I've sold these crab cakes for years. They always sold well and I never got tired of them which just shows that good, quality food just doesn't go out of favor.

Thanksgiving Hacks, Tips, Tricks, Codes and Cheats

FREEBIRD is just a Skynyrd song.
Turkey time means turkey deals. Perhaps. If you’re in the market for a big helping of disappointment. I’m not going to say that all frozen turkeys are bad but the ones that they are “giving away” or are .49 cents a pound probably are not great.You’ve seen the signs. Spend $10 and the turkey is free. Great if the budget is tight but this is one area that you really get what you pay for. This turkey could in fact be from last year! Just sitting in a freezer for 12 months going through daily defrost cycles and refreezing – 365 times since its last appearance.Think of the turkey as a big orange. The little cells of juice in an orange are just like the tiny capsules of fat in a turkey. Once frozen. Ruined forever.
“Self basting” turkeys are injected with sodium solutions in an attempt to compensate for juices lost in cooking. Not my idea of wholesome holiday cooking but it is a tool some old birds need. The real trick here is to baste with fat. If you baste with the pan juice, you will essentially rinse the fat from the meat. Just what you do not want to do. The best technique is to brush with melted butter and even take it to another level by flavoring the butter with lots of fresh herbs. The pan juices will benefit and you can separate the fat from the juice as the turkey rests for an hour prior to carving.
A fresh capon is the height of poultry. This gender neutral bird develops naturally into lusciously fatty flightless fowl. If you have the availability of fresh capons, I could not recommend them more
If you are really freaking a bit about your kitchen chores forthcoming and have a question, please email at Foodiedaddy@gmail.com. I’ll walk you through it.
Cheers!


FRESH AND EASY CRANBERRY SAUCE

So fast. So easy. And so perfect for everyone at the table. Diabetics included!
Take one bag of whole fresh cranberries and one large can of frozen White Grape juice. Combine in a saucepan and simmer with a cover for 20 minutes. Remove cover and reduce liquid by half. Done! Refrigerate. Relax. It’s a holiday.



The Secret of the "5" Spice

If we skip to the end, we see that there is no secret at all. It's a matter of differences. Take a look at the ingredients of pumpkin spice versus chinese 5 spice.

Pumpkin Spice:
cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, allspice

Chinese Five Spice:
cinnamon, clove, ginger, fennel, anise

If you disregard the common ingredients and focus on the differences, we'll notice that the 5 spice is a bit bolder and aromatic with the fennel and anise components. The secret is in the use. Let's substitute our familiar pumpkin spice with Chinese 5 spice in some recipes. We're shooting for fast and easy here.

5 SPICE PUMPKIN BISQUE
6 oz Pumpkin Puree
8 oz Water or Stock
2 oz Heavy Cream
2t. Chinese Five Spice
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a heavy pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer. Adjust seasoning. Yield - 2 -8oz servings. Take it up a notch or two by adding crab meat or grilled shrimp! Garnish with a drizzle and drops of heavy cream.

5 SPICE PUMPKIN PIE
4 oz Pumpkin Puree
8 oz Heavy Cream - whipped
1T. Sugar
1 box Jello Pudding Mix, Vanilla
2t. Chinese Five Spice
1 pinch of salt

1 Ready Made Pie Shell

Combine and mix all ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated. Fill pie shell and refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before service!
Now THAT is fast.

See a cost breakdown of these recipes.
Enjoy your holiday!

Allegheny Burger Festival

Burgers. I've never known anyone to pass one up...
When Melissa Speta Anderson asked if I wanted to Judge a burger competition, how could I say no. I love a great burger and really don't dislike a bad one either.


I think deep at heart, I'm a purist. I love juicy, well seasoned, flavorful protein. It's a primal instinct. Even without the usual embellishments, I can go meat & bun and be quite happy. I'm not discounting the garnishes/sauces/spreads/sprouts/brioche/ and other peculiarities. It is a sandwich after all. It can't run around naked like a 3 year old boy. I GOT one of those. No. Let's get some pants on. A shirt, shoes, hat, tu-tu, Wubbzy undies and create somethig memorable!

First up - The Dirty Bird. This was a chipotle laden turkey burger with bacon ground into the turkey. Burger was moist and flavorful but a bit too spicy - and I like spicy. Burger had too much height to eat comfortably. Avocado was lost...

