This quick little post is to let you know there won’t be a Kitchen 101 post today, as I will be spending some time cleaning up the previous posts, and making a dedicated Kitchen 101 page with links to all the previous episodes.

Until tomorrow then!

Last week I talked about planning action steps for your garden, and the week before  about setting your goals for the upcoming gardening season. Now that you are done that, where do we go from there? Today we are going to look at some tools that we will use to design the layout of our garden, where the veggies will go, and that way we will be able to plant some seeds!.

Why a Garden “Floor” Plan is Important

As I have spoken about before, it’s best to know what you are going to be planting, so you can have a plan, then execute it. The best way to do this is to draw it out. Once you get a visual of where the plants are going to go, it is easier to make changes on paper than if the plants are in the ground.

The Garden Design:

Annie over at Annie’s Kitchen Garden has been planning her garden over the last couple days with some graph paper and cute little icons she found online. She told me it was all pieced together by her paint program. Wow, that is total dedication.

I originally thought that she was using the Grow Planner from Mother Earth News. Lucky for me there is that awesome app, so I decided to give it a try. You can see the plan as it is for this week here:

Here is a photo I cropped. Notice the spaces aren’t full yet – I am waiting for the results of the poll. Get your votes in today!

Help me fill up the empty spaces, VOTE today!

Some resources to get you planning:

• Mel’s Book The All New Square Foot Garden (link goes to my Amazon Store)
• Annie’s Kitchen Garden
• Organic Gardening Magazine
• Grow Planner from Mother Earth News – and they have an iPad app as well.
• Seed Starting Sites: Vesey’s Canada, or Vesey’s USA

Your Turn

We are into the second week of the garden poll. You tell me what to grow – there have been some entries so far, and I’ll let you know the winners next week.

Connect with the Well Done Chef

I am never far from that sucky string called the Interwebs. You can get a hold of me many ways:

• Follow @Jason_Sandeman on Twitter.
• Like the Well Done Chef! on Facebook.
• Subscribe to the Well Done Chef’s YouTube Page
• Add the Well Done Chef! to a Google+ page.
• Ask me a question from my Ask the Chef! page.

Subscribe to the Well Done Chef by the RSS feed or subscribe to Well Done Chef! by email.

When it’s cold outside, it’s easy to sit inside, warming yourself by the fire, imagining what it will be like when the produce starts coming into season again. Pining away for those vine-ripened tomatoes that taste of the earth, or sun-kissed peppers bursting with the complex, sweet summer flavor. Why miss out on what’s best for the season? Baby leeks and potatoes speak of winter, and the addition of bacon will help you forget that your garden is covered in a blanket of ice.

I love Ruhlman’s Twenty – and the soup section is spot on. He talks about using fish sauce as a seasoning, which I never really thought of. I use Worcestershire, but for gluten concerns, I can see how the fish sauce is a better bet. The thing is, you may not have fish sauce on hand, so go ahead and use Worcestershire sauce if you have no problems wheat issues.

Over at Dave Lebovitz’s site, he likes to use penja white pepper in his potato leek soup. I have a strong bias against white pepper. You can blame my late Sous Chef Bert Hoogaveen for that. He absolutely hated white pepper and all it stood for, so I guess you can say he’s a bad influence on me. I used my house-dried chilies instead. I know somewhere in chef heaven, Bert is smiling looking down on that.

It’s important to start your soup off right – in this case it’s chicken stock, (or crockpot chicken stock.) You can use vegetable stock or water, but to make this a substantial soup, use chicken stock if at all possible.

Finally, a mark of a good soup (or a sauce,) is a glossy surface. That means you have just the right balance of richness and body in your soup. If there are puddles of grease, (where it’s not intentional,) or you have a dull, opaque body to the soup, chances are it will not taste good.

