Holiday Leftovers

The reason I love thanksgiving is that it's a time of reflection when we can take stock of just how lucky we are to have a home and family. Those are the things that are most important. We take so much for granted in this country. There are more than 3 million people who are homeless in America. Children who don't know when their next meal will come. This is happening today. It started in 1980 when the homeless rate grew dramatically. This coincides with the election of that prick Ronald Reagan. I witnessed this first hand when I was a social worked at the time. Reagan opened up the doors of the mental hospitals and put the people, who were being cared for in those facilities, on the streets to fend for themselves.

Hunger in America effects some 15 million children who are considered chronically undernourished.  Imagine trying to go to school and concentrate on learning when you haven't had a good nutritional meal in two days. So, this is a plea to the 6 people who read this blog to find their local food bank and donate this holiday season, and please to do it on a regular basis. Thank you.

OK, enough about helping people. I don't know if I like the actual holiday meal or the leftovers better. Food just tastes so good after it's had a day in the refrigerator. There are so many things you can do with the remains of a turkey.

Some years I have boiled the carcass remains, and made a nice hearty turkey soup. It's been tradition for Geri to make a pie crust, and we construct a turkey pot pie, but pie crust is a lot of work, and we are very busy people. So, this year pot pie is not in the cards.

The other thing I like about TG is the day after our friends Alex and Suzanne have a party, and about twenty of us gather to have baked ziti. Suzanne does several excellent versions with a sausage, a chicken, and a vegan one. It's great not to cook after having slaved the day before.

The highlight of our meal this year was Geri's mashed potatoes. The recipe is included below. That, along with making turkey salad sandwiches is my blog for this week, complete with photos. This year I deboned the turkey right after the meal and yesterday, Saturday, I made turkey salad sandwiches, with fresh baked wheat bread, and it came out smokin'.

So, here's a nice recipe for those leftovers. Peace, and once again, please be thoughtful of those who are less fortunate.

Make Food/Not War

Geraldine's Mashed potatoes

Ingredients:
4 pounds peeled russet potatoes
1 tablespoon kosher salt + more for later
1 cup whipping cream
8 tablespoons of butter sliced
fresh ground pepper to taste
large pinch of nutmeg
2 tablespoons fresh chives
small handful of parsley medium chop

Directions:
1) Peel the potatoes and cut into eights. Place in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add a teaspoon of salt and bring to a simmer at medium high heat. Cook till the potatoes are cooked through, 12-15 minutes. Drain to remove as much of the water as possible.

2) Heat the cream in a saucepan over low heat till it's warm. Do not let it boil.

3) In a large mixing bowl mash the potatoes with a handheld potato masher until they reach the texture you desire, add the nutmeg, chives, parsley, and then fold in the cream and butter.

4) Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.

To serve as potato pancakes like shown in the photo below. Add one large tablespoon of breadcrumbs per potato pancake, mix well, and fry in a skillet with olive oil.

Turkey salad

leftover steamed veggies

potato pancakes before the frying pan 

side one

side two

Q- What's for dinner?  A- leftovers

Turkey Salad Sandwiches: Cut the leftover turkey up into 1/4 cubes, and dice onions, celery and then mix with mayonnaise, fresh parsley, slat and pepper to taste. This sandwich was served on toasted whole wheat bread, on a bed of spring lettuce, and avocado on top, with leftover steamed veggies, and the potato pancake.

To Brine or Stuff, That Is The Question?

There are two culinary subjects at Thanksgiving that can make my blood boil, and get me down right pissed off. What or Who am I pissed off at this week, you might ask? I'm pissed off at these people who are called celebrity chefs and the two subjects, brining and stuffing, are the topic of my blog this week.

Everyone does a recipe on how to cook a turkey or make a gravy that is not lumpy. I want to get down and dirty this year.

It seems that brining is all the rage these days. When it comes to celebrity chefs, you name them, and they're brining chickens, turkeys, game birds, and apparently anything with feathers. How the hell did we ever get a tender holiday bird before salt and water were discovered?  How did we ever survive without cell phones? I know that things come and go, styles change, and yes, tastes change,  but the basic fundamentals of cooking, which is a science, does not change. Let's start with brining which in my book is bullshit, plain and simple.

Let's go through the process of what happens to a turkey when it's time down on the killing floor has come. It's head is chopped off, the bird is hung up to bleed, it's eviscerated, the plumage is plucked, and then it is both washed, and fast frozen in order to kill harmful pathogens. The liver, neck and gizzards are packaged, and the bird is ready for market. The physical components of a turkey are not that much different that ours. In other words, we are 70% water, and so is a bloody turkey. Why the hell does it need more water and salt? The "scientific argument" for this that brining helps break down the proteins in the turkey, thus making it moister.

