Blog Posts - FoodProof

The Wreck: Mt. Pleasant, SC

Erich — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:58:35 -0700

Built on the site of a shrimp trawler that was tossed aground by Hurricane Hugo, The Wreck might be the best seafood restaurant in the south.

Chicken Stock

Jenn — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:22:57 -0700

I've heard that you can make chicken stock, or any kind of stock, by simmering bones and leftovers with various vegetables, and then straining it to remove the solids so that you end up with awesome stock. So today, I decided to give it a try. I had one rotisserie chicken from which most (but not all) of the meat had been removed and devoured. So with what was left, I decided I could make chicken stock. I started by putting the leftover chicken carcass in a really really deep pot with cold ...

Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake

AppleC — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:46:01 -0700

Check it out here!

Pasta Puttanesca Experiment

Jenn — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:52:38 -0700

So, I was hungry. I looked in my refrigerator, and came up with nothing good. But then I realized that I had dry penne pasta in the pantry, just waiting to be boiled to al dente perfection. The pasta would likely need something fresh and flavorful to make it fabulous. And then I also realized I had a few other key ingredients... and perhaps I could make my own version of Pasta Puttanesca! Without consulting a recipe, and just working from the memory of recipes I have read in the past, I decided ...

Assiette de Tete de Porc or ?How to turn a hog?s head into a delicate trio of starters?

Alex Rushmer — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:00:38 -0700

[Scroll down for recipes] Carnivorous detachment is something many of us are guilty of. By that I mean there is a deliberate and tangible epistemic distance between product and animal. It?s one that we gloss over. Choose to ignore, and prefer to exist in a state of happy ignorance about where meat comes from. Of course, when it really comes down to it we know that something, some thing, died so that we can consume the animal protein on our plate but there is a vast chasm between t ...

Nose to Tail Tuesday (N3T) - Brains

Alex Rushmer — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:55:31 -0700

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single foodstuff in possession of good batter can be rendered not just palatable, but delicious through the simple action of deep-frying. So said Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice. I think. Or something along those lines anyway. But it is a fair argument. Golden batter can hide a multitude of sins, provide a satisfying crunch to an otherwise flabby ingredient and even impart its own magical flavours. It?s a culinary sleight of hand use ...

In Over My Head?

Alex Rushmer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:23:16 -0700

As the old adage goes, you learn something new everyday. Yesterday I learnt three things. Did you know, for instance, that the greyhound accelerates to 45 miles per hour in a single second from a standing start? Zero to forty five in a second? Amazing. It is the second fastest land mammal on earth. The other two factoids I gleaned through empirical, hands-on research and part of me wishes I was still in a happy cloud of blissful ignorance. Here we go: the brain of a pig is surprisingl ...

Northern Manitoban Fried Chicken. I should start my own chain.

Hawk — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:06:09 -0700

By Mike Hawkins www.foodfunk.ca I?m originally from a place that?s not very close to Kentucky. In fact, Thompson, Manitoba isn?t even that close to Winnipeg. It?s 750 kilometres north of the provincial capital and the coldest city in Canada?s 10 provinces. Up there in the 1970s and 80s, we had little in the way of any national brands, chain restaurants and the like. Except one - Kentucky Fried Chicken. My dad worked at the Inco mine up there, a forklift dri ...

Eating New York: Bagels in the Park (+recipe)

Alex Rushmer — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:17:01 -0700

Sundays need barely a few elements to combine in simple cohesion in order to create delicious perfection. Gone are the days when it signalled ?weekend over, back to school tomorrow. Time to knuckle down and finish that essay you were set a fortnight ago.? Now, Sunday is the most sacrosanct day of the week, although not through any religious conviction. It?s a day when it is equally acceptable to do nothing under the proviso of doing something or vice versa. And it is near eff ...

Reality Kitchen -- Green Eggs and Ham

rockbirthedme — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:53:21 -0700

Sticky, tacky, gooey good ribs

Hawk — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:30:23 -0700

By Mike Hawkins www.foodfunk.ca Everybody craves some Chinese take-out on occasion and one of my favourite guilty pleasures are those little sweet and sour pork ribs. You know the ones, sticky, gooey, sweet and meaty. That syrupy fall-off-the-bone goodness. Some are better than others for sure. Some actually have some hint of Chinese flavour to them while others are just pork in some good ol? Aunt Jamima corn syrup, perhaps with some soy sauce for colour. Wel ...

