been slacking for a few days ike (those three doubles i work during the week take it out of me)
i’ll be back soon with some more recipes.
by the way, don’t expect too much with the sweet potato mash, its just ok.
garlic powder! garlic powder = smith machine for squats. haha.
I really apreciate Rumbach and Ko’s tips/recipes. There’s got to be some other good cooks out there - let’s hear form you, too!
Ok, here is a great P+F meal. Blend 1 scoop of Low Carb Grow with 8 oz. of cold water. Put into glass. Fill a tablespoon with Flaxseed Oil. Gulp down the Flax and chase it with the Grow. Now, that’s good eating!
I could give you an awesome recipe for my chocolate chip “Super Cookies,” but this is probally not the right forum for that!
Haha, you have no idea how tempted I am to put some of my “real” recipes in here, but I don’t think they would fly with the whole dieting thing - I haven’t cooked anything with butter for 3 weeks, for christs sakes!
I know you want to make my stuffed pork loins wrapped in caul fat, served with garlic-basil aioli…
Hey rum. Put the REAL reciepes up anyways I know some of us just work-out for the fun of working-out and thats the way it should be. I don’t care if I got a six pack or not. I am not going to kill myself dieting if I don’t have to. Unless I am competing for a Bodybuilding show or if I need make weight for some type of comeptition. I am going to enjoy my foods. Hey you only live once.
Rumbach, I’m amazed at the stuff you’re posting here on T-forums! Cooks Illustrated! I never imagined there would be T-mag readers who knew about Cooks Illustrated.
I’d like to add that their cookbook, The Best Recipe, is my number-one go-to cookbook. It kicks Joy of Cooking’s butt. Let’s say you took Berardi’s admonition to eat more vegetables to heart (found in the print mag, reat article). Maybe you want to eat more leafy green vegetables and you want to know what to do with chard. The Best Recipe thoroughly describes what works and what doesn’t. It’s a great cookbook! Reading the articles will also teach you how to be a cook, as opposed to just following recipes. Like following an Ian King program so that you can learn how to design your own.
Ironic, you asked about brining all day. I like to do this by making a more dilute brine. I mix salt and water until it tastes just lightly salty, about as salty as something you’d enjoy eating. I then add my poultry or pork, fresh or frozen, and leave in the fridge all day.
I’ve put chicken breast in the vinagriette (sp??) and left it over night. The next day, I’ll cook it in the pan, with just Pam spray, and try to brown it. It tastes sooo good, especially over a good pasta. Don’t mean to make your mouths water, especially those dieting!!
Ko or Rum, can you guys recomend any good, all-purpose cook books? I’m not after something like Charlie Trotter’s Meat and Game, or that French Laundry shit, but something like a bit more advanced/modern Joy of Cooking. I was looking at The Professional Chef, but its 100 bones and I’m a busboy, not a professional chef. cheers, SPBM.
stately plump:
i’d steer clear of the professional chef - it is pretty general (though has a ton of great info) and a lot of times the recipes are measured to serve a dining room full of people, so the conversion down to family sized portions can be a pain.
like was said above, i would highly highly recommend cooks illustrated magazine (which accepts no advertising, so each issue is like a small book) and any of their books - their recipes are incredible, and they explain the science behind food prep.
a second recommendation would be “the essentials of classic italian cooking”, a tell all guide to italian.
the old standby for me is larousse gastronomique, the bible of french cooking, though it can be pricey too (look for it used on amazon or jessicasbiscut.com)
hope that helps
rumbach
Andersons - I agree man, cooks illustrated is essential.
Thanks for the diluted brine idea - I’ve often wondered if this would work, I’ll try it out for longer term seasoning.
Rumbach
MUSHROOM, HERB AND PINE NUT STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS
Here’s another “original” by me, quite tasty I’ve found - especially with steamed veggies on the side.
Chicken Breasts, brined
1/2 lemon + juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup Pine Nuts
1 1/2 cups Wild Mushrooms, sliced with stems removed and discarded (I prefer shitakes and morels for this - no canned mushrooms, they are abominations!)
1/2 cup basil, loosely packed
1/2 cup regular parsley, loosely packed
2 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
All right then. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cleaned mushrooms.
HINT - Never clean mushrooms under running water - they absorb moisture too fast and become soggy and lose flavor. Get a slightly damp piece of paper towel (or if you are fancy pants, a mushroom brush) and gently wipe them clean. It’s only dirt you big weenie.
Saut? mushrooms, stirring every so often, until slightly wilted and moist, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saut? until golden brown, another 2 minutes. Take off heat and set aside.
Toast your pine nuts as described earlier in the thread (in a dry pan over medium-low heat, until sweating their oil and fragrant - don’t let them burn!)
Mince parsley and basil, add lemon juice and pine nuts, plus wild mushroom mix and stir it all together.
Take your freshly brined chicken boobies out and BUTTERFLY them long ways. Basically, cut a slit in the side, 1/2 through, so it forms a sort of pouch. Stuff a few tablespoons of the mushroom mix into the breast, add a thin slice of whole lemon, and fold chicken back over.
