I don’t have it too often (fortunately or unfortunately), but fried chicken is one of those foods that while seemingly incredibly simple and common, can and often is, so much more.  Thomas Keller makes it and so do plenty of gas stations, which makes it kind of democratizing meal of sorts – but rather than get too philosophical about the food (others have and its a topic worthy of it) I just wanted to write up a few recent fried chicken dinners I made here at home.

The first was a few months back and featured chicken that followed somewhat the recipes and techniques of Thomas Keller (from the Ad Hoc cookbook) and from Michael Ruhlman’s Twenty (Also see Ruhlman’s post on fried chicken here).  Ruhlman worked on the Ad Hoc cookbook and claims his is better – a bold statement (unfortunately we didn’t try making both head to head – I have made the TK version before and knew it was amazing).  Instead the recipe I used started with a brine mostly like Ruhlmans, one that has a lot of rosemary, the predominant flavor he likes in fried chicken.  In addition I had lemon and some other herbs (thyme and parsley), but not quite as much as TK uses.  The brine was left overnight before taking out the chicken to air dry on a rack in the fridge.  (The brine is really the biggest difference between amazing fried chicken and fried chicken and cannot be skipped).

After drying the chicken gets dredged in seasoned flour - I used a mixture of cayenne, paprika, black pepper (a bunch), salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and a bit of baking powder (TK doesn’t use BP, Ruhlman does)

Next is a dip in buttermilk and back into the flour mixture, before frying it up, and finally topping w/ some fried rosemary and some lemon zest.  (Actually some of it sat for a while in a 250 oven on a rack – dark meat especially actually benefits from this and lets you do the chicken in advance, something I should have done rather than frying huge batches of chicken with my friends standing around – oh well next time.)

Even though this chicken was of the American variety, I served it with some sauces that are somewhat asian if people felt like it (this chicken doesn’t need anything and really your just gilding the lilly, but I do like sauces…) One of them was Momofuku’s Octo Vin (a reverse vinagrette with a lot of garlic and ginger.  The sauce/dressing’s full name is shortened from Octopus Vinaigrette, and was intended to stand up to octopus and has the reverse ratio of a vinaigrette with the oil and vinegar amounts flipped, the stuff is amazing and goes with fried chicken amazingly well, among other things).  I also served a korean style sauce (discussed again below) and siracha honey which is amazing on fried chicken and is as easy as combining the two.

zesting a lemon onto the chicken

octo vin, siracha honey, korean sauce

Quick pickles (fennel, carrots, cukes), fried chicken and biscuits

[Thanks to Ham Sandwich Indicted for the above photos as well as for the amazing biscuits that featured homemade cultured buttermilk - those could have been dinner alone.]

Fast forward to yesterday and I tried out David Chang’s recipe for fried chicken in the Momofuku cookbook (which is not the fried chicken they serve at Momofuku I might point out as they serve a breaded version there – amazing I should also add – but the one in the cookbook has no breading and is sauced with the octo vin).  Anyway the gist of DC’s version is that the chicken is brined (simple sugar and salt brine for several hours) and then steamed for 40 minutes – thats right its fully cooked by steaming.  The idea is clearly inspired by Asian preparations such as crispy duck where hot oil is used at the end to get a crispy skin, but the steam is used to cook the meat and cook and render the skin so that it is ready to quickly crisp. After steaming the chicken, take the chicken out and put it onto a rack in the fridge to dry / chill.  After a few hours its ready to be fried and as you can guess it doesn’t need long. Word of warning have a splatter shield or at least be careful frying this chicken (I learned the hard way and was hit with quite a few large oil pops).  Not being a scientist I assume this has something to do with the way moisture was trapped in the cooked chicken versus raw chicken, but just consider yourself warned.

The chicken crisps up quickly probably takes only about 5 minutes or so at 375.  After draining it I tossed in the octo vin (and served more on the side of course).  I also tried dipping some of the chicken in a  thin (Korean style?) batter, basically cornstarch, AP flour, some salt/pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, and very cold seltzer water (I guess that part is maybe Japanese).  This battered batch I tossed with a sauce made from gochujang (the amazing fermented Korean chili paste), garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey and siracha.