Top Ten Kitchen 'Gadgets'

Alex Rushmer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:33:26 -0700

When it comes down to it, I mean really comes down to it, how many ?essential? gadgets or pieces of kit do you have in your kitchen? The reason I ask is because a recent piece in Economist Intelligent Life got me thinking. It suggested that men?s love of technology stretches far beyond the garden shed or whatever hobby is the current past-time du jour and well into that domain commonly known as the kitchen. Those of us with a ?y? chromosome, it suggests, can resist a new co ...

Eating New York: Pizza

Alex Rushmer — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:10:31 -0700

Arriving in a new city, at night, can be an unpleasant experience. Body clocks askew, deprived of sleep and crippled with the sort of grumpiness that can only ever be the result of being folded into an economy class seat on a long haul flight can test the mettle of even the most Zen individual. The tiniest frustrations can cause eruptions of Pompeii-esque proportions and anger threatens to be vented on those who neither expect nor deserve it. Total strangers usually. Even if that wic ...

Barbecued Beef Short Ribs

Alex Rushmer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:34:35 -0700

Forget everything you think you know about the rules of the kitchen. For just a few minutes. This is just plain wrong. It shouldn?t work. Nearly every bodily fibre was screaming, shouting, balling at me to stop and obey the bloody rules. This method flies in the face of conventional cooking methods and tickles the scrotum of classical cuisine before running away and hanging out with the cool kids. There are some cuts of meat that are user-friendly. They are fast, boneless and easy ...

Inverse Spherification - Mozzarella Spheres

Alex Rushmer — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:33:39 -0700

You want to do what to my sphere? Inverse it? Well, that?s quite enough of that, thank you very much. Despite sounding like the name of a prog rock group from the mid 70s or the title of an obscure drum and bass album, inverse spherification is a rather nifty culinary technique. It may sound scientific (partly because it is) but fear not. There is as much chance of me boggling you with science as there is of George Bush being named Iraq?s Man of the Century. Spherification is a p ...

Chocolate Mousse

Alex Rushmer — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:38:22 -0700

To those of you with a vague understanding of scientific principles, this will probably make sense. For those in the opposite camp (and I put myself firmly in this bracket), this will probably seem a little bit like sorcery. If this technique had been demonstrated by an enterprising 16th century chef, he would probably have been burnt at the stake for dancing with the devil and engaging in nefarious culinary exploits. This is a chocolate mousse made entirely out of chocolate and water. ...

Salt & Vinegar Crisps

Alex Rushmer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:38:27 -0700

With the intro out of the way, we can crack on. Let?s begin with air. Or maybe foam. Anyone know when an air becomes a foam? Answers below please. For the uninitiated, and those without access to liquid nitrogen, vacuum packaging devices, Large Hydron Colliders and other assorted machinery, airs and foams seem to be an excellent point of entry into the seemingly murky (and achingly complex) world of molecular gastronomy. They are also relatively easy to create and apparently hard ...

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Alex Rushmer — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:57:24 -0700

Here?s a question for you: what do Geert Wilders, Lady Chatterley?s Lover, Straw Dogs and beef short ribs all have in common? Any ideas? Yes, you at the back? Correct answer! They have all, at some point, been banned from Britain by the government. Thanks to the BSE crisis ? a result of abhorrent farming practices ? for two years between 1997 and 1999, it was illegal to buy or sell beef on the bone. Steaks were fine, burgers likewise, topside and rump all legal but a request ...

Plate Lunch at Coachella Average Betty Style

Average Betty — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:15:35 -0700

The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, is an event Betty looks forward to every year! She is, after all, a huge art geek and boy does she love music. And of course she loves good food! But unless you?re one of the rock stars (or you just roll like one) partaking in the fabulous VIP catering, you?re on your own with the snack vendors. Don?t get Betty wrong, she loves a good corn dog as much as the next gal, but when faced with a marathon day of fun ...

Nose to Tail Tuesday (N3T) - Bone Marrow

Alex Rushmer — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:39:08 -0700

It?s been a while but you have been very patient, for which I am most grateful. So thank you. There has been no slacking, I promise. But I have had a rather surreal couple of weeks. I?ve taken part in a pilot for a new TV quiz show, been spoonfed sea urchin by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, spilled pink wine over a renowned stand-up comic and Radio 4 stalwart, listened to a restaurant critic talk about his masturbatory preferences, watched buffalo mozzarella being made and dined with ...