Overcooked – EcoSalon

Overcooked: Slide on Outta Here

Vanessa Barrington — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:32:50 +0000

Sliders are a kind of subset of the overbaked cupcake trend. The appeal of small food, like dogs, is not hard to understand. It’s cute. And fun. And cute. And if I were a restaurateur, I’d be all over it, as you can usually get away with charging proportionately more for small food and thus squeeze out a higher profit margin. But this particular craze has been going on since the early ’90s and has reached the point where some people are gratuitously sliderizing just about anything. Do we really need Meatloaf Sliders? Or, Steakhouse Sliders with Mini Steak Fries?

Sometimes, a woman just wants dinner.

Where sliders are still perfect is the party. Next time you’re hosting one at your house, try out these three delicious versions.

– These Asian Pork Belly Sliders make me wish I lived in Salt Lake City so I could eat in this restaurant. Seriously, they sound incredible. I think I might be trying my own knockoffs soon.

– Like pork belly, oysters (especially fried ones) are super rich, lending themselves to small portions. This recipe for Oyster Po Boy Sliders offers solid technique, but I’d skip the pickle and tomato and spice them up with a pickled kim chi slaw like the one in this video. Fast forward to 9 minutes.

– Let’s not forget the vegetarians before they give up on our compassionate carnivore everyone-fits-in-the-salon ethos. This recipe for Chickpea Sliders with Greek Tzatziki sounds fantastic. Chickpeas are also rich enough that you may not want to eat a standard-sized sandwich portion.

Editor’s note: This is a new column by Vanessa Barrington. For the lighter side of all things foodie, read Overcooked weekly. Overcooked: helping you make the most of today’s trendiest ingredient…before it’s overdone. Be sure to catch Vanessa’s original EcoSalon column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Stu Spivack via Flickr

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Overcooked: Lavender – Good for the Bathtub, Good for the Brisket

Vanessa Barrington — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:58:43 +0000

I don’t enjoy licking a soap dish, and frankly, that’s what lavender sometimes tastes like when it’s used in culinary applications. After all, lavender’s Latin root is lavare, which means to wash.

I know, lots of people like it and I also know that it’s an essential ingredient in the classic French Herbs de Provence, but I suspect that people are either using it badly, or using the wrong kind of lavender. Or maybe I’m just a crank and I don’t like it. Both are probably true.

The other day, I tasted an award-winning cheese that had been rubbed with coffee and lavender. This is a really well-made cheese, not some cheap, flavored processed product, but it created a confusing good-bad experience in my mouth. The cheese tasted great. I liked the touch of coffee, but the lavender left me, blech. I suspect this is just my taste.

On the other hand, I have tried poorly executed, overly soapy tasting dishes with lavender that are just wrong. Lavender has an overpowering taste and smell and should be used both sparingly and smartly. But first make sure you use the right type. Any old ornamental lavender that you pick might not be suitable for culinary use. Use culinary lavender .

Here are a few recipes I might try, if I liked lavender.

In this Peach Lavender Ice Cream notice there’s only 1 teaspoon of lavender in this recipe. Also it’s a recipe adapted from David Lebovitz’s book, The Perfect Scoop. I trust David, so this is probably tasty.

This Lavender Marinated Leg of Lamb likewise is from an accomplished chef. In this case, Michael Tusk, of San Francisco’s Quince restaurant. I like that the lavender is in the marinade, not stuffed into the lamb.

Lavender and honey have a natural affinity and these Honey Lavender Cookies sound pretty good.

Also, check out Farmers’ Market Desserts by Jennie Schacht. There’s a Lavender Shortbread recipe in the book that I’ve tasted and liked.

Lavender – if you must eat it, rather than bathe in it, do so cautiously.

Image: PossumGirl via Flickr

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Overcooked: Bacon Bonanza

Vanessa Barrington — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:25:37 +0000

I didn’t think I was going to have to write this. I thought it had passed, but the bacon pairings just keep on coming. I love bacon. Really I do. A well-made BLT is one of life’s greatest pleasures. And bacon is delicious with many many things besides tomatoes and mayonnaise. Sweet things, savory things, chocolaty things, caramely things, beery things. But I’m just so tired of hearing about it. Can we go back to when bacon was bacon and bacon in something unusual was, well, unusual?

