Food Moves

Background: Once a chef told me to make more clarified butter. I was very green. I was like “How do you make that?” It was kind of a dumb question. But here at Food Moves, there is no question too dumb to break down into a move.

1. Get a pound of unsalted butter.
2. Get a sauce pot that will fit said quantity of butter.
3. Put the butter in the pot.
4. Heat over low heat for an hour.
5. Skim foam off the top occasionally and reserve.
6. For more flavor continue to cook, going from golden to slightly golden brown.
7. Once all the milk solids have sunk to the bottom and all the foam has been skimmed off the top, ladle into a glass container with a lid
8. Store at room temp or in the fridge.
9. Return the foam to the pot with the solids and brown them for another move.

Why It Works

1. Unsalted butter works better because you don’t have to worry about oversalting dishes you make with this.
2. A two-quart pot should work.
3. The whole thing, one big brick or four sticks or whatever.
4. It might take longer. It might take less time.
5. The foam is a combination of steam and butter solids. The steam comes from the water in the butter. You are trying to remove both water and butter solids, so foam is evidence that it’s working.
6. You are taking it to Ghee now.
7. Be careful not to get the butter solids in there. One big part of this exercise is to convert butter into 100% cooking fat because it is more shelf stable and has a higher smoke point.
8. Because you have removed the butter solids and water, it can be stored at room temp.
9. Someone mentioned a browned-butter old fashioned made by infusing Bourbon with browned butter solids. That seems like a good idea if you are into that kind of thing.

Mods:

1. You could try cooking it faster and see what happens.
2. You could try using the microwave. I asked a chef once if I could use a microwave to clarify butter. He said “No.” I never looked into it further.
3. You could try infusing your clarified butter with woody herbs like thyme, oregano, and rosemary or interesting woody spices like star anise.

Background: Every culture has it’s pickles. Where I live you sometimes see a pickle concoction called escabeche. It’s a pickled veg combo that’s really fantastic. I often pickle peppers, but every once in a while, I need this specific combination:

1. Get some carrots.
2. Get some cauliflower florets.
3. Get some garlic.
4. Get some jalapenoes.
5. Get a mason jar.
6. Cut them however you like.
7. Put them in a mason jar.
8. Combine three parts vinegar, two parts water, one part sugar.
9. Salt and season with herbs and spices to taste.

Why It Works

1. Peel the carrots.
2. This is a good side project for when you are doing the Cauliflower move.
3. Raw peeled cloves are good for this application.
4. Fresh and green, with smooth skins are good for this move. Seed them if you want it less spicy (and to plant the seeds).
5. I use the large ones so I can cut everything chunky. That way, they stay crunchy longer, which is what you want.
6. Cut all the veg however you like, just make sure they fit in your glass mason jar.
7. Put them in a mason jar.
8. Combine three parts vinegar, two parts water, one part sugar and pour over the veg.
9. Salt and season with herbs and spices to taste.

Mods:

1. Add in some brine from sauerkraut if you want lacto pickles.
2. Add onions. Some people think they don’t hold up as well. I keep mine chunky for this reason.
3. Swap in different peppers based on your spice tolerance.

Background: Sauerkraut is ridiculously easy to make. If you are interested in all things fermented, Sandor Katz is your guy. Google him and you’ll find a wealth of information on home fermenting. More importantly, you’ll probably learn to not fear microbes. Microbes–specifically Lactobacillus–on the leaves of cabbage are what makes cabbage into sauerkraut when you immerse it in water. They make lactic acid from the sugars in the cabbage and then you have sauerkraut.

1. Get some cabbage.
2. Get some kosher salt.
3. Get a jar into which another jar or juice glass will nest.
4. When making Dry Slaw, save a few of the chunkier bits and outer leaves. You want about a mason jar’s worth (compacted).
5. Add kosher salt to the jar three times using the three-fingered chef’s pinch.
6. Muddle the cabbage and salt with a cocktail muddler, rolling pin or wooden spoon.
7. Cover with water.
8. Put a saucer under the jar.
9. Nest a juice glass or another jar in the mouth of the jar with the cabbage and brine. It should touch the water and push some of it out onto the saucer. You might have to put some weights in the jar or glass.
10. Let stand at room temp for a couple to a few weeks.
11. Put a lid on it and put it in the fridge.

