Eatingcleveland.com

Winner of the Michael Symon Cookbook

Mark — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:39:00 +0000

Winner of the Michael Symon cookbook, as you can see by the screen cap, is commenter #15. That’s Foodphotog. Congratulations, I’ll be contacting you soon to get your address. Thanks to everyone that participated.

Winner of the Michael Symon Cookbook

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Win a Copy of Michael Symon’s New Book – Live to Cook

Mark — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:56:00 +0000

I’ve got a copy of Michael Symon’s new book to give away. It comes out tomorrow, Nov. 3, in the stores so if you don’t win, be sure to pick one up. It is an awesome read.

To enter this contest, leave a comment below. I’ll pick the winner at random. The contest ends at 7 p.m. today, so get your comments in before then.

OK! No more comments! Contest closed. Winner to be announced shortly!

Win a Copy of Michael Symon’s New Book – Live to Cook

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Michael Symon’s Live to Cook – Book Review

Mark — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:41:00 +0000

I don’t like cookbooks and to be perfectly honest, Michael Symon has been wearing on me of late. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never met the man and he seems like a really awesome dude, but it seems like you can’t turn around without hearing his name lately. So when I was approached about reviewing his new book Michael Symon’s Live to Cook for the site, I can’t say that I was excited. After reading it though, I must say that I am very impressed.

Live to Cook was co-written with Cleveland’s own Michael Ruhlman who did a magnificent job weaving stories from Michael Symon’s life through dozens of great recipes and amongst teachings only a chef could provide. It doesn’t take long to forget this is even a cookbook; At times it seems more like a biography dashed with recipes.

More Than Just a Cookbook

If you think you already know everything there is to know about Michael Symon, I think you’ll be surprised by the touching and personal stories Michael shares about his life and his career. I appreciate that he revealed so much about his growth as a chef, it’s something we rarely hear about.

What’s invaluable about this book though are the "lessons" Michael gives to amateur cooks like you and me on just about every subject you might find in a kitchen. For example he pours his love of pickling out over three pages explaining all the different methods he uses, his favorite flavors and why he thinks pickling is so important. His passion for food is undeniable.

The Man Loves Food

Ahh yes, the food. Live to Cook features recipe sections that you will find in most every cookbook like soups, starters and sides, but it’s the ones that you won’t find in other cookbooks that I was most impressed by: pickles and charcuterie. Pickling your own foods and curing your own meats? Now this is a cookbook.

The recipes are a good variety of dishes he serves at Lola along with a number of family recipes like his Mom’s lasagna. His Mediterranean heritage pops up in almost every recipe. The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow and each comes with a nice description from Michael about the origins of the recipe and what you should look out for to ensure its success.

I do have one nit-picky negative thing to say about this book: Whomever’s idea it was to use that ugly and unreadable AC/DC Squealer-type font deserves to be fired. Ok, I feel better now.

Like I said in the beginning, I am really impressed with what Michael Symon has put together here in Live to Cook. Sure, it’s part cookbook with some really good looking recipes, but it’s also a thoroughly enjoyable book about a Cleveland guy making it big because he loved food. As Clevelanders, we could all use a feel good story about one of our guys. Michael Symon is truly one of the good guys.

Michael Symon’s Live to Cook – Book Review

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Ianiro’s Deli – Chardon, Ohio

Mark — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Scattered all over Northeastern Ohio are little Mom & Pop food stores that sell homemade foods made from recipes passed down through generations. They open their doors to share their family’s history with the rest of us. Ianiro’s Deli in Chardon is just one of those places: a small family business with delicious homemade foods, Italian pantry staples and a location just far enough out of the way to make it a hidden gem.

Ianiro’s is located in a small business plaza on Mayfield Rd. between Auburn Rd. and Ravenna Rd., with the 45 mph. speed limit chances are you’ll drive right by it. But don’t make that mistake. While Ianiro’s has all of your basic Italian deli treats like tomato sauces, salamis, pastas, and wine, they have a few items that make them a great foodie destination.

Ianiro’s offers a dozen different sandwiches and submarines with fresh bread that are the perfect grab and go meal. My personal favorite are the mini subs with salami, ham, cheese and pepper relish which at a $1.50 are a steal. The tangy sweetness of the relish with the salty meats and cheeses is the perfect flavor combination. If you’re more in the mood for something you can make your own Ianiro’s has a variety of homemade pastas for sale. Everything from gnocchi and ravioli to tortellini and cavatelli. It’s all made and then quickly frozen to preserve freshness, any of which make a great base for an Italian feast.

