Anyone lucky enough to ever enter the inner sanctum of Captain Gourmet's secret headquarters usually has their eyes pop open at the number of gadgets our hero has amassed in his crusade to end food injustice in our world. We are talking about professional quality blenders that spin with enough speed to liquify almost anything and even bring those liquids to a scalding boil. We're talking about gadgets that'll slice, dice, julienne, shred, peel, grate, and mince any vegetable or meat matter out there . We're talking about tools that you require you to measure their potency in rads, btus, specific gravity, horsepower and other measurements that the normal everyday citizen wouldn't consider in a kitchen appliance. However, one of the most important of the Captain's gadgets often goes unnoticed. That gadget is his trusty calendar.
Oh, yes, true believer... That's right. The calendar is quite important in our adventurer's repetoire. Not only is it important for noting the dates that restaurants have grand openings and when interesting cooking classes happen around town... It's a device that lets our beloved Captain keep track of when seasonal ingredients become available and are at their best. Remember, a recipe is only as good as the ingredients in it. For your best results, always use what is fresh and available.
Our captain likes to make sure that he remembers when certain foods are handy. For instance, with spring winding down and summer upon us, our Captain feels a bit melancholy. The spring is the best and only time for getting some ingredients like Fiddlehead Ferns and Wild Ramps. Oh, sure. We live in a day and age where produce can be grown hydroponically or in greenhouses to provided availability year round, but just try to find them if you don't live close to where they grow. Oh, and if you can find them, try to get them cheap, my dear citizen.
The Captain does like to vary his recipe preparation year round, but there are just times that he can't resist falling into more traditional seasonal recipes because the ingredients are so good and fresh. Tomatoes in the summertime...squashes in the fall... They are great, but nothing quite tickles the Captain's palette like the spring emergence of Wild Ramps, Fiddlehead Ferns, and Morel mushrooms.
With the summer soltice upon us, and the last possible chance for Fiddleheads, we'll see our Captain full of mixed emotions enjoying his last chance of Fiddleheads for a while. Yes, a recipe of Pepper Encrusted Scallops atop a Crab and Fiddlehead Relish served with a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce will be completely enjoyed by our Captain tonight. Afterwards, there will be a short period of reflection before he returns to active duty fighting for culinary truth. He'll pull out his calendar and plan just when to best take advantage of the sweet, flavorful tomatoes of summer and when to follow that up with Hatch Chilis due out in August.
The Captain encourages you, Good Citizen, keep a calendar handy in your kitchen as well. It's a power weapon for food justice!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Spirited Infusions, Chapter I
A normal, quiet afternoon finds our beloved hero, Captain Gourmet, quietly standing watch in his never-ending vigil to spot the culinary injustices happening in our world. Little does the average citizen know that there are heroes like this who selflessly maintain guard against those who would evilly seek to bring to them tasteless food or confusing culinary information. The Captain and his cohorts selflessly take up this duty and without seeking glory, though, as they are well aware of the mass hysteria that would ensue should the common citizen become aware of the mad plots created by Anti-Foodies each day. On this particular afternoon, our Captain just becomes satisfied that all is quiet and he begins to end his watch. When, suddenly, even Captain Gourmet is reminded that he is indeed always on call. The Cap Phone (a secret network of communication between Captain Gourmet and his heroic colleagues) starts to flash it's alarming red light and beep with a sound of urgency. It's the mysterious heroine known only as The M. She calls the Captain as she has become aware of a cooking class at Central Market in Austin that will teach students about cooking with flavor infused vodkas.
Vodka recipes. The Captain had thought that he had dealt with them once and for all back in his college days as a junior hero. He had explored the subject back then spending countless hours studying the subject with Screwdrivers, Bloody Mary's, Martinis, Alabama Slammers, White Russians, Black Russians, Kamikazes, and even the Vodka Tonic...to name a few of the tools he used as a hero-in-training to understand the nature of vodka and to bring understanding to his fellow citizens. But, vodkas...and not just any plain off the shelf vodkas, but flavor infused vodkas...in food recipes. Yes. Our hero knew the culinary battle that yet lay before him. So, Captain Gourmet accepts The M's invitation to join her on this crusade to deal with Vodka recipes once and for all.
