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Here We Go a-Musseling
Aug. 11th, 2025 08:43 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Rice with Mussels... For Science in the Kitchen!
Put the clams (see end) on the fire with enough water to cook the rice. When the clams pop open, remove the shells and save the water. Prepare a soffritto with olive oil, garlic, one small onion, parsley, one carrot, and celery. Mince everything as fine as possible with a mezzaluna. When the ingredients are sufficiently browned, throw in the shelled clams, a few pieces of dried mushroom previously soaked in water, a pinch of pepper, and some of the water you have reserved. After a few minutes, throw in the rice and cook thoroughly, adding the rest of the water.Got to love that slam on Venice.( Read more... )
Taste to see if the natural salt of the clams and the spices you have added have given it enough flavor. If not, add tomato sauce or tomato paste, and also some butter and a pinch of Parmesan cheese.
Instead of clams, you can use other varieties of shellfish such as mussels, as is done in Venice, where, if restaurants followed this recipe to cook rice with mussels (a specialty of that town), the results would be much improved.
-Pellegrino Artusi, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891)
Stew For Science
Jul. 16th, 2025 10:20 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Chicken Stew with Dumplings.
"We simplified this recipe dramatically with ground chicken - which can dry out a bit under pressure. To compensate, we've upped the broth to make sure that the stew is moist, even a little soupy, as it will reduce a bit as the dumplings cook."
( Read more... )
"We simplified this recipe dramatically with ground chicken - which can dry out a bit under pressure. To compensate, we've upped the broth to make sure that the stew is moist, even a little soupy, as it will reduce a bit as the dumplings cook."
( Read more... )
Rillette, rhymes with Collette
Jul. 6th, 2025 08:50 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Rillettes... For Science!
I thought I had made this recipe before, but if so I can't find it. So I'm treating it as new.
"It gets right to the heart of what's good: pork, pork fat, salt, pepper, and time."
( Read more... )
I thought I had made this recipe before, but if so I can't find it. So I'm treating it as new.
"It gets right to the heart of what's good: pork, pork fat, salt, pepper, and time."
( Read more... )
Cobbled Together
Jun. 22nd, 2025 10:11 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Small-Batch Biscuits.
"With just five ingredients and ten minutes of prep time, you can have two golden, tender biscuits ready in time for breakfast."
America's Test Kitchen delved into making fruit cobbler some time ago - their conclusion was that it is impossible to get a consistent bake on the biscuit topping when it is on the fruit; the underside always is doughy. (Confirmed with experience, although I usually don't mind.) Their suggestion was to make deconstructed cobbler, with baked fruit cooked separately and topped with a biscuit. That's what we did here - we each had a small Pyrex pan of cooked apricot/sugar/cinnamon, with a split biscuit on top. It was lovely... but I will take apricot cobbler in pretty much any form during the season.
( Read more... )
"With just five ingredients and ten minutes of prep time, you can have two golden, tender biscuits ready in time for breakfast."
America's Test Kitchen delved into making fruit cobbler some time ago - their conclusion was that it is impossible to get a consistent bake on the biscuit topping when it is on the fruit; the underside always is doughy. (Confirmed with experience, although I usually don't mind.) Their suggestion was to make deconstructed cobbler, with baked fruit cooked separately and topped with a biscuit. That's what we did here - we each had a small Pyrex pan of cooked apricot/sugar/cinnamon, with a split biscuit on top. It was lovely... but I will take apricot cobbler in pretty much any form during the season.
( Read more... )
For Gosht's Sake
Jan. 26th, 2025 11:24 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Pudina Gosht (Minty Lamb Curry).
"I've made this curry on the stove, but the stovetop version doesn't compare to how flavorful this dish becomes when cooked in the CultPot. The mint and spices get locked into the meat under pressure, resulting in a simply delicious curry with melt-in-your-mouth lamb."
