Teaching a class at Dierberg's

Taught a class at Dierberg's grocery store. Dierberg's is one of the more upscale grocers in the city, and they have often had cooking schools attached to some of their stores. It was a two hour class for which I had planned a too ambitious menu-typical. It went alright, but a couple glitches happened. They did not have a table top fryer, so I was trying to make rice sticks and lobster tempura in an eletric skillet-it never got to temperature, so I switched to a wok, which eventually worked, but put me behind. It was lots of fun and I met alot of customers and talked to them.

The Dierberg cooking school personnel are amazingly organized-all my recipes were prepped and organized for me. I teach the same class at the Edwardsville store in two weeks. My assistant Katie was great help, especially in getting the electric skillet problem solved.

Mother's day 07

It has been a most frustrating but eventually fulfilling weekend. Friday was the annual benefit for the History Museum of Monroe county, and Sunday was Mother's day. In between was a very busy Saturday night. Three different menus with three separate prep sheets, Most of us enjoy the change of pace-some are not so cooperative-there was some conflict and drama to add to the stress of all the business. Some individuals always feel that they do more work than the person next to them, when actually the workers who produce the best, adapt to change, and acquire new skills are the one who never seem to complain.

We were presented with a three day window to do allot of business and color me proud, but most of us rose to the occasion. Running a busy kitchen is allot like coaching a sports team. You have players, you have stars, and you have prima donnas (that is usually myself-though not always). I have a terrific crew and they do a great job. I will blog about the museum benefit later in the week, as I have time, but I will give the Mother's Day menu and some photos here.

Mother's Day Menu
Blueberry Crumb muffins
Monroe county Asparagus Salad-baby lettuce, asparagus, and ham all grown in Monroe county
Pork Loin with Blackberry brandy sauce
Chicken Piccata
Stir-fried vegetables and rice noodles
Sauteed fingerling potatoes with zucchini
Crepes filled with chocolate mousse/strawberry-mandarin orange sauce

Mixed Berry Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee remains at the top of the best selling desserts. We all get so tired of making it, but the customers are not tired of eating it. I am pretty much a purist when it comes to creme brulee, a simple custard flavored with vanilla with a burnt sugar crust on top. I have strayed to chocolate, and Grand Marnier on occaision but vanilla is the best. This week I flavored the custard with Creme de Cassis and floated some berries (raspberry and blackberry) in the custard-more creme brulee heresy.

Fried Catfish

This was quite tasty last week. I don't sell much catfish at the restaurant-it doesn't sell that well. I guess there are alot of cheap and good places to get catfish, and when people come to Gallagher's they expect something a little more than catfish. All the other fishes sell pretty well-especially salmon, orange roughy, shark, and mahi mahi.

I do not like catfish fillets, I want the whole fish on the bone-they really do taste so much better. I made tartar sauce with some delicious pickles I bought from a lady who makes them in Redbud. I dusted the fish with a mixture of 1 1/2 cups flour mixed with 1/2 cup cornmeal-I don't like all cornmeal coating-too gritty. Adding 1/2 cup cornmeal to flour adds just the right amount of crunch for me. Of course fried in my beloved vintage Griswold iron skillet.

Halibut

I ordered Halibut for a party on the third floor this weekend-it is on the catering menu. Halibut can be a kind of boring fish, it is so white and mild and low fat, on the other hand it, like chicken and veal, can absorb intriguing flavors. The catering menu lists it with an Asian glaze flavored with Hoisin. I also ordered a few extra pounds to use for weekend specials. At $12 per pound wholesale, I will have to sell it at around $24 to cover the expense plus sauce, plus sides, plus etc. etc.-the costing out of a menu item always involves so much more than just the cost of the fish.

I couldn't resist taking a couple pieces home for my own dinner-I was planning on leaving earlier than usual as the sous chef and a competent line were working. But as the old saying goes "the best laid plans of mice and men-often go awry"-the restaurant got slammed and I left at 9-closing time, and my usual exit time-poor chef. I took some fish home anyway. For myself I wanted something simple-after tasting sauces, glazes, and dry rubs all day-I crave simplicity. I dusted the fillets with flour, salt and pepper only, sauteed them with some vegetables and topped it with some lemon butter. It was marvelous, but I will probably gussy it up for the restaurant-people seem to demand that sort of thing.

