Burning Questions: Vegetables and Grains

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with vegetables and grains.

Parsnip Tastes Like. Parsnips taste a bit like the green tops of carrots smell when you bruise them. They're sweet like carrots with a bit of an herbal edge to them. I love them.

Cooking Filet Beans/Cooking Fin de Bagnols Beans. You can cook the little filet beans any way that you would cook the larger green beans: steam, fry, tempura, roast, boil, stir fry, etc. Try tossing them with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and roasting them in a very hot oven, turning every five minutes for fifteen minutes until they become brown and wrinkled.

Difference between Poblano and Piquillo. A Poblano is a large, dark black-green, triangular fresh pepper. A Piquillo is a small red triangular pepper that you will only find canned or jarred here in the US. Both are mild and have excellent flavor. See also my Chile Primer.

Torpedo Onion Difference between Shallot. The torpedo onions that I am familiar with are red onions that take shape of an elongated football. The ones that I get from the farmers market are about 4 inches long and about an inch and a half in diameter, but I've seen much, much larger ones from the produce company. Torpedo onions are very mild and work great for raw applications. Some shallots are light purple like torpedo onions while others are yellow and some are white. While torpedo onions have a mild onion flavor, shallots have a different flavor, a delicately garlic flavor. For torpedo onions, substitute any red onion. For shallots, nothing else will do. See also the Cook's Thesaurus onion page.

Best Rice for Paella. Paella rice is a medium-grained rice that separates well when cooked and does not release as much starch as risotto rice. From Calasparra in the Murcia region of Spain, these rices were at one point almost extinct. Bomba is the premium variety. Anything labelled simply Calasparra is likely to be the Sollana variety. All the paella rices produce a very dry grain at harvest, allowing them to absorb a lot more liquid than most rice. You can substitute Arborio or other risotto rice for paella rice in a pinch. See also my rice primer.

Burning Questions: Meat

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with meats.

How to Cook Surry Sausage/What is Surry Sausage. First things first. Surry Sausage is a smoked pork sausage from Surry, Virginia-based S. Wallace Edwards & Sons. It's formed into small links and has a remarkable smoky flavor that some people mistake for country ham. Follow the link above for purchase and background information on this one of a kind sausage.

Cooking Surry Sausage is not much different from other smoked pork sausages. We dice it and add it to sautées; we grill it and slice it for appetizers and our popular Surry Sausage lunch salad. You should make sure that you cook the sausage to 165F/75C.

Non-Pork Substitute for Prosciutto. For those of you who cannot eat pork, I suggest that you use a similarly cured beef called Bresaola. A similar Swiss product is called Bünderfleisch. You may also see it labeled as beef prosciutto.

Andouille Sausage Substitute. Andouille as we think of it here in the US is a firm sausage stuffed with chunks of pork shoulder and seasoned with a good helping of cayenne pepper. You could substitute tasso or a firm city ham such as Hormel Cure 81 and some cayenne. Tasso or ham would have the closest texture to andouille. Or you could substitute another smoked pork sausage such as kielbasa and some cayenne. Kielbasa's texture will be wrong because it is made from a ground forcemeat. Me, I'd just go to Comeaux's web site and order the real andouille. I've been buying from Ray Comeaux since the early 1990's. The photo shows a link of Comeaux's andouille (top) and two links of Edwards' Surry Sausage (bottom).

Tasso vs Andouille. They're similar in flavor and yet they're dissimilar in appearance. Andouille is a sausage described just above. Tasso is made from pork shoulder too, only it is made from cross-grain chunks of shoulder that have been lightly cured, spiced, and smoked. Tasso will be a bit leaner than andouille, but they have the same basic flavor. For diced meat to add flavor to a jambalaya or gumbo, I use them interchangeably. If I want those nice andouille rounds, nothing else will do.

Spanish Word for Sausages. That would be chorizo, although specific sausages have their own names. There are basically two types of chorizo with which I am familiar: Spanish and Mexican. Spanish chorizo are small, firm (like pepperoni), cured sausages seasoned primarily with pimentón. Mexican chorizo, the kind I feasted on when I lived in Texas, tends to be a loose, fresh sausage seasoned with mild chile powder and a fair amount of vinegar. I have also seen it stuffed into casings.

What is Paleron? Funny you should ask, it's my favorite cut of beef and I wrote extensively on it in another post.

Burning Questions: Wine and Beverages

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with beverages.

4 Areas Scotch is Made from. See any of the maps on the web. The four basic areas are Highlands (including Speyside), Lowlands, Campbeltown, and Islay. There are also distilleries in the northwestern islands grouped unofficially under the moniker Islands; these include Jura, Mull, Arran, Skye, and Orkney.

