Coming Soon to a Kitchen Near You

Soon I will share with everyone how this recipe was made...

Michelin Stars

Michelin Stars. I don't know what makes a guy from Lafayette, Indiana by way of Toronto, Ontario think so much about winning one. Recently it's all I can think about. I go to sleep thinking about them and when I wake up my first thought is what can I cook someday to earn myself one.

While I am at work all day cleaning trash, and fryers I make recipes in my imagination. I prep them and season them and then I imagine how I would cook them. I come home and talk to my wife about my new ideas, and I call my Mom and tell her too.

I tell the people at work of the things I've created, and show them pictures. Either they don't understand it or they just don't care. It is probably the latter of the two. Maybe I have led a misspent life... Maybe I am good at this. Maybe I can do good work in the kitchen... I hope everyone will eat it and fall in love with the food...

Candied Pork... AkA The One I Protect the Most

Everyone, or at least everyone with a food centric family has a recipe that was handed down to them from their parents or grandparents. This recipe was handed to my mother from my grandmother, and to her most likely from her's. I have loved this dish my whole life and as a child it was prepared for me on special occasions or on the rare occasion that I did something right. Here is my recipe for Candied Pork, or Pork Loin in Caramel Butter Sauce, depending on how fancy you want to be.

You are going to start with room temperature boneless pork loin chops, ad pretty and nicely cut as you can find them. I recommend you use about an inch to an inch and a half thick. Get your pan really hot over high heat with some butter, salt and pepper your loins nicely and seal them in the pan briefly. Then immediately add some warm water and light brown sugar and make sure you let the water come to a boil first (shouldn't take longer than a few seconds). One might ask "how much water and how much light brown sugar?" well the answer to that is less easy than I would like. I have never actually measured the water or sugar, but what I can tell you is that you want a super saturated solution. If you took science class you know that this means that the water and sugar have reached a point where absolutely no more sugar can be dissolved in the solution.

Once you have added your water and sugar and it starts to bubble get it moving IMMEDIATELY you don't want the sugar to burn in the bottom of the pan before it dissolves. When it is completely dissolved lower your heat to a nice simmer, cover your pan, and let it reduce. You need to watch it and flip your chops about half way through. You will know its done when the level of sauce in your pan is around 1/3 to 1/2 what it was to begin with.

When your sauce is fully reduced your chops will be done. You need to remove the pan from the stove and leave it covered off the heat to let the sauce rest. It will thicken as it stands. Once it has sat for about five minutes plate your chops, cover them with sauce and serve. I recommend saving the left over sauce for other things... it is super tasty. Candied Pork Chops... Done.

Spicy BBQ Chicken

Last night I found myself in a familiar situation. I had very little money, only a few ingredients, and I was exhausted. The resulting meal was spicy BBQ chicken with sweet baby carrots as a side dish.

I must first admit that I did not make the BBQ sauce from scratch. I honestly feel bad about that but unfortunately it was more cost effective to start with a good sauce as a base and improve it. In this posting we will make the chicken and in a future posting we will make the baby carrots, the reasoning behind me holding out on you is you first need to know how to make a nice little caramel sauce a la Brad.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and oil up your shallow baking pan with some olive oil. Then trim your breasts nicely and place them in the pan... now let them sit for a minute while you get your sauce ready.

This is a super easy way to make a sweet spicy sauce... are you ready? You are? OK then here we go. Get a bowl and squeeze in some Sweet Baby Ray's (tm) Honey BBQ sauce. Now get yourself some red Tabasco (tm) sauce and add some (to taste). Stir it up and you're done. Honestly I think it is a nice little sauce, and for the price of a bottle of BBQ and some Tabasco you can't do much better without making it yourself from scratch.

Now that your oven is hot, and your sauce is ready you can season your chicken. First drizzle some olive oil over the top of your chicken and rub it all over. Then a splash of salt and fresh ground pepper, and finish it with a nice layer of paprika.

Put your pan in the oven and bake it for 25 minutes... I'll wait... OK now brush on a nice layer of your sauce, and replace it in the over for about five to ten more minutes. Once it comes out of the oven brush on a little bit more sauce, let it rest and serve. Spicy BBQ chicken on the cheap... DONE.

