Ingredients are everythingI buy a lot of ingredients on-line. Amazon is one of my best friends as they deliver great products quickly and inexpensively. I buy most of my Italian flour, sardines, and other basic ingredients from them. Today, I discovered Zingerman's. Oh, my! I will be buying a few items from them for as long I can imagine based on the first shipment alone. I ordered two pounds of REAL Parmeggiano Reggiano cheese and a few bottles of olive oil. If you don't know about the real Parmeggiano Reggiano from Parma, Italy -- you must taste it to believe the difference. Zingerman's is licensed by the cheese makers of Italy to sell the real thing. They cut entire wheels of cheese and ship the Parmeggiano fresh from the wheel. The texture and flavor is beyond anything what can be acquired at the local store. It is a bit more expensive but so worth every penny. Real cheese from real cheese makers that are producing the world's best "prodotti". The texture is not hard-as-a-brick cheese or the artificial wood-fiber looking stuff in a green can. It is crystalline, uneven, natural and smooth at all the same time. Break off a piece and the flavors explode in your mouth. You do not need to shred it on pasta to enjoy it. Eat it with salami, prosciutto, olive oil or any other basic ingredient and you will wonder how we have screwed up Parmeggiano in this country. You will want to go to Italy tomorrow.
I also purchased a bottle of Poggio Lamentano Extra Virgin Olive Oil. As much as I loved the cheese, I may love this even more. In Italy, "L'olio Buono" is the house olive oil that comes directly from the Frantoio - the olive oil mill. It is green, delicious, effervescent and delicious. They do not typically use it for cooking but rather it is for eating with bread, antipasti, salads or on vegetables after they are are cooked. The Poggio Lamentano is L'olio Buono (the good oil). Poggio is an unfiltered, Tuscan olive oil with more flavor than any olive oil I have had since... well, since...Italy. The peppery finish is incredible and I imagine this oil on any vegetable we make as well as a good steak or fish. The color and taste is amazing. This is really the point to cooking at home. Finding the best ingredients and eating with passion for flavor. I could preach for days on the over-processed crap that we sell as food in the United States but there are any number of books, blogs and chefs talking about that. I would rather talk about the passion for taste and flavor. I have two kids in their twenties and they get it immediately. There is no trick in it. There is simpy an obvious difference in the ingredients from what they are used to. There is a nice Italian saying, "Non si puo discrivere, deve assiaggarlo!" It means that one cannot describe the difference as it must be tasted to understand. That is so true. Now immagine these ingredients in the hands of a great chef and you know why the best food in the world tastes so good. I have found that it works for me as well. My wife and I have a hard time finding good places to eat out now. Our food just tastes better and is far cheaper than most of what we can find anywhere. We live in Nashville and there are plenty of great places to eat. We just have a hard time finding those that are better than what we can make at home. It is possible for you and for anyone to experience the same thing. Except it is even better as it comes with the satisfaction of having made something truly delicious at home. Don't get me wrong, we go out and we find great restaurants around this great town. They are just not around the corner anymore. The bottom line is that there are better chefs in restaurants but we use much better ingredients. It makes all the diffence in flavor and our food experience!! For now, I think it is time for some wine and a few nibbles of Parmeggiano and Olive Oil.
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he old saying is true and it applies to the Home Chef. This is really the basis of my second rule of cooking even though I limited it to cast iron in the first blog. It really applies to everything from heat sources, knives, spoons, ladles, garlic presses, cheese graters and anything else in between. Don't forget that heat is a tool - perhaps the most important tool- in cooking. I believe in gas and the first thing we look for in a house is a gas stove top. I also have a wood burning pizza oven and a Big Green Egg in the back yard. They are both the best tools in cooking at home. I have often said that there are two things I have spent money on in life that were so obviously worth every penny that I would easily do it again. Lasik eye surgery and the Big Green Egg. Both were expensive and totally worth every single penny. The best news is that I don't' have to do either one ever again. The eyes are great and the Egg has a lifetime warranty.
