the spoon for pork

Milk the conclusion

2012-01-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Ryan Spoon, Internationally known, a big thank you goes out to the six people in Russia, and the one person in Germany and of course r.o.c.k. in the USA.

I watch the news maybe 3-4 times a week, while watching I see events such as murders, thefts, bombs, corruption of politicians, Lindsy Lohan going to rehab....again. I never watch the news and see "little boy receives bicycle for birthday, best day ever! or web sensation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PzoxTgfRO0 (motivational speech after learning how to ride a bike) So you get my point, when I think news I think bad. Such as bacteria, when I hear that I think Meningitis, I think back 3 months ago when I ate a breakfast burrito and hours later my brother in law was taking pictures of me curled over a dirt bike puking. But in reality I should think penicillin, most bacteria co-exists with humans without any harm, many of the bacteria we have used and manipulated to our benefit.

Lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus are two beneficial bacteria that feed on lactose sugars and excrete lactic acid as a waste product which this is vital to making yogurt. I can break yogurt down into four steps.

1. Milk is heated to 185 degrees for 1/2 hours to kill harmful/competing microbes
2. The temperature of milk is dropped to 113 degrees and the bacterias (culture) are added then dropped to 110 degrees
3. The streptococcus works its magic until the acid slows it down, then the lactobacillus (the hardier of the two) takes over
4. The mixture is held at 110 degrees for four hours and there you have it.
For a play by play http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/print/how-to-make-your-own-yogurt.pdf
I have yet to try my sister-in-laws yogurt but have heard it is very good!

Next is Buttermilk, well go quick because I want to get to cheese!!!
While making butter, the remaining liquid is the beginnings of...survey says... buttermilk, but these days most people culture skim milk. Buttermilk is exposed 8-10 hours longer to the bacteria than yogurt and at a lower temperature (40 degrees lower). Since this "buttermilk" is not exposed to actual butter, how does it get the flavor you might ask, another bacteria is exposed to the mixture. It is called streptococcus lactis, it converts citric acid to a molecule called diacetyl (which is a molecule in butter that gives its flavor).

Cheese, Cheeeeeeeeeeese, Is there really anything better? I have so many different favorites of cheese, my jack of all trades cheese is St. Andres, also my wife's favorite cheese, my favorite washed rind cheese grayson and tallegio. Pleasant ridge reserve, Hombolt fog, Mimmolette, coolea....I could spend all day at cheese stores, I wish I had a cowgirl creamery near me (http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/). That place is amazing!!!,

Anyways, upward and onward! Its amazing when you think about it, cheese is controlled spoilage...

A quick note about milk and the importance it has on cheese (besides the fact that it is the main component) Goat and Sheep's milk have higher odorous molecules then cow which means a few things....it has a high concentration of short chain fatty acids and this is what gives goat and sheeps cheese its pungent flavor which I love. Different species of cows have different flavors, different regions, whether or not they were treated with antibiotics has much to do with the ripening, the bacteria might not be able to fully do its job with the presence of antibiotics. Most all cheese is made from pasteurized milk, and for a reason. Unless you make the cheese almost immediately after you get the milk than it has a good chance of turning sour, milk is a very nutritious substance and is a good home for all sorts of bacteria (good and bad) and they are quick. The commercial milk has to travel to a cheese plant somewhere to be made so the milk has to hold for long periods of time.

