April « 2011 « Smart Kitchen

April, 2011

Let them Eat Cake, and Cornish Crab and Pressed Duck and Roulade of…

The Princess & Her Flock of "Bridelings" (photo courtesy of Zimbio.com)

For not the first time, I felt lucky to be up working at 2-3 AM PST, ironically on Hereford beef from Herefordshire England while the royal wedding was on in the background.

For a non-gusher, Kate’s arrival at the Abbey was something to see Live, even on a small screen and more than 5 time zones away. Being part of something like that monarchy, the tradition, the line of fathers & sons, mothers & daughters made me understand why all those Tommies faced the machine guns and tanks of England’s foes.

It was spectacular to see the princess bride walk towards royal matrimony, with all its privilege and all its responsibilities & strictures, accompanied by her inspirational processional music and her “flock” of attending little “bride-lings” in white.

The images got me thinking about what they would be eating in London today and so courtesy of The Australian, we were able to review the Royal Menu released by Buckingham Palace. The 650 or so guests at the lunchtime reception were served a selection of canapes, including:

- Cornish crab salad on lemon blini

- Pressed duck terrine with fruit chutney

- Roulade of goats’ cheese with caramelised walnuts

- Assortment of palmiers and cheese straws

- Scottish smoked salmon rose on beetroot blini

- Miniature watercress and asparagus tart

- Poached asparagus spears with Hollandaise sauce

- Quails eggs with celery salt

- Scottish langoustines with lemon mayonnaise pressed confit of pork belly with crayfish and crackling

- Wild mushroom and celeriac chausson

- Bubble and squeak with confit shoulder of lamb

- Grain mustard and honey-glazed chipolatas

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- Smoked haddock fishcake with pea guacamole

- Miniature Yorkshire pudding with roast fillet of beef and horseradish mousse

- Gateau opera

- Blood orange pate de fruit

- Raspberry financier

- Rhubarb creme brulee tartlet

- Passionfruit praline

- White chocolate ganache truffle

- Milk chocolate praline with nuts

- Dark chocolate ganache truffle

Buckingham Palace added that guests would be served Pol Roger NV brut reserve champagne – along with other soft and alcoholic drinks.

The palace said that governors-general and prime ministers would be presented to the queen, the duke of Edinburgh, the prince of Wales, the duchess of Cornwall, and the newly-married royal couple.

The reception was due to include the cutting of the wedding cake, as well as some speeches.

P Chef

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Breakfast / Easter / Eggs / Farming — No Comments
26
Apr 11

Egg Producers Cluck about Rising Costs, Declining Sales

The Only Happy Egg Producer (photo courtesy of EverythingEaster.com)

Is it a surprise that twice as many eggs are consumed Easter Week as compared to a normal week? Not here, but it turns out that we, the PChefs, are part of a trend. One we might have to rectify next year. What did we do? We neglected to color eggs this year, relying instead on the time saving, cheap plastic eggs that double as temporary candy safes. We were not alone. For the first time, Easter Demand for Eggs was flat. That is wrong on two or three levels.

Hardboiling and painting eggs is both cooking real food and a great family activity. Second, the new way, as opposed to the old way, involves more sugar and bad candy. Third, we are hurting local egg producers who are hard pressed to make money with rising fuel and commodity prices, in favor of plastic doodad makers.

We are resolving to do better next year and just bought an extra dozen to try and catch up in 2011. We will probably do some Hard Boiling and may get in some Poaching too.

P Chef

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Events / French / Girl Meats Fork — 1 Comment
19
Apr 11

French Cooking Up “Pan”-Theon to French Cuisine

The French Raise Dough for Museum to Baking (and Cooking) Photo courtesy of the WSJ

This past week Susie Timm of Girl Meats Fork and I were discussing the titans of French cuisine gathered at the Chateau de Versailles for a fund raising event that they hope will spur many donations towards a massive project canonizing French gastronomy. We collaborated to tell you about it.

