KitchenSavvy

A Pizza Find

For years, I have been trying to make a good thin crust pizza.  When my wife and I were in Italy several years ago, we really enjoyed a pizza we had in Rome, near the Trevi Fountain.  The crust was so thin and crisp that it was almost cracker like.

I tried everything I could think of to make a crust like that -- varying the water/flour ratios, making the dough with or without olive oil, rolling the crust thinner, using different oven temperatures, placing my pizza stone on a rack as high as possible in the oven, super-heating the pizza stone for a few minutes using the boiler before putting the pizza into the oven, even changing the order of ingredients on the pizza.  These all made some difference.  None of them gave the crust I was looking for.

Then, this past weekend, I pulled "Brother Juniper's Bread Book" by Peter Reinhart off the bookshelf and turned to his section on pizza.  In the inset on Memorable Pizza there was a suggestion I hadn't even thought of trying -- that the pizza stone should be put on the bottom shelf or even right on the floor of the oven and pre-heated for at least 20 minutes at 500°F (260°C) or higher.

Since I use parchment paper to keep the crust from sticking to my peel (actually an old piece of 1/8 inch plywood) I have to keep the temperature at or below 450°F (232°C), but I could certainly try putting my pizza stone on the floor of my oven.  My oven is electric, but the heating element is under the floor so that isn't a problem.  Other than that, I made a plain lean pizza dough with just water, flour, yeast and salt.  No fat, no sugar and no flavorings.  I rolled a thin crust and assembled the pizza in the traditional North American order of sauce, ingredients and finally the cheese on top, and baked it for 13 minutes.

I knew as soon as I sliced the pizza that this was the missing link.  I could hear the knife crunching through the crust.  The result was the cracker thin, crunchy crust I had been trying for.  Because the stone had been heated directly by the element, the crust cooked quickly, before the other ingredients could make it soggy, as sometimes happens.

I know there is still some room for improvement.  Next time, I need to let the dough relax a bit more as I roll it out, and I think I'll try adding a little oil.  Both of those should help the overall texture, but I'm pleased with the result so far.

So, if you have been trying for that thin crunchy crust too, try lowering your pizza stone.    It may just be the secret you are looking for.

If there is nothing to get in the way, try putting the stone right on the floor of the oven. If you have an electric oven with the element above the floor then you will need to use a rack in the lowest position and put the stone on that.   If you are worried about safety, or the warranty on your oven, you may prefer to use a rack at the lowest position.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com



Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

KitchenSavvy is Tweeting!

Now you can follow KitchenSavvy on Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging service.  Posts on Twitter are called "Tweets" and are limited to just 140 characters.

How will I use it?

• To post random food thoughts
• To answer questions received from readers and that don't require a lot of detail
• To let readers know when a new posting is up on KitchenSavvy
• To tweet about restaurants right then and there.

Restaurant tweets may include ratings in this format:

A9 S9 F9 P5 MV9 App$5-15 E$20-30 R5

Numbers range from 1 (terrible) to 9 (fantastic).  The letter sequence is:

• A - Atmosphere/Ambience
• S - Service
• F - Food
• P - Presentation
• MV - Menu Variety
• App - Appetizer price range in the local currency of the restaurant
• E - Entrée price range, also in local currency
• R - Will I return?  1 - 5 where 1 is "No never", 3 is "Maybe" and 5 is "I can't wait to come back"

Sorry for the brevity of the ratings, but the 140 character limit means there isn't a lot of room for details.

So, how can you keep up?

1. Look on KitchenSavvy.  In the left sidebar you can read the last five tweets.
2. Go to the KitchenSavvy Twitter Page to see all the traffic.
3. If you are registered on Twitter, follow me (Twitter users know what that means!).

Let me know what you think!

