The Subtle Tastes in Chai and Breakfast Sandwiches

It is very easy to just get into the habit of eating to store food for energy.  It is a common trend in a Millennial lifestyle.  Getting to the next thing becomes ultra-critical and paying attention to each step along the way is less vital.  However, for those of us who are trying to blend mindfulness with Millennialism, it is a real act of formation and direction to relish the many sound-bytes of our lives and recon them for full flavor and taste.

As I was cooking some breakfast for my sons this morning - a sacramental rite for me - I was paying attention to the levels of taste in the foods.  There would be some simple alterations to taste that I could make by one or two deviations from practice.

First, the Sandwich:

As I was frying the thick-cut, hickory smoked bacon, I decided to slice the slab into 1/4 strips.  The slab was already pre-sliced so the strips would be one piece thick and wide by 1/4 inch long.  It would spread the bacon out throughout the sandwich and not just leave its flavor to the portions that contained a normal size slice.  Surface area is critical in taste.  Adding more changes the flavor.  Then I decided to use the bacon drippings as the oil for the pan - draining out some so as not to overdue it.

Then I added the eggs.  Now, I could make it into an omelet or I could scramble it.  I chose to scramble.  This would allow a fluffier texture and more "fresh egg" taste.  Omelet-izing the eggs would allow for a harsher and carmel crispy surface.  I did not want that today.

Then I chose to toast the sandwich rounds.  We use sandwich rounds that are whole grain and have flaxseed, so toasting them would carmelize the flavor to a nutty deliciousness.

They were great.

Next, the Chai:

Having fond memories of early morning ashram Chai (and sometimes Siddha Coffee) which was totally kick-ass in its warming and startling eye-opening-ability (so you could wake up and go chant, meditate and do your SEVA) I am partial to certain tastes.  I love the warming of ginger, I love a dark, dark tea (Red Label Indian is THE JOLTIEST I know) and I love cardamom.  So, the Chai would have all three for sure.  Hints of cinnamon and nutmeg are also added, but lightly.  The ginger needs to be fresh and grated - again a surface area and flavor related thing.

I simmered it for 15 minutes and strained it with a coffee press.  Chai is one of those things that you can really detected subtlety in.  It is best to play around with the tastes as you are making it and see what each thing adds to the overall taste.

Small and simple course corrections and direction changes make all the difference in the world - not just in French culinary design, but even in a simple everyday breakfast.  Feel the subtlety and relish the obscure.

Some Tomato Sauce

The kids are having some friends over - which amounts to a handful of teen-guys or young men.  That is the human anthropological sense of the guests.  But, in scope of their gustatory capability it is the equivalent of a plague of locust.  Fly through and consume.  They are liable to come and go without notice and you are left looking for that one thing you had left in the fridge for just that one moment when you could eat it; and, it would be deeply meaningful and comforting at once.  But then, you realize it was ravished as simple spoils of a teen invasion.

Today I have a good head start on the gang coming over so I am sauteing some peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil.  Adding in some pre-cooked sausage and bacon.  And, when this is all done and simmering, cutting up some plum tomatoes and throwing them in to simmer for 45 minutes.

When I get to the end I am putting in some baby spinach leave - about 40 - 50 and letting them weep themselves into the sauce.  After they have settled into the sauce, I cut of the heat, dump in 25 fresh picked basil leaves and 1/2 cup of olive oil.

If you use really good extra virgin olive oil, always add it at the end - after the heat is cut and the food is settling into infusing itself into everything contained in the pan.  This aging and cooling of food is where tons of flavors are unleashed.  Too many folks serve foods TOO HOT and the flavors have really been killed or lost to the heat.

I wanna recommend friend Chef Jacob Burton's podcast of the FIVE MOTHER SAUCES.  It is the backdrop of so much in the culinary arts.  His new site Stella Culinary School is AWESOME and the FIVE MOTHER SAUCES starts with session 9.  Check'em out.

https://www.stellaculinary.com/stella-culinary-school-podcast-index

Gyros on the Grill

The lore of GYROs (really pronounced Yeeeearros; like year and ros) runs deep and wide.  I have a couple of ways I like to prepare them.

Today I am cutting a boneless leg of lamb into steak size slices and grilling them on the outside grill with "COWBOY Hardwood Charcoal" which does a great job of smoking the meat if you close the lid and only half vent the vent.

Once it has some charred sections and is dripping smokey colored juices, I take it inside, dice it and throw it back on the grill in a caste-iron pan to finish it off.  Just leave the lid open.

While that is going on I get busy on the Tzatziki.  I grate 1 large cucumber, add 2 tbs of minced garlic, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 cup of yogurt (Stonyfield Farms is the best), 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and dillweed and oregano to taste.  Mix it in a bowl and let it sit.  I add ribbons of fresh basil leaves sliced when it is in season.

Next the pitas.  This is an art.  Get whole wheat pitas.  Fill a caste-iron pan with 1/8 inch olive oil and heat on medium heat.  Once hot, drop a pita in the pan.  Spin it gently with your fingers 360 degrees.  Count 30 seconds and flip it.  Wait until it heats up enough to fill with air.  Once it fills with air, remove it and place it on a papertowel and pat off the excess oil.

When assembling them, I lay out foil sheets on the counter, build each Gyros with lettuce, Tzatziki, tomato slices, lamb and sometimes add a bit of feta.  Tonight I am not adding the feta.  I roll them in foil and let them steep for 15 minutes before we eat.

Of course, I am full from having dipped too much lamb in the Tzatziki sauce while prepping.

Somewhere Between Lamb Jambalaya and Lamb Etouffee

I had a set of lamb ribs that I was dreaming about for a couple of days.  This morning, when I climbed out of bed to build a fire, I stumbled on the idea that would become my meal for this afternoon.

