Today In The Kitchen
It's likely that I spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere else. Most of the week, at least four days, I spend ten to fourteen hours in my kitchen and the rest of the time I spend shopping, foraging or researching food and things for the kitchen. It's been brought to my attention that perhaps I have autism because I'm a little socially awkward and have obsessions. I'd say I'm shy, have passion and am interested in a lot of stuff. The couple things I have always loved, obsessed over and have always look forward to is cooking, mushroom hunting and writing. I haven't been writing so much in the past couple years since I've been working mostly full-time as a chef but I have just recently found this as such a great outlet where I can combine all three.
So today I'm going to tell you three things I'm doing in the kitchen among the many.
PECAN ICE CREAM
First I made a Pecan Milk by toasting Pecans in the oven at 350 for about ten minutes. Then I measured, 450 g of whole milk and 160 g of heavy cream which in total is roughly 18 oz. of liquid.
Once the pecans were toasted I broke them up with a hand blender into the liquid in a medium sized saucepan. I heated the pecans and the liquid to just below boiling then cooled and covered it and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
...So with 8 egg yolks, about 6.6 oz of sugar and the strained liquid I made a custard by slowly bringing all these ingredients whisked together to a nice hot temperature just short of boiling the liquid or cooking the egg yolks. It is a nice ribbon consistency and will stick to the back of a spoon.
Once this custard is made I let it cool then transfer it to a blender adding about 1-2 g of guar gum and about 1-2 gram of soy lecithin. I lay out my ice cream on a flat tray in this case so this is why I use these stabilizers, to prevent ice crystals, but if you have an ice cream machine and are transferring this to a regular container it should be just fine without those. So after I add my stabilizers I spin the custard in a small ice cream machine that I bought at Sur La Table. You can make any nut ice cream this way or use this basic recipe, add vanilla bean and vanilla extract for a nice rich ice cream.
CHERRY AIOLI
I pitted and dehydrated about a pound of cherries at the end of cherry season. I dehydrated them at about 135 for about 36-48 hours. I placed them in an airtight container. Today I took them out, tasted them, and redehydrated for about 4 hours then pulverized about a 1/2 cup in a spice grinder and then passed it through a pasois which is a little strainer that helps me sift it.
For a basic aioli you will need...
1 egg yolk
1 T water
2 T lemon juice
salt to taste
8-12 oz. flavorless oil
Add egg yolk to bowl or stand mixer with whisk attachment. Quickly add water, lemon juice and salt, begin whisking and then slowly drizzle in oil (I say quickly because salt and lemon will cook the egg yolk making it difficult to emulsify). This should be about twenty seconds of speedy whisking to get a nice aioli. If if looks like it is breaking, add a drop or two more water, it will re-emulsify. To make my aioli I added the cherry powder at the end. It's yummy.
Good thing about this basic recipe is you can do so much, adding a different flavored oil, almond for example and finish with chopped almonds or garlic oil and finish with fresh chopped tarragon and place on a lean white fish with a orange wedge to finish, you can do anything with this.
CURED DUCK BREAST
With the breast already removed from the duck and trimmed up I rinsed them in cold water and lined them up on a tray.
You can use equal parts:
Pink curing salt (if you don't have it skip this ingredient)
Kosher salt
Sugar
I sprinkle a thin layer over skin and breast of duck and place in a food saver bag and vaccum seal them but you can just wrap them tightly in plastic and place in the refrigerator overnight. Twelve hours is a nice curing time for duck breast. Then after the elapsed time I rinse them in cold water. Place a drip rack on a tray and let them air dry in the refrigerator for twenty four hours. I smoke mine but you can sear these, roast them, cook them sous vide. Whatever you like.
A recent cure I was using was a drizzle of soy, equal parts kosher salt, brown sugar, and sugar. Oooh, so good. For the Holidays if you plan on doing any duck or turkey curing or brines throw in orange peels, gran mariner, holiday spices...sage, clove, allspice, rosemary, thyme, bay, any of these things, it really makes a difference. Ok, back to the kitchen.
So today I'm going to tell you three things I'm doing in the kitchen among the many.
PECAN ICE CREAM
First I made a Pecan Milk by toasting Pecans in the oven at 350 for about ten minutes. Then I measured, 450 g of whole milk and 160 g of heavy cream which in total is roughly 18 oz. of liquid.
Once the pecans were toasted I broke them up with a hand blender into the liquid in a medium sized saucepan. I heated the pecans and the liquid to just below boiling then cooled and covered it and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
...So with 8 egg yolks, about 6.6 oz of sugar and the strained liquid I made a custard by slowly bringing all these ingredients whisked together to a nice hot temperature just short of boiling the liquid or cooking the egg yolks. It is a nice ribbon consistency and will stick to the back of a spoon.
Once this custard is made I let it cool then transfer it to a blender adding about 1-2 g of guar gum and about 1-2 gram of soy lecithin. I lay out my ice cream on a flat tray in this case so this is why I use these stabilizers, to prevent ice crystals, but if you have an ice cream machine and are transferring this to a regular container it should be just fine without those. So after I add my stabilizers I spin the custard in a small ice cream machine that I bought at Sur La Table. You can make any nut ice cream this way or use this basic recipe, add vanilla bean and vanilla extract for a nice rich ice cream.
CHERRY AIOLI
I pitted and dehydrated about a pound of cherries at the end of cherry season. I dehydrated them at about 135 for about 36-48 hours. I placed them in an airtight container. Today I took them out, tasted them, and redehydrated for about 4 hours then pulverized about a 1/2 cup in a spice grinder and then passed it through a pasois which is a little strainer that helps me sift it.
For a basic aioli you will need...
1 egg yolk
1 T water
2 T lemon juice
salt to taste
8-12 oz. flavorless oil
Add egg yolk to bowl or stand mixer with whisk attachment. Quickly add water, lemon juice and salt, begin whisking and then slowly drizzle in oil (I say quickly because salt and lemon will cook the egg yolk making it difficult to emulsify). This should be about twenty seconds of speedy whisking to get a nice aioli. If if looks like it is breaking, add a drop or two more water, it will re-emulsify. To make my aioli I added the cherry powder at the end. It's yummy.
Good thing about this basic recipe is you can do so much, adding a different flavored oil, almond for example and finish with chopped almonds or garlic oil and finish with fresh chopped tarragon and place on a lean white fish with a orange wedge to finish, you can do anything with this.
CURED DUCK BREAST
With the breast already removed from the duck and trimmed up I rinsed them in cold water and lined them up on a tray.
You can use equal parts:
Pink curing salt (if you don't have it skip this ingredient)
Kosher salt
Sugar
I sprinkle a thin layer over skin and breast of duck and place in a food saver bag and vaccum seal them but you can just wrap them tightly in plastic and place in the refrigerator overnight. Twelve hours is a nice curing time for duck breast. Then after the elapsed time I rinse them in cold water. Place a drip rack on a tray and let them air dry in the refrigerator for twenty four hours. I smoke mine but you can sear these, roast them, cook them sous vide. Whatever you like.
A recent cure I was using was a drizzle of soy, equal parts kosher salt, brown sugar, and sugar. Oooh, so good. For the Holidays if you plan on doing any duck or turkey curing or brines throw in orange peels, gran mariner, holiday spices...sage, clove, allspice, rosemary, thyme, bay, any of these things, it really makes a difference. Ok, back to the kitchen.
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