GOT TO LIKE FAT - THE OTHER WHITE MEAT!

Woolies & Rolling in mud
Some time ago I think it was in February I got a random invitation from a person on my business e-mail reading “Mangalitsa pork tasting in the US.” Usually I don’t pay much attention to e-solicitations but I was curious about Mangalitsa since I was somewhat familiar with it from growing up in Austria. I remembered it as a cute looking pork to me almost feminine looking with its long curly “permed” wooly hair soiling itself in mud. 
(These pigs bring to mind one of those mud wrestling matches which usually gathers a huge male crowd - in this case it gathers food fanatics).

Making contact with friends again, but not through Facebook
Anyway I answered the e-invitation and a few chefs including myself were invited to someone’s apartment (prohibition style) to get a few cooked morsels of the first ever available animals on the East Coast (I understand the first little piggies arrived 2005 to  Seattle from Austria). I missed the tasting – I simply had too much on my plate at the time. A few months went by another solicitation, and someone came by my restaurant selling pork. Needless to say as a chef I am in the kitchen cooking and do not have time for every sales call/person. But this one I called back – we were talking MANGALITSA. Lucky me I made contact again with the Austrian pig - thank you Mr. Clampffer.

 
(18 hour Mangalitsa roast with crispy skine, acorn squash and hearts of romaine)
Fyi some farmers feed Mangalista pork with acorn squash hence the combo

FAT
Mangalitsa is a lard-type versus meat-type style pork (Berkshire-style pork) meaning it is well protected from the cooler climate with its thick layer of fat. I had a conversation with Mr. Putnam (Mangalitsa breeder from Seattle) who explained that this kind of pork would not do well in a warm climate like Florida, because of its long curly hair.

Other Breeds Compared
A few observations I came across:

Berkshire-style pork (a cross between unimproved British pork and Asian pork) is often offered as ”heritage” pork to attract the quality seeking crowd, and is generally bred for leaner meat. If purebred and raised with the right diet (often fed with a mixture of corn, barley and milk) it’s very good every day pork, but certainly less tasty when compared to Mangalitsa.

Kurobuta pork is a Japanese variety (which translates to black pork in Japanese). The standout is that it’s well marbled, meaning there are tiny traces of fat in the meat which keeps it succulent. Also beer is added to its diet which makes them eat more. This is the only pork I have cooked for myself to a medium-rare temperature very much like I cook a steak.  It is a succulent, terrific product - delicious.

(“Grammel” which is Austrian German for rendered pork fat solids mixed with Hungarian paprika, capers and pickles - using Mangalitsa)

Pork Religion
Mangalitsa has good marbling - I read that it has 70% fat content which makes it unique enough for me already.  It’s related to the European wild boar and has crimson red lean flavorful meat much like an Iberian pork (ever tried one of those Spanish black huffed hams also know as pata negra?! - awesome). Mangalitsa has an absolute well- rounded pure clean and light taste. Much of the snow white fat stays solid even when cooked (because of its higher oleic acid level). It’s definitely that honest simple taste, what I seek in pork and describe as old world flavor. It reminds me of pork in Austria when growing up – “energetic” perfect taste.

I have started dreaming up dishes for the weeks to come when my next arrival of Mangalitsa is expected and I’m going for the Mangalista climax --
Mangalista strudel with sorrel, Mangalista cracklings with key lime-spice-dust, Mangalista head cheese with Pumpkinseed oil vinaigrette… stay tuned! 

FALL BOUNTY...TOO HARD TO CHOOSE, SO DON'T!

All good things come in threes - at least!

Multiplicity is Tasty
I have been making carrot puree this season out of three different carrots. I actually try to get more than three different varieties from the farmer’s market such as white, yellow, purple, red or different shapes such as smaller bunched or the small round ones called golden nuggets.  These little nuggets are truly carroty in flavor.

(lamb roll-up with millet cake with carrot puree with concord grape)

 Here is my recipe for “rainbow” carrot puree.  The result is orange to the eye but offers a colorful palate of tastes.
“Rainbow” Carrot Puree
-Rinse varieties of carrots (as many as you want to use) with water (no need to peel) & cut in 1/8-inch  thick slices, then cook on low heat covered with a little vegetable oil such as canola oil.
-Spice carrots with sea salt, cayenne and a touch of turmeric (available as a yellow powdered, spice – it is from the ginger family).
-Once carrots are cooked soft add a touch of vinegar such as rice vinegar (this will balance the natural sweetnes of carrots).
-Transfer carrots into a kitchen blender then process (if you prefer a smooth carrot puree add a bit of water).
Using different colors of carrots makes a well balanced, tasty carrot puree and a deeper orange color.
 
Squished Squash
Fall season brings us beautiful looking and tasty squash and it really does signal fall in that nostalgic way. Towered up at the farmer’s market you can find Butternut, Acorn, Delicata, Spaghetti, Kabocha, Sugar Pumpkins to name a few. Who can choose with that variety? I can’t … so I don’t. 

