Put into a salad bowl some olive oil of the best quality, some white wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons roast turkey juice, 1/2 teaspoon tarragon mustard, the inside of a lobster, salt, and pepper. Stir until the mixture is perfectly smooth. Then add slices of lobster flesh, slices from the breast of a braised chicken and the breast of a roast turkey without the skin, the breast of three young partridges (keep the best slices for decoration), some thinly sliced truffles cooked in an excellent dry white wine, some mushrooms prepared in the same way, and a number of shelled crayfish. Cover with a layer of blanched endive (chicory) leaves. Add a second layer of the mixture, then a further layer of endive. Then on top tastefully arrange the reserved slices of meat, a few strips of ham from which the fat has been removed, a few large slices of truffle and mushroom, a border of shelled crayfish, a tablespoon of capers washed in white wine, and a cupful of stoned (pitted) green olives. Put a mound of thick mayonnaise in the centre with the largest truffle on top. Serve with the finest dry champagne, very cold but not iced.Twenty-first century, eat your heart out!
Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts
Friday, May 24, 2019
Real Men Eat Salad
A nineteenth century salad from the works of Lucien Tendret - author of La Table au pays de Brillat-Savarin.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Mushrooms on Toast
This is a classic English dish and it's really easy to see why it's amazing.
Short answer = umami.
The CC has always ranted about the lack of respect given to English cooking.
This is another one of those neglects. It's totally ironic since the recipe is entirely vegetarian and yet it's not well known. In an era of "avocado toast" — which fucking sucks! — one should be shouting this one from the rooftops.
(If you do put an avocado on top of this, the CC really doesn't need to know in exactly the same way that he really doesn't need to know about your bowel movements!)
What is it?
A vast amount of mushrooms gently roasted in butter to which fresh herbs are added along with a judicious amount of both Worcestershire sauce and cream. The last two with an extraordinarily light hand.
Why does it work?
The insane off-the-charts umami — mushrooms, animal products (= butter + cream), and Worcestershire sauce (which is basically umami-central!) The toast adds all the wonders of the Maillard reaction.
How does it work?
You make some toast and put this stuff on top of it. DUH!!!
Ingredients
(serves 4 (= 8 toasts))
1 lb assorted mushrooms (the more varieties the better!)
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
butter
salt
pepper
thyme
parsley (finely minced)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp cream
Note 1: You can totally substitute the Worcestershire sauce. Its goal is to add umami. Soy sauce will do the trick. Fish sauce will also do the trick. (You'll need a dash of vinegar and pinch of cayenne with the last two alternatives.)
Note 2: The thyme goes well with the mushrooms. Don't get hung up. They wouldn't have been in old England. Chives will work as would most herbs. Tarragon would NOT work. Too much anise flavor.
Note 3: The CC is going to amp this up one more notch by using dried Chinese shiitake mushrooms because why not? Once you grasp the principles, it's hard not to.
Note 4: You can totally gild the lily by adding parmesan. Why not? We've already dialed it up to 17. By all means, go ahead and dial it up to 29.
Note 5: Yes, the barest amount of lemon would rock this dish. The CC knows. One surmises the "limeys" didn't have access to fresh lemons?
Note 6: The CC knows what you are thinking. One pound serves four people? Yep. Talk to me AFTER you make the recipe and everyone wants more.
Recipe
Pour boiling water over the dried shiitake mushrooms. Not too much. After 10 minutes, pull the mushrooms out and filter the water through a paper napkin. Reserve the water.
Cut the reconstituted mushrooms into lengthwise pieces.
Cut the other mushrooms into lengthwise pieces.
Heat the butter until just under foaming. Toss in all the mushrooms and let them reduce at a medium heat. Add the water from the mushrooms. Add the thyme, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and cream towards the end and let cook until almost dry.
Salt to taste. (The sauce already has a ton of salt so check before salting.)
Make some toast.
Top the mixture on toast with the minced parsley as topping.
Short answer = umami.
The CC has always ranted about the lack of respect given to English cooking.
This is another one of those neglects. It's totally ironic since the recipe is entirely vegetarian and yet it's not well known. In an era of "avocado toast" — which fucking sucks! — one should be shouting this one from the rooftops.
(If you do put an avocado on top of this, the CC really doesn't need to know in exactly the same way that he really doesn't need to know about your bowel movements!)
What is it?
A vast amount of mushrooms gently roasted in butter to which fresh herbs are added along with a judicious amount of both Worcestershire sauce and cream. The last two with an extraordinarily light hand.
Why does it work?
The insane off-the-charts umami — mushrooms, animal products (= butter + cream), and Worcestershire sauce (which is basically umami-central!) The toast adds all the wonders of the Maillard reaction.
How does it work?
You make some toast and put this stuff on top of it. DUH!!!
Ingredients
(serves 4 (= 8 toasts))
1 lb assorted mushrooms (the more varieties the better!)
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
butter
salt
pepper
thyme
parsley (finely minced)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp cream
Note 1: You can totally substitute the Worcestershire sauce. Its goal is to add umami. Soy sauce will do the trick. Fish sauce will also do the trick. (You'll need a dash of vinegar and pinch of cayenne with the last two alternatives.)
Note 2: The thyme goes well with the mushrooms. Don't get hung up. They wouldn't have been in old England. Chives will work as would most herbs. Tarragon would NOT work. Too much anise flavor.
Note 3: The CC is going to amp this up one more notch by using dried Chinese shiitake mushrooms because why not? Once you grasp the principles, it's hard not to.
Note 4: You can totally gild the lily by adding parmesan. Why not? We've already dialed it up to 17. By all means, go ahead and dial it up to 29.
Note 5: Yes, the barest amount of lemon would rock this dish. The CC knows. One surmises the "limeys" didn't have access to fresh lemons?
Note 6: The CC knows what you are thinking. One pound serves four people? Yep. Talk to me AFTER you make the recipe and everyone wants more.
