.
This example, from Babes in the Woods, came with an especially gorgeous piece of caul fat, as shown in the picture below. I cut the spleen into two individual portions and similarly cut half the caul fat into two pieces to wrap each.

Into Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) at 63C (145F) for an hour. Results as shown in the top post.

Eating Notes: Wow. The spleen was completely soft and tasted more like pate than a whole organ. I don't think I've ever had meat, even liver, this smooth, except perhaps foie gras. Unlike that treat, the spleen was not particularly rich or unctious. It was just smooth, velvety and good, with the caul fat adding a bit of umami to the mix.

I'm going to look for more sous vide liver recipes to see if there are other combinations I can try, but it will be hard to top this simple goodness.

Courtney's Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

Once again, I couldn't resist fruit at the Farmer's Market - this time, a box of the last of the "Tart Cherries." Figured I could make a pie and bring it in to my client's. On tasting, though, the cherries turned out to be pleasantly sweet, and not at all sour enough for baking. With temperatures promised in the upper 90s and near 100, ice cream was the obvious answer.

Courtney's Fresh Cherry Ice Cream
(Makes a generous pint)
Enough cherries to make 1 cup when coarsely chopped (about 125g)
1-1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 c buttermilk
1 egg yolk (use a pasteurized egg product if you don't want to eat raw eggs)
3T sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste (I used paste)
1 or 2 drops of red food coloring if desired (I didn't use any)

Whisk all ingredients except cherries together until sugar is dissolved. Add cherries and stir. Chill in freezer 30 minutes. If it has started to freeze by then, stir it just to incorporate the frozen bits. Pour into ice cream maker and chill, following manufacturer's instructions. If you will not be eating it all right away, I recommend packing it in individual servings in small plastic containers. This is because the ice cream, I think because I use relatively little sugar, tends to get very hard in the freezer.

Eating Notes: Perfect. The complementary buttermilk and cherry tanginess blend to make an ice cream that is really crisp even as the egg yolk and heavy cream give it substantial richness. Perfect antidote to a hot early July day.

Oh, and I did manage to use the entire box of cherries without throwing away even one.

Black Cod with Lemon Sous Vide

Still testing Kameko-san, the sous vide machine, this time with a lovely cut of black cod from a larger piece obtained from Foods in Season. To cook it, I took six very thin slices of lemon and arranged them over the top and bottom (skin side) of the fish, then vacuum packed it. Kameko-san's instructions say that a 1" cut of fatty fish should go about 30-50 minutes at 60C (140F); this cut was almost an inch and a half, so I used the upper boundary.

Picture above shows it still in the vacuum bag before consigning it to Kameko-san's care. The first post picture (of one half of the piece, plated) shows how the vacuum process set the lemon slices into the fish (and also impressed the texture of the bag onto the flesh).

It turned out that while the fish was superb, I was a bit excessive in both seasoning and time. I think the fish would have been better cooked only 35 or 40 minutes; while it was succulent, the cod didn't have that textural soft-silk feeling I really like in a just-barely-done fish. The lemon, too, turned out to be a bit much. The slices placed on the flesh side had sharply infused the fish, so that there was a distinct lemon gradient from the flesh side down to the skin. I think in the future I'd put the lemon slices on the skin side and then, when plating, peel them off and transfer them to the flesh side.

That said, with this kind of learning experience, I'm happy to be in class forever.

Sous Vide Eggs Kameko-san Part 2: Hard-Boiled

I had expected that the difference in cooking soft-boiled versus hard-boiled eggs in Kameko-san (the sous vide machine) would be the length of cooking; instead, following the instruction, it is a question of temperature. The soft-boiled were done at 64C (147F); the hard-boiled at 71C (160F). In both cases, the time range is given as 45 minutes to 1-1/2 hours. As when testing the soft-boiled eggs, I pulled half out at 45 minutes and left the rest in for the full hour and a half.

Picture above shows the 45-minute hard boiled egg in the shell. The white is still glossy and pliable, while firm enough that I needed to peel the egg, rather than pour it out.

Picture above shows it plated. The yolk is quite firm; the white, congealed but still soft. As with the 1-1/2 hour soft boiled egg posted yesterday, the difference between this and a conventional boiled egg was in texture, not flavor. The yolks were consistently cooked throughout - no gradations from outside to in, as with a traditional soft-boiled egg. The consistent, slightly firm yolk and the congealed but still slightly soft white made a really nice textural combination that reminded me of silk and velvet and was most appealing.

