Man Meets Stove Kickstarter Project LAUNCHED!!!!

Yeah, yeah, we know, it's Christmas, but the good news is, you can pledge now, and pay in January!  How cool is THAT?


In exchange, we have very cool rewards for those that pledge, be sure to check out the video.


Click on the link below and spread the word if you like it!  Thanks for your support!

Cook a Turkey in 45 Minutes!!!

Master Class - LA Times articles by great chefs like Thomas Keller

The Los Angeles Time has a great series of articles called "Master Class" which includes writing by such great chef's as Thomas Keller on seasoning and brining, Nancy Silverton on focaccia, Tom Colicchio on using vinaigrette as a braising liquid, and Sang Yoon on how to kick catsup into an experience. 

Thomas Keller on Seasoning

Nancy Silverton on Focacia

Tom Colicchio on Vinaigrette

Sang Yoon on Catsup



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Military Recipe April 1957 - Shit on a Shingle (SOS)

Repost of a classic Man Meets Stove recipe:

Be sure and get your carcass ready.....

TM 10-412-1
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY TECHNICAL MANUAL
ARMY RECIPES

(MEAT, POULTRY,
FISH, GRAVIES, SAUCES,
AND DRESSING)
 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY  -  APRIL 1957

NO. A-34 CREAMED GROUND BEEF ON TOAST

            100 Servings
            1 cup each
            Preparation and cooking time: about 11/4 hours

BEEF, CARCASS...................35 POUNDS
Cut in pieces and grind (FINE).

OR
BEEF, BONELESS,
      GROUND (FINE).............24 POUNDS
Brown beef in its own fat in roasting pans on top of range.
Remove excess fat during cooking period.

ONIONS, DRY,
      CHOPPED (FINE).............1 POUND……....…3/4 QUART
SALT………………..………..5 OUNCES…….......1/2 CUP
PEPPER, BLACK……...……1/4 OUNCE….......….1 TABLESPOON
BAY LEAF…………………………………….........1 LEAF
Add onions and seasoning and mix thoroughly.

MILK, EVAPORATED………………………..........2 GALLONS
(WATER FOR MILK)………........…………………2 GALLONS
Add 3 gallons of milk to beef mixture and heat to simmering, stir-
      ring frequently

FLOUR, WHEAT, HARD.…...2 POUNDS……........1 ¾ QUARTS
Mix flour with the remaining gallon of milk and stir into hot mix-
      ture.
Bring to a boil, stirring steadily, reduce heat and simmer until
      thickened.

TOAST…………………………………………........100 SLICES
Serve on toast.


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Sushi Cupcakes!

A Facebook friend of Jim's, Jen Kimura, posted that she was preparing for her mom's "Cupcake Wars Party" and then shortly thereafter started posting these terrific pictures of cupcakes made to look like sushi in a bento box! 

Jim asked her about them and she was gracious enough to tell us:

"I saw some posts about rice crispy sushi, but that was gross to me. And using coconut shavings was just too much coconut, so these are white jimmies/sprinkles- and much more rice-like. The decorations are shaped "Now and Later" candies, cut up gummy worms, and "Swedish Fish" candies. Some people use green "Fruit by the Foot" for the nori [sushi seaweed wrapper]. But its hard to find THAT MUCH solid green Fruit by the Foot. So I use black/ dark brown wrappers- which are not gross and sticky when you handle them - unlike Fruit by the Foot.

When I'm lazy I use remade pillsbury classic white mix and pillsbury whipped white frosting. When I'm not lazy I use Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcake and Buttercream recipe.

They are packed in sushi bento boxes because it's easier to transport and cuter. Because they are in the boxes, I make the mini cupcakes. Also, regular sized cupcakes are not properly proportioned. The Ginger is Now and Laters, the wasabi is green frosting, the soy
sauce is chocolate syrup.  Hope that helps!"

It sure does Jen.  Thanks so much for sharing your skillz with us!

Jen got her decorations at Classic Cake Decorations in Garden Grove, California.

