Sweet Child O' Brine II

This week on the Rouxde Cooking School Podcast we talked about salt. It's the most important ingredient in the kitchen as far as I'm concerned and it's transformative properties make it easy to see why it was used for centuries by apothecaries, witches and warlocks as a main ingredient in their wares.

We have covered brine before but this one is different.

Yes, there is more than one recipe for brine. They can go from fairly complicated (like the holiday brine to very simple (this one).

This recipe will be considerably less complicated and as basic as you can get. It will also change your life. Yeah....... I said it!

This basic brine will make you the Acme of your friends meat cooking masters.

While this brine will make it easier to put color on whatever chop or thigh you are cooking, be sure to constantly flip your food. The sugar in the brine mix makes it easy to burn  the food. Be careful and flip the meat as much as you can. Flipping the meat more than you think helps to keep the meat from

Like I said this is a basic brine. If you want to get more complicated, you can add things like  sage, thyme, rosemary, onions, celery, cinnamon, bay leaf and other spices, fruits or vegetables to steer your meat into the flavor profile you need to match your recipe.

Ready for a crazy simple recipe? Let's do it dear reader!!!

Rouxde Cooking School Simple Brine

1 gallon water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar

In an extra large container to hold a gallon of fluid, place ingredients together in the bowl and whisk or stir until items dissolved together into a clear liquid.

Done.

Yup, that's it. Dead simple right?

you're now ready to use it for chicken, pork or vegetables (yes veggies, it's basic pickling).

Cheers!

Crosby's Bird's Nest Breakfast

John Houser III

This week on the Rouxde Cooking School Podcast we took a crack at eggs (see what I did there?) and I talked about how I make a dish for my son Crosby called a "Birds nest". I also said I would post the recipe. Well dear reader, here we are.

The podcast episode link can be found here: Liquid Chicken
I came up with this idea (I'm sure I'm not the first) when Crosby was first starting to eat real solid food (not cereal mush) and thought this was a cute idea.

It kept him interested with the novelty of the food, and it also kept me interested with making something fun instead of a making a bowl of Cheerios.

It turned out to be a household favorite that Cros, my wife and I all love to eat. It's basically a more involved version of soft boiled egg and soldiers, a special comfort breakfast my mom made a few times for me when I was young. I loved it every time.

I use whole wheat multi-grain bread because my wife cares about how my kid eats. If it were up to me it would be whatever good crusty bread we had on hand. You can use whatever you want. Yes...... plain ass white bread is fine but lets work on getting you off that shit later.

I usually cut the bread to look like the picture about but I have cut them super thing to really look like a nest. It's up to how playful you want to be. The above pic was literally one of Crosby's breakfasts and we were in "get ready for school mode".

As for the butter in this dish, try to use the good European stuff. There aren't many ingredients in this recipe and it makes a difference. If you don't have the good stuff don't hang yourself, just use regular butter (I do most of the time).

Luckily, this recipe is super easy to make. The problem though is the peeling.......

I fucking hate peeling eggs. Especially soft boiled eggs.

I had a shit time peeling the eggs for the photo above (which is why it's broken). The problem was I forgot a trick I learned about egg peeling.

If you add a teaspoon of baking powder to the pot before you cook the eggs it changes the pH of the water and somehow affects the peelability of the egg. It works better than not doing it at all.

So my friends, let's do this!

Crosby's Bird's Nest

1 slice of bread
1 soft boiled egg *see below for cooking instructions
butter- get the good stuff for your first time
Maldon salt- if you don't have this use kosher or table salt
freshly ground pepper- it makes a big difference

• Heat your soft boiled egg up by pouring the hottest tap hot water you have into a big container (I use a plastic quart Chinese take out container) and place the egg into it. Let it sit in the water until you are ready to assemble.

• place your bread into a toaster or toaster oven. Toast until your preference. I prefer mine a little blackened in spots, but for Crosby I toast it until it gets a bare brown on it so it is a bit easier to eat for a child.

• Once your toast is done, spread butter over it to your enjoyment and then cut it into strips long way and then into thirds cross-way to make your branches. Place onto a plate in a circular pattern.

•Peel your egg. Place on top of the bread branches and then top the egg with Maldon salt and pepper.

• For a kid- Let them break the egg open and then chop the egg up and mix thoroughly so egg and bread and with each other. serve to a happy child.

• For an adult- Cut your own shit up and eat it before it gets cold fool!!!

Enjoy!

* For soft boiled eggs:

6 eggs (or more if you want)
a pot to hold six or more eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
water

• Set a timer for 5 minutes and 20 seconds

• Place enough water to cover eggs by at least an inch into a pot big enough to hold at least six eggs

• Drop a teaspoon of baking soda into the water

• Bring the pot of water to a vigorous boil

• Add the eggs

• Boil for 5 minutes and 20 seconds

• Transfer to a bowl of ice water

• After five minutes, dry the eggs off and refrigerated until needed

Rouxde Onion Soup

Last week's episode of The Rouxde Cooking School Podcast, Knife to Know You, saw us covering knives. It was a fun time and I said that I would put up a recipe that would get people to practice their knife skills.