I Cleaned a Deep Fryer Today

The zen art of focused attention is not appreciated in our want it now commercialized consumer society. I was at work today (at a fast food restaurant) and like every one else in the world, or at least the rest of the people like me I was working hard at finishing my job as fast as possible while achieving the best end result I am capable of.

We have four very large deep fryers and part of my job is to filter or change the oil daily. I have only recently been given this position (kitchen porter) and the fryers had been neglected in the area of deep cleaning. In the defense of the restaurant the oil is always clean and by no means does what I am talking about effect the quality or safety of the food. That having been said they were caked with congealed orange-ish greasy sticky fat, and in addition to that there was plenty of charred baked on carbon.

I have been in my position as kitchen porter for exactly one week and I have an entire restaurant to bring up to my admittedly high standards, so I had not yet gotten to the arduous task of really bringing these fryers back to life. I have however managed to get the dumpster area so clean I would honestly eat off the concrete directly next to either of the bins. I have also given that treatment to the back area, the walk in freezer, the walk in cooler, the dry stock area, and the sidewalks outside. In my opinion this is an impressive amount of progress in one week.

So I was done with three out of four fryers, and my manager tells me as I am draining the fourth that she wants one of them to shine today. This will be my "task" for today. I found her wording to be rather condescending, but hey, she is the boss. So I say to her that I don't have a putty knife to scrape the crap off of them and at this point of decay a steel wool pad is a preferred scrubbing tool. She responds that I have everything I need and the job should only take five or ten minutes.

I proceed to collect all the materials required to complete my mission. Here is a complete list of what I had.

1. A green scratch pad
2. Husky (kind of like Ajax but for carbon on stainless steel)
3. A pairing knife
4. Latex gloves

An hour of sweating, scrubbing, burning the shit out of myself, and cursing loudly exactly two times the fryer were clean. I found myself more than a few times completely lost in the painstaking task of carefully removing the carbon and grease build up with the flat bit of a paring knife. During those times I thought to myself about pride and making sure that your work is the best work you can do regardless of what it is that you do. When the day comes I own my own restaurant and I require my brigade to deep clean the kitchen every night after service I can tell them honestly that I did what they are doing but it was worse.

I came home today with water blisters from 360 degree stainless steal, but more importantly I walked out of work today knowing that I did good honest work with improvised tools. I relaized today that I can be a real chef because I can do the work. And even if I am the only one willing to do it I can trust myself to do it right.

I hope no matter who you are or what you do that you will be or have been asked to do a ridiculous task at an insane time with no tools. There is no better feeling than walking away knowing you did the fucking job and you did it well.

I would like to take this chance to share a very basic recipe with you. I have used my own marinara and you can check out that recipe on this blog. I highly recommend you only use sauce you make yourself. First thing to do as usual... preheat your oven, 350 degrees this time. Let it get good and hot like you always should. Get out your shallow baking pan and rub it down with olive oil and then take your room temp boneless skinless chicken breast and trim then up nicely and rub them down with olive oil. Once your chicken is good and oily start seasoning it. I like to do basil, parsley, orgeno, bay leaves, a little salt and a touch of course black pepper.

Now that you have your chicken all prepped just give it a little drizzle of olive oil and place it in the oven for twenty minutes.

When the chicken comes out take your homemade marinara and spoon it over the top of the chicken still in the pan. Then add some mozzarella (fresh preffered) and some Parmesan (freshly grated) and return the pan to the hot oven for about ten more minutes. Longer if the sauce wasn't hot. After ten minutes or so take it out, plate it, garnish it... Chicken Parmesan.... Done

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you love cookies? I know I do and I am very particular about what cookies I will eat. These chocolate chip cookies, are in my opinion... Amazing. If you have ever been subjected to eating hard or cakey choc chip cookies than you know exactly how frustrating shit cookies can be. In that light I worked for two days on perfecting a recipe that produces chewy, flavorful, beautiful cookies. I hope you enjoy them. This recipe should yield about 18-24 cookies.

Two Sticks of Thoroughly Softened Butter
1 Cup of Regular Granulated Sugar
1 Cup of Light Brown Sugar (packed into cup)
2 Large Eggs
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour (Approximately)
2 Teaspoons Very Hot Water from the Tap
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2-3/4 Teaspoon of Salt
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (As much as you want)

Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. It needs to be completely heated to get a good bake.

