Summer's Coming. It's Time for the Watermelon Keg.

I had some watermelon over the weekend and it reminded of one of my favorite posts:
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Only in America: A guy is having a summer backyard bash and wants a vodka-infused watermelon. Pretty normal so far. But some weird light bulb pops up over his head and tells him to turn the watermelon into a cocktail keg. After 2 days of trial and error, he did. And it works. Watermelon-juice, vodka, and watermelon server with spout . . god, I love this country.

Want to see how he did it? I did.

http://blog.evite.com/evite/2007/09/end-of-summer-b.html

How to Make a Great Sorbet (or Smoothie).

Tomato Slices / by Nancy Merkle
http://small-impressions.blogspot.com/


I do subscribe to the "less is more" theory of food, dining, and cooking, meaning: good, whole ingredients, spice as a flavor enhancer, and texture and temperature suited to the plate. Simple. Preparation combines and blends the ingredients making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Cooking may be chemistry, but it is not alchemy. You can't take poor tasting tomatoes and make good spaghetti sauce.

In that light, here is another great "minimalist" recipe from Mark Bittman and the NY Times, for . . .

Sorbet or Smoothies.

I have made thousands of milkshakes and smoothies, but never sorbet. It's easy to do and easy to do right, if you remember a few things.

First, if it is not in season for the fruit of choice, buy frozen. When strawberries or peaches are in season and inexpensive, by all means, you will never taste better than the local fresh products, but when they are not, the other 300 days of the year, good frozen fruits are much better than fresh produce because they are picked when fresh, then frozen.

Next, if you are not adding ice cream or sweetened yogurt, you should add at least a little bit of sugar. Even half a teaspoon per 16 ounces of smoothie works.

Speaking of yogurt, for milk-based sorbets or smoothies, use yogurt as an alternative to milk, it adds a thickness and depth that milk can not.

For the very simple sorbet recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/dining

Prosciutto Rolls-- I like it, 'er them.

Evan Sung for The New York Times

My favorite food magazine is a newspaper, the New York Times weekly Dining Section. It covers a broad array of subjects, has great writers, and links to recipes and blogs that I like. Yesterday, the section featured a sushi-like appetizer (picture left). This recipe combines prosciutto, asparagus and arugula in a sushi-like convenience, without the sushi-like hassle. Blanch the asparagus and everything else is just assembly. For specifics, see link below.

Also featured, for the cocktail crazed : The latest New York trend, cocktail bars for discussing in length the higher form of cocktails, and not just drinking them. Believe me the alcohol chosen is just the beginning.

Prosciutto roll: http://www.nytimes.com/prosciutto

Cocktail Society: http://www.nytimes.com/cooking

The Best Oatmeal Cookie Recipe.

I love oatmeal cookies when they are a little crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Here's the best I have found. Nice trick to keep the the raisins juicy, by the way.

http://www.recipezaar.com/54351

A Real Breadwinner

The Star Telegram ran a very nice article on a Mr. Jack Bean, Fort Worth resident and bread maker who is a three ribbon winner at the State Fair of Texas this year. Here's a guy who has been baking bread all his life and says that his goal is to make a better loaf of bread.

I see, oftentimes, such comments from folks who have a passion for something and who excel in their field, that is, they want to improve their skill or their product for the satisfaction inherent in the improvement. They love their bread, or cheese, or beer or whatever it is that they love and that's what they want to do. And when you find a cook/chef/baker who loves what he does, you'll find good food.

Thanks to the Star Telegram for a good article and the recipe.

RECIPE: http://www.star-telegram.com
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Watermelon and Mint Ice Cubes?

I think I will save this for summertime, but I like this idea and the website: Gastronomers Guide. www.gastronomersguide.com

The cherry tomato salad post looked great, too.
. . .

No-Knead, Easy to Make Bread.

Mark Bittman, author, New York Times food columnist, and blogger, writes today about improving the no-knead bread he enjoys and has written about in previous posts. I especially like this improvement because he has added the ability to use 100% whole grain wheat. The wife (and bread maker) is out of town, but when she gets back I can't wait for her to try it.

Column with links to recipes here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining

Fort Worth Breakfast Drive-thru's.

Today's Fort Worth Star Telegram has a review of Fort Worth's fast-food "breakfast drive-thru's". The usual suspects were reviewed, McDonald's, Burget King, Jack in the Box, etc. I have visited all of them except Jack in the Box, because I did not know Jack in the Box had breakfast, and Sonic, because, well, I just don't go to Sonic.

Years ago my my favorite good/bad breakfast was a cinnamon cake donut (or two) and a pint of chocolate milk.

Today, I stop on occasion for an egg sandwich but for the most part they have lost their appeal, because they, McDonald's et alli, have decided that it is impossible to maintain consistency of product by having cooks actually cook the eggs on site, so everything is frozen and warmed, then served, and it is just bad food. At one time the Egg Mc-muffin was delicious, and their steak and fried onion on a bagel was as good of a sandwich as you could get. Now they are tasteless. My son likes the McGriddle, the Star/Telegram reviewer did not. I have never had one.

There is one fast food exception to the pre-cooked trend and that is What-a-burger, which the Star/Telegram reviewer did not mention. Their breakfast burrito, the last of which I had about a year ago, was very good.

I will say McDonald's has improved their coffee. Then again, it couldn't have gotten much worse.

If you don't mind me bragging a bit, I think I make the best toasted bagel/cheese/bacon breakfast sandwich in the whole world. Yes, the whole world.

The Star-Telegram article: http://www.star-telegram.com

The Best Way to Carve a Turkey . . .

Before you carve the Thanksgiving day turkey, take 10 minutes and read an instructional article in the New York Times, Dining In section. The owner of Original Turkey restaurants, who has overseen the carving of around 30 turkeys a day, says this:
1. Unless you insist on carving at the table it's best to cut against the grain which means the breast of the turkey must me separated from the bones and cut "sideways."
2. Wait at least 20 minutes before carving. Use your hand to secure the turkey not a fork. A fork pierces the skin increasing juice loss.
3. Remove wings and legs before carving and cut the meat "against the grain."

And much more, to read the whole article, look at pictures or watch a tutorial: Carve the turkey

A Few Tips for a Great Steak at Home

Most of us love a good steak. For all around good flavor it is tough to beat, so a cover story The Perfect Steak in the Pursuits section of last Saturday's Wall Street Journal was worth a look at. It was a lengthy article on how to prepare and cook a steak the way they do at the better steak houses around the country. If you read the article you'll see how far some steak lovers go to reach perfection. Most of us are not going to go to the trouble of home aging, I know I am not. But you can still have a good steak at home without the aging process, here are the suggestions:

Ingredients
1. Purchase prime cuts of beef at Whole Foods, Central Market or a quality market of choice.
2. Rib eyes cut at 1.5 inches / Filet mignon cut at 2.5 inches
3. Use grapeseed oil or canola oil.
4. Use kosher salt.

Cooking:
1. Remove beef from refrigerator 2 hours before cooking, paper towel dry.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Heat a cast iron skillet until water droplets evaporate in a few seconds.
4. Coat skillet with 2 teaspoons of oil.
5. Liberally salt steaks, about 1/4 teaspoon each.
6. Place steaks in pan, sear about 2 minutes each side. Turn with tongs, do not fork.
7. Transfer the steaks still in the frying pan to oven, cook for about 8 - 9 minutes for 1.5 inch steaks to be medium rare.
8. After removing the steaks from the oven, let them rest under an aluminum foil tent for 5 minutes.