STIR THE POTS

Self portrait Inspired by Chez Pim

I always thought this was a bad picture when you got yourself in the reflection,Pim showed me a thing or two, thanks!

What's in a salad?

Ariyoshi Japanese restaurant was where I went last night for dinner. Having failed to go out shopping for supplies due to circumstance that most likely included that I was just too lazy to cook again! (After all I do it for a living!) So I went and as usual I had the usual, something that in my line of work would seem like I don't try too many new things? Well when jonesing for a certain dish as I do when visiting this local, I choose the Sunnyside roll an Ariyoshi salad and a phat Sapporo beer!
Now this gets me into diverging subject matters albeit that they are somewhat related.It's the Carrot salad dressing or vinaigrette for you foodie types! It's that dressing that sits on the salad that is the meat and potatoes of this story.

Now I take a short U-Turn here into story time... I had this job a long while back in another private executive palace, that one being a music-entertainment entity, guess which one? Well we had a few fabulous sushi chefs working there and this place was the brainchild of no other than Barry Wine of The Quilted Giraffe fame.  That 80's midtown noshery where some of the happenings in the kitchen could of been mistaken for some bacchanalian fête; Imagine the history channel meets Iron chef or picture  Roman senators wives meet glace de viande and saran wrap during a re-run of cheesy  movie on TCM! Sorry I've strayed from topic.

One particular sushi chef was the one and only Hiroshi Nakahara  of Bond St. in Soho.
I used to enjoy his sushi and tried to figure out how he made this carrot dressing for the longest time. We brainstormed after after lunch; I still have the card where he wrote it down for me. You have to imagine him trying to explain what he had written down all the while flailing his arms and doing this aahhhh sort of sound!
If you look closely the numbers have no corresponding measurements, grams or ounces, let alone a cup!(My only guess was some sort of ratio in chef speak?) Well what to do? Go looking for someone working at Ariyoshi and wait for them to give up the secrets? Nah, just go into the home kitchen and give the best shot, hell one way or another, you will be hungry enough to and well it could be better? This same recipe was tried with miso, but I found it too smooth when pulsed in a blender, the miso had too much overpowering a taste that you lost the carrot flavor. In Hiro's recipe he adds soy, being a total western type I went with sea salt, French of course! I also used grape seed oil to avoid an overly olive oil taste, back then we had some organic Spanish oil and we liked to splurge on the Chefs food cost...That guy is a whole different story in himself! So tonight I think I perfected it and it has even more flavor, could be the fresh cracked pepper!

Serves 2-4 (depending how hungry you are?)
Dressing
All the vegetables are finely grated(mind your fingers!)
1 carrot peeled 
a small knob of ginger about 1/4 inch piece
1 clove garlic
4 tablespoons white onion
1/3 cup mirin
1/4c rice vinegar
1cup grape seed oil or canola
salt and pepper to taste

Grate all the vegetables into a bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients, taste and adjust seasoning.If you have a juicer, just juice vegetables,add pulp back into juice and rest of the ingredients. Adjust to taste when seasoning as well you may also need to adjust vinegar and oil ratio according to your taste!

Salad:
At Ariyoshi they make a salad with wakame,avocadoes,tomatoes, red cabbage, boston lettuce,watercress.
Use your imagination, I on the other hand like that combo and well was too lazy tonight!

Emily Buehler

 

   

Bread is a staple in our diet, well at least  in mine it is! Immersed as I am in home baking  I decided to ask author/baker Emily Buehler some questions on the subject.Trained as a scientist, she turned to baking at first for fun and just too try it out. Later she analyzed it, finally putting down on paper the things she learned in the course of her career as a baker.                                       
          

Just  seeing the cover(this book was easy to judge by it's cover!) and of course Peter Reinhart mentioning it on his blog,I quickly  had to order it to sit among my numerous baking books. My initial thought was, uh- oh science, it wasn't a subject that I dedicated  my attention too in school! Emily  quickly set my mind at ease when she admittedly said that baking is more a hands on craft, though I think as a scientist she had the idea that we should know why the dough reacts when water flour and salt meet to give us such a wonderful product.As a cyclist I admired her wanting to write about her road trips, though I hope she will keep us nutty bakers informed, as she has in a really quality self published book.A typical trait with most bakers she shares information with the hope that  people will  get bitten by the bread bug! Pick up a copy now, that's an order!

