Tag Archives: Food Vocabulary

February 9, 2010

Baking with a Levain Starter

By swfoodworks

Over my last visit home, I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with my paternal Grandmother.  She started a cafe in Mason City, Nebraska about fifty years ago, and I’m pretty sure that my penchant for restaurant life is directly connected to her genetic makeup.  Thanks, Grandma Doris, it’s been a great ride so far!  I mentioned that we’ve been baking a lot with a levain starter here at home, and she let me know that her own mother had kept a starter around for baking as well.  We talked a little about the care and feeding of a starter, and using it in pancakes and waffles for leavening and a little tang.  I guess my love of baking is plucked from my family tree as well.

Let’s take a look at what this kind of bread baking looks like.

Once you’ve build a happy levain, the bread baking process is really pretty straight forward.  You need bread flour, water, your starter, and salt.  That’s it.  For this bread I used a garnish of pepper jack cheese, but anything goes.

Invest in a scale if you plan to be doing any baking on a regular basis.  Just a thought.  Most baking recipes are really ratios, and you will get weights for ingredients instead of volume measures.  That being said, most home-baker recipes don’t go down that path.  For this method I take my standard ratio for bread, 5:3 (five parts bread flour to three parts water) and replace 10% of each portion by the starter.  In other words I use a ratio of 4:2:2 – Flour, water, starter.  There are some variables (like all bread baking) but this has been very successful for me.

Measure out the flour, and then the starter and water.

Don’t forget the salt.  A couple of good pinches will work for most recipes.  Not only does the salt help your bread taste better, it also help add color, slows the fermentation process slightly (developing more flavor), and  helps to strengthen the gluten proteins which give the bread structure, texture, and shape.

Bring all of the ingredients together with a dough hook attachment, working on a low speed.

As the dough comes together, it will start pulling away from the sides of your mixing bowl.  If this doesn’t happen, you may need to add a little more water, but be patient, and see if it will come together on its own.

As the gluten develops, the dough will climb up the dough hook and start to make interesting shapes as it gets knocked around in the mixing bowl.

When you are curious about the state of your dough, stop everything and take a look.  Grab a small piece and pull it around a little.  If you can stretch it thinly so that light passes through it, and the gluten strands keep the dough held together without tearing, you’re in a good place to continue the process.  This is called making (pulling) a window, by who bake bread for money.

At this point, get your garnish ready too.  I try not to add extra bits until the gluten has developed.  Adding non-flour items often breaks the gluten up, resulting in a more dense, less risen bread.

Here I’ve incorporated the cheese, and shaped the dough into a ball.  I covered this with a towel, and let it rest.  The yeast needs to feast, and make the dough double in size before we move on.

While you wait for the dough to get going, feed your levain.  When my levain is pretty active (very bubbly) I feed it in a 1:1:1 ratio of levain, water, and flour.  However, if I haven’t fed it in a while, or it seems a little sleepy, I feed it a little more with a 1:2:2 ratio.

Once the dough has doubled, I scale it into two pieces.  Another indication that the dough is ready to be shaped is that when you poke about an inch into the dough, the indentation (mostly) remains.

Piece one will rest in this big ceramic bowl.

Piece two got divided and shaped into longer loaves, resting on a well floured board.

Then they both got tucked in for a little nap.

Now the dough has doubled again, and a poke with your finger should get pushed back out pretty well.

We have a ceramic baking stone that I like to use.  I also have a pan that I throw a little water onto to create a steamy environment for the first part of the baking.

Scoring the bread is an important step.  this allows the bread to expand as much as it needs to, and also provides more visual and textural interest.  I use a large serrated knife if I don’t have a nice new razor blade around.  For cheese breads, I also like to add more cheese right on top of the bread.

Pop them into the oven!  I’m baking at 400 degrees with these free form loaves.

I can’t help myself from checking on the baking process throughout.

Here are these two little guys, fresh from the oven.  The larger loaf came out much the same, as you can see below.

♦

When I’m curious about whether the bread is ready, I often just take its temperature.  Anything over 165 degrees is good for me.  That’s really about all there is to baking bread.  It’s a straightforward practice that yields really delicious end results.

Of course, you need to get a feel for some of the finer points, but that will come with practice.  Baking, like other things in the kitchen is a meditative time for me.  You can’t really rush things along; they work at their own pace and all you can do is be responsive.  There are things in life that will require your attention and yield great satisfaction.  Cooking, baking, and enjoying the fruits of that labor are some of my most satisfying.

