Hanger Steak Sandwich on Grilled Ciabatta with Cabrales, Sauteed Spinach in Duck Fat, and Aceto Balsamico

A fun example of playing with great ingredients. Cabrales is new to me, so I grabbed a little hunk from Whole Foods which I planned to use half on the sandwiches and half for a late night snack with a nice glass of red wine. I was craving a good blue cheese after a conversation earlier in the week with my friend about roquefort. He's inclined to ignore all blue cheeses since they haven't yet appealed to him, which was surprising because he is a cheese geek. I encouraged him to try a few more and to pair these with red wines of equivalent austerities. As an example, I mentioned Mountain Gorganzola, which itself is not that interesting and is very intense, but with a full bodied Zinfandel or balanced Petit Sirah is something that will satisfy even the discriminating gourmand.

From gastronomic guesswork

The sandwich form factor I'm sure did not do full justice to the Cabrales blue cheese (a cave aged cheese from Spain that is made with a combination of goat's, sheep's, and cow's milk), but it was really delicious nonetheless. Playing with the established ideas for pairing this cheese with sweet sherry or red wine made me think a drizzle of aceto balsamico di modena (the good stuff version of balsamic vinegar) would really accentuate the flavor of the cheese. That it did.

For this preparation, the ciabatta was pan grilled with a little olive oil, the hangar steak was similarly pan grilled with grapeseed oil. The spinach was flash sauteed in a teaspoon of duck fat, and this idea turned out well on its own, but the flavor was less pronounced against the flavors of the steak, Cabrales and balsamico. Can't wait to dig into a little more of that Cabrales later tonight.

Sausage with Sweet & Hot Peppers, Carmelized Onions, & Balsamic Ketchup

So those of you who've been reading for a while or who know me personally might be shocked to see Ketchup in one of my recipes. No doubt, my disdain for ketchup is no secret. But since my little ones like dunking and there was a little bit of spice in the sausage here, I thought this might be a good addition to encourage them to eat.

From gastronomic guesswork

There are only a few notes on preparation worth mentioning. First, to emphasize the contrast between the sweet orange peppers and the hot anaheim peppers (very hot for anaheim, but maybe only slightly hotter than the sausage), these were separately sauteed. The sausage was hot italian sausage (medium heat really). The ketchup was just Muir Glen Fire roasted tomatoes reduced with cheap balsamic vinegar, then pureed with a little honey for 5 minutes (lots of agitation of that fruit pectin) to make sure we got the thixotropic consistency (more here, who knew you needed directions to pour ketchup). Throw in a few hashbrowns and you have some serious comfort food.

Sawtooth Atomic Pork Butt

Colorado is home to some of the best microbreweries in the US. One personal favorite that I discovered living up by Longmont is Left Hand Brewing Company. One of their exceptional beers is Sawtooth Ale, which was NY Times #1 bitter, besting all the British bitters at their own game. Herein Sawtooth served as both the braising medium for a little gastronomic guesswork, as well as the soothing salve to recover from the heat of this dish.

From gastronomic guesswork

Using a 3 pound pork butt, first this was brined for 2 hours in salt water at room temperature. Next it was broiled in a little grapeseed oil for 16 minutes, rotating every 4 minutes to hit each side. Finally it was braised with 2 bottles of Left Hand Sawtooth Ale, a little epazote, a good amount of guajillo chile powder, 2 sweet onions and a coating of habanero chile powder. Yah we were going for damn hot here, but with a great base flavor. The butt was slow cooked at 250F until an internal temperature of 145F was reached, and then allowed to rest for 15 minutes while keeping the braising liquid warm. I really liked the flavor, but intentionally this was at the edge of consumable - I guess some of us like discomfort food once in a while for the comforting effects of the endorphin rush. Still, the flavor of the sawtooth was evident in the braising liquid the pork was finished with, and a cold one soothed the pain.

Blue Corn Tostada with Guajillo Chipotle Sausage, Sweet Tomatillo Salsa, Roncal, Avocado, and Lime Crème Fraîche

Using the homemade guajillo chipotle sausage, this preparation is a savory-sweet small plate with great balance. I could see doing a smaller version as an amuse-bouche at the outset of an upscale Southwestern or Latin American preparation. The goal here was to play in the savory sweet realm, so the conscious influences would be verging on some of the flavor ideas of Ferran Adrià, but stepping back and looking at this, it seems to have Bobby Flay written all over it.


