Dinner @ Home - Pork Chops

Dinner: January 26

I was at Antonelli's Meats (located inside CalMart in Laurel Heights) and their thick cut pork chops called out to me. It's really nothing special but I had fun making dinner, very relaxing. (See, I don't always eat out.)

BTW... Antonelli's is one of the best butchers in the city. They have a great selection of beef, pork, lamb, veal, chicken, homemade sausages, and seafood. My favorite is the American kobe flank steak. The meat is marbeled with just the right amount of fat making it tender and delicious beyond belief! In my opinion, so much better than the overly expensive filet mignon which has the texture of baby food – it's simply missing that satisfying chew you are looking for when biting into a piece of meat. Besides, filet mignon is certainly not the most sustainable cut of meat – there are 150 pounds of other cuts compared to 1 pound of filet.

Anyway, back to the pork chops:

1. Cut 3 shallow slits on each side of the chop. This allows the flavors of the brine to really get into the meat.

2. Prepare wet brine by filling a gallon-size Ziploc bag with water, salt, roughly crushed black peppercorns, rosemary, onion, apple juice.

How much of each? The liquid needs to cover all the meat. Be generous with the seasonings, especially salt, since it is sitting in unflavored water. The acid is important to help break down the meat a little, allowing for better flavor absorption. Make sure to taste it and add whatever you feel is missing – balance out the flavors. Scientific right? Our taste buds say so.

Wet vs. dry brine? I much more prefer a wet brine over a dry brine because it keeps the meat more moist while still providing flavor.

3. Place chops into Ziploc bag and refrigerate between 4 to 48 hours. Overnight is best. (Put bag on a tray in case any of the brine leaks.)

4. A couple hours before cooking, remove chops from brine and let sit at room temperature. Cold meat causes uneven cooking.

5. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then heat olive oil in a pan. Cast iron pans are preferred because they regulate heat more evenly and get hotter than non-sticks.

6. Once oil is extremely hot, sear chop on each side. As Anne Burrell always says, "Brown food is good food." In my case, I seared about 7 minutes per side.

7. Finish meat by baking in the oven, between 15-25 minutes depending on thickness of meat.

Pretty simple, right? I served the chops with a balsamic vinegar reduction sauce, oven baked sweet potato, and sauteed greens of a Chinese variety.

Bon appetite!

Kitchenette, Part 2

www.kitchenettesf.com

See previous post: Kitchenette

Visit date: January 21

Kitchenette is my new favorite sandwich joint. Since the house corned beef, I find myself looking at their menu every other day to see what delicious, scrumptious concoctions they are offering. Unfortunately, I missed the Berkshire pork pozole on MLK Monday. So sad!

But good thing I checked the menu early this morning. These sandwiches are perfect for some much needed Friday gluttony.

seared kakuni pork belly sandwich with

cucumber kimchi, shichimi mayonnaise, arugula

Pretty intense sandwich. Definitely not a sandwich to eat everyday, but once in awhile is good.
The meat is moist and the fat is fatty, but not too greasy.
Shichimi is a seven-flavor chili pepper. According to Wiki, common blend includes red chili pepper, sansho, roasted orange peel, black and white sesame seeds, hemp seed, ground ginger and nori. I'm not sure what Kitchenette's combo is, but the spice definitely comes through and helps to mellow out the fattiness of the meat a little. But the spread is still a mayonnaise base, so beware.

grilled farmstead cheese sandwich

with grilled pears & leeks, county line farm chicories

Who said being a vegetarian sucks? If anything, I think vegetarians are more creative with their dishes. They have limited items to work with and have to coax the most flavor out of what they're given. This sandwich is one great example. Kitchenette takes the combo of cheese and fruit to the next level. It really is melt-in-your-mouth good!

cookie of the moment: chocolate peanut butter

Cookies to round out lunch. Like I said, Friday gluttony at its best. Actually, I got 4 (ate one in the car) because they forgot to put it in my bag and I had to go back. Woohoo! Cookie is on the thinner side, crisp on the outside and softer in the middle. Yum!

Now for some milk and an afternoon nap...

Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act 2010

Legislation summary
USDA proposal

It really is about time we change our school lunch system and educate both kids and parents. It's good to educate parents but often times, they are too busy to actually put things into practice. Instead, they opt for the easier route of giving kids money to stand in school lunch lines. But here's a thought: don't think of it as leftovers, but make a little extra during dinner and pack it in kids' lunches for the next day! This also gives kids variety and more flavor instead of the typical boring sandwich made in the morning thrown in with a bag of chips and a drink. And hopefully, with more flavorful meals, kids are less inclined to fill their stomachs with sugar and "stuff". And of course, less sugar and "stuff" means more alert kids (who aren't on sugar highs and then crash) to better absorb the information they learn after lunch. Control what kids eat and the "stuff" that goes into it! And if kids are worried about finding a microwave, ask a teacher in the teacher's lounge. More often than not, teacher's have their own microwaves in their classrooms.

