Category: Sourcing

Where and how to find it, and what you’re looking for….

Oh, Stuff It…


The local grocery gets some decent stuff in from time to time – Even Albertsons has to have chicken with no weird shit injected into it if they want to sell things these days… Often enough, they’ll offer decent beef, pork and chicken at buy one, get two free, and if you’re not taking advantage of such a thing, you’re wealthier than we are, (Which isn’t that hard, by the by). So we buy these and use them for what they should be used for, AKA, marinating, braising, or otherwise converting decent flavor to spectacular, and once again, so should you!

Of course, the obvious caveat is, that if you buy them, you should use them before they get nasty in your freezer. We keep track of what we have and when we bought it, and use them before the 90 day mark, which is a good rule of thumb to avoid old taste and/or freezer burn.

So tonight, I had chicken to work with, and thought to myself that something other than pedestrian was in order. Grant and Christie from Neighborhood Gardens had just sent us a care package, and I eyed the dried cherry tomatoes, (‘Cause I know theirs are always spectacular!), and the wild rice. This is, by the way, real wild rice from northern Minnesota, a whole ‘nuther animal from anything you find at the store – This stuff is hand harvested and processed and is to store bought what Little Feat live was to their studio albums, AKA a whole different animal of a higher order, indeed! We also are graced with cheese from the Washington State University Creamery, and this too is not your store bought stuff – Their Pepper Jack is sublime, creamy, with deep and complex flavor and just the right cast of jalapeno fueled heat. naturally, with this core in mind, my inner child kicked me upside the head and said “Sausage, you dope!” So that’s what we did.

Now, a note to you folks who might just have a kitchen in your home; is this you? If so, I’d bet dimes to dollars that you got all kinds of stuff in there you never use – Am I right or am I right? Is one of them a Kitchenaid mixer? Is it? Fess up, now… If so, do you have a food grinder and sausage stuffer attachment? ¿Sí o No? If so, but you don’t use that either, and if not, why the hell not? Both those kits will run you maybe $45, and once you have them, you can say adios to buying expensive, artisanal sausage and hello to making your own, capiche? Good! That’s what we use here; it is easy, fast and very, very fun to do, and funner yet to eat, trust us…

First, some caveats on making sausage.

1. Keep everything you’re using for the project very cold, always. You must do this to ensure that your components blend well and remain so; heat melts fat and softens proteins and those things remaining cold are the glue for just about any forcemeat.
2. Clean everything thoroughly before and after you use them. Ground meat gets gross fast and leads to sick people even faster; nuff said.
3. Pull out everything you’ll need and have it clean, staged and ready; it’ll keep the process fun and moving right along.
4. For stuffed sausage, you gotta have cases. You can use a variety of natural casings, semi-natural, or artificial; it kinda depends on your preferences. Most folks still opt for natural casings. The up side is that they’re natural. The down side is that they require prep to use, most be refrigerated, and can get nasty if you don’t handle them correctly. We prefer natural, edible collagen casings. They are also an animal product, hence the natural moniker, require no prep to speak of, don’t need to be refrigerated, last at least a year, and don’t get funky easily. They’re also cheap – Check them out here at our fave supplier, Butcher & Packer.

Chicken Sausage with hickory smoked bacon, WSU Pepper Jack, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh oregano.

2 Chicken breasts, skinned, fat left on, and frozen.
4 strips quality smoked Bacon; (We use Wrights hickory smoked, which is simply fantastic)
4 oz. Pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
Tablespoon fresh Oregano, (1/2 Tablespoon if dried)
Salt
Whole Black Pepper

Hydrate your dried tomatoes in plenty of cold, clean water until full softened.

Pull out your grinding and stuffing equipment, sanitize it, and ice your bowls.

Cut chicken, bacon, and cheese into strip suitable for feeding into your grinder. Add tomatoes and oregano.

Add salt and Pepper:Salt and Pepper are not just salt and pepper; if you’ve learned anything here, I hope its that! My friend and fellow Foodie Shannon Shipp toured our spice cabinet the other day, and was blown away just by the huge taste spectrum evident in the many salts we use and keep in house. For this project, we used Himalayan Pink Salt and fresh Lampong black pepper from Viet Nam – The flavors of those tow alone rival spice blends of much greater complexity, believe me – It’s not how much you use, but how good the ingredient is and how well you use it that counts! Those last two might sound tony and expensive, but the fact is that lovely, fresh stuff from World Spice runs between a buck and a buck seventy five an ounce, which is chicken feed for stuff of this quality, (Pun intended…).

