Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. This holiday can be full of stress for those who have to do all planning shopping and cooking and i can see how it might be a little less exciting for those who dont enjoy the art of cooking and look at it more like a checklist.

So i made this cranberry sauce, and it is so good and so easy, you can throw this together in as little time as opening a can.

14-oz. package fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 sugar
½ cup fresh orange juice
⅓ cup Grand Marnier or Brandy
8 whole black peppercorns
6 whole allspice berries
5 whole cloves of garlic

2" stick cinnamon, broken in half
Feel free to add any other aromatic spices like star anise, cloves or fresh thyme.

Combine all your ingredient in a saucepan and turn on med heat. Next of you have cheesecloth great, wrap your spices in that and tie securely, if not, i used a coffee filter. Submerge in the liquid and let it simmer till it becomes thick. Now if you let it over reduce just add some water or orange juice. This could take as long as 20-30 minutes.

At this point you want to remember that its hot and it will harden more when it cools. So make a judgement call on how jelly like you want it, and if you want it a little runny go with it. 

Chill and serve. 

To Smoke or Not to Smoke

There are few things that get me more excited than smoking meat. Well its easy and your end result is this smokey tender product.

I have to tell this story, so one year i wanted to smoke the turkey for thanksgiving, at the time we didn't have a smoker, so i looked up how to make one, so my dad and i fashioned together taracotta pots (yes flower pots)  and put a burner in the bottom. We smoked it through the night only to find that the burner couldn't produce enough heat to keep the temperature inside the pots hot enough to cook it but also at a safe temperature. Needless to say, we didn't have smoked turkey in fact we may not have had turkey at all that year.

Now that we have a smoker it makes it a lot easier, but i am going to share some ways to get that smokey flavor without a smoker, and some tips on cooking and smoking meat, along with recipes that will make it easier because who doesn't absolutely love BBQ?!

Im going to use pork butt as an example. The pork butt isn't actually the butt, its the shoulder. (they wanted to confuse everyone)

You start by using a sharp knife and create half inch diameter holes. (dont be afraid at this stage, its a tough cut of meat, also remember your end result is pulled pork) 

Spice rub:
3 Tbs paprika
3 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tbs garlic powder
3 Tbs salt
1 Tbs black pepper (fresh ground is always better)
1 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp Old bay seasoning

Ok so here is where you have some freedom to play around with flavor profiles, maybe add some ground ginger, onion powder, cayenne for some heat.

Next rub/massage this into your prepped meat. Let this rest overnight to absorb the flavors. 
Note: So again, as an option, depending on how I'm feeling i might dowse the meat in Worcestershire, and liquid smoke, and maybe some mustard, let that sit over night then rub your dry ingredients all over, being sure to get deep in the holes you made. See what i am doing, i am building flavor profiles, quite literally layering them on.

Oil you grill. Also make sure (you can see it in the photo) that you always cook fat side up.
If you dont have a smoker here is the option for you, soak your chips in water (maybe beer or bourbon or apple juice)  up to 30 minutes, we want smoke not flames. Play around with different kind of chips, hickory, oak, or mesquite then wrap them in aluminum foil and poke holes in it and place directly over the flame in your grill. When you smoke you want your grill at 275 degrees. You will see the chips start to smoke and wallah! Amazing right. Be sure not to put your meat directly over the smoke, but off to the side to create an air flow in the grill. 

Ok so next after about 6 hours for a 4-6 pound butt you are going to add some liquid for moisture i like to use pineapple juice or apple juice and honey. wrap the butt in tin foil and dowse with liquid, wrap tightly and cook for approximately 2 more hours until it reads 190-195 degrees NOTE: be sure to let it rest, this is important becasue while its resting the juices are being absorbed and its just sitting there in that yummy juice and rub. 
If you are making BBQ sauce save the liquid from the pork and use up all those yummy spices that have dripped off. What a great start to an amazing BBQ sauce. 

Next coat in BBQ sauce and put it directly on the grill until it is caramelized and has a nice chard coating. Pull apart, garish and serve. 

You now have the tools to smoke any kind of meat you want, ribs, brisket, even trout, the opportunities are endless. 

Olive Oil and Other Cooking Fats

I am so excited, I got my first question, and it's a good one! I had to do a little digging and get a little background info myself. 

So, I am sure you have been overwhelmed with all the choices you have with olive oils, and what it all means? And how should you even use olive oil? I'll also hit on salted butter vs. unsalted butter and some trending oils like coconut oil.
Let's dive in. 

The most common kind of butter is sweet cream and is made from pasteurized cream, and must contain 80% fat and 16% water and the remaining 4% is protein, lactose and salt.
Salted sweet cream has around 1-2 teaspoons per pound of butter. Salt was originally added as a preservative. 

So, the question was whether to use salted or unsalted. I'm afraid I don't have a rule or an answer for every scenario (but that is the great thing about cooking - you get to play and decide for yourself), but I can tell you that I always use salted - because, well, why not? 
Unsalted butter gives you more control over the flavor you are trying to achieve, especially with baking this can come in handy. But if I'm spreading it on toast or basting my meat I want as much added flavor as possible and so I use salted. Don't over think it, and believe me, you can use them interchangeably. 

