test cook
Kit Wohl is a cookbook author and photographer. These recipes are available for anyone who would like to take them out for a test cook run. "Cooking is an art and a form of creative expression," she says. "Food is distinctive in form, color, texture, and flavor. The selection, preparation, and presentation of a meal are as creative as any art project. Best of all, it nurtures both the body and the spirit."Friday, June 30, 2006
STEVE BELLAIRE'S
Peppermint Ice Cream
with Chocolate Sauce
Brocato's and Brown’s Velvet are our suppliers of peppermint ice cream. Peppermint ice cream supply and demand is a puzzlement. Many brands appear in grocery stores only during the holiday season. A few restaurants have it at all times. Peppermint ice cream is an important ingredient in many desserts such as Arnaud’s Baked Alaska, the Pontchartrain Hotel’s Mile High Ice Cream Pie and midnight snacks. Restaurants secure it in 5-gallon containers, far too much for a home kitchen, but that’s why some restaurants have a full freezer.
Devotees of peppermint ice cream in New Orleans were frustrated.
Stephen K. Bellaire, CPA, who thinks about these conundrums, found a solution. He makes his own and offers it as gifts. Only a dear friend and thoughtful man would go to these lengths but then again, he likes it too.
Yield: One-gallon ice cream
Devotees of peppermint ice cream in New Orleans were frustrated.
Stephen K. Bellaire, CPA, who thinks about these conundrums, found a solution. He makes his own and offers it as gifts. Only a dear friend and thoughtful man would go to these lengths but then again, he likes it too.
Yield: One-gallon ice cream
1- gallon vanilla ice cream, best quality or the French vanilla custard recipe.
1-16 ounce bag hard red and white, or green and white peppermints, such as Brach’s
Reserve several for garnish
2-cups chocolate sauce
Crush the peppermints between two sheets of waxed paper or two clean dishtowels, using a hammer.
Allow the ice cream to soften while you break up the peppermints, or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, checking it frequently. It must be soft enough to stir since it will continue to soften while it is worked.
Add the half of the peppermints to the softened ice cream and stir continuously until thoroughly blended. Taste and add more until it is the flavor intensity you prefer.
Return to the freezer for several hours until hardened.
Serve with chocolate sauce and garnish with a whole peppermint, sprinkles of the left over crushed peppermint and a spring of fresh mint.
Chocolate Sauce
Makes 2 cups
1-cup heavy cream
½-pound semi-sweet chocolate broken into small pieces
2-1/2-tablespoons light corn syrup
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate pieces and corn syrup. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Keep unused sauce in the refrigerator.
NOTE: Blending it in an ice cream freezer, is very effective but produces a hot pink ice cream with few crunchy nuggets.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
DOOKY CHASE'S Sweet Potato Pie
Yield: One 8-inch pie, serves 6
There’s something about a sweet potato pie that feels like home when it’s presented. No one has a bigger heart than Leah Chase. She’ll give you a hug as warm as her smile and a great meal. Loved ones and guests receive the bounty of her enthusiasm for beautiful food and she enjoys seeing appreciative diners in return. Not only is her sweet potato filling as succulent as it promises, but the pecan crust is as special as Leah.
Pie Filling
4 large sweet potatoes, boiled until tender and peeled
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup condensed milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes. Add sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Whisk in condensed milk and butter. Whisk mixture until smooth and set aside.
Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
½ cup cold water
Cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
Stir flour and salt together and add pecans. Cut in shortening until it is in small, pea-sized lumps. Slowly add water and mix into stiff paste.
On a floured board, roll out into a 10-inch circle and place into 8-inch pie pan. Prick the bottom with a fork.
Bake for a few minutes, until the crust is barely cooked. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 350ºF.
Fill pie shell with sweet potato mixture. Sprinkle top lightly with cinnamon. Return to oven and bake for 35 minutes, until set.
Sidebar
As a girl, Leah Chase did not eat in a white restaurant. When she and her husband Dooky, Jr. transformed a tiny sandwich shop into one of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants, it was a hit. Dooky Chase’s became a political hub and haven during the Civil Rights Movement and no one ever left hungry; Leah made certain of that and still does. She took over the kitchen and hasn’t stopped cooking yet. Her smile and gracious manner let you know immediately that she’s a lady–a lady to be reckoned with. Her charitable, civic and professional efforts have been repeatedly recognized when she seeks nothing but to feed her guests well and properly and better her community. The restaurant displays award-winning art, and features an elegant Victorian Room. Leah insists on doing things right.
She was one of the seventy-five women featured in “I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America,” received the National Candace Award as one of the ten most outstanding black women in the country, was the recipient of the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Loving Cup and named as Ella Brennan Savoir Faire Award for Excellence by the National Federation of Chefs. The James Beard Society also honored her recently. She’s authored two cookbooks and an autobiography.
Leah, now in her 80s, has received awards from the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP, as well as honorary doctorate degrees from Holy Cross College in New Orleans and Madonna College in Detroit.
GALATOIRE'S
Caramel Cup Custard
Yield: 12 cup custards
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 quart whole milk
10 large eggs
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Melt I cup of the sugar in a small, heavy saucepan over a medium heat, swirling occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. When the sugar turns golden brown, add ¼ cup water and use a long-handled spoon to slowly stir it in. Cook the caramel sauce for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, then remove the pan from the heat. Into each of 12 custard cups or ramekins, pour enough hot caramel to coat the bottom. Put the custard cups in a 2-inch deep baking pan and fill the pan with very hot water until it comes halfway up the sides of the cups. Set aside while making the custard.
Heat the milk in a large pan over medium–high heat until it simmers, watching carefully. Remove from the heat. In a separate bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar, the eggs, and the vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Slowly add the milk to the eggs to temper them. Once all of the milk has been incorporated, strain the custard mix through a fine-mesh strainer.
Fill each of the caramel-coated cups with the liquid custard. Cover the pan with foil and create a seal at the edges.
Bake the custards for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes. To check for doneness, touch the top of one custard. It should have a light, springy texture that does not stick to your finger.
Remove the custards from the water bath, let them cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until chilled.
Separate the custards from the sides of the cups using a small paring knife. Invert the cups onto small desert plates or bowls. Remove the cups to allow the rich caramel sauce to run down the sides of the custards.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
CHEF ROBERT BARKER'S
CAFÉ BRÛLOT PUDDING CAKE
Oven-proof demitasse cups and spoons find their way to the dessert table filled with a single mixture that ingeniously separates into cake on the top and custard on the bottom during the baking process. It looks like a tiny soufflé and tastes like New Orleans famous Café Brûlot, laced with cognac, cinnamon, cloves, lemon and orange. It's simple and spectacular, a surprise for your guests.
After graduating from New Orleans’ Delgado Culinary Arts program, executive chef Robert Barker spent his first three years in an apprenticeship tour of the city’s most distinctive restaurants.
Delgado’s respected program is modeled after the European apprenticeship system. A student rotates through accredited restaurants and attends class on off-kitchen days. Three years of practical experience with pay and academics make it one of the country’s finest schools. Restaurants compete for these students.
Barker completed his apprenticeship at Arnaud’s, then joined Wolfgang Puck for what he called his MBA in cooking. He followed up as executive sous-chef under Emeril Legasse, and later earned his toque—although he wears a baseball cap—as an executive chef.
Barker relishes creating new ways of presenting New Orleans’ unique flavor combinations, and cooking is his passion. “Food,” he says, “is the centerpiece for me. Our family gets together for holidays and the continuous two or three-day food fest begins with visits to the farmer’s markets and ends with soups and gumbos from the leftovers. That’s what it is all about.”
Yield: 12 demitasse cups or six servings in custard cups
1 1/2 cup milk, scalded
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
pinch teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 lemon zest
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons cognac
4 large eggs, separated
4 tablespoons strong espresso
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
In a small saucepan, scald the milk. Set it aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, flour, salt, melted butter, lemon and orange peel, lemon and orange juice, and cognac. Stir together to blend. This is the base mixture.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks; add the scalded milk slowly, stirring constantly.
Whisk the egg mixture into the base mixture. In a perfectly clean bowl, beat or whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold into the base mixture.
Pour into 12 oven-proof demitasse cups, six buttered custard cups or one buttered 1-quart casserole. Arrange cups or casserole in a larger baking pan and carefully pour in about 1 inch of hot water. Bake demitasse cups for 25 to 30 minutes; custard cups for 35 minutes; a casserole dish for 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the demitasse to check if the cake is done and the custard firm. It should not jiggle. Garnish with an espresso stick or curl of orange or lemon peel and dust with cinnamon. Break the crust with a demitasse spoon and pour 1/2 teaspoon of cognac or an orange-flavored liqueur into the wound. It may be a nice gesture, but it might gild the lily.
After graduating from New Orleans’ Delgado Culinary Arts program, executive chef Robert Barker spent his first three years in an apprenticeship tour of the city’s most distinctive restaurants.
Delgado’s respected program is modeled after the European apprenticeship system. A student rotates through accredited restaurants and attends class on off-kitchen days. Three years of practical experience with pay and academics make it one of the country’s finest schools. Restaurants compete for these students.
Barker completed his apprenticeship at Arnaud’s, then joined Wolfgang Puck for what he called his MBA in cooking. He followed up as executive sous-chef under Emeril Legasse, and later earned his toque—although he wears a baseball cap—as an executive chef.
Barker relishes creating new ways of presenting New Orleans’ unique flavor combinations, and cooking is his passion. “Food,” he says, “is the centerpiece for me. Our family gets together for holidays and the continuous two or three-day food fest begins with visits to the farmer’s markets and ends with soups and gumbos from the leftovers. That’s what it is all about.”
Yield: 12 demitasse cups or six servings in custard cups
1 1/2 cup milk, scalded
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
pinch teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 lemon zest
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons cognac
4 large eggs, separated
4 tablespoons strong espresso
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
In a small saucepan, scald the milk. Set it aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, flour, salt, melted butter, lemon and orange peel, lemon and orange juice, and cognac. Stir together to blend. This is the base mixture.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks; add the scalded milk slowly, stirring constantly.
Whisk the egg mixture into the base mixture. In a perfectly clean bowl, beat or whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold into the base mixture.
Pour into 12 oven-proof demitasse cups, six buttered custard cups or one buttered 1-quart casserole. Arrange cups or casserole in a larger baking pan and carefully pour in about 1 inch of hot water. Bake demitasse cups for 25 to 30 minutes; custard cups for 35 minutes; a casserole dish for 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the demitasse to check if the cake is done and the custard firm. It should not jiggle. Garnish with an espresso stick or curl of orange or lemon peel and dust with cinnamon. Break the crust with a demitasse spoon and pour 1/2 teaspoon of cognac or an orange-flavored liqueur into the wound. It may be a nice gesture, but it might gild the lily.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
HERBSAINT
BROWN BUTTER BANANA TARTLET
Chef Donald Link presides over his tiny uptown restaurant, Herbsaint, named after the New Orleans liqueur. There, Creole and Cajun specialties take star turns on his menu; some recipes hail from the city and others from the country. His creativity extends to desserts such as Brown Butter Banana Tartlet, reflecting Louisiana’s fields of sugar cane. Chef Link’s southern Louisiana origins were burnished as sous chef to chef Susan Spicer at her restaurant, Bayona.
Yield: One 9-inch tartlet
12 ounces unsalted butter
1/4 vanilla bean, scraped
1 cinnamon stick, broken
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ripe bananas, sliced ¼ inch thick, divided (reserve half the slices to circle the top of the tart)
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter, vanilla bean, and cinnamon. Place over low heat and when the butter has melted, let simmer gently until the butter solids have turned brown (the darker, the better the flavor, but be very careful not to let it burn). Strain through a chine noir or other fine mesh strainer. In the bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until fluffy and pale. Slowly drizzle in the butter, then fold in the flour. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
Once the pie shell has been baked, layer the bananas on the bottom of the shell and fill the tart to the top with the brown butter mixture poured over the bananas.
Pasta Frolla
7 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon best-quality vanilla
2 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, beating until the first is fully incorporated before adding the second, and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla. Fold in the flour, mixing until just combined. Chill the dough for 20 minutes before rolling it out. (This step is crucial for handling such a fragile dough; otherwise it will fall apart. However, it is easily patched with small bits of pastry.)
On a floured surface, roll out into an 11-inch circle and very carefully place in a 9-inch tart pan (patch cracks and holes as necessary with the trimmings). Chill for 20 to 40 minutes, to prevent shrinking.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Once the dough is firm, bake it “blind” in a 350ºF oven with pie weights (pennies, beans or rice in an oven-bake bag). When the edges just start to turn golden, remove the pie weights and let bake 5 to 10 minutes longer, until the crust is a little dried out.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
ROMAN CHEWING CANDY
An old Sicilian family recipe, the taffy we call Roman Chewing Candy, dates back four generations. Angelina Napoli Cortese’s son began making and selling her candy recipe in 1915 from a cart he and wheelwright Tom Brinker designed. It is still in use. Plan an afternoon with the children or some strong teenagers for pulling the taffy.
Yields 24 sticks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for buttering your fingers during the pulling stage
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup light corn syrup
¾ cup water
1 tablespoon distilled or cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda (reserve until after reaching temperature)
Flavorings: Choose one per batch
Vanilla, pure extract (NOT artificial or Mexican)
Chocolate extract, 1 teaspoon
Strawberry extract, 1 teaspoon
Food coloring to match flavorings
Equipment: Candy thermometer, Waxed paper cut into 3- x 12- inch strips
Marble slab buttered, highly recommended, or a non-stick cookie sheet, buttered
Disposable rubber gloves
Butter a large marble slab or non-stick cookie sheet
In a large, heavy saucepan, mix the sugar and corn starch until combined then add corn syrup, water, vinegar, butter and salt and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil. Clip candy thermometer to edge of pan and using a brush dipped in warm water wash sides of pan of any remaining sugar crystals.
Cook the mixture over medium heat, without stirring until the temperature reaches 248°F on a candy thermometer (the hard ball stage). Remove from heat and drop a small drop of mixture into cool water and roll ball between fingers. Should be a firm ball. Keep pot off heat while testing so you don’t risk the mixture getting too hot.
Add the flavoring of your choice and appropriate food coloring to the batch then stir in ¼ teaspoon of baking soda and immediately pour the mixture onto the buttered marble and place in the coolest available spot.
When the taffy is cool enough to handle, put on a pair of disposable rubber gloves, butter the gloves and pull it out into narrow ribbons, double back and pull it out again. Repeat the pulling and doubling over until you have a fine perspiration and toned upper body! Do not pull it until it breaks into little thin strips. Pulling will get more difficult as it gets lighter in color and no longer sticky to the touch. Do not skimp on pulling. Any less than 10-12 minutes will yield a less than chewy taffy.
Divide into about 6 lumps and pull each lump out until it is about 1/2” in diameter and 2 feet long. Twist each pulled strip slightly, and using a buttered scissors, cut it into 8” pieces, then wrap it in waxed paper, twisting the paper closed at each end.
sidebar
Ron Kottemann continues to make his great-grandmother’s recipe. The marble slab used for cooling the taffy and the large hook for pulling it are also the same ones. The candy is cooked inside the cart with butane as the fuel. Ron’s father and grandfather used a coal-burning stove. Patty the mule ambles along, rolling her cart and taffy-making kitchen around the city, resting in a different neighborhood each day. Finding the colorful cart parked in the shade of a large oak tree is good luck and a delicious reason to stop for a treat and a nod to tradition.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
SUMMER CREAM
Strawberries and blueberries grow in abundance just across Lake Pontchartrain. Dewberries hide under prickly bushes. Sweet peaches blush. Sugar cane fields lie downriver from the city. Nearby in Plaquemines Parish groves of pecan trees overhang the road from either side, creating a cool green corridor mottled with sunshine that seems to lead to another time and does lead to acres of citrus and other fruit farms.
Minutes from downtown are quiet places of contrasts. Generations of farmers have cultivated the products that grace city tables. A visit to a farmer’s stand, the French Market or a stop at a roadside truck is a delightful excursion and an opportunity to choose the season’s finest produce.
Summer Cream is a high-tolerance recipe, meaning that just about any fruit you enjoy can be used.
Yields 6
2 8-ounce cartons sour cream
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cognac, rum, champagne, vodka or bourbon (optional)
4 cups assorted berries and fresh fruit, cleaned and sliced into bite-sized pieces
Mint for garnish
Stir sour cream, brown sugar and liqueur together until thoroughly blended. Reserve ¼ cup of the cream for garnish. Divide the remainder of the cream equally between champagne or wine glasses, about 1/3 cup each. Place the assorted fruit into each of the glasses on top of the cream base. Finish each with a teaspoon of the reserved cream and adorn with a mint spring. Cover and chill until serving.
Minutes from downtown are quiet places of contrasts. Generations of farmers have cultivated the products that grace city tables. A visit to a farmer’s stand, the French Market or a stop at a roadside truck is a delightful excursion and an opportunity to choose the season’s finest produce.
Summer Cream is a high-tolerance recipe, meaning that just about any fruit you enjoy can be used.
Yields 6
2 8-ounce cartons sour cream
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cognac, rum, champagne, vodka or bourbon (optional)
4 cups assorted berries and fresh fruit, cleaned and sliced into bite-sized pieces
Mint for garnish
Stir sour cream, brown sugar and liqueur together until thoroughly blended. Reserve ¼ cup of the cream for garnish. Divide the remainder of the cream equally between champagne or wine glasses, about 1/3 cup each. Place the assorted fruit into each of the glasses on top of the cream base. Finish each with a teaspoon of the reserved cream and adorn with a mint spring. Cover and chill until serving.
As young, single women living in the Vieux Carré, we swapped recipes that were easy, and inexpensive. Summer Cream was a specialty and could be quickly tossed together with seasonal fruit from the nearby French Market.
We each had a patio for al fresco entertaining with apartments as miniscule as our budgets. Mine was three stalls in the historic Spanish stables on Rue Governor Nicholls. The property had been converted into apartments decades before, hidden behind wrought iron gates that open to a lush courtyard, punctuated by an original Enrique Alferez statue.
During the early 1800s ladies and gentlemen sent horses and carriages there to await a return home. Gaming rooms on the second level above the stalls entertained the drivers. Both the first and second floors now are residences. The tenants, past and present, notable and notorious, continue to be particularly entertaining in the finest traditions.
Finally, many years later, Enrique, then in his 90s, created a bronze for our patio.
We each had a patio for al fresco entertaining with apartments as miniscule as our budgets. Mine was three stalls in the historic Spanish stables on Rue Governor Nicholls. The property had been converted into apartments decades before, hidden behind wrought iron gates that open to a lush courtyard, punctuated by an original Enrique Alferez statue.
During the early 1800s ladies and gentlemen sent horses and carriages there to await a return home. Gaming rooms on the second level above the stalls entertained the drivers. Both the first and second floors now are residences. The tenants, past and present, notable and notorious, continue to be particularly entertaining in the finest traditions.
Finally, many years later, Enrique, then in his 90s, created a bronze for our patio.
Monday, June 19, 2006
headnote
When Archie and Jane Casbarian acquired a legendary New Orleans establishment in 1978 they added Crème Brûlée to their first menu at Arnaud's—it's a treasured family recipe passed down from Jane’s honorary aunt, Joan Rosenberg, who introduced Archie and Jane. It was one of the first appearances of Crème Brûlée in an American restaurant and definately the first in New Orleans. The dessert has now swept the country and can be tricked out by adding fruit and other flavorful ingredients. At Arnaud’s, Crème Brûlée is served classically just as it was designed. The French translation is literally “burned cream.”
ARNAUD'S CRÉME BRÛLÉE