Throw all that wonderful stuff into the grinder and get it on!

The freshly ground sausage goes right back into the freezer as we clean up and get ready to stuff.

Now, clean and sanitize everything you used! We wash boards and bowls down, spray then with Clorox Cleanup, and allow that to do it’s thing for a good 10 minutes…

OK, stuffin’ time – First set up the toy, errrrr, tool.

Next, cue up some appropriate sausage stuffing music; you want this process to move right along, so choose wisely; I went with Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy A Thrill, (When I posted a song on Facebook as Music to Stuff Sausages By, my old Buddy Doug quipped, “Literally, or is this some kind of code?” I meant it, Doog!).

Pull out your casing, measure off about 2 feet of it, tie off the bitter end with kitchen string. Grease your stuffer with a little cold shortening and ease the casing right on there, bitter end out, of course.

Now you’re ready to get it on!

You really can’t stuff with one of these rigs solo, so get your best kitchen buddy and divvy up the work. One of y’all feeds forcemeat into the stuffer while the other manages the sausage itself. The process is not turbo charged, so don’t get worried; you’ve got all the time you need to make sure you’re getting a nice, even fill. You do not want to pack a sausage tightly – you must leave room for expansion when cooking, so let it fill loose and easy.

For these guys, we think of them as a brat more or less in size. The casings are 3/4″ so that’ll be the thickness of your sausage; length should be about 4 1/2 to 5″ or so. When you reach that length, throw a few twists in the casings and start in on the next one. This recipe will make about 6 snausages that size, more or less. When you’re done, tie each one off with kitchen twine and shove ’em back into the fridge.

Now, we moved on to some left over wild rice from a feast we built the other night. M whipped that into a wild rice salad, with celery, shallot, onion, red pepper, fresh mint, dried cranberries, toasted hazelnuts, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil – No big deal, right? (Yes, she whips stuff like this off the cuff all the time; now you know whay I’m nuts about her!)

Finally, some nice, fresh green beans, ’cause we should and we can!

We browned the sausages, and then let them braise in chicken stock, just to make sure they understood the program, ya see…

Et viola, with a generous shot of King’s Gardens Kraut, because we could and should!

And if that don’t float your boat, well, it just ain’t our fault…

😉

Chicken of the Woods!


This just in from my pal Darcie, who’s become a fountain of vegetarian creativity for us!

OK Eben, I purchased “chicken of the woods” yesterday, a wild looking mushroom . . . now to figure out how to cook with it!!

GREAT catch, Darce! CofW is a wonderful, funky mushroom that I recall with great fondness from days in the northwest. They are truly delicious, with complex, deep flavors. Some think they taste, well, like chicken, (I know, right?), while others lean more toward a lobster/crab kinda vibe. In any case, they’re a great meat substitute that puts tofu to shame.

First caveat: As with any wild mushroom, be sure what you’ve found or bought before you try it! Check a reliable, reputable site for facts before you eat! I like The Mushroom Expert a lot, and that’s where I went to dig up more scoop on these guys.

Second Caveat: Some people don’t do so well with CotW, so it’s best to try a little bit and make sure before you wade into a whole raft of them. Typical reaction symptoms are stomach upset, itchy throat, or swollen lips. Anaphylaxis is not fun, so be prudent!

Third caveat: Some varieties of CotW grow on conifers, cedars, and eucalyptus trees; you shouldn’t eat these guys, as they can contain some nasty toxins specific to those trees that don’t mix well with humans.

That’s a lot to know, but it’s all important. Bottom line is, if you’re buying and your seller can’t answer those questions readily and with clear eyes, don’t buy from them… OK, all that said, whataya do with them once you got ‘em? Here’s a basic recipe that rocks, but first, a couple of notes.

Make sure you’re gtting young, fresh stuff – When these get old, they pretty much resemble plywood in taste…

To clean CofW, wipe them gently with a clean, damp cloth. They are sponges and will absorb a lot of water if you douse ‘em. For the same reason, if you sauté in oil, do so sparingly.

My favorite way to cook these is simple and straightforward, letting the flavor and texture of the ‘shrooms stand out.

