Cooking tips for Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2011 by bilrob

Cooking tips for Christmas

This year serve a festive feast without fear of failure, writes Zoe Skewes.

Last year I spent more time in the kitchen than with my family. What can I do to make the day more enjoyable?

If you’re the lucky person hosting a large family for Christmas Day, taste‘s own Matt Preston says that the most important thing to remember is not to attempt anything you’ve never tried cooking before. “I’d much rather have a good roast chook on Christmas Day than an overcooked turkey or goose,” he says.
“Christmas is more about the people you’re sharing the meal with than it is about sticking to tradition or having the best of everything.”
Think like a restaurant chef: practise mise en place, the art of doing as much prep as you can in advance. Wash, trim and peel the vegetables and chop herbs; mix up dressings and seafood sauces; measure out quantities for custard; and whip cream. Stackable takeaway containers are ideal for fridge and bench storage.
Wine and beer should be stored in eskies to maximise fridge space.
Setting the table is the obvious job to do in advance, but also make sure you gather your platters and serving utensils too. Use Post-it notes to label each platter with the dish to be served on it.

A whole ham is expensive. What can I do to ensure I prepare well and wow my guests?

If you’re buying your ham from a butcher, double check they source their hams from female pigs, which tend to have a thicker, sweeter fat, giving more flavour to the meat when it’s cooked. For couples or smaller families, consider smaller hams, which aren’t always on the bone but can still be made with Australian pork. Just check for an “Australian Pork” sticker on the label.
There’s no need to be scared off by the thought of glazing your own ham. It’s actually quite a simple process and is guaranteed to impress your guests. First, choose a ham with at least a 1.5cm-thick layer of fat. Carefully remove the skin and use a sharp knife to score the fat in a diamond pattern, about 1cm deep. Take care not to cut through to the meat as the fat shrinks during cooking and a deep cut may expose the meat below and it won’t look nearly as attractive. Stud the middle of each diamond with cloves to stop the fat lifting away from the ham during cooking.
If you’re looking for a twist on a traditional glazed ham, try an Asian glaze by combining 1/2 cup soy sauce and pure maple syrup, Chinese barbecue sauce, a few drops of red liquid food colouring, two crushed garlic cloves and five-spice powder. Brush over your ham, already scored and studded with whole cloves. Refrigerate overnight then bake in a 160C oven for 40 minutes until golden and glazed.

What do I do with all that leftover ham?

Everybody wants to know what to do with leftover ham and the ham bone. Both can be frozen for up to one month and can be used in soups, sandwiches and casseroles. They must be placed in airtight containers and thawing should be done in the fridge.
The trick to keeping your ham fresh after Christmas Day, Matt Preston says, is to keep it in an old cotton pillowcase that has been soaked in a mixture of three parts water to one part white vinegar. Resoak the pillowcase every few days or when it dries out. For post- Christmas ham leftovers, Matt’s favourite is a ham sandwich on white bread with English mustard.

I’ve got 20 people for lunch of prawns. What’s the quickest, easiest way to peel them?

The most simple way to serve prawns to your guests is to present them whole on a platter. But if you want to give your guests a helping hand by peeling them first, Mark Maric from Dish Bistro in Brisbane says the easiest way is to twist off the prawn head, hold it by the tail, and with your thumb, work your way under the shell, lifting the shell up and away from the body. Look for a discolouration on the back, which is the start of the digestive tract. To remove this, find the beginning and peel it away. Remove any remaining discolouration with the point of a knife.
To butterfly prawns for the barbecue, Mark says to hold the de-shelled prawn on a chopping board and use a knife to slice it in half lengthways from the head to the tail until you’ve almost, but not quite, cut it through. Flatten it out and pop in a pan, on a grill or barbecue, butterflied side down. Butterflying helps the meat to cook evenly.

What’s the best way to cook a turkey so it’s moist and succulent?

