I'm not cooking thanksgiving this year, and I didn't last year either. Gotta say I miss it, but we're going to someone else's place. So instead I thought I'd giving a couple quick tips for people who are cooking and might be a little nervous. There's really no rhyme or reason to this list, I'm just making it up as I go along.
1) Plan the order you're cooking things (especially things that need the oven). For a big meal like this, planning is key. Think about how much room is in the oven, what things can be done ahead and reheated quickly at the last minute, what things can share the oven at the same temp, how time and oven space will the turkey or roast take etc. You don't want to have a bunch of pies that you can't cook because there's no room to cook them.
2) Think about serving dishes and table layout. Do you need 2 gravy boats, or an extra casserole dish? What about a second table and chairs?
3) Brine your turkey starting the day before. This really makes a huge difference in flavor and moistness (way more than I believed before I started doing it). I literally will never server a turkey unbrined again if I have a choice (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html). This also really helps with the breast meat drying out before the dark meat is finished. Another tip for that is to cover the breast with shiny side out aluminum foil for the first 1/3 of the cooking time. Also, if you want to cut cooking time, apparently the hot thing this year is butterflying the turkey. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/butterflied-dry-brined-roasted-turkey-with-roasted-root-vegetable-panzanella-recipe/index.html
4) Do not make stuffing with just premade packaged crap. If you want to use boxed stuffing as a base, ok, but you must add fresh vegetables (carrots, onions, garlic, thyme, celery) and stock from boiling the giblets. This makes stuffing go from blah to awesomely delicious. Also, you don't need to do stuffing in the turkey, just cook it in a casserole dish.
5) Make the gravy with the same stock from the giblets and drippings from the turkey pan. This also means keeping a bit of water in the pan while the turkey roasts to prevent drippings from burning. Once you've finished roasting the bird, throw the whole roasting pan on the stove top on medium heat and deglaze with the stock. get all the sticky goodness whisked in and thicken with a water/flour mix. Make sure after you add the flour you keep it simmering for a few minutes to cook the flour. Whisk it all smooth.
6) A rib roast is a great alternative or addition to turkey. Just puree oil, butter, garlic, salt, pepper and whatever spices into a paste and rub on the meat then roast. very easy and delicious.
7) You can cook potatoes for your mashed potatoes in the micowave (just don't peel them ahead of time or they'll dry out).
That's all I can think of right now. If you have any questions email me, unless you want really good answers, then email Alton Brown.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
30 Acres
I haven't had much time to do any review posts recently, so I just want to briefly mention our trip to 30 Acres. The food was really excellent all around and in particular the corned beef. I've never liked corned beef, but this was a different breed of cat, as they say. The cure they used was very mild, leaving you brisket that still tasted like beef. I don't know the details of how they they seared sliced to create a delicious crust over a silky smooth interior. Really an amazing dish. Good luck 30 Acres, seems like you're doing great so far.
Final Super Pop-Up
The last Pop-Up brunch was a huge success, so thanks again to everyone who helped and attended. Here's an awesome video by Eric Acosta https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=271986546238618 for anyone who wants to check it out.
The next event is August 25th and I'm excited to announce that we'll have a guest chef! Ben Christie has worked at great restaurants in Jersey City and NYC and he'll be bringing us a 5 course modern Italian Fusion feast this month. If you haven't been to any other Pop-Up, this is the one you need to attend. As always, you can buy tickets on paypal with any credit card, just click the button below.
The next event is August 25th and I'm excited to announce that we'll have a guest chef! Ben Christie has worked at great restaurants in Jersey City and NYC and he'll be bringing us a 5 course modern Italian Fusion feast this month. If you haven't been to any other Pop-Up, this is the one you need to attend. As always, you can buy tickets on paypal with any credit card, just click the button below.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Brunch Pop-Up July 30th
Here's the link for tickets the next Pop-Up Folks, Monday July 30th. Its gonna be a great Monday Brunch with Mimosas, Mini Biscuits and Gravy, Smoked Bacon Quiche, Apple Tartes, Lamb Breakfast Sausage and more! The menu is still in flux, but it will be delicious.
Click here to buy and reserve!
Click here to buy and reserve!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Get Your June Pop-Up Reservation Now
Mexican-French Fusion is what's on the Menu for our Saturday June 23rd Pop up. The event begins at 6 PM, and will consist of a complimentary cocktail, 2 wine parings, and a five course dinner. Vegetarian options are of course available upon request. We also encourage our guests to bring a bottle of wine if they care to drink more than is provided. Tickets are $45 and are available though our pay pal account below or through square anytime you see us using a VISA, MC, AE, or DSCVR. Thank you to everyone for your support!
