I'm Bored of Cooking...

Every once in awhile I get bored of cooking.

Last week on top of every day cooking I cooked a bunch of massive meals. Steaks, pepper sauce, Oreo cheesecake, buttermilk pancakes, fried porkchops breaded with brioche crumbs and peanut crumbs, marscapone and wasabi whipped potatoes, and then for my neighbour's birthday on Saturday alone I made 3 kilos of galbi, kimchees, mini-paejons, and lots of other assorted Korean side dishes. I made enough extra that I didn't have to cook all day Sunday or Monday, but now I'm sick of Korean food (for a few days anyways) and have to make a decent dinner after having had a bowl of Golden Grahams for lunch (and a banana).

It's rare I'm not inspired to cook. Even when I'm not inspired to do much else I can always think of a delicious meal that will challenge my culinary skills and make my tummy happy.

Usually when I can't thinking of something I want to cook I look at food blogs, but one sure thing is always to look at the Food Network's website.

Now the weather is cold. I thought about lasagna, but I would have to make sauce, so that's took much work for me at the moment. I'd like something spicy though.

What I'd really like is a nice plate of buffalo chicken wings. It's something I miss from time to time. I ate them at least once a week in my college days, usually followed by a massive square pizza with loads of toppings.

So that's what I'm going to cook tonight. Good ol' fashioned American Hooters fare, except I'm going to have to get creative. Blue cheese is readily found in France, but blue cheese dressing isn't. I'll have to make my own. I'll also have to make my own hot sauce and I'll be lucky if I find Tabasco sauce.

Here's tonight's menu...

Starter

Buffalo chicken wings w/celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing

Mains

Beef and sausage meatloaf w/ pomegranate molasses and homemade tomato ketchup glaze, Southern style baked macaroni and cheese, and green beans with bacon.

Dessert

?

The buffalo wings with bleu cheese dressing and a smidge of celery.



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A List of ALL the Cooking I Did Today...

1. Peeled and boiled potatoes.
2. Fried a portion of chopped up bacon.
3. Made dressing.
4. Rinsed and drained potatoes, leaving them to soak in cool water for about 20 minutes (a secret of good potato salad).
5. Made frivoli pasta (my new obsession).
6. Diced fennel.
7. Mixed up potato salad ingredients. Seasoned. Put in fridge to let get cool.
8. Cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, and defrosted frozen peas.
9. Made dressing for pasta salad.
10. Fried another portion of chopped up bacon.
11. Hard-boiled four eggs.
12. Melted coccoa and butter in double boiler for cookies.
13. Made cookie dough.
14. Baked cookies.
15. Prepared from scratch BBQ sauce because have remembered how fattening fried chicken is.
16. Prepared the grill for the chicken.
17. Basted and pre-baked chicken for the grill.
18. Grilled chicken.
19. Made fried onions for green bean article.
20. Prepared green beans and then photographed them doing best to make them look tasty and professional.

In the end, I suppose it would have been even more work to make fried chicken (and like x 10 on the calories), but then I look at this photo and I know Fried Chicken Sundays don't need to be given up completely. Right?

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Pictures Worth Thousands of Calories

Potatoes baked on the grill then drizzled with garlic butter and garnished with fresh sage, parsley, rosemary, and chives from the garden. For a finishing touch I added freshly grated parmesan and served with a side of creme fraiche.

I initially planned to serve this dinner with grilled asparagus drizzled with truffle oil, but it vanished into thin air mysteriously well before dinner time never to be heard from again. I replaced it with these crisp green beans tossed with butter, tarragon, and garnished with fried shallots.

Dessert was New York style cheese cake with a Speculoos crust (those little brown cookies you get with coffees sometimes in France) and made a fresh strawberry-rhubard compote for the topping.



Whole mushrooms sauteed in gras de canard (duck fat) garnished with fresh parsley and sprinkled with sel de Guérande.



American-French fusion cote du boeuf with homemade BBQ sauce and grilled until it was so tender the meat fell off the bone. I was surprised a mass of angry French people didn't invade my garden because I cooked it until it was well done, because I'm pretty sure cooking a cote de boeuf that isn't red (bleu) or medium rare (saignant) in France is illegal. It was worth a possible prison sentence though.

I've been really enjoying the whole little house in the forest thing. It's nice being able to get away from the city. More mosquitoes though!

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The Fried Chicken Controversy

When it comes to cooking there are a few things I'm not modest about and one of them is fried chicken. I've been making fried chicken since I was about 16 years old.