Bring Wine/Take Wine to Restaurant in Virginia. I'll let Virginia ABC answer this one:

BYOW (Bring your own wine) is illegal in Virginia. Patrons are not allowed to bring bottles of wine into licensed establishments. (§ 4.1-324, 325 and 225). However, if you are unable to finish a purchased bottle of wine at a restaurant, they may cork the unfinished bottle for you to take home (3 VAC 5 40 30 B).

Which Red Wine Grape is Used to Make Champagne. Two actually: Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Burning Questions: Fish and Shellfish

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with fish and shellfish.

What is Set of Shad Roe? The roe (eggs) from the Shad comes in twin lobes called a set. For more, see my post on Shad Roe.

Eating Shad Roe Sashimi Style. You can, but it's not what I would recommend. Shad roe's texture is very soft and less flavorful when raw. I like to roast my roe to medium rare in the oven.

Are Cobia and Wahoo Lean Fish? Yes, Cobia and Wahoo are fairly lean fish, though Cobia can be a little fatter than Wahoo. Because they are so lean, you must take care not to overcook them and they are both best served about medium, still a bit uncooked in the center. Both are typically steakfish, that is they are cut into steaks rather than filets, and both are excellent on the grill.

How Long to Grill Wahoo Steaks/Grilling Wahoo Steaks Wahoo, like almost all steakfish (tuna, marlin, swordfish, cobia, etc.), take extremely well to the grill. They're also very lean fish and do not want to be overcooked. As a very rough rule, fish take about 10 minutes per inch (2.5cm) of thickness to become cooked all the way through. With steakfish, you want them still translucent in the center, so cook them less. I mark steakfish on one side until I see the sides of the steak become opaque, then I flip them and finish them for another couple of minutes. Remember less is more with steakfish and you can always put them back on the grill.

Corvina Same as Grouper. Corvina and Grouper, which is itself a pretty large family of related species, are somewhat closely related but they are not the same. For cooking purposes however, you may treat them identically.

Substitute for Corvina. Corvina is a mild, white, firm fish with small flakes in the Drum family. I serve it at the restaurant in preference to the similar Grouper which is overfished. Any of the larger drums would be fine substitutes: Black Drum, Red Drum, etc. as well as all of the groupers. Striped Bass which we call Rockfish is also a great substitute.

Can You Substitute Clam Juice for Oyster Sauce? Not exactly. Oyster sauce is a thick soy-based sauce. Clam juice is a thin stock akin to fish fumet or fish stock. I'm not sure why you would need to substitute for oyster sauce because it seems to be stocked in most groceries. You could thicken soy sauce with a little corn starch or substitute some other kind of soy product such as bean paste.

Fish Stock Substitute. Easy. Bottled clam juice or steam some mussels and save the liquid.

Burning Questions: Kitchen Basics

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with kitchen basics.

What is Meant by Deglaze Meat/Deglazing the Pan? When you cook things, especially meat, in a fat over fairly high heat, some of the sugars and juices form a caramel (called the fond in the trade) or glaze on the bottom of the pan. Deglazing is the process of adding liquid to the pan to dissolve the fond, which is helped by scraping with a spatula or other utensil. Pans are often deglazed with some kind of alcohol (wine or Cognac, for example) or some kind of stock. Even plain water will do. The goal of deglazing is to get all the yummy goodness from the bottom of the pan into the sauce for the dish. This is why you won't see too many professionals using non-stick pans. We want things to stick.

Decanting Clarified Butter. There are many ways to separate the clarified butter from the milk solids and whey. Once we melt the butter, we pour it into a tall narrow container and leave a large spoon in it. Then we refrigerate it until the clarified butter is solid. Using the spoon as a handle, we pull the solid clarified butter off the top of the whey and milk solids. We then dispose of the waste and melt the clarified butter for use on the line.

How to Quickly Peel an Orange. How convenient that I've already written a photo essay on just this.

Can We Use Olive Oil for Saute? Yes, you can; we do. There are two rough classes of olive oil, refined (called pure) and unrefined (called extra virgin). Extra virgin is the first pressing of the olives and whether or not it is filtered, it will contain some olive solids. These solids burn at a fairly low temperature, so extra virgin is not recommended for sautéeing. We use grapeseed, pure olive oil, canola, or some mixture of these in the restaurant, depending on price.

What Does Braise Mean? Braising is a key cooking technique that is near and dear to my heart. Our daily menu generally features at least one braise. To braise is first to sear over high heat and then to cook in liquid very, very slowly in a covered pan. Ossobuco, for example, is traditionally prepared by braising. First, the meat is browned over high flame and removed from the pan, then vegetables are added to the pan and cooked, then the meat is replaced and an acidic liquid such as wine (or wine and stock) is added. The pan is covered and cooked in a very slow oven until the meat is about to fall apart. The slow cooking in moist heat with an acidic liquid helps break down the collagens in the meat, rendering tough cuts of meat fork tender and thickening the sauce.