Here’s to feeding yourself body, mind, and soul -

-Scott

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in At Home in the Kitchen, Coaching, Cooking

January 31, 2010

Twiced Baked Goat Cheese Souffle

By swfoodworks

Souffles seem to be shrouded in mystery and admonishments; “Don’t walk near the oven while baking”, “Speak in hushed whispers, if at all”, “Never, ever, open the oven door while baking!”, and so on.  The following recipe and technique will help you call ‘bullshit’ on those ideas, and allow you to continue blaring your Kings of Leon album while you’re baking.

This recipe is brought to us by Chef Louise Duhamel (hi chef!) and my friends at www.lickmyspoon.com (hi steph and hua!).  A quick calculation shows me that I must have produced this recipe over 100 times during my time with Chef, teaching dozens of students how to make it.  And the Cypress Grove cheeses which inspired me to make this version were a gift from Stephanie and David after a long and well fought battle at this years’ Fancy Food Show.

The best thing about this “Swiss Style” souffle is that you can make it in advance, and then re-bake it to serve.

Soufflés a la Suisse

Here’s what you’ll need

  • 6 oz butter (melted) plus more (4 oz) for buttering dishes
  • 6 oz AP flour
  • 1.5 cups cream
  • 4.5 cups whole milk
  • 12 oz cheese
  • 12 eggs (separated)
  • 2 cups bread crumbs or grated dry cheese (like Parmesan) for coating dishes
  • 2 quarts or more of water for water bath
  • Salt, pepper, nutmeg, all to taste

Souffle is a pretty straightforward technique.  The two items that will ensure your success are; proper planning, and pretty much non-stop execution.  So turn that oven to 400 degrees and follow the pictures below!

Get all of your ingredients together.

Butter some ramekins really well.  Then coat them with the dry cheese, or bread crumbs.  Smaller, straight sided dishes work best, but I’ve also baked this in large pans with good results.  You’ll be baking these in a water bath, so make sure they fit into another, larger pan that can hold water up to 1/2 the height of the dishes.  :)

Separate your eggs.  I like to use this 3-bowl method.  I separate three or four whites at a time into the smaller (white) bowl, and them dump them into the bigger (red) one.  That way, if I mess up some whites, I don’t screw up the whole batch of whites, just a couple.

Measure out the butter and start to melt it.

Measure out the flour.

Measure out the cheese.

Once the butter has melted, whisk in all of the flour at once.  Thus begins the roux.  Keep the heat on a medium-low setting and keep an eye on it.  Whisk regularly.

This recipe asks for a blonde roux, which cooks for about four minutes, and should look like this as it cooks.

Loosening a little.

Bubbling.

More bubbles and kind of mealy looking is where we stop cooking.

Whisk in the dairy, and continue whisking through the thickening process.

You’ll see the mixture start holding to the sides of the pot.

And then it will thicken to a heavy paste-like consistency.  Make certain that the mixture comes to a boil, and then let it simmer for about 3 minutes, while whisking.

Then, pour this hot mixture over the goat cheese, and whisk it all together.  Conversely, if you were using a firm cheese (cheddar, smoked Gouda, etc.), you would want to add the cheese to the pot while on the heat to melt the cheese well.

NOTE:  If you need to stop for a coffee, or text message break, this is your chance!  You will need to let the mixture cool a little before you continue.  When you come back, make sure the oven is ready with a rack in the lowest setting, make sure the water is simmering, and get ready to proceed.

Season the mixture with salt, pepper, nutmeg, (cayenne?!) or other appropriate garnish.  Remember to over-season slightly.  The last step is the incorporation of egg whites which will not be seasoned, and which will expand your base two fold.  For each future bite to be tasty, you must correct the seasoning now.

Once the mixture is only warm (not hot) whisk in the egg yolks all at once until well combined.  If you are worried that the mixture is still hot, but you want to get on with it, temper (by slowly whisking) some (up to half) of the hot mixture into the yolks, and and then whisk the egg-batter into the remaining dairy batter.

Start whipping the egg whites.  We’re going for a soft peak egg white.  There’s a little science here, and it’s worth thinking about.  If you over-whip the whites (stiff peak, or -gasp- dry) the souffle won’t rise as much as it could.

Temper in 1/3 of the egg whites into the dairy/cheese mixture.  (Then finish with the rest of the whites.)  Fold the whites in pretty gently.  The first step will lighten the batter so that you don’t have to work as hard to incorporate the remaining 2/3 of whites, and they will have a greater chance of retaining their captured air.