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Cookies! Nutter Betters

Soundtrack:  Anything by Sir Mix-a-Lot

You know how this goes, it is after work and you are craving Peanut Butter Cookies and a little nookie. Or is that just us?  Well we can help you with the former and you can use these cookies to get the latter.  So get on it.  The cookies that is. 

Tom searched around and found a few hundred peanut butter cookie recipes. Since he's actually good for a few hundred cookies, that coincidence worked out well.  Your gonna need a tool. No not that tool, a stand mixer.  Otherwise you'll have to stir until your arm falls off and you might need that arm later. 

Engage your inner Nutter and get your supplies ready. These are from scratch, so you kitchen lightweights are going to have to sit this one out.

Supplies:

Unsalted butter – 5 sticks

Creamy peanut butter – Big Tub

Quick oatmeal oats.

White Flour – 2 cups

Baking powder 2 teaspoons

Baking soda – 4 teaspoons

Sugar: white, light brown, and/or dark brown - 2 1/4 cups

Eggs - 2

Cinnamon

Vanilla

Powdered sugar

Set the pound (or so) of unsalted butter out to warm up to room temperature. In a medium sized bowl mix the flour, two teaspoons (that’s the little spoon) of baking powder and four teaspoons of baking soda. If you had to drag the baking soda out of the bottom of the fridge then you should probably consider buying a new box. Whisk (stir briskly) that mixture to thoroughly mix together the magic powders and set it aside.
Set your hotbox to heat up to 350.

Drop the pound of butter into the bowl of your mixer, and add in a cup of creamy peanut butter. Add more (up to say a half cup) if you want it more peanuttie.  Yes "peanuttie" is a word. This is the big flavor deal with these cookies. A glob of peanut butter one way or the other won't hurt anything, so feel free to experiment.  We know she will. 

Since this only has a pound of butter so far, we need to get the calorie count up, so add in 2¼ cups of sugar.  White, light brown, or dark brown in any combination is fine.   Yes, we are still talking about sugar.  Use what you gots, sugar-wise.  All it will change is the flavor, and it will still be a killer cookie, so knock yourself out. Drop the sugar into the mixer.  Turn the stand mixer on.  As it mixes, if the sides of the bowl in your mixer are getting all gloppy, then scrape it down from the sides.  Only use your finger to scrape the bowl if 1.) no one is watching and 2.) the machine is off and unplugged.  Your probably gonna need that finger later too.  Safety first.  Better yet, use a rubber spatula, machine OFF. 

Toss in two eggs (no shells please) and mix again. Yeah, next time you will want to start those on low speed. WAY less mess that way.  

So mix in the eggs and add a few good shakes of cinnamon and then a nice splash of vanilla. Add in the flour mixture by thirds until it is all in there. You may have to scrape the sides again, machine OFF. Now if you went crazy with the peanut butter, here is where you would add an extra quarter cup of flour and mix it in.

The dough will be really light at this point, so we add two healthy cups of oats, use the “quick oats” or the slow ones, but if you are going to use the slow ones whip out the chefs knife and give the oats a few rounds of chopping, or run them in the food processor for a few short quick bursts.  You might be used to a few quick short bursts, it’s okay.  Mix those oats in and you are ready to bake.

Now scoop the dough out onto greased or buttered cookie sheets lined up like soldiers  ready to load.  If you care at all what these look like or how easily they will be to assemble, then use an ice-cream scoop or big spoon to keep the cookie size more or less consistent. Bake at 350 for about 10 to 12 minutes. If they start to burn, then that was too long, duh.  Set ‘em out on racks to cool.

To make the filling, clean your mixer bowl and toss another stick of butter in your mixer (awesome, right?).  You can use either melted butter or room temperature butter. Mix with an equal amount of creamy peanut butter and then add powdered sugar until you think it is good. Start with a cup and a half of powdered sugar and then taste and add, taste and add, until you like the taste. 