Green Goddess for Secretary's Day

I love taking retro dishes and updating them or reinventing them for my needs. Green Godess was created at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the 1920's. It was named for a play titled "The Green Goddess" for the actor, Richard Arliss, who starred in the play and later the movie (according to "Food Lover's Companion"). He was nominated for an oscar in 1930 for the movie. Wickipedia lists the creator as the chef at the Palace, but in honor of the playwright William Archer rather than the actor. I couldn't find the chef's name who created the dressing. New Orleanian chef Warren LeRuth is credited for creating the Seven Seas bottled version.

The story of the Green Goddess is that three englishmen are stranded in an Indian kingdom and held hostage by the raja, whose brother is in turn held by the English. It must have been quite the popular story in the day, as it was made into a film in 1923 and again-as a talkie- in 1930.

The salad dressing was as ubiquitous in its day as "Ranch " is today. MFK Fisher wrote about it in her book "With Bold Knife and Fork". I based my recipe roughly on her description.

2 cups mayonaise

a couple sprigs of fresh tarragon

a couple sprigs of fresh parsley

2 scallions-green parts included

several chives

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup minced shallot

juice of one lemon
1/4 cup fruity olive oil

puree in the blender or food processor

It is especially good with avocado and chilled asparagus, but for a lunch I turned it into an entree salad with grilled chicken-very pretty and delicious as well. The dressing requires a sturdy green such as Romaine or Escarole-Spring Mix or baby greens wouldn't support such a heavy dressing.

Newspaper Food Sections

I visit a web site named Newspaper Food Sections and Columns Online , which lists practically all the nations newspaper food sections and the day they are published. By clicking on a link you can read whichever food section you might want to. If you want to read about what they are writing about in Miami or SanFrancisco, all you have to do is click. Since I have family living Dallas, I usually read what The Dallas Morning News has to say. This week I took one of their recipes and turned it into one of my week-end specials.

Under their section titled Risingstar Chef, I took Robbie Lewis's (sous chef at Salum) recipe for pork loin with panzanella.

I roasted the whole pork loin and glazed it with Balsamic vinegar, to rare. I then cut and grilled slices to order. I layed the slices across the panzanella and splashed it with some additional Balsamic.

For the panznaella, which I admit should not be made until local ripe tomatoes are available, I used our homemade bread, Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sweet peppers, and red onion with a vinaigrette of oregano, basil and white wine vinegar. I would have liked to use Balsamic vinaigrette with the panzanella, but I think it turns the salad too brown. It was a beautiful dish that I plan to repeat when the local tomatoes start arriving.

Blue Plate Special

Growing up this was one of my favorite diner-style lunches. An open faced sandwich with a scoop of mashed potatoes-all covered with gravy. I upgraded it slightly by using a nice slice of grilled rib-eye and a slice of our house-made bread, but I was careful to use an ice cream scoop to get the perfectly round mound of potatoes. The turkey version is also excellent-I think we just called them open-faced beef or open-faced turkey.

Eating Out of Season

Is anything considered out of season anymore? Asparagus, strawberries, and lamb are available all seasons-asparagus is on the restaurant menu year round, and I can't imagine the howls and complaints I would get if I felt I needed to remove it. I will soon be buying it locally produced, but otherwise who really cares?

With our weather unseasonably cold and dreary-the local peach and apple crops are probalby lost-I decided to roast a turkey. Some guests were coming for Sunday lunch, and it seemed a good thing to make. I stuffed it, of course, and added some roasted beets, brussels sprouts with baby red onions, and gravy.

Easter 07

Here are a few photos from Easter. I took a limited number of pictures because as service begins, it simply gets too busy to be photographing everything and managing the kitchen at the same time. Our hams were locally grown in Monroe county and cured at Schubert's in Milstadt IL. I bought five whole hams, each feeding fifty, and there were not any leftovers. We fed 220 guests and then the staff. We also roasted prime rib.

