Recipes Cooking: good

Showing posts with label good. Show all posts

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Maryland Crab Cakes – The Good News is Theyre Almost All Crab and the Bad News is Theyre Almost All Crab

This video recipe for Maryland crab cakes is the first official full-length clip posted using the new Canon HD SLR camera. In addition to watching what I hope you find to be a delicious looking crab cake recipe, I would also like to know if you have any suggestions for the video specs.

I saved this in iMovie at a size of 1280 x 720 HD, set at 24 frames per second. It looks good, but a little "jumpy." Would 30 frames per second be better? I also saved it at "High" quality, not "Best," which would have made the movie like 800 MB!

Anyway, back to the food! This video will hopefully show you what crab cakes are supposed to be like. A real crab cake is basically a fried lump of crabmeat, held together with a minimum of filler.

As I explain in the video, this makes shaping them a little challenging, but once they are in the pan and browned on both sides, they are far superior on every level. Your basic restaurant crab cake is probably less than 40% crabmeat, which is why they are generally tough and bready.

These are closer to 75% crab, which is a blessing and a curse. Since the crab content is so high, you really cant make these unless you have a nice pile of super fresh, sweet, high-quality crab. Even using the correct technique, these special occasion appetizers will only be as good as the crabmeat used.

So if you cant get real lump crabmeat consider this video recipe food porn. Watch, enjoy, and just imagine yourself in the scene. However, if you can get your claws on some fresh crab, give these cakes a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh crabmeat, the lumpier the better, well drained
8 saltine crackers
1 egg beaten
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp Worcestershire
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
salt to taste
cayenne pepper, optional
butter for frying

View the complete recipe

Monday, March 17, 2014

El Paso Pizza Alliteration and Geographical Convenience Never Tasted So Good

I did something today that has always bothered me when done by large food corporations; I named a recipe based solely on geography and alliteration. This video recipe for a Tex-Mex style pizza was called "El Paso Pizza" because Paso and Pizza both start with Ps, and El Paso is in Texas. Ive never been to El Paso, nor do I have any knowledge about their pizza - if they even eat pizza.

Not many people realize that there are absolutely no laws or guidelines on the authenticity of food packaging names, claims, and histories. Those cute little stories that you always see on the back of labels about how Aunt Tillie invented her "Bakersfield Brownies" during the Depression, using chocolate smuggled into to the country by trained hawks. Its all made up. The name, the location, the part about the hawks - all invented in some marketing meeting.

I realize that none of you really care why this is called El Paso pizza, but I wanted to call your attention to the whole "amazing but true story behind the name" scam at the supermarket. Just another reason not to buy prepared foods! Anyway, this video recipe is quite tasty and a great idea when you cant decide whether to have pizza or tacos.

In the video I mention to try and use grass-fed beef, which is now available, ground in one-pound packages, at most major supermarkets. Here is a link that explains the many health benefits of this, over the conventional corn-fed beef. Im also linking to the Pizza Dough video, in case you want to make your own. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle pepper - more if you likes it spicy
1 tbsp ancho chile powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup sliced Poblano pepper, or Anaheim, or other green peppers
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
4 oz pepper Jack cheese
one crust or pizza dough for a large pizza

View the complete recipe
El Paso sign photo (c) Adriano Agulló

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Cold White Bean Herb Salad – Mmm Good Stems!

I’m showing this quick and easy white bean and herb salad for several reasons, not the least of which is to give you a perfectly delicious way to use up the end of that already used once bunch of parsley or cilantro.

You told yourself you were going to add them to your next stock, forgetting you don’t make stock, and the sheared remains end up in the back of the vegetable crisper where they die a slow, slimy death. Well, this may be the answer.

Both cilantro and Italian parsley have tender stems that pretty much taste exactly like the leaves. By slicing the last half of the bunch thinly, across the stems, you have a perfect addition to any simple, cold bean salad. Besides herb stem recover and utilization, this recipe deserves to be in the rotation for two other very good reasons. It only takes like five minutes to makes, and goes beautifully with any and all of the traditional grilled or barbecued summer meats.

This video also reminds me that you wannabe food snobs need to stop making fun of people that don’t like cilantro. For about 10% of the population, due to certain receptors on the tongue, cilantro tastes nasty, which explains why so many people detest the stuff. The good news is that parsley works even better, so everybody wins.

On a spice note, I used Aleppo pepper here instead of cayenne or pepper flakes, and I hope you do the same. I only discovered this pepper recently, and just love it. It’s hot, but not too hot, and has a bright, fruity flavor I think you’ll really enjoy. Please note: In the video I said it was my new favorite pepper, but I only did that to make cayenne jealous. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

1/2 bunch (the stem end) Italian parsley or cilantro, chopped

1 can (15-oz) white beans, rinsed and drained

3 cloves minced garlic
1 rounded tsp Dijon mustard
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Aleppo pepper to taste
2 tbsp white wine or champagne vinegar (or rice vinegar if you want it a little sweeter)
3 tbsp olive oil

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

TGIGF Thank God it’s Good Friday!

Well, it’s been a hectic week around my kitchen this week, with beginning some private Chef work, and planning/experimenting for my one big catering event I do every year. I will share more on that in another post. But since I didn’t have time to do much filming this week, it gave me a chance to catch up on a few missing clips that had not been transferred from my old blog. Thanks to all my attentive fans who noticed the Beans and Greens clip that I mentioned in the Prosciutto Wrapped Prawns post wasn’t on the site. Same goes for the Bechamel clip. If you ever watch a clip on this site and I mention another clip that goes along with it, but you don’t see it anywhere, PLEASE let me know. Thanks.

I hope you all enjoy your Easter weekend. Whether you’re a Catholic or not, at least there’s going to be lots of chocolate around, so you’ve got that going for you. I remember growing up, trying to figure out the connection between Jesus rising from the dead, and my father hiding hard-boiled eggs in the bushes behind the house.

Stay turned for a whole week of new clips coming up including my attempt at individual Cheese Soufflés (an idiot proof version…btw, that was an inside joke for one of my viewers), Jerky Chicken (not Chicken Jerky), 12 Second Coleslaw (for real), and the “Perfect” Tuna Melt. One last Easter egg hunt tip for you kids; check the mail box, there’s always an egg hidden in the mailbox. Enjoy. Photo above from Rakka.

Ill leave you with this White House Easter Egg hunt clip. Peggy, this ones for you...