Why It Works

1. Purple or green cabbage works. Purple is beautiful. Green is cheaper. Kimchi is made with Nappa cabbage.
2. I use this for all cooking.
3. I use peanut butter jars with 4 oz mason jars nested in the lid.
4. The amount of cabbage that you steal from your dry slaw prep depends on what slaw to sauerkraut ratio you want and how big you jar is.
5. Get comfortable with salting things this way. Learn both the even-sowing technique and the excavator dump technique. This one uses the latter.
6. You don’t want to pulverize it or tenderize it–the microbes will do that for you. You want to cram it down into the jar so you can fit more cabbage in and you want to disperse the salt and release some of the moisture from the cabbage to help make the brine.
7. You want to create an anaerobic environment. This is the first step.
8. Although you are created an anaerobic environment for the microbes, they will create gasses that will push the top jar up and some of the brine out of the jar onto the saucer. This means it’s working.
9. You are essentially creating an airlock here. The gas forces the brine out of the jar, but the jar’s weight pushes back down and seals the environment back up.
10. If you plan on keeping the kraut for a while and you want it crunchy, you can really speed this part up. Try two weeks. Then try one week. Taste it at intervals. You are jump starting the fermentation, but it’s not going to stop completely.
11. It will continue to ferment if you store it in the back of the fridge.

Mods:

1. Add chili peppers.
2. Add spices like caraway, mustard seed, anise, fennel seed, etc.
3. “Backslop” (gross word, I know) some of the brine to start your next batch of fermented things.

Background: You know how everyone’s recipes for burgers, meatloaf, and meatballs are slightly different and how many of them involve crushed up crackers or breadcrumbs or egg or whatever? Those add-ins likely have their roots in the panade. I’ve tried many of the binders and stretchers. The classic panade is by far the best. Use this move whenever you have very lean meat, want to stretch meat, or will be cooking meat for a long time (as with meatloaf or meatballs).

1. Get some lean ground meat.
2. Get some steamed garlic.
3. Get two slices of old-ish bread per pound of meat.
4. Get four tablespoons of milk per pound of meat.
5. Mash the garlic and the bread together in a bowl.
6. All the milk a tablespoon at a time.
7. When you get a paste the consistency of mashed potatoes, mix it into the ground meat.
8. Cook the meat.

Why It Works

1. Fatty grinds don’t need a panade as much because the fat keeps the meat moist. If you have a fatty grind but you want to stretch it, I would cut down on the amount of milk significantly.
2. Many other types of garlic can be used here, too. Roasted, blanched, or granulated are fine.
3. This can be stale or fresh.
4. Adapt the amount of milk used based on how hard the bread is.
5. This isn’t in the classic panade, but I like to add garlic here because mashing it with the milk and bread helps distribute it evenly throughout the meat.
6. Add it a little at a time so you can adjust based on the consistency of the bread, the fattiness of the meat, and the chunkiness of the garlic.
7. While you can really mash the heck out of the panade, you want to go easy once you start introducing it to the meat. Proteins tighten when cooking, pushing moisture out and starches absorb moisture. So you want everything kind of packed firmly enough so that it doesn’t crumble, but loosely enough so the proteins and starches can exchange the goods.
8. Another thing a panade does is make the meat forgiving to overcooking. While I don’t usually use a panade with burgers, if I want to stretch the meat and I’m not sure how fast my kids will come to the table, I’ll use this move. For the same reason, it’s worth considering using it at informal outdoor gatherings where burgers are being served. I guarantee a burger cooked with a panade will hold better when the uncle manning the grill is in the weeds (or in his cups).

