Great burgers

My daughter Stacy called me the other day and told me she had been to a relatively new restaurant in Duluth and had enjoyed what she said was the best hamburger she had ever eaten. Well, that got my attention because I am always on-the-hunt for a great burger. Today I had the opportunity to try that place, which is the Clyde Iron restaurant that just opened this year back in May. The head chef is Robert Giuliani who I will have the privilege of working with on a dessert event in February. Teresa and I went there today for lunch and I ordered his Steak Burger, which can be cooked to a medium-rare if you like, and I do, so I ordered it with the Smoked Cheddar cheese, Tomato, Lettuce, Mayo and Caramelized Onions. To be fair, the cook forgot to put the onions on it but it was so good that I didn't notice. The bun was nicely grilled and the burger is cooked over an oak-fired grill. The cheese lent a very nice smoky note to the dish and to me the classic burger is dressed with tomato and lettuce with mayonnaise. They offered several choices of cheese and toppings, like a spicy sauce so I asked the server what the sauce was and she said it was a spicy ketchup. I am not a ketchup guy so I went with the mayo and it was excellent. Up until this burger my "gold standard" had been between two burgers; the first is the Kobe Beef burger at the Crooked Spoon in Grand Marais, MN and the second,believe-it-or-not is a chain restaurant burger from Outback Steakhouse in Duluth. Both of those can be ordered medium rare and they were my favorites to date. Robert's version is just as good as either of those, as they each have their individual high points, so I would say we have three equal winners in my estimation.
I tried another one a couple of weeks ago after watching an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives which featured the Duluth Grill. They offer a Roasted Garlic burger and it sounded intriguing to me so I ordered it. Major disappointment. The burger was way overcooked, it was served on a whole wheat bun, which is just wrong and there were no garnishes at all. I won't be back.
The hunt continues for excellent food!
Good eating,
Tim

Wild Game Feed

I spent the entire day on Friday cooking for my second annual Wild Game Feed at my church, the Vineyard here in Duluth, MN. Now I know some of you reading this are thinking that wild game is a definite downer in terms of culinary delight but I have spent a great deal of time figuring out how to make Venison and Elk, Pheasant, Bear and Moose taste very good.

I had some wonderful help to make this dinner come off well and I want to thank my friends Bob James, Joshua Herbert and Charlie Plys for making it work well and providing a good experience for about 150 men.

Bob, Joshua and I spent some quality time together creating some cool dishes for the boys to eat. Bob and I had about 30 lbs. of donated ground Elk to deal with so I decided to make meat loaf out of it. We added a dozen eggs, a full box of crushed saltines, a bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped, 3 finely chopped onions, a cup of chopped Cashews, a few cups of grated Parmesan Reggiano, some Worcestershire sauce, some Frank's Hot sauce and a little salt and pepper. We formed the mix into free-form loaves on sheet pans lined with foil and wrapped half of them with bacon strips, leaving the rest plain. I put a probe in the center of one of the loaves and set it to 160 degrees in a Blodgett convection oven ( marvelous machine) and about 1 hour later we had some very nice meatloaf. In the meantime we had a little extra mix leftover so we made some patties and fried them in a saute pan to test the product and it was truly good stuff!

The same donor of meat also provided about 15 lbs of Elk Steak so I decided to make Elk Bourguignon from half of it and braise the other half in a combination of beef stock, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Thyme, Rosemary and Crushed Red Pepper flakes, a little Worcestershire sauce and some onions and carrots.

The Bourguignon goes as follows:
10 slices thick cut bacon
2 T. Olive oil
5 lbs Elk steaks cut into 2" pieces
2 carrots, sliced
3 sweet onions, sliced
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 Tablespoons flour
1 bottle Red Wine
3-4 cups beef stock
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves smashed garlic
1 teaspoon fresh Thyme leaves
2 crumbled Bay leaves
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
Saute the bacon in the oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned.
Remove to a side dish. Dry the Elk with paper towels so it will brown well. Saute a few pieces at a time in a large, oven proof dutch oven (or two, spitting the ingredients between the two) over high heat until well browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon. In the same fat, brown the slice vegetables, then pour out the remaining fat, if any. Return the Elk and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the meat. Set the casserole in the oven, uncovered, for 4 minutes. toss the meat again and back into the oven for another 4 minutes. Remove the casserole and bring the oven temp down to 325 degrees. Stir in the wine and stock so that the meat is just covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic and herbs and bring to a simmer on the stove. remove from the stove and cover, placing in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily and it begins to fall apart. Serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
The next dish we made was a Wild Rice Pilaf:
1 lb Wild Rice
1/2 lb long grain white rice
3-4 strips of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup Craisins
1 cup diced sweet onion, sweated in a saute pan
Cook the wild Rice and white rice in chicken stock according to their respective instructions and then combine all the ingredients in a bowl or in one of the pots used. Season with salt and pepper as needed and serve with any main dish above.
Good eating,
Tim

Underground Dining

It has been what seems like an eternity since I have posted here and I attribute much of that to recovering from this "attempt-at-flying" accident I had this August. It has taken forever to get to feeling normal and I didn't feel like eating for a long time and cooking was really a lot of work. I has been just over 3 months and I am finally feeling like I'm coming back to a sense of normalcy.
During that time I have told you about some ice creams that I have tried and that has been fun. I sat my kids down during one of the holiday celebrations and we talked about some ice cream flavors they might like to see. Here are a few of them:
Candied Almond
Bananas Foster
Pumpkin Pie
Dark Chocolate Cherry
Amaretto
Egg Nog
Cardamom
Chocolate/Cayenne
Dark Chocolate/Caramel/Sea Salt
Malted Milk
Toasted Coconut
Malibu Rum
Browned Butter
Those are some of the ideas my kids came up with and I like all of them. It will take a while to work my way through all of these along with the normal fun of cooking for daily life but it will be a great adventure in any case.
Another adventure that is coming up in the next couple of weeks is an annual wild game feed at my church, the Vineyard Church here in Duluth. I did my first one ( and their first one) last year about this time and it was an absolute blast!
Many, many folks donated game and brought their own dishes to be shared and it was a total success. We fed about 100 to 120 people with plenty for everyone.
Last year we cooked Elk Sliders, Walleye Cakes, Baked Walleye fillets, Venison Bourguignon,
Wild Rice Pilaf, Roast Wild Turkey and a host of other fun things. It happens this year on the 17th of December and if you might think of coming you are officially invited.
Another adventure that has been rolling around in my head is something I mentioned here some time ago and haven't yet pursued. My friends Lisa, Anita and I have been kicking around the idea of an "underground dining" experience where we would invite 10 to 15 people for a 5 course meal including wine and charge 25 or 30 dollars a head for the evening.
I recently watched a show on the cooking channel called The 4 Coursemen that did just this. There was a group of 5 people that collaborated on a dinner in a house in Georgia somewhere and did just what we have been talking about. It was fascinating! I am getting more and more pumped to do this. My friend Lisa has a large enough dining area to accommodate 10 or 12, I think, and she is interested in this concept as well. We need to get together and work out the details and find our 10 to 12 people to invite that might be willing to part with enough money to make it happen and we would all enjoy some killer food together. We will be getting together in January for a brunch event that involves our normal gourmet group and I am sure we'll talk about it then, if not before.
Enough of my food ramblings for now,
Good eating!
Tim

Candied Bacon Ice Cream

I decided to try an ice cream including one of my favorite ingredients, bacon. I checked a few recipes and decided to adapt them to my own tastes using the best of two or three of them and making my own version.
It began with candied bacon as the impetus for the flavor profile and the rest was a standard custard-style recipe using egg yolks and cream as well as half and half for the base. I start with the bacon being cooked in the oven on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and lay 5 or 6 slices of thick sliced bacon on it, sprinkled with Sugar in the Raw and a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then flip the bacon and sprinkle with the sugar and pepper and cook for another 15 minutes. Set the bacon on a rack to cool and finely chop.
Start with:
3 T salted butter
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 3/4 Cups Half& Half
5 Large egg yolks
2-3 teaspoons Bourbon
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
Combine the 1/2&1/2, Sugar, Cinnamon and Vanilla in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until hot and the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of the hot 1/2 & 1/2 mixture to temper the eggs and then return the yolk mixture to the saucepan, beating constantly and cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches 175 degrees F or coats the back of a spoon. Don't let it boil.
Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl and add the Bourbon, letting it cool and chill in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
Place in an ice cream machine and process according to the mfrs. instructions.
Add the Bacon in the last 5 minutes and process until thickened.
Place in freezer containers and freeze for 2-3 hours, then serve and enjoy!
Tim

