First Bite: BRGR

There's been a lot of buzz about brgr, a new Chelsea burger joint, and I think it's well deserved. The patties are similar to the Shake Shack, but they're more expensive (mine was about $8), a bit tougher, and not quite as salty. The creative preparations and quick service will get my burger-eating face back down there in short order.

I got the beef burger with avocado, raw onion, and Gruyere. It tasted the part, but I was somewhat disappointed by the cheese; I'd expected more bite from the Gruyere. It was its normal nutty self, but didn't do much else.

A lot of people have been talking about brgr. Mostly positive stuff, a few negative. OOH, and a burger list from NY Magazine.


Special thanks to Alaina B. over at flickr for the photo.

Introducing iPile (and two other apple pies)

A few weeks ago I undertook to bake my first pie. Apple pie, as I've learned, is wrought with peril.

In my three apple pie experiences I fell into three of the most notable traps: soupy filling, undercooked center, and 'the incredible shrinking apple'.

Before I talk about the failures, because, really, they weren't failures since each of the pies were still quite decent (if I don't say so myself), I will talk about the one consistent success. Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts performed admirably; tasters could tell it wasn't homemade, but never had any objections to it.

Pie No. 1 - iPile 1.0 - Southern Living (previously mentioned)

The first was an Apple-Cranberry pie from the Nov. issue of Southern Living. Its short and user friendly recipe is what got me started on the idea of pieing. Liz got tired of peeling the 15 required apples, so we stopped at 11 or 12. Unfortunately I couldn't find the recommended types at the Union Square Greenmarket, so I ended up using Gala (recommended), Braeburn (recommended), and Rome (not recommended for anything, ever). The Galas, I imagine, were for structure, the Braeburns for tartness, and the Rome apples did nothing useful. They, in fact, melted into the consistency of watery apple sauce. Fine for apple sauce, less than ideal for pie. My co-workers dubbed it iPile, since it didn't hold its shape long after leaving the plate. The cranberries added some needed complexity and distracted from the soupy Rome glop. (If only I'd read "mediocre as a fresh fruit" beforehand)

Braeburn apples will probably be in most of the pies I make. Liz said that they tasted like apple cider. I agree. The galas didn't taste like much, and the Romes, well, sucked. In the end, the Southern Living recipe was great, but user error prevented it from being all it could be.

Pie No. 2 - Deep Dish - Cook's Illustrated

A week after iPile 1.0, Meg and I endeavored to prepare the Cook's Illustrated deep dish apple pie. Their editors also recommended pre-cooking and were more forthcoming about why it was necessary. Cooking (most of the filling elements) in a Dutch oven (or heavy, covered, pot) activates the pectin in the apples, which discourages them from shrinking when cooked. The covered pot, they said, helped distribute the heat. Skillets tend to get the apples too hot. Read Cook's, they're full of interesting stuff.

The Granny Smiths, Braeburns, and Galas came out wonderfully. We drained the goo off after pre-cooking and were left with an apple-y pie with an adequate amount of chohesive sauce (it wasn't swimming in apple sauce like the Southern Living pie was). The only thing was that the Cook's pie was much more involved than the SL one but there wasn't a significant difference in taste. The Southern Living pie took a lot less work and tasted just about as good (perhaps better if I hadn't botched it)

Pie No. 3 - Rum Raisin/Apple - Gourmet

It could have been because this was the final pie in the batch, but this apple-rum-raisin pie was lightyears ahead of the others. Lightyears. I undertook this pie alone; no Liz or Meghan to peel and core the apples this time.

I'm a sucker for things that I haven't heard of at the Greenmarket. This time the filling was made up of Northern Spy, Winesap, and Opelescent apples. The recipe differed from the others in that it didn't have cooks precook the apples (to keep them from shrinking). I was hesitant, but hey, it's Gourmet. They know what they're doing. And the apples shrunk as much as Cook's warned. Eh. Whatever, it still tasted great. The rum-soaked raisins shined; I soaked them for about a day and they livened the pie up.

Next, cookies. Maybe in time for [some of the] holidays. This post has been a long time coming. Sorry about the wait.

Technorati Tags: Food, Pie, Apples, Cooking
As for the pictures, they were mine; the top was an extreme closeup of the Cooks Illustrated, and the bottom one was showing the sad, unfortunate shrinkage of Gourmet's.

Say it with me: "Role-lah-din"

Tonight Liz made rouladen (not to be confused with rolladen). Rouladen, for the uninitiated, is (are) a german delicacy in which one wraps up slices of pickle and onion with a thin piece of tender beef. It's then sauteed in stock and savored with, in our case, mashed potatoes.

I will admit that it doesn't sound appetizing. Pickles, mustard, onions, and beef sitting on an island of mashed potatoes, surrounded by a sea of broth, doesn't even make me want to eat it, but trust me. It's damn good, easy to make, and really quite inexpensive.

