Wednesday, November 14, 2007



I got this book really cheap from a Border's book store. And it's actually really funny! pick it up. It's about a lady who finds herself again after stumbling upon a Julia Child book. She pledges to do all the recipes within a year.

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Monday, November 12, 2007

The cook thinks about gardening

Recently I have become very interested in the beginning of a food's life. And where does a food begin its life? In the garden! This book is about an average Joe who wants a garden and the ridiculous events that happen on the way to do so.


Friday, November 9, 2007

Burrata: Leek wrapped lusciousness

I found it. I finally found it.

A few weeks ago the Washington Post had done an article in their food section about the demand and emergence of a cheese. A cheese called burrata was apparently in high demand in the metropolitan area from chefs, cheese makers, and snobby foodies. Its name is burrata.

A fresh Italian cheese, the name comes from the Italian word for butter, is made from mozzarella. Burrata was first made in the town of Andria where its milk had been taken from the water buffalo (a gift from Asia in the 1400s). The outer layer is solid mozzarella while the inside contains cream. For preservation it is then wrapped in leek leaves to retain freshness. If the leaves go bad then the cheese is bad.

I was off with friends at a restaurant just outside of D.C. when I came across it on the metro. Ecstatic I explained to everyone that they would be having burrata as appetizers. Luckily they trusted me and a plate of burrata with oven roasted cherry tomatoes, olive oil, fennel shavings, and chopped red onions were scattered around it like backup dancers to a star. The first cut gave way to a creamy inside so luscious I could taste it in my mouth. I could eat burrata all day long. And you would have too since it's only good for two days.

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Perfectly Seasoned

If there is one thing I am really proud of in my culinary journey thus far it is my palate's growth in tolerating sodium.

Salt and pepper. Two little ground up ingredients are imperative to bringing out the best taste of a food. Salt in particulate has been used on food to preserve it and increase its flavor since the days of, well, a long time ago. Its place in the culinary world is just as important as knives are for cutting.

Both chefs I have worked for in restaurants and in my culinary school, stressed the importance of adding salt, adding salt, and adding more salt. The more I learn about food the more I know that salt will always be needed; and a lot of it. And now, a little more than two years later, I think I am finally getting to a level of understanding that limit of sodium. Understating just how much and how little, the perfect balance, it takes to make food it’s very best.

Monday, November 5, 2007

The other white truffle: snails

White truffles and black truffles are a delicacy for most people in the world. But there is another delicacy whose existence has been ignored as the new wave of chefdom occurs. Snails.

Considered a delicacy in France, Africa, and other countries, this slithery, slow moving creature is abundant in supermarkets everywhere from northern Africa to countries all along the Mediterranean.

A popular dish for almost 6,000 years, there are now three main types of snails that are farmed and captured for consumption. Though only these three are eaten, the preparations from country to country vary. The most popular way to prepare the "escargot" is to boil them for 4 minutes, drain them and then serve them in a sauce of butter, shallots, parsley, and sometimes white wine, and lemon; this is the French preparation method. Other countries like Portugal prepare them as the main ingredient in a stew while those from Greece fry them and serve with lemon.

Whichever way you prepare them make sure you boil them before cooking. If not, you may give yourself a rare form of meningitis.

And with Portugal consuming about 4,000 tones of snails each year it looks like the U.S. has a lot of catching up to do.

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