Best laid plans...

So the wife didn't get her job...we'll be staying on here for a while longer...not exactly boosting my morale but such is life. On the food front...it's Mardi Gras season here and King cake is the order of the day - one would think that purple, gold, and green (the colors of Mardi Gras) sugar would be relatively simple to locate. I'm new here and maybe I looked in the wrong spots but I could find green and gold with only minor trouble but purple (which appears on half or more of the cakes in this town) was more difficult than any needle in any haystack. Never fear...I bought purple icing color and solved my issue creatively. I'm baking this afternoon and tomorrow and will post pictures...hopefully.

Off the road...and hopefully into my own kitchen soon...

Right, back home again and back into the mix that is work and just trying to get by. Biggest event so far has been baking a scratch cake for my mother-in-law's 60th birthday. I pulled out a few stops - she wanted some lemon thing from her childhood and I glanced over the recipes that she said sounded close...buttercake, lemon curd, and buttercream icing. No sweat...well...no worries anyway. There's always sweat in my kitchen. The cake turned out very well...no one could understand why I went the scratch route (which is normal...no one much does that these days). It wasn't as visually beautiful as I would have preferred but when you're dealing with no gear you get what you get. It ate just fine.

Other notes...I inherited my grandmother's dough trough for Christmas - my wife and I had looked at these on our honeymoon and weren't really willing to part with that sort of cash - glad we waited...got a much nicer one for free...and it comes complete with value and heritage.

We may be moving into our own place soon...my job is getting a little better and the wife has a solid lead on something paying equal to mine...hopefully in a month or so we'll be moving (again) and setting up our house again. Stay tuned...

Christmas comes a little early in New Orleans this year...

It's the holidays as we are all painfully well aware of. For those of you who wait until the absolute last minute to shop tomorrow is it for you. Since we travel at the holidays (to be with family) things get jumbled or rushed from time to time. Today is a prime example - it's the 23rd - and we did family Christmas here today. I have to work tomorrow and the other part of the family here has had stuff booked for Christmas eve for some time now so today was it. We had a non-traditional meal - steak, twice baked potatoes, salad, and bread, we also had apple pie and pecan pie for dessert. No ham or turkey, no sweet potatoes, or any of the usuals. I think I like this one better...I don't eat as much and I enjoyed it more. Maybe steak will make its way onto the menu. After lunch was the gift opening extravaganza. Now bear in mind we opened gifts with a 2 and a 4 year old. There were bits of paper everywhere. Now this is our first Christmas as married folks and my in-laws are still trying to figure me out a little bit. Last year I got a few things that were great; this year there were two that were just really amazing. My in-laws bought me a handmade end grain cutting board

This was made by a man in our church here who does this as a hobby. If anyone is interested in obtaining one of these (he has more designs than this) post a comment or send me an email and I'll pass along his information. The second gift was a last minute thing from my wife - something she didn't think I'd like but that I happen to love:




I don't know if it's a terribly accurate timer or not (we got a digital timer for our wedding that's my favorite) or that I'd ever even use it - but it's a fun countertop item that adds character to our kitchen. I don't know if I'll post tomorrow and I know I won't on Tuesday so Happy Christmas to my readers, family, and friends. God has blessed abundantly this year and I am thankful for all He has provided. I'll try to post from on the road later this week.

Updates and thoughts...

Say what you like about Emeril Lagasse. Some dislike him because he suffers from, as one author penned, a deplorable excess of personality. Others think he makes food too simple or dumbs it down. There are times he grates my nerves like nails on a chalkboard and others that he bores me to tears with the routine. However no one should ever say he dumbs down anything...especially food. I had the privilege to dine in the flagship restaurant again today. The first trip was in '03 and I was on vacation here (New Orleans) in the city. Today was my office Christmas party (we're a small, family type office and we celebrate Christmas, not holidays). I enjoyed the porkchop again (this one was a single cut, not double) along with lobster bisque and the meyer lemon frozen souffle. The service was flawless as was the food itself - one of the best dining experiences I have ever encountered. There was nothing dumb about the masterful flavor combination of caramelized sweet potatoes, the tangy sweet sour of the tamarind glaze, and the subtle heat of the green chile mole. Chef Lagasse has a charisma that many might envy - but he brings food to the masses and shows them that there is no magic in restaurant kitchens that a home cook, with time and effort, cannot duplicate.

New location, new starter, new direction...

So we made it safely to New Orleans. Let me say this much. I've moved multiple times in my life. I've never enjoyed it. I can tell you I enjoyed it even less driving the truck pulling a trailer at 4 am with semis screaming past on either side. I left indentions in the steering wheel.

I tried the barm/boiled grain starter thing...my starter didn't like it. I had to toss it for the move and have started another...I'm using organic flour and it seems to be more active faster.

So...a mildly new direction for this blog. I have had arrangements made for me to get some cooking lessons from a friend of my inlaws who are true Cajuns. I'm excited...I know that no two kitchens do things alike but learning from someone who grew up on this cuisine will be better than some restaurants take. I think I want to merge/fuse it with Classical French - a la La Bonne Cuisine by Madame Saint-Ange and French Bistro. Somewhere in the back of my head I can get a picture of a really unique and delicious spin. I'll be posting more as time goes on. Since I'm searching for work my time is relatively free...hopefully I can devote some time to catching up on this and other minor projects.

Sourdough alterations...

