Morel Mushrooms

Pictured are the first available local morel mushrooms of the year. with better weather these would've been available over a month ago in Eastern Oregon, but it has been to cold for them to come up. they are one of the most prized of the locally foraged wild mushroom as their season is earlier (most of the other truly wild mushrooms wont be around until early to late fall) and they have an amazing flavor. they are honeycomb looking and these are a bit larger than average. i featured them on the menu at work for most of last spring and summer and while i couldn't buy them fresh for all of that time i was able to find a source for them dried. drying mushrooms is a great way to preserve and all but chanterelles (more on them later) dry really well. when re-hydrated with stock, or water, they are almost as good as fresh. i bought 5 pounds of these, and 2 pounds were transferred to another restaurant, and 2 were dried at work. of the last pound, some sauteed over a new york steak for dinner tonight, and some will make a cream sauce for a pistachio crusted piece of halibut tomorrow night. now the real killer.... these costed me $50 dollars a pound. that's right fifty. i worked with them for a bit today and figured out the cost about one dollar a piece, three eleven per ounce. this was five pounds or 250 dollars worth. ouch. i know i have been through what that can buy before so i wont go there again. i will however add that i am extremely fortunate to work at a place that will sign that check without so much as a double take. they should drop in price in the coming days (i think i have them locked in for about 20/# for the weekend). they are ugly, they are dirty, they are even expensive but all is forgiven with the simple taste of sauteed morels.

Local Strawberries

Locally (willamette valley) strawberries only grow in full force for just over a month out of the year, and we are at the very beginning of the season. i was able to get one flat about a week ago, but no more until today. i bought one for use here at the house, and two more for the restaurant. Oregon strawberries differ from the California berries that you see in the market year round. They are never as uniform looking (basically they haven't been altered as much so they aren't as pretty), and they don't last very long at all. shelf life of a few days max. when you eat a California strawberry, they also tend to have a hollow center, where Oregon ones aren't hollow. the color of Oregon ones are much deeper and richer, while the California ones look more pink in comparison. they also smell much more aromatic then the ones from further south. the good news is these should be available at your local farmers market, or at u-pick places, and roadside stands everywhere in the coming weeks. they are worth the time to seek out, and usually are less expensive then the California's would be at the grocery store. try to get your hands on some and once washed (mine were really muddy-due to the juneuary weather we have been having) they are fantastic with a bit of sugar and a of course a pinch of salt.

Gravlox

Started simple cure of some salmon gravlox today. gravlox or "lox" is a cured salmon (usually). again one of the oldest food preservation methods in existence. i had two about 3 pound each sides of local King salmon that i skinned, boned, and trimmed. i used 2 parts sugar, and 1 part salt, with the zest from three oranges, and some course cracked pepper. the salmon was set on a layer of the cure, then covered with the cure, then i sliced the oranges and placed them on the cure, and then covered that with more of the curing mixture. these will set for at least 24 hrs, but maybe closer to 48 hours, and then will be rinsed well and patted dry, then hung out to air dry in the walk-in. sometimes when you buy lox this process is done in a matter of hours with needles and injected brines and such, and then the product can also be cold smoked. this probably wont be smoked, but sliced thinly it is the classic New York accompaniment to bagels, but i think its great with some crostini and some horseradish. the whole process only takes a few days max and will extend the shelf life of fresh salmon indefinitely. just keep in mind that when you start with a crap product you will end up with crap, so buy, or even catch quality salmon before attempting this.

cioppolini onions

a cioppolini (chipoleany) onions is a small onion that is larger and flatter than pearl onions. they have a relatively mild taste with a bit of sweetness and present wonderfully. at the restaurant we look at things like this as "value vegetables". as customers expect the best, and we want them to have a meal they feel has ample value especially when regarding vegetables we have to look for things they haven't seen before, or things they have seen that are cooked differently, or things that have value in the amount of time they have taken to get prepped, cooked, or plated. these are a great option as most haven't seen them, and they take us forever to prep. pictured here is a three gallon bucket that is over half full of trimmed and peeled onions that aren't bigger than 2 inches in diameter and its only about 15#'s. it takes even my fastest prep cooks hours to clean them, so we usually try to tackle them as a team effort. we usually buy them in 25# pound bags, so i find myself dealing with them pretty often. these were grown in Gilroy California by Cristopher Ranch. Gilroy is the garlic capitol of the world, growing some amazingly large percent of the garlic consumed in this country. They are available in fall and spring, but like any sort of onion, storage is easy and when stored in the perfect conditions they can be held (on the manufacturers side of it) easily for 6 months or more. another basic discipline task that requires almost zero skill and is not very entertaining (when they come off of the produce truck everyone moans a bit), but still has to be done. these were headed for a quick saute with a fortified wine called sherry,and some salt, then finished in a 500 degree oven so they get brown and the wine reduces to a syrup consistency.