The Bastie Boys. I thought the beef was overseasoned. They use beef base and it was just too much. Homemade bun was too unforgiving and tough at times. Pickle and chips helped the presentation points.




The 75%Elk burger was too lean, overcooked and underseasoned.

Bastie Boys Porker - seasoned ground pork, mango/corn/black bean salsa, jalapeno bun. Same bun issue - too hard. Flavor profile was my favorite with the sweet mango playing off the jalapeno without dominating the pork burger which was cooked perfectly.

DAY 2 awaits and I will be tasked with judging 8 burgers from professional vendors. Then I will be a week solid at Snap Fitness.

Indian Summer

I picked up a pinot noir at Bag & String Wine Merchants last week. What it contained was everything I loved about summer. It almost made me regret the Fall. My luck that summer came back to visit for the weekend. The '09 Fleur was the sunshine I was looking for.

Without any wait, I dove into a glass and found all the subtlety and grace - a chord of notes each clamoring to get to me. Little strawberries and cranberry notes with light velvety spices had me hooked.

I usually think of a food pairing at the first or second taste and for this, it was a fresh pasta dish and strawberry salad with a bleu cheese to go with it. Fresh pasta, while a bit time consuming, is to me more the star of the dish rather than a vehicle for the rest of the flavors. I like to let pasta be what it was meant to be. A carbohydrate with some life - to which needs very little to really be enjoyed. In this case, a some olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes, basil and a little asiago.

Pasta is inherently inexpensive. Somehow a few cheap and plentiful ingredients get together and resolve to become much more than their sum. 

 Almost inconceivable how all of that could be $1.18 per serving. Must be the ten bucks of satisfaction that I get out of it that keeps good Italian restaurants in business. Try a small batch yourself:

3 eggs
1 Tablespoon oil – any
1 Teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour - semolina
Kneed into a stiff dough adding more flour if needed to obtain a good consistency.
Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate until use.

The Salad. 

Baby Mesclun Greens

Sliced Strawberries

Toasted Pecans (or Walnuts)

Crumbled Gorgonzola

Fresh Ground Pepper

The Vinaigrette.

1 tsp sugar

1tsp dijon

1/2 tsp salt

3 ounces white balsamic

1 ounce water

4 ounces fine olive oil

With a Fall like this, I won't be missing the Summer much. 

Braising Season!

Beef and Mushrooms

This simple but elegant entree is one that I always come back to because it is so tasty, easy to prepare and hearty - but not heavy. I've scaled this dish back to family size.

2#Beef, Chuck - diced

1# Mushrooms, any kind, sliced

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup water

Fresh Rosemary

Garlic – two to four cloves

Salt and Pepper

Vegetable oil

Roux

Like a grilled cheese sandwich, this dish is more about technique and less about exact measurements. Browning, deglazing and slow cooking techniques make this a good exercise in proper braising.

In a large, oven safe pan, add three tablespoons of vegetable oil. Over medium high heat caramelize onions. Add a pinch of salt to the onions to aid in caramelization by assisting in removing water from the onion. Add the diced beef and continue to brown for several more minutes. Once beef and onions are sufficiently browned, and sliced mushrooms and garlic and continue to brown on medium high heat. When the bottom of the pan is covered with the rich brownness of the ingredients, deglaze with the water and wine while scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve and incorporate those flavors. Add fresh rosemary and reduce to a simmer.

Cover the pan and reduce to a low simmer or place in a 350 degree oven. Continue to cook for approximately 45 minutes or until beef is tender.

Concentrate the pan juices by reduction by simmering uncovered until reduced by about half. Thicken slightly by whisking in a roux a big pinch at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Season with Salt and Pepper.

For the roux - or more precisely beurre manie in this instance - combine together equal parts soft butter and all-purpose flour.

Questions and comments are welcome!

todd@toddsingleton.com 

~ Chef Todd Singleton

Late Night Carboloading.

