If you’re looking for something a bit different, completely savory and sumptuous and more than a bit over the top, this is the meal for you.  Preperation is relatively simple and the flavors are something that most only experience in high-end establishments, thinking that something of this calibur could never be prepared in a home kitchen.  While there is a bit of long-term preparation involved the process really isn’t all that hard, it’s just the big fancy name that makes it sound daunting.

To quote the Grand Dame of the American Culinary Revolution:

“Noncooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.” ~ Julia Child

For most people, confit automatically brings to mind images of something cooked in duck or goose fat.  While this is the current trend, confit is actually a much simpler premise than that.  The definition of confit is quite simple:

Confit: [kohn-FEE] A meat slow cooked in its own fat with spices. Or a jam-like sweet spread.

In using this definition, anything cooked in its own fat is a confit, and to be tied to only using duck or goose fat would be a crying shame, since chicken confit is probably the simplest of all to make with just ingredients from your local BigScaryMegaMart, namely chicken leg quarters.

You know the ones.  You’ve seen them before.  They sit in the poultry section in a forlorn ten pound sack, partially packed in an impotent brine. These are the byproducts of the American love of the boneless-skinless chicken breast, cast off to obscurity because someone convinced an entire nation that white meat was the best meat.  In this case their loss is our gain.

The chicken sold in bulk bags is mostly from roasting chickens.  Roasting chicken are larger birds with a higher fat to body mass ratio and because of this have become less popular in todays marketplace.  Bulk chicken is also not trimmed for excess fat, it’s just sold by weight, meaning that the producers are not interested in making it look pretty.  It’s perfect for confit and it usually costs around $4.00 for 10 lbs of chicken!  The rest is almost blissfully simple.

So step out of your comfort zone for a moment and take a journey with me to the land of gourmet, where with just a bit of time and effort the most humble ingredients transform themselves into something more than you could have ever imagined where flavors and aromas transcend the parts that make up the whole and become something entirely wonderful.  The experience may only last a few moments, but it is very much worth the effort.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Sometimes when you’re making something new, you run into a snag or two.  This Daring Bakers Challenge was one of those times. It was an evening of crushed hopes and dissapointment, tempered with elation and extreme satisfaction. How is that possible, you ask? Let me tell you.

After coming off a very long hiatus from participation is the Daring Bakers, I decided that I’d dive back in this month when I heard that the challenge was to make crackers and a topping.  I may not be much of a baker, but crackers definitely seemed to be up my alley.  The biggest challenge for me was that the topping had to be both gluten free and vegan. Definitely a challenge for a cook who still has bacon grease neatly stored in his ice box just waiting for the next time he makes potatoes or collard greens.

I’d chosen to make the regular glutenous crackers, because I have no need of gluten free ingredients, which would summarily go to waste. The experiment started off well enough.  I followed the instructions for the dough with a bit of help with substitutions from fellow Daring Bakers.  All went together smoothly, the dough smelled wonderful, rose nicely, rolled perfectly and went into the oven with a sprinkle of paprika and a bit of salt as a topper.  All was fine until it was time to pull out the crackers.

They weren’t done.  Not even close.  According to the instructions, I was to “Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).” but at 20 minutes the dough was still soft and had not browned at all.  At 30 minutes it had browned just a tiny bit, and was pulled anyway.  It was also as hard as a rock and completely inedible, though perhaps useful as a croûton in soup.

I don’t know if it was my oven, if I overworked the dough, or if my skills at noticing “browning” are not up to par.  Whatever the reason, I cannot comment on the crackers because mine failed.  As a matter of fact, I did nothing special at all with them, so I’m not even going to post a recipe here.  Just go check out the Daring Bakers blogroll for a few people that actually got them to work!

NOTE: My wife just told me I was full of it.  She loves these crackers.  As a matter of fact, she’s munching them right now.  Apparently it has more to do with my dental work than my baking skills. YAY!

The topping was a different story altogether.  After having read this post by my friend Jenn, I knew I had to do something with the three sisters again. My roots are Native American and the combination of corn, beans and squash is something that I grew up on, but one I have not had in some time.  It sounded like the perfect combination for a spread, and it oh, but it was! The result was creamy and crunchy, sweet and bitter, just a bit spicy and perfect for anything from crackers to lamb.  Give it a shot, I think you’ll like it!

So, dear readers, I give you both triumph and failure today, but the triumph is worth it. Read more…

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For those of you who have missed the claws coming out on Thursdays, you’re in luck. Today I’m directing a bit of snarkasm on FN’s Bobblehead Extraordinaire. I’ve just been nice for too long, it seems.

