FoodTalk with Barbara Kafka

Cookstr

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Well, It's up. For more on me--greedy--check different parts of the web site Bkafka.com

Cookstr.com

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

I'm very pleased that I will be featured by them on November 16th.

Inspired by Accident

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:26:00 +0000

The accidents in this case were the happy one of a visit from a loved friend. The difficult one was his being a vegan and I with just odds and ends in the house. I had beautiful turnips from the farmers' market, but no plan for cooking them. The goddess of cooks must have been feeling friendly. I got a really good recipe out of my stab. Look for it next week in the recipe section of barbara kafka. The other success was a new seasoning of chard. It goes with the leaves. Keep the stalks for another time. If the leaves are large tear them in two, otherwise, use whole. I stir fried them in a little olive oil--they shrink to nothing. They looked good, but somehow were a little flat. I had some candied ginger sitting on the counter. I hopped enough to make three tablespoons this was enough chard to fee four. I add the ginger to the stir fry and cooked a little longer. Very good. This was enough ginger for four ample portions.

Offal Obsession

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:11:00 +0000

I return to my last blogs with my usual tenacity. You must tell me if I am talking to myself--a bad sign.
Offal, innards and their many varieties interest me because I like to eat them and have enjoyed them as parts of many regional dishes.Although often to food of the poor, they are also the signature dishes of the foods of many countries. I did mention kidneys, sweetbreads, tongue and others; but a appalled to notice that I left out tripe needed for the New Year's celebration food in Mexico, menudo, and compound dishes such as head cheese (tete de Veau) and haggis. I cannot claim to be equally fond of all of them; but it is impossible to know the cooking of their traditional countries such as the many sausages made with these organ meats or the mixed grills such as kokoretsu.
Now, what do you think? what interests you?

English Innards

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:47:00 +0000

I thank Paul Levy for his excellent comment-contribution. Do see my comment. Getting positively Talmudic.

Squeamishness

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:09:00 +0000

There was a time when beef tongue, veal tongue, lamb kidneys and sweetbreads were eaten and frequently found on menus, often as treats. They seem to have disappeared from home cooking. I am going to try to bring them back. They are low in fat, high in protein and often delicious. Most of us seem to eat chicken or calve's liver without a qualm; but other meats that proclaim their anatomical origins give many of us the shivers. It's a pity since they add variety to the menu. They are harder to get than they used to be as they are often frozen in bulk or cryovacked in large amounts. Pestering butchers is worth doing not only for ourselves, but also for those who might relish these delicacies.

Kwik Kale

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Sometimes there are simple answers to time-consuming problems.
I had a field full of kale and I went at it my uual way.After washing it and removing the thick stems, I lined up the leaves and cut them across into thin strips. I cooked them in two tablespoons of olive oil, tossing frequently. It took quite a long time and some extra water to get soft.Ten cups cooked gave me 4 cups in a food processor.
Epifanay: Four and a half cups raw finely chopped, raw, in a food processor--batches--cooked in two tablespoons oil for forty-five minutes produced 3 cups of equivalent kale with better color and much less work; ideal for soup or creamed.

Machines and Forms

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:53:00 +0000

I may go back to using a quill and dipping it in ink made from mushrooms. The new inventions that are supposed to have made life easier just seem to complicate it.
Give me my knife, my wok and a little food and leave me alone. Something will pop into my head. Recently, I have been working on innards and having good results, I know most people recoil in horror; but my most recent recipes seem to please as tce food gets eaten all up.Poll: Yuck or More?

Machine frustration

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:52:00 +0000

innards

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:32:00 +0000

The mere word is enough to make many people shudder; but I refuse to be intimidated. I have been developing new recipes and I am pleased to say they are smashing.
What can I do other than offering a winning lottery ticket to get people to be a little more adventurous?

Innards

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Saute without flour

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:59:00 +0000

In recent attempts to saute foods that are usually dredged with flour without dredging, I have had some victories. The best has been skinning the chicken and then sauteing it in a small amount of olive or other vegetable oil. Skinning the chicken is easy--even easier if you can get the butcher to joint it and remove the skin. Otherwise, stick a fingernail under the skin and then the whole finger. Wiggle and slide it around and then pull the skin off. An added advantage is the reduction in calories and skimming.
Keep the neck, wing tips and giblets--not livers--for stock. Ruthlessly collect the bones whose meat has served as food and any carcass and simmer for six to eight hours. When sieved, there should be about a quart of stock. Freeze if not using immediately. It will take about eight minutes to defrost in a microwave oven.