Recipe
Pour boiling water over the dried shiitake mushrooms. Not too much. After 10 minutes, pull the mushrooms out and filter the water through a paper napkin. Reserve the water.
Cut the reconstituted mushrooms into lengthwise pieces.
Cut the other mushrooms into lengthwise pieces.
Heat the butter until just under foaming. Toss in all the mushrooms and let them reduce at a medium heat. Add the water from the mushrooms. Add the thyme, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and cream towards the end and let cook until almost dry.
Salt to taste. (The sauce already has a ton of salt so check before salting.)
Make some toast.
Top the mixture on toast with the minced parsley as topping.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Weekend Menu
Just one "fancy" meal on the weekend with an old classic on Saturday. Recipes to follow.
The first meal is classically Italian, of course, but the ingredients came from a Japanese store. They have higher standards of quality.
The correlative in the Japanese meal is the blackness. It comes from the black rice which is representative of squid ink but there's none of that in the rice. The "toban djan" is Chinese in origin but it's amazing how the Japanese have converted the quick stir-fry to their own tastes. The "burdock salad" has mayonnaise but Japanese-style which is much much lighter and once again umami-laden. Okra is emphatically not Japanese but once again their love of slimy substances (natto!) means they've made it their own. There's very little "Japanese" about the second meal except that they have taken all these influences and converted them into a coherent Japanese meal.
The CC has said this many times but he'll say it again. One of the pleasures of cuisine is to be able to see the world through a different pair of eyes. We're all stuck with our origins but we can surpass them with imagination and empathy.
Cuisine is the fastest and easiest way to get there†.
† This is the 1000th post. No need to get all misty-eyed. There will be many more to come.
The first meal is classically Italian, of course, but the ingredients came from a Japanese store. They have higher standards of quality.
The correlative in the Japanese meal is the blackness. It comes from the black rice which is representative of squid ink but there's none of that in the rice. The "toban djan" is Chinese in origin but it's amazing how the Japanese have converted the quick stir-fry to their own tastes. The "burdock salad" has mayonnaise but Japanese-style which is much much lighter and once again umami-laden. Okra is emphatically not Japanese but once again their love of slimy substances (natto!) means they've made it their own. There's very little "Japanese" about the second meal except that they have taken all these influences and converted them into a coherent Japanese meal.
The CC has said this many times but he'll say it again. One of the pleasures of cuisine is to be able to see the world through a different pair of eyes. We're all stuck with our origins but we can surpass them with imagination and empathy.
Cuisine is the fastest and easiest way to get there†.
Pasta with mushroom sauce
Japanese meal
Three-taste mixed rice (white, brown, black)
Okra ohitashi
Burdock salad (ゴボウサラダ)
Squid toban djan
Miso soup
Smashed-cucumber pickle (タタキキュリ); Myoga
Monday, December 10, 2012
Better Living Through Chemistry (or Why Julia was Deluded!)
It's very rare when you can say that Julia Child was flat-out wrong†. It's even more wondrous to say that not only was Julia wrong but that Escoffier was wrong‡ too. It's almost downright iconoclastic to say that not only were they wrong but that they were wrong in that most classical of French techniques — stock making.
And yet they were.
Welcome to the modern world of technology and chemistry!
The first crack in the facade is that you frequently hear them talking about "refreshing the stock". You need to keep adding in spices, etc. to "freshen" the stock. Why would you need to do so? Shouldn't the stock already be fresh? Shouldn't the spices already be there?
The answer as many of you might know is that what we think of as taste is really smell and spices consist of volatile molecules that dissipate in the air. Particularly when they are boiled.
Classical stock making consists of boiling the living daylights out of a standard flavor mixture. The short version is that it consists of vegetables plus meat plus aromatics. First the vegetables are fried, then the meat and aromatics added. Then a ton of water and the whole thing is brought to a simmer. The oil allows the oil-soluble volatile compounds to get transferred to the water and you must skim off the fat that comes to the surface. When the meat and vegetables have given up all their goodness to the water, you have stock.
Classical stock makes the house smell good§. That's another way of saying that the volatile compounds are dissipating in the air and you will need to find a way to "refresh" them later because they are being lost.
The trick consists of not losing the volatile molecules in the first place. This is not a particularly original idea. It was first suggested by Heston Blumenthal a while ago and given more modern credence by Nathan Myhrvold in his epic Modernist Cuisine.
However, you must own a pressure cooker.
The fundamentals of stock making remain in play. The onions and vegetables must be fried. That's Maillard for you. The meat must be roasted (if making brown stock). That's also Maillard. However, instead of boiling it, you pressure cook for a much shorter time (at a higher temperature) and you filter it after it cools back to room temperature.
Your stock will be amazingly concentrated and you will have done it in half the time.
Given the absurdly cold weather, the CC had sourced some organic beef shin bones and went about making a classical "brown stock" in order to make French Onion Soup. The recipes for both follow below.
Here are a few tricks that you might not have heard of. They are actually quite common among chefs but the CC never sees any of these "dark arts" being published in the literature. (Why would they give their secrets away?)
† To be fair to Julia, she did explore the idea even back then. However, the pressure cooking technology of her time kinda sucked. Modern pressure cookers are much more precise so she wasn't really wrong. At least, for her time. But times change and technology evolves.
‡ Just too early really.
§ There are many practitioners of "modernist cuisine" that think that the kitchen must have no smells whatsoever. They do have an excellent point but this is practically impossible for most of us so we must live with reasonable compromises while pursuing that flighty temptress, perfection.
Brown Stock
Ingredients
2 beef shin bones
1 large onion
1 large carrot
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 pods star-anise
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
rosemary
black pepper
salt
Recipe
First, roast the bones at 450°F for about 40 minutes. They will give off a lot of fat. Discard or use for other purposes. They should be lightly browned.
Fry the onions, garlic and the carrot in the pressure cooker. Add the bones and fry some more. Add all the ingredients, cover to the top with water and let pressure cook for at least two hours. You will need to fiddle with the heat so that there is no hissing at all. (No losses!)