Well, here it is.

It took a little time because I wanted to make sure I had the recipe dialed in to where I was happy with it but I have successfully tested it on humans and they liked it (providing they weren't lying of course).

Baltimore got a few inches of snow and ice the other day and we all had the day off. After a few hours of hanging out on a hill sledding with the kids I invited a bunch of friends over to the house to test out the soup.

This recipe easily fed six adults and four children with enough left over for seconds a few times over.

So lets get to it.

Rouxde Cooking School Onion Soup

4 red onions- thinly sliced
4 white onions- thinly sliced
2 yellow onions- thinly sliced
1/4 cup canola oil plus extra for rubbing on the bagutte
1 baguette- sliced into 1 inch thick rounds
 12 cups of chicken stock
2 tablespoons chicken base (optional, but worth it- I use better than broth)
2 tablespoons shiro miso (optional but makes a big difference)
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
1 cup apple cider
1 pound cheddar (mild melts better)- shredded
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh finely ground black pepper

©2017 John Houser III

©2017 John Houser III

 • Heat your oven to °375F.

• Rub both sides of your baguette slices with canola oil. Put them onto a sheet pan and bake in the oven until golden brown.

©2017 John Houser III

• In the largest pot you have over high heat, add the 1/4 cup of canola oil and heat until smoking. Add the onions and cover. Let cook for five minutes and then begin stirring them. Be sure to keep the heat high and to stir them every few minutes to keep from burning. DO NOT ADD SALT!! cooking onions for 45-60 minutes to develop a good brown color. You don't want them darkly caramelized, but a nice medium brown is good.

• While the onions cook, bring the stock, chicken base, miso, bay leaves, thyme and salt & pepper to a simmer over high heat. Turn the heat to low and keep hot.

• When the onions are looking brown and a little dry, deglaze the pot with the apple cider. Add the stock and simmer the soup for another fifteen minutes.

• Turn the oven onto the broiler setting

• Ladle soup into an oven-proof crock. Top with a couple baguette slices and then the cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese is melted, bubbly and if you're like me, a little burnt.

• Enjoy!!!!

©2017 Leana Houser

Mary and Vincent's Bread

©2014 John Houser III

Today is a snowy day in Baltimore and I have the day off. I was making cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for my wife and son when I ran across a recipe in A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price for herb bread that looked intriguing. The original thing that caught my eye was that the bread called for powdered ginger to be mixed in with dough ingredients but that it also called for "powdered chicken stock" (AKA chicken bouillon) which basically replaces the regular salt with a flavored salt. 

I was so enamored with the recipe that I immediately started on the bread (not to worry, my wife and kid were out playing and wouldn't be back for a while, they got their soup and sandwiches when they came in from the cold).

 I had to adjust the recipe to fit what I had in my pantry because I do not have powdered chicken stock but I do have chicken stock base with is reduced down chicken stock that when mixed with water becomes a descent substitute fro real chicken stock. I unashamedly use the stuff and fuck you for judging me. 

©2014 John Houser III

I also had to figure out a weight for the flour because using "3 cups" of flour will get you a different bread every time. The flour might be packed tighter of looser depending on how hard or light you scoop it so I picked a weight used for the recipe. Luckily for me (and you) it turned out a beautiful product. This way the recipe will be consistent every time it is baked. I also used bread pans that were lined with parchment paper for easier release (instead of greasing them). 

©2014 John Houser III

The resulting bread is a soft and luxurious loaf  that has a tight crumb, is great for sandwiches (I wish I'd have had it for the grilled cheeses) and has a faintly earthy and herb-y scent and flavor. The crust is even and thick with a fantastic crunch. Roast beef or smoked turkey would be perfect for it. 

I only have pictures of the final product because I never had any plans to put this recipe up but it was so damn easy, delicious and lovely that I felt the need to post it up. 

©2014 John Houser III

A slather of soft butter and a sprinkling of  Maldon salt and fresh ground black pepper made for a great snack. My son ate three large slices, crust and all (well.... he ate most of the crust). When I dipped the bread, just plainly buttered, into a big bowl of chili I wondered why I ever used cornbread. 

Cheers!


The recipe is after the jump. 

Strawberry fields for about an hour

© 2013 John Houser III

We picked strawberries yesterday at Lohr's Orchard yesterday and pulled in a pretty size able haul. 11.5 pounds when all was said and done and it looks like a lot of berries in the picture but after washing them off they seemed to have multiplied like wet mogwai. These are a few of the phone pics I took. The "good" pics (from my camera) I'm going to save for the strawberry recipes to follow in the next few days. Requests?

