Michael Pollan on Food Television

Several weeks ago, just before "Julie and Julia" hit the movie theaters, Michael Pollan came out with a long (as usual) article in the New York Times about the evolution of food television. In Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch Pollan traces (and criticizes) the long way that food television has gone since Julia Child first appeared on public television some 45 years ago and tries to answer the question "How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves?". I recommend reading the article - it is lengthy but it makes some very interesting points. He starts with his own experience watching Julia Child when he was young and the courage she gave American women, goes through the mass exodus of women out of the kitchen and into the work force and the post-war effort to get us all to eat military rations (very successful effort indeed), looks at our life today where we spend only 27 minutes a day on average cooking and ~ 2 hours watching television and discusses what the future holds - will we go back in the kitchen?

I'd never watched Julia Child myself, until yesterday. I was surfing the channels on TV and came across the public TV station and lo and behold, it wad Julia Child in black and white making bouillabaisse. She cleaned the fish, made the soup and then sat at the table, poured herself a glass of wine and showed viewers how to serve and eat the magical concoction. It was fascinating, and extremely educational. I now feel that if the need should arise, I can make bouillabaisse. That sense of having learned something is vary rarely the result of watching the Food Network these days. After that experience I very much agree with Michael Pollen that food television is no longer about learning how to cook but rather about watching other people cook and/or eat. I was also struck with how accurate Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia Child was - her manners, her voice and intonation were so perfect. Rarely have I seen such a striking resemblance on screen (Salma Hayek as Frida Khalo is another one which comes to mind). Also, I was struck with how thin Julia Child was. Honestly, for someone who uses butter with such unbridled generosity, I thought she'd be a bit more.... plump.

But back to Michael Pollan. A large portion of the article is devoted to a detailed criticism of The Food Network. As I recently acquired cable subscription for the first time in my life, I, too, was struck with the content of most cooking shows. It's been two months since I have been watching The Food Network and I have not yet cooked a single thing I have seen there. Granted I usually turn the TV on in the evening when The Food Network is all about the race against the clock than about showing you how to cook. But even during the day (as in right now, on Sunday afternoon) the shows are about quick, cheap and easy "dump-and-stir" meals which promote the culture of cheap food and how to wow your family and guests with as little effort as possible. What if you want to wow them with some quality food that goes beyond fried chicken breasts you bought on sale for 50% off? Which reminds me that I recently heard an interview with Ellen Ruppel Shell, the author of Cheap - The Hight Cost of Discount Culture and it sounded fascinating. Check it out.

What do you think of food television today? Do you watch it? What do you watch? If you have had the chance to read Michael Pollan's article - what did you think? What struck you the most? Do you agree or disagree with it?

PS. A nearly complete list of Michael Pollan's works (including links to articles) can be found here (scroll down for the articles). Here are two which particularly appealed to me:A Letter to the Farmer in Chief and Unhappy Meals.

PPS. And if you, like me, have never see the original Julia Child series The French Chef, 36 of the original episodes have been published in two DVD box sets which are available on Amazon (Set 1 and Set 2) and on Netflix. You know, Christmas is coming and wouldn't these make wonderful presents for your favorite foodie?

Home-made Mayonnaise

Like many other things that appear here, this, too, was James's idea. A few weeks ago he came to visit and brought me a box-full of home-made mayonnaise. He told me about his adventures trying to make it, hand-whipping it, not quite getting the consistency right, adding another yolk and finally finishing it off in the food processor to a grand finale. He made an egg salad and several sandwiches generously slathered with mayo. The consistency and the flavor of the mayonnaise were so light and fluffy you could eat it with a spoon and completely forget about the oil in it. I was hooked. A few days after he left, I made my own attempt at mayonnaise. I started with the blender, broke the emulsion, continued with the food processor, which only made things worse, and finally decided to hand-whip it, which to my utter surprise, did the trick! Oh, so good!