Sauted Chicken of the Woods

2 – 3 cups CotW
3 – 5 whole tomatoes
½ cup Vegetable Stock
2 – 3 cloves Garlic
¼ teaspoon fresh Thyme
1 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Clean CotW and cut into slightly large bite sized pieces. Mince garlic, and fine chop thyme.

Heat water in a large pan to a low rolling boil. Fill a non-reactive bowl with ice water. Blanch tomatoes into boiling water for about 30 seconds and then dunk them into the ice water. Peel and core after they’re thoroughly cooled. Toss tomatoes into a blender and zap ‘em until they’re uniformly sauced. Pour your sauce through a wide mesh strainer to remove seeds, etc. Set aside.

Heat oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Mince garlic and quickly sauté, taking care not to burn it!

Add CofW and sauté for about 10 minutes. As they cook, they turn bright orange-yellow, which is very cool!

Add vegetable stock and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium low heat, taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Serve hot and go wild. I love these with some crusty bread to sop up all the juice with a nice glass of tangy, white wine to refresh the flavors with. Also goes great tossed with a pasta of your choice, or over wild rice.

Enjoy!

Weird Veggies of the World, Unite!


My dear old friend Darcy sent this in from Sunny California, and I’ve taken way too long to answer!

Ok – fennel (whole) and kohlrobi . . . . picked them up at the CSA and hove no idea what to do with them. Any (non animal) ideas?

Yup, I sure do! And let me just add that this post is titled as it is not ’cause Darce is weird using such stuff, but because all three of the mainline veg ingredients here are often either completely overlooked or, at best, treated as redheaded step-veggies. And they shouldn’t be, because they are all wonderful, unique and very tasty indeed.

So, in the interest of better late than never, here’s a great slaw for summer. We love O & V based slaws as much as the mayo/aoli style, and especially in summer, where lighter is better. This one really lets the veggy mainstays sing!

Fennel – Kohlrabi Slaw with Sautéed Kale.

1 Bulb each Kohlrabi and Fennel, washed and sliced sliver thin.
1 bunch Kale sliced into strips roughly ¼” wide.
Juice and zest from 1 Lemon.
½ teaspoon prepared Horseradish.
2 cloves Garlic.
¼ Cup dry white wine.
¼ Cup Veggy stock.
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard.
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Combine lemon juice, zest, horseradish, salt, pepper and whisk thoroughly. Mix the sliced fennel and kohlrabi until well coated and allow to marinate, refrigerated, for at least 3 hours.

Remove veg mix, discard marinade and set fennel-kohlrabi aside.

Combine white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk in up to 6 tablespoons olive oil slowly, allowing vinaigrette to emulsify – Stop when you hit your preferred mark for the dressing, (And if you like more oil than that then use it!)

Combine dressing and marinated fennel-kohlrabi and coat thoroughly. Return to fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch kale in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove quickly and dunk in a bowl of ice water to shock it, (AKA, stop the cooking RFN). Pat dry, and set aside.

Mince garlic.

Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, white wine, stock, salt and pepper in a sauté pan on medium high. Sauté Kale to al dente, adding minced garlic in last minute or so. Remove kale and discard sautéing liquid.

Plate a nice layer of the sautéed kale, then toss a nice big portion of the slaw on top. Serve with a nice, crusty bread and some more of that dry white wine!

Enjoy!

P.S. – I apologize for no pics, but I’m working freelance on this one…

Birds of a Feather


Every Thanksgiving, someone says something to the effect of, “Why don’t we cook turkey more often?” Usually, I think it’s left at that, but for us, a few years back, we started to and we still do: Often enough, however, we find a turkey of any size just a bit too much for the two of us, so we’ve taken to downsizing with a nice chicken. I’m sure most of us have walked into the store and seen the ubiquitous pre-cooked chickens sitting there getting old, but since they’re on sale for $3.99, (Such a bargain!), we buy one, right? The problems with these things are myriad, but among the chief violations are these:
1. We have no idea where this bird came from or how good it is as raw product, and
2. We have no idea when it was cooked, and
3. The ‘seasoning’ is commonly barbaric

So, next time you’re tempted, pass the pre-cooked crap, head over to the poultry section, and check out whole roasting chickens.

