I’ve tried in the past to be partly organized: writing on plastic freezer bags with a permanent marker, keeping similar meat or stock together.  This worked for a while, until a $0.77 / lb turkey needed to be shoved in there somewhere or the permanent marker ended up on my hand and off the bag.

As previously mentioned I had the chance to take part in a Brother P-Touch blogging promotion and received a shiny new label machine, all my own.  We were asked what room needed to be organized and I knew right then and there it had to be the kitchen and by extension the stand-up freezer in the garage.

I’m a bulk shopper: I try to only buy meat and butter when it’s on sale and then I go all in, and dry goods I buy in bulk.  This means every other week I’ll come home with five whole beef eye of rounds or twenty pork tenderloins.  Though I like to procrastinate, hence the unknown mess that is our freezer, I’ve learned that meat not dealt with the day you get home goes bad.  The same goes for bulk items: leaving ten pounds of coarse sea salt in a clear bag next to ten pounds of white sugar can lead to interesting baking.  Deal with it right away.

That was the approach I took with the new Brother P-Touch: get it into the kitchen and into the routine.  Meat was broken down into family serving portions, placed into clear plastic freezer bags and then a label was printed and attached.  The nice thing about typing out a label that says “pork tenderloin” and printing it is that the P-Touch keeps the last information in memory and on the screen so I can just hit “Print” nine more times without any extra hassle.

I try and make stock after any meat breakdown so the bones are out of the way and the finished product is all I have to deal with.  Here again labels saved the day, as I use two cup round plastic containers to hold my stock in the freezer.  Until now if it looked dark it was turkey or pork stock, light was chicken stock and very dark was beef stock.  Now I actually know…

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Brother P-Touch and received product and a gift card to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

This goes against all thinking on pasta cooking: everyone says we need vast amounts of boiling water to properly cook pasta.  Yet this new recommendation came from Harold McGee, a very respected food scientist.  So I gave it a try.  And you should too, as the results were wonderful.  Watch the video, then try it out with my spaghetti carbonara!

As well here’s a great case study how this is helping people in Sudan, along with a technical manual and brief.  They use a clay lid instead of a damp towel, which makes more sense for long term usage.

First step was to break the thighs down.  They were on sale and had backs attached so that meant two things: lots of skin and bone I didn’t want in my final dish.  I pulled all the skin off and then removed the thighs from the backs, leaving the one small bone in the thigh.  That left me with three piles: skins, thighs and bones.

Yikes: the meat is outweighed by the skins believe it or not!  I wasn’t sure what the main dish would be but I knew what to do with the skins and bones.

First up was to get those bones into the oven to roast: I separated the bones onto two half sheet pans and added my carrots, onions and celery before putting them in a 400F oven for an hour until everything had browned nicely.  Then bones and mirepoix went into a stock pot with peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme and tomato paste, everything just covered with cold water.  I brought that to a simmer and slipped it into a 250F oven overnight.  Strained out the stock through a cotton cloth and I was left with a rich and dark chicken stock.

The pot of chicken skins was put on a low burner after I added a 1/4 cup of water.  After a few hours a good amount of fat had rendered.  It has a good many hours to go until all the fat is rendered from those skins; the heat needs to be very low and it’s done when the skins go crisp.  Why bother?  Schmaltz or chicken fat is great to cook with, just like bacon fat.  Save it up to confit and save yourself the cost of buying duck fat; freezes well.  Plus the crispy skins are a meat lovers dream.

I had finally decided on a course of action for my main: grilled braised chicken thighs.  The thighs received a generous dousing of salt, pepper and vegetable oil, then on the grill for a quick sear.  I didn’t cook them all the way, just enough to get grill marks and some smokey essence from the charcoal.  While that was happening I sautéed onions in my pot, then added grated garlic and tomato paste.  A minute later I added smoked paprika and two chipotle peppers (the canned in adobo type), then chicken stock. Cremini mushrooms added whole and let to cook a little, along with a few bay leaves and a cinnamon stick.  The grilled chicken thighs were then added and the pot brought to a simmer before being put in a 300F oven until the meat was tender and not quite falling off the bone.

The sauce was a little thin so I mixed some rendered chicken fat with flour until it was smooth and added it to the pot.  I then added green peppers and cooked until they were slightly tender but still had some crunch.  Finished product was a delicious pot of grilled braised chicken with a smokey spicy sauce with a hint of cinnamon.  Delicious.  I even had a little chicken left over after the event; unfortunately the pot had been drained of sauce.

