What's Ben Cooking

So the primal cuts

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:41:41 -0400

One of my last posts was about Primal cuts and the disconnect between food (meat) and the kitchen. Today I went to the Buford Hwy. Farmers Market. They have fresh “Confucian style” duck. Apparently this means just killed and plucked, with the head, feet and internal organs still in place.

I’m not squeamish, but it’s a little different having to reach in and cut out intestine. I hit the Gall bladder , so their was a lot of washing out fluids that are unappealing at best. On the other hand, the Duck was about a dollar less per pound than frozen.

I butchered it into breast, legs, wing, and bones. This afternoon the bones ( and head and feet) will get a quick roast with mirepoix and then its into the sock pot. I think we can get three, maby four meals out of it.

I'm back!

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:29:13 -0500

So I’m back as a full time cook. It’s incredibly difficult to cook and do everything that needs to be done. One of the things I’ll try to focus on is the ability to make something in under 20 min. I may ask for 1 hour of prep once a week. Let’s do this.

It's been a while

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:17:35 -0500

No damn it I’m tired. I have been on a crazy schedual and it’s my first time to think about food in a long time. I’m considering being a house husband again just to make food again instead of buying stuff. With the addition of the gas and child care it’s about the same.
That being said, it’s tough being a domestic, since you are always at work. It’s tough to have a meal ready at 6:00 am and 6 PM and change diapers , do dishes and say “stop doing <insert dangerous/messy thing here> all day long. I’m thinking I can do it and go back to school, but i’m not at 100% yet, only 95%.

Real men don't eat quiche?

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:48:48 -0500

OK , so there was this book, years ago. And then in the early 2000’s it was “This is bait, not food.” when going for sushi. Real men don’t eat eggs, bacon and cheese? You can put almost anything in a quiche, but the classic is lorrane, and it’s all yum.
Sushi is tasty and delicious, especially the sea urchin when you can get it. There is an ephemeral taste that lights up your palate.
Another example is Haggis. My aunt rolls her eyes at haggis, but will eat kudush, honeycomb tripe stuffed with rice and beef, then boiled with onion. She said she won’t eat the trip, just the stuffing, but I’m not buying it. kudush was a favorite of my grandmothers when she could get it.

Real men eat real food, and what’s real is different from place to place. Some cooks just make it and others want to insert themselves into the conversation about what’s what. I don’t like hearing about molecular gastronomy for two reasons - It’s difficult for the home cook, and it’s about the art, not the food. Sure, a fashion designer can make something that looks good on the runway, but does it wear well? will it look good on a woman with a healthy BMI and no eating disorders? I understand your reaching for a pure form of art, the place where it transcends it’s medium, but I’m hungry. Pass the gravy and shut up about using liquid nitrogen.

And while I’m at it, lay off the peppers to. If I have to don PPE ( Personal protective equipment ) to cook the damn things it’s over doing things. Peppers should add another dimension to the dish, a slight prickle that wakes up the taste buds, not a tongue thrashing inferno. It’s not a sign of machismo to eat a ghost chili, it’s a week with no taste buds. I have been known to eat a small ball of wasabi when I go to a sushi restaurant, but it’s because my sinuses are almost always clogged, not for the enjoyment.

Beans and Rice

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:19:57 -0500

It’s beans and rice for lunch this week, because it’s inexpensive and sticks with you in the cold. Bean need to be salted, but it’s as good as anything. I like a bit of ham and recently started using smoked tails instead of a hoc.

I also like a bit of heat, so some cumin is always welcom. Since the beams might go into Chili, I keep the heat down to a roar though. A bit of onion can be nice, but hardly required. Time to get to work.

Terdukin

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:41:33 -0500

I’m making a Terdukin again this year by request. I’m going to take pictures of the proccess and post them. It’s another example of ingredients, not food.
If you buy a comercially made one it comes with Crawfish stuffing, maing your own let’s you choose the stuffing. I use one layer of hashwa ( rice and meat with pine nuts ) and a sage and onion bread stuffing on the other. it’s the Chicken, Stuffing, duck, stuffing, turkey. The biggest problem is that it takes 16 hours to cook.

