Deus Ex Culina

Introduction from the Millionaire

By way of introduction, allow me to present the cocktail invented by my namesake (it's not eponymous; that drink is a lot older and is all wrong for today) and a little technical talk about cocktails in general.

The classic cocktail recipe almost always has 3 items. A base liquor, or the strong part, and then two other taste elements, like sweet, bitter, sour, etc. Dashes and the like don't usually count here. Martinis are the obvious exception.

For example:

A classic margarita:

2 parts tequila
1 part triple sec
1 part fresh lime juice

For modern size glasses, straight up, shaken over ice, one part is usually 3/4 oz. Salt on the rim optional, as is replacing the triple sec with stronger orange liquers such as cointreau or grand marnier, if you really like your friends and are still on your first drink. This, you can see, is two parts strong (tequila) one part sweet (triple sec) and one part sour (lime).

Modern tastes actually prefer different ratios, and all of the new infused vodkas and rums are proof (no pun intended). These allow for more sloppy mixing with drinkable results, but I'll rant on both of these points later.

Now, another classic:

The sidecar:

2 parts cognac
1 part triple sec
1 part lemon

Same ratios (don't worry, I will eventually show you some excellent classic cocktails with completely different ratios - it was merely the fashion for a long time and never the rule), and again upgrading the liqueurs based on how nice your friends are is perfectly acceptable.

I bring this up again, because the cocktail the original Millionaire supposedly invented was basically this: a substitution of the liqueur. He didn't just upgrade from one orange liqueur to another though. He swapped out the sweet for bitter.

Edisonian:

2 parts cognac
1 part campari
1 part lemon

His drink, as is his band, is actually named Combustible Edison. "Simply flame" the cognac before pouring it into the shaken campari and lemon.

Well, there it is. I'm going to try and post cocktail recipes each Friday, so you can try them for your weekend. If you go to a bar and try to order some of these, you may need to know the recipe, depending on where you are (again, more on this later), but it's only three items so these shouldn't be too hard to remember. Cooking entries will probably be haphazard, showing up towards the begninning of the week, if at all.

Cheers!

The Millionaire

I'm proud to announce The Millionaire to the Deus ex Culina family. The Millionaire is a master of the mixed drink, and he's quite the cook in his own right as well. I look forward to a steady stream of delictable recipes from his kitchen to this blog.

So for those of you who read this blog, and haven't yet decided to join, just send an email to autobot@robsama.com and you'll recieve instructions on how to join and what it's all about. All are welcome. Now, if only I can recruit that Johnson and Wales professor I have my sights set on...

Iron Chef Quebecois

I am proud to announce the arrival of the Iron Chef Quebecois to the blog. I've personally known the Iron Chef for about ten years I'd guess, and his prespective on food and cooking is more than welcome to this blog, especially since my co-founder has yet to post a damned thing. So go check out the Iron Chef's booklist, and check back here often for his posts. As for me, I have a duck breast that's itching to be cooked up...

Food Network Complaints

I have a few Food Network complaints. First of all, why do they spray-paint the bald spot on the back of Emeril's head? It looks aweful. So the guy has a bald spot... so what? Al Gore had a bald spot, and lots of people liked him.

And another thing: Did any of you happen to catch the Alton Brown Good Eats episode on shrimp? He uses the word, "protectorant." He was about to stick his marinated shrimp into the broiler, when he says, "the outer shell works as a good protectorant" to stop the shrimp from burning. The problem here is that "protectorant" isn't a word. And yes, I went so far as to look it up before taking him to task on it here. It's not a word.

My point is only that it's appalling that the "scientific" chef on the Food Network should resort to using made-up words on his show. So, just for the record, what he should have said, was that the "shell will effectively protect the shrimp meat from being burned by the broiler," or even better, "the broiler will be unable to burn the shrimp meat, because the shell will protect it from burning."

There. I said it. Been eating me up for weeks. Well, at least a week.

