Time to tap our silver maple tree 2021. Click on the link to view the video I created for this simple process
Chefs and Food
My life has been immersed in the culinary profession since I was 19! I have worked in hotels, owned a restaurant with my wife and now have been in culinary education for the past 27 years! We live on a farm, so much of what I write has been about growing food or farm life. I have started to add some other food adventures found in my busy life! Enjoy, explore and most of all like what you like! Cheers!
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Monday, December 28, 2020
Venison chili after spending a few hours outside hunting
Venison Chili1
Yield: 3 1/2 quarts
Ingredients
- Place all of the meat into a large bowl. Combine all of the spices and salt and mix with the meat thoroughly. Refrigerate over night covered.
- Heat a large pot, I like to use my cast iron dutch oven, and add the vegetable oil. Brown the seasoned stew meat in the pot. When you are finished browning the meat add all of the remaining ingredients to the pot, except for the finish ingredients. Simmer for approximately 3 hours or more. Check on it throughout the process, stirring and checking to make sure it is not sticking or burning on the bottom.
- Serve with limes, to squeeze on the chili, and crumbled queso fresco. I like warm corn tortillas to dip into the chili.
Monday, December 21, 2020
Chocolate pot creme
If you grew up eating chocolate pudding; you want this recipe, it is ten times better than any pudding recipe, lol! Your family will thank afterwards for making this delicious classic dessert!
Chocolate Pot Crème
Yield: 6 to 8
Ingredients Amounts
High-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped 9 ounces
Whole milk 1
1/2 cups
Heavy cream 1
1/2 cups
Egg yolks 6
large
Granulated sugar (add an extra tablespoon if using bitter chocolate) 5 tablespoons
Salt 1/4
teaspoon
Confectioners' sugar 1
tablespoon
Method:
1.
Place the chocolate in a blender. Whisk the
milk, 1 cup cream, egg yolks, granulated sugar and salt in a heavy-bottomed
medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof
spatula, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula and almost
boiling, 5 to 6 minutes.
2.
Immediately pour the milk mixture over the
chocolate in the blender. Cover and hold the lid with a thick kitchen towel;
blend until combined and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the
blender as needed. Divide the chocolate mixture among ramekins or small cups
and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
3.
Whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the
confectioners' sugar with a mixer or in the blender until soft peaks form. Top
the chilled pots de crème with whipped cream.
Granola
Granola is one of those foods that are incredibly easy to prepare and allows for some interesting flavor profiles. This recipe is definitely easy to prepare and can work well as a dessert topping, breakfast cereal and energy bars!
Granola
3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup small-dice dried fruit
1/2 cup coarsely chopped raw or toasted nuts or seeds
Method:
1. Combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, honey, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Mix the ingredients together by rubbing together with your hands. Spread onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 250 Fahrenheit. When finished the oats should be dry and a mix of clumps and loose pieces. Add dried fruit, nuts and or seeds. Cool and store in a dry air tight container.
If you want to view an interview I did with NBC news 15 here in Wisconsin on making this granola click on the link below.
Ciabatta Bread
Ciabatta bread is one of my favorites to make, it fun and tasty to eat! Bread has so many wonderful qualities when fresh baked, the first and most obvious is the aroma, simply intoxicating! I found this recipe a number of years ago and it has served me well.
Ciabatta
Makes 4 Loaves
Biga – Preferment
made the day before (8 to 24 hour fermentation)
¼-teaspoon Instant OR Active dry yeast
8 oz water, at room temperature
To make the biga:
Combine the flour, yeast, and water in a medium bowl. If
using active dry yeast combine the yeast and water together and let stand for 5
minutes before adding the flour. Stir together until a uniform mass form, about
1 minute. Place biga in a 8 qt cambro with lid or tightly wrapped with plastic
wrap. Let stand at room temperature ( 70 degrees F) overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 24
hours).
Final Dough -
To make the final
dough:
Place the biga (made the day before) and ingredients for the
final dough in a 12 qt Hobart mixing bowl. If using active dry yeast, first
combine the yeast with the room temperature water and let sit for 5-10 minutes
before adding to the rest of the ingredients.
Mix on lowest speed with paddle attachment until roughly
combined and shaggy dough forms, about 1 minute; scrapping down the sides of
the bowl as needed. Continue mixing on first speed until the dough becomes a
uniform mass that collects on the dough hook and pulls away from the sides of
the bowl, 4-6 minutes. Change to a dough hook and mix on second speed until the
dough is smooth and shiny, about 10 minutes (dough will still be very sticky).
