ExpatChef’s Profile
Recent Comments
Bread Baking Books
The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Bernbaum. It really gives you insight to the proportions and chemistry involved, but not over the top difficult to read.
Sunday Brunch: The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever
It is a good recipe, light and crisp, but I will one up that and make it an herbed waffle with baby greens, smoked salmon and creme fraiche. It's a different take on waffles, light, crisp, savory, smoky, fresh.
Sam Kass, the New Assistant White House Chef; Is Everybody Happy Now?
Definitely on the serious food issues. Interesting Obama link (in a good way) to the HFCS issue. Obama tried to pass legislation to ban the use of mercury cell tech. Had the law passed, HFCS tainted with mercury would no longer be an issue by 2010.
http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/hfcs-often-contaminated-with-mercury.html
Let's hope the chef keeps some heat on these issues!
See more comments by ExpatChef »
Recent Posts
ExpatChef hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
ExpatChef hasn't favorited a post yet.
Recent Polls
ExpatChef hasn't answered any polls yet.
Recent Quizzes
ExpatChef hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Worst cooking experience ever?
Blender, hot liquid, blueberries ... check. New paint on the walls.
Melted a double boiler to the stove once. flames, molten metal. No nachos that night.
Sliced a side of my thumb off on the mandoline. Hmm, big enough to sew back on? Or, just wrap it up, finish dinner before company comes. Steel mesh gloves are pretty handy.
Bread Baking Books
The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Bernbaum. It really gives you insight to the proportions and chemistry involved, but not over the top difficult to read.
Sunday Brunch: The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever
It is a good recipe, light and crisp, but I will one up that and make it an herbed waffle with baby greens, smoked salmon and creme fraiche. It's a different take on waffles, light, crisp, savory, smoky, fresh.
Sam Kass, the New Assistant White House Chef; Is Everybody Happy Now?
Definitely on the serious food issues. Interesting Obama link (in a good way) to the HFCS issue. Obama tried to pass legislation to ban the use of mercury cell tech. Had the law passed, HFCS tainted with mercury would no longer be an issue by 2010.
http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/hfcs-often-contaminated-with-mercury.html
Let's hope the chef keeps some heat on these issues!
How long can cooked bacon sit unrefrigerated?
Meats are regarded as a "high risk" food for bacteria growth. According to culinary school, you have about 4 hours at temp between 40 and 140, after that, not a good idea to eat.
Could be wrong with salted, cooked, cured stuff, so double check me.
Diets Work: Way or No Way?
No diet. It's a permanent lifestyle shift that is the solution. Portion control is big, learn to love vegetables and fresh fruits and prepare them well. Activity. Diets are a myth and a huge business, which is why many people will never escape the myth.
I have this plate diagram approach. It's a great guide to portions, and some info on what a portion size really is. Enlightening. Good luck to all who are struggling with diet myths. It's tough.
Calling All Cookie Experts!
Too much sugar, looks like. Here was a more balanced looking recipe:
http://riceandwheat.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/spitzbuebe-swiss-christmas-cookies/
Chewing the Fat: Batali and Bourdain on Fatherhood
@gastronomeg, men get hotter to me when I see them being good dads and husbands! It's something you only appreciate as a mom, I guess. :) Kids, family, food, life all one. All together. I am really just an Italian grandmother at heart, I guess.
So I have these leftover herbs...
I use a lot of both of these in a Sweet Potato Gratin with Aged Gouda. It's really good.
Good Tart Recipes?
Celebrate with Chocolate: Totally Over-the-Top Recipes by Marcel Desaulniers has a Chocolate Pecan tart in there that is really good. Now, if you are a masochist (and I have been) make the Chocolate Honey Mousse Bombe on the cover. A lot of work, but amazing.
How do I roast chestnuts?
We roasted them at 350 for 30 minutes. Cut a big X, your hands will thank you as you try to peel them. Peel when warm still. Now, that said, you can do this on the stove. Lidia B. has a recipe where you put the chestnuts in a heavy skillet with some water, cover, and steam first, then when the water dries up, continue to pan roast, dry. Add red wine ...