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon Essence and Crispy Leeks

inspired by David Lebovitz’s potato leek soup

6-8 Servings

Nutrition Facts – Serving size: 1/8 of a recipe (11.3 ounces).
Calories 235, Calories From Fat 79.08, Total Carbohydrates 33.21g, Fiber 2.24g, Sugar 4.63g, Protein 7.34g Exchange: 2 starch, 2 fat

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup rendered bacon fat – divided
• 4 leeks, 3 washed and sliced – 1 cut into julienne and set aside.
• to taste kosher salt
• 1 clove garlic
• 6 cups chicken stock, (or crockpot chicken stock) or water if you don’t have
• 1 1/2-pounds starchy potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 dried chili
• 2 bay leaves
• to taste kosher salt
• to taste Worcestershire or fish sauce
• to taste lemon juice
• to taste espelette pepper, or coarsely ground chilies

Method:

1. Melt 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.
2. When the bacon drippings start to shimmer, add the reserved julienned leek strips. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the leeks begin to brown at the edges. This should take a few minutes. Remove the leeks onto a paper towel and season them right away with kosher salt. Pour out the remaining fat into a container, keep it warm.
3. Add the remaining bacon drippings to the pot; add the leeks and garlic. Add salt to the mixture and continue to cook over medium heat until the leeks begin to soften slightly. (About 3-5 minutes.)
4. Add cubed potatoes to the pot; stir for a minute. Add the chicken stock, bay leaves, chili. Cover, bring to a simmer, cook for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
5. Remove the chili and bay leaves, transfer to a blender and puree in batches until smooth. (Alternatively, you can use a hand blender.)
6. If the soup appears to be too thick, then you can thin it out with a little water.
7. Taste the soup. At this point you are going to be adjusting the soup’s seasoning with salt, Worcestershire, and chili flakes. If the soup tastes a bit flat, the addition of a couple drops of lemon juice will brighten the flavor. I like to err on the side of acid before salt. You’d be surprised how the addition of acid will change the seasoning of a dish.
8. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls, drizzle saved bacon drippings into the soup; garnish with the crispy leeks right before serving. If you wait too long before eating, the crispy leeks will wilt.

There you have a soup that will help you forget the blustery heat outside. For those of you who like it, there is nothing like a good heel of crusty bread to go with this soup, or even the addition of bacon for extra fun.

What is your favorite go to soup for those blustery winter days? Let me know in the comments!

Connect with the Well Done Chef

I am never far from that sucky string called the Interwebs. You can get a hold of me many ways:

• Follow @Jason_Sandeman on Twitter.
• Like the Well Done Chef! on Facebook.
• Subscribe to the Well Done Chef’s YouTube Page
• Add the Well Done Chef! to a Google+ page.
• Ask me a question from my Ask the Chef! page.

Subscribe to the Well Done Chef by the RSS feed or subscribe to Well Done Chef! by email.

Stacy asks:

I need help getting my numbers down without taking drugs. What should I eat so I don’t have to take insulin anymore?

Well, here is a pipe-bomb waiting to happen. Here’s the thing – I am not a nutritionist, dietitian, medical professional, or licensed in any way to give you this information. Therefore, I don’t. My best advice to you, the only one that I can give – is for you to do some research into what protocol that you want to try out, then find yourself a health care team that will work with you on that.

There has been controversy on the blogosphere lately about whether a blogger should be allowed to give dietary advice. I have no problem giving GENERAL advice, but when it becomes specific, (like in the case of diabetes.) then I am not comfortable giving you advice that could directly affect your health. I don’t know your medical history, I don’t have the tools to assess your situation, and I don’t have the know-how to give you a meal plan that will help you.

Heck, I;m still trying to figure out my own!

Keith Hache asks:

Any good recipes for Quinoa?

Great question! Quinoa is all the rage these days. I used to make a lot of it at Jasper Park Lodge – but usually into a salad that no one ate.

These days, people put it into soups, make salads out of it, use it instead of rice for pilafs, the possibilities are endless!

One of the best resources I have found is Heidi over at 101 Cookbooks. She has a good selection of recipes you can look at for Quinoa.