A large, golden-skinned turkey is still the most impressive centrepiece for a Christmas meal, says Brenton Hamdorf, retail operations manager at Gawler River Cattle Company in Adelaide. Brenton reckons that a 4kg bird will feed 15 to 20 people, with some leftovers.
Remember to allow enough time for the turkey to defrost. A 4-5kg bird can take three or four days to thaw.
Couscous or rice, combined with fresh sage, walnuts and dried cranberries, is a delicious alternative to bread-based turkey stuffing. Visit taste.com.au for recipes.
Brenton follows a general poultry rule of allowing 30 minutes per kilo in a 180C oven in cooking his turkey – so that 4kg turkey will take 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Cover the breast with foil for the first hour to help keep it moist. Rest the turkey for at least 15 minutes before carving.
Other tricks for preventing the turkey drying out are to brine the turkey first; insert butter between the skin and breast; or cook the bird breast side down (although this method means the turkey that’s brought to the table may not be picture-perfect).
Matt’s trick for making sure the turkey isn’t overcooked is to take it out of the oven about 15 minutes before it’s fully cooked and allowing it to finish cooking while the meat is resting out of the oven.
“If you’re unsure about doing this, buy a meat thermometer, which is the best present any Christmas Day host can ask for,” he says.
Roast pork is a favourite at the Christmas table – especially if the crackling is puffed and crispy. The secret to this, says Brenton, is to make sure the skin is well dried. Leave uncovered in the fridge overnight, pat dry with a paper towel and rub with rock salt.
Making a large quantity of gravy just when the whole meal is about to be served is a challenge. So cheat a little and buy some prepared items, such as gravy for the turkey. Good-quality delis and butchers often make their own gravy and sauces, which can be a quick substitute for homemade. Or skip the gravy and use other moisture-adding condiments such as cranberry sauce.

The pudding is done but I’m worried about lumpy custard. What are your tips?

Bernadette Templeman, from Sydney’s Restaurant Atelier, says her secret for successful custard in a stressful Christmas Day kitchen is to add a pinch of cornflour when she’s mixing together the eggs and sugar, which will stop the mixture splitting when the hot milk is added.
Making custard for a large group can be stressful, says Jason Peppler from Brisbane’s Confit Bistro. So for some extra help, he suggests home cooks use a kitchen thermometer to make sure the temperature does not exceed 80C.
“This will avoid the eggs and cream curdling,” Jason says. “To check when the custard is ready, dip a wooden spoon in the saucepan, remove it, then draw a line across the back of your spoon with your finger. If the custard dribbles down in a consistent line, it is ready.”
But if making custard from scratch isn’t for you, serve a cheat’s custard by combining 300ml store-bought custard in a saucepan with 150ml of thin cream, dab of icing sugar and a splash of brandy. Stir over a low heat until the custard is heated through then pour into a jug for serving at the table. This recipe should serve six and chances are they’ll never know the difference.

I’m serving cold desserts this Christmas. Do you have any tips?

If you’re serving a frozen dessert instead of a plum pud, remember to remove the dessert from your freezer about five minutes before serving. Unmould and then, to stop further melting as you’re taking to the table, plate up on to a chilled surface.
There’s no rule that says cranberries can’t also star in your dessert. For a festive twist on a traditional pavlova, drain a can of wild cranberries and combine the syrup with a cup of caster sugar and a cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for a few minutes until the syrup thickens. Remove from heat, stir in the drained cranberries and allow to cool before topping the pavlova.

Additional reporting by Simon Wilkinson, Fiona Donnelly, Gail Williams, Martine Haley and Grant Jones.

Information in this article is correct as of 13 December, 2011

Source

Taste.com.au – December 2011

Author

Zoe Skewes

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Cooking with grandma, the new luxury food kick

Posted on December 12, 2011 by bilrob

Cooking with grandma, the new luxury food kick

Forget five-star restaurants. Food-loving tourists are getting their kicks in other ways, from cooking up a hotpot with a Mauritian grandmother to market shopping with a Venetian countess.

More than just fine dining, well-heeled travellers in search of gourmet luxury are seeking out “experiences,” sparking a shift in the tourist industry, according to experts at an upmarket travel fair in Cannes this week.

“Gourmet travel as a niche market is huge everywhere,” Jennifer Campbell, a member of the bespoke travel specialist Virtuoso network, told AFP at the annual International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM).

“The trend is growing strongly,” said Campbell, whose firm will shortly fly a small group of epicureans on a truffle-hunting expedition to Italy.

“Travellers now want to go out and about to see for themselves, for example, how truffles grow, where to find them and then cooking them.”

The movement kicked off three to five years ago, boosted in the United States, Britain and elsewhere by rising interest in organic produce and local food, as well as global television hits such as “Masterchef”.

Frank Farneti, regional head of France’s luxury Relais et Chateaux hotel network, told a packed conference on gastronomic travel that success rests on creating an impression of authenticity.

One example is “Grandma’s Kitchen” at the Shanti Maurice Nira beachside resort in Mauritius, an alternative to the resort’s high-end restaurants — run by the real cooking grandmother of one of the staff.

Grandma will be cooking up traditional Creole fare that might include honey lamb or fish curry at her home whilst sharing stories with her guests, before sending them off with a selection of handwritten recipes.

The simple experience has proved a hit with the resort’s well-heeled guests, along with a fish and rum shack set up on the beach.