Let the pressure cooker cool down naturally which will take the better part of an hour.
If you do this right, when the broth cools almost all of the fat will be on the surface. Another advantage of using a pressure cooker. Using a ladle you can just skim the fat right off.
On a coolness note, you can hear the bones crack inside the pressure cooker at some point. Not to worry. The goodness is being extracted.
You should chill the broth overnight and skim the fat that will accumulate at the top. You can freeze the broth at this point if you like.
French Onion Soup
Ingredients
16 large onions (yes!)
6 cups beef broth
1 tbsp flour
butter
olive oil
stale bread (read below!)
1/3 cup grated gruyère
1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
Recipe
At least, for this the CC is happy to report, there's no bettering classical technique so you'll just have to get down to it.
Cut the onions into semi-circles.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot. If you follow Julia, it should be all butter but the CC has found that the mixture works better. Add the onions to the pot. Turn the heat onto medium-high and let cook for an hour. Stir every 20 minutes. Towards the end you will probably need to stir every 5 minutes or so.
The onions will turn into a rich dark color. It may take longer depending on the moisture content.
Add a tablespoon of flour, and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil. Let cook for about 25 minutes on medium-low heat.
You will need stale bread that is preferably naturally leavened and let it dry out. Cover the piece with the grated cheese and stick it under the broiler for about 3 minutes. Be very careful. This has a tendency to burn. 30 seconds the wrong way and you will have a burnt mess. Best to keep checking.
Ladle the soup over the bread-cheese combo. Slurp.
And yet they were.
Welcome to the modern world of technology and chemistry!
The first crack in the facade is that you frequently hear them talking about "refreshing the stock". You need to keep adding in spices, etc. to "freshen" the stock. Why would you need to do so? Shouldn't the stock already be fresh? Shouldn't the spices already be there?
The answer as many of you might know is that what we think of as taste is really smell and spices consist of volatile molecules that dissipate in the air. Particularly when they are boiled.
Classical stock making consists of boiling the living daylights out of a standard flavor mixture. The short version is that it consists of vegetables plus meat plus aromatics. First the vegetables are fried, then the meat and aromatics added. Then a ton of water and the whole thing is brought to a simmer. The oil allows the oil-soluble volatile compounds to get transferred to the water and you must skim off the fat that comes to the surface. When the meat and vegetables have given up all their goodness to the water, you have stock.
Classical stock makes the house smell good§. That's another way of saying that the volatile compounds are dissipating in the air and you will need to find a way to "refresh" them later because they are being lost.
The trick consists of not losing the volatile molecules in the first place. This is not a particularly original idea. It was first suggested by Heston Blumenthal a while ago and given more modern credence by Nathan Myhrvold in his epic Modernist Cuisine.
However, you must own a pressure cooker.
The fundamentals of stock making remain in play. The onions and vegetables must be fried. That's Maillard for you. The meat must be roasted (if making brown stock). That's also Maillard. However, instead of boiling it, you pressure cook for a much shorter time (at a higher temperature) and you filter it after it cools back to room temperature.
Your stock will be amazingly concentrated and you will have done it in half the time.
Given the absurdly cold weather, the CC had sourced some organic beef shin bones and went about making a classical "brown stock" in order to make French Onion Soup. The recipes for both follow below.
Here are a few tricks that you might not have heard of. They are actually quite common among chefs but the CC never sees any of these "dark arts" being published in the literature. (Why would they give their secrets away?)
- Toss in 2-3 pods of star anise into the broth when you are making it. Star anise contains anethole which is a polyphenol. It's both distinctly sweeter than sugar and also will react with sulfur in the onions to turn into the wonderful aromatics characteristic of the Maillard reaction. This intensifies the "meatiness" of the broth. If used in moderation, you will not smell the characteristic "anise smell" in the broth. (Consider this as the Vietnamese contribution to classical French cooking!)
- Toss in a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms. Alternatively, if you are feeling flush in cash, toss in some dried porcini mushrooms. The mushrooms amp up the existing umami from the vegetables and the meat by adding their own guanylates to the mix. (On a side note, chefs frequently "amp" up commercial beef broth by just tossing in a handful of the cheap dried shiitake mushrooms, boiling for a bit and filtering. Yes, it is that effective!)
- When roasting the meat, it's traditionally tossed with flour which will brown a bit. Toss it with condensed milk instead. Once more, this is Maestro Maillard riding to the rescue. The condensed milk just has more of the proteins in a concentrated framework.
- After cooking the stock in the pressure cooker ("no skimming, no hard work"), all the fat will be on the surface. This is the magic of high-heat, no boiling. You can just skim it off with a ladle. Then pass the broth through three layers of folded cheese cloth. Do not press the cloth but it's fine to let it drip dry. The volume will reduce drastically. This is clarification by filtration. Chill immediately in an ice bath. This is important.
- If you want to clarify it further, chill overnight, scrape the fat off the top, reheat without boiling, and do process [1] again. Your chef friends will be absolutely amazed at your consommé and you will have done it for a tenth of the classical effort which involves egg whites. (Incidentally, the egg whites are just a less efficient version of the same filtration described above AND they cause substantial loss of the volatile flavor molecules which is what we want in the first place!)
† To be fair to Julia, she did explore the idea even back then. However, the pressure cooking technology of her time kinda sucked. Modern pressure cookers are much more precise so she wasn't really wrong. At least, for her time. But times change and technology evolves.
‡ Just too early really.
§ There are many practitioners of "modernist cuisine" that think that the kitchen must have no smells whatsoever. They do have an excellent point but this is practically impossible for most of us so we must live with reasonable compromises while pursuing that flighty temptress, perfection.
Brown Stock
Ingredients
2 beef shin bones
1 large onion
1 large carrot
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 pods star-anise
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
rosemary
black pepper
salt
Recipe
First, roast the bones at 450°F for about 40 minutes. They will give off a lot of fat. Discard or use for other purposes. They should be lightly browned.