My mom used to do this and sometimes I really liked being different but other times, I admit, I was jealous seeing all the "cool things" other kids were eating. However, to this day, I still cook a little extra during dinner which reduces the temptation to go out and get something quick. Fortunately though, living in San Francisco does provide some better options since we're on the forefront of organic, sustainability, etc.

A few tricks for making lunches the night before:
1. Leave foods (meats, veggies & pasta, not grains) a little al dente to account for microwave cooking time the next day.
2. Keep the prepared lunches in the fridge overnight. In the morning, take it out of the fridge and don't put it back in once at school/work. During lunch, the fact that the food is already at room temperature reduces the time in the microwave (for those worried about microwave radiation, etc). Yes, still using a microwave but a much better alternative to the unable-to-pronounce ingredients.

And if parents are still too busy, check out Revolution Foods. They've been around for 5 years now, and I've worked with them for over 3 as their banker. The founders are really dedicated to providing healthy meals and educational opportunities. I've had samples and the food really does taste better and healthier.

Our mission is to dramatically improve the food and food service experience in schools in order to reduce obesity and improve health, education and well being for students in communities across the United States. Revolution Foods transforms school food service by providing healthy meals, nutrition education, and operational support for schools. We provide schools with a comprehensive and robust meal solution that nurtures the bodies and minds of students. Using natural and organic products from healthy food suppliers such as Whole Foods, our meals are home-style, kid friendly, and made with care.

But this is also where educating kids and making an actual change in school lunches come into play. While kids look to parents for direction, kids are easily influenced at school. I know I was. I wanted the "stuff" in the vending machines and the chimichangas and the squeeze cheese nachos. In my case, I didn't want junk food because my parents didn't eat well, I wanted junk food because I didn't get to eat these things at home. So understanding nutritional value is one way to steer kids towards a better and more healthy diet. Changing the available foods altogether is another. With lunch money in hand, kids can make better informed choices than always getting frozen pepperoni pizza and fries thinking they've met their daily requirements of bread, dairy, meat and vegetables. (Honestly though, they don't even think about that.) And with more information, kids are likely to share what they learn and work with their parents to practice at home, wanting to participate in making dinners and lunches. The result is a new way of thinking and a long term cycle for the better.

Lastly, I have to say, Sarah Palin is an idiot. Check out this article: Junking Junk Food.

Still, however shaky its factual foundations, Palin’s highly mediatized cookie showdown was a big rhetorical win. With her unerring feel for the message that travels straight to the American gut, she had come up with new and vivid imagery to make the case that the Obama “nanny state” is, essentially, snatching cookies — i.e., the pursuit of happiness — from the mouths of babes. Suddenly, Pennsylvania’s suggestion that schools encourage alternatives to high-sugar sweets became an assault on the American way of life. On freedom and simple pleasures. On wholesome childhood delights and, of course, the integrity of the family.

How can she even say that the new legislation takes away freedom and simple pleasures?! Why don't we allow kids to drive until they are 16 with restrictions and 18 without restrictions? Why aren't people allowed to drink until the age of 21? Why are parents legally responsible for their kids until the age of 18? It is because kids cannot and are not experienced enough to make their own decisions. It is through education and practice that we all come to learn to make the right decisions. There are so many other ways to "pursue happiness". Otherwise, kids will make decisions based on the moment and what they want, most of which is influenced by big for-profit companies with endless advertisement budgets selling cheap, convenient foods loaded with "stuff". There's no discipline at all. And the result? an overweight, obese society.

I like what Chef José Andrés has to say: Food for Thought

But we need to start seeing food as the solution. Food used the right way can end hunger. Food used the right way can help fight obesity and malnutrition. Food and the right farming practices will create employment in the developing world where it is needed most. Food when prepared the right way can help improve the environment. Food can be the answer.

Cooking Foraged Mushrooms

See previous post: Mushroom Foraging at Salt Point State Park

Finally got around to cooking the mushrooms today… simply sautee with olive oil and butter, season with a little salt to keep the flavors as natural as possible. I also taste each mushroom with my lunch of orzo, homemade tomato sauce, and sauteed broccoli rabe – all the mushrooms hold their own, and the ones that are bitter don't taste so bitter anymore.

Clockwise starting at the top: hedgehog, pig ear, yellowfoot chanterelle, candy cap, black trumpet/chanterelle

Chanterelle (cut into squares),
Witch’s Butter, 2 unknowns at bottom-right

Witch's butter – expands a lot, slightly bitter, jelly taste like it looks
2 white unknowns – very bitter
(The instructor said not to eat anything unidentified, but my curiosity got the better part of me. An hour later and I still feel fine...)

