The recipe Schaffer’s Genuine Foods has for a perfect  Thanksgiving is as follows; Mix gratitude and appreciation together, add some family and friends. It’s that simple.

You were probably hoping for actual Thanksgiving Day recipes. No worries, we will give you a perfect Turkey brine recipe for your Thanksgiving menu as well. Schaffer’s Genuine Foods has cooked a few birds over the years and know a thing or two about preparing a great turkey. We will get to that later.

Schaffer’s Genuine Foods has had a tremendous year so far and we are grateful for all of the wonderful clients and spectacular events we have produced to date. We feel that it is important to stop, reflect and give thanks to all of the folks that have contributed to this year so far. We thank our excellent staff, purveyors, farmers, clients, venues and all of the auxiliary companies and individuals that help us thrive. We are so grateful and we would like everyone to relax and enjoy time with their loved ones this year.

As professional chefs, the Schaffer’s have spent every holiday working for the past 20 years. This was by choice, and is par for the course in the restaurant world. Countess turkey and trimmings for guests to enjoy. Thanksgiving has always been associated with hard work and very little time to consider the true meaning of the holiday. Needless to say, it is time to begin a new chapter, and reinvent what Thanksgiving means to SGF. We will be taking the day off to celebrate and acknowledge our gratitude.

We don’t want anyone to feel abandoned in their time of holiday stress so we have a few tips and recipes for your big day. We hope your Thanksgiving day is filled with thanks, happiness, quality time and perfectly roasted turkey.

Cheers!

Here are some helpful Thanksgiving tips

1.) Plan ahead. Order your turkey now receive it on Monday Nov. 21, brine it for 2 days, on weds rinse, prep and truss it. Thursday morning it is ready for action. Choose your recipes and plan your shopping accordingly. The SM Farmer’s market on Weds will be buzzing with activity, get there early or try another market on Tuesday.

2.)Prepare sides in advance so Thursday can be spent with your guests, not fretting over your preparations. This goes back to planning ahead. If you are going to make mashed potatoes, have them peeled, cut and in water on Weds. BTW if you don’t own one you need a food mill for perfect mashed potatoes. Prep your dressing and have it ready for the oven on Weds. Any casseroles can be made a day or two in advance. Pies are best if they set for a day, cranberry sauce is best when made a few days in advance.

3.) Get all of your plates, glassware, linens, serving pieces, decor out and ready on Tuesday. Have everything cleaned and polished in advance so you are not scrambling to set your table on Thursday while you are burning something on the stove and trying to get dressed simultaneously. If you want to mix things up try compostible bamboo plates, and be sure to add them to compost for an easy clean.

4.) Don’t let the day turn into a frenetic iron chef episode in your kitchen, this meal is to be a celebration of family and friends not a crazed competition. No one likes to see their domain turned into a squalid mess. Save all of the messy prep for the day before. Make Weds the fun easy prep day, have a beverage, turn on some music and peel your potatoes.

5.) Delegate! You are not responsible for every single facet of the meal. Your friends and family actually like to contribute. Tell them what you need them to make or bring. Everyone thinks they know how to make the “best” something or other, let them.

6.) Make sure you cook your bird early enough so there is ample time for it to rest before carving. As the turkey is resting for 8 to 10 minutes, heat up your other sides; mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans…

7.) Have any cold dishes plated up in advance. For your hot items, warm your serving dishes gently in the oven, it will keep the hot food from getting cold too quickly.

8.) Now dinner is served and you don’t have much of an appetite because you are tired of looking at all of this food over the past few days. As most chefs feel this way regularly, just sit back relax and enjoy the praise from your guests. Your appetite will come back later in the form of a turkey sandwich. Oh and make sure you buy a great loaf of bread on Wednesday for this occasion.

The following are some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes:

SGF Turkey Brine

this will ensure a perfectly juicy seasoned turkey that will leave your guests speechless.