The restaurant's owner, Suzie Gallagher, had the restaurant beautifully decorated with eggs, Victorian Easter cut-outs, Easter grass, and baskets galore. It was so cold it didn't really seem like Easter, still everyone wore their pastel colors and the ladies exposed their shoulders in bright little sun dresses-they must have been freezing.

Platinum Chef Team Challenge

Last week I was asked to be one of the judges for a cooking competition among nine different high school districts. Nine cooking stations were set up on the floor of the Red Bud gymnasium floor. Contestants were responsible for their own cooking appliances-camp stoves, microwaves, foreman grills, hot plates, etc.

The students were to create an appetizer, an entree, vegetable or salad, starch, and parfait. Basics were provided on a "help yourself table" -things like butter, olive oil, milk. Bags of ingredients (secret until that morning at 9 AM) included chicken breasts, asparagus, mushrooms, rice, strawberries, spinach, were given to each team.

The cooking curriculum at these schools has become much more trade oriented and much less Home Ec. There were many males involved, although the best teams were female dominated. Many of the students are considering careers in the culinary arts.

The best teams started with a small meeting in which the team WROTE down a menu and a plan to prepare that menu. The less organized teams sort of dove in-and the lack of a written plan definitely showed. Team leaders emerged and these individuals were easy to identify. Six individuals were recognised for leadership skills and were awarded George Foreman Grills.

I had one employee and one former employee (who left me on good terms) on the team from Waterloo, and I was probably careful to be more critical of them. Tim Kutterer, who still works for the restaurant was one of the outstanding individuals chosen. He was recognised by all the judges-I didn't even have to push him. He really is an outstanding young man and a terrific worker-so responsible. He plans on working in construction when he graduates this Spring-but keeping his kitchen options open to get him through the seasonal slow periods in construction. Unfortunately there are the same seasonal slow periods in the restaurant business as well.

I wonder if someday the kitchen competitions will be as popular as the football and basketball competitions. Some teams were provided with more professional uniforms than others, and unfortunately presentation is always important. All athletic teams get uniforms, I think the schools need to suit up their kitchen teams as well. In the whole scope of things, more kids could end up making a living in kitchens than on athletic fields.

Food Redemption on Sunday Morning

"There's a new thing called concentrate for that sort of thing"-Dan said when he walked into the kitchen and saw me juicing oranges for breakfast.

My response was "I find redemption for my sins in the rituals of preparing food"-and while that may sound glib and cheeky, it is the truth. Some may make a big show of going to church and praying, some-Catholics I guess-go to a priest and confess, some meditate, some sing, but I juice, slice and dice my way to a state of Grace. I don't mean to proselytise, but it is my way of finding God and the meaning of life, and I highly reccomend it to everyone.

A wonderful Sunday morning accompaniment to the orange juice is the Monte Cristo sandwich. I make my version of this sandwich by layering slices of ham, turkey, swiss cheese, and raspberry jam between slices of sandwich bread. I then batter the sandwich in pancake batter and deep fry it until golden. After it is cooked and drained, I dust it with powdered sugar and serve it with maple syrup. While the ingredients may sound gross-swiss cheese with raspberry jam-they are delightful. A little Heaven on Earth to continue my Sunday sermon.

The Big Apple Steak

This was a clever suggestion from my sous chef William for a Saturday night special. It is a New York Strip steak topped with Apple Buerre Blanc. White wine, apple vodka, apple cider vinegar, shallot, and diced Granny Smith apple are combined and reduced to a glaze, whole butter is emulsified in the glaze and poured over a grilled New York Strip steak. We used some tempura onion rings to crown the dish and all the flavors worked very well together-sour apple, onion, and beef.

Strip prices are up again. I paid over $9.20 a pound wholesale, while Tenderloin was down just under $9 per pound. Go figure-What is a chef to do? You can't reprint the menu every time the market fluctuates. In this case I hope the increased food cost of the Strip is compensated by the decreased food cost of the tenderloin.