How Do You Make a Pastry Bag from Common Things You Have at Home? If you've ever catered, you've been to some gig and forgotten the pastry bag. So you grab a plastic bag, cut off a corner, jam a pastry tube in (if you have one), tape the tube in with duct tape if the plastic bag is weak, and go to town. I always keep spare pastry bags, tubes, duct tape, and plastic bags in my toolbox that I take on the road.

What Kind of Oil to Use When Grilling Vegetables? We always keep a vat of our sauté oil next to our grill. When prepping herbs, we toss the scraps in the oil to flavor it. We brush the grill and vegetables with this oil, which is pure olive oil, canola, grapeseed, or some mixture of these. We don't use expensive extra virgin on the grill; that's just a waste of money. We will drizzle the grilled vegetables with it afterwards for flavor, however.

What Kind of Vinegar for Canning? I use distilled white vinegar for canning. Most syrups are so strongly flavored that using a more expensive vinegar is a waste of money: the spices will overwhelm the delicate flavor of the vinegar.

Burning Questions: Substitutes

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with substituting one ingredient for another.

Demi-Glace Substitute. Demi-glace is highly reduced stock, so you can substitute stock for it, but you're going to have to reduce the stock to thicken it. It's probably best to make a big pot of stock one weekend and reduce it to about a fourth of its volume, then freeze it in ice cube trays. You can put the frozen cubes in a seal-top bag in the freezer and have them at your disposal at any time. No need to thaw them, just drop the frozen cubes directly into the pan. You could thicken stock with a starch such as corn, potato, or arrowroot, but you're not going to get the depth of flavor that demi-glace brings to the table.

Andouille Sausage Substitute. Andouille as we think of it here in the US is a firm sausage stuffed with chunks of pork shoulder and seasoned with a good helping of cayenne pepper. You could substitute tasso or a firm city ham such as Hormel Cure 81 and some cayenne. Tasso or ham would have the closest texture to andouille. Or you could substitute another smoked pork sausage such as kielbasa and some cayenne. Kielbasa's texture will be wrong because it is made from a ground forcemeat. Me, I'd just go to Comeaux's web site and order the real andouille. I've been buying from Ray Comeaux since the early 1990's.

Can You Substitute Clam Juice for Oyster Sauce? Not exactly. Oyster sauce is a thick soy-based sauce. Clam juice is a thin stock akin to fish fumet or fish stock. I'm not sure why you would need to substitute for oyster sauce because it seems to be stocked in most groceries. You could thicken soy sauce with a little corn starch or substitute some other kind of soy product such as bean paste.

Fish Stock Substitute. Easy. Bottled clam juice or steam some mussels and save the liquid.

Can I Use Long Grain White Rice in a Risotto? No, I wouldn't recommend substituting long-grain rice for one of the Italian short-grain rices in risotto. You're going to end up with a soggy, non-creamy mess.

Differences Between Italian Parsley and Cilantro. Visually, you can see that cilantro on the left has rounder lobes than Italian parsley on the right with its more pointed lobes. Generally, you cannot substitute one for the other: they have vastly different flavors, but you should never need to because they're both available in most grocery stores. If you are confused about them at the market, crush a leaf of each and smell them.

Replacement/Substitute for Pasilla. If I don't have pasillas in the pantry, I would use guajillos. The important thing to remember is that the pasilla is a fairly mild red chile, so you should substitute another mild red chile for it. You could use anchos, but they have a much deeper, richer, more chocolatey flavor. You might want to view my Chile Primer.

Substitute for Pimentón. Pimentón is a paprika from Spain made from peppers that have been dried over oak fires, giving the resulting product a truly smoky flavor. There is no good substitute for pimentón. You could use any paprika in a pinch, but the smoky component would be lacking.

Poblano Chile Substitute/Replacement. I use poblanos as tasty substitutes for Bell peppers in almost all cooked applications. I suppose you could go the other way and use Bell pepper, but Bell peppers are very vegetal where poblanos have a nice round chile flavor. For most applications, I would probably go with a mild green chile such as an Anaheim.

Red Yellow Onions Interchangeable. Yes they are in most applications, unless color is a factor in the dish.

Can You Use White Wine Vinegar Instead of Sherry Vinegar? Yes, but you will miss a bit of nuttiness in the sherry vinegar. Technically, sherry vinegar, like Champagne vinegar, like Chardonnay vinegar, is a white wine vinegar.

Substitute for Corvina. Corvina is a mild, white, firm fish with small flakes in the Drum family. I serve it at the restaurant in preference to the similar Grouper which is overfished. Any of the larger drums would be fine substitutes: Black Drum, Red Drum, etc. as well as all of the groupers. Striped Bass which we call Rockfish is also a great substitute.