Apparently, French President Sarkozy originally spun the project back in 2008 as he sought to enshrine French cooking as a UNESCO approved world art after economic and cultural pressures threatened to diminish the appreciation for true gastronomic achievement and replace it with fast food, chain restaurants and oversized grocery stores, even in La Belle France.

The hitch? This proposed “living space,” (neither museum or restaurant) has an estimated $70 million dollar price tag and the French have neither the funding nor an available Paris location for it as of yet.

The art of cooking is paramount in French culture and it is something at which they have excelled and which we can praise them for. They take the consumption of food and drink more seriously than practically anywhere else in a world of cultures each discovering, exploring and enhancing its own cuisine.

Hence the French calls for a “Louvre of Gastronomy.” It seems that this country that has more Michelin starred chefs than anywhere else is facing non-gastronomic challenges with the project that extend beyond merely raising funds.

What will the museum place on a pedestal to revere? Once the discussion was opened, it became evident, from the myriad warring parties, that the classic “French meal” is also not as crystal clear as consommé. Ironically, what is more Gallic than a furious debate between various chefs, in funny hats, as to what recipe of a particularly obscure dish best represents their culinary tradition.

Add the cock fight over the Coq au Vin, the discourse over the main course, to the French economic and budgetary woes and they face long odds of creating a shrine to Carême, Escoffier, and Brillat-Savarin. I wish I knew the French translation for the German word “Shadenfreud,” meaning delight at others’ misfortune because I could use that translated French word to describe my joy at the French squabbling over a pantheon to esteemed cooking, that we all, myself among the first, will want to visit and experience. Shadenfreud = me. Point to the French for getting us all so wrapped up in their story.

The band of chefs (and culinary tourists) pushing for the project are hoping the French government will pony up cash needed for marketing campaigns that will remind Europe of their culinary greatness.

Let’s not ask ourselves if it is the place of any government to finance projects of this scope? What would the fallout be with our average, burger eating folk if our government funded a similar American gastronomic canonization?

P Chef Susie Timm

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Cristeta Comergord / Culinary Travel / Equipment / White House — No Comments
12
Apr 11

Cooking for the Commander in Chief

I read an interesting article (Cooking for the Commander in Chief) on how they fix it up over at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

White House Chef Criseta Comerford (courtesy of Suite101.com)

White House Executive Chef Criseta Comerford, Philippine born and trained in traditional French Cuisine at the University of the Philippines’s Food-Technology Program, presides over a small kitchen with 12 Vulcan burners, a gas grill, a salmander broiler and a convection oven that doubles as a steamer.

The Small Sunny & Airy White House Kitchen

She can cook casual for the first family (Laura Bush promoted her to the top job in the top kitchen) or preside over 40 or more chefs for a state dinner.

The Commander in Chief's Organic Garden (courtesy of Low Density Lifestyles)

They can also draw from the 1,100 square foot Organic White House Garden on the South Lawn which grows, among other things Cilantro, Green Oak Leaf Lettuce, Black Kale, Chiles, Parsley, and Sweet Orange Tomatoes.

If you are curious about how the most powerful family in the world eats, the article is a good place to start.

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Bloggers / Easter / Girl Meats Fork / Lamb / Meat / SK Chef / Smart Kitchen News — No Comments
7
Apr 11

Sonoran Living – For Easter Lamb

the set of sonoran living ABC 15 Phoenix Az

From a Set @ Sonoran Living ABC 15

We want to thank Andi Barness and the crew at ABC 15 in Phoenix for having Chef Eric (SK Chef) down to share an Easter recipe for Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops with the viewers.

We had a great time and Chef Eric did a great job with the recipe in 5 minutes on TV.

Getting into "Game Mode" SK Chef Prepares

Andi Barness & Chef Eric O'Neill, SK Chef

Andi Barness & Chef Eric. She was a great host.