Mods:

1. Consider adding seasonings and herbs to the panade before adding it to the meat.
2. Try using different types of breads and see which ones work and which ones don’t.
3. Could you make a panade with leftover corn chips? I’d like to see you try.
4. Vary the dairy. Experiment with buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, cream, half-and-half, etc.

Background: When I first started cooking in restaurants at 18, one of the biggest shifts in my kitchen happened when I added fresh herbs. I always loved spices, but I don’t recall seeing fresh herbs in my home growing up until I was out of the house. Here are my favorite combinations of herbs and ideas for what to do with them.

1. Thai basil, mint, cilantro: This combination gives dishes a distinct Southeast Asian vibe.
2. Thyme, sweet basil, oregano: This is a great combination for Italian dishes.
3. Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme: Yes, the Scarborough Fair quartet of herbs works together. It goes especially well with roasted potatoes and roasted pork.
4. Sage and green garlic chives: This is a great combination for any sausage, in my opinion.
5. Fennel, chervil and tarragon: The subtle licorice flavors imparted by this trio works great in creamy dishes like chicken salad.
6. Parsley, chives, chervil and tarragon: The likes of Escoffier insisted that fines herbes must have these four. An Omelette aux fines herbes has been a classic for more than a century.
7. Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass: These make an really great broth when added to seasoned chicken stock.
8. Arugula and sweet basil: This makes an excellent pizza topping, but works well on grilled cheese sandwiches, too.
9. Wood sorrel and dill: I love the hit of citrus notes from the oxalic acid in the wood sorrel and when paired with dill, it makes an excellent combination for fish.
10. English lavender, rosemary, oregano: I love this combination with liver in a pâté.

Why It Works?

Some combinations just work together.

Mods:

The world is your herb garden. Find your favs.

Background: The first time I tried this–decades ago–was also the first time I made it. I worked in university catering and the executive chef put a recipe in front of me for a sauce to accompany the steak dish for a dinner that night. I had never heard of chimichurri, so I had no idea how it should look or what it should taste like. I followed the recipe faithfully and then didn’t make it again for a while. Later in life, I tried making it with cilantro and rediscovered the magic of this sauce. It’s both a marinade and a kind of relish or chutney. My current version also follows The Move for All Salad Dressings and isn’t far off from some of the mods in Several Quick Marinades in One. However, I’ve now developed a hyperlocavore version that makes use of abundant wild plants in my area and local flavors from my garden. It’s not a chimichurri anymore. That’s why it’s in quotes. But it’s inspired by chimichurri so…I don’t know….you tell me what to call it.

1. Save up the packets of red pepper flakes from takeout pizza until you have a bunch of them.
2. Pick some Meadow Garlic (aka Wild Onion) when it’s blooming.
3. Grab a head of cilantro.
4. Grab some good olive oil.
5. Grab some good red wine vinegar.
6. Put the Meadow Garlic in a food processor with enough oil to make the blades turn and chop up the whites, greens, and bulbs of the garlic.
7. While spinning, add red wine vinegar to the food processor in a ratio of 1 to 3 with the oil (so 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil).
8. Add the cilantro and pulse.
9. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt to taste.
10. Store in the fridge for a few days or freeze.

Why It Works

1. This is why you always say yes to the pepper flakes at the pizza parlor.
2. If you don’t have meadow garlic, try green onions and your favorite preparation of garlic. Pickled garlic works well. Just go easier on the vinegar later.
3. You can use the whole plant, in my opinion. If you want a more refined version, don’t use the stems and add it at the same time as the onions.
4. Good means not counterfeit first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.
5. Grab some good red wine vinegar. I’m not super picky about this, but Roland is a good brand for the money.
6. The different parts of the wild onion will correspond to different elements of a more traditional chimichurri: flower buds will stand in for garlic, the greens will help with that chimichurri color and the whites will represent the shallots.
7. You can adjust the acidity to your taste.
8. I add the cilantro later than the onions for two reasons: 1) sometimes I want to pull out some onion oil and just use that as another condiment; 2) I like to vary the texture so that it’s not all uniform.
9. The rest is just a matter of your taste, the amount of heat you want, and your salt palate.
10. When you pull it out of the freezer, you might have to thaw it 24 hours before using it and then give it another quick round in the food processor.