Bacterias....you have your bacterias (certain bacterias are added for certain types of cheese, it used to be certain bacterias were only found in certain regions) you have your rennet and your lactic acid and taadaa, you have curds and whey, all we want is the curd in this aspect but be careful what you do with the whey. It has become more than just a bi-product (it use to be used to make ricotta). These days whey could be a danger to the Eco-system if disposed of inproperly, it encourages more algae growth then normal in turn depletes oxygen from the deep water. Moving on, .....where am I...Curds...All cheeses in the large scale of things are made the exact same way. You have your curds, you want to dice them as small as possible as you release more of the whey the smaller you dice them. You are going to subject the curds to tempered water, anywhere between 105 degrees to 130 degrees. ( small diced curds are best for hard cheeses, larger curds for soft cheeses)

The temperature is very important as I'm going to sidetrack quickly...you should be used to this by now. I worked for a Chef, we will call him Chef English, he won the ******* award for the ****** company during ******** time period...that's a real award, plaque and all. He is one of the most intelligent and talented chefs I have ever worked for. We would make our own mozzarella for functions, I was really excited as I had previous experience in the matter where anyone else in the building had not. Granted it still didn't mean I knew more about the subject just that I had done it. He would always taste my motz and say however much he liked the flavor but it was too tough. The fresh mozzarella that we got from the plastic jug tasted like water but had such a soft texture, amazing if only I could have combined the two! NOW I FINALLY HAVE AN ANSWER WHY!

Going back to the temperature of the water you used for the curds, the higher the temperature the tougher and rubbery the mozzarella will be, the lower temperature the softer it will be. If you really think about it...THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE! You cook meat low and slow to retain the tenderness and juices, why shouldn't that hold true with cheese.... So you cook your curds, during this process it does many things, releases more of the whey, breaks down the casein's and allows them to re-connect which gives a nice and shiny look. Your doing good if you get that, from there you take the "curd" cut it into pieces again and stack it on top of each other (out of the liquid), this is called cheddaring. It is really preference to how long you cheddar your cheese, once "cheddered" you are going to mill the cheese, a form of grating it really. You still with me, this is alot of information I'm subjecting you to.

This is where I try to cram a ton of information into a little space, Im not writing a book here...

Once it has been milled there are different routes you can take, some are salted with the milled cheese, molded and pressed. Others place the milled cheese in molds, press then salt or place in a mold, press and place in a brine. Salt is important, this slows the pace of our bacteria, in the case of feta even stops it. This brings us to ripening, controlled spoilage. There are really four main ways of ripening, from the inside, from the outside, evenly throughout, or through natural veins (bleu cheese). Many soft cheeses are ripened from the outside, that is why they are so thin otherwise the outside will be completely liquid before the middle is ready. Cheese is than treated according to the type of cheese you wish to make, washed rind, placing a wax mold, wrapping in cloth, the possibilities are many. From here the cheese is then placed in a temperature and humidity controlled room for certain periods of time, 80% humidity for hard cheeses, 95% for soft cheeses and both are in an environment of 50 degrees. This is more the rule than the exception but keep in mind there are many exceptions and many variations cheese is made. That, in a nutshell is how cheese is made. There is so much more information about cheese we could discuss but they are really details that are only intresting to those intrested. This concludes our time with dairy, we now move on to Chicken, and the ultimate question "the chicken or the egg"

As always if you would like any clarifaction on anything here please let me know I would love to break it down.

I would also like to express my deepest empathy for my brother and his family as they just lost their dog and that is just an experience that I do not wish upon anyone. We are here if you want to chat...

WTF glossery and notes

2012-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Below is my WTF list, as I am reading the book I come across terms that I do not know. I jot it down here, look it up on the internet on at least 2-3 different sites. Most of these listed below are in my own terms, and a few have explinations to the best of my understanding. Im sure many of these I have not used in my post but there is alot of great information.

Lactose is a complex sugar found in milk. Lactase counters Lactose as it is an enzymecreated in the small intestine to break down the sugars in lactose.

Lactose intolerance is the inability to create the enzymelactase if Lactase is not present than the sugars do not get absorbed by thesmall intestine.

If the sugars reach the colon intact colonic bacteriaferment the sugars and creates gas.

Also, if the sugars reach the colon intact it can causewater retention, bloating and/or diarria.

Lactose is reduced in all other milk products as thebacteria, enzymes and acids of other ingredients assist in fermenting thelactose over time.

