Just Potato Soup

Contrary to prevailing wisdom in the culinary world, my favorite food season is winter.  Sure, I love the palette of flavors and colors spring and summer bring...some of my best food memories are associated with cooking outside and eating fresh berries...but I look forward to the rich, wholesome dishes of the colder months.  Stews, soups, braises, smoking and preserving excites me the most.  Perhaps this is because I tend to lean towards the more technical aspects of cooking. I believe firmly that these dishes seem to separate the decent cooks from the true technicians..the ones who have taken the time to study the science and reasoning behind every step in a proper dish. 

Every Christmase Eve I make a pot of 'something'.  A dish that holds well, pleases the masses and is generally easy to eat whenever you are hungry.  This past Christmas Eve, I made a slightly more complex version of basic potato soup.  As far as flavors go, there was nothing really out of the ordinary with the soup however, with just a little more effort with the presentation, guests will think you mastered some sort of new culinary level. 

I have been thinking about making potato soup for a few days but I didnt really want to make a roux based cream soup that continues to thicken as time passes.  While this recipe has no flour, I did use a bit of butter (only 1/2 stick though!) as I generally like to sweat my aromatics slowly in whole butter.

If you were serving this at a restaurant I would call this recipe Puree of Yukon Potato Soup with Crispy Fingerlings and Applewood Smoked Bacon...at home, its just potato soup.

• 3/4 small onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced 
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/2 stick butter
• 8 medium yukon potatoes, peeled and cut into consistent sizes
• 7 cups clear chicken stock, if you make it yourself, dont roast the bones
• 5 cups heavy cream
• 8 ounces thick sliced smoked bacon, buy good bacon
• 6 or 8 yellow or red skinned fingerling potatoes
• Kosher Salt and Black Pepper

When dicing onions and celery, always cut them consistently in size.  This will allow the vegetables to cook most evenly.  Peel and wash the potatoes.  Cut them into consistently sized matchsticks for the same reason.  This soup will be pureed so it doesnt matter the exact shape but same size is important.
                                                                                                                                                    

Add the onion, celery and butter into a soup pot.  Gently sweat the items until just translucent, never browning the onions or celery.  Add the garlic and toss until the sharpness of the garlic disapates.  Add the Potatoes and broth.  Simmer until the potatoes are tender but not totally falling apart.

Meanwhile, slice the smoked bacon into lardons.  I like my bacon to still have some bite to it so I tend to slice it a little thicker than most people.  Add the bacon a cold saute pan and render the bacon slivers over medium heat until the bacon is completely rendered and the bacon is cooked to your liking.

Drain the bacon on a paper towel, reserving the rendered fat in the pan.  Slice the fingerling potatoes as thin as possible.  Heat the reserved bacon fat until just below smoking and add the thin sliced fingerlings.  Fry these until crispy, draining on a paper towel.  Reserve both the crispy bacon and the potatoes for garnish.  Reserve the bacon fat for garnish too!

   

Puree the simmered potatoes, vegetables and broth in a blender until completely smooth.  Return the puree to the soup pot and add the heavy cream.  Stir to completely combine and simmer for 20 minutes or so...adjusting consistency with more broth or more cooking.

When the soup is hot and the correct consistency, season with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Garnish with a few of the reserved potato crisps, the crispy bacon and some drops of the reserved baon fat.

Cassoulet

Cooking primarily in larger professional kitchens has translated to, ahem...slightly larger recipes than most hom chefs can handle.  This recipe for cassoulet, using the Duck Confit from a previous recipe post, is just such a recipe.  While this recipe makes for a fair amount of cassoulet and would be suitable for a crowd, it is also easy to reduce the recipe by half or even thirds.

• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 15lb ham hocks
• 3 onions
• 1 head of celery
• 4 medium sized carrots
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3lb white beans, some people like cranberry beans, cooked in pork stock or white beef stock
• 12 duck confit legs, removed of some of the fat that has congealed on the outside
• 2 1/2lb of pork sausage links, blanched and browned
• 2 onions
• 1/4 cup raw garlic cloves

Using the first 6 ingredients, make a quick pork stock.  Reserve the meat from 4 hocks for use later in the recipe.  Line a large roasting pan with 1 inch of the cooked beans.  Arrange the 12 duck legs, sausage (cut in half lenthwise) and the pork hock meat over the beans.  Using a blender, puree the 2 remaining onions and the remaining garlic.  Place this puree over the beans and meat.  Top this mixture with the remaining beans and add the quick pork stock to just cover the beans.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees and cook for an additional 3 hours, pressing beans down gently every 15 or 20 minutes during the cooking.  Portion the cassoulet into some cool earthenware serving dishes and garnish with chopped fresh herbs. 

 

Duck Confit

Confit, or a variation of, has been a method of preparation and preserving of foods for thousands of years.  Usually associated with the preservation of a meat...traditionally a waterfowl, the process of transforming a perfectly acceptable cut of meat into something totally different is incredibly satisfying.  The end result to a properly prepared duck confit is much much better than the sum of its parts with a silky texture and aroma like no other.   I love the actual act of preparing confit...everything from feeling the heavily textured salt mixture on my hands to incessently checking on the product as it slowly cooks...it all excites me.

I'm not sure where the inspiration of this recipe for duck confit originated.  I may have swiped it verbatim from a long lost chef-partner some time ago (if I did...THANKS), I really dont know.  However, this recipe has served me well over the years.  Once you get the actual procedure down, feel free to amend the aromatics, in this case the juniper, peppercorns and thyme, to fit your own desires

For the Confit Cure

• 1/2 cup each of black peppercorns, juniper berries and fresh thyme
• 1/4 dried rubbed sage
• 1/4 cup of fresh rosemary sprigs
• 1/2 cup garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup dried bay leaves
• 3 cups kosher salt....whenever I say salt, I mean kosher

Combine all the ingredients in a large food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.  This may make more than you need for a batch of confit, depending on how many duck legs you wish to prepare

For the Actual Confit

•  duck legs, this cure should be enough for a dozen or so
• extra duck fat...surely you have some frozen in tidy little bricks right OR just have a half gallon or so of vegetable oil to get yourself started.

Wash and dry the duck legs thouroughly.  Its good to get as much as the extra water off them as possible so your confit cure will work best.  Dry curing removes moisture from the product so there is no use in having extra moisture.  Toss the legs in a copious amount of the cure...go ahead and use it all...doesnt really matter.  Place the legs in a large container and place in refrigerator 24-36 hours.

After the curing process, rinse the cure from the legs in plenty of cool water.  Place the legs, skin side down in a large roasting pan.  Make sure your roasting pan is plenty big enough.  You will have a lot of hot oil.  Add enough of the oil (or duck fat) to almost cover the legs and place in a slow, 275 degree, oven.   roast the confit until the fat is completely rendered from the legs and the meat is falling off the bone.  Remove from heat and cool completely, undisturbed, in the oil-fat mixture that was created.  This will keep for quite a while but I have never kept it more than a week or so.  Reserve the fat for the next batch.

Whenever you wish for some confit, remove however many legs you need and heat in a high oven, crisp the skin in a pan or pull the meat and use in recipes.  Either way, its good.

Success Without Happiness

When all is said and done, success without happiness is the worst kind of failure
                                                                               --Louis Binstock

I happened across this quote a few days ago and was immediately taken by the magnitude of which it suggests.  As someone who considers himself a borderline workaholic, I am always cognicent of the effects of my chosen career on my family, my personal psyche and my physical health.  Work or work related activities always seem to pull me away from the things that are most important to me.  It doesnt help when one of the activities I love most is creating with food as my medium and solving complex logistical issues while serving food at its greatest...but, I digress...

Through a series of personal events over the last few months, the concept of happiness has been put at the forefront of my thinking.  Too often, too many people trod through life pushing for a professional victory or business success only to find that, while successful, they aren't terribly happy.  For many years I pushed through physically gruelling work schedules, unhealthy toxic professional relationships and unrealistic personal goals that kept me from being truely happy.  I justified my personal unhappiness with the rationalization that if I received just one more success in my business or some other professional validation, then happiness would come.  I didnt mind working that extra shift or missing a random family event because I believed there would always be another get together or time in the future for myself.