Make $100 an Hour in Your Spare Time -- Dicing Onions

Once again, the mind boggles!  On a recent trip to the grocery store, I noticed plastic clam shells full of diced onions -- cost $4.99 for 234 grams (just over 1/2 pound).  I could get yellow onions, red onions, or a mix of diced onions and celery, each for that price.  I checked the cost of whole onions.  A three pound (1.36 kg) bag of yellow onions sells for $2.49 and a one pound (454 grams) bag of red onions sells for $1.69.

For the amount of effort that it takes to dice an onion, this seems like quite an extravagance, especially now, when people are watching their budgets ever more carefully.  Back home, I timed myself and it took 1 minute 40 seconds to dice a 230 gram medium yellow onion.  The result was 182 grams of diced onion ready for cooking.  The yield was about 182/230 or about 80% of the original weight.

Worked out on a per gram basis, then, the cost of onions is:

Packaging	Wt (gr)	Yield (gr)	Price	¢/gr.	Saving ¢/gr
Pre-Diced	283	283	$4.99	1.76	n/a
Whole Yellow	1365	1080	$2.49	0.23	1.53
Whole Red	454	359	$1.60	0.47	1.29

The last column shows the saving in cents per gram of dicing your own onions.  It may not look like much, but when you consider the cost of that 182 gram yellow onion times 1.53 cents per gram, it comes out to $2.78.  Pre-diced onions work out to nearly eight times the cost for the yellow onions or nearly 4 times the cost for the red onions.

So, where did I get the $100 from?

If it takes me 1 minute and 40 seconds to dice one yellow onion, yielding 182 grams, working non-stop I should be able to dice 36 onions per hour (3600 seconds per hour / 100 seconds per onion).

36 onions per hour X 182 grams per onion X 1.53 cents per gram = $100.25 per hour

Let me put this another way.  If every second day for a year you were to cook a dish that used one medium onion, you could waste $501 buying pre-diced onions.  It's almost enough to make you cry!

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com



Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Saving Money on Groceries

Recently I saw on TV a news feature saying that families are eating less healthy foods because they are trying to save money during the current economic crisis.  The the Washington Post ran the this article talking about changing consumer habits at the grocery store.

I seem to recall Irma S. Rombauer, matriarch of the Joy of Cooking dynasty, or maybe it was Julia Child , saying that when she was asked how one could save money on food, she would tell the questioner to learn how to cook.  That is certainly still the case.

Suppose you are planning to entertain and need four chicken breasts.

On a recent trip to the store, I noted that skinless, boneless chicken breasts cost $18.72 per kilogram, about $8.36 per pound.   I could find packages of three chicken breasts each, at an average cost around $11.25 a package or $3.75 per chicken breast.  In the same store, on the same day I could find whole chickens at $7.47 per kilo, or $3.33 per pound.  A single whole chicken cost about $10.60.

If you know how to break down a chicken, you can get two chicken breasts, two drumsticks, two thighs, and two wings, as well as the leftover carcass from each whole chicken.  Two chickens provide the four chicken breasts you need, plus enough for several other meals:

• the thighs can be used to make stew, or they can be deboned, stuffed and rolled. 
• the drumsticks are great on the barbecue, one or two per person, and
• the wings can be broken down further to make Buffalo or Asian wings.  The wings from two chickens are about enough for a single serving.

Wrap and freeze the thighs and drumsticks in family sized portions.  Save the wing portions, frozen, until you have enough for a meal, and save the wing tips with the carcass to make stock or soup.  Pick the bits of meat from the carcass, and you have the makings for chicken salad for sandwiches. 

Now the math -- two chickens cost $21.20, roughly.  Four skinless, boneless chicken breasts cost $15.00.  For a difference of $6.20, you get maybe seven or eight more servings of chicken for less than $0.90 per serving, plus you save another three or four dollars on soup or stock, bringing your costs down even further.  Looked at another way, you get 3 meals for a family of four, plus some extras, for $21 versus just one meal for $15.

With a sharp knife and a little extra work in the kitchen, it is easy to find ways to save on groceries, and still maybe to afford a few luxuries, without resorting to less healthy junk foods to stretch your budget.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com



Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Chef's Table - in the Middle of the Atlantic!

