If you’re in the Detroit area, Join us for the 5th annual BBQ Rib Burn Out behind Dino’s Lounge in Ferndale!

Rogue Estate and The Hungry Dudes have teamed up to put the delicious smack down on the competition for this charity event. This year’s charities are: The Ferndale Youth Assistance & Michigan Aids Coalition

Full details can be found on Dino’s site  here and Facebook, here.

Rockin’ Blues BBQ Rib Burn Out!
HEATED PARTY TENT in the parking lot behind Dino’s Lounge! WRIF will be there with “Rock Girl” Sarah!

Ferndale Eduation Foundation will be raffling of a new Ford Focus!
Tickets $10. Noon – 7pm, then move the party inside Dino’s! Tickets go on sale next week! Get yours before the party to be sure you get in!

4,000 heated sf with tables & chairs & lots of Bud & Bud Light (16oz $4), Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Cokes ($4) and RIBS! You get to sample ribs from each team & cast your vote for The People’s Choice Awards – 8 teams competing* (that’s 16 ribs!)

5th Annual BBQ Rib Burn Out – Noon-4pm
Celebrity Judges & People’s Choice voting until 5!
Winners announced at 5pm

Entertainment:
Tent Noon-3pm – The Chris Brantley Band (Mitch Ryder’s guitarist)
3:30-7pm ADJ (acoustic covers from Johnny Cash and Cee Lo Green)
Dino’s – The Reefermen with James Whalin takes the Dino’s stage @ 9pm

Raw ingredients for the soup. In the case of the cheeses, raw milk cheeses to be exact...

At the same Chef’s Night that yielded the previous two recipes posted below, my offering was this Cheddar/Ale soup made almost entirely from ingredients that are made within an hours drive from where we cooked. The focus of the evening was warming winter foods with an extra emphasis on locally made ingredients. We tend to look for local whenever possible to begin with, but this night the focus on Michigan bounty was even more intense than usual. There was a professional photographer and fellow food blogger/obsessive present, Joe Hakim of The Hungry Dudes, so we had to bring the A game and swing for the bleachers.

I think we accomplished our goal. Links to the photo galleries and printed article spawned from this evenings culinary melee at the end.

Recipe for Michigan Cheddar/Ale soup:

Ingredients for 4 servings:

1/2 medium size yellow onion diced
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 large jalapenos seeded and diced
1 Tablespoons fresh garlic, peeled and crushed
2 bottles Mad Hatter IPA (New Holland Brewing Company)
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint Guernsey Farms heavy whipping cream
1/2 pound bacon diced (home made by a friend of the Estate, so local as well)
1/2 pound Rosewood Products raw milk cheddar shredded
1/4 pound or 2 oz. Rosewood Products raw milk goat cheddar shredded
1/4 pound or 2 oz. Oliver Farms sharp cheddar curds
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 Tablespoon Chicken Soup base (“Better Than Bouillon” brand paste)
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Zingermans pretzel bread made into croutons, or crushed pretzels

Procedure:

Don't stop stirring! Burnt cheese does not taste good! Well... at least not in this case.

Mince the diced onion and peppers in a food processor until almost a paste. Brown the diced bacon in a pot over medium heat and add the minced veggies. Cook slowly for 25 minutes, or until most of the moisture is gone. At the same time melt the butter in a small pan and add the flour, cook for 15-20 minutes on low heat, stirring continuously, and refrigerate. Turn the heat on the soup pot up to high and add the garlic. Stir continuously until the garlic smell is very strong, 30 seconds or so. Add 1.5 bottles of Mad Hatter, and boil until only 1/3 of the volume is left. Add the chicken stock and cream and bring back to a simmer. Once back to a simmer add the cheeses and stir constantly until dissolved over medium heat. Or add bit by bit until it’s all been incorporated, but the central theme here is do NOT stop stirring until all the cheese is melted! If you stop stirring during this part of the process, the cheese will just sink to the bottom and burn. Once dissolved, and back to a simmer, add the last half bottle of Mad Hatter and the chilled butter and flour mixture a little at a time until the soup is thickened to your liking. Stir in the chicken soup base a little at a time, tasting between each addition to make sure you don’t over salt, and add as much fresh ground black pepper as you wish to your own tastes. Taste for seasoning, and bowl, using the pretzel croutons for garnish and a few turns on the pepper mill for added contrast and aroma.

Warming, cheesy, peppery, pretzelly goodness! Perfect for a midwest winter night!

I tried to go as simply as possible with this recipe, as there was a chance it would be published in a local magazine, so I wanted it to be accessible to the home cook. It’s come to my attention that I’m not always very good at that though. I guess 20 years cooking professionally has somewhat disconnected me from what the term “home cook” implies. That aside, this recipe is very adaptable, you can substitute any local or even non-local variant of any ingredient included and still have one hell of a soup at the end of it.

Live well, and eat better!

-Jack

Gallery from Joe Hakim of The Hungry Dudes blog

Rogue Estate Facebook Gallery

Real Detroit Weekly’s article on the meal in question

We prepared this as one of the Winter Comfort Foods for a recent Chef’s Night menu and it’s been featured in a photo gallery by The Hungry Dude’s Joe Hakim, a Photo Gallery on the Rogue Estate Facebook and an article in Real Detroit Weekly. Enjoy!

