I have given this some thought and I have decided to close this blog down. My ability to post about cooking leaves much to be desired.
This will be the final post and I will be removing the blog from the internet later this week.
Thanks for puttign up with it as long as you did.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Redirecting Again
Ok. I have received some feedback. It boiled down to this... No one needs to know how to boil water. That level of detail is not necessary.
I did not put that in quotes, becasue it is paraphrased. However, I have Re-re-read my posts and must come to a startling conclusion. No one needs to know how I got my water to boil.
Having said that, he did add one positive note. Don't add the salt before the water starts boiling or it will float down to the bottom of the pot and pit your stainless steel. Excellent point. So, if I have any followers left after my first few abortive attempts at this, don't do that. Wait till after the water starts boiling.
To summarize, be concise, entertaining, content-rich, fluff-free. Got it. Lesson learned. Can I apply it? We'll see.
I did not put that in quotes, becasue it is paraphrased. However, I have Re-re-read my posts and must come to a startling conclusion. No one needs to know how I got my water to boil.
Having said that, he did add one positive note. Don't add the salt before the water starts boiling or it will float down to the bottom of the pot and pit your stainless steel. Excellent point. So, if I have any followers left after my first few abortive attempts at this, don't do that. Wait till after the water starts boiling.
To summarize, be concise, entertaining, content-rich, fluff-free. Got it. Lesson learned. Can I apply it? We'll see.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Cleaning My Stainless
Ok, here is the gripe post. I have now cooked chicken, eggs, bacon, spaghetti, meat sauce, and some other various things in my stainless steel. I will admit to having turned the temperature up a bit high to get a simmer going in a glaze, but...
Every time I wash the cookware (by hand), the bottom of the pan, when wet, looks sterling. But when dry, you can still see discolorations. Like a residue is still stuck on there. EVERY SINGLE TIME. To remove said residue, I either have to attack it with a nylon scrubby (not one of those green ones) or use the stainless steel cleaner.
My mom has suggested that I just wash my pans every time with Barkeeper's Friend if I don't like the residue and want to keep it spot-on shiny. Is this really the only way? Does anyone have any feedback on this? Because thinking about washing them makes it hard for me to use them.
Every time I wash the cookware (by hand), the bottom of the pan, when wet, looks sterling. But when dry, you can still see discolorations. Like a residue is still stuck on there. EVERY SINGLE TIME. To remove said residue, I either have to attack it with a nylon scrubby (not one of those green ones) or use the stainless steel cleaner.
My mom has suggested that I just wash my pans every time with Barkeeper's Friend if I don't like the residue and want to keep it spot-on shiny. Is this really the only way? Does anyone have any feedback on this? Because thinking about washing them makes it hard for me to use them.
New Knife
Okay, since I've been doing so much more cooking lately, I have found myself in need of a good knife. I watch the cooking shows and it seems everyone and their brother has a santoku knife. So, I went on a search for a really nice (affordable) santoku. I started my search at Crate and Barrel, and while I found some, they were of questionable quality. I then went to Williams-Sonoma. I immediately realized I couldn't even afford to stand in the entryway.
Here is an example of a santoku knife I saw at Williams-Sonoma. It can be found here: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/wusthof-ikon-blackwood-hollow-ground-santoku-knife/?pkey=x%7C4%7C1%7C%7C4%7Csantoku%7C%7C0&cm_src=SCH
All their knives seemed to start at about $85.00 and go up from there. This one is on sale for $199.95.
Finally I ended up at Macy's where I found the right size for the right price. It is a Martha Stewart and can be seen here:
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=386746&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results
on sale for $17.99.
And now I have a knife.
Here is an example of a santoku knife I saw at Williams-Sonoma. It can be found here: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/wusthof-ikon-blackwood-hollow-ground-santoku-knife/?pkey=x%7C4%7C1%7C%7C4%7Csantoku%7C%7C0&cm_src=SCH
All their knives seemed to start at about $85.00 and go up from there. This one is on sale for $199.95.
Finally I ended up at Macy's where I found the right size for the right price. It is a Martha Stewart and can be seen here:
http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=386746&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results
on sale for $17.99.