Searing

Maillard Reaction- a complex browning reaction that results in the particular flavor and color of foods that do not contain much sugar, including roasted meats. The reaction which involves carbohydrates and amino acids, is named after the French scientist who discovered it. There are low temperature and high temperature reactions, the high temperature reaction starts at 310 degrees- TPC 8th edition

Whether we are talking a pork roast for your crock-pot, or a duck breast, most foods benefit from the addition of the Maillard reaction or searing. searing is also the first step in getting together a proper braise. the intent is simple- to develop more flavor. a lot of chefs will say that searing also seals in juices but i don't buy it for a second. i sear to develop flavor, and if i didn't everything that i cook i might as well just boil and then serve. that's why we love grilled foods, the high heat involved on a grill introduces more flavor. i try to sear most of what i cook at home. a roast is a great example of something that you can give this a shot with. do everything you normally do when cooking a roast, but before you do it season the meat with salt, oil it, and introduce some heat (i sear in a cast iron pan, on an electric griddle, or on a cast iron griddle if we are talking about a bigger piece of meat) high heat can be used as the process will take a short amount of time. turn the meat as needed, i like to sear all sides, and then cook as you normally would. i will caution you that additions much beyond salt can burn in the searing process. things like herbs, spices, and even black pepper don't take really high heat very well, so add them after searing, but the meat wont burn unless you get out of control with the heat. smoke will be created and it will spatter but these are small sacrifices as far as i am concerned. another little quip i have is that in the restaurant i don't like the word burnt (granted things happen and are technically burnt and then discarded and recooked) so we tend to say things like over-caramelized, even over-cooked, or "i was testing the maillard reaction theory". just makes it sound like you didn't mess up as bad as you did. enjoy your day.

The Jungle

I recently finished reading "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. The book was written in 1905 and is a story of an immigrant worker, and subsequently his family, and their experiences in the stockyards of Chicago. after its release in 1906 the book was refused by several publishers which lead to a simplified, censored version that was in circulation in a few different forms for more than 80 years. at some point along the line the original writtings were found and republished in an uncensored format beggining in 05. the writings are not for the weak at heart or stomach, and while the book touches on many things political, and the way that are country treated the immigrants who worked in these yards and elsewhere, i read the book for the absolutely horrifing accounts of the meat packing industry. the book contains some of the most foul situations that one could possibly imagine. the story goes that after the book was released President Roosevelt called the author to find out how much of the book was true, and Mr Sinclair simply exclaimed that all and more was true of the working conditions that people endured. in turn we passed the pure food and drug act in june of 1906. the book was one of the very reasons that the FDA was invented and the reason that our meat (especially beef) is graded by certifed USDA inspectors in a extremely rigourous process. now i know that the process isnt foolproof, nor am i naive enough to belive that there arent dark sided ventures going on in slaughterhouses, but i am positive that it no way is even remotely as bad as it could be. if you have the least bit of interest in history, food, politics, etc it is a great read. i was able to buy it from Amazon used for less than $5. i will warn you that the page layout is a tad overwhelming, and the language used takes a bit of getting used to, but it truly is worth the read.

"Airline" Breasts

Aptly named as they were relatively unknown until the mid 70's when a few big airline companies began to use them for in-flight meals, and airline breast is usually chicken (can be other poultry as well though) that has the skin on, and the wing attached. in restaurant they can be also be called statlers, or wing tip breast. at work i have them on the menu twice, once stuffed with crab, spinach, and jack and asiago cheese, and the other baked to a gorgeous brown then topped with a seasonal local mushroom sauce. we sell the daylights out of them, which means in turn i clean a lot of them. it isn't odd for me to buckle down with my boning knife and clean 100 in a sitting. we buy them with the backbone on, and so it comes off and the wing is lacerated to the bone, then i turn it and bend the joint of the wing back and pull it off. i know that it is a bit off putting to some, but it doesn't bother me at all. the wings go in the stock pot and the skin is trimmed to present a bit more cleanly. the bonus to all of this is when done correctly they present fabulously, also by still having the wing bone attached (even though it has been stripped of all the flesh) and the skin on, the chicken will retain more moisture then a boneless skinless breast will. in almost every instance you will find that a bone in a piece of meat will yield a juicer cooked product (steaks with bone tend to be more expensive in the grocery store than boneless ones are). since i cant walk into a grocery store and order like i can from my meat purveyor at work i cut them off of whole chickens if i am going to use them at home. these were seared and then baked in the oven at a high temperature for about 20 minutes, rested, then served on tortellini. dont be afraid to get your hands on a whole bird and give it a shot, chickens are cheap and available year round, and they make a great meal. two birds will make a meal of 4 airline breast, another 4 braised legs, and a carcass for stock, all for about 9-11 dollars. i know some people are horribly scared of the bacteria that they are notorious for carrying, so buy them from a reputable source (i think foster farms does a great job) take them straight home, store them at the bottom of your refrigerator, and when it comes time to harvest give yourself plenty of space, and get your "place" together. have a sharp knife, paper towels, sheet pans, and ziplocs to put things in. when your done wipe up and then sanitize. buying whole chickens will teach you about being a tad more versatile, less wasteful, and will usually give you a true never frozen product that has less chance of having been chemically treated at some point along the line, and is usually less expensive then buying skinless breast.