A pigment changes the color of reflected or transmittedlight.

A carotene is an isomeric pigment that ranges from violet toyellow.

Isomeric is a compoundwith the same molecular formula but different structural formula ( two houses,each with the same amount of Lincoln logs but different shape)

A compound is a chemical structure of two or more elements.

A vitamin is an organic compound; an organic compound is acompound made up by any number of molecules (liquid, gaseous or solidcompounds) required as a vital nutrient (elements needed to survive)

Reagent- A reagent in dummy terms is a chemical that is addedto try to get an adverse reaction. It isthe friend who talks smak and picks a fight but steps back when it begins andwatches.

To synthesize is a reaction from the reagent, It changescells of living organisms through creating a hybrid. like a referee who starts an fight and then steps away.

Globular proteins vs. Fibrous proteins (figure out later)

Riboflavin- known as Vitamin B2

An Ion is an atom or molecule that has an uneven number ofelectron to proton ratio (can be either positive or negative) Think teetertotter

Fatty acid- made up of carboxylic acids

Carboxylic acids- organic acids

Organic acid- chemical compound with acidic properties

Acidic/acid- a substance that reacts with a base

Aggregation is a the sum of, all coming together (clumping)

Bovine- an animal of the cattle group to include bison and oxen

Pasturization kills enzymes, fat splitters and micros. Fat splitters slowly make the milkunpalatable

Calcium- is the chemical element with the symbol Ca andatomic number 20. Calcium is a soft grayalkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in theEarth's crust. Calcium is also the fifth-most-abundant dissolved ion inseawater by both molarity and mass, after sodium, chloride, magnesium, andsulfate

Chemical element- Achemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atomdistinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in itsnucleus

Butterfat- is what the fat from milk is called

Globule- is a droplet

Cream- Once a cow is milked, if left alone would start to separate. The fat aggregates and rises to the top whichis skimmed. Thus the milk that isskimmed along with the fat layers create the cream. The milk proteins are highly diluted withbutterfat.

Divergence- is a form of measurement

Synthetic- the combination of two or more parts, whether bydesign or by natural processes. Furthermore, it may imply being prepared ormade artificially, in contrast to naturally.

If you freeze cream, the water escapes to form ice, oncethaw it is difficult to re-create the ratio of water, fat, protein ect… andwill not get the best product.

Crystallized fat- the faster it cools the more but smallercrystals will form, the more crystals the firmer the butter will be. The longer it cools it will form fewer butbigger crystals thus having a softer butter.

Hydrogenation- oils heated to 400 degrees, with hydrogen(lightest gas ever) bubbling through for a few hours with the presence of a metalliccatalyst. (changing the molecularstructure close to plastic’s)

Clarified Butter, what actually happens- the water from thebutter evaporates, the white sediment is proteins and salts, the froth is thewhey proteins

Saturated fat-

Surfactant- are compounds that lower the surface tension of liquids (think of a hard gel ball, this compound takes the gel from 1" to 3/4" or 1/2", making it easier to break through)

Colloid- is a substance microscopically dispersed into another substance, (Butterfat globules = colloid dispersed into water )

Micelle- is a clumping (aggregate) of compounds dispersed into a liquid
Milk

Lactic acid bacteria breaks down the casein (protein) micelles (compound clusters) and causes them to aggrigate (seperate into the individual compounds that make up the micelles even more) and this is what causes milk to thicken. (does not work on pasturized milk)

Buttermilk is the liquid remenents from making butter. Nowadays it is made from skim milk, cultured and a seperate bacteria is added that creates the "butter flavor"

Perpetuate- continue indefinatly (live forever)