I will leave the judgement of my past actions to others...most likely my children.  However, I can say unequivically that regardless of how much I love my chosen profession; no matter how single-moment fulfilling it was to conquer that last meal service, professional success, for me anyway, NEVER translates to the feeling of sustained personal happiness. 

I consider myself fortunate to have found many professional successes relatively early in life.  I no longer feel the need to prove myself to anyone or to push for the NEXT BIG THING unless it is something I want to push for.  I have relative freedom to choose my own path at this point.  But the opportunity cost to the manner in which I achieved my professional winnings have been the physical and emotional toll placed on my personal happiness.

My advice to any aspiring chef or future leader is to find what makes you happy FIRST.  Then figure out a way to be successful in spite of it.  Your business and your career will be thankful for it.

Jamaican Rum BBQ Sauce

This recipe was developed for an event that featured a prominent liquor distributor who wanted to feature their products in the menu as much as possible.  While I am not real fond of the rum this distributor requested we use, I have found this recipe useful with most any dark, full-bodied rums available.  I call it a BBQ Sauce but, when cooked to completion, this should be used more like a finishing sauce...brushed on the meat a few minutes before completion.  I usually serve a bit more on the side as well.

• 1 bottle, 750ml, of any dark spiced rum.
• 3 quarts of pineapple juice (2-#5 cans)
• 1 quart brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups molasses
• 1/2 cup pickling spice
• 1T crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup sweet chili sauce

Combine all the ingredients in a wide sauce pan or stock pot and reduce by at least half over medium heat.  Simmer the mixture until the sauce is of the desired consistency or it easily coats the back of a metal spoon.  The culinary term for a liquid coating the back of a spoon is NAPPE...if you care.

Strain the sauce through a fine mesh screen and cool for use.  I like to baste chicken or smoked pork ribs with this sauce right before they get finished on the grill.  Also makes a pretty good dip for chicen fingers.

oh...this recipe makes a ton so you might want to reduce it a bit.

Savory Apple and Cheddar Bread Pudding

I first began experimenting with the flavors of apple and cheddar while in Vermont;  an area well known for both apples and cheese.  While there are many local cheese makers nowadays who make really great products, I am still partial to Cabot Cheddar. 

Recipe for a Savory Apple and Cheddar Bread Pudding goes great with roast pork tenderloin or even a grilled chicken and is perfect as the cold weather starts to set in.

• 5 apples, I like gala, medium diced
• 1 small onion, small diced
• 3 oz clarified butter or regular butter...don't sweat it if you don't have clarified
• 1/2 cup loose packed fresh chopped sage
• 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 pound of country white bread, diced
• 6 cups heavy cream
• 12 eggs
• 2 cups shredded white cheddar, I like Cabot...sharper the better!
• salt and fresh ground black pepper

Sweat the onions and apple in butter until just soft.  Do not brown.  Fold in the sage and parsley and remove from heat.  Cool slightly while dicing the bread, shredding the cheese and preparing the rest of the ingredients.  Combine the cream and eggs and pour over the diced bread.  Let this mixture stand for 10-15 minutes to completely soften the bread.  Add the cooled apples and shredded cheddar and toss gently to mix the ingredients.  I like to place the mixture into heavily greased large sized muffin tins. This will ensure everyone gets the correct amount of crispy edges and also will help with plate presentation.  Bake at 300 degrees until just set.

Lull Before the Storm

The weekend after Thanksgiving is always bittersweet. The pre-holiday events are over and we all got some much needed rest and family time. Starting next week, the holiday rush will be in full swing. With all the stressors associated with running (or,should i say, attempting to control) a busy foodservice company during the holidays, I find terribly difficult to keep the season in perspective.

Longstanding clients who want the same thing every year and those who want something new, new clients expecting to be wowed, marketing 'thank you' freebies, end of year events, bids for next year, charity functions, employees burning out vacation time, overworked crew, end of year accountings and comparisons all culminate into the next three weeks of hurried frenzy. At some point personal shopping time will need to be integrated into the schedule as will the occasional personal holiday party. No wonder food folks always enter the holidays with trepidation.

