My Word with Douglas E. Welch

Who’s going to SXSW? Or perhaps you’re headed to Austin for some BBQ!  If so, you don’t want to miss our next episode of KitchenParty.

This week we’ll be chatting with one of our favorite Austin food writers Addie Broyles, Food Editor of the Austin-American Statesman and member of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance.

SHOW AIRS LIVE – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28th @ 8PM EST / 5PM PST

BY COURTESY OF THE HISTORY PRESS

Addie will be joining us live as we chat about where to eat during SXSW, the new cookbook the Alliance has published and what it’s like writing for the Austin-American Statesman. We may also pull out some old photos of the KitchenParty team at the last SXSW event if you tweet us a request… let’s just say it involved two prestigious food editors, several tiny cowboy hands and a giant steer involved.

Join us live this thursday! Watch the show here or go RSVP on ourgoogle+ account or youtube pages.

Follow Addie on twitter: @broylesa

HOW TO WATCH THE SHOW: At 8pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific on Thursday, February 28th,  join us here and click on the video that will be added to this page about 20 minutes before the show starts. Follow the conversation on twitter by using #kitchenparty or head over toYoutube.com/bakespacetv page.

NEVER MISS A SHOW: If you don’t want to miss an episode, subscribe to our google+ account or youtube pages.

• Babette Pepaj @bakespace
• Jeff Houck @jeffhouck
• Rene Lynch @renelynch
• Douglas E. Welch @douglaswelch

The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alan Chernila

I stumbled upon a mention of this The Kitchn and knew I had to take a look. Luckily my local library had it available as an electronic book.

I have been making my own homemade pantry items, in a small way, for years. Whenever I could rid myself of cream of chicken soup, taco seasoning mix and more, I have done so. That said, moving up to larger and more complicated items like cheese, cereals and others has been a slow process. I have seen other recipes and guides on developing these items, but Homemade Pantry could be the book that pushes me over the tipping point and into the production of many new items.

First, Chernila’s writing is like the calm, steady hand of an experienced cook in the kitchen — gently guiding you to the best result. The book presents the recipes in a simple straightforward fashion and makes each one seem not just possible, but almost easy to do. I especially love the sections entitled “Tense Moments.” These list a few things that could go wrong and ways of correcting them, if they should happen. What a great way to further allay people’s fears and give them the confidence to try out the recipes.

For me, I am looking to produce these recipes in the near future:

• Ricotta
• Mozzarella
• Butter
• Ketchup
• Hot Sauce
• Salad dressings
• Hummus
• Spice Mixes
• Ice Creams
• Pastas
• Chai Tea
• Sodas
• Liqueurs (I make Limoncello and other already)

I highly recommend you check out these recipes and more and start making some of your most basic pantry items yourself. You will find not only  a fresher taste in your food but also a sense of accomplishment in a job well done that also shares something special with your friends and family.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

f you subscribe to my Pinterest page, my @douglaswelch Twitter account or my Google+ feed, you know that I am always finding recipes I want to try. This series, New Food, will highlight some of those finds as we make them for the first time in our own kitchen. Then, I’ll report back to you on the results — for better or worse! — Douglas

Make your own sparkling fruit juice at home using just juice and yeast.

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Previously on New Food:

• Cornflake Crusted Chicken Tenders
• Chocolate Porter Cake
• Slow Cooker Jambalaya
• Lentil and Sausage Stew
• Slim Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
• Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken
• Parmesan Paprika Potatoes

Here are a few photos taken as we prepped for last weeks recording of #KitchenParty Live.

While I am not one to spend my life eating at famous and/or trendy restaurants (even living in Los Angeles, the home of many of them), I am always up for a quick peek behind the curtain at their food — and the people that make it. One great way to gain insight from chefs is by looking at the meals served to their staff, either before or after the dinner service. Many chefs credit these meals with bonding their staff together like a family and helps them face the rigors of restaurant life. One quite stuck with me throughout the book. Anita Lo, Chef and Owner of Annisa’s said,

“I don’t see how you can make your staff care about food if you’re note feeding them well.”

A simple idea, yes, but one that I think is very powerful. I think it could be applied in the home as well. How can you hope to have children who appreciate food if you aren’t serving them something they can, and should, appreciate.

Come In, We’re Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World’s Best Restaurants

Each section of the book — focusing on each restaurant profiled — begins with some wonderful pictures and then a short description of the chef, the staff and types of food served at their staff meals. Immediately preceding each set of recipes is a short “In conversation with…” Q&A section.

Again, I am not the height of a gastronome, so many of these recipes were a bit to frou-frou for me, but as with all books, I look for the lessons I can learn and the small things I can apply to my own cooking.