Successful screw ups

2012-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

Hello all and welcome yet again to the spoon for pork, however I think I might change that since I'm talking more about the science of food over pork, I would love to hear your suggestions and don't be shy. There are many restaurants that I want to visit throughout my life: Noma, Mini Bar, El Bulli, Volt, Charlie trotters, Charlie Palmer....too many to really jot down but as I was doing a little bit of searching today I found a new restaurant that found its way near the top. Any restaurant named Butter is a winner in my book. I love the menu and the style of the dining room, take a look, ill be here when you get back. http://www.butterrestaurant.com/#/menu

Butter, that's a great name for anything...even a south park character! Its also a great topic to discuss next! Who doesn't like butter, if you say you don't then you better "shut the front door" and stop lying to yourself. (anyone need help figuring out that last quotation, let me know and I can clarify ;) How is butter made, I'm sure everyone knows...Churning! Of course, but than again what is churning? My wife is a teacher and makes butter with little kids all the time, they know how to do it but they cant tell you what it is! If you burn garlic than its trash, over cook chicken and its un-salvageable, but over whip whipped cream and you get butter.

When making whipped cream you are whisking air into the cream creating a foam. The proteins in the cream (which I learned today are way less than milk) un-fold and are drawn towards each other end to end which creates a small barrier around the air pockets stabilizing it, these proteins are caught in the walls of the bubbles. Some of the fat globules loiter like Jay and Silent bob but many of them to also assist in stabilizing the air pockets like good citizens. So the air pocket is the QB, the proteins and the fat globules are the offensive front and extra blockers.... yep, that paints the right picture. Once that happens, the QB throws a perfect pass for a touchdown then decides to Tebow, In other words you have stiff peaks, oh and you kneel if you don't know what Tebowing is...you can YouTube it and see below

(below) Tebowing

Now butter, remember this is a post about butter....this is essentially an inverse of everything just said. So Tebow doesn't kneel, the front line breaks down and all hell breaks loose. Whipped cream is whipped in a controlled temperature, a low temperature. As you continue to whisk the cream the mixture starts to warm up, so in tern the fat globules warm up. These fats solid when warm, start to get soft and vulnerable, they continue to bump into each other like bumper cars and eventually break. Continue whipping and the water bubbles burst and everyone knows that fats and waters do not mix, the fat solidifies. What happens when you make a small snowball at the top of the hill and roll it down a big hill, ill tell you. Mad martigan gets stuck in the middle of a 400lbs snowball, don't know how he got up from that so quickly without pucking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdO5EKz_01I (43 seconds in) Where was I, yes...as the fat globules continue to burst and the water continues to break through its own membrane a "large snowball" is made and continues to get bigger as it gets whisked. In the end you are left with a solid mass of Butter, and a liquid (also known as buttermilk which we will get into later) Real quick, when cooling butter you want to do it slowly as you will get fat crystals but they will be larger and fewer whereas if you cool it quickly they will be smaller and many many more, creating a stiffer butter.

For 2000 points who can tell me what a ghee is?

I'm not going to tell you, at least not yet. (insert evil laugh....and scene) Clarified butter is a separation of the milk proteins, salt and whey proteins from the butter fat. To make clarified butter you cook butter, I would suggest slowly. At first you will get some sizzle, that is the water evaporating from the mixture. Next you will get a separation and a froth. the froth is the whey proteins, then you will have the white mixture at the bottom of the liquid which is the protein casins and the salts, separate the froth, and the proteins and you get butter fat, which can withstand very high temperatures without burning. TAADAA! With cooking, if you haven't done something before it can be almost overwhelming, but in reality all you need to do is understand the process and it is the simplest thing in the world. Just like this.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvIweCIgwk (the scene I am referring to is at 46 seconds of the clip, but this movie is so stupid its hilarious and I would watch the whole clip) Oh yea, ghee is brown butter, ( the fats brown a little creating a nutty flavor)

Lets finish with Margarine.. Again, if you really want to know the history behind let me know and I will gladly send you the information, and this actually is very interesting because there was so much resistance from the government and the dairy industry. It was bootlegged like liquor, taxed like crazy and so on but... Margarine started with other animal fat, now it is mostly soy and corn oils that predominate the market. They press the oil, purify it and do a hydrogenation process. During this process they heat the oils to temperatures of 400 degrees and above, next hydrogen is pumped through the scorching hot oil. Then a plethora of things happen, it gets fortified, then colored with a synthetic carotene, than goes to what is called the water phase where the mixture is emulsified with skim milk. Here is the best definition I found on hydrogenation if you would like more clarity. http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/fattyacids2.html.