A few comments.  Sorry but I didn’t measure anything so it’s pretty free form: it’s a basic goulash with chipotle and cinnamon added for a more Mexican flavour.  I like the taste of roasting the bones and vegetables for stock; it’s that extra little something.  Tomato paste added to your stock gives it some richness and a nice colour.  The rendered fat from the roasted bones was saved; it’s a completely different flavour and aroma from uncooked rendered chicken fat.

A really authentic British fish batter was required so after several web searches I cobbled this together:

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 TSP Baking Powder
• 1 TSP Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 TSP Salt
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Water

Mix it together and it resembles glue or paste: very thick.  I like to add paprika to any flour dredge to give it that little something extra and cut some of the flour taste.  Different recipes call for soda water or beer as the liquid but this worked very well and most of us have these ingredients in the cupboard.

In order to have my battered fish and french fries come to the table hot and crisp I decided to double fry the french fries.  My wife made short work of a stack of russet potatoes run through our Good Grips mandolin that has a setting for fries.  I put three inches of canola oil, what looked like enough to cover the fries once they were in the pot,  in my large Le Creuset Dutch oven and with my clip-on candy thermometer waited until the oil was at 300 F, then loaded in my fresh-cut french fries.  They cooked away but didn’t brown or crisp at that temperature.  Once they were soft I removed them from the oil and increased the heat.

When the oil was at 380 F I dredged my fish through the batter and dropped them in: the batter expanded and I removed them when they were golden brown.  Make sure to get any excess batter off the fish: it’s very thick and you only need a thin coating.  As the fish came out I put them on a sheet pan with a cooling rack on it to keep the fish warm but crisp.  After all the fish was cooked I waited until the oil his 380 F again and added the par cooked french fries.  They crisped and browned quickly; once removed from the oil they joined the fish on our table, everything hot and inviting.  A squeeze of lemon and a dollop of homemade tartar sauce completed the meal.

My daughter was very disappointed when she came to the table: “where are the chips?” she asked.  I explained that was another name for french fries but she didn’t seem convinced or pacified.

They feature a variety of toppings and gravies to go over your fries and cheese curds.  I decided to try the double pork: pulled pork, bacon and green peppercorn gravy.  It’s a simple operation you can watch: fresh from the fryer french fries are mixed with salt, then loaded in a cardboard serving box.  Cheese curds are added, along with gravy and whatever else you requested.  The hot toppings seem to be made ahead and kept warm in a steam table.

Since I didn’t know when I’d be back I went for the large.  It was a serious helping.

The meat toppings separated my order in half: here I’ve already stirred the pulled pork half up and started eating before realizing I should snap a picture.  The pulled pork was in a sweet barbeque sauce which for me didn’t work with the rest of the items.  The bacon was perfect: a little chewy.  The curds didn’t make an impact but the green peppercorn gravy was astounding and a must.

Over the weekend I made a chicken dish with bone on thighs, backs attached.  It was $0.89 a pound so I purchased fifteen pieces.  After I tried to brown the first five pieces the skin fell apart so I removed the skin from the remaining ten pieces.  It was a decent pile of skin and I hate to waste anything so I decided to render the chicken skins to get chicken fat.  The process is simple: put the skins and trimmed fat in a pot on as low as it will go with about 1/4 cup of water.  The water evaporates but provides enough moisture so the skins don’t fry.

I let it go for about four hours on low and ended up with two cups of rendered chicken fat.  The time could be greatly reduced but I kept it going in the hopes of crispy chicken skins but that never happened.  I kept the temperature on low so that the fat wouldn’t brown and get a cooked flavour.  The pot’s contents were strained through a plastic colander; you can filter it with a cloth but I find you lose some fat in the cloth.

The final cooled product is smooth and will be great for frying; some fine pieces of chicken skin settled on the bottom but I’m not concerned.

Above is a pork loin with a dry rub of equal parts brown sugar, black pepper, kosher salt and paprika.  I left the fat cap on to keep the meat moist while roasting but remove it afterwards, along with any excess fat.  I enjoy fat but cold on thinly sliced pieces of roast fat needs to be trimmed off.

You want to heavily apply a spice rub: when sliced thin this flavour is on the outer edge so that little bit needs to pack a punch.

This works great for roast beef using eye of round or sirloin tip.  For roast pork loin is the best cut: uniform in size and easy to trim.  Of course with some prep time you can make pastrami, corned beef, ham and many other charcuterie roasts.

I do have a small meat slicer but a large carving knife and a steady hand will get the job done.  When you get to the end of the roast the slicer won’t work so I lay the piece of meat on my cutting board and carve off thin slices on the bias; don’t want to waste anything.

