Culinaria: recipes, memories ...

[wolfspirit]

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Scott

[Hunter B]

BRAD: On page 1, you posted a recipe for pizza dough, but I'm unclear on one of the parts. It says to mix all the ingredients together with the dough hook, then to turn it onto the counter and work by hand. My question is this: Just how long do you work it? What is it that you want to see before you stop to let it rise?

Oh, and you also said that 550F wasn't hot enough for a good pizza, but at 550 my pizza's burnin on the bottom... or is that what you meant? The air needs to be hotter so that won't happen?

[violetblue]

This link contains an amazing picture diary of a 26-course meal featuring molecular gastronomy. The food sounds very complicated and looks amazing. I liked the course which contained the peas which were pureed and then reshaped to look like whole peas. I think this molecular gastronomy is what one of the finalist on that reality show Top Chef was trying to do last season.

http://howithappened.com/2007/05/underg ... clume.html

[tollbaby]

wow.... I'm .... totally stunned. I didn't know people could be that insane over food. Not a single one of those courses sounded like something I'd enjoy. I'd try it, and I could possibly dissect and analyze it, but never ENJOY it.... (24 courses)

[mccormack44]

What TB said.

[tollbaby]

I mean, don't get me wrong. It was a visually stunning meal... but when it gets to the point where how it looks and how "out there" it is becomes more important than just getting some fuel in your gut and maybe enjoying it as you do.... I dunno. I'm all for experimenting and enjoying what goes in my mouth, but none of that actually sounded.... tasty, you know? It seemed more like snobbery than dinner LOL

[violetblue]

I think it would be fun to try once. Although I am definitely in the "the simpler, the better," category.

[Darb]

BRAD: On page 1, you posted a recipe for pizza dough, but I'm unclear on one of the parts. It says to mix all the ingredients together with the dough hook, then to turn it onto the counter and work by hand. My question is this: Just how long do you work it? What is it that you want to see before you stop to let it rise?

Oh, and you also said that 550F wasn't hot enough for a good pizza, but at 550 my pizza's burnin on the bottom... or is that what you meant? The air needs to be hotter so that won't happen?

Unlike regular bread (where you really want/need to develop the gleutin in order to sustain a good rise), for pizza dough, you really only need to work it for a minute or two extra, and even then it's really only to get the moisture level right (by incoporating a little extra flour). You want it just firm and dry enough for it to stick readily mostly to itself, rather than the counter, or to your hands. Pizza store dough is a bit different, because they bake a lot hotter, and need more moisture, than in a home oven, so they typically use a wetter dough, and work it longer. Home dough is a bit faster, easier and more forgiving.

550F is more than adequate, if you're baking on a properly pre-heated pizza stone, positioned in the lower middle of your oven. At that temperature, it should only take about 6 minutes to bake.

If your dough is burning on the bottom, make sure that:

1) The pizza stone is elevated off the bottom of your stove - it should be freestanding on a rack of it's own, not resting on (or too close to) the bottom of the stove, or perhaps somehow on the heating element.

2) Make sure you roll the dough thin enough, so that it cooks quickly and evenly. Too thick, and it could burn on the bottom, before the top is done. Remember, my recipe is intended for thinnish neopolitan style, not sicilian.

[Darb]

Signing off for the day.

Think I'll spend the next hour or two before bed peeling ginger (which I preserve in inexpensive vodka), while watching TV ...

[tollbaby]

dammit, you guys are making me hungry for pommodoro clam sauce (tad spicier than the average red sauce, served at my favorite italian in Little Italy)... *drool* I'll have to drag my aunt out for a girl's night.

[Darb]

dammit, you guys are making me hungry for pommodoro clam sauce (tad spicier than the average red sauce, served at my favorite italian in Little Italy)... *drool* I'll have to drag my aunt out for a girl's night.

I believe Pomodoro means finished with tomato, basil and olive oil. Fra Diavlo adds some dried cayenne pepper, for heat (hence, the reference to the devil).

