WGN Cooking Demo
Today I cooked a great winter dish on WGN news, its really simple and somthing I’ve been making for years. When I was at Green Dolphin Street we could hardly keep up with production. I’ve adapted the recipe a bit so its easy to make at home, you can always substitiute a beef roast or lamb leg if you dont eat pork. Enjoy!
http://www.wgntv.com/videobeta/?watchId=ddadfc1a-bf8e-4711-85c3-3b265e673c15
Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with “Mole Broth” & Tortilla Flan
5 # Bone in pork shoulder
1 ea onion, chopped
4 ea garlic cloves
2 ea ancho peppers, soaked for 30 min in warm water, stemmed and seeded
1 tbsp black peppercorns
½ ea vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs marjoram
1 ea carrot, chopped
1 ea Celery stalk, chopped
3 qts Chicken Stock
¼ bunch cilantro, chopped
½ cup almonds
To taste salt and pepper
Method:
- In a blender combine onion, garlic, drained ancho peppers, black peppercorns, carrot, celery and blend together using the stock to help blend this smooth.
- Season pork with salt and pepper, in a hot pan over high heat sear the meat until deep golden brown. Remove and turn flame down to medium heat.
- Add blended liquid and remaining stock, vanilla bean to the searing pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer for 30 minutes. Add herbs and seared pork, cover and place in a 325°F oven for 3 hours.
- Add the almonds and cilantro and return to the oven for approx 1 more hour. Pork should be tender. Remove from pan, reduce sauce if necessary, adjust seasoning, strain and serve over the pork.
Tortilla Flan
1 bag corn tortilla chips, plain
3 ea poblano peppers, charred over an open flame
10 oz tomatillos
2 ea garlic cloves
1 bunch cilantro
4 ea eggs
1 qt heavy cream
2 cups mild cheddar cheese shredded
To taste salt and pepper
As needed vegetable spray
Method:
- In a blender puree peppers, tomatillos, garlic cloves, cilantro, eggs and cream until smooth. Season.
- Pour over chips and mix together well.
- In an oven proof pan, spray with vegetable spray. Add layers of chips and cheese until pan is full. This mixture should be wet, pour over additional cream mixture to ensure. Set aside covered for 40 minutes at room temperature.
- After 40 minutes check to see if the mixture is too dry, add additional cream mixture as necessary. Cover and bake in a 325°F for approx 30 minutes until set.
History Repeats Itself
I started 2010 by looking back in history, when it comes to food there is something to be said for “grandmas cooking”. For such a long time the culinary world shunned the thought of cooking food simply and set its sights on a higher caliber of product. I know my grandmother didn’t have the time to refine her skills in the kitchen to the point of 4 star perfection; she had to get food on the table. She couldn’t contemplate if she used a different olive oil how that slight change would affect the dish.
I think sometimes we take ourselves a bit too serious in the food world, yes both chefs and guests alike, chasing the perfect bite of flavor. I’ve actually witnessed guests at a recent wine dinner I attended put every dish under the microscope and pick it apart around the table so much that they forced themselves not to have a good meal. This is an actual quote from the evening “Yes this bass is exceptional, but in a dream world I would want more flavor from the fish, I think poaching the fish and then searing the skin crispy would have made the dish perfect”. In a dream world? Sorry I’m back here on planet reality, now chefs have to compete with a dream world? You go and poach your fish first then sear it crispy, let me know how that works out for you! How about the real issue was that the fish was farm raised and lacked the true flavor of wild line caught striped bass?
I meet young culinary students all the time, fascinated by the culinary world, eager to rise through the ranks like a rocket. The important thing is that no matter what your title or experience, you have to keep learning. I remember some of my early days in the kitchen working on a project and the chef would come over and show me another technique or recipe, wow I still use it today! In our own kitchen family kind of way we produce heritage recipes, one that is passed on from one to another over time.
Now that I’m looking back at old family recipes I realized that I’ve never once in my life used a pressure cooker. In the kitchen we always had the time to braise things for hours, we planned ahead for it. Plus who are you feeding in a 6 quart pressure cooker? We would need a 30 gallon pressure cooker at the hotel! So I purchased a home model and went at it, not having a clue as to how to cook with one of these. I read the book that came with it, clearly written in 1950 so I didn’t quite understand everything, but I’m a chef I’ll figure it out. I put some pork spare ribs in with onion, water, smoked and dried green chilies from the garden, homemade canned bbq sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Put the lid on and then put it over a high flame until the pressure built up and the release cap was rocking back and forth. Turned the flame down so the cap would just rock back and forth for 15 minutes and then it was done. I let it cool at room temperature for approximately 45 minutes, opened it up and in front of my eyes in the pot was the most tender pork spare ribs I’ve had in such a long time. I turned the broiler on and while waiting I ate a 5 bone rack, they were so delicious. Once the broiler was hot enough I charred up the outside, glazed them with bbq sauce and sat down for a feast, just like grandma used to make (well a few improvements, grandma didn’t have smoked dried green chilies from the garden or homemade bbq sauce).
Which Little Piggy…
Above is a shot of the salami that is drying in the aging box at Primehouse, we made this a few weeks ago from the whole pigs we purchased. I tasted it yesterday and it has about a week to go before its ready. The pancetta pictured below is almost ready; it looks beautiful and smells fantastic. I can’t wait to start cooking with this, one more step closer to truly making everything in house which is a hard task for such a busy operation!
The Beauty Of Pork
Recently I purchased 2 whole hogs from my old friend George Rasmussen of Swan Creek Farm. When he pulled up to the restaurant it quickly spread through the kitchen that our little piggy’s arrived and the crew ran out to the trailer parked on Ontario Street like it was Christmas morning.
After freaking out some people walking down the street because I guess they believe meat comes in cute little packages with cartoons on them like in the grocery store and not from real animals! Really people? Come on! We brought them inside and freaked out some of the housekeeping staff who ended up praying because they were stuck in the elevator with the pigs; when we finally arrived to the butcher shop and weighed them… 396 pounds of pure yummy pork! A few days later the crew and I broke down the pigs, it was great to have the pastry department butchering as well. Even our front of house staff showed up to watch and take pictures!
So what did we do with all of this pork?
Tete de cochon, 4 prosciutto, 40# of salami, 40# soprassata, bbq spare ribs, various loin specials, pancetta, roasted pork glace & crispy pork rinds.
DandyID
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