Get a large mixing bowl and put in your very (very) soft butter, sugar, and light brown sugar and mix it until it is smooth. You should use a spoon for this part because I find folding and mixing is the best method. It is important that you get it nice and creamy. If you don't do a good job on this step your cookies are fucked.

Now, beat in your eggs one at a time, and by one at a time I mean one egg completely beat in and then the other one. I find that a hand mixer on the first or second speed setting does a good job here.

Now take a clean measuring cup and dissolve your baking soda into your hot water and add it to the batter. Also at this point add your vanilla extract, and salt. Give it a few good stirs before you add your flour.

At this point we are going to add the flour. I add my flour one cup at a time. mixing it in completely between cups. After the second cup is added you need to add more a little bit at a time. If you add to much you will get cakey, hard cookies, and we don't want that. You're looking for a smooth texture which is loose but not runny, it should stick to the bowl when its held upside down, BUT it should not be to thick to comfortably stir by hand. I find the right amount is between two and a quarter and two and a half cups. Once you have your flour nicely mixed in add your chocolate chips and stir them in thoroughly.

Portion your cookies onto a cookie sheet (don't grease the pan!) using a tablespoon measuring spoon. You want the portions to be a heaping tablespoon. You don't need to flatten the cookies because they will spread out while they bake so just leave them in balls on the tray.

Everyone's oven is different so this step is kind of touchy. You need to bake the cookies until they are golden brown around the edges. Start by setting your timer for ten minutes, but your bake time could be between ten and fifteen minutes. My oven bakes them nicely in fourteen minutes. Check them in ten and then every minute after ten and keep track. I know I tell you not to check things in the oven to much but if you pay attention on the first batch then you won't even need to look at them until the timer dings on the rest of them.

Now you have awesome cookies. They will harden as they sit but put them in the microwave for about fifteen seconds, and you can enjoy soft chewy cookies anytime you want!

Brad's Marinara Sauce

This is a recipe that I have been putting off posting, but here it is folks... Marinara Sauce.This recipe leaves a LOT to interpretation. So I am going to give you the ingredients and method that I personally use. Please experiment in your kitchen, but if you play it safe I am sure you will be pleased with the results.

It should also be noted that I am not going to include the method to make this from garden fresh tomatoes, the reasoning behind this decision is the amount of time it takes to do this. I will however post the method for doing this in another article.

This recipe will yield two large servings of spaghetti, to prepare more just add ingredients proportionately.

2 Cans of crushed tomatoes (100% Natural No ingredients Added)
1 Large White Onion (Finely Chopped)
4 Cloves of Fresh Garlic (Diced)
Fresh Italian Parsley (And I mean fresh as in right off the stem)
Oregano
Dried Bay Leaves
Basil
Salt
Pepper

Start off by getting your large pot nice and hot with some olive oil over medium/high heat. Take you garlic and onion, and saute it nicely. You are done when the onions are slightly translucent.

Remove your pot from the stove top for a moment and add your two cans of crushed tomatoes and then replace it onto the heat. Immediately give it a good stir and lower your heat to a nice simmer.

Give your parsley a nice fine chop and then add it to your sauce (you want to end up with a palm full of parsley once its chopped). Give it a good stir again and then add your other herbs in the following order (I suppose the order doesn't matter much but this is how I do it): Oregano, Basil, Bay Leaves, Salt, Pepper. Give it a good stir again.

At this point the hard part is done. Now you need to taste it! If it tastes a bit under seasoned then add some more herbs to taste. Remember it is easy to add more herbs but impossible to remove them. If all tastes well then let it simmer for about an hour stirring about every five minutes. When you stir you need to make sure you are also folding. You want all of the tomatoes and herbs to simmer evenly. Please don't burn the bottom. About 15 minutes before its done throw in one more pinch of salt and pepper just to finish it.

Now your sauce is done. You can either serve it straight away (which is the way I recommend) or you can put it into a covered container and put it in the fridge for a day or so. This sauce is great for spaghetti or any other dish calling for a nice bright marinara sauce.