Featured recipes include:

• Skirt Steak Stuffed with Charred Scallions from Ad Hoc
• Beautiful Lace Fried Eggs from Arzak
• Bread and Butter Jalapeños from The Bristol
• Bananas Foster Bread Pudding with Brown Sugar Rum Sauce from City Grocery
• Chicken and Eggplant Rice Noodles from Cochon
• …and many more!

I marked a few of the recipes to keep for later use, including:

• Raspberry Virgin Mojitos
• Chicken and Dumplings (with cornmeal dumplings quite different from the ones I make now)
• Curried Rice and Chickpeas

Previously in Cookbooks:

• Martha’s American Food: A Celebration of Our Nation’s Most Treasured Dishes, from Coast to Coast

Books on Hold is a blog series dedicated to books I have seen in passing and requested from my local library. See more in the series at the end of this blog post. — Douglas

I am a big fan of beer and have often thought about making my own. Hard cider is as close as I have come, though. Perhaps this book will push me over the edge into some full-on beer brewing.

The Naked Brewer: Fearless Homebrewing Tips, Tricks & Rule-breaking Recipes by Christina Perozzi, Hallie Beaune

* Discovered via TheKitchn

From Amazon.com…

“For novice and experienced homebrewers alike, a year’s worth of homebrew recipes and how-tos that will arm you with the basic wisdom any homebrewer needs to build their brewing know-how.

In The Naked Brewer, Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune provide a spectrum of seasonal homebrew recipes with something for every beer-loving palate, from a Black Smoke Pale, Crisp Summer Kolsch, or Honey Chamomile Blonde perfect for summer, to heartier brews like a Pecan Pie Brown, Imperial Blood Red, or Fig and Clove Dubbel. This brewers’ handbook will help you master tricks like:

• Recipes for easy tinctures, syrups, and preserves that will become unique additions to your homebrew. 
• The Top 10 Brewing Don’ts that will help you be the most successful brewer possible. 
• How to make a whiskey barrel–aged beer by adding whiskey-soaked wood cubes to your brew. 
• How to make a delicious German brew with just a fifteen-minute boil.

The Naked Brewer shows you how to make tasty, interesting, and innovative brews in the comfort of your home that you will be proud to share with friends.”

Previously in Books on Hold:

• The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening, and Life by Margaret Roach
• Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
• The Science of Good Cooking: Master 50 Simple Concepts to Enjoy a Lifetime of Success in the Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated Cookbooks)
• Martha’s American Food: A Celebration of Our Nation’s Most Treasured Dishes, from Coast to Coast by Martha Stewart
• The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage 
• Home Made Winter by Yvette van Boven (Author), Oof Verschuren (Photographer)
• Come In, We’re Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World’s Best Restaurants

If you subscribe to my Pinterest page, my @douglaswelch Twitter account or my Google+ feed, you know that I am always finding recipes I want to try. This series, New Food, will highlight some of those finds as we make them for the first time in our own kitchen. Then, I’ll report back to you on the results — for better or worse! — Douglas

Chocolate Porter Cake

I went looking for a recipe like this so I could bake up something special for the #KitchenParty LIVE show on December 13, 2012. The theme was Beer and Food, and I had been wanting to make a porter cake for a while, so I used the happy coincidence to my advantage. You can join us for #KitchenParty each Thursday evening at 8pm EST, where we invite in all our foodie friends to chat about their cookbooks, new projects and food in general. Join us at http://bakespace.com/news/ or watch the recorded version of the show on YouTube at http://youtube.com/bakespacetv.

I made my version of this cake with Stone Smoked Porter from the Stone Brewery near Escondido, California. My ffriends brought backa growler’s worth from their recent visit to the brewery. The combination of the cocoa and the porter quickly had the house filled with an amazing aroma. My wife commented on the smell 3 times while it was baking. This cake is destined for her office party tomorrow, but I will be making another for a friend’s party next week. The original recipe called foe a porter-chocolate glaze, but I don’t really think the cake needs it for everyday consumption. I might make it for the party, though, to dress it up a bit.

Music: “Slow Burn” by Ken MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) provided under Creative Commons License

Chocolate Porter Cake

(Recipe on Bakespace.com)

Ingredients

• For the cake:
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups porter or stout
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or 1/2 cup applesauce, preferred)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• For the icing:
• 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup porter or stout
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-3 tbsp milk

Instructions

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt and sugars. Whisk to ensure even mixing.

Make a well in the center and pour in the beer, oil and vanilla. Whisk from the center, moving outwards until there are no lumps. Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a tester inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, the invert onto a wire rack.

For the icing:

Prepare the frosting while the cake is cooling.

In a food processor add all of the ingredients except the milk and mix until smooth. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time if you want a thinner frosting.

Spread frosting on the cake once it completely cooled.