Fry the onions, garlic and the carrot in the pressure cooker. Add the bones and fry some more. Add all the ingredients, cover to the top with water and let pressure cook for at least two hours. You will need to fiddle with the heat so that there is no hissing at all. (No losses!)
Let the pressure cooker cool down naturally which will take the better part of an hour.
If you do this right, when the broth cools almost all of the fat will be on the surface. Another advantage of using a pressure cooker. Using a ladle you can just skim the fat right off.
On a coolness note, you can hear the bones crack inside the pressure cooker at some point. Not to worry. The goodness is being extracted.
You should chill the broth overnight and skim the fat that will accumulate at the top. You can freeze the broth at this point if you like.
French Onion Soup
Ingredients
16 large onions (yes!)
6 cups beef broth
1 tbsp flour
butter
olive oil
stale bread (read below!)
1/3 cup grated gruyère
1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
Recipe
At least, for this the CC is happy to report, there's no bettering classical technique so you'll just have to get down to it.
Cut the onions into semi-circles.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot. If you follow Julia, it should be all butter but the CC has found that the mixture works better. Add the onions to the pot. Turn the heat onto medium-high and let cook for an hour. Stir every 20 minutes. Towards the end you will probably need to stir every 5 minutes or so.
The onions will turn into a rich dark color. It may take longer depending on the moisture content.
Add a tablespoon of flour, and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil. Let cook for about 25 minutes on medium-low heat.
You will need stale bread that is preferably naturally leavened and let it dry out. Cover the piece with the grated cheese and stick it under the broiler for about 3 minutes. Be very careful. This has a tendency to burn. 30 seconds the wrong way and you will have a burnt mess. Best to keep checking.
Ladle the soup over the bread-cheese combo. Slurp.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Drunken Noodles with Shiitake & Cashews
Every time the CC reads one of those ridiculous vegan recipes written by a chick – and yes! it's always a chick – even when the flavor pairings are quite attractive, he realizes that they have absolutely no idea of what actually makes the recipe tick at either a deep scientific or cultural level.
This is one of those recipes.
So the CC being the CC went back and reworked the recipe back to what it should've been in the first place. The integrity of the recipe has been preserved (still the same flavor combinations), and it's still vegan!
At the heart of it, the recipe is a classic Japanese dashi-laden broth with udon noodles except that the broth has been infused with classic Indian flavors. Textural variation is added by the addition of cashews (definitely not Japanese since they are New World!) The mushrooms add the umami-oomph as explained here, and there are carrots for color and nutrition.
The recipe is terrific! (The CC's version not the zombie vegan chick's version which is positively upchuck-worthy!)
May technique and culture win over mindless zombie cultists! (Not terribly likely but one can only hope.)
Ingredients
4 cups dashi
1" ginger (chopped coarsely)
4-6 green chillies
1 pack udon noodles
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup carrots (cut into fine sticks)
1/2 cup cashews
2 tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
salt
1/4 cup cilantro (finely chopped)
1 scallion (cut at a steep diagonal)
Recipe
Roast the cashews in the oven at 375°F for about 15 minutes. Be careful since they have a tendency to burn.
Meanwhile make the dashi. You can make it vegan by making it shōjin ryōri style by just using konbu.
Then add the ginger, green chillies, soy sauce, mirin, salt and sugar to it and let it stew gently for about 15 minutes. Strain, and toss the ginger and green chillies.
Toss in the shiitake mushrooms and carrots and set aside.
Taste. It should have a strong bite but be balanced in its flavor. Adjust as necessary.
Cook the udon noodles. Drain and pour them into individual bowls.
Top with the broth, cashews, scallions and cilantro.
This is one of those recipes.
So the CC being the CC went back and reworked the recipe back to what it should've been in the first place. The integrity of the recipe has been preserved (still the same flavor combinations), and it's still vegan!
At the heart of it, the recipe is a classic Japanese dashi-laden broth with udon noodles except that the broth has been infused with classic Indian flavors. Textural variation is added by the addition of cashews (definitely not Japanese since they are New World!) The mushrooms add the umami-oomph as explained here, and there are carrots for color and nutrition.
The recipe is terrific! (The CC's version not the zombie vegan chick's version which is positively upchuck-worthy!)
May technique and culture win over mindless zombie cultists! (Not terribly likely but one can only hope.)
Ingredients
4 cups dashi
1" ginger (chopped coarsely)
4-6 green chillies
1 pack udon noodles
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup carrots (cut into fine sticks)
1/2 cup cashews
2 tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
salt
1/4 cup cilantro (finely chopped)
1 scallion (cut at a steep diagonal)
Recipe
Roast the cashews in the oven at 375°F for about 15 minutes. Be careful since they have a tendency to burn.
Meanwhile make the dashi. You can make it vegan by making it shōjin ryōri style by just using konbu.
Then add the ginger, green chillies, soy sauce, mirin, salt and sugar to it and let it stew gently for about 15 minutes. Strain, and toss the ginger and green chillies.
Toss in the shiitake mushrooms and carrots and set aside.
Taste. It should have a strong bite but be balanced in its flavor. Adjust as necessary.
Cook the udon noodles. Drain and pour them into individual bowls.
Top with the broth, cashews, scallions and cilantro.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Kinoko Gohan
The Japanese are great mushroom lovers. Even the Japanese word for "mushroom" has a wonderful etymology. It's comes from 木 (ki =tree) and 子(ko derived from kodomo =child.) It means "child of tree" since mushrooms grow under trees.
This is a mushroom lovers' dish. It's a basic every day dish in the same vein as asari gohan except that it uses mushrooms instead of clams.
There is a trick here though.
A variety of mushrooms all of varying textures are first cooked in umami-laden dashi, and then separated. The rice is then cooked in the doubly umami-laden mushroom broth.
There is a synergistic effect from the glutamate ions in the dashi and the 5'-ribonucleotide guanosine monophospate that is found in mushrooms. When foods rich in glutamate are combined with ingredients that have ribonucleotides, the resulting intensity of taste is far far higher than the sum thereof!