Dark Chocolate Cabernet Sauvignon Ice Cream

I have been playing with various ice cream recipes lately and finding some very fun combinations as I experiment with them. My latest trial is combining my love for dark chocolate with my love for red wine. It has resulted in a fine ice cream.
Here is the recipe I came up with:
2 1/4 Cups whole milk
2 1/4 Cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/8 Cups granulated sugar
1 1/8 Cups Dutch process cocoa
2 Large eggs
2 Large egg yolks
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 oz. Cabernet Sauvignon wine
In a large saucepan, combine the whole milk and heavy cream over medium-low heat.
Add the vanilla and bring to a bare simmer and remove from the heat.
In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa, eggs, and egg yolks and beat until thickened similar to the consistency of mayonnaise. mix 1 cup of the milk/cream mixture into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream to temper the egg mixture.
Stir the chopped chocolate into the saucepan with the milk mixture and then the egg mixture into the milk mixture in a steady stream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the consistency resembles a chocolate pudding,(170 degrees). Transfer the chocolate mixture to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the mixture and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 3 hours.
Pour the chilled custard into the freezer bowl and process until thickened, about 25-30 minutes and transfer to containers into the freezer to harden, about 2 hours.
This stuff is awesome!
Tim

Double Chocolate Stout Syrup

Tonight I experimented with a recipe I heard about on the Food Network shoe Diners, Drive-ins and Dives which I think is my favorite show on television. I get so many ideas from the show and I find it a good challenge to try to replicate the dishes I think I would like and see how they come out.
This week showcased a local restaurant in Duluth, Mn called Chester Creek Cafe and the recipe was for a beer syrup made from a local Oatmeal Stout made by Lake Superior Brewing Co. here in Duluth. I chose to try my hand at it using one of my favorites, Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I have made other things with this stuff and it is very versatile in it's uses. Anyway, I started with 1 cup of Light corn syrup, 1 cup of Light brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 fifteen oz. can of the chocolate stout.
I combined the sugar and corn syrup in a non-stick saucepan and cooked them over low heat until the sugar was dissolved, then added the cinnamon and the stout and brought the mixture to a simmer and cooked it for about 15 to 20 minutes, testing along the way to see how it tasted.
I had originally started with 2/3 cup of corn syrup but ended up adding another 1/3 cup to temper the bitterness of the stout. That seemed about right so I took the pan off the heat and let it cool enough to pour into a plastic bottle to store in the refrigerator.
The syrup tastes quite nice, with an ever-so-subtle hint of bitterness and a nice cinnamon finish to it. I look forward to trying this syrup on a thin buttermilk pancake or two very soon.

Bourbon Ice Cream

I have been searching lately for some interesting recipes for ice cream to hone my skills and technique at the ice cream machine. I have found some interesting ones and one of those has Bourbon in it. I like the flavor of Bourbon in cooking and sipping so I thought this one might be interesting. It was. Here's the deal:
2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Cups Half & Half
1/2 Cup Nonfat dry milk powder
6 large Egg Yolks
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 Cup (packed) Dark Brown Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
5 Tablespoons Bourbon
1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Bring the first 3 ingredients to a simmer in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the milk powder dissolves completely. Remove from heat.
Combine egg yolks, sugar, brown sugar and kosher salt in a large bowl; whisk until thick and blended. Gradually whisk in the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture. Return mixture to to the same saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (175 to 178 degrees), about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the Bourbon and Vanilla. Refrigerate the custard uncovered until cold, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours. Process in an ice cream maker and transfer to containers and freeze for at least 2 hours.
Serve however you like!
I have heard that the longer you chill the custard before processing, the smoother the ice cream and this has proven true. This stuff is amazingly smooth. I hope you will try it and others I pass along here.
Tim

Deviled eggs

I had a craving today for deviled eggs so I dropped six eggs in cold water and brought them to a boil and then turned off the heat and let them sit, covered, for 15 minutes and then into an ice bath for about 5 minutes and then peeled them and cut them lengthwise and removed the yolks to a small bowl and set them in the refrigerator for a few minutes and then mixed the yolks with about 3Tablespoons of real mayonnaise, 1/2 teaspoon of granulated white onion, 1/2 teaspoon Fox Point Seasoning(Penzey's.com) and about 2 Tablespoons of Smoked Whitefish, chopped finely. I mixed the ingredients with a fork and then divided it between the 12 1/2-egg whites and then sprinkled them with Smoked Spanish Paprika.
This was absolutely amazing! I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to deviled eggs! The smoked fish came from the Northern Waters Smokehaus and the rest I had on-hand.
These deviled eggs and a good beer is about as good as food can get.
Good Stinking Eating, my friend!
Tim

New Ice Cream maker

My lovely wife brought me a new toy the other day in the form of a Cuisinart ICE-30BC ice cream maker. We have been talking about this for quite a while and I now have a little time on my hands so we decided to purchase one. I have been wanting to experiment with some unusual flavors of ice cream, like Dark Chocolate with Cayenne, maybe a Bacon version, Salted Caramel, things like that.
My first batch went in tonight and it was fairly innocuous but still interesting; I made a traditional Vanilla but added some Buttered and Salted Pistachios to the mix. I love that sweet-salt combination and I happened to have Pistachios on hand so I added 1 1/2 cups of chopped Pistachios to 2 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter and 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher Salt.
The remainder of the recipe is pretty simple, including some cream, whole milk, sugar and Vanilla. That went into the machine and about 25 minutes in I added the Pistachios for the last 5 minutes. The machine produces a fairly soft ice cream so I saved a little to taste (quite nice, by the way) and put the remainder in containers in the freezer to harden up for tomorrow.
I was really pleased with the results in terms of taste; nice and creamy, and I am looking forward to seeing how well it freezes up and what that texture ends up like.
I look forward to reporting on the final results and how Teresa likes it as well!
Tim

Off the roof

I must apologize for not posting anything here for some time now. I have not been cooking much. A couple of weeks ago I was working on my roof and was getting down from it. I stepped on the ladder and as I put my full weight on it the ladder flipped sideways and I was headed for the ground from seven feet in the air. It is amazing how much thinking one can do at lightning speed while on the way to the ground! I could see I was going to land face-first so I decided to try to flip on my back. I made it part way around and landed on my left side. It knocked the wind out of me and I quickly realized I was home alone and this could be very bad. I got up on my knees and finally got my breath back and then stood up slowly. My word, did that hurt!
I was still breathing and I didn't have any obvious leaks or serious cuts but it did feel like I might have broken something. I managed to sort of pack up the job site and put my tools back in the truck because I figured I was going to have to get to the hospital somehow. I locked the house door and sat on a lawn chair for a minute to take stock of what I needed to do. My wife Teresa is an RN and was working so after I had crawled up into the truck and started down the road for the half-hour drive to the hospital, I called her and told her I was on my way there.
She met me at the emergency room and we soon found out that I had broken four ribs(#6,7,8,9) and had a grade2 laceration of my spleen.
To make a long story short, I spent the next five days in the hospital and am back home now trying to heal up. It will take a while and I will post as often as I can.
Thanks for your patience,
Tim

Sclavi's Restaurant

Teresa and I met my boss Marshall and his wife Mary at a relatively new restaurant in Superior, Wisconsin called Sclavi's. It has an Italian theme and is in the old Palace Bar location next to what used to be the old Palace Theatre which has now been torn down. the atmosphere is very nice and has a beautiful old tin ceiling painted in dark brown with sandblasted brick walls, very high ceilings and a minimalist feel about it. It is a fairly small space so the minimalist look suits it well, I think. the remaining walls are done in a light oak flat paneled look that is very elegant and the tables are set with nice white table cloths and very comfortable booths set similarly. the food was very good. We had an appetizer of Bruschetta and some good house wine. I ordered the Veal Marsala and Teresa had the Chicken Marsala and both were very nice. The sauce was excellent and the accompanying bread was a nice, crusty Italian loaf with a good chewy exterior and soft interior that I think is just perfect in a bread. The Bruschetta was excellent, with the same bread sliced thinly and toasted with a layer of mozzarella, olive oil, Pesto and chunks of tomato, onion, garlic, salt and pepper; really good stuff! I would definitely recommend this as good eats. The prices were very fair and a good value for the meal.
Good eating!
Tim

Slider experiment

Tonight I am getting ready for our dinner group's August event which is "burger night" and I am working on some sliders toward that end. I downloaded some recipes for various versions of sliders and burgers and they all looked very interesting but I thought I would do a little experimenting of my own.
I took a pound of 85/15 ground beef and cut it into 8 sections , 1/4 pound each and made them into patties about 2 1/2" in diameter and about 3/4" thick. Next, I rubbed them with a mixture of Spanish smoked Paprika ( available at Penzey's Spices www.Penzey's.com), Instant Espresso Powder, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. I heated the gas grill to high and cooked them about 3 minutes per side until just cooked through. To finish them I made a mixture of Shredded Mozzarella, Shredded Parmesan and Gorgonzola crumbles and topped each slider with about a Tablespoon of the mixture, then closed the grill cover to allow the cheese to melt nicely.
Next, I grilled the buns after spraying them with olive oil cooking spray and served them with a dollop of mayonnaise and a spoonful of my Smoked Tomato, Pepper and Onion Ragu.
Frankly, these were amazing! I ate three of them! The smoked Paprika and coffee flavors blended very nicely and the Smoked Ragu really made them "pop". I am definitely going to use this recipe at our Burger Night this month. On to the next experiment with sliders!