And now I have a knife.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Pot Roast Halfway Successful
While I was in Dallas for a recent surgery, we had some friends come over to take care of our pets. Feed them, clean out litter boxes, etc. They did a wonderful job and went above and beyond. So we had them over for a dinner party (during the midafternoon).
For this dinner I decided to serve Pot Roast since it is relatively easy to make and you can cook it and forget about it.
I looked up several recipes in preparation for my dinner, but did not find one I was willing to bet on, so I decided to wing it. Here is what I know about pot roast. If you sear the meat first, you caremalize the sugars in the fatty parts of the meat. This adds flavor later. A good pot roast is cooked slowly over a long period of time. The base can add flavor, whether you use beef broth, tomato sauce, V8 juice, whatever. And you can cook your vegetables in with the pot roast itself. Knowing these facts I set to work,
First, I had two roasts, both 2 lbs. in size. I decided to cook on e on the stove and one in the oven. I seared both pieces on the stovetop at a setting of 4.5, took the meat out, and deglazed with red wine. I then cut one onion in each pot and let that cook into the red wine. I placed the meat back on top of the onions, poured in 3 cups of water each and brought to a simmer. After simmering, I lowered the temperature on the range to 1.5, just high enough to keep the pot simmering.
I set the oven temperature to 250 degrees and put the second roast in there. It required that I turn it up to 275 before it started to simmer. After cooking for 2.5 hours, I added potatoes and carrots to both pots, and continued to cook for another hour.
One roast was dry, the other done to perfection. Can you guess which was which? Here's some more info: The pot on the stove was my stainless steel. The pot in the oven was my Calphalon non-stick. They were both the same piece of meat, but one had been frozen (the one in the Belgique).
I had my guest make gravy for me (thanks, Nick) as I was never that good at it. I watched closely, asked questions and he was very helpful. He added two tablespoons of Corn Starch to a bowl with enough water to make a slurry. He then added this mixture to the remaining fluid from both pots (combined into one) and cooked until gravy was formed. Voila!
We all had a good time eating the food. I found that regardless how dry the meat, it is nothign that can't be fixed with the judicious application of massive amounts of gravy!!!!
For this dinner I decided to serve Pot Roast since it is relatively easy to make and you can cook it and forget about it.
I looked up several recipes in preparation for my dinner, but did not find one I was willing to bet on, so I decided to wing it. Here is what I know about pot roast. If you sear the meat first, you caremalize the sugars in the fatty parts of the meat. This adds flavor later. A good pot roast is cooked slowly over a long period of time. The base can add flavor, whether you use beef broth, tomato sauce, V8 juice, whatever. And you can cook your vegetables in with the pot roast itself. Knowing these facts I set to work,
First, I had two roasts, both 2 lbs. in size. I decided to cook on e on the stove and one in the oven. I seared both pieces on the stovetop at a setting of 4.5, took the meat out, and deglazed with red wine. I then cut one onion in each pot and let that cook into the red wine. I placed the meat back on top of the onions, poured in 3 cups of water each and brought to a simmer. After simmering, I lowered the temperature on the range to 1.5, just high enough to keep the pot simmering.
I set the oven temperature to 250 degrees and put the second roast in there. It required that I turn it up to 275 before it started to simmer. After cooking for 2.5 hours, I added potatoes and carrots to both pots, and continued to cook for another hour.
One roast was dry, the other done to perfection. Can you guess which was which? Here's some more info: The pot on the stove was my stainless steel. The pot in the oven was my Calphalon non-stick. They were both the same piece of meat, but one had been frozen (the one in the Belgique).
I had my guest make gravy for me (thanks, Nick) as I was never that good at it. I watched closely, asked questions and he was very helpful. He added two tablespoons of Corn Starch to a bowl with enough water to make a slurry. He then added this mixture to the remaining fluid from both pots (combined into one) and cooked until gravy was formed. Voila!
We all had a good time eating the food. I found that regardless how dry the meat, it is nothign that can't be fixed with the judicious application of massive amounts of gravy!!!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Caraway Chicken: The Good, The Bad, and Expanded Horizons
Ok, I did it. I made my Caraway Chicken with Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage. I learned a few things, had a lot of fun, and broadened my horizons just a bit.
