Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 12, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I found Food and Wine's Recipes of 2000 as an aging, massive book amongst the library shelves and figured I could find something in there. But it almost has too much to choose from—it’s such a daunting task trying to sort through its hundreds of recipes. There are only pictures for a small percentage of the dishes, and the text is very small. I finally picked out this recipe for mustard and sour cream sauce to go with my pork chops because the sauce sounded wonderful. It uses two different kinds of mustard—something I’d never heard of that before, but it somehow works. The sauce is thick and rich, and the perfect vinegary counterpoint to the chops.
The technique for cooking the pork chops comes straight from Cook’s Illustrated. I’d always been disappointed with pork chops; they would undoubtedly end up dry and flavorless. While brining helps, this method work every time. You start with the chops in a cold pan and then then turn the heat to medium. Once they are browned on one side the heat drops to low and the cover goes on. It’s a little finicky, but by following these directions I’ve gotten moist, flavorful chops every time.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, May 9, 2008 at 3:15 PM
My poor Mom, she bought herself a Weber Q only to be told by her condo board that she can't use it, since the odor of grilling may disturb other residents. So this Mother's Day I decided to ask her what she'd like in order to bring a little bit of grilled joy back into her life. Like any good mother, she quickly responded, "Pork," directly referring to a pulled pork I made for her a couple years back. Seeing as that may not be the most universal holiday meal, I used it as starting point and found a fitting recipe for an Orange, Sage, and Garlic Rubbed Pork Tenderloin.
When assembling the rub, the aroma of orange and sage conjured up memories of Sunday brunches with Mom. Unfortunately, the smells did not translate as well to taste after grilled. The tenderloin was hit or miss with each bite. If a piece had retained enough rub through grilling, it was sweet and succulent, but if not, it was a bit bland. I think this can easily be fixed by either glopping on more rub before cooking or reapplying after moving the tenderloin to the cool side of the grill to finish cooking. I still recommend this as a good choice for Mother's Day, and one of the best parts is it's fast, so you can deliver the two best gifts to mom: food and time together.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 2, 2008 at 7:15 PM
In this, the era of fast food restaurants, take-out dinners, and microwave ovens, it's easy to forget the pleasures of leisurely cooking. But spending all Sunday in the kitchen stirring and seasoning is one of life's greatest pleasures!
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excepted from Lidia's Italy, is for Tuscan Meat and Tomato Ragù. A rustic classic from the hills of Maremma, it's perfect for saucing spaghetti, or served over a scoop of creamy polenta. And while it needs to simmer for hours in order for the flavors to develop, the preparation method is simple, straightforward, and stress-free.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 1, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Everyone has ingredients they can't resist. Favorite foods that are always kept on hand; items that, when spotted on restaurant menus make a dish impossible not to order. For my mother, it's artichoke hearts. For my boyfriend, it's bacon. For me, it's fennel. Fronds, shavings, wedges—I love the crunchy, sweet, licorice-flavored vegetable in all its incarnations.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Lidia's Italy, is for Baked Fennel with Prosciutto. This Roman dish is straight from the heart of Italian cooking, combining best-quality ingredients with simple preparation methods. Toss everything together hours ahead, store it in the fridge, and then pop it in then oven a bit before dinner.
Salty Prosciutto, fragrant cheese, sweet fennel, and a drizzle of butter. Who could resist that?
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Posted by Blake Royer, April 29, 2008 at 4:30 PM
This "mojo" sauce has nothing to do with the word for magic touch, but you could have fooled me: this is one of the most delicious marinades I've had in ages. The recipe comes from Our Latin Table, and describes mojo sauce paired with pork as what Cubans are weaned on and live for. It "might possibly have all the ingredients that make up Cuban cookery," which isn't surprising. The marinade is simply olive oil, garlic, oregano, cumin, and citrus, yet it's far more than the sum of its parts. This stuff tastes good enough to build an entire cuisine on.