Chicago Pizza

I've been talking to a number of my Chicago friends lately, friends I hadn't spoken to in some time. We have out ten year college reunion coming up at U-Chicago, and I may just go. Talking to all my old Chicago friends gave me a hankering for one of my favorite Chicago foods: Chicago stuffed pizza with spinach and pepperoni. So I decided to make it this weekend. The results were decent, though I didn't mead the dough enough. But it was good nonetheless, and so I'm going to post the recipe here as a success. Besides, Calzone hasn't published his recipe here on which mine is based, so I'm just going to pick up the ball and run with it.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
3 cups of bread flour (all-purpose will do, but be more difficult to manage)
1/2 cup semolina flour
Salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups of water (approximately)
2 tbs olive oil

proof the yeast with the sugar and warm water. Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients on a counter-top, and make into a volcano-shaped object. When yeast is proofed, add remaining water plus olive oil, and slowly pour into the "crater" at the top of the volcano. Mix by hand, adding more of the mixture a little at a time until you have a doughy substance. Add more water or flour if necessary. Mead for about one hour by hand, or less time if you have a machine that can do it for you. Don't worry about over-meading, it's not really possible. When completed, you should be able to "window" the dough, meaning you pinch off a piece, and stretch it in front of the light, and it should be translucent without breaking. if it breaks, keep meading. When you're done, set aside in a bowl which has been coated in olive oil. Roll teh dough in the bowl to get it covered in oil as well. Then cover and keep in a cool, dry place for at least an hour.

Sauce:
1 24 oz can of crushed tomatos
3 garlic cloves, minced or sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh majoram
olive oil, extra virgin
salt and pepper to taste
red hot Italian dried pepper flakes (if you like it spicy)
1/2 cup of cab

I did not add basil to this so shoot me. Basically, sautee the onion and garlic in a saucepan until translucent. Then add tomatos and fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Then add the cab, stirring and letting it simmer until you're ready to use it. Taste periodically to ensure flavors are balanced. Remove herbs manually before serving. This is basically my quick and dirty sauce. I have a more involved one, but I'll save that for later.

Fillings:
2 bunches of spinach
pepperoni
1 part shredded, smoked provolone to 2 parts shredded mozzarella

Shred the cheese. As a general rule in making pizza, you should always use more than one type of cheese, to accentuate flavor. I like smoked provolove and mozzarella. The spinach is the only thing that requires any work here. Basically, fill your sink with cold water, and dunk the spinach in, moving to a colander. Only by emmersing the spinach in water can you hope to remove all the grit. Washing under running water does not work. Once washed, add a little olive oil to a large pan, and set to moderate heat. Then, pich off the stems from the leaves, and put the leaves in the pan. Keep doing this until the pan appears full. Then take tongs, and flip spinach. You should see that the spinach on the bottom is wilted. Keep adding spinach and turning until all is added spinach is completely wilted. Add salt if desired.

Ok, now it's time to assemble. Take your cake pan (I use a 9", but you have enough ingredients for a 13") and oil it. Take your dough and break off 1/3 of it from the base. Take the larger portion and stretch into a large circle, and line the cake pan with it, both bottom and sides. Then, spread shredded cheese all along the bottom of the pan, on top of the dough. Then add a layer of spinach. Then add more cheese, followed by a layer of pepperoni. Then a final layer of cheese. Of course, you could use other fillings should you desire, but I like spinach and pepperoni. You should still have about a 1/4" left to go in the pan. Then, take the remaining dough and stretch into a thin circle. Make this as thin as you can, discarding any leftover dough (or reserving to make breadsticks, etc). Place the thin layer of dough on top of the pizza. Again, you should still have room on top of the pizza after placing teh dough on top. Attach the top round of dough to the sides of dough as best you can. Then, cover with sauce and shredded parmesan if desired.

Ok. Place in a pre-heated oven at 450 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. Use is pizza stone if you have it to help keep tempreture regulated. When it's done, take it out and eat!

Here's a picture of the final result. You can see the cross-section nicely, as I'd already removed a slice. Enjoy.

CopaCafe

I went to high school with the son of George Howell, founder and owner of the old Coffee Connection, which was eventually sold to Starbucks 9 years ago. Anyone from Boston will remember and long for their coffee, which was far and away superior to what Starbucks (Charbucks) offers today.

Well, you may not have heard, but he's opened a new restaurant in Lexington called CopaCafe. It's like dim sum but with western food. And of course, there's coffee. He's roasting his own again, and it should be available for mail order soon. The Boston Globe did this good article on him and his new coffee operation, which I thought was worth a read. We should plan a Boston area trip to his restaurant too and see what it's all about.

Monday Mexican Madness!!!

Ok, so I'm posting this on Sunday, but I've been cooking all weekend in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, which is tomorrow, and which I am officially dubbing, Monday Mexican Madness!!!