Lobster Egg Royale

The title and provenance of this dish is perplexing. I came across it while reading Skillet Doux, an excellent blog from Chicago. This blog observed the dish on Iron Chef. My Escoffier cookbook has several recipes for Royales which are more like puddings-savory puddings, where forcemeats (chicken, fish, or vegetable) are sieved with eggs and baked in molds in a Bain Marie.

Skillet Doux's version is more like shirred or baked eggs. Browsing the internet for more "Egg Royale" recipes did not shed any more understanding of the dish. Castle in The Country Bed and Breakfast serves a dish they call "Royal Eggs and Cheese". In their dish eggs are baked with cheese and cream in ramekins.

Another recipe I found called "Eggs Royal" was reprinted from The New Orleans Restaurant Cookbook by Deirdre Stanforth. This dish has a layer of chicken liver pate with eggs baked on top. They add "demi-hollandaise" which is hallandaise folded with cream sauce flavored with brandy.

I followed the recipe-as much as I follow any recipe-from Skillet Doux. I started with one live lobster, briefly boiled-reserve tail and claw meat and make lobster bisque with the shells, reduce the bisque until thick, and add back the lobster meat. Ladle 1/4 cup lobster mixture into baking dish and crack and egg over the lobster, top with a couple tablespoons of bisque and bake. Visit skilletdoux.com to read about excellent Chicago dining.

Fried Macaroni and Cheese

Another purloined appetizer, this one from Cheesecake Factory. I do not like the big chain restaurants as a rule, but last week I enjoyed an especially nice lunch at Cheesecake Factory. I ordered this appetizeer not because I wanted to eat it, but because I knew it would sell at the restaurant. It was quite tasty at Cheesecake Factory and it did sell well at the restaurant a couple nights later, when I sold it as a special.

There was a 15 minute wait for lunch on a Monday, mostly because it is located in the Galleria, a mecca of conspicuous consumption if there ever was one. My lunch date informed me I was not "dressed up" enough-I was wearing old jeans and a spiffy sweater from Macy's that was new last fall-I thought it was sort of casual dressy-oh well. Once seated, service was fast and professional-inspite of my tattered poverty struck appearance. I also enjoyed an excellent crab salad with Thousand Island dressing. One camplaint-the hard cooked egg was sieved, I would have preferred slices or chunks. It had a lovely presentation with whole romaine leaves, which did require knife and fork.

Cheesecake for Monday lunch dessert seemed a bit heavy, but how could you eat at a place named Cheesecake and not eat the cheesecake? All the cheesecakes are made in California and shipped to the restaurants-"to insure consistency", I was informed by the server. That sums up the cheesecake, consistent and borrring, homogenization is a very bad thing. In addition the crust was awful, and the whipped topping horrible and overflowing. The espresso was excellent, but I had to ask for lemon twist-Am I the only one that drinks espresso with lemon twist? It used to be standard service to serve lemon twist with espresso, or maybe it's just me.

Crabby Pretzel

I'm always getting interesting ideas from the blogosphere. Most bloggers seem generous, but some bloggers seem more territorial. Some bloggers steal ideas and pictures and present them as their own, this is obviously deceitful and misleading. It is very difficult to copywright ideas and recipes, and most recipes seem to be variations on recipes, that are themselves variations on other recipes. I also know that if you give a recipe to three different cooks, you will get three distinctive-if not totally different -dishes. I seldon follow recipes-except when baking.

This rather long explanation is to say I got this idea of crabby pretzel from a fellow blogger. Please visit bicoastalcook.blogspot.com , which is where the idea came from. It has been a brisk seller when I put it on the restaurant menu as a special a couple of evenings.

I purchased a par-baked pretzel, slit it down the center and filled it with a spicy crab salad, topped it with a pizza-blend cheese and baked it. This is my take on crabby pretzel, but visit the Bicoastal Cook to see another.

Stuffed French Toast

Pain Perdu in actual French-lost bread-one of my favorite breakfasts. I used a decent bread from the Bosnian bakery, soaked in a custard flavored with vanilla, I placed a stuffing of sauteed apples and slices of Brie in the middle and sauteed the toast very slowly. French toast cooked quickly over high heat turns tough and nasty natured instead of the luscious pudding it creates when done slowly. I topped it with a local maple syrup purchased at farmer's market.