Cook Tops And Oven Heating 101

Here I am again writing in a food blog about basic cooking techniques. If you are an experienced cook and set in your ways, by all means disregard everything I say. If you are new and stumbled here or maybe a friend told you about the place, I hope you pick up a few techniques.

Today I have a few things to say about how to apply your heat to your food. Because as they say all good food amounts to are ingredients plus heat.

When you are cooking things in a pan almost 85 percent of the time you want to get your pan hot in advance. Recipes rarely mention this fact. All of your baking recipes will say "preheat oven to 350 degrees" but when it comes to cooking on your stove top they will barely give it a mention. Whether you are sauteing, frying, or any other matter of cooking on the burners, you almost always want to get your pan hot first. I will give you a very simple example.

When I fry an egg I set my burner to medium/high and let my pan sit for a few minutes until my pan and my burner are the same temp. I will then remove said pan from the burner for a few seconds and add my butter. What we are achieving in this circumstance is quickly melted, and unburned butter. Put the pan back on the burner for a few seconds and it quickly returns to temp, drop in your egg and BLAMO!

When it comes to your more often mentioned cooking medium (the oven), almost everyone I know does not let it preheat long enough. I am not sure why this is. I suspect its a combination of getting in a hurry, and the desire to conserve energy. Let's address these issues one at a time shall we?

Getting in a hurry: We all want to eat, very few of us get home and think "I'm not hungry, but I think I will cook a casserole." Realistically this takes our hard work and turns it to shit. Food will not cook properly in a rushed oven. You may have well put in a T.V. dinner.

Conserving Energy: Here is a logical idea you may over look. You will use more energy attempting to cook your food in an under heated oven. If you introduce cold or even room temp ingredients into a heating oven you will drop the temp with the food and opening the door, causing your oven to work twice as hard and use twice the energy to get back up to temp.

Another point of interest is the amount of heat you loose by opening your oven a hundred times while you are baking. Honestly, put it in and leave it. Check it a few times if needed, feel free to baste, or flip, but ask yourself this question... Do I reallllllly need to see whats going on in that magic oven wonderland?

So there are a few things to remember while you are in your kitchen. Remember you won't learn anything if you don't try, and experience is the best bed mate in the kitchen. Now don't even consider going and checking that roast!

Food Safety and Equipment Care

So there are some basic cooking rules and practices which I think a lot of food bloggers take for granted. A lot of people don't understand the things you should and should not do in the kitchen. I will cover the stuff I can think of, and add more in later postings, this might be a little random here and there but over all it should really improve your confidence in the kitchen.

BASIC FOOD SAFETY

You cook for people right? Your friends and family, co-workers, and neighbors. You don't want to kill them or make them really sick do you? Of course you don't. So you need to have good sanitary practices in your kitchen.

Keep your kitchen and work space clean. Every time you cook clean your cook top, and the walls around you stove. Keep your oven hoods clean and grease free. Also sanitize and disinfect your sinks, and counter tops. While you are working keep your area clean and organized. Rinse out your prep dishes as you go, and you will find when it's time to serve your guests you have very little work to do afterward.

Even if you are working in an immaculate kitchen there is still the risk of cross contamination. In a perfect world everyone would have three color coded cutting boards. Red for red meat, blue for white meat, and green for vegetables and fruits. And you would never allow those foods to cross those color boarders during prep. That having been said, in my kitchen I have two cutting boards. This is the minimum allowable if you are going to prep fresh ingredients. One of my cutting boards is glass. This non porous surface is easy to clean and disinfect during the prep process to avoid cross contamination. The other cutting board is wood. I use this one to prep herbs, vegetables, and fruits. And remember to wash your hands often. I am always vigilant about bacteria, it is not a joke, food poisoning can kill you.

CARING FOR YOUR TOOLS

You are an artist. You use tools to create your art. These tools should be properly cared for. Whether you use Wal-Mart brand pots and pans, Or Royal Doulton cookware. If you care for it properly it will serve you well.

Clean your pots and pans IMMEDIATELY after using them. Dry them thoroughly and replace them in a cool dry place. Never use metal utensils on non stick pans, you will scratch off the Teflon coating, and that coating will end up in your food.

