I got a screaming deal on a brand new Excalibur 4 tray dehydrator on eBay and over the past few days I’ve been dehydrating everything in site.   The bottom tray has black trumpet mushrooms and the top tray has orange slices (I want to see how long the quartered slices take rather than the round slices…..I have a ton of oranges at the house so why not try it all).

I pickled some ginger the other day….then I dehydrated it!

Shiitake mushrooms stems…oh sure you betcha.

Anaheim chillies? Yup.

Eric

My assault on the world of pickling continues.  The other day I was reading the ingredients to a Thai sweet chili sauce that I really like and I noticed something amazing…….. “pickled red chili”.  TO THE PICKLING CAVE!!!

I made a little base then pickled them there red chili’s. Day 2 and they are starting to get sweeter than the hot fire they were before….I spit hot fire.  Anyway, so yes!  It pickles!

Such is mango.

I was at Fresh Bistro the other the night and the waiter explained how the mangoes were pickled….well, not the steps but he said enough for me to GO TO THE PICKLING CAVE!!!

30 minutes in and they were all sorts of amazing.  Day 2, even better! Ladies and gentlemen,  IT PICKLES!

At work I do pickling with red onions, you’ve probably seen that combination a million times.   I thought, “how about doing some white pearl onions in a red vinegar sweet pickling base”.   TO THE PICKLING CAVE!!!!

30 minutes and the edgyness of the onion was gone and a slight sweet taste was evident.   Day 2, the red wine vinegar plays well with the sweet onion taste better….coloring should change after a week.

I-T P-I-C-K-L-E-S!!!

I had some carrots lying around, a chipotle pepper, that new pickled crushed red pepper, and access to a pickling cave so I was off TO THE PICKLING CAVE!!

My goal with this one is to have the sweet chili taste infused with the carrots sweetness then bring back a little smokey chipotle flavor into the mix.   I’m on fire……IT PICKLES!!!!

Having a pickling cave is awesome.

Eric

“Eric, that doesn’t look like powder.”  Stop interrupting me, voice(s) in my head.  Once I throw it in my spice grinder you’ll stop interrupting me then I’ll show you!!!!

You know when you make a puree of some sort then strain it and then you take the juice and make a roasted tomato saffron broth with hamachi (click)? Oh, you don’t do that?  Damn!  Well, next time you strain something take the strained pieces then lay them flat on a silpat (silicon mat) and place that in your oven at it’s lowest setting until it’s dried out completely.   These roasted tomatoes? 22 hours.

What to do with the powder?  You’ll see!

Eric

Peel some ginger, slice it thin, place it in a glass container, pour some oil over it, use it on stuff. What stuff will I be using it on? You’ll see!

Eric

I’m going to infuse everything.  Why? Because saying the word “infuse” sounds like I’m doing something hard when I’m doing something simple.  “Infusion of this this and this”.   You say, “Oh wow, sounds amazing”.   See how that works?!?!

Here is a little infusion of extra virgin olive oil and roasted garlic.  Toss peeled garlic in a little bit of the oil then slow roast it at 250F for about 45 minutes, let cool, then toss it in a jar with more extra virgin olive oil.  It will keep for a few days.  Use it in a vinaigrette, finishing move on a dish, or just drink it….it’s good!

Eric

I have a few different things planned for these little guys.  I’m going to make a small saucher cake infused with meyer lemon then use the pictured lemon as a topper.  I have a ton of strips that I will use in a bunch of different dishes throughout the year.  The good thing is that once you candy them and store them properly they can keep for a long time.

The process to make the strips is easy!

Then cook them in a sugar, sucrose, and water mixture until translucent.  Let dry then cover with sugar

Eric

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a dude named Jethro that was addressed to me and Scott from (Seattle Food Geek). Jethro asked us if we knew if there was a club or group of people that would like to do experiments with food.  Who the hell knows…..let’s start one, is the conclusion we came to.