(Originally posted on Michael Salamone's Bachelor Pad Kitchen. 1/13/10)


Before I was a Chef and before I had any game, I had only one lure in my tackle box and it was the perfect net for late night. Pasta. Nothing says I'm reasonably drunk and momentarily "off my diet" than a nice bowl of creamy, cheesy and lighty peppery pasta between midnight and well past midnight.
While in culinary school, I was in survival mode and knew one thing for certain. Pasta is cheaper than cheap! Made from scratch not only made it cheaper, it was now a survival skill and hungry, reasonably drunk friends dig survival skills - especially the creamy, cheesy and lightly peppery kind.
Have this prepared ahead of time. Mix by hand or if you have a food processor, use the blade attachment and combine in the bowl:

3 eggs
1 Tablespoon oil - any
1 Teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour

Kneed into a stiff dough adding more flour if needed to obtain a good consistency.
Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate until use.

The sauce is:
Heavy Cream
Greuyere Cheese - grated
Fresh Ground Pepper

Now go party! When you return, put a pot of water on to boil.
Slice a piece of the dough and put it on you cleaned, lightly floured counter. If you have a rolling pin, use it. I didn't. I used a vermouth bottle. Roll the dough out as thinly as you prefer while maintaining a light flouring underneath and on top. Now roll up the dough sheet and slice into a skilled width. Don't try for angelhair here. Go for fettuccine. If you get Lasagna sheets, you're too drunk to cook or otherwise so pack it up and say goodnight.
Drop the strips of fresh pasta into boiling water.
Meanwhile in another pan, add 1/2 cup heavy cream and bring to a simmer. The pasta will cook quickly - perhaps 4 or 5 minutes.
Add the cooked, drained pasta and a bit of the pasta water to the cream and continue to reduce until a nice consistency is obtained. Add a nice handful of cheese, some cracked black pepper and your done.
Serve with (more) white wine and Grover Washington Jr.
Turn off the stove and clean up when they leave - tomorrow.


Here's the big batch...

Elusive Pizza

Pizza. I almost have a pavlovian response to the word.
To most, it is crust, tomato sauce, cheese and the occasional pepperoni. Most days it gets the job done. It just happens that most days, I'd like a little more. More choice. More artisan and less run-of-the-mill.
There exists one pizza style that is rare - almost impossible to find. It's the one with a reasonably noshy  crust with a cracker-like veneer capable of lifting awkwardly heavy or sloppy toppings of sliced tomatoes or juicy mushrooms and spinach. Where the crust turns a dark chestnut at the edges and the toppings singe and actually smoke a bit. A pizza that is usually imperfect in shape. A pizza with a personality and uniqueness.


The common pizza is neither unique nor remarkable. I'm certain that this is all because of technology. The modern pizza oven is a conveyor type. Set the temp and speed, pop in your pie in one side and out the other end emerges the pizza of today. It gets controlled heat from the top and bottom as it sits on a wire pizza screen. Fool proof for a reason.


Remember the first time you saw a deck oven? Those wide doors would swing down with noticeable mechanical announcement and a pizza guy would grab his pizza peel and almost acrobatically arrange, rotate and fish out wonderfully huge pizzas. Even a plain pizza had that crisp crust, a light smear of tomato sauce and enough cheese to make each bite melty and chewy - all of which was heated to absolute blistering temperatures. And the secret was that there was no secret. You saw the magic happen right in front of you. And it was that oven that made the difference. It's about the surfaces. The bottom of that pizza sat ON a thermally charged stone or sheet of steel. The natural convection of heat in the oven blasted around the crust and off the ceiling 16 inches above the pizza. Very high heat. Higher than those EZ Bake conveyor ovens.


Brick ovens are essentially a kiln for your pizzas. It takes a couple of hours to get that thermal mass up to working temps but patience pays. Once you achieve the high temps, pizzas fly. They no longer take 12 minutes like in a conveyor oven. They can be ready in 3-4.


My cousin Brud Holland made a brick oven.

 He's a Chef and Baker and he knows. This is where great breads are baked and because pizza is essentially bread, you'll need the right oven to do it. I want one, bad.

I've got the rest down. Crust. Toppings. Cheeses. 

But not the oven...

Not yet.

But a Chef/Man can dream. 

Pizza. The lost art of the pie. It's been Americanized with stuffed crust meat-loving 30 minute crazy bread dippin' 5.99 everyday pizzas. It's the American way. It get's the job done. But if you want the job done right, you gotta get out the flour and start a fire.