Now this is complicated. To build the Nutter Betters, take a cookie and put some peanut butter sugar goo creme on it.  Put another cookie on-a-topa the first cookie to make a goo sandwich. Repeat till all the cookies are cookie sandwiches.  Try not to eat them all standing there in the kitchen, it is embarrassing.  

Now about that nookie...

Go find your Significant Other.  Have them close their eyes and stick out their tongue. Open a cookie sandwich and slide the cookie creme down their tongue.  We hope you can take it from there.  We know we can. 

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Pickling Pro-Tips

Saw a post by a friend of ours, Donnie Dillon. He was making these Sun Pickles.  We asked him for his pro-tips on pickling and here was his response:

"Pro Tip #1. Just do it. Making pickles is literally as easy as boiling water. It requires no special equipment or exotic supplies. A few fresh herbs, a pinch of salt, an maybe a splash of vinegar is all it takes.

Pro Tip #2. Start with small batches. It is as easy to make 1 quart of pickles as it is to make 5 gallons and small batches let you play with herbs and flavors until you find a profile that you like.

Pro Tip #3. Don't stop at cucumbers. Try fresh okra, or cauliflower, beans, onions, etc. Mix and match! One of the best batches I have ever made was pickles eggs and onions. So far the only thing that turned out really badly was carrots."

We would add that if you use up a jar of pickles that you like, you can reuse the pickling juices to make another batch.  Just re-load with cucumbers, or whatever!

Enjoy!

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Pack your own food onto airplanes, the Chef's way....

So if you can't stand airline food, and who can?  This article discusses some tasty ideas.  For example, freeze shrimp in a container overnight, and put cocktail sauce into 2-ounce (TSA-friendly) containers.  By the time you're completely uncomfortable and flirting with the stewardess, the shrimp should be defrosted.

You can also pre-cook pasta (do NOT go beyond al dente!  Ever!) and then ask the flight attendant for some tea water (minus the tea) to heat the pasta.  Genius!  Add some feta and cherry tomatoes.  Nosh.

2-ounce containers of yogurt can be frozen and then defrost as your groped through security.  Don't forget to wear your special undies!  

Tomato salads!  Fruit salads.
Get creative.  We like to bring extra-stinky cheese.  Okay don't do that, we will laugh at you on the evening news.  Just a little.

Mandelbratwurst

Priceless.  Nothing more to say.

Rules of Chef's Club

The First Rule of Chef's Club is Don't Talk About Chef's Club. 

The Second Rule of Chef's Club is Never Admit You Used the Microwave.

Photo by kokopinto (flickr).

Chocolate Lab

Chocolate.

How much chocolate is in that bar, and how much milk and sugar? These are the questions that move men’s minds, well, when they aren't thinking about boobs.

Really if you are going to cook with chocolate, eat it, or melt it and drizzle it all over the slowly building curvy under-edge of...well, never mind…you really need to know which chocolate is best to use for various applications.  Tom is here for you.  Tom took one for the team and taste-tested a whole array of chocolate bars.

There are more than just Hershey bars out there, and if this is news to you, we have some other things to break to you. For instance, there are at least 17 types of bra clasp and as many shapes of breast as there are wine glasses, coffee mugs, and melon analogies.  So open your eyes up!  There is a great deal of variety out there in the world and it seems you’ve been missing it.  We had to go out and buy the Chocolate Blanc, and the 100% chocolate. Aside from that, Tom had seven kinds of chocolate already in the cupboard.  If you count the fruit and spice flavored chocolates Tom had 12 varieties in the pantry.  Yeah, he’s an underachiever.

The photograph is really a very simple guideline, it only represents big jumps in percentages and ignores all the "other" ingredients nor does it look at where the beans are from, or the number of sources. 

Running the numbers:

White chocolate, is in fact…Not...Chocolate.  It is cocoa butter with milk and sugar.  Tom only put it on the cutting board so that we could tell you that.

The Hershey bar is good if you like that sort of thing.  To Tom’s taste it contains a little too much "other stuff” like milk, and not enough chocolate.

