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Weekend photoshoot.
Tiny Lounge
4352 N Leavitt
Chicago, IL
Flickr
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Beans and Legumes
Those who know me, know that I find these fundamental to great food. They will also note that I am always looking to 'close the book' on cooking temperatures of various foods.
Lately I've had great results cooking chickpeas between 79-85C. Lentils are also well cooked this temperature. Both the research and practice check out. Until I find otherwise, I'm going to venture out and say all manner of dried beans and peas are optimally cooked at these temperatures.
Rice, grains and potatoes are the next vegetable hurdle.
Lately I've had great results cooking chickpeas between 79-85C. Lentils are also well cooked this temperature. Both the research and practice check out. Until I find otherwise, I'm going to venture out and say all manner of dried beans and peas are optimally cooked at these temperatures.
Rice, grains and potatoes are the next vegetable hurdle.
Green Curry Sauce
150g shallots
35g ginger
5g coriander seed
1-2 thai bird chilis (to taste)
15g shrimp paste
1 kaffir lime leaf
500g young coconut water
cook the shallots, ginger, coriander seed and shrimp paste over high heat in peanut oil until shallots begin to brown slightly. Add the young coconut water and kaffir lime leaf. Remove from heat and steep covered 15 minutes. Strain.
To finish, fold the herb puree into the hot sauce base just before serving. Season with coconut butter, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice.
For the herb puree:
40g thai basil
40g coriander leaf
14g mint leaf
150g young coconut water
35g lemongrass, crushed and chopped
3g coriander seed
1ea. star anise
flesh of 1 young coconut
Add coriander seed, 150g young coconut water, lemongrass, young coconut flesh and star anise to a blender and puree on the highest setting. Continue to blend on high speed until the liquid starts to boil - about 10 minutes. Once the liquid is boiling add the fresh herbs and puree another 1-2 minutes. Strain over an ice bath and keep very cold until ready to use.
35g ginger
5g coriander seed
1-2 thai bird chilis (to taste)
15g shrimp paste
1 kaffir lime leaf
500g young coconut water
cook the shallots, ginger, coriander seed and shrimp paste over high heat in peanut oil until shallots begin to brown slightly. Add the young coconut water and kaffir lime leaf. Remove from heat and steep covered 15 minutes. Strain.
To finish, fold the herb puree into the hot sauce base just before serving. Season with coconut butter, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice.
For the herb puree:
40g thai basil
40g coriander leaf
14g mint leaf
150g young coconut water
35g lemongrass, crushed and chopped
3g coriander seed
1ea. star anise
flesh of 1 young coconut
Add coriander seed, 150g young coconut water, lemongrass, young coconut flesh and star anise to a blender and puree on the highest setting. Continue to blend on high speed until the liquid starts to boil - about 10 minutes. Once the liquid is boiling add the fresh herbs and puree another 1-2 minutes. Strain over an ice bath and keep very cold until ready to use.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Mystery Meat
It seems a general consensus among most senior cooks that meat cookery is the easiest. It is a simple matter of heat transfer, nothing more. An experienced cook will - through years of experience - be able to easily intuit the doneness of a piece of meat.
We've come to the point technologically where we are able to affordably and precisely control our cooking temperatures to an exact degree. Intuition is traded for cognition. Thus the question: what is the optimal temperature at which we cook beef? what is the optimal temperature at which to cook an egg? pork shoulder? a potato? lentils? lambs tongue? chicken thighs?
Stephen Baldwin's comprehensive guide to sous vide cooking contains great recipes, temperatures and times. However, they are contradictory with personal experience and other reearch.
I'm finding myself in my kitchen about to make a braise sous vide and not knowing what temperature to cook it at. Should we go 55C for 48 hours? 60C for 24 hours? 80C for 8 hours? Every source calls for different times and temperatures. Since the method of sous vide cooking is relatively new and not widely used outside professional kitchens, recipes can be difficult to come by. While I can braise a short rib to amazing succulence using a traditional method, I can't honestly tell you what to set the dial to before dropping the bag in the water.