I can go on and on about the Big Green Egg and I have been known to do so. Leave it at this, however. The Big Green Egg was the first major step in my transition to being a home chef with skill. It fundamentally changed everything I was able to do in a kitchen and it completely altered my view on how to cook. Why? Heat! I have a large sized BGE and it has plenty of room to do just about anything I need for a family meal. Everything from low temperature, smoked meats to high temperature (750 degrees F) searing and blackening. Since it uses real charcoal that releases steam as it burns, the food stays moist. The first time I used the Egg was to cook a simple burger and the effect was obvious. The flavor and moistness was so obvious that I declared for the first time, "That is worth every cent." I can go on about heat and heat sources but I would rather not, except to say that it is the most important tool after the ingredients themselves. You don't need gas or a BGE to make good food but they do make it easier and they allow for more creativity. The important message is to learn how to use the heat sources you have and to control them well enough to make food with the proper technique. Texture and taste are both vastly improved. Now let me talk about a tool that I don't use - spice mixes. I should not say I do not use them at all as I have one that I do use but it is only one and it is specifically for porchetta. Other than that, most spice blends are just covering up the taste of the ingredients and are not worth the money or the time. Salt, pepper, garlic and fresh herbs and spices are the way to go. Buy real ingredients and you will see that salt and pepper are all you really need. I use spices for some things but salt and pepper is the foundation for proteins. You will also eliminate the sugar and excessive salt that most spice blends add and you will begin to taste the real food. Take my lamb burgers for example. We use no ketchup to hide the taste and no spice blends at all. The burgers are so good that my wife puts them as the top meal of the Smith Home Chef. I buy lamb at costco, grind it myself, store it in vacuum packaging until use and keep several packages in the freezer at all times. I buy local whole milk from the farmer's market that has been pasteurized but not ultra-pasteurized so that it will still make good cheese. I use it to make fresh ricotta, sitting aside the whey for bread. I mix in grilled onion and use about one third in the meat itself. I add fresh mint and oregano from the garden into the meat as well and make the meat patties, seasoning with only salt and pepper. I forgot to mention that I also make brioche buns from scratch before I start. I put a bunch of spinach on the lower, toasted bun and add the other ricotta to the top with more grilled onion. The lamb is cooked at very high heat on a cast iron skillet for about three minutes on one side. I flip them and put the whole thing in the oven (400°) for another three minutes and then let them rest for about three or four minutes. They are moist and perfectly cooked lamb burgers. Put it all together and the whole flavor is amazing. Again, no spice mixes and no ketchup, mustard or mayo. Every bite comes with a delicious taste of the ingredients themselves with the mint and oregano providing the compliment to the lamb. The buns are fresh and soft but hearty enough to hold the whole thing together. The HEAT is the key. The lamb has a delicious crust from searing and a perfect temperature every time. The tools are simple. Ingredients, heat, cast iron, and a bit of technique. Nothing else is needed. Have fun and buon appetito! I have to admit that some days are better than others. Yesterday was a great day in my path through gastronomic arts and sciences and it is a bit embarrassing. As a man in my mid-fifties, I should have known what real Champagne tasted like and how well it goes with food. Not just eggs and toasts but with real food. In the next blog, I will talk about my mother's fried chicken and her apple pie. Two great (and maybe not so healthy) dishes that are worth the occasional use of bad ingredients (butter crisco). This blog is about what we ate the fried chicken with and that was real Champagne from the Champagne region of France.
