Entries tagged with “C” from Sketchy's Kitchen

Cinnamon buns

By sketchy on December 11, 2007 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Homemade cinnamon buns. They are pretty easy to make, but the process can be time consuming, The first batch I made with the KitchenAid, it was pretty straight forward, minimal hand kneading at the end. The second batch was all by hand. I creamed the butter eggs and sugar with a metal spoon, hand mixed the buttermilk and flour, etc. I actually preferred this method. It was really easy to gauge the batter. When using a stand mixer, you can over flour the dough, when mixing by hand, it is easy to get the desired consistency.

I had some vanilla sugar, so I used that in the recipe, and I added a little orange extract to the sugar at the beginning. There are a few schools of thought for the filling of the buns. I've done the butter/sugar/cinnamon filling. Granted -- this tastes great, but it is incredibly messy, and it doesn't add that much to the final flavor. The added moisture reduces the lifespan of the rolls. I prefer a dry method - cinnamon and sugar - that's it.

When cooked, these buns have a strong, warming, cinnamon aroma and flavor. The buns are not overly sweet, and they can be topped with a quick glaze. I think the last batch made 20 buns, the reheat very well, and taste so much better then the canned kind.

If you want them fresh baked in the morning - you may have a problem. If you retard the rising in the refrigerator, they need 4 hours to come to temperature and rise. Otherwise, they need 2 hours to proof the second time. the last time, I rolled and cut the buns, then dropped them in to chill for a few hours. At 1:30 in the morning, I placed the two covered baking sheets on the counter. They rose for more then the allotted time, but they came out perfectly when baked.

Recipe is adapted from The bread Bakers Apprentice

Buttermilk Cinnamon Buns

6 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 tbsp butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp instant yeast
9 ounces buttermilk
1/4 cup cinnamon sugar mixture
glaze

Cream the salt, butter, an sugar together. Add the lemon zest and any other base flavorings (orange, vanilla, etc). Add the egg and mix to thoroughly combine. Add the flour and yeast, then add the buttermilk. Mix slowly by hand until a ball forms. Knead the dough on a flowered surface for 12 to 15 minutes. The dough should pass the windowpane test. You may need to knead the bread for a longer period of time. Mine took about 20 minutes (including a little time for the dough to rest).

Place the dough into a bowl and coat with oil. Turning the dough so all sides are coated. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let sit for two hours. It should double in size.

Transfer the dough to a counter and begin to roll it out into a rectangle. You may need to dust the dough with flour if it starts to stick. Once it is at a desired thickness (1/4 to 3/4 inches thick), generously sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across the rectangle, leaving 1/2 inches untouched at the top.

Tightly roll the dough to form a log. Place the seam side down and cut the rolls. Make sure that they are evenly cut. For cinnabon style buns, cut them just under 2 inches thick. For something you might be able to finish - about 1 inch to 1 1/4 inches thick.

Place them on parchment paper or silpat, about 2 inches apart.

Allow the buns to proof for 90 minutes. I like mince to be separate, if you want them clustered, you can cram them in closer. about 1/2 inches between each-other. They will double in size. If you decide to cut and place the buns, then place them in the refrigerator, it will take 4 hours for them to come to temperature and rise.

Bake the cinnamon buns for 20 to 30 minutes at 340 degrees.

let cool for 10 minutes before glazing and serving.

To reheat -- about 30 seconds in the microwave. We store the leftovers in the fridge.

C is for Chicken

By sketchy on October 10, 2007 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is partly inspired from the CAP classes, but mostly the fact that I love chicken. Many people have unpleasant memories of bland, overcooked chicken, or spiritless steamed chicken. This has a lot to do with misunderstandings of salmonella, and lack of proper equipment. Poultry needs to be heated to 165 degrees. This does not mean cook it until it reaches 165 degrees. Carry over cooking will increase the temperature of your chicken by 5 degrees in about 5 minutes. Use a thermometer to determine the temp.

There are many different cuts of chicken you can get at your local market. Thighs, breasts, drumsticks, roasters, quarters, boneless, bone in, sausages, ground, the list goes on and on. Each type of cut has its purposes, one of the most commonly used cut is the boneless-skinless chicken breasts. These are typically huge cuts of low fat protein. You may have noticed the giant chicken breasts in the meat section, still partially frozen, almost bulging out of the package. well, there is some science behind this.

The chickens are bread to be larger. Tysons average size chicken has gone up 4 pounds in the last 40 years. this may not seem like a lot, but in my lifetime, I have seen a standard pack of chicken breasts go from 4 per pack to 3 per pack. the standard weight of a pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts is 28 ounces. When I was a kid (80's), that equated to 7 ounces a chicken breast. Today, the breasts average 9.3 ounces each. A serving of chicken considered to be half a chicken breast, then they state it should weigh 3 ounces. Well, they need to look at what the average American is eating. Many will eat one or two of these and think nothing of it.

you can still find those "normal sized" chicken breasts at many markets. Some are featured at places like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, otherwise, you may need to look for the organic and cage free chicken breasts. they will typically cost a dollar more per pound, but you can purchase them in smaller packages, and get 4 per pack. Fresh Market and Whole Foods offers their chicken breasts butterflied. These are smaller, and tend to be a more manageable size when plated.

The organic breasts are less likely to be injected or vacuum tumbled with chicken flavor, but check the label first.

These processes increases the water content of the chicken, and increases the weight of the product. This is one reason it is hard to marinate chicken, they are already saturated with water. The injections help prevent the chicken from drying out, but they artificially inflate the weight, and hamper the chicken's ability to act like the protein you purchased.

One of the key aspects to cooking chicken is keeping it juicy. This is easy to do if you cook it properly. Once it is overcooked, there is little you can do to rescue it. There are two common ways to prevent overcooking. High heat and roasting. Most people are afraid of high heat cooking. You have to pay attention to your pans or it will escape, then you burn the meat, dry it out, and set off your fire alarms :D But there is a plus side -- it cooks in almost no time, looks really good, tastes great, and prepares your pan for a wonderful array of possibilities.

Pan seared chicken cutlets with a White wine rosemary lemon sauce.

Measure everything out ahead of time (do not mix wet ingredients)

Mise en place

The sauce will be punchy, so sample it while you are making it, the butter will help mellow some of the flavors, but the acidity of the lemon and wine will still be strong. There should be little need to add salt to the sauce, the chicken will have left some of it's salt in the pan, but check it anyways.

Do not use a nonstick pan!

1 large or 2 small chicken breasts (enough to serve 2 (1/4 pound per person))
Canola Oil
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup Dry White Wine
1/3 cup Chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth
lemon
sprig of fresh rosemary
3 Tbsp butter (cold)
4 thin lemon slices
rosemary oil

Take the chicken breasts and split them so you have two cuts the same thickness. Rub them down with oil, dust one side with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tsp oil (on high, or medium high) until it starts to smoke. Add the chicken to the pan, salt side down. Cook until they are halfway done. Keep the pan shaking to a minimum. Flip the chicken and cook on the other side. have a clean plate and some aluminum foil ready. When chicken is done, remove from pan and tent with foil.

Add the lemon slices to the pan and quickly sear both sides. The goal is to get some color on them before the fond in the pan burns. Remove them from the pan and add the wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan with your tongs to release any stuck on goodies. As the wine reduces, add the chicken stock and the sprig of rosemary. Remove the rosemary when the majority of liquid is gone. Continue reducing until the liquid is almost gone (about a tablespoon). Remove the pan from heat and the juice from the quarter a lemon. Move the chicken to warm serving plates, slicing if you need to (on the resting plate), add the reserved juices to the sauce.

Add cold butter 1 tbsp at a time to the pan. Swirl the pan around to emulsify the butter into the sauce. The remaining heat will melt the butter. Continue one Tbsp at a time. Spoon over chicken and serve.

Garnish with rosemary, lemon slices, and few drops of rosemary oil.

This goes very well with Parmesan mashed potatoes, and you could finish this meal with some bread and a roasted relish of tomato and sweet corn.

Corn

By sketchy on September 10, 2007 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not a writer, I develop/program call center and ticket tracking software for a living. On the side, I build websites and back-end databases with my wife. Why am I here, why am I doing this? Well -- I love food, I love to cook, I love to bake, and I love to eat.

But Dave, you're not professionally trained, why should I listen to you?

Well, I hope you will read what I have to say because it is informative and worth your time. You don't have to be culinarily trained to talk about food. I'm going to do my best to hit the ground running, act like I have experience with authoring a blog. Here goes!

----------------

I love corn

I love corn, I don't know where this near obsession came from, but corn-on-the-cob is one of the few things I can eat faster then my wife. Fresh sweet corn is the best - grilled, boiled, whatever. Fresh corn has a very high sugar to starch ratio, and after a few days, the sugars begin to convert to starch -- if you get a large percentage of conversion, the corn just tastes mealy. You can slow down this process by storing the husk-on corn in the refridgerator. but use it within 3 days if possible. If you buy husked corn, plan on using it the day you buy it.

I've become very disappointed with most restaurant corn on the cob. It's mushy, the cell walls have broken, not worth the effort. I find that most frozen corn is also like this. If you want to serve corn, but you cannot find any fresh - go with the canned stuff.

Making corn -- Boiling --

Fill a large pot with water, add 1/4 tsp of sugar for each cob you plan to add to the water. bring the water to a boil.

When the water is at a rolling boil, add the corn cobs. Boil for 5 to 7 minutes. Each person likes their corn a certain way. I prefer mine at the five minute mark, my wife likes hers a bit more cooked. You may need to rotate the corn a little while it cooks, as it will all float to the surface.

Making Corn -- Grilling --

This is, by far, the best way to cook corn on the cob.

Some people recommend soaking the husks in water -- this will add a lot of water in the husks, and steam the corn when it cooks. the water also prevents most of the husk from burning. I prefer the smoky flavor the lack of water imparts (The husk can be solid black, but the corn will still be protected).

I take my corn, and if possible -- just throw them on the coals, turning often for 5 to 10 minutes. It will be black on the outside. black, charred, but if you leave all the husk on, the corn should be nice and golden.

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