Preliminary Research:
I use short rib as an example because it is very popular tough cut of beef. I've seen recipes that range from 4-36 hours at 55-90C. Short rib is likely optimally cooked to a range of a few degrees. Why, if we can control temperature to the exact degree, is there a 35 degree discrepency?
Beef contains natural enzymes that weaken the connective tissue that makes it tough. These enzymes are most active between 50-55C where they become denatured (mcgee 152). However the protein mysosin coagulates at these temperatures which accounts for some of the firmness of underbraised short rib (mcgee 150). A traditional pot roast or braise will be cooked until the collagen dissolves into component proteins, gelatin which creates a succulent mouthfeel characteristic of braised meats even though the meat itself is somewhat dry. The temperature at which collagen dissolves, 60-70C, also causes muscle fibers to shrink and squeeze out most of the moisture (mcgee 150).
Cooking tough cuts of beef between 50-55C creates a curious product. The meat is medium in doneness and takes on a wonderfully tender texture like tenderloin. The surface acquires an extremely unnerving greenish color. Will people be thrown off by a tender pink short rib? Cooking it over 55C on the other hand will result in the denaturing of the tenderizing enzymes without necessarily dissolving the tough collagen. In theory one could braise short rib indefinitely between 55-60C and never have a tender product. I actually did this by mistake and was very confused why my 18 hour braise was tough as nails.
A possible solution might be to cook the short rib at 50-55C for several hours to allow for tenderization and then raise the temperature to 60-65 for a shorter time to denature the collagen.
This is all very interesting to learn the science behind cooking meat. However, when I'm in the kitchen I just want to know the temperature at which to set the device and could care less about myosin, collagen etc. I don't believe in a magic temperature, I do however intend to answer all these questions I ask above.
We've come to the point technologically where we are able to affordably and precisely control our cooking temperatures to an exact degree. Intuition is traded for cognition. Thus the question: what is the optimal temperature at which we cook beef? what is the optimal temperature at which to cook an egg? pork shoulder? a potato? lentils? lambs tongue? chicken thighs?
Stephen Baldwin's comprehensive guide to sous vide cooking contains great recipes, temperatures and times. However, they are contradictory with personal experience and other reearch.
I'm finding myself in my kitchen about to make a braise sous vide and not knowing what temperature to cook it at. Should we go 55C for 48 hours? 60C for 24 hours? 80C for 8 hours? Every source calls for different times and temperatures. Since the method of sous vide cooking is relatively new and not widely used outside professional kitchens, recipes can be difficult to come by. While I can braise a short rib to amazing succulence using a traditional method, I can't honestly tell you what to set the dial to before dropping the bag in the water.
Preliminary Research:
I use short rib as an example because it is very popular tough cut of beef. I've seen recipes that range from 4-36 hours at 55-90C. Short rib is likely optimally cooked to a range of a few degrees. Why, if we can control temperature to the exact degree, is there a 35 degree discrepency?
Beef contains natural enzymes that weaken the connective tissue that makes it tough. These enzymes are most active between 50-55C where they become denatured (mcgee 152). However the protein mysosin coagulates at these temperatures which accounts for some of the firmness of underbraised short rib (mcgee 150). A traditional pot roast or braise will be cooked until the collagen dissolves into component proteins, gelatin which creates a succulent mouthfeel characteristic of braised meats even though the meat itself is somewhat dry. The temperature at which collagen dissolves, 60-70C, also causes muscle fibers to shrink and squeeze out most of the moisture (mcgee 150).
Cooking tough cuts of beef between 50-55C creates a curious product. The meat is medium in doneness and takes on a wonderfully tender texture like tenderloin. The surface acquires an extremely unnerving greenish color. Will people be thrown off by a tender pink short rib? Cooking it over 55C on the other hand will result in the denaturing of the tenderizing enzymes without necessarily dissolving the tough collagen. In theory one could braise short rib indefinitely between 55-60C and never have a tender product. I actually did this by mistake and was very confused why my 18 hour braise was tough as nails.
