 |
Home
Who are we?
Bookshelf
Toolbox
Store
Food Network
Busy Cooks
FoodFit.com
Mimi's Cyber-Kitchen
Taste of Home
Fine
Cooking
FoodWeb Online
Betty Crocker
BH&G
Food
Mr.
Food
Fabulous Foods
BH&G
Cooking School
Reluctant Gourmet
Culinary Cafe
FoodLines
Epicurious
RecipeSource
RecipeSpot
All Recipes
What's on Hand
Cookbook
Low-Cal Diner
Texas Cooking
Gumbo Pages
KFC
Copycats
Free Recipes
CopyKat.com
Top Secrets
Iron Chef
Alton Brown
Good Eats Fans
Jamie Oliver
RoadKillRojo.com
Murray Hill 5
|
|
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Call me the Sushi Master!
Posted
10:06 AM by Mike
OK, well perhaps not quite the "Sushi Master." How 'bout, the "Guy Who Took a Sushi-Making Course"?
Yesterday I participated in a two-hour sushi-making course/demonstration, organized by the Japan Center at the University of West Florida and conducted by the Japan-America Society of Northwest Florida. I attended with my friend Anthony Cornealius, who I've invited to be a guest commentator on the FoodDork blog. Anthony, an officer of the Japan-America Society, already has traveled to Japan and is studying Japanese in preparation for his next journey.
What a lot of fun we had. I've posted before about my recently acquired love for sushi and my desire to make it; this demonstration gave me a brief hands-on opportunity and the confidence to give it a try in my own kitchen.
Several ladies from the Society conducted the demonstration, led by Etsuko Morrison, who, I learned, was formerly a sushi chef at a local restaurant. The demo was packed; in fact, the Society had to add a second demonstration because of overwhelming response.
Each of us was given our own makisu (bamboo mat) for rolling our sushi, and we began the demo by practicing our rolling skills with white washcloths folded in half to represent the sushi rice. Then, after a brief explanation by Mrs. Morrison on how to prepare sushi rice, we dove into the hands-on, spreading rice upon the nori (seaweed wrap), adding the neta (filling) and then rolling.
Turns out I have a knack for rolling, but I put too much rice and filling in, a common beginner's mistake. My first roll was sloppy, but my second, in which the nori went on the inside, was much better. We then made a sample of nigiri (an oblong ball of sushi rice, topped with a piece of raw seafood, in our case shrimp), then a couple of other types, whose names I didn't catch.
Most of us in the demo suffered the same malady: sushi rice sticking to us everywhere. In fact, I'm having a hard time reading my notes for this, as the handout they gave us wound up with sushi rice on every page!
I can't wait to try sushi making from scratch in my own kitchen. It will have to be only for my daughter and I, though, 'cause my wife and my son aren't sushi lovers.
Yet.
Friday, July 11, 2003
Mike's FoodDork Word of the Week
Posted
5:48 PM by Mike
If you're like me, and you watch a lot of Food Network, you hear the word couscous a lot ("... this entree goes great with a nice side of couscous ..." "... ah, this couscous reminds me of growing up in my mother's kitchen ...").
If you're like me, and you grew up in the suburbs, you're thinking, "What in the world is couscous?" Whatever it is, they eat a lot of it on Food Network.
 As educated as I'm trying to become via Project FoodDork, I have to admit that I'm starting from a bare foundation when it comes to food sophistication. Growing up in those suburbs (in the South, by the way), we had rice as a side, and that's it. And it was Minute Rice at that. OK, maybe we had some corn and peas and stuff, but mostly a lot of Minute Rice.
So, when Tyler and Jamie and Emeril and Rachael and those guys start yapping away about couscous, I have to just grin and pretend that I know what it is, and live secure in the assumption that if I ever really need to know what it is, or to serve it, they'll probably have some down at the Wal-Mart.
My confusion over couscous comes from my general assumption that it's some kind of monkey thing. I seem to remember, from all those commercials for his videos, the image of zookeeper Jack Hanna with this monkey thing on his head, saying, "Have you ever had a couscous on your head?"