(for a 12-15lb bird)

Brussels Sprout Slaw

For an unusual twist on a seasonal vegetable, tray a fresh crispy slaw!

(4 to 6 servings)

Remove outer leaves of brussels sprouts and add to large bowl.
On mandolin shred brussels sprouts add to bowl.
Add julienned carrots, shaved radicchio, bacon bits, celery leaves, parsley, scallions, chopped dates.
Combine all dressing ingredients, dress slaw lightly add salt and pepper to taste.
You do not need to use all of the dressing.

Pecan Pie 

here is a perfect pie recipe from a New Orleans’ master Charlie worked for many years ago

1- 9″ tart or pie (serves 8-10)

We have a new use for Sapote and Sailor Jerry’s rum!

White Sapote (Casimiroa edulis: Rutaceae) is native to northern and central Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala  and Santa Monica!

Our friends Barbara and Jonathan have a storybook backyard in Santa Monica. It is a lush oasis of tropical plants including jasmine, citrus, figs, pineapple guavas and white sapote. We stopped by yesterday for a visit and the gorgeous tree was overflowing with hundreds of sapote. They were everywhere hanging, dangling overhead, falling onto other plants all over the ground. Ryland located the fruit picker and we got to work. If you haven’t picked fruit with an almost 3 yr old, I highly recommend it.

Ry’s enthusiasm is contagious and soon we were picking fruit and eating them with abandon. Somewhere in between a cherimoya and a bosc pear in flavor and texture, they feel the same way a ripe avocado feels they are ready to eat. It’s best eaten right in the yard with Barbara, but we were compelled to come up with an original recipe because there was too much fruit for any  one family to consume.

Sapote Ginger & Rum Tart

Ingredients

2 tsp finely grated ginger (use a microplane)

1 ½ cups heavy cream

½ cup sugar + ¼ cup sugar

½ cup all purpose flour

2 eggs

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp grated nutmeg

1 pinch of salt

½ tsp lemon zest

8 large Sapote

¼ cup spiced sailor jerry’s rum

1 tart 9” shell (see pate sucre recipe)

pate sucre recipe

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 egg

In food processor combine all dry ingredients.

Add butter and pulse until incorporated into a meal

Add egg and pulse until combined.

Refrigerate wrapped for 1 hour.

Roll out on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.

You can use a 9” removable bottom tart pan for best results, or a pie tin.

Keep dough chilled while you gather the tart filling ingredients.

Peel zapote and add them whole to a small pot.

Add ¼ cup sugar, rum and ½ cup water.

Simmer zapote until soft and fruit is separating for the seeds.

At this point the seeds need to be removed so strain the mixture with a larger colander and discard the seeds.

Take the mixture (which resembles chunky applesauce) and cool to room temp.

In a separate bowl add all of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Add sapote puree and fold into mixture. Pour filling into tart shell and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until golden brown. Cool and remove tart shell, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. It can be served warm with ice cream .

We love pork

We love Fergus Henderson and Paul Bertolli and their reverence for all things pig. Both chefs share a devotion to hand made artisinal cured meats.

Schaffer’s Genuine Foods also enjoys making sausage, salami and forcemeat. We cure and smoke our own bacon to the delight of our clients.

Whenever we get the opportunity to do a pork project we jump at the chance. Last week we cured pork shoulder, then smoked it, confit it and made a gorgeous forcemeat. We served it on grilled baguette with some local sour cherry jam we made.The result is layers of spectacular flavors, smokey, sweet, salty, unctuous (in a good way).

