Niman Ranch, Rosemary Sausage Stuffed Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Hash

I'm home visiting my father for the weekend after having to come home to do somethings. I always enjoy being able to visit my father's house, for the obvious reasons of seeing my father, but he also has a gigantic kitchen, compared to my studio size kitchen. I also get to watch quite a bit of television as well, but that's for another blog.

Although the grocery stores here have nothing on the ones in Boston, I still have a few places I can get some decent ingredients. Last night I made pot roast with a chuck roast, while tonight I made a stuffed boneless pork chop dish with a sweet potato hash. I figured I would share the recipe for the latter dish with all of you.

I had ordered some pork products from Niman Ranch, which arrived when I got to my dad's house. So these ingredients just made the dish that much better. The ingredients I used from them are linked below in the ingredient list. Niman Ranch's products can be a bit expensive, but WELL worth the prices for not only flavor, but the pride they take in taking care of their animals. Many farmers claim free-range and talk about humane animal raising, but as I have said in past posts, there is a reason why I don't eat a whole lot of meat, because of the horrible conditions most animals that are raised for food exist in during most of their lives. If you are going to partake in the consumption of other animals, you should at least do it in a respectful manner whenver you can.

Sadly, there is no picture as ummm we ate all of the pork chops already and forgot to take pictures...

Rosemary Sausage Stuffed Boneless Pork Chops
Serves Four

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops (Niman Ranch, 1 1/2" thick cut)
1 lb. ground pork (Niman Ranch, 80% lean)
1 tablespoon rosemary, minced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 teaspoon thyme, minced
4 slices bacon ( Niman Ranch, dry cured, Applewood smoked)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper as needed

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut a pocket in each pork chop from the non fat-capped side of the chop.
3. In a medium bowl, mix ground pork, rosemary, Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.
4. Stuff sausage mixture into pork chops, leaving enough room for the pocket to close.
5. Wrap bacon around the edge of pork chop and fasten in place with a tooth pick. Season each side off pork chop with minced thyme, salt, and pepper.
6. Heat a heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan, then pan-sear each side of pork chops until they are browned well. Place pork chops in a roasting pan and place into oven for 40-50 minutes, or until cooked through.
7. Remove pork chops from oven, allow to rest for 6-8 minutes, remove toothpick and serve on top of sweet potato hash (recipe below)

Sweet Potato Hash

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon, diced medium (Niman Ranch, dry cured, Applewood smoked)
2 large, yellow onions, large dice
8 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
2 large, sweet potatoes, peeled, large dice
4 medium, red skin potatoes, peeled, large dice
1 tablespoons, minced rosemary
1 tablespoon, peppercorns, cracked
salt as needed
1 cup chicken stock

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon to pan and saute until crispy. Add onions to pan and saute until soft and then add garlic and saute until golden brown. Add both types of potatoes, along with rosemary, cracked peppercorns and season with salt. Toss to coat throughly and saute for 8-10 minutes. Add stock to pan and cover, simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Pour hash out onto a sheet tray or into a roasting pan and place into oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove pan from oven and serve.

How Do You Like To Thicken Your Sauce?

I was making pot roast tonight for dinner and came to the point when I needed to thicken the sauce and came to thinking of what is the best thickening agent to use for sauce. For many years I would usually go for the traditional blonde or brown roux. I came to thinking though of other things I have used or could use today to thicken sauces. So I'm going to take you through a few different thickening agents, their properties and what their ideal usage is.

So roux, the most basic of thickening agents used in French cuisine. Roux is made from equal parts fat and flour. Depending on what you are intending to thicken with the roux, depends on what fat you might want to use. Classical French cooking calls for the use of clarified butter. Often used to thicken sauces and liqids from braised meats, cooking the roux to darker colors will offer a stronger flavor to your sauce. In Louisiana, roux is used to thicken soups, especially gumbo. Their roux is made from vegetable oil, instead of butter. The roux is cooked to a darker color, almost to a burnt color which is used more for flavor than for actual thickening agent, as sassafras is added as well. One point to note is that the darker you cook a roux, the less thickening ability it will have. One disadvantage of roux, is that it needs to simmer for thirty minutes before the flavor of the flour is cooked out.

Beurre manie is an equal combination of butter and flour kneaded together. Unlike roux, beurre manie is added at the end of the cooking process of a liquid, but the flour is in essence raw and the flavor of raw flour is never truly cooked out of the sauce. The butter does however attribute more flavor in this manner. The butter also adds shine and gloss to the sauce.