Blue corn tortillas were quickly fried in about 1/2 inch of sunflower oil, drained and lightly salted. The sausage was cooked through and crumbled. The sweet tomatillo salsa involved roasting a pound of deskinned tomatillos, caramelizing some red onions, and running all this through the blender with a little brown sugar and kosher salt; you're going for slightly sweet here, like fruit sweet, not candy sweet. The crème fraîche was mixed with fresh lime juice and a pinch of finely ground sea salt. The flavor sensations were all over the place, but clean and not muddled. Beside the savory garlic and spice elements of the sausage, and the fruity sweetness of the tomatillo salsa, the Roncal added a mineral element, the avocado gave it good mouth feel, and the acid of the crème fraîche balanced the forwardness of the savory sweet flavors.

Duck Confit with Black Mission Figs, Cece Neri and Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Yes, this post is filed in the "Under $15" category, we fudged a bit, but for 18 bucks we really did make enough to feed 2 adults and 2 kids; so for two people we could have made this for just under $15. To top that off, we bought prepared Duck Confit from Marczyk's; though if you spread it across a few meals, you could do the preparation yourself for less cost per meal (but you'd still find yourself at Marczyk's for the duck fat unless you did your own rendering).

From gastronomic guesswork

The Black Ceci beans were obtained from St. Killian's in dry form, and were boiled on and off for 3 hours with 3 whole cloves of garlic and some sea salt; the on and off entailed 45 minutes of each hour ON, 15 minutes with the heat OFF, covered the whole time and stirring once or twice an hour. The black mission figs also came from St. Killian's. The dressing was an emulsion of fresh squeezed meyer lemons, salt, pepper, and good olive oil. The greens were bulk spring mix and a head of escarole. The duck confit was crisped for 15-20 minutes in the oven at 400F, cooled, and then shredded with a fork. Very clean flavors, but hearty and very French; would happily eat this 5 times this week.

Polenta di Parma

The flavor pairing in this preparation was focused on Parmesan + Black Pepper, a flavor combination we've previously found success with in the form of crackers.

From gastronomic guesswork

The preparation involved preparing a Parmigiano Reggiano broth (minus the lemon), cooking the polenta in this at a simmer, then incorporating 3 table spoons butter, salt to taste, and a healthy dose of freshly ground tellicherry black peppercorns. Amazingly simple but very memorable.

Homemade Garlic Tarragon Sausage with Suprêmes of Rio Star Grapefruit

The flavor profile of this was based on the following flavor pairings:

• tarragon + grapefruit
• lemon + tarragon
• tarragon + white wine
• pork + garlic
• pork + tarragon

This is a garlic sausage first and foremost, but the flavor pairings were French and inspired by The Flavor Bible.

From gastronomic guesswork

The sausage was made into patties and quickly sauteed in grapeseed oil over medium heat to an internal temperature of 150F (thanks to Ruhlman), rested for 2 minutes and then plated with the suprêmes of grapefruit.

From gastronomic guesswork

The pork sausage recipe worked out very well with the Rio Star Grapefruit, tarragon and grapefruit are very good flavor friends.

Making Sausage

Decided it was time for some good homemade sausage. This batch yielded about 6 pounds total, which was evenly split into 3 different sets of flavorings: Garlic Sausage with Tarragon, Meyer Lemon and White Wine; Ginger Sage Breakfast Sausage; and Guajillo Chipotle Sausage; so covering French, American, and Latin American flavor profiles here.

A number of tips were gleaned from the book Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. Specifically, I began by selecting a 3.5 lb pork rib loin, and a 3.5 lb chunk of pork belly; much better cuts of meat that go into most sausage. The rib loin is a darker color of meat than the tenderloin, there's a lot of flavor there but it can get tough when cooked on its own, but works great for sausage making; the pork belly served as the fat component, as the total percentage of fat in a sausage should be minimally 25-30%; herein it was probably 30-33%. After trimming away all connective tissue, I cut both sets of meat into 2 cm strips and was left with about 6 lbs of meat, to which I added 55g kosher salt, tossed to distribute evenly, and refrigerated for 1 hour. Just prior to making the sausage, I placed the meat into the freezer along with my meat grinder assembly for 30 minutes. This might seem odd, but it's crucial to keep everything cold for the sausage to achieve the right consistency and avoid breaking (which results in a dry, mealy or grainy texture in the mouth). The pork was then ground using the large grinding die and was separated into 3 roughly even portions and returned to the fridge until I was ready for mixing in the flavor components.

