pitterpatter's Profile
New Artisan Bakery and Pastry Shop in Clinton
The breads from Bobolink are fantastic and well worth the drive. You can also purchase them at the Dvoor market on Sundays if you get there early, as they always sell out quickly.
My Love Affair With Worcestershire Sauce [moved from Home Cooking]
I make this recipe (the second one) and substitute the fish sauce or anchovies with miso. Works great. It doesn't look like WS as we know it, but as the perhaps "chef's most important secret ingredient" it does the trick, at least in may daily life, cooking for a bunch of vegetarians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18food-t-000.html?ref=magazine
Souvenirs from Spain and Sicily.. how to enjoy?
The prices have always been high, but really, think about how much one actually uses in a recipe. I am certainly not a hipster, but it may cost $8 for dinner for two, because so little it used. It won't be a passing fad, as folks have been using it for hundreds of years. My bigger concern today is the loss of something like 250 million dollars worth of Reggiano Parmesano because of the earthquake in Italy. Tragic to all cheesemakers and farmers in the region. and expect the to skyrocket to, perhaps, $75 per pound in the near future. Get yours now! The price will go back down to a more reasonable but still expensive one in about two years.
Souvenirs from Spain and Sicily.. how to enjoy?
Hey, look at this. How timely.
http://food52.com/blog/3524_bottarga_poor_mans_caviar_no_more
Turkey Burger seasonings and moisteners
I make this at least once per week at the place where I work (a residential house for people with mental illness). I vary things each time, but the basic idea is finely chopped red onion or scallions, ground cumin, paprika, ground anise or fennel (tiny amount), salt and pepper, and a finely diced apple or pear. The fruit is what makes it moist. Sometimes I top with a simple tomato, onion, oil and vinegar salad with fresh thyme or basil, and some homemade mayo with lots of garlic and lemon, and more fresh thyme or basil. Or mayo with rooster sauce stirred in.
Souvenirs from Spain and Sicily.. how to enjoy?
Bottarga: My favorite ingredient for my favorite pasta. Saute fresh or panko bread crumbs in butter. Chop a ton of fresh parsley. Grate an ounce or so of Bottaga for two people, then toss it all into 1/2 lb. pasta, and shave more bottarga on top. Recipes are on the internet.
Ventresca on buttered, warn croustades, garnished with some capers and chopped shallots or red onion. If your anchovies are boquerones, same as above.
Saffron in rouille, to garnish an already laced with saffron boulibaisse. Saffron in Moroccan lamb stew. Saffron in hummus.
Dufour Puff Pastry is expensive!
Yes, that is a reasonable price. The wholesale prices on flour and butter have soared. Their product, made in small batches by New Yorkers who need to pay a lot for living there, is made the way puff pastry should be made, with no shortcuts. Have you ever made it from scratch? It's practically impossible for an inexperienced baker. Pepperidge Farm has several other ingredients, as I recall, which don't belong in real puff pastry. I trust that you will taste the difference.
What do do with a lot of saffron?
I buy my saffron by the ounce, and have never had a problem with keeping it in the freezer. I give clumps of it to friends, and an ounce lasts me for a couple of years. I use it in stews basically every week, as I cook a stew every weekend.
Gender gap in Chef's salaries.
I am utterly not surprised. Women are totally down on the food chain in restaurants. I am female; I know this. I am not bitter but I fully understand this reality. In places where I worked and earned more than the men, all hell broke out when they learned this.
How to reduce sugar in a baking recipe without wrecking the entire dish? Or, a savoury banana bread recipe?
Thank you! Never heard of this. It will certainly be growing in my next garden.
How to reduce sugar in a baking recipe without wrecking the entire dish? Or, a savoury banana bread recipe?
The palm sugar that I use is unrefined and tastes much like refined, light brown sugar. It has weird melting properties - it sort of clumps together, and comes in a one-pound, round block, which is why I have learned to shave it with a knife. In baking, it is indistinguishable from granulated sugar, at least to my palate. Any small pieces that I am too lazy to further chop seem to disappear in the baked product, so I don't get too hyper about shaving it perfectly. I use it in carrot cake at least once per month and every other baked thing that does not require honey or maple syrup, and have never noticed any concern.
How to reduce sugar in a baking recipe without wrecking the entire dish? Or, a savoury banana bread recipe?
I also use honey at work, though I personally loathe it. Honey is so sweet I find it can dominate whatever else is going on. One thing to know: sugar will obscure other flavors if not used in moderation. Ever have a chocolate cake that doesn't taste like chocolate? It has too much sugar.