Pressure Cooker experiments

I am at the time of this writing having some fun with a vintage pressure cooker that my friend Jim Dreier found for me at a rummage sale. He and his wife Cindy are the consummate "rummage salers". They make it a part of their weekend event schedule and if I am looking for something I ask Jim if he could find it for me and he usually does. He found me a KitchenAid stand mixer and this pressure cooker. He's amazing. We have been friends since my 5th grade year in school and we hunt deer together and hang out at his grandparents' homestead in Toimi, MN, a place I call "Paradise in the North Woods". I digress. The cooker he found me was a Mirro-Matic Pressure Cooker and it is quite large. I tested it for pressure at 5 lbs, 10 lbs, and 15 lbs and it functioned perfectly. He paid $2.00 for it and it is excellent!
My first recipe is an adaptation of an Emeril LaGasse recipe for white beans; a Mexican quick meal consisting of Chorizo, white beans, Ancho chilies, Lime juice, Tequila, salt and pepper. I substituted Hot Italian Sausage and made it into meatballs about 1 1/2" in diameter. I had the rest of the ingredients and started at 10lbs for 45 minutes and then tested for doneness and taste. It was good but the beans were a little too hard so I put re-set the cooker at 15 lbs and cooked for another 15 minutes and that was the right amount of time.
The meatballs are very tender and the beans are just nicely cooked. Very tasty as well, I might add. I think this is going to be a fun way to cook. I am going to order a cookbook from my cookbook club featuring pressure cooker recipes and start to experiment. I will report my findings along the way and give you the recipes to try as well.
Cooking under pressure,
Tim

Smoked Tomato, pepper and onion ragu

Tonight it is good to get back to the smoker to try a little different take on my smoked pepper and onion ragu to add some tomatoes to the party and see how it comes out. I fired up the smoker with some basic hardwood fire and then added some wet apple wood to the fire for an hour and a half for a "cold smoke" treatment on the vegetables. After removing them from the smoke, I put them in a food processor and ground them to about 1/8" pcs. Wonderful smell, good flavor and success at the smoker for tonight. I think I will try to sell this stuff to a local restaurant for a condiment to their Bison Burgers; we'll see.
I recently met a new friend named Scott at our place on Lake Kabetogama while we were there for a weekend. He is from Stillwater, MN and I offered him some of my Smoked Salt for the Porterhouse Steaks he was cooking for he and his friend. I didn't think anything of it initially, but he called me a few days later and really enjoyed the salt on his steaks as a finishing salt. He said he would like to use it on his ribs as a shortcut to soaking the ribs in Liquid Smoke for while. I ended up sending him a jar of my Smoked Salt as a complimentary gift to him for his interest. He had some helpful tips for possibly marketing my salt and whatever else I come up with to you folks who might be interested. I am offering the Smoked Salt at $4.95/2oz. jar plus shipping and handling. If there is an interest, contact me at tmettner@gmail .com. and I will ship it to you for your culinary enjoyment.

Antipasti at the lake

This past weekend Teresa and I spent at our place on Lake Kabetogama in Northern Minnesota. We normally would have an easy Friday night dinner of Coneys and Potato Salad but based on the groom's dinner our dinner group did for our friends Casey and Mark's son Jon we decided to do an easier Salumi platter instead. I stopped at the Italian Village store on Central Ave. in Duluth for the Italian Sopresata and Prosciutto. It is a wonderful little shop specializing in all things Italian and serving lunches and various other goodies. I also bought some Ca De Medici Lambrusco for the beverage and some good cheeses and Calamata Olives as well as some Bleu Cheese Stuffed Olives. Then it was a trip to the Northern Waters Smoke Haus for some Smoked Whitefish and that topped off the platter. It was excellent and I think we'll make that a tradition for our first night there at the lake! We polished off the bottle of Lambrusco and it was a very pleasant evening indeed.
Tim

new Restaurant find

Teresa and I re-visited our new find, G.B. Schneider & Co. at 46th ave. west in Duluth, MN. I had their pot roast and it was absolutely amazing! the gravy was perfect. The beef was perfectly cooked and Capitol "T" tender and the vegetables the same. Gary Schneider is an amazing chef!
I asked him if I could tour the kitchen and I told him that I designed residential kitchens but I am so intrigued by commercial kitchens that I need to see how his works. He told me that would be fine so I hope to see it soon. Back to the food; Teresa had their Chicken Pot Pie and it was excellent as well! Instead of a traditional savory crust on the top there was a flaky crust with some sweet potato in it and it was marvelous! A bit unconventional, but I thought it was amazing! Serious comfort food as their sign says. I highly recommend this new spot if you can get there. Try the Lake Superior Kayak Kolsch on tap while you're there, it's excellent!
Eat on!
Tim

Groom's Dinner

It has been a "screaming busy" Summer so far and I have been woefully lacking in the new post department so I apologize for the lack of attention to this blog.
This past Friday night our gourmet dinner group did a Groom's Dinner for the wedding of one of our owns Son. Casey and Mark LaCore's son Jon was married to Kelly Norri on Saturday, July 2nd and we did the dinner after the practice. It began about a week ago with a brainstorming session at Bruce and Lisa Reeves' house where we talked about the menu. She said it would be simple thing, just some easy stuff to snack on, nothing fancy: Ha! It was a 5 course Italian dinner! She just can't help herself! After all, she had just come back from a trip to Italy to take part in a Culinary School.
Anyway, as a result we decided to do the same format for the dinner using some of her recipes from the school and a few other items based on requests from the wedding couple and some things we shouldn't serve. We settled on an Antipasti course of Caprese Salad and Prosecco.
Next was the Primi course of Pasta, a sort of lasagna made with Eggplant, Zuchini, Marinara sauce, cheeses, etc., served with a nice Placido 2008 Chianti. The next course was the meat, which consisted of a Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Peppers, Olives, Red Onion, Crushed Red Pepper and Gorgonzola cheese served in a toast cup along with A Walleye dish braised in milk and olive oil and stuffed with sweated onions, garlec, parsley and anchovies also served with the Chianti. Both of these were most excellent! I will be adding these to my go-to repertoire. The next course was the Formaggi, or cheese course. We did a variety of hard Italian cheeses along with a couple of requested other types.
We also did a roasted vegetable course and I apologize for not remembering the Italian names for all of these but I don't have the menu in front of me and I am afraid I will butcher the spelling of those names. The vegetables were Red Onions, Zuchini, Asparagus, etc.. The final course of Dessert, or Dolce was four kinds of Fresh Berry Cobbler prepared by Anita Barr and served with some good Colombian Coffee. Then, of course there must be the Digestivo of Limoncello to cap the evening. We started serving at about 7:00 pm and I think we finished around 10:00 or 10:30. It was an absolute blast to do and It was actually our second Groom's Dinner for this family; the LaCores' son Brian was married a few years ago and we served that one on the shore of Schultz Lake at the home of Lisa's parents, the Jeronimuses.
During the course of our cooking and prepping we continued to kick around the idea of doing a once monthly dinner like a Chef's Table sort of theme and invite our friends and acquaintances to make a donation to offset the food and wine costs and we would like to bless them with great food and we will enjoy the process of cooking it and sharing it with them as well as develop some great relationships along the way. I would like to hear from any of you that read these food wanderings and let me know what you think and if you would be interested in participating with us.
Good eating,
Tim