The night of the cooking class rolls around to find both heroes battling different enemies who are obviously aware of the dynamic duo's intentions for the night and are trying to curry Anti-Foodie favor by delaying our heroes. The Captain quickly defeated the villainous Time Crunch and arrived in the nick of time after accomplishing and inhuman amount of errands in a very short time. A text message sent across the mobile Cap Phone revealed that The M has wound up in the clutches of Traffic Jam, a vile monster capable of reducing the flow of traffic on any street to a standstill. In the end, the presence of both heroes showed that lesser villains could not keep them down. The class started with as the Captain's theme song quietly played in the background. Well, at least within his own head, anyhow.
The pair of heros, not unfamiliar with the usage of alcohol in cooking, began their culinary battle. For quite some time, alcohol has been used as an ingredient in many recipes. But, why? Well, it's for two reasons. The first reason is that any given alcohol whether wine, beer, or a spirit has its own flavor set and adding that to a recipe will add those flavors much like adding any other ingredient whether it be an onion, pepper, or stock. However, there's more to it. Some foods, like tomatoes, have flavors what are alcohol soluble. That is, you can only taste them once alcohol has been introduced. Tomatoes, for instance, will develop a slight tartness and richness that will be impossible to taste otherwise.
But, why the infusion of flavors to vodka? Why not gin, bourbon, or rum? The answer, good citizen, lies in that vodka has a neutral flavor. Yes, you could infused a rum with the very same ingredients as you would a vodka. However, the end product would also carry the flavor components of the rum. Your dish might not call for those extra flavors. If the need is for the introduction of alcohol for developing alcohol soluble flavors and to carry the specific overtone of the infusion, then vodka is your call. However, other foods might also call for the oakiness of a bourbon, etc. The heroes were also informed that another reason to infuse would be to spread out the usefulness of expensive ingredients. One example given was saffron, a very expensive spice. Infusing a spirit with the flavor allows you to stretch how many recipes you can use that ingredient for.
Throughout all of this, the Captain realized that the infusion of spirits also allows for a greater diversity of what you could find in your typical package store. The Captain and The M were both presented with a small array of infused vodkas including Szchechuan Peppercorn
Vodka, Allspice Vodka, Horseradish Vodka, and Saffron Vodka. The infuse yourself method would certainly appeal to foodies near and far as a way to get a finely tuned degree of quality over recipes instead of using flavored vodkas found in stores. For that matter, the flavor could essentially be more real. Remember that a prebottled flavored vodka is just that---flavored. Not, infused. The infusion process takes the essence and flavor directly out of your infusing where as the flavorings in commercial products are likely to be chemical mixtures formulated in a laboratory and addeed to the spirit after distilling and filtering. Finally, it is also important to know that with a home infusion, the foodie is allowed to get exactly what they want. For more mellow and lighter overtones of flavors, the infusing agent can be removed early or allowed to sit longer for deeper, richer flavors.
The infusions are rather simple to make themselves. It simply requires a clean jar, a decent vodka, and something to infuse. Captain Gourmet's research has shown that sometimes a cheap vodka works, especially with fruit. The thought is that fruit will absorb the impurities in the vodka and give it a cleaner finish after the infusion. The Captain is skeptical. The Captain also believes that the quality of the finished product is only as good as the worst ingredient.
To infuse the vodka, pour the spirit into your clean jar. Then place the infusing agent within. Then, let it sit somewhere undisturbed and sample periodically until you get the quality of what you are looking for, good citizen. It would also be a good idea to gently shake the jar once a day or so. One thing to remember is that surface area is the key. The more of the contact that the spirit has, the better the infusion will be.
After the class and sampling various recipes using flavor-infused vodkas, the heroes walked down through their favorite culinary battleground in order to pick up ingredients to infuse their own vodkas with. Everything from cinnamon to peppers to herbs to teas were gathered. Our heroes planned to start infusing their own vodkas and spirits right away. Once their arsenal of infusions has been properly stocked, we'll see another entry in the Cap Files chronicling even more culinary enlightenment.
Vodka recipes. The Captain had thought that he had dealt with them once and for all back in his college days as a junior hero. He had explored the subject back then spending countless hours studying the subject with Screwdrivers, Bloody Mary's, Martinis, Alabama Slammers, White Russians, Black Russians, Kamikazes, and even the Vodka Tonic...to name a few of the tools he used as a hero-in-training to understand the nature of vodka and to bring understanding to his fellow citizens. But, vodkas...and not just any plain off the shelf vodkas, but flavor infused vodkas...in food recipes. Yes. Our hero knew the culinary battle that yet lay before him. So, Captain Gourmet accepts The M's invitation to join her on this crusade to deal with Vodka recipes once and for all.