Still ours turned out well just roasted. I put them in the food processor, added marscapone and nutmeg, sage, bacon, apple, and made ravioli. Recipe here.
cranberry sauce
I make a Cranberry Apple Sauce with cardamom, honey and five spice powder in it. Might put in a splash of bourbon this year for interest. It's different, but not too different and very good.
http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/11/monday-already.html
What did you cook this weekend?
I tested a few Thanksgiving recipes ahead of time. Here's the I will admit that I have never been excited about the mushy result of canned green beans, canned soup, canned crunchy onions, and cornflakes. The whole dish is like a tribute to the processed food industry. Let's un-process it, shall we?">best ever Green Bean Casserole (REAL food!) plus we made spice-crusted pork tenderloin with maple and apple sauce, orange-fennel and pomegranate salad, roasted potatoes, polenta rounds with sauted spinach, roasted tomatoes and goat cheese ...
Classic Thanksgiving Menu
How about the all-bacon Thanksgiving menu? Bacon gravy, Bacon-larded turkey, Bacony mashed potatoes, Bacon and Green Beans, Maple-Bacon-Pecan Pie with Bourbon Whipped Cream. Bacon, the new holiday staple? :) I bet the salty stuff would even marry up to cranberries and apples ...
Thanksgiving Dessert Contest --- HELP!
There are two on my recipe list that I made the last couple years:
I clicked on the orange Thanksgiving tab & WOW!
It is awesome, makes my small recipe list for the holiday look, well, small.
Cook the Book: Sorghum Pecan Pie
Mmm. I love southern food. Trade you my Vanilla Sweet Potato Pie for a slice of this!
Sweet Potato Fries -- Who Likes These Things?
I like my sweet potato fries cut into matchstick size, crisp in the oven with a coarse salt and pepper. Crisp, not sweet. Another great variation is to sprinkle with cumin or garam masala.
Thanksgiving means either sweet potato pie (the best ever) or a sweet potato gratin using sage and aged gouda. Savory, not sugary.
Classic Baked Acorn Squash
Ouch! I've sliced off part of a thumb on the mandoline. Spouse got me a steel mesh glove for my "non-knife" hand. Highly recommended. It's also awesome in a sausage and chicken "cassoulet" (not true cassoulet since that can't have chicken in it.) Or just split and stuffed with wild rice and pork sausage.
Mixed Review: Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread vs. Homemade Pumpkin Yeast Bread
Here's a few tips to have the best success when making your own pumpkin puree. My favorite varieties of pumpkin are the Musquee de Provence, Long Island Cheese, and Jahradale (which has green-blue skin). You want to let the flesh drain overnight. Photos and instructions are here.
In Season: Apples, Ringing in Fall's Arrival
I love home made applesauce this time of year. Will definitely consider the bourbon version for the adults. I do recommend getting an old school apple peeler. It peels, cores and slices all with the turn of a hand crank. Saves hours off cooking time depending on how much you make at once. I use the peeler once a week in fall with this recipe for old-fashioned cinnamon-vanilla bean applesauce.
Dinner Tonight: Seasonal Ratatouille
I do an oven-roasted variation that is more Cajun style with okra. Easy and delicious.
Dinner Tonight: Summer Salad with Tortellini
Perfect, and in season right now. I've been eating summer salads a lot. Just made one with red peppers, Thai chilis and long beans. Very tasty.
Cook the Book: 'Chocolate Epiphany'
Christopher Elbow chocolates, the big box.
Apple Cider Ice Cream, The Perfect Fall Flavor
Lovely. I will try this in fall, just got the first of the season's apples at the market, so it's coming.
Classic Thanksgiving Menu
Definitely the classic, good for anyone even the most pickiest of eaters.
Cook the Book: Sorghum Pecan Pie
I'm looking for something new this Thanksgiving and this is moving up the list.