Here’s how we did it:

We butchered a pork shoulder, removing bones, fat and connective tissue. Then we rendered the fat in an immersion circulator and reserved it. Next a cure of salt, sugar, black peppercorns, coriander, anise, orange, garlic, fresh oregano, chili flakes. We cured the pork in refrigerator for two days.Rinsed the pork and dried it on racks in refrigerator overnight. We then placed the shoulder in our smoker with applewood chips. We added the smoked pork to large hotel pan and covered it in the reserved fat. We cooked  the pork over medium heat for a few hours until it was fork tender.We removed the pork from the fat and placed fat in refigerator. When the pork was cooled, we shredded it by hand. The meat was loosely chopped and added it to a mixer with the paddle attachment. We blended the pork with some of the chilled fat, fresh minced shallots, dijon mustard, chervil, parsley and chives.The pork was removed from the mixer, placed in a loaf pan and chilled. We added the pork to a grilled piece of bread with our favorite marmalade.The flavor is somewhere between the most amazing deviled ham and the very best paté you have ever eaten. We served it with herb salad, and crunchy hazelnut powder. A few days of work, a lifetime of devotion to the beauty that is pig.

Oink! Oink! Oink!

]]> http://schaffersgenuine.com/for-the-love-of-pork/feed/ 0 http://schaffersgenuine.com/cooking-at-the-james-beard-house/ http://schaffersgenuine.com/cooking-at-the-james-beard-house/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:08:20 +0000 schaffer http://schaffersgenuine.com/?p=481

The James Beard House

Last summer Schaffer’s Genuine Foods was invited to host a dinner at The James Beard House in NYC.

When  SGF received the invitation everyone was ecstatic. The chance to cook at the James Beard house had always been a dream for the Schaffer’s. Neither Charlie nor Kathleen had the opportunity to cook at the famed foundation located on West 12th street in Greenwich Village.

While their colleagues were enjoying themselves and receiving adulation at the former home of James Beard, both Kathleen and Charlie were left behind to run the restaurants and businesses they worked for. Over the years they had wondered if they would ever have the opportunity to cook where many of the world’s greatest chefs had visited.

Finally after  many years paying their subsequent dues, the moment had arrived. They flew to NYC, their former home and place where they met, during an intense heat wave in late summer. After settling in and visiting with friends and family it was time to get to work. The Schaffer’s jumped in a cab and pulled up in front of the culinary mecca in the west village. They were greeted by the wonderful staff of the James Beard Foundation and it began to sink in. What an incredible honor to be there. The day preceding their debut they were graciously hosted by Jenny Glasglow, Executive Chef, of Olivier Cheng Events in Tribeca, to prepare for their dinner.

Charlie and Kathleen, along with their crew, prepared five hors d’oeuvres and a five course meal featuring the very best of Southern California. The wines were from Santa Barbara County Ampelos Cellars, Pali wines, Dragonette, Jonata, Loring, Flying Goat and Nicolaysen to the delight of the guests.

This was the menu:

hors d’oeuvres:

house cured duck prosciutto, cavaillon melon

beet falafel, hemp seed tahini

chardonnay gellé, capricious aged goat cheese, strawberry

weiser farms pee wee potato skins, house cured bacon

pali wine company pinot noir sunset rosé 2008

jonata winery la flor de jonata sauvignon blanc 2007

california halibut crudo, chinese lemon cucumber, dill

dragonette cellars sauvignon blanc santa ynez valley 2008

peach “caprese”, burrata, heirloom cherry tomato, thai basil

flying goat cellars goat bubbles sparkling brut rosé santa maria valley 2008

“chicken and waffles”, pink eye pea succotash, fennel pollen honey

loring wine company pinot noir “clos pepe” 2008

california piedmontese bbq tri tip, swiss chard, watermelon

ampelos cellars syrache 2006

goat cheese cake and roasted fig, date milkshake, chocolate pistachio funnel cake

nicolaysen family vinyards  bien nacido late harvest pinot blanc 2003

The evening was a dream come true for Schaffer’s Genuine Foods. The food, the wine, the guests, the James Beard Foundation all made for a spectacular night. We look forward to visiting again, and we hope to host a James Beard dinner in Los Angeles for all of you who weren’t able to attend in NYC….stay tuned.

I Scream, you scream, we all scream for liquid nitrogen ice cream!!!

At Schaffer’s Genuine Foods we’re using liquid nitrogen to create the perfect dessert. It’s a huge hit with our clients, a true taste sensation, if you haven’t had it you need to try it!