Ladle this fluffy mixture into your buttered/crumbed(cheesed?) dishes, leaving 1/4″-1/2″ room from the top.  Then, carefully pour the simmering water into the pan(s), covering the souffle dishes by 1/3 up to 1/2.  Pop these pans into the preheated oven on the lowest rack and bake.  The time will depend on the size of your baking dishes and other variables.  Check them after 15 minutes and then every 3-4 minutes.

Here’s how they should look when they are done.  Nice and golden, about double in height.  Whether you will eat them now or later, take a paring knife and carefully run it around the outside of the dish, to loosen the souffle.  If you want to eat these right away, go for it.  They are great right from the oven.  If you want to use them another day proceed with the following:

Remove from the oven, and let them sit for five minutes in the water bath.  Then, remove from the pans, and allow them to cool somewhat.  As soon as you can handle them (even with a kitchen towel), un-mold the souffles, and set them upright on a wire rack to cool further.  Once they are about room temperature, they can be refrigerated for future use (well wrapped, on in an airtight container).

To bake for “Twice Baked’ goodness:

  • Allow the little guys to come to room temperature (or give them a short zap in the microwave, you can pronounce it Meek-row-wave if you want it to sound fancy).
  • Brush (or pour) a little cream (or half and half, or just plain milk) on the top.
  • Place souffle on a piece of parchment or little square of aluminum foil, or a small oven safe dish.
  • Pop them into a 350-400 degree oven until the souffle has re-risen well, and has reached 140 degrees internal temperature (check with thermometer or by feeling the warmth of a knife blade inserted into the middle of the souffle)

Once the souffle has reached the right temperature, serve it with a little salad, or some fresh fruit, or whatever sounds good to you.

If you don’t have little ramekins, use an oven safe baking dish like this one.  When you un-mold the souffle, cut it into servings and proceed with storing and re-baking steps.

We ate this goat cheese number with a green apple salad and walnut vinaigrette.  This recipe makes quite a few souffles, depending on the size of your dishes, so feel free do reduce it by half.  Or just bake a whole bunch of them.  They don’t stay in the refrigerator for very long because they are just right for every meal of the day.  I hope you find this recipe to be a fun one.  I know that I really enjoy the process and the results.  The twice baked version has a light and fluffy interior along with a slightly crisp and caramelized top, which is a great combination in both the flavor and texture categories.  Have fun with this one, and let me know if I can help!

Bon Appetite!

-Scotty

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in At Home in the Kitchen, Cooking

January 18, 2010

Striped Bass with Beet Green Ravioli and Citrus Beurre Blanc

By swfoodworks

This post is a beast.  There’s a lot of information to chew on, but why not?  :)   That’s how much I love you.  We’ll look at three major components, and break them into digestible literary servings.  Part one; the ravioli.  And away we go!

Beet greens are sometimes discarded in the kitchen.  However, if you wash them well and pull the leaves apart from the stem, you’ve got a great braising green that’s flavorful, colorful, and free.

For the ravioli filling, I have a small dice of shallot, fennel, and garlic, along with some currants.  Sweat these aromatics in a little olive oil until they are tender, and then reserve them.

Cut up your clean beet greens, and saute them in the same pan, until they are pretty tender throughout.

Bring all of the first items together in a large bowl, and add the zest of a small lemon, a good dusting of nutmeg, and season with cayenne pepper and salt to taste.

Set the whole mess in a strainer or colander to allow the excess liquid to drain.

Set up a little station with the greens, a little egg wash (one egg whisked with a couple tablespoons of water), the fresh pasta sheets (2), and a couple of ring molds.

Portion out the filing, and brush around the filing with the egg wash.

Press around the filling with the first (smaller) ring mold, to ‘seal’ the egg wash, then cut out the ravioli with the larger ring.

Put a pot of salted water on to boil while your assembling the ravioli, and boil them once they are assembled.  Or, refrigerate (or freeze) for future use.

Here’s what the finished product may look like!  If you are going to serve them right away, go ahead.  If you will serve them once they have cooled and you need to reheat them, just drop them into some boiling water for 30-45 seconds, and you should be golden.