Completing the experience, you have a textural addition of seaweed and scallions.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup japonica rice
1 package shimeji mushrooms
8 shiitake mushrooms
3 eringii mushrooms
1/2 cup oyster mushrooms
1/2 cup maitake mushrooms
1/2 cup enoki mushrooms
1 piece aburaage (fried tofu)
1 piece ginger (julienned as fine as you can)
1 cup dashi
2 tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp sugar
salt
1 bunch scallions (sliced at a steep diagonal)
nori (julienne strips)
Recipe
Wash and "polish" the rice in cold water until the surface starch is eliminated and the water runs clear. Takes between 4-6 washings. Drain and let sit wet for at least 30 minutes.
Soak the aburaage in boiling water to remove the oily part. Remove after 10 minutes, and cut up.
Boil the mushrooms and aburaage with the dashi, ginger, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and salt for just 3-4 minutes. The mushrooms should still have a bite.
Separate the mushroom broth from the mushrooms.
Cook the rice in this broth till done. Top with the mushrooms, cover the lid and let sit for 7-8 minutes.
Top each portion with the sliced nori and scallions.
This is a mushroom lovers' dish. It's a basic every day dish in the same vein as asari gohan except that it uses mushrooms instead of clams.
There is a trick here though.
A variety of mushrooms all of varying textures are first cooked in umami-laden dashi, and then separated. The rice is then cooked in the doubly umami-laden mushroom broth.
There is a synergistic effect from the glutamate ions in the dashi and the 5'-ribonucleotide guanosine monophospate that is found in mushrooms. When foods rich in glutamate are combined with ingredients that have ribonucleotides, the resulting intensity of taste is far far higher than the sum thereof!
Completing the experience, you have a textural addition of seaweed and scallions.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup japonica rice
1 package shimeji mushrooms
8 shiitake mushrooms
3 eringii mushrooms
1/2 cup oyster mushrooms
1/2 cup maitake mushrooms
1/2 cup enoki mushrooms
1 piece aburaage (fried tofu)
1 piece ginger (julienned as fine as you can)
1 cup dashi
2 tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp sugar
salt
1 bunch scallions (sliced at a steep diagonal)
nori (julienne strips)
Recipe
Wash and "polish" the rice in cold water until the surface starch is eliminated and the water runs clear. Takes between 4-6 washings. Drain and let sit wet for at least 30 minutes.
Soak the aburaage in boiling water to remove the oily part. Remove after 10 minutes, and cut up.
Boil the mushrooms and aburaage with the dashi, ginger, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and salt for just 3-4 minutes. The mushrooms should still have a bite.
Separate the mushroom broth from the mushrooms.
Cook the rice in this broth till done. Top with the mushrooms, cover the lid and let sit for 7-8 minutes.
Top each portion with the sliced nori and scallions.
Monday, September 19, 2011
A Bad Wind
It is said that "it's an ill wind that blows no good", and sometimes that can be literally true.
The north-east experienced torrential rain and extreme flooding with Hurricane Irene but apparently there's a silver lining.
From NPR: Irene Aftermath: When It Rains, It Spores.
When Hurricane Irene tore through the Northeast last month, it caused severe flooding and damage to homes, trees and power lines. But it also left behind something rather delicate: mushrooms.
Foragers say they've seen more fungi in the past few weeks than ever before.
There are more than 1,000 mushroom varieties in these woods, McDonagh says, but she eats only about 24 of them. She recommends taking a course on edible fungi before foraging alone.
The CC is a proud member of the New York Mycological Society ("only society that has had zero deaths, and we 'plan to keep it that way'") and goes foraging from time to time. However, he was not aware of this tendency for mushrooms to sprout after summer storms (although it makes perfect logical sense in hindsight.)
Oh well! There will be more storms in the years to come ...
The north-east experienced torrential rain and extreme flooding with Hurricane Irene but apparently there's a silver lining.
From NPR: Irene Aftermath: When It Rains, It Spores.
When Hurricane Irene tore through the Northeast last month, it caused severe flooding and damage to homes, trees and power lines. But it also left behind something rather delicate: mushrooms.
Foragers say they've seen more fungi in the past few weeks than ever before.
There are more than 1,000 mushroom varieties in these woods, McDonagh says, but she eats only about 24 of them. She recommends taking a course on edible fungi before foraging alone.
The CC is a proud member of the New York Mycological Society ("only society that has had zero deaths, and we 'plan to keep it that way'") and goes foraging from time to time. However, he was not aware of this tendency for mushrooms to sprout after summer storms (although it makes perfect logical sense in hindsight.)
Oh well! There will be more storms in the years to come ...
Friday, August 13, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
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Sunday, July 19, 2009
Foraging in Van Cortlandt Park
Best food experience of the CC's life (so far.)
Firstly, there were the wineberries everywhere. A sun-ripe sweet wineberry is the nectar of the gods on a warm sunny hike.
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Next up, the golden jackpot! The CC found a large field of golden chanterelles.
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Finally, the end result of what the CC did with them.
To borrow a Valley Girl facebook term -- OMG, you guys, OMG!!!!!!
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Strozzapreti with chanterelles ♦ Ciabatta ♦ Flat beans with almonds
Firstly, there were the wineberries everywhere. A sun-ripe sweet wineberry is the nectar of the gods on a warm sunny hike.
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Next up, the golden jackpot! The CC found a large field of golden chanterelles..jpg)
Finally, the end result of what the CC did with them.To borrow a Valley Girl facebook term -- OMG, you guys, OMG!!!!!!
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Foraging in Chinatown Markets
On a recent trip to Boston, the CC had a little time to kill in Chinatown. Needless to say, he went into the stores looking for interesting stuff.
Among the haul were dried rose buds, lily mushrooms and hedgehog mushrooms (along with shrimp crackers and crab crackers!)
You may have read the saga of the CC and the roses before.
