10 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Recipes
Tags: cabbage, fermentation, kim chee, kimchi, Korea, Korean food
I eat a lot of kim chee. I usually have a jar in the fridge, and I find it makes a nice snack. Plus, it’s a Super Food — packed with antioxidants and other unquantifiable health-improving properties. During the avian flu outbreak in Asia, it’s said that Korea derived a good deal of protection from eating kim chee. My wife, on the other hand, is not so fond of it. “What is that awful smell?” she says whenever she comes into the kitchen after I’ve snacked.
My kim chee
When I stumbled on a kim chee article in an old issue my favorite cooking magazine, I took that as a sign it was time to try making it on my own. More
07 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Video, World's Best Sandwiches
Tags: aioli, best burger, burger, chorizo, contest, fennel, L.A. Times, Manchego, pimenton
I like entering contests of skill. I won a big Le Creuset dutch oven recently in a contest where I had to write a semi-autobiographical essay about my childhood memories and how Le Creuset fit warmly into them. (There must’ve been one somewhere in my childhood, right? Anyway…) A recent item caught my eye in the Los Angeles Times food section: Best Burger Contest.
My entry in the Best Burger Contest — the Chorizo burger with Manchego, caramelized fennel and spicy sweet pimenton aioli
My go-to burger is sort of a knock-off of the now-famous burger from my old neighborhood dive bar, Father’s Office: thick medium-rare burgers, blue cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and arugula. I figured two thirds of the recipes submitted to the contest were going to be some variation on that theme, so I decided to enter the Burger Lab (my kitchen) and get to work on coming up with something utterly original, and unbeatably delicious. More
03 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Video
Tags: arroz a banda, barbecue, bomba, clams, crab, fideus, grill, paella, pimenton, rabbit, rice, saffron, snails, squid ink, Sur la Table, Valencia
There are a few things you must know about paella:
• It originates from the region of Valencia in Spain, and traditional versions were made in the field by hunters and contained not seafood but rabbit and snails.
• The pan is called a paella, and the dish is named for the pan. While you can cook a reasonable paella without the pan, it won’t have the same theater (see the video below). Besides, it’ll only set you back around $20 for a 15″ pan from Spain. (www.surlatable.com)
• Paellas were traditionally cooked outdoors over an open fire. This is still the best way to cook paella. Although you can achieve just as good an effect on the barbecue. When our kitchen was being remodeled, I cooked outdoor on the barbecue for two months. We ate a lot of paella. More
27 May 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Sensational Salads
Tags: anchovy, capers, France, La Grande Motte, Niçoise, olive, pan bagna, recipe, salad
Like a wayward lover, I can be accused of shifting allegiances toward salads. It’s just that there are so many great salads, and I have so much love in my heart. On this very blog alone, I’ve swooned for Caesar, gobbed praise on Cobb. But today I’ve got a new cruciferous crush — the noble Niçoise.
La Grande Motte, France
As a boy of 12 or so, I visited the French seaside development of La Grande Motte — not far from Nice. I remember a large shopping mall, strange pyramid-shaped buildings and boats. More
20 May 2011
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Recipes, Video
Tags: brine, brown sugar, Indian candy, king, salmon, salmon candy, Sanchez Carniceria, Santa Monica Seafood, silver, smoked salmon, smoker, sockeye
Most things I can figure out very quickly. But some I labor over futilely, never quite mastering them. It’s like that with my favorite salsa from the Sanchez Carniceria in Culver City. For months I tried to reproduce it in order to save myself: a) the $3.99 for a small container, and b) the trip to Culver City. Finally I waved the white flag, content to either purchase it or enjoy my own reasonably good salsa. The Sanchezes are doing some sort of alchemy down there. More
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