I'm sure everyone has heard that margarine is one molecule away from plastic, I will do more digging on that but I did find this (#16 on website) http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/b/butter-margarine.htm

Good stuff...I am working on a glossary post for all of the terms, I know that will be of use. Keep in mind that this blog should be a two way street, somewhat of a relationship so if you have any questions or comments feel free to share. Thanks for reading

An Introduction to Milk

2012-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

A must have for any food lover

An Introduction to Milk

Who is Herold McGee, a scientist, a food lover, the Dr. House of Gastronomy? I'm going with Dr. House as I don't believe there is anything he can't explain about food. In all actuality I cant ignore how much Alton Brown and Herold McGee have in common? Both of them have way to much knowledge into the depth of food science. I haven't quite seen Herold McGee on T.V. as much (not even close actually) but I'm sure he could go big on the big screen, possibly a documentary. 3000 liters under the sea should be the title of one of , of course it would have to do with oceanic life.

Today's topic, chapter 1 of the book "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee took me almost four hours to read. I went through it slowly, looking up the definitions of words I was not familiar with so I can truly understand what I am reading. Was it worth it? The answer is yes. Any who...........the subject at hand

Milk and Dairy products-
It starts with the History of dairying, it was interesting to say the least, it really was ....in the beginning paragraph I'm not going to lie that it was a very tough four pages to read and if you really want to know about the history e-mail me and I will happily let you know. But for now I will fast forward to "milk in the diet"

Milk in general is the same for all mammals, it has the same battery of substances. It is when you actually hone in on the ratio of substances for different species you realize how different they really is. Take seals for instance, they need to have a very thick insulation to sustain the treacherous waters. The type of milk that they nurse from are a low sugar and high fat content allowing for them to have a thicker coat. Think to yourself, a calf doubles its weight in 50 days, 50....whereas humans double their weight in 100 days, What does that tell you? Among many things you came up with it tells you that cows milk has a higher amount of protein in it than human milk, roughly three times the amount.

On that note lets touch a little on digestibility, Milk has a sugar called lactose, this is very difficult to dissolve and that is why we have an enzyme that is called lactase. This enzyme assists in breaking down the sugars, but after a certain age our bodies stop creating this enzyme because no longer do you have to rely on mothers milk to survive. So why would the body create something that it does not need (not actually a question), it would'nt and doesnt. That being said, without this enzyme, the sugars do not get broken down in the small intestine. It reaches the colon in tact, a reaction occours, the colonic bacteria ferments the sugars creating gas, other issues can be water retention and other bad stuff. Nowadays, we have processes such as pasteurization and homogenization that assist in breaking down the curds in milk which allow us to digest more easily but we will get into that next post.

Human milk has a form of bacteria that assists the baby through a transition period from the womb where he/she is fully protected to an environment full of bacteria and indigestible pathogens. The bacteria by the way is called the bifidious factor Think of dominoes, well only a few dominoes, the first being bifidious factor which is indeed a bacteria that excrete lactic acid (domino #2)....lets forget the dominoes, the bacteria creates lactic acid, the lactic acid helps prevent harmful microbes from forming. The acid along with the mothers antibodies protect the baby from polio, salmonella and other such scary monsters. We all good on that subject cause I know it kinda came out of nowhere...I can wait while you review.

I am going to leave it at that today. If there is anything unclear or you have any ideas for the blog dont be afraid to post a message letting me know what you think.