I had to leave for work before I could get a recipe out of my roommate, but the basic ingredients are the thinly sliced (1/2-inch thick) beef [tenderloins?], dijon mustard, liberally applied to raw beef, paprika (very liberally applied; I'm talking Ralph Nader liberal), dill pickle slices, white onion, cut into 1-inch wedges, flour for dredging, and some vegetable oil for browning. After you assemble, in above order, you roll the little buggers up, fasten with 3 toothpicks, and then boil the hell out of them in 3 or 4 cups of stock. There is no time limit on the boiling. The longer the better (so she says).

Serve the slug-looking things on a bed of something unhealthy and you're set.

They taste good, but they look like sauteed slugs. Just eat, don't look. I'll get more details eventually.

Technorati Tags: Food, Rolladen, German Food, Cooking
Yes, the picture is mine. In its grainy glory.

Fear of baking

After yesterday afternoon's unsettling discovery, I set out to try some new recipes. With a meal consisting of Cook's Illustrated penne alla vodka and Southern Living's Apple/Cranberry pie, I won't admit it isn't just a little strange, but whatever. It's fall. Fall means apples, and apples go with pretty much anything. And one last thing before I start: today's moral is: follow the recipe, it's there for a reason.

Instead of scarfing down my freshly-made food like I do practically every monday (since I never seem to allot enough time for preparation, eating, and cleanup), I started quite early tonight (though that extra time was eaten, as it was, by the pie's cooling time). At any rate, it was a good first step to getting better.

Like some Cook's recipes, the penne was incredibly easy (like the coq au vin) and quick to prepare (unlike the coq au vin). Most of the ingredients were gathered at the 14th St. Trader Joe's, where I accidentally bought whole, peeled tomatoes with basil. When I got home and realized what I'd done, I decided the extra basil couldn't be a detriment. It was fun using liz's little chopper/grinder to 'puree' half of the tomatoes while I diced the rest (until I realized that the pureeing peeled whole plum tomatoes were splattering in a fine spray around the kitchen; still fun, but in a gross kind of way).

Everything else about the penne was straightforward, except my getting flustered and sprinkling the red pepper flakes instead of measuring them. I really wish I knew how much I used because it wasn't nearly enough, so the outcome was solid in the viscosity department, but sadly lacking any kind of heat. More onion seems wrong, but a bit more garlic may have been welcome.

Overall, totally worth it. I'll be making this penne again. (with added heat)

And onto the Apple-Cranberry pie. I've never really been excited enough about a pie on paper to want to cook it, but the damn-easy instructions in this month's Southern Living encouraged me to beat the fear of baking and I went down to the Union Square Farmer's Market to get some fresh locals (um, apples, of course), and only then remembered that it was Monday. Monday is the market's off day and usually disappointing, and instead of getting the suggested Gala, Macintosh, and Granny Smith apples, because the latter two weren't available, I ended up with Gala, Braeburn, and Romes.

My awesome roommate peeled the apples, about 9 of them (the recipe called for 12, but the growing pile began looking ridiculous). Some lemon juice, some flour, and 1 1/2 cups sugar (damn). They did reduce, but it was still quite overflowing when we got it into the shell. The shell, btw, was a bit annoying to work with; I chose a Pilsbury 2x9-inch refrigerated pie crust and it did not unroll well.

As the apples reduced I could see what would eventually become the pie's ultimate problem: soupy apples. The Romes (I'm pretty sure it was them) began gooeifying during the saute phase and continued on their slippery slope until they turned into a (delicious, but) soupy mess during the baking phase.

We decided against the lattice, as you can see (above), and I think the steam vents suited it fine. We also didn't cover the crust in tin foil, as suggested, to prevent over-browning; thankfully it wasn't an issue.

And the result: Braeburn apples rock for pie. Rome apples do not. Pilsbury crusts suck before their cooked, but once they are they're quite decent. And Southern Living can make a great pie.

Next time I might add some grated orange peel and cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice. This was Liz and my first pie, and it was a good, solid start. Oh, and to be a food nerd for a moment, Cook's Illustrated said that precooking the apples helps them keep their shape BUT you have to make sure the heat doesn't go past 140 degrees. They recommend using a Dutch Oven instead of a saute pan. If I'd read that before making the pie, things may have turned out better. Maybe.


Technorati Tags: Food, Ham, Butternut Squash, Cooking
Extra special thanks to me for taking this photo. I should really take more photos.

My world is (somewhat) shattered

So there I was, catching up on my blogs with my trusty rss reader (something I haven't done in months) only to discover that (1) a new, improved version of The Joy of Cooking hits shelves today and (2) I have the most unloved version.

Apparently this new one is truer to the original than the "popular" 1975 edition and less "esoteric" than the 1997 rewrite. For a moment I thought about getting them all, but then decided against it. I might get the new one, but I'd rather get The Gourmet Cookbook or Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe.

Well thank you New York Times for ruining my day. (And a preemptive thanks to Cook's and Southern Living for potentially saving it with the delicious dinner I have planned: penne alla vodka and apple/cranberry pie - not entirely congruous, but whatever, I think they'll rock)