Give any bun a thick swish of Cheez Whiz and add pieces of cooked bacon.  Put them under the broiler and you have a hot and tasty lunch or snack; I especially like the blackened bits.

I came across a recipe recently for pancakes that used brown sugar; I had to break it down and mix it into my dry ingredients by hand but it added a great dimension.  I liked the idea of orange juice in the mix but it made the final taste too acidy and not custardy enough.  Zesting a little lemon or orange into the mix add just the right note of citrus and adding brown sugar instead of white took it over the top.

The following recipe is for two regular slices of bread and is a single serving for an adult.  I like to cut my own 1.5-2″ slices and use the following per slice; just multiply and use a larger shallow vessel.  Don’t use a bowl if you can help it since the bread can’t soak the mixture evenly.

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp citrus zest

Combine ingredients and whisk thoroughly in a shallow vessel.  Add bread to mixture until well soaked and flip.  Add to a frying pan on medium low heat and flip when golden brown.  Remove to plate when golden brown on both sides: liberally slather with butter and real maple syrup.

If you don’t have a sausage stuffer it may feel like you can’t make sausage, but that’s just not so.  I enjoy sausage patties for breakfast so I don’t need my sausage to be in a casing.  My solution is to prepare my sausage and then roll it in plastic wrap: the thickness is up to you.  Once rolled I tighten the ends and leave it in the fridge to set.  When I want some sausage patties for breakfast I slice off a few discs, remove the plastic wrap from the outside of each patty and fry them up.  It’s simple, clean and easy.

I had the bacon going and the eggs on the counter ready to crack.  She asks me “Daddy, are those farm fresh eggs?  Did you get them at a farm?  Calliou’s friend gets his eggs from a farm”.

Say what?  As it happens these were double yolk eggs I get from a local farm.  I know Caillou is a Canadian cartoon character that has a good message, but I didn’t realize he was a locavore helping to promote sustainability in our food chain.

Trouble begins when I try to store it.  Large quantities are the norm: if you’re going to the effort of making stock then make a lot.  I used to freeze two cups of stock in a Ziploc bag which worked great and as stacked flat they freeze well.  Unfortunately defrosting it was an issue: I had to put the bag in a bowl since it would invariably leak and certainly couldn’t microwave it.

Rummaging around our cupboards brought me into contact with our large pile of Ziploc Twist ‘N Loc containers.  The small holds two cups, freezes well, stack and organize easily and defrost wonderfully: my new go to stock container.

I’ve been trying to make traditional gravy and not adding a packaged flavouring and thickener: that means stock and pan drippings added to a roux.  The day before I made a small batch of stock from the turkey neck, heart, liver and wings.  The wings really helped the stock out but a wingless bird is tricky to carve since there’s nothing to hold it in place, but I digress.

The roux was made with equal parts flour and warm rendered turkey fat; you whisk the two together until the raw flour taste is cooked out and the mixture takes on a golden colour, somewhere between two and five minutes.  I was shocked how strong a turkey flavour this produced over using butter in the roux and is now a staple of my gravy from now on.

I even had a little turkey fat left over so it joined my other renderings in the fridge: bacon fat, pork fat, chicken fat, duck fat.

As you can see from the drip pan the shoulder was really fatty.

Look at that fat cap under the skin.  Once rested for thirty minutes it pulled apart beautifully and we had it on fresh buns with Dijon mustard and pickled red onions.  Stunning: juicy, tender, flavourful.

It’s a small hole in the wall with a cement floor and various tables.  Nothing exciting but we were there to eat.  There was a lineup to the door the entire time, a mix of regulars and tourists.

Pit beef was a new term for me but it’s straightforward: large joints of beef are cooked over a charcoal grill and is thinly sliced for sandwiches.  When placing your order they ask how you want the beef cooked: it’s medium rare on the roast but they slice it and pile it on the grill to get to your desired doneness.  It’s served on a kaiser bun and you put the condiments on yourself: onions, pickles, horseradish, mustard, mayonnaise, hot sauce, barbeque sauce and ketchup was offered.

We ordered pit beef sandwiches medium and a large fries and gravy.  The beef was good: I believe it was bottom round and was sliced very thin and had a nice texture.  The slight smoky perfume of the charcoal was present.  Unfortunately it really lacked flavour: the cut isn’t particularly beefy and it didn’t seem like the meat was seasoned at all.  The fries were fresh-cut and were very tasty; the gravy was from a can or mix but it was good and really added to the fries.  All in all a good lunch spot.

