Flash in the Pan

NPR's Morning Edition had an interview with Ellie Mathews, who won $1 million in the Pillsbury Bake-Off and who has written a book, The Ungarnished Truth, about her experience. The NPR link has an excerpt from the title, along with Mathews's winning recipe. The Bake-Off has received other coverage from NPR - back in December, when it came down hard on a Potsdam, NY annual food pantry fund raiser that used the trademarked term.

Labels: contest, cooking, Pillsbury

There are times I see connections between scientific concepts and the kitchen - not in the "science explains food" sense, but as direct metaphors. One that's scratching at my mind today is the concept of states of matter. As you probably remember from high school (or even grade school), matter can move into different states: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma (which is a superheated gas). A New York Times article on "sperification," or the latest development in encasing liquids (Cointreau, in this case) in edible spheres.

That reminded me of the edible foam that's become a bit of a gastronomic craze, and that was started by Spanish chef Ferran Adrià Acosta. Much of such experimentation seems to come out of the idea of molecular gastronomy. I'd probably put gelatin filtration into the same category, and would probably argue that ceviche, in which you "cook" fish in a citrus marinade, could also qualify. How about steamed milk? The resulting liquid is sweeter than regular milk and has a different mouth feel because of the encapsulated air.

I do wonder what might be next. Maybe we can use the steam wands on espresso makers to foam up liquids other than milk and serve them as hot dollops over some dish. Perhaps films of food supercooled into fragile sheets to drop into drinks and melt as they cool them, or one ingredient frozen about a second. Maybe we'll see thin marinated sheets of vegetable dried, like nori, the Japanese seaweed sheets, used to encase some finger food. Think I'll heat up the steam wand and try some experiments.

Labels: chemistry, cooking, ingredients, molecular gastronomy

I guess my comments on how incredibly dumb the idea of a "flavored salt" line called Fusion Salts sounded must have been like salt in the wound (sorry, couldn't resist) of either the CEO of SaltWorks (the manufacturer) or someone pretending to be him. So, it's time for one of my favorite games: deconstruct the PR spin.

I am so happy to know that you have the time to create your own spice blend ...

Actually, it's called using herbs and spices with food - otherwise known as cooking.

...and flavored salts.

Why the hell would I want flavored salt? I have my choice of regular table, kosher, and various sea salts, depending on the effect I want. But why flavored? It's like saying that if I want to use cilantro, I should use cilantro-flavored basil instead of using the cilantro itself. Or both if I want that.

Most professional chefs and home cooks don’t have the time to source the finest flavors and ingredients and develop them into a unique finishing salts and spice blends.

And that's why they buy ingredients, herbs, spices, and salts from companies that do have the time to get them. You might be surprised at the wide variety of ingredients that is readily available these days. That is called making life more convenient.

Fusion sea salts are not for every day use.

You mean I don't have to use them every day? Thank heavens for small favors.

They are gourmet.

Just like McDonalds new Arch Bistro restaurant concept is supposed to be "gourmet" casual?

These salts were created for people and professionals that want to add a little something extra to a dish.

And here I thought they were created to rationalize another way to sell salt. If you want something extra in a dish, like mushrooms, you could - who'd have thought it? - add mushrooms.

I am quite sure that it is easier for you to criticize our product than to create one yourself.

I promise, if I can come up with an idea that sounds as silly, I'll get right on turning it into a product.

I am sorry that we cannot count on you as a potential customer but we will just have to count on our 100k current customers to pull us through.

Do you share your customer list with McDonalds?

Maybe you could share with your readers how they could make these salts at home so that they don’t have to by ours.

I'll go one better - add sea salt, and then add either red wine, or mushrooms, or truffle oil, or espresso (instant espresso actually works well in baking), or any other flavor you'd like in the dish. That way you can skip the R&D and skip handing extra money - and skip the extra sodium you'd get by relying on flavored salts to provide the range of tastes you want in a dish. Oh, and a small point: I think you meant buy, not by. Unless you meant bye.