So I'm working now.

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:18:00 -0500

I start my new job Monday, and so it will change how I cook. Today we had Osso Bucco with arzo pasta for lunch, and it was really good. But making Osso Bucco means slow braising beef shank in the oven for two hours, not the sort of thing you can do with a nine to five ( or six to two thirty ).

The new challenge is to have a tasty meal made in time to eat, and doing it after working at least an eight hour day. I’ve done some before but it is difficult to do. I hope to keep going, keep talking about the things I really enjoy, but we’ll see.

Beginner cooking - marinara sauce

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:06:00 -0500

IN French cooking there are five sauces ( maybe six ) and none are marinara. When a friend asked me to teach him to cook, this is what I started with because it’s dead simple and infinitely adaptable. Most people will eat hearty on Italian, it’s inexpensive, easy to adapt to vegetarian, and simple.

My mother worked in a pizza joint when she was younger, learning how to make baked ziti, lasagna, pizza sauce, the whole gamut of Italian-American cuisine. I found later that most of what we think of as “Italian” is southern Italy, the poorest region, so simple and cheap were the watchwords. To this day when the family gets together it’s always accompanied by ravioli baked with cheese on top.

When I was in High School, I went to a friends house, and we were going to have spaghetti for lunch. This Italian guy pull out a can of chef boyarde, I almost choked. When your last name is Vingnatti you have no excuses for not making sauce from scratch. They pull your card for that. I doctored a bottle of ragu ( from the Italian for ragout, or a main dish stew ) until it was unrecognizable and we ate. In my house we always have several cans of tomatoes, either crushed or diced ready to become chili, sauce or whatever else we need.

One truth is if you ask 100 Italians how to make sauce, you’ll get 132 answers. Regions have there own specialty, families have particular taste, and different application take different sauces. Here is a basic sauce-

1 onion

4 28 oz cans of tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp oregano

2 tbsp basil

1 tbsp parsley

1 tbsp olive oil

over medium heat, heat the olive oil in a pot, then add the onion and garlic. When the onion is just soft ( about 3 min ) add the tomatoes. when it bubbles, add the herbs and reduce. This can be served in about 10 min, but could simmer all day reducing.

Optional you can add the following - 1 cup red wine , 1 pound ground beef ( brown the beef first) , one pound Italian sausage ( brown first ) .

If you add olives, red pepper, and capers, it makes a puttanesca. Slice some fresh vegetables into 1/4 wide strips, add to the sauce and cook only briefly for a primavera ( first of spring ) sauce.

Mushrooms make a happy accompaniment. In the last 10 min , a pound or so of oysters or shrimp will make a nice flavor. I would adjust the spices accordingly.

For Lasagna make sure to use crushed tomato , and mince the onion. If you want to be exact, send the ingredients for a spin in a blender to make sure it’s smooth. Mix 2 eggs, 1 pound of ricotta, and 1/2 cup parsley. start with sauce, then noddle , cheese sauce, noodle cheese sauce. Keep building until the last layer of sauce, and then bake for 1 hour in the oven at 375. In the last 15 min. add a layer of Mozzarella.

Double the oregano and mince the onion, send through the blender to make a pizza sauce.

So this is what marinara can be, what it can turn into. I’m hungry , let’s eat.

Collecting Jutsu in the Cooking world.

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:03:59 -0400

Ok , so I’m a geek for the Naruto reference. Seriously though anyone can learn how to make a recipe, it’s not learning to cook. There are techniques and abilities that will make making things much easier in the long run if you take the time to understand where they come from, and how to apply them.

Some, like butchering a chicken are immidiatly useful, others ae more suttle. Being able to emulsify a suspention using a sulfide ( in the Zat at Toom ) can come in handy when other sauces are trying to break. If you understand how ta make a hollandase, can one be made with lime juice and olive oil? Figuring out the phisics is one part and understandg the technique will enable you to adapt it to what you are making today.