The mushrooms are new. The CC had never heard of them. Clearly, they must be tried out. So they were bought, and the package enjoyed a free trip to Boston because there was no way in hell that the CC wasn't going to purchase everything right that minute.
It has been commented upon that the Chinatown markets act upon the CC a bit analogously to introducing a Snickers bar at a Fat Camp!
Lily Mushrooms
Hedgehog Mushrooms
Among the haul were dried rose buds, lily mushrooms and hedgehog mushrooms (along with shrimp crackers and crab crackers!)
You may have read the saga of the CC and the roses before.
The mushrooms are new. The CC had never heard of them. Clearly, they must be tried out. So they were bought, and the package enjoyed a free trip to Boston because there was no way in hell that the CC wasn't going to purchase everything right that minute.
It has been commented upon that the Chinatown markets act upon the CC a bit analogously to introducing a Snickers bar at a Fat Camp!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Beech Mushrooms
The CC had never ever heard of these but he encountered some at a Korean supermarket and was hard-pressed to resist. Called buna shimeji in Japanese, they are tiny and must be cooked. Lovely in stir-fries or soups or even to add depth of flavor to a mushroom stock.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
King Oyster Mushrooms
King oyster mushrooms (pleurotus eryngii) have a wonderful meaty texture and all the umami of the mushroom family.Why these wonders of the mushroom family are not better known is beyond the CC's ken!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Mushroom Madness
The CC has decided to stop being bored, and instead has joined a Mycological Society which teaches you how to forage for wild mushrooms.
When this was mentioned, a certain party remarked that it was because the CC was such a `fun guy'.
When this was mentioned, a certain party remarked that it was because the CC was such a `fun guy'.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Farfalle with Mushrooms and Hazelnuts
Shockingly simple. Only the Italians can nail such simplicity.
Make it or endure regret forever.
(And contrast the slippery woodsy mushroom texture with the crunchy hazelnuts and the chewy pasta.)
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Ingredients
1 lb shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb "other" wild mushrooms
1/2 cup blanched hazelnuts (roasted, crushed, read below)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
6-7 dried porcini mushrooms
salt
pepper
farfalle (cooked al dente)
Recipe
First preheat the oven to 450F. Roast the hazelnuts for 8-10 minutes. You will be able to "smell" when to stop. Be careful not to burn them. Pull them out and cool.
Here's a nifty trick. After they cool, wrap in plastic wrap, and crush with a heavy rolling pin. That way they are easy to control.
Meanwhile, reconstitute the dried porcini mushrooms with warm water. After 10 minutes or so, dice them. Retain the water.
Fry the garlic, then the mushrooms diced coarsely. Finally, the diced porcinis, salt and pepper. Read this post on salt first.
Last of all the water in which the porcinis was reconstituted. You need to filter the water. Just use a triangulated paper napkin as a conical filter (woo-hoo, it's high-school chemistry time!)
Reduce as needed.
Add the hazelnuts right before the al dente farfalle. Mix well, and serve.
The CC has also seen the dish finished off with cream. Both are excellent. The one without the cream is more interesting because the wild mushroom taste stands out.
Make it or endure regret forever.
(And contrast the slippery woodsy mushroom texture with the crunchy hazelnuts and the chewy pasta.)
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Ingredients
1 lb shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb "other" wild mushrooms
1/2 cup blanched hazelnuts (roasted, crushed, read below)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
6-7 dried porcini mushrooms
salt
pepper
farfalle (cooked al dente)
Recipe
First preheat the oven to 450F. Roast the hazelnuts for 8-10 minutes. You will be able to "smell" when to stop. Be careful not to burn them. Pull them out and cool.
Here's a nifty trick. After they cool, wrap in plastic wrap, and crush with a heavy rolling pin. That way they are easy to control.
Meanwhile, reconstitute the dried porcini mushrooms with warm water. After 10 minutes or so, dice them. Retain the water.
Fry the garlic, then the mushrooms diced coarsely. Finally, the diced porcinis, salt and pepper. Read this post on salt first.
Last of all the water in which the porcinis was reconstituted. You need to filter the water. Just use a triangulated paper napkin as a conical filter (woo-hoo, it's high-school chemistry time!)
Reduce as needed.
Add the hazelnuts right before the al dente farfalle. Mix well, and serve.
The CC has also seen the dish finished off with cream. Both are excellent. The one without the cream is more interesting because the wild mushroom taste stands out.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Mushroom, Leek and Spinach Frittata
The frittata is one of those Italian concepts born in poverty.
Think of it as an "egg pie" with stuff added in a form convenient for both transport and storage. (Yes, Virginia! there was a world before refrigeration, and they loved picnics too!)
Before the CC goes on, let's review the "concept".
First, you "cook" a lot of stuff, let it cool, mix it in with a lot of eggs, let the eggs cook into a "pie", let it cool, and cut it up.
The pieces are high in both taste and protein, and once they cool, they will last a long time without refrigeration. Not surprisingly, they taste better the next day.
Before the CC gives the recipe, let it be noted that this is one where times and details must necessarily be approximate. You are dealing with cooking eggs, and times depends as much on how well you've fried your vegetables (aka. water content in the egg mixture) to the number of eggs, to the ratio of the diameter of your pan to your burner (aka. evaporation rate.)
In short, art is involved.
However, the recipe is simple provided you follow the CC's instructions.
In fact, you will be well served if you make sure that you never turn the gas burner above "medium low".
Ingredients
4-5 leeks
1 lb mixed mushrooms (crimini, shiitake, etc.)
5-6 dried porcini mushrooms
1 lb spinach
18 eggs
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
salt and pepper
Recipe
Reconstitute the dried porcini mushrooms in warm water.
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First up, the mise en scène, clockwise from top left: crimini mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, leeks, and reconstituted porcini mushrooms.
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The raw spinach. Just exhibiting this here to get a sense of scale.
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The spinach must be blanched in boiling water. It will change color to a dark green.