I will be posting something on Quinoa soon, too.

Amanda Mosher asks:

Can very cold temperatures affect cooking times?

Great question! My answer is… it depends what you are cooking with.

In terms of electric ovens, as long as the door is kept closed, your cooking time should not suffer. Just remember that every time you open your oven door, all the heat rushes out as the oven temperature normalizes with the temperatures outside the oven.

If your house or apartment is colder in the winter, then it will take longer for the oven to heat up to the proper temperature. The difference can be a startling 50-100 degrees depending on how long the oven door is opened, which will lengthen your cooking time.

As for cooking on a barbecue – it really depends on how your barbecue is insulated. (Which directly points how expensive your barbecue is.) For the barbecues I use, the cooking time is slightly increased (as long as I remember to keep the lid down most often.) This is because some of the heat is lost through the lid, and to keep the fire itself hot enough to cook with. That’s why I avoid barbecuing in the winter as much as possible. (Plus, it’s freaking cold!)

Do You Have a Question For me?

I am never far from that sucky string called the Interwebs. You can get a hold of me many ways:

• Follow @Jason_Sandeman on Twitter.
• Like the Well Done Chef! on Facebook.
• Subscribe to the Well Done Chef’s YouTube Page
• Add the Well Done Chef! to a Google+ page.
• Ask me a question from my Ask the Chef! page.

Subscribe to the Well Done Chef by the RSS feed or subscribe to Well Done Chef! by email.

Well, it’s Sunday again, and that means it’s time for this week’s interesting tidbits out there in the REAL FOOD world. What’s better, it’s Super Bowl Sunday. Here are a bunch of cool stuff I saw that would be awesome to make for the party!

Super Bowl Sunday Party Food

• If you have a big crowd today, check out Michael Ruhlman’s tips on cooking for a large crowd.
• Looking for an awesome dip for the Super Bowl game tonight? Check out this Slow Roasted Tomato Dip.
• Perhaps a Paleo Super Bowl party? Check out Robb Wolf’s site.
• Apple chips would be a cool, healthy alternative to potato chips. Plus they are super easy to make.
• How about an awesome White Bean, Kale, and Prosciutto bruschetta?

• For a more robust meal, and something different than the old chili – Cooking from the Pantry: Chicken with Artichokes, Garbanzos and Tomatoes

• Finally, Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.

Your turn!

What are you having for your Super Bowl party? Let me know in the comments!

Connect with me!

I am never far from that sucky string called the Interwebs. You can get a hold of me many ways:

• Follow @Jason_Sandeman on Twitter.
• Like the Well Done Chef! on Facebook.
• Subscribe to the Well Done Chef’s YouTube Page
• Add the Well Done Chef! to a Google+ page.
• Ask me a question from my Ask the Chef! page.

Subscribe to the Well Done Chef by the RSS feed or subscribe to Well Done Chef! by email.

Taking the day off – there is an important birthday in my family life that will take center stage. Meanwhile, I need to prepare a Vanilla Mocha cake.

See you all tomorrow!

Hello folks! Today is Fight Back Friday, and as a special treat, we are going to dig into a controversial topic – our right to give dietary advice. Just how far can we go? Stick around and let’s see if we can make our way through this thorny issue.

The Situation:

This post grew out of a problem that Steve Cooksey is encountering over at Diabetes-Warrior.net. He is currently being investigated by the NCBDN (North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition) for giving dietary counselling without a license to practice.

Of course, my favorite renegade Richard Nikoley has a superb post over at Free The Animal with a comment section that is eating me alive. You know that I am not a person that is always status quo, but I agree with the NCBDN that Steve Cooksey has gone too far.

My Experience on This Matter:

Okay, for those of you reading my blog a long time now, you know how I was diagnosed with diabetes. You know that I went through a struggle with my sugars, and you know that I went and passed off what I found to you. How can I say that someone else can’t give dietary counseling without a license?