We have a very nice, natural, no weird crap injected or fed, non-antibiotic filled brand available here and I’d bet you do too; that takes care of concern number one. You’ll notice, while reading the label to assure quality, that a very nice sized bird goes for roughly the same price as the pre-cooked junk, so there’s your bargain.

We’ll cook this ourselves, with fresh herbs and citrus, and that’ll take care of concerns two and three.

One other common concern we’ll address here is this: It goes something like, “OK, I get one good meal and maybe some sandwiches, but that gets boring after a few times…” This, of course, is the absolute wrong answer; stay with me and I’ll explain why.

First off, yes, you should start with a really nice meal. That bird is simply divine, as far as I’m concerned, and the joy of the whole shebang as we do it, a la that Thanksgiving feast, with turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry, Brussels sprouts, crème brûlée, is just too good to only do once a year. Light that menu up any month you like and you’ll have diners lining up at your door. That said, you needn’t go so whole hog to do a really great fresh chicken dinner; simple is best, so start there.

Unwrap, rinse and unpack your bird when you get it home, (how many embarrassing tales of cooked birds with the giblet packet tucked neatly inside must we hear, anyway?).

Follow all your standard safety precautions for handling poultry – Use separate tools, cutting boards, etc, and wash everything, including you, thoroughly afterwards.

Preheat your oven to 375º F.

Now raid the fridge; grab whatever citrus you have, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit all work great. Use maybe a large orange, or a couple of smaller lemons or limes, as you like and have on hand: Cut the fruit into 8ths or thereabouts and throw ‘em into a large mixing bowl. Add a splash of olive oil, a few more of white wine, half a rough chopped onion, then rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Mix all that up, put your bird on a rack in a roasting pan and stuff the bird with it. Grab the ends of the bird’s little legs, (AKA drumsticks), and tie them together with kitchen twine, (You DO have kitchen twine, right?!)

Now take a couple tablespoons of butter, a couple more of olive oil, a little more rosemary and thyme and salt and pepper, and mix ‘em all together. Slather the skin of your bird liberally with the mix.

Anything left over from stuffing or slathering? Throw it all in the roasting pan along with 3 or 4 cups of water.

Throw that sucker into the preheated oven.

OK, now a few words about cooking poultry, (Actually, damn near any flesh, truth be told). If you’re a seasoned pro who cooks for a living, I will believe that you can look at and touch a hunk of protein and tell when it is not only done, but properly done to rare, medium, well, etc. If that sentence does not describe you, then you can’t tell just by looking or poking, OK? One of the greatest crimes against good food is improper cooking, so get a leg up, face facts, jump into the 21st Century and buy a decent cooking thermometer. Actually, get several, seriously… I have a candy thermometer and an instant read, both of which are dirt cheap, as well as a nice, probe-equipped digital beast that reads both internal food temp and oven temp; got the latter online for about $20 and it’s well worth it.

Going back to that pre-cooked store bird, let me ask another question; with all the potential; liability of selling cooked poultry, which side of done do you think they’re gonna lean to? If you answered “Grossly, obscenely overdone,” then in the words of Ed McMahon, you are correct sir! For properly cooked whole poultry, we’re looking for an internal temp of 165º F, measured in the thickest part of the bird; once again, take the guesswork out, get a good thermometer and start cooking chicken that makes folks’ mouths water, OK?

Pull your bird out when it hits 165 and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes before you cut it; second greatest crime with the preparation of good meat is carving into it right after it’s pulled out of the oven; what that does is virtually guarantee that all the juices are gonna pour out, and you end up with nasty, dry flesh, just like the store bought version – Be patient, let it rest, and you’ll get the juicy, tender stuff you’re after!

Serve this bird with whatever you like; you can’t go wrong with a nice, crisp salad and some spuds. You really must, however, make gravy, right?

Heat a sauté pan to medium high. Pour in an ounce or so of bourbon, and let the alcohol flash off. You do NOT need to light the stuff on fire, gang, just let is simmer and use your nose; when you smell the nice, smoky smell without the booze smell, you’re there. With a baster or ladle, take some of those lovely pan drippings out of your roaster, (And yes, we do want fat, gang, that is what makes gravy great), and pour it into the sauté pan. Let the liquids incorporate and get nice to a nice low simmer; adjust your heat accordingly. Add a couple tablespoons of flour, slowly and gradually, and whisk constantly as you do, to blend everything smoothly and avoid clumps of flour. Stop adding flour when your gravy is a bit thinner than you care for and allow the mixture to thicken by heat alone. Add a little salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste and bring it on!