Classic Thanksgiving Menu
The Classic Menu is a yummy walk down memory lane of over 60 plus years but at this point in time the Easy Menu is holding out a beckoning hand. Fortunately there are a few days in which to come to the momentous decision and either way a D'Artagnan turkey would be a most decided plus.
Classic Thanksgiving Menu
The brussels sprouts sent me over the top. There's a reason some menus are classics and some are fads. My belly is proof enough.
22 Sandwiches That Will Change Your Life
My hometown Cuban sandwich can't get no love? Awww....
22 Sandwiches That Will Change Your Life
The godmother from Bay Cities in Santa Monica needs to be on here too! Or any sandwich from them, really. It's all about the bread...and giardiniera mmm.
22 Sandwiches That Will Change Your Life
BIGELOWS!! i grew up in rvc and this is truly a classic spot. i had my last family meal here with both my parents and my brother a few years back. brings back great memories. so happy to see it on the list.
22 Sandwiches That Will Change Your Life
Boccalone in SF is fantastic....Collest thing I have had to an Italian panini in the US....
Apple Cider Ice Cream, The Perfect Fall Flavor
I tried this recipe and the ice cream turned out a little crumbly/grainy, and had kind of a cheesy flavor. Any idea what went wrong?
Do you blog? What's your URL?
Cocina Savant
http://cocinasavant.blogspot.com/
Weekly pictures, recipes, and thoughts from a husband and wife who love books and cooking for each other.
Sunday Brunch: The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever
The recipe sounds great. Can't wait to try it with the kids.
Sunday Brunch: The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever
Really good recipe, liked crispness and light consistency. However found it lacked flavour, added vanilla extract. What a difference, with vanilla extract, this recipe is requested over and over. Also, great to reheat, in toaster at work. Will make again and again
Sunday Supper: Pasta with Asparagus and No-Cook Goat Cheese Sauce
mmm this was super yummy!!!
Worst cooking experience ever?
@blackwdw - HAMALANCHE?!?!?!?!?!, hahahaha, best story ever!
Worst cooking experience ever?
I recently started cooking vegetarian meals for other people than myself (my boyfriend suddenly was interested yay!) anyway...
I tried making a creamy pasta dish with lots of vegetables. First time in my life trying to make cream out of tofu...turns out I didn't buy the right kind of tofu, so when trying to get the right consistency, the tofu creamed only so much, leaving little parts and bits in the cream... My vegetables were a little undercooked and turns out the curry I used was WAY too strong for the recipe. My boyfriend, always willing to please, ate it all but even I couldn't! We ended up ordering pizza.
Another one was when I tried making sautéed vegetables over an old oven my dad had gotten from a friend. I think it was older than both my parents together. In any case I pour some oil in the pan and start sautéing my vegetables just like my dad told me to...and then... some oil got in the burner I think...MAJOR flames, my vegetables catch fire as well as the pan so I chuck the pan in the snow outside, pour some flour on the burner and look at the charred mess and the heavy smoke. My little brother was staring at me with the phone in his hand: Do I have to call the firemen?
My parents still have a hard time letting me near the oven, even if after 4 years of this happening, I've been a very good cook!
Worst cooking experience ever?
@dhorst, I know how hard it is to get cornmeal out of carpet. I once made a plate of cornbread for a friend and left it on the kitchen counter while I ran to the store. I came back and the plate was upside down on the kitchen floor, the plasitc wrap about 4 feet away. I immediately began searching for the dog. I found her, (a 30 pound beagle), lying in the corner of the living room like a beached whale. I also found 3 piles of cornbread barf. It's not easy to get out of carpet.
That dog also ate - on separate occasions - my graduation cap, a 1-lb box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and a jar of vaseline. And of course, several pairs of shoes, countless newspapers and magazines, and at least three copies of the book 1984. She was part goat.
Worst cooking experience ever?