“It’s all about taking people out of a cosseted, gated community and giving them a cooking experience that they can’t get by themselves,” said the owner and chief executive of Nira Hotels and Resorts, MPS Puri.

Hoteliers and restaurant owners are not the only ones to benefit from this new-found appetite for authentic dining.

From Italian aristocrats to ordinary housewives in China, individuals are opening up their homes to amateur cooks keen to master local dishes, from the most simple to the seriously exotic.

“These travellers want to learn about new ingredients and new mixtures,” explained Paul Bruning, head of sales and marketing at the Southern Africa branch of luxury travel provider Abercrombie and Kent.

The new Philippe Starck-designed boutique Hotel Palazzina Grassi, in the heart of historic Venice, is tapping into the culinary-driven market.

Guests can accompany one of the city’s best-known aristocrats, Countess Enrica Rocca, to the city’s famous Rialto market to learn how to select fresh, locally-caught fish.

The countess leads them and their shopping baskets back home to prepare Venetian specialities, whilst regaling them with stories about her family history.

Guests are coming from around Europe as well as Australia to enjoy a day out with the countess, at a cost of around 1,000 euros ($1,300), said a hotel spokeswoman.

The thirst to learn about local produce reaches beyond foodie tourists.

Vikram Madhok, the managing director of Abercrombie and Kent India, organises an annual trip around India for a group of London chefs, to visit spice markets and help them explore and cooking new regional dishes.

Italian Cooking with Bill & Sheila

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Cooking: The joys of homemade applesauce

Posted on December 7, 2011 by bilrob

The joys of homemade applesauce

When I was a kid, I thought applesauce was one of those magical foods that you could only buy in stores, like bread or pie. So mom wasn’t much of a baker.

My mom did make her own salad dressings, and she made pickles and jelly. She even made her own noodles once in a while. Those weren’t mysterious.

Applesauce, on the other hand, came in jars. And it didn’t appear very often. If we were having a pork roast for dinner, applesauce might be a side dish. Or it might be served with potato pancakes. But it wasn’t an everyday item.

As an adult, I like applesauce but find that many brands are too sweet for my taste or they’re loaded with cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices. I like all those spices well enough, but when I have apples, I want it to taste like apples and not like the spice cabinet.

The other problem with applesauce is that it spoils relatively quickly after opening, particularly if you use it like a condiment (as I do) instead of eating it for a snack. And the brands I like best don’t come in kid-sized portions, but in big jars. So when I open a jar, I have to think about what else I’m going to use it for. If I don’t, it ends up at the back of the refrigerator and the next time I think about applesauce, it has green fuzz on top.

The solution to all of my applesauce woes is to make my own. I can make just as much as I need, and make it as tart, sweet, spiced or unspiced as I like. It’s also a great way to use up apples that have a few bruises and bumps that make them less tempting for eating out-of-hand. And when I want to get creative, I can add other ingredients, such as dried cherries, fresh cranberries, or maple syrup in place of the sugar.

Speaking of which, sugar is completely optional. If your apples are very tart, you might want sugar to balance the tartness. For many apples, you might decide you don’t need sugar at all. You can make that decision after the apples are cooked down a bit.

You can use any type of apples you like for making sauce. There are differences in flavor, but if it’s an apple you like to eat, you should like the flavor in applesauce. The big difference, though, is texture. Some apples — the kind that are good for baking or pie-making — will hold their shape much longer during cooking. Apples that are less suitable for baking will break down into sauce much sooner.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the baking apples for sauce — you’ll just need to cook them longer. If you like a chunky sauce, those baking apples will provide that texture you’re looking for. And you don’t need to use all of one type of apple. Mix them up any way you like.

Applesauce

5 apples, peeled, cored, and cut in chunks

Water as needed

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Directions: Put the apple chunks in a saucepan on medium heat with just enough water to keep them from sticking when you begin cooking them. Add the salt and cinnamon (if using) and cook, stirring as needed, until the apples break down to a sauce consistency. This can be as short as 5 minutes, or as long as 20 minutes, depending on the apples you are using.

Taste for sweetness and add the sugar, if desired. Continue cooking and stirring until the sugar is dissolved in the mixture. Taste again, and add more sugar or cinnamon, if desired.

If you prefer a smoother sauce, you can pass it through a sieve or food mill, or use a stick blender to smooth it out.

Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

You can make applesauce in much larger quantities, if desired. If you want to can the applesauce for storage, consult a canning book for proper procedures.

For more recipes, see Donna’s cooking blog, Cookistry, at http://cookistry.blogspot.com. Follow her on Twitter at @dbcurrie and @cookistry.