Products like bacon vodka and bacon coffee don’t even warrant a raised eyebrow any longer. As for bacon desserts, this piece details the history of bacon desserts going all the way back to 2004. Are we done yet?

So what is it that makes this trend so darn sticky and alluring?

I think it’s a potent combination of rebellion and conformity. During the height of fat phobia (remember when people were downing boxes of Snackwell’s cookies and wondering why they were still fat?) bacon and its entire ilk of delicious fatty pork products was forbidden. So even today, it still feels a little naughty to enjoy it. It’s sort of an outlaw foodie pleasure. Then came The Atkins Diet, essentially giving the finger to the fear of fat and introducing an aura of permissiveness when it comes to pork. These seemingly conflicting views on fat combined to make bacon incredibly HIP. That’s why we can’t let go of it. It helps that it’s salty, fatty, and crispy.

But it’s tired now. If you really want to be cutting edge, make your own bacon, fry it up in a pan and enjoy it with a couple of eggs and some toast.

Of course you can make your own bacon. Bloggers all over the country are doing it. Check out Charcutepalooza on Facebook and join the fun. This is a year-long project in which bloggers cook their way through Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie.

Not quite ready to take that on? Check out this recipe on Culinate. Peruse the bacon posts on Punk Domestics or go straight to Ruhlman’s recipe.

Now excuse me while I go order a few boxes of this Bacon-Chocolate Peanut Brittle. Come on, you’ve got to admit is sounds good.

I guess I will be a little sad when this trend finally dies.

Image: Joelk75

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Overcooked: Beeting It Into the Ground

Vanessa Barrington — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:05:21 +0000

I love beets. Don’t get me wrong. In fact, I have some roasted ones in my refrigerator that I’ve been eating on salads all week long. They’re good for you, are sweet, tasty, easy to prepare and store, and are readily available, but if I see one more beet salad on a restaurant menu I might just hurl (the menu).

I’m prepared to argue that beet salads have become home food. And thus, their pervasiveness on restaurant menus is just boring.

Here’s one of the problems – seasonality. Because beets are available all year, most restaurants don’t treat them as seasonal. But I happen to think that we should concentrate hardest on eating beets in the winter when there are few other items with which to embellish salads. Why would you add beets to a salad in the summer, when you have corn and tomatoes? Or in the spring when you have asparagus and sugar snap peas? Or in the fall when there are delicious roasted peppers and good, crisp apples for only a short time? If you’ve got a beet salad on the menu year-round, it’s just not special anymore.

One more thing: if you’re going to offer a beet salad, can you pair it with something else besides walnuts and goat cheese? Please?

Bye bye boring beet salads: Here are some interesting ways to cook with beets.

I can’t wait to try this beet tzatziki from the New York Times. It’s absolutely lovely to look at.

Chocolate Beet Brownies from Mariquita Farm sound intriguing.

For a wonderful side dish or the base for a vegetarian meal, try this Beet Roesti from Mark Bittman via NPR.

Here’s an Indian take on beet soup from Martha Stewart’s Whole Living.

Image: Vanessa Barrington

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Overcooked: Is Smoked Salt Almost Up in Flames?

Vanessa Barrington — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:29:31 +0000

Poorly used smoked salt is sort of like pornography. You’ll know it when you taste it.

Used properly, it adds a subtle, elegant, nearly undetectable note to roasted meats, sliced tomatoes, bean dishes, and more.

But sooner or later, you’re going to order a salad, soup, pasta, or dessert at a restaurant, take a bite, and be assaulted by the overwhelming taste of wet, burnt wood. How do I know this? Easy. A large restaurant consultancy named smoked salt as a top trend for 2011, as part of a story on the wide use of sea salt in fast food restaurants. You know that once Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and the Olive Garden get hold of smoked salt, they are either going to use it badly, or use cheap smoke “flavored” salt that will taste awful no matter what they do.

Before that happens, let’s have a little fun with it. But first, buy good quality salt, and taste it before you use it to make sure it’s not too overwhelming for the preparation you’ve chosen.

Smoked salt is a great way to make fake barbecue when you can’t cook outside. This recipe in the New York Times is a good example.