Transfer to a oiled proof box or metal bowl covered and let rise at room
temperature until double in volume, about 1 hour.
Spray bowl scrapper with nonstick cooking spray; partially
fold risen dough over itself by gently lifting and fold edge of dough towards
middle. Turn bowl or proof box 90 degrees and fold again, edge of the dough to
the middle of the dough. Turn dough again and fold dough 6 more times (total of
8 turns). Cover again and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat folds (8 turns total)
and let rise till double in volume, about 30 minutes longer.
Preheat convection steam oven to 450 F at least 30 minutes
before baking. Line 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper.
Turn dough out onto well-floured table. Gently shape dough
into a rectangle and cut into quarters. Gently press each rectangle out to 12 X 6
inch rectangle. Fold into thirds and place seam side down onto a parchment
lined half sheet pan. Shape the rest of the dough the same and place two loaves
on each parchment lined sheet pan. Dust tops with flour and cover with plastic
wrap. Proof for 20-30 minutes at 80 degrees F. Evenly dimple each loaf after
proofing pressing out to a 10 X 6 rectangle. Place in convection steam oven and
give 5-10 seconds of steam. Bake, steaming loaves 2 more times during the first
10 minutes, until crust is a deep golden brown and internal temperature reaches
210 F, about 25-30 minutes.
Making Macarons at home
I also recently did a video of preparing the macarons at home. The interesting part of doing videos at home, you never know what is going to happen, when you are the camera operator, chef and host!
This is the link for this video:
Macaron interview with NBC News 12-20-2020 and the recipe
Macarons
This is a video of an interview I did with our local television station.
https://www.nbc15.com/2020/12/19/madison-college-chef-gives-tips-for-making-macarons/
Here's the recipe for preparing macarons.
Macarons
Yield: 14 macarons
Ingredients
212 grams almond flour
212 grams powder sugar
Egg whites 82 grams
Egg whites 90 grams
Granulated sugar 236 grams
Water 158 grams
French buttercream
4 large egg yolks
2 large whole eggs
255 grams granulated sugar
56.25 grams of water
340 grams of butter cut into small chips and softened to
room temperature
Method:
1.
Using a piece of parchment paper draw circles of
the same size on the parchment paper.
Turn the parchment paper upside down with the drawing circles on the
bottom; spray a sheet pan with some pan spray and place the parchment paper
with the drawing circles down onto the sheet pan. Do this again with another sheet pan and
parchment paper. You should have 7
circles on each parchment paper.
2.
Pre-heat standard oven to 400 degrees f. If you are using a convection oven, pre-heat
it to 350 degrees f.
3.
Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar
together in a bowl. Whisk together. Mound the almond flour mixture and form a 4
inch well in the center. Pour in the 82
grams of egg whites to the center of the mound. Combine the mixture and set
aside.
4.
Place 90 grams of egg whites into a mixer with a
whip. Take approximately 2 tablespoons
of the granulated sugar and set aside.
Combine the remaining granulated sugar with the water in a small
saucepot. Heat the sugar mixture to 203
f over medium heat. When the sugar water
has reached 203 degrees f, start whipping the egg whites and add the 2
tablespoons of sugar to the whipping egg whites. Whip the egg whites on medium speed. Continue cooking the granulated sugar and
water to 248 degrees f. Whip the egg
whites to soft peaks, if the egg whites reach soft peaks before the sugar
reaches 248 degrees, slow the whipping down to the lowest setting on the mixer.
5.
When the sugar water is 248 degrees, turn the
mixer speed to medium low. Slowly drizzle the sugar water down the side of the
mixing bowl; trying to not allow the sugar water to hit the whisk. This needs to be done slowly, otherwise the
meringue will deflate. Once all of the
mixture has been added, turn the speed up on the mixer to medium high. Whisk the meringue until the bottom of the
mixing bowl is not hot to the touch.
6.
Fold one third of the meringue mixture into the
almond mixture; continue adding meringue a little at a time until when you fold
a portion of the batter over itself, the ribbon slowly moves. The mixture should not be stiff, that it
holds its shape without moving at all, but it should not be so loose that it
does not maintain a ribbon for a short period.
7.
Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag with a
½-inch straight tip. Pipe the meringue
on to each circle, just enough to fill in the circles, leaving a small amount
out, it should fill in as it sits. When
all of the circles have been filled, lift the pan and lightly tap it on the
counter to remove any air bubbles. Pipe
the mixture on the other sheet pan with the circles and do the same tapping as
the first pan.
8.
Let the piped macarons sit at room for 10 to 30
minutes, long enough to form a slight skin on the outside. This will prevent cracks while baking the
macaron.
9.
Turn the pre-heated standard oven down to 325 f
and the pre-heated convection oven down to 300 f. Bake the macarons until the tops are shiny
and crisp. Remove from the oven and cool
on a rack.
French Buttercream
1.
Combine the egg yolks, eggs, sugar, and water
into a mixing bowl. Whisk over a hot
water bath to a temperature of 145 degrees f.
2.
Pour the heated mixture into a mixing bowl, of a
mixer, with a whisk. Whisk on high, until stiff peaks have been reached. Turn
the mixer down to a low speed.
3.
Slowly add the butter a little at a time until
it has been completely added. Whip on
high speed to ensure the butter has been fully incorporated.
Finish
Pipe a small amount of butter cream in the center of one
side of the macrons, not all the way to the edge. Place another finished
macaron on top of the buttercream and serve or store.
Note: You can add scraped vanilla bean to the macaron batter
for vanilla macarons or you can also color the macarons with food coloring
added to the batter. You can also add
some jam in the center and pipe the buttercream around the jam before sticking
the two-macaron shells together.
Monday, October 5, 2020
Rabbit Roulade
Rabbit Roulade
Yield: 1 Whole Rabbit
Ingredients
1 Rabbit whole deboned
Forcemeat
5 parts Pork and rabbit meat (equal parts) chilled to 33 degrees
4 parts Pork back fat chilled to 33 degrees
3 parts Ice crushed
to taste Salt
1 part Garnish Pistachio, dried fruit etc.
to taste Brandy
Roulade finish
Caul fat or bacon, enough to cover a 12 X 12 square
How to use this recipe using ratios.
Your 100 % is the rabbit meat and pork meat (because you do not know the exact amount of rabbit meat you are going to have each time). Next if you have 5 parts of something, in this case, will be 100%, 4 parts will be 90%, 3 parts will be 80% and 1 part will be 10%.
Method:
- 1. Chill deboned rabbit. Remove the legs and thighs, leaving only the loin intact on both sides. Lay the deboned loins on a sheet pan and continue to chill.
- 2. Prepare the forcemeat by grinding the pork and rabbit meat through a medium grind. Grind the fat back with the meat. Place meat and fat mixture into a large enough food processor and emulsify the mix with crushed ice, (add the ice a little bit at a time; you may not need all of it). When the mixture has a sheen look and is tacky it is ready. Fold in the salt and garnish, and do a test of the forcemeat for flavor. If using brandy soak the pistachio and dried fruit in the brandy before folding into the forcemeat.
- 3. Place the deboned rabbit loin on to either layered bacon or caul fat, see note on using caul fat. The loin meat should be facing upward. When forcemeat is correctly seasoned, spread it on the inside of the rabbit loin and roll the rabbit up with the caul fat or bacon on the outside of the roulade. Cut away any excess bacon or caul fat and roll the roulade tightly, you can place the roll on to a sheet of parchment paper and use the jelly roll method to tighten the roll. Wrap the roulade in plastic to further tighten the roll. Tie off the ends and poach the roulade to 155 degrees in the center. Cool the roulade and prior to service brown the outside of the roulade over medium high heat in a cast iron pan. If you used caul fat make sure it is completely rendered before serving. Make sure the serving temperature of the roulade is 155 degrees in the center before slicing.
- Note: If using caul fat, soak the caul fat in buttermilk for about 30 minutes before using. When the caul fat is finished soaking, wash off the excess buttermilk under cold water, pat it dry and now it is ready for use.
Monday, September 28, 2020
Raising meat rabbits and the process of dispatch to finish
Rabbit fabrication on our farm. We started raising rabbits this year, it is something I have wanted to do for quite a while. Rabbits are one of the most sustainable proteins we can produce and consume; they use very little resources to produce, are quick producers themselves and can provide cheap substance for many. Warning the videos for this are graphic and if you are squeamish about watching please move on.
Dispatching the rabbits part 1
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