I quickly found that you can find a lot of information online about the disease. A lot of it is shit. People come off like they are an authority on the subject because they are doing something that appears (for now) to be working for them. It’s a nice gesture, they are trying to pass off that information to others.

I stopped doing that because my wife once asked me, “Who do you think you are?”

That question really threw me for a loop. I don’t have credentials, I have absolutely no stake in getting someone better. In fact, (as I see in a lot of blogs out there,) I could easily just turn around and say, “Oh, N=1! Sorry!”

Let’s examine why you need a license to practice medicine or give dietary advice to someone with a medical condition:

• N=1 is fine and all. You can for sure tell me what you have done, and what works for you.
• What works for you may not work for me. What gives you the tools to dispense advice is clinical experience?
• When you start dispensing advice to take care of a chronic condition, you are entering into a relationship with the person, who may have adverse responses to your counsel.
• Like it or not, you also need protection that a license gives you, and so does the patient. If the advice you are giving ends up damaging the patient, there needs to be a consequence.
• The license is granted by a board under the understanding that you will follow the guidelines laid out as requirements of that license.
• Your advice should be on the back of data present, not a snake oil remedy, or a pseudo-science. Lives are at stake here.
• Do we really want to go back to a day where there are no licenses, so you have no guarantee that the advice you are given is grounded on solid evidence? If Ethel tells the village that in order to cure cancer, everyone should eat their tulip bulbs, do we all give that a try? That was what medicine was like before licensing, and science to back it up.
• By most laws, you are allowed to give nutritional advice to someone who is healthy, and with no medical condition. Once that person is diabetic, or with another medical condition, and seeking individual nutrition information, it is up to the advisor to direct their questions to a medical professional. This is nothing new – all current Paleo/Primal superstars do this – either by a healthy disclaimer, or by simply stating you should see a physician before starting their program.
• The advice given on most famous sites like, Mark’s Daily Apple, Robb Wolf, and others are very much generalized information. They are at the edge of what is allowed, but notice they don’t cross that edge.

Conclusion

You need to be careful about the advice that you solicit to people. The words, advice that you use can have consequences that you are not able to deal with. This is why almost everyone who gives any advice in the Paleo/Primal field, or in any dietary or nutrition book will ALWAYS preface their advice with the standard legal disclaimer that you should consult your physician before starting a protocol or fitness program.

The problem may come from the so-called “Conventional Wisdom,” but I suggest that fighting the dietician is not the way to solve the problem. What we need are real clinical trials and data so that we can change that conventional wisdom.

Giving dietary advice that is unlicensed is NOT the way forward, it is the way backwards. Indeed, in the case of Steve Cooksey – it further fuels the notion that Primal dietary regiment is on the fringe, not a viable alternative to the standard practices.

Why is that? Because Steve Cooksey is not a licensed dietetic, who IS dispensing advice as if he were. To quote my wife, and many other diabetics, “Who does this guy think he is? Why should I trust him to give me dietary advice over the doctor?”

I have no problem with him telling us what works for him, but to come off like he knows what is best, and is the authority on the matter? I’ll pass thank you – I have my life to worry about.

Your turn!

You may think I am totally off my rocker, many people do. What do you think? Should a person be required to have a license in order to dispense dietary advice to a patient with a medical condition? Let me know in the comments!

Connect with me!

I am never far from that sucky string called the Interwebs. You can get a hold of me many ways:

• Follow @Jason_Sandeman on Twitter.
• Like the Well Done Chef! on Facebook.
• Subscribe to the Well Done Chef’s YouTube Page
• Add the Well Done Chef! to a Google+ page.
• Ask me a question from my Ask the Chef! page.

Subscribe to the Well Done Chef by the RSS feed or subscribe to Well Done Chef! by email.

You might be asking yourself, Why would someone who is trained in the classical arts of cooking need a book like this? By the end of this post, I’ll have told you why I think this book needs to be on your shelf.