I realize this blog is ALL about cooking with Stainless Steel. But stainless has some limitations. You can't cook at high temperatures (I'll delve in to this in a minute. Look under The Ugly), you have to warm and cool it gradually so as not to warp the bottom, and some foods just plain stick making clean-up a challenge. Having said all that in one sentence, sometimes it just makes sense to use a different piece of cookware, like Calphalon non-stick.
First, The Good: Dinner was great! The chicken came out a little dry on the very edges, but well-flavored. The caraway seeds and all-spice gave it an exotic flavor that was not unsuited to my pallet. By that I mean "damn it was good". The Red Cabbage was phenomenol. It was sweet, it was a bit sour, it had an excellent smoky flavor lent to it by the Applewood Smoked Bacon. I ate all of my portion when I expected to just push it around my plate. Melissa ate all of hers, as well. So, dinner overall, gets a 7.5.
Now, the Ugly: I undercooked one of the chicken pieces, had to throw it away. I scalded and discolored my 9.5" sautee pan. And it took an hour and a half to make a 35 minute meal.
As for the chicken, It was too thick at the end. I am now determined to learn how to pound my chicken to an even thickness throughout. The best way I have seen to do this is on America's Test Kitchen. Put some EVOO in plastic wrap, place chicken on plastic wrap and fold over, then proceed to whack it into submission. The oil helps prevent drying out later in cooking.
I also scalded my pan. The recipe calls for a medium-high temp to reduce the fluids that you are sauteeing the cabbage in. At 4.5, nothing was "sauteeing". It looked more like it was drowning. I increased the temp finally to 7 to get the fluid to reduce to a glaze. It worked. This created a wonderful glaze and the cabbage ended up "glazed", not "boiled". Also, the vinegar did a great job of removing the stuck on parts from the bottom of my pan. Unfortunatly, after washing it, this discolored my pan. My 3 day old pan now looked like the blued barrel of a rifle. BAH!
I received some stainless steel cleaning stuff with my pots and pans and I used it to see if I could repair the discoloration and it worked like magic. It took some rubbing and buffing, but I got it back to a nice bright shine. It's nice to know that stuff works.
So, to keep that from happening again, I may have to use my non-stick pans to do any deglazing at high temperatures. They can take much higher heat than these stainless steel ones can. Of course, non-stick pans don't really give you the crunchy left-over bits that stainless steel does. What a conundrum. Any thoughts on deglazing in stainless steel?
As for the expanded horizons, I had to go shopping to find some of hte ingredients I needed and I found a new wonderful store called World Market. It has a lot of things I have never seen before and some things that I haven't seen since I was a kid. Anyone remember Bubble Up? They have it.
Finally, I looked at a lot of santoku knives. I saw one that was $600.00 that came with it's own lucite block to store it in. Seriously? $600.00? For a knife that cuts scallions and chives. I ended up with a set of 2 made by Martha Stewart that I found at Macy's. They were on sale and cost me $27.96, with tax. They even came with a cutting board.
In conclusion, I am more prepared now than I was to cook more exotic foods. I am practiced at deglazing but not confident in doing so in stainless steel, and I have new knives with which to attack my chopping needs. Overall, a banner day in the Kurt food world.
Next project: Pot Roast.
I realize this blog is ALL about cooking with Stainless Steel. But stainless has some limitations. You can't cook at high temperatures (I'll delve in to this in a minute. Look under The Ugly), you have to warm and cool it gradually so as not to warp the bottom, and some foods just plain stick making clean-up a challenge. Having said all that in one sentence, sometimes it just makes sense to use a different piece of cookware, like Calphalon non-stick.
First, The Good: Dinner was great! The chicken came out a little dry on the very edges, but well-flavored. The caraway seeds and all-spice gave it an exotic flavor that was not unsuited to my pallet. By that I mean "damn it was good". The Red Cabbage was phenomenol. It was sweet, it was a bit sour, it had an excellent smoky flavor lent to it by the Applewood Smoked Bacon. I ate all of my portion when I expected to just push it around my plate. Melissa ate all of hers, as well. So, dinner overall, gets a 7.5.