For the Garlic Sausage with Tarragon, 2 1/2 tablespoons of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon minced tarragon leaves, and the juice of 2 meyer lemons was first added. I then started vigorously folding the sausage together with a wooden spoon before adding 1/3 cup of white wine and incorporating that (for all 3 preparations, again about 2 lbs of the base sausage meat was used).

The Ginger Sage Sausage repeated the folding process with 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger, 1 tablespoon rubbed sage (dry), 1 tablespoon minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon of red pepper flake (optional).

Finally, the Guajillo Chipotle sausage used about 2 1/2 tablespoons guajillo chile powder, 1 tablespoon chipotle powder, and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic.

The first and third sausage made it in as very good components of dishes to be posted shortly. The Ginger Sage sausage was devoured on it's own for breakfast, and half is being shared with a close friend of the family; totally delicious.

Ragu Bianco con Porco Tritato

In other words, a ragu without tomatoes using freshly ground pork; inspired by a similar incarnation on Iron Chef America in the battle between Nate Appleman and Michael Symon - Battle Suckling Pig (an instant ICA classic).

From gastronomic guesswork

For this preparation, do a small dice on 1 green pepper and 3 white onions, sweat briefly in a splash of olive oil and a teaspoon of kosher salt. Incorporate 4 large minced shallots a few minutes in, and when the onions began to get translucent, I incorporated 2 cups of Vernaccia di San Gimignano and reduced the heat to a bare simmer, simmering for 30 minutes and adding water / reducing heat to denature the aromatics without browning. Separately saute 1 1/2 lbs freshly ground pork shoulder (pulsed through a food process but careful not to over process, looking for the consistency of coarsely ground beef). Halfway through, apply a good dose of kosher salt and 6 cloves of minced garlic as well as a tablespoon of olive oil. Just before the pork is cooked through, season liberally with freshly ground black pepper. Incorporate the pork into the wine and aromatics along with 2 cups water and 1 teaspoon of sage, then return this to medium heat to reduce slightly. Season to taste, the black pepper should be in the foreground and the sage in the background. At this point, I added 2 tablespoons unsalted butter to slightly thicken the sauce. This was then tossed with al dente linguine.

Truffled Risotto with Morels, Puree of Chesnuts and Carmelized Dates with Roasted Pancetta, Zucchini Parpadelle

Just an incredible Italian Meal ... the flavor pairing of chestnuts and dates was a revelation, totally addictive.

From gastronomic guesswork

Stock for the Risotto
Two quarts chicken broth, infuse with 2 tablespoons dried marjoram and 1 tablespoon dried rosemary needles, and 1/2 tablespoon of green mysore peppercorns in a spice ball. Bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes, remove spice ball, add 3 chopped leeks, boil for 10-15 minutes, strain ... Separately, take 4 large shallots (minced), sweat on medium-low heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until slightly sticky (should start to cling to the pan but not brown, incorporate 2 cups vernaccia di san gimignano, add salt, reduce by half, strain fluid into stock pushing out any fluid left in the shallots with a spoon in the strainer. Adjust salt but don't be too aggressive as the stock will reduce during the cooking of the risotto

Risotto
Rehydrate one box of dried morels (1/2 oz) in 1 cup of the stock, cover and rest for 15 minutes. Temper the risotto in olive oil over medium heat using 1 cup white arborio (nothing fancy). Add 3 cups stock after tempering. Cook covered for 10 minutes, stir and add broth, resume uncovered stirring occasionally (about every 5-10 minutes), incorporate rehydrated morels and rehydration liquid about 15 minutes in ... finish by folding in white truffle oil (certainly a great ingredient if you're lucky enough to find a good one, careful though many poor and overpriced products out there, price tag is NOT a good indicator of a good truffle oil in my experience)