The first time I made fried chicken the wrong way was with a Fry Daddy that actually spit out the pieces I'd put in to fry and caused a massive grease stain on the ceiling of the kitchen in the house that the embassy had rented for my parents. This was immediately followed by the first time I learned to make fried chicken the right way thanks to a nice lady from Alabama who not only helped me scrub the mess off the ceiling before my parents found out, but also made me the very best fried chicken I have ever had. Well, at least up until I'd had a year of practice because then I actually think mine was a tiny bit better than hers. Sorry Rita Mae, but it's true.

I did a little research online because I wanted to see if it was possible to make fried chicken in the oven to avoid the extra fat and thought I would share my experiences as I try to find a healthier way to make fried chicken. Instead what I discovered was there is a huge amount of debate as to what is the "real" way to make Southern Fried Chicken. And I mean huge, but by debate I mean arguments in text that sometimes ended in people cussin' at each other and bringin' up the Civil War. I ain't kiddin'.

Well since Rita Mae was from Alabama and I've had many Southerners devour my fried chicken from nearly all of the states south of the Mason Dixon line including Texas, I'd like to respectfully add my methods, thoughts, and advice along with the rest.
What type of chicken should you use?

For this experiment I bought 8 smallish thighs (not legs just thighs) of chicken. Now some people say the only proper way to make fried chicken is to buy whole fryer chickens and cut them up. I disagree. I've tried that method and found it only wasted time and more importantly, no one wanted the breast meat. Not because it was dry or not delicious, but because dark meat is not only better for frying, but is a lot tastier in general. I've tried a lot of tricks to make the breasts more like dark meat, but since I have yet to master The Dark Culinary Arts that will make white meat taste like dark meat, no matter what I tried the breast meat was always slightly inferior as it always is, even when you roast chickens.

Do you need to soak the chicken beforehand?

Some people soak their chicken. The times vary but overnight (8 hours) is about the longest length of time and 1 or 2 hours seems to be the mininum for some people. I've seen recipes that call for soaking in buttermilk, milk, and slightly salted water. The only time I've ever soaked in buttermilk is when making Buttermilk Fried Chicken as I've always considered BFC it's own specific type of chicken. I have never soaked my chicken in regular milk or salt water. Soaking meat in salt water is however a real technique called "brining". I've brined whole roasting chickens and consider brining a turkey absolutely mandatory. But for fried chicken I cannot see why this method would be used. So my stance on soaking is, examine the quality of the chicken you will be frying. If the meat looks tough, use buttermilk. If the meat looks old or dry, use the brining method.

If you decide to go the route of buttermilk, milk, or brining keep in mind that it will affect the coating of your chicken in the long run. Buttermilk and milk will thicken the coating and brining can possibly thin your coating. If you do soak your chicken you need to rinse it with cold water beforehand, pat dry, and then soak in whatever you are using. Once the chicken is done soaking you have to let the excess liquid drip off. I would suggest with buttermilk that unless you like a thick coating to pat the chicken with paper towels even after you've let any excess liquid drip off.

What to bread the chicken with?

Some people say flour and only flour. I happen to agree. However, as I've only just discovered this evening you can use whole wheat flour and it actually tastes better. I'm not sure why this is but most likely it's because whole wheat flour likely absorbs more oil in the process of cooking. If you know why this might be, or have other theories, please feel free to post in the comments section.

Now I bread chicken for other recipes and have used crackers, cornmeal, bread crumbs, almond flour, pecans - you name it. It's up to you as the cook to decide what you like best because after looking at about 50 recipes posted online; all proclaiming to be more authentic than any other I couldn't see how there could be one true recipe. On one forum people actually swore at each other over it. Apparently Southerners are very opinionated about fried chicken and rightfully so, but as an experienced cook the only thing I can think that might make a difference is how other ingredients would: hold up during the frying process, absorb oil, and provide the right level of crunch.

So you make you own decision as to what to use in the breading. If it tastes good and has the right amount of crunch, you should be fine unless serving purists.

What should I season the breading with?

Again there are many opinons. Purists say salt and pepper should be enough or that adding cayenne makes it not Southern, but Louisianna style. I personally like to use thyme, cayenne, a bit of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I sometimes vary the spices greatly, but I don't consider it Southern. Rita Mae was from Alabama and other than adding thyme, the base of my seasonings are what she told me to use. I also stick to her rule about proportions. Enough salt, mostly fresh ground black pepper, enough cayenne to make the flour look a little pink, and just a pinch or two of garlic powder. I usually add about a tablespoon of thyme for every 2 1/2 cups of flour.

So again, it's up to you. I use the same recipe for Southern Fried Chicken as I use to make a fusion French style fried chicken except I cut out about 1/2 the cayenne and add basil, oregano, and rosemary.