Non-Pork Substitute for Prosciutto. For those of you who cannot eat pork, I suggest that you use a similarly cured beef called Bresaola. A similar Swiss product is called Bündnerfleisch. You may also see it labeled as beef prosciutto.

Burning Questions: Herbs

This whole series of "Burning Questions" posts originated as a somewhat amusing troll through the One Block West Restaurant web site server logs, to see what search phrases were bringing people to the web site. As I went through the logs, the search topics seemed to fall into several broad categories, each dealt with in a separate post in this series. This post deals with herbs.

Poultry Herbs. Each vendor has its own special mix, but each is almost certain to contain a lot of sage and thyme. Many contain some rosemary and marjoram. Me, I use what I have on hand.

Do You Use the [Basil] Stem When Making Pesto? Yes, I use the tender stems. No, I don't use the woody stems.

Can I Make Pesto with Vegetable Oil? Sure you can, but unless you have an olive allergy, why would you? Pesto is rightfully made with extra virgin olive oil and I think it is available at just about every store in the United States.

One Head of Dill Equals. The term head refers to one of the blooming umbels of the dill plant. At the early stages, it will have flowers. At the middle stages, it will have green seeds. At full maturity, it will have mature, brown dill seeds. Most recipes I've seen, when calling for a head of dill, mean an umbel with mature seeds. I'd say that's about quarter to a half a teaspoon of dill seeds.

Can I Mix Rosemary, Basil, and Sage? Why not? I do it all the time in my bouquets garnis for ossobuco.

Cilantro Direct Sun Heat. Cilantro loves direct sun and hates a lot of heat. Heat causes it to bolt, that is, to send up a bloom spike and go to seed. This means that you should plant it in the spring and fall. In the summer, you might be able to get away with it in a location which receives morning or afternoon sun, but is shaded during the hottest part of the day.

How to Plant Rosemary in Virginia. With a trowel! But seriously, get a cold-tolerant cultivar such as Arp from your garden center. Plant it in a warm, sunny location protected from northerly and westerly winds. In the fall, wrap it in straw and burlap and pray like hell. Or grow it as a potted plant and bring it in in the winter. I can never get it to grow indoors.

Stripping Thyme Leaves. Hold the base of the thyme branch between the thumb and forefinger of one hand and use the thumb and forefinger of the other hand to strip the leaves off towards the tip in a single motion. The stem may break near the tip where it is tender so you may want to mince the thyme with a knife.

Differences Between Italian Parsley and Cilantro. Visually, you can see that cilantro on the left has rounder lobes than Italian parsley on the right with its more pointed lobes. Generally, you cannot substitute one for the other: they have vastly different flavors, but you should never need to because they're both available in most grocery stores. If you are confused about them at the market, crush a leaf of each and smell them.

Burning Questions: January 2009

In reviewing the monthly statistics for my web site, I am always amazed at the search strings that have people ending up on my site. Here then are some of the burning questions that people are asking and hoping that the restaurant site might answer:

Andouille Sausage Substitute. Andouille as we think of it here in the US is a firm sausage stuffed with chunks of pork shoulder and seasoned with a good helping of cayenne pepper. You could substitute tasso or a firm city ham such as Hormel Cure 81 and some cayenne. Tasso or ham would have the closest texture to andouille. Or you could substitute another smoked pork sausage such as kielbasa and some cayenne. Kielbasa's texture will be wrong because it is made from a ground forcemeat. Me, I'd just go to Comeaux's web site and order the real andouille. I've been buying from Ray Comeaux since the early 1990's.

How to Make Balsamic Reduction. Put balsamic vinegar in a pan and reduce it until it is syrupy. Done.

Asparation/Broccolini Seeds. Some of you might recognize the name Asparation from the produce aisle at the grocery. It's also known as Broccolini. Unless you're a big grower willing to pay royalties to the patent holder, you should grow something else at home. Asparation/Broccolini seeds are not available to mere mortals. Can I recommend gai lan, Chinese broccoli? It's an excellent and easy-to-grow green.

Can You Substitute Clam Juice for Oyster Sauce? Not exactly. Oyster sauce is a thick soy-based sauce. Clam juice is a thin stock akin to fish fumet or fish stock. I'm not sure why you would need to substitute for oyster sauce because it seems to be stocked in most groceries. You could thicken soy sauce with a little corn starch or substitute some other kind of soy product such as bean paste.

Fish Stock Substitute. Easy. Bottled clam juice or steam some mussels and save the liquid.

Vegetable Lasagna with Poblano Chili. Now doesn't that sound good! I often do a flan of layered yellow potatoes and roasted and peeled poblanos, set in an herb-infused custard. I can see substituting layers of poblanos for noodles in a vegetarian lasagna and I'm sure that the result would be outstanding. I may just steal this for a vegetarian special.