Shrimp Gratin Appetizer (Yields 4 small 4 oz. ramekins)

2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1.5 – 2 cups half & half, heated
6 oz. grated Dorothea Potato Chip Goat cheese
24 (31-45 count) raw shrimp peeled and deveined, thawed, tails removed
3 scallions finely sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
dash white pepper
dash nutmeg
dash salt
2-3 oz. grated Raclette cheese
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1.5 tbsp Virgin Olive Oil
pinch paprika
pinch dried thyme
pinch of salt
Flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

1) Make Mornay (cheese sauce)
Combine flour and butter over medium heat, simmer while stirring until raw flour smell goes away (10 minutes). Add 1.5 cups half & half and stir until thickened, lower heat (if too thick, add more half & half). Add grated Goat cheese, stir to combine.

2) Assemble
Add shrimp to cheese sauce, and simmer on lowest heat for only 1-2 minutes. Spoon into mixing bowl; add scallions, garlic, pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste, stir. Spoon gratin into into 4 small ramekins, making sure each contains 6 shrimp. Make crumb topping: stir together Panko, oil, paprika, thyme, and salt. Top each ramekin with 1/4 of the Raclette and crumb topping.

3) Bake
Bake ramekins at 350°F for 10 minutes until golden on top. Remove, let cool slightly, garnish with parsley.

Pairs very well with a chilled Alsatian or Oregon Pinot Gris.

It’s winter and that means it’s time for braising and pot roasting. This recipe works fine by either method, or a combination of the two. The most important thing this dish needs is time – so plan ahead to give it plenty. It only gets better the longer it cooks.

We prepared this as one of the Winter Comfort Foods for a recent Chef’s Night menu and it’s been featured in a photo gallery by The Hungry Dude’s Joe Hakim, a Photo Gallery on the Rogue Estate Facebook and an article in Real Detroit Weekly. Enjoy!

Beef Burgundy to serve a table of 4
This is a very flexible and forgiving dish that is perfect for the beginner. Ingredients are inexpensive and short of full out neglect,  it’s tough to actually mess up. Like most soups; leftovers taste even better the following day.

The software:
3lbs Beef Short Ribs or Flatiron Steaks, roughly chopped
2 Tablespoons peanut oil, vegetable shortening or bacon fat
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 tablespoons crushed garlic (more if desired)
3 cups diced carrot
1 cup finely diced celery
2 cups full bodied red wine – I used Chateau de la Taille Bordeaux
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 star anise
Salt
Black Pepper
3 hours of time from prep to serve

The hardware: A Large (12″+) pan or dutch oven, preferably cast iron. Large (2+ Qt) saucepan optional.

The Method:
Prep all ingredients before starting – this will make things go much smoother during assembly and cooking.
For the wine – use something you’ll enjoy drinking, since there will likely be some leftover. If it tastes good in a glass, it’ll taste good in a recipe.
When chopping beef & veg, smaller pieces mean less cook time. This recipe was timed with beef cut to roughly 1 1/2″ cubes. 1/4″ dice on the onions and 1/4″ slice on the carrots & celery.

With everything cleaned, sliced, diced and ready, add the oil or fat to the pan and heat it on med-hi until nearly wisps of smoke appear. Salt the beef and add to the pan carefully (It will spit a little). Don’t over crowd the pan – brown in batches. Brown on all sides. When a good color & crust is on the beef, remove to a bowl. A good set of tongs is the best tool for this job.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic. Cook the onions and garlic down until they’re translucent.

Crank the heat up to high and add the wine to the pan to deglaze. Use the tongs or a spatula to scrape all the stuff off the bottom of the pan and mix it around with the onions and wine.

As the Wine begins to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low.
(If using a sauce pan, transfer everything over to it at this time.)

Return the beef to the pan, add the carrots, celery, beef stock and star anise.
Give everything a stir and let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Reduce the heat as needed.

Things should be bubbly but NOT boiling. Time is your most important ingredient here.
Don’t fuss over the pan. Check every 30 minutes, give it a stir, add beef stock and/or wine as needed to keep everything 1/2 submerged. As the beef and carrots become tender enough to mash with a fork around the 90 minute mark, allow liquid to reduce and thicken.

After 2 hours, everything should be tender and the liquid should be thick, similar to gravy. If not, cook a little longer. Fish out the star anise, add the butter and lemon juice, stirring everything to combine. Taste the liquid and add salt & pepper as desired, serve immediately.

Not surprisingly, this dish will pair perfectly with the wine you used to cook with. Goes great with some fresh, hot bread of any type on the side for scooping, or even just as a carrier for butter. ;)

We look forward to your questions and success stories in the comments below or on our Facebook!

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Que Syrah, Syrah…

Lost Canyon Syrah had such promise.

I recall several years ago when Syrah came to the attention of Cab drinkers as both an exotic being heavily marketed by Australia (AKA Shiraz) and as a funky Californian upstart (Syrah). It’s always been a capable blending grape, good for adding some ripe dark fruit and syrupy mouthfeel to its sometimes more austere vinifera cousins. On its own, it yields a relatively simple but potentially very deep crowd-pleaser.

The battle continues, Cali VS Aussie, MegaCorp VS rebel producer, to this day. I have few preconceived notions about the grape, or the wine it gives up. In my experience it’s good with meat, sweet, and smoke. BBQ AKA the barbie.