The video below is our join second attempt to make mayonnaise (success!).

Home-made Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk at room temperature
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cool water
1 C oil
1/4 tsp salt

Yields: 1 C

Notes on the ingredients: The yolk needs to be at room temperature. If you want to speed the process, submerge the cold egg in a cup or warm water. After a couple of minutes pour out the water, add some new warm water, leave for a few minutes and keep doing this until the egg no longer feels cold to the touch. The oil needs to be very mildly flavored. I recommend canola oil or vegetable oil or sunflower oil. In the video we use 1/4 C of quite strongly flavored olive oil but the result had a seriously strong olive oil flavor - I would not recommend doing this. Either use very mild olive oil or only add a Tbs of olive oil if you want to impart that flavor.

The making of:
1. Combine the yolk, the water and the lemon juice in a deep bowl. Whisk to combine.
2. Start pouring the oil in a very thin stream and whisking vigorously. The mixture should be smooth and pale, initially very thin. It will start to thicken at the point when you have added about half the oil. Keep whipping until all the oil has been incorporated.
3. Add salt to taste and mix it in. Refrigerate - it will thicken even further.

I don't know about James, but my main inspiration to make mayonnaise came from Michael Ruhlman's new book "Ratio". I came across the mayonnaise chapter when I was browsing the book online and I was stunned to find out that the key ingredient to achieving an emusion (i.e. mayonnaise) is not the yolk but the liquid! Yolks come in all sorts of different sizes. What is important is how much water and/or lemon juice you add. The basic rule of thumb is 20 parts of oil to 1 part of liquid. One cup is equal to 16 Tbs which is approximately 20. There is a wide range of ratios that can be emulsified but 20:1 seems to work and is easy to remember. I think 1 C : 1 Tbs is also easy to remember. If you don't add the liquid, you will not get a thick emulsion. My Mom used to make mayonnaise with yolk + oil + citric acid when I was a kid and it always turned out thin and runny. I am guessing the lack of water explains that.

Finally, before I leave you with our feature presentation, what is a broken emulsion? If you add the oil to quickly the mix will start looking like curdled milk - the oil and the yolk will separate. That's not good, but fear not. Pour out the broken mix into the cup cup with the remainder of the oil, wash the bowl, add a teaspoon of water to the clean bowl and start over, pouring the broken emulsion in a think stream and whipping. That should fix it.

Now get yourself a glass of wine, sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

From Movies

Summer Squash Gratin

This is a true story. Quite a few years ago I had a crush on this boy and after a couple of months of flirting, in a poorly thought-trough attempt to move things along, I invited him over for dinner. Equipped with barely the knowledge how to boil pasta I think I called my Mom five or six times over the course of the next week asking how to make a some of her specialties which mistakenly left her with the impression that I had suddenly become very interested in learning how to cook. The dinner (chicken with potatoes and ice-cream) turned out fine but the boy ended up being a huge disappointment. Many months after it was all over, my Mom sent me a Christmas present - a cookbook! And not any cookbook, but the encyclopedical "1585 of the Best and Tested Recipes" by Penka Cholcheva, which is sort of the Bulgarian version of The Joy of Cooking. Forward 6 years, the book is still sitting on my bookshelf and I don't think I have made a single recipe from it. Until last week that is.

Last weekend I came home from the farmers market with more than two pounds of summer squash. I had given myself an interesting task - pick one from each shape and color of summer squash I could find at the market and ended up with the assortment above. Purrrrtty! And I decided to put them to use by making Mrs. Cholcheva's Squash Bourek. Bourek is typically a dish containing cheese and eggs, but since this one also has a browned top crust I will christen in a gratin. It ended up being absolutely fantastic! The proportions are approximate from what I did to fit a 8x8 inch pan.