My go-to, 5-minutes-into-the-oven recipe for the residents I cook for, is the whole grain muffin recipe in the Joy of Cooking. I can't describe all of the permutations I take this through, but I always use honey as the recipe calls for, and usually substitute the wheat flour with barley, millet, or spelt, as we are on a rotating grain schedule and can use wheat only once per week. (Yes, I know spelt is a type of wheat, though lower in gluten) Anyway, the formula is 2 cups of flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1 egg, 1 c. milk (can't use dairy, so I use almond or rice milk), a dollop of honey and a dollop of melted butter (I use Earth Balance substitute). I always add some spice, like a huge shake of cinnamon, then whatever fruit I have on hand, and bake it in a dish or make an upside-down cake rather than fuss with the muffin tins. Also, I always make 4x this recipe, to feed 20 people, and everyone is happy.
How to reduce sugar in a baking recipe without wrecking the entire dish? Or, a savoury banana bread recipe?
I am a former pastry chef who dislikes sugar. I always start out reducing the sugar by 1/4 in any recipe except for ice cream and sorbet, where the sugar is needed for the correct texture. Sugar aids in browning for baked goods, but not that much is needed. In my experience, I often reduce it down to 1/2 that any recipe calls for, but never eliminate it entirely.
I loathe sugar substitutes, but if your question reflects a physical aversion to sugar such as diabetes, I suggest using palm sugar, which is very low on the glycemic index. I buy it at the Asian grocer, and it needs to be finely chopped or grated, but if your baking is only occasional, it is worth the effort. I actually use it every day as I bake for a house with residents with mental illness and am forbidden to use refined sugar. With some skill with a chef's knife, I learned to shave it quickly, and it tastes sweeter than cane sugar, at least to my palate, so I use much less of it than I would use refined cane sugar.
As a side note, light brown sugar, which is refined cane with molasses re-introduced, tastes sweeter than white sugar, and I use much, much less of that than white sugar when baking at home as a substitute. For example, in a chocolate torte that suggests one cup white sugar, I will use 1/3 cup light brown instead. Sorry, I don't have a recipe for sugarless banana bread per se.
Favorite Mollie Katzen recipes?
Yes, the cardamom coffeecake is the best there is. I know for a fact that a famous restaurant in NYC bakes this, then toasts the slices and serves it with vanilla ice cream for an expensive menu item. Personally, I also add blueberries to the batter, so it is "blueberry cardamom coffeecake." I also substitute some of the sour cream with yogurt.
Other recipes I still make, 35 years later -- the mushroom strudel (I usually make individual triangles to pass at parties) and at least twice every winter, the Russian Cabbage Borscht (putting in, like, twenty times the dill the recipe calls for).
Sandwiches at home - no cold cuts
Fresh mozzarella on sour dough country white with artichoke hearts (I try to buy the whole ones with stems), roasted tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, olive oil and red wine or balsamic vinegar. Cold cuts are out but why not splurge on an ounce of proscuitto on this? It's good without, but divine with.
Grilled, aged cheddar cheese, again on country white or whole grain (buttered on the outside) with honey mustard -- simple and irresistible.
Ricotta, carmelized onions, and anchovies.
Freshly roasted turkey breast, red onion, tomato slices, arugala and aioli.
Hummus with tahini dressing (just stir some tahini into vanilla yogurt), a handful of chopped parsley,
Seaweed salad
The salad you are talking about is made from seaweed only in that it is agar agar, derived from seaweed, then extruded through dies, colored with yellow and blue dye to make it green, and seasoned with sugar. You are right: it's not exactly "health food". I've been told it is manufactured in Japan by only two companies, and comes to restaurants in big buckets. I can give you ideas for making seaweed salads, which I love, but they are very different from this, which is probably impossible to recreate in a home kitchen.
Foods You Enjoy for Breakfast that are non-typical
Pasta Carbonara. This is not weird. Eggs, bacon, cheese and starch -- the starch is simply different, i.e, not bread. Served piping hot to the love in my life -- very good, indeed.
Better cheddar?
Bah humbug. Please prove me wrong. Any cheese aged that long has to be drydrydry. I am happy to spend money for the right cheese, but this simply doesn't seem sensible when you can get a two-year-old from Bobolink that is divine and makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches on the planet.