I will spend my last few hours of intermission pouring over a few long forgotten cookbooks while enjoying the occasional sounds of the house peeking around the corner. Maybe tomorrow I will do some cooking.

The Family Meal

My favorite part of any family meal is immediately after dinner when the busy sounds of post dinner cleanup are drifting through the house. Sitting at the table, my dog waiting patiently at the foot of my chair, I absorb the sights and sounds of the family dynamic. Four generations of women sitting around the table listening intently to the my youngest recite the latest Spanish words she learned at Montessori. My oldest is somewhat reluctantly helping the others with dish and clean up duty.

This is my moment of zen...movement, sound and time happen but goes un-noticed. Deep decisions are made but not registered but I don't mind. I am happy. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Menu

We are celebrating Thanksgiving early this year.  My family had a large extended family feast on Sunday.  About 30 people came representing 4 generations of my Family along with a couple close friends as well as my grandma's caretaker (who seems to be a family friend at this point).  I believe my second cousin was the youngest at 3 years old and my father's mother, at 84 years, was the oldest.  The menu was fairly traditional with many of the guests bringing a dish of some sort. 

I brought a hickory smoked brisket that was slow smoked for seven hours.  Also brought some potato cakes prepared with scallions and flat leaf parsley.

My wife's family will be joining us for a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow to allow for more family to be present.  Of course the meal will be held at my home and, thanks to my mother-in-law, a great cook in her own right, the bar is set high.  I enjoy cooking for her more than anyone else in my family because she gets it.  She understands what it takes to prepare a family meal of this magnitude, appreciates the intricacies and nuance of the food prepared and really savors the actual food for what it is.  Sure, the others appreciate a good meal and seem to genuinely enjoy the experience but She just gets it. I often find my self wondering if she would approve of a certain dish...even in a professional setting.

This Thanksgiving seems to hold particular importance for me.  Having experienced both a bit of extended family turmoil and a relatively serious health scare in the last few months, I have really come to appreciate the family network.  The concept of a strong, cohesive family safety net has been re-energized within my family.  Thats a good thing.

Thanksgiving Menu for Tomorrow...so far:

Applewood Smoked Tenderloin of Beef

Slow Braised Pork Shoulder with Cider

Brown Sugar Roasted Acorn Squash

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Tasso

Sauteed Green Beans with Brown Butter and Pecans

Cornbread and Chorizo Stuffing

Traditional Bread Stuffing with Fresh Sage (garlic too!)

Corn Gratinee

Mashed Yukon Potatoes

Caesar Salad

Pumpkin Pie (hopefully with crystallized ginger)

Pear and Cranberry-Gingerbread Crisp

Vanilla Scented Whipped Cream

Yes, its turkey free!



The Prep List

When a young chef or civilian cook asks me what the hardest part of cooking professionally is, my answer almost alway gravitates to back to the prep list. A seasoned chef can tell much by the way another chef manages and manipulates a prep list. Sloppy, partial prep list that only looks at the immediate next meal = a sloppy unorganized chef who will always be surprised when something goes wrong. A chef's prep list which is meticulous and well thought out conveys a technician who understands the organization and determination required to be a top chef.
Even though I have been out of the day to day kitchen routine, I still get the opportunity to put the pencil down and work my knife. Last week, I had the opportunity to be in the kitchen while my chef (my chef...how can one 'have' a chef?) is on vacation.

My prep list for the day:

• 270 potato scallion cakes, large
• 260 potato scallion cakes, small
• 1 gallon slow roast tomato relish
• 3 gallon walnut pesto
• 3 gallon tomato-vodka sauce
• 10lb garlic sausage
• 15 lbs orrechiette
• 15 lbs cavatappi
• 10 lbs shredded Pecorino
• 2 gal Grilled Tomato Salsa
• 1 gallon Southwest Flavored Bean Purée
• 2 quarts Roast Pepper Relish
• 50 lbs Hickory Smoke Brisket
• 150 Peppercorn-Garlic Rubbed Pork Tenderloin Steaks
• 120 seared fresh Salmon Fillet
• 2 gallon Green Peppercorn Sauce
• 3 gallon Roast Shallot Vinaigrette
• 18 lb Herbed Compound Butter
• 10 lb cut and fry Tortillas
• 2 quarts Bourbon BBQ Sauce
• 12 lb Crumbled Chevre
• Cheese Display for 280
• Vegetable Display for 400
• 2 quarts Parmesan Peppercorn Dip
• 2 quarts Roast Red Pepper Dip
• 200 Spanikopeta
• 700 Ginger Glazed Meatballs
• 48 lbs of Green Beans