Click to listen

Podcast

El Rey Del Taco

So it's Saturday and I am doing some chores, good excuse to detour on the way for a taco or torta, si?
Well in my case it's up about two blocks from where I live in Sunnyside, Queens New York! Since a bunch of ideas usually ferment in my head related to food either from an empty stomach or having just remembered a memorable dinner. Heck anything related to food gets the mind rustling ideas on a dish, in this case it  gets me off the hook for cleaning house, at least long enough for a bite!
Today was no different, except that I thought I would finally introduce the world of food to my favorite Mexican taqueria in my hood! "El Rey Del Taco" is located on a non-descript residential street.A bodega storefront with all sorts of beer adverts, but inside is some of the best wholesome Mexican grub this side of the Rio grande, heck this side of the Hudson! Robert Vasquez is the man behind this hidden gem, with my luck or misfortune word gets around I won't be surprised he gets overrun by some yuppies from Manhattan or even some foodie types? Oh well, I can't keep it a secret any longer, wouldn't be fair!

I have gone to this spot for mucho años, I'm sure my doctor will shake her head and tell me something about my blood pressure or cholesterol!

Forget it the stuff is fresh here and clean, try the tamales last visit I asked what sort of tamales were steaming?  Holy Mole! Mole and chicken!!  My order of the usual torta I scarf down in a blink of an eye ,inhaled would be a better term, is a chorizo torta a hell fire brand of mexican chorizo.It's layered between a bolillo, avocadoes,bean puree,mexican,tomatoes, cheese, and pickled  jalapeño's. Roberto always is smiling
and he keeps a rocket speed at cooking all the while in his spotless kitchen. A  cacophony of sounds from a serenading jukebox, a huge TV for soccer games or novellas, this is all part of the home,feel,get into it!

Above all you get some great food that isn't meant to shock or awe, though the chilies could take effect? This is home cooking at it's core, honest and good,hell great!

 

                                                                                                                                                      

"El Rey Del Taco"

49-06 43 Avenue

Woodside, NY 11377

Telephone (718)396-2779

Tell them Jeremiah's sent you!

 

satisfacción de cliente garantizada!

Home baker

While jotting notes for an upcoming interview this weekend I found myself baking three different types of loaves of bread.Inspired in part by the recent sharing of information  about home baking with a local chef in the neighborhood. Chocolat blogger extraordinaire David Lebovitz always  mentions all of the fantastic breads available virtually on every corner in Paris.Thus being in New York I thought that sure we aren't there yet with bread, even with great loaves from the likes of Amy's bread, Tom Cat and Pain Quotidien! Where are the local neighborhood boulangers though? What is bread in America really about, being a member of the Bread baker guild of America, albeit late on my renewal of dues (checks in the mail!), I'm hopefully optimistic that somehow there is a niche for  bakers  in their neighborhoods that can produce quality loaves at prices that can still provide a living for them in the communities they work in! It's difficult enough to produce bread like a bakery, but with some skill and basic mathematics we can get something close. By far I found bakers are people willing to share there secrets, perhaps more than chefs, who are too busy or creating a spotlight so bright for themselves they forgot what food is about, sharing! So I thought I would show some of my recent and passed breads baked at home, I feel like sharing!

Peter Reinhart

As a baker Peter Reinhart demystifies the different symbols that make bread.In his role of  teacher he passes on the bakers knowledge,because they not only  give us sustenance in their final product,but they pass on the tradition of a trade that has for centuries been integral in human history. Peter speaks about it's spirituality (the bread). The different methods of preparation and shares his wealth of experience in baking through his other craft writing.Starting out as a home baker he he co-founded  the famed  Brother Juniper's bakery in California.He eloquently describes and  simplifies the myriad of information found today on bread,"it's not rocket science!" It's harnessing the variables to promote the best flavors from the different ingredients in the dough,slowly!