“World Famous” fund raiser chocolate had a bit more flavor but every bit as much “other stuff” in it and was very milky. So if you really are not looking for chocolate but more just something sweet to eat, it is okay.  Tom will be embarrassed for you, but it’s alright, Jim would probably eat it.

Bakers Simi-sweet Chocolate had a very hard texture which is fine in a baking product. Nice big chocolate taste and once it melted, it was nice and sweet as well.

The 34% chocolate bar's packaging didn't seem to want to tell us how much chocolate it had on board but it was nice to eat and had the distinctive milk chocolate flavor but was a bit too sweet for Tom’s palate.

Now the 54% chocolate bar was rich chocolaty deliciousness on the tongue, it melted into warm sweet goodness rapidly and was VERY chocolaty. Tom ended up eating most of this one, and letting the flavors mellow before he refreshed the palette with coffee. The milky taste was gone at this level of chocolate, replaced with a creamy smoothness to the flavor.

Now we jump to serious levels of chocolate and the dryness starts to come into play and with some brands, a bitterness creeps into the flavor.  Ghiradelli, however, is just a really big chocolate flavor.  Tom crunched this up a bit when ate the sample rather than letting it slowly melt.  Hey, we are guys after all, people to do, places to cook, and meat to broil.

Tom sank his teeth into the Godiva 85% chocolate and WHOOP, there it is.  Dry and a bit bitter, but in a spice way that he liked.  This level of chocolate is why Tom is the lab rat here.  Jim’s skull would have exploded out the back of his head like a sniper’s bullet.  Tom is a professional Chocophile.  Magna cum Laude.

The Ghiradelli 100% dark chocolate is not really for eating at all. Even for Tom.  It is very dry and bitter, all the while tasting INTENSELY of chocolate.  It really is too bitter to leave in your mouth unless you are super dedicated.

So we hope this run down of what the percentages of chocolates was helpful.  Tom just headed out to have his blood donated as a source of laboratory grade sucrose.

Four Rules of Dining Out

Yes we go out to eat. There, we admitted it.  Happy now?

We are as thrilled as the next dude to let someone else feed us. When we find ourselves at the end of a long day of shoving the mouse around six inches of desktop real estate, we like to sit at a table and have someone, anyone really, set victuals in front of us so we can tank up our astoundingly awesome bodies again. So sue us, we are effort-challenged Americans too, what did you expect?

But here’s the thing, it turns out that once you are kicking ass in the kitchen, making great food from stuff you bought by the pound, well, it starts to make you think a little different about where you go out to eat.  We have developed enhanced standards as to how we pick our purchased dinners and lunches. We have an awareness of food, and what you get when your order from someone else's kitchen.

The Man Meets Stove Four Rules of Dining Out:

1. The food has to be better than we can make in our kitchen, and we are pretty damn good, so don’t try to pull anything over on us.
2. The meal has to be cheaper than we can do it for ourselves.  
3. A big plate of meaty goodness has to land in front of us faster than we can say “Meat! Meat! Cheese!”
4. The place needs to provide a feeling of utter relaxation, dominance of our world, and validates the simple truth that we ARE in fact superior specimens of humanity.  In short, the atmosphere has to be better than our living room, leather couch, BIG plasma TV, Xbox, and 80s hair metal videos on demand.

Now we are regular blokes (well that’s what we tell ourselves that anyway), so we just need two of the four rules to be true or MOSTLY true for us to head out to the checkered table cloth and the busboy with the two opposable left thumbs.  Ladies in tow.

Of course we break the four rules; we made ‘em! But not as often as you think. Life is too damnably short for cheap crystallized ice cream, soggy burgers, noisy, and annoying restaurants. We tend to buy our meals where the food is more difficult and/or requires longer to make than a half hour prep time. We like to eat spices, veggies, and meats that are either hard to get, or hard to store. If the restaurant has equipment that we don't (and really how likely is that?) we will line up in the rain with the unwashed masses to get “flavor-infused-zero-gee-Sous-vide-Himalayan-Yak-and-Couscous burgers”, but only because we can't afford a space station.  Or a yak.