The results were amazing and compared to the breaded versions a whole lot less work, way less mess and means you can essentially precook the chicken and fry it up at the last moment.  It isn’t quite the same thing however and is really its own dish as the intense chicken flavor that comes from frying chicken isn’t quite there due to the steam cooking.  Don’t’ get me wrong though this is a dish worthy in its own right, just not quite the same thing.  In case you were wondering I served this with some cabbage/fennel slaw and some beans from rancho gordo (Yellow Indian Woman – one of their heirloom varieties) that were cooked slowly all day with onions, celery and bay leaf, salt and pepper, which leads one not in the know to think there is meat in the dish as they are so rich tasting and flavorful.

Fried Chicken a la David Chang

Bánh mì in Vietnamese refers to bread – specifically the baguette that we can thank French colonialism for introducing to Vietnam, but the name bánh mì at least here in the States also speaks to the amazing sandwich that is served on the crisp airy baguette. The basics of the bánh mì tend to include pâté spread on to the bread on one side, mayonnaise on the other, some kind of meat or protein, and a variety of veggies- often cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots and diakon radish and here in the US jalapeños as well as a splash of Maggi seasoning.  The sandwich may sound a bit odd if you haven’t encountered it before, but trust me this is one of the most amazing combinations of flavors and textures that is not quite like anything else.  If your in downtown Columbus you can get a pretty decent one in the North Market or if you head up to Mi Li you can get a really great one.

For whatever reason I haven’t ever really tried making my own, without really planning it out I suddenly found myself with the ingredients to make my own version.  It all started when I was cleaning out a chicken to roast for dinner and wanted to do something with the liver.  Having just made a fresh baguette that was still cooling on the stove (it was Presidents Day so I had the day off and had time to bake baguettes and roast chickens and make a bánh mì.  So back to the liver, I quickly whipped up a simple pâté using the liver in a mini food processor with some bread crumbs, milk, salt, pepper and a little duck fat.  I baked the tiny pâté in a ramekin in the toaster oven in a water bath for 30 minutes and then chilled it.

Meanwhile I made some pickled carrots by slicing match sticks of carrots and putting them in a vinegar, sugar and salt mixture to quickly pickle.  My bánh mì didn’t feature a main protein (and really it doesn’t need one I learned) and if the pâté was replaced with a mushroom pâté it would be a great vegetarian sandwich.

So once everything was ready, carrots having sat in the fridge for an hour I was ready to make the sandwich.  On one side of my freshly toasted baguette I spread the pâté, layered on cucumbers, a layer of pickled carrots, some pickled hot peppers from our garden, and a bunch of cilantro.  The other side got some Kewpie mayonnaise, I didn’t have Maggi seasoning so I put a few drops of soy sauce on top of the contents and combined the two haves together.  This improvised version of bánh mì  turned out pretty awesome and was pretty simple to pull off.

A couple weeks back when my fiancé was feeling under the weather and was making up some ramen (including the little packet – something I never quite developed the taste for) I decided I’d go a bit more for the flavor of Pho, but without having many ingredients or the time to make it for real, I came up with a really quick pho that was pretty good in a pinch.  With the right ingredients this could easily have turned into a bit less faux pho without much more work.  Really all I was doing was infusing stock (in this case chicken, but for pho bo, my preference you’d use beef stock).  Into the chicken stock I put in some of the standard elements (the ones I had on hand) – cinnamon sticks, slices of fresh ginger, star anise, fish sauce and sugar and let that all simmer on the stove.  I didn’t really have any of the garnishes aside from some cilantro and dropping in the ramen noodles and splashing on some hoisin sauce and siracha but in a quick pinch it filled in for pho.

Pho

So also on the pho front here in Columbus I’ve had a couple recent trips to Pho Asian noodle House & Grill (1288 W. Lane Ave., Columbus, OH 43221 – info on yelp) which is a mixture of mostly Chinese food (despite the name) and Vietnamese.  The people who run it are super nice and despite the building being an old Taco Bell the place transcends its former self (I should mention that they still have the drive through and its operational – yes you can get Pho, good pho at that, through a drive up window).  Anyway, its quick, pretty cheap and good.  The roast duck noodle soup is awesome as is their standard pho and their pad thai (I guess they do have more than Chinese and Vietnamese) was good as well.