But I was sad to hear that we lost Lost Canyon (in its original incarnation) as a contender.

2007 Lost Canyon Russian River Syrah (About $15)

Learn more about the winery: http://www.princeofpinot.com/winery/205/
Learn more about the bottle in front of me: http://buyingguide.winemag.com/catalog/lost-canyon-2007-trenton-station-vineyard-syrah-russian-river-valley

SEE: Dark, deep brilliant red through and through
SWIRL: A nice heavy coating of the glass, with quick, striking legs
SMELL: Rich blackberry and black cherry fruit, leaves, leather, vanilla, plums, and even smoked bacon, heat from the alcohol.
SIP: Tart and tannic, black fruits, and vanilla from fairly new oak
SAVOR: Chewy/meaty but not as syrupy as more common new world versions

Final impression: All The classic brambly fruit notes, a bit tight, rough and young. Yet it’s as good as any Syrah I’ve had at the price and a nicer alternative to cheap Aussie Shiraz. Next week I plan to test a comparable Barossa Valley Shiraz to compare.

Pair with: BBQ with sauce, or any meats with grilled onions.

It’s been a banner season for exciting new vendors to Detroit’s Eastern Market: The Brinery from Ann Arbor is as much to the sour end of the scale as Slow Jams is to sweet. Brine-master Dave has honed naturally fermented pickle perfection from an alluring array of Michigan-centric ingredients that are sure to please many a mouth. (Aside: I should get an award for that awesome alliteration.)

The first thing most eaters know of fermented foodstuffs, even if they don’t realize it is Kimchi. Surprise, gang – Kimchi is rotted cabbage, hot peppers and when you’re eating the hard core authentic stuff, anchovies or oysters.  The Brinery currently offers two varieties of Kimchi, one with the fish and one without, however the ‘with’ is being phased out, since the fermented fish is a difficult ingredient to source as locally grown/produced.

I’ve been cleaning a jar of ‘with’ since I met Dave a few weeks ago. The Kimchi is tart, with the right heat level to warm the mouth without an obnoxious after-burn. (I’m not a hot head, despite my collection of chile pepper based sauces and ingredients) The texture an ideal ratio of crunch to squish and as you can see in the photo, the color is a beautiful fiery orange that can really play a great contrast to many dishes for you plate artists.

Full disclosure: my grandparents tell me I’ve more polish heritage than anything else. To that end, I’ve been eating and enjoying sauerkraut my whole life. I approached Storm Cloud Zapper with the highest scrutiny.
As with all of The Brinery‘s products, this european take on rotted cabbage is naturally fermented and naturally colored with all Michigan sourced ingredients. (Dave takes “Made in Michigan” VERY seriously.)

This kraut lives up to it’s label. It’s bright, tart flavors, excellent texture and the striking purple made this my immediate go-to kraut for any meal. This is how kraut should be. If you’ve traditionally disliked the stuff, swing by The Brinery booth and give it another try, because this is the one that can sway you.

Last on this week’s review is a jar of pickles. Detroit, the McClure brothers didn’t invent pickling. It’s time you knew. In this particular jar The Brinery saw fit to naturally ferment Michigan carrots, garlic and hot peppers.

The result: WOW. A full on frontal assault against the ho-hum of the average dill pickle. The pleasing snap and subtle sweetness of a good winter carrot coupled with an undeniable tang of fermentation, matched with a garlic and pepper heat that will definitely put a little sweat on the brows of milder mouths while keeping the hot heads happy as well. This jar was the first to empty.

Like all of The Brinery‘s products, the presentation worthiness of this pickle is top shelf. The three beauties pictured in this article are indicative of Dave’s entire product line: everything looks as good as it tastes and tastes as good as it looks.

Find The Brinery products at Detroit’s Eastern Market, Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market and various groceries in Ann Arbor and beyond. See their Web and Facebook pages for more info.

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Slow Jams arrived onto the Eastern Market scene in Detroit last month with an awesome name and a tremendous product line to match. Jams in both traditional and refreshingly new flavors, sure to compliment any application from Sunday morning breakfast to Friday evening’s cocktail. Disclaimer: my usual condiment cravings lean towards things based firmly in the tomato paste, fish sauce and chili pepper world, so it is with great delight that I have such high praise to deliver in regards to what I had previously regarded as a category of foods best left to my grandmother.

This is a very personal product every step of the way. Made by hand in small batches and sold at markets around the Metro Area by the ladies producing it in their weekly “Jam Sessions”, this is as close as one can get to a product without picking the fruit and doing the process themselves. Betsy, Shannon and Christina are creating something that is definitely worth eating.

I picked up three  jars during my visit to the Slow Jams Jam Stand on their inaugural Saturday in November  which I felt would represent a good cross section of the product line based on old standards and newer flavors I’d experienced elsewhere as well as something totally new to me in the world of Jam.

The goods:

Raspberry Basil – I use Raspberry as a barometer for jams and jellies the same way I use Sweet & Sour chicken to judge the caliber of a Chinese take-out joint. If you can’t do anything good with Raspberries, you’ll be dismissed rather quickly. (Why not grape? While certainly the most common in western culture, I simply don’t care for it.)