Summer Squash Gratin

1 1/2 lb summer squash or zucchini, sliced into thin rounds, ~1/8 inch
1 C ricotta or feta, crumbled
1 C yogurt
4 eggs
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Lightly oil the baking pan you will be using.
2. Salt the squash slices lightly and let them drain for a few minutes until you do the rest of the prep work.
3. In a bowl whisk the cheese with two eggs and the dill until well mixed. Season with salt if using ricotta.
4. In a second bowl whisk the yogurt and the other two eggs. Season with salt.
5. Squeeze the zucchini lightly.
6. Place a layer of half of the zucchini on the bottom of the pan, overlapping rounds so that the bottom is well covered. Pour the cheese-egg mixture on top and spread evenly. Layer the rest of the zucchini. Pour the yogurt-egg mixture on top and spread evenly.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes, until it starts browning on top. Finish of with a few minutes under the broiler to brown nicely. Serve hot or cold. Either way, very tasty, an excellent sink for spare squash and a good source of protein.

Unfortunately, this only used up half of my squash (all the long ones). The round and flying-saucer shaped ones were doomed to another week in the fridge but then rewarded for their patience by being turned into ratatouille... But this is a whole different story...

Panzanella

Tuscany. Just the name sounds so beautiful. Makes me think of green rolling hills, vineyards, cypress trees, sunsets, calm, quiet, cobble-stone streets, red roofs... Imagining Tuscany made me dreamy. And then I realized that I have been to Tuscany and that it is indeed all I imagine. That was a long time ago, seems like a different life now. I remember standing in line to see Michelangello's David and being surprised that the statue was smaller than I expected; climbing the stairs to the top of El Duomo in Florence and being utterly stunned by the view; sitting on the curb in a square, listening to a concert and drinking beer; walking the narrow streets of Sienna. And then, there is the memory of the medieval torture museum in the tiny town of San Gimignano, which still keeps me up at night. But I don' t remember a single meal I ate. So now, a little belatedly, I am trying to familiarize myself with Tuscan cuisine.

Panzanella is a traditional bread summer salad. I only found out about the concept recently, after coming across a grilled panzanella recipe online. And then I found that a whole of three pages are devoted to it in the Dean and Deluca cookbook (which is a fantastic read by the way). It is meant to be a leftover salad to use up stale bread (and possibly other odds and ends). But before I start muddling the water, here is the classical version:

Panzanella

1.5 parts tomatoes
1 part cucumber, peeled
1 part onion
1 part stale bread, de-crusting optional
torn basil leaves
Dressing: 2 to 1 ratio of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, preferably white
salt

Instead of giving exact measures, I am listing the basic proportions (by weight) though these need not be obeyed exactly. The idea is that the salad is dominated by tomatoes and bread, with less prominent presence of cucumbers, onions and basil. The exact preparation of the vegetables is up to you. Dean & Deluca suggest that you thinly slice everything. I prefer my tomatoes in bite-sized pieces and my cucumbers and onions quartered and then sliced. Either way goes. The bread should be de-crusted traditionally, but I left the crust because I like its chewy texture but that brings the bread forward flavor-wise. For a more fluffy and subtle bread texture, remove the crust. What bread to use? The salad works best with a hearty white bread with solid body and a bit of chewiness. It is best if the bread has been around for at least 4-5 day and is quite stale. If you only have non-stale bread, don't despair - just skip the "getting the bread wet" part.



Now, how does it all come together? Slice the onions and cucumbers, toss them with some salt and leave in a colander to drain some of the liquid while prepping the rest of the salad. Chop the tomatoes and add to the cucumbers and onions. De-crust the bread if desired and cut or tear into bite-sized pieces. Place the bread in another colander and sprinkle with cold water until the pieces are moist throughout (taste-test). It's ok if there are dry patches here and there, because these will absorb the moisture from the vegetables. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl, add the basil and toss with the dressing. Do not over-dress, you don't want to over-power the vegie taste. Add the bread and toss again, gently. Serve immediately or stick in the fridge for a few minutes until you are ready to eat it. This salad is way better if all the ingredients are really cold.