 

Listen to interview.

Podcast (via iPod or iTunes)

The little owl

Last Sunday I was surfing channels on the tube and stopped to watch one of my favorite cooking programs,the Mike Colameco show. I haven't been successful in getting him on my show yet but I am trying!(Yo Mike!) On this particular show Mike showcased a couple of restaurants where the chefs are actually behind the stove rather than behind a clipboard or on some reality food show!
I was lucky to ask and receive a quick response from chef/owner Joey Campanaro from The Little Owl. What had impressed me about this chef was his esprit de corps, the sheer fact he was working in a tiny space and creating a real buzz with a well presented seasonal menu that has Manhattan talking.The name  sake of the restaurant(the little owl) sits perched on the adjacent building across the street where tour guides lead tourists around the west village neighborhood.The action takes place in a 30 seat restaurant managed by co-owner Gabriel Stulman in the dining room and Joey and crew in the open windowed kitchen.
If I am lucky to get a reservation I want to be someone who climbs for the wine against the wall, all part of the team effort including the guests.

Listen to interview.

Podcast (via iPod or iTunes)

Corn is king!

Nothing like a tamale or corn on the cob, or is this no longer an option? Seems this tasty crop has fueled some consternation for some people and monetary wealth for conglomerates.

Yesterday I was surfing the web when I noticed an article about overfishing! What's new? It isn't like I haven't been aware; the nightly news cast pumps out information on the environment,with talking heads asking scientists and evangelicals opinions on the armaggedon scenarios.When ordering provisions for my job I have a list on my wall of what are seasonal fish  I can get for my menu or specials. Scary to think how few varieties there are left, especially when at some points some fish species have moratoriums placed on them.No doubt it has something to do with run off from farms,mercury,and deep net fishing? Still we, humans are starting to realize the dangers of global warming,aren't we? Could this all be just a knee jerk reaction,like a new fad, a little too late!

In the congo, guerillas  are hunting mountain gorillas for food.Bears and tigers killed to sell to traditional chinese medicine merchants? On the cooking side there is a trend to cook species of grouper or reef fish to high paying gourmands in Hong Kong restaurants! Seems like if it isn't thermo-nuclear war,insurgencies,or genocide that endanger us everyday, we are confronted Instead by natures force in tidal waves, glacier's melting, hurricanes. All of which one would think is a natural occurence,but more likely caused by humans. A cycle that is ensnaring the food chain in a downward spiral of disease,destruction as in the case of bird flu or mad cow diseases.

Wouldn't it make sense to make agendas, pass law's and take action? What will it take to change the way we treat mother earth Even corn,the crop of the meso-americans is also a victim of protest. Used as sugar in soda's and other processed foods which cause obesity. Multinational food companies are now using it as a substitute for fossil fuels. ,This holy grain that sustained the starving pilgrims at thanksgiving feasts, is now the fuel for our cars! As most americans drive themselves selfishly to supermarket chains in large automobiles.Maybe it makes sense,a perverse justice?  This food  provides the same end product in our human engines as in our combustilble engines that pollute the air.

Former Vice President (hopefully candidate)Al Gore was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for enviornment, it was not long ago he was ridiculed for talking about these signs of danger. If we have leaders like our own W, or even someone as rockheaded as Senator Inhofe.How can we fall into the trap of beliving someone who denies the fact of humans being the biggest culprit in the equation, well were in trouble!(well we all ready have into successive presidential election cycles,look where we are now!!)

Perhaps one good thing from this mess is that perhaps beef will be grass fed? If there is any more space,or we haven't fouled all the oceans with runoff from the corn fields? It reminds me of Stephen Kings "children of the corn!"

As a chef it's already a challenge find a decent product,weather has factored recently with a chill in California that damaged 75% percent of crops.Now the wine industry is in trouble as well! From the control of trans fats,foie gras and the industrialization of the food industry,the chefs choices and pantry are changing. With changing weather patterns it will be harder to determine what to cook when in New York city we will be having tropical weather rather than the four season of my childhood? If we aren't able to eat corn will just burn it? Put mine on the muffler I like it toasted!