To Reserve your spot and make a donation use the button PayPal below. You don't need a PayPal account, you can use any credit card, just click the link that says "Don't Have A PayPal Account?"
To Reserve your spot and make a donation use the button PayPal below. You don't need a PayPal account, you can use any credit card, just click the link that says "Don't Have A PayPal Account?"
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Food Stamp Survival Meals
I saw Mario Batali is doing a "Food Stamp Challenge", in which he feeds his family of 4 for a week on the amount of money food stamps would provide. I think its a great way to highlight the financial hardship so many families are facing and counter the ridiculous argument you hear from republicans so often that the poor in America are living a life of luxury on the public dole. In any case, just happened to make a great, simple dish this week with some leftovers from the Pop-Up that fit with this low price, great flavor idea.
The key to inexpensive meals is very often thing like bean, lentils, or cheap cuts of pork and beef. These items are can produce great flavors, along with some simple spiced, but can be time consuming. To take pork shoulder or a beef chuck roast tender usually takes hours of braising. And many dried beans have the same problem. So for low income people who work all day, this presents a problem. You can't come how at 6 and start a 4 hour braised beef stew. But what you can do is use a pressure cooker and cut that cooking time down to 30 or 40 minutes with almost 0 prep work.
Basically, water can only get to about 212 degrees because once it starts boiling all the heat energy gets carried away in the form of steam. This keeps cooking times high. A pressure cooker, as the name implies, keeps the pot contents under pressure. This raises the boiling point, allowing it to get much hotter and cook much faster. You can get a tender, delicious stew or chicken soup in about 40 minutes.
So for this recipe I really just looked in the fridge to see what I could clear out and we had Kale, cherry tomatoes, a red onion and cubed pork shoulder and chops. The pork chops and should I just threw right in the pot. You could sear them first to develop some browning and flavor, but you really don't need to. This recipe will provide a lot of flavor without it. I chopped the kale and onion and threw that in with the whole tomatoes. Next I added a few cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, 3 dried bay leaves, some hot sauce and a bag of lentils. Then I put in one cup of canned beef broth and water to cover everything. You could also throw in potatoes or any other vegetable you have on hand. You could use a whole chicken, or beef or whatever. That's the beauty of this type of stew. Anything on hand can be substituted.
Then on with the pressure cooker top, high heat till it starts to steam (maybe 10 minutes) and then turn the heat down to medium low and let it continue to cook for 30 or so minutes. If you had a really big single piece of pork or beef you can do 45 minutes. Then hit the release valve to let the steam exit and you're all set. A really delicious, hearty and healthy soup which can feed a family for very little cost.
The key to inexpensive meals is very often thing like bean, lentils, or cheap cuts of pork and beef. These items are can produce great flavors, along with some simple spiced, but can be time consuming. To take pork shoulder or a beef chuck roast tender usually takes hours of braising. And many dried beans have the same problem. So for low income people who work all day, this presents a problem. You can't come how at 6 and start a 4 hour braised beef stew. But what you can do is use a pressure cooker and cut that cooking time down to 30 or 40 minutes with almost 0 prep work.
Basically, water can only get to about 212 degrees because once it starts boiling all the heat energy gets carried away in the form of steam. This keeps cooking times high. A pressure cooker, as the name implies, keeps the pot contents under pressure. This raises the boiling point, allowing it to get much hotter and cook much faster. You can get a tender, delicious stew or chicken soup in about 40 minutes.
So for this recipe I really just looked in the fridge to see what I could clear out and we had Kale, cherry tomatoes, a red onion and cubed pork shoulder and chops. The pork chops and should I just threw right in the pot. You could sear them first to develop some browning and flavor, but you really don't need to. This recipe will provide a lot of flavor without it. I chopped the kale and onion and threw that in with the whole tomatoes. Next I added a few cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, 3 dried bay leaves, some hot sauce and a bag of lentils. Then I put in one cup of canned beef broth and water to cover everything. You could also throw in potatoes or any other vegetable you have on hand. You could use a whole chicken, or beef or whatever. That's the beauty of this type of stew. Anything on hand can be substituted.
Then on with the pressure cooker top, high heat till it starts to steam (maybe 10 minutes) and then turn the heat down to medium low and let it continue to cook for 30 or so minutes. If you had a really big single piece of pork or beef you can do 45 minutes. Then hit the release valve to let the steam exit and you're all set. A really delicious, hearty and healthy soup which can feed a family for very little cost.
Monday, May 14, 2012
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