A long, long time ago, I had a thing for microwave pancakes. I'd make one or maybe two at a time for breakfast. Instead of setting the microwave for 30 seconds, I set it for 3 minutes. Started doing other things and when I got back to the microwave and stuck a fork in the middle of the cake, it was solid. I thought it was still frozen. So I went for another 3 minutes and got distracted again. Same result. Another 3 minutes. This time I'm sure it can't still be frozen.
Oddly, it didn't burn or scorch, it just got hard and rubbery. Like a flat brown hockey puck.
Worst cooking experience ever?
I knocked over an open container of cornmeal onto the floor. Our pup got excited and started rolling in it. It got tracked throughout the house. I vacuumed and swept and mopped, over and over, but I swear it was weeks before I could go barefoot and not feel cornmeal grit. I haven't bought any corn meal since then.
Worst cooking experience ever?
I threw a large-ish party a few years ago for family and friends. I made a ham, and carefully (painstakingly) sliced it up and put it in a very large Tupperware container, intending to serve it cold. Unfortunately, I hadn't sealed the container completely. As I took the first step down the stairs to put it in the basement fridge, the container slipped from my hands and went bouncing down the stairs, ham EVERYWHERE. It was an avalanche of ham. It is now referred to in my family as the hamalanche. I cried and laughed in turns--and then went and bought a deli platter.
For the person who was having bean cooking problems, I have the same problem and the issue for me is hard water. I have to use a pinch of baking soda to offset it.
Worst cooking experience ever?
Damn, good call, lillibet. I guess I read that "fact" years ago and just believed it!
Worst cooking experience ever?
I have to say latteaday's "ham bomb" story is fantastic. What a great thread.
Worst cooking experience ever?
First let me just say that I've spent the last 10 minutes reading this thread and laughing SO hard that I've been crying and also come very close to peeing once or twice.
My story has to do with a flaming cheesecake as well...although not due to a 900 degree oven. My oven was perfectly fine...turns out it was operator error.
As the ambitious middle schooler that I was, I thought I would make a cheesecake for an after dinner dessert on one of our days off from school. My little brother (4th grader at the time) and I were home alone for the day. I started out with a recipe from one of my mom's cookbooks and went to town in the kitchen. I mixed everything together, made the cheesecake batter and the graham cracker crust, and put it all together in the spring form pan. I had preheated the oven to the said temperature in the cookbook, and proceeded to place the cheesecake in the oven four about an hour to cook. Let me just preface the next part of the story by saying that my mom's stove was old...and the writing on the oven knobs was starting to fade away. 10 minutes after the cheesecake had been in the oven, my brother makes a comment about the burning smell. I said "it can't be burning, it's only been in the oven for ten minutes". So I proceed to leave it in the oven thinking that the smell must be coming from somewhere else. Another 10 minutes later, I decide that I should probably check on the cake because the smell is only getting worse. I open the oven and low and behold...the cheesecake has three inch flames engulfing the surface of the cake. I pulled the rack out of the oven and stood there screaming for my brother (yes, the 4th grader) as the cake remains flaming. He runs from the bathroom to find the flaming cake and proceeds to start hitting it with the kitchen towel. Apparently I had put the oven to broil instead of bake. Needless to say, the 4th grader put the flames out and I scraped the charred substance from the top of the cake and put it back in the oven to cook for the remaining time (on bake this time) and we ate it that night for dessert. And it was horrible...an absolute charred mess. Like many of you here, I have yet to live this story down.
Recent Posts
ExpatChef hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
ExpatChef hasn't favorited a post yet.
Polls
ExpatChef hasn't answered any polls yet.
Quizzes
ExpatChef hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
About ExpatChef
Website: http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com
Location:
About:
Favorite foods: Cheese. Anything fresh and locally sourced. Red wine. Italian recipes.
Last bite on earth:
Blender, hot liquid, blueberries ... check. New paint on the walls.
Melted a double boiler to the stove once. flames, molten metal. No nachos that night.
Sliced a side of my thumb off on the mandoline. Hmm, big enough to sew back on? Or, just wrap it up, finish dinner before company comes. Steel mesh gloves are pretty handy.