KitchenSavvy has been quiet for the past few weeks as my Bride of 34 years and I were away on a holiday - three weeks of roaming around France and Italy, followed by an 18 day cruise, aboard the Emerald Princess, from Venice along the northern Mediterranean and across the Atlantic Ocean to Fort Lauderdale.

Of course a trip like that was filled with all sorts of food adventures, and some pretty amazing, as well as a few not so amazing, restaurants.  You can find some of the more interesting places listed in this posting on Pat's blog.  One of the most fun food experiences of the trip, though, was out in the middle of the Atlantic.

Princess Cruises has started to offer a Chef's table on the some of their sailings.  The only way to reserve a place is once you are actually on board ship, so we got to the ship as early as possible and went immediately to the Purser's Desk, only to learn that the Chef's Table was already booked for that cruise.  As luck would have it, though, there was enough demand to encourage them to add another time.

On the appointed evening, we joined 5 other couples to enjoy this experience.  We met the Maître d'Hôtel Nicola Furlan in the public area on the Plaza Deck, where we got a short presentation on the food service operations on board the ship.  After that we were taken on a tour of the ships galley serving two of the main dining rooms.  There we met Executive Chef Joel Directo as well as some of the other staff.

The menu for the night was appropriately titled a "Triumph of Gluttony."  We started in the galley with Heidsieck Monopole Blue Label champagne and appetizers of:

• Blue Crab Salad with Avocado and Grapefruit, served in martini glasses
• Steak Tartar served in Sesame Cones
• Fontina and White Truffle Mini-Quiches
• Buckwheat Blini with Caviar and Creme Fraiche

We then moved to a specially prepared table in another dining room for the rest of the meal:

• Porcini Mushroom Risotto with Stuffed Swordfish Cornucopia
• Drunken Sorbet of Strawberry and Cracked Pepper with Gray Goose Vodka
• "Double Impact" Surf and Turf which included Lobster Tail, Scallop Brochettes skewered on Lemon Grass, Beef Fillet, Lamb Chop accompanied by Chateau Potatoes, Turned Vegetables, Warm Artichoke Salad as well as Mustard Hollandaise, Rosemary Jus, and Lemon Butter
• Baked Camembert with Pine Nuts, Bitter Marmalade and Walnut Bread
• Iced Amaretto Parfait with Marsala Sabayon
• Coffee

Wines were paired with the food, the most notable of which was an Errazuriz Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc dessert wine from Chile served with the Baked Camembert.

There is a saying that you taste first with your eyes.  It was certainly true at the Chef's Table.  Presentations were beautiful and creative.  For example, the bowl in which the parfait was served, shown in the picture, is actually made from melted sugar.

The food was excellent.  Flavors were full and rich, and well balanced.  The only missed note, in my opinion, was the Steak Tartar.  To me, the real pleasure of steak tartar or carpaccio is the subtle yet complex flavor of the raw meat, complemented by ingredients that provide the canvas.  Because of fears nowadays about eating uncooked meat, the steak was marinated in a strong citric base making it more of a beef ceviche than a tartar.  Other than that, the meal was excellent ... even if somewhat daunting in the amount.

All told, it was an astounding experience.  My only hope is that Princess continues to maintain the Chef's Table at this high quality.

Recipe Creep

Creep - To slip out of place; shift gradually (Answers.com)

Recipe Creep - The process by which a recipe changes gradually over time until at least some variations bear little or no semblance to the original recipe

Example 1 - Vichyssoise
The cafeteria I go to most often for lunch served vichyssoise (pronounced VEE-shee-swahz) last week.  Their 'version' was cold leek and potato soup with lumps of potato, bits of potato skin, bits of spring onion, and lemon flavoring.  The lemon flavoring was suspiciously artificial tasting and made the whole thing taste vaguely like a lemon creamsicle!!!