To Egg Wash or to Not Egg Wash?

From the 50 different recipes I looked at I've drawn a few conclusions. There are people who don't like a lot of breading on their fried chicken. If you don't like a lot of breading you have to stay away from soaking in buttermilk and from using an egg wash. Simply press the flour directly on to dry chicken and then allow to sit for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. I have tried this method and it is great because the breading is very light, but I love breading, so I use an egg wash.

Now here are a few things I've learned from experience:

1. If you want the breading to stay intact on chicken legs, dust the chicken with flour first, then dip in the egg wash, and then re-dip in the seasoned flour. Make sure to press the flour firmly with your hands.

2. The first dusting of flour actually helps the chicken stay moist.

3. Dusting with flour, egg wash, and then pressing the second flouring in with your hands until all the chicken is covered and the egg wash no longer shows visible wet marks on the floured chicken actually helps to cook the chicken faster without scorching the breading. Although you shouldn't have this problem because you should always turn the heat down once the breading reaches a light golden colour and use the last minutes of frying on low heat to let the chicken get that perfect golden colour fried chicken should have.

4. There is nothing worse you can do to your chicken than not bread it properly. The breading will fall off during the frying otherwise and you'll have to change your oil. Unless you are making a massive batch of fried chicken you should never have to change oil. I made about 4 kilos (10lbs.) of thighs and legs once and only changed my oil once.

What to fry the chicken in?

Again every one seems to have an opinion. There is only one type of "fat" I wouldn't suggest frying chicken in and that's anything with a very low smoking point like olive oil. The "fat" needs to get to a certain temperature and olive oil can't get that hot without smoking. Now I was taught that one should fry chicken in Crisco, but I haven't touched the stuff in eons, not even for bicuits or pie crusts. I've read recipes that use Crisco, 1/2 lard and 1/2 butter, peanut oil, sunflower oil, and vegetable oil.

Personally I use sunflower oil. It has a high smoking point and is just a little bit healthier than peanut oil. I sometimes use 1/2 sunflower oil and 1/2 duck fat for certain recipes, and I've used 1/2 sunflower and 1/2 peanut oil as well. If you're not experienced at frying foods, stick to using one type of fat. Get fancy later when you've had practice and could fry chicken in your sleep. I can. I literally fell asleep with tongs in my hands once while waiting to fry chicken. Thankfully it didn't burn as I was making fried chicken for about 20 people.

Other tips:

- Make sure once the breading is slightly golden that you turn the heat down and flip every so often to avoid scorching your breading.

- No matter what anyone says do not cover your pan while frying.

- This might be blasphemous, but I don't use a cast iron skillet. I use a simple old steel frying pan that is so beat up and ugly because it's really only used to fry things. It looks like a shallow wok with a handle, but it heats evenly like a cast iron skillet. All you really need is a pan deep enough for the oil that heats evenly.

- Watch the chicken until you can identify what is going on with the frying just by being within earshot. I can tell whether or not I need to turn my chicken and even if it's thoroughly cooked just by listening to the sound of the oil. If you watch the chicken enough times, you'll be able to do this too.

- It is possible to make fried chicken in the oven, but simply because it's possible it doesn't mean it should be done. It is not healthier either. Today I baked 1/2 of the chicken in the oven and the other 1/2 I fried in my blasphemous non-cast iron frying pan. The baked chicken started soaking up oil the minute I set it into the baking dish. I made sure to heat the oil in the baking dish in the oven before setting the chicken pieces in it, but it didn't make it a difference. I needed to add extra oil 10 minutes into baking and then again when I turned the chicken pieces to the other side. In addition it needs just as much attention because the oven can burn the breading. While the chicken had the same taste, the baked fried chicken's breading was hard and too thick compared to the batch I fried on the stove. I will never do this again quite frankly. I'll just have to work off the calories when I get a craving.

- Let your fried chicken set. Sure you're putting it on to clean paper towels to let the grease soak up, but it should also be to let the meat rest. If you serve or cut the chicken too early the juices won't have a chance to reconstitute and it will make every mouthful after the first taste bland and not as moist.

- If you make fried chicken with chicken that was frozen you must use the salty water brining method. Otherwise the chicken is just going to get tougher with frying. In fact I highly recommend brining any frozen meat before cooking, except poultry is the only meat you can immerse in the water while brining. With pork, lamb, beef, or even duck you should simply sprinkle salt on the meat while it's still frozen and wipe off the excess salt as you pat the meat dry before using it in your recipe.