Tonight was our first meeting. I felt like I was going to a dungeons and dragons meet up but instead of thousand sided dice and more pimples than I know what to do with I brought as many books, equipment, and cool ingredients  as I could possibly carry over to Jethro’s house.  After lugging around 50+ lbs. of books I said, “alright meeting is my place next time….haha”. Get back on track….

So we met up and I am happy to report that I have found another group of people that have a crazy addiction for food just like me.

Our first experiment was a spherification of rootbeer (pictured above).  It took a little work but we got to a few shapes we were looking for.  Now we have to focus on flavor, thickness of sphere, and if we need to introduce flavoring components to give us a much more intense rootbeer flavor.

Next up was a spherification of blueberry juice. We fooled around with it a little bit and finally find what we were looking for.

We were missing a few key pieces of equipment but I think the next time we meet up we’ll have that addressed.  This is extremely exciting for all three of us.  I think there is a lot bad press with this type of cooking but really at the end of the day it’s about fun. Each little sphere that came out was like receiving a Christmas present.  Now we just have to make those little Christmas presents taste good.

Even if we have a bunch of failure we still have a cool name:   Jet City Gastrophysics.

Eric

I would go into more detail about what we did but the first rule about food science club is that there is no food science club.

Rootbeer noodle……

I visited the Seattle Food and Wine Experience (click) and Cafe Campagne had this oil working on their plate. I thought it was great so I decided to steal it…hey o! I am going to turn this oil into something else but I just wanted to show you how vibrant it is. It would be a great plating option or a great mix into a vinaigrette. The fried parsley is fantastic!

Click for fried parsley recipe.  Don’t add the meyer lemon juice. Place fried parsley in food processor then slowly pour in extra virgin olive oil then strain over 4 layers of cheesecloth.

Eric, it doesn’t stand up like Cafe Campagne’s oil. I’m not sure what they did to do that but I am going to use Agar Agar when I am ready to serve it. I am also going to do a spherification of it once the UPS guy gets here. Stay tuned.

Eric

According to the book, Modern Cafe, this is one of Salvador Dali’s favorite dishes.  In the book it is served with regular lemon but this is MEYER LEMON WEEK so I had to adjust and what a fantastic adjustment it was.  I have never tried to fry an herb before but after this little experiment I am going to fry the hell out of every herb I see.   The crunch, the taste, the bright green color, and getting the crap scared out of me when it popped on entry into the deep fryer (wasn’t thinking about the whole water content of parsley and hot oil thing…..be careful!).

The following recipe is an adaptation of Modern Cafe’s Fried Parsley Recipe.  I have broken it down further and I suggest you try it but be very careful.

Equipment:

• Deep fryer
• Spider
• Deep fryer/candy thermometer

Ingredients:

• Canola oil
• 1/2 lb. flat leaf parsley (Italian Parsley), stems removed and reserved for a stock
• 1 meyer lemon, zested (for presentation), and juiced.  About 1/8 tsp. per handful of parsley fried
• Salt, a pinch per handful fried
• Pepper, to taste
• Plate with paper towels over it

Procedure:

1. Heat oil to 370F
2. Divide parsley into 8 portions then place each portion in deep fryer for 3 to 4 seconds then remove parsley and place on plate with paper towels and immediately salt, pepper, and juice it
3. Repeat steps to finish remaining portions.
4. Serve with zest of lemon as garnish.
5. Enjoy

Notes:  It’s great to eat alone but I plan on serving this over a fish or chicken dish next time.

Eric

Yes, yes it will pickle…..duh.  I started with Momofuku’s recipe for this and it has become a monster of my own.  I add a touch of tarragon to the mixture and instead of using rice vinegar I go with white wine vinegar, it opens the flavor up a ton. I always make two batches…..one with the Momofuku style and then my own. My sister tried these for the first time yesterday and she said she is going to bring me a whole bunch of cucumbers to pickle.  Good stuff.

I’ve done shallots before but this is the first time I will be doing it with Sherry.  We’ll see how it turns out.  Also, I have brown and yellow mustard seeds that I still need to pickle….I have done yellow before but not brown.  So excited!