More cake recipes:

Previously on New Food:

• Slow Cooker Jambalaya
• Lentil and Sausage Stew
• Slim Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
• Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken
• Parmesan Paprika Potatoes

Books on Hold is a blog series dedicated to books I have seen in passing and requested from my local library. See more in the series at the end of this blog post. — Douglas

The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening, and Life by Margaret Roach

From Amazon.com…

“Margaret Roach has been harvesting thirty years of backyard parables-deceptively simple, instructive stories from a life spent digging ever deeper-and has distilled them in this memoir along with her best tips for garden making, discouraging all manner of animal and insect opponents, at-home pickling, and more.

After ruminating on the bigger picture in her memoir And I Shall Have Some Peace There, Margaret Roach has returned to the garden, insisting as ever that we must garden with both our head and heart, or as she expresses it, with “horticultural how-to and woo-woo.” In THE BACKYARD PARABLES, Roach uses her fundamental understanding of the natural world, philosophy, and life to explore the ways that gardening saved and instructed her, and meditates on the science and spirituality of nature, reminding her readers and herself to keep on digging.”

Previously in Books on Hold:

• Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
• The Science of Good Cooking: Master 50 Simple Concepts to Enjoy a Lifetime of Success in the Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated Cookbooks)
• Martha’s American Food: A Celebration of Our Nation’s Most Treasured Dishes, from Coast to Coast by Martha Stewart
• The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage 
• Home Made Winter by Yvette van Boven (Author), Oof Verschuren (Photographer)
• Come In, We’re Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World’s Best Restaurants

 It is almost New Year’s Eve and champagne (or other sparkling wine) will be on the menu. Why not learn a bit more about this bubbly concoction and increase your enjoyment of it?

Today, in honor of this amazing beverage, I present Champagne Info!

#10 Make your own champagne!?!? 

What?!? Make your own champagne?!?! Crazy you say? Well, it only takes a quick Internet search to get lots of info on making your own champagne (or more appropriately, sparkling wine). There are a lot of recipes using the traditional grapes, but also one on making elderflower sparkling wine and many more. Making wine, or beer, isn’t really that difficult. The equipment is fairly cheap and easily available at your local brewing supply shop. Most every city of even medium size has a least one such store, or you can order you equipment and supplies online.

(Photo of my hard cider making operation from a few years ago)

Of course, making any carbonated beverage comes with the risk of an exploded bottle or two, but if you closely follow the directions, and store the fermenting bottles in a place where they can do little damage, you should be fine. I am thinking of using my ginger beer recipe (taken from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall linked below) and making some sparkling fruit juice/cider in plastic bottles. Might be interesting and it wouldn’t have as much sugar as the ginger beer does.

• Make your own champagne in 5 easy steps from Glittering Shards
• Elderflower Champagne Recipe By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage Spring

Previously in Champagne Info:

• #1 What is Champagne? from Wikipedia
• #2 Recipe: for Champagne Sorbet from Bakespace.com
• #3 Methode Champenoise
• #4 Sparkling Wine vs. Champagne
• #5 Prosecco – an Italian Sparkling Wine
• #6 Nutella Champagne Shooter recipe from Bakespace.com
• #7  Cava – A Spanish Sparkling Wine
• #8 Champagne-Liqueur Cocktails
• #9 Sabrage (opening champagne bottle with saber) 

 It is almost New Year’s Eve and champagne (or other sparkling wine) will be on the menu. Why not learn a bit more about this bubbly concoction and increase your enjoyment of it?

Today, in honor of this amazing beverage, I present Champagne Info!

#9: Sabrage (opening champagne bottle with saber)

If you really want to show off on a special occasion, like a wedding, you can learn how to open a bottle of champagne with a sword or saber. I can be a little dangerous and a bit messy, but if you are trying to make an impact more than the wine itself, sabrage might be of interest to you. That said, I wouldn’t do this with a fine bottle of champagne.

It is said the practice was invented by Napoleon’s soldiers who would use their sabers to open their bottles of champagne after a successful battle or a visit to Veuve Clicquot’s Champagne winery. (More in the Wikipedia article below)

Photo: Filckr User Cristina Gehlen

More info on Sabrage:

• Sabrage on Wikipedia
• Case Study | On Beheading Bubbly from The New York Times
• How to Saber Champagne (Slow Motion) from Linda Lawrey on Google+

Previously in Champagne Info:

• #1 What is Champagne? from Wikipedia
• #2 Recipe: for Champagne Sorbet from Bakespace.com
• #3 Methode Champenoise
• #4 Sparkling Wine vs. Champagne
• #5 Prosecco – an Italian Sparkling Wine
• #6 Nutella Champagne Shooter recipe from Bakespace.com
• #7  Cava – A Spanish Sparkling Wine
• #8 Champagne-Liqueur Cocktails