Candy cap

Candy caps are my new favorite mushroom. They make the entire house smell like maple syrup and taste like it too. I have some drying right now to test its air freshener quality.

Hedgehog

Hedgehogs have high water content and taste buttery.

Black trumpet/chanterelle

Yellow foot chanterelle

Pig ear

I have to agree with the instructor, pig ears aren't very flavorful. In fact, the more I eat them, the more bitter they become.

Mushroom Foraging @ Salt Point State Park

www.foragesf.com

Visit date: January 15

Forage seems to be THE activity these days.

Chef Rene Redzepi in Copenhagen, Denmark popularized foraging as of late to prove that his town and its surroundings is not all lost to the unstable and ever-changing weather. His restaurant Noma now holds the title of 2011 Best Restaurant in the World according to www.theworlds50best.com.

While Chef Redzepi forages in Copenhagen, I found ForageSF to show me the ropes. They offer mushroom-finding trips either in northwest Sonoma County or Oakland during peak season, usually December and January. (Season started earlier this year in November with the early rains.)

I learned a lot of cool things. Below are some of my notes during the trip…

– Salt Point is wet and damp which means more varieties of mushrooms. It's the only place open to the public with a limit of five pounds per person per day to prevent commercial collection. According to the instructor, the mushrooms are here as a gift to us. They are waiting to be picked and placed in loose-weave baskets so the tiny spores can leak through the holes of our baskets onto the ground for more growth. The rules are pictured below but the basic gist is to not make a mess for other pickers (especially Russulas, see below) and to be sensitive, watching where we step.

– Growth rate varies from overnight to a month to next season to 100 years (i.e. shelf mushrooms).

– The fruit grows out of mycelium, with different habitats resulting in different growth rates.

– Micorisal – only grow with root of host tree/plant, each helps the other grow. Mycelium is in the root.

– Treat each species as its own, some are safe but some are not. Key characteristic to look out for is texture – gills? stringy? smooth stalk? etc. Some species look so similar and are identifiable only through "spore print" process to reveal their color. Sometimes gills already reveal their color (i.e. portobello is black).

– Don't eat death caps, poisonous! They are part of the Amanita species, appear plain, grayish-white-tints of blue, looks harmless.

On the other hand, Amanita Muscaria is edible. They are red with white dots (very bright, looks like the Mario Bros. mushroom or Alice in Wonderland). The effects are psychedelic (i.e. making you feel 50 feet tall) and blurred vision, hence the "poisonous" effect. Used by Siberian shamans for medicinal purpose. To eat without side effects, boil, discard water (which has all the active ingredients), sautee.

– Little brown mushrooms are extremeley hard to distinguish, not even the experts can do it easily. Don't mess with them at all because they can be toxic.

– Don't ever eat raw. This concept is perpetuated by button mushrooms (which are mini portobellos) in salads. According to many experts, portobellos are actually carcinogenic, making them not much better as an alternative for vegetarians.

– David Arora is one of the leading mushroom experts, especially those the West coast being a California native.

– Paul Stamets – micoremediation – repair soil by growing mushroom because of underground mycelium acting as a sort of "underground internet" delivering needed nutrients

Russula

very old, rotting Russula

Russulas are the most common and mostly inedible. They won’t kill a person, but will cause bad side effects. Some are edible like the Candy cap (see my basket below). Overall, no one really knows how to cook them to be edible.
Common characteristics: white (some red), white gills and spores, naked, no scales, no rings, bleeds milk, stalk will snap like chalk when broken (more bendable when older). The test is to throw Russulas against trees/rock/ground and the mushrooms will shatter.

rules

Shelf mushrooms

Shelf mushrooms – are micorisal, grows on tree; no gills, instead have pores; very firm in touch. Mycelium is inside the tree. Have some medicinal purpose. This particular one is about 2 seasons growth in size.

Black trumpet/chanterelles

Chanterelles can be rot free for months (maybe anti-microbial too when eating), like to grow around tan oak trees.

Pig ear

Pig ear

Pig ear

Pig ear

Pig ears are edible but typically not eaten because they don't have much flavor. They are the easiest to spot because of their size.

This is the instructor’s basket –

many are inedible, but will be used

to teach his students tomorrow

my basket 

My basket clockwise starting at top left corner:
Pig ear (edible), Candy cap (orange, edible), Black trumpet/chanterelle (edible), regular Chanterelle (edible, one of two found today), unknown round porous mushroom, white quarter size (too young to tell), Witches butter (orange, jelly texture, edible), Yellow foot chanterelle (edible), Coral (white stringy looking, inedible), Hedgehog (light brown in the middle, edible).