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A Cooking Innovation We Should Be Thankful For: Jonathan Alter

Posted on November 28, 2011 by bilrob

A Cooking Innovation We Should Be Thankful For: Jonathan Alter

By Jonathan Alter

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — On Thanksgiving, we cook and, if we’re doing it right, we give sincere thanks for being alive. But we rarely think of how the two really interact. We don’t recognize that in many parts of the world, cooking provides not just nourishment and pleasure but sometimes harm and death. Thankfully, there’s a solution on the way.

The consequences of cooking may be the least-known major health problem in the world. According to the World Health Organization, almost 2 million people a year — mostly women and children — die from diseases (pneumonia, cancer, pulmonary and heart ailments) that are connected to smoke from dirty cooking stoves and open fires. Toxic fumes from cooking in poorly ventilated dwellings kill more people than AIDS and tuberculosis, and twice as many as malaria.

More than 3 billion people worldwide live in homes where food is cooked with wood, dung, makeshift charcoal or agricultural waste as fuel. That means that almost half the world’s population is vulnerable to severe health problems from the smoke that such fuels produce.

To get a sense of the level of indoor air pollution that is routine in many parts of the world, consider that the Obama administration recently faced a controversy over whether 65 parts per billion of pollutants or 75 ppb are safe to breathe. The fumes from open fires or old cooking stoves, inhaled directly in closed spaces, by some estimates contain 200 times that amount.

Unhealthy, Unsustainable

Other severe environmental and social problems flow from the absence of modern cooking stoves. A substantial amount of deforestation has been linked to the combined effect of cutting down trees for fuel and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through burning. Old approaches to cooking are simply unsustainable. Experts in East Africa estimate that in 25 years, supplies of firewood will run out altogether.

In the meantime, women in the developing world spend 20 hour a week, on average, searching for wood and other fuel for cooking. This is time that could obviously be better spent helping in the fields, educating children and building small businesses. If they live in war zones, these women and girls face the threat of assault or rape when they leave home searching for fuel and other necessities.

I recently visited a tiny mountain village in China’s Shaanxi province where poor villagers live with certain modern conveniences such as television and bare light bulbs but still cook much like their ancestors did. Many will die young. And many looked almost twice their actual age.

The good news is that the world is finally mobilizing. Last year, I watched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appear before the Clinton Global Initiative and announce a new public-private Global Alliance for Clean Cooking stoves, with the aim of distributing 100 million of the new appliances by 2020.

Unlike open fires and old cooking stoves, the new cooking stoves — run on electricity or gas, depending on the model — recirculate smoke through filters to reduce pollution. They can now be manufactured at a relatively low cost, sometimes as low as $15. Experience shows that when villagers are charged at least some small fraction of that — instead of getting the stoves free — they make better use of them because they feel more ownership.

In 20 years covering Clinton, I never saw her so passionate. “This could be as transformative as bed nets or even vaccines,” she said, her voice rising with enthusiasm. “We are excited because we think this is actually a problem we can solve.”

Major Progress

The last year has brought major progress toward the goal. More than 20 nations have joined the alliance, and several corporations have kicked in (Dow Corning Corp. is contributing $5 million). The U.S. commitment to the fund, which is supervised by the United Nations Foundation, has already exceeded $100 million.

When Clinton brought up cookstoves with Chinese officials last spring, one replied, “My sister has lung cancer, and we grew up in a house with traditional cookstoves.” He promised that China would focus more on the problem. At a time when tensions are rising between the U.S. and China over navigation in the South China Sea and currency manipulation, it helps to develop areas of common humanitarian interest.

In the U.S., officials from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among other agencies, are placing new emphasis on the issue. Recently, one technologist designed a new fan for old cookstoves that reduces pollution sharply without replacing the old units.

“People I’ve spoken to in various countries say, ‘Thank God America is thinking about this stuff, taking the lead,’” said Kris Balderston, the special representative for global partnerships at the State Department.

When the Pilgrims hosted their first Thanksgiving, they were celebrating more than their ability to find food on a strange new continent. They were celebrating the pluck and ingenuity at solving problems that helped them survive.

As we pull our overstuffed turkeys out of our fancy ovens, let’s spare a moment for a more humble cooking appliance that can help make a better, healthier world.

(Jonathan Alter is a Bloomberg View columnist and the author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One.” The opinions expressed are his own.)

–Editors: Timothy Lavin, David Henry.

Click on “Send Comment” in the sidebar display to send a letter to the editor.

