Better than Pancakes?

The weekend's here and you know what that means! Chef John takes a break, and posts fun, food related stuff he's found on the web. OK, I have to stop typing in the third person. I hope you enjoy this very creative clip I found on Youtube. Man they have cool looking toasters over there. Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon “Gravlox” Part 2 – It worked!

Alright, you watched us prep our Smoked Salmon “Gravlox” in Part 1, which was basically a simple salt/sugar curing mixture. We turned it over after 1 day and it stayed in the fridge for a total of 48 hours (that’s 2 days if you’re a contestant on “Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader). Also, remember, we added some smoked spice to the salt mixture so the final product would have a slight “smoked salmon” taste.

I really hope you give this a try. It may seem a bit scary curing your own fish, but it's been done for centuries and besides, like I said in Part 1, smoked salmon and Gravlox in the gourmet stores are really expensive. I didn’t give any serving suggestions. Did you need any? However you currently consume your smoked salmon will work for this house-made version. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your bagels. Enjoy!

Safety Note: Since this has been cured with salt, it will keep, tightly wrapped, for several days in the fridge. But, as the old joke goes, if you need to keep it longer than that, then it wasn’t that good. Believe me, this will disappear quickly.

Smoked Salmon “Gravlox” Part 1 – From Cradle to Grave

Gravlox, or Gravlax, as it is also spelled, has a very interesting translation. It was originally made by Scandinavian fishermen who coated the salmon with a salt and sugar mixture and buried it in the sand to "cure." So the term Gravlax comes from the word “grav” which means grave, and the word “lax” which means salmon. So there you go, with trivia like that, you’ll kill at that next dinner party!

Now, what I’m trying to do in this demo is to use the classic Gravlox technique, but use a smoked salt in the curing mix to achieve something that will be very close to the store-bought, and VERY expensive, smoked salmon. Lots of people try to smoke salmon at home, but they are using a high-temp smoker which basically just produces cooked salmon with a smoked favor. Now there’s nothing wrong with “hot-smoked” salmon, but what I’m after is that soft, buttery texture of the “cold-smoked” salmon that is sold commercially. I think this just might work! Anyway, check out part 2 and in a few days I’ll show you the results. I will be selling my smoked paprika salt on the site soon, but until then you can use the ingredients I’ve listed below.

Safety Note: If you are worried about eating “raw” salmon, relax. This is technically raw, but “cooks” as it cures in the salt and sugar mixture. Also, you bought top-quality salmon, of course. To be really safe, you can buy frozen wild salmon and thaw that; the freezing process kills any chance of dangerous parasites, etc. By the way, that’s why many Sushi Bars actually use pre-frozen fish.

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh salmon, skin on
3 tbl sugar
3 tbl kosher salt (yes, regular salt will work)
1 tbl smoked paprika (or if you like spicy try Chipotle)
1 tbl black pepper
cheese cloth

Wild Salmon Cakes – Canned Fish and Saltine Crackers?…Now that’s Gourmet!

So, we all know we need to eat a lot more salmon. And not only that, but we have to find “wild” salmon. Well, depending on where you live this may not be so easy. And, even if you do find it, maybe you don’t have the confidence to cook it properly. Today, I solve all those problems. Tomorrow I may start working on gas prices, but right now it’s all about the salmon cakes.

I’m using canned salmon for this delicious recipe. Why? Well, first of all, every grocery store carries it. Secondly, caned salmon is almost always wild salmon. And lastly, it’s cheap! I’m not going to go into the wild vs. farmed salmon debate here (you can Google it), but wild is not only more eco-friendly, but it tastes better, and is more nutritious. You could use fresh cooked salmon for this recipe if you have leftovers, but since we are mixing this up with eggs and cracker crumbs, fresh salmon just is'nt necessary, so why spend the extra cash? (you could save it and buy a t-shirt on my site! In fact, I’m thinking of a new t-shirt slogan “I like my salmon, like I like my women…wild! OK, maybe not)

The recipe ingredients you see below are VERY basic. There are lots of ways to customize these cakes; you can add fresh herbs, garlic, green onions, hot peppers, etc., so feel free to experiment. I tend to like my salmon cakes on the “bready” side, but you could add only one egg and fewer crackers if you want cakes that are more “salmony.” The tarragon aioli I served under these luscious cakes will be demo’d next, so stay tuned for that. Finally, as you hear me warn in the demo, canned salmon is NOT completely boneless, so PLEASE spend a few minutes carefully flaking the meat as you prep it to remove all the bones. Other than that small chore, this is a very simple recipe that comes out perfectly every time. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
14 oz. can of wild red salmon (or pink)
2 eggs
12 saltine crackers
1 tbl olive oil
1 tbl butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbl chopped capers
1/2 lemon

Eggs Benedicts – The last 2 episodes to make this brunch classic!

Hopefully you watched the hollandaise demo we just posted, and you are ready to fearlessly finish this delicious egg dish! So, the sauce is done, now you need to poach the eggs and finish the plate. In this first clip, I show the basic restaurant technique for poaching eggs. Due to the high-volume of a brunch service, it is almost impossible to poach eggs “to order.” They are poached ahead of time and held in cold water until final plating, when they are re-heated in simmering water for a few minutes. This method also works great at home for smaller batches as you’ll see. Once you’ve poached your eggs and have them in cold water you are free to set up the rest of the plate and all you then have to do is reheat them as I’ll show you. Ok, here we go with the poaching clip. Immediately following is the final plating and some cruel teasing on my part.


Now that we have our eggs ready we can plate this beauty up. Now, as you’ll hear me say in the clip, I didn’t waste time filming how to toast an English muffin and fry up a couple pieces of Canadian bacon. If you need help with those techniques you can email me and I’ll make fun of you in private. VERY IMPORTANT: make sure you are using a warm plate! Since the sauce is just warm, not piping hot, and the eggs are also just warm, it is CRUCIAL that the plate is warm, as well as making sure the English muffin and Canadian bacon are hot. If you need some potatoes to serve with this dish, please check out our Homefries demo. Enjoy!

Homemade Homefries – Deliciously Redundant!

There are many reasons to go out for breakfast or brunch on the weekend. Maybe it’s a break from the daily routine, maybe it’s the Mimosas (when else can you start drinking before noon and feel good about it), or maybe it’s the Homefries. Let’s face it, those crusty, crunchy, hot-off-the-grill potatoes that come with your omelet are a pretty good reason alone to venture out.

Very few of us can duplicate those at home. When most of us try to make Homefries, we just don’t get the same results. They look the same; they’re golden-brown and cooked all the way through, but they just don’t have that beautiful crusty/crispy texture. In this demo you’ll see why. The key is pre-cooking the potatoes in water first, and then frying. By the way, this is my mom’s very basic recipe, and you can of course dress it up with diced peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc.

2 large russet potatoes
3 tbl olive oil
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1-3 cloves garlic
1 tbl cold butter