Chestnut Puree
Using 1 vacuum sealed precooked chestnuts (200g), boil en sous vide for 5 minutes, allow to cool and remove from bag, destem and depit 4 dates, flatten onto a silpat lined baking sheet, broil for 4 minutes until skin begins to brown, remove before it smokes (the sugar will quickly caramelize in this inhospitable environment), cool, puree with 1/2 cup of heavy cream and a dash of kosher salt. Reheat before serving, garnish with 1/4" thick strips of pancetta separately roasted at 450 for 12 minutes (turning once) and then 350 for 10 minutes (until nice and crispy but not scorched).

Zucchini Parpadelle
Using a mandolin, slice 3 zucchini lengthwise into almost paper thin strips. Quickly saute in olive oil and kosher salt, be aggressive when they hit the pan to toss them with the oil so they don't stick and cook evenly, they will become fragile after only a minute or two, so work very quickly at the outset.

T-Bone
Steak was seasoned with salt, rosemary oil, and garlic oil and rested until it was at room temperature, then pan fried in grapeseed oil over medium-high heat, using the oil to baste the steak throughout, finish with rosemary and garlic oil, a drizzle of aged balsamic and a touch of kosher salt.

Truffled Risotto is predictably good every time, the morels were a great addition, but the key was the stock; apparently marjoram loves white truffles. Amazing that the standout was the chestnut puree (an instant personal classic) when you're eating truffle risotto. Loved the zucchini too, the steak really was just to ensure we got a little protein. I can see more applications for the zucchini and look forward to more experiments with chestnuts if I can still find these anytime soon; chestnut flour might be a fun place to play for a while if not.

Pepper Jack Ditalini with Chipotle Powder

The recent success with fondue inspired pasta sauce resulted in this little nuncheon. Sort of upscale barfood, but good comfort food on a white out snowy day.

From gastronomic guesswork

Preparation involved 2 cups chicken broth, bring to a boil, 8 oz shredded pepper jack (tillamook used here), add 1/4 cup white wine, whisk in cheese and bring to a simmer, whisking until chesse is fully incorporated, add a pinch of cayenne and dried chipotle powder, salt to taste, pour over ditalini al dente and top with a light dusting of the chipotle powder.

Bonito Del Norte Tuna Salad Tortas

Here's a simple fresh preparation that is a tangent on the flavors of tuna salad. Bonito Del Norte is a great ingredient, I scored some more from Marczyk's and decided to serve this with some quick pickled veggies. If I do this one again, I think a quail egg would be a nice addition.

From gastronomic guesswork

Quick pickle the veggies in 1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup sugar, 1 split Habanero, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, dried rosemary needles, and black peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil for 5 minutes, then strain the flavorings from the pickling liquid and remove from heat. Add shreds of carrot, cucumber, and radish. Allow to cool a bit, then refridgerate for at least 1 hour.

To prepare the plate, shred tuna with a little aleppo pepper flake, spoon onto crispy savory Spanish tortas, plate with pickled veggies, rinsed salt cured capers, and finish with good olive oil. This was a good light meal, but again I think the richness of a small egg would have made this great.

Knife Buying Guide for the Home Chef

I've had a few friends ask me about kitchen knives recently, and also had the experience of purchasing a couple knives at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table lately, so thought I'd just provide an opinion based on my experiences buying and using chefs knives, paring knives, utility knives, specialty knives, and the santoku. I'm a gastro geek and cutlery enthusiast to be sure, but I'll try to present this assuming you don't own anything but a table knife.

The first thing to consider when buying a knife is how it feels in your hand. If you get into cooking and cook a few big meals, you'll soon find the prep work will make you sore if you're using a knife that doesn't fit your hand. It should feel balanced, comfortable, and just like it belongs there. It's hard to describe this aspect of the purchase process more effectively, but it is maybe the most essential need you must satisfy, so get over the brands, the full tang, the forged versus cast, and all the other nuances for a minute. Just go to a cooking store and hold a few chefs knives, don't buy anything yet despite the excitement you might feel. A good salesperson will understand the importance of this step in the knife selection process and should be willing to leave you with multiple knives to hold and mimic chopping, picking it up, etc. Personally, Wusthof Classic fits my hand the best. I tried Shun, Global, and Henckels and found the Wusthof line to be the one that felt like it belonged in my hand, for the chef's knife anyway.

