Tag: technique

June 11, 2024 – Cooking With Cast Iron

June 11, 2024 /

Amongst cooks, I would say that cast iron is a standard. Everything product seems like to compares with it. We have a number of pans and skillets but I always gravitate to cast iron first. A lot of it is because I don’t really clean it but just wipe it out. I have always liked cast iron because I have only had electric cooking elements. I won’t make you read all the way through it to know the secret. It is the mass. Yes, it makes it harder to heat and make incremental decreases in temperature. But when you want a hot searing cook, you cant beat cast iron.

Cast iron has been with us for literally thousands of years. The first cookware dates back to England in the early 1700s. I suppose in our culture, I think of cast iron as Americana. It was inexpensive, but more importantly durable.

There has been a lot of todo about old cast iron versus new cast iron. Old cast iron would be cookware made before 1950. From what I have heard, it is primarily about the surface milling. Old surface milling was done by hand and yielded a visibly smoother looking surface. Whereas today’s cookware is mechanized and can have a ‘grainy’ looking surface.

The second thing you hear after cast iron is the word ‘seasoning’. This is the process of putting a coating on the metal. This coating helps prevent sticking on a hot surface. I have observed a lot of seasoning over the years and I think a lot of it is overblown. It is true that you don’t want metal on food contact. But the coating is and can be only so thick. Most of the ‘seasoning’ is the remainder of food stuck on the surface.

When cooking things such as bacon, it should be fatty enough to not stick to any surface. When the bacon in done, there is always a lot of residue which look like black bits. This is the sugar that is used in the cure. Sausage does the same thing. It is almost impossible not to have the sugar stick to the surface no matter how ‘seasoned’ it is. This happens to all cookware, not just cast iron.

Scrape off what you can with the spatula and the rest contributes to ‘seasoning’. After cooking the bacon, you are in the magic zone. Most people mistakenly think that it is the bacon fat that keeps the eggs from sticking. You need any kind of oil be it oil, lard, butter or whatever. But, the skillet has finally gotten to the proper temperature to cook an egg without sticking. You can literally pour all of the fat out of the pan and it still wont stick.

Common lore says don’t cook high acid foods in cast iron. The reason being is that acid will dissolve iron causing a potential metallic taste. In my opinion, I don’t really consider tomato sauce high acid. It probably doesn’t benefit the pan or the sauce too much from a non-stick point of view, but I have done it a lot of times with no ill effect. Wash the sauce off the pan at the faucet and go on with life.

Certain scrubbing pads, like chain mail are favored for cleaning cast iron. I don’t have one and I don’t really worry about it. I just scrape whatever is stuck with the spatula or wipe it out with a paper towel. I store the pan in the oven so I don’t have to fuss about it being greasy.

End Your Programming Routine: I talked a lot about traditional cast iron. The skillet in the picture is not the only piece I have. Enameled pieces like Le Creuset are fabulous as well. This is truly lifetime cookware unlike Teflon coated aluminum or every junky fad that has come along. Take care of it and it will take care of you,

January 31, 2024 – Risotto, As Easy As 3.141592653589793

January 31, 2024 /

Of course I am being facetious. Risotto has a stigma of being on the menu of fancy restaurants, therefore it has to be complicated or difficult. Not so, and I am going to tell you how. First of all, we have to understand Risotto itself. It is a specific variety of rice that is grown in Italy, not as it is sometimes described as a pasta.

Risotto itself is the name of the dish, you start with Arborio rice. This is part of the confusion. When you go to the store you don’t find anything named risotto and you certainly don’t find it with the pasta noodles. As rice goes, a little goes a long way. I only see it in small packages.

The basic formula is aromatics, Arborio rice, chicken broth and parmesan cheese. Everything after that is optional. I am making shrimp risotto today.

In my opinion, the most important thing with risotto is mis en place. Because technique is really the only thing that makes the dish, everything needs to be prepared and in place so that you can focus on the cooking. It is not like you cannot look away but you better be close and paying attention if you want good risotto. I release the flavor in the shallot.

Put in the rice and brown it up a bit. So far, it is just like Rice-A-Roni. Now, to make risotto, add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and stir it in. Keep the mixture boiling until it is almost gone and repeat. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked. How do you know it is cooked? Taste it. As a guide, this 1 1/2 cup of rice used about 4 cups of liquid.

Proper risotto is slightly al dente, just like pasta. However, my wife prefers that all gone. I am fine either way so I try to go her way. Make it how you like. When the rice is cooked, I added cream and cheese and turned off the heat. I want it to be hot but I don’t want a lot of extra mixing after I add the dairy. That is it, you have made risotto.

End Your Programming Routine: Chef Keith Snow says that risotto is a secret restaurant joke. The patrons think that it is exotic dish that turns out to be premade and reheated rice. Sometimes we get disappointed because when order it, the dish doesn’t deliver as in your head. The nice thing about making at home is that you can make it how you want it. See, it wasn’t hard.