Bon Appetit: The New American Tavern

Gastro-tavern with a set menu at the tavern on the right and a daily inspired chef's table menu on the left.

Bon Appetit: The New American Tavern

via Chef Jonathon Sawyer by noreply@blogger.com (Chef's Widow) on 12/6/08

The New American Tavern

The Brits have gastropubs, the French have gastro-bistros, and now we have gastro-taverns—smart, casual spots serving excellent drinks and modern takes on American (and global) comfort foods. Think of them as burgers-and-beer joints for the foodie crowd.

By Andrew Knowlton

The Greenhouse Tavern Cleveland Chef-owner Jonathon Sawyer's soon-to-open downtown spot will be a certified "green" restaurant with a rooftop patio and a menu featuring comfort foods with a pedigree, like dry-aged Ohio lamb saddle and roasted Tea Hills chicken. 2038 East Fourth Street; 216-393-4302

Rice Burgers: The Ultimate Fast Food

Must try

Rice Burgers: The Ultimate Fast Food

via THE LATEST FROM GOURMET.COM by Matthew Amster-Burton on 12/10/08

These golden brown rice patties--filled with meat or crisp produce--bear little resemblance to dull veggie burgers.

A Case Against Absentee Chefs (and Their Underlings)

Basically a chef today is like a producer on broadway. They have nothing to do with the actual product, they just manage it. How sickening, I would create a place that brings back the approachable unpretentious aspect of good food.

A Case Against Absentee Chefs (and Their Underlings)

via The Feedbag by editor@the-feedbag.com on 12/24/08

Chefs like Michael Shlow (right) need their underlings. But do they have to
actually write the menus? Really?

Forbes has a nice feature today about celebrity chefs and the men who actually cook at their restaurants. This is old news, of course — everyone from Alan Richman to the guy at the laundry have pointed it out, frequently with much agitation. But anyone who knows a spoon from a spatula can tell you that chef is a managerial position anyway; the guy who actually cooked your steak is some randy dropout who stands there at his pan all day, planning for a long night of drug-fueled coition at some downtown bar. What we here at The Feedbag object to is the practice of chefs letting their flunkies actually design the menu. And that, for us, is way over the line.

The Chef has to at least create the menu. He can't just lend his name, set up the financing, and then go downtown. He has to put his knowledge and experience and sensibility before the customer — his, not somebody else's. He's getting a lot of money, and he's neither cooking nor even cracking the whip. So he has to create the menu. He just has to. People want to eat his food, not the food of some guy who "has cooked with me for ten years and knows how I think." Let the lieutenant write the menu when he has his own restaurant. The chef is the one being paid as a star. Let him perform like one — even if it's for only the hour it takes to write the bill of fare. Thank you.

Forbes: Who's Really Cooking Your Celebrity Chef Meal?

America's Test Kitchen's Method for Roasted Broccoli

A must try item.

Sent to you by abroch via Google Reader:

America's Test Kitchen's Method for Roasted Broccoli

via Slashfood by Marisa McClellan on 12/13/08

Filed under: Vegetables, Recipes, Newspapers

Yesterday, when I was reading through the Philly Inquirer food section, I noticed a recipe for roasted broccoli tucked in, down at the end of the article about the year's best cookbooks. I think roasting veggies is a great way to prepare them, as it allows all those natural sugars to caramelize and develop maximum flavor. However, I've always struggled when it comes to roasting broccoli, because by the time the stalks cook to tender, the flowers are burnt to a crisp.

The recipe (from the Best of America's Test Kitchen cookbook) is fairly basic (olive oil, salt, a pinch of sugar and pepper) except for one thing. It has you preheat the roasting pan in a 500 degree oven while you prep the broccoli, so that when it comes time to lay the broccoli out on the pan, it gets a cooking boost by the hot pan.

I tried it out last night and was a revelation. The broccoli came out perfectly crisp-tender, but without the acrid flavor that comes when the flower tips get too brown. This one is a winner and I think would be great for a variety of other vegetables. I can't wait to try it with asparagus come spring!

Continue reading America's Test Kitchen's Method for Roasted Broccoli

Country Soup, take one

Main ingredients:

• White onions
• Mushroom stalks
• Broccoli stalks
• Wild rice
• Chick peas
• Large can of crushed tomatoes
• Greens (pre-cooked)
  
• Garlic
• Chicken broth

Seasonings:

• Salt/pepper
• Celery salt
• Herbs de Provence
  
• Forgot the others
• Dried bay leaves

Likes:
Love the greens in this, adds a nice color with the tomatoes, the unusable mushroom and broccoli stalks cook to a nice tenderness. Chickpeas also add a nice hardiness.

Dislike:
Maybe a little too tomatoey in the broth, I don't think that it's savory enough just yet.