And now, the beurre blanc.  Beurre blanc, is simply a white wine and butter sauce. In this case, we’re replacing some of the white wine with citrus juice.  Here’s the standard ratio that I use for making 2 cups of sauce:

  • 2 cups white wine (here I replaced half the wine with equal parts orange and lemon juice)
  • 2 TBSP. white wine vinegar
  • 4 shallots (diced)
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 2 cups butter (cold, cut into thumb-sized chunks)

Put the diced shallots, wine, and vinegar into a pot, and reduce au sec.

Here’s a look at au sec.  It means ‘to dry’ or almost dry.  There’s a bad joke in the kitchen which goes; “Hey what comes after au sec?  Awww shit!”  Which is actually true.  If you reduce past the au sec point, ‘aww shit’ will be the first words out of your mouth.  Because you’ve almost certainly burnt the hell out of your sauce.

Add the cream, and reduce it by half.  This is going to help you keep the sauce from breaking.  Technically, if you add cream you’re making a beurre fondue, I think, but I won’t tell if you don’t.  After the cream is reduced, whisk in the butter pieces.  Here’s the only important point about the butter incorporation; you want to keep the sauce warm throughout.  That means you need to keep enough heat on the pot (but not tooo hot) to be able to incorporate the butter with out letting the sauce cool.  Make sense?  You want to keep everything in the pot hot to melt the butter, but not so hot that you break the sauce.

Once you’ve got all the butter incorporated, taste for seasoning.  Add any of the following: a squeeze of lemon, cayenne, salt.  Then strain the sauce.  In a restaurant, I would strain out into a thermos to keep the sauce warm.

At home, I strain out into a coffee mug that I’ve warmed up with hot water.  It will keep the sauce warm long enough for me to get the rest of the plate put together.

With thin skinned fish (like this bass from MA), I prefer to keep the skin on and sear the skin to keep it crisp and delicious looking.

Get the pan nice and hot, with a little vegetable oil.  Lay the fish in, skin-side down, and sear.  Season the flesh side of the fish as well.  At the point you see above, the fish is ready to be basted to finish.

Toss a couple tablespoons of butter into the pan with the fish.  Once it melts, start pouring the hot butter over the top of each fillet until the flesh is cooked (opaque).

Reserve the fish to a paper towel to rest while you put the rest of the plate together.

Quickly reheat the ravioli in some boiling water (with a little salt).

Dress the plates with the citrus butter sauce.  For presentations like this one, I like to put the sauce down first.  I think it looks cleaner, and when you eat the dish, you get some of the sauce in every forkful.

Remove the ravioli with a slotted spoon or spatula, and place them on the edge of the sauce.  Follow with the fish, and garnish.  Here I’ve used a little beet green and some tiny lettuces.

This is the kind of fish dish I could eat all the time.  I love the ravioli’s sweet/savory profile.  The sauce is light and rich all at once, and the fish is delicate and crisp.  There are so many textures and flavors all coming together, I love it.  I hope these pictures inspire you to give this dish a shot (or one like it!).  I’m sure you’ll find it satisfying and delicious.

Here’s to your best!-

-Scotty

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in At Home in the Kitchen, Cooking, Food Anthropology

December 29, 2009

Bacon Rosemary Biscuits

By swfoodworks

Biscuits can be glorious, right?  Flaky, buttery, soft and crisp at the same time.  Essentially; biscuits are little gifts every time you make them.  For my holiday festivities this year, I opted for a slam-dunk combination.  Great biscuit + rosemary + bacon = ridiculous biscuits.

I always look to Fannie Farmer for my homey baked goods.  She never disappoints, and with over 1,100 pages of recipes, the book is pretty comprehensive.  The recipe I used here is a combination of two different recipes (Baking Powder Biscuits, p. 764, and Cream Biscuits, p. 765)  The first uses shortening and milk, the second, from time spent with culinary icon, James Beard, uses melted butter and cream.

Here’s my hybrid:  Yield about 12 2″ biscuits with extra for chefs treats

  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 TPSP. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked pepper
  • 6 oz. cold butter (small pieces)
  • 2 stips bacon (cooked well, small dice)
  • 1/2 onion, (small dice, sweated in left over bacon fat)
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup heavy cream

For garnish

  • 2 TBSP. finely chopped rosemary
  • 1 TBS. coarse (kosher or other) salt

If you know how to make biscuits, I won’t bore you.  If you have never heard of the ‘Biscuit Method’, check out this link.  Here’s the basics for this recipe.

Brown the bacon and onions then cut up the bacon.  Reserve those bits on a paper towel to absorb extra fat.