This is indeed a very good Raspberry. The Basil is a supporting player here, subtly rounding out the fruit without every truly making an appearance from the background. It’s a good Jam. Lots of chunks of fruit provide texture to go with the beautiful dark red color and no-mistake about it Raspberry flavor.

My toast was happy and so was I – they passed the litmus test and I boldly moved on to the next jar, for science!

Sweet Pepper – I’ve had pepper based jams in the past and while unique, none of them ever had been more than a novelty. Novelty is not a god repeat business strategy. I was very pleased to find a sweet jam base which carried with it a warm savory flavor and ever so slight amount of heat on the edge. There is a great texture here as well as the occasional hint of green from the peppers which tastes like a warm summer day.

I’ll out myself right now: the Sweet Pepper jam is my favorite. I ate the whole damn jar in two days. On the second day I didn’t even have crackers or any other kind of carrier, I ate it with a spoon. It’s that good. I ended up buying more the next week. I even went so far as to buy a pepper jam from another local vendor and was disappointed when it paled in comparison to Slow Jam’s version.

If you only ever muster up the courage to step outside of the traditional Jam box once,  Sweet Pepper is the Jam to do it with.

Tomato & Basil -Never once has anyone uttered the words Tomato, Basil and JAM together in a sentence to me before. It was the double-take moment. Like.. Spaghetti sauce? What the heck is this? A totally new food concept for me, which is immediately followed by acquisition. That’s how I roll, gang and I’m rarely disappointed.  Slow Jam’s Tomato & Basil jam is no exception. A very good balance of savory and sweet with this jam. Like it’s Raspberry inspired cousin above, the basil here is not a prominent player, but stays back to provide a familiar but subtle supporting character.

I’ll reassure you that there is no essence of spaghetti sauce here. This is tomato in an unfamiliar way – the acidic nature is completely removed. This is Tomato if tomato were every day sweet as watermelon. Like the other two (and I suspect ALL Slow Jams jam) the texture here is every bit as fantastic as the flavor.

I mentioned using Jam in a cocktail earlier and like any article here on the Rogue Estate, I write from experience. I used a dollop of Raspberry Slow Jams Jam in a concoction involving The Rogue Estate’s neighbor Valentine Vodka and club soda. The Jam added flavor and sugar in same way one would with a classic shrub, without the fuss.

Slow Jams maintains tastings at their sales table, with featured jams of the week available for your “try before you buy” enjoyment. Each week you will find special flavors available based on fruits available and other seasonal factors. I’ve yet to try anything that wasn’t top notch delicious. With such a good track record, I may even be persuaded to give that old standard Grape another try.

Slow Jams can be found on both Facebook and Blogspot for more information including recipes and purchase locations.

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The Rogue Estate BBQ will be on hand at the 2nd Annual Detroit Holiday Food Bazaar on Friday, 12/9/2011.

For the offering: Hot BBQ pork sandwiches served with your choice of A.P. Lube or Smolder sauce, as well as bottles of the sauces and frozen 1lb vac-pacs of BBQ pork.

Rogue Estate BBQ is one of 25 vendors on site for this event selling ready to eat and packaged to share craft food items.

Vendors at this event: MeMe Design + Events, Brys & Edgewood, Stuffed, Nest, City Bird, Handmade Detroit, DJ Amy Dreamcatcher, Leopold’s Books, Love’s Custard Pie, Drought Juice, Detroit Institute of Bagels, Miette, Pete’s Chocolate Co., El Azteco, RG Distribution, Hugh, The Rogue Estate, Perkins Pickles, Beau Bien Fine Foods, Native Kitchen, Al Meida, Marvin Shaouni Photography, Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company, McClure’s Pickles, Simply Suzanne, Suddenly Sauer, Corridor Sausage Co., Gang of Pour, Porktown Sausage, Gourmet Underground Detroit

Many vendors accept cash only, though a few (like R.E.) can process cards. A dining area is available and music will be provided by local DJs. Find that perfect gift from us on Friday 12/9 from 5:00 until 11:00PM.

The bazaar is located at:

2448 Market Street Detroit, MI 48207-4516 (in Eastern Mkt, above Cost Plus Wines).

Enter through Cost Plus wines and head up to the third floor. See you there!

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My mind was set until a Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house, where she served a squash dish that included onions and a breadcrumb topping. It made a difference – both the savoriness and the sweetness from only the natural sugars in the fruit. Moreover, there was a textural contrast that I loved.

Now, I like almost all winter squash. But when I prepare it, I like to marry differences in texture, PLUS invite the right balance between sweet and savory. Today I dreamed up a dish I call “Squash Three-way”, a naughty name you would never find on an insipid jar of over-processed baby food.

Essentially it’s a two layer dish with a favorite simple topping – roasted pepitas, which are the hulled seeds of certain varieties of pumpkins or squash. The first layer is a basic savory latke, replacing the potato with shredded winter squash. The second is a sweetened mash of winter squash, upon which rests the slightly crunchy pepitas.

Squash Three-way
Recipe for 3 servings (scale up as necessary, swingers!)