This is what I get for reading about bread...after getting some information from The Fresh Loaf I was reading articles from SFBI's newsletter. There were articles related to the use of a true barm - soaking the whole grain flour in boiling water (essentially the same as the mash in whole grain brewing) for a period of time with diastatic malt (activating the enzymes) and thus releasing the sugars for yeasts to feed on. Now I'm going to divert for a minute - I don't think you can culture from this "mash". Yeast dies at 138-141 F. You're covering the flour in 212 F water...I haven't done the math (so I might be off) but just roughing it out in my head tells me the beasties died in the hot stuff. I did part of this experiment - I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 T rye flour in 6 ounces of boiling water. I then mixed in a couple of ounces of my starter. I will post on the results tomorrow. I can see where there would be more sugars available to the yeast from the soak. The protein structure has to change (you added heat...proteins denature on exposure to heat...ala scrambled eggs) This also, according to the article, will enable the bread to take higher hydration. I'll post on those results when they happen.

Bread, that Asian grocery smell, Pho, and Vietnamese coffee...

So tonight was a shopping night for Sunday lunch (which is happening...just with an unknown number of guests). First stop - the Vietnamese bakery we had Banh Mi in last night - Banh Mi are the Vietnamese equivalent of Po'Boys - tasty pork or chicken on a roll with pickled vegetables, cucumbers, jalapenos, mayonnaise (not the mess out of a jar this was homemade and decidedly different), and a hit of cilantro. All I can say is it's the best $2-$3 you can spend. I bought a dozen rolls for $3 - if you're in Atlanta get to Lee's Bakery on Buford Highway, just past the intersection of Clairmont Road. The bill for dinner (2 sandwiches and 2 bottles of water) was $6.50. Next stop - Atlanta Farmers Market (also on Buford Highway, just down from the bakery). Let me say two things about Asian grocery stores - first - I love them - I don't know what 80% or more of the goods are but I always have fun exploring. I also struggle to spend more than $20 and yet somehow I manage to leave with a cartful. Tonight was a partial basket. I'm doing my spin on the Banh Mi - I was going to get all fancy and make little meatballs out of chicken but it's going to be more finely chooped chicken in a sauce. I picked up green onions and daikon. I put the daikon with some carrots in a refrigerator pickle of 1T kosher salt, 1/2 cup cider vinegar, 1/2 cup cane vinegar, 2 cups water, and 1/4 cup (plus a little) of light brown sugar. I warmed this for 30 seconds in the microwave to get all the goodies to dissolve and then dunked the chopped veggies (smaller than french fries and bigger than true batonette). Cover and in the fridge. So back to the store - I also picked up a bottle of Thin Soy Sauce (Healthy Boy brand from Thailand), Fish Sauce (Three Crabs brand from Vietnam), and Sriracha (Shark Brand from Thailand). The soy is amazing stuff...I'll never buy Kikkoman again...this is just too good (and dirt cheap). The Sriracha is amazing...flavorful, almost sweet, with a flash of heat well after you've swallowed it. Fish Sauce...can I just say this is the first real fish sauce I've ever bought...that's a smell right there. Wonderful salty lightly fishy taste but I have to hold my nose. I also picked up a packet of tamarind pulp (the sour kind) and a box of Sun brand hot tamarind candy (delicious in a kind of freaky way, sweet, salty, sour, then rather hot...but good...addictive sort of good). Total of $10.50. Now the second thing...what is THAT smell? If you frequent Asian markets you know what I'm talking about. It's not totally unpleasant but it's just odd. This store is cleaner than the American groceries I frequent (and they're pretty clean). I knew this was going to be a good trip...I could smell the store from the parking lot. According to these folks this is the #2 market in Atlanta for Asian foods. I have to agree. It doesn't have all the knick-knacks and toys that some of the others do but it's a great store. I'll be looking for it's equal in New Orleans soon (more on that in another post).

Pho - a dish that needs to be on more menus. I've never been so satisfied by a bowl of soup in my life. It's also the first time I've eaten soup with chop sticks. I stuck to just the beef...the tendon and tripe might have been excellent but I wasn't ranging far tonight. My father joined me for dinner as he was nearby waiting on my mother. He'd been to this place (or one very similar to it) many years ago and has been trying for all that time to get us there. I wish he'd succeeded before now. I hope we can get back this next week. We ate and had a good time catching up. He'd also mentioned Vietnamese coffee to me. Now I'm pretty much a coffee freak...there isn't much I haven't tried and I'm always up for something new. I had one hot and one iced tonight...imagine drinking melted coffee ice cream...and you get pretty close. Rich, sweet, intense, and with the caffeine and sugar I was buzzing for an hour afterwards.

So...I get my goodies home and I set to work. I've already told you about the pickle. Now...for the chicken...I mixed 1/4 cup of light brown sugar (at some point I'll get palm sugar and test it, but tonight called for what was in the pantry), 1/4 cup thin soy sauce, 1 1/2 T fish sauce (I almost ran out of the kitchen...I'll get used to the aroma over time but it was just rough tonight), 2 T tamarind pulp, and 1 T sriracha. I warmed this in the microwave for about a minute total and stirred to melt/dissolve/soften the tamarind from the seeds/membrane/inedible stuff. I let it sit for a couple of minutes and then I poured through a strainer and mashed on the solids to get all the good stuff...the verdict...sweet, salty, sour, and a little heat (just a sparkling heat, not really even a hit) - there's a hint of fishy but I think when it gets in with the chicken, lime, green onions, and garlic it'll fade fast. I'm going to tweak some Duke's mayo with some soy and sriracha for a little oomph.

On the New Orleans reference...yes...MAF is moving to the Big Easy. Posting will get scarce from the 3rd through sometime the next week. I'll be back...there's new foods to find and I'm assuming the cook's role in my inlaws house for a bit (they've opened their home until the loving wife and I get on our feet and find a place). I'm looking to broaden some culinary horizons and maybe slow down the eating out. I'll discuss more later.