Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to readers in the U.S.! I hope you celebrate it with good company, good food, and plenty of pumpkin pie!

Love,
Jessica

A Vegetarian Terrine

One of the three culinary classes I am taking this quarter is Garde Manger. Translated from French, the term means “keep to eat.” In the culinary world, it refers to the station in a kitchen that is in charge of preparing mostly cold foods. This covers some of the areas you might expect: salads, sandwiches, cold sauces and soups, and cold appetizers and hors d’oeuvres. It also covers preservation techniques and the fabrication of cured and smoked foods, terrines, pâtés, sausages, cheeses, condiments, pickles, and sometimes, hot appetizers and hors d’oeuvres. I love this class, and I’m learning a lot in it since a lot of the topics are new to me.

The most recent chapter we covered talked about terrines and pâtés, both of which I love to eat, but before about a week ago, I had no idea how to make. Of course, upon reading the chapter, I immediately wanted to make almost every recipe in it. However, other than lack of time, this would be impossible to accomplish since I also lacked much of the necessary equipment. To make most of these items, you must make a forcemeat which involves a meat grinder and food processor, neither of which I own. The solution? Make a vegetarian terrine! So, I decided to make Roasted Vegetable Terrine With Goat Cheese.

So first things first: what is a terrine? My book, The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen: Garde Manger by The Culinary Institute of America, defines it as “a loaf of forcemeat, similar to a pâté but cooked in a covered mold in a bain-marie.” Of course, there are exceptions to this definition as we’re about to see—a terrine, though traditionally made with meat, does not have to be made with meat. I think that the best way to understand what a terrine is, is to make one. I will warn you, though, set aside about four hours to make this recipe—it is very labor-intensive. Personally, I enjoyed the process, but it did take a lot of time.

You start with a whole lot of vegetables:As you might have noticed, these are all summer vegetables, so this recipe would be ideal to do in the summertime. I couldn’t wait, so I cheated and went totally un-seasonal on this recipe. All the vegetables get cut into 3 mm. Or 1/8” slices. That’s this small:
This step takes awhile, but was made much easier for me by having a very sharp knife. A mandolin would have made it even faster, so if you have one, use that.

So once everything is cut, you’ll end up with what might seem like way too many vegetables.
Don’t worry—it isn’t. Remember, you’re going to be roasting these vegetables, so they’re going to shrink down to a fraction of the size they are now.

Now, make you’re marinade, a mixture of olive oil, Dijon mustard, parsley, chives, garlic, rosemary, anchovies, and honey (see recipe below). Yes, the addition of anchovies makes this terrine not 100% vegetarian so if you want, you could replace them with more salt, or puréed black olives.Mix your vegetables with the marinade, and you’re set to start roasting. Roast the vegetables in a single layer on baking sheets, covered in oiled parchment paper at 215 F (the original recipe said 200, but I found 215 worked better for me), for about an hour, until they are dry, but not brittle.

This part takes a while because unless you have multiple ovens and enough baking sheets to fill them all, this step must be done in several batches. I was able to fit four baking sheets at a time in my oven, and it still took a long time. Since the vegetables all take different times to roast, and they weren’t totally uniform in size, I checked on them every twenty minutes or so and removed any veggies that were finished, replacing them with uncooked ones to start roasting. This way, I didn’t have to wait for an entire sheet to finish before starting more vegetables. Once again, let me warn you, this part is very time-consuming!

At some point while our veggies are roasting, you can make a custard out of fresh goat cheese and egg. When everything is done roasting and has cooled, you get to start assembling your terrine. Hooray! So, if you have a terrine mold, use that. If you’re like me and don’t have a terrine mold, a basic loaf pan works just fine. Line that with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang.
To assemble, alternate layers of vegetables and the cheese mixture until your pan is full. Now, fold the plastic liner over.
Cover the terrine with the mold cover or foil, and then you’re going to bake it in a water bath (a bain-marie) in a 300 F oven until the terrine’s internal temperature reaches 145 F, about an hour. To make the water bath, place the terrine in a 2” deep baking pan and fill with hot water halfway up the sides of the terrine mold. The water should stay around 170 F.
When the terrine reaches 145 F, take the mold out of the water bath and let it cool slightly. Then, weigh down your terrine with 2 lbs. of weight. I used canned goods, simply placed on top of the foil covering. The terrine needs to be refrigerated for at least 12 hours, and up to three days.