While you are at it why don’t you explain to them why it is one of the top ten food trends in the US for 2008.

Given that your press release said that the product was being introduced in a food show that hadn't yet happened, it's remarkable that you achieved this miracle. Maybe you just used the sales flavored salt.

Regards, Mark Zoske, CEO – SaltWorks, Inc.

Here's a hint - if you're in business, going on the warpath is usually bad public relations. And if you're trying to be sarcastic, do try to get above the "Oh, yeah?" tone. Hope the salt doesn't taste as flat.

Labels: cooking, deconstruction, product, spices

I haven't used this product, but the concept seemed so inane to me: "sea salts infused with natural flavors." SaltWorks is announcing a new line of products called Fusion Salts and the CEO says "the outcome has been a tremendous -- even magical -- accomplishment." Could that be magical realism, the literary tradition in which the usual is turned upside into distorted and unreal variations? Some of the varieties include red wine, black truffle, green tea, porcini mushroom, Szechwan pepper, sun-ripened tomato, balsamic vinegar, and espresso. Espresso flavored salt? What happens if you want more of the flavor? Add more salt? Wait, combine truffle and Szechwan pepper, tomato, and red wine, and suddenly you have a dish that absorbs all water from your body and leaves you looking like a hardened sponge.

What is this mania companies have for assuming that people cannot - or should not - add any ingredients other than theirs? What's next? Chicken-flavored salt? Hold the dish, just add salt. Hmm, tastes just like ...

Labels: cooking, product, spices

I was on a business trip in St. John's and took part in a dinner at Chef To Go, where you literally work for your supper. The name makes it sound like some type of take-out establishment, and is the result of its first two years of operation in which chef/proprietor Robert Arniel offered catering for small groups in private homes. Today, he offers cooking classes and arranges dining evenings for groups, in which he gives a cooking lesson and then the participants get involved in the preparation of the evening's dinner. All go home with an apron and a collection of the evening's recipes.

You don't actually get to go through every step of the preparation, as, to be fair, that could take hours of work and offer too much room for mistakes. Instead, most of the prep work is done. For example, our menu consisted of the following:

Crab Claws with Cognac Sauce

Mussels on the Half Shell

Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade Crostini

Choice of Blackened Salmon with Kiwi Salsa or Seared Beef Tenderloin with Stilton Crust and Cabernet Sauvignon Sauce

Oven Roasted Root Vegetables

Seasonal Berry Napoleon with Minted White Chocolate Pastry Cream

The group broke out into three teams, each working a different part of the menu, with enough work done ahead that there was only about half an hour at the most of actual labor. That kept anyone from feeling overwhelmed in the kitchen and also kept it a social affair. Basically you are involved in final preparations and cooking - no breaking a sweat.

There were two people serving all the food, including the first two appetizers, already prepared, while everyone was working. (There were also several choices of wine to lubricate the physical labor.) Everyone is done about the same time, sits at tables, and enjoys the dinner. Some of the ingredients came out of the chef's backyard garden.

The "restaurant" is acutally the first two floors of his house, and his wife and he live on the top two. Having an eating establishment in a home is actually an old tradition: you can find it in Havana today, and some decades ago there was a well-regarded and famous example in Manhattan, a woman who offered diners whatever she decided to cook that day.

Arniel had an accomplished career as a chef before opening this spot, and the results tell. Not only are the recipes good, but he has enough understanding of the dynamics of cooking to make the diners comfortable and successful in their efforts. As this is geared to groups, it might be difficult to do one of the dinners. But aside from classes that last a few weeks, he also offers intensive Saturday classes. Cooking and eating in a pleasant atmosphere - what else could you ask for? Chef Arniel said I could post a recipe or two from the ones I received, so here is one for the tenderloin dish:

Cabernet Sauvignon Sauce

Ingredients:

• 250 ml cabernet sauvignon


• 250 ml light cream


• 125 ml minced shallots


• 1 clove garlic, minced


• 2.5 ml fresh thyme


• 1 ml sea salt


• 0.5 ml fresh pepper

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients in heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until reduced by half.