Here’s my recipe for three + squished squash (with Spanish cheese).
-With a good chef’s knife cut different kinds of squash in half and put them cut-side-up on an ovenproof pan.
-Sprinkle squash with salt, pepper, and apple cider spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.
-Slice two gloves of garlic in four pieces and stick into seeds of squash halves for a garlicky taste note.
-Roast seasoned squash in oven at 320 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-1/2 hours or until soft when pierced with a knife.
-Scoop seeds out of roasted squash with a soup spoon then discard & scrape out fleshy part of squash. Discard squash shell.
-Transfer squash to a pot then squish with a large spoon to a chunky textured puree.
If you like sprinkle shaved cheese such as Idiazabal or Manchego over squash, place squash in a baking dish, then bake for a few minutes.

(Roasted butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash)

"Head to Tail" Greens

A growing popular notion for cooking the animal kingdom these days but also a worthwhile concept for cooking your greens!
So where do you even start when it comes to fall greens? Collard greens, black Tuscan kale, broccoli, broccoli rabe, Brussels sprouts mustard greens, and don't forget the sleepers like turnip tops, beet tops, Swiss chard stems, and so on. 

Most of the broccoli rabe or mustard greens I have ordered lately in restaurants is at best average. And what a shame when these vegetables are beautiful now.  Either grilled or sauteed the leafy green head-part is most often overcooked unlike the stem-part which is generally undercooked. I wanted to make a leafy fall green dish which is delicious in texture and taste, HEAD to STEM because all these greens and all their parts certainly have complex bitter tastes and great nutritional value.

Recipe for Head to Stem SUPER greens of your choice
-Rinse greens with water.
-Separate stems from leaf part.
-Cook leaf-part (45 seconds) in salted, boiling water then stem-part for two minutes then shock both in an ice water bath (in this way their saturated green color and nutritious content is preserved).
-Cut stem-parts small then transfer to a kitchen blender. Process chopped stems until pureed (add a little water) then season with salt and fresh pepper.
-Cut garlic glove in half then cook in skillet on low heat in vegetable oil such as canola.
-Combine cooked leaf-part with garlic in skillet. Cook for two minutes then add pureed stems.
-Tranfer heated leaf/stem mixture into an oven proof dish then sprinkle with aged Alpine cheese such as Gruyere.
-Place leaf/stem green mixture into a baking dish with sprinkled cheese and bake 5-8 minutes in pre-heated oven. 

(kale with Gruyere cheese)

Chef’s note:  I like using mustard greens and broccoli rabe especially, and sometimes combine the two.

 

BUTTER FROM LETTUCE...

Watch the Pots
When I was younger my parents made me intern on weekends at a local restaurant. This way I should find out what life was like in the real world. Needless to say I was a clumsy baby faced kiddo and sometimes cooks from that restaurant ordered me to "just watch this so it does not burn or boil over!" or I was put on tedious jobs like filing invoices or picking up things from the store. One time, to everybodys’ amusement  I realized I had watched a pot of water - not realizing that a pot filled with water does not boil or burn!

Stirring Risotto Rice
Later on in my carrer when I had actual experience and knew more about the physics of boiling water (why something burns or boils over, e.g.) we young cooks played the same silly tricks on interns. Nowadays we tell the new kid in the kitchen to prepare risotto. Not for fun just to see how good of a cook that person is. Risotto is round corn rice which you must stir, stir and stir  cooked over low heat (at least for 30 minutes). The constant stirring and adding some sort  of a flavorful liquid makes the rice corn release its natural starch (besides cooking it evenly). Cooking risotto in that way makes a creamy consistency.
 
Short-cut Cooking
The majority of people who are new to my kitchen stir risotto haphazardly and  then at the end dump cream and butter into the “test risotto” to have a creamy consistency – to me clearly a shortcut. I will accept a teaspoon of butter or cream here and there but not as a substitute for cooking technique. Have you ever had that heavy-brick-like-feeling in your stomach when you ate a dish like risotto or pasta in some restaurants?  Now you know why.

Contemporary Enrichments
Over the years I have been developing more of a cooking style with a focus on vegetable based enrichments instead of dairy. If you are interested in cutting out some of the butter and creams  with an even better flavor I have some suggestions:

Avocado
A combination I enyoy is adding crushed California avocado (the dark kind with bumpy skin) to that long stirred risotto. To savour avocados vitality and richness fully, crush them then add to risotto just before serving.
 
(Risotto with vineyard snails crushed avocado and lettuce)

Butternut Squash
Toss roasted then pureed butternut squash under your next pasta (or risotto) for a nutty tasting and creamy textured finishing touch.