Sure, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. People look at how I cook these days, and they think that there is something magical going on. (I am not trying to toot my horn here, just give you the impression that I see.)

The irony is that while I can pull off some decent creations, I got to my skill level by screwing up a LOT. In fact, I even had someone on the apprenticeship board look at me, and tell me, “You’ll never be a chef.”

See, cooking to me is like a huge library – with all sorts of volumes you could peruse. Interesting books, filled with technical terms. There was a lot to learn, and I am a natural researcher. It’s what I live for. I could tell you until I was blue in the face what needed to be done, but not necessarily be able to actually execute it.

How does this tie in with Ruhlman’s Twenty?

Part of my culinary training was indeed the theory lessons. I would say it was maybe 10-15%. The other 80-90% was all about the practical part. What did those classes, (where I cooked like I was actually working,) teach me? How to think in the kitchen. A regular response from my chef instructors to any question was, “What do you think?”

That’s exactly what Michael Ruhlman is doing with this book. First, you need to be thinking of what you are doing. Mise en Place. From there, the book unfolds – but the base is always back to the thinking.

The Review:

The Good:

Oh my, the pictures are awesome in this book. Everyone knows I am a sucker for pictures. They are beautifully styled, and most show the finer points of the technique Ruhlman is trying to show.

Easy Chicken Stock – I love how he slips this one in. I have already given you a couple posts about how to make it on your stove, or even in your crockpot. Bonus points for this alone. Just don’t put tomato paste in your chicken stock – it’s all I ask.

The cooking fundamentals are broken down into the core basics. The ones I learned in school were a bit different, but almost match Ruhlman’s to a T. They are: THINK, SALT, WATER, ONION, ACID, EGG, BUTTER, DOUGH, BATTER, SUGAR, SAUCE, VINAIGRETTE, SOUP, SAUTE, ROAST, BRAISE, POACH, GRILL, FRY, CHILL.

The Bad:

In the section “WATER,” Ruhlman states that, “One of water’s most important attributes is that it boils at 212°F/ 100°C.” – I wish he would have put the phrase “at sea level” there. Again, a stupid nitpick, but as a chef who cooked high in the mountains of Jasper, Alberta, I can tell you there is a difference – especially when you are sous vide cooking. This goes back to the “THINK” aspect. Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, (96.8°C or 206.2°F,) so you may not just want to blindly follow a recipe for sous vide.

A bit of a gripe – this book is NOT for novices. I found it in a cookbook section – but that is more the Store’s fault. I talked to 3 people that said they were confused while reading the recipes inside, and felt that there was no rhyme or reason. Once I explained the point of the book to them, they got it. While there is a foreward in the book telling the format, it still wasn’t obvious to people.

Sous Vide – Honestly, I take a bit of exception to the point of sous vide cooking replacing a traditional direct or indirect approach. Sure, you might take the guesswork out of how your steak is cooked – but something is just different about sous vide compared to tradition.

The Ugly:

There is no ugly in this book. I tried to find it, I really did. There are a few nitpicky points I don’t agree with, (like tomato paste in chicken stock,) but that’s not a deal breaker for me.

Conclusion:

This book belongs on your shelf. I have a copy, plus an electronic copy for my iPhone. Why would I have it? Even a chef can learn something from this fantastic tome. You can tell a lot of thought was put into it, the presentation, the layout, and the execution.

Is it the only book you’ll ever need? No.

But what it will do is make you think, using a set of core fundamentals as your base. You’ll never look at another recipe the same way again – and you will have freed yourself from the conventional recipe. You will be able to execute a recipe based on technique, and how you think it through, verses whether someone can write a recipe dumbed down enough for you to execute exactly.

At that point, recipes become a list of ingredients, nothing more. That is how the professionals think – and that’s the best thing I have heard in a long time when it comes to cookbooks.

Your Turn

What is your favorite cooking fundamental from the above list? Let me know in the comments.

I have links for the book reviewed that link to my Amazon store. If you were to buy a book through that link, I could get about a half a cup of Timmy’s! Thank you!