Eric

Filed under: Technique, Vegetable Tagged: Cooking, Cooking Blog, Cucumber, Food, Pickling, recipe, Shallot ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2010/02/11/this-week-in-will-it-pickle/feed/ 0 ericriveracooks IMG_5729 IMG_5731 http://ericriveracooks.com/2010/02/05/dehydrate-lemons-infuse-salt-sound-cool/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2010/02/05/dehydrate-lemons-infuse-salt-sound-cool/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:53:36 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=5644 Continue reading →]]>

I’ve been working on this for a few weeks now and I am very happy with my results. I took some lemon slices and covered them with kosher salt and rotated them every few days.  My goal was to have the lemons 35-40% dehydrated with the juice being extracted infusing itself into the salt.  This gives me two things….

Lemon wedges that I can place in a food processor (yikes) and create a powder. The remaining part that isn’t dehydrated I will toss out, the rind is the most potent part for what I’m looking for.  Then I will take the leftover salt and it will be the first layer of salt that I will do a salt crusted fish with. I’m hoping that when I salt crust the fish with the lemon infused salt it will add a little lemon aroma/taste to the outer later that is being cooked, if not then I have other uses for the salt too. We’ll see what happens.

I have other things I’m going to cure with salt but I wanted to start out with something cheap.  Onto bigger things!

Eric

More cucumbers!!!

Shiitake Soy Pickling!

Yellow Mustard Seed!!!

All pickled quickly for use in this coming week’s recipes. Watch out now!

Eric

I’ve been wanting to try sous vide cooking myself for quite some time. The only thing that has been holding me back is the cost of the equipment.  The immersion circulator from Polyscience is over $1,000……The Sous Vide Supreme machine is $449 and isn’t available yet (still can’t afford that)……and there is another system from Auber Instruments that is around $150, but right now, that is still too much (student/blogger/chef in the making/all-round nice guy’s  don’t make much money).  So I scrapped the idea until I read David Chang’s Momofuku book.  They suggest using “ghetto sous vide” which involves a large stock pot with hot water being controlled by running hot water……too much maintenance for me right now with this one hand thing…….Eric adjusts.

Huh, I wonder what temperature water would be on the low setting for my crock pot?   Oh sweet, 130F.   How about the high setting 150F….huh, interesing.   A medium rare steak is 130F……so I can get the bags, remove the air and then cook a steak at……wait, let me try something else first to see if I can pull this off.

White Asparagus Sous Vide

Ingredients

White Asparagus
Smoked Paprika
Clarified Butter
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Procedure

Yeah, it works and it’s awesome.  A simple technique that can be achieved by using  things you have around the house.  It’s still a work in progress for me so don’t get crazy and start asking a bunch of questions yet.

I will be saving my pennies for one of the professional machines but I can’t wait for things to happen right now….I have to make them happen for myself.

Eric

“What the hell is sous vide?” Wait for it….or just google it If you’re one of those people that think this is a trend that is going to go away then continue thinking that while the rest of the world moves ahead.

(lots of typos and words scrambled around….welcome to the world of prescription pain killers….yikes)

Definitely going to be a menu item one day.

Ingredients:

Pork Tenderloin

• Cut into 1 inch medallions then quick brined for 20 minutes in salt and sugar then rubbed with adobo (my own blend), ghost chili, and sugar

Cilantro Oil

• Cilantro
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Black pepper
• Garlic salt!

Procedure

Pork Tenderloin

1. Take a pan, place it on the oven and turn burner to high
2. Sear each side of the pork tenderloin then place entire pan with meat inside oven at 325F and cook until you have reached your point of being done.  I like my pork pink…..

Cilantro Oil

1. Place cilantro, garlic salt, and pepper in food processor
2. PUSH GO and slowly add the extra virgin olive oil
3. Remove from food processor and strain.  I chose not to use a fine sieve….I wanted to have a few chunks of cilantro in the mix…..call me a traditionalist
4. Serve over and around pork tenderloin
5. Enjoy

I am obsessed with David Chang’s Momofuku book.  I am learning so much great stuff and it’s written in a language that I can understand easily…….lots of cusswords!  I was reading the section about how if you want to take your self seriously as a cook/chef then you need to start doing this technique.  I read it and said, “MUST TRY NOW!”.