Now, the Ugly: I undercooked one of the chicken pieces, had to throw it away. I scalded and discolored my 9.5" sautee pan. And it took an hour and a half to make a 35 minute meal.
As for the chicken, It was too thick at the end. I am now determined to learn how to pound my chicken to an even thickness throughout. The best way I have seen to do this is on America's Test Kitchen. Put some EVOO in plastic wrap, place chicken on plastic wrap and fold over, then proceed to whack it into submission. The oil helps prevent drying out later in cooking.
I also scalded my pan. The recipe calls for a medium-high temp to reduce the fluids that you are sauteeing the cabbage in. At 4.5, nothing was "sauteeing". It looked more like it was drowning. I increased the temp finally to 7 to get the fluid to reduce to a glaze. It worked. This created a wonderful glaze and the cabbage ended up "glazed", not "boiled". Also, the vinegar did a great job of removing the stuck on parts from the bottom of my pan. Unfortunatly, after washing it, this discolored my pan. My 3 day old pan now looked like the blued barrel of a rifle. BAH!
I received some stainless steel cleaning stuff with my pots and pans and I used it to see if I could repair the discoloration and it worked like magic. It took some rubbing and buffing, but I got it back to a nice bright shine. It's nice to know that stuff works.
So, to keep that from happening again, I may have to use my non-stick pans to do any deglazing at high temperatures. They can take much higher heat than these stainless steel ones can. Of course, non-stick pans don't really give you the crunchy left-over bits that stainless steel does. What a conundrum. Any thoughts on deglazing in stainless steel?
As for the expanded horizons, I had to go shopping to find some of hte ingredients I needed and I found a new wonderful store called World Market. It has a lot of things I have never seen before and some things that I haven't seen since I was a kid. Anyone remember Bubble Up? They have it.
Finally, I looked at a lot of santoku knives. I saw one that was $600.00 that came with it's own lucite block to store it in. Seriously? $600.00? For a knife that cuts scallions and chives. I ended up with a set of 2 made by Martha Stewart that I found at Macy's. They were on sale and cost me $27.96, with tax. They even came with a cutting board.
In conclusion, I am more prepared now than I was to cook more exotic foods. I am practiced at deglazing but not confident in doing so in stainless steel, and I have new knives with which to attack my chopping needs. Overall, a banner day in the Kurt food world.
Next project: Pot Roast.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Non-stick Scrambled Eggs
Scrambled Eggs
(that don't stick to the pan)
8" fry pan
1 tbsp butter
3 eggs
3 tsp milk (1 for each egg)
1 dash salt
1 dash black pepper
Place the pan on a cool range and set the burner at medium-low. I used a 3.5 setting. Allow the pan to gradually heat up. Add 1 tbsp of butter and let melt, covering bottom surface of pan. Allow butter to start sizzling before adding the eggs.
Whisk eggs and milk in a small mixing bowl and pour ingredients into the fully heated pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to move eggs around, allowing uncooked portions to make contact with the pan. Continue to cook eggs just until eggs have set. Remove from heat, moving eggs around one final time before serving.
The use of butter is not optional. I have not tried this recipe with substitutes. If you allow the pan to fully heat before applying the eggs, they will cook up nicely and not stick afterwards.
(that don't stick to the pan)
8" fry pan
1 tbsp butter
3 eggs
3 tsp milk (1 for each egg)
1 dash salt
1 dash black pepper
Place the pan on a cool range and set the burner at medium-low. I used a 3.5 setting. Allow the pan to gradually heat up. Add 1 tbsp of butter and let melt, covering bottom surface of pan. Allow butter to start sizzling before adding the eggs.
Whisk eggs and milk in a small mixing bowl and pour ingredients into the fully heated pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to move eggs around, allowing uncooked portions to make contact with the pan. Continue to cook eggs just until eggs have set. Remove from heat, moving eggs around one final time before serving.
The use of butter is not optional. I have not tried this recipe with substitutes. If you allow the pan to fully heat before applying the eggs, they will cook up nicely and not stick afterwards.
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