Spoon

Winning Combination

2011-12-31T19:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New year everyone!!! 2012 the year of the mayan calander, the year of the dragon, the year of the dark knight rises, the year that I win the pork competition and most importantly the year I first appear on food network (applied to chopped, and am waiting to apply for the next food network star, stay tuned). So many things have happened over the past year, my car got broken into, we moved to Michigan, we lost our dear friend harley, we got osama, the war in Iraq ended, mini darth vador starts a volkswagon with his mind...amazing!

Looking forward will be a good year, fingers crossed. I dont really have anything going on in January but I am looking to work on my meat cuts, there is a local specialty meat market in which I am going to apprentice with almost. I spoke with the manager and asked him if I could work with him one day a week, im excited. Everywhere I have worked we have gotten our meats pre-cut and since I have never gone to school I am a bit rusty...yep thats a good way to put it. But, come February my name will be Mr. Pork! February 23rd come one come all to the "taste of elegance."

I have finalized my plate, well I havent decided yet on the actual plate itself but the components to go on the plate is complete in my mind. Taking you through my thought process (so this will be short, haha). Pork Shank is the winner, braised in a rich red wine demi with earthy herbs, thyme, bay leafs, no rosemary im not a fan as it is too overpowering. I will however play with the presentation but the technique is set. The risotto, now this is where I get to have fun, I wrote down every component for a traditional risotto milanese, from there I thought of every way I could cook/present that ingredient. Examples below...

Garlic-mince, roast whole, paste, garlic chips, pickled garlic, black garlic, elephantgarlic, Garlic air, Roasted Garlic jam, Garlic gelee, garlic sheet, Garliccavier, Garlic ice cream, garlic sorbet, Fried garlic (3 stage), Garlic blossoms, Garlic scapes, Garlic puree,Garlic vinaigrette, Garlic tapenade, Garlic egg noodles, Garlic custard, garlicpowder

Shallots-julienne raw, roasted whole, roasted puree, Grilled, Charred with blowtorch, dehydrated chips, Shallot rings intempura, shallot foam, caramelized shallots, shallot vinaigrette,

Arboriorice- Pureed with shallots, cooked plain, classic risotto, ground down and usedas grits, risotto sauce, risotto lasagna, risotto chips, risotto croquets withbreadcrumbs, risotto croquets with ground Arborio rice, potato risotto, sweetpotato risotto, root vegetable risotto, risotto pasta, Arborio rice pudding

This method can be broken down even more setting certain cagagories, ingredient, method of cooking i.e. broil, grill, sautee and than finally a finished result, i.e. puree, slice, foam. There are many ways to go about this method, some people might just throw spaghetti against the wall and see visions from there who knows.

However, I am going to start with a garlic and saffron infused arborio rice cooking it as you would risotto without all of the ingredients, constintly stirring to release the starches and add to the creamy texture starting and finishing with whole butter. I will have a shallot puree which I will incorporate a little cooked arborio rice to stabelize the texture and viscosity of the puree. With the wine I will make a local wine gelee, and this leaves us with bone marrow and parmesan cheese, using an isi canister which I havent bought yet I will create a bone marrow and parmesan foam. I will most likly blanch some chives and puree into the cream base to assist with the flavor and color of the foam, and this is how I am going to win the comp. The idea is set, however 2 months is a long time to play with a plate without wanting to change somthing and will keep you informed if I change anything but I dont think I will anytime soon. I have yet to take any pictures but as soon as I do I will post them.

Thanks for reading, my next post/post's are going to be on the book every culinarian needs to read. "On food and cooking" by Herold McGee, and if you are intrested check out Gourmets diary of a foodie on hulu. There is a great episode with Jose Andres of Minibar!

To get those creative juices going until the next post think how you can best transform beer and pretzles into an appetizer.