Buckeye Pho Asian Kitchen (761 Bethel Rd. Set E195, Columbus, OH 43235 in front of  the Micro Center )  - seems to be a recent addition (not sure how old it is the place appears to be brand new – the interior is spotless and super bright) to the thankfully growing Vietnamese dining scene in Columbus I think I heard it was somewhat related (relatives or the like) to the owners of Mi Li Cafe a great spot for awesome Bahn Mi and while Buckeye Pho comes through with really good Bahn Mi (like Mi Li they make their own mayo and pate and it all comes on the super crispy baguette to seal the deal).  The difference from Mi Li are pretty obvious starting just with the name, which is carried through on with a wall covered with buckeyes and an OSU color scheme.  The other thing that sets Buckeye Pho apart is the sports bar appearance of the place.  3 huge TVs overlook a long bar in the middle of the place – but don’t let these throw you as it is decidedly not a sports bar and the food is awesome and the owners/staff are super nice.  Their special pho was fantastic, including all the various types of beef they have (you can order specific versions with just what you want if your trying to avoid something, like say tripe which comes in the special version).  So far it seemed like they have a nice reception, the night we were there it was packed but with quick service they were turning the tables over quickly so we barely had to wait to get seated.

The Wall Street Journal had a funny list of 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym – which while often unsaid are pretty spot on.

15. If you’re motivated to buy an expensive home exercise machine, consider a “wooden coat rack.” It costs $40, uses no electricity and does the exact same thing.
….
19. If a gym class is going to be effective, it’s hard. If you’re relaxed and enjoying yourself, you’re at brunch.
….
27. There is no secret. Exercise and lay off the fries. The end.

One of the other things I’ve been aiming to stick to in the new year is following some of Mark Bittman’s advice about reducing meat intake and going to a more veggie diet. While I don’t intend to become a vegetarian (just yet at least) making vegetarian meals more often is part of the plan as well as making other meals more veggie focused. To aid in this effort grabbed the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian Edition iPhone app and flipped through it (also plan to buy the paper copy as despite sharing the material they aren’t exactly substitutes). I am surprised to learn from friends that they aren’t that familiar with the original How to Cook Everything cookbook and am always thrilled to point them to it as a reference. Its the first place I usually go for basic dishes and everyday simple things. I’ll probably posting more on some of the new dishes I try out so heads up on that.

The sadness of all this is that I rarely get one of these scones because I always get the sweet potato turkey hash for breakfast when we go, meaning only if we splurge for some take out biscuits to eat later will I have one of these – and never in its fresh from the oven state.

A month or two ago while making some biscuits, I thought, hey why not toss in the ham and cheese to these? Not having ham and cheese I had to wait awhile until I remembered the whole affair again at the grocerry store.
Problems emerged immediately though, what kind of ham? what kind of cheese? I thought I’d like to use Virginia ham (to some country ham), a salty, cured ham, which could be added in moderation to deliver texture and intense flavor, but I was foiled when the store doesn’t sell it. (They did have deli ham called Virginia ham, but from my guess it wasn’t what I was thinking of). Instead I settled on a package of pre-diced prociutto (we were at Kroger, so our options were a bit limited in this department – although I should add this was at the new Clintonville Kroger, which is really nice – just not a gourmet destination I guess). For cheese grabbed some gruyere and emmenthal, being unable to decide, so went with the classic fondue duo.

To make the biscuits I made up a batch of biscuits inspired by Sam Sifton’s recipe a while back in the NY Times, been really happy with his recipe, don’t follow it exactly as I am going from memory, but basically I made a half recipe in the food processor, adding the cheese. Into a bowl to add the milk and then in the proscuttio.