It also did wonders for the juiciness of thick cut pork chops, though it may have helped that I also brined them beforehand. But I'm convinced that the acidity of the citrus—traditionally made from sour Cuban oranges, but in this case with a combination of orange and lime juice—makes its way into the chop and tenderizes. Though it wasn't quite warm enough outside to go through the trouble of lighting coals when I made this, it did fine on a very hot cast iron skillet. As soon as summer gets here, I'm keeping some of this marinade very close at hand—it will go fine with that one other Cuban ingredient that mojo doesn't have: rum. Is it warm enough for mojitos yet?
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Posted by Lucy Baker, April 25, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Today's cook the book recipe, excerpted from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook, is for a sensational Creole Gumbo straight from the Big Easy. Chef Leah Chase, owner of the restaurant Dooky Chase and arguably the Queen of Creole Cuisine, pulls out all the stops. Her version includes fresh crabs, oysters, and shrimp; veal and chicken; and two kinds of sausage. The recipe makes a lot—it serves 8 to 10—so mix up some Sazeracs and prepare it with a group of friends. This is soul food at its absolute best.
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Posted by Blake Royer, April 22, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Sometimes I find myself in a rut when it comes to quick pasta tomato sauces. The usual canned tomatoes, a few herbs, garlic and onions—it's good, but it's a little boring. I thoroughly enjoy Batali's marinara on a regular basis, which grates carrots into the sauce, but I've been eating it all winter out of the freezer. When it's the middle of summer, I can chop up some juicy market heirloom tomatoes, marinate them with garlic, basil, and olive oil, then serve uncooked with hot linguine. But what about when tomatoes still suck and I'm out of ideas?
This recipe suggests simmering pork sausages in white wine, then using the resulting fat-infused liquid to flavor the sauce. I was further convinced by the use of butter instead of olive oil to begin the onions and garlic, which adds a little richness and creaminess to everything. And finally, freshly shelled peas are appearing at my farmer's market, and this recipe calls for those, too. Once again, Diana Seed's The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces came through in a clutch.
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Posted by Kathy Chan, April 4, 2008 at 8:00 AM
"The Spam musubi is a ridiculously simple creation, composed of four ingredients, yet its extremely high rating on the scale of tastiness cannot be denied."
Editor's note: Robyn Lee here at Serious Eats HQ came in a couple weeks ago with that Hawaiian mainstay, Spam musubi. We were all intrigued, wondering where she got it. "My friend Kathy made it; I took pictures." We asked, Do you think she'd be up for teaching us all how to make them? And so, hot on the heels of Tuesday's musubi intel, Kathy checks in with an awesome how-to. —Adam K.
Of all the foods people associate with Hawaii, Spam musubi seems to be most popular, with echoes of lau lau, lomi lomi salmon, and kalua pig trailing just behind. I've heard the terms Spam sushi and Spam sandwiches, but, no, get it right: It's Spam musubi.
Back home in Hawaii, musubis are found at every convenience shop on the islands, 7-11 included (and, I must say, their musubis are pretty darn good!). Musubis are sold in school cafeterias and right alongside butter mochi at local bake sales. Picnic? Someone's mom is bound to make at least two dozen. Sleepover? Either dinner that night, or straight out of the fridge for breakfast.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, March 26, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Photo courtesy of Adam Fields
If you love meat and you love sandwiches, then it doesn't get better than a sandwich made by a butcher. Makes sense, right? I mean, if a guy can take apart an animal, he probably knows how to make it taste delicious. That's all I could think about last night as I stood with 11 other "classmates" at a pig butchering class in the Brooklyn Kitchen (a hipster's Williams Sonoma for New Yorkers who love to cook). The butcher, Tom Mylan, was dissecting half of a 200-plus-pound Berkshire pig, and the 12 of us had paid $75 to watch him do it, ask him anything we wanted, and, of course, divvy up the meat at the end of the show.