Fishing in Canada, good friends, good food

Fishing In Canada has always been a thrill for me. I have been going there to the same fly-in resort since 1989 with my good friend Gordy Larsen. This time we brought along my friend Ted Sexton and we spent a week together at Art Latto's Wilderness Cabins on Churchill Lake. He has four of these outposts and I have been to all of them over the years. The fishing is so good that if I described it you probably would not believe me. Let's just say that 200 Walleyes a day is not out of the question! True story! The resort is about 400 miles North of Duluth to the base camp and then a 50 mile flight into Churchill Lake, which is probably about 4 or 5 times the size of Island Lake near Duluth. At any one time there are only about 12 to 14 people on the entire lake and a population of millions of Walleyes!
I was the cook for the week and our menu consisted of fish every other day with some various other dishes on the other days. Here was our menu:
Sunday--Grilled Rib eye Steaks with Home Fries and a Bourbon Mushroom Cream Sauce and Sweet Corn on the cob.
Monday-- Beer Battered Walleye with Deep Browned Potatoes, Caesar Salad and French Style Green Beans
Tuesday--Pecan Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Merlot Cream Sauce, Wild Rice Pilaf with Bacon, Sauteed Onions and Craisins
Wednesday--Walleye Cakes over White Rice Pilaf and Sweet Corn on the cob
Thursday--Burgers with various toppings; Mushroom and Swiss, Caramelized Onions, Tomatoes, etc., Onion Rings and deep fried Pickles (Claussen's).
Friday--Pork Chops with Caramel Apple Sauce over Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and some Green Beans.
That was the dinner menu and the breakfasts were hearty as well. One that I like to make is Stuffed French Toast: English Muffin Bread, two slices, with softened Cream Cheese and Honey mixed together and spread between the slices, then dipped in egg and then dipped in crushed Special K cereal and fried in butter. Slather on some syrup and you've got some good eats!
I also introduced my friends to some good Grits. I make them using Quick Grits, Heavy Cream, Bacon bits, Fried Onions, Salt and Pepper and then cook a Basted Egg and serve it over the top and a few rashers of Thick Sliced Bacon along side for good measure.
All of that and some good Colombian Coffee in the morning is a fine way to start a day of fishing in Canada.
Let the great adventure continue!
Tim

New Restaurant, G.B.Schneider &Co.

The day after I got back from an adventure in Canada, Teresa and I went out for lunch after church and decided to see if the restaurant we had heard about in the old Grandma's location at 46th Ave. West had opened yet. I was excited to see that it was open! We had met Gary Schneider, the chef/owner at the Chef's Club Brunch back in March and he told us he was hoping to be opening a new restaurant by about June 5th. He was close at June 8th.
The decor is very nice and reflects the location in West Duluth very well with some great artwork depicting the landmarks of the area. He has opened the space up better so it doesn't seem small and has a separate dining room from the bar area, which is also nicely decorated.
The best part, however, was the food! I ordered an Italian sausage sandwich with sauteed onions and peppers with some marinara sauce and mozzarella; fantastic! Teresa had a Triple Grilled Cheese sandwich with Tomato Soup; Also fantastic! The sandwich had Asiago, Parmesan and Fontina cheeses and the Tomato Soup was wonderful with just the right spices and a hint of Basil, not too much, and a touch of cream and some tomato chunks as well. As we were looking over the menu it was hard to decide because most everything looked great.
Gary came out of the kitchen and said hello and told us he had opened on a Tuesday and the folowing weekend the place was packed on both Friday night and Saturday. He said that one lady had been back three times in those days. I think that speaks volumes. Honestly, I can't wait to go back. The dinner specials sounded marvelous; his mom's Pot Roast,Chicken Pot Pie, Short Ribs,etc, etc. The signs on the door say welcome to some serious comfort food. It was and we're going back as soon as possible. I wish Gary the best and if you have a chance, get there as soon as you can too!
Enjoy some comfort,
Tim

Cooking demos

It has been far too long since I have posted here and I have to catch up from some past events. A while back(May 22) I did some cooking demonstrations at The Vineyard church in Duluth. My mission there was to cook foods that were available in the food shelf and show people how to make good dishes that were tasty and not too difficult for them using the ingredients available. It turned out o be an excellent time with a good number attending and lots of good questions from the audience relating to their particular situation. We ended up doing one less demo than expected because the people didn't arrive as soon as we expected but that was just fine. We did a couple of breakfast demos with Baking Powder Biscuits and Sausage Gravy and those went over very well. next was the prepping of a whole chicken for roasting and preparing chicken stock from the leftover carcass to be used in soups, gravies and other dishes that require chicken stock. We roasted the chicken and prepared a Rice Pilaf using white rice, bacon and onions and our final demo was Bread Pudding using the Powdered Non-Fat Dry Milk, eggs and sugar as well as a bit of Vanilla and some patience. It was well received. I look forward to doing one of these per month for the Fruit Of The Vine food shelf on Tuesday evenings to highlight some of the food available in the food shelf and a few ways of cooking it.
Go out and serve mankind,
Tim

Cooking demos

Hello friends! It has been a while since I wrote on this page. My last cooking adventure was a series of demonstrations at the Vineyard Church back on May 22. It turned out to be an absolute blast! I had help from some very helpful friends and I thank them for it. We started out a little late because there weren't many people there right away, so we started a little later with breakfast and some biscuits and gravy made with powdered milk. They turned out very well and the gravy, made with the same ingredients turned out just as well. We browned some sausage links and cut them up into the gravy and it was a very good response with several questions from the audience. Next, we did a Roasted Whole Chicken, some stock, and a rice pilaf, using the stock made from the Roasted Chicken and some added accouterments.Our final demo was to make a bread pudding using the powdered milk and eggs and a few strips of real bacon for the remainder of the meal. The response was very good and I hope to repeat the whole process about once a month or so.
Tim

Fish Camp food

The 2010 Opening fishing season is now underway and the weekend was absolutely wonderful. The weather was amazing and we enjoyed some great food as well as catching some Walleyes.
Friday night we cooked some of our hand made Venison Italian Sausages and some store-bought Polish Sausage. My son-in-law Karl brought the buns; nice sesame buns for the large sausages. This is usually our Friday night fare and it was excellent.
Saturday morning was a later breakfast of Hormel Range Brand Bacon ( always a favorite), Scrambled eggs with cheese and Hash Brown Potatoes. After a day of fishing and some moderate success, we settled in for a Steak Dinner with Baked Potatoes, my Onion Rings and Brandied Mushroom Cream Sauce for the steaks. My good friend Steve Rudh made the sauce and I cooked the Onion Rings. Steve oversaw the steak grilling and it was a very nice dinner.
Mushroom Cream Sauce:
1 lb. Button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 Shallot, finely diced
3 Tablespoons Butter
1/4 cup Brandy
3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the mushrooms, Shallot, salt and pepper and saute until almost all the liquid is gone. Add the brandy off-heat and tilt the pan into the gas flame to ignite or light with a match if using electric burner. when the flames subside, Add the cream and boil down until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.Taste to see if the seasoning is right and adjust if necessary. Serve over the steaks immediately.

See my previous posts for the onion ring recipe.
Good Eating!
Tim

Scallops!

Tonight I bought some U10 Sea Scallops for a belated Mother's day dinner for my lovely wife Teresa as she had to work on the actual day and I was playing some music at The Vineyard this past weekend.
Menu: for two
6 U10 Sea Scallops, thawed and dried
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
5 small Red Potatoes
1/3 cup whole milk
3 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 Lb. Asparagus


Anyway, I pan-seared the scallops in a "screaming-hot" pan with a little Olive oil and some Kosher salt and fresh ground Black Pepper. The scallops were frozen so I thawed them in a Qt. ziplock bag in cold water and then dried them thoroughly on several layers of paper towel until as dry as I could make them.
First on the agenda was the Mashed Baby Red potatoes. I cut them in half and place them in cold water, then bring the heat up to boiling and add a few pinches of salt to the water. simmer for about 15 minutes until fork tender.
In the meantime, prep the Asparagus by trimming the woody parts by snapping one stalk and where it snaps naturally is where you cut the stalks to get rid of the tough parts ( save those for stock). Place them in a baking dish in one layer and drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil then toss with Kosher Salt and Pepper. Place in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Next, prepare the mashed potatoes by placing the drained potatoes over moderate heat and allowing them to dry a bit. Add the milk and butter and mash with a good potato masher until fairly smooth. Cover and set aside, off-heat.
Next, prep the scallops by seasoning them with a generous sprinkle of Kosher Salt and fresh ground black pepper. Heat a 8-12" Stainless skillet on high until screaming hot. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and add the scallops, cooking for 2 minutes on the first side, then flipping and cooking for about 1 1/2 minutes on the second side. They should be nicely browned on both sides. serve the scallops with the mashed potatoes and 1/2 of the asparagus on a plate and pour a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc to accompany the whole deal.
Bon Appetit!
Tim

Getting the biscuits right

You may have read in a previous post that I am going to be doing some cooking demos on May 22 at The Vineyard Church in Duluth for a combined medical clinic and food shelf event. As part of that event, I am practicing making some practical recipes using the ingredients available from the food shelf. Tonight I have been tweaking a biscuit recipe using powdered non-fat dry milk to be served with a Bechamel-based traditional sausage gravy made with the same dry milk. The gravy has been made successfully and tonight the biscuits did very well. I modified the recipe printed on the bag of dry milk to make the biscuits rise a bit higher and try to eliminate the typically bitter taste that results from too much baking powder. I added a half teaspoon of baking soda, a tablespoon of sugar and more dry milk powder for the amount of water suggested in the dry milk recipe and replaced the shortening with real butter. Here is the resulting recipe if you are interested.
2/3 cup Non-fat dry milk powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 T sugar
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 T butter very cold butter cut into 1/4 " cubes
1 cup very cold water