Perhaps, then, my actual question, when I hear Tyler and Jamie and Emeril and Rachel talk about couscous, is not "What in the world is couscous?" but, "Why are they serving monkey as a side dish?"
Finally, however, I could not stand it any longer. I had to break down and admit to the world that I didn't know what couscous was and looked it up. Couscous, according to the encyclopedia on FoodTV.com, is granular semolina, and is a staple of North African cuisine (in the suburbs of North Africa, they're probably wondering what Minute Rice is). "Cooked, it may be served with milk as porridge, with a dressing as a salad or sweetened and mixed with fruits for dessert. Packaged precooked couscous is available in Middle Eastern markets and large supermarkets. The name couscous also refers to the famous Maghreb dish in which semolina or cracked wheat is steamed in the perforated top part of a special pot called a couscoussière , while chunks of meat (usually lamb or chicken), various vegetables, chickpeas and raisins simmer in the bottom part. In lieu of a couscoussière , a colander set over a large pot will do. The cooked semolina is heaped onto a platter, with the meats and vegetables placed on top. All diners use chunks of bread to scoop the couscous from this central platter. Couscous varies from country to country--Moroccans include saffron, Algerians like to add tomatoes and Tunisians spice theirs up with the hot-pepper-based harissa sauce."
Couscous, as it turns out, is not to be confused with the cuscus, which is an Australian possum, and not a monkey at all.
Helping to spread the FoodDork philosophy
Posted
5:31 PM by Mike
Many thanks to Linda Larsen, who runs the Busy Cooks site over at About.com (http://busycooks.about.com). She's featured FoodDork in her list of recommended food blogs, and gives particular praise to Cathy's "Dirty Shoelaces" recipe.
I'm glad to have heard from Linda, because I hadn't yet encountered the Busy Cooks site. It's a great one, with tons of excellent tips, lessons and recipes for the busy cook and the beginning cook. It should be one of the first stops for FoodDorks everywhere.
Thanks again, Linda.
Friday, July 04, 2003
Fun on the Fourth
Posted
10:46 AM by Mike
Happy Fourth of July!
At the moment I'm peering out the window at the gloomy mess that calls itself weather here in Northwest Florida. Because of Tropical Storm Bill and his offspring, weather here in the Southeast has been spectacularly awful, with tons of rain, lots of wind and thick humidity. The sun fights to get through the clouds, and makes an appearance every so often, but it's just a tease; the clouds and rain come back eventually.
I mention all this because it means that I'll probably have to keep the new grill under wraps for yet another day.
But in my gloom about that, it occurs to me how much of an eating holiday the Fourth of July has become. I can't think of another holiday, other than Thanksgiving, where the primary activity for the day is chowing down. Christmas and Easter are worshipful holidays on which eating is a secondary activity. Thanksgiving is all about eating, although it's strictly an indoor event.
Yes, on the Fourth we head out to watch fireworks and celebrate our independence, but while we're waiting for it to get dark so we can fire up those rockets, we have to do something, so we might as well eat. Naturally food on the Fourth is mainly an outdoor pastime. Grill manufacturers love the Fourth; they should just call it Grilling Day.
And if you don't cook yourself, or head over to a friend's for a meal, then more than likely you're heading for a local festival or celebration where food - vendors, eating and cooking contests, etc. - is the central theme.
We're not a recipe site, per se, because there are already tons of recipe sites out there. If you've waited until this late hour to plan your holiday meal, head over to one of the sites listed on the left (you can't go wrong with FoodTV.com) and check out their holiday suggestions.
In the meantime, I'm going to hope it dries up in time for me to fire up the chimney starter and get some chicken on the grill. I'll probably do a quickie meal, grilling up some chicken breasts from the warehouse store, and serving them with Sonny's Sweet BBQ Sauce (also from the warehouse store).
I hope your Fourth is somewhat drier than mine. Happy Independence Day!
|