Finally came the 1-1/2 hour hard-boiled eggs. Picture above shows one still in the shell. It is holding its own, although it still felt softer as I peeled it than a conventionally-boiled egg.

Plated, it does not collapse, although it does sag a bit at the bottom, attesting to the relative softness of the whites. As with the other eggs, the yolk was consistent throughout and starting to turn yellow. Again, there really was no taste difference we could identify between these and conventionally hard-boiled eggs. In this case, though, the textural contrast between the yolk, which was very well done, and the white, which was almost-but-not-quite firm, detracted from the experience. With a conventionally hard-boiled egg, the yolk is softer and the firm white balances it. Here, the texture of the yolk was about that of the conventional egg, but there was no balance from the white. Instead, the white seemed like a poorly set aspic.

Among the four options, the uniform opinion was that both soft-boiled eggs were preferred to their conventionally boiled counterparts, as was the 45-minute hard-boiled egg. We thought the 1-1/2 hour hard-boiled egg, though, had gone too far to be really distinctive; instead it came across as a failed conventionally hard-boiled egg.

Altogether, though, an interesting experiment and fun use of a carton of eggs!

Sous Vide Eggs Kameko-san Part 1: Soft-Boiled

I've wanted to try eggs in the sous vide cooker (aka Kameko-san) since I got it. The long weekend with company that tends to sleep late gave me an opportunity to try, since one does not often get up and say "oh! I think I'd like some soft-boiled eggs in an hour and a half!" But since we ended up eating more of a brunch than a breakfast, eggs taking that kind of time was not a show-stopper.

Kameko-san's instruction booklet came with a table saying to do soft-boiled eggs at 64C (147F) for 45 minutes to 1-1/2 hours. I cooked half the eggs for 45 minutes and half for the full hour and a half.

Picture above shows the 45-minute egg in the shell. The white is quite soft; in some instances it was running a little bit out of the shell. It was, however, white - even the runny parts were not clear like a raw egg white.

Plated, the eggs, as shown in the picture above, looked like they had the yolk of an easy-over egg with a very custardy white. When mixed, the yolk had just started to set, which blended nicely with the white, which similarly had a just-about-to-gel flavor and texture. The result was phenomenal. I tasted a faint back-of-the-palate aromatic almost like an ester; other opinions ranged from a feeling that it was like an ur-hollandaise sauce to "green" (this from a friend who experiences certain tastes as colors, which I find most fascinating). We uniformly agreed we had never had a soft-boiled egg that tasted this subtly good, either from the flavor itself or from the texture, with the white at least as soft, if not softer than, the yolk. Amazing.

Next up was the 1-1/2 hour egg, also done at 64F. Picture above shows it in the shell. I could tell peeling it that the white was a little more firm,  but still it had a custard-like consistency, as is seen in the picture, which shows how it ran a bit over the shell. The picture also shows how the egg white was cooking from the inside out, rather than from the shell in.

The plated egg shows this. The yolk was nearly firm. The white had firmer chunks but still was quite liquid. It was this texture difference that set the eggs apart from traditional soft-boiled eggs. The eggs were too cooked for the distinctive aromatics I tasted, let alone the "green" of my color-tasting friend. The texture, though, was buttery-creamy and the yolk was cooked consistently throughout (I'll talk a bit more about this in the post on hard-boiled eggs). This is completely different from a traditional soft-boiled egg, which has a firmer white and a yolk that is cooked more on the outside, gradating to a softer core. I thought these eggs would be a perfect waffle topping, if I were still eating waffles. The whites would be spread around like syrup; the yolks spread like butter, with a knife.

The group consensus was that the traditional soft-boiled egg will be with us for a while because it is fast and easy goodness. But the sous vide soft-boiled egg is perfect for those occasions, and the 45-minute sous vide egg can be the start of, or used on their own as, an incredible sauce for any number of savory dishes. Now it's just up to me to think and plot.

Next: Part 2: Hard-Boiled

Angelica Liqueur

After the less-than-satisfying experiment with angelica, I cut up what I hadn't used (about 4 ounces or so) and put it into a 1-pint canning jar, and filled the jar with inexpensive neutral vodka to see if it would at least make a passable liqueur.

Picture above shows it steeping. Turned it approximately every other day and kept the jar in a relatively cool and dark place. Six weeks later, it was time to give it a try.