To contact the writer of this article: Jonathan Alter at alterjonathan@gmail.com

To contact the editor responsible for this article: Timothy Lavin at tlavin1@bloomberg.net

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Cooking lessons in spice garden

Posted on November 28, 2011 by bilrob

Here’s a cooking class held in, not the kitchen but the spice garden, writes CK Lam

Jiu hu char served with lettuce and sambal belacan

Jiu hu char has a number of ingredients — mushroom, carrot, dried squid, chicken and bangkuang

Stirring up the Jiu hu char

Fresh spice for otak-otak, a favourite Nyonya dish

Ingredients for otak-otak

Prawn Otak-Otak

Recently, I was invited to a cooking session at Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School in Teluk Bahang, Penang. The school offers cooking classes for Nyonya, Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisine and is set in a building surrounded by the lush Tropical Spice Garden.

Under the guidance of Pearly Kee, who is well-versed in Nyonya cooking, the participants and I gained some insight into Nyonya cuisine. We were handed recipe sheets for otak-otak and jiu hu char and Kee guided us through the two dishes.

Both recipes were simple. The jiu hu char had several ingredients put together, each with its unique flavour and texture. This stir-fried dish was so fresh and light and paired nicely with lettuce and sambal belacan.

Kee also guided us, step by step, to make the otak-otak. The otak-otak had a variety of spice blended into a paste with a sharp distinctive aroma. We prepared the otak-otak by spreading spoonfuls of the mixture and prawn on banana leaf laid with pieces of daun kaduk. The ends were tucked in and the package wrapped up in banana leaf, sealed and steamed.

Besides learning new recipes, we dined on what we had prepared. We sat down to enjoy our food in the airy pavilion, steps away from the cooking school.

-Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School

Where Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School, Lone Grag Villa, Lot 595 Mkm 2, Teluk Bahang, Penang.
Tel 04-881 1797
How to get there Drive all the way to Batu Ferringhi until you reach Bayview Beach Resort. From there continue till you pass a hilltop Chinese cemetery on your left. Proceed until you reach the next corner. The entrance of the cooking school is on your left.

Opening hours Daily except Mondays. Bookings must be made 24 hours in advance.
Email info@tropicalspicegarden.com

Website www.tropicalspicegarden.com

What’s available Malaysian cuisine cooking class. All resident chef morning classes (Malaysian cuisine) will include a guided tour of the spice terraces, a welcome coffee or tea, hands-on cooking class and lunch with a specially brewed drink of the day.

Atmosphere Jungle garden sanctuary overlooking Teluk Bahang.

Parking Along the street in front of the entrance.

Public transport Rapid Penang U101 (from Weld Quay) and U102 (from Penang International Airport).

Overall verdict HHHHH

You need to climb a flight of steps to the cooking school.

-Jiu Hu Char

You’ll need:
30g chopped garlic
30g chopped shallot
4-6 tbsp cooking oil
3 dried Chinese mushroom, soaked, cut to strips
30g shredded cuttlefish, washed, squeeze dry before use
600g cooked chicken meat, cut to strips
900g bangkuang or jicama
90g carrot, cut to fine strips
300g cabbage, cut to fine strips
3 big onions, cut to slices
Salt to taste
2 tsp soya sauce to taste
2 cups chicken stock

Method
1. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil and saute onions and garlic till fragrant.
2. Add cuttlefish, mushroom and lastly the chicken meat.
3. Then add soya sauce and fry till heated through. Dish out and put aside.
4. Heat another 2-3 tablespoons of oil and fry the jicama, carrot and cabbage.
5. Add onion halfway and enough stock to barely cover vegetables. Sprinkle salt to taste. Simmer till tender.
6. Wrap both sauteed meats and stir-fried vegetables in lettuce leaves. Add some sambal belacan for a little kick.

-Prawn Otak-Otak

You’ll need:
600g prawns
2 kaffir lime leaves, cut to fine strips
20 daun kaduk, washed and dried
1 egg
500g thick santan
1 whole banana leaf

To grind:
1 lemongrass or serai
20g shallots
2 cloves garlic
10g lengkuas
1cm fresh turmeric
Pinch of belacan
1 tsp glutinous rice flour
¼ tsp white peppercorn
1 tsp of salt
Pinch of sugar

Method
1. Beat egg. Then add santan followed by ground spices.
2. Rub onto prawn, add salt and sugar.
3. Mash or beat the mixture continuously till it becomes thick. Add shredded kaffir lime leaves.
4. Wrap mixture in banana leaf and steam over hot water for 20 minutes.

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Spice – at Bill & Sheila’s Cookbook

Cooking fires major threat during holidays, firefighters say

Posted on November 23, 2011 by bilrob

Don't let this happen to you!

LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -

Cooking is the leading cause of house fires, according to Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Public Information Officer Tim Szymanski.