Now, take out some toothpicks, or cooking skewers, and secure breast by “pinning” up the side. This way, you have a nicely stuffed breast that won’t leak its contents during cooking.
Heat another tbsp. of olive oil up to medium high, and sear chicken breasts for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Season with black pepper. Put breasts on a baking sheet, BRUSH WITH OLIVE OIL, and throw them in the oven until finished, about 10-12 minutes.
Voila, tasty stuffed chicken breasts. You can use almost anything to stuff chicken or turkey breasts, and adding the thin slice of lemon really moisturizes the inside and sets off the flavors of herbs. Another tasty combination might be rosemary, roasted garlic, and walnuts. Try it!
Wednesday is overfeed day.
Expect reports back on the Cobb Salad, Chicken mash AND stuffed chicken! 
Is there such a thing as a no-carb marinade?
How big a difference would it make to use fresh herbs over spices from the cooking aisle of the grocery store?
Just wanted to say thanks, Rumbach! These recipes are great.
JeffRage: I’ll work on finding a low carb marinade for you - Plus, a lot of flavoring from marinade is absorbed, but it turns out to be relatively little of the actual ingredients, probably on a couple tablespoons - I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
The herbs - dried herbs are fine in most cases (though I don’t find the basic herbas as tasty as fresh ones, like parsley and basil, but certainly buy things like taragon, majorum, etc. dried) - one thing to note though, dried herbs are a lot more powerful than fresh ones, so a tablespoon is about the same as a loosely packed 1/2 cup of fresh herbs.
Here is one of the “sure as hell ain’t dieting” recipes - I took this straight from Cooks Illustrated, but it is simply the fastest, best godamn chocolate cake I have ever seen. Find a good quality chocolate, preferably one from a speciality store (where you can buy good chocolates in bulk, like 6 dollars a pound). Otherwise, Ghiradelli works fine.
Fallen Chocolate Cake
This undercooked chocolate cake baked in a ramekin, now a popular restaurant dessert, is easily translated for the home kitchen.The challenge: Fallen chocolate cake is the sort of dessert that you’re more likely to order at a restaurant than make at home. But because its ingredient list is short and we expected the required techniques would be fairly simple, it seemed like a good candidate for the home cook’s repertoire of “fancy” desserts. We also knew, however, that restaurant recipes rarely work at home, so there would likely be a good deal of culinary translation ahead.
The solution: We began by making the recipes of two prominent chefs and a well-known food writer. Each had something a little different to offer. One was quite delicious and souffl?like in texture, but it lacked the intense chocolatiness and the rich, buttery texture of the other two desserts. Of these two, one was something like an undercooked brownie. The other, which was our tasting panel’s favorite, had the most intense chocolate flavor of the three, a relatively light texture, and a runny center. What we now wanted to do was to capture some of the ethereal lightness of the first cake with the rich taste and buttery mouthfeel of the third.
We next had to decide on the basic method of preparation and had two choices: (1) beat the egg yolks and whites separately and then fold them together, or (2) beat whole eggs and sugar to create a thick foam. The latter method proved superior, delivering the rich, moist texture we wanted while also simplifying the recipe.
After arriving at satisfactory amounts of butter (a half cup), flour (very little–one recipe had none), chocolate (we wanted a lot–but not too much), and eggs (four whole eggs plus one yolk gave us what we wanted: a cake that was rich and yet light, moist, intense, and dark), we turned our attention to cooking temperature. At the 450 degrees recommended in one recipe, the tops of our cakes (we were now testing them in ramekins, as this dessert is often presented in individual servings) burned while the centers remained too runny. At 350 degrees, the cakes became somewhat dry. Four hundred degrees was best, yielding a light, cakelike perimeter around a moist well of intense chocolate.
Now all that was left for us to decide was how the home cook would prepare it for serving–that is, without having to jump up from the dinner table to the kitchen to whip up an egg foam. We discovered that the batter can be made and poured into the ramekins ahead of time and refrigerated, then baked during dinner. The batter will hold in the refrigerator for up to eight hours, and it’s best to take the ramekins out of the fridge for 30 minutes prior to baking.
For good measure: In case you don’t have ramekins, we developed a version of the recipe to be used in both 8- and 9-inch spring form pans. In this larger form, the cake can be baked up to one hour before serving, remaining warm right in the pan.
INDIVIDUAL FALLEN CHOCOLATE CAKES
You can substitute 5 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate for the semisweet if need be, but you’ll also have to increase the sugar by 6 tablespoons, for a total of 7/8 cup. To melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave oven, heat chocolate alone at 50% power for 2 minutes; stir chocolate, add butter, and continue heating at 50% for another 2 minutes, stopping to stir after 1 minute. If chocolate is not yet entirely melted, heat an additional 30 seconds at 50% power.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for ramekins
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 large eggs
1 large yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for ramekins
Confectioners’ sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder for decoration, optional
Whipped cream for serving, optional
Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter and flour (or use cocoa powder) eight 6-ounce ramekins or Pyrex custard/baking cups; tap out excess flour and position ramekins on shallow roasting pan, jelly roll pan, or baking sheet. Meanwhile, melt 8 tablespoons butter and chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth; remove from heat. (Or melt chocolate and butter in microwave oven. See instructions above.)