Forming and finishing:
1/2 cup flour
1 T butter, melted

Preheat the oven with the rack in the middle to 500 degrees.
pray a 9" round baking pan with cooking spray or grease it with butter.
Spray the inside of a 1/4 cup measure with cooking spray.
Dough: in a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients and and mix thoroughly.
add the butter cubes and combine with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the butter and dry ingredients resemble a course corn meal texture. Don't overwork it.
Add the water and stir to combine. It will be fairly wet and sticky dough.
to form and bake:
distribute the 1/2 cup flour on a rimmed baking sheet and then using the 1/4 cup measure, scoop a 1/4 cup of the batter onto the baking sheet and roll the dough around in the flour to just bring it into a mound and place it in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the remaining dough until you have about 10 to 12 mounds in the dish ( 9 around the rim and 2 or 3 in the center). Brush the mounds with the melted butter making sure not to flatten them.
Place it the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then turn down the heat to 450 and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove the dish to a rack and cool for 2 minutes, then invert it onto a kitchen towel and break apart the biscuits and allow to cool another 5 minutes. Serve right away with sausage gravy and fried eggs or with jam all by themselves.
Bon Appetit!

Another culinary adventure

Teresa and I recently went on another culinary adventure up the North Shore of Lake Superior. We have found a nice retreat in the off-season at Eagle Ridge Resort on Lutsen Mountain. They offer nice room packages during the slow times of the year, such as two nights for the price of one in a room with a gas fireplace on the slopes of Lutsen Mountain. We have taken advantage of this deal several times now and it is a great way to take a culinary adventure in the area with minimal expense.
Our first restaurant stop was at the Lemon Wolf in Beaver Bay, which I have reported on in a previous post. We enjoyed fresh Herring from Lake Superior and fresh bread. That is always a good stop. Chef Rick is very friendly and welcoming.
The next stop on Saturday morning, after a light breakfast in our room was the Coho Cafe in Tofte for a cup of good coffee and a cinnamon twist (puff pastry twists with a cinnamon sugar glaze). We stopped along the way at a couple of trails to hike and enjoy the spring weather and get a little exercise to work off our food intake. Our food destination for the day was Grand Marais to check out the restaurants we hadn't tried yet. We picked up a pamphlet with the area businesses and restaurants listed and spent some time reading the descriptions. After walking through the streets for awhile we stopped at two places to check out their menus. the first was the Gunflint Tavern on the main street near the water. We had eaten here before and knew it was a good spot. They have excellent soups like Gumbo, Wild Mushroom and a few others as well as good ethnic dishes but we decide to try someplace we hadn't been before. Just two blocks away is the Crooked Spoon. It is a small place, seating about 35 diners with a small bar serving nice wines and craft beers. We stopped outside the door to read their menu posted there and found some cool stuff there.
I ordered their Crooked Ale and a 1/2 lb Kobe Beef burger. Teresa ordered the Crooked BLT.
My friend, it was excellent! I had never tried Kobe Beef before but had read plenty about the quality and marbling of the meat. I am here to tell you the beef flavor was outstanding! the burger was topped with Apple Wood Smoked Bacon, Mozzarella Cheese, a slice of tomato and lettuce; that's all! It didn't need mayo, ketchup, or anything else! It was served on a grilled Ciabatta roll and some Kettle chips alongside.
Teresa's BLT was amazing as well. It was served on toasted Caraway Rye with Honey Glazed Bacon with Black Pepper, fresh tomato and lettuce and a Curried Lemon Aioli; Wonderful! We shared each other's dishes so we could get a taste of each and it was the highlight of the day, culinarily. We headed back to the resort to hike around there and burn off some calories, a cocktail of Prosecco and Amaretto and then off to Lutsen Resort and their dining room for dinner. We enjoyed a very nice dinner there with good wine and the great view of the lake and good food as well. This was not the highlight of the day but very good. We also had our breakfast there the next morning because we had enjoyed dinner there. It was nice as well. I had a Stuffed French Toast with cream cheese and Lingonberries, dipped in rice crispies and fried. Really good!
We headed back down the shore to visit my dad at Silver Bay Veteran's Home and then back home. It was a very successful adventure and I highly recommend all of the places mentioned.
Go forth and eat!
Tim

Cedar Planked Crappie

I was out on the water at Fish Lake near my home yesterday and caught a nice 11" Crappie so I thought I might experiment with cooking it on a cedar plank as is done commonly with Salmon.
I first soaked the plank for about 1 1/2 hours in water and while that was happening I marinated the Crappie in 1 Tablespoon of Olive oil, 1 Tablespoon of Soy sauce, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Bourbon and 1 Tablespoon of Limoncello (lemon Liqueur). I heated the grill for several minutes, then set the plank on the grill to heat. as soon as it began to smoke, I laid the Crappie on the plank and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. There was a plethora of smoke and the time was about right for the size of the fish. It was just opaque at he 5 minute mark and it didn't need any more salt because of the Soy sauce in the marinade but I did add some fresh ground pepper. The result was interesting but frankly, I think the cedar deal works better on a fairly strong flavored fish like Salmon. It was a bit much for the mild flavored Crappie.
I guess this is how we learn what works and what doesn't. I did like the marinade flavor but next time I will grill it on a sheet of aluminum foil with a pat of butter along with the marinade and some pepper. I know that works very well from past experience with the mild flavored fish like Walleye and Crappie.
Go forth and cook!
Tim

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This afternoon I have been working on adapting my Baked Potato soup recipe to accommodate the ingredients available at the Fruit of the Vine food shelf at my church, The Vineyard in Duluth, Mn. I am going to give some cooking demonstrations there on May 22nd to show the clients how to make some good stuff using what is available there. We are going to do 4 demos; the first at 9:30 which will be breakfast, featuring biscuits from scratch and sausage gravy to go with them. Next, at 10:30 we will make a snack of crostinis with some fun things on top and possibly flatbread pizzas. At 11:30 we will tackle a full roasted chicken dinner and show the various things you can do with a whole chicken. Among those ideas will be the dinner with rice pilaf, then what to do with the carcass. We will show how to make a great chicken stock for use in soups and almost anything you might need a stock for as well as using the leftover chicken meat for the soup, chicken salad, pot pies or just to snack on. we will also do a candied carrot recipe done in the oven for our vegetable side dish. At 12:30 we tackle dessert, creating a bread pudding with canned fruit and also my loaded baked potato soup. This post is dedicated to that soup. The recipe, which feeds 8-10 people:

3 Cups Instant Mashed Potato Flakes

4 Cups reconstituted non-fat dry milk

2 2/3 cups water

4 Tablespoons Butter

1 Cup chicken stock from home made, boullion cube or chicken base

1/2 Sweet Onion, grated

2 Slices Bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces

1 Pinch Salt

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Ground White Pepper

1/2 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Chopped green onions and more cheese for garnish.

In a fry pan, cook the bacon until crisp and set aside on a plate lined with paper towels.

Grate the onion and melt the butter in a 3 1/2 qt saucepan. Add the onion and sweat over low heat for about 5-6 minutes until the onion is translucent.

Add the water, milk, stock, salt, pepper, cayenne, and simmer for 10-15 minutes over very low heat.

Add the potato flakes and stir them in, mixing thoroughly until fully combined.

Add the bacon, crumbling it as you add it.

Add the grated cheese and simmer for 3-4 minutes more over low heat.

Serve immediately and garnish with chopped green onions and more grated cheese.

As the title suggests, it tastes like a loaded baked potato

Bon Appetit!