My question (aside from how I could get his job): If you were going to make a sandwich from this glorious animal, what part would you use and how would you do it?
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, March 24, 2008 at 4:30 PM
In my family, Easter means a big old ham and lots of leftovers. When the parents hugged us goodbye they sent us on our way with much more ham than a normal person should eat. Instead of just going with the regular old ham sandwiches, we decided to try our hands at the Cuban sandwich. I know there are lots of rules, and I was initially was leery about approaching a sandwich as contentious as this one. Hell, even poor Howie of Top Chef fame (remember him?) got crucified for not pressing his interpretation of the sandwich down.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 23, 2008 at 12:00 PM
This week's Cartoon Kitchen features Serious Eats' cartoonist in residence Larry Gonick's spin on braised pork. —Ed Levine
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 23, 2008 at 8:00 AM
As today is Easter Sunday, I thought it only appropriate to publish a big ol' roast pork recipe that could be substituted for the big ol' ham you might usually make. This recipe, adapted from the great French butcher cookbook Pork & Sons by Stéphane Reynaud, takes less than 2 1/2 hours from start to finish, so you can start cooking at 10 and have it on the table by 12:30, perfect time for an Easter brunch (or so they tell me). Plus, it's a great, festive one-pot meal.
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Posted by Blake Royer, March 20, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Every time I open Rick Bayless's books, he proves to me that Mexican cooking is more than tacos and burritos. It's not that I didn't already know this--but somehow I'm still surprised when ingredients and flavors I'm used to eating in tortillas end up outside them. His book Mexican Everyday is his most accessible, full of quick meals from salads to soups to meat off the grill.
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Posted by Blake Royer, March 18, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Pork tenderloin is a great cut of meat to cook with—it's simple to prepare, inexpensive, and easily sliced into pleasing medallions for serving. It behaves very well and predictably, being a long cylinder of meat with little fat and tendon. The only problem is, just like that other conveniently-shaped protein that makes its way into so many dishes—the boneless, skinless, chicken breast—the pork tenderloin can often lack flavor. Buying one from a nice well-loved heritage pig rather than a commercial hog does add something, but it's never going to have the porkiness of a bone-in chop, much less a belly or shoulder.
Thankfully, the dressing from this Gourmet recipe packs a serious, unexpected punch. Building on the basic red wine vinegar with garlic and olive oil, it's fortified with the caramelized pan drippings of the roasted tenderloin and thickened with warm toasted walnuts. Arugula and sliced endive are the refreshing bitter counterpoint against the warm pork.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, March 18, 2008 at 2:15 PM
When I have a craving for a really decadent dish—macaroni and cheese, say, or rice pudding—I prefer to make it for myself as opposed to ordering it in a restaurant. This is for two reasons: first, I think that rich, comforting foods are best enjoyed at home; second, when I am the cook, I am in control of the specific ingredients and the portion sizes. The end result is, I believe, always a little bit healthier.
For this week's magazine recipe review I made the orecchiette carbonara with leeks from the April issue of Bon Appétit. Spaghetti carbonara is something I would never eat out, for fear of popping a button off my pants in public. There is just no way to tell how much butter, oil, and bacon fat is being used. I was drawn to the version in Bon Appétit because it didn't use heavy cream (unlike some less traditional carbonaras), and because it called for fresh, seasonal leeks. Also, I happened to have a lot of eggs on hand.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 15, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Each Saturday evening we bring you a Sunday Supper recipe. Why on Saturday? So you have time to shop and prepare for tomorrow.
I'm on a pork kick with Sunday Supper lately. This is one I've made for a small dinner party and it turned out admirably. I've only ever made it for a dinner party because it's a darn big roast for only one or two people, which is usually the number sitting down for dinner in my house. It's from Seattle chef Tom Douglas's Big Dinners (look at that title—what'd I tell you?), and he recommends serving bread dumplings with it. It's all I can do to manage a roast like this, so I'd probably do something a little less time-consuming, like mashed potatoes. Whatever you serve with it, though, make sure it's gravy-friendly, because even after pouring a quarter of it over the pork, you'll still have an ample supply.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 8, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Each Saturday evening we bring you a Sunday Supper recipe. Why on Saturday? So you have time to shop and prepare for tomorrow.