Spoon

Risotto, the background of

2011-12-21T20:09:00.000-08:00

Risotto

How many ways can you cook an egg? alot is the answer that I'm looking for. Ive put in about 6 hours researching risotto, granted its only 6 hours but man, its six hours of reading definition after definition, post after post, I spent a good 3 hours on the wikipedia site regarding risotto. I'm on the site and next thing you know I'm looking specifics for amylose, I'm on the wikipedia page for that and have to look up what a polymer was to know what an amylose is. It took a good hour to find the bottom tier of vocabulary. So, risotto..... this is the method of cooking and not to be mistaken as the grain of rice. Risotto is a class of Italian dish's cooked in a broth with meat, seafood or vegetables the possibilities are almost endless. On top of that, many recipes include Parmesan cheese, whole butter and shallots. Honestly Ive never made a risotto without Parmesan.

The history of risotto and arborio rice is fun as well, Arabs brought rice to Sicily during their rule as it was the perfect environment and climate, flatland and humidity, and thus rice became a staple in those parts. well I guess its not that fun, the birth of risotto however is a little more interesting, I have found 3 different versions of how this happened but I saw one more than the rest. In 1574 the duamo di milano.....a giant cathedral was being built. A young apprentice named valerius had the task of finishing the stained glass windows. After he finished, the towns people kept poking fun saying that he used saffron to get the color of the stained glass windows. Finally he got tired of it, that's BULLSHIT he said......well he probably said something like that. He devised an evil genius plan, one that was so devious that even that cartman would be proud of, so...during his masters daughters wedding he took saffron and added it to the rice. (Insert evil laugh....now) His plan was to ruin the rice with saffron, it was crazy, so crazy it just might work, but the people loved it and not a single grain was left. Thus risotto milanase was born. Nowadays there are so many classic variations including squid ink, cuddlefish sacks ect...

Now that the history is out of the way, lets talk a little bit about the science about it. Not too much though as it will make my head hurt. There are two types of rice that are most commonly used, arborio which is the least expensive of the two and carnorali. Now I don't know much about carnorali nor did I do any research to find out anything about it. I will let you all know at a later post, but the both have many commonality's. They are short grain rice, which means they are more starchy than long grain rice. You see the starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. How many words in that last sentence did you not understand?

Rices such as these have the ability to absorb liquids and release starches, I know what your thinking, all rices absorb liquids yada yada yada.... stop thinking.

We will quickly discuss the best way to cook risotto, you want to start with sauteing the arborio rice in a suffrito, or in the U.S. mirapoix and using bone marrow or lard in place of oil. Bone marrow is key as a classic milanase. You saute the grain first to allow a film of fat and lard to cover each grain. Deglaze with white wine that has been infused with saffron, you want the wine to absorb and/or evaporate completely before adding hot stock little by little continuously stirring, you want to stir constantly as it releases starches from the outer portion of the grain that contribute to the creamy texture of the end result. You will cook it for roughly 45 minutes finishing with whole butter and fresh Parmesan. If it were me I would add mushrooms or asparagus for a classic risotto. Now depending on how your making it you can use any type of wine. I am going to experiment over the course of the next week using different methods and crazy ideas, the crazier the better.

Different ways to make risotto.

1. Classic

2. A variation of a classic

3. Make risotto, cool it, cut it into perfect 3/4" squares and bread it like a croquette

4. Make risotto, cool it, cut it into perfect 3/4" squares, take arborio rice and grind it down to use as the breading and saute it.

5. Grind down risotto and treat it as grits almost.

6. Make a light Parmesan cream sauce and use ground risotto as a thickening agent.

7. Cook arborio rice and create a cream sauce

8. Cook arborio rice and create a foam or air, from that there are many variations like shooting the foam directly into liquid nitrogen.

9. I'm still thinking..... give me a minute

10. I could make a risotto, grind it down to a paste add a protein binder or form of chemical glue. Spread the mixture on a silp pad and bake, allow them to cool and have risotto chips? Not exactly sure how I would do that on but im sure I could figure it out.