For the mash:
1 small to medium French variety winter squash (Sucrine Du Berry, Rouge D’Etampes, or Baby Golden Hubbard)
1/2 cup chicken stock (optional)
4-5 Tbsp butter
Pumpkin pie spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice blend)
2-3 Tbsp brown sugar

For the latkes:
1 medium (7-inch) Delicata squash
1 large shallot
1 extra large chicken egg, beaten
1 tsp baking powder
3-4 Tbsp All Purpose flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
Ground dried sage to taste
Ground dried oregano to taste
2 Tbsp corn or canola oil for frying

For the topping:
Handfuls of roasted, salted pepitas (available in Mexican or health food stores, and many Trader Joe’s)

Prepare mash:
Preheat oven to 350°. Halve French squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Roast cut side down in a pan with 1/2 cup stock or water for an hour or until soft (while roasting, prepare latkes as below). Let cool. Scoop pulp into bowl, discard skins. Add butter and spice. Mash with a fork to a smooth consistency. Keep warm.

Prepare latkes:
Halve Delicata squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Peel skin from flesh. Grate raw flesh with a box grater (better yet, one of these: http://www.germandeli.com/bohachgr.html). Thinly slice shallot and mix with grated squash. Add baking powder, flour, salt, pepper, herbs, and mix well. Add beaten egg and stir thoroughly. Heat oil over medium heat until hot. Drop mixture in 1/3-1/2 cupfuls into hot oil, pressing down slightly. Fry 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain and blot, keep warm.

Assemble by topping latke with mash, and sprinkle pepitas on top.

Enjoy, but be careful any photos don’t find their way onto the Internet!

Hope mom doesn't see this!

The software:

• 2 small pretzel bread baguettes
• 1 chicken egg
• 1 duck egg (or a second chicken egg)
• 2 tbls buttermilk (plain milk works fine here, too.)
• 1 tbls sugar
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of cardamom
• pinch of sea salt
• butter
• 3 tbls real maple syrup
• pretzel salt (optional)

The method:

The pretzel bread I buy from Zingerman’s is about 7″ long, 2-2.5 inches wide on average. The recipe scales up or down easily – add 1 pretzel bread per additional mouth and increment the rest of the ingredients accordingly.  As for the egg portion – I use duck eggs whenever and where-ever possible. They taste better and they are just fantastic in anything even slightly resembling pastry. That said, if you can’t find duck eggs, chicken eggs work fine. Organic and free range farm fresh being the preferred choice in any situation.

First order of business here is to grab that pretzel bread you picked up a couple days ago and forgot to eat and slice it into 1/4 inch thick medallions and set them aside. Put your griddle or fry pan to the fire. Your heat target is the high side of medium, enough to get a sizzle from an egg without scorching your cooking fat.

In an appropriately sized mixing bowl, use a whisk to combine the eggs, buttermilk, flour, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and salt. Whisk it for at least a minute while your pan warms up to get everything distributed and get some air in there, too.

When the pan is ready, lube it up with some butter, dredge your pretzel medallions, shaking off excess egg and place in the pan.  If you have any soft pretzel salt, sprinkle 2 or 4 grains onto each while the sticky uncooked side is still up.

Like any other french toast variety, we’re going for a just browning stage before turning, same on the other side and remove to a plate. This will go pretty fast, so don’t get distracted or the smoke detector will wake everyone up.

If you have a large quantity, put the oven on warm when you begin and keep the finished piles of pretzel french toasts in there until service time.

Use real maple syrup if you can get it – it is SUCH A better flavor than the bizarre space aged chemical “maple syrup flavor” found in things like Mrs Butterworth. Pour syrup into a small bowl for dipping and warm it up in the microwave for 15 seconds.  Arrange everything and serve immediately. Hooray, you are now the champion of breakfast.

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I received a pack of the brats for review, slow cooked ‘em sealed in the vac-bag sous-vide method for 45 minutes, then brought them out to brown & finish in the cast iron.

The result: a straight up honest chicken sausage. Oliver Farms uses a light hand on the herbs and seasoning which compliments the meat without overpowering the delicious subtleties of meat which came from real chickens, not battery birds homogenized into briny oblivion. The texture is fantastic. No gristle and chew, nor finely ground mush like mass produced products, but a real pleasant “hey this is real meat” mouth-feel and a satisfactory snap from the casing.

As this is a chicken product, the bratwurst can be used as a lighter protein addition in any number of dishes that call for sausage or related forcemeats and will play well with most seasonings and sauces.

This and other Oliver Farms high quality organic products can be ordered from their website and picked up at Farm markets located around southeast lower michigan, including Detroit’s Eastern Market. See the Oliver Farms website for more information.

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A couple of the methods I've employed for storing the finished product, used soy sauce bottle and empty Sake bottle.

The ingredients (for a 2 cup batch):

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Usukuchi Soy Sauce (regular soy sauce will work, but back off to an even cup)

¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons Unseasoned Rice Vinegar

2-3 Tablespoons mild Honey (optional)

½ cup Lemon juice, Lime juice, or combination of (lately I’ve been using straight Lime, but your call)
If on the extremely off chance you find fresh Sudachi, or Green or Yellow Yuzu at the Japanese market, use that!