Butter from Lettuce
Rather heavy backed dishes such as lasagna benefit from adding baby spinach or butter lettuce (Boston bibb lettuce) for a lighter texture.

Technical Ingredients
If you are into technoemotional cooking (molecular cooking), buzz your sauce (with a hand mixer) with a touch of xanthun gum powder and lecithin powder (also available in liquid form). This way your beurre blanc style sauce a la Julia Child (or any other butter sauce) will need only a touch of butter and will give you a nice frothy texture. Spoon the airy sauce over a dish like steamed fish. By the way beurre blanc (‘white butter’ in French) is a rather heavy butter rich sauce and became known in France in the 1930’s.
 

Nutmilks
My recipe of home-made almond milk (another cream substitute) for your fall vegetable soups you can find in this month’s issue (September 2009) of Self magazine Bean Consomme . It is a nutritious way to get that rich taste.
 

1980s are Back .. But Not Everything
Cooking with mountains of butter and cream was in vogue when I learned how to cook in culinary school. Well, that is how we cooked in the 80's.  You can’t fit into skinny jeans if you eat loads of cream and butter anyway – times are changing.
 

ARE YOUR TOMATOES IN SHAPE?

This summer’s weather report
“On the Northeast, June, July rainy weather and a wet August in combination with humidity.”
 
(Steak tomato salad with Idiazabal cheese, roasted rainbow carrots and spinach)

Tomatoes, Scientists & Farmers in the spa
The  jaccuci like weather conditions are ideal for fungal diseases which have tomato plants dying from the ground up or bacterial spots which makes them die from top down. That is what scientists and farmers alike have been telling us. This season tomatoes are stubornly hard and green. Many large tomatoes have a large whiteish-greenish core in the center (which means the tomatoes grew fast and with (too)much water).

The other side of the fence
So where does that leave us chefs and tomato lovers on the other side of the fence. Don’t you like to cook and eat the vegetables of the moment?

I have suggestions for you if you still want to experience or more importantly enjoy tomatoes. In this way you can mark them off of the summer fruit-check-list (scientifically they are a fruit since tomatoes are the fruits of the tomato plant, but can be used or referred to as vegetables in cooking).

I like caprese salad which is Mozzarella cheese with fresh plum tomatoes and basil. This year the modest tasting Mozarella I switched out for blue cheese (creamier, stronger, salty almost pungent tasting). Seek out small tear drop or cherry tomatoes they have been the most flavorful tomatoes lately.
 
(small cherry tomatoes, tear drop tomatoes, Romano tomatoes with corn kernels, wild arugula
and Hawaiian lava salt)

Do you remember the 80’s - the rock music, cowboy boots, leather jackets… and an excessively overused salad dressing ingredient - balsamic vinegar. I brought it back recently on a tomato salad. I cooked balsamic vinegar (slowly) to a syrup consistency. It had a tart-sweet taste. It matched the flavor of the vine ripened steak tomatoes in a lovely way that I had picked up at the Farmer’s market.

Another way I used underipe tomatoes is a charred green tomato vinaigrette. Tomatoes which still have a little of the green color (not ripe yet) are actually preferred for this preparation. They have a welcoming texture (more of a mouth feel) in the following preperation.

Charred Tomato Vinaigrette
(recipe yields 1 ½-cup vinaigrette)

2 underipe tomatoes (3-inch diameter) 
1 jalapeno pepper
1 garlic clove (peeled then cut in half)
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Sea salt (to taste)
Fresh pepper grindings (to taste)

O Cut tomatoes (1-inch thick). Grill cut tomatoes, jalapeno and garlic on a preheated grill on  both sides until dark (8-10 minutes, the tomato slices, jalapeno and garlic should be black-charred). 
O Put grilled tomatoes, jalapeno and garlic in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic film wrap  tightly, then leave grilled tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic steam (10 minutes) in the plastic film covered bowl.
O Peel skin of jalapeno then cut in half. Remove white jalapeno seeds and white jalapeno walls  then discard.
O Chop grilled tomato, jalapeno (skinned, no seeds) and garlic (1/8-inch cubes).
O Combine chopped tomato, pepper, garlic with sea salt, fresh pepper, olive oil and vinegar. Stir mixture with a fork to combine (rapidly).

Chef’s Tip: You can add chopped peaches and/or fresh corn kernels for a different version of the above recipe.

The paradox - Heirloom tomatoes (an open pollinated, non-hybride tomato) have often had the best flavor (certainly not the best shape). In the past years. This year I have not had a good Heirloom tomato and in my opinion were not worth the extra dollar or two. When researching  Heirloom tomatoes I came about “Mortgage Lifter” tomatoes which are the pink-huge kind they are sweet and tasty in a normal season. Maybe tomatoes just sense the economic down-turn?!

This seasons tomatoes are in “shape” - definetlyl, but the taste still needs a lot of work!!