Keep your knives sharp. If you own the finest handmade German cutlery it will work for fuck all if its dull and ignored. Your knives should do the work for you. Clean your blades every single time you go from cutting one thing to another (cross contamination!) and when you store them its the same as your pots and pans. Dry them thoroughly and store them in a cool dry place.

Remember to take a great sense of pride in what you do and how you do it. The next installment will be basic cooking procedures. Now go sharpen your knives!

Fried Potatoes

Every dish needs a simple side item. When you are cooking red meat I can't imagine there being a more appropriate side than good old fashion fried potatoes. This recipe will feed two, but can easily be doubled or even tripled.

4 Large Potatoes
1/2 Pound of Hickory Smoked Bacon
Salt
Pepper

Peel your potatoes and then slice them about a quarter of an inch thick. Discard the ends because they wont fry well. Once they are peeled and sliced place them in a bowl and rinse them thoroughly and let them sit in cook water while they wait to be fried.

Chop your bacon into reasonably think slices, but remember it will shrink as it cooks. Fry your bacon in a large skillet, do not drain. Place your potato slices in the pain over med/high heat with your bacon and bacon grease. Cover and fry until all your slices are tender to a fork, and as they fry add some salt and pepper to taste.

It should be noted that you should flip the potatoes several times during the cooking process but there will be some slices that look a bit burned. This is OK and will actually add a lot of flavor, just try to keep them moving every few minutes.

My wife hates onions so I don't use them in this recipe, but they are an awesome addition. If you would like to use them chop about half an onion and saute them with your bacon. Leave them in the pan when you add your potatoes.

Fried Potatoes... Done.

Cowboy Cut Ribeye Roast

How many of us have eaten a pot roast and wondered how can we make this easier and at the same time make it taste miles better. Here is a way to take out ninety percent of the prep and add ninety percent more fantastic meaty bliss. This is not really a proper roast, but more a gigantic steak that anyone can make and carve up for two or more. This recipe will feed two hungry people.

1 Cowboy Cut Ribeye (bone on about 2 inches thick weighing in at about 2 pounds)
Salt (Coarse Sea Salt Preferred)
Pepper (Coarse Ground Preferred)
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

OK. I am not going to take anything for granted so you start off by letting your meat rest and reach room temp. Season it nicely to taste no sooner than two minutes before it gets seared. While your meat is resting set your oven to broil and let it preheat no shorter than ten minutes (you want that thing hot like the fires of hell).

Season your meat on both sides with your salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Heat up a skillet nice and hot with some olive oil, and then sear your meat on both sides. Searing the meat is important because if you don't it will leak all its flavors out while it cooks in the oven.

Place your meat in a baking pan (best results require an aluminum or stainless steal pan). Never EVER EVER EVER put a pan with rubber handles in the oven. I have an electric oven which broils from the top main compartment so I place my baking rack at the top, you want the top of your meat about four inches from the element. It should also be noted that you should leave your oven door slightly open while you are broiling (but not while preheating).

Broil for about ten minutes, take out your pan and flip your meat. When you flip your meat take a spoon and pour the juices over the top. Replace in the over and broil for another eight minutes.

Once you are done cooking you meat... LET IT REST FOR AT LEAST THREE MINUTES! DO NOT CUT IT BEFORE IT RESTS! Not listening to this very important step will ruin your very expensive cut of meat. Carve you meat on a large serving plate and serve your slices with a bit of the juices that come out while your carving. Now you have an amazing roast that will make anyone say... MMMMMM!

Lessons Part 2

Another installment of everything I know I learned from Gordon Ramsay.

• A Clean Kitchen is a happy kitchen

• You can fuck off out of the kitchen if you don't like it

• No one wants to eat pretentious food except for food critics

More to come...

Baked Custard

Here is my slightly tweaked baked custard recipe.

3 Large eggs
2 Cups Milk
2.5 Tablespoons Sugar
Nutmeg (to taste)
Cinnamon (to taste)
Pure Vanilla Extract (to taste)
Pinch of Salt
Simple Dark Brown Sugar Syrup

Alright this recipe is super easy but it is really easy to fuck it completely in the baking process so be careful.