2. Pour sauce into blender and puree until smooth.


3. Strain through fine strainer and keep warm.

Blue Cheese Crusted Beef Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 250 g Stilton (substitute other blue cheese)


• 100 g butter


• 350 ml coarse fresh bread crumbs


• 10 ml fresh thyme


• 8 beef tenderloin steaks


• clarified butter (substitute olive oil)


• salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Process first cheese and butter in a food processor.


2. Add bread crumbs and thyme and process until combined.


3. Heat saute pan over high heat, add 1 TBS clarified butter or olive oil, and sear steaks on each side until just browned.


4. Let steaks cook and coat each one evenly with blue cheese mixture.


5. Finish steaks in 375ºF convection oven (400ºF in normal oven) until medium rare, about 10 minutes.


6. Serve with cabernet sauvignon suace.

Serves 8.

Labels: cabernet sauvignon, Canada, cooking, corned beef, lessons, Newfoundland, recipes, restaurant, review, St. John's, stilton, tenderloin

Posted by Erik Sherman @ 9:05 AM Permalink 0 comments links to this post

Rouxbe (pronounced ROO-bee) offering an interesting online step-by-step videos of recipe preparations. I just viewed one of the recipes that doesn't require membership (which, after a month-long trial, runs about $50/year or $100 for a lifetime membership, though there is a sponsored version, which wasn't clear to me from first looking at the site). It was for a pan-seared cod. There are some great advantages to a video approach. With a close-up view of the procedure (and not some smiling chef trying to build more of a business platform) you can see critical details, like how finely to crush the coriander seeds. As new things come up, like a mention of Japanese Panko breadcrumbs, you can jump aside to see something about them, and then return to the main video. When getting ready to coat the cod in a Panko and coriander seed mix, all you have to figure out is how to rinse the fish and pat it dry. Everything else - including sprinkling salt and pepper on the fish surfaces, is in front of you, and you get a visceral sense of how much is enough, rather than using some prescribed amount that might not be a good match for the actual pieces of fish you have. Or you get to see just how brown the top of the fish should be before transferring to an oven.

There are some minor weaknesses in the recipes. For example, the cod one said that the fish goes into an over for five to eight minutes, depending on the thickness of the cod. They eventually do say how to tell that the fish is done, but it would have been smart to tell people to wait and that they'd see it soon. But that is criticism almost reaching quibbling.

Even if you are an experienced cook, you might find that you will learn a few new tricks. For example, in the cod preparation, the cook used the flat of a knife to crush olives, making it easy to remove the pits and then chop. Now there's a handy tip that I had never seen before.

I do think that the price is a bit high for this when currently they only have 83 recipes by my count, not including the various intermediary demonstrations, like how to cut a chiffonade, though if you can choose to watch some ads to get to the content, it's not bad at all. It's also tough to get a real sense of the site, and things aren't necessarily clear in the layout. For example, at first I couldn't find the list of ingredients; someone from the site had to point out that clicking a Print button would have given that.

However, I look at this as a first step to new types of cooking sites that will undoubtedly spring up. In fact, I had already planned a series of videos of how to make dough for my new cookbook's web site. This is giving me additional ideas, particularly in terms of integrating background music and using production to get a more useful result.

Apparently the people who run the site see it as an online cooking school, comparing the price in a favorable way. But, as I wrote back, video and even in-home materials aren’t enough, because there are a thousand and one things that someone won’t correctly get and that the teacher won't know without significant professional experience: short-cuts, ways of recovering from problems, tips about how to handle certain ingredients, someone there to correct when the student is doing something wrong, and so on. While video can be a useful tool, it’s not a replacement. However, overall the site is a worthy attempt.

Labels: cooking, recipes, review, videos, web