Cornstarch is another popular thickening agent, especially used in the cooking of Asian sauces and soups. Cornstarch has an immediate benefit in that it thickens sauces quickly, within a few minutes. Another benefit is its lac of expensive, cornstarch costs just a few dollars a box. However, the drawbacks can be plenty. Although in Asian cuisine, a glossy shine for sauce is desired, this is often not desired in most other cuisines. Another drawback is the long-term instability of cornstarch. After prolonged heating, cornstarch thickened sauces will separate, they are also almost impossible to reheat and retain their viscosity.

Arrowroot is another choice, it is also a favorite of mine for a number of reasons. There is an immediate drawback that keeps most people from using arrowroot, it is extremely expensive. A small jar found in the grocery store can cost more than a large box of arrowroot. Arrowroot works pretty much in the same way as cornstarch, but it has a number of distinct advantages. Arrowroot thickens a sauce quickly, just as cornstarch does, but it does not break down in the same manner as cornstarch. Arrowroot also has a much cleaner flavor than cornstarch, it allows for the true essence of the liquid being thickened to come through. I love to use it with well flavored stocks that I have reduced to a great viscosity, which requires just a small amount of arrowroot to finish. I will often do what is called in French "monter au beurre," this means taking chunks of chilled butter slowly whisked into a sauce to add a bit of viscosity, flavor and shine. I'll get more into this in a minute as it is a separate technique as well.

Liaison, is another traditional French method which utilizes eggs to thicken a sauce. If you have had a creme anglaise, you have had a sauce thickened with a liaison. When thickening a cream sauce, half of the "hot" liquid to be thickened is slowly whisked into the eggs and then the rest of the liquid can be added all at once. The sauce is then placed over a double boiler and whisked constantly until the sauce comes to the desired thickness. Sauces made in this manner are very temperamental. The eggs can easily scramble is heated too quickly, in addition the sauce can not be heated to too high as the sauce will separate. At the same time it can not be stored for too long of a period as the eggs will be unsanitary after being held for too long if it is a warm sauce. Cold sauces like creme anglaise hold for a few days. Just for note, one warm version liaison sauce is called sauce allemande, a personal favorite.

The last category I am not going to explain in detail. Herve This, coined the term molecular gastronomy some time ago. Chefs such as Ferran Adria in Barcelona, along with his American copycats have been using special techniques that use what we chefs once thought of as chemical additives. These additives though have made new textures, without damaging the flavor of the sauce. Lecite is a chemical that helps thicken sauces into a shaving cream type foam. Lecite is often used with juices and pure liquids to preserve their pure flavor while giving them a distinct texture. Glice is another chemical used that emulsifies liquids with the addition of a fat. Olive oil is one of the most popularly used fats for this preparation in making a sauce or foam. Again, in this case no flavor is added, just a desired texture.

Interpreting the Chef Uniform, Just Say No To Chili Pants and Denim Coats

So a comment came up during my blog from yesterday about chef uniforms. This comment came from statements about those horrific denim coats they wear on Iron Chef America. I ironically had a conversation with someone else today about chef uniforms and I guess I should give all of you my take on chef uniforms and how I came to the current uniform I adhere to and promote in the industry.

When I went to culinary school, we had a pre-meeting for each culinary laboratory class. During this meeting our uniforms were checked to make sure we adhered to what was 10 years ago, the basis for what has become the American Culinary Federation standard for culinary uniforms. We were to wear checkered chef pants, black shoes, a white t-shirt with no print, a CLEAN, unstained chef coat, the silly floppy chef toque, and a name tag. It was also at this time that the funky uniforms started to emerge from companies like Chefwear.

I will admit that I went for the funky wear for some time. Yes, yes I owned chili pepper pants, I even had a skull cap that matched and a chef coat with some fringe to go with it. I am soooooo glad that there are no pictures that exist from then. I wore clogs for a few years as well, never those odd Croc things that Batali wears, but to each their own. I tried wearing a bandanna for a few weeks at one time as well, as I shave my head and it was just horribly uncomfortable to me.

I worked for a small restaurant in Stowe, VT for a short period which might also bring out my disdain for the denim chef coat. The place was called Blue Jean's Cuisine and I actually showed up to the interview wearing a denim chef coat and denim chef pants. I got the job, but holy crap was I embarrassed afterwards.

After years of playing around and trying to have fun, I came to a point in my career a few years back that drove me to a point where I want perfection in everything I do. I have refined my cooking skills, my culinary knowledge and my professionalism in the kitchen. Part of that concentration for me was a change in my uniform.