I think the best part about this is that when you have a bunch of vegetables or fruits you have lying around the house you can pickle them to extend their life.  It doesn’t have to be the formal canning process either.  The book says the food can keep up to a month so that’s great with me.  I intend to try a few recipes of his so I can see the light for myself.  I used his quick pickle recipe for the base liquid but I intend to use a bunch of different vinegars to see how that will change things.  I think this will turn out to be one of the best things I have done…… Thanks Momofuku cookbook!

Red onions…..they will look awesome in a few days

Pickled mirepoix…..I don’t know….we’ll see what happens!

You’re probably expecting a recipe now.   I say to you…..go buy the damn book like I did!

Bonus item!!!

The 5 10 egg from Momofuku!

Things that resemble Pacman………

Eric

I got home last night and realized that we were out of a few things so I had a fantastic session in the kitchen.  It’s been a while that I have had some time to actually cook at home so I went all out.  You’ll see a lot more posts on the way but this is the first thing I was able to crank out.

I’m a huge fan of infusing salt, saving money, and sounding cool.  I’ve been so busy lately that I had a bunch of garlic on hand at home and didn’t really have anything functional to do with 10 heads of garlic.  I took 3 of them and cleaned them up then sent them over to the monster food processor…..it’s awesome!  I removed the garlic then in a small container dumped a little kosher salt then a little garlic…..a little kosher salt…..a little garlic…..until both of them had combined equally. The picture above shows it hot off the (garlic) presses (non-funny joke) but after a few days the moisture will be pulled out and then ta-da!!!!!!!! Garlic salt.

Give it a try, it’s much better than the crap you can find at the stores.  The flavor is much better and the best part is you made it…..actually the best part is that you infused salt, saved money, and sound cool.

Sound cool,

Eric

It’s National Pomegranate Month so I’m doing my best to show you how easy/quick it is to open a pomegranate.  I tried my best to get out as many arils as possible so I think I did a great job…..it could be faster but that will happen with more practice.

Thanks again to POM!

Eric

ZOMBIE BILLY MAYS HERE!!!

DOES THIS EVER HAPPEN TO YOU?!?!??!?!?!??! YOU JUST BOUGHT A BUNCH OF FRESH HERBS AND THEY ARE STARTING TO GO BAD AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM EXCEPT FOR THROW THEM AWAY?!!?!?!?

WELL TODAY I’M GOING TO SHOW YOU THE EASIEST WAY TO PROLONGUE THE LIFE OF YOUR PRECIOUS FRESH HERBS, SAVE MONEY, AND SOUND COOL AT YOUR NEXT FOOD GATHERING.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE NEW INFUSED SALT 5000!!

WHEN YOU HAVE FRESH HERBS JUST MIX IN A BUNCH OF KOSHER SALT IN WITH THEM AND MOISTURE WILL BE SUCKED OUT BY THE SALT AND YOU WILL HAVE A NICE FRAGRANT INFUSED SALT THAT YOU CAN USE AS A FINISHING SALT!!!!

I GO TO THE STORE AND SEE BLACK TRUFFLE SALT FOR $19.99. THAT IS INSANE! THE AMOUNT OF BLACK TRUFFLES IN THE SALT EQUALS AROUND $.75 AND THE SALT IS ABOUT $.10. THE GLASS CONTAINER AND THE LABELING IS WHAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR!!!!! MAKE YOUR OWN USING MY AWESOME TIPS AND INFUSE YOUR SALT, SAVE MONEY, AND SOUND COOL!!!

