In the Hands of a Chef (42 page)
Read In the Hands of a Chef Online
Authors: Jody Adams
T
he skin of preserved
lemon has a distinctive tangy quality that’s both exotic and refreshing and is ideal for cutting through other strong flavors. The skin of half a lemon, sliced into thin strips, with all traces of pith or pulp removed, is more than enough to serve four people as a condiment for a rich braised-meat dish. You can also add preserved lemon to salads, but be discreet with them until you’ve become familiar with their effect. It’s easy to inadvertently transform a dish into a “preserved lemon salad, “ as their flavor overwhelms subtler ingredients.
MAKES 4 PRESERVED LEMONS
4 lemons ¾ cup kosher salt
About 1½ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)
Extra virgin olive oil
1.
Sterilize a glass jar large enough to hold 4 lemons (washing it in a dishwasher is fine). A 1-quart mayonnaise jar works well.
2.
Scrub the lemons well, then slice them lengthwise almost in half, leaving a 1½-inch section uncut at one end so the halves remain attached. Hold a lemon over a bowl and pour 3 tablespoons salt into the lemon cut, letting the excess salt fall into the bowl. Squeeze the lemon, rubbing the salted cut surfaces back and forth and releasing the juice into the bowl. Put the lemon in the jar. Repeat with the remaining lemons. Pour the salt and lemon juice from the bowl into the jar. Add enough of the 1½ cups lemon juice to completely cover the lemons. Cover with plastic wrap.
3.
Allow the lemons to sit in a cool dark place or the refrigerator for 3 days, giving the jar a stir with a sterile spoon once a day to distribute undissolved salt.
4.
After 3 days, carefully pour a thin (¼ inch) layer of olive oil on top of the lemon juice and replace the plastic wrap. Let the lemons cure for 6 weeks before using. Preserved lemons will keep for 6 months in the refrigerator.
J
udging by the appearance of
a raw veal breast—tough, fatty, and weirdly flat—you’d never know what a melt-in-your-mouth treat lies in store after it’s braised. Lengthy slow-cooking breaks down the muscle fibers, inviting the flavors of porcini mushrooms and Marsala to penetrate the meat; the fat provides a kind of natural larding, so the end product is tender and succulent. The conveniently flat shape of a veal breast fairly begs for stuffing and rolling. I selected mushrooms and kale for the stuffing because both have earthy flavors and neither will break down during the long braising time. If you make this dish on a cold day when everyone’s trapped inside, the aroma from the braising juices will drive everyone crazy as they keep asking, “When is it going to be ready?”
MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS
STUFFING
Kosher salt
¼ pound kale, hard center ribs removed
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped into ¼-inch dice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped into ¼-inch dice
Freshly ground black pepper
½ pound assorted mushrooms, such as shiitake, portabella, and/or chanterelle, cleaned and chopped into ½-inch dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon ground allspice ¼ cup dry bread crumbs
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
BRAISING LIQUID
1/2 large boneless veal breast, trimmed of excess fat (about 3 pounds after trimming; have your butcher point out which side of the breast was attached to the bone)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped into ½-inch dice
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped into ¼-inch dice
1 celery stalk, peeled and chopped into ¼-inch dice
1 ounce dried porcini, reconstituted in warm water (see page 271), and coarsely chopped (soaking liquid saved)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1½ cups dry Marsala
1 cup drained high-quality canned tomatoes, coarsely chopped
4 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth, or as needed
4 bay leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1.
To make the stuffing, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Have a large bowl of ice water ready. Add the kale to the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Add the carrots and blanch for an additional 2 minutes. Drain the vegetables and plunge into the ice water. Drain again and squeeze gently in paper towels to remove excess moisture.
2.
Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook until mushrooms have released their moisture and it has been cooked off. Add the garlic and allspice and cook until aromatic, only a minute or two. Add the kale and carrots and toss well. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
3.
Add the remaining stuffing ingredients to the mushroom mixture. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.
4.
Trim any excess fat from both sides of the veal breast and lay it on a flat surface in front of you, with the side that had the bones facing up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing evenly over the breast, leaving a 1-inch border. Make sure the kale is distributed evenly. Roll the breast up like a jelly roll, beginning with whichever side will produce the stoutest roll. Tie the roll together with butcher’s twine, and season the exterior of the roll with salt and pepper.
6.
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan, with the onion, carrot, and celery; season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to brown, about 7 minutes. Add the porcini, garlic, and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add the reserved porcini soaking liquid (strained to remove the grit), the Marsala, and tomatoes. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dissolve any crispy bits.
7.
Return the veal to the pan and add enough chicken stock to come a third of the way up the side of the roll (about 2 cups) and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the veal tightly with a piece of aluminum foil, pressing it down into the pan, then cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to low and braise for 3 hours, turning the roll several times during the braising so it cooks evenly. Add chicken stock as necessary to keep the braising juice one-third of the way up the veal. The veal is done when a cake tester slides in and out of the roll with no resistance. Remove the veal to a platter and cover loosely with foil.
8.
There should be about 3 cups of juices left in the pan with the vegetables. If the juices seem too thin for a sauce, increase the heat and reduce until they thicken. Remove the bay leaves, add the thyme and oregano, and season with salt and pepper.
9.
Remove the string from the veal and cut into 8 slices, each about 1 inch thick. Pour the sauce onto a warm platter, arrange overlapping slices of the veal on top of the sauce, and serve.