Put all of the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.  Whisk that around a bit with a fork (or whisk…).

Take the little pieces of cold butter and incorporate them into the dry mix quickly, using just your fingers with a kind of smooshing / rubbing technique.  Stop when all of the butter pieces are no bigger than a small pea.

Use a fork to stir in the bacon and onions, and then to incorporate all of the liquid at once.

Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead slightly to bring together.

Roll to a 1″ thickness, and cut into squares or punch out with cutter.

Brush the tops with cream or buttermilk, then sprinkle the rosemary and coarse salt on top.

Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or so, until the tops are golden and delicious looking.  You may need to rotate the pan half-way through depending on your oven.

My friends and I ate these little guys with prime rib on Christmas night, and then again with a little honey for breakfast.  Biscuits are a super easy treat to bring together, and the homemade, fresh-baked goodness translates into every bite.

Happy Eating, Happy Living!

-Scott

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in At Home in the Kitchen, Cooking, Food Anthropology

December 17, 2009

Merguez and Olive Braised Lamb

By swfoodworks

When the season gets cold enough, I love to serve braised beasts.  There is no easier (or tastier) way to turn a tougher cut of meat into a juicy, yielding morsel.  And it’s pretty easy.  If you follow the steps for braising, you can apply the technique to any protein and even some vegetables.  It gets even better; if you add more liquid, you’re now stewing, and you’ve mastered two techniques in one fell swoop.  Nice work, you.

Grocery bits.  When you are looking for braising or stewing cuts, look for shoulder, shanks, rumps, butts, leg and thighs, essentially the harder working parts.

While the braise was working, I got a vegetable side going as well; red bliss potatoes cooked in a saffron/garlic/bay broth.  I love this combination of flavors with potatoes.  Especially with fish or lamb, yum!

Step one:  Brown the meat.

Braises and stews are great because you can almost always produce the whole event in one oven-safe (enameled or otherwise) dish.  Get a little oil going in the pot, and bring it to a high temperature.  Lay the seasoned protein in the pot and give it a good sear.  Then turn down the heat and remove the meats.

Step Two:

Sweat the aromatics (here, onion, garlic, and bell pepper), then deglaze with a little wine (enough to just cover the bottom of the pot, let’s say), let that reduce by half.

Get your aromatic garnishes ready.  Hare are kalamata, castelvetrano, and oil cured olives.

Lamb likes a lot of aromatics.  I wrapped all of this up in some cheesecloth and butcher’s twine so that it would be easy to remove when the braise was finished.  A lot easier that picking out little pieces of this and that.

Step Three:

Return the protein to the pot, along with the aromatic garnishes, and cover the meat with additional stock or water by 1/2.  Bring this to a simmer and cover the pot (with lid or foil).

Step Four:

That’s it.  Now pop it in a 350 degree oven and check for doneness every once in a while.  Start after an hour for small pieces or thin pieces.  Then check every thirty minutes.  The protein is well cooked when the meat is very tender (pierces easily with a fork or pairing knife).

Here’s the braised lamb shoulder, tender, and out from the oven.

Step Five:

Check the remaining liquid for consistency.  It may need more body.  It may not.  Either way, remove the protein and get a good look.

This sauce need more body, so I brought it to a boil and whisked in a cornstarch slurry to thicken it.  Then I returned the lamb to the pot, brought it back to a simmer.  I served it out with the saffron potatoes and sauteed zucchinis dusted with a little smoked paprika.

Here’s the recap:

  • Step One: Sear
  • Step Two: Sweat aromatic vegetables / Deglaze with wine (or not)
  • Step Three:  Return meat and aromatic garnish(es) to pot, cover protein by up to 1/2 with liquid / bring to simmer
  • Step Four: Pop into 350 degree oven and check for doneness after one hour, then every half hour (or so) until done.
  • Step Five: Once protein is tender, check sauce for consistency, and correct body / seasoning / return meat to the pot and serve.

Okay now.  I realize that some of these steps are multi-step-steps.  Don’t hate.  I grouped them this way, because I find natural resting points at each step.  If you need to walk away at any point in this chain of events, these are safe commercial breaks.  And as I mentioned, keep this process in mind, and you can apply the same technique to stewing as well.  There are a lot of classical favorites that fall into this category of cooking, and for good reason.  The technique it not overly complicated, variations are easily employed, and the end results can be really, really delicious eating.

Jump into the fire, my friends!

-Scott

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