Eric

Posted in Technique Tagged: Caps Lock Button, I wish Eric would stop yelling at me, Infuse Salt, Infusing your own salt, Kosher Salt, Loud Noises, Salt, Zombie Billy Mays ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/10/27/infuse-your-salt-save-money-sound-cool/feed/ 7 ericriveracooks IMG_3699 IMG_3700 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/10/18/compound-butter/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/10/18/compound-butter/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:23:22 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=4257 Continue reading →]]>

That new mixer is awesome! There are things I was only able to do at class or at work (more information coming soon).  One thing I like to make in class is compound butter. Take a stick of butter, let it get to room temperature,  then place in mixer and fold in other ingredients to make it more exciting.  You can do this manually but it’s a pain in the butt and the ingredients won’t spread across the butter evenly…….this is why you haven’t seen this on this blog yet. Mixer = game changer!

Equipment:

• Stand Mixer!
• Spatula

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter at room temperature
• Fresh parsley and tarragon
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• Kosher salt
• Whole egg, (optional)
• Parmesan Cheese (to top on bread)
• The bread I used is ciabatta, if you’re curious

Procedure

1. Place butter in mixer then set to a medium mix and cream it.
2. Slowly add ingredients. At this point you can wrap it in clear wrap and place in the refrigerator or you can apply it directly in something……..steamed vegetables, baked potato, baked bread, etc……
3. Only add the egg if you are going to place it on bread and bake it. It will add a little fluff to your butter…appearance people!
4. EAT IT!

Picture unrelated………………

A court bouillon is a poaching liquid you can use instead of simply using water in order to give an extra oomph in flavor to your food.

Equipment:

• Medium stock pot

Ingredients:

• Water
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• Leeks 25%                 mi
• Celery 25%               re
• Onions  50%             poix
• White wine, just a splash or two……….or three………
• Sachet d’epices consisting of Bay leaf, peppercorn, thyme (optional), and garlic wrapped in cheesecloth

Procedure:

• Place all ingredients in medium stock pot
• Simmer for an hour…………………………..weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Enjoy,

Eric

My team made this in class. It was a huge success and I can’t wait to fire off 300 more of these.

Equipment:

• Saute Pan
• Fish turner or tongs
• Paper towel

Ingredients:

• Fresh trout
• Standard breading procedure (flour, egg, and panko crumbs)
• Fines Herbs (Parsley, Chives, Tarragon, and Chervil)
• Minced Shallots
• White Wine
• Salt and White Pepper
• Butter, small diced
• Lemon
• Clarified butter or Olive oil

Procedure:

1. Run the trout through the standard breading procedure
2. Heat up saute pan and place approximately 2 ounces of oil in pan
3. Place trout in pan and cook each side until golden brown then remove from heat and place on paper towel
4. Pour out most of the liquid in the pan then add a little butter and place back on the heat
5. Add shallots and toast
6. Deglaze with wine wine
7. Add Fines Herbs, salt, and pepper to taste then remove from heat and add a small amount of butter
8. Serve over trout with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Enjoy,

Eric

Always blanch your vegetables!!!! It will keep the color in your vegetables, make your vegetables taste better, and make them easier to peel if you need to peel them. DO IT NOW!!!

Equipment:

• Stock Pot
• Strainer
• Bowl filled with ice water

Ingredients:

• Salt
• Water
• Vegetables

Procedure:

1. Boil water then throw in salt.  The water should taste salty…….not enough and there is no point….too much and well you’re on your own.
2. Place vegetables in salty boiling water then remove. Each vegetable varies in time you need to blanch. Keep practicing.
3. Remove from heat and pour in strainer then immediately dump vegetables in cold water with strainer. Don’t leave them in the ice bath for too long or your vegetables will get soggy.

Don’t ask questions, just practice!

Eric

Take a large stock pot and fill with water then boil

(Click each picture to make it larger)

I’m not a violent person but after trying this knife skill I wanted to go to the grocery store and punch potatoes.  A football shaped cut…..only for presentations purposes…………you have got to be……….wait, I think I have the hang of this………nevermind.  I’ll just keep practicing.

Eric

(Click each picture to make it larger)

Please use this technique next time you make a tomato anything. I’m not going to culinary school to have you do things wrong. That’s a bad visitor, bad!