Next, figure out a budget. Do you want to spend $100, $200, $300? Do you want 1 good knife, 2, or 3? If you want to be able to cover most of the prep tasks, 3 knives is the way to go, but if you want to start building out a good collection and dive head first into this cooking thing, get a high quality chef's knife and use it for almost everything.

If you will be content with three knives, I'd say an 8" chef's knife, a 6" utility knife, and a paring knife will provide you with coverage of 90% of the tasks you'll take on at the cutting board. At the ~$100 budget level, I'd go for a Wusthof Gourmet Collection 8" Chef's Knife, the Kershaw Wasabi Collection 6" Yanagiba Knife, and the Wusthof Gourmet Collection Flat Paring Knife; estimated cost of $105. The Wustof Gourmet line are stamped versus cast, but the manufacturing process for most of the good knife manufacturers does not mean these are inferior knives in the least. The metal composition is the same and the laser sharpening process is the same for the Gourmet line. Similarly, the Kershaw knife is made by the parent company who manufactures Shun knives.

In my experience, the quality of Wusthof and Kershaw / Shun has always been exceptional for manufactured knives, to do much better you'd be looking at several hundred dollars for a single custom knife. Henckels makes good knives as well for the most part, but I've had a couple Henckels crack through normal use after only a brief period of time; no I wasn't trying to pry open a can or anything crazy, I think the metal composition of the Henckels is just a bit more brittle than the Wusthof. I can't comment on global, but would be happy to try out a paring knife or whatever if a Global rep is reading this (can't blame me for trying, I recently ALMOST bought a global paring knife, as you'll soon see this may be inevitable for me). Don't let my experience turn you off of Henckels here, your mileage may vary, and brittleness of the metal is not necessarily a bad thing, this can be beneficial in the sharpness of the edge one can obtain; my opinion is just based on heavy use and limited budget, I count on having the same knife for 5-10 years at least, so in this regard I favor Wustof for it's durability. In this regard, Shun are fantastic knives, but if you decide to purchase one you'll need to be more diligent about it's care; leaving it wet for even a few minutes may result in rust and divots in your edge as these are not stainless knives like the Global, Victorinox, Henckels or Wusthof. The Kershaw branded knives (same manufacturer as Shun) I believe generally are stainless knives as well, but make sure you know whether you're buying a stainless knife or not.

Back to our 3 knife buying process, at the ~$200 budget level, I'd recommend a Wustof Classic Collection 8" Chef's Knife, the Victorinox Forged 6" Utility Knife, and again the Wusthof Gourmet Collection Flat Paring Knife; estimated cost $195. At this budget level, you have enough to invest to justify going for a high quality forged chef's knife (your most important knife), and also get into a forged model for the utility knife with a good manufacturer which is more popular in Europe than the US.

At the ~$300 budget level, you're ready to start a serious cutlery collection with 3 knives that will serve you well for 10 years or more. I'd again recommend the Wustof Classic 8" Chef's Knife, the Shun Classic 6" utility knife, and the Wusthof Classic Euro Flat Paring Knife; estimated cost $250-270 and all pictured below.

From gastronomic guesswork

If you're only going to buy one knife, if it's not obvious already I'd recommend the Wusthof Classic 8" chef's knife, this will be your workhorse so invest most heavily in your chef's knife; if you're giving a gift to someone who wants or needs good cutlery, you can't go wrong with this, I wish I had 2 of these sometimes. One cautionary note, in past and recent shopping experiences I've had sales people really push the Santoku over a traditional chef's knife. The sales pitches claimed of how food doesn't stick to it as much, even the wildly inaccurate claim that it's sharper. In my experience the Santoku is marginally better than a chef's knife at only a couple tasks, but in the large my experience suggests it is less durable and much less useful than a traditional chef's knife. Again your mileage may vary, but I have had a Santoku crack and typically these have lost their edge much more quickly than my chefs' knives.

