Homemade Crème Fraiche – Nobody's Ever Made it Just Once

Crème fraiche is French for "fresh cream," which makes it one of the most ironically named foods ever, since it's made by leaving cream out in a warm spot until it’s soured and thickened by a growing colony of bacteria. Yeah, fresh.

Regardless, making crème fraiche is very easy and as the title implies, once you taste the magic of homemade sour cream, you'll have a hard time not repeating this somewhat esoteric exercise. Sure it takes a couple days, but the effort is minimal for such a marvelous payoff.

As I mention in the video, besides the amazing taste and luxurious texture, maybe the best thing about crème fraiche is its ability to be cooked. Because of it's composition and fat content, it doesn’t curdle and separate when you heat it like sour cream.

This makes it an incredibly versatile addition to countless recipes. I can't think of many pan sauces that don’t benefit from a spoon or two. Yesterday on this blog, you saw it stirred into fried rice. Next week, you'll see it turn an ordinary pan of braised beef into a world-class Stroganoff. I could go on and on, and for SEO purposes I probably should, but you get the idea.

As long as your jars and utensils are very clean, preferably sterilized, there isn’t a lot that can go wrong. Be sure to get your hands on the best, freshest cream you can find. In the supermarket you'll want to look for "pasteurized," not "ultra-pasteurized" heavy whipping cream. Also, be sure to use cultured buttermilk otherwise you’re going to be waiting a full day to see nothing happen.

By the way, I'm extremely proud of this video recipe and blog post, but not for the usual reasons. It's because I didn’t make one single Randy Marsh joke! You South Park fans know what I'm talking about, and those of you that don’t should really check out this crème fraiche-themed episode. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons cultured buttermilk

Mix together and leave in a warm spot (about 70-75 degrees F.) for 24 hours, or until thick. Refrigerate for 24 hours before using. Should last a week or two. 

Homemade Butter – The Original "Elbow Grease"

When I saw my friend, Jennifer Perillo, do a homemade butter post on her great blog, In Jennie's Kitchen, I thought it would make for a very cool video recipe here. 

The problem was I have the world's ugliest food processor. It's chipped, yellowed from age, and simply not a good look. But it still works fine, so I'm not able to make myself throw it away and get another. Then I thought about doing a real homemade butter video; a true handmade version, without using any machinery whatsoever, save for the finely sculpted apparatus that is my arm. 

Besides not having to show my lame processor, I would also have the opportunity to do some Shake Weight jokes (among others); talk about a win win! Anyway, as you'll see, this technique worked wonderfully and really was a lot of fun. 

It tasted exactly like good supermarket butter. Of course, since it takes a lot more effort to do, and probably costs more to make than buy, you're probably wondering why bother?

That's a great question, and one I really hope you don't ask yourself before giving this a try. By the way, if you are a regular butter maker, please feel free to share any tips and tricks you may have. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

cold heavy cream (about 36% butterfat)

Stovetop "Sous Vide" Episode 2: NY Strip Steaks – Pretty and Pink

The duck breast we did in Episode 1 of our stovetop sous vide series last month was so spectacular, I couldn't wait to give it a try with some nice thick steaks. I had no doubt that it would work (thanks to the laws of physics), but would the extra time and attention be worth the payoff?

Well, that depends. As far as the taste and texture of the meat goes, it was pretty much the same as any perfectly cooked steak I've ever had. Not to sound all braggy, but thanks to having done thousands of them, I can produce a pretty decent, medium-rare NY Strip steak in about 15 minutes.

It will be nicely browned and crusty outside, warm and pink in the middle. So for me personally, I'm not sure the extra wait is worth it purely for the textural advantages is provides. Don't get me wrong, the results were fabulous, but do I really need to wait 2 1/2 hours to get my beef on?
The real advantage to this technique is not a superior-quality final product (like it was for the duck), but the fact that you're guaranteeing a perfect medium-rare (using 130 degrees F. water, or 140 for medium, or 150 for medium-well, etc.). So, if you've never had any luck getting large, expensive hunks of steak cooked to your idea of perfection, then this is the way to go, for sure.

Since we went over the basics of this procedure in the previous post, I won't rewrite all the background info about what sous vide is, and how it works. For that kind of scintillating background information, please check out, "Episode 1: The Best Duck Breast Ever." Enjoy!

NOTE: For LOTS more information about doing sous vide steaks, check out Sous-Vide 101: Prime Steak Primer by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, posted on Serious Eats.



Ingredients for Stovetop "Sous Vide" NY Strip Steaks:
2 (12-14 oz) NY Strip Steaks
1 teaspoon grape seed oil , or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided
handful of trimmed mushrooms
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

View the complete recipe

Holiday Gift Idea: Homemade Herb Salt – Remember, You're Not Cheap, You're Creative!

Homemade, edible holiday gifts are kind of tricky. There is a fine line between giving a unique, thoughtful, carefully prepared gourmet goodie, and giving someone something that looks like it was just an easy way out. Hopefully, this beautiful looking and smelling fresh herb "finishing" salt will be seen as the former.