If you ever see a recipe call for clarified butter, know that it is the removal of milk and water solids, leaving a beautiful clear milk fat. The reason for that is milk solids burn at a low temperature (250 degrees), if you remove them (the milk solids) you get an oil that is great for frying and can reach a temperature of 400 degrees. It can be very pricey, which is why it's not very commonly used.

Ok, I want to touch on margarine. Margarine has the same build up as butter, 80% fat and 16% water, the difference is where the fat is coming from. In the US, the fat is blended with soybean, corn, cottonseed, sunflower, canola and other oils. They also add coloring agents, extra flavoring agents, Vitamin A and D and then pump it with nitrogen to make it spreadable. So, as you can see, you aren't getting a pure product, it's mixed with other oils and lecithin to stabilize the water. 

I'm sure you've heard about Coconut oil (my first interaction was when someone told me they used it as lotion, and rubbed it on their face (I have to admit, I tried it and it seems kind of strange to be talking about cooking with it now). Coconut oil is 90% saturated fat (holy cow) and it can have an impact on your cholesterol level; so, use in moderation. I would suggest the 'virgin coconut oil' which has not been chemically treated. 

So, if you are at all like me, choices make you crazy - just give it to me straight! I hate staring at bottles all claiming a slight variation of the same thing, 'virgin', 'extra virgin', 'cold pressed'. What does all that mean?

I love Olive oil for lots of reasons, it's versatile - I use it for marinades, salad dressings, cooking and of course dipping my bread in. So, lets break it down.
Olive oil has a high smoke point (about 500 degrees), and people don't tend to use it for cooking because it's expensive and also when heated it does lose some of its nutritional value. So that I can have my cake and eat it too, I drizzle some on top after cooking (this is really common in restaurants - it gives your meal that glossy finished look, not to mention the taste). 

Cold pressed olive oils are what you want, this means that it was literally pressed and ground without adding any heat to extract the oil, so the flavor is vibrant and rich. Also, something to add here is that without adding heat the olive oils keep all of their nutritional value. Cold pressed or 'first cold pressed' (again with all the terms, geez) is another way of saying 'Extra Virgin'. If you are buying anything other than 'first cold pressed' you are buying the leftover oil, the oil they couldn't get easily, you might see it as 'light' or 'extra light' - don't be fooled, it has nothing to do with calories. Also color is no indication of the quality of oil.  

Never keep olive oil in the refrigerator, keep it in a dark cool spot away from light, you may even want to wrap it in tin foil or a brown bag. Olive oil does expire, so if it has been sitting on your shelf for over a year, I hate to say it, but its gone bad. 

Things that might help in picking out an olive oil:

Look for when the olives were harvested. Fresher the better.

Look for a region. After all, you wouldn't pick up a bottle of wine that just said 'red wine' - know where they are coming from, and research different flavor profiles. If you haven't been to one of those olive oil shops, you must! You get to taste and experience all sorts of olive oils.

Try to buy oils in a tinted glass container - heat, light and air are enemies, so start off with a dark bottle. 

I hope this helped. Keep the questions coming. Also stay connected, because I will be posting some great holiday recipes! 


McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking. New York, NY: Scribner, 2004 Print.

A guide to home cooking

Here it goes.

As most of you know, i graduated from Johnson and Whales, so food has quite literally been my life for the past five years, yes that is a drop in the bucket, but none the less, I've been a slave to the food industry for what seems like eternity. Ill be the first to admit it hasn't always been sunshine and flowers. 

This blog is for the home cook, who quite frankly feels overwhelmed by the idea of cooking, i mean lets get real, you have to find a recipe (this involves research, considering what people will like and will your family even eat it, so not such an easy task).

Then you have to go shopping for everything you need (now if you're like me, this is the worst part, I've been spoiled with my groceries getting dropped off, but for the average person this is just torture) Then you have to unload all those groceries, and somehow muster up enough energy to THEN cook. Geeze. No wonder americans hate cooking, can you blame them? 

Here is one suggestion, if you can afford it, and quite frankly, if grocery shopping is keeping you from cooking then this is a splurge that would be worth it. You can shop online, and just pick it up, did you hear that? Everything is already ready for you, no more back tracking down the same isle twelve times, no more running to the back of the store for milk. 

Here is my second tip, let me back track for a second ( i am going to rant here for a minute, shows like Rachel Ray, are not your friend, she tries to be so different, and unique and in doing so makes the home cook feel inadequate) KEEP IT SIMPLE! Im telling you making a lasagna in a crock pot is not a good idea. You need to take time to understand the basics before you can realize what will work for you and your cooking style. Don't fret, thats why i am here, to help you understand why things work and why somethings no matter how many times you try are disastrous. 

In REAL life there are three questions home cooks should ask before diving into a recipe.
1) Will i first and foremost enjoy eating this. This seems like a 'duh' moment but you would be surprised.
2) Do i have the right equipment to pull this off? Read through your recipe before you get started, this will help you down the road. 
3) Are the ingredients accessible, the last thing you wanna do is be running from grocery store to grocery store looking for celeriac root or almond flour.

So, i hope i have convinced you to continue reading my blog as we dive into do's and don't of cooking. We will be looking at specific recipes and ingredients that might surprise you are easier than you think. 

If you have questions, or would like me to talk about a specific issue or ingredient please leave a comment and i would love to answer as best i can.