Food Journals

Since culinary school, I have been keeping a notebook, many notebooks at this point, of recipes and combinations that I found useful.  If you were to look at my notebooks you would know that you reached a particularly successful recipe by the appearance of the page.  If the page had side notes or indiscriminate food stains all over, then you will know that page was referenced often.  As a young chef, I was very possessive of my notebook;  never leaving it unattended.  Nowadays, I am happy to share the contents…I usually have to translate it though.

                

Up until this blog, this is as close to a diary that I have every been.  The pictures below are from a menu brainstorming session most likely while sitting at the bar after service.  Those times, after service when the area chefs would get together to talk shop and mix it up with whoever was left in the bar, were always very special to me.  Regardless of rank or pedigree, everyone was equal.

    

Homemade Catsup

I have always been fascinated by the thought of making an item that most people would never even consider making themselves. This recipe was developed when I worked at the Norwich Inn in Norwich, VT. We got into a rather obsessive groove making all different types of sausages; fresh, cured, smoked, traditional, trendy….it didn’t matter. If it could be ground and stuffed into a casing, we made it. We spent 3 weeks perfecting the perfect hot dog recipe. As soon as I saw someone squirt some Heinz all over my house made dog, I knew something had to be done.

• 2 Large Onions, Diced
• 1/4 Cup of Chopped Garlic
• 8 Tomatoes, Cored and Diced
• 4 Cups of Tomato Paste
• 1 Quart of Cider Vinegar
• 2 Cups of Water
• 1 Cup Golden Raisins
• 1 Cup Molasses
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2T Allspice
• 1/4 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Dried Chipotle Pepper, Whole is fine
• Pinch of Ground Clove
• Salt and Pepper

Sweat the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour. While the mixture is still hot, puree everything and strain through a fine strainer. Cool to room temperature and check for flavor. Now is the time to adjust seasoning. Cover and chill for service. Its always best to serve this at room temperature…with fries.

Espresso-Peppercorn Rub for Beef

For my first recipe posted to this site, I chose a recipe I have used off and on for nearly 10 years.  First used when I worked at the Hanover Inn in Hanover, NH, this rub has made it on the menu of every place I have worked since.  This is a great go-to spice rub for bold, flavorful meats…I prefer to use it on whole roasts rather than individual portions.  However you choose to use it, do resist the temptation to make a batch ahead of time.

• 1 Cup Fresh Ground Black Peppercorns
• 1 Cup Fresh Ground Espresso
• 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Smoked Salt

Mix all the ingredients until well blended.  Rub evenly over entire piece of meat.  Let the rub rest on the roast for at least an hour to allow the sugar and salt to react to the product.  However you finish your product, use high heat to help form a nice crust.
 

A Blog about Nothing in Particular...except mostly food

I have toyed with the idea of writing or creating some sort of outlet for the thoughts and ideas that run through my head over the course of a day.  Often these thoughts are fleeting and don’t stay with me much longer than it takes for me to register that it even existed.  Others, like the savory taste of mushrooms sauteed with roasted garlic, linger for a bit and actually change something, on a molecular level, in my brain. 
I have no idea if anyone will read this…much less even enjoy what I place within the confines of this arena.  On many levels, I don’t really give a damn!  But, in that area of my psyche where I yearn for recognition, I hope you do find this space to be, at the minimum, fleetingly entertaining…kind of like that time when you attempted to make marshmallows.
What will I put on this site?  I don’t rightly know.  I am a food guy.  I am obsessed with flavor, food and flavor combinations and the techniques involved with providing great food and service.  More importantly, I am married to my best friend, have 3 cool children and genuinely want to leave my community a better place for the next round of inhabitants.
So….here goes.  Check back from time to time,  leave the occasional comment and share this blog with others if you feel compelled to do so.