The variations for this kind of thing are endless – How about southwestern style, with cilantro, onion, garlic, green chile and apple for stuffing and rubbing? Italian, go with shallot, basil, thyme, and balsamic vinegar – Get the picture? As with spice rubs and blends, pick some flavors that you like and that seem complimentary and experiment – The next great blend should come from YOUR kitchen, OK?

Now, place yourself in the not-too distant future. That wonderful meal has been eaten, the leftovers wrapped and boxed and stuffed in the fridge – What happens now?! Well, as we mentioned back a ways, there always is sandwiches; Warren Zevon, shortly before he died, gave this advice: “Enjoy every sandwich.” Indeed we should, Mr. Z… My dad was a sandwich artist, and I like to think I inherited some of his passion and talent – There are few things better than a chicken or turkey sandwich with fresh cut bird, fresh bread, crisp veggies and homemade pickles; do the sandwiches and thank me later.

But there is so much more waiting in the wings, Gang! (Sorry, couldn’t resist). First and foremost, you have the perfect source for stock, and stock means soup or stew, and, well.. Nuff said, right? Take that carcass out, remove the remaining meat by carving or, as I prefer, simply ripping big old chunks off. Throw the remains into a big ol’ pot. Add water to cover, a volume of mirepoix appropriate to the size of your bird, (Remember mirepoix? 50% onion, 25% each carrot and celery, rough chopped), a couple bay leaves, salt, pepper, and put it all on a simmer. Let it do its thing for as long as you can, the better part of a day as a good measuring stick. When you can’t stand the incredible rich smell any more, strain out the remaining carcass and mirepoix, and return the stock to a large pot on medium low heat.

Raid the fridge again, and add what floats your boat; carrots, potatoes, peas, green beans, black beans, cilantro, garlic, corn, white beans, (or kidney, red, pinto, garbanzos – Get the picture?), rice, small pasta, (Boil first and strain well), chicken meat, a little bacon – Viola; homemade soup that puts everything else to shame. Maybe do up some French baguettes while it’s simmering, or fresh corn bread, (More on those later if that thought gave you a ‘Huh?’ moment…)

If you don’t feel like soup, fine – Let the stock cool, pour it into glass containers or plastic bags if you must and freeze it for later use – Nothing makes homemade soup, stew, or gravy better than homemade stock. Pour some of it into ice cube trays and freeze it; then when you’re ready to do up some great green beans you found at the market, pop out a cube, melt it in a sauté pan, add a little butter, and coat your steamed beans in that prior to serving – that’ll generate a wow moment for your diners, guaranteed!

Finally, how about what do afterwards if you DO do the whole Thanksgiving enchilada? How does one avoid the boring doldrums here? Easy, and one word for ya; terrine… The art of Garde Manger is the art of creatively using leftovers, and this is one of my favorites; I think I came up with this one, but I doubt it, frankly; it’s too easy and to good not to have been done before.

Preheat your oven to 350º F. Grab a loaf pan and lightly oil it. Now pull out all your Big Dinner leftovers; spuds, carrots, Brussels sprouts, dressing, cranberry, turkey, the whole shebang. Take your dressing and, by hand, line the loaf pan all around with a thin layer of that wonderful stuff. When you’ve done that, start layering the goods inside; turkey, spuds, carrots, everything except gravy, (Which will make things swim – Not good…) When you’re all layered up, cover the whole shebang with dressing. Pop it in the oven and let it do its thing for 30 minutes. Pull it out and let it rest for 15 minutes, minimum. Carefully cut a slice of the terrine and using a spatula, throw ‘er on a plate; add gravy and maybe some more cranberry; yum yum noises are optional but likely.

P.S. to loyal readers: Notice a diff on this entry? No standard recipe formats with exactly this much of this and that? Exactly; we’re starting down the road to cooking intuitively. Go with peace in your hearts, friends and neighbors! Look, if you’re not up to winging it 100%, OK, but you want to be and you will be and you have to get there somehow – Dive in, use your best judgment and trust that you’ll do fine; worst case scenario is a few learning experiences followed by a lifetime of joy and pleasure.