Chicken Stock

So my weekends are usually crazy, but when I get the chance I make a long simmering, rich and flavorful chicken stock! I cut up an onion, garlic head, and a shallot. Then I cut up a cup of carrots, celery and leeks, throw them in my beautiful huge stock pot. To that I add my chicken bones. Now here is the the thing, I hate waste, so during the week, I may roast some chickens or use store bought rotisserie chicken. When I do that I always save the bones, throw them in a storage bag and throw it in the freezer for stock day! Even the day I made Hoisin Wings, I threw the end pieces of the wings into a bag and added them to my pot. It is a great way to use a chicken completely. I will have roasted chicken one night, use the leftovers for chicken salad the next and then use the bones for stock that weekend.

SO once you have your veggies and chicken bones in the pot, add a couple of bay leaves, parsely stems, fresh thyme a tbsp of peppercorns and top with cold water. Bring it to just a boil, not a hard boil just a good, steady simmer and be ready to occasionally skim any gray foamy stuff off the top. Other then that thow, I just let it go! I turn it to low and let it simmer for a few hours, no stirring just skimming every once in a while.

At the end of a few hours, I taste it to make sure it has that herbal, chickeny rich flavor and I usually salt it at this point, just to taste- a bit on the weak side to leave you some room for further seasoning at the point of the end use. I ladle it into another stockpot thru my chinois to fully strain off the broth and then put it into the fridge overnight. The next day I skim the fat off, so now it is is virtually fat free! I put it into either storage bags or storage containers and put into the freezer for when I need it! It is too simple - just try it!

Hoisin Wings!!

So last Sunday was Hoisin Wing night, a favorite here. Thought I would post the process and the results.

The key to an excellent wing is, in my opinion, proper marniation time. I like to prepare my sauce early in the day so the wings can swim in the sauce for 8 hours, turning them about every couple of hours.

First you need to prepare the garlic, cause what is a great anything without garlic? I like to do a rough chop then toss a bit of kosher salt on top and mush with the side of a knive to form a paste. Once that is done I add to a large bowl and add in some chopped ginger. Sometimes I use fresh, but the jarred version works fine in this case.

Next on the agenda is the lime juice, fresh squeezed from one or two. Now it is time to add the hoisin sauce, I use one jar of my favorite brand. I believe it is about 8 ozs. which would equate to about a cup. On top of that you need chinese hot sauce, oh about a tsp to a tbsp, depending on your tolerance of heat in food. Next is Ketchup, about 3/4 cup, and on top of that, about 1/4 cup of Rice Wine Vinegar, salt and pepper and thats it! Sweet, Spicy, Tangy, Savory, TERRIFIC!

Now it is important to bathe those wings for those 8 hours. I use the party wings, which are essentially a wing that has been cut at the joint and the end of the wing removed. You can easily prepare them yourself, or buy them already done for you. Either way the smaller piece makes for a terrific bite size piece!

Once the wings fully bathed and ready to get the heat treatment, let them out of the referigerator for a bit, maybe half hour, to come to room temp. Then on the grill they go! AND CHECK IT OUT!

Sounds good enough to eat!

I am working on constructing my cookbook and I am challenged by writing with more colorful descriptions. It is one thing to say "It was a delicious or beautiful tomato" and it is another to say "It was a plump, juicy tomato, not bright red but a blush color that is reminiscent of that perfect moment in a sunset. You know right where the sun hits the horizon and you get that quick moment of blush before the sun sinks into the darkness." This may be overplaying this a bit, but you get the picture. My next entry will be one of my recipes that I am going to be used in my cookbook along with the description. I am hoping to get comments, grading my descriptors. Have a great day!

Simple Works!

This summer has been a great time to practice simple, fresh and healthy dishes. We had a beautiful tomato crop this year-heirlooms that were fabulous! My simple delicious and oh so popular dish was a simple vingrette with a touch of honey, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzerella, zuchinni, fresh basil, salt and pepper, totally delicious!