These fires can be prevented by simply staying near the stove or oven when you are cooking, said Szymanski.

If you use a turkey fryer, make sure to cook at least ten feet away from any home or building.

It’s important to have a fire extinguisher — such as First Alert Tundra — to quickly put flames out, added Szymanski.

A smoke and carbon dioxide alarm are also vital in detecting harmful gases.

Your purchase should cost less than $10, Szymanski said, which is nothing compared to the more than $100,000 you could spend if your home catches on fire.

The Red Cross of Southern Nevada provided the following tips to help families prevent cooking fires this holiday:

Don’t wear loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking.
Never leave cooking food unattended – stay in the kitchen when frying, grilling or broiling food. If you must leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
Check your food regularly while cooking and remain in the home while cooking. Use a timer to remind yourself that the stove or oven is on.
Keep the kids away from fires and the cooking area. Enforce a “kid-free zone” and make them stay at least three feet away from the stove or fires.
Keep anything that can catch fire – pot holders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper or plastic bags, food packaging, and towels or curtains—away from your stove, oven or any other appliance in the kitchen that generates heat.
Clean cooking surfaces on a regular basis to prevent grease buildup.
Consider purchasing a fire extinguisher to keep in your kitchen. Contact your local fire department to take training on the proper use of extinguishers.
Always check the kitchen before going to bed or leaving the home to make sure all stoves, ovens, and small appliances are turned off.
Install a smoke alarm near your kitchen, on each level of your home, near sleeping areas, and inside and outside bedrooms if you sleep with doors closed. Use the test button to check it each month. Replace all batteries at least once a year.

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Bill & Sheila’s Food Safety – fires

Chef Lo makes case for fusion cooking

Posted on November 17, 2011 by bilrob

Chef Lo makes case for fusion cooking

NEW YORK (Reuters) – American chef Anita Lo believes that all food is the result of fusion cooking because every type of cuisine has been influenced from elsewhere.

Lo is known for combining French cuisine with Asian and other global influences. In her first book “Cooking Without Borders” she hopes to broaden readers’ minds about different foods.

Her 11-year-old Annisa restaurant in New York has been a favorite with critics and consistently carries a Michelin star.

The 45-year-old chef, who was born in Birmingham, Michigan to Chinese parents, spoke to Reuters about the book, fusion cooking and her culinary influences:

Q: What do you hope to achieve with your first book?

A: “I have been trying to write this book for decades. I want to draw attention to the diversity of America. If you look at food and culture, a lot of people in this country have always looked at food through Eurocentric eyes. I think the haute-cuisine of this country is contemporary American with influences from all over the world. We are a country of immigrants. I was hoping to draw attention to this and make people a little more open-minded about different food and different cultures.”

Q: Fusion cooking -its reputation has been tarnished over the years. What is your definition of it?

A: “I think all food that we cook is fusion. You could name any cuisine and it’s been influenced by somewhere else.”

Q: Do you feel you need to reclaim it and bring it back to what it was originally intended?

A: “I hear people who say ‘I really don’t like fusion food.’ I say, ‘What are you doing?’ You are cooking a cuisine in a different country. You are clearly using different ingredients and bringing your own sensibility.’”

Q: How do you know a dish you create is successful?

A: “It’s a lot of different things. For example, a good amount of fat flavor in a dish, you want to balance it with a sour flavor or a bitter flavor. Every flavor I add, I like it to have multipurpose. You can’t just be adding for color. It has to make sense on the palate.

“You can’t just add an ingredient without it being present on the palate. If you are adding something because it sounds cool and you don’t really taste it, then you should probably get rid of it.”

Q: Your book addresses eating every part of an animal, which we don’t really do in the United States. What is the under-eaten animal part?

A: “Obviously all the innards. People in this country don’t necessarily eat those things. Unfortunately, it’s even decreasing in France where young people are not eating as much innards as they used to. They are really delicious. In China, you clearly eat everything. I grew up with those sensibilities as well.”

Q: Is it simply education and exposing people to it?

A: “Absolutely. In Japan, people grow up loving slimy things, here not so much. In Asia, eating different parts of the animal is really fun. Here people are grossed out by it. It’s cultural.”

Q: What is your favorite comfort food?

A: “There are so many. I’ve grown up with so many different cultures. My comfort food could be chicken paprikash. There is a lot of Asian food that is comfort food to me. Noodle soups are always comforting. At least once a year I like to make a pizza. I like to make pizzas on my grill. Usually I try to make the effort to have a variety. Usually it’s in the summer time so usually I’d use some clams I’ve dug up.”