Filet Mignon

Tonight I cooked a beef tenderloin medallion on the grill. My word, I like that stuff! Super One in Duluth had a sale a while back on beef tenderloin and I was $3.95/ lb. ; unbelievable! I bought two of them and cut them up into individual medallions and Chateaubriand-style roasts. Tonight I made the individual medallions and wrapped them in bacon and grilled them, searing for about 4 minutes per side, seasoned with Lawry's seasoned salt and fresh ground black pepper. Absolutely wonderful! The tenderloin needs extra seasoning because it doesn't have that much flavor, being so lean. It does make up for that in being unbelievably tender, however. I served it with a baked Russet potato, sour cream and butter. It was a lovely dinner.
Teresa and I have embarked on a weight loss deal with Weight Watchers ( not fun, by the way) and so I have to watch what I am cooking these days but it is necessary I suppose. Truth- be - told I don't want to do this but it is necessary and here we go. I am not willing, however to give up flavor for weight loss so this will have to be a compromise on those terms. We'll see how it goes.
Tim

Biscuit Gravy

Last night I continued my practice for the May 22 cooking demos at the Vineyard for the combo Medical Clinic and Food Shelf day. I did a recipe by my friend Steph Berguson for biscuit Gravy using the microwave. It calls for 1 stick of butter, a 1/4 cup of flour and 2 cups of Milk. I am working with powdered milk because that is what is available at the Fruit of the Vine food shelf. My mission is to cook the things available at the food shelf and make it taste good and fairly easy to do. The recipe calls for melting the butter in the microwave and then adding the flour and milk, whisking to combine, and microwaving for 2 minutes on high, then at 1 minute intervals until you reach the desired consistency. I added fresh ground black pepper to get the right seasoning for sausage gravy and it worked very well, even with the powdered milk. I think the extra butter compensates for the lack of butterfat in the milk and it is very tasty. I think this will be the recipe I use for the demo, but I will adapt it to the stove top in case some folks don't have a microwave. We will add breakfast sausage and serve it over biscuits made with the same powdered milk, which I am working on to get them to taste right.
Tim

Steve and Tim's Inaugural brew and some soup

I want to report on the tasting day festivities. I was a little nervous as Steve, Kathy, Teresa and I popped the top on our first Irish Red Ale. As the opener started to release the seal I saw bubbles on the edge of the bottle neck. That told us the carbonation phase was also a success.
We had placed 4 mugs in the freezer for the frosty mug effect and as Steve poured the first bottle in the mug it developed a nice head; very exciting! He handed the mug to me to taste and it was excellent! Total and complete success! We were thrilled! Our first attempt at brewing had turned out very well.
We went on to make some grilled burgers to go along with the new brew and it was a very nice evening of good food and good beer. We decided to allow the remainder of the bottles to sit for another 2 weeks to allow the carbonation to fully develop as it was a bit less than a commercial beer might have been. I just cracked the next one tonight after another week of sitting and it was very good. It has another week to go but it is well on the way to a total success. I think we'll wait another month or so to begin our next batch. We need to empty some of our bottles to allow for the next batch to be bottled and not have to buy more.
Next on the agenda tonight is a soup I just made using "refrigerator sweepings". I had some ham leftovers, some asparagus, some ham braising liquid in the freezer( I save all braising liquids, stocks and sauces for use in other dishes than they were originally intended).
I started with some onion, celery, garlic and shallot in about 3 T unsalted butter in an 8 qt stock pot. meanwhile I soaked 1 lb. of Great Northern beans in a saucepan with enough water to cover them by about 1 inch for about 6 hours.
I sweated the veggies for about 10 mins. in the butter and a little olive oil. Next, I added 4 cups water and the leftover braising liquid which was very concentrated, and the leftover ham bone. I added 4 cups of chicken stock and about 3/4 lb. of chopped asparagus. This simmered for 20 mins. and then I pureed the whole thing with a hand blender until it was very smooth. Next I added the ham chunks from the leftovers and 2 Cajun Smoked Sausages sliced into 1/4" slices and simmered these for a few minutes.
The beans were simmered for about 1 1/2 hours in a separate pot and then about 1/2 of them poured into the soup pot. Next, I pureed the remainder of the beans in the saucepan with the hand blender until they were very smooth and poured them into the soup. The seasoning was about right because of the saltiness of the ham, braising liquid, and bones but I added several grinds of pepper and tasted it. It was very nice.
I don't think I will ever duplicate this exactly again, but it does show the possibilities of using whatever is in the refrigerator at a particular time.
Sweep out the refrig and have some fun!
Tim

Irish Red Tasting Day

Tomorrow is tasting day for Steve and Tim's Inaugural Brew. We have been waiting now for about 5 weeks for this day to see if the process has yielded success or not. The brew has fermented and been bottled and has been in boxes taped shut in case of explosions ( of which there were none!). Steve has, as I am writing this, placed 4 bottles in the refrigerator for tomorrow night's festivities and I hope to report tomorrow that the stuff is awesome. So far the process has gone very well with each step doing just what it was supposed to so all should be well.
Steve wants to make a Dopple Bock for our next attempt so we'll begin studying the process for that one now and on my next trip to Northern Brewer in St Paul I'll pick up the kit and any extra equipment we might need.
This is short post, I know, but it's late.
Tim

Lisa's Carrot Souffle

My friend Lisa sent me the recipe for the Carrot Souffle she made at our last dinner group gathering. It was really extraordinary and I'll share it with you. She told me it was originally from the website Simple Recipes and she tweaked it using ingredients she had on hand and it was an amazing success. I haven't looked up the original recipe because this one is very good as it is.

2 lbs carrots, peeled, sliced into 1/2" rounds

salt for salting the cooking water

1 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Cup Cinnamon Graham crackers processed in a food processor to fine crumbs

3/4 Cup grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/3 Cup finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp room temp Unsalted Butter

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

3 Large Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 2 Qt. baking dish and set aside.

2. Place carrots in a saucepan and cover with an inch of water. add about a teaspoon of salt to the water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Strain and puree them in a food processor or with an immersion blender until very smooth.

3.Place the carrot puree in a large bowl. slowly add in the cream, a little at a time, whisking after each addition so the mixture is not lumpy. Mix in the cracker crumbs, grated cheese, onion, butter, Kosher salt, Cayenne, and black pepper.

4. In a separate bowl, whip up the eggs until frothy, then whisk them into the carrot puree.

5. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes, until puffed up a bit and lightly golden.

Serves 8

Enjoy!

Tim

Bottling Day!

Today was bottling day for Steve Rudh's and my first batch of home brewed beer. You may have read a previous post about this adventure but if you didn't, we started on St Patrick's Day, about two weeks ago with a kit from Northern Brewer in St. Paul. We both like Irish Red so that is the kit we picked and boiled our wort that night using the basic brewing kit from the store. The folks there were very helpful in getting us started, suggesting some better upgrades to the basic kit and the right yeast to buy and how to transport it without killing it, etc. I called them the next week to get some advice on the next step and they walked me through it over the phone. Really good customer service and that is kind of rare these days, but I digress.
The next morning after brew day our fermenter was bubbling furiously as we had hoped and continued for several days, winding down to almost a stop by this week.
Tonight we cleaned and sanitized all our bottles and transferred the beer into the bottling bucket after testing the specific gravity. The boys at N.B. told me it should be 1.013 and we ended up at 1.010 so I think it is just right. We also tasted the sample from the hygrometer tube and it was very nice, even though at this point it is still "flat". We added the priming sugar and filled 48 bottles with a lovely amber liquid.
Now it is sitting in cases taped shut in case of any explosions and it will develop the carbonation over the next two to four weeks. I can't wait to taste one!
Here's to a good "soothing beverage"; more to come as we taste Steve and Tim's Inaugural Brew.
Tim

New restaurant coming

Teresa and I attended the Arrowhead Professional Chefs Assoc. annual Chef's Club Brunch at the DECC this morning and it was excellent! We were seated with some very nice folks at our table and one of them was a chef named Gary Snyder. We struck up a conversation and he told us his background and previous job here in Duluth. I asked what he was doing now and he said he was about to open a new restaurant in West Duluth at the site of a current restaurant that has been for sale for a while now. I won't say which one just yet because the employees of that place haven't been told yet that it has been sold.
Gary told us that he intends to make it a "comfort food" restaurant with things like good pot roast and meatloaf and Lamb shanks, things like that. He likened it to your kid coming home from a long time away at college and making the best meal he or she has ever had at home.
I liked the sound of that and personally I can't wait. From the sound of his background It will be very good. He said he wanted to avoid making it too "fru-fru" as his friends call gourmet stuff, but still excellent quality.
He asked us where we liked to eat and we told him some of our favorites. we all remarked that none of the places were in the city of Duluth. I told him we have been looking for just what he will be offering because it doesn't exist here yet; at least we haven't found it yet. He said his target opening is June 1st.
I'll certainly give you the whole scoop as soon as he's open.
Tim

Chocolate Malted Creme Brulee

For my friend Johnnie who has requested the recipe for Chocolate Malted Creme Brulee: I will direct you to one of my former posts entitled Creme Brulee. Follow the recipe and add
3 oz good milk chocolate (Dove bar, for instance).
1/2 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon malted milk powder ( find it in the ice cream toppings aisle at the grocery store).
Add these while you are heating the Cream , sugar and vanilla and whisk until the chocolate is melted in and combined well. Proceed with the remaining steps to finish.
Good luck, Johnnie!