A possible solution might be to cook the short rib at 50-55C for several hours to allow for tenderization and then raise the temperature to 60-65 for a shorter time to denature the collagen.
This is all very interesting to learn the science behind cooking meat. However, when I'm in the kitchen I just want to know the temperature at which to set the device and could care less about myosin, collagen etc. I don't believe in a magic temperature, I do however intend to answer all these questions I ask above.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Elements of Chili
What's in chili you ask?
"Well, its a stew."
Go on.
"Its got lots of meat, beef, pork."
Yes.
"Its got lots of cumin, and spices."
Ok.
"You usually put beans of some kind in it too."
So lets cook the meat the best way we know how - under vacuum at a precise temperature so as to denature the collagen and increase tenderness without over coagulating protein causing the meat to "dry out."
Lets cook the beans the best way we know, soak them overnight and braise them slowly with lots of aromatics in a highly seasoned liquid.
Lets take the additional aromatics, spices, onions, garlic and tomatoes and cook them but keep them fresh so they contribute to the dish.
Then we can put it all back together. That's chili right? What's the big deal?
This is a dish I've probably made 100 times but never like this. Always a tomato based stew heavily spiced with cumin and chili powder. I've had a standard method - sweat the onions, garlic, add spices, tomato etc. Add the beans and meat and braise until tender. The book was essentially closed on chili.
I would never be so pretentious as to "deconstruct" something. Nor was it a premeditated disruption of method, just a curiosity, caprice and circumstance that led to a "composed braise." I'm finding this idea of isolating technique interesting but so completely unprofound the more I think about it. The oxymoronical notion of an "instant stew" is equally amusing.
A major initial concern is that it would eat disjointed, taste composed, but this was not the case. All the elements of a great chili were there they just came together at the end - the savory richness of the pork from both the meat and the cuisson, the heartiness of the beans and the sweetness and brightness from the vegetables and spices.
What was most exciting is it had a vibrance and a freshness difficult to impart on braises. I've folded in raw purees and used various acids to achieve the same effect without as much success.
For the meat:
1400g pork shoulder
7g salt
2g sugar
2g paprika
.5g cumin
.5g chili powder
.2g cinnamon
rub the meat with spices and seasonings. Cook sous vide until very tender. 80C 8-12 hours. 60C for 24-36 hours. Chill, freeze or use immediately.
For the Beans:
250g dried pinto beans
120g medium onion
4 cloves garlic
60g smoked bacon
1 chili brulee
1 sprig thyme
Soak the beans overnight. Take care to make sure the water is clean and changed at least twice through the process.
Combine all ingredients and add 750g water. Bring to a simmer. Make sure the liquid is well seasoned. Cook at 85C for 8-12 hours. Chill the beans in the cuisson until ready to use.
To finish:
100g onion small dice
50g smoked bacon, baton
5 cloves garlic, minced
30g tomato paste
40g brown sugar
230g red wine vinegar
90g tomato puree
3g paprika
1.5g cumin
1.5g chili powder
.2g cinnamon
Render the bacon in a little olive oil over low heat. Cook until crispy. Add the onion and sweat until very soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Add the spices and tomato paste cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the sugar and vinegar and reduce au sec. Add the tomatoes and cook until for about 10 minutes. add the liquid from the pork and a little of the bean cooking liquid. Add the beans and meat back in to finish.
"Well, its a stew."
Go on.
"Its got lots of meat, beef, pork."
Yes.
"Its got lots of cumin, and spices."
Ok.
"You usually put beans of some kind in it too."
So lets cook the meat the best way we know how - under vacuum at a precise temperature so as to denature the collagen and increase tenderness without over coagulating protein causing the meat to "dry out."
Lets cook the beans the best way we know, soak them overnight and braise them slowly with lots of aromatics in a highly seasoned liquid.
Lets take the additional aromatics, spices, onions, garlic and tomatoes and cook them but keep them fresh so they contribute to the dish.
Then we can put it all back together. That's chili right? What's the big deal?
