Sugar and butter and everything nice

Today was another cake day for me. This time I was making cakes for a retirement party and there were no pretty flowers on them. Each cake had a different icing, so by the end of the day I was covered in powdered sugar and butter. I made a regular buttercream, a chocolate buttercream, a cream cheese, and a fluffy white meringue icing. While I was making all of these I almost chuckled because every other dessert I create I meticulously use a recipe. With icing I judge by taste and texture, this might be why I felt like I was on a sugar high all day.

Some people are scared to experiment in the kitchen because they're worried it won't taste good or something will go terribly wrong. If you never try you will never know. My basic icings always have powdered or 10x sugar, butter or cream cheese (I will put crisco in my icings, but it can't be the main fat or the icing will leave a film on your mouth and that is never an appetizing thing), a little bit of milk and possibly some vanilla. If I'm making a peanut butter icing I'll definitely add peanut butter.

I love cake but there is something about icing that just makes me want to lick the beaters. I don't know who thought of taking sugar and butter and creaming them up to put them over a cake, but I would love to make that person a cupcake.

Speaking of sweets and treats I was reading an article from newkerala.com that said that there is a new study showing that married people have a higher chance of obesity than unmarried people. I guess the bad habits tend to reign in such situations and eating more meals at home also causes this problem. I'm not so sure what I feel about this study, because when I live at home I eat the same amount of food as my parents and live the same lifestyle.

Another study that I think does have some credibility said that a more moderately reduced carb diet will give you more energy throughout the day. I am a big fan of anything in moderation, especially sugar. Ok I must confess I probably eat sugar in less moderation than I eat anything else, but everyone has to have their vice.

I hope you are all going to bbqs and picnics and I hope you bring some cupcakes, with homemade icing, because you really have no excuse. Just mix some butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and anything else you think might taste good with your favorite cake recipe.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Cooking like a master

Food TV truly gives me pleasure, but honestly there is nothing that gets me more excited than Bravo TV's show Top Chef. Tonight started Top Chef Masters, where well-known chefs compete for a charity of their choice.

This season is a little different than the other ones. Every week 4 chefs are competing for a spot in the championship. The first thing the chefs have to do is a quickfire challenge, which if you're not familiar with the show is a challenge where they have a limited amount of time to get the assignment done. Tonight the chefs had to make desserts for a group of girl scouts. Now these are all chefs who own restaurants and have worked there way up in kitchens. They complained about the task and two definitely failed immediately, but overall I was impressed with their one hour desserts.

Something that I really liked was Tim Love's strawberry trio. He actually made a chicken fried strawberry. For a banquet in Oregon we experimented with different dipped strawberries. It is still strawberry season, so it might be fun to try to experiment with a few of our favorites yourself.

Caramel Strawberries: Put a cup of sugar and 1/2 cups of water into a pot. Bring it to a boil and let it boil. Do not stir the mixture. If anything brush the sides of the pot with a brush dipped in water. That way the sides of the pot won't burn. Boil till the mixture thickens and changes color. To test how dark the color is drip a tiny bit on a piece of paper. Be careful; boiling sugar is hot. Once the caramel is at a nice brown shade(you don't want it to get too dark or it will taste burned, so be careful towards the end and remember you control the heat; take it off the burner if it's turning too quickly)remove it from the heat and quickly dip some washed and dried strawberries. If you feel like practicing your knife cuts chiffonade some basil and sprinkle some on the warm sugar so it sticks.

Lemon Strawberries: Zest a lemon. You can either make lemon curd or buy it. Lemon curd is not difficult to make. You just must be careful to not curdle the eggs, even though you are making lemon curd. The only time curdled eggs are appropriate is when they are scrambled for breakfast. Warm the lemon curd and dip the strawberry into warmed curd. Then sprinkle with the lemon zest.

I'm not so sure about Chef Love's chicken fried strawberry, but the key to dipping fruit is to know your fruit. Is it sweet, sour, or slightly bitter? It is also important to know what your dip is going to do to the fruit. The lemon offset the possible sour of the strawberry and gave it a new and interesting flavor. The caramel offset the possible sourness with an interesting crunch. Chocolate of course is always an option and creates a lovely taste and texture.