- It's possible to make tasty fried chicken using skinless chicken or even skinless breast of chicken, but the reality is the bone adds to the taste. I've de-boned thighs when I made fried chicken for picnics (French people don't like to eat with their hands, so deboning the chicken made a big difference), but in those instances I used the freshest and best quality chicken I could find. Otherwise the bone adds a tremendous amount of moisture and flavour so don't fry without it.

I hope this helps and honestly, I was overwhelmed with the amount of fried chicken recipes (and arguments as to its preparation) I found after just an hour. I stick to my recipe because when I've tried other people's it's just not the way I like it.

If you have any tips (or arguments) please feel free to leave them in the comments. I'm always looking for ways to improve upon fried chicken as it is, let's face it, one of the best dishes to ever come out of American cuisine*.

*The other being gumbo.

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Apple, Bacon, and Fennel Potato Salad

This is not a healthy salad, but it is a delicious combination of flavours. I made this last Sunday for guests and they raved about it, but of course I only tasted the problems. Well I've fixed the problems and decided to pass my recipe on to you as well as my menu for tomorrow's decadent Sunday brunch to hopefully be devoured on the terrace if the weather cooperates.

Update:
I've just finished the potato salad and put it into the fridge and the problems I had with it last week are gone. It's perfect, so for a tasty result, follow the recipe as closely as possible.

Tomorrow's Brunch Menu

Buttermilk biscuits served with Sage Butter

Spicy Southern-style Whole Wheat Fried Chicken

Apple, Bacon, and Fennel Potato Salad

Sweet Balsamic Corn Salad

Strawberry Shortcake with Whipped Sour Cream

I'll cover how to make homemade buttermilk biscuits in a later post because at the moment I am improvising with a glass to cut my biscuits and it's rather ghetto but in my defence I haven't been able to find a decent biscuit cutter after 6 years of living in France and I keep forgetting to buy one when I'm in the US. I've asked a friend to pick me up one when they go over for the summer, so I should have it in a few weeks or so.

However making sage butter is quite easy. I make mine with fresh sage, but dried sage also works. It needs to be made beforehand, allowed to sit in the fridge uncovered overnight, and then be re-whipped in the morning to achieve the right consistency.

Adjust the quantity of the butter depending on how many servings you need. I usually calculate about 3 tablespoons of the finished sage butter for each person (enough for 2 biscuits), but if you have butter or biscuit lovers present I would make more as it can go quickly.

Sage Butter

For 2 persons:

1 cup of butter, preferably demi-sel (salted)

4 leaves of fresh sage finely chopped or 1 tablespoon of dried sage

1 tablespoon of finely minced shallots

2 cloves of garlic finely minced

1 tablespoon dry white wine

In a small sauce pan add 1 tablespoon of butter and allow to melt on medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the sage, shallots, and garlic. Saute for one minute until the shallots are soft but not brown. Add the remaining butter and white wine, allow the entire mixture to melt on low heat and remove immediately when all the butter had melted. Stir and pour into a small bowl. The bowl needs to be big enough so that in the morning when the butter has re-solidified you can whip it with a fork. Make sure you whip the butter in quick clockwise motions. This step must be done the following morning because if you mix the butter when it's still melted you will get very green butter from the sage.

Apple, Bacon, and Fennel Potato Salad

For 4 persons:

8 medium sized potatoes peeled and chopped into slightly larger than bite size pieces

1/2 of a medium sized onion finely chopped (not minced)

1 apple (preferably sweet but with a firm texture like a Gala apple) chopped to the same size of the onions

1 generous handful of chopped (slightly smaller than the onions) fresh fennel (the bulb, save the leafy bits for garnish)

4 hard boiled eggs chopped

1 1/2 cups of bacon chopped (or you can use lardons allumettes if you live in France)

1 1/2 cups of freshly made mayonaise (see recipe below that must be made the day before)

2 tablespoons of Hungarian paprika

1 pinch of fresh saffron

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup freshly chopped parsley

1/4 cup freshly chopped leaves from the fennel

Salt & Freshly ground black pepper

Boil the potatoes until they are tender in the center, but not so that they fall apart completely.

Boil eggs for 10-12 minutes so that the yolks are firm and not at all runny.

While you boil your potatoes and eggs fry the bacon until slightly burnt, chop, and set aside chopped bacon and the remaining grease from frying.

Chop the vegetables and add to a large mixing bowl that can accomodate all the ingredients. Add the mayonaise, spices (except paprika), mustard, bacon, and apple cider vinegar. Taste and salt the dressing until it's moderately too salty. This is important because the less you need to remix the salad once the potatoes have been added the better.