Once I get our bird and take it out of it's packaging, I the remove the neck and gizzards for later use. I wash it with cold running water in the sink before I prepare it for cooking. Then I pat it dry with paper towels. Once this is done I add olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs, and spices, and stuff it. Now it's ready for the oven. It got a bath at the processing plant and one at my house, plus I added salt with the herbs and spices.

I know I always evoke the memory of my dearly departed mother Mary, but for me that's where my culinary journey began. We always ate capons for Thanksgiving, not turkeys. A capon is a desexed rooster. Cutting off a rooster's balls helps him to grow much larger than he would normally, around 11 or 12 pounds, and that is a big ass rooster. But I digress. The point I am trying to make is good old Mother Mary didn't brine any birds, and we never had a tough piece of meat at our house. We reconstitute, but we don't brine.

Since we live close to the ocean I could just throw the bird in the drink for a half hour, then fish it out and cook it.

I have a ton of cook books here at home.  Books from the Culinary Institute of American to Julia Child, and not a one of them has anything written about brining the sacred holiday bird. We never used the method of brining in culinary school, not once in two years. Cook it to an internal temperature of 155 degrees, keep it covered while it's being cooked, baste it every 20 minutes, uncover it 30 minutes before it's done so the skin can brown, let it rest for another 30 minutes before you carve it, and it will come out moist and tender every time without fail.

Brining is a waste of fucking time. You got more time on your hands then by all means do what the celeb chefs tell you, brine. Personally I'm running out of time. Now note that in the previous paragraph I mentioned basting. I baste, and I baste, and I baste some more. Basting and keeping my bird covered till the right moment when I want to brown the skin is why they never come out tough.

I think you now understand my position on brining. Now, let's deal with stuffing. These same people, the "celebrity chefs", are all against stuffing the bird. There's a cavity there folks, a hole, a chasm, a void, a cavern, and it's begging to be filled with something. I mean give me a friggin' break. Once again it's back to the basics. It makes me wonder why these celebrities have become so damn revered?

For God's sake, you're cooking this creature at 350 degrees. Americans are afraid: afraid of Muslims, of the government taking away their guns, loosing their jobs, afraid that gay people might turn their delicate little Christian genius children into homosexuals, afraid of losing their homes, of dying, germs, the school system, second hand smoke, paying taxes, black people, and immigrants to name just a few. People who live in San Francisco are afraid of Oakland because San Francisco, the Paris of the West is perfect, has no crime, and is a brilliant diamond shinning brightly in the California sun, and Oakland is, let's face it, a huge lump of black anthracite coal inhabited mostly by drug dealers and killers.

America is a culture based on fear, fueled by the media, and salmonella seems to be the one that really gets these TV celebrity chefs terrified right around Thanksgiving. If a 350 degrees oven won't kill salmonella, then we are in trouble. I'm 60 years old, so I've eaten at least 60 stuffed turkeys, and I have never, never, had a food borne illness eating stuffing from a bird.

Just think of all the wonderful options we have for that beautiful big dark hole. The combinations for various stuffing's are unlimited. We start with bread; sour dough, corn, spelt, wheat, or white. Then we can add onions, wild rice, celery, nuts, chestnuts, olives, cherries, raisins, oysters, pocket watches, spices, herbs, toy cars, diamond rings, pearls, hell, anything goes. I add a little chicken stock to my stuffing before I put it in the bird, but if you like yours dry don't add it. Got for it. Face your fears. The natural juices of the bird will impart flavor you just cannot get from cooking your stuffing out of the bird.

The point I'm laboring to make is #1- you won't get salmonella and #2-stuffing is always better in the bird, always.

In conclusion; Brining The Bird NO, Stuffing The Bird Yes, and for those who disagree here's a bird you can stuff, and I think you know where you can stuff it.

Photo By Jerry Wyman 

Please enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday, and please help those who are not as fortunate as the rest of us. The giving part of Thanksgiving is the best part.



Peace.....Make Food/Not War

Figs and Squirrels

In Oakland California when it comes to figs and squirrels we've got them in spades. Most of the homes in our neighborhood were built between 1923 and 1925. Many of these homes have fruit trees of one kind or another. Our two neighbors directly to the west of us have fig trees, and they produce fruit like crazy.

These are some of the healthiest squirrels I have ever seen. We would have very bored dogs if it wasn't for these squirrels. They run on top of the fences, and in the trees betweens in our yards, and they provide plenty of excitement for the canines. It's interactive doggie TV.

I think the squirrels are so healthy because of the figs. Squirrels are smart too. They only eat the fruit on the trees, not the ones that have fallen on the ground.  Figs are low in calories and rich in phyto-nutrients, as well as anti-oxidents and vitamins. Dried figs are full of calcium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium, and zinc. 100 grams of figs contains 640 mg. of potasium, 162 mg. of calcium, 2.03 grams of iron and 232 mg. of copper. Iron is required for red blood cell formation as well as cellular oxidation.