Roasted Onions

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:32:00 +0000

I thought that in Roasting A Simple Art I had roasted almost everything. Well, the other night I pulled some smallish onions--about two inches in diameter--from the garden. After cleaning and trimming, I put them around a chicken that I was roasting--my easy stand-by--slicked them with olive oil and roasted for forty-five minutes turning every ten minutes or so until they were a uniform dark brown. They were sensational.
To roast onions alone, choose a pan large enough to hold them in a single layer without touching. Use two tablespoons of oil for each four onions. Moe oil is needed to replace the chicken fat. Enjoy.

Browning

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Well, this time I think that I am really back and feeling much restored... I am getting on with the new book, but more slowly than I would like. As I try new things, odd thoughts pop. Avoiding flour, I ask myself why all these years I have routinely dredged things in flour before sauteing them. In fact, it doesn't need to be done. The meat will brown very well on its own as will appropriate vegetables. The flour really only gives browned or burnt flour. If you feel a great need to dredge before browning, try cornstarch.
The chef, Eric, at the Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vermont--the area in which I garden and often cook--solicitously, made me some sweetbreads the other night in just this way and they were excellent.
This past weekend, the white peaches that should have been picked a week earlier when I was away, clamored for attention. White peaches are fragile. Sadly many of them had bruised spots, wasp holes or were actually around the bend. The only solution was to pick them and do triage. My daughter and I dug out the nasty bits, peeled the peaches and cut them up. I sprinkled them with lemon juice as they rapidly discolor. We put them through a food mill, sterilized some jars, just boiled the mashed up peaches and canned them. I didn't sweeten this puree. It can always be sweetened later. I am looking forward to a summer reminiscence in the form of Bellinis, sorbets and glazes.
There was a daunting plethora of wild Boletus (mushrooms) to be cleaned, sliced, and put out in a single layer on paper to dry, There was a bounty of black Chanterelles (Trompettes du Mort) which made a wonderful risotto.
In fact, I was ready to get back to the city and avoid my guilt at not having done more; but I was tired.
Soon the garden will have to be put to bed except for the cold-loving, dark, sturdy greens. I did bring a load of basil back with me to melt in olive oil, puree and put up as ice cubes.
The weather has been very odd this summer and I had fewer tomatoes than usual.
Back to work.

Apology...sort of

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:18:00 +0000

I try to answer all questions sent to Ask Barbara on the web site, bkafka.com, as soon as possible. However, when asked for previously printed recipes from my books, I have to re-enter the recipe and it may take me a little longer than I would like.
It would help if questioners would tell me what book they want a recipe from. Some recipes have different versions in different books.
As an author, I cannot resist pointing out that one solution would be to buy a new copy of the book needed. This is particularly true of Microwave Gourmet as it exists in an inexpensive paper back edition.

Rubarb Mistake

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Oddly, some of my favorite recipe ideas have come from mistakes. of course, some mistakes have just yielded inedible messes. Over the weekend, I got lucky. there was a flourish of rhubarb in the garden as part of the jungle that all thse rain has produced. I sawed off--a bread knife works well--a few handfuls of stalks discarding the poisonous leaves. I washed them, cut out the nasty bits and trimmed off the root ends. I cut the stalks in one-inch pieces and put them in a pot with sugar, mixed them up and set them to cook. In the meantime, I went back to the computer and forgot my rhubarb. By the time I remembered, the mess was a medium brown and I had to poke and scrape to get the caramelized bits off the bottom and out of the corners.
I was about to discard it when I stuck a finger in and took a small taste. To my shock and delight, it was cara melized and delicious. Consequently, I have made it into a recipe. It's worth trying. Stir and be a bit more careful than I was. it makes a great dessert with a splash of coconut milk.

1/2 pound rhubarb, about 4 cups
3/4 cups sugar

Put rhubarb and sugar in a six-inch saucepan. Stir thoroughly. Stir over medium heat until the rhubarb gives off juice and the sugar is dissolved. If you are nervous about it scorching, add a half cup of water. Stir and cook at a slow boil for about forty-five minutes stirring from time to time. If there is a lot of liquid--there should be some--boil to dy slightly.
That's it and makes one and a half cups which should be enough for six people. It is very intense.
If there is trouble cleaning the pot, try scouring it with coarse salt-an old navy trick.