Equipment:

• Stock Pot
• Mixing bowl with ice water
• Strainer

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes, I used a Roma Tomato
• Kosher Salt
• Water

Procedure:

1. Boil water in stock pot then add salt
2. Cut a crosshatch at the bottom of each tomato and remove the stem
3. Place tomato in stock pot then count to 25
4. Remove tomato then place in ice water
5. Peel skin off tomato

There you go…………no make some sauce or something.

Eric

Posted in Becoming A Chef: Blogging about Culinary School, Technique Tagged: Concasse Tomato., Cooking Blog, Food Blog, recipe, Technique, tomato ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/08/16/concasse-tomato/feed/ 4 ericriveracooks P8130100 P8130099 http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/08/05/name-these-5-cuts-first-win-a-prize/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/08/05/name-these-5-cuts-first-win-a-prize/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:35:57 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=3090 Continue reading →]]>

I need to keep practicing, those are pretty rough….yikes!!!

You have until Friday noon pacific standard time.  Don’t just randomly guess, you might give someone else the right answer!!!! Send answers to:

ericriveracooks@gmail.com, don’t post in comments!

I have a wood mortar and pestle for the winner, courtesy of the secret source!

Winners will be announced on Friday afternoon!

Eric

“Not a game, We’re talkin’ bout practice…..Not a game….Practice..”

Hard Boiled

Roasted Red Pepper Soup (Click Here For Recipe)

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Equipment Needed:

High sided pot

Ingredients:

Grade AA Large Egg

Procedure:

1. Pour cold water into pot
2. Place egg in pot then turn heat up to high
3. Once you have reached a boil (2-3 minutes) cook egg for 6-7 minutes. 10 minutes total cooking
4. Remove egg from heat then place in cold water

If you cook these too long then you will get that nasty green ring around your egg yolk. This is not a good thing.

Fried

Red, White, and Bacon (Click here for recipe)

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Equipment Needed:

Saute Pan

Ingredients:

Grade AA Large Egg
Clarified Butter (Click here for recipe)

Procedure:

1. Heat up the saute pan and make it really hot, do this with a gas stove
2. Once pan is hot pour in a little clarified butter then immediately crack in egg
3. Remove pan from heat and let your egg cook for 8-10 minutes then serve immediately

Over Easy

Over Easy Egg Served on Toast with Tarragon, Salt, and Pepper

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Equipment Needed:

Saute Pan

Ingredients:

Grade AA Large Egg
Clarified Butter (Click here for recipe)

Procedure:

1. Heat up the saute pan and make it really hot, do this with a gas stove
2. Once pan is hot pour in a little clarified butter then immediately crack in egg
3. Remove the pan from heat and let egg cook for 5 minutes then flip half way through cooking. Serve immediately

Scrambled

Traditional Puerto Rican Style Scrambled Eggs

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 30 seconds

Equipment Needed:

Saute Pan
Bowl
Whisk

Ingredients:

2 Grade AA Large Eggs
Clarified Butter

Procedure:

1. Heat up saute pan and make it really hot
2. Pour in a little butter, mix eggs in bowl then pour in hot pan
3. Season and stir eggs then remove from pan after 30 seconds

Brouille

Eggs Brouille with Tarragon, Paprika, and Heavy Cream

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 1-2 minutes

Equipment Needed:

Bain Marie (double boiler)
Spatula

Ingredients:

2 Grade AA Large Eggs

Procedure:

1. Heat up the BainMarie
2. Crack eggs into Bain Marie then beat eggs rapidly until eggs are creamy then serve immediately

Omelette  (American Style)

Omelette filled with caramelized onions, sweet peppers and topped with cilantro, cheese, and hot sauce

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 2-4 minutes

Equipment Needed:

Saute Pan
Spatula
Whisk
Mixing Bowl

Ingredients:

3-4 Grade AA Large Eggs, per person
Clarified Butter
Whatever you want to fill it with

Procedure:

1. Heat up Saute Pan then pour in a little clarified butter
2. Whisk eggs in bowl then immediately pour in hot pan
3. Let cook for 1-2 minutes then pour filling in on one side
4. Fold one side over the filling then place entire pan in oven at 400F for 1-2 minutes
5. Remove from oven then serve immediately