Chocolate-Cherry Milano Cookies

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milano Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

This is my first Daring Bakers challenge and I feel seriously embarrassed to be flunking it a bit but the result is edible if not as pretty as I had hoped.

On the scale of one to ten of biblical disasters, making these cookies was probably only 1.5. Still I could have easily done without the excitement. It all started with grandiose plans (as all disasters usually do) to make a few different variations of the cookies - some original ones, some black and white ones, some chocolate cherry ones and to color some of the cookies red to match the cherry filling. It all sounded great and I was already imagining treating myself to one of these wonderful cookies along with my coffee on Monday morning (which I did anyways), but my plans deflated as soon as I popped the first pan in the oven .... and the cookies turned into crapes. Things kept going downhill when, after removing the cookies from the oven, I discovered they were glued to the parchment paper and there was no way to remove them from it. Nothing personal against parchment paper, but I prefer my cookies without it. I managed to salvage one cookie. But I was already out of the white batter. Oh well.

I figured I needed to add more flour (maybe too much of egg whites) which I did, realizing along the way that what I had hoped would be red batter was turning bright pink. To make up for it, the chocolate batter was tasty as hell (mmmmm, coooookiiiie baaaaatter). The pink and brown cookies turned out better if a bit too thick. Finally, I ended up with something more resembling deflated macaroons than Milan cookies. I did stick them together with chocolate and cherry jam, so they are chocolate cherry flavored, which I think worked out fabulously - I love the combination of the two flavors. Lesson learned: store bought Milano cookies are better. However, If you are not convinced, you are welcome to try this for yourself. Here is the recipe by Gale Gand on the Food Network site.

I-Miss-Tucson Triple Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies (First Attempt)

It has been almost four months since I picked up and moved from the scorching heat of Tucson, Arizona to the green lawns of Los Angeles, California. Despite the fact that I have moved to better weather and a better job, I am still missing Tucson a whole lot. One of the things I miss the most (along with that special someone) is the Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, the place where I spend the last three months of grad school and a significant fraction of the previous six years too. I am really more productive when there are people around me, when there is talking and music and interesting faces to secretly stare at for distraction. The quiet unnerves me and the hustle and bustle of the cozy coffee shop were a fantastic escape. Being able to get a huge mug of hot coffee and a bagel (ah, those fabulous 9-grain bagels) any time during the day was also a big advantage. Last but certainly not least was their fabulous selection of cookies. Mmmmm, cookies! Especially the triple chocolate cinnamon ones which I discovered one cold December day last year. And my life was changed forever. Seriously.

A few days before I moved away I asked the owner for the recipe. She refused politely but ensured that a big jar of cookies was supplied the next day which was sweet but I still wanted the recipe. And then I found this recipe on Epicurious. Aha! So here is my first attempt at making these cookies. I didn't quite follow the original recipe because of limitations on the available ingredients so here is what I did:

Triple Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies

1/4 C + 1 Tbs flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 C (3 ounces) chopped milk chocolate (or chips)
1/2 C chopped walnuts, raw

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside. In a big bowl beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and beat till smooth. Add the melted chocolate and mix in. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, beating until incorporated. Stir in the milk chocolate pieces and walnuts. The dough is done.

Shaping the cookies can be done in two ways - ice-cream-scooping and slicing. I did the latter because I didn't have time to bake the cookies on the evening I made the dough. The scooping is easier: scoop level ice-cream scoops of dough and place them on a parchment-paper, 2-inches apart because cookies will spread. Bake for 12 minutes in the lower third of the oven. Cookies will be a bit soft to the touch and glossy. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes and then cool completely on a rack. The slicing method is messier because the dough is very soft and sticky. Roll the dough into two logs about an inch and a half in diameter (or bigger if you want bigger cookies) by wrapping it in parchment paper and rolling it. You are bound to have chocolate behind your ears. It's ok. Once the logs are shaped wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer. The dough can stay in the freezer for a few weeks... if you can wait that long. To bake the cookies, slice the logs into 1/4-inch slices and place on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, cool on pan and then on a rack. Eat.