I try to minimally handle biscuits and to that end I don’t cut them out with a biscuit cutter, instead cutting them with a knife into squares (in this case 4 big biscuits). The proscuitio and cheese biscuits turned out amazing, I think next time I will leave in some bigger chunks of cheese to get some pockets of cheese (I’ve since done this and can attest it is a good idea), but the little squares of proscuttio were delicious. The recipe is quick enough to make on a work morning if your not a dash out the door person and delicious enough to make for a special sunday brunch.

picture from Cooks Country

Saw this recipe the other day on WOSU our local PBS station on an episode of Cooks Country. The recipe is for Apple Cider Chicken, which uses bone in chicken pieces, seared in a pan, where a braising sauce is then made, with the chicken then going back into the pan to finish in the oven in a kinda shallow braise allows the skin to stay super crispy and for an amazing sauce that braises the bottom half of the chicken into deliciousness. The recipe is quick to which is nice on a weeknight and was on the table in no time leaving us a nice lunch of leftovers for the next day. (I used a whole chicken the I cut into a fairly standard 10 pieces – legs, thighs, wings, and cutting each half breast in half again to give four quarters of the breast meat – all left on the bone of course).

The technique in the recipe is one that is really useful and could be used in countless other ways, using the pan to sear, sauce and bake makes for easy cleanup (something I am not very good at).  The other reason the recipe sounded  so good to me was to achieve the apple flavor the recipe uses apple cider, apple brandy and apple cider vinegar and we already had some Ohio cider already sitting the in fridge as well as a bottle of Ohio’s own Tom’s Foolery Apple-Jack (recently made available here in Columbus at Weiland’s - where and enthusiastic clerk pointed it out to us and didn’t take any convincing on his part to take it home).

Tom’s Foolery Apple-Jack is an apple brandy made right here in Northeastern Ohio and the stuff is small batch (they say micro batch actually as they say it would take four years to maker the amount that small batch folks make).  Either way the stuff is fantastic (more fruity I would say than a calvados, but with the complexity and warmth you’d expect from a brandy) and finding out that there is another great local distiller is very exciting stuff and I am really pleased that Weiland’s down here in Columbus carries it (there aren’t too many places in Ohio to buy it – I think Weiland’s is the only place in Columbus).  Hopefully the trend of creating artisan spirits continues and people will continue to support the fantastic local liquor scene.

Ok so back to the chicken.  After about fifteen minutes cooking the chicken in the skillet, made the sauce by cooking the onions and scrapping up the fond from the chicken.  Next in goes some garlic, thyme, cider, the brandy and some diced apples, bring it to a quick boil and the chicken goes back in and into the hot 450 degree oven that crisps the chicken even more.  After the oven you finish the sauce with a bit more brandy and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.  The sauce is reminiscent of a good french onion soup (but applely) and was fantastic and worthy of eating on its own with a spoon.  Served it with some potatoes from the oven and some green beans that are easily prepared while the chicken is in the oven.  Forgot to take a picture of the results as we started to devour it so quickly, so the top picture is courtesy of Cooks Country.

We couldn’t cook a whole pound of jalapeños into anything unless we were making poppers one night (not a bad idea actually) so preserving them came to mind, and jalapeño jelly sounded like the perfect destination.  Looked up some recipes on the internet and being fairly novice at canning tend not to stray from the tried and true ball recipes.  So using this recipe for jalapeño jelly from the Ball cookbook started up the water bath and washed some jars and got busy making the jelly.  The jelly is super easy as you may guess if you peaked at the recipe (jalapeños, sugar, cider vinegar, pectin), we departed from the recipe in not pureeing the jalapeños and instead leaving them in a small fine dice using the food processor and omitted the food color.

The results are amazing.  The huge amount of sugar and pectin as well as the 10 minutes of boiling the jelly mello the jalapeños to a really pleasant heat level where even the most timid of eaters could enjoy the mild punch.  The natural color looks kinda like a pickle relish – a muted green and the flecks of the jalapeño are suspended in the jelly.  The jelly is of course perfect on cream cheese and a cracker, but can bring back a blast of peppery summer throughout the winter to a number of dishes by mixing into sauces or using as you would a chutney.

