FoodieBuddha.com

So the Keng Gang, aka Chinese Southern Belle … DOT COM [think Expedia] has graduated from Eggrolls & Sweet Tea and moved onto viral videos.  So check out the video, and hit up their calendar to see where the mother/daughter team is heading next.

Another day, another blog.  However, it seems like this one has a little more potential than just your average dude who spouts.  What’s Cooking With Doc is a cooking blog by a gentleman who is not only a doctor, but also a trained chef.  To explain: he used to sling wine and skillets for a living until he caught the bug.  Doc left the world of food and grabbed his white jacket.

I actually met him during my birthday dinner at MF Buckhead and found him to be an approachable, fun loving kinda guy.  So while his culinary background gives him the expertise to rant on cooking, his experience as a doctor helps him keep things good for you!  So in addition to whatscookingwithdoc.com, you can follow Michael on twitter.  Buddha … OUT!

The more I eat out, the more surprised I am at the inability for chefs to demonstrate one of the most important, yet basic, aspects of cooking: proper understanding of the cooking temperature of meat.

For many of you, this will be common knowledge.  However, I get enough questions about stuff like this – so I felt a post was in order.  This should be taken with a grain of salt, as different cuts display unique characteristics.  Meanwhile, this is written with a beef-centric focus.

Cooking Temperature

Raw
Raw meat will be be a bit more chewy and somewhat more slippery on your palate.  Though you may not realize this if you are pounding away, raw meat retains a good bit of water.  The muscle and connective bits inside keep it all bottled up.

Early Cooking (Rare)
At approximately 120° F the protein will start to clot. This squeezes the water and then forces out of the cells.  So with the influx of water, the meat becomes juicier and starts to firm up a bit.

Middle Cooking (Medium)
At 140° (the top-end of medium-rare), the protein clots become even more abundant and the cells start to form into groups.  At this point, the meat is still firming up and the large pockets of water help make the meat “juicier.”  As the temperature rises past 140° F and approaches 150° F, the collagen starts to denature.  The increased pressure on the water results in the meat shrinking as it releases much of its juice.  As the meat dries out, it starts to take on a tougher personality.

Late Cooking (Well Done)
As you might expect, the continued cooking of the meat will help dry it out and stiffen it up.  If you slowly raise the temperature to 160° F, the aforementioned collagen will soften and change into gelatin.  The muscle fibers remain firm, but the gelatin allows the meat to break apart easily.  Thus, when barbecuing, stewing, or braising, meat should fall off the bone.

Beef Grades

Established ‘27, meat grades are an attempt to measure the overall flavor, tenderness, and juiciness of the meat.  Amongst other things, the basis of these grades is the age, marbling, color, and texture of the meat.

The following is the list of USDA grades.  For you store shoppers, stick to Prime, Choice, & Select.  In addition, for those of you with real time on your hands, there is the yield grade.  Unless you are buying in bulk – this isn’t a big deal.  The lower the number, the higher the yield.

The USDA grades are:

Prime – Prime beef is the best quality.  It is heavily marbled (8%) and will have a thick layer of fat.  As logic would follow – it’s going to be the most costly and the most flavorful.  It is also aged the longest.

Choice – Next up is Choice.  The marbling will come in at between 4-8%).   Slightly chewier and less flavorful, you can use Choice for just about anything.

Select – Select beef comes in at 3-4% marbling.  As you might expect, it is tougher and less flavorful.

Standard and Commercial- A step below select, this is that store brand meat you’ll see from time to time.

Utility, Cutter, and Canner – You won’t need to worry about these three at the store.  The bottom of the list, this meat is ground and processed.  Hello Krystal Burgers!! (YUM!!!!!)

No-Roll – Consider this non-graded select.

Alright ladies and gents, there you have it!

Who says computer geeks can’t cook?

Lifehacker.com is one of my daily reads (as it is for most every other professional in the technology sector).  Every once in a blue moon, they drop something cooking related.  Such was the case with yesterday’s post.  Creatively named “The Lifehacker Cookbook,” you’ll find a collection of [mostly] American grub all linked up and ready to go.

Fear not my fellow foodies, the cookbook is really just a link resource to some really excellent stuff.  It includes real stuff from real cooks.

Of the available recipes (which are sorted by meal of the day), my favorite is the homemade ginger ale recipe.  Granted, I haven’t tried most of these recipes.  The post for the ginger ale hit the web-waves just a few days ago; but, the recipe has been around for a bit.  It was extracted from the Jean-Georges Vongerichten cookbook entitled Cooking At Home with a Four-Star Chef.  I had a lot of luck with it; my friends and I gladly polished off a couple of batches in a single sitting.

This may be one of the best resources to come along in a long time.  The Kitchn is one of my daily reads.  Today, they posted a long list of instructions for the home cook.  Not much more I can say about it … so go check it out!  Boo ya!

So the Mushroom Channel is a blog dedicated to all things funghi.  It’s a pretty good read despite it’s lack of diversity.  Yesterday, I noticed they had an interview with Riccardo Ullio, the owner of notable Atlanta restaurants Sotto Sotto, Fritti, Cuerno, and Beleza.  In that interview, Ullio shares with the crowd the method behind his Funghi Fritti.  Enjoy!

Chef Riccardo’s Funghi Fritti

• 12 pounds assorted mushrooms (such as white, crimini, portobello, shiitake)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white wine
• 6 cups rice flour
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
• Truffle oil, as needed
• Canola oil, as needed
• Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Stem and cut the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces.
2. In a large bowl, add the water and wine, then slowly whisk in the rice flour until the batter is the consistency of a thick gravy.
3. Add the rosemary and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add the mushrooms and toss until the mushrooms are lightly and evenly coated.
5. For each serving to order: Fry 8 ounces of the mushrooms at 350 degrees F, using a metal spoon to keep them from clumping, 3 to 4 minutes, or until the batter is crisp.
6. Drain the mushrooms on a paper towel, then drizzle very lightly with truffle oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Well isn’t this just great! Just the other day, I was talking with a friend about how long various types of food lasts. Today, I hear about StillTasty.com.  The site helps visitors to determine how long to keep particular types of food, provides storage tips, and does so through a very usable UI (user interface to all the non-techies here).  However, not all is well in StillTasty Land.

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Recipe care of Susan Steinberg

My good friend Susan Steinberg has imparted a great deal of knowledge on me in these past few months.  Steinberg is the very definition of a “functional foodie.”  She ran a very successful local catering service for many years; that success led her to open a widely acclaimed restaurant.  Nowadays, she spends her days busy as ever … but she’s always taken the time to hang with me.

Susan was kind enough to let me transcribe this recipe so that everyone can share.  The quantities here are huge…so you’ll want to trim this down if you’re cooking for just a few people.

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Clara Cannucciari is old school – literally.  She is a 93-year old cook who runs greatdepressioncooking.com.  To be honest, I’m more interested in her stories than her cooking.  She talks about food and cooking from the Great Depression.  I thought this was appropriate on the heels of Tami’s $30 Project!

You can check out all her videos on YouTube.  In the meantime, here’s my favorite so far:

So we bantered back-and-forth all day long.  Were we going to do something last night? Would we go find a place or cook in?  Who was coming and who was going?  Finally, by 7:30 pm I was on my way to the grocery store.  I grabbed some olive oil, salt & pepper, and some Hobnob chardonnay [warning:another annoying website] and made like a tree.

What we knew – I would be cooking dinner.  What I did not know: What would that dinner consist of? While there was a strong push for my homemade meatballs, I just didn’t have the energy for that labor intensive of a process.  What would fit the bill and the tummy?

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