If this looks familiar, I did a similar version a few years ago for About.com, and since I needed a Holiday-themed gift idea to film for this year's YouTube Holiday Solution Center, I decided to give it another go.

As you'll see, I used rosemary and lemon thyme, but other hearty green herbs will also work. By "hearty," I mean herbs that are sturdy and resinous, like savory, oregano, and marjoram. Fragile herbs like dill, chervil, and cilantro, just don’t work as well.

Answers to a few common questions: Yes, the color will fade within a few weeks, but the herby flavor and aroma will remain intact for much longer. There is no shelf-life limit, and this can be kept indefinitely.

I described this as a "finishing salt," meaning it's used to season cooked food at the table; however, it can also be used in place of regular salt in any recipe preparation. So, if you're looking for a cool, creative foodie stocking stuffer, or, well, you're just cheap, I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes about 1 1/2 cups):

1/2 cup packed fresh herb leaves (I used rosemary and lemon thyme)

1/2 cup course sea salt

1 cup regular sea salt, or a flaky kosher salt

A Beef Chili That's Great Under Pressure

I've gotten a ton of food wishes for a pressure cooker demo, all unfulfilled due to my serious lack of a pressure cooker. So, when my friends at IMUSA asked me if I was interested in testing their pressure cooker, I answered with an enthusiastic yes.

When you ask someone why they don't use a pressure cooker, one of the most common replies is something to the effect of, "I'm really not into being killed by an exploding stew."

Well, I'm here to tell you, if used properly (meaning you actually read and follow the directions), the chances of a pressure cooker injuring you in an explosion is incredibly slim. You have a better chance of breaking your toe by dropping a bowling ball on it, and this assumes you don't bowl.

While the video features a quite acceptable beef stew-style chili recipe, which I've always called chili Colorado, the point of this post is to give someone new to pressure cookers an overview of the basic steps, tips, and techniques. I've listed the ingredients below, but this will work for any similar recipe.

As you'll see, these marvels of pressurized heat are very simple to use, and really do significantly reduce cooking time. Simply put, by increasing the pressure in the pot, you raise the boiling point, which cooks the food faster. For more info, ask anyone else.

I want to thank IMUSA for sponsoring this demo, and if you want more information about the model I used, you can get that here. Like I said in the video, no matter which brand or model you use, the method is basically the same. Enjoy!




Beef Chili Colorado Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut in 1-inch cubes
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 tablespoon ancho chili powder
2 teaspoon Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 can (10.5-oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon ground corn chips, optional
cilantro and chopped green onions to garnish

It Doesn't Take Supreme Talent to Section an Orange… Getting a Show on the Food Network is Another Story

I've shown how to make orange "supremes" before, but never up-close and personal in HD. People seem to enjoy these occasional, quick-and-easy techniques videos, and since they allow me to post a video without much heavy lifting, I enjoy them too.

This is especially true today, because tomorrow Michele and I leave for New York City for my big interview with the Food Network. As most of you know, I won the Next Food Network Star YouTube Challenge, and the Grand Prize was a meet and greet with the show's executives at their studios.

I'm very excited to build some new bridges, which is a crucial first step to burning them down. I have no idea what or when I'll be able to post, so bear with me during what could be a life-altering week.

The best way to share in this great adventure is to follow me on Twitter. By the way, if you're still wondering what the hell Twitter is all about, this is the perfect opportunity to experience it in all its narcissistic glory. Wish me luck, and as always, enjoy!

I Don't Hate the Sun, I Just Hate What it Does to Drying Tomatoes!

The list of things I don't enjoy eating is a very short one, and near the top of that list is sun-dried tomatoes. I love the concept – sweet, vine-ripened plum tomatoes, slowly drying in the hot Italian sun – while we're waiting, we play bocce ball, drink jug wine, and eat lardo. What a scene.

Too bad I hate the taste. To me, and I've had dozens of varieties, sun-dried tomatoes have a really strong, bitter, almost medicine-y flavor that I just can't handle.

When I first started my culinary career in San Francisco, in the early eighties, sun-dried tomatoes were all the rage, and more than once I had to choke them down, smiling, as not to seem unfashionable.

While they look similar, the oven-dried San Marzano tomatoes in this video recipe were truly delicious, and nothing like the ones that have disgusted me for decades. The flavor is much milder, the texture much softer, and you can't ask for an easier technique.

I was going to list everything these would be good on, with, and in, but I think it will be much faster to just list what they would not be great with. That includes chocolate butterscotch pudding and Tofurky (although in fairness, nothing is good with Tofurky). That's it! They are awesome with everything else. Enjoy!




Ingredients:
San Marzano tomatoes, or other plum-style tomato variety
olive oil
sea salt
fresh thyme

Random Kitchen Scenes: How to Slice a Ripe Peach

I've been playing around with the idea of posting short, random kitchen tips and techniques, and this "how to slice a ripe peach" is a little experiment along those lines. Inspired by a classic sushi cut, this two-part slice is great for precise cuts on soft juicy fruit. Just make sure your blade is sharp, and try not to shave off your fingertips. Enjoy!