Omelette (French Style)

(Picture)

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 30 seconds

Equipment Needed:

Saute Pan
Mixing Bowl
Whisk
Spatula

Ingredients:

2 Grade AA Large Eggs
Whatever you want to fill it with

Procedure:

1. Heat up pan and pour in a tiny amount of clarified butter
2. Pour in 2 ounces of eggs into pan and spread eggs thin in pan
3. Add filling into middle of egg
4. Flip right side of egg into center of egg
5. Flip egg completely into plate then blot with paper towel and tuck egg into itself  (French cooking is hilarious)

Poached

Poached Egg Served On A Sausage Bed (Click here for recipe)

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Equipment Needed:

Medium Pot
Skimmer
Whisk

Ingredients:

• 1 Grade AA Large Egg
• Lemon, a few drops
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vinegar

Procedure:

1. Heat up water in pot to 165-180F
2. Pour in lemon juice, salt, and vinegar
3. Give a quick whisk to create a vortex in the water then crack egg in water
4. Cook for 8-10 minutes then remove the egg with whisk

Frittata

Italian Sausage Crusted Monster Frittata (Click here for recipe)

Prep Time: 2-3 minutes
Cook Time: 3-5 minutes

Equipment Needed:

Saute Pan
Plate
Bowl
Whisk

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Grade AA Large Eggs
• Any ingredients you plan to incorporate in dish, make sure you saute them before adding them to Frittata
• Clarified Butter

Procedure:

1. Heat up pan then add butter
2. Pour eggs in pan then add sauteed ingredients
3. Lift egg so you can push more of the raw egg underneath to cook it
4. Place plate over pan then flip frittata into plate, remove extra butter
5. Pour frittata back into pan, make sure you cook the side that hasn’t been cooked.
6. Place pan underneath salamander (broiler) and cook for another minute or two then serve

Crepe

(Picture)

Quarter this recipe

Prep Time: 3-5 minutes
Cook Time: 30-60 seconds

Equipment Needed:

Bowl
Whisk
Saute Pan
Spatula

Ingredients:

• 6 Whole Grade AA Large Eggs
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 12 ounces water
• 18 ounces Milk
• 6 oz Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 14 ounces flour
• 5 ounces butter
• Clarified Butter, as needed

Procedure:

1. Whisk together Eggs, yolks, water and milk. Add sugar, salt, and flour; whisk together. Stir in melted butter.
2. Cover and set aside to rest for at least  hour.
3. Heat pan and add a small amount of clarified butter then pour in 1-1 1/2 ounces of batter. Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan evenly
4. Cook the crepe until light brown, 30 seconds. Flip it then cook a few seconds longer then serve.

Eggs.

Enjoy,

Eric

Posted in Becoming A Chef: Blogging about Culinary School, Eggs, Technique Tagged: Breakfast, Cooking, Cooking an egg, Culinary School, Egg Technique, Eggs, recipe, Technique ]]> http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/08/04/eggs-hard-boiled-fried-over-easy-scrambled-brouille-omelette-poached-frittata/feed/ 7 ericriveracooks Hard Boiled Egg On Roasted Red Pepper Soup Red White and Bacon (3) P8030004 Scrambled Eggs P8040030 Omelette (2) POACHED EGG ON A SAUSAGE BED (9) Italian Sausage Crusted Monster Frittata http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/07/26/crab/ http://ericriveracooks.com/2009/07/26/crab/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:56:37 +0000 ericriveracooks http://ericriveracooks.com/?p=2835 Continue reading →]]>

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30 pounds of dungeness crab.

Ingredients

30 pounds of dungeness crab, uncooked

Boil Mixture

10 cups sea salt
2 cups coriander seed
1 cup smoked paprika
1 cup yellow mustard seed
1/2 cup cumin
1/4 cup cayenne pepper

Take a large stock pot and cook 3-5 crabs at a time in boiling water with the boil mixture stirred in for 10-12 minutes. I split them in half. The picture shows the lungs still attached because I was still processing them so you’ll want to make sure to remove those. If there are people you know that don’t like the “nasty stuff” inside the crabs body then just save that for later and make a stock with it. Serve the crab with some clarified butter (click for recipe)……the crab was so good it didn’t need it.