There are many books about wine and the differences in European and American wines as well as those from all over the world. I personally like them all and they can all go so well with the right food. I know the least about Champagne mostly because what we call Champagne in the United States is typically not champagne at all. In my studies of wine and matching them with the proper food, I learned several things. First, the real champagne is very different and very good. It can only come from one region of the world or it is not champagne. Second, champagne is a food wine. Third, two of the best matches for champagne are fried chicken and popcorn. It was time to test this theory so we bought a nice bottle of French Champagne. Nothing too expensive but a nice middle of the road bottle. Interestingly, the salesman asked what we were looking to eat with it and when I said, "fried chicken", he responded with an exuberant, "you will love it". They he told us that he had the same bottle at home and was going to have it with popcorn during the NFL playoff game that night. Apparently he already knew that the savory but somewhat fatty flavor of both fried chicken and popcorn marries so well with the dry, smooth, clean and complex flavor of a real champagne. I had not idea how good they really go together but I do now. First of all, the champagne was so delicious on its own and nothing like what we were served on New Year's Eve recently. There is simply no comparison between a typical American brut and what we were drinking. The balance, clarity, smoothness and sophistication of the champagne was noticeable and bordering on perfect. Then we ate a bit of my mom's fried chicken (my wife made it but it is my mom's recipe) and we both had the same reaction. "Holy shit!!!!" It was an amazing marriage of flavors with the bonus of a mouthfeel unlike a typical meal. The two elements seem to improve each other and themselves with each bite and sip. I cannot say that I was amazed as I suspected it was true before we started. However, experiencing it was worth the effort and I would recommend it to anyone that likes food and wine. Now I am on to understanding more of what I can do with champagne and other real wines of the world. A recent read of Read Food, Fake Food, by Larry Olmstead informed me of the incredible level of fakery in all types of seafood. As with many great books, Real Food educated me on many food issues and today I found direct evidence of Mr. Olmstead’s claims and the validity of his book. The specific topic is salmon. I really like salmon and I have really worked at cooking it on my Big Green Egg. I take great care to soak cedar planks for a few hours and I pay close attention to the temperature. I bring the heat up to about 500° for 20 minutes to saturate the grill. When I put on the cedar planks on, the temperature will drop and I don’t want it to go below 400°. The coals are hot but the air flow is reduced and the effective heat to the salmon needs to remain around 400° for the 12 minutes or so it takes to make perfectly cooked, medium rare salmon. We typically put it with a nice Caesar salad and yes, I make our own Caesar dressing. I take great care in the preparation of the meal and it should actually be salmon. Not sometimes, every time.
Well, it turns out that you have to read the fine print. I have been buying salmon from Costco for years and they consistently provide an excellent product. Today, I read a little closer when the fish just did not look the same and was listed as Atlantic Salmon. I learned in Real Foodthat Atlantic Salmon is exclusively farm raised. What I bought was worse than that. It was farm raised in Chili and the label stated that color was added to make the fish more colorful through feed. What? What the hell do they feed the fish to make it more salmon colored? I am feeding it to my family tonight, thank you very much. It did not taste bad but it did not have the same buttery excellence of other salmon that was wild caught and natural. There was a noticeable difference. Frankly, it pissed me off. What the hell are they feeding us and why do I have to try so hard to find good quality ingredients for my food? It really should not be so hard on the consumer to know clearly what they are buying and what is in it. I have to compliment Costco for their honesty as the label clearly stated what was in it. On the other hand, it was about 7 font and it’s a good thing I had eye surgery so I could actually read it. I should not have bought it but there were no other options. I was also a bit curious if the flavor would be dramatically altered. It was like many things in our food system – not terrible but just bland and un-exciting. Now I wonder where in the world I will buy real salmon. You know, the fish that was swimming near Alaska when they caught it with that natural pink color and delicious taste. Natural salmon eat krill and shrimp, giving them the reddish, orangish, pinkish color that they earned with their natural diet. It is the same diet that makes Flamingos pink and the color comes from a chemical called astaxanthin. Farmed fish don’t eat the same thing. They eat pellets with either crushed shells or artificial astaxanthin blended in. Either way, the fish are fed a diet determined not by nature or by natural selection but by some business man trying to maximize his profits by feeding the fish the cheapest food possible that meets whatever standards they have in Chili or wherever the farm happens to be. I don't know about you but that does not sound appetizing to me. It makes me really sad to think that I may never eat seafood in a restaurant again. I have no idea what I would be eating and now I have no idea where I can buy it for myself. According to my sources, Whole Foods is the most reliable and honest provider of seafood and other proteins. I don’t mind paying for it but it makes me sad that the vast majority of Americans have no idea what they are eating. I will take care of my end to things but the average consumer is paying for altered food. What a day....Disappointed by salmon. Chef: a skilled cook who manages the kitchen.