This is a dish I've probably made 100 times but never like this. Always a tomato based stew heavily spiced with cumin and chili powder. I've had a standard method - sweat the onions, garlic, add spices, tomato etc. Add the beans and meat and braise until tender. The book was essentially closed on chili.
I would never be so pretentious as to "deconstruct" something. Nor was it a premeditated disruption of method, just a curiosity, caprice and circumstance that led to a "composed braise." I'm finding this idea of isolating technique interesting but so completely unprofound the more I think about it. The oxymoronical notion of an "instant stew" is equally amusing.
A major initial concern is that it would eat disjointed, taste composed, but this was not the case. All the elements of a great chili were there they just came together at the end - the savory richness of the pork from both the meat and the cuisson, the heartiness of the beans and the sweetness and brightness from the vegetables and spices.
What was most exciting is it had a vibrance and a freshness difficult to impart on braises. I've folded in raw purees and used various acids to achieve the same effect without as much success.
For the meat:
1400g pork shoulder
7g salt
2g sugar
2g paprika
.5g cumin
.5g chili powder
.2g cinnamon
rub the meat with spices and seasonings. Cook sous vide until very tender. 80C 8-12 hours. 60C for 24-36 hours. Chill, freeze or use immediately.
For the Beans:
250g dried pinto beans
120g medium onion
4 cloves garlic
60g smoked bacon
1 chili brulee
1 sprig thyme
Soak the beans overnight. Take care to make sure the water is clean and changed at least twice through the process.
Combine all ingredients and add 750g water. Bring to a simmer. Make sure the liquid is well seasoned. Cook at 85C for 8-12 hours. Chill the beans in the cuisson until ready to use.
To finish:
100g onion small dice
50g smoked bacon, baton
5 cloves garlic, minced
30g tomato paste
40g brown sugar
230g red wine vinegar
90g tomato puree
3g paprika
1.5g cumin
1.5g chili powder
.2g cinnamon
Render the bacon in a little olive oil over low heat. Cook until crispy. Add the onion and sweat until very soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Add the spices and tomato paste cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the sugar and vinegar and reduce au sec. Add the tomatoes and cook until for about 10 minutes. add the liquid from the pork and a little of the bean cooking liquid. Add the beans and meat back in to finish.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Strawberries
1000g strawberries
150g sugar
full vacuum. Macerate at room temperature 1 hour. 90C for 15 minutes. Depending on the time frame and desired result you can simply refrigerate for a few days or freeze and thaw to extract the juice.
Were using this as a base for a jam.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Guerilla Food Photography
As I began to piece together my "studio" in chicago, I found myself greatly satisfied at how much one can accomplish at very little expense. The photos I post are prepared with skill and great care, however, I am not using a professional studio or thousands of dollars of specialized equipment.
The beauty of digital photography is the process is greatly simplified from the convultion that is film. The lab, the processing, the printing are all consolidated to a home computer. White balancing film is difficult and expensive. It requires special equipment, high temperature resin gels and filters. With digital you can manually white balance to literally any continous spectrum light source - especially shooting in .RAW. This makes it possible to use a $5 worklight from the hardware store for shooting. Tungsten studio lights, on the other hand, cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Are there drawbacks? of course.
My backdrop is a $.50 piece of white poster board supported by a cardboard box I got for free.
I used to spend a lot of time searching for nice photo plates. A high end restaurant will easily spend $40 or more on a single service piece. Most of the time I erase the plate anyway in post, for one reason or another. So instead, a 12x12 white square of plexiglass ($2) stands in for bernadaud china.
There is no way around the cost of a camera and adobe photoshop. I shoot on a canon rebel xsi. However - before switching to a digital slr, I used a canon powershot that cost approx. $300 for years. These were difficult shoots because of the limitations of the camera. My point is that it is possible to create a high quality image without a prosumer digital camera.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
New Photos
It occurred to me at some point over the last few weeks of building the website that all of these images are at least a year old. The last time I had an actual shoot was last summer. I also realized how much I miss it. A new studio is already in the works - as impractical as it is in this tiny chicago apt. Hopefully I'll have some new material soon.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Website
DIY websites = time consuming, frustrating. Rewarding, however especially financially.