It’s fairly easy to prepare but at times seems labour intensive.  I prefer pork loin for my schnitzel since it’s fairly cheap and has more taste than chicken breast.  Get a piece of pork loin and trim all fat and silver skin.  Cut inch thick pieces and then pound them out very thin without tearing the meat: I use a cutting board as the base with a towel underneath to deaden the noise, a large Ziplock bag over the meat to prevent tearing and a round heavy pounder I picked up at Williams Sonoma.  It helps get out your anxiety and frustration for week if you pound out a dozen or so pieces.  Season the meat with salt and pepper, both sides.

Prepare your breading station with one shallow bowl or plate of each: flour, egg and bread crumbs.  For the flour I don’t bother seasoning since I already seasoned the meat.  For each egg I add one tablespoon of oil and beat it together: it really helps the bind.  Any style of bread crumbs will work: panko give you really crunchy schnitzel while regular or home-made give a tighter coating but less crunch.  If you want crunchy schnitzel sandwiches later use panko bread crumbs.  Dip each piece of pork into flour, egg and bread crumbs and lay out on a sheet pan with a rack, then put the whole thing in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the breading set.  This helps but not so much that you need to worry about it if time is short.

Cooking can be done in either a dutch oven with a few inches or oil at 375F or in a medium high skillet with butter and oil.  Again if crispy is your thing then go the deep-frying method.  I always used to pan fry in butter and oil but found things became a little greasy.  I have whole heartedly converted to panko and deep-frying as the schnitzel sandwich is all important.

A few hours after dinner I craft the sandwich: a soft bun or white sandwich bread, two pieces of schnitzel, lettuce, onion, cheese (Edam, Gouda, Emmenthal) and mayonnaise.  Soft bread, crunch from the schnitzel, fatty sweet mayonnaise goodness, mild and buttery cheese. Wonderful!

The traditional method is to soak the chicken in buttermilk, then coat in seasoned flour and fry.  I don’t think buttermilk helps tenderize the meat: buttermilk was far different when fried chicken recipes were created centuries ago and now instead of leftover milk from churning butter it’s skim milk with a culture added.  I decided to apply a dry rub to my chicken: your basic equal parts paprika, brown sugar, kosher salt and black pepper.  Left the rub on the chicken for twenty-four hours and didn’t rinse it off.

Next I put two cups of flour in a bag so I could drop each piece of chicken in and give it a good shake for even coating.  I then dipped the floured chicken into a wet mixture of one egg and one cup of milk, then back into the flour bag.

The chicken was fried in a dutch oven at 325F for six to eight minutes, turning about half way.  I used an instant read thermometer to verify 160F internal temperature and then let it rest on a wire rack.

The coating was beautifully crisp and had a nice shatter when I bit in.  The dry rub came through subtly and the meat was very moist.  A few pieces were left over and provided a late night snack: the chicken was beautiful at room temperature.  The coating had lost some of it’s crunch but would

I enjoy a custard like French toast so my go to recipe is four eggs, one cup milk, one teaspoon vanilla and one teaspoon sugar.  I enjoy thick cut white bread and give it a good long soak so it absorbs as much of the liquid as possible and really puffs up on the griddle.  For the children I’ve been using a short soak so they get the flavour but aren’t overwhelmed.  Of course egg bread, raisin bread, rye with caraway and pretty much anything sliced works for French toast.  It’s all good.

Friends of mine have suggested milk replacements like orange juice but that takes away from the custard like flavour and souffle texture that I enjoy.  Chocolate milk isn’t too bad if you leave out the sugar from my recipe but it’s an acquired taste.  Cream didn’t add enough for me to swap it for the whole milk I normally use.

I really don’t understand why you can’t get a decent French toast at a hotel or breakfast.  To me they always seem under soaked in the batter, dry and tough to eat.  Like most breakfast items French toast is best when made at home.

Low and slow was my oven approach: twelve hours at 225F.  First I made a paste of thyme, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor with enough olive oil to keep it moving.  I then cut through the skin creating the pattern shown above: this allowed deep penetration of the herb paste.  After just fitting into my roasting pan the twenty six pound leg was put into my oven and left until the next day.

Two issues with prolonged oven roasting.  The skin becomes rock hard and needs to be discarded: since I made the lattice pattern it was a pain to trim neatly.  Secondly it dries out a bit: not a lot because of the low temperature but it greatly benefits from regular basting.  Next time I’ll remove the skin, score the meat, apply the herb paste and wrap the skin around the roast.

It carved beautifully, thin slices off the roast.  I held it up and carved towards the cutting board; had a good grip with a napkin tied at the small end.  A very nice presentation that works with beef, pork or lamb.