And it’s sometimes used successfully in sweet preparations, particularly those that involve caramel. Try your own Honey Ice Cream with Smoked Salt.

I can almost taste how well smoked salt will work with pungent radishes, nori, and goat cheese in this recipe.

Here’s a meatless Hoppin’ John that includes smoked salt.

You can even DIY and save yourself a lot of money.

Image: Mr. Thomas via Flickr

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Overcooked: Yuzu We Hardly Knew You

Vanessa Barrington — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 23:39:07 +0000

You know it’s pretty much over for an ingredient when it’s used as a tool of sabotage in an episode of Top Chef. In the December 22 episode, Spike was told to pack his knives after the judges tasted his Tomato Tamarind Soup with Olive Oil and Poached Shrimp that Angelo had unhelpfully (for Spike at least) snuck some of his yuzu gelée into. Poor Spike!

Another sign: A critical mass of restaurants named after said ingredient. There’s one in San Francisco, Beaverton, Oregon, Torrance, CA, and in many other places across the country.

Yet, I’ve never seen a Yuzu, have you? I was only able to find one grower who grows the fruit in California. It’s commonly grown in Japan, but never imported.

If there isn’t much Yuzu fruit around, how is it that the ingredient appears on restaurant menus everywhere in busy sounding dishes like Salmon with Yuzu-Tarragon Hollandaise, Avocado and Wasabi Mashed Potatoes?

It seems that it’s the Yuzu products, not so much the fruit, which are finding their way into so many dishes.

Not that this is a bad thing. I can see uses for it. Yuzu is mildly tart, fragrant, and fairly intense. It goes well with fish and Japanese food and it balances fat and salt very well.

If the New York Times is any indication, the trend peaked in 2003. But for those of us in the provinces, we may not have fully experienced the joys of Yuzu. So here are some fun ways to use it before it’s completely compostable.

Yuzu-Rum Cocktail from White on Rice Couple
Spicy Hamachi with Yuzu Dressing, Avocado, and Grapefruit from Rick Moonen’s seafood restaurant rm seafood in Las Vegas.
Grilled Salmon and Chilled Somen with Yuzu Sauce from Martha Stewart Living

Image: Kei!keinoguchi

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Overcooked: Olive Oil on Desserts

Vanessa Barrington — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:03:58 +0000

Olive oil ice cream and gelato are the darlings of the moment on restaurant dessert menus. It’s gotten to where you practically expect to see it before you even look at the menu. Depending on how jaded you are, you’re either excited by this, or bored and ready for the next thing.

Olive oil in sweets is really not new. Olive oil producing countries like Spain, Portugal, and Italy have been baking with olive oil forever. In more recent years, health conscious and vegan bakers have experimented with every non-animal fat under the sun.

But today’s modern manifestations of olive oil desserts are more about showcasing the flavor of the oil itself and pairing it with complementary tastes.

Both restaurant chefs and home cooks at the top of their game know that olive oil has a rich, nutty, sexy flavor that melds lusciously with common dessert ingredients like citrus and chocolate. Olive oil in desserts is a tributary of the sweet-savory dessert trend epitomized by the now ubiquitous (but still utterly delicious) salted caramel archetype. As such, olive oil can be successfully paired with salt and pungent, savory herbs like rosemary in many preparations. For examples, check out this rundown of olive oil desserts in LA restaurants from 2008 (that date proves we’re probably peaking).

For now, it’s olive oil’s sweet moment in time. Give some of these recipes a try before the green elixir becomes the kiwifruit of 2011.

This recipe for chocolate mousse with olive oil and flaky salt from Chow.com had me salivating as soon as I read it. And I don’t even like chocolate mousse.

Speaking of chocolate, this Rosemary Chocolate Tea Cake posted by The Occasional Cook comes from one of my favorite books of 2010, Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce, and I’m happy for the reminder to try it.

Panna Cotta with Olive Oil and Thyme from Taste with Your Eyes sounds like my idea of heaven.

If you want to replicate the olive oil ice cream you’ve had in restaurants, I’d suggest this recipe from David Lebovitz’s book, The Perfect Scoop, via Serious Eats.

And finally, for a more traditional take, try Portuguese food expert David Leite’s Lemon and Black Olive Cookies.

Photo Courtesy of Lori Lynn at Taste with the Eyes.

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