When you’re ready to enjoy it, simply pull it out and wrap out. Now check out that:
See how nice and compact it is? See all those nice layers? If I had a proper terrine mold, it would have been higher and narrower, but I think that this works just fine. It’s best if the terrine is nice and cold when you slice it in order to ensure clean cuts.

And how did it taste? Honestly, delicious and better than I expected. I was worried that the marinade would not be enough to properly season the vegetables, so the resulting product might come out bland, but that wasn’t the case at all. The terrine was full of flavor, and those vegetables had reduced and concentrated so that only the good, delicious parts were left. I was surprised to be able to taste the various elements of the marinade—the spiciness of the mustard, the saltiness of the anchovies, and the distinctive taste of garlic.
This would make a great appetizer, as well as a main course. I served it as a meal in slices over quinoa, topped with a drizzle of rosemary-infused olive oil and it was absolutely delicious.

Roasted Vegetable Terrine with Goat Cheese
From The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen: Garde Manger 3rd ed. by The Culinary Institute of America, p. 338
Makes 1 3lb. terrine

2 lb zucchini (about 3)
2 lb. yellow squash (about 3)
1 lb. eggplant (1 large)
2 lb. tomatoes (about 4)
2 Portobello mushrooms

Marinade
1 fl. oz. olive oil
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tbsp. chopped chives
2 garlic cloves, minced, sautéed, cooled
2 tsp. chopped rosemary
2 tsp. anchovy paste
½ oz. honey
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

8 oz. fresh goat cheese
1 egg

1. Cut all the vegetables lengthwise into slices 1/8 inch/3 mm thick.
2. Combine marinade ingredients and mix with the vegetables.
3. Lay out the vegetables in a single layer on sheet pans, covered in oiled parchment paper.
4. Roast in 215 F oven for about an hour until dry, but not brittle, then allow to cool.*
5. Combine the goat cheese, egg, and a pinch each of salt and pepper to make a custard.
6. Line a terrine mold (or loaf pan) with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang, and assemble the terrine by alternating layers of vegetables and the cheese mixture until the terrine is filled. Fold the liner over.
7. Cover the terrine and bake in a 170 F water bath in a 300 F oven until the terrine reaches an internal temperature of 145 F, about an hour.
8. Remove the terrine from the water bath and allow it to cool slightly.
9. Weigh the terrine down with 2 lbs of weight, and refrigerate at least overnight, and up to 3 days. Slice and serve, or wrap and refrigerate up to 7 days.

*See details on how to roast in post above

Rich and Delicious Chicken Stock

I did promise, didn’t I? Now that you’ve been breaking down chickens all week, you should have some chicken carcasses lying around, right? Well, hopefully they’re not just lying around. That’s gross. Refrigerate them, for goodness’ sake.

Wherever those chicken carcasses may be, I ask you now to pull them out and get ready to make some incredible chicken stock. I will warn you, though, you’re never going to be able to taste store-bought chicken stock the same way again. Even the best one will still have this slightly off background taste that tells you it isn’t quite the real deal. What is the real deal? The chicken stock I am about to tell you how to make, a staple every kitchen should have.

So I had two chicken carcasses lying around—I mean, in my fridge—so I put them into a big roasting pan.
I’m making a dark chicken stock, by the way. If you want a light one, skip the roasting step. The dark one will be much richer; the light one is good if you want a subtler flavor.

Roast the chicken bones at 375 F for about fifteen minutes so they get a head start on the vegetables you’re going to add.