In case you were wondering Hubert Keller is moving on to the champions round on Top Chef Masters. Watch the episode, but I really think that he was the best of the four tonight. It's always interesting to see how a chef thinks and what they do with little time and limited ingredients. It really does take a master to know and understand their ingredients enough to know what to do and how to do it in a split second and then be able to grab a cutting board and go. Watching this show puts the fire in me to don the chef coat with pride and work with as many amazing chefs as I possible can. I hope it gives you that same fire to get into your kitchen and make something amazing.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Forget the fruits and veggies they want the dyes

KSWB TV in San Diego reported that researchers are looking to the purple carrot as a natural food dye alternative to the chemical dyes that are going to need a warning label in the European Union. This whole discussion made me curious about this purple carrot business. According to the article the purple carrot has actually been around longer than the orange carrot and a google image search brought up the most gorgeous picture of a purple carrot. I know it sounds silly to say that this carrot looked gorgeous, but I can't help it the artist in me just loves colors. These carrots are just so cool looking. A little more research revealed that these carrots grow a middle eastern climate and supposedly in the Southern California climate where the organic farm that is now saving juices for testing on food dyes.

The most interesting thing that I found in my research was a little poster that was made that said the more colors you eat the more nutrients you get. This reminded me of my researching of the blood orange back in February. I love blood oranges, because I think they taste better than a regular orange; but after getting a funny look from a fellow work study I found out that they are actually better for you than their orange counterparts.

The true problem is that these more colorful options, like red peppers, are 3 or 4 times more expensive if you can find them at all. It is almost too late in the season, but there are still things that you can plant in a small garden or even in planters. Spending a few dollars on bell pepper plants and some tomato plants and you will be reaping the colorful fruit that your diet desperately needs without breaking the bank. I did find seeds for purple carrots and I'm hoping that maybe next year I'll have the time to try some of these purple carrots first hand, even if I have to start them inside.

I'm not so sure about this dye business with these fruits and veggies. I personally think that making more of these products available to the average consumer and just getting rid of all of the unnecessary dyes, natural or unnatural, in food might be a wiser choice. But the article was right when it said that people eat with their eyes. If you buy grape juice and it's not such a dark purple that you can't see through it, you will probably question whether it is really grape juice and you might even think it doesn't taste as good. It's a fact we're used to the fake stuff and we don't mind it.

I guess what I learned from all of this can be summed up in that one poster I found "The more colors you eat the healthier you will be." Just remember Doritos don't count as colorful food. I think you have to stick to the veggies and fruits.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Not another one

I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of documentaries about the North American diet. MSNBC ran a story yesterday about another documentary, this one is called Food Inc. It is not the subject of these documentaries that bothers me. I know that the American diet is really turning us all into diabetic, obese, walking heart attacks; but I seriously doubt that ANOTHER documentary is going to fix this problem. Robert Kenner, the director of the film, is not shy about his goals in this production. Kenner told the Associated Press that he is hoping to spur activists who will go to the lawmakers about this "problem."

I have not watched the documentary, but at the very bottom of the not-so-objective article the food industry said it's piece about the not so practical side of the documentary's bent and that much of the film is over exaggerated or false. I know the food industry has a stake in this, because it's their products that Kenner is criticizing, but the argument they made really did make sense. We can't only eat organic food and local food. It is not going to feed the impoverished people who are struggling to buy food for their families right now and it will mean a serious lack of fruits and veggies (you know those things that will help us break this diabetic, obese, walking heart attack cycle).

There is a problem with the North American diet. I was walking in the grocery store two days ago with my mom. We stocked up on meats because they were on sale. As we were checking out and leaving the store my mom noticed a women with a full cart of tasty cakes and soda and chips and packaged meals. My mom looked over in disgust and said she never raised us to eat like that.