Mods:

1. Use citrus instead of red wine vinegar.
2. Swap the more authentic parsley back in there for the more controversial cilantro.
3. Make an actual authentic chimichurri.
4. Make this move but call it something less problematic like “Meadow Garlic and Cilantro Red Wine Pepper Marinade That’s Also a Relish Chutney Condiment Thing.”

Background: I’m mostly a local, seasonal fruit and veg kind of guy, myself. But my kids aren’t big into hand-harvesting Mexican plums. So I do whatever I can to expose them to variety, despite my own ideals. Still, they get into this rut where they will only eat, say, Santa Claus melon in the warmer months and Honeycrisp apples in the cooler months. I try to mix it up in subtle ways. That doesn’t work. I try telling them that all we had was cantaloupe for melons and Red Delicious apples and they should be grateful for the variety. That really doesn’t work. So then I just find the craziest fruits I can find and make this deal: try one bite of this crazy fruit and it will count as a fruit or vegetable tonight and you can have dessert. Or you can have a whole serving of another preferred fruit or vegetable and get dessert. Results vary. At least it breaks up the monotony. Here are some fruit moves along with what to do with the inevitable leftovers.

1. Kiwi: Cut in half and serve in an egg cup with a spoon for novel presentation and easy scooping.
2. Mango: It’s a tricky one to dice, but if you can get past that, it goes great with sticky rice with cream of coconut.
3. Star fruit: This one is best sliced thin because it comes out (duh) like a star. The taste and texture are like a cross between an apple and a melon, so try serving them on crackers with peanut butter.
4. Dragon fruit: Slice this one in half and use a melon baller to serve Dragon Balls (after Dragon Ball Z) on toothpicks.
5. Santa Claus melon: Do a Christmas in July themed dinner around this one. It’s kind of like cantaloupe, but the outside is shaped like a green football. I like to make fruit skewers with this one and some other more common melons.
6. Passion fruit: Make a Passion Potion by scooping out the flesh into a blender and pulsing it on high for a bit. Let the seeds settle and then pour through a doubled cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer. Mix with apple juice if you need to make it more palatable.
7. Pomegranate: Just like watermelon seed spitting contests we used to have as kids, you can set up a spitting contest with pomegranate seeds. Set up small hula hoops on the ground and then give each kid a half pomegranate and see how many seeds they can get out, clean off, and spit into their ring. (Diving rings make it even more challenging.)
8. Kumquat: Have a giant party where you get tiny stand-ins for well-known foods. Lil smokies become hot dogs. Baby corn stands in for corn on the cob. And the kumquat takes the place of an orange.

What To Do With the Leftovers:

1. Kiwi: Make a fruit tart with a sugar cookie base and an orange-juice glaze. Tile the kiwi around the cookie and give it another go.
2. Mango: Make mango salsa to serve with fish dishes. (And by “make” sometimes I mean “stir cubes of mango into store-bought salsa to preserve it and use it up.)
3. Star fruit: Just eat the slices and think about the carbon emissions it took for that one piece of fruit to get to you.
4. Dragon fruit: Freeze the balls and re-serve as Dragon Ball pops.
5. Santa Claus melon: I don’t usually have much of this one left, but when I do, I serve it with prosciutto and pretend that I’m a person who has set up his life so that he could attend a fancy brunch.
6. Passion fruit: While salsa is my go-to for extra mango, hot sauce is my go-to for passion fruit. Add a habanero or two, some salt, vinegar, sugar, and spices to your Passion Potion and you’ve got a great hot sauce.
7. Pomegranate: I don’t know, man. You are on your own.
8. Kumquat: Use these to make juice and use the juice to make the glaze for the kiwi fruit tart.

Mods:

1. Just stick to Honeycrisps in the fall/winter and Cantaloupe in the spring/summer.
2. Do an all exotic veggie night and then try these fruits again.
3. Try miracle fruit powder next time.