Beat eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and sugar at highest speed in bowl of a standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment until volume nearly triples, color is very light, and mixture drops from beaters in a smooth, thick stream, about 5 minutes. (Alternatively, beat for 10 minutes using a hand-held electric mixer and large mixing bowl.) Scrape egg mixture over melted chocolate and butter; sprinkle flour over egg mixture. Gently fold egg and flour into chocolate until mixture is uniformly colored. Ladle or pour batter into prepared ramekins. (Can be covered lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated up to eight hours. Return to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.)
Bake until cakes have puffed about 1/2-inch above rims of ramekins, have a thin crust on top, and jiggle slightly at center when ramekins are shaken very gently, 12 to 13 minutes. Run a paring knife around inside edges of ramekins to loosen cakes and invert onto serving plates; cool for 1 minute and lift off ramekins. Sieve light sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder over cakes to decorate, if desired, and serve immediately with optional whipped cream.
FALLEN CHOCOLATE CAKE
Serves 8 to 10
One large fallen chocolate cake can be prepared in either a springform pan or a cake pan with a removable bottom. Do not use a regular cake pan, as the cake will be impossible to remove once baked. Though the cake is best when served warm, within about 30 minutes of being unmolded, it can also be held in the pan for up to two hours before serving.
Follow recipe for Individual Fallen Chocolate Cakes, substituting an 8- or 9-inch springform or removable-bottom cake pan for ramekins. Decrease baking temperature to 375 degrees and bake until cake looks puffed, a thin top crust has formed, and center jiggles slightly when pan is shaken gently, 22 to 25 minutes for 9-inch pan or 27 to 30 minutes for 8-inch pan. Cool cake for 15 minutes, run a paring knife around inside edge of pan, and remove pan sides. Sieve light sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder over cake to decorate, if desired, just before serving, and serve warm, with optional whipped cream.
ORANGE CHOCOLATE CAKES
Follow recipe for Individual Fallen Chocolate Cakes or Fallen Chocolate Cake, folding 1 tablespoon finely grated zest from 2 medium oranges and 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier or Triple Sec) into beaten egg and melted chocolate mixture.
November, 1998
Original article and recipes by Christopher Kimball
I got one! I got one!
Take a package of lemon sugar free jell-o and prepare at as the directions say. Pour in a blender…then add a container of non-fat cottage cheese to the blender as well. Mix it till it has a creamy texture and pour into a medium bowl and place in the frige. 3-4 hours later…you have a DELICIOUS protein filled snack!!! Yummy!!! I dont know, people probably already do this, but I thought I would share it anyways.
I’ve heard of marinating steak in beer, olive oil, and spices. Can you use just the oil & sprices?
Also, to do a rub, do you use dry spices, or are you supposed to mix them with oil?
I’m looking for some spicy spices. Not crazy hot, but fairly spicy. I use Cajun and Cayenne Pepper a lot. I tried Currie, but it tuned everything yellow. Any other good ones out there?
JeffRage:
Never really heard of an oil marinade - personally, I don’t see how oil would benefit it much - usually in a marinade you need a slightly acidic component, flavoring, and a base liquid like soy or apple juice. beer works well, but you could easily substitute it with other tasty beverages.
Like I said before though, I think the nutrient aborbtion from marinade is negligable - For example, a popular marinade for steak is a dark beer (like oatmeal stout), lemon juice, and habenero peppers - I don’t think you’re actually getting much of the beer in the final product.
Spice rubs are generally put on dry. If you are brushing a piece of meat with olive oil (like chicken breasts), apply the spices afterwards (or else they will all get washed away with the oil)
That help?
oh, spicy spices
try chipolte peppers, red pepper flakes of course, habenero peppers (minus the seeds), white pepper
ko might be able to help with this one a lot more - i’m not too familiar with a ton of spices
Nice one Rumbach!!! I worked as a chef here in the UK for a coupla years before becoming a trainer, I also know 2 hard working chefs down at my gym, cooks and the iron game go together like bread and butter (but only in cheat meals kids). I’d just like to add some steak tips: don’t for god’s sake pat the bastard down!!! Do you wanna squeeze the juices out?! Marinade the steak in coke and the acid de-natures the protein while when it cooks the sugar reacts with the proteins to give a more meaty flavour, and also searing briskets and such doesn’t ‘seal the meat’ people- if it did a well done steak would be as moist as a rare one. Oh and rest the meat before serving, it helps the flavour loads.
Rumbach, yup that helps. The reason why I am so concerned about the carbs is because I’m ketoing. I think to be safe, I’ll stick to rubs.
John, thanks for the info! If I’m not marinading the meat, is it ok to beat it?
Anyone interested in how to make a better chocolate chip cookie? :D)