A home chef: a skilled cook who manages the home kitchen. That is all there is to it. Anyone can be a home chef by developing skills and managing their own kitchen. It is the simple and complex process of managing what goes into the pantry and what goes on the plate. The only requirements is to improve every day and the way to do that is to just do it. Should you choose to begin the awecome adventure of a home chef, you will learn so quickly because a home chef is the sous chef, the line cook and head chef all in one. It takes as much time to learn how to finish everything at one time as it does to improve technique and learn new dishes. You will learn to prepare, cook, plate and enjoy your food so much more than microwaving a pre-made gut bomb or mixing a package of never rotting ingredients. I am still learning how to dice, slice and gain advice and I believe the learning never ends. By the way, the satisfaction level is improved dramatically with a glass of wine nearby. Just a suggestion! What drove my interest in being a home chef? I grew up in the midst of the great revolution in American food. Not a good one, by the way. Over the last few decades, the American food system in restaurants and grocery stores changed from ingredients to convenience and nearly every family fell for it. Our entire system became frozen dinners, microwaves, fast food and processed everything. At the same time, we were bombarded by medical finding after medical finding about what was killing us and what was not. Americans became obsessed with saving time in the kitchen while cooking with the latest healthy ingredient (e.g., margarine) and losing the extra weight we all seemed to be carrying. Eggs were bad for you. Coffee was bad for you. Butter was bad for your and the Mediterranean diet did not work for us. Too much of anything was bad for your. It turns out that eating the processed, factory made foods with zero fat, lite-this, and sugar-free that only made our country fatter and less healthy. Almost everything we were told was inherently wrong and we lost our food culture. Rather, we created a new one that is neither healthy or delicious. My motivation came from wanting to eat and understand real food, enjoy the art of cooking AND eating and having something to do with my wife every night that we would both enjoy. I had no idea how it would change every aspect of our lives (for the better - much better) and our entire perspective on food and health. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever just watched a football game? It is typical that four plays on the field are followed by six commercials. Each and every commercial is either processed foods or pharmaceutical drug ads. I wanted no part of that anymore and I feel even stronger about that now with all that I have learned. I know it all sounds so preachy but it is not snobbery to believe in the experience and healthiness of good and real food. I believe everyone would feel the same if they experienced a real meal everyday. So it was about ten years ago that I made a simple decision to study how to cook. I was tired of eating tasteless, bland, boring food and spending too much money eating it. I felt I could make much better food than I could find in restaurants and I could make it at a fraction of the cost. I asked my wife to buy me a culinary textbook for Christmas and I decided to go from being a good cook at home to being a proper chef. I might only be a home chef but I feel that I am a chef now. I see clearly now what I was missing with the food system in our country. I was missing taste, flavor and the food experience. The motivation came from wanting to eat good food every day and to be healthier for it. After I started really learning to cook. I read every book I could on the subject. I did not read cook books and attempt to make food from recipes. I read books about ingredients, how to use them, where to find them and what good ones and bad ones were and how to tell the difference. With each step, I found new places to find the better ingredients and I learned several techniques with heat, preparation, seasoning, combinations of taste and just about everything I could learn. Soon, all the neighbors and friends were coming over for a meal. Each time I was met with compliments about how my food was better than anything they could find anywhere in the area. I learned to match wines with each meal and my interest and motivation as a home chef became a snowball accelerating down a hill. It became stronger and bigger with every success and frankly, every failure. Every step provided now knowledge and new ideas. I began with savory cooking only but added breads and baking. They are totally different but equally satisfying. We no longer buy pasta, bread or many of the processed, enriched, and modified foods that frankly made me want to burp all the time. Now I take great pleasure in learning more refined concepts with food and everything has changed. Our pantry does not contain nearly the same things it once did. I buy everything from the stores or farmer's markets that have the best ingredients. I have found that real food costs less, tastes better, is more fun to make and impresses everyone that eats with us. So again... What is a home chef? A home chef is someone that loves to cook, knows how and wants to improve everyday. That is me. |
Dennis SmithHome Chef and Wine Snob Archives
October 2021
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