Turns out, this is not such a bad thing. The liqueur itself was sweet, much of the sugar having been extracted from the candied angelica. The candied angelica eaten as is taste tasted only of sugar. The liqueur, though, had a distinctive herbal flavor. It was clean and subtle, almost grassy, with a floral hint coming through mostly in aromatics. I think I would have liked the resulting drink better if I had infused the candied angelica (or, better yet, plain angelica herb) in a smoother liquor - maybe a dry, neutral brandy or even rum, but with the vodka I knew the flavors I was getting were coming from the herb.

I'm not going out of may way to order any more angelica for this purpose, although if I had friends who liked interesting liqueurs it would be a great hostess gift presented in a nice bottle. And at least it made the purchase a partial success.

Easy Food Pr0n - Maple-Smoked Chicken with Curry Powder

Fresh chicken from Groff's Content, so I took some to give to Mechazawa-san. Decided on something a little different. In addition to smoking it over maple (which I love with chicken; I think the two flavors blend perfectly) I rubbed it with some of the homemade curry powder my friend gave me that her running partner made. The result was more interesting and subtle than I'd expected. Somehow the curry and smoke flavors blended into a whole that was more mild than I'd expected, yet distinctly "curry" in its notes. The skin was a little tougher than I am used to, but the extra chewiness was more than offset, for me, by the distinctive flavors.

1966 WDEC - Asparagus

Apparently I am not alone in liking asparagus (picture by cyclonebill via Wikimedia), which according to the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery is (or was, at least in 1966) the fifth most popular vegetable in the U.S. Another import to the country, asparagus grows wild in the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia, known to the editors of the WDEC as Asia Minor. The WDEC is very keen on asparagus as a "symbol of pleasant eating." If our own love of the vegetable is not enough to motivate the reader, one may consider that in Europe, "it is considered the most luxurious of vegetables, fit for a king."

Unfortunately, the recipes are much more pedestrian, perhaps reflecting their recollection that "Perhaps the most popular way of serving asparagus is boiled and hot, with either hot butter or hollandaise sauce, or cold, with a vinaigrette sauce."

The result is a menu dominated by cream and cheese - asparagus broiled with cheese, broiled with ham and cheese, scalloped with cheese, scalloped with mushrooms and cream, and so on. There is a dish of garlic-cooked asparagus served under fried eggs and a decent-looking simple green sauce, but nothing special or unknown to me.

So, since we're past the prime season for asparagus here, it's on to aspic, a section I've been waiting for.

1966 WDEC - Artichoke Halves, Greek Style

Much more promising and less wasteful than the gut, slice and fry approach.

Artichoke Halves, Greek Style
6 large artichokes
4 cups water
3 lemons
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cut stems off artichokes. Remove bottom leaves and with scissors trim off brown thorny tips of all remaining leaves. Cut off tops and halve each artichoke. Soak in the water and juice of 2 of the lemons.

Meanwhile, sprinkle flour over onion and saute in olive oil until lightly browned. Arrange artichoke halves, cut side up, in roasting pan or large skillet. Add salt and pepper and juice of remaining lemon to onion and oil, and pour over artichokes. Add small amount of water, about 1/2 cup. Cover and simmer over low heat until artichokes are tender. Serve warm or cold.

Cooking Notes: I like artichoke stems so did not trim mine flush. Picture above shows my degree of trimming, before I removed the choke, which, although not directly called for in the recipe I think this is essential both because it would be very messy to do at the table and so that some of the sauce can collect in the hollow of the artichoke and help keep it moist while it's cooking and flavor it on the plate. I used only one artichoke but because my skillet was large I only halved the onion/oil mix and kept the lemon juice and water the same. Also, being low on olive oil, I used half butter/half olive oil. The artichokes steamed 40 minutes and then rested until ready to be served.

Eating Notes: Nice as a side, these would be fine as a light luncheon main so long as your guests didn't mind frequently needing a napkin while eating the flesh off the outer leaves, since everything was coated with the olive oil mix. Once the fully-edible inside leaves were reached, a fork did the trick nicely. Despite the relative mess, I liked having the entire artichoke coated with the sauce rather than steaming it plain and dipping the leaves in. The flavors had gently permeated the vegetable, and the aroma was more pleasing and pervasive than with a stand-alone dipping sauce, even though the artichokes were served cooled to only a slightly above-room-temperature warmth. So, a winner.