Other chefs can go with the funky gear, but I have realized from my past that that was sort of a "mess" in my head that ended up being portrayed in my uniform, and honestly it showed in my cooking back then as well. Maybe others are a bit different and take their uniform as a way to express themselves, but honestly they aren't expressing themselves, they are just wearing a pattern that a company is trying to sell them. They are the Hot Topic of chefs maybe? Please take no offense if any of you wear these uniforms, but it is just the passion I have for my career.

We would never see a traditional French chef wearing this odd commercialized style of uniform. It is about the cooking and making sure we look appropriate in the public eye. Our presence has to say we are chefs, with passion, integrity and we need to be put together well so that our guests have faith in us. What we do outside of the kitchen, is up to us, when we are in the kitchen, we are there to please the guest not just ourselves.

So what is the uniform I wear today? The pants I wear are pressed black pants, nothing expensive JOS Bank casual pants as they are a bit heavy weight for the safety and they are easy to clean and wear well. Chefwear has just come out with a new perm press tailored pant that I am thinking of trying though. I wear solid black socks along with a black shoe that can be shined from Sketchers. I wear a plain white t-shirt and my chef coat is a plain white, usually well starched coat that I have started ordering from Happy Chef as they don't charge for the ACF logo on my coats and it is pretty cheap to add embroidery of my name. My hat is a machine washable high toque with a Velcro back.

To take this back to yesterday's blog, it just reminds me of two of my favorite competitors from The Next Iron Chef. Gavin and Besh both had a high-level of professionalism. As much as an Iron chef should be making innovative and competitive food, we should be professionals and they certainly were dressed as professionals. Besh's sport coat outfit in France gave me confidence as well. We always need to be on spot in public and I feel he is certainly a New Orleans gentleman.

Michael Symon Iron Chef Conspiracy Theories

So by now many of you must know that Michael Symon won the competition on the show The Next Iron Chef. I have only seen clips of the show online and watched as people posted information on Wikipedia and what not, but I had some incite previously to the show prior to parts of it airing and I have to say that then and now I was not all that surprised by the outcome. I also have to say I am not all that pleased by the way the show seemed to progress.

Michael Symon is a great chef and I don't really think anyone can argue against that fact. I am actually looking forward to going to one of his restaurants in Cleveland, OH when I go out to Akron to compete with the ACF next year. I do however find a bit of irony in the show, just as I do with many chef oriented shows these days (see Kitchen Nightmares). One must think about what Symon's background is and what got him his "chance" on Next Iron Chef. For those of you that watch the Food Network on a regular basis, you may recall that Symon had his own show on the channel at one point that eventually went off the air. It actually was quite a good show and as with all good shows on the Food Network, the demise comes quickly, but I find irony in the fact that he was already a Food Network initiate.

My second notion was where the first episodes were taped and the final three who were in the competition. All three of them were graduates of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Now one might say, "well of course they were, the CIA puts out some of the top chefs." How much money did the CIA invest into the Food Network though, would it have been bad for advertisement and business to not have all three of them be grads? Would it help get more advertising dollars from the CIA by getting these three to the top. What great advertising for the school in general, to have the show tapped there and then to have a CIA grad win (whether or not Symon was the best choice)

Finally, isn't it ironic that Michael Symon was a big part of the book Soul of a Chef? For those who have never read Soul of a Chef, it is a great book, but it was also written by none other than Michael Ruhlman, who just so happened to be a judge on the show. Ruhlman also happens to live in Cleveland, which is where Symon's restaurant is. Does this not play a bias into the judging? I trust Ruhlman's choice without a doubt because once you read all of his books, and then see who he has written books with (Like Thomas Keller for the French Laundry), but you just have to ask yourself about the irony again.

Maybe I am just doing the Tanner cynicism on culinary television again, but after the catastrophe that Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare's has turned out to be and the removal of many of the best culinary shows on TV to make way for "culinary lifestyle" shows, I am suspect. I for one have not been a fan of watching all of the new Iron Chef episodes, I often find the judging suspect itself and loaded with pre-conceived bias.

On a regular basis I watch dishes made by far superior chefs that look, and surely must taste better than the Iron Chef's dishes fail. Heck, but the Iron Chef must win on a regular basis to be an Iron Chef, otherwise why are they the Iron Chef? Most of the public doesn't know the difference anyways, so what if Cat Cora makes a Moussaka out of potatoes, when the key ingredient is eggplant and an eggplant is no where to be found.