Let me run down what I cooked this weekend:

1) Carnitas, eaten in burrito and taco form
2) Fresh Salsa
3) Guacamole
4) Mexican Rice
5) Huevos Rancheros

Burritos don't leave much to be photographed, but I did photograph the huevos rancheros this morning, and they came out great. So here's the Mexican breakfast. Let's move along to the recipes...

Let's start at the top...

Carnitas:

Ingredients:
1 pork picnic, about 3 pounds
Leftover ducky olive oil and stock from duck confit recipe, made a few weeks ago
brine, from Alton Brown's firecracker recipe
Cumin, salt, pepper, 2 bay leaves, garlic (maybe 3 cloves)

Take the picnic and score it. Rub with brine, salt, pepper and cumin, and refrigerate overnight. Remove. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with pizza stone and terra cota planter in the oven. Put oil in a glass-ware container, and add picnic, garlic and bay leaves, and insert meat thermometer. While most recipes call for lard, I found ducky oil to be a great substitute. Put everything in oven under planter and leave until internal tempreture reaches 215 degrees (about 4 hours). Remove. Meat will fall off of bone. Chop fine and use for burritos, or what have you. Mmm, delicious...

I hate to admit this, but in making my carnitas, I forgot one essential ingredient: lime. I should have added a few limes or at least lime juice to the oil while it simmered. Still, it came out good. Not quite as good as Annas Taqueria, but still, awesome.

Fresh Salsa:

The salsa is pretty straightforward. I made a fresh salsa, no cooked ingredients. And I made mine relatively mild. But you should feel free to make yours as spicy as you like.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized tomatos, vine ripened, diced
1 medium sized onion, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
juice of two limes
2 seranno chiles, finely chopped with seeds

basically, mix everything together. And that's it. Sometimes I like to throw in some olive oil if the tomatos aren't juicy enough, but these were so I didn't this weekend.

Guacamole:

Ingredients:
2 Haas avacados - mashed
Juice of 2 limes
one medium tomato, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 seranno chile, de-seeded

Same as above, mix and serve. Pretty basic.

Mexican Rice:

Ingredients:
Dry medium grain rice
One yellow onion, halved
Two fresh oregano sprigs
One carrot, sliced
One bay leaf
Water
Corn Oil
Salt to taste

Place desired rice, about one cup, in a skillet, with just enough oil to coat rice. Brown over medium heat. This is to stop rice from clumping. Meanwhile...

Place veggies into pot with just enough water to cover. Add salt. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer, creating a vegetable broth. Strain broth, adding to rice slowly, until rice can absorb no more.

If it's a burrito you desire, assemble all ingredients in a heated or steamed flour tortilla for burrito or corn tortilla for taco along with warmed pinto beans and shredded cheddar cheese, and eat. Yummie!

and for breakfast...

Huevos Ranchos:

2 eggs
2 corn tortillas
salsa, as described above
shredded cheddar
refried beans, canned, warmed
corn oil
butter
1 tbs pickled jalepenos

Fry tortillas in corn oil. Flip to fry other side, and place on plate when crisp. Meanwhile...

Melt about 2 tbs of butter in a pan, and fry two eggs in butter. Do not flip. Meanwhile...

Take 5 or 6 tbs of salsa and warm in a saucepot with a tbs of pickled jalepenos. Let is get soft, but not to much. Then assemble.

Start with tortillas. Then add cheddar. Then beans. Then eggs. Then salsa. Then eat. Bitchin'.

I hope this inspires you to cook more Mexican. I had a great culinary weekend. And hopefully you'll have a good Cinco De Mayo. Adios!

Changes

Made some changes to DEC over the weekend. Some of them are subtle, behind the scenes stuff, that will make it easier to add new people in the future, including moving the entire site to one stylesheet instead of two. You'll notice that there are now bios and booklists to be posted with every member. I'm still waiting for Kausel to give me his to post. But the intent is for everyone to have a small bio and if they choose, a booklist. Also, I changed the extended entry links, which now take you to a version of this page, but with only that entry posted in full, instead of the archive entries. I'm going to redo the archive entries as well at some point.

Ok, that's about it. I'm going to post about my weekend cooking a little later today. We're still searching for new members, so if you're interested, send us an email and we'll get you set up.

Thanks.