Improvements:
To make more savory look into serving with fresh croutons on top with a sprinkle of a good cheese. Also look into using fresh herbs, though the dry herbs add to the hardiness and girth of the soup.

Avocado Mousse

Must try the avocado mousse, other thoughts asparagus?

Red and Green Recipe: Baguette Croutes with Brie, Avocado Mousse, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

via Serious Eats by Kerry Saretsky on 12/16/08

From Recipes

Put some holiday color on your plate, too, with Red and Green Recipes.

The holidays are all about cocktails and finger food, and don't these sound fancy! But then again, the holidays are also all about illusion: a winter wonderland of artificial snow, indoor forests, flying quadrupeds, and twinkling lights. In reality, there's nothing to these simple French-bread toasts: Toast the baguette, place a piece of brie to warm on the hot bread, top with a mixture of mashed-green avocado, citrus, and whipped cream, and adorn with red, chewy, and salty-sweet sun-dried tomatoes. The baguette is crisp and comforting. The avocado is light, bright, and luscious. The brie is pungent and pairs perfectly with the creamy avocado. And the sun-dried tomatoes bestow a salty sparkle on the whole affair. They are two-bite incarnations of holiday elegance and festivity.

About the author: Kerry Saretsky is a Serious Eats intern and the creator of French Revolution Food, where she reinvents her family's classic French recipes in a fresh, chic, modern way.

Baguette Croutes with Brie, Avocado Mousse, and Sundried Tomatoes

- makes 24 croutes -

Ingredients

1 avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 baguette, cut on a diagonal into 24 ¼-inch slices
Olive oil for drizzling
1/2 pound of brie, cut into 24 pieces (may I recommend Président's brie log for an accessible, inexpensive, and easily-sliced version?)
8 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned, or cut into strips

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Prepare the avocado mousse by mashing the ripe avocado with the lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper with a potato masher. Put away the masher, and switch to a hand mixer, whipping the avocado for a minute so that it becomes even more smooth.

3. In another bowl, whip the heavy cream. Then, using a silicone spatula, fold the cream in batches into the avocado mixture. By the end, you will have avocado mousse.

4. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil, and season lightly with salt. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the croutes are crisp and golden.

5. Remove the baguette croutes from the oven, and while they are still hot, place one piece of brie on each toast of baguette, so the heat from the bread just begins to melt the brie. Spoon some avocado mousse on the brie, and top with a few slivers of sun-dried tomato.

Mustard-Whiskey-Glazed Ham

Idea for next mountain house party.

Barbecue: Mustard-Whiskey-Glazed Ham

via Serious Eats by Joshua Bousel on 12/20/08

From Recipes

Ham is a funny thing in my life. It was the food that I missed most when my parents decided to keep a kosher household when I was 5. After leaving home and its kosher ways behind, I have had no qualms with cooking massive amounts pork, but a whole ham has never graced my kitchen; I suspect there's a place in my subconscious that has kept this super-trafe on the outskirts.

I don't know what triggered the change, probably just getting into the holiday spirit, but last weekend I had a hankering for some ham, went to the grocery store and picked out a bone-in beauty. Even though it was precooked, I heated it up in my smoker, using a mix of oak and cherry wood, for five hours, slathering on a mustard-whiskey glaze in the last hour. Each piece of this ham was pure sweetness, with an added hint of smoke in the glazed ends, which took me back to a more pure time when I had no notions of ham being anything but delicious.

Smoked Mustard-Whiskey Glazed Ham

Adapted from The Virtual Weber Bullet.

- serves 15 to 18 -

Ingredients

1 ready-to-eat bone-in ham, around 10 pounds
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Jack Daniels Whiskey
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Procedure

1. Remove ham from packaging, wash, and pat dry with paper towels. Allow to come to room temperature while preparing the smoker.

2. Fire up your smoker to 225°F. Add 4 to 5 medium chunks of smoke wood. When the smoker is at temperature and the wood is burning and producing smoke, place the ham in the smoker.

3. While the ham is smoking, mix the rest of the ingredients into a thick paste in a medium bowl to form the glaze, set aside.

4. Cook ham to desired temperature, about 4-5 hours for a ten-pound ham to reach 120 degrees. Brush on the glaze during the last hour of cooking. Remove from the smoker, slice, and serve.

Dinner at the Chef’s Table

This is what my dream restaurant would be. I would bring a chef's table to normal people everyday with a full service bar with a set menu. I want my food to change and be an expression of who I am and how I feel that day.

Critic’s Notebook: A Celebrity and His Skillet: Dinner at the Chef’s Table

via NYT > Dining & Wine on 12/23/08

The peculiar spectacle known as the chef's table presents opportunities for a prolonged meal that are unavailable anywhere else in a restaurant.