Chef Eric, Happy with his Appearance

Thanks to Sonoran Living's Production Crew

Thanks Camera Guys

Thanks Susie Timm of Girl Meats Fork

Hall of Fame Chef Dominic O'Neill A.K.A. "Teaching Chef" Lent Support (moral & culinary)

The whole trick to making restaurant-quality, Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops in under 10 minutes was using the “Four Levers of Cooking™.” Chef Eric, or SK Chef as we call him at Smart Kitchen, had thought about the First Lever, Organizing, and the Second Lever, Preparation, in advance so that he could focus on levers 3 & 4 (“Controlling the Cooking Processes and “Flair”) when he was with Andi. He pulled off a complex, but not complicated dish, in a few minutes by completing ahead of time all that could be completed early and focusing on only Finish Cooking on site the critical Lamb and Wilted Red Swiss Chard. TV magic made it look like 5 minutes but in actuality it was really all done in about 8 minutes.

One of the preparation tricks is getting the pistachio butter’s consistency down so that it bakes into a nice crust instead of a “melt.” Holding it on ice makes it easier to manipulate.

The Consistency of the Rolled Pistachio Butter, the Diameter of a Quarter, is Key.

Another is to Par Cook the lamb before the TV appearance, though that is not necessary or recommended at home. We gained a few minutes for TV by pre-searing the final cooked lamb (the TV Magic portion) and Holding it out of The Food Danger Zone until ready to go back into the TV Station’s oven. A last trick was using a very hot pan on High Heat for searing the raw lamb on television. SK Chef took a chance heating the pan dry and then used an Avocado Oil (with the highest Smoke Point) to quickly sear the meat.

In the run up to the appearance, we also had a lot of fun (and snacks) practicing cooking lamb TV Style.

Can't I Just use YouTube?

Practicing, Chef Eric explained, over and over again on our own cameras, “Why Smart Kitchen is Different than YouTube.” Essentially he said, “You can use YouTube, but you don’t always know what you will get. With Smart Kitchen you have a professionally designed curriculum that moves you, progressively, from hand washing (for beginners) all the way to carving ice sculptures (for the more advanced). Smart Kitchen is Culinary School in a box, with all the techniques, tricks and flavors of a $30-$40,000 Culinary School but self-paced for only $9.99/month. We must have gotten it by the 4th take. Smart Kitchen is “The Smartest Way to Learn to Cook.™” We hope you give it a try. By the way the new Free Trial is live on the homepage.

The Smart Kitchen Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops

We also got to eat about 4 racks of lamb done up with a nice pistachio crust over two weeks. We were driven by a variation of Richard Marchinko’s (former Seal Team 6 Commander) motto that “the more you bleed in training, the less you will bleed in combat.” Our codicil is ”the more you cook in practice, the better you will cook on TV (and eat in the weeks leading up to the appearance).”

"Searing Lamb Chops! Take 15 & 16"

Another trick is that American Racks of Lamb (and the resultant chops) are a bit larger than Australian/New Zealand Racks of Lamb. We’d rather eat the American Chop but cook the smaller Australian/New Zealand Chop on T.V. Note to reader, both can be tricky to find on short notice. It feels like we cleaned out our local zip code of rack of lamb prepping for the appearance. If planning to cook lamb make sure to shop ahead of time to ensure a good quality piece of meat.

P Chef

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Appetizers / Cheese / Healthy Eating / Smart Kitchen News / Vegetable — No Comments
1
Apr 11

Working with Gina’s Homemade

Recently, we had a chance to work with some very fine Mozzarella from Gina’s Homemade, made locally here in Arizona. Right now, I believe they are making terrific artisanal cheeses as a specialty but the cheeses (Ricotta and Mozzarella) should be a main Product Line sometime soon.

SK Chef decided to make three Vegetable Crudité (Yellow Pepper, Heirloom Tomato, Grilled Zucchini) to showcase the fresh, open flavor of the Gina’s product.

That's a Fresh Product

There is a small amount of preparation but it is very manageable if you know your 4 Levers of Cooking™ and are properly organized. As you can see the results turn out nicely. Our Recipe for Vegetable Crudité has a pretty detailed “Mis en Place” or organization section towards the bottom that describes which steps we took, and when, to have all the items ready for service together.