One 5g packet Shaved Bonito flakes

3 inch x 3 inch square of Konbu (dried giant kelp)

The procedure:

Now here’s where I get to talk about some of the basic concepts that run through all of Japanese cooking. There are a couple things to remember here about the handling of these ingredients, and how these ideas should be remembered whenever you use them for any reason. Boiling = Bad. You never want to boil anything containing Soy sauce or Bonito… Period. Miso also falls into the “never boil” category, but there’s no Miso in this recipe so I’ll leave that discussion for another post. If you boil Soy sauce it tends to give it an astringent after-taste, and if you boil Bonito you loose a lot of the depth it can bring to the table. You also never want to boil any citrus juice if you want it to be a star player in the final product. Doing so takes away a lot of the freshness of flavor, and just dulls the punch fresh citrus juice provides, which is the entire reason for using it. That said, you’ll understand why I structured this recipe the way I did.

Damp cloth, not dripping wet, and don't worry about getting all of it.

Adding the Bonito. I was making a much larger batch in this build than the recipe I'm providing, no difference in concept though. Don't boil it!

So throw out that bottle of Kikkoman Ponzu, and make some yourself! Take notes on the process to remember how you tweaked it to suit your own tastes for the next time you decide to make this (and you will). The balance of soy, vinegar, and citrus with the undertones of Dashi are what make this my favorite condiment, and what makes me want to always have some on hand. Combined with it’s sheer versatility, it’s a must have for any aficionado of Japanese cuisine.

Live well, eat better, and as Francis says, “good luck in the kitchen!”

Jack

Roasted Cauliflower at it’s most basic: a head of cauliflower is broken down into florets, oiled, seasoned and baked until golden, then served immediately. A preparation so simple that anyone can do it and the flavor and aroma so earthily wonderful that even the stubbornest anti-vegetarian will make room on the plate for it. How to improve something so perfectly wonderful as is? What could possibly be done that justifies the “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rule?

I began my quest for gluttony by paging through various older cookbooks from home cooks and semi famous chefs alike and eventually did a bit of google searching on the subject as well. The evidence below is an amalgamation of influences collected from different eras, regions and even a few related only by virtue of containing cauliflower dishes which I tested the night before and prepared successfully and to much enjoyment on Chef’s Night itself.

The software:

• 1 head of cauliflower, whole
• 2 tbl lard (grapeseed oil works here if you’re worried.)
• 8-12 garden sage leaves
• 2 springs silver thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 shallot, grated
• salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 cup butter (more for a larger head of cauliflower)
• nutmeg
• 1 oz parmesan cheese
• 1 oz asiago cheese
• 1 oz gruyere cheese
• 1 oz finely chopped fresh parsely
• 2 oz freshly squeeze lemon juice
• scant dash of tobasco sauce

Method:

Rinse the cauliflower, remove leaves and cut the stem back flush with the bottom of the head, leaving enough to hold everything together. If possible, brine a mild salt water solution for an hour or so prior to the next stage.

The Pre-cook: this is an interesting step I discovered during my initial research courtesy of Harold McGee: a low heat pre-cook helps some veg reinforces cell walls, which in turn keeps things in better shape during high temp cooking. Cauliflower happens to be one of those vegetables aided by this process, called Persistent Firmness. Since the intent is to keep the head whole for a stunning presentation, do this if you have the time. Put the cauliflower in a pot and fill til just covered with water. Heat until the internal temp of the cauliflower is 130-140F for 20 minutes, remove and drain.

While the precook is going, preheat the oven to 425F and put your fry pan on the fire to melt the lard or heat the oil and saute’ half of the total sage leaves, thyme and all of the garlic and shallot. Once the herbs are spent, remove and discard, reserving the hot flavored lube.

With the cauliflower drained and dried, lube the bottom of  your baking pan and set the cauliflower in it, then spoon or brush the entire head with the remaining lube. use it all. season with salt and pepper as desired and shove the whole thing into the oven uncovered for 45 minutes, give or take.

While the head is roasting, grate the cheeses and chop the parsley, then combine in a zip lock or a bowl along with black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg and set aside for finishing.

Check your Cauliflower around 30 minutes – it should be starting to brown by now. Fire up the fry pan again, this time with the butter, remaining herbs, a pinch of nutmeg, the lemon juice and the tobasco. Sautee the herbs as before, discarding when they’re spent. Continue to heat until the butter starts to brown, than remove to a bowl or cup for basting.

Pull the cauliflower from the oven and drench with the butter. Cover every surface of the thing that you can and get it back into the oven to continue roasting. Pull and re-baste after 10 minutes and then sprinkle an ounce of the cheese mixture over the head, then send it back into the hot box for the finish.

When it’s reach your preferred level of golden brown, pull, slice it thick and transfer to your serving dish, fan the slabs out just a bit and sprinkle more of the cheese mixture over it and serve immediately.

It’s considerably more effort than the traditional roasted veg, but that’s the kind of indulgent bastards we are around here and everyone present for this week’s Chef’s Night can tell you – it is well worth the investment. Cauliflower never had it as good as this.

Cook this up for you next meal and put it in your heads!

-///

The final product.

For those of you unfamiliar with Somen, it is essentially the Japanese equivalent of the Italian Angel Hair pasta, only much thinner and much more delicate. A wheat noodle, it’s texture, cold or hot, is like silk. Much more befitting of the common moniker bestowed upon the Italian variation, which is, by the way, known to the natives as Capelli D’Angelo. As much as I love the Italian pastas, this is, by far, my favorite noodle. Bar none. It takes seconds to cook, it is well suited to hot or cold preparations, and, as I mentioned, the texture is like nothing else. It is widely available these days, as well. No need to seek out an Asian market. I’ve seen it at chains like Kroger and Meijer. If you have a hard time finding it Soba will do in a pinch, but it’s texture is much rougher, so it’s worth the search to find Somen.