When eggs are finished immediately immerse in cold water. This will keep the yolks from turning grey. I usually keep the eggs submerged in cold water and place the whole thing in the freezer while I finish the rest of the salad.

When the potatoes are finished, immediately rinse with cold water under the tap in a strainer. Do not rinse too much because it will cause the potatoes to fall apart. Set the strainer aside to let the excess water drain out.

Add the boiled potatoes to the dressing and mix well, making sure to coat all of the potatoes. Once you've coated the potatoes, cover the bowl, and set it in the fridge.

Peel and chop hard boiled eggs and when finished add the eggs, parsley, fennel leaves, and freshly ground black pepper. You should also use this last mixing of the salad to add more salt if you wish. Once the salad is finished, garnish with paprika, cover, and let sit in fridge.

This can be served as soon as it's cold enough to your liking, but I always try to make any potato salad the day before because like pasta sauce, it tastes better the second day. If your mixing bowl isn't something you want to set on the table, transfer it gently to a serving dish before garnishing the salad with the paprika.

Sweet Balsamic Corn Salad

For 4 persons:

3 ears of sweet corn cooked (or 4 cups of canned sweet corn)

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/4 chopped freshly parsley

1 clove of garlic finely minced with the inside bit removed

3 tablespoons of finely minced basil

1 pinch of oregano

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt & Freshly ground pepper

Sweet Balsamic Dressing:

1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar (do not use an aged balsamic as it will already be slightly like a syrup)

Pour balsamic vinegar into a saucepan and allow to the vinegar to boil down until it is thick enough to coat the back of wooden spoon on medium-low heat (should take about 15-20 minutes). This is also how you make a balsamic reduction sauce, and is a great way to use cheaper balsamic vinegars you're more likely to find in grocery stores. Set aside.

Combine all the salad ingredients except the salt and pepper. Once the balsamic is cool enough that you can taste it with the tip of your finger, add it to the salad ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.

This can be made the night before, but I actually think it's better to make it a few hours before serving to control the taste. Just make certain it's cold when you serve.

For dessert you can serve strawberry shortcake or even just a selection of in season fruits like watermelon or cantaloupe, but make sure you have plenty of either dry white wine on hand for yourself (or your guests) or a nice rosé like a Cote de Provence.

I won't include my recipe for strawberry shortcake or for the fried chicken because they're not yet absolutely perfect, so tomorrow I'll be practicing since they'll be no guests. I'll be using whole wheat flour for my fried chicken for the first time, so hopefully that won't be a disaster. As for the strawberry shortcake, I'm simply waiting to see how the whipped sour cream with amaretto comes out. So be sure to check back and if you do try my recipe for Apple, Bacon, and Fennel Potato Salad please let me know what you think, did differently, or how difficult you found the recipe to be. I'm currently working on a cookbook, so feedback is really appreciated.

Oh, and bon appetit!

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Today's Daily Yumology - Terriyaki Chicken and Broccoli Rice Bowls

It has been a long standing FB tradition of mine to post what I'm cooking to torture my friends. Often times the torture gets so bad that they come by to have some of my grub. It is sort of the point.

Now truth be told I am not a fan of recipes. I'm sort of a maverick (Is it okay to use this word yet or did Sarah Palin and John McCain kill it completely and forever?). I throw things together and keep a lot of spices handy. I have cooked certain dishes so many times that a recipe isn't needed or I don't need the actually recipe I just need to check to see if I have all the ingredients.

But I don't go all out every day. For example yesterday I made gourmet meatloaf (it really was amazing) in single serving terrines with Creole style fried potatoes and a simple salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and corn with a mild balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was delicious, but exhausted from my efforts I went decidedly simpler today.

Tonight's Yummy is terriyaki chicken with broccoli and rice. See? Nothing fancy.

I made the terriyaki chicken with whole thighs I deboned and then pan-fried until the skin was a bit blackened and crisp. The terriyaki sauce was a mix of crushed garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, and 2 T of sugar. I marinated the chicken about 1 hour before frying it and let it set on a pan to ooze out its juice before slicing it into strips (in the vein of magret de canard). Once sliced I quickly sauteed the chicken with pre-steamed broccoli (leave it a bit crisp). Once done I plated the chicken mixed with the broccoli and after adding 2T of water, boiled down the remaining marinade until it was thick enough to coat a wooden spoon.

I garnished my terriyaki chicken and broccoli with fresh green onions, the remaining marinade (containing all the deliciously fried up garlic and ginger that came off the chicken during frying), and sesame seeds.

Served with steaming hot cups of green tea and steamed perfumed rice, it's a quick and tasty meal.

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