Lastly, restaurateurs, we expect staff to be available at a moment’s notice but not intrusive, and we REALLY hate waiting to pay.  If we are ready to give you our Benjamin’s and your idea of customer service is to have us wait in line to do so, then you aren't very likely to get our cash the second time. If the food was bad, you might as well do the honorable thing and impale yourself on your Wusthoff Chef’s knife. Okay don’t do that, but you really should think about the possibility.

Now go forth and buy a meal!  Say hi to the yak.


Yak picture curtosy of [TheAsarya]

In Defense of Fast Food

What with the whole organic, cage-free, grass/grain-fed, no hormones, anti-GMO, no MSG, anti-pesticides, no additives, anti-preservatives, every-chicken-must-be-stroked-by-hand-once-an-hour-and-called-by-it's-first-name-Bernard, movement, it is easy to forget that Americans actually still like fast food.

Yes…we....do.

Despite the food movement, the United States of hypocrisy has not slowed down the consumption of burritos, noodles, fried chicken, grilled chicken, nuggets, sandwiches, donuts, tacos, fish sticks, and of course….the almighty hamburger. A quick browse of stock prices for fast food companies shows that Wall Street sure likes it's fast victual companies too. The stock prices of fast food companies fell during the worst of the recession, but only just a little. Wall Street must know something we don't. Fast...food...still...sells.

Perhaps it’s the addition of those “healthy” 10,000 calorie salads to the menu? Yeah, that must be it…

So what is this fascination with food that’s been processed through machinery till it screams? Well, we’ve got to think it boils down to one thing. We like the taste. We like the convenience. Yes, we like the food! People deny it, yet McDonald’s numbers wouldn’t be the way they are if everyone didn’t like the food.

So what’s a Green, anti-corporation, Monsanto-hating, Hippie person to do about this? Well, first of all, cook at home! Try to buy what your farmer grandparents would recognize as food. But it IS important to try to keep perspective. Pack a lunch when you can, but don’t drag the square yard of wheat grass into your cubical.  It's embarrassing.

Today’s hyperactive lifestyles means we may be forced to eat lunch with a co-worker in 15 minutes.  Good luck finding a Farmer’s Market in that time. 

Mr. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Michael Pollan wrote “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and freely admits that “Social values count as much as environmental values with me”. He’s even been known to eat unsustainable sushi! *Gasp!*

So, eat up America! Drop another dime fiver into the McDonalds meatwagon.

Enjoy!

Just try to do it less.

Much less.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Alcohol helps prevent heart disease, Yay! In moderation, Boo! ;-)

BBC reports "14% to 25% reduction in heart disease in moderate drinkers compared with people who had never drunk alcohol" plus an increase in "good" cholesterol. 

Party on, Dudes.

Photo by iskir / Oscar Castañón Barragán

Velveeta Fudge? No, really!

I was watching Iron Chef a while back and I about jumped out of my Barcalounger  when I saw Paula Dean slap down some Velveeta “Cheese Product” and start mixing in sugar, butter, corn syrup etc into what was to become a…wait for it…fudge.  You heard that right, Velveeta Fudge. 

The virtual taste buds in my brain went to work on that flavor profile, and the verdict was “It may not suck!”  So I went over to the Food Network website to check out the Paula Dean recipe.  I read through the comments and found out that Paula’s version of the fudge was highly variable, depending on which cocoa powder you used.  Failure meant fudge that tasted of cheese product.  Not good.  I also found out that Paula quite possibly got the recipe from Kraft itself and that the commentators said the Kraft recipe worked fine!

So I ran down to the grocery store to get the ingredients to try this recipe out.  I recommend that if anyone looks at you funny when you pick up the “Cheese product”, just tell them it’s a gag gift for a bachelor party and involves a stripper.  They won't ask any more questions.  Do not admit your actually going to eat it, and certainly not in fudge.