Cry havoc, and unleash the dogs of war!

Ah Giada. To some she’s the Food Network’s beauty queen.  Others think she is a time traveling chef from the distant future. (You can’t make up stuff like this!) Neither matters to me.  Whether she’s just a beauty queen or a future chef who is not familiar with our language, she should not be writing recipes.

Why? You ask.  Because if you follow her recipes, you will accomplish one of the following feats.  You will:

1. Make something terrible
2. Cause damage to appliances or cutlery
3. Do yourself bodily harm
4. Feel stupid following this recipe

Granted, common sense may save you from one of the above scenarios, but let’s face facts.  Giada is a celebrity chef.  Some people are going to assume that they need to follow “her” instructions to the leter.  The results could be devastating.

I’ll be honest.  Everyone who writes recipes makes mistakes.  I’ve done it. I’ve been called on it. I correct it. But in the case of any food network celebrity, there should be proof readers, ya know? In a network that employs its very own food librarian and is owned by one of the largest media powerhouses in the country, you would think someone would check to see if something … foolish … managed to slip past the chef, or her writers, or the web guys, or something.  But they’re not, and Miss de Laurentiis is the worst case that they have.

So here we go.  I’ll list the recipe snippets, then tell you why one of the above bad things might happen.  FAir enough?  OK, let’s move on.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Who doesn’t love cheesecake? If made properly it is decadent, creamy, fluffy and just sweet enough to satisfy the cravings of any sweet tooth. It can be made in a variety of flavors, and toppings are always welcome. It plays well with others and finds its place easily as the star dessert at back yard barbecues and five star restaurants.  It’s just that good. The only problem with it is that I have a tendency to eat way too much of one kind and don’t have room to sample others. This little recipe solves all that.

These mini cheesecakes are tiny.  They are perfect for appetizers or if served in all of their possible variations, as a perfect dessert sampling menu. Go crazy with toppings and you could serve a seven course dessert without breaking a sweat. Trust me, the Oooh’s and Ahhhs you’ll get will be worth the effort.

The inspiration for them came from a recipe by Giada DeLaurentis, but as usual, I found Giada’s original version somewhat uninspired.  Oh, they were good, but they weren’t jaw dropping, and they were more labor intensive than this variation. The original called for orange zest, but for my tastes it just didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, so i swapped out for vanilla.  The results were superb.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

It was a beautiful, slightly overcast Saturday morning.  An absolutely perfect day for an adventure in all things Americana, and after much nudging and canoodling from friends and co-workers, we had finally decided to take a trip to Meers, OK to sample what Bon Appétit magazine had dubbed the third best burger in America.

The plan was simple.  Drive North through Lawton, OK. Just past Fort Sill, hang a left and go up US 115 until we hit the joint and try what everyone in this part of the country (and other places around the globe) are raving about.  The trip would take about 45 minutes, so no major planning needed.  Just grab a printout from MapQuest, pack a diaper bag, secure the kiddo, buy some jerky and we were off.

At least that’s how it was supposed to go. but most good things result from plans that went terribly, horribly wrong, and this tale is no exception.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

There’s something about the onset of Autumn that brings out a deep need for me to make soup. Winter has its slow cooked meals and stews, summer is for smoking and grilling and spring is for whatever fresh greens might be coming up, but Autumn and Fall are for soups, the heartier the better. The closer to winter it gets, the heartier the soups get, but right at this point, when temperatures in the early mornings are in the fifties and afternoons are in the eighties, it’s time for lighter fare, usually vegetable or fish. It’s a time of year I wait for, and now it’s here.

I got the idea for this dish from my herb garden.  My basil has grown into a jungle and the oregano is doing fairly well.  With ten pounds of herbs outside, I figured I’d best find a way to start putting a dent in it.  Since basil and tomatoes go so well together, it seemed obvious that I needed to toss a tomato-basil soup together and I wanted a thin soup to dip the crusty rolls in.  My wife is a huge fan of zucchini, so that addition was a no-brainer. The rest was just seat of my pants cooking at its best, the kind that produces something that is far more than you expected, but with very little effort. In a way it’s the perfection of keeping the soul of your ingredients pure, and purely enjoyable as well.

I hope you try and enjoy!

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Popularity: 2% [?]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, simple flavors are usually the most profound.  The art of great food is not necessarily about the number of ingredients, the amount of spices and flavorings, or even the technical knowledge of the person preparing the meal.  It’s about a perfect balance of flavors, textures and aromas.  This is true of the perfect serving of escargot as much as it is in the perfect plate of simple southern greens.  They are both beautiful experiences in their own right, and neither one is complicated.