Here’s how it works: Take a beautiful custard (eggs, sugar, vanilla bean, salt, cream, milk), place in kitchen aid mixer at low speed with paddle attachment. Slowly add liquid nitrogen to the custard and increase speed of mixer. The ice cream will freeze in approximately 30 seconds. The results are pure unadulterated heaven. A light creamy texture with a freshness and flavor that is unmatched. Heston Blumenthal seems to favor a technique using dry ice for his ice cream. Both methods produce a beautiful result. The instantaneous freezing creates a smooth and consistent texture without adding any other moisture which creates crystallization found in deeply frozen ice cream.

Schaffer's Genuine Foods rocks some Liquid Nitro for Activision

Some Nitrogen Facts:

Liquid Nitrogen is about negative 320 degrees F. The liquid to gas expansion ratio of nitrogen is 1:694, which means liquid nitrogen boils to fill a volume with nitrogen gas very quickly. Nitrogen is non-toxic, odorless, colorless and  is relatively inert. It is not flammable. Liquid nitrogen is cold enough to cause severe frostbite upon contact with skin. It is important to wear proper safety gear when handling liquid nitrogen to prevent contact or inhalation of extremely cold vapor. Because it boils so rapidly, the phase transition from liquid to gas can generate a lot of pressure very quickly which may result in bursting or an explosion. Adding a lot of nitrogen to the air reduces the relative amount of oxygen. This can result in an asphyxiation risk. Cold nitrogen gas is heavier than air, so the risk is greatest near the ground. Use liquid nitrogen in a well-ventilated area.

Mexican spiced ice cream (rear) and salt caramel (front)

So basically, you should not mess around with liquid nitrogen unless you are aware of how to handle it properly. That being said, we like to use it for many applications and have enjoyed discovering new ways to use it.

In the NY Times last week there is an article about the perfect way to prepare a hamburger that involves liquid nitrogen. We will be trying this at our kitchen and report back on our findings!

In the mean time we will continue to delight our clients with this science that produces a perfect bowl of happiness.

Here’s Schaffer’s Genuine Foods Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Sundae Bar Menu:

Salt Caramel Ice Cream, Spicy Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream, Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream, True spiked Butterscotch, Warm Hot Fudge, Butter cake crumbs, house made oreos, chocolate sprinkles, assorted candies, toasted almonds, coconut, fresh berries, honey walnuts, toasted peanuts, fresh whipped cream….and whatever else we can think to put on top!

Pistachios are Good Food!

A few weeks ago Schaffer’s Genuine Foods ran into Harriet Ells, producer of Evan Kleiman’s Good Food on KCRW, at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market.

Harriet and Laura Avery (Manager of the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market) asked Charlie to talk about our Pistachio Roca we have been tempting our customers with lately.

We love to use Santa Barbara Pistachios from the Santa Monica Farmer’s market. They are unlike any pistachio you have tasted. Sweet and nutty and full of flavor. They are perfect  for our delicious buttery roca.

Harriet posted this recipe and a goofy picture of us on her website.

http://blogs.kcrw.com/goodfood/2011/04/recipe-schaffers-pistachio-roca/

Kathleen and Evan at Church and State Restaurant Los Angeles, CA

We  have enjoyed being guests on Evan Kleiman’s Good Food on KCRW.

Evan Kleiman is an inspiration to us all and we not only appreciate her support but we are true fans of her fantastic show. Evan recently was the key note speaker at the 2011 Santa Monica Sustainable Quality Awards where Schaffer’s Genuine Foods won an award for excellent stewardship of the environment. Her speech focused on the importance of being an activist to protect our food sources. Her passion is palpable and we respect her studied and informed point of view. Go Evan Kleiman! Keep up the good fight we are with you!

We love Evan, Harriet, and Laura and appreciate the hard work they do to promote sustainable local foods.