The first thing I noticed when making the cheese fudge was that it is a damn sight better than Ole’ Fashioned Fudge in that it is cooked fast in the microwave, and doesn’t require a candy thermometer.  Win!  Aside from the cooling off period in the refrigerator, the whole thing takes about 10 minutes to make, mixing and all.  Pretty slick. 

The taste test was….interesting.  I am used to eating fudge that grabs you by the teeth, slaps your jaw with richness, and then goes off in your brain like a firecracker of sweetness.  With Old Fashioned Fudge you KNOW you just ate a chocolate bomb. 

This was not that. 

It isn’t a chocolate bar, but it’s not quite decadent fudgie goodness either, it was something in between.  Medium fudge. 

That’s just not right.

That being said, I can see two possibilities out of it.  One possibility is that one could modify the recipe with more chocolate and sugar to get more bang out of it, or the other possibility it that one can simply get another recipe for microwave fudge. 

In Part 2, I am going to mix up a batch of microwave fudge and do a taste smackdown...

UPDATE: Jim's wife, the Teutonic Goddess, woke up and pronounced the fudge "excellent" and "salty goodness".  Just goes to show, we are not the final word! 
Kraft Velveeta Fudge

12 oz VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup  (2 sticks) butter or margarine

6 squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate

2 Tbsp.  light corn syrup

2 pkg. (16 oz. each) powdered sugar (about 8 cups)

1-1/2 cups  chopped PLANTERS Pecans

1 tsp. vanilla

Add chocolate mixture, in batches, to sugar in large bowl, beating with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in pecans and vanilla.


Pour into greased 13x9-inch pan. Smooth top with spatula; cover. Refrigerate several hours or until firm before cutting into 1-inch squares to serve. (For longer storage, wrap tightly and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before serving.)

Place Velveeta, butter, chocolate, and corn syrup in large microwaveable bowl.  Microwave on High for 2 min. Stir.  Micorwave and additional minute; stir until well blended.

DO NOT READ THIS if you have a pet whale!

If you like a good dose of mercury in your meat, and don't mind eating Willie, well you may be interested that Willie tastes like beef, not sushi:  "It's similar to reindeer or moose. Whale tastes much more like its hairy cousins on land than its gilled neighbors in the sea. In places where gamey meats are common—like Norway, Iceland, and among the indigenous people of Alaska—whale is served straight up with little or no seasoning. For those who find its unrefined flavor off-putting, whale is cured, marinated, or slathered with a flavorful sauce. Whale bacon, marketed in shrink-wrapped packages of thin marbled slices closely resembling pork bacon, is offered at some Japanese markets."

Mmmmm.  Willie bacon. I know I'm hungry now.....

Source

UPDATE: Two people contacted us that have actually tasted whale meat:


"...It was definitely a red meat, and tasted a bit like beef liver. It was prepared that way too, pan sauteed with lots of onions."


and  


"I had it as a pepper steak, it was like a really coarse and dense steak, with shrimpy overtones. I probably should have ordered it medium instead of well done."


There you have it, folks.  Like red meat everywhere, order it medium-done or less, tastes like chicken...

Salt and Pepper. No not the band.

Salt and pepper have really evolved from your Grandma's poodle shaped salt shaker with ioidine-laced table salt and pre-ground pepper in a spice can.  A jog through the local grocery store can usually yield at least Coarse Kosher Salt and perhaps exotic varieties such as Himalayan Pink Salt (our personal fave).  Your grocer may even have coarse sea salts, and perhaps a smoked salt, or maybe even a red or black salt from Hawaii. 

This article in the Atlantic presents the joys of fancy salts, including some information from the book Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes by Mark Bitterman.  Our only beef with the Atlantic article is that the author failed to mention the joys of Himalayan pink salt, except in passing.  We highly recommend it.  Bitterman says to avoid coarse sea salts from San Francisco.  Noted. 

Black pepper is on every table, everywhere, for a reason.  It adds it's special bite to about any savory dish one would want to consume, and some dishes such as Peppercorn Steak (recipe below) make it the entire show.  Historically, black pepper was as valuable as gold and was even part of the ransom of Rome when it was sacked in 410 A.D. by the Goths.  Who knew Goths had such good taste?   

If you are still getting your pepper out of a can, just STOP.  Go get a pepper mill (grinder) loaded with black pepper already.  Why are you still reading this?  Okay, you can leave after you finish this post.  

Pepper is the key ingredient in meat spice rubs, the go-to spice to dress a salad, and some people even use it in desserts like ice cream and lime and pepper cookies.  Go figure. 

Cook's Illustrated reviewed many different peppers and seemed to lean heavily toward the Indian Tellicherry peppercorns as the preferred type to buy if you are going to be using peppercorns as a main ingredient.  If you are just using pepper in small amounts, regular peppercorns will suffice. 

Now go get that peppercorn mill!! 

                                                                                   

Steak au Poivre Recipe

(Peppercorn steak)

Soundtrack: ”Push it” by Salt-N-Pepa

2 thick USDA Select steaks

2 tablespoons cracked Tellicherry black peppercorns

Butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon minced shallots

2 tablespoons brandy or cognac

1/2 cup tablespoons red wine

1/2 cup heavy cream

You are going to need to crack the pepper corns, yet not have them fly everywhere.  The best way is a mortar and pestle, however, you can also place the peppercorns into a plastic bag and crack them with a rolling pin or even lightly with a hammer.  Mr. Mechanic, if you use the hammer, clean the oily damn thing first, capiche?  Also, be aware of the surface you are pounding on, so you do not dent or break it and have your spouse beat you to death with your meat hammer.  We want not culinary murders on our hands.

Remove the cracked peppercorns from the bag and press them into the steaks on both sides.  Heat the butter or olive oil in a heavy skillet and sear the steaks on high heat till browned.  Now, reduce the heat to medium and cook till medium-doneness.  Well-done steak is an abomination unto the gods.  You should only have to flip the steak once and you DO NOT want to use a fork to do it, use tongs or a wooden spoon.  Remove the steak from the pan with the tongs, plate them, and let the steak rest for FIVE minutes before you so much as show it to a knife or fork.  No exceptions.  Those yummy juices will flow out of the steak if it does not rest for five minutes.

Add shallots and garlic to pan and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the shallots go from white to clear.  Add brandy and wine and then boil while stirring for three or four minutes or so to reduce the sauce.  Reduce the heat a little and add the heavy cream to the pan, then heat till the sauce is warmed again.  Pour sauce over steaks and serve.

Image: Catherine Hadler / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Drink of the week!

"Secret" Coca Cola recipe is published by NPR!!!

Regular ingredients:


Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams
USP Citric acid: 3 oz
Caffeine: 1 oz
Sugar: 30 (unclear quantity)
Water: 2.5 gal
Lime juice: 2 pints, 1 quart
Vanilla: 1 oz
Caramel: 1.5 oz or more for color

The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):
Alcohol:  8 oz
Orange oil: 20 drops
Lemon oil: 30 drops
Nutmeg oil: 10 drops
Coriander: 5 drops
Neroli: 10 drops
Cinnamon: 10 drops

See instructions HERE at the NPR site.  Make at your own risk! 

Image: zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Centrifuge in the kitchen? Two words: Pea butter

Just when you though cooking was a finished art...out comes a cookbook that changes everything...for $625 (ouch!).  

Nathan Myhrvold has spent his Microsoft money working on a cookbook for "Modernist Cuisine", cooking using chemicals, strange machines like centrifuges to spin ingredients into their separate parts, and so on.  

We have GOT to get our mitts on some pea butter...

Link

Image: a bagel shot and pea butter, photographed by Paul Adams for Popular Science.

How to turn a Tenderloin into Filet Minon steaks!