Now I will admit that I tend to be a traditionalist when it comes to food, but to me vichyssoise is a rich, smooth soup made from leeks and potatoes, with absolutely no chunks of anything.  The color is nearly snow white.  In order to achieve that whiteness, only the white portion of the leeks get used, and they are sweated, taking care to not allow even a hint of browning.  Then a white stock or light colored chicken stock is used, too.  The only color, traditionally, is a garnish of minced chives.

According to Julia Child et al in Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One, once the soup is cooked, it is puréed in a blender or food mill and then passed through a fine sieve to remove any solids that may be left.

No other vichyssoise I have ever tasted had any lemon flavor.

Example 2 - Carpaccio
Carpaccio (pronounced car-PAH-chee-o) is made with very thin slices of raw beef, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice or served with a mayonnaise or mustard sauce and garnished with capers and sometimes green onions.  I have seen it served with a mimosa made by pressing cooked egg yolks through a sieve.   Carpaccio is credited as having been served first at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy.

More recently, concerns about the safety of serving raw meat have scared off many restaurants from serving carpaccio in its original form.  A while back, I ordered carpaccio at a bistro in Regina, Saskatchewan.  What came out was a piece of seared tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch (6mm) thick slices and napped with some nondescript tarragon based dressing.  The waiter assured me that this was THE ORIGINAL recipe!

Nowadays, you hear of tuna carpaccio, melon carpaccio and any number of other variations.  I may forgive tuna carpaccio as being at least somewhat similar to the authentic recipe, but if you slice your radishes thinly, then call them thinly sliced radishes, not radish carpaccio!

Recipes may wander due to health reasons, as with the carpaccio, because a chef thinks that they need to put their own impression onto a dish, because of availability of ingredients, or for any number of other reasons, but at some point you need to honestly step back and say that a recipe has crept enough and that it no longer warrants the name.  Cold lemon creamsicle potage parmentier is not vichyssoise!

There.  Now that I got that off my chest, I think I'll go open a bag of Sour Cream and Onion Confit of Potato Carpaccio.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com



Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Spin, Spin, Spin

Last week in the grocery store, I noticed a new breakfast cereal from a popular brand.  The new kid on the block, let's call it "Plus", claims to satisfy your hunger.  Presumably, this means you will eat less.   Good idea.  Some of the newest research, particularly on artificial sweeteners suggest that because your appetite isn't satisfied, you may eat more, or snack more between meals.

A look at "Plus" versus the regular cereal from the same company shows the price per 100 grams (It's a Canadian thing!) is $1.30/100 gr against $1.50 per 100 gr.  I'm liking this more!

But then I checked the serving size.  "Plus" is over 50 grams whereas the regular is less than 30 grams for the same size serving.  Since we judge portions by how full our dish is (see Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink) that means that whatever your helping size, you are eating nearly twice as much, by weight, in a helping of "Plus".  Cost per serving? 70¢ for "Plus" as opposed to only 44¢ for the regular.  So per helping, the cost is 60% more!

And that's not the only cost.  Side by side highlights of the nutrition label shows that "Plus" has 200 calories per serving but regular only has 110.  That's 82% more calories.  Now, I know there is every kind of diet advice out there, but the simplest rule is that if you are going to eat a calorie, you need to burn a calorie through activity to offset it.  Remember Dave's First Rule -- "Your lips are the gatekeepers of your hips", also known as "If you don’t eat it, you won’t wear it."  Keep in mind that an extra 80 calories means about an extra 15 minutes walking to even things out.

Also, "Plus" has about 50% more sodium per serving, and almost a whole tablespoon more sugar (glucose and fructose).  The regular stuff had no fat, whereas the new has about a gram per serving, one fifth of which is saturated.  Not much fat, but not necessary.   The extra sugar accounts for over half of the increase in calories.  The rest of the calories come from the added fat, about 10% of the increase, and from increased bran and other complex carbs.

So, in summary, they sell you more calories, and salt, a little bit of fat, a tablespoon of sugar plus a few more ingredients and a tablespoon of bran, for about 25¢ per serving more.