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The same quantity on spinach (to show the reduction due to blanching.) Now you must take this, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze. When you can't squeeze any more, you must squeeze further.
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The spinach. This is smaller than a fist. Dice it as finely as you can.
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Les oeufs
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Grated parmesan added.
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Add some black pepper (not shown), and whip the eggs until they are nice and fluffy.
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Now, we're going to fry the leeks, and the veggies. First up, the leeks at a medium-low heat. All this frying will try your patience (you cannot hurry this.)
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The leeks look done.
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In go, the shiitakes.
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Almost 5 minutes later.
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In go the criminis.
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Five minutes later.
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In go the diced porcinis (save the water, filter it, and add it to the beaten eggs.)
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Lastly, the spinach.
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The fried mixture (almost 10 minutes later.) You must let this cool to room temperature before adding to the egg mixture (otherwise the heat will coagulate the egg proteins.) The CC just stuck it in the fridge to cool.
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The whipped eggs along with the above mixture.
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Heat the pan at a "medium low" heat, and toss in the mixture. Roughly five minutes in, take a spatula, and insert it around the edges and under to check that the egg surface has solidified. The surface will still be wet. Cover, and let it cook for 8-10 minutes checking periodically. (covering is important!)
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Lift the cover. If the eggs looked steamed through, remove the cover. Traditionally, this was the time they put the skillet under the broiler to cook the top. However you can just let the ensemble keep cooking for 7-8 minutes on a very low heat. (It is important that it be uncovered to let whatever moisture there is escape.)
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The frittata very close to the end.
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The frittata
Think of it as an "egg pie" with stuff added in a form convenient for both transport and storage. (Yes, Virginia! there was a world before refrigeration, and they loved picnics too!)
Before the CC goes on, let's review the "concept".
First, you "cook" a lot of stuff, let it cool, mix it in with a lot of eggs, let the eggs cook into a "pie", let it cool, and cut it up.
The pieces are high in both taste and protein, and once they cool, they will last a long time without refrigeration. Not surprisingly, they taste better the next day.
Before the CC gives the recipe, let it be noted that this is one where times and details must necessarily be approximate. You are dealing with cooking eggs, and times depends as much on how well you've fried your vegetables (aka. water content in the egg mixture) to the number of eggs, to the ratio of the diameter of your pan to your burner (aka. evaporation rate.)
In short, art is involved.
However, the recipe is simple provided you follow the CC's instructions.
In fact, you will be well served if you make sure that you never turn the gas burner above "medium low".
Ingredients
4-5 leeks
1 lb mixed mushrooms (crimini, shiitake, etc.)
5-6 dried porcini mushrooms
1 lb spinach
18 eggs
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
salt and pepper
Recipe
Reconstitute the dried porcini mushrooms in warm water.
.jpg)
First up, the mise en scène, clockwise from top left: crimini mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, leeks, and reconstituted porcini mushrooms..jpg)
The raw spinach. Just exhibiting this here to get a sense of scale..jpg)
The spinach must be blanched in boiling water. It will change color to a dark green..jpg)
The same quantity on spinach (to show the reduction due to blanching.) Now you must take this, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze. When you can't squeeze any more, you must squeeze further..jpg)
The spinach. This is smaller than a fist. Dice it as finely as you can..jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Add some black pepper (not shown), and whip the eggs until they are nice and fluffy..jpg)
Now, we're going to fry the leeks, and the veggies. First up, the leeks at a medium-low heat. All this frying will try your patience (you cannot hurry this.).jpg)
The leeks look done..jpg)
In go, the shiitakes..jpg)
Almost 5 minutes later..jpg)
In go the criminis..jpg)
Five minutes later..jpg)
In go the diced porcinis (save the water, filter it, and add it to the beaten eggs.).jpg)
Lastly, the spinach..jpg)
The fried mixture (almost 10 minutes later.) You must let this cool to room temperature before adding to the egg mixture (otherwise the heat will coagulate the egg proteins.) The CC just stuck it in the fridge to cool..jpg)
The whipped eggs along with the above mixture..jpg)
Heat the pan at a "medium low" heat, and toss in the mixture. Roughly five minutes in, take a spatula, and insert it around the edges and under to check that the egg surface has solidified. The surface will still be wet. Cover, and let it cook for 8-10 minutes checking periodically. (covering is important!).jpg)
Lift the cover. If the eggs looked steamed through, remove the cover. Traditionally, this was the time they put the skillet under the broiler to cook the top. However you can just let the ensemble keep cooking for 7-8 minutes on a very low heat. (It is important that it be uncovered to let whatever moisture there is escape.).jpg)
The frittata very close to the end..jpg)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Mystery Mushrooms
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The CC was in Chinatown recently, and he spotted what could only be dried mushrooms except he hasn't a clue of what they are, or how they could be used.
Any clues, fellow foodies?
Monday, June 4, 2007
More Musings on Umami
There are three sources of umami known.
The ones that were first discovered historically were glutamates (present in konbu, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste.) Others found in short order were various isosinates (present in broths made of dried bonito flakes,) and guanylates (found in high concentrations amongst shiitake mushrooms.)
The key idea here seems to be a sort of synergy. A small amount of any of them enhances the small quantities of natural umami substances already found in hundreds of foods, and the most important point is that when glutamates and isosinates are combined, they have a powerful multiplier effect, which enhances the umami-ness of the underlying food.
This pretty much explains a huge number of historical phenomena, from all over the world.
Consider the Japanese dashi. It's made from both konbu, and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi.) You're getting a potent mix of glutamates, and isosinates. Sometimes, they add shiitake mushrooms to further enhance the mix.
Same goes for the simple pasta sauce recipe of fried pancetta, tomatoes, and dried porcini mushrooms. Talk about a triple whammy!
We can also explain the powerful spread of the tomato. In a few hundred years, it radically transformed ancient cuisines (Italy and India.) The point is that the local recipes were already very attractive before the tomato, but the addition of the tomato unleashed more of the umami qualities that were already present in minute quantities in the underlying substances.
It also explains certain truths that chefs hold dear -- young peas over older ones, ripe tomatoes over fresh ones, aged cheeses over unaged ones, and oysters in winter over summer (the latter has a health component but one that has been irrelevant for at least half a century.) Same with aged hams, and dry-aged beef, and sun-dried tomatoes (even when fresh ones are available.) Your palate is selecting for the more powerfully concentrated glutamates (and drying is just one way of achieving that.)
It should be clear why fermented fish sauces (garum/liquamen in Roman times, nahm pla in Thai food, nuoc mam in Vietnamese food), fish pastes (allec in Roman times, gkapi in Thai food), dried shrimp, and intense meat products have been popular for millenia. Likewise meat extracts (Bovril), and autolyzed yeast extracts.
This is why pizza (tomato paste and parmesan), and hamburgers, french fries, and ketchup practically constitute two religions in and of themselves.
Free glutamates are most commonly found in vegetables. Isosinic acid most commonly in meat, and animal products. This is responsible for the strong intensification when meat and vegetables are cooked together.
This is why certain Italian recipes start with "fry the pancetta, or the prosciutto" even when the ingredients are all vegetarian, and the instructions call for the pancetta to be fished out after the frying. Even a relatively poor family could afford the modest amount of meat required, but the combination of meat and vegetables is a powerful one.
That's why anchovies have been popular through the millenia, and why Thai curries and pastes can never truly be approximated in vegetarian terms. They are too dependent on the grammar of seafood and its umami. There is simply no mechanism to substitute the intense mouthfulness (= umami-ness) of gkapi (shrimp paste.)
The ones that were first discovered historically were glutamates (present in konbu, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste.) Others found in short order were various isosinates (present in broths made of dried bonito flakes,) and guanylates (found in high concentrations amongst shiitake mushrooms.)
The key idea here seems to be a sort of synergy. A small amount of any of them enhances the small quantities of natural umami substances already found in hundreds of foods, and the most important point is that when glutamates and isosinates are combined, they have a powerful multiplier effect, which enhances the umami-ness of the underlying food.
This pretty much explains a huge number of historical phenomena, from all over the world.
Consider the Japanese dashi. It's made from both konbu, and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi.) You're getting a potent mix of glutamates, and isosinates. Sometimes, they add shiitake mushrooms to further enhance the mix.
Same goes for the simple pasta sauce recipe of fried pancetta, tomatoes, and dried porcini mushrooms. Talk about a triple whammy!
We can also explain the powerful spread of the tomato. In a few hundred years, it radically transformed ancient cuisines (Italy and India.) The point is that the local recipes were already very attractive before the tomato, but the addition of the tomato unleashed more of the umami qualities that were already present in minute quantities in the underlying substances.
It also explains certain truths that chefs hold dear -- young peas over older ones, ripe tomatoes over fresh ones, aged cheeses over unaged ones, and oysters in winter over summer (the latter has a health component but one that has been irrelevant for at least half a century.) Same with aged hams, and dry-aged beef, and sun-dried tomatoes (even when fresh ones are available.) Your palate is selecting for the more powerfully concentrated glutamates (and drying is just one way of achieving that.)
It should be clear why fermented fish sauces (garum/liquamen in Roman times, nahm pla in Thai food, nuoc mam in Vietnamese food), fish pastes (allec in Roman times, gkapi in Thai food), dried shrimp, and intense meat products have been popular for millenia. Likewise meat extracts (Bovril), and autolyzed yeast extracts.
This is why pizza (tomato paste and parmesan), and hamburgers, french fries, and ketchup practically constitute two religions in and of themselves.
Free glutamates are most commonly found in vegetables. Isosinic acid most commonly in meat, and animal products. This is responsible for the strong intensification when meat and vegetables are cooked together.
This is why certain Italian recipes start with "fry the pancetta, or the prosciutto" even when the ingredients are all vegetarian, and the instructions call for the pancetta to be fished out after the frying. Even a relatively poor family could afford the modest amount of meat required, but the combination of meat and vegetables is a powerful one.
That's why anchovies have been popular through the millenia, and why Thai curries and pastes can never truly be approximated in vegetarian terms. They are too dependent on the grammar of seafood and its umami. There is simply no mechanism to substitute the intense mouthfulness (= umami-ness) of gkapi (shrimp paste.)
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Umami
The fifth flavor; it is sensed by specialized receptor cells on the tongue which detect the presence of glutamates.
The best way to describe it is "savory" or "meaty", and it is a major part of virtually every world cuisine except it took till 1908 to identify it conclusively.
Here's a brief list of foods high in "umami":
aged Parmigiano-Reggiano (off the charts, actually!)
aged blue cheese (in general)
anchovies
nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
fresh tomatoes
tomato sauce (with salt -- read below)
boiled potatoes
mushrooms (particularly shiitake)
fresh oysters
fresh clams
dry-aged steak (the only kind the CC will eat)
kelp (konbu -- which is where this was first detected.)
katsuobushi
soy sauce
The flavor is particularly enhanced in the presence of salt, the glutamate ions, and the Na+ ions work in conjunction.
Hmmm... looks like the CC's taste buds are particularly zoomed in on this taste.
The best way to describe it is "savory" or "meaty", and it is a major part of virtually every world cuisine except it took till 1908 to identify it conclusively.
Here's a brief list of foods high in "umami":
aged Parmigiano-Reggiano (off the charts, actually!)
aged blue cheese (in general)
anchovies
nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
fresh tomatoes
tomato sauce (with salt -- read below)
boiled potatoes
mushrooms (particularly shiitake)
fresh oysters
fresh clams
dry-aged steak (the only kind the CC will eat)
kelp (konbu -- which is where this was first detected.)
katsuobushi
soy sauce
The flavor is particularly enhanced in the presence of salt, the glutamate ions, and the Na+ ions work in conjunction.
Hmmm... looks like the CC's taste buds are particularly zoomed in on this taste.
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