My New Website
Its a work in progress
My New Website
Its a work in progress
Monday, April 13, 2009
Mid-level Sous Vide
In an earlier post I compared a professional setup for sous vide cooking with a minimal one. This option offers automatic and precise temperature control for less than half the cost of an immersion circulator. The Auber PID Controller will, coupled with a heat source, keep a water bath within 1 degree C. If the heat source comes from underneath the natural convection will maintain consistent temperature, making circulation unnecessary. This Winco 30 cup rice cooker comfortably holds 8 liters of water. It took about 20 minutes to stabalize within the degree. I also took this picture before I figured out how to display temperature in C.
I have lots of plans now with the ability to precisely control temperature over a prolonged perdiod of time.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
New Additions
We have a new member of our family, Sophie. In addition we ordered an Auber PID controller, a food saver upgrade, and a commercial sized rice cooker for a slightly more sophisticated sous vide setup.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Studio Kitchen
I just want to mention how glad I am Studio Kitchen is once again accessible to the general public.
I love Shola's food. Master of technique. Its clean, thoughtful and authentic. He has the rare ability to create food interesting to me as a professional chef, but also something I really want to eat.
The new website is great.
I love Shola's food. Master of technique. Its clean, thoughtful and authentic. He has the rare ability to create food interesting to me as a professional chef, but also something I really want to eat.
The new website is great.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Whole Pig
We brought in a whole pig - just for fun. 46# head-on. So far we have 2 hams curing 2 different ways, 1/2 belly curing for bacon, head-meat terrine, lots of shoulder meat and skin. More details to come.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Buttermilk Ice Cream
Just a test so far, however, the unfrozen base is delicious. I'm really excited to churn it. This needs to be churned immediately because of the active culture in the buttermilk.
500g buttermilk
10g milk powder
120g heavy cream
30g sweetened condensed milk
100g sugar
20g glucose powder
4.5g lactic acid
2g powdered gelatin
1g xanthan gum
Add the cream to a small pot and bloom the gelatin over the top 5 minutes. Add the sugar, glucose powder and sweetened condensed milk. Warm until sugar is melted do not bring to a boil. Chill thoroughly. Once the cream mixture is cold blend with remaining ingredients and pass through a fine sieve.
The recipe takes from laiskonis' post on ice cream. If my math is right, this recipe is approximately 29.5% dry matter and 6% fat, which falls slightly below bajard's ideal ratios.
500g buttermilk
10g milk powder
120g heavy cream
30g sweetened condensed milk
100g sugar
20g glucose powder
4.5g lactic acid
2g powdered gelatin
1g xanthan gum
Add the cream to a small pot and bloom the gelatin over the top 5 minutes. Add the sugar, glucose powder and sweetened condensed milk. Warm until sugar is melted do not bring to a boil. Chill thoroughly. Once the cream mixture is cold blend with remaining ingredients and pass through a fine sieve.
The recipe takes from laiskonis' post on ice cream. If my math is right, this recipe is approximately 29.5% dry matter and 6% fat, which falls slightly below bajard's ideal ratios.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Sous Vide At Home
If I could reasonably afford a polyscience thermal circulator I would buy it in a heartbeat. In fact, I've come close several times anyway. Until then, this is how I cook sous vide at home.
You may laugh and it is a little embarassing to advertise it the way I am now, but I've always had such great results. Fish, chicken, pork, various cuts of beef - they all benefit. I used to use ziploc bags but I finally bought one of those shitty food-saver vacuum pack machines. This is the only piece of equipment you would reasonably have to buy if you cook at home.
Here I'm cooking two pieces of pork belly cured in two different ways, attempting to maintain 70C.
Professional Sous Vide Set up:
Chamber Cryo-vac machine $1,500
PolyScience Circulator ~$1,000
Total: $2,500
Bags vary in price but are usually cheaper when purchased in large quantity.