Paul Levy

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:59:00 +0000

If you don't know my friend Paul's work, you should ad would enjoy it.
He is a polymath and my court of first resort for recondite information. It was he who identified for me and through me to yet another savant, Steven Meyer, the author and basic meaning of the phrase, "specious present." You can look on Wikipedia. That is it for culture today.
Have a wonderful Fourth.
Incidentally, Paul is also one of the prime movers of the Oxford Symposium. it is very worthwhile event the subject of which changes with each biennial event. The papers are good and the discourse worthwhile and amusing. They are always food related whether cultural, ethnic, civilized and about civilization. The symposium iw open to the public for a worthwhile fee. Go on line to Oxfordsymposium.org.uk

Return

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Well, I'm almost back. For the time being it will be mainly thoughts and history. Standing and pot holding are still problems.
Avoiding butter and getting a little fed up with olive oil, I was going a different route when stopped in what are not tracks. I know there are other fats and many of them have been used; but I began to think about that automatic: "brown." Of course, it can be done using a different starch say potato or rice. however, why brown at all? The connection and difference between /soup, stews and braises is close and intimate. A few pre-operative experiments found me to be on a good track.
Certainly, browned flour is not a needed all-purpose seasoning.
Oddly enough, just as I was thinking about this, I was alternately reading a highly praised and prized novel, Te Debt to Pleasure, byJohn Lanchester. In it, food serves as an over arching metaphor and one might even a character. There are even recipes.
At the opening of the book, there are ruminations on just the culinary distinctions and their out come that I have brought up.
The novel is well worth reading. The culinary thoughts are interesting. Most of the recipes sound all right; but i didn't find myself tempted to try them. I think I have better versions of all of them. However, they are not truly the point of the book.
If you haven't, read the book now and come back to me another day for more theory and practice.

Me

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:48:00 +0000

How's that for a self-promoting heading. this Friday, the 29th I will be the face on the home page of cookstr.com as the author of the day. I will be out of commission; but my internet alternate should be fine. Tell me about it.

Next friday

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:54:00 +0000

I will have the other foot operated on so I will be out of commission for a while. I always knew that hands were critical to cooking; but I was unaware of hoow much time was spent running around and standing at the stove--all foot work. I have nothing but admiration for a Boston friend and others wo cook from a wheel chair and have to have specially built kitchens;
Anyone with advice for the cooking impaired should please post comments here so as to help others.

Pork, Lean but Moist

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:26:00 +0000

It is amazing how small victories can delight a cook. The other day I had bought a pork chop to serve at dinner. I was admonished that, while my pork roast was delicious and really hefty pork chops came out okay, regular pork chops tended to be dry and tough. I chewed on that for a while and decided that there had to be a solution.
It is ironic that as our pork has been bred to be leaner and leaner, we are being told about rare breeds--of great price--that are to be prized due to their fat content. It is of course that fat that kept the meat moist and tender. However, the new leaner pork is better for us. I cogitated and am delighted to have come up with a solution.
The recipe is on my web site, bkafka.com in the recipe of the week section.
The answer comes from ignoring the usual browning of the chop. It is cooked over medium heat just until the surfaces are white. The other ingredients are added. The pan is covered and the chop(s) is braised until cooked through and tender. Also, the soy gives the illusion of browning.
It gave me pleasure in the eating and in solving the problem.

Mamon

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 17 May 2009 01:09:00 +0000

i have succumbed. I am accepting ads. I hope not to be mortified and to make some money--always good. Wish me well.

Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Coming up in travel in a day or so is a round up of Chicago restaurants.
Lest i sound like a stomach-driven philistine, I remind you that this city is home to a a great museum, the Art Institute, a famous symphony and the theater companies that started the improv movement and to some of the most extraordinary architecture in America. Frank Lloyd Wright began here and there are tours of the private homes that designed in a suburb. Any good concierge can help. Sadly, much of the work of Louis Sullivan has been destroyed; but what remains is marvelous. he created Sever hall at Harvard and the brilliant County Court House and Jail in Pittsburgh. Much later, Mies Van der Rohe, who was fleeing from World War II, brought the elegant Bauhaus style of steel and glass to the city. More recently, The Pritzker Building named after the man and family that presents one of the most prestigious prizes in architecture was created by Frank Gehry.

Cauliflower and trends

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:57:00 +0000

For many years, cauliflower was almost absent from restaurant menus and I cannot say that I, personally, found it ravishing despite my husband's love of his mother's Viennese cauliflower soup. In recent weeks, it has shown up in several restaurants that I have visited. In two of them, Arqua, an excellent, twenty-year-old Italian restaurant in the bowels of New York (see my travel notes) and a small, local restaurant it was offered as a starter. At Arqua it made light and good salad. At the local it was roasted--but, unfortunately not cooked all the way through and served with an aioli--potentially a good combination.
I had realized that I could love cauliflower soup when I ate a chilled version with caviar at the brilliant Joel Robuchon's late restaurant in Paris. You can try my imitation in my book, Soup A Way of Life. I was happy to read in an article by Ray Sokolov in The Wall Street Journal about Robuchon's newest cauliflower soup invented at his restaurant in Las Vegas.
Also, various cauliflower soups--usually hot--have been showing up.
This is not I major trend; but its is interesting to see it resurrecting this plebeian, cabbage family, vegetable that has the advantage of being in expensive--of course, not with caviar.

Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:25:00 +0000

Individual ones are up so that you can search by favorite person.