Meanwhile, roughly chop your veggies. The basic essentials are onions, carrots, and celery, but you could also add leeks, parsnips, turnips, broccoli stems, mushrooms, or garlic—nearly any vegetable. Consider how it tastes and decide whether or not you want that flavor in your stock. I kept it simple this time, and used the basics:
Yes, keep all those skins, stems, and ends on. There is flavor to be extracted from every part of most vegetables, so use as much of them as you can. They go into the roasting pan with the now semi-roasted chicken, tossed with a couple tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil.
Now it all goes back into the oven for another forty minutes or so, stirring occasionally. You want caramelization—some browning—on both the bones and the vegetables.
Next, get your biggest stockpot and put the roasted bones and vegetables into it. Add some herbs; fresh is best, but dry works well too.
I used a small bunch of fresh parsley, about four whole peppercorns, a couple teaspoons each of dried rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and savory, and two bay leaves.

Now, cover it all with the coldest water you can. I add ice cubes and get my tap water as cold as possible. If you think of it ahead of time, put some water in the fridge and get it good and icy.
So, why cold? Starting food in cold water extracts flavor from the food and leeches it into the water once it begins to simmer. If you’re poaching or simmering food in liquid and you’re going to be eating the food itself, not the cooking liquid, start it in warm or hot water so that the flavors will all be concentrated in the food item. Good tip, eh?

Now, crank up the heat on that stockpot and bring the liquid to a simmer. Meanwhile, what about all that browned goodness stuck on the bottom of your roasting pan?
You definitely don’t want that to go to waste, so place your roasting pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Once it’s good and hot, add about ½ cup red wine and deglaze, scraping up all the browned bits on the pan. After two minutes, add the liquid to your stockpot.

From here on, it’s pretty straightforward. Once your stock gets up to a simmer, keep it there and let it cook uncovered for four to six hours. Occasionally skim the foam from the surface of the stock, and don’t let it boil—that will cause the impurities that have risen to the top of the liquid to be mixed back into it. Keep the bones and vegetables covered in liquid at all times, adding more water when necessary. Try not to add too much, though. If the stock seems to be evaporating too much, decrease the heat.

Here’s mine, early in the simmering process:
Here it is about two hours later. See how dark and delicious it’s getting?
When adequate time has passed, you’ll be ready to strain your stock. Having done this a few times, I’ve perfected my own method of doing this: first, I strain it through a colander, just to get out all the big pieces of bone and vegetable. Then, I strain it through a fine mesh strainer, and then again through the same strainer, this time lined with cheesecloth. That does the trick and gets all the bits and pieces out of my stock. Now, this might seem obvious, but I’m going to mention it anyways: strain your stock into another container, not into the sink and down the drain! I say this because every time I strain stock I’ve made, I always instinctually move to strain it into the sink—bad idea!

Anyways, so after straining, hopefully not down the drain of your sink, check out this incredible, lovely product you end up with:
Yes, it’s very dark, and in this case, that’s what we were aiming for. Again, if you want light chicken stock, skip the roasting process. That golden layer on top is fat, so I skimmed that off. When this product gets cold, it becomes completely gelatinous. This is a good thing. That gelatin is from collagen, extracted from the bones you used to make the stock, and equals rich, delicious FLAVOR!

Once again, let me just say, you will never be able to taste store-bought chicken stock the same way again.

Chicken Break-Down

Knowing how to break down a chicken is a very useful culinary skill. It's helpful for all kinds of recipes, and it will also save you money. How? Well, pull out your weekly circular for your local grocery store. Got it? Find the price for chicken breasts, thighs, wings and drumsticks. Now, find the price for whole chickens. Which one is the cheapest? The whole chicken, right? By buying whole chickens and cutting them into parts yourself, you will save yourself major bucks compared to buying the parts separately. Also, and I think that this is the best reason for always buying whole birds, is that you’re left with a chicken carcass, which you can use to make chicken stock that will be a hundred times more flavorful than anything you can buy in the store. I’ll be posting about that soon, so stay tuned.