Home Sous Vide Setup:
Food Saver vacuum machine $50-70
vacuum bags $10
12qt stainless steel pot $30
digital thermometer $15
Total: $105-$125
What do we lose from the cheaper setup? Mostly control and a good deal of consistency. Cooking a "roast beef" or something for an extended period of time that will be finished on a grill will not be made or broken by a 1-2 degree difference. Neither will a steak or piece of fish that only cooks for 8-15 minutes. They will, however, suffer if the water starts to boil without you noticing, which has happened to me several times. A thermal circulator will heat up to 7 gallons of liquid consistently to within .05C. It can run for days without care or attention, which is another problem: unless you are willing to stay at home for 12 or more hours at a time babysitting your food its not very practical. Most people aren't willing to leave home or go to sleep with the oven running. Solution: crockpot, If its big enough to hold what you're cooking and will keep food well below a simmer.
Getting down to business - pork belly.
Comparing notes from different cookbooks:
Under Pressure
Brine 24 hours. Sous Vide 82C 12 hours.
Big Fat Duck
Brine 48 hours. Sous Vide 60C 36 hours.
Alinea
Dry Cure 48 hours. Sous Vide 88C 4 hours.
Professional Charcuterie - Traditional Bacon
Dry Cure 10 days. Smoke 49C 10 hours.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sweet Potato
I was looking for something completely unrelated in "On Food and Cooking" and I came across the section on sweet potatoes. Mcgee states that at 57C an enzyme in the potato is activated that converts the starch to a sugar called maltose. This process stops at 75C when the enzyme is denatured. This explains why sweet potatoes will ooze syrup and have a completely different quality when cooked slowly in an oven as opposed to moist cooking methods. According to the book some varieties convert up to 75% of their starch to maltose.
So lets cook a sweet potato around 62-65C for a long time and see what happens. Eventually in theory up to 75% of the starch will be converted to maltose syrup. The sweet potato will confit itself without any additional ingredients. Maybe we could collect the syrup and use it for another application. Whip it with versawhip, whipped sweet potato.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Musings: My Best Friend's Wedding
It was recently brought to my attention this movie takes place in Chicago, where Julia Roberts plays a food critic.
The first scene takes place at Charlie Trotter's where a much younger, thinner Charlie Trotter tells one of his chefs, "I will kill your whole family if you don't get this right."
The first scene takes place at Charlie Trotter's where a much younger, thinner Charlie Trotter tells one of his chefs, "I will kill your whole family if you don't get this right."
Friday, January 02, 2009
Pheasant Sausage
380g breast meat scrap without skin
330g pork belly
208g Pheasant leg meat with skin
181g foie gras
105g salumeria pancetta
105g smoked bacon
81g pheasant or chicken livers
30g Jack daniels whiskey
30g sauvignon blanc
200g dark and golden raisins
15g cider molasses
26g sage leaves
1 clove garlic
1g thyme leaves
Chop the sage leaves very fine and set aside with the raisins.
Toss the remaining ingredients together with the seasoning and rest 1 hour. Grind everything together through a fine die. Fold the raisins and sage leaves into the ground meat. Stuff via normal procedure. Cook the sausages sous vide or poach at 60C.
Seasoning per KG:
12.5g salt
2g sel rose
2g pepper
1g quatre epice
330g pork belly
208g Pheasant leg meat with skin
181g foie gras
105g salumeria pancetta
105g smoked bacon
81g pheasant or chicken livers
30g Jack daniels whiskey
30g sauvignon blanc
200g dark and golden raisins
15g cider molasses
26g sage leaves
1 clove garlic
1g thyme leaves
Chop the sage leaves very fine and set aside with the raisins.
Toss the remaining ingredients together with the seasoning and rest 1 hour. Grind everything together through a fine die. Fold the raisins and sage leaves into the ground meat. Stuff via normal procedure. Cook the sausages sous vide or poach at 60C.
Seasoning per KG:
12.5g salt
2g sel rose
2g pepper
1g quatre epice
Monday, December 08, 2008
Monday, December 01, 2008
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