Dinner group

A bunch of acquaintances began a gourmet dinner group a few years back after my friend Anita Barr and I began kicking around the idea. I read about a couple that started one by inviting friends to their home for dinner and cooking great food. The word spread about the group after a while and it grew into a regular event. I thought this was exciting and I told Anita and our friend Casey LaCore about it and we began to talk and Casey told a few others and soon we were under way. It has been a very good thing for us. We were joined by Bruce and Lisa Reeves, the La Cores and Nelle and Lance Rhicard to make a group of ten. that seemed like the maximum we could handle at one time. It has proved to be just about right. We aren't all able to participate every time but usually most of us are there.
We have tried to meet on a monthly basis but that has sometimes proved hard to keep up. Nevertheless, we enjoy every time we can get together because the food is always excellent and we have become friends with folks we hadn't known before we started meeting. The common thread for us is obviously food and our love for making really great stuff and at the same time we have begun to form some relationships and that is a very good thing too.
We met again this last Saturday evening and our theme was "Steakhouse Night". Our menu consisted of a Wine and Cheese course, Home-aged Steaks (see a previous post on steaks), Onion Rings, Carrot Souffle, Spiked Shakes and Blackout Cake for dessert. I must say, it was most excellent! The aging process turned out to be really good and worth the time and effort. The Carrot Souffle was marvelous and I hope to bring the recipe here if Lisa will give it up. I will include the onion ring recipe here and will try to get the Spiked Shake and Blackout Cake from Lisa and Anita.
My Onion Ring recipe is one I have been trying to replicate from one of my favorite restaurants, Norman Quack's in Forest Lake, MN. They make the best rings I ever tasted and I have tried to make them over and over resulting in failure a few times but got it right at Deer Camp in November and I was ecstatic!
Here it is: Yield: 8 to 10 servings
3 to 4 Large sweet yellow onions sliced in 3/4" slices and separated into individual rings.
1/2 cup all purpose flour for dredging the rings
1 pkg McCormick's Beer Batter mix
1/4 to 1/2 Cup all purpose flour added to the dry Beer Batter
1 1/2 - 12oz. cans lager beer; Bud, LaBatt's, etc.
1 Gallon Peanut oil in a Propane fish cooker
Oil thermometer
Sheet pans lined with paper towels to store and transport the cooked rings to the oven for keeping warm until serving.
Kosher or Sea salt for seasoning.

In a large bowl, dredge the individual rings in the flour and toss to coat.
In another large bowl, mix the Beer Batter, extra flour and beer until smooth and fairly thin like a thin pancake batter that just barely coats the rings.
Heat the oil to 350 degrees and dip the rings into the batter to coat, then into the oil in batches and cook, flipping them over midway until they are a nice golden brown, about 1 minute per side.
Transfer to the paper lined trays, season with salt ( and pepper if you like) and transport to another pan in a warm oven. Continue cooking the batches until all are done, seasoning each batch as they come out of the oil and still very hot ( this way they absorb the seasoning nicely) and keep them in the warm oven until ready to serve with dinner.
I think you'll find they are light, crisp and stinking good!
As I receive the other recipes I'll pass them along if I'm allowed.
Go forth and cook!
Tim

Confit continued and Brewing day!

The confit experiment I wrote about in my last post came out well, I think. The venison came out of the oil after two hours at 300 degrees and was thoroughly cooked and fairly tender. I was fairly conservative with the spices and salt so it was not terribly flavorful, but then again it was an experiment to test the cooking technique. I have looked up some recipes for duck confit to see a comparison of technique and find it is done on the stove top in a dutch oven over low heat for about the same time (2 hours) and then left in the fat for storage. That corresponds with Hal McGee's description of the ancient use of the system for storing cooked meats. the duck will keep for months in the fat layer and just needs to be reheated in an oven or in a particular dish which it is being used.
I sliced my cold venison confit very thinly and warmed it in a beef jus that I had saved in the freezer which had some pureed roasted onions in it. I then made some mashed baby red potatoes to serve it over and fried some leftover walleye cheeks from the wild game dinner which hadn't been cooked yet; kind of a surf-and-turf deal. The walleye was dredged in very well seasoned flour, dipped in beaten egg, then in Panko bread crumbs and fried in a combination of butter and vegetable oil. the walleye was excellent and the venison was much improved by combining it with the beef jus. Overall I think it was a success.
I think I'll try the same system using the dutch oven and much more seasoning next time as it will be much easier to do on the stove top. By the way, I had covered the baking dish in the first attempt with plastic wrap and then foil. I found in opening it up at the end of cooking that the plastic wrap was a wasted step as it disintegrated under the foil. That combination works well with meat in a braising liquid in the oven to keep moisture in but apparently the oil was too hot or somehow degraded the plastic wrap to nothing. It was a good lesson learned.
On another front, my friend Steve Rudh and I brewed our first batch of beer yesterday. We chose an Irish Red Ale as our first project. It was a fun evening of reading instructions, sanitizing brewing equipment and boiling the wort. The whole process took about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish and was not difficult at all. I had been studying the possibility of brewing for a while and on Teresa's and my culinary adventure trip a couple of weeks ago we went to Northern Brewer (www.northernbrewer.com )store on Grand Ave. in St. Paul and purchased the basic brewing equipment, the Red Ale kit and some liquid yeast. The folks at the store were very helpful in going over the whole process with us and getting us the right equipment to start out. They also told me to call anytime during the process of brewing with questions and they would be glad to answer and be of help.
I am happy to report that as of this morning the airlock on the fermentation bucket is bubbling away which means that we have fermentation going on. that should last for about two weeks or so and then we'll test with the hygrometer to see if the specific gravity is stable ( that means it's done fermenting). At that point we transfer to the bottling bucket and make about 48 bottles of a hopefully lovely Red Ale. It has to sit in the bottles for about two more weeks to produce the carbonation and then we refrigerate and sample! I am excited about this! I'll tell you all about it when the day arrives.
Tim

Venison Confit

As I am writing tonight I'm trying a new type of cooking technique for me. I saw it on an episode of Iron Chef America on Food Network the other night. One of the chefs was cooking some venison in oil to make a confit. He put coffee in his but I am going basic with this experiment to see how the method works. While watching this I immediately became intrigued with the process so I went to my go-to book for information, Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. He writes that the method was originally used as a way to preserve cooked meats by burying them in a thick, airtight layer of fat. It is best known these days for the French confit of goose and duck legs cooked in their own fat. I've never tasted either of them but it sounds wonderful. If it is anything like Fois Gras I am in!
I started tonight with a package of Venison chops and seasoned them with Kosher salt, black pepper, fennel seed and cumin seed, then covered them in vegetable oil to just cover the meat in a baking dish. I covered the dish with plastic wrap and then with foil ( yes, the plastic wrap is safe in the oven as long as it is under a layer of aluminum foil). I placed the dish in a 300 degree oven and it is now baking for the next two hours. I will report the results in the next post and I am hoping for good things; we'll see.
As an update, please see Venison Confit Success, a later post on this same site and you will find the full recipe that turned out fabulously!
Tim

Gone Wild

Last night I had the privilege of cooking for about 100 men at the Vineyard church in Duluth, MN for their Gone Wild game dinner. It was a blast. I enjoyed using the commercial kitchen there as I don't ever get a chance to use a flat top grill, some serious burner BTU'S or a double set of Blodgett convection ovens. Also, the vent hood is amazing. We did about 35 to 40 large Walleye fillets which we cut into 2-3 pcs and set them on sheet pans with a pat of butter on each, a generous amount of Old Bay seasoning and some lemon juice. We set the ovens at 375 and cooked them for 11 minutes; awesome! The Old Bay has a nice kick to it and, of course, we did plenty of sampling as we cooked each of these dishes.
My friend Charlie Plys was the coordinator for the event and we had some great help in the kitchen: Bob James, Joshua Herbert, Dee Charles, Charlie P, Andy (don't know last name) and Sammy Aiken as well as a young lad named Matt who is aspiring to be a chef. Matt helped us greatly by assembling Elk Burgers and delivering them to the serving tables and also helping scrub pots and pans, up to his elbows in soap suds putting in his time in the trenches.
Back to the Elk Burgers; someone donated 10 lbs of ground Elk and frankly, I was concerned it might be gamy but it was excellent. I formed the meat into balls, about 1/4 lb each and set them on pans and as we cooked them we would set them on the flat top and press them down to a thin patty. Here is where the flat top shines at making good burgers. Elk is very lean so we oiled the grill for each batch and seasoned the burgers with my smoked salt and pepper. The flat top gave them a killer crust on each side and the smoked salt and pepper was just right. They smelled great on the grill and as we sampled, they tasted not only not gamy but excellent; nothing to worry about!
Bob James brought a load of Crappie fillets and Dee helped fry them along with my Walleye Cakes and they were excellent ( we sampled these as well). Bob uses seasoned Italian bread crumbs and egg wash as a coating and it was very nice, not hiding the flavor of the Crappie.
many other guys brought some good soups and stews and Joshua Herbert had me sample his Guinness Chili. It was very good. the seasoning was just right for my taste; not too hot but hot enough to feel it, a good amount of salt and a nice texture and mouth feel. I am generally not a chili fan but that was a good one.
There was plenty of food for everyone and we had lots of leftovers. I hope we will do this event on an annual basis because I thought it was very successful in terms of numbers of people who attended and quality of food people brought. Definitely good eats!
Tim

Wild game,etc.