When we were really little my parents tried to eat completely healthy. Me and my brother would toast at every meal "drink to the health of yuckyness." We really hated it, but it didn't last terribly long till my parents realized that a little bit of fat and red meat and yes even a bit of junk food is actually good in a diet. We were allowed one sweet a day and soda counted as that sweet, so we hardly ever wanted soda. We ate mostly turkey and chicken. Honestly I never knew what real bacon tasted like when I was a kid; we always had turkey bacon, we were healthier, and we didn't miss a thing. Every now and then my dad would talk my mom into red meat and he would not eat pizza with anything other than soda. Those things were treats for us; it was just the way we lived.

I said all of that to say that a healthy diet is not really that hard. Instead of buying that ground chuck, buy some ground turkey. As much as you think it's going to taste weird or different, it's all in your head. Just think of it as a new cooking experience. Of course there is a time and place for the real thing. If you're making potato soup and you need bacon in it, buy the real thing; it's the fat that make it taste good.

Forcing lawmakers to make laws about what we can and can not eat is not going to help the American diet. What is going to help is for people to learn that a healthy meal is not that difficult and is entirely worth it in the end. Put down the tasty cakes and no one will get hurt.

Speaking of tasty cakes here is a FABULOUS recipe for homemade Kandy Kake. They are truly delicious.

4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder

Grease a 13x9 inch pan. Mix all of the above ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit till golden brown, feels firm to the touch, toothpick comes out clean, or however you like to test cakes.

1 Cup Peanut Butter

Allow the cake to cool and spread the peanut butter over the cake.

8 oz. Hershey's Chocolate Bar

Melt the chocolate bar and pour over the peanut butter. Be sure to break the chocolate up first or it will melt unevenly or even burn. I like melting chocolate in the microwave on medium. That works the best for me.

Make this treat or some other dessert this week and remember eat it a little bit at a time and you won't regret it.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Mince, dice, julienne, and chiffonade

I have been plugging through lesson after lesson of knife skills in the kitchen I am working at. Every time a cook or chef tells me to chop something they don't just say chop it they say could you chiffonade the basil and I stand there and look at them with wide eyes trying to remember exactly what kind of cut that is. In all reality once you get down the basic cuts your job, or my job as basically a prep cook, is a whole lot easier.

I would love to come to each and everyone of your homes and show you how to do all of these different cuts, because I am beyond excited that I have actually learned how to do them, but since that would be very hard and time consuming I will try my best to describe them and hope you will take a few minutes while you're preparing those sausage sandwiches to consider how you are cutting up the onions and peppers.

Mincing is a nice way of saying make it small, really really small. When I mince parsley I take it on the cutting board and start going through it with my knife. If you've ever watched a cooking show where the chef chops and chops at something and never really seems to be paying much attention they are mincing it. When I mince I hold the knife at the handle and put my other hand towards the end of the blade as I go across the board finely chopping the parsley or basil or garlic or whatever is being chopped.

I have been given instructions about various sizes of a dice. Normally when I am doing onions I am told medium dice. To dice an onion I cut off both ends, peel the onion, and cut the onion in half. I then go vertically into the onion about a third of the way up and I cut till I've almost cut it straight through but not quite. I go in again at about 1/2 way between my first cut and the top, and I go in one last time at about half way between my second cut and the top. This whole thing takes some practice because onions are slippery and you have to be careful that your knife does not go into your hand. I then cut horizontally almost the same way getting close to the end but not quite there. Depending on the size of the onion I normally end up with about 5 horizontal cuts. Now comes the fun part. You get to cut through all of the pieces you've prepared by making the initial cuts and you will have perfectly diced onions.