There are downsides to this. Of course, every chicken only has two breasts, two legs, and two wings, so what are you supposed to do when you need more than that? It doesn’t seem very economical to be buying three chickens just to get six chicken breasts, does it? Well, yes and no. What I do is I try to buy a chicken whenever they go on sale. I take it home and cut it into parts and freeze all the parts separately. Eventually, I have a collection of parts ready when I need them.*

Are you convinced? Hopefully so, because I’m going to launch into the how-to of this anyways. First, you’ll want to get yourself a boning knife. It looks like this:
Other knives of about the same size will probably be OK, but the boning knife is shaped in such a way to make the job easiest for you, so it’s ideal. It’s also known as a boner. Don’t laugh, I’m serious.

Next, you will need a chicken. This whole procedure is pretty pointless if you don’t have a chicken. Say hello to Miss Chicken:
Now, you’re ready to make your first cut. The cuts you’re going to be making will mostly be on joints. It is essential that you cut at the correct spot. Otherwise, you’ll be trying to cut through bone and not only will this be very difficult, it will also kill the edge on your knife. So what is that correct spot, you ask? Well, take our first cut, for example: the wings. You will be cutting on the second joint in from the tip of the wing. Take that joint between your fingers and give it a feel. You should be able to feel a distinct spot where the joint actually is (where the two bones connect). You want to cut right on that spot, right between the bones. Right about here:

If it seems like you’re sawing through bone, it’s because you are, so try again. You should only have to cut through the tendons and ligaments holding the joint together. You should end up with one of these:
Now, you’re going to separate the breast from the carcass. Find the chicken’s sternum. It’s the bone that goes down the front of the bird and separates the two breasts. Place your knife on one side of the sternum, as close to the bone as possible, just below the neck. Now, cut into the flesh, keeping as close as possible to the sternum and going as deep as you can.
To completely remove the breast, continue to cut along the carcass of the chicken, right until just above the leg. The breast should just be attached to the rest of the chicken by the skin, so simply cut through that to cut the breast completely away. You can leave the breast as is, or you can also remove the tender from it. The tender is the thin piece of flesh on the underside of the breast. You can remove it simply by peeling it away with your hand, no knife required.
Next, you’re going to separate the leg and thigh from the bird. This picture shows the general area you’re going to be cutting:
You’re going to be cutting at a joint again, so find the joint where the thigh attaches to the body of the bird. It’s pretty deep in there, but it’s there, I promise. Hopefully, this will help (sorry, this picture is a little gross):
Just like with the wing, you want to cut through the joint, not the bone. It should give easily. Once you’ve cut through the joint, you can simply slice the thigh the rest of the way off. Then, you’ve got yourself a chicken leg:
The next step is to separate the thigh from the drumstick. Actually, this part is optional, depending on how you intend to use the legs. Sometimes you want the thigh and drumstick attached. If not, here’s what you do: turn the leg skin side down. Find the joint that attaches the thigh to the drumstick, and cut through that.
You should be getting pretty good at this cutting through joints thing now. Once you’re through the joint, you should have something like this:
Now, just cut through the remaining flesh and skin to separate the thigh and drumstick completely.

Finally, repeat all of the above steps on the other side of the chicken, and ta-da!
You have successfully broken your chicken down into parts. Congratulations. Now, use those parts however you’d like, but DO NOT throw away that carcass! Next, I’m going to show you how to make fabulous chicken stock. Trust me, you’re going to want to get in on that. Really, trust me.

*Just a quick note to say that freezing and thawing fresh meat is not ideal. It is always better to buy meat fresh and cook it as soon as you can. However, this will cost you more and it isn’t always economical time-wise either. Thawing frozen meat for everyday use is fine, just don’t let that meat hang around in your freezer for too long. For special occasions, be sure you get your meat fresh.

Goodbye to Gourmet

So have you heard? After nearly seventy years of publishing, Gourmet magazine is shutting down for good. You can read about it here.