Tonight I'm cooking for a wild game dinner on Friday evening at the Vineyard Church in Duluth, MN. (6:30 pm by the way in case you're interested. $3.00 and call ahead because space is limited). Anyway, I'm making my Walleye Cakes, Wild Rice Pilaf with onions, bacon, and craisins, and a Venison Bourguignon. The Pilaf has to feed 120 people so I'll be cooking that at the church kitchen as I don't have a stock pot that big. Also I won't have to transport the stuff; that's a lot!
The venison dish is done using Julia Child's recipe from her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have done this one before with venison and it turned out nicely. The Walleye Cake recipe is my own and I'm not sure I want to share that one here just yet. We'll see. It is too late tonight post the Pilaf recipe but I will soon. It was given to me by Chef Paul Madsen and I have adapted it to my liking. Also smoked some more of that red/yellow pepper-onion ragu I was fooling around with a while ago. It really is good. I tried it over scrambled eggs, on top of a grilled steak, and on Friday we'll see how it goes on Elk Burgers. Someone is bringing the meat and I'll be cooking them on the flat top at the church. I'm very excited about doing this dinner; very nice to just be cooking and not have the whole thing to plan and execute.
Tim

Culinary Adventure weekend

Just arrived home from an excellent culinary adventure in the Twin Cities. Teresa and I decided to spend a couple days there and find some restaurants we had not tried to hopefully find a couple of gems. We were not disappointed. Our son Jesse started us out on Saturday morning with a great spot for breakfast. It is called Cafe Cravings in White Bear Lake (http://www.cravingsmn.com/). A small place on Cty Rd. E just off 35E that I think might have been a KFC at one time. Jesse suggested their Bananas Foster French Toast but I had Eggs Benedict in mind and that is one dish I absolutely love so if they have it I have to try it. It was excellent! The Hollandaise was perfect; not too lemony and a hint of dill, super soft and light served with their signature Home Fried Potatoes. Those potatoes were very well seasoned with a mixture of seasoned salt, parsley and a smackerel of rosemary.
Teresa had the best surprise of the day. What a way to start a Saturday! Some folks at the next table, which by the way was REALLY close to ours (typical of the rest of them) suggested the Apple-Walnut Pancakes with Cinnamon Sugar and topped with Maple Butter. UNBELIEVABLE!
There aren't many dishes that cause me to say wow with every bite but this one was more than exceptional. The pancakes were amazingly crisp on the outside and almost ethereal on the inside.
The apples were sliced in small dime-sized pieces and sauteed to make them soft. The walnuts toasted and in fairly large pieces. I think the cinnamon sugar was in the batter because that crust on the outside was sugary-crisp and the inside was so light and airy that it defied description. All of that combined with the Maple butter topping was absolutely amazing! Teresa was eating them but allowed me a few tastes and with each one I couldn't help but say wow. I thoroughly quizzed the servers for information on the ingredients and they gave up a few tips they have seen in the kitchen. I am going to try to replicate these and I'll let you know (along with the recipe) how it comes out.
After a trip to Northern Brewers on Grand Ave. in St Paul to pick up supplies for our first attempt at brewing beer, our next stop was Patrick's Bakery in Edina, MN across the street from SouthDale Mall. It's a French Bakery and restaurant and we wanted to try them for lunch. I ordered a cup of French Onion Soup and a Croque Monsieur sandwich. Unfortunately, the soup was just average to mediocre. I was surprised. It was not hot and the crouton was one that was pre-done ahead and then tossed into the soup at service. Not good.
Next was the Croque Monsieur which is a ham and cheese sandwich on very soft white bread with the crusts cut off and a layer of very nice Bechamel on the bottom, then the ham, then some Gruyere cheese. More Gruyere grated over the top and then grilled to melt the cheese and heat the Bechamel ( nice nutmeg in there). They placed it in the Salamander to melt the cheese on top to a nice crust. It was very good and made up for the poor soup. We were too full to try their amazing pastries but we'll be back again because Teresa's mother lives about 4 blocks from the place.
We did some shopping and then back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Again our son gave us his advice for an Asian place called Orchid near his home in Hugo,MN. It was in a small strip mall on Cty Rd. J just off 35E on the west side. Teresa had a stir-fried beef dish which was good but the Vietnamese egg rolls were truly excellent. they were made with pork and chicken and were incredibly tasty. I had Luc Lac Beef which consisted of Tenderloin beef, onions and crispy potatoes in an oyster sauce on a screaming hot plate and served with an egg that was cooked on it's way to the table courtesy of the smoking hot plate. It was very good and the egg cooked as expected. A very interesting presentation and smelled really great in front of me.
Our final stop for the weekend was back on Grand Ave. in St. Paul's Crocus Hill neighborhood which, by the way contains some of he most fun places to visit if you're a foodie like me. My favorite spice store, Penzey's is right there across the street from our Sunday brunch destination, Dixie's. It's a southern food experience and it is very well done. Champagne Brunch on Sunday is a true delight. We were started off with Mimosas and then launched into their wonderful buffet with perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, corn pudding, excellent Jambalaya, bacon, Cajun sausage, Rib eye Roast with beautiful horseradish sauce and some really good scalloped potatoes. There was also some excellent fried chicken and waffles along with fresh shrimp and Crawfish Cardinale in Puff Pastry( marvelous). You can also order Eggs Benedict or an Omelet of your choice and of course, I tried the Benedict which was served on a fresh baked biscuit with diced country ham and a good Hollandaise which was a bit more lemony than the one at Cravings but still very nice. Desserts ranged fro Choc Mousse to cheesecakes to pies and there was just too much to sample. I highly recommend this place for any day of the week and especially on Sunday.
Happy eating, my friend
Tim

More smoking

Last night I did another batch of smoked salt to continue getting the process down and being able to replicate the good results I had a few weeks ago. this time I used the water pan in my charcoal smoker and cooked it for 3 hours, using Cherry and Walnut for smoking wood. The salt didn't taste as good as the first good batch where I didn't use the water pan so I put the salt into the smoker without the pan today for another hour and it seems to come out better without the added water in the smoke chamber. For some reason the water/steam tends to decrease the salt's ability to absorb smoke flavor. I guess I'll eliminate the water pan from now on because it doesn't matter if there is too much heat; the smoke volume is the key for those three hours. I also made a smoked Red/Yellow Pepper and Red Onion Ragu after the salt was done. I had some leftover peppers and a red onion and cut them into fairly good sized pieces, separating the onion into separate layers and laid them on an anti-splatter screen I found at IKEA. I smoked it at very low heat using the same Cherry and Walnut wood for about 45 minutes. I put the whole works in a food processor for a few seconds to cut it into small bits and then refrigerated it until the next morning. By the way, it smelled fabulous! Sunday morning I made scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and put about a Tablespoon of the ragu onto the cooked eggs as a garnish. Excellent!
Tim

New restaurant find

I just had surgery yesterday for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Teresa and I decided to go out for lunch after the event (outpatient surgery) I was out of the hospital in less than an hour!
We decided to try a new restaurant (to us, anyway) called Takk For Maten on the corner of Lake Ave. and Superior St. in Duluth. My friend Barb Oase told me about it a while ago before it had moved to it's present location. it used to be in the Sons of Norway hall up the street but hey had some building troubles and are now on Superior St. I am here to report that this is a very nice find! It's a small restaurant with a Scandinavian theme and the food is reasonably priced and very authentic. I had a Swedish Meatball sandwich on wild rice-cranberry bread with Havarti cheese and pressed in a panini grill. It was served with a really good dilled potato salad. Teresa had a Honeyed Ham sandwich with Jarlsberg cheese on rye and pressed as well, also served with the excellent potato salad.
They have a nice breakfast menu which is served all day and will soon be expanding their hours to dinner and into the evening. There is a full bar there serving wines and Scandinavian cocktails as well as beer. The decor is of course, Scandinavian with high ceilings and good lighting. Lots of windows to the street and access to the Tech Village from the restaurant.
The coffee is excellent and there are herbal teas as well as iced tea and other beverage choices.
I think this will become one of my favorites and I would encourage you to check it out!
Tim