These cookies turned out sooo fabulous! They were soft and chewy, chocolatey with just the right amount of cinnamon and walnuts, so delicious, I could not have just one. Everyone loved them. So did I but they were not quite what I was shooting for. The Bentley's cookies are drier, less chewy and they crack on top. I think I will try making them with all white sugar and adding some more flour next time. I'm going to work on these. Come Christmas, I'll have them perfect!

Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Sweet Miso Dressing

Cabbage keeps well for long periods of time but still this is no excuse for the fact that 2/3 of a head of this leafy green has been inhabiting my fridge for two months. Scary! I even moved the cabbage with me when I changed apartments three weeks ago. Yes, indeed, I am very fond of this particular head of cabbage. But it was time to let it go and last night I made this wonderful crunchy cabbage salad inspired by Heidi Swanson's Chopped Miso Salad recipe.

Hmmm... All the interesting things about cabbage I just learned on Wikipedia! Cabbage, apparently is from the mustard family and has originated in the Mediterranean by selective breeding of wild mustard plants for suppressed intermode length. It was known to the ancient Greek and Romans and was praised for its medicinal properties. The powdery, waxy finish on the leaves is called bloom, the bitterness is due to glucosinolate, and it is rich in riboflavin, vitamin C and glutamine. China is the largest producer of cabbage in the world, followed by India and Russia. South Korea is fourth (kimchi?) and Poland is 6th (cabbage rolls, anyone?). And now that we have covered the basics on cabbage, lets get to the recipe.

Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Miso Dressing

1 smallish head of cabbage
1 bunch chives, chopped
1 C almonds, pan roasted and chopped
1 C cooked garbanzo beans (optional)

Dressing:
2 Tbs miso (I used red miso)
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp mustard
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 C rice vinegar
1/4 C olive oil

To make the dressing, combine all ingredients except the olive oil, in a small jar or in a blender. Mix well. Add the oil. Shake the jar or blend until well mixed. This makes about twice as much dressing as you will need for the salad. I very much liked the dressing and will use it on other salads, but if you don't want extra then halve the recipe.

Chop the cabbage in very, very small pieces. I chopped it like a big onion - cut it in half, put each half flat on the cutting beard and put 5-6 not all-the-way-through cuts lengthwise (from the core to the tip) and then I sliced it very thinly starting from the tip. When I got to the core, I cut around it. Cabbage is usually way too hard and fibrous for me so I always give it my secret family treatment - I put the chopped cabbage confetti in a bowl, salted them lightly and kneaded then for a minute. This can be done with one or both hands, you basically squeeze the cabbage and mix it, squeeze and mix until it's all softened up. The motion is really very similar to kneading. Add the chives, almonds and beans. Add the dressing, toss, chill. This salad can easily keep for a couple of days in the fridge.

This can easily be made into a left-overs salad - a meal to take care of all of last week's Farmer's Marked odds and ends. The dressing is slightly sweet but bright from the vinegar. It goes very well with the cabbage, but you can easily also add lettuce (finely chopped), blanched green and wax beans (cut into 1/2 inch pieces), peas, asparagus, cucumber (chopped into matchsticks), green onions, other green herbs.

The garbanzo beans are optional - I wanted to make a meal out of the salad - and can be substituted with some other type of beans (like navy beans or baby lima beans). I very much recommend that you just buy a pound of dry beans, cook them with some salt and keep them in the fridge or freezer for adding to soups and salads instead of buying the canned stuff which is (a) way more expensive and (b) way worse tasting. You can substitute the beans with stir-fried extra firm tofu too (or maybe even chicken but don't quote me on that).

De-li-cious! Next on my list of summer adventures? Panzanella!