Maybe Symon will be the key to improving the show. From what I have heard, they will be replacing those awful denim chef coats in favor of a more glamorous designed coat. But a glance at the shows website on the Food Network has the "team" all wearing the same old denim coats. As I am back in New York for the next few days, I will get a chance to watch Symon in full action for his first battle as an Iron Chef and hoepfully get to see some reruns of The Next Iron Chef show (for those of you that don't know, I don't own a television, I watch all my shows and movies on my 20" screen computer otherwise I'd be in front of the TV all day.

Braised Chicken, Goat Cheese and Corn Tamales

I seem to recall promising to share my recipe for tamales which I made a few weeks ago here. I tend to forget stuff like that sometimes when I have so much stuff going on in my head. I made two different types, one with braised chicken, corn and goat cheese for the filling. The other was filled with a spiced pumpkin puree that was slightly sweetened. I'm going to share the chicken one with you today though.

I was inspired to make them because we read a book in class on the history of Mexican cuisine. The book Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (Dialogos Series) by Jeffrey M. Pilcher. The book addressed much of the cultural evolution of the cuisine and how at one time much of what we think of as Mexican cuisine, was shunned as being food the natives, whom the Spanish and Spanish descended Creoles found to be uncultured.

Well my version is somewhat authentic in that it uses corn, chilies, chicken and perhaps goat cheese may have been used. Even if it wasn't, it doesn't matter to me as I like it, so here you go. Oh and good grief, just use the lard, it tastes better and in the whole scheme of things it isn't much.

Braised Chicken, Goat Cheese and Corn Tamales

Ingredients:
Aprox. 40 husks
Tamale Filling:
2 tablespoons lard
1 cup small diced white onion
3/4 cup corn kernel, shucked fresh
1/2 cup small diced, green bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced serrano pepper
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 pound braised chicken thigh meat, shredded
1/2 cup diced, roasted, peeled, seeded Anaheim chili peppers
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
6 ounces crumbled goat cheese
Tamale Dough:
2/3 cup lard, plus 1/3 cup melted
4 cups masa harina (You can find it in the Hispanic section of the grocery, near the Goya brand items)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chicken stock

Method:

1. Separate the dry corn husks into individual pieces and remove any corn silk threads inside the husks. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and remove from the heat. Place the separated husks in the water, weight with a large, round baking dish, and cover. Allow the husks to soak for 1 hour.

2.Heat the 2 tablespoons of lard in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, corn, and bell peppers, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, serranos, ancho chili powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the chicken, Anaheim peppers, and cilantro, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and let sit until cool enough to handle. When cool, fold in the goat cheese. Set aside.

3.Place the remaining solid lard in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, and cream until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Combine the masa harina and salt in a bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, alternately add the masa harina and chicken stock to the whipped shortening, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Gradually add the melted lard to the dough mixture with the mixer on medium speed.

4. Place one soaked cornhusk on a flat work surface. Scoop 1/4 cup of the masa batter into the center where the husks join and with the back of a spoon, spread it into a 4-inch square. Place about 1 generous tablespoon of the chicken mixture into the center of the masa. As though wrapping a package, fold the sides of the husk over the filling, then bring the bottom and the top over the filling, overlapping as much as possible to tightly enclose the filling. Wrap a piece of kitchen twine around the middle of the tamale, as though wrapping a present, twisting the twine up and down at the middle to tie around all 4 sides, and knotting the twine at the top.

5. Lay or stand the tamales in a steamer insert 2-inches over a pot of gently boiling water, being careful not to pack them too tightly, then cover with a lid. Steam the tamales for 2 hours, replenishing the water as needed, so the pot does not go dry. Remove the tamales from the steamer insert and let cool for 10 minutes before handling.

5a. Another alternative for steaming is to take a bamboo steamer and place a few of them at a time in the layers fo the steamer, this works especially well if you only want to steam a few. Follow the timing as per above. See the picture to the side for an example.

6. Unwrap when cool to the touch, serve with sour cream and serve with home-made salsa.

Cultural Meat Taboos, are you Squeamish?

It seems every culture has a different food taboo. One of the most interesting taboos to me has always been the consumption of what "other" cultures end up considering taboo meats. This may get a bit gross to some people, but quite honestly in India, the idea of eating a cow is disgusting so deal. I saved you all from the pictures I was going to post in fear that some of you would be offended, but realize I also write vegetarian articles, so again um suck it up and get rid of your cultural bias and learn something, so on I go.

This came about from some conversations I was having with people on Wikipedia about whether or not the consumption of dog meat was important enough to add to the Korean cuisine article. This goes to properly sourced citations. When a newspaper article cites that 1.8kg of dog meat are eaten per person each year it is an overly broad statement. What the article left out was the cultural aspects of eating dog and which segments of the population each dog meat. Dog meat is clearly not on every persons table, it is consumed by those on the lower economic scale when there is nothing else to eat. As dogs are scavengers other sources of meat are even more preferable to them but it is better to kill and eat the dog than it is to kill your cow which serves to pull your plow or gives fuel through its combustible excrement.