I use sautéing, deep fry, bake, braise, pan fry, grill, anything. I can take a new item and immediately adapt it to what I already do. The reason for this is the understanding of the fundamentals, the basic foundation in science as to why these things are used and under which circumstances. The result is that even if something goes south, usually there is a way to fix it. Today I made biscuits, and the first batch I made were with Crisco that had gone rancid. Using butter required some adjustments, but I understand the basic difference and could adapt.

The absolute minimum? Pan fry (sauté), boil, roast, brase, whip. That’s about all it coes down to. Shure, it’s useful to know how to cut in butter, or drizzle olive oil for a sauce, but it’s not an absolute neccessity to eat well. Also, some things are advanced techniques, once these have been taken care of, but I can feed you for a week, every meal in 30 min or less, and nothing the same twice.

As with most things it’s a matter of practice. Sauté enough garlic and you will realize it can’t go by it’s self. Toast pine nuts enough times and you remember not to turn your back on them for a second ( though my mom still doesn’t know this ). Grill enough steaks and eventually you turn the heat up enough to get the good crusty bits. Read the advice, then practice over and over. Make gravy enough and it won’t have lumps. If you screw up? Eat it anyway. Get a dog to feed it to, throw it away. Don’t be scared of making bad food, especially when the alternative is either fast food or cheap restaurants. How bad does it have to be to make a run to the border seem like a good idea? Try the method, see if it works. You just don’t know until you do.

Buying Ingredients

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:28:40 -0400

Specifically, buy ingredients and not food or food product. It takes some time, but ingredients are what food becomes. For Example buying a pork loin and making the marinade for it instead of buying a cryovac of one already in sauce.

The sauce that they will make has stabilizers, emulsifiers ( soy lecithin is a fav) and preservatives. How much salt is in it? How much sugar and of what kind? Making your own controls all of these things. Sure, I might add a ton of salt, but I added the salt and I know why it’s there.

Ingredients are what you use to make food. Potatoes, pasta, meat, veg (fresh or frozen) these are the things that make food. I understand that time is of the essence, but really? Can’t you prep ahead on one day, maybe take Sunday and make somethings to frieze? Doing all the cooking on Sunday is a time honored tradtion, and almost everything can be made, using thurs. for leftovers and Fir as the night to eat out. three days of meals - Lasagna, pot roast and chili con carne can’t be that dificult. The pot roast is put into a bag with wine and veg, then thrown in a slow cooker in the morning. Lasagna isn’t as difficult, especially if you remember to make the sauce a bit thin and use the noodle raw. The extra water will absorb into the noodles and the lasagna comes out like a slice of cake.

More and more studies are showing the enhancers used in commercial products lead to weight gain ( esp. HFCS and MSG ). Ingredients let you cut those and add love instead.

I think the most important thing is that we can buy ingredients for our traditional dishes, the things our mothers and grandmothers made from almost nothing into something magical. But that’s another post.

Zat ta Tomb - The best condiment in the world.

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:55:00 -0400

So I have mentioned that my family is from Lebanon. Many of the beat things I make are Lamb Stew, grape leaves , and eggplant casserole that translates to the “King of the stuffed vegies” (sheikh al mashi). My uncle grilled kidney on the fourth of July. There are dozens of things I make that are either middle eastern or influenced by the middle east. But there is one thing that’s above and beyond - Zat ta Tomb.

Zat is garlic, lemon juice and olive oil blended together. It’s not an aoli because it doesn’t have eggs in it (ever) since that would be mayonnaise. Three classic flavors coming together to be one thing, a medley of perfection that can be brushed on almost anything. it’s good on chicken or beef, a wonderful marinade, but on something like kidney or liver that has a strong flavor the garlic and olive oil opens up the flavor. I could literally just put this on bread and its just heaven. The Sulfides in the garlic are broken in the acid from the lemon juice, allowing it to emulsify the lemon and oil.

So how do you make this elixir? it’s easy enough if you have time and patience.