Smithwick's Ale

We have a new ale on tap at the restaurant. Smithwick's-pronounced smitticks-no h or w sound. The English language can so annoying sometimes-if you don't say the h or w, why put them in the word? Smithwick's is the oldest operating brewery in Ireland. Founded in 1710 by John Smithwick on the original Franciscan abbey, where monks made ale since the 1400's. Now it is owned by the same company that also owns Guinness and they are the two biggest sellers in Ireland-Guinness is first.

It is called a red ale, and it has a sort of red mahogany color to it. Irish red ales are made from roasted barley and hops. The roasting tints the color, which is not the case in American red beers which are tinted by adding color-like Coors Red Irish a poseur. It has a much mellower flavor than English Ale, which is too aggressive on the palate for me. Slightly creamy with a stable but not too big head.

Smithwick's has been available in the Missouri market for a long time, but it has only been licensed in Illinois (or at least in Monroe county) just recently. Smithwick's has a devoted following, and many have asked for it, and now we can serve it. Perfect with our house made chips.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Soup

Chicken soup is a culinary universal. It seems every culture has a chicken soup-its appeal is endless. With on-line shopping even hard to find ingredients are available to everyone. Here is a Thai inspired version.

2 T canola oil

2 T Green curry paste

1 T fresh Ginger Root-finely minced

1 t powdered Galangal (Galangal is similar to Ginger, some recipes call for one or the other)

1 clove of Garlic-finely minced

1 cup Japanese Eggplant-cut into 1 inch pieces

2-3 carrots-sliced into oblong slices

1 onion-diced

1 stalk Lemon Grass-cut into large pieces-Lemon Grass is for flavoring only, not eating

1 12 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

1 T sugar

1 T Fish sauce

1 T hot Chinese chili paste-or to taste, I like a little burn

3 cups rick chicken broth

1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

Fresh cilantro

Lime wedges

1 package glass noodles-soaked, any pasta including cooked spaghetti could work

Saute the green curry paste in the oil, add the ginger, galangal, and garlic, saute briefly at medium heat.

Add the onion, carrot, and egg plant, saute over low heat until the vegetables are softened.

Add the coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce, chili paste, and chicken broth, simmer 1/2 hour to marry all the flavors, taste and adjust flavoring if needed. Add the cooked chichen when the soup tastes balanced to you.

To plate, mound the glass noodles in the center of a large soup plate and ladle the soup over them (some people remove the lemon grass-I prefer to just eat around it). Garnish with fresh Cilantro and lime wedges.

Valentine's Day '07

One of the biggest nights in the restaurant business. It has been called the most comercial of holidays, but in the doldrums of winter the chocolatiers, florists, and restaurateurs need this influx of cash. No one gets rich from this day, but it helps keep the bills paid and the key employees paid. We served about 180 guests, which was the most we could, all three floors were opened as well as the third floor bar. We sold a prix fixe menu rather than the regular menu-we have so many regulars that we wanted to give them something a little different from the regular menu choices.

The appetizers consisted of a trio of chilled shrimp "shooters"-we served chilled shrimp in shot glasses with three different cocktail sauces:traditional tomato horseradish, chipotle mayonaise, and wasabi. And stuffed mushrooms with peppercorn cognac sauce.

The salad consisted of field greens topped with grilled pears, candied walnuts and vinaigrette made with pear puree, white wine vinegar and olive oil.

For the entree there was a choice of hickory smoked beef tenderloin (smoked in-house) with 7 mustard sauce or a crumbed chicken breast toped with crab meat, provolone, and lemon sauce and red pepper coulis. Both entrees were accompanied by Haricot Verts and carrot ribbon bundles and Potatoes Dauphinoise. Both sides were time consuming to create. The little beans and carrot ribbons were all hand tied together in little bundles using chives. The Potatoes Dauphinoise consits of thinly sliced potatoes baked in parmesan custard, weighted and cooled, then cut into diamond shapes, and quickly reheated for service.

The dessert was Cherries Jubilee, flamed tableside served over both chocolate and vanilla ice cream.