Out standing in the fields of Ampelos Cellars

We attended the Outstanding In The Field dinner this past weekend in the Santa Rita Hills. Not only did we enjoy the fabulous wines of Ampelos Cellars, but we were able to eat some beautifully harvested food from local growers.

Peter Work Ampelos Cellars Lompoc, CA

guests stroll down the hill to the dinner table at Ampelos Cellars Lompoc, CA

roasted beets, cured salmon, creme fraiche mmmmmm!

We also had the great fortune of being seated next to Noey Turk from Garden of… farms, Los Olivos, CA and Gray Hartley of Hitching Post Winery.

The food prepared by Clark Staub at Full of Life Foods, Los Alamos, CA.
Clark’s wood fired oven produced some gorgeous flatbreads among many delicious dishes.

Great food, beautiful wines, wonderful company, a little drizzle made for an outstanding evening! If you get a chance to go to an Outstanding In The Field event we highly recommend it.

It is strangely addictive and seems to be popping up all over the place. Like the others, Schaffer’s Genuine Foods has fully jumped on the Vadouvan bandwagon (say that 5 times fast). Here’s the deal with the Vadouvan: it is a spice blend that is considered a French curry because it historically originated from a French settlement in India. That may explain all of the shallots. We have been making our own version of vadouvan spice (we actually make most of our spice blends). Hopefully these spice blends will be available to our loving customers eventually, but in the mean time. Check out Le Sanctuaire in San Francisco. We were so sorry to see them leave Santa Monica but you can visit their store online or call them for an appointment  when you are in San Francisco.

Vadouvan should be used sparingly, as it is strong.

Add a pinch to your next batch of deviled eggs or a dash in a vinaigrette for some grilled asparagus!

Oh Cherry Baby!

Schaffer’s Genuine Foods loves local cherries for making perfect cherry jam.

The cherries right now at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market are insanely good.

We have been making all kinds of wonderful concoctions with this beautiful fruit. Cherry jam is particularly versitile at Schaffer’s Genuine Foods.

We have used this jam in our chocolate cherry pistachio crunch cake. It is great for breakfast on a warm biscuit or swirled into some Greek yogurt, or add it to your BBQ sauce for chicken, pork or duck.

Cherries will add a depth of flavor to many recipes, and are perfect with a glass of white syrah, namely, Babcock Identity Crisis.

Check it out. We are bringing back some vintage footage of our cherry jam circa 2009.

Cherry-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry,

Full and fair ones; come and buy.

If so be you ask me where They do grow,

I answer: There,Where my Julia’s lips do smile;

There’s the land, or cherry-isle,Whose plantations fully show

All the year where cherries grow.

-Robert Herrick’s poem, “Cherry-ripe” (1648)

Cherry Jam Recipe

2 lbs. organic pitted sour cherries (we like early Richmond)

3 oz natural apple pectin

2 cups organic sugar

zest of 2 oranges with a micro plane, and their juice

1 T vanilla bean paste (or 1 vanilla bean split and scraped)

Method:

Add cherries, oj, sugar, vanilla, pectin to a heavy duty pot. Bring mixture to a boil while stirring to prevent sticking. Cook until jam has large bubbles and thickens about 10 minutes.

Remove foam on top and put in sterilized Ball jars. Make sure to follow proper sterilization techniques listed on the packaging for the Ball jars or go to this website for detailed instructions: http://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/uploads/Canning/Guide%207%20-%20Canning%20Jams%20and%20Jellies.pdf

Say Cheese, or hummus!

Schaffer’s Genuine Foods loves Sarah Prikryl. She is not only a great photographer, but a truly wonderful person. We are so happy to work with her and always look forward to seeing her at our events.

Sarah is talented bright person with a great perspective. Many of  Sarah’s photos have a candid aesthetic that illuminate the subject whether  object or individual. Sarah brings a fresh and sincere energy to her work and she is an absolute pleasure to be around.

If you are in the market for an exceptional photographer with a great eye and a gorgeous heart, check her out.