Last week I talked about setting your goals for the upcoming gardening season. Now that you are done that, where do we go from there? Today we are going to take a baby step closer to our goal of having a functional, practical kitchen garden. We are going to plan out a set of action steps to accomplish for February.

My Past Routine, and What’s Different This Time

If you are like me, just throw a bunch of stuff in the garden, which ends up costing more in the long run.

Without a plan, there is a lot of waste in the garden. Plants may not grow, bugs may eat half of your crop, you may even get really lucky and have too much produce, and not enough family or friends to give it to!

My garden was okay last season, despite a lack of planning and a pile full of neglect. This year I decided that by having a step by step plan will help the execution of the garden – sort of like a road map

February’s Action Steps:

• Read Mel’s All New Square Foot Gardening. The method I will use is almost exclusive to the award winning program.
• Decide what I want to grow – and why. I already know what I want to grow for the whole family, but for the purposes of this blog, we will have ourselves a poll. That’s right, I’ll grow what you like!
• Decide where to plant, Design a garden. We will be drawing out the spaces for planting, using  the guidelines in Mel’s book. I will be working off my notes from last year, but if this is your first year, working with your goals will give you what you need.
• Order seeds. I have a bunch of seeds I saved from last year. I plan to order some others. I will put a few links at the end of this post.
• Make new soil mix. I will be using the formula for Mel’s mix.
• Start seeds – I will be starting these out in a couple of weeks. It will be the first time I have ever grown from seed, so it should be interesting.

Some resources to get you started:

• Mel’s Book The All New Square Foot Garden (link goes to my Amazon Store)
• Organic Gardening Magazine
• Seed Starting Sites: Vesey’s Canada, or Vesey’s USA

Your Turn

Here I have my first ever poll on WDC. Tell me what you want to grow! Once I figure out how to put the poll in the side over there, you’ll be able to vote there too.

I love this time of year. Yes, I know, weird, right? Not so. January is the month of citrus, cold weather, and warming soup. Now that I have shown you all how to make your own chicken stock, (or even in the crockpot,) now is a good time to start using that beautiful elixir to warm those bones after a hard day out in the cold.

The trick with soups is to pick a few flavors that go well together, and showcase them. I have talked before about the Flavor Bible – it really should be on any serious cook’s shelf. (Link goes to my Amazon Store.)

Carrots are in season now, same with oranges. What goes well with them? A quick glance in the Bible tells me that fennel seeds or cumin works. Cumin would be an interesting choice, but my son might object to the adult flavor, so fennel it was. A great addition to this dish is freshly chopped parsley. I didn’t have any, and my son would object to the green “floaties.” Sometimes you have to know your crowd.

The great thing about this soup is that it is gluten-free, has less than 30 carbohydrates per serving, and the recipe can feed 8 people. A lot of pre-made soups use gluten or corn starch as a thickener. We will be using the natural thickening power of the carrot’s body, and a bit from the addition of a small potato.

It makes a great side dish, or a great starter to a more substantial meal. I can tell you it is definitely kid-friendly; my son had three servings!

Carrot Fennel Orange Soup

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 pounds carrots
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 lemon peel strips
• 1 small potato, diced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups orange juice
• to taste Salt
• to taste Pepper

Method:

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and carrots; sweat until the vegetables start getting soft.
2. Add garlic, ginger, fennel seeds, lemon peel strips, and bay leaves. Cook for a minute more to release the oils.
3. Add potato, chicken stock, and orange juice; bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are completely soft.
5. Remove bay leaves; puree with blender or stick blender until smooth. If necessary, add a little more orange juice if the soup is too thick.
6. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
7. Serve up in the biggest bowl you can; it won’t last long.

Nutrition Facts: Calories 145, Fat 4.62g, Saturated Fat 2.26g, Cholesterol 11.25mg, Sodium 1085.72mg, Total Carbohydrates 22g, Fiber 2.5g