Julienne was a word I knew before even entering the kitchen I work in now. To me julienne was an illusive phrase that spoke of knife skills far above my imagination. Snap into reality and the julienne cut is actually rather easy. To julienne onions you have to cut either end, peel the skin, and cut horizontally straight through the onion. This is the cut you'd use for those peppers and onions you're going to fry up for the sausage sandwiches. I learned how to julienne on a green pepper. You first chop off the top of the pepper. You don't want to chop too much or you'll waste a lot of the pepper and if you're using red peppers at $3.99 a pound, you probably don't want to be wasting too much of that pepper. Chop off the nubs on the bottom and take out the center of the pepper with all of the seeds and stuff with your knife. Cut open the pepper and cut it into 2 or 3 pieces so it's easier to work with. Carefully hold the pepper and with a sharp french knife (I probably should have said this earlier, but please don't try to do these cuts with anything smaller than a french or chef's knife. You will hurt yourself.) Cut horizontally. The key is not to have the thinnest peppers in the world, but to have uniform cuts. Something that is cut uniformly will cook at the same time, so you won't get mushy peppers and raw onions or some mushy peppers and some crunchy ones. Take your time with the julienne. It does not take a culinary degree to master it, but learning slowly with be better than trying to chop chop chop like a pro.

The final cut that I have learned is the chiffonade. The only thing I have ever had to chiffonage was basil. You can practice by taking a few big leaves of basil, rolling them up and cut them in thin segments. You'll end up with pretty strands of basil that you can use as garnish over your pasta.

All of these cuts and techniques might seem like a waste of time to learn, but really they are all about getting a good end product. Perfectly diced onions will be a uniform size and will cook evenly. Julienned peppers look very impressive on a vegetable tray. Practice up and learn the cuts. Your prep time in the kitchen will drop drastically and your end product will be much more appealing and more perfectly cooked.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

And I always wanted to escape TO Paris not leave it

France and baking sort of go hand in hand. During the Johnson & Wales baking and pastry program, all of the pastry students were required to take Classical French Pastries as one of our labs. 3/4 of the desserts we made in that lab, we remade in other labs because French desserts and breads were a part of almost every genre of baking. I would love to escape to Paris and spend the rest of my life visiting every bakery in the country of France. I don't think I'd ever want to leave. Imagine my shock and surprise while perusing the New York Times website to find out that a French couple actually moved to the country side of New Hampshire to escape the busyness of Parisian life.

The couple arrived in Colebrook, NH in the year 2000 with a story worthy of a novel. I've never been to Colebrook, NH, but I do have friends who live in New Hampshire and by all accounts civilization hardly exists in Lancaster, NH and Colebrook is even further up towards the Canadian border. This french man and woman arrive in the town, go to the Chamber of Commerce, and meet a Frenchman who finds them an apartment, some furniture, and a tip about the town's bank building being auctioned off. The couple bids and buys the dilapidated structure. They turn it into a French bakery.

The reason the New York Times caught on to this story was because the woman's visa was rejected because the US Government saw the business as "marginal" and the town sent letters in and got the decision reversed, BUT all of that is neither here nor there to me. What really caught my eye was all of the talk about french pastries and breads.

The French government has a law about the approximate weight and shape of a baguette. They really do take their food seriously, which is probably why they arguably have the best food in the world at least in the classical sense of cooking. One of my favorite classic French desserts is Apple Tarte Tartin. It is almost an upside down apple pie cooked in caramel with a puff pastry shell. When I worked as a work study at Emerson, my fellow work study and I were talking food and this dessert was one of the first desserts he brought up. Done right this dessert is truly extraordinary. The wonderful thing about classical french desserts is that they are semi-easy to make. The key is real ingredients and butter, the French love butter.

You need a pan without a plastic handle to make this dessert. Another option is to make it in an 8 inch cake pan, but the result really will not be the same. Go to a yardsale and buy an old small frying pan. One person's junk is definitely another person's treasure in this case. To clean this pan wash it up without soap so you get the dirt out and then stick a couple tablespoons of butter in the pan and melt it. Wipe out the pan and you will have a nice clean seasoned pan ready to make the mother of the apple pie.

The first step to the apple tarte tartin is to cut up the apples so they are all ready to go. Peel and core 2 apples and cut them into 1/4 segments(each apple should have 4 pieces). Now set them aside and make a caramel. The way I was taught to make this classic dessert easily results in a burnt caramel, which does not taste very good at all. So put some sugar and a little bit of water in the pan and begin to cook the sugar. You just want enough water to wet the sugar. Boil the mixture stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until the color starts to turn. Once the color starts to change try to just move the mixture without stirring. If certain areas start getting dark quickly remove it from the heat and stir it around. Whenever I would start getting worried about caramel in class my chef would always tell me that I was the one controlling the heat, so I could slow down or stop the process at any time. Remember this and take your time.