Figs contain good levels of B-complex group of vitamins including niacin, pyridoxin, folates, and pantothenic acid. Figs with their anti-oxidant phyto-chemical compounds help scavenge the harmful oxygen derived free radical from the body to protect us from cancer, diabetes and degenerative disease and infections.

With all these great benefits to eating figs it seems that a hundred grams of figs a day might help keep the doctor away better than an apple. Figs are indeed a super food.

Fresh Figs

So, a simply appetizer recipe that I served last week at a charity event is my recipe of the week, baked figs with blue cheese and pancetta.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. you can see how it's done right here. It's like candy.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Figs, Pt. Reys Blue  

Figs, Pancetta and Pt. Reyes Blue Cheese

Before the oven

Wine and Cheese Paring

This blog starts in the year 1995, when I was in my third semester of culinary school at San Francisco City College. I had made it through two rough semesters of school.

First, I must digress as usual, and travel back to 1969 when at the tender age fifteen I quit high school, and went straight to work in my Aunt and Uncle's restaurant, or as Mom would say, the salt mines. I had taken the statement by that panty-waste Timmy Leary, "Tune In, Turn On, and Drop Out", literally. I actually use a version of that line at the end of my cooking videos, the ones that aren't on line at this moment. I should have known better after reading the book Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test than to trust that fucker. It was time for me to leave school anyway. High school just seemed so immature at the time. It still does, but you kids hang in there OK. There was too much to experience at the time, and I couldn't do both if I was going to the reformatory every day. It was the end of the 60's god damn it, and I wasn't going to miss the finale'. Of course I have taken college courses since 1969, but never a full boat load. Back to he story line.

In our first semester at culinary school we had to be at school, on the job, bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to work,  at 5:30 AM to prep and cook breakfast, prep lunch, or slave away in the bakery making cookies, cakes, breads, and pastries. After working in the kitchen and serving breakfast there were lectures, demos, classes such as; micro biology, speech 101, English, math, and before you knew it four o'clock came rolling around, and there was still homework to do. There was no way I could do 14 units, and work a job to boot. Before I go any further let me say that I was having the time of my life.  I loved culinary school, and got the opportunity to use all my old material on a whole new audience. Sort of like blogging.

Second semester was grueling as well, 12 units, but the pressure was lessening, and by my third semester I could begin to see the light of graduation approaching, and it was time to pick up a job, but what? Before college I was doing restoration painting on old Victorians mansions in Pacific Heights, and making pretty decent money. Restaurant work paid shit. Or as my old man Rocco would say; "Show me a man who says he's making an honest living, and I'll show you a guy who ain't making any money."

Geri and I had only been married for a year, but had been living in sin for four years. I was bringing in a little money from playing music gigs on the weekends, some catering jobs, and small side jobs painting on the weekends. We had a cute little apartment in Fairmont Heights with our two dogs Penny and Lonesome. It had a bright spacious living room and bedroom, a tincy wincy kitchen and bathroom, with a backdoor that never did shut all the way.  Geri's sister and our asshole ex brother-in-law lived in the apartment in the back. We had great neighbors, and it was a wonderful neighborhood with just about everything we needed within walking distance of our apartment.

I was making just enough money to cover my truck payments with some pocket change left over for whatever. Geri was the sole supporter, paying the rent, and providing the medical benefits through her work.  Plus we were trying to save money for our own place at the same time. Naturally we wanted to purchase a home, and now that my school load was lighter it was time for me to find a "legitimate" job. In other words, a gig that had taxes taken out, bummer.

We had already been turned down for home loans because I was an unemployed student.  This was before the banks came up with their scheme to screw millions of people out of their life savings by giving anyone a loan regardless of their income, devaluing the prices of homes nationwide, not to mention plunging the American economy and half of Europe into the worst recession in recent history.

I tried a job in a downtown SF restaurant  as a line cook, and another in San Mateo throwing pizzas, and the both times I clashed with the reigns of power, so down the road I went. Maybe this career change was a mistake?

My friend Nicho Ashley worked at a place called Oakville Grocery in the Stanford shopping center in Palo Alto, and said that they were looking for people to man cheese and charcuterie. I applied, and started working there right away. So, I became a cheese monger, and loved it. The food and the attention to detail at Smokeville, as I came to call it, was the best I'd seen in all my years of working in the food industry. The management as usual was out of step to put it nicely, but the food, ah, the food. The food came first. I have always had a problem with authority, but at least here we had the best of the best, and what I could learn here would be invaluable. Line cook, slinging pizzas, been there, done that, 40 years ago, ah thank you, but no thank you.