Recently I taped the Kimchi chronicles on PBS, which oddly enough features Jean George Vongerichten and his wife Marja.  Well actually it’s not that odd because it turns out his wife is Korean and hence the TV show.  Watching them put together some Korean food got me excited to cook up some at home and the other day picked up some pre-marinated boolgoi at Trader Joes.  While I am sure there is better boolgoi out there of course, it’s a pretty easy way to whip up an easy meal, grill it real quick over a super hot fire and put in a lettuce wrap with some rice and some gochujang (I have heard you pronounce it with a bit of a K sound – more on this stuff later).

Okay well not having planned ahead I didn’t have too much to go with the boolgoi, or so I thought.  Rummaging around in the fridge found we had some small asian cabbages that while not the classic napa cabbage for kimchee, figured I could turn into a good quick kimchee.  I loosely followed Mark Bittmans recipe, after a couple of hours of salting and a thourgh rinsing I chopped up the cabbage and mixed with nom pal (fish sauce), some red pepper flakes and siracha, sugar, garlic, some leeks I had that I softened in boiling water and some ginger grated on the microplane of course.  I tossed that all together and put it in the fridge overnight.  After reading a couple of recipes that mentioned the one ingredient you could not substitute for and must buy when serving ssam or boolgogi is gochujang – Korean red chili paste.  I realized that I should get some gochujang to do it right so  I stopped at one of the Asian markets by my house (Yao Lee in Clintonville) , that I heard had some Korean stuff to grab a jar of gochujang and also grabbed some bean sprouts and cilantro (I also was looking for ssamjang, but they didn’t have any of that and actually only had one kind of gochujang, since then I heard to go to a store up near Henderson & High for Korean stuff).  For those who don’t know gochujang is made by adding powdered red chili peppers and glutinous rice powder to soybean paste, and aging this paste.  Apparently until somewhat recently every family in Korea would make their own and the stuff is used on almost as many things as kimchi is over there.  The gochujang has a complex, fermented flavor loaded with umami.  Some describe it as miso crossed with hot sauce.  The stuff is good whatever you call it.

Any back to the meal, the meal went as follows, made some quick pickled carrots with a rice vinegar, sugar and soy mixture with matchstick sized carrots, put on a plate macho, cilantro and the bean sprouts in nice piles for people to help themselves, made sticky rice using italian short grain rice, tossed with a little sugar, soy and rice wine vinegar.  I found a few flour tortilla, taco sized, in the fridge (not homemade ones, those wouldn’t have lasted) and also warmed those up after grilling up real quick the boolgogi.  The meal turned out great, but the tacos really shined.  The combination in one bite of the meat, cilantro, kimchi, bean sprouts, pickled carrots and the amazing gochujang in a soft warm tortilla is quite amazing – I can see why this is the rage in L.A. and other places.

I will be doing this again soon, but next time I will actually plan to serve tacos.  America is clichély a melting pot, but it truly is and things like Korean tacos are a great reminder of how good quirky fusions of cultures and cuisines can be.

“THE CHALLENGE: This September 17, you’re invited to take back the ‘value meal’ by getting together with family, friends and neighbors for a slow food meal that costs no more than $5 per person. Cook a meal with family and friends, have a potluck, or find a local event.

WHY: Because slow food shouldn’t have to cost more than fast food. If you know how to cook, then teach others. If you want to learn, this is your chance. Together, we’re sending a message that too many people live in communities where it’s harder to buy fruit than Froot Loops. Everybody should be able to eat fresh, healthy food every day.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Sign up for the challenge! You can cook a meal with friends and family, find a local event, or host your own event. When you sign up, we’ll send you $5 cooking tips.” (To sign up or read more visit Slow Food)

Since I am out of the country right now and figured I wouldn’t be able to make a meal on the correct day figured I’d give it a go in advance a couple weeks ago.  $5 a person gets a lot easier if your doing it for larger numbers than two people or if you plan on a couple of meals, but I figured it could still be done pretty easily.

So with that partially in mind I put some dried chickpeas in some water to soak overnight one evening.  [If your used to working with canned chickpeas/garbanzo beans, you gotta start using dried.  Not just because they are cheaper, they are better and while they do take some forethought, its not much and cooking them takes some time but no effort - just get in the routine and you won't be bothered.]  So anyway, the dried beans actually got two nights soaking  in the fridge, no worries, still come out fine, were not being real fussy here.  No mater how many times I toss the dried little beans into a container, I have a hard time remembering how much they swell up after soaking, so usually I have to go fetch another container after a few hours if I put them in small container.