Beyond what I would call your basic three knives, you'll have a need for a wonderfully crappy paring knife which you will abuse more often than you might think, you'll probably want to cut bread, you may need to crack bones, you could want to cut meat very thinly, and you'll do a tremendous amount of prep with fruits and vegetables of all sizes and shapes.

On this last point, you may find that you are soon longing for another paring or utility knife that does things a little bit differently or is of a slightly different design, shape or size. I'm a bit of a freak in this area as demonstrated by my small arsenal of utility and paring knives below. When you're working with small things or doing things that require a high attention to detail, having options is handy.

From gastronomic guesswork

From top to bottom, Wusthof Classic 5" Serrated Utility Knife, Wusthof Classic 4 1/2" Utility Knife, Henckels TWIN Pro-S Classic Parer, Lamsonsharp Grandma's Paring Knife, L'Econome Paring Knife, Wusthof Classic 3 1/2" Paring Knife, Wusthof Classic 3" Serrated Paring Knife, and the aforementioned Wusthof Classic 3" Euro Flat Edge Paring Knife. The L'Econome is my "beat the heck out of it wonderfully crappy knife" which does all the menial chores like cutting open a hunk of cheese, or coming with me to the couch to eat some cheese and crackers; it's not a crappy knife at all, a bargain really, but I can treat it like a crappy knife when I need to or am just too mired in cooking to care. The Grandma knife functions similar to a bird's beak knife in having a concave edge which is helpful with some peeling tasks as it is round enough and flexible enough to work great with pears for example; I'm not sure I'll ever get a bird's beak knife (never say never) but the full arc on the bird's beak turned me off a bit, while this knife has proven versatile for the same type of tasks. I have nothing bad to say about the various traditional utility and paring knifes with a straight edge as these served me well to this day, but the fav is without a doubt the recently acquired flat edge euro paring knife at the bottom; it just fits better and the edge remains closer to whatever I'm peeling; it's probably a 50-100% improvement in efficiency for me versus the traditional parers. The serrated utility and serrated paring knife still show up on the cutting board a bit, but these are generally reserved for unglamorous tasks like pitting olives, tasks which I don't want to dull my other knives on really.

From gastronomic guesswork

The specialty knives group serve not uncommon but specialized tasks in the kitchen. From top to bottom: Wusthof Classic Bread Knife, Wusthof Classic 6" Chef's Knife, Wusthof Gourmet Hollow Ground Meat Slicer, Henckels Twin Five Star 5-1/2-Inch Flexible Boning Knife, and Wustof 7" Classic Cleaver. If you want to halve a beef bone, a clever is the right tool for the job; it is heavy, blunt, and you don't care if it has a perfect edge after cracking bones a few times. Boning a chicken, filleting a fish, or removing the silverskin from a tenderloin are tasks made for a flexible boning knife; a fillet knife and a firm boning knife are probably better individual choices if you're doing a tone of tasks like these, but this knife is a good compromise between these two and I've been very happy with it. The bread knife is a no brainer unless you like crushing your bread with a straight edge knife, but if I had to do over again, I'd probably not buy a full set of knives; cutting bread can be accomplished just as well with a stamped knife. If you're into lox or carpaccio, the hollow edge slicer is a must have. Finally and most importantly, if you're going to build that collection beyond the 4 knives and you cook a lot, I'd honestly recommend another smaller chef's knife. Along with a crappy paring knife for menial tasks, the next most useful knife from the top 3 for me is the 6" chef's knife; prepping big meals means dirtying multiple knives, so it's always been handy for me to have a second chef's knife.

Stepping into the realm of knife geekdom for a moment, 2 other knives which make occasional appearances (especially when prepping for parties) are the Wusthof Classic 10" Chef's Knife and the Wusthof Mezzaluna.

From gastronomic guesswork

These knives might appear excessive to some, but if you have to cut up boxes of fresh herbs or need to prep large things like melons, fabricate rib roasts, or dice a box of texas onions, etc, these two come in mighty handy.

From gastronomic guesswork

Almost last, and in my opinion least (again the normal caveats apply about your mileage), is the lonely Santoku ... a knife that only comes out if it must because all three chef's knives are covered in mise en place muck. This is the only knife I now regret purchasing, and somehow I ended up with 2 of these. Some people, especially sales people, seem really excited about it but I just don't get it; if you like yours, well good for you. For my money, if I'm going to invest in any more Japenese style knives I'd much prefer a Yanagi or a Nakiri to a Santoku.