[tollbaby]

It just means tomato, technically... "apple of love", literally However, just about every version of pommodoro sauce I've ever had was spicy.... dunno if it's just a regional thing up here, but even the premade stuff at the grocery store has a nice kick to it

[Darb]

It just means tomato, technically... "apple of love", literally However, just about every version of pommodoro sauce I've ever had was spicy.... dunno if it's just a regional thing up here, but even the premade stuff at the grocery store has a nice kick to it

Classic pomodoro is a lightly cooked sauce in which the star player is peeled diced tomatos that are cooked lightly enough that they still have some texture. In it's noble form, it's basically a little garlic and shallot and a touch of red pepper flake, sweated in olive oil, add a handful of fresh concasse of late summer garden tomatoes (and possibly some torn of chiffonade of fresh basil), flip the pan a few times until the tomatoes are heated though and just beginning to soften, then plate immediately ... freshly grated cheese and CPEVO on the side. Aside from making the concasse beforehand (which can be done a few hours in advance and stored in the fridge), It's very fast and simple to make, but as with all minimalist recipes, the end result is largely dependant on the quality of the tomato used. In it's most elite form (the 'alice waters' treatment) it involves using a concasse made from a variety of hand-grown heirloom tomatoes, served over/with fresh hand-made egg-yolk pasta.

Most low-end restaurant versions of pomodoro invariably involve canned diced/peeled machine-harvested tomatoes (drained) instead of the real fully vine-ripened home-grown stuff, still warm from the sun and smelling of the vine resins. With supremely perfect peak ripeness tomatoes, you dont even need to peel them.

If you've had the real deal (the latter), you'll know instantly what i'm talking about. It's not a flavor one tends to forget.

[violetblue]

I could make this recipe--my tomatoes are ripening as we speak (I've had plenty of small ones, but the big ones are still greenish), and I have basil.

So a concasse, I looked up, means "coarsely chopped or ground?" What's CPEVO... cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil? You know who you sound like, don't you?

I've toyed with the idea of buying a pasta attachment for my Kitchen-Aid, but wasn't sure I'd use it. I get lazy sometimes. How hard would it be to use it?

[Darb]

I could make this recipe--my tomatoes are ripening as we speak (I've had plenty of small ones, but the big ones are still greenish), and I have basil.

So a concasse, I looked up, means "coarsely chopped or ground?" What's CPEVO... cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil? You know who you sound like, don't you?

I've toyed with the idea of buying a pasta attachment for my Kitchen-Aid, but wasn't sure I'd use it. I get lazy sometimes. How hard would it be to use it?

A concasse involves vine-ripened tomatoes that have been freshly peeled (cut an 'x' on the bottom, blanch briefly in hot water, then shock in ice cold water), then de-seeded and diced.

The term CPEVO has been around far longer than SWMNBN has been on TV. Just because she co-opted the term in the eyes of some doesnt make it hers.

I'd skip the pasta attachment - you'd have to clean the counter under anyway, so why not just use the counter ?. Get yourself a nice big rolling dowel, a big flour jar, and a big pizza cutter, along with a copy of Marcella Hazan's book, and spend a few hours some sunday afternoon experimenting and having some fun ... great way to learn a skill that'll serve you well for life - no electricity or fancy gadgets required.

[daetara]

wow, and here i thought pomodoro involved cheese...

made GOOD linguine with clam sauce for dinner.

[tollbaby]

cheese is "formaggi" in Italian or "queso" in Spanish. Pommodoro is literally the Italian for "apple of love" which was an old fanciful appelation for tomatoes (which is weird, because in French, potatoes are called 'pomme de terre', or "ground apples")

[mccormack44]

tollbaby notes:

…because in French, potatoes are called 'pomme de terre', or "ground apples"

When I was taking intermediate French as a college freshman, the teacher asked if we could guess the meaning of "pommes purée." When no one else volunteered (or maybe I did a Hermione Granger) I suggested "applesauce." I was complimented for a good guess; then she said "mashed potatoes" and explained "pomme de terre."

Don't the French HAVE applesauce? And if they do, what do they call it?