( (No, *you're* a tool.) )
"I've made this curry on the stove, but the stovetop version doesn't compare to how flavorful this dish becomes when cooked in the CultPot. The mint and spices get locked into the meat under pressure, resulting in a simply delicious curry with melt-in-your-mouth lamb."
( (No, *you're* a tool.) )
Grains, not Brains
Jan. 7th, 2025 11:38 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Cervellata.
I am teaching a class at the next Culinary Symposium on this (mostly) non-meat sausage, so this was a first pass testing the interpretation.
I am teaching a class at the next Culinary Symposium on this (mostly) non-meat sausage, so this was a first pass testing the interpretation.
To make cervellata. He who wants to make a sausage, take bread crumbs and grated cheese and eggs and spices, and put it in a gut, and get a needle and pierce it, and make it boil and cook in water, and then roast it in among the bread, if you like that. (Due Libre B, early 15th c.)( Read more... )
This week's Resolution Recipe: Scallops and Snap Peas.
"Chinese cooks have a culinary trick called velveting. The meat is par-cooked before it is stir-fried to give it a smooth, velvety texture."
( Read more... )
"Chinese cooks have a culinary trick called velveting. The meat is par-cooked before it is stir-fried to give it a smooth, velvety texture."
( Read more... )
Bean There
Sep. 16th, 2024 11:36 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Bean and Bacon Soup...For Science!
"When it comes to bacon, why go halfway?"
( Read more... )
"When it comes to bacon, why go halfway?"
( Read more... )
Flaking Responsibly
Aug. 11th, 2024 10:10 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Shortcake Biscuits.
"Like many overachievers, for too long I clung to the belief that the hard way is the best way. Twaddle. These biscuits are the opposite of fussy - no cutting in of butter, no painstaking flouring and folding. Since the fat in cream and butter is essentially the same, the full flavor remains.
"Despite the recipe's simplicity, the results are tender, flaky, and rich. No one need know you took the easy way out. This streamlined style is known as a cream biscuit, a cousin of the scone and the shortcake."
( Read more... )
"Like many overachievers, for too long I clung to the belief that the hard way is the best way. Twaddle. These biscuits are the opposite of fussy - no cutting in of butter, no painstaking flouring and folding. Since the fat in cream and butter is essentially the same, the full flavor remains.
"Despite the recipe's simplicity, the results are tender, flaky, and rich. No one need know you took the easy way out. This streamlined style is known as a cream biscuit, a cousin of the scone and the shortcake."
( Read more... )
Wonton Destruction
Aug. 5th, 2024 11:03 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Chicken Meatballs in Plum Sauce...For Science!
"This has the flavor of chicken wonton filling, but there's no messy folding or frying."
( Read more... )
"This has the flavor of chicken wonton filling, but there's no messy folding or frying."
( Read more... )
Calm Chowder
Mar. 24th, 2024 10:22 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Hearty Corn and Potato Soup.
"Creamy and comforting, with cubes of silky potato and bright kernels of corn throughout."
( Just call it what it really is - a vegetarian New England chowder. )
"Creamy and comforting, with cubes of silky potato and bright kernels of corn throughout."
( Just call it what it really is - a vegetarian New England chowder. )
What the Halva?
Mar. 10th, 2024 09:28 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: Sesame and Honey Panna Cotta.
"Cool, creamy, light, and jiggly; this one delivers the subtle combination of sesame and honey."
( Read more... )
"Cool, creamy, light, and jiggly; this one delivers the subtle combination of sesame and honey."
( Read more... )
American Coyotes Aren't Wrong
Feb. 25th, 2024 09:58 amThis week's Resolution Recipe: "Not your Irish Grandmother's Lamb and Potato Soup."
"Frankly, we find lamb too strong for most soups."
( Wimps. )
"Frankly, we find lamb too strong for most soups."
( Wimps. )
This week's Resolution Recipe: Sous Vide Cod with Carrots and Leeks.
"The sous-vide method is the best, most leisurely way to cook fish."
( Read more... )
"The sous-vide method is the best, most leisurely way to cook fish."
( Read more... )