If you buy the old stuff, and add your own sugar and bran if you wish, you can control your sugar intake and save both calories and cash.

Sugar costs about 1½¢ per tablespoon at grocery prices.  A tablespoon of bran costs about 10¢.  That means that the cereal maker, who is buying at much lower than retail costs is making a huge markup while turning the tables and telling you that they are selling you sugar and fat for your own good.

Am I missing something, or is it just Spin?

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com



Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

One of These is not Like the Others

See if you can spot the difference:

• The waiter brings our drinks to the table.  In his haste to move around the table, a beer slides off of his tray and spills all over Pat's leather coat.  Later, serving the first course, as he is putting soup in front of one of our daughters, he is already turning away to go to the next table, spilling soup everywhere.  Towards the end of our evening we hear some colorful language from the coffee station.  In a moment of inattention, he has reached under the spigot of coffee while filling his carafe and burned his hand.  Badly.
• At an upscale bistro in Saskatoon, our waiter Mike breezes by on his way to a table nearer the front.  As he goes by, he  casts back over his shoulder, "Is everything OK?"  In response to Pat's question about whether he really wants to know, he calls back, "I'll take that as a 'Yes'," all the time still moving.  Turns out everything wasn't OK.
• Tony stops to to ask if the food is alright.  First he asks me, and waits for an answer.  Then he asks Pat, and again waits for an answer.  He smiles, turns to me and says, "If she is happy, you are happy and if you are happy, then I am happy."

So, what's the difference.  Simply being there, doing what you are doing at this moment, not the next!

Now I realize that being a waiter is tough.  Sometimes you get slammed.  Sometimes the kitchen lets you down, especially if they are in the weeds too.  But there is a simple lesson here.  Stay focused on the one thing you are doing right now.  If half your mind, and body, is on to the next customer, or the next order, or the next table, then accidents happen.  If you are so rushed that you can't stop for an answer, then you are also too rushed to have a satisfied customer.  Food gets ruined,  things get ruined, and sometimes injuries occur.  At the very least, you go home feeling exhausted and likely counting smaller tips than you deserve for all of the work you put in.

As my mom used to quip, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."  If you stay focused, then fewer things happen that take more time to fix.  And that includes losing customer loyalty, without which few restaurants can survive.

By the way, the first waiter later told us he had been at the job for twenty years.  If in one night at one table he did so much damage, I would hate to see the tally after that long a career.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

It's Good to be Back!

Have you ever had a time when the cooking muse left you? For the past several weeks, I have been in a slump, lacking inspiration to make interesting meals.  Food has been more what can I put on the table than what can I create.

Well, this past week, Pat and I had a short vacation to Montreal, Quebec City, and Vermont.  In each place, we had really exciting meals at wonderful restaurants.  In Old Montreal, we had lunch at a spot called Olive et Gourmando.  The daily soup that day was parsley root, with a mild parsley flavor and a subtle peppery finish.  It came with slices of artisan sourdough bread, toasted in the panini press and served with sweet butter.

In Quebec City, again is the old quarter, we had a great meal at La Crémaillère, a classic haute cuisine restaurant.  Supper started with the Crepe "Fantasie" du Moment,  a mushroom filled crepe with a light Mornay Sauce, followed by tomato soup with a taste of roasted red pepper.  After that, Pat had a chicken breast stuffed with Brie, and I had Veal Medallions.  As I mentioned in an earlier post on Spring Tastes, on occasion you can taste the terroir of locally grown foods.  The potatoes that came with the veal tasted of the earth in which they were grown.  We chose to skip dessert until later and walk off a few of the calories we had just eaten.

The following night in Quebec City we ate at Cafe Sirocco.   The Hazelnut Crusted  Migneron Cheese with Sautéed Vegetables and Balsamic Dressing was wonderful, as was the grilled lamb chop with rosemary, Greek salad and fried Yukon Gold potatoes.  Pat's "Crème brulée au parfum du jour" for dessert was pineapple and coconut, and tasted like a rich, warm Piña Colada.