Ianiro’s Deli
11858 Mayfield Rd.
Chardon, OH 44024
440-286-3081

Ianiro’s Deli – Chardon, Ohio

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Black Garlic Winner

Mark — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:49:24 +0000

The winner of the black garlic giveaway was Mel, from Cleveland. Congratulations Mel, I’ll be contacting you shortly to arrange shipment.

Thank you to everyone who entered and stay tuned for another sweet giveaway next week.

Black Garlic Winner

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Black Garlic Giveaway

Mark — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:29:00 +0000

I’ve got a package with two heads of black garlic to give away. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and I’ll pick a winner at random.

Entries must be in by 9/30/2009 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Black Garlic Giveaway

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Black Garlic – WTF?

Mark — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:19:00 +0000

As a food blogger I’ve have a lot of odd food products showing up on my doorstep, but this black garlic takes the cake.

Black garlic is actually regular garlic that has been fermented for three weeks to change it into this intense sweet and caramel flavored clove. The consistency of the garlic changes as well. Black garlic is very soft and easily spreadable.

The best I can describe it is roasted garlic times 10. It has such a deep earthy flavor, there is not much else to compare it to. The pungent garlic flavor is totally gone, but there are some hints of roasted garlic.

How to Use Black Garlic

The package suggested using black garlic any place where you’d use regular garlic or roasted garlic, but I think it’s far too weak to replace fresh garlic. That being said, I tried it in two recipes, one was a chicken meatball and the other was fresh salsa. It was great in the chicken meatballs, adding a pleasant depth and sweetness. However, in the salsa, it just didn’t work. It made it taste like it had molasses in it.

Where to Buy Black Garlic

Black garlic is going to be available in local Giant Eagle stores in the coming months which is why they sent it to Cleveland’s fattest food blogger. You can find it in the produce department.

Black Garlic – WTF?

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Black Garlic – WTF?

Mark — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:19:00 +0000

As a food blogger I’ve have a lot of odd food products showing up on my doorstep, but this black garlic takes the cake.

How to Use Black Garlic

Where to Buy Black Garlic

Black garlic is going to be available in local Giant Eagle stores in the coming months which is why they sent it to Cleveland’s fattest food blogger. You can find it in the produce department.

Black Garlic – WTF?

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None Found

How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut

Mark — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:59:00 +0000

To me, there are three things that you must have with a hotdog: Stadium Mustard (there is no finer mustard), sauerkraut and a nice cold beer. I am entirely sure I could sustain life for many years on only this meal.

The Stadium mustard is a lock and I can pick a good beer, but I must say store bought sauerkraut really sucks. It’s either too tangy, not tangy enough, mushy or even downright odd tasting. That’s because “Big Food” does god only knows what to that poor cabbage to get it in that jar, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Making your own homemade sauerkraut is easy, delicious and hell, it’s even kinda fun.

You only need a few simple tools, fresh cabbage and some time to allow the magical powers of fermentation to do their thing.

What You’ll Need

Cabbage – Fresh heads of cabbage, washed and trimmed of any nasty pieces. You’ll want about 10-15 pounds worth of heads.

5 Gallon Food-Grade Plastic Bucket with Lid – Sure you could use a stone or ceramic crock, but you could also wash all of your clothes in a river, so lets stick with the 21st Century here and use plastic. Make sure you get a food-grade plastic bucket, the one I’m using is not food-grade, but the bright orange bucket makes for excellent contrast against the light colored cabbage so it works well for pictures. You can usually get free buckets from grocery store bakeries, they use them all the time.

Another Lid that Fits inside the Bucket – This is going to keep your cabbage submerged during fermentation. It doesn’t have to fit tightly from side to side, but the closer the better.

Something Heavy – Can be anything clean, some people recommend rocks, but I’ve never seen a clean rock in my life, so I opted for a zipper-top bag filled with water and a mason jar filled with water. This will be used to keep the interior lid down below the surface of the brine.

Pickling Salt – Make sure you buy pickling salt and don’t try to wing it with regular table salt. Pickling salt is cheap as hell and it doesn’t contain any agents to prevent it from clumping like table salt does. The problem is that those non-caking chemicals make for a very cloudy brine.

Long Knife, Food Processor or Grater – You’re going to need to slice/grate the cabbage, so whatever you’re comfortable using is fine.

Scale – This kraut thing is done by the pound, so a scale is helpful in knowing how much cabbage you have when it comes time to salt it.

Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

12 Pounds Shredded Cabbage
8 T. Pickling Salt

1. Slice the Cabbage – Slice the cabbage how ever you find the easiest. I prefer to use a long serrated knife which allows me to go all the way through a head in one cut. Working with a head of cabbage can be difficult so here is how I make it easy to take one apart:

Place the head on it’s core and cut it in half.
Lay half on it’s cut side and cut it in half so that you now have a quarter.
Using an angled cut, cut the core out of the quarter and discard the core.
Slice the cabbage to a thickness of 1/8 inch.
Repeat with the other 3 quarters.

Now the thickness of the cut is completely up to you. I like a nice hearty piece of sauerkraut, so I keep it kind of thick:

If you prefer a finer sauerkraut, you can shred it more or dice it. It’s totally up to you, at this point the major goal is breaking down all of the cabbage.

I like cutting one head at a time and salting because it allows you to ensure that the salt is well mixed with the cabbage, something that is crucial to this whole process.

2. Weigh & Salt the Cabbage – A head of cabbage, once the core is removed, weighs in at about 3 pounds. This is perfect. Using the ratio of salt to cabbage above you’ll notice that for every 3 pounds of cabbage we’ll need 2 tablespoons of salt. Weight out 3 pounds of cabbage and place it into your fermenting bucket.

To ensure that all of the cabbage gets covered with salt, I use one hand to stir the cabbage and the other to sprinkle the salt. Make sure to stir well and get as much salt as possible in contact with the cabbage.

Repeat this process until all of your cabbage has been salted in the bucket.

4. Preparation for Fermentation – Now that everyone is in the pool, take your interior lid and place it on top of the cabbage. Make sure to get as much as possible underneath it and push down to crush the cabbage as tight as it will go.

Place this bucket in a room somewhere in the 75° range and let it sit for 24 hours.

Once 24 hours has elapsed check on your cabbage to ensure that enough moisture has been drawn out of the cabbage to cover all of it with water. You may need to push down on your lid again to get the water to come up over it. If enough liquid has been produced, move onto step 5.

If your cabbage still looks a little dry, you’ll need to give it a helping hand. Mix up a batch of brine using 1 quart of water and 2 Tablespoons of salt, making sure that that salt is dissolved. Pour this over your cabbage and push the lid down until the water comes over it.

5. Fermentation – This is the big waiting game. Get your heavy object and put it on top of the lid to keep it and the cabbage submerged in the salty brine. Store your bucket somewhere in your house where the temperature remains around 75° for the best fermentation possible.

Keep in mind that while fermentation occurs your cabbage with transform into sauerkraut and they don’t sell any sauerkraut scented air fresheners, so make sure you don’t place this somewhere where you’ll have to smell it all the time. An extra bedroom or closet is best, but if you have to have it in a room that you spend some time in, after the first few days you can cover the top of the bucket with a loosely placed lid or plastic-wrap.

Fermentation can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 5 depending on temperature, but I suggest monitoring your sauerkraut every few days to be sure that there is no mold growing on top of the liquid. If there is, just skim it off, wash off the interior lid and whatever you have weighing it down before you place them back in the bucket.

6. Sauerkrautification – How do you know your sauerkraut is done? Only one way: taste it. Try the cabbage once a week to see if it meets your tanginess requirements. The longer it ferments the more tangy it will become, but whenever it gets to where you like it, you can put the breaks on fermentation.

You can stop fermentation a number of ways:

Fridge – Place your bucket in the fridge and it should drastically slow down the fermentation process, but it won’t last forever this way, so either it all or preserve it.
Freezer – You can freeze sauerkraut, but you’ll need to put it in a zip-top bag making sure to get all of the air out. That being said, freezing is not a long term solution as it can greatly affect the quality of the sauerkraut.
Canning – Canning is my method of choice for long-term sauerkraut storage. It’s easy to do, takes about a half an hour and will allow your sauerkraut to outlive you. Ok, maybe only if you’re really old.

How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut

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Help Out Most Valuable Kids

Mark — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:28:00 +0000

I generally don’t ask you all to do a lot, but this is one of those circumstances where I’d like your help.

Michelle over at Cleveland Foodie has asked me to help her getting the word out about an organization which she does a lot of work for: MVK, Most Valuable Kids.

Most Valuable Kids provides underserved kids in the Cleveland area something a lot of us take for granted: unused event tickets. If you’ve got tickets to an Indians or Cavs game, Disney on Ice or even the circus, but aren’t going to be able to use them, you can donate the tickets to Most Valuable Kids. MVK will then find a kid in the Cleveland area who would really appreciate attending the event.

Pretty sweet organization if you ask me. So go check out their website and the next time you’ve got some tickets you can’t use, think about Most Valuable Kids.

Help Out Most Valuable Kids

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