There's nothing like opening up an eighty pound wheel of Parmigano-Reggiano that's been aging for four years, and digging out a soft sample from the middle. You can taste trace notes of chocolate,  and walnuts in those salty rounds of cheese. Or aging a wheel of brie till it's just ripe and oozing with creamy decadence, oh man.

I started working there just before Thanksgiving when truffles, or tartuffo as they are called in Italy, were in season.. These would often be smuggled in hermetically sealed packages to avoid detection from the drug/food sniffing customs dogs. People would call from all over the Bay Area sometimes in hushed voices whispering; "Do you have black truffles from Italy in the store?" We had both black truffles from Italy and white truffles from France.

I learned so much about cheese, wine, olive oils, vinegars, caviar, olives, bread, jams, charcuterie, and products from all over the globe that I had no idea even existed.  There was a big food explosion going on in the U.S. right around this time. The wages sucked at Oakville Grocery, and again the management, but the knowledge I got there was priceless. I learned more about haute cuisine in one year than I had in my whole life. It was yet another apprenticeship.  Once you contemplate how much you've learned over the years you also realize how little you actually do know.

But at least now with the extra income we were able to qualify for a home loan. I had no designs that we were graduating into another economic strata i.e., the middle class. The middle class has it's head in the ruling class, it's feet in the working, and has no class at all.  No, we still have our feet firmly planted in the working class, and that's where I prefer to be located.

The people at Oakville Grocery had their noses so far up in their asses I swear they would walk into doors. If I do say so, and I do, I became a pretty good fromage head, and I have been seriously hooked on cheese from that time forward. Which leads me to the theme of this week's blog.

Our dear friend and neighbor Deborah Roberto, who is a great cook,  had a charity event this last weekend, and I volunteered to help. I'll do anything to help people if it's within my ability. This is a charity started by Robert Mondovi called Hope at Home. People come, tastes wine, purchase wine, and 35% of the proceeds go towards helping people. In this case the Alameda County Food Bank was the recipient. It's a no brainer. You have great food, taste some fine wines, and you help feed people at the same time. Deborah asked me if I could pick out some cheeses for her and I said; "Let's do a cheese and wine paring?"

I was looking in one of my cheese books called Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins, and I stumbled across this recipe for Graperon and Potato Gratin. It sounded so good that I had to make it. This is my take on that recipe. The Cheese Primer is my all time favorite book on cheese, published by Workman Publishing 1996. This particular recipe is very rich, which translates into calories, so beware. I ate the whole friggin' skillet full of taters over the course of the day.

As a result of writing this blog I called up my old friend Nicho, and we're getting together for lunch sometime soon. She still works at Oakville Grocery in Oakville California. She's a combination of Martha Stewart and Elaine Benes from Seinfeld, and when it comes to the culinary arts, and her knowledge of food snobbery, Nicho is at the top of her game. She is simply, the best.

The charity event was a gas. We fed 135 people, and that's a good deal any day.

I graduated culinary school in Dec. 96",  and in Jan. 97' with help from Geri's grandparents Ray and Elsie we bought our bungalow in Oakland.  I quit Oakville Grocery the day after we signed the papers for the house.

That's all she wrote this week folks. See the recipe below.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Note: Next time I make this recipe I'm going to add two or three stalks of scallions cut  on the bias 1/2 inch long, and a medium handful of chopped parsley. So, I added those into the menu as well.

Potato Gratin a la Brie De Meaux (serves 4 as side dish for an entree', or 8 as an appetizer)

Ingredients:
4 ounces pancetta cut into 1 inch strips thin
1 tablespoon fresh crushed garlic
crushed black pepper to taste
olive oil for cooking
4 medium size russet potatoes
2 scallions stalks
handful of parsley chopped medium fine
1/2 lb. Brie De Meaux

Directions:

1) Cut the Brie De Meaux into thin pieces, and put on a cold plate in the fridge.  Prep the scallions and parsley as described above and put aside.

2)) Slice pancetta into1 inch ribbons and fry in a hot cast iron skillet with a little olive till it's golden brown. A couple of minutes before the pancetta is done add the garlic. This way the garlic won't burn.  Put the pancetta and garlic mixture aside on a plate with a paper towel to soak up some of the fat.

3) Peel the potatoes whole and submerge in cold water.  Dry each one before you cut them into 1/8 inch thick slices.  Add a little olive oil in the cast iron skillet, pepper to taste,  and fry them till they are golden brown, and put aside. Don't crowd the pan.

Finished Product

4) When all the potatoes are cooked put the skillet on low heat, and add a layer of potatoes on the bottom (see below),  then add the Brie, some pancetta/garlic mix, scallions, and parsley. Then cut the heat off, add the second layer with all the above, and cover for one and a half minutes to fully melt the brie. Serve hot.

potatoes frying

pancetta and garlic

first layer