So fast forward to two nights later, get home from work and decided that we should put the beans to use, making some falafel and some hummus.  The first thing I did was get some dough going for pita bread, a really simple bread to make and that doesn’t need too much time.  I made them using half white and half whole wheat flour, yeast, water, salt and a bit of olive oil.  Knead, let rise for at least an hour and then roll out into pitas, let those rest and finally bake on a pizza stone.  With the pita dough rising I turned to the beans.

The falafel will get fried of course and the beans for those don’t get pre-cooked, the hummus needs the beans to cook so I fill a pot with water and bring it to a low boil with the beans and then drop the heat and cook for a bit (45 mins? didn’t pay too much attention honestly).  Hummus is so easy (if you like the stuff and buy it pre-made, you gotta start making it yourself – its easy, amazing and to stick with the theme here…cheap), my version basically throw in a little garlic, some cumin, some paprika (smoked is good), some salt, some lemon juice, tahini and olive oil and  pulse in a foot processor adding water or olive oil depending on what your going for texture wise (you can also use a blender for a less textured creamy version – one I personally like, but others don’t seem as keen on).  The hummus will improve as the flavors blend so put it in the fridge overnight if you got time, or in my case while you make the falafel.

Speaking of the falafel, they are also pretty simple, I put in the food processor: the soaked chick peas, garlic (you can use a lot), some onion, a bunch of fresh parsley or cilantro or both, cumin, ground coriander, a bit of cayenne,  lemon juice, salt, a bit of baking powder and a bit of flour.  After getting it well combined in the food processor let it rest in the fridge for 20 mins or so, I fry it up (usually a shallow fry for me which results in more patty like shapes)  I use a small doser (the things that look like ice cream scoops – great tools for the cook who cant have too many gadgets) to quickly make a whole bunch, dropping them from the doser straight into the skillet I use to fry them up.

To serve the whole thing I serve some chopped up veggies as toppings to make a pita, say chopped tomatoes, onion, some chopped parsley or cilantro if you didn’t use it up already, some sliced banana peppers (we had a bumper crop in the garden, actually all the veggies were from the garden except for some lettuce, so those kept the cost down – not sure if thats cheating – I guess it kinda is, but I you could get away with just using a couple items), chopped cucumber and lettuce (you can do anything though, pickled veggies or a cabbage slaw are great), and then some kind of sauce, either a thinned out tahini sauce, which is pretty traditional or one of my favorite the ubiquitous mayo/yogurt combo sauce (the white sauce in the bottle found at falafel shops around a lot of Europe) made with a mixture of the two plus some garlic.

At the last minute I popped the rolled out pita into the hot oven and in about 3-4 minutes had amazing fresh pita, filled with all of the above and a some more for dipping in hummus.  So yeah, if you bought all the veggies I discussed above and some other things it would definitely get potentially expensive, but if you pick and choose you could get a nice selection of toppings/salad (or if you had more people say 4, you could easily buy a ton of veggies to top them off / make a salad for $20 total).  Of course I didn’t factor in the spices in my meal cost as well although if you did a fractional cost of the price of them from Penzy’s they don’t amount to much and you could simplify your seasoning and they would still be great – probably just garlic, salt, pepper and say cilantro would work for making some tasty falafel.

There are plenty of creative ways to make a $5 dinner as I’ve been reading on some other folks blogs, and you can easily get some meat in that $5 meal as well unlike the above meal, the key is of course to remember that you don’t need 12 oz or more of steak a person and using the meat to flavor other components is a great way to stretch it.  Also buy at those ethnic markets, they aren’t wasting their money on advertising and are very competitive on price – even if you not making Indian, Asian or Mexican food, they can be a great source for affordable ingredients.  So hopefully a whole bunch of folks are getting in on the challenge and figuring out that you don’t need a large corporation involved to create great, affordable value meals.