First take your milk and eggs and beat them in a medium bowl with your vanilla. Then as you are beating it add your cinnamon. Once your milk and eggs are combined pour the mixture into individual cups or an 8x8 baking pan. Personally I prefer a baking pan and I will explain why later. You need to have your oven preheated to 350 and it is very important that you let it get to temp fully. Take your baking pan and place it into a larger baking pan and pour hot water in that pan till the water level reaches about the level of custard. This is important because it will keep the custard from cracking while it cooks and will also allow it to cook very evenly and maintain its creamy texture. Just before you place your custard into the oven sprinkle the nutmeg over the top. Bake your custard for a minimum of 40 minutes. In my oven it is more like an one hour twenty minutes.

NOTE: A great way to tell if its done is to shake the pan. If it jiggles loosely in the middle it is not done. If the edges are set and it jiggles tightly in the middle it is ready.

While your custard is cooking prepare a simple syrup with your dark brown sugar. Here is how its done... You ready... OK. Two parts water one part sugar. That is all there is two it. I usually do Two cups of water and one cup of sugar. Bring your water to a boil and then whisk in your sugar till it is completely dissolved, once it has dissolved remove from the stove and chill in the fridge over night.

Once your custard is done remove it from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack till its approx room temp (this will keep your baking dish from cracking in the fridge and allow the custard to finish setting a little). Once it has reached room temp place it in the fridge overnight.

Dish out your custard into individual cups and then add some syrup over the top. Thats all there is to it. I hope you enjoy this simple but delicious desert.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Here is a recipe (well kind of) for garlic mashed potatoes.

Red potatoes (skin on)
Fresh Garlic
Fresh Green Onions
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Butter
2% Milk
Lemon Juice

In a 10 inch skillet add olive oil, and get your pan hot. A lot of inexperienced cooks do not understand the importance of a really hot pan. Never add ingredients to a cool pan unless there is a really fucking good reason. Once your pan is hot add your garlic and saute, then afterward add your green onion (it cooks much faster than the garlic). Remove this from your heat and pour it all into a small container, cover and set to the side.

While you were sauteing your garlic and onion you were bringing your water to a boil and cooking your potatoes weren't you? You did clean them and cube them with the skins still on right? You do know the skins are tasty right? OK. Then we will continue. While your potatoes are cooking (about half way through) add the juice of one quarter of a lemon to your boiling water, and add a pinch of salt as well.

While your potatoes are finishing, in a small sauce pan bring your milk (how much milk you ask? use common sense and make it proportionate to your potatoes) to a slow simmer and add your sauteed garlic and green onions (and the olive oil too, its so tasty). Let that simmer for a few minutes stir constantly and let those ingredients mix and flavor the milk.

Now that your potatoes are tender to a fork drain them and return them to the pot. Add your milk mixture and butter (to taste) and mash (hand masher, no hand mixers here!) them. We are looking for a lumpy mash on this recipe. Now you have tasty garlic mashed potatoes!

Everything I know about a kitchen I learned from Gordon Ramsay

Everything I Know I Learned From Gordon Ramsay Part One.

• Say fuck... fuck off... what the fuck... curse a lot generally

• Everything worth eating is simple yet elegant and clearly defined on your pallet

• If Customers Don't Come in... Go Out and Get Them

• Be Honest to Yourself and Cook Within Your Ability

• Your Kitchen Team is Your Family You Spend More Time With Them Than You Do Your Real Family

• Never Fuck With Another Man's Kitchen Unless He Asks You to

More to come later...

Lemon Pepper Chicken

Well I don't tend to measure much in the kitchen (which may not be good sometimes, lol) but here is a round about recipe for my personal lemon pepper chicken.

1 stick of butter
2 large chicken breast (boneless skinless)
1/2 lemon
Japanese Bread crumbs
lemon pepper seasoning
course ground pepper

First off preheat your oven at 350 degrees F. Then in a medium sauce pan melt your butter, and once it has been liquefied and is nice and hot add the juice of one half lemon (fresh!), and remember using your hands to squeeze lemon juice is the way to go. There is no need for an expensive juicer. Score your chicken breast (diamond pattern) on the top side. Dip your chicken breast in the lemon butter sauce and then immediately dredge in your breadcrumbs. Season lightly with your lemon pepper seasoning and a pinch of course ground pepper. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes let rest for a few minutes and serve hot.