Cheers,
Johnny

© 2013 John Houser III

©2013 John Houser III

Kale Florets

©2013 John Houser III

I was at the farmers'market last Sunday in a terrible mood. I'm not the most jovial person in the morning and when the market is as packed as it was it makes me cranky. Between cursing people out for being in my way (why do they stop in the middle of the walk ways to talk???) and reassuring my son that we will be getting donuts I was out of sorts. It was at Latte da while getting tea that we ran into a friend who hipped me to my new favorite spring vegetable. "have you ever heard of kale florets?" I looked at her like she was speaking in Valyrian. I was intrigued. I had never heard of kale florets in recipes or even in passing while reading. I made my way quickly over to the Gardener's Gourmet farms stand (of course I thanked my friend before I ran away) and asked the guy behind the table if he was out. They were not out, on the contrary there was a huge pile of the stuff sitting there unloved. Walking away from the stand with two bunches of the florets (at $2 a bunch!) I was remembering my back and forth with the attendant:

Me: "wow, these look great! How do you cook them?

Guy: " just chop them, up and cook with garlic and olive oil"

Me: "sort of like rapini?"

Guy: "exactly slugger!"

Ok, he didn't call me slugger, but for how Pollyanna I felt writing that exchange I took a little creative license to feel better. 

So, I had a frame of reference on how to cook this mysterious vegetable and all I needed to do now was apply the flavors I add to rapini to the kale florets and see what happened. 

It turns out that kale florets taste nothing like rapini. They are much more mild in flavor (similar to broccoli) but with the crunch you get with rapini. Paired with garlic, spring onions and chili flakes the florets make for a fantastic healthy dish. The key to this dish is to shock the florets after blanching them in boiling salted water (the water should taste like the sea). Blanching sets the color of the florets and keeps them from turning gray. 

©2013 John Houser III

©2013 John Houser III

Kale florets with garlic, spring onion and chili flake

1 bunch Kale Florets- chopped into 1 inch long pieces, washed
5 cloves garlic -minced

4 spring onions thinly sliced

1 dry chili pepper crushed (or chopped) into flakes

Olive oil

Butter

1/2 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp ground black Pepper
Salt for blanching water (1/2 cup per 1/2 gallon of water)

©2013 John Houser III

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil (it should taste like the sea). Blanche the kale florets in the salty water for one minute then put them into an ice bath. 

In a pan (or the wok) over medium heat, drop in a glug of olive oil and a small pat of butter (1/4" thick). When butter is foaming add the garlic, onions and red pepper flakes. Top with salt and pepper. Cook until soft then add the florets. Cook florets until heated through and serve immediately.

2013 John Houser III

©

You could add pasta to this dish to make it heartier. Mix in hot pasta and add cheese to bring it all together. If its too dry add a little of the pasta water. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. I have done this with bow tie pasta and it came out wonderfully. Just remember to cook the pasta all the way through, no al dente bullshit. 

Find it, make it and let me know what you think. 

Cheers!


Update!

So since writing this I have bought more bunches of kale florets and made the dish again a few times. I have found that depending on where you buy the florets from they might be woodier than from other places. The bunch I bought over the weekend was way more woody that the bunch I bought last week. They were also taller so maybe the farm that I bought from last week cut them higher up to keep from me having to do it. To separate the inedible from the edible just treat them as you would asparagus  Try to snap the stem between your fingers. If it snaps, it will be edible, if it bends then it is too woody and you should cut them up a little higher. Remember though, you're never going to be able to get all of the woody parts out so don't go trying to kill yourself doing it. I have found that the cooking process does soften even the woodier parts up enough to be eaten. Here is a picture of the amount of woody stems I had to separate from the edible parts.

Check out the next recipe for what to do with the leftover kale floret mixture (if you have any).

Cheers (again),
John

The Price of Cooking

Hello boils and ghouls, how's it hanging? Halloween is my favorite holiday and although it does have lots of goofy culinary applications I won't be giving you any recipes this year for eyeball cupcakes or bloody finger ramen. This year my treat to you is the gift of Vincent Price, the master of horror who is known for being in some of the greatest horror movies ever and also for his rap and subsequent cackling on  Michael Jackson's Thriller. It's a little known fact about the Missouri native that, besides being a contributor and benefactor to the fine arts, was a terrific gourmand and cook book author.

Besides the books, which he wrote with his wife, he recorded many how-to auditory excursions that were a step by step instructions on how to make various global cuisines. Some of his recipes are now quite quaint, including ingredients like MSG and accessories such as asbestos trivets. Over all, the recipes are sound and the techniques he walks the listeners through won't be mentioned for another thirty years when the food networks starts up. 

Vincent Price also recorded many radio programs and for a while had his own show called "The Price of Fear" which spanned 22 episodes and were fantastic. Each episode was supposed to be a little slice of Price's life with the macabre as an ever present character. The episode I have linked to this post (specialty of the House) is a combination of his two great loves. It's a horror story that is based around food, restaurants and the gourmand experience. I love this episode and I hope you will two.

Below is the story which you can listen to at your convenience. 



  Happy Halloween everyone! Just in case you were wondering I will be going trick or treating with my son dressed like Wilfred. I bought that costume last year and bullshit if I'm not going to get a few wears out of it for as much money as I paid for it. Be safe and watch out for bag snatchers!

Cheers,
John

Hot Sauce

©2012 John Houser III

Peppers are super cheap and abundant at the farmers' markets. What should you do with them? Make hot sauce of course. Check it out here.