If you've been following along this week, you might know that I picked up a panini press for the office and have been using it to cook lunchtime sandwiches like a madman. Well, this crazy appliance also doubles as an electric grill, so I'm eager to try my hand at some recipes that require the use of either an outdoor grill or a grill pan on the stove. I figure the press/grill/griddle will work almost as well as a grill pan, which is what I would have to use (if I had one) on such a cold and rainy weekend. This recipe is for a dish that I'm going to try this week—Vietnamese-style grilled pork. While the first half of it requires the use of a stove, it's one that I've only ever finished over coals. The new electric grill worked like a charm for panini, so it's time to force it into some new territory.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, March 7, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I had little chorizo leftover from Monday’s fantastic chorizo, egg and raisin meal, and instead of making that same meal for the third time, I figured I’d try to see what else I could find. Contrary to all rationale, I was still in a taco munching mood, and so I quickly went for the Mexican guide to all things quick and easy, Rick Bayless. This isn’t the first time.
I’ve made this before with just the chorizo and potato, but I decided to finally pony up and get the mushrooms too. For some reason they felt unnecessary before. The potato was already going to add body and the chorizo had all the goodness. The mushrooms certainly don’t lighten up the dish like the raisins did, but they do make things a little more savory and a tad less greasy. It’s odd that it works so well, but I guess that’s just Bayless you.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 6, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Monday was a croque monsieur. Tuesday was a ham-and-brie-and-apple sandwich. Yesterday we went vegetarian with a goat cheese, artichoke, and tomato sandwich. Today we're back on the pork tip. Sorry. We're like junkies here at the Serious Eats office. The Catskills Cubano recipe called to us from the pages of this week's featured cookbook, Panini Express, and we couldn't resist. I'd been wanting to make a sandwich on ciabatta to see how it reacted in our new panini press, and this one was pretty darn simple, with no pre-press prep other than chopping some peppers. From there, it was a simple matter of layering on pork and cheese.
The book's author, Daniel Leader, named this a Catskills Cubano in honor of the region in which his bakery is located. It's a slight variation on a traditional Cuban sandwich, in that he calls for pickled jalapeños instead of regular pickles and he uses serrano ham or prosciutto instead of the the more common cured ham used. We riffed on this one a little more, subbing in Hatch green chiles.
Win 'Panini Express'
If you're just now tuning in, you should note that we're giving away five (5) copies of this book here on Serious Eats this week. More details on that here.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 3, 2008 at 1:45 PM
The Panini Express Neo-Classic Croque Monsieur recipe makes two hot, crisp ham-and-cheese sandwiches.
The first recipe out of the gate for this week's featured cookbook is what Panini Express authors Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman call a Neo-Classic Croque Monsieur. It's "neo-classic" because, Leader says, it's a bit more rustic than the "dainty" versions typically served in France; it uses thick-cut ham, along with chopped cornichons and grainy mustard to "give it some heft."
Win 'Panini Express'
If you're just now tuning in, you should note that we're giving away five (5) copies of this book here on Serious Eats this week. More details on that here.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, February 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the February 27th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Simon Hopkinson's book Roast Chicken and Other Stories has been called "the most useful cookbook of all time." One of the book's recipes is for Chez Panisse's prosciutto with warm wilted greens, a simple dish of greens dressed in shallot and garlic-flavored vinaigrette wrapped in thin slices of prosciutto.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, February 21, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe (adapted from Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver) is a slow-cooked leek dish that delivers the true flavor of the vegetable by asking you to keep the leeks whole while still finely slicing up the outer layers for an ultra leeky hit. Oliver says it's a great dish for dinner parties or to serve alongside a Sunday roast.
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