Well there are 10 ways, I will try to come up with at least another 5 for my next post, it will be a little more gastronomy related. I will upload some pictures and get your opinions.

I hope you were to learn as much reading this as I did writing this.

Spoon out.

Originality

2011-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

Being original is easy, but being different just to be different is riduculous. I have decided upon using pork shank for my compitetion. Shank also known as hock, shoulder hock from the front lets of the pig and ham hocks from the back feet of the pig. The hock defined is the shin, calf and other muscles, bone, fat and skin from just above the knee down to the ankles. I havent decided yet weather it will be the shoulder or ham but I am narrowing down the field. One of the main reasons that I want to do shank/hock besides the obvious flavor is that one of my favorite dish's is shank with risotto. It is very difficult to go worng with this combination (unless of cousrse you burn it, or dont cook the shank enough, well there is a few ways to go wrong).
That being said the combination is not very creative, innovative or original. The competition is judged on three catagories, 50 points for taste, 30 points for plating and 20 points for originality. Here is the kicker, you are expected to create a full plate, visually appealing and so on but they are only judging your flavor from the pork itself and not the dish as a whole. I want it to be the absolute best dish as a whole but I am only getting judged on the pork, anyways..........

Back to risotto, I am looking for different variations of cooking and serving risotto. A few thoughts are potato risotto, cooking the arborio rice seperate treating it more as a rice and having a cream/mascarpone cheese foam to go with it. Ive even thought of dicing 1/2"-3/4" idaho potatoes, poaching them in olive oil, grinding down un-cooked arborio rice and coating the outside of the potato with it before I sautee them. So many options......

At the same point in time I want to do either a sauce or foam with bone marrow, the flavor will be out of this world. There are so many ways that I can manipulate bone marrow as well it is almost overwhelming to think about so let me just stick with the risotto for now. Lemon, horseradish, lemongrass.....vietnamise flavors, asian fusion, im getting off track again. The shank is going to be very heavy so I want to balance it with s lighter, clean flavor. I will continue searching the intergalactic world wide web for some inspiration and hopefully will come to a conclusion sooner than later. Hope you enjoyed today thoughts even though I came to no real conclusions.

2 Months before comp.

2011-12-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

Let me first say thank you for taking time out of your valuable day to read my blog, I am truley honored. I found out today that I was accepted into a pork compitition for the state of Michigan, I am one of 15 chefs. I am telling everyone that I was selected when im pretty sure they just take the first 15 that they recieve, eh who knows. This will be the first compitition that I have ever been in, well food anyways, and to tell you the truth im not that worried and it will be a great experience and ill get good exposure from it. (the beginning of becoming a celebrety chef haha) I spent a good amount of my day today going over different cuts of pork, different cooking methods and what to accompany them with and came up with this..ta da _________. In all seriousness though I have a few ideas possibly over the top but I have time to refine it.

Pan seared skirt steak, sliced pork belly and a crispy short rib ravioli with olive oil poached potatoes and a bone marrow air...is that too much? :)
Quite a mouth full eh. Im thinking of flash pickling my veggies, brussel sprouts and kohlrabi....

(Fact)
for those who dont know kohlrabi is in the same family as cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. It tastes like broccoli stem or cabbage heart except a little more sweet. The younger stems of kohlrabi can be quite sweet and almost taste like an apple.

Im getting off track here, I have 2 months until the comp, I get to make everything here and heat it up there, the options are limitless. Shoulder, rib, butt...all of the above! When I told my wife that I was in the comp. all she said was, "I guess were going to be eating alot of pork" in a fun mannor of course. For now I will just continue to create flow charts and pair ingredients together, I have to remember that I am in the midwest so I cant be too crazy. I feel like I could go on but honestly Ive been staring at a computer all day, didnt become a chef for that but its seems I spend more and more time at it. Im out and shall return