Candy caps are edible russulas. They smell like maple syrup or butterscotch, bleed white, and have a hollow stalk. The instructor suggested I dry them in my car to be used as natural air freshener.

Black chanterelles are the hardest to see, of course, because of their color. But once we find one and know what we are looking for, they are pretty easy see.

Also, there was one couple that found the only Matsutake of the day, a bit old but still edible. The size was probably as big as the old rotting Russula I found.

We all take our finds home at the end of the day. Next step is to cook them and see how they taste. Too bad I forgot to bring the travel burner and pan to cook them on the spot.

See additional post: Cooking Foraged Mushrooms

first hour of our two-hour drive back

Caffe Pascucci

Visit date: January 14

Caffe Pascucci is a staple in Europe, and now has its first US location open across the street from AT&T Park. It is a coffee shop but nothing like the artisanal coffee shops we’re used to seeing in San Francisco, i.e. Blue Bottle, Ritual, Intelligentsia, etc. The café is brightly lit and the décor is uber modern with brown tables and white seats. Some of the chairs are half round, reminding me of something found in the Jetsons. There are three seating areas, one to either side of the barista counter, and bar-style seating directly across from the counter. The walls are padded with the same white material from the chairs, maybe to help with the acoustics or just for decoration alone.

Drink descriptions read like desserts and the pictures show an elegance created by a pastry chef. I’ve only had the sorbetto amaretto (ice blended coffee with amaretto syrup topped with amaretto biscuits), but seeing the throngs of people receiving their free drinks, Caffe Pascucci is definitely offering more coffee dessert drinks than actual coffee. This place will satisfy cravings of coffee and sugar all in one. French press and drip coffee available too.

I’m assuming Caffe Pascucci is to Europe what Starbucks is to the US, but with a bigger menu offering sandwiches, salads, charcuterie, cheese and the usual pastries. They’ve trademarked things like Confuso cream (not sure what this is) and Fraspuccio (aka Starbucks Frappucino). There’s free WiFi too!

For this first opening week, the first drink is free – anything on the menu.

my sorbetto amaretto and a sampling of chocolate pie

Mission Pie vs Tartine Bakery

www.missionpie.com
www.tartinebakery.com

MP Visit date: January 13, December 21
TB Visit date: few months ago

Dessert anyone?
(Only in moderation of course.)

The closest thing to pie that I’ve had in the last few years is apple cobbler when it’s on restaurant dessert menus. (The best cobbler is at Frascati.) Prior to that, I grew up eating Marie Callender pies for special occasions.

So I was really excited when I heard about Mission Pie, especially with banana cream on the menu. It’s my new go-to dessert without being at a restaurant. The texture is light, fluffy and gooey. The bananas are ripe yet firm, not oxidized brown, and slightly enhanced with sugar but not overly sweet. The crust on the bottom is croissant-thin and flaky, while the crust on the side is thicker, also flaky.

On the other hand, Tartine uses a coating of hardened caramel between their filling and crust. I’m not a caramel fan (unless it's flan) – don’t like the flavor of burnt sugar and water. I have a hard time getting over the caramel so I can’t enjoy the crust. The filling is decent, but I can’t complete the full experience without the crust.

Along the lines of burnt tastes, Tartine’s croissants and cookies are a little over baked for my liking. I like my croissants to have a couple light layers of crust, but Tartine seems to like theirs with lots of crunchy, crusty layers. These layers also make the croissants pretty dark brown in color, which if we eat with our eyes, is already not appealing to me.

Tartine is a fancy show bakery offering a suite of products for out-of-towners. The line is always wrapped around the corner and the inside crowded, just so people can get a glimpse of a bakery that’s produced a cookbook and been in the media.

Mission pie is humble and simple and good and comforting. Their small list of pies are listed daily on the steel support beam by the display case. Here’s a blurb from their website:

“Through creative choices in all aspects of the business, from our energy-efficient kitchen to our delicious Fair Trade/organic tea and coffee to the reclaimed and recycled materials with which the café is constructed, Mission Pie is guided by a commitment to environmental, social and economic justice. We offer a wholesome and supportive atmosphere not only for lovers of great coffee and pie, but for our workers as well, as we collaborate with local youth advocacy organizations to provide a positive work environment to San Francisco youth. As a thriving, progressive, for-profit business, we relish the opportunity to reinvest productively and creatively not just in the quality of our ingredients and equipment, but in the lives of the people and communities around and within us.”

(All pictures below are from Mission Pie.)

menu written on

steel support beam

banana cream

sweet potato

menu written on steel support beam,

coffee/tea on blackboard