D
ried porcini return more flavor bang per dollar than just about any ingredient I can imagine. The deeply resonant flavor of wildness gained from an ounce or two more than compensates for their expense. To reconstitute dried mushrooms, place them in a small bowl and cover them with warm water. Use about 1 cup per ounce of dried mushrooms. Allow them to soak, covered, for 20 minutes. Some cooks like to use red wine, sherry, or Marsala for part or all of the reconstituting liquid, but I prefer to use only water if alcohol is included elsewhere in the recipe.
After the mushrooms have soaked, lift them out of the liquid and gently squeeze them to remove the excess. Reserve the liquid. Carefully inspect the stems for any remaining dirt or grit. If the stems are still tough after soaking (or embedded with grit), slice them off. Chop the mushrooms or leave whole, as the recipe requires. Allow sand or grit to settle to the bottom of the bowl, then carefully pour off the liquid—through a coffee filter if you don’t have a steady hand. The mushroom liquor is quite flavorful. If you are not using it in the recipe, it can be refrigerated for several days for use in a stock, soup, or sauce.
O
ne hundred fifty years ago
, home cooks and commercial food processors relied on brining (along with salting and smoking) to prevent meats, fish, and vegetables from spoiling. Today, brining is making a comeback. Brined chicken and pork dishes appear on upscale restaurant menus. Cooks are rediscovering that brining is a simple way of improving texture and flavor. Since brining causes meat to absorb liquid, a seasoned brining solution makes meat juicier and tastier than it would be otherwise, a godsend for ultra-lean American pork and even for turkey.
My friend Nancy Oakes, chef-owner of the San Francisco restaurant Boulevard, gave me her recipe for brining, which I’ve adapted for this easy dish. I like to serve these pork chops with Versatile Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (page 107) and Fiery Garlicky Greens (page 91).
If there are leftovers, cooked chops will keep for several days in the refrigerator. Their low fat content makes it too easy to dry them out during reheating, so I prefer to use them cold. Trim the meat off the bone, remove any of the fat remaining along the outer edge, and then slice the meat as thin as possible. Use in a sandwich or a salad, or as part of a cold meat plate, with Roasted Pear Chutney (page 274) or Herbal Mayonnaise (page 14).
Twelve hours is the optimal time for brining the chops, so plan on making the brine and marinating the chops the night before you intend to grill them. Brining them for slightly less time is fine, but longer than 12 hours, and the chops will start to take on the texture and flavor of ham. Once brined, however, they can be refrigerated for several days before cooking.
MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS
BRINE
1 cup kosher salt
VA cup sugar
1 cup Grade  maple syrup
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons juniper berries
½ teaspoon whole cloves
VA cup fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
12 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
8 cups water
4 center-cut loin pork chops, 1½ inches thick
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup vegetable oil for grilling
Roasted Pear Chutney (recipe follows; optional)
1.
Mix all of the brine ingredients together in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir the brine to ensure that the salt, sugar, and maple syrup have dissolved. Let the brine cool, then put it in a large nonreactive container and add the pork chops. Cover and refrigerate for no more than 12 hours.
2.
Remove the pork from the brine and pat dry (without rinsing).
3.
Prepare a grill with hot and medium cooking areas (see page 265). A grill is hot when you can’t hold your hand near the grill surface for longer than 2 seconds without pulling it away; it’s medium when you can’t hold your hand there for longer than 4 seconds.
4.
Season the chops with pepper (not salt—remember, the brining solution is salty) and brush with the oil. Sear the chops directly over the hottest part of the open grill for about 1½ minutes on each side. Then move the chops to the medium area of the grill, cover the grill, and cook to the desired doneness. Use an instant-read digital thermometer to check the internal temperature of the center of the chops. A reading of 145° to 150°F will give you a pink, moist chop, 160°F is well-done. Serve immediately, accompanied by the chutney, if using.
T
he American pig began slimming down in the 1950s, but the lean pork we know today really only emerged over the last twenty years. Since the 1970s, a growing public awareness of the link between saturated fat and heart disease has pumped up the demand for leaner meat products. Pork producers have been happy to comply. The result: “the other white meat. “ A 3-ounce portion of pork loin today contains just under 7 grams of fat. If you’d sat down to a dinner with the same serving back in 1963, you would have been consuming almost 30 grams of fat. This is why cooking a pork loin or pork loin chops today requires a slightly different approach than it did several decades ago. Less fat means the meat dries out more quickly during cooking.
There are several measures you can take to avoid overcooking pork. First, never cook pork beyond an internal temperature reading of 150°F, at which point the pork is still pink and juicy. I prefer to cook pork only to 140°F, assuming there’s going to be a rest period when the temperature will continue to rise to around 150°F. The trichina parasite, considered a low risk these days because of improvements in sanitation and production methods, is killed at 137°F. Cooking pork to 150°F won’t kill salmonella, if that’s a concern to you, but it wouldn’t kill salmonella in veal or beef at that temperature either. The USDA recommends that the internal temperature of pork be 160°F for medium, but at that temperature, pork tenderloin begins to taste like shoe leather. Try cooking it to the lower temperature range first; then, if it’s not done to your satisfaction, put it back in the oven.
Second, cook thick, cook fast. Buy thick center-cut loin chops, at least 1½ to 2 inches thick. Cook them no more than 6 minutes per side on a grill, less if you’re sautéing them. Their thickness will help keep the center of the meat moist. If you have time to brine them beforehand, all the better; their increased moisture content will further decrease the risk of drying the meat out (and add a minute or two to the cooking time). Finally, keep in mind that the leanest cuts of pork are the tenderloin and the other loin cuts. Other cuts, like the Boston butt used in Red Clay’s Roasted Spice-Rubbed Pork (page 328), have more fat in them. You can cook them longer with less chance of drying them out.