Sue

[tollbaby]

compote aux pommes is applesauce Purée is simply "mashed up", but where I come from, mashed potatoes are called "patates pilées"... but then, we're boorish French-Canadians

[mccormack44]

I never found applesauce mentioned anywhere, so thank you for "compote aux pommes" and I'll use "patates pilées" from now on, I like it better. I'd bet that the voyageurs who settled the St. Louis area spoke a French much more like yours than it was like the French of Paris.

Sue

[tollbaby]

I don't know about that, but I had mashed potatoes at my parents' house the other night.... nobody makes mashed potatoes like my dad He boils the potatoes (a little too much, I feel, but then, they're not my mashed potatoes), then when he's ready to serve them, he mashes them with a spring-loaded masher (much stronger and quicker than a traditional grid type), adds milk to make them nice and creamy, then adds diced onions and savory. They are SO good (even though I don't particularly like raw onions).

I prefer them with the peel still on, myself. I tend to steam the potatoes (simply because I don't own a pot big enough to boil them in), so I peel one strip of skin from around the whole potato, cut them in half, mash them, peel on, with butter and a bit of milk, and add parsley, roasted garlic and thyme. *drool*

I haven't made mashed potatoes at home in about 3 years (makes my tiny kitchen way too hot)... now I'm craving some.

[voralfred]

Sue, don't ask for "patates pilées" on this side of the Atlantic, nobody will guess what you mean...
Also, we say "compote de pommes", but it is sweeter than your applesauce and usually not used the way you use it, with all kinds of dishes, but rather mostly as dessert.

"Purée de..." means "mashed something" and there are purées of all kind of things, "purée de carottes", etc.
But by far the most common is "purée de pommes de terre", so "purée" with no qualifier at all is unambiguous and means just mashed potatoes (unless of course the context indicates otherwise: if you have a recipe involving mashed carrots, for instance, the single word "purée" from the second time on would mean the specific purée you are dealing with; I mean out of all context "Tu veux de la manger de la purée ce soir?" "Do you want to eat mashed potatoes tonight?" not just any mashed vegetable).
The inversion "pommes purée" is a bit "précieux", pretentious, but also unambiguous: mashed potatoes, just as "pommes frites" (freedom, or french, fries - here also, it is simpler to say just "frites" - saying "pommes frites" does not sound so pretentious, it sounds rather Belgian) "pommes vapeur" (steamed potatoes) "pommes sautées" (sautéed potatoes) or "pommes à l'huile" (cold boiled potatoes with oily dressing - common with herrings: "harengs pommes à l'huile"). But in these last three cases one cannot omit the word "pommes".
More ambiguous is "purée de pommes" and therefore it is rarely used, unless the context helps, because it might mean applesauce.
Indeed there are a few dishes that are eaten with mashed apples, not as sweet as "compote de pommes" and very close to your applesauce, for instance "boudin noir" (blood sausage, I believe).
In this case it is normally called "purée de pommes fruits" to lift the ambiguity.
Sometimes you'll see "boudin (or something else) aux deux purées".
Even though the second purée could theoretically be "mashed anything" it usually means "purée de pommes de terre"+ "purée de pommes fruits".

[Darb]

Here's my adapted version of a smashed potato recipe from cook's illustrated.

I often substitute ground dried rosemary for fresh (since I'm without a garden ATM) ... but it's easy, very tasty, and almost fool proof. No beater required ... I just use a hand masher. I like this version because it's also easier to control the moisture content ... and there's always cream cheese in my fridge, so I dont have to run out just to get cream.

[quote]POTATOES: Smashed
Origin: Adapted from Cooks Illustrated, Nov/Dec 2004.

Qty Ingredients
2 lbs Peeled All Purpose Potatoes, 2â€

[tollbaby]

Alfred, I did add the qualifier that I was speaking as a French-Canadian, and that's what we call them HERE.

[Darb]

Mod note: Split extended digression about pomodoro sauce and mashed potatoes out of "Culinary Peeves" and merged into "Culinaria".