Crab stock

We have about 2 pounds of meat leftover so get ready for a few crab recipes!

Enjoy,

Eric

Thanks again Taylor Shellfish in Shelton, Washington for being patient with my madness!

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This is the second time I’ve made gumbo but the first time using my new techniques from culinary school. This is also my first time posting a gumbo recipe so I hope you try it, it’s a good one.  I lived in Louisiana for about a year and a half while I was going to college (the first time) so I’ve been able to experience some fantastic gumbo. Gumbo in New Orleans, Shreveport, Natchitoches, Baton Rouge and just about everywhere so this is a blend of all those places where I remember eating gumbo. I used linguica sausage instead of andouille sausage because I wanted more of a flavor impact, linguica is soaked in wine so that’s a great flavor impact! Good food takes time so make sure you give yourself some time to make this one.

Ingredients:

4 liters shrimp stock (Click here)
2 lbs. linguica sausage
Beer
1 lb. butter
Flour
1 lb. mirepoix (1/2 lb. onions, 1/4 lb. celery, 1/4 lb. ivory bell peppers or green bell peppers)
Sweet Corn
2 tbsp. cayenne
2 tbsp. Spanish paprika
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. kosher salt
2 cans clams with juice
4 lbs. shrimp, deveined and peeled
Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley, finely minced
Fresh lavender, for garnish

Ready? Ok! Take a large stock pot and place the sausage in with a little butter and cook the sausage for about 3-4 minutes flipping once then remove the sausage and place on a plate. Deglaze the pot with beer then add the butter and melt it. Once the butter is melted whisk in an equal amount of flour to butter, you are now making a roux.  Slowly add the flour and stir frequently while you cook the rough. You are going to make a brown roux (Click here).  Once the roux is done slowly add the shrimp stock into the mixture. Once the stock is added bring the mixture to a simmer, never boil. Add the mirepoix, sausage, corn, cayenne, cumin, paprika, and salt. Let this mixture cook for about 30-45 minutes, remember to skim the grease off as it rises to the top or you will end up with a greasy gumbo. Add the shrimp, clams with juice, and minced herbs then cook for another 10 minutes then serve with a little lavender as a garnish.

Enjoy,

Eric

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I didn’t follow the rules on this one but I think that’s part of this whole culinary school thing. They will show you the traditional way to do it then it is your job to make it your own as a Chef. In class we made a fish stock made with halibut that was fantastic. I needed some stock for the gumbo I was making so I decided to make a shrimp stock with the shrimp that I was going to throw into the gumbo. Normally you would use a ratio of 8:1 for the mirepoix going into the stock, 1 pound of mirepoix for every 8 pounds of meat or vegetables. The mirepoix traditionally used for this would substitute carrots for turnips, I stuck with carrots. Also, for the herbs and spices a bouquet garni would be used, I used a tea infuser. The result? A damn fine stock!

Ingredients

1.5 pounds of shrimp peels
1 pound small dice mirepoix (1/2 pound onions, 1/4 pound celery, 1/4 pound carrots)
Bouquet Garni-  Bay leaf, parsley stems, thyme, and 5 peppercorns

Pour in 4.25 liters of water into a stock pot then add the shrimp and mirepoix. Turn the heat to high and once the stock reaches a simmer turn down the heat and continue to simmer, never boil. Add the bouquet garni then cook for 20 minutes.  Strain the stock then place in containers for later use. Use within 2-3 days or freeze.

For more stocks click here (click)

Eric

Ingredients:

2 pounds of butter

Take a sauce pot and slowly melt the butter. If you melt the butter too fast then it will scorch the bottom of your pot and your butter will smell burnt so take your time with this.  As you heat up the butter it will start to separate then all you have to do is skim away all the white stuff that is floating to the top of the pot, that white stuff is the milk. Once you are done skimming then serve immediately or just place in the refrigerator.

Enjoy,

Eric