Nutrition and the Foodie

Food is a passion for me, a way to express myself, something I can actually do fairly well and I love learning everything I can about it. But there is a downside, you can't be passionate or interested without needing to sample your work. This has caused an issue for me, a weighty one. So now the challenge is to get it off, keep it off, all the while continuing to enjoy my passion.

Of course one of the obvious solutions is to introduce more healthful, low-calorie foods into the process. I am constantly looking for ways to take some of my favorite dishes and find a lower calorie solution, without compromising healthfulness or taste. Healthful is a big issue for me. On the surface, all these low fat/not fat solutions seem to be a good alternative, and where calories are concerned this is true, but the story doesn't end there. Read the labels of the foods you eat, do you recognize all the ingredients, can you even pronounce all the ingredients? What about the sugars, remember they can be disguised in the _ose words, you know fructose, sucrose, etc. all sugars. Or how about hydrogenated oils? Yikes, stay away from those! I am not a big activist that likes to go on a rampage of my beliefs, but where these items come into play I do have a very strong opinion. High fructose corn syrup was invented to allow food companies to save money by concentrating the sweetness in a smaller quantity, and making a less expense overall product. In reality HFCS is nothing more then an agent that doesn't act like a sugar at all, it acts like a fat. Without getting into the technical chemistry lesson, I will just say that it tastes sweet, but the way that your body sees it from the inside is similar to the chemical composition of a fat, meant to be stored for the long haul, unlike sugar which is available immediately.

Hydrogenated oils are another story, first created to increase the shelf life of products that it's in. First of all, any chemically altered food is a little off putting, but as an experiment, put an open tub of margarine or crisco outdoors. Pick a place where flies might hang around. Notice that a few days later, the product is virtually melt and bug free. Anything that will not even attract a fly, frightens me and any product that is this solid, is having a tough time breaking down in your body as well. There a serious health issues with this item, high cholesterol, heart disease, to name a couple of biggies!

I guess the bottom line is this,

#1 The fewer ingredients listed on any food, chances are you are looking at something worth trying.

#2 Read the labels and start shooting for items where 90% of the ingredients are recognizeable, real foods.

#3 Start from scratch, there is no better way to be assured of real ingredients then to be in control from the point of creation. Experiment, make your own homemade ice cream, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla - simple!

#4 I will take extra calories over an unhealthy choice any day of the week, I can burn off calories, but I can't figure out how to expel the chemically created foods from my body.

Well let this one sink in and see how it sets with you, do your own research, the internet is full of facts and information. Be proactive and find out for yourself what is best for you!

So there are many stages of being a "foodie".  There is the beginner foodie, where you have an interest in food just a tad above the basic need of satisfying hunger.  The next stage would be, adolescent foodie.  This is someone who asks you if you would like kosher salt, sea salt or regular- an expanded knowledge of food over the basic but not quite a true food expert.  

Then you come to the real "foodie". One who has at least 10 different salts, who knows you better make your French Laundry reservation 2 months in advance and be prepared to spend 4 hours on the most exciting eating experiences of your life. One who knows that prime can be more then a number, and to appreciate the reward that is realized from a pig nosing around in the forests of France!  

I consider myself to be a real foodie in the making.  I am a student, as well as a teacher in my quest of more knowledge.  I think I own at least 200 cookbooks, but still only use them as reference for I like to cook by taste, not by convention.  

SO here I am, writing my blog entry, hoping to encourage all walks of the foodie scale to chime in on their journey to figuring out the where, when and why of being a foodie. I plan on discussing everything from organics to genetically engineered food to get answers, explore options and situations.  The funny thing is I just don't know what the purpose is, other then an interest and thirst for learning. This isn't meant to be any kind of a political blog, just a way to communicate with others like us, voice our thoughts, ask our questions, get opinions and see what might be useable information for our quests to become a true "Foodie"!

IN THE BEGINNING!

Welcome to my blog.  This blog is a way to express my ever changing, ever growing, fascination with food and the businesses that surrounds food.  From the farm, right down to the end game of a successful dining experience, there is a story to know and experience that is had,  that makes it more valid or relevant.  So I will talk about my experiences from home cooking to French Laundry and hope that someone out there finds some inspiration to lead them to a food experience that will last a lifetime!