Finally, there are many other specialty knives out there, some I have, some are on my list (like this Sanelli (maybe it will make me cook like Mario ;-) ), and some are not (like a tomato knife, if you need this what you really need is to sharpen your knives, or this thing, whatever, maybe it's the best thing ever, just smells gimmicky to me). If you're starting out with building a collection, start with the big 3, these will serve you well. Avoid sets, there's no reason to buy a premium bread knife, and there's even less reason to buy a premium santoku unless you're more concerned about how your knives look in your kitchen than how they function. Holler with questions if you think I can help with your purchase.

Happy 2009! - Chicago Dogs in Honor of the Winter Classic

If you´re a hockey fan, you probably marked your calendar 3 months ago for the big game today. The Winter Classic is a relatively new tradition where the NHL puts on one outdoor game a year, an event that brings the players back to playing pickup games on a frozen pond. It´s a sentimental thing if you´re a hockey devotee, a rare occasion when players on both benches are smiling and just having fun. Today´s Winter Classic was between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. I´m a huge fan of the Wings, but I also really like the young talent in Chicago, so I´ve been eagerly anticipating this game since the summer months.

The game was held in Chicago at Wrigley Field, and in honor of the venue coupled with my desire to not really spend much time in the kitchen today since the game started at 11AM where I live, here´s my impression of a Chicago Dog.


Notice the almost glowing Cheeze-Its accoutrement, the piles of toppings on the grass-fed organic beef dogs, and the Italian beer chaser. The dogs were loaded up Whole Foods style, finely diced onion, yellow mustard, toasted bun with a little melted colby jack, organic sweet relish, and mild pepperocini; coupled with the Cheeze-Its, the salt content demanded a good beer and Peroni was something I remember discovering when I was in Chicago visiting my best friend. Cuisine? NO. Appropriate for the event and region? I think so.

I really wish I could have been at that game, win or lose for the Wings, what a great event ... and sitting on the couch, plate in my lap, Hot Dog in hand, I took my first bite right as they dropped the puck and it felt, for a moment, like I was there...

Thank you all for reading in 2008, may you and yours have a properous New Year, I´m looking forward to much more Gastronomic Guesswork in ´09.

Pommes Anna

My wife cooked a great meal for New Year´s Eve, one thing I had to pass along were the potatoes. I think I´ve had these in a steakhouse before, such an elegant and delicious preparation with a lot of texture.


The preparation used 4 baking potatoes (peeled), sliced into 1/8 inch slices via a mandolin - quick aside on Mandolins ... here we used the Bron Mandolin for this job, but the Benriner Mandolin would work in a pinch ... not to bag on the Benriner, I know Ruhlman loves his, but the Bron just makes tasks like this precise and effortless ... I probably use the Benriner more often for quick jobs, but when I return to the Bron it´s like driving a BMW after you´ve been riding the bus).

Back to the preparation, spread 2 tablespoons butter in an iron skillet, layout a layer of potatoes in an overlapping circular pattern. Next add salt and pepper, dab on another 1/2-1 teaspoon butter and repeat the layering process until you have 6 layers total. Cover with tin foil and place in 450F oven for 20 minutes, then remove the cover and cook 25 minutes more until golden brown on top. To plate, loosen the edges with a spatula, place a plate on top and flip.

Apparently this dish dates back to around the time of Carême, and this is such a deeply entrenched dish in France that Mauviel makes a pomme anna pan.

Fun with Buddha´s Hand

¨What is that thing crawling on our kitchen table?¨ Those words were enough to scare the kids, it does have a somewhat startling and creepy look to it.



It´s a Buddha´s Hand, part of the citron family of citrus. They are very fragrant, have no useable flesh like a lemon or orange, so you either candy these or use the zest like you would lemon. The smell is a very floral lemon smell, quite lovely. Recently I found one of these at whole food and used the zest in a vinaigrette on baby arugula. This was nice end to a big meal served in the Italian tradition (salad is served at the end of the savory courses of the meal).