I remember working for an Italian food distributor who learned that the competition was selling 5-year-old Reggiano Parm, and we were laughing hysterically. Great taste is good enough. Why spend an extra 5-7 years storing your inventory? That is expensive, and sensible consumers are not anxious to pay for the difference, especially if it will be an inferior cheese.
best method for good home-made coffee
Metlitta with a filter, and already ground coffee -- I know, a travesty! I've tried every coffee maker known to man. The Chemix is fine but more expensive. I buy the best and freshest coffee I can, from a local source, in small batches and it is gone in under a week. I'm always open to suggestions, but I've been making it this way for 40 years. The only thing that comes close is a Bodum vacuum sealed maker, but that is too much trouble. You can't believe what a panic I went into when Melitta dropped production of their larger pot a decade ago. Now I buy the small, "use as an extra coffee pot" pot. Ridiculous. Who needs an inadequate, big coffee maker on their countertop anyway?
Did Your Mom Repeatedly Cook a Dish You Despised?
My mother's dish for celebrating in the 60's was a crab/shrimp concoction that had a souffle-like base. She must have paid dearly for this dish. I always hated it, and believed into my thirties that I hated shrimp and crap. Then I realized that what I really hated were the cooked green peppers, which overwhelmed everything else. I HATE cooked green peppers. And now I am like most humans, who can't get enough of crab and shrimp.
What happened to Niman Ranch bacon?
The founder of Niman lost his business to bankruptcy about two years ago, and the new owners are trying to make it profitable. For for information, read this link:
http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-02-22/news/17190118_1_niman-ranch-feedlot-humane-society
It wouldn't be the first time a product suffers in quality when new owners try taking shortcuts.
Are Olives dyed to look more appealing to the "Olive Bar" Consumer
Sorry, not so. Cerignolas -- bright green and bright red, are dyed. Look at the cans they come in. Dyes are listed under the ingredients.
Also, I know for a fact that many black olives are treated with ferrous iron to darken their color.
Searching for quality Inidan food in New Brunswick area
I have not been to Hoysala, but can tell you that Pooja is fabulous.
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Hoysala Restaurant
2 John F Kennedy Blvd Ste 5, Somerset, NJ 08873
Pooja Restaurant
1075 Easton Ave Ste 15, Somerset, NJ 08873
Top Chef Masters Season 3, Episode 4 [Spoilers]
Savir and Flloyd are the two best Indian chefs in NYC, in a city where they are a zillion Indian chefs and cooks. And Indian cuisine is my favorite, without exception. That Suvir got eliminated, well, perhaps he was not good as a challenger, but trust me, he can cook and send out to you the best plates of food you have ever eaten in your lives.
America's Next Top Restaurant, 4/24/11 (spoilers)
I think the real reason she was booted came before the food was served -- when she bemoaned that she couldn't get humanely raised lamb, but paid no attention to where her beef came from. That she has no idea about the controversies surrounding cattle raising and feedlots, which are major news items these days, while her whole concept centers around "natural and chemical free," it was hugely apparent that she knows nada about how to play out her ambitions.
Anchovies..
Perhaps you can try this with salt-packed anchovies (no oil). They are meatier, larger, and hold their shape better.
Iconic Dishes of the Decade?
Tuna Tartare
Individual Chocolate Volcano Cakes
Savory Ice Creams
Braised anything
Has anyone made Peeps Sushi (aka Peepshi)?
This looks like the kind of project that would be fun at a children's (or adult family) gathering. However, I would certainly take it one step further and make marshmallows (recipe is in today's NYTimes), flavor it with extract or rosewater, then sprinkle with colored sanding sugars and cut out in desired shapes. The recipe is easy if you are comfortable working with gelatin and have an electric mixer. Sorry, I cannot eat peeps. Terrible tasting.
New Gary Taubes Article: "Is Sugar Toxic?"
Controversy is good. I have my own opinions about both of these guys, but I do know this: I hate sugar. I am a former pastry chef who always disliked sugar, and now I dislike it even more. This is why I weigh the same as when I was in college 40 years ago. I have friends who have a huge problem with sugar, and are constantly on a "diet." I have never been on a "diet' in my entire life. Yes, I know I am lucky, but I weep with my friends who are simply addicted to sugar, an addiction I will never fully understand, but I know it is real for them, and it is hard beyond reason to get them off of this powerful substance.
New Gary Taubes Article: "Is Sugar Toxic?"
Here is a rebuttal to this article.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/sugar-health-evil-toxic_b_850032.html