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice ( fresh is better )

Salt

Take a mortar and pestle, add salt to the bottom until just covered. Peel the garlic , then place into the mortar and begin grinding. When a paste is just formed, alternate between adding the olive oil and the lemon juice a bit at a time until combined, then add more. Make sure to make the paste smooth before adding more. If the sauce starts to break, add more garlic and keep grinding slowly.

For lamb, some mint can be added. Fish, rosemary or dill. any aromatic could be added at your preference, added with the garlic.

Why I don't make corn.

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:02:00 -0400

I eat almost anything. I’m scared to death of spiders, so they are out, but grasshoppers would be ok, grubs and larva (just protein). Basically if I know it won’t make me sick, I’ll try it at least once. But I don’t make corn. I don’t like the taste, the texture, the flavor.

The united states is the number one producer of corn for feed and consumption (counting HFCS) and it has an epidemic of obesity, studies are starting to show a link. Part of the issue is that corn syrup is used in the US because of the farm lobby squeezing out sugar and subsidizing corn. So much of out problems could be simplified, rising medical cost, loss of work days, rising debt. Corn is not efficient as a biomass for fuel either, at least not as efficient. OK, getting off my soap box, lets talk about corn.

When you eat corn it’s famous for going right through unchanged. That means no nutritional value has been delivered to the consumer. (not great) Polenta and Grits (hominy) are both rough ground corn boiled into a porridge, and both are almost inedible without cheese or at least butter. I hear the outrage, but a southerner wouldn’t think of grits without cheese and maybe some bacon. It’s true that this is a delicious breakfast, but what wouldn’t be? Go ahead, think of something. Now add cheese and bacon. Mom’s apple pie? Bet me, and I’ll make you one. It would be killer with cheese and bacon. <Drool>

I admit I don’t like corn because of how I was brought up. My brother and I would go to dad’s for the weekend, and there would be packages of Jiffy corn muffin mix in the pantry. Cornbread pancakes with maple were a staple for years, until both of us flat refused to ever eat them again.

Another problem is how it’s treated. Corn is not a vegetable. corn is NOT a vegetable. One more time CORN IS NOT a VEGATBEL! Corn is a grain, a high starch just like wheat, barely, rye, oats. If someone makes potatoes and corn, it’s like biscuit and pancakes. Not necessarily bad, but not something to do every day either. So eating corn, you get almost no nutrition from the undigested kernel, and what is converted is starches. Not a good combination. There are advantages though. Not having gluten it can be a better starch choice for people with issues related to gluten. it has a very coarse texture that can play with smooth cheeses or creams, and it’s cheap as dirt.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

Pork - A love story

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:58:35 -0400

A joke on the Simpsons went like this -

“(Lisa) “I’m going to become a vegetarian” (Homer) “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?” “Yes” “Bacon?” “Yes Dad” Ham?” “Dad all those meats come from the same animal” “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!””

What else is there to say? Modern pork is reduced fat, higher protein then ever before. This is not an accident, it’s a strategy that the pig farmers have been working on to increase sales. It’s also more tender than ever before, since all animals today are slaughtered younger than in the past (true for almost every domesticated animal today). Pork tenderloin is a fad, but for my money the loin, a cylinder of meat about 3-4 inches across and close to two foot long that is the best buy. This can be cut up for cubes in stir fry, roasted whole stuffed with dates and apples, made into a rollade with apple walnut stuffing, cut into pork chops and grilled. It’s three to five days of food with almost no fat or gristle ( there is a fat cap and silver side on one edge , but it’s minimal). The rollade with apple stuffing is the dish my friend Josh had to try. Josh suffers from Cilliacs, a gluten allergy. I offered to cook him something else and he flat refused. The Jewish Guy. With Cilliacs. Ate the stuffed pork chop.