I have been a subscriber to Gourmet for the past year, and though I have enjoyed some of the articles and recipes from the magazine, I can’t say I am very surprised about this news. When my subscription first started, I eagerly looked forward to that one day a month when I would receive a nice, fat parcel rolled up in my mailbox containing the newest issue of Gourmet. All other plans would be forgotten as I would tear open the plastic covering and immediately begin to flip through the glossy new pages. Sometimes, my eye would catch on a recipe I knew I had to try at the earliest opportunity, and even less often, I would find an article that I looked forward to reading. However, as the year went on, I found myself feeling far less excited about the prospect of a new Gourmet coming my way. In more recent months, when I have opened my mailbox to find the latest magazine, I found myself thinking, “Oh yeah, I guess I was due for a new one.” The magazine would then go to my coffee table, where it would sit, unopened, until probably some night later in the week, when I got bored during a commercial break while I was watching TV, I would browse through it. Needless to say, Gourmet has not been very inspirational to me.

Now, I don’t want to sound like a hater. Like I said, I do use recipes from Gourmet, and I do sometimes read its articles. I really liked the fun concept of their latest September issue: recipes from A to Z, including letter-themed menus, with every dish starting with the same letter. Not exactly useful, but definitely fun. Being from Montreal, it was exciting to see the November issue had an article about fishing in northern Quebec. These points that catch my interest, though, are few and far between. My point here is that Gourmet just isn’t keeping my attention, and, so it seems, I am not the only one who feels this way.

The NY Times article I have linked to above talks about the colorful history of Gourmet, and some of the foodie greats, like James Beard and M. F. K. Fisher, who have contributed to its pages over the years. As wonderful as this all is, the article kind of proves the point: in its heyday, this magazine was great, it was interesting, it was current, and it was an influence on many home cooks, but this is all in the past. Lately, it has been stuck in a rut and losing readers. Before I even heard about the imminent closure of Gourmet, I decided not to re-subscribe to the magazine, switching it instead for a year of Food and Wine.

The article also mentions how some readers are miffed that Gourmet is being shut down, while Bon Appétit, also owned by Condé Nast Publications, is not. Just as I understand why Gourmet cannot continue, I understand why Bon Appétit can. I have been subscribing to Bon Appétit for the past year as well, and unlike with Gourmet, my excitement over receiving each month’s issue has not faded, and I still read through the magazine as soon as I receive it. Perhaps this is a matter of personal opinion, but I prefer Bon Appétit’s articles, recipes, and even pictures to Gourmet’s. Every month, I look forward to seeing what the At the Market item will be, a feature that highlights a product that is in season, and gives several recipes to make use of it. I love Molly Wizenberg’s Cooking Life article, the Health Wise section, and The Baker, a new monthly article by Dorie Greenspan. These features are all from Bon Appétit. Gourmet’s monthly features are comparable in theme, but I find they are not as well written, and the topics are often of less interest to me. The bottom line: I chose to keep my Bon Appétit subscription going, while ending my Gourmet one.

Should the magazine carry on just because it is an American cultural icon? I don’t think so. It certainly is a shame that the magazine could not continue to be the inspiration it used to be. This is the end of an era, and that is sad, but inevitable. If I was wearing a hat, I would take it off in respect to the important role Gourmet magazine has played in the history of food literature. For the future, I look forward to being inspired by the quality food magazines that continue to be published today.

Back and Better Than Ever

My dear friends, my fellow food-lovers,

It has been a long time. I won’t try to deny it. It’s been about six months. Now, I could ramble on about a busy schedule, a lot of changes, and no time at all, but you probably aren’t interested in that. What you might be interested to hear is that the real reason I haven’t been around lately is because for a while, it seemed like I had lost my food-blogging footing.

I still was, and still am, doing a lot of cooking, but chronicling it in pictures and words and posting it for all to see was starting to feel a little pointless. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore because I had no real goal in mind, nothing really of worth to share, other than “Hey, this recipe is really good!” I needed more of a purpose. I needed a point of view. Of course, I’ve had a point of view on food and cooking all along, but I haven’t really been sharing it.