The real treat, though was in Vermont, where we dined at Michael's on the Hill in Waterbury Center.  I was honestly not expecting one of the best food experiences I have ever had to be in a small town in Vermont.  Chef Michael Kloeti uses fine local ingredients to create outstanding dishes.  The Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras with Pear Confit, Wildflower Infused Honey & Spiced Walnuts was done to perfection.  To sear foie gras takes a deft touch, a hot pan, and nerves of steel.  It must be cooked quickly at high temperature to get a brown crust, rich in flavor, without burning or melting the liver.  The candied pear confit was a perfect counterpoint to cut the unctuous flavor and texture of the foie gras.

In discussing the menu with the waiter before ordering, he said that customers have told him that the Roasted Pasture Raised Beef Tenderloin with Gratin Potatoes & Demi Glace is the best beef they have tasted.  I ordered it with the Bucher Blue Cheese, and may just have to agree.  For sure, it was one of the finest pieces of filet I have ever had.

On the return trip, we stopped in Toronto, where Pat's sister took us to the Don Valley Brickworks Farmers Market.  While we were there we picked up a baguette from St. Johns Bakery to go with cheeses that we got at Toronto's Cheese Boutique for lunch.  I also brought home some fine saffron from Kashmir, and dried  Chanterelle mushrooms from Forbes Wild Foods.

Tonight, the saffron and chantrelles went into a risotto to be served with a variation of Swiss Pepper Steak made with pork tenderloin.  I don't know if it was the vacation, the inspiration of fine dining for the past week, having new ingredients on hand or some combination, but it sure felt great to be back in the kitchen with energy and the desire to create.  It's good to be back!

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Spring Tastes

Spring has come to Saskatoon^*!

The past winter has been harsh.  It started earlier than usual, lasted longer than usual and saw the worst winter storm in thirty years.  Finally spring has arrived, and with it the fresh bounty of a new year.

Three weeks ago, I was able to gather fresh chives from my garden.  It may not seem like much, but after months of produce shipped to local grocery stores, it is a real delight.

The following week, the Saskatoon Farmers Market had fresh fiddleheads.  Fiddleheads taste somewhat like asparagus and somewhat like artichokes.   They are delicious parboiled and served with butter or made into dishes like risotto.    Also, Pat made the first Rhubarb Crisp of the season, with fresh stalks from our yard.

I have planted this season's herb garden.  There is nothing nicer than being able to go outside and grab a handful of fresh herbs for the dish you're cooking.  This summer, we will have basil, rosemary, bay, marjoram, Greek oregano, regular and lemon thyme, mint, curly and Italian parsley, and sage.  I plan to try battering and deep frying the sage leaves, which is an Italian trick.

In a few weeks, there will be fresh morels and chanterelles from the the northern forests.  Time for mushroom purses made with fresh shallots and thyme with cream cheese, wrapped in phyllo.

And then creamy soft new potatoes, so fresh you can taste the earth they were grown in.  You hear about the terroir of great wines, but the prairie earth taste of a new potatoes in a Salade Nicoise, on the deck on a warm summer evening! Delightful!

Another week or two, and we will have fresh tomatoes.  Slice some of those, along with some bocconcini from the Bulk Cheese Warehouse, drizzle with a little olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar made in the traditional method by Venturi-Schulze Vineyards on Vancouver Island, garnish with a chiffonade of fresh basil from herb garden and you have the best Insalata Caprese this side of the Mediterranean.  As far as I know, Venturi-Schulze is the only North American producer of traditional balsamic.

Soon the fruit trees in our yard will bear fruit, and Saskatoon Berries will be ready to make into pies and crisps or just served on fresh ice cream.

Winter was long, but this year's rewards will taste twice as sweet because of it.

^*To learn more about Saskatoon, click here, or here, or here.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward