demystifying haute cuisine for the home gourmand

As the title of this post would suggest; when you add cheese to this classic sauce it becomes, as if by magic, a Mornay.  I’m making cheese dip here, but this technique can be used for many different applications.

Hardware:

1. Four quart sauce pot
2. Cutting board
3. Knife
4. Whisk
5. Grater
6. Spoon
7. Immersion blender

Ingredients:

1. Three tablespoons of unsalted butter.
2. Three tablespoons of all-purpose, unbleached flour.
3. One small shallot.
4. Two cloves of garlic.
5. Milk
6. Light cream, or half and half
7. About two cups of grated cheese.

Method:

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. When the butter’s melted, whisk in the flour.
3. Cook the roux until it smells like toasted almonds.
4. In the meantime, mince your garlic and shallot, but don’t forget to stir the roux.
5. When the roux is done, add the garlic and shallot.
6. Sweat the garlic and shallot in the roux for about thirty seconds.
7. Begin whisking in the milk SLOWLY.  Add just a little at a time, and whisk it in thoroughly each time.  
8. Repeat this process until the sauce is pretty thin. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the magic happen.
9. While this is going on, go ahead and grate the cheese into a bowl, and set aside. 
10. You don’t have to continually whisk this, but don’t leave it unattended.  It will continue to thicken, and become quite thick in the end.
11. This is when you add a little half and half just to get it to the right consistency.  It should coat the spoon like so.  This is called “nappe.”  
12. When you are happy with the consistency, take it off the heat and blend it with your immersion blender.  Congratulations!  Your Bechamel was a complete success!
13. Now add the cheese, and blend it again.
14. And there you have it . . . a delicious cheese sauce for the next big game, a batch of mac and cheese; or in our case, a nice Twilight Zone marathon on a rainy day.  Bon appetit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want okra in your gumbo, be my guest.  Just get some frozen okra, and rinse it really well before adding it in.

You can certainly modify this recipe to meet your specific needs.  This is merely a blueprint for gumbo.  The important components here are: the dark roux, the trinity, the stock, and the spices.  Also, the stock you use should be represenative of what’s in your gumbo.  For example, in this gumbo here I’ll be using chicken stock, because it’s a chicken and sausage gumbo.  When I make a seafood gumbo I use seafood stock . . . or fumé.  For a vegetarian gumbo, go with a vegetable stock.  It’s always preferable to make your own stock of course; but if you’re using store bought stock, always go with the no/low sodium variety.

Gumbo is definately one of those things that’s twice as good the next day.  So if time permits, make it a day ahead of time.  You’ll thank me, and so will your guests.

Hardware:

1. Saute pan
2. Wooden spoon
3. Two cutting boards
4. A knife
5. A large soup pot
6. A four quart sauce pot
7. A pair of tongs
8. A fork
9. Patience

Ingredients:

1. One half of a chicken, skin-on, bone-in.
2. High heat, neutral flavored cooking oil like grapeseed, or canola.
3. All purpose flour.
4. A head of celery.
5. Two green bell peppers, and one jalapeno.
6. One large yellow onion.
7. Five cloves of garlic.
8. Andouille sausage.  I use both fresh sausage, and sausage that is fully cooked.  The fresh sausage is not necessary, but definitely adds more flavor to the stock.
9. One small can of diced tomatoes.
10. Two quarts unsalted chicken stock.
11. Creole spice of your choice.
12. Three bay leaves.

Method:

1. Take the skin of the chicken, but don’t throw it away.
2. Add the skin to a saute pan, along with about a quarter cup of your high-heat cooking oil.
3. Render the skin on medium-high heat until it is very crispy.  You can either throw the skin away at this point; or you can chop it up, and throw it in the gumbo later.
4. Cut the heat back to medium, and add enough flour to the fat in the pan to make a very thick roux.
5. It should be the consistency of a biscuit dough.  As it browns more, and more; it will become thinner, and thinner.  You want to compensate for that now rather than later.
6. Pour a quart of the stock into an appropriately sized pot, and poach your raw chicken and sausage over medium high heat covered.  This step is not necessary, you can do this right in the gumbo if you want.  Sometimes I do it this way.  Sometimes I don’t.  It’s a timing thing.
7. While your roux is browning (should take about 45 minutes), and your chicken is poaching; take this time to chop your peppers, onions, celery, and garlic.
8. Slice your sausage, and get it ready for the pot.  If using fresh sausage, be sure to let it rest for at least five minutes before slicing into it.
9. By this time your chicken should be done.
10. Turn the heat off, and remove it from the simmering pot.  Shred it with a fork, and reserve the hot stock.  Save the bones for the stock bag in the freezer.  You have a stock bag in your freezer right?
11. Your roux should be well on it’s way by now.  Keep an eye on it, and keep stirring.   Over the course of this process, the roux will give off a few indicator smells.  At first it will smell a bit like toasted almonds.  A little further down the road, it will start to smell like popcorn.  When this happens, you’re getting close.  When it’s just a bit more brown than peanut butter, you’re there.  It should be about the color of Nutella . . . click here for an example.
12. At this point you should brown the sausage in the pot you plan on making the gumbo in.  I forgot this step, but it didn’t affect the end result.  What?  I’m cooking this stuff, AND taking the pictures.  Give me a break.
13. So when the sausage is nicely browned, add the roux to the pot.  
14. Now add all of your vegetables to the pot.  Stir well and make sure the roux is evenly dispersed over the ingredients.
15. Add the shredded chicken.
16. Stir the hot stock into your gumbo a little bit at a time.  
17. It should be very thick at this point, but don’t panic.  Just add a little more stock from the other quart you have on hand to thin it out a bit.  Keep in mind, your gumbo will continue to thicken a bit as it simmers; so keep the other stock on hand, just in case you need to add a little more later.
    
18. Add the can of tomatoes.
19. Add the creole seasoning of your choice.
20. Add a little Paprika for more color.
21. Add the bay leaf.
22. Simmer on medium-low heat for at least an hour, or for as long as three.
23. Serve over white rice, with an ice cold beer, and some crusty bread.  Bon appetit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DISCLAIMER ALERT]  Typically the French DO NOT use cream in their butter sauce, and I have first hand knowledge of the indignation a Frenchman is capable of when witnessing an American cook fortifying a butter sauce with cream.  Believe me, it’s not anything nice.  To him I say (and have said in the past), “Whatever man.  You can make this crap three more times during service if you want, just see if I care; but  I’ll just do it once if you don’t mind, and it will last all night.”

This is a simple butter sauce . . . a white butter sauce to be exact.  Due to it’s simplicity and versatility, beurre blanc is one of the first sauces every good cook should focus on mastering.  A beurre blanc begins with a white wine reduction cotaining shallot, peppercorn, bay leaf, lemon juice, and garlic.  If it is started with red wine then guess what . . . it’s a beurre rouge.  BOOM! That was your mind.  To be clear, this is not a mother sauce; but it definitely deserves an honorable mention to the ranks of the “more important sauces”.  Master this technique, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming an adept saucier.

There are a few things important to understand before making this sauce.  First of all, butter sauces are UNSTABLE.  If they get too hot . . . they break.  If they get to cool . . . they break.  And if you try to use soft butter when finishing this sauce . . . it’s gonna break.

Now, I probably went over many of your heads with my “breaking sauces”  bit, so I feel as though a little explanation is obligatory.  When a sauce becomes broken, it takes on a grainy, oily, thinned out, separated kind of quality.  It’s very hard to explain, but entirely unmistakable.  To be quite honest, it’s important that every good sauce maker breaks a few here and there, just to recognize the error of his/her ways (and get some practice fixing the problem.)  That being said, the purpose of this post is to demonstrate classic technique for making a simple beurre blanc.

Because there are so many factors that attribute to a broken butter sauce,  I will not go into the tricks that can be used to fix one at this time.  I will say this however.  That being said, if your beurre blanc breaks, so what?  Throw it away, learn your lesson, start over, and don’t repeat your mistake.  After all, that’s the best way to learn.

Hardware:

1. Knife
2. Cutting board
3. Small sauce pan
4. Whisk
5. Fine mesh strainer
6. Spoon
7. Sauce vessel

The Ingredients:

1. Diced shallot
2. Minced garlic
3. Peppercorns
4. Dry white wine
5. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
6. Bay leaf
7. Creole seasoning
8. Heavy cream
9. Very cold butter

Method:

And now for the rest of the story . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yield:  4 large (12″) sandwiches

Prep Time:  1 hour

Cook Time:  4 hours

Techniques:  Braising, sauteing, deglazing, broiling.

Hardware:

1. Slow cooker
2. Saute pan
3. Knife
4. Cutting board
5. Large Pyrex dish
6. Mixing bowl
7. Food processor or mortar and pestle
8. 4 quart sauce pot
9. Immersion blender
10. Can opener
11. Oven
12. Range

Sauce:

Ingredients:

 

1. 40 ounces diced tomatoes, canned
2. 4 cloves garlic, minced
3. 1 package of mushrooms, sliced
4. 1/2 yellow onion, diced
5. 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
6. Red wine, for deglazing.
7. Italian seasonings, dry
8. Salt
9. Pepper

Preperation:

Meatballs:

Ingredients:

 

1. 3/4# ground grass fed sirloin
2. 1/4# spicy Italian sausage
3. Garlic, minced
4. Shallot, minced
5. Parsley, chopped
6. 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped finely
7. 1 egg, beaten
8. 3 tablespoons ketchup
9. 10 crackers, crushed
10. 1/2 cup Parmesan
11. Italian seasoning
12. Salt, to taste
13. Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

 

The sandwich:

 

Ingredients:

1. The other 1/2 of your onion, julienne
2. 1 red bell pepper, julienne
3. 1 green bell pepper, julienne
4. 1 fresh baguette
5. Baby spinach
6. Slow cooker meatballs
7. Homemade marinara
8. Slices of mozzarella

Assembly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yield: 2

Preparation time:  25 minutes

Techniques:  Vinaigrette, sauteing, deglazing, roasting, knife skills

Hardware:

1. Large mixing bowl.
2. Large Pyrex dish.
3. Three quart sauce pot.
4. Aluminum foil.
5. Large saute pan.
6. Knife
7. Composite cutting board (for raw proteins.)
8. Wooden spoon.
9. Tongs.
10. Two soup bowls.
11. Three plates.
12. Teapot.
13. A strainer.
14. Olive oil.
15. Salt and pepper.
16. Stove.
17. Running water.

 

Ingredients:

I.     For the vinaigrette:

1. Three slices of bacon.
2. One small sweet onion.
3. One granny smith apple.
4. Apple cider vinegar.
5. Apple juice.
6. Two Tablespoons brown sugar.
7. A pinch of red chili flake.
8. Four crimini mushrooms.

II.     For the nuts:

1. One pound bag of walnut pieces.
2. Two tablespoons maple syrup.
3. Two tablespoons light brown sugar
4. One Tablespoon creole seasoning of choice.
5. One pinch of smokey paprika.
   

III.     Other:

Method:

I.     Get your prep ready:

1. Place the eggs gently in the saucepan half full of cold water.
2. Place the pot on the stove, and turn it to high.
3. Add a pinch of salt to the eggs.  It helps with the peeling.
4. When they come to a boil; cut the heat to medium high, and set a kitchen timer for eleven minutes.
5. Meanwhile chop up all of your veggies on the plastic cutting board.  Slice the mushrooms thinly, julienne the onions, cut the broccoli into florets, core and slice the apples.
6. Turn on the teapot.
7. Place the florets in one of the soup bowls.
8. When the kettle comes up, pour the water over the broccoli.  Put the small plate on top.
9. In four minutes, you will drain the broccoli, and shock it with cold water.
10. In the meantime, place your salad plates in the freezer.
11. Cut your bacon into small strips, across the grain of the belly.
12. When the timer goes off, carefully drain the eggs, and run a s-l-o-w stream of cold water over them for about five minutes.

II.     Make the nuts:

III.  Make the vinaigrette:

1. Place the saute pan on medium high heat.
2. Cook the bacon until crispy.
3. Add the julienne of onion.
4. When the onions are caramelized, add the slices of apple.
5. Caramelize them too the best you can.  Pat them dry, just before putting them in the pan.  That seems to help.
6. When the apples are cooked, add the vinegar, followed by the sugar, followed by the apple juice.  You can add the chili flake too, just not too much.
7. Reduce by half.
8. Place sliced mushrooms into one of the soup bowls.
9. When the dressing is nicely reduced, pour it all over the thinly sliced mushrooms waiting in the soup bowl.  Let it rest for three or more minutes.

 IV.     Assembly:

1. Rinse the sugar out of the bowl, and place the greens in the bowl.
2. Using the tongs, hold the apples as you tilt apple bacon vinaigrette out of the bowl over the greens.  Drizzle enough of the vinaigrette to coat the lettuce, and toss with the tongs,
3. Grab the plates from the freezer.
4. Plate the greens.  Toss the broccoli with the the remaining vinaigrette, and place them around the outside of the lettuce pile.
5. Add the contents of the bowl to the top of the salad.  Use your tongs, and careful . . . don’t over dress the greens.
6. Slice the egg, and place around the top.
7. Finish by adding the goat cheese, and the nuts.
8. Bon appetite!