In the six months that I haven’t been blogging about food, I have had two major food-related experiences: I have been through two quarters of culinary school, and I have had my first job in a restaurant kitchen. These experiences have certainly broadened my knowledge and improved my abilities. They have also helped me to develop and strengthen that culinary point of view that I am hoping to talk about more here on Bring Your Appetite. I feel like I have more to share now than I did before, and I am eager to do so.

So, to help me to keep on track and to help you to get an idea of what this blog is all about (from now on), I would like to put forth some goals I have in mind for Bring Your Appetite, a mission statement of sorts:

I will write each post with the intention of sharing something specific: an idea, a bit of information, a theory, or an opinion. I might share something concrete, like things you should know about making your own stock, or something more contemplative, like why we so often associate food with important memories. It might be something controversial, like my thoughts on veganism, or something more black-and-white, like the traditional cuisine of a particular culture. Whatever the subject, I will approach writing each post with the intention of sharing something that I think will be of interest to whomever might be reading this, something that I believe is truly worth sharing.

I hope that isn’t too vague. I’m still figuring this out myself. All I know is that I want to continue this blog, and I want it to be a better reflection not only of what I know about food, but also what I think about food, and what I am interested in talking about on the subject of food. I would love for this food-centric monologue to become more of a dialogue, so readers, if you have something to say, please jump in and say it. I want to hear if you agree; I want to hear if you disagree.

There is one thing that certainly has not changed since I started this blog a little less than a year ago: you mustn’t forget to Bring Your Appetite.

Love,

Jessica

Making Ribs for the First Time

You may have figured out by now that I am generally an adventurous cook. I like a challenge and I like trying new things, so in many cases, the trickier and more bizarre a recipe is, the more excited I am to give it a try. But there are a few fairly typical things that I have actually never attempted to cook myself. One of those things is ribs. And why not? Rib is a pretty uncomplicated cut of meat, isn’t it? They’re generally seasoned simply and cooked slowly, so there’s little concern about tricky techniques and perfect timing to get a rack of ribs that is cooked to perfection and tastes delicious.

A recipe for ribs in the March issue of Gourmet caught my eye as I was flipping through it. Black Pepper Beef Ribs. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Isn’t your mouth watering? I skimmed through it and found that it was, indeed, a very simple recipe, although it did mention that beef back ribs are usually not found sold separately in grocery stores, so it would probably be necessary to order them for a butcher. That meant two things to me: time and money. Ordering from a butcher probably meant that I would have to wait awhile for them, and there was a good chance they wouldn’t be cheap either. I filed the recipe away in the back of my mind, figuring it was doubtful that I would ever draw it out. It seemed that yet again, an opportunity to finally make ribs myself had slipped away.

About a week later, while I was at the grocery store, guess what caught my eye in the meat section? A lovely shrink-wrapped package of beef back ribs, all long and marbled and just waiting for me to purchase them and gobble them up. It was fate! Or maybe it was just that this particular store sold these ribs separately all the time. They weren’t expensive either, so I really had no excuse not to buy them.

And man, was I ever glad I did. They were incredibly simple to make (actually, maybe a little boringly simple—not exactly a challenge), and they came out beautifully. They were so simple to make, I can explain the process to you in a few simple lines:

1. Mix together two tablespoons of cracked black pepper, one tablespoon of brown sugar, one tablespoon of kosher salt, and one teaspoon of paprika.
2. To make enough for four (I made half that), take two racks (5-6 lbs.) of beef back ribs and pat them dry.
3. Rub the spice mixture all over the ribs, getting it good and worked into the meat. Arrange in a single layer in a large roasting pan.
4. Bake uncovered at 200 F for about six hours.
That’s it! Well, that’s it, other than cutting them up and serving them. They were tender, flavorful, and absolutely fantastic. One suggestion for serving: put them on a platter and have people serve themselves. These ribs are HUGE, so a serving of four or so ribs takes up a whole plate and looks a little ridiculous.

Have fun!