When the caramel is done and a medium brown color, take it off the heat and place the apples core side up into the caramel. In class we made our own puff pastry dough. If you want to know that process because you have an excessive amount of time without anything to do let me know and I'll email you the process. The easier option is to buy puff pastry dough. It's in the frozen food section of almost every grocery store. My mom just bought some the other day. Pepridge Farms makes it. Let it thaw and drape a sheet of it over the pan with the apples in it. Trim the edges of the dough so it covers the apples but doesn't drape over. Stick the whole thing in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven until the dough is a nice darker brown. The darker it gets the more flaky the puff dough will be, so don't pull it out when it barely has color on it. Pull it out with a pot holder and grab a plate. This may be the scariest part of the whole process, but flip the whole thing over onto a plate. If an apple sticks in the pan don't fret, just pull it out and place it in its spot.

Don't ever stress about baking. I believe the French couple are living proof that baking is supposed to be a calming thing done to relax and enjoy your life. Of course life will be even more relaxing if you move to Nowheresville, New Hampshire, but not all of us have that luxury. So turn off your phone. Place some music and get immersed in a day of baking. Maybe you will need that recipe for puff dough.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

He took the money and left the loaf of bread

WKYC TV, a station in Ohio reported yesterday that a man with a bat tried to rob a convenience store on Long Island. The man then broke into tears and told the owner that he was only doing this to feed his starving family. The convenience store owner, who I instantly decided must have been like the priest in Les Miserable, told the man that if he never robbed again he would give him $40 and a loaf of bread. The man left the bread and took the money. I am not sure why the man left the bread. My only guess was that he couldn't see how it would help his family. My boyfriend, who is slightly more skeptical than I am, decided that it was all a big hoax because the man only took the money. I like to think better of people, but either way this whole story got me thinking about quite a lot of things.

First of all it made me sad about the state of our country. If people are so frustrated in such a dejected state that they have resorted to robbing stores just to make ends meet then we are not doing what we can to help the people who really need to be helped. My boyfriend's parents decided to help out at their local food pantry when things in the economy started going sour. I feel thought that most people wouldn't even know where to look to help out like this. It's also important to keep your eyes and ears open to people around you. Many people are too proud to ask for help, but you might be able to see a need and just help. We are all hurting right now, but obviously whether or not this man's story is true there are some who are hurting more than others.

The other thing that made me sad was that he left the loaf of bread. Now many of you may be thinking that that loaf of bread was probably not going to help his family out that much, but a loaf of bread can go a long way. For breakfast a loaf of bread can be toast, french toast if you have the luxury of eggs, or a bread pudding if you have the luxury of eggs and milk. For lunch a loaf of bread can be a ham and cheese sandwich, an open faced pizza, or even a peanut butter sandwich. By dinner I bet that loaf of bread would have been gone depending on the size of his family.

We live in such a processed country that I feel like we've forgotten about how a little corn flour and oil and a few scraps of meat or squash feeds people in other cultures. In tough times I always remember my dad's mom. She had 5 children of her own, 2 she took care of on a permanent basis and many others who she helped out whenever there was a need. Their family never had a lot of money, but a bag of rice and beans and some scraps of meat went a long way. My Aunts would tell stories about how if their dad had a tasty cake he might split it with one of them so the other kids didn't know about it and make them split it 7 different ways. I don't know of anyone who understands that kind of enjoyment over little things like this anymore. When did we turn things that should have been for special occasions and treats into common place every day things?

I am not nor have ever starved. I remember telling my parents that I was starrrrrrrrrvvving as a little kid, but I truly never experienced anything more than slight hunger when dinner was late. I hope that man who robbed the convenience store did get his family some food and I hope that they aren't starving anymore. Today I looked into our refrigerator and saw plenty of food. For the first time in a long time I was thankful for all of the food my family had. I hope when you eat your next meal you are thankful for the same thing.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily