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Menampilkan postingan dengan label Sauces

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cider Dijon Pan Sauce - Déjà Vu to You Too

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I've used pork tenderloin in several video recipes on the site, and I always say the same things; easy to cook, tender, tasty, fast, etc. So, I'm not going to bore you with why I love this cut of pork again. I'm sure you don't want to hear how it needs almost no trimming, and cooks in only about 20 minutes again. No need to explain about the delicious pan sauces that can be made once it comes out of the oven, like this amazing Apple Dijon Sauce. Deglazing, reducing, finishing with butter…you've probably been there and done that. What I will say however is that if your planning on cooking a holiday dinner, and you're not the most confident cook in the world, you should consider this recipe. It's really hard to screw up, and believe me I've tried. Of course, that's assuming that by now I've convinced you to get a meat thermometer, and you use it on this pork to get a perfect internal temperature for maximum succulence. Teaser Alert: I also will be...

Crispy Honey-Glazed Ham – Looks, Tastes, and Sounds Like the Holidays

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A great holiday ham glaze needs to have three things; a wonderful flavor, a gorgeous, shiny appearance, and a crispy, crackling crust you can hear across the room. I’m happy to report this easy to make glaze has all those things in abundance. This honey glaze will work on any size or style of ham, and as long as you keep the mixture quite thick, and caramelize it properly at the end, you will be the proud owner of a magazine cover-quality ham. As I mention in the video, this was an uncured, fully-cooked, country-style ham, and if you use something similar, I’m recommending you pull it at 130 F. internal temp. Remember, ham is already cooked, so we just want it hot enough to eat. By the way, if you’re using a ham that’s not cooked already, you’re on your own! The type of ham I used doesn’t contain a lot of added water like most hams in the supermarket, so it’s even more crucial to use a thermometer to achieve the proper temp. The meat has a denser, drier texture, and while the payoff i...

Cumberland Sauce – It Only Sounds Stuffy

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I’ve always wondered why Cumberland sauce wasn’t more popular around the holidays. It’s such a delicious and versatile condiment, and just as easy and fast to make as any cranberry sauce out there.  Maybe it’s the name? Cumberland sauce sounds more like something that the Queen would be spooning over a Quail en Croute than it does Uncle Charlie over a slice of ham. However, despite this sassy sauce’s upper-crusty sounding name, it’s actually quite rustic. My “Black Cumberland” version uses black currants instead of the traditional red, and also includes some very browned-blackened onions, but like all similar recipes, this begs for even further adaptation depending on the meat. Maybe a little mint for lamb, or a touch of cardamom for that smoked duck breast? Notwithstanding any flavor variations, you will still need to decide whether to serve hot or not. I definitely prefer the thick, shiny cooled-down version as shown, but happily, there’s no wrong choice. I hope you give this ex...

Taking the Scrap Out of Scrapple

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I did this scrapple video recipe for my America food site on About.com, and decided to make a couple minor changes to the original recipes - like leave out the main ingredient. Scrapple, a Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast staple from days gone bye, is basically a bunch of hog scraps (you don't want to know) bound together with a cornmeal mush. Once cooled, it's sliced, fried, and "enjoyed." This more user-friendly variation uses polenta as the binding agent, and is studded with pieces of pork you can actually identify and would eat on purpose, like pork shoulder and ham. This is the perfect day-after-pork-roast breakfast. Now that I've guaranteed a flood of email and comments from insulted Pennsylvania Dutchmen who swear by the heirloom recipes, I will say this slightly usual morning side dish is quite tasty with a couple eggs, and certainly fills you up for a long day of doing whatever they do all day in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Enjoy! Click here for ingredients a...

"There's Nothing in the House" Salmon Cakes with Creamy Corn Relish and Tarragon Drizzle

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This Salmon Cakes with Creamy Corn Relish video recipe reminded me that some of the best, and most satisfying cooking I do seems to happen when there's nothing to work with. Of course, I don’t literally mean nothing, that would require the ability to conjure things up, and my training in the dark arts is relatively minimal. I mean no obvious fresh ingredients to use. I recently found myself in this predicament when a driving rain made a trip to the store seem like a poor choice when compared to a lo ok-around the pantry and freezer. What I found led to one of the more delicious lunches I've had this month. These salmon cakes are so easy, so cheap, and since canned salmon is always wild salmon, very healthy. You'll also see me use a couple spoons of crème fraiche , which I showed you how to make in a recent video recipe. You can sub milk or cream, but why? Make some crème fraiche. Anyway, next time you're at the store make sure you pick up a bag of frozen corn and a few ...

How to Make Horseradish Sauce and Giving the Gift of Summer

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You Curb Your Enthusiasm fans may find this post, "a little saucy." First up, we have a quick and dirty tutorial for making homemade horseradish sauce. It makes me a little sad when I see someone in the market buying a jar of horseradish sauce.  You know I have nothing against the convenience of using the occasional prepared sauce, as a good jar of marinara or carton of organic broth can save hours in the kitchen. However, a cold sauce like this only takes minutes, and the results will be noticeably superior to even the least picky. It will also include about 12 less ingredients. If you are doing a Prime Rib , or other roast beef, you may want to seriously consider whipping up a batch of this classic horseradish sauce. As I mention in the video, sour cream is the standard base for this sauce, but if you can, I recommend trying some crème fraiche. Most big grocery stores will carry it, usually in the cheese department. It's basically the same thing as sour cream, but a l...

Mushroom Ragout on Garlic Toast - Maybe I Could Be a Vegetarian

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No, I couldn't, but when I eat a meatless dish as delicious as this mushroom ragout (pronounced ragoooo), I realize there are plenty of recipes that are just as tasty and satisfying as my favorite meat dishes. Of course, almost anything is good poured over garlic toast, and you'll see a great trick for ultra-fast and easy garlic-scented toast in this video recipe I recently produced for About.com. I did sneak some chicken stock into the sauce, but if you are a vegetarian you can use a vegetable stock and it will be fine. Whenever I do a video recipe that uses Marsala wine I get lots of emails about what they can substitute. You can't, go get a bottle of Marsala wine. Just regular Marsala, not the sweet dessert Marsala as it is way too sweet to cook with. Ask the person at the wine shop to help you; tell them you are cooking with it and don't want the sweet variety and they will show you the right one. Buy the cheapest one of the selection they give you, and you're ...

Roasted Beef Tri Tip with Four-Peppercorn Crust – A Holiday Roast with an Angle

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Tri tip of beef is a common summer grill option, but I don’t think I’d ever seen it done as a holiday roast. I tried to think of a reason why it wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t come up with anything. In fact, I decided that not only would this make a great, and more affordable alternative to prime rib, but it would also remind guests of mid-July, which is a proven treatment for winter blues. Side effects may include seconds and thirds. This is not as tender as a prime rib, but if cooked to the right doneness, you’ll be enjoying juicy, flavorful, and plenty tender enough meat. To that end, I’d avoid the temptation to cook this rare, which can make it too chewy. I like to pull it at 130 F. internal temp, which after resting will give you something closer to medium. For me, this provides the best texture, and an even beefier flavor. Having said that, there should be something for everyone. Plenty of nice pink meat to go around, and the narrower end will provide just enough well-done for y...

My Goose Was Already Cooked

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Many years ago I remember trying to cook a Christmas goose. It wasn’t a total disaster, but I do remember gamey, less-than-tender meat, and copious amounts of grease. So, despite several food wishes for this iconic holiday roast, I decided it wasn’t something I wanted to revisit. Then, I received an offer to try a pre-cooked, smoked goose from Schiltz Foods . They’re the country’s largest goose producer, and a sponsor of this year’s Tasty Awards . They were offering their geese to select Tasty Award nominees to try out, so I decided to give it a whirl. I’ll admit to being skeptical since reheating pre-cooked meats usually don’t produce the best results. However, this turned out amazingly well. As you’ll see, the skin roasted up perfectly crisp, and the meat was moist and flavorful. By the way, I did zero food styling in this video, and the magazine-quality final product you see in these photos was exactly what came out of the oven. Since the bird is brined and smoked, the taste is tha...

Ah, oh, ah? Beef Au Jus

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I do not speak French. This is not something I'm proud of, as I could have, and should have, picked it up by now. With that said, the mispronunciation of French culinary terms is one of my great guilty pleasures. I know it's "oh" jus, and not "ahhh" jus, but that's how I grew up saying it, and I don't have any plans to start saying it right at this advanced age. Besides, the proper pronunciation sounds like you are surprised you're getting a sauce, and my way sounds like you are happy about it. This is the most minimalist method for doing a quick au jus for your prime rib of beef. In a restaurant that specializes in prime rib, they have the benefit of massive amounts of bones and scraps to make a reduced, rich jus without having to thicken it. At home however, we need to cheat a little bit. You can do this without the flour step, but I think most people prefer this beefy dipping sauce to have a little body to it. Not thick like gravy, but just a...

Swedish Meatballs and the Most Under Appreciated Celebrity Chef Ever

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Whenever there’s a discussion about the history of celebrity chef pop culture, one name is invariably left out, and this Swedish Meatballs recipe served as a reminder of that sad fact. How anyone can talk about the pioneers of food television without including the Swedish Chef from the Muppets is beyond me. His frenetic energy and charisma makes Gordon Ramsey seem like a shrinking violet by comparison. His technique surpasses Emeril's on every level, and if we’re just talking catch phrases, how can you even begin to compare “Yummo” to “Bork, Bork, Bork?” Some use the excuse that he wasn’t actually real, that he was just a bunch of stained, smelly fabric, wrapped around some dude’s hairy forearm. Well, that may be true, but it goes beyond that. I believe there’s been a systematic discrimination against Swedish chefs, which has made advancing upward impossible. I call it the ice ceiling. Do NOT forget the Lingonberry jam! Anyway, in related news, these Swedish meatballs rocked! Unli...

Huckleberry Jam – Possibly in HD!

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I finally got a new camera! A beautiful Canon T1i (thanks for the advice Danielle!). I've been dying to improve the still photography on the blog, as well as have something that can take decent low-light plate shots with when I'm in restaurants. When I got home from the store I went immediately to YouTube to get some tutorials for using it. Thankfully there were lots of photographers who had posted videos on what all the buttons do (so many buttons), as well as some pretty good SLR photography basics. It was during this initial research that I discovered something wonderful and unexpected. My new camera apparently has a really nice HD video feature! Bonus. So this quick and sticky video recipe for huckleberry jam was basically done as a test to see how much better the quality would be. In addition to not really knowing how to make jam (I just winged it from memory of one I made like 15 years ago), I have very little experience with HD anything. Some folks on YouTube already co...

Cranberry Sauce Like a Boss

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Just in case you’re still deciding on which of the roughly one million different cranberry sauces you’ll be going with this Thanksgiving, here are a few ideas. Technically, the Cumberland isn’t a cranberry sauce, but it’s close enough, and serves the same delicious purpose. If you're tempted, just click on the bold titles, and away you go. I hope you give one of these great sauce a try, and as always, enjoy! Tangerine Cherry Cranberry Sauce Could you just use orange, and call it "tangerine?" Sure, why not, it's only your family you'd be misleading. Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce This one just sounds like it will be great with roast turkey. In fact, when you tell people what it is, they'll say, "Oh, that sounds great." Try it, and see. Cumberland Sauce Do you think they just name any old sauce after the Duke of Cumberland? Well, they don't  Maple Walnut Cranberry Sauce As you'll read, there was a time when I didn't think putting nuts i...

Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce – Making Your Holidays More Difficult, One Condiment at a Time

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You would think the vast majority of the visitors to this blog would be fine with me posting a new holiday cranberry sauce every year, but apparently that’s not the case.  After posting the tease picture for this lovely ginger, pear, cranberry sauce, I received a bunch of comments and emails with the same basic message, “please don’t, you’re confusing us.” Evidently, some people like our past cranberry sauce recipes so much, that they don’t know if they should stick with them, or try a new version. It’s causing quite the dilemma. Do you go with the one you know you love, and that garnered so many compliments, or do you try something new and risk it all? Sorry, I really can’t help you decide, but a t least let me make an already tough call, even tougher. This gingery, pear-studded cranberry sauce was simply amazing. I’ve been want ing to try pear in a cranberry sauce forever, and this was so fantastic that I’m a little upset I waited this long. Anyway, I hope your Thanksgiving me...

Maple Walnut Cranberry Sauce – I'm Fine Now, But I Used to Be Nuts

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It funny how certain food memories stick in your brain, and this maple walnut cranberry sauce is the result of one such remembrance. I can’t tell you when or where, but sometime during my formative years I saw a cranberry sauce loaded with chopped walnuts, and I totally freaked.  Not outwardly, as I have a decent poker face, but inside I was like, “what the hell is that?” That’s how it was for me early in life. If I saw a food prepared differently from the way I’d always seen it, I just assumed it was a terrible idea. Like ketchup on a hot dog…okay, so I happened to be right that time, but generally it’s not a great attitude to have. As I pondered this season’s annual Thanksgiving cranberry sauce, and which styles I hadn’t tried yet, I remembered how off-putting that walnut-studded version was, and I decided to face my demons. I’m happy to report, as usual, I was totally wrong. It works perfectly. Besides the nuts, I really enjoyed the job the maple syrup did sweetening the acidic ...

Cooking Turkey for Chickens! A Two-Part Thanksgiving Turkey Tutorial

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By knowing just a few basic tricks, you can guarantee yourself a moist, delicious, and beautiful Thanksgiving turkey every time. The two videos posted below were done last year, and according to the many emails and comments I got, they proved very helpful to lots of your fellow foodwishers. If you don't have one, make sure you buy a meat thermometer before thanksgiving. They're only a few dollars, and on Thanksgiving at least, it's the most important tool in the kitchen. Other than that, these turkey and sauce techniques don't require any special skills or equipment, and you probably have everything you need already . As I said in the original post, with these videos you can proceed with confidence, joy, and the knowledge that since you are cooking the turkey you won't have to wash any dishes! See you on the couch. Enjoy! Thanksgiving Turkey Part 1: Prepping and Roasting Thanksgiving Turkey Part 2: It's All About the Gravy To get the ingredients, use these link...

All Gravies Are Sauces, But Not All Sauces Are Gravies

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I got a bunch of emails after posting the Turkey Gravy with Porcini Mushrooms and Marsala Wine video , asking about the difference between a “gravy” and a “sauce.” Basically, a gravy is a sauce made from the pan drippings, both fat and juices, after a piece of meat is roasted. So, all gravies are sauces, but not all sauces are gravies. Got it? So, my Turkey Gravy with Porcini Mushrooms and Marsala is technically a sauce, which I called a gravy purely for SEO-related reasons. This time of year, people are searching for turkey gravies, not turkey sauces. Anyway, here’s a repost of a real turkey gravy, from our two-part Thanksgiving special we ran back in 2008. This just covers the gravy, so if you want to see how we got to this point, you can check out part one here . To read the original gravy post, click here . Enjoy!

Lobster Newberg… I Mean, Wenberg

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How Lobster Newberg got its name is one of my all-time favorite food stories. It’s also a fascinating glimpse into the twisted mind of someone crazy enough to own/run a restaurant.  As the story goes, this dish was invented by a Mr. Ben Wenberg, who showed it to his buddy, Charles Delmonico, at the famous Delmonico’s Restaurant, in New York City. Chuck puts it on the menu, calls it “Lobster Wenberg,” and everyone loves it. Sometime thereafter, the two men get into a horrible argument, and Delmonico takes it off the menu. Of course, the patrons are like, “You said what? He said what? Whatever, just put it back on the menu.” Which he did, but not before changing the name to the anagram, “Newberg,” purely out of spite. Hey, he could have gone with Lobster “Bengrew.” Strange but true naming stories aside, this really is a great, and simple recipe. As long as you’re not filming it, that is. Once you start with the sauce, you really can’t stop until you’re spooning it into the pastry, ...

How to Cook a Turkey: Part 2 - All About the Gravy

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Gravy is the lifeblood of any real thanksgiving feast. It will moisten the driest turkey, and saturate the most solid stuffing. Lumpy mashed potatoes are no match for its slow-moving seduction. I like gravy, I like it a lot. This is Part 2 in the How to Cook a Turkey miniseries. We join the turkey in progress, with about an hour left to cook. As you'll see, the f oil is removed, the turkey browns beautifully, and then it’s time to get our gravy on. I hope this video recipe leads you to a nice bo at of gravy at your holiday table, and even though your turkey will be moist and tender, you'll have this liquid love on hand just in case. A few words for you advanced turkey chefs. These video recipes are intended for the novice chefs among us, which is why I tried to use a minimum of steps. There was no brining, frying, injecting, smoking, bagging, or upside-downing. That's not to say I don't appreciate all those techniques, and the endless quest for turkey perfection. So, e...

Turkey Gravy with Porcini Mushrooms and Marsala Wine – Make-Ahead So You Don’t Get Behind

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They say timing is everything; to which I would add, “was” everything, and “will be” everything. So, with that in mind I present this “make-ahead” turkey gravy with porcini mushrooms and Marsala wine. The Thanksgiving Day kitchen is a busy, hectic scene that can intimidate even the most experienced cooks. As dinnertime approaches, you’re flying around the kitchen trying to get everything to the table, hot, looking delicious, and most importantly, on time. While the turkey is resting under foil, you’re mashing potatoes, reheating sweet potatoes, warming rolls, and probably trying to finish a gravy. That’s a lot of stuff going on, and one reason new cooks are so afraid to try a big holiday meal. However, by doing your gravy ahead of time, you make that last-minute production a lot easier, and your other offerings will benefit from the extra attention. That’s not to say I want you to throw away all those lovely turkey pan juices sitting in your roasting pan. Time permitting of course, st...