Recipe

My Auntie Beth’s Chicken Paprikash (Serves 4)

3 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika

2 teaspoons salt, plus more for seasoning

Black pepper to taste

8 chicken thighs with skin, trimmed of excess fat

3 tablespoons neutral-flavored vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 pound dried egg noodles, cooked

1. Combine the paprika, 2 teaspoons of salt and pepper, then toss with the chicken to coat. Heat a pot over medium-high heat, add the oil, then add the onions. Lower the heat to medium-low and cooking until translucent.

2. Add the chicken and turn to coat with the oil. Add just enough water to cover; simmer for 20 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and flour. Add to the pot and stir. Increase the temperature and bring to a rapid boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, breaking up any lumps. Season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve over hot egg noodles.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; editing by Patricia Reaney)

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Common Sense and the New Cooking Science

Posted on November 17, 2011 by bilrob

cooking Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The International Culinary Center

Common Sense and the New Cooking Science<

The eagerly anticipated debate was titled “Traditionalist Versus Modern Cuisine,” about the controversy over the new molecular gastronomy. But for a discussion of what is often called a culinary revolution, it turned out to be a surprising celebration of traditionalism.

For ages, “the techniques of cooking have been about taking the raw ingredients of the kitchen and making them into something wonderful,” said Nathan Myhrvold, the author of “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking,” the recently published six-volume, 40-pound high-and-low-tech food encyclopedia, which retails for $625.

Though his book served as the text for the proceedings Tuesday night at the International Culinary Center in Manhattan, the six panelists’ conversation on the relationship among food, art and technology hardly mentioned the tools of the nouveau science-fiction kitchen: foams, gels, nitrogen for flash-freezing, alginates for spherification, immersion circulators and antigriddle cooktops for low-temperature cooking.

Even the potential dangers of cutting-edge cookery were lowballed, as when Dr. Myrhvold pronounced that liquid nitrogen, frigid though it may be, is less dangerous than spattering fry oil. Or as Wylie Dufresne, the chef and owner of WD-50, put it, liquid nitrogen is “unlikely to freeze your customers to death, and hot soup in the dining room is more of a danger.” He added, “As with scissors, proper training is important.”

The other panelists were Dave Arnold, the director of culinary technology at the culinary center (which is the parent organization to the French Culinary Institute); Andre Soltner, dean of classic studies at the culinary center; Johnny Iuzzini, the executive pastry chef at Jean Georges, who has given his notice for Jan. 1; and Marion Nestle, professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University.

Mr. Soltner, the panel’s most unapologetic traditionalist, gamely said of Dr. Myhrvold’s book, “I’m going to read it, but I won’t say I’ll finish it.” Soon, Mr. Iuzzini sought to clarify the debate over “Modernist Cuisine” by saying that “the book isn’t competing against traditionalism — we all respect the classics. But everything has to evolve.”

Beyond that, the book’s “value does not lie in the whiz-bangery,” Mr. Dufresne said. “Arguments about foams and gels will come and go, but that is just a sidebar — and these are just the toys,” he said of high-tech gear. “The value is that we are learning at a more accelerated rate than ever before. Information is trickling down, and we’re getting smarter.”

So, if the book’s highly detailed, food-science approach to cooking may not seem relevant to the ordinary kitchen schlepper, “all techniques were new techniques at one point,” Mr. Iuzzini said, mentioning sautéeing and braising. “So one day these new techniques, like sous vide, will be more accessible to the home cook. In the end, all we’re trying to do is create great food.”

As for the misapplication of high-tech procedures in a gimmicky way by unimaginative chefs, Dr. Myhrvold — a multimillionaire inventor and the former chief technology officer at Microsoft — said new techniques would “be misused, yes, but old techniques have been misused as well.”

Therefore, Mr. Iuzzini said, if the Myhrvold book “is not read with pure eyes and clear intent, you are going to be misguided.” Mr. Soltner put it another way: “Recipes are only the basis for cuisine,” adding, “Really, in the end, it is the one who cooks.” And in answer to a question, Dr. Myhrvold said that although he dined at modernist restaurants, “if you go to a steakhouse, you want tradition — you don’t go there to discover what the new definition of ‘rare’ means.”

What of his next project? “We’re trying to figure out what we’ll do next,” he said, dropping a hint. “In our book we don’t do pastry and baking.”

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Cooking in the classroom to fight childhood obesity

Posted on November 9, 2011 by bilrob

Public release date: 8-Nov-2011

Cooking in the classroom to fight childhood obesity

Cooking should be integrated into school curriculum

Philadelphia, PA — Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other reports that childhood obesity has tripled over the past 30 years, we recognize the importance of reaching our children early to form good food habits. However, with teachers having to incorporate more and more learning standards into their already packed curriculums, where does that leave room for nutrition education in elementary schools? Perhaps by putting it into school subjects like geography and the study of other cultures, math, and science. A study in the November/December 2011 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior shows how the Cooking with Kids program successfully helps students learn school subjects and develop cooking skills.