But your not hear to listen to me brag, you want to hear about the good stuff, the bacon. I would have said until recently that the only thing I wouln’t put bacon in is desert, but chocolat covered bacon and bacon dougnuts are almost commonplace now. It’s so complex, so rewarding. The salt, smoky, nitrate laden crispy goodness can’t be described, only eaten. I’m sure that the white truffle is worth every penny, but can it truly compete with really good bacon? For 5 dollars I can get a pound of reasonable quality bacon, not the best, not the worst. That one pound can be choped and renered to saute vegitabes as they do in europe, it can rest on top of chiken or turkey to baste it, it can be fried, with an egg and toast. For the same price I could (maby) sniff a truffle while eating an egg. I don’t have hugely creative things to do with bacon, because why bother? Hamburger? add bacon, mac and cheese? Bacon it up. Pancakes with maple syrup? side of bacon. Don’t like Cabbage? Fry it in bacon fat. Honestly just a plate and a cup of coffee will answer most peoples needs. Bacon fat, used to toast bread….actualy I do have one thing, from a long time ago. I’m getting on in years, an there may come a time when I can afford a doctor, and he tells me I can’t have bacon anymore. But like a first girlfriend, even then, part of me will still love it.

6 slices of bacon (streaky bacon if your in europe)

1 loaf cheese bread (about 12 inches long, 3 inches wide)

1 fresh tomato

4 leaves romane lettuce

mayonase, spicy mustard

Slice the tomatoes medium thin, wash the lettuce. split the loaf lengthwise in 1/2. Fry the bacon until crisp on a medium high heat. Take care to render all the fat. Reduce the heat to medium, toast the bread in the bacon fat until golden. The assembly should be Bottom slice , mustard, bacon, lettuce, tomato , mayo , top slice. It a fried BLT. The Mayo on the top is an option, it’s a bit rich at that point, almost cloyingly so.

I may have more to say, because you can’t say it enough, but that’s all I can think of for now.

An introduction to Ben

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:00:37 -0400

I suppose it’s fair to say mot of you know me, at least at first, but I’m going to answer the question “Why listen to this guy?” After all there are tons of chefs out there and you can watch any of them making anything.

For three years I made my living cooking on board the USS Memphis and the USS Detroit. During that time I cooked for 300 people, cleaned and ordered the ingredients for the next day. I cooked with my mother and grandmother making traditional Lebanese food, and Italian. I cook most or all of the food for my family and also cook for friends who need more time. The best endorsement I could ask for is this - On Thanksgiving day, I was the only man in my family allowed to help with the meal.
I cook every day. Every single day I make something on the stove or in the oven. I buy the ingredients, chop all the vegies, and clean the pans. I’m not taking things from under the counter, then showing you a completed dish three seconds later. I cook, and I do it the way you do it, I do it because I want to eat, and know what I’m eating. Sometimes I’ll put recipes up here, sometimes not, but know that if I put it up here, I have made it exactly the way I describe it. No tricks, no cut to commercial, just the food you want to eat.
If you have questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. Honestly though “On Food and Cooking” and “Good Eats” can answer almost anything you would want to know.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I will.

What is the new pesant food?

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 07:16:51 -0400

What is the new peasant food? The food of a region is defined by the peasant food, the food of the common man. Tomato Sauce in Italy, Potatoes in Ireland, Rolmops in Scandinavia, the Pho of Vietnam. What should the peasant food be today? McDonalds would get the first three votes, but that’s what it IS not what it should be.
One problem is that most have been co-opted into cordon bleu cooking increasing the price. Oxtail and Turkey wings are dishes that are cheap and filling. Today both are jacked up in price by the demand.
Making palpable the ingredients and procedures others don’t want or can’t use is how to eat well on a budget. The offal ( heart, kidney, liver) can be inexpensive protein, but making them palpable takes a bit of skill ( or garlic and olive oil ). Slow cooking tough cuts on a regular basis is difficult in the modern life. Chuck, flank steak, and anything on goat simply must be slow cooked to break it down. Sure you can barbecue on the weekend, but the rest of the week it’s fast fast fast. How to balance the time for expense? The peasant would say yes, because there is no choice.