Another key ingredient was the Usukuchi soy sauce in the dressing. A generic reduced sodium soy sauce is a good substitute, but there is something magical about a Japanese Usukuchi. The company Yamasa was my source for this product, and it’s a fairly common brand, so finding it shouldn’t be all that difficult.

This is a delicate operation, so you really need to taste your way through it. Every step, the addition of every ingredient, you need to taste the progress.

So here ya go, cold Somen noodle salad with soy vinaigrette:

The players of an alternate build I did steeping konbu and bonito into the soy sauce before building the vinaigrette. Can be omitted.

3 bundles dry Somen noodles
1 bunch thinly sliced Scallion
Half cup of Usukuchi Soy Sauce
3 Tblsp. Lime juice
3 small cloves Garlic
5-6 one inch round thin slices peeled fresh Ginger
2 cups dark Sesame Oil
1 Tblsp. Dijon Mustard
1-2 Tblsp. Chili/Garlic paste
Kosher salt
Black and white Sesame seeds for garnish

They always come with this little band of paper holding them together.

Slowly drizzling in the sesame oil.

Once you’ve tasted your way through the dressing, and all components are in harmony, all that’s left is assembly.

Tossing them well, and gently!

This dish exemplifies the Japanese philosophy of simplicity. The inspiration for it was found one night at work. I was, early in the night, experimenting with a new menu item concept. The first half of the night was slow, so I started by cooking the noodles. After they were cooked and tossed in a little sesame oil we started to get busy, so I didn’t have time to finish the project. At the end of the night, cleaned up, and ready to leave, my co-worker and I had not had time to eat yet that day. He asked what I did with the Somen, and dressed it with some chili oil to slurp them down quickly before we left. That was the “ah-ha!” moment for me. I took a small bowl full and dressed the noodles with scallion, chili oil, chili/garlic paste and a splash of soy sauce. After slurping that down I thought, “I can make that better… fuck… I can make that awesome!”.

I hope you, the reader, have access to a local Asian or Japanese market to faithfully recreate this astoundingly simple and equally astoundingly good dish. It would suit any picnic, boxed lunch, or first course of any intricate Japanese themed meal. If you don’t have such access, the substitutions listed will do well enough.

My next post will be another recipe I loved from that evening of camaraderie with the boys here at the Estate (none of the girls could make it that night, sux to be them!) a home made Ponzu-Shoyu. I have decided that it is my favorite condiment and favorite flavor in the world…. So I must share the recipe… Throw out that bottle of store-bought crap, this will put it to shame…

Until then, live well and eat better!

Jack…

View from our hotel room balcony

Not that I’m trying to bash the place, but it serves itself up for such treatment, in my limited experience. Those of you who are experienced “travelers” know to ask the locals where to go to avoid the crowds and general bullshit show any destination puts on for the tourists. My experience in Waikiki might be an isolated one mind you, but the locals don’t seem to like anyone they might see as “tourists”. The reasons are pretty clear to me, being the tourist hub of Hawaii, they’ve seen far too many rich assholes that have money to burn on their schemes that they don’t seem to like an eyes-forward, alert and intelligent traveler. Ready to call them on their bullshit at the drop of a hat, as my girlfriend, who’s from Chicago, did a few times, resulting in… well… “entertainment”… We found this out the hard way when we visited a bar recommended to us by a local. A little dive bar called Arnold’s. A “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” type o place located next to an alley that could be easily mistaken for an extension thereof. The door guy was quite courteous, and upon entering the open air seating area Sara and I immediately noticed that every person there was a local. We found a seat at the bar and got the cold shoulder from the bartender. Right before we decided on a seat we saw a heavily tattooed, dyed red haired young woman we’d seen at the hotel hawking flowers and lei’s. I tried to be polite, but she turned to the bartender after we met eyes, pounded what was left of her drink, said something to him, and left. After we were seated he asked, “you guys know the flower girl?” My response was (admittedly a poorly thought out one considering the circumstances), “yeah, we saw her at the hotel.” Mind you, never a word was exchanged between us and the “flower girl”, so any ill-will was not expected. We placed our order, and he took his sweet ass time filling it. Bullshitting with the other customers, and generally putzing around before he delivered our drinks. We got the hint. Drinks finished, paid, tipped, out the door.

We ended up at a bar in the lobby of the hotel that had nightly karaoke and a beachfront view. The Shore Bird also offered a decent (but far from spectacular) breakfast buffet. They were also the only local bar that seemed to stay open past 11, so most of our nights in town ended there. Sara was still a bit miffed about the cold shoulder treatment we received at Arnold’s so she asked our bartender what the deal was. His immediate and quite comical response was, “What the hell did you guys do to get kicked out of Arnold’s?!!!” After we related the full story, flower girl variable included, he was at a loss for words, and added that he doesn’t see how she would have the pull to blacklist us anywhere, so he dismissed that hypothesis out of hand. I guess the locals just want their dive bars to be tourist free. Can’t say I really blame ‘em, to be honest, but we’re working class fucks that just happened to be lucky enough to save enough to make it out there. Whatever… I’m over it, and was from the time we found our seats at the Shore Bird, but it still seems to burn a hole in Sara’s panties…

Please don’t let me discourage you, though. If you EVER get the chance, fucking GO! Just don’t let your guard down because you’re on vacation, is all I’m saying.