Interesting much of Japan's culture came by-way-of China through Korea in the Ancient era, specifically before the Heian period where the high-courts emulated the Chinese culture. However, Japan, whom at one time consumed dog meat outlawed it under to Buddhist and Shogun philosophies. Under the Shogunates eating any meat was punishable by death, and as such those who practiced in the trade of dismembering any animal were subjugated to their own caste and discrimination. Japan has its own love for whale meat today in certain realms as it is a seas animal and not subjugated to the same laws as other mammals. In addition horse sashimi can be found in certain regions of Japan. If you think that is odd, well check out this article talking about a report from the USDA in the 80's-90's.

Horse meat has been eaten in Europe for some time. It is not wide-spread as some would have you believe, or even the biased folks at Wikipedia would like to write about, but it exists. There are a number of "boucheries chevalines" in France that sell horse meat. What is more weird though, eating horse meat or eating the ovaries from a frog like they do in China in a soup known as Hasma.

An interesting one I have had was balut, which is a fertilized duck egg often eaten as a snack in Vietnam, Cambodia and Taiwan. Watch this video of Anthony Bourdain having a go at it.

Heck in our own country we eat "turkey fries" out west (I've had to cook them for a banquet once in California) which are ridiculously huge fired turkey testicles. Out in cow farming regions we find Rocky Mountain Oysters. Down south they eat "chitlins" which are boiled intestines from a pig and Boudin noir is a sausage made with pig's blood.

It is all about cultural influence. I could go on for the next year posting about this topic but I found someone else who already does so here. This guy has a special, special need for some Pepto Bismol I am guessing. There is also a show on the Travel Channel called Bizarre Foods where I've seen the guy eat bugs, odd meats and other things I won't even try, but it is fun to watch and obviously others agree because they show is quite popular. I can't say I am going to go run ot and order me some salted horse meat to put on my sandwich tomorrow, but we should all realize each culture has its own food preferences.

An Update On My Upcoming Future

I thought perhaps I should update everyone on my plans for after I finish the semester here at Boston University. As many of you know I went off to Kansas State a couple weeks ago to visit their PhD in Hospitality Admin. program., the visit went wonderfully. I met with the director of the program, Dr. Canter as well as many of the instructors and professors. I also had the chance to meet some of the students and even watch a student defend their dissertation. Watching the student go through their dissertation put me at ease at my future role in doing one myself.

I was very happy with what I saw there and with everyone I met. The town of Manhattan, KS was great as well. Not at all what I expected. I would have no problem fitting in at all. Great downtown area with some stuff to do along with a substantial commercial and retail region. There were a few restaurants in the area as well which seems promising.

Dr. Canter sent me an e-mail stating they are searching for a full-time instructor for their bachelor's degree program and suggested I throw my hat in, which I am doing. It will take me longer to attain my PhD, but the experience of teaching full-time will be well worth it. The cost-of-living is also going to be a fraction of what it costs me to live here in Boston.

I will be applying for the PhD program and the instructor position for fall of 2008. I finish up here in December and will be moving to upstate New York for a time, while I write my thesis and teach as an adjunct at the school I attained my culinary degree from. As of the moment I was told I'd be teaching a couple Food Prep 1 classes, but my schedule will be confirmed 100% this Friday when I go visit.

I think I have fully decided on my thesis topic, which will me theorizing that there is a national American cuisine. It is much more complex than most people will think of on the surface. I am using a couple models of what other sociologists have used for the French model. Particularly I'll be looking at Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson and some others. The main idea is to show their model, then give me reasoning as to why we share the same model. Some of the ideas include illustrating a high-cuisine, such as those shared in the kitchens of Charlie Trotter, Tom Collichio, Thomas Keller, Alice Waters, etc.

Before anyone says that they are inspired by other cuisines, so is French, Italian and others. All cuisine originates from somewhere else. We also have our own distinct philosophers of cuisine, James Beard, Craig Claiborn, Karen Hess etc. There are many other parts, but I don't want to divulge too much because I'll want you to buy the book someday.

So there you have it, the update on my life. I should also mention that I'll be tossing in an occasional American Culinary Federation competition here and there during the spring, I'll keep you updated on that. I've been so busy the last year here at BU, I haven't had the chance to compete other than the ACF national convention last summer, so it will be nice to compete again.