The same holds true of this simple little dish.  It could be used as a tappas, an appetizer, a snack or even a great little brunch dish.  The ingredients are simple, straightforward and complimentary in ways that would not be possible had any other ingredient been added. In this case minimal is better, and if you try it, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Not only are these tiny tidbits a wonderful taste sensation, they are healthy.  Packed with Omega-3 fatty acids and lean proteins that we are all supposed to get more of. The cream cheese is low fat and so provides calcium without too much guilt. Of all the ingredients, only the bagels may cause worry for some, but they souldn’t.  The tiny addition in carb count is more than worth it. Top it all off with the fact that this dish weighs in at only 4 Weight Watcher’s points, and you’re golden.

Even my wife approved, and she’s not a salmon fan!

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It’s a question that every foodie has thought about I think.  “Do I want to invest the time and effort to go to culinary school?” “Is it worth it?” “Will I really learn any more than I could if I just bought cookbooks and watched food shows?” The questions go on, but we’ve all thought about it at one time or another.

I’ve thought about it myself, my wife has been prodding me in that direction for years.  For me the question is not whether I think I would learn something or whether I would enjoy the experience.  I would, and I would. The question for me is Would becoming a chef help me in any way to help me have more fun cooking? I’m not thinking of cooking as a career.  I don’t need a chef school credential to help me further my income or get a better position. If I decided to start a restaurant tomorrow, I already know just about enough to pull it off, so there is no pressing financial need. There is however, a very real intellectual need to do so.

There are things that I think you have to be shown to learn properly.  The proper way to make a bechamel or hollandaise are both good examples. (Take it from someone who had to try 6 times to avoid scrabling the eggs in his sauce before he got it “almost” right.) A good chef-instructor can help you get the basics and introduce you to new flavors and combinations along the way.  Diversity is more than important, it’s critical to avoid falling into a rut in your cooking habits.

A large problem in making the decision to attend a culinary school is in finding the right one for you.  There are many out there.  Some specialize in one cuisine and others run the gamut from french through Thai. It really depends on what you want to learn, and finding the right school can be a challenge.

Well, it used to be a challenge.  Now all you have to do to have a look at all of the culinary schools you may want to attend is visit Culinary Schools USA. The site is a pretty comprehensive directory of culinary schools in the US, and well worth looking over if you’ve considered making the leap into professional food service.  They list schools from Alabama to Virginia and everything in between, from the venerable Le Cordon Bleu to less known technical schools that may just fit the bill for what you’re after in culinary education.

Will I find myself in culinary school in my early 40’s?  If my wife has anything to say about it, I will. It just seem’s like a bit too much effort to put in if I finally do decide to open a little place called “Jerry’s Grub Stop Diner”, though.

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After a weekend of wanton excess, both at the Grapevine Texas Grapefest and visiting one of the best burger joints in the country, last night was all about light, healthy fare. Since my wife has been using Weight Watchers, I figured I’d try for something she could eat to her heart’s content without guilt. This soup is the result.

While this may have Zero Weight Watchers Points, it gets a full ten from us when it comes to flavor and its ability to leave you feeling more than full. The flavors are full and robust and there’s just enough heat in the background to leave you wondering if a glass of tea was enough, or if you should have had milk instead. Even without added meats or proteins, the mushrooms give the soup a deep meaty flavor that lingers on the back of the tongue in a very pleasant way.

This is modified slightly from the original Weight Watchers Recipe, but still contains no points as far as my calculations can determine. (OK, it has one point, but so does the original recipe when I run the numbers. The number refers to the fact that as far as Weight Watchers is concerned, these are all zero point foods, hence zero point soup.) I’ve added bit more liquid so that one batch will last a good long time.  Great for guiltless snacks and lunches.

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Popularity: 7% [?]

Welcome to CbsoP on the scene at Grapefest 2008 from Grapevine Texas! This post is a first for several reasons. It’s not only the very first travel article I’ve ever done, but it’s also the first time in memory where pictures of your intrepid host will be seen here on CbsoP. The time for avoiding the camera has ended, folks. I can’t do an on scene report without some proof that I was actually there, now can I?

A warning: This is a food related travel post, so by definition, it is image heavy.  I’m not going to bog down your RSS readers with all of them, so you’ll have to pop in to hear about one of the best and worst days in recent memory for those of us on the CbsoP! Team. (OK, my wife, my son and I.  The dog wasn’t allowed!)

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