All that aside. All the bullshit. All the tourist traps. All the shameless and total commercialization of native culture to the point of nearly losing itself… the food is good. Not just good, it’s fucking AMAZING!

Every foodie knows what poke is, or poi, or Ahi. I don’t really feel the need to define these terms, but for all it’s faults, Waikiki seems to be the hub of not only tourism in Hawaii, but restaurants as well! The North Shore of Oahu is much more rustic. If you want true local fare and local color, that seems to be the place to go. However, if fine dining is your thing, and you have the cash to blow (everything is more expensive in Waikiki) I strongly recommend a trip there.

In the lower right hand part of the image you'll see umbrellaed tables on a patio just above street level, that's Roy's patio and the last table is where we sat.

If, like me, you truly appreciate authentic Japanese food, there are more places in Waikiki that have menus in Kanji, Romanized Japanese, and broken English than I’ve seen anywhere. There are so many Japanese tourists in Waikiki that there’s an entire transit system dedicated to them. San Francisco style trolley cars covered in Knaji with Japanese speaking tour guides. I dragged my girlfriend (the aforementioned Sara), her two sisters, and the one sisters new husband (who is decidedly NOT a foodie) to a hole-in-the-wall place less than a block from our hotel called “Tonkatsu” (Japanese food fanatics need no explanation of that term) and despite the fact that I had to decipher the menu for everyone, nobody left disappointed. Pair that with the fact that there was another place next door and another across the street with similarly worded menus, and a few blocks north of that there were whole streets covered with Kanji and the little colored paper lamps that, in Japan, are the neon signs advertising an eatery, and you begin to see my dilemma… too many options to explore within a week for a foodie with a Japanese bent…

Look at the pretty fishy!

I’ll spare you the hyperbole and adjectives, just go if you get the chance! Casual feel, open and airy dining room, sleek minimalistic décor, and professional waitstaff all made for an ideal experience. Cocktail suggestion: Morimo-tai. A twist on the Hawaiian mainstay, the Mai Tai, made with the usual ingredients, but with added Kaffir Lime leaf and mint. One appetizer on the menu I absolutely could not resist (I waved off the tasting menu because this item was not on it) was a lightly steamed oyster topped with seared foie gras, uni, and a slightly sweet soy glaze… the most decadent thing I’ve ever put in my face… Sara liked it too, and she’s not big on oysters (I need to work on that, I know…). The other appetizer we got was Wagu Beef carpaccio. Paper thin slices splashed with hot oil and dressed with light soy and fresh Yuzu juice. For my entree I opted for their take on the classic French bouillabaisse. Half of a lobster (tail, claw and guts included), 2 whole head-on fresh shrimp, manilla clams, mussels, scallop, spicy red miso broth, served with toasted baguette slices to mop up the remnants of the carnage. Easily one of the best meals of my life. Expensive, to be sure, but I’m not one to shy away from that if I feel it’s worth it. And it was. It was research, you see. Putting a yardstick to my peers, as it were. Just as much to see how I measure up as to taste their work. I was both inspired and encouraged by the experience. Being currently located in South-Eastern Michigan there aren’t any Japanese restaurants of that caliber to judge myself against. There are few places of that caliber around here at all, to be honest.

My only complaint was that there was no beer on the menu. Wine list, sake list, cocktail list, no beer. This struck me as very odd. Morimoto has collaborated with breweries in the past, so why those brews at least weren’t on the menu was puzzling. Compounded by the very seafood centricity of the menu, I found it strange. Fish loves beer, and shellfish in particular, and there was (as I’ve described) no shortage of aquatic arthropods on offer. There was also a sushi bar on premises that I surprisingly did not partake of. Call it mood, call it focus, call it psychotic… I was more interested in the hot menu on this particular evening it seems.

The view of Kani Ka Pilla from our balcony.

There was also a tap-house right around the corner from the hotel called the Yard House that had a multipage on-tap beer menu and a pretty solid food menu. I ordered Jambalaya, and as picky and hard to please as I am about that dish, and Cajun food in general, it was pretty damn good! They’re Ahi Poke was pretty spot on as well, but as long as you use absolutely fresh Tuna, it’s hard to fuck it up, and every place that offered this dish used local fish, so you won’t get a bad Poke in Waikiki. As well, that’s the way it should be!

In summary, I could have easily spent two or three more weeks in Waikiki just checking out the restaurants if money and time were no object. If you can only make it out there once in your lifetime it’s worth the experience. If you’re the tourist type, there’s more than enough to do, more than enough sights to see, and a lot of history in the area since it’s only a few miles from Pearl Harbor and there are more than a couple military museums. If you are the foodie traveler type, I can’t think of another reason I haven’t already outlined that might convince you to go. I am NOT the beach-going type, I don’t give a shit about tanning, I could care less about surfing, just not my thing. I avoid tourist traps, I loathe the idea of anyone thinking of me as such, but I had a lot of fun there. We met some interesting people (all the folks we met from Australia were funny as hell!) we ate some stellar food, and the weather is just as perfect as the travel guides tell you. Just bring a good sunscreen. The sun in Waikiki, like the locals, seems to hate visitors…

Jack_