Cooking with Kids is an experiential food and nutrition education program for elementary school students, based on social learning theory and food acceptance principles (http://www.cookingwithkids.net). Students explore, prepare, and enjoy fresh, affordable foods from diverse cultural traditions. Founder and executive director Lynn Walters and program director Jane Stacey have developed integrated curriculum materials for grades K-1, 2-3, and 4-6. Cooking with Kids also encourages students to treat each other respectfully and to practice the social skills of working together to prepare a meal and then sitting down to eat together.

As part of a larger evaluation of the program, investigators from the Colorado State University Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition interviewed 178 fourth-graders to determine students’ cooking attitudes and experiences at school and home after a series of cooking plus tasting or just tasting classes alone. Their teachers and Cooking with Kids food educators were also interviewed. Students and their teachers who participated in both types of experiential classes described positive experiences with curriculum integration into academic subjects, and those receiving cooking classes reported opportunities to enhance their social skills. The study also found that students in cooking plus tasting schools did not perceive cooking-related tasks at home as ‘chores’, unlike students who received just tasting classes or those who did not receive either type of class. And, in general, students’ perspectives were that the curriculum strengthened their understanding of the content of school subjects.

Dr. Leslie Cunningham-Sabo, PhD, RD, Assistant Professor at Colorado State University, says, “This study describes student and teacher perceptions about the integration of nutrition education programs with academic curriculum topics, which is essential in justifying nutrition education’s continued place in the school curriculum. It documents the importance of including cooking in school curriculum as it is a practical mechanism to promote health, social and educational skills to better prepare students for adulthood.”

The article is “Qualitative Investigation of the Cooking with Kids Program: Focus Group Interviews with Fourth-Grade Students, Teachers, and Food Educators” by Catherine V. Lukas, MS, RD and Leslie Cunningham-Sabo, PhD, RD. It appears in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43, Issue 6 (November/December 2011) published by Elsevier.

In an accompanying podcast, Leslie Cunningham-Sabo, PhD, RD, discusses the results and implications this study. It is available at http://www.jneb.org/content/podcast.

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Cooking With Boar: A Walk On The Wild Side

Posted on November 9, 2011 by bilrob

Cooking With Boar: A Walk On The Wild Side

Serving a whole boar leg is a dramatic presentation for a special occasion. It may be prepared in a similar manner as a roasted leg of lamb. Because the meat is so lean, it should marinate overnight before roasting. Boar leg is easily available through mail order or in specialty stores.

Roasted Boar Leg
Enlarge Lynda Balslev for NPR

Roasted Boar Leg

Makes 6 to 8 servings

1 3- to 4-pound boar leg with bone

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 bottle full-bodied red wine

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

6 rosemary sprigs, divided

4 thyme sprigs

4 garlic cloves, smashed

2 bay leaves

1 large carrot, coarsely chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon juniper berries, cracked

1/4 cup Dijon-style mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

For The Sauce

2 cups chicken stock

4 sage leaves

1/4 cup red currant jelly or cranberry sauce

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

One day before serving, season boar leg all over with salt and pepper. Refrigerate while the marinade is prepared.

For marinade, combine the wine, vinegar, 4 rosemary sprigs, thyme, garlic, bay leaves, carrot, onion, peppercorns, juniper berries and 1 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Once the marinade is cool, arrange boar leg in a rimmed pan large enough to hold it. Pour marinade over the leg. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, turning leg once or twice.

One hour before roasting, remove boar leg from refrigerator to bring to room temperature. Transfer meat to a roasting pan. Strain marinade and discard solids.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly crush remaining 2 rosemary sprigs with the mustard in a mortar with a pestle. Whisk in oil. Smear mustard all over the boar leg. Pour strained marinade into the pan around boar leg. Place in oven and bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 275 degrees. Continue to roast boar leg until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part reads 150 degrees, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Transfer boar leg to a cutting board. Tent loosely with foil and let rest 30 minutes.

While the meat is resting, prepare the sauce. Place roasting pan with any juices over medium heat on stovetop. Add chicken stock and sage leaves, stirring up the brown bits. Whisk 1/4 cup red currant jelly or cranberry sauce into the gravy and simmer, stirring, 5 minutes. Remove sage leaves. Whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Taste for seasoning. Pour into a serving bowl or gravy boat. Serve with the meat.

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