The night of the cooking class rolls around to find both heroes battling different enemies who are obviously aware of the dynamic duo's intentions for the night and are trying to curry Anti-Foodie favor by delaying our heroes. The Captain quickly defeated the villainous Time Crunch and arrived in the nick of time after accomplishing and inhuman amount of errands in a very short time. A text message sent across the mobile Cap Phone revealed that The M has wound up in the clutches of Traffic Jam, a vile monster capable of reducing the flow of traffic on any street to a standstill. In the end, the presence of both heroes showed that lesser villains could not keep them down. The class started with as the Captain's theme song quietly played in the background. Well, at least within his own head, anyhow.
The pair of heros, not unfamiliar with the usage of alcohol in cooking, began their culinary battle. For quite some time, alcohol has been used as an ingredient in many recipes. But, why? Well, it's for two reasons. The first reason is that any given alcohol whether wine, beer, or a spirit has its own flavor set and adding that to a recipe will add those flavors much like adding any other ingredient whether it be an onion, pepper, or stock. However, there's more to it. Some foods, like tomatoes, have flavors what are alcohol soluble. That is, you can only taste them once alcohol has been introduced. Tomatoes, for instance, will develop a slight tartness and richness that will be impossible to taste otherwise.
But, why the infusion of flavors to vodka? Why not gin, bourbon, or rum? The answer, good citizen, lies in that vodka has a neutral flavor. Yes, you could infused a rum with the very same ingredients as you would a vodka. However, the end product would also carry the flavor components of the rum. Your dish might not call for those extra flavors. If the need is for the introduction of alcohol for developing alcohol soluble flavors and to carry the specific overtone of the infusion, then vodka is your call. However, other foods might also call for the oakiness of a bourbon, etc. The heroes were also informed that another reason to infuse would be to spread out the usefulness of expensive ingredients. One example given was saffron, a very expensive spice. Infusing a spirit with the flavor allows you to stretch how many recipes you can use that ingredient for.
Throughout all of this, the Captain realized that the infusion of spirits also allows for a greater diversity of what you could find in your typical package store. The Captain and The M were both presented with a small array of infused vodkas including Szchechuan Peppercorn
Vodka, Allspice Vodka, Horseradish Vodka, and Saffron Vodka. The infuse yourself method would certainly appeal to foodies near and far as a way to get a finely tuned degree of quality over recipes instead of using flavored vodkas found in stores. For that matter, the flavor could essentially be more real. Remember that a prebottled flavored vodka is just that---flavored. Not, infused. The infusion process takes the essence and flavor directly out of your infusing where as the flavorings in commercial products are likely to be chemical mixtures formulated in a laboratory and addeed to the spirit after distilling and filtering. Finally, it is also important to know that with a home infusion, the foodie is allowed to get exactly what they want. For more mellow and lighter overtones of flavors, the infusing agent can be removed early or allowed to sit longer for deeper, richer flavors.
The infusions are rather simple to make themselves. It simply requires a clean jar, a decent vodka, and something to infuse. Captain Gourmet's research has shown that sometimes a cheap vodka works, especially with fruit. The thought is that fruit will absorb the impurities in the vodka and give it a cleaner finish after the infusion. The Captain is skeptical. The Captain also believes that the quality of the finished product is only as good as the worst ingredient.
To infuse the vodka, pour the spirit into your clean jar. Then place the infusing agent within. Then, let it sit somewhere undisturbed and sample periodically until you get the quality of what you are looking for, good citizen. It would also be a good idea to gently shake the jar once a day or so. One thing to remember is that surface area is the key. The more of the contact that the spirit has, the better the infusion will be.
After the class and sampling various recipes using flavor-infused vodkas, the heroes walked down through their favorite culinary battleground in order to pick up ingredients to infuse their own vodkas with. Everything from cinnamon to peppers to herbs to teas were gathered. Our heroes planned to start infusing their own vodkas and spirits right away. Once their arsenal of infusions has been properly stocked, we'll see another entry in the Cap Files chronicling even more culinary enlightenment.
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