Don't ever buy salad dressing.
1 part vinegar : 3 parts oil Shake. Thats it.
Now you can get interesting. You can use any vinegar with any oil plus any flavouring you can think of, that's a lot of options.
Often add 1/2 part sweetener.
To make a nice thick dressing, add everything but the oil and then using a hand blender slowly drizzle in oil. You could even add an egg at the beginning, and have a mayonaisse based dressing, like caesar.
Add salt. Most people don't season their leaf enough if at all.
Squeeze two lemons into a mason jar. Add a spoon of honey and a spoon of mustard. Slowly add grapeseed oil while blending with hand blender. Keep adding oil slowly until dressing thickens. Add a chunk of chevre goats cheese and fresh picked thyme. Taste all the time, at the beginning with no oil it's very sour, when finished the flavour should be balanced and delicious.
Or think of something yourself..
Try adding herbs, spices, raw, dried or cooked fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds......
Saturday, March 19
Confit
Confit. If you see this on a menu, order it. Don't question it and don't be silly. Order. Confit means love.
Actually it means cooked in fat, preferably it's own, but that's not always possible. Food is usually cured with salt and or sugar and aromats before being submerged in fat and cooked very slowly until tender. What more do you want?
Because confit foods are covered with fat, they are not in contact with oxygen and are therefore preserved. This style of cooking was a necessity before refrigeration. Originally referring to fruits cooked and preserved in sugar, the French perfected the art with meats like duck and goose.
Making Duck confit is easy and amazingly delicious. You would be really cool if you actually tried this.
Liberally cover the skin of your duck legs (thighs attached) with cure. 2 part rock sea salt : 1 part sugar + aromats, (traditionally bay leaves, garlic, thyme, black pepper, juniper berries, I like a whack of herbs too and pulsing in the food processor before adding the salt and sugar) leave in fridge loosely covered 24- 48 hours. Wipe off cure and submerge duck in fat. ( If you can't find duck fat you can use oil, but you should really go find duck fat). Put in oven below 300F. Duck is done when thigh bone can be pulled out with ease, 3-5 hours ish. Cool. Back in the day they'd sort of just keep this downstairs for months but I suggest the fridge. When you want to eat it, which is pretty much always, when you're actually ready to eat, make a pan hot. Gently (always gently (hands of a lesbian, tender yet firm)) remove duck from fat, and place duck skin down in hot pan. Don't move it. (Hot means when the duck hit the pan it goes spttzzzzzzz instantly but not so hot your pan is about to melt and everything goes black). Put pan in 350F oven for 10 min or so. You want the skin all super crispy. That's when it's done.. Put a little salad on a plate, put the duck down, drizzle with a gastrique. Wow.
Actually it means cooked in fat, preferably it's own, but that's not always possible. Food is usually cured with salt and or sugar and aromats before being submerged in fat and cooked very slowly until tender. What more do you want?
Because confit foods are covered with fat, they are not in contact with oxygen and are therefore preserved. This style of cooking was a necessity before refrigeration. Originally referring to fruits cooked and preserved in sugar, the French perfected the art with meats like duck and goose.
Making Duck confit is easy and amazingly delicious. You would be really cool if you actually tried this.
Oil
All oils have a set temperatures at which they will begin to smoke, flash and burst into flame. When oil smokes the healthy molecules break down becomes carcinogenic. FYI
You need extra virgin olive oil. It's health benefits have been promoted for centuries and it is used for most western based cooking and dressings EXCEPT when you DON'T WANT TO TASTE OLIVES, or you need HIGH HEAT. Olive oil has a very low smoke point, so don't use it for searing.It is good for sauteing but is the healthiest unheated.
Grapeseed oil. This stuff is great. It has pretty much no flavour and a high smoke point, so it's great for searing. Use anytime you don't want to taste olives. Anything Asian and olives is almost always weird and not so pleasant. (So don't use olive oil to make Asian food).. Grapeseed oil makes wicked salad dressing because you only taste the other ingredients.
Sesame oil. There are two types, made from roasted or raw seeds. By far the most common is the roasted, usually used for flavour rather than cooking. Be careful, a little goes a long way.
Some nuts make great salad and baking oils like walnut and hazelnut, but what you need is nice extra virgin and grapeseed for pretty much all your cooking.
You need extra virgin olive oil. It's health benefits have been promoted for centuries and it is used for most western based cooking and dressings EXCEPT when you DON'T WANT TO TASTE OLIVES, or you need HIGH HEAT. Olive oil has a very low smoke point, so don't use it for searing.It is good for sauteing but is the healthiest unheated.
Grapeseed oil. This stuff is great. It has pretty much no flavour and a high smoke point, so it's great for searing. Use anytime you don't want to taste olives. Anything Asian and olives is almost always weird and not so pleasant. (So don't use olive oil to make Asian food).. Grapeseed oil makes wicked salad dressing because you only taste the other ingredients.
Sesame oil. There are two types, made from roasted or raw seeds. By far the most common is the roasted, usually used for flavour rather than cooking. Be careful, a little goes a long way.
Some nuts make great salad and baking oils like walnut and hazelnut, but what you need is nice extra virgin and grapeseed for pretty much all your cooking.
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