Lamb ribs are really fatty so I knew I needed a patient and steady process of cooking and then cooking again, and then building the final meal.  First I cut the ribs in half and cooked them in a large cast iron skillet in the oven at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.  I used the fat dripping to start up my fire again and then put the ribs on the stove in a pot of water.  Simmering on low for an hour, I checked to make sure the oven cook off had removed the fat, and it had.

I took the ribs out and put them on a plate to cool.  Into the stock went a fine pesto of garlic, olive oil, pepper, and fresh basil.  Then I added some sliced peppers and onions.  A bit of salt to taste and then a bag of dried lentils - the large green ones.  If it had been a little further away from Orthodox Lent I would have added more vegetables...carrots and some turnips.  But, since the whole of Orthodox Lent is a cavalcade of veggies without dairy, oil, or wine, I thought I would enjoy the meat and oil with little other interruptions.

Once the meat was cooled I peeled it off the ribs, and diced it into fine cubes.  It went back into the stock and simmered for 30 minutes.  The lentils being nice and tender, I served it up in a bowl without the broth.  This was a great use of a cheaper piece of meat by taking out all of the things that make it cheap.  In this case it was the fat and bones.  The broth is there for later, or for Eli in his Iam's bowl of chunks for dinner.

Of course, it was sumptuous and earthy.  A great autumnal or wintry medley.

A fine set of knives you will not want to be without

Dear Chefs, Cooks, and Kitchen Managers,

I am writing to share a set of knives with you that I own and am really pleased with.  I think we all get how critical our knives are - I don't know about you, but I don't share my knives easily.  I am possessive of them to say the least.

In all my years of managing and cooking in professional kitchens, I learned that our knives are the greatest portion of our mis en place.  We know how much time is wasted when we do not have the best knives in close proximity to us when we need them.  The right things, in the right place, in the right order - mis en place.

I highly recommend Bailey Cox, the Cutco rep, and the products he sells.  Bailey knows what he is doing, can educate you on some key features of the product and kitchen ergonomics, and can answer any question you may have.  

The knives are the best I have ever used - from the wonderful fit in the hand to the consistent sharpness of the blade - and that is a bold statement for me a long time Henckels groupie!  Bailey called me, walked me through a handful of the products and let me ask as many questions as I had.  Then he let me make up my own mind - no pressure.

Give Bailey a call and let him walk you through the products he offers.  You will not regret it.  Whether you are using these at home or in your professional kitchen, you will not be disappointed.  You will be glad you used CUTCO.  Bailey gets paid just to show you the knives, so help out an aspiring salesman.

Inspired By Foxfire Appalachian Cookery

So, I am looking through my Foxfire Appalachian Cookery guide this morning for a bit of inspiration for the sweet potatoes at today's meal.  I am liking what they have listed but I want a bit of a twist, so I mixing up some of their savory dishes with the sweet potatoes.

I am grilling some sweet potato slices to garnish the dish with (thank goodness for the George Forman - grill absolutely anything - Grill).  In a pan of bacon fat with fresh crumbels of bacon and fresh gound-sausage crumbles from breakfast I am sauteing the diced sweet potatoes.  After 10 minutes they get steamed with a cup of water, two sprigs of rosemary, minced garlic (but of course) and a dash of curry powder.

Mmmm.  Hey, Grandpa, What's for supper...?

It helps listening to Willie Nelson while cooking..."Come on back Jesus, and pick up John Wayne on the way!!!"

BBQ on the Road

It has been way too long since I have posted in this blog...I am sharing a review of a local Philadelphia Restaurant that I have visited three times while staying over night for my new job.  This place is fun and sensational.  The time was made perfect by the dialogue I had with the owner, who came out to see how I liked their BBQ.  He did not know - I am sure - that he was in for QUITE A RANT.  But, that is what he got.

The Restaurant is the Q BBQ + Tequila 

and it is on Chestnut Street just at 2nd.

This restaurant not only taunts your taste buds, but it is in a quiet spot in Olde Town.  Once you enter the door you get the sense that you have come home.  With all of the dark, rich wood of an upscale Boston Irish Pub, this place sets you at ease the minute you cross the threshold.  

The staff are prompt to tend to your every need and sensitive to know enough to leave you alone when you take an important call.  You can ask for specific and personal nuances with your meal and you get exactly what you want with no attitude...only attentiveness.  

Once the BBQ arrives that will be the focus of the rest of the evening.  You will try - and fail - to figure out the intricacies of each layer of flavoring.  Go ahead; see if you can figure out the base, the smoke, the rub, the finish.  It is tough.  

What I will tell you is that from the first bite until you hit the pillow you will drift in and out of being able to identify the fancy of the flavors you experienced at Q BBQ.  And still you won't really know, only get faint suggestions of flavor and hints of taste.

You want a real treat?  Ask to talk with Tom Stewart - one of the owners.  See if you can drag out of him any piece of what it is that sets his style apart from others.  You won't stand a chance.  Like a good son of North Carolina he hides his secrets behind the mystery and manners of Southern life and Southern ways.  His momma should be proud...slaw and BBQ recipes still intact.  He won't even share where he buys his fare to fix it all up.

I put a challenge to him that I know he will engage: "Give us something with bourbon and plums in the base; bourbon and prunes.". He can go wild on the rub and smoke, but let's  start with bourbon and plums.  I know he can do it.

Head out to this place and just relish the food, try to decipher the flavors, and get all jacked up on culinary layering.  It is a great place, with great people, and great food...you need to let food be a mystery every once in a while.  This here is a good place to do that.