04.23.08
Posted in 5. Rants and Raves at 11:48 pm by Chef Matt
It seems that the consistent need for a “bad guy” in American public has extended itself to the world of food. Just like we need a “Public Enemy #1″ to be scared of when we walk down the streets, we need a “health enemy #1″ to avoid like the plague (pun not intended) to check for on labels.
“I’ve come for you… and I’ve brought Crisco!” |
And of course, our enemy du jour is: trans fat! (Dramatic chord.)
Yes, this is the root of all evil in food. If you eat any trans fat, you will surely die a quick, yet horrible death. So check those labels for trans fat people. If there are none in there, then it is good for you!
What a load of crap. I mean, doesn’t it seem like just yesterday that avoiding carbs was the ultimate solution to preventing a miserable death by tastiness? And before that, all we had to check for on labels was the cholesterol content. Before that, it was just the calorie level that caused the most concern. (”Just for the taste of it… One Calorie!… Diet Coke! ” Never mind what aspartame does to you…)
There are two things wrong with this kind of thinking when it comes to nutrition.
How odd that their circle seems to “cross out” both “saturated fat” and “cholesterol”…. |
First, as I alluded to earlier, this approach puts blinders on us when we look at nutrition labels. I was taste-testing a pack of Gorton’s Shrimp Temptations (final verdict - pretty good, but not worth $9/box…) and the box said that I could “indulge myself all I wanted” since there were no trans fats! Indeed, take a look at the nutrition label to the right. This is how they present it on their website, and the nutrition label does indeed back up this claim - the trans fat count per serving is indeed 0g. But the overall fat count in a serving is 12 grams, and let’s not neglect the 670mg of sodium. If you were to eat this entire box - which is not an unreasonable meal size - that would be 81% of you total daily sodium intake!
Yes, they were yummy, but I would hardly say it was safe to “indulge all I wanted”. But if I was only paying attention to the trans fat though, I just might have believed that.
The other problem with this narrow-focused thinking with respect to healthy eating is that it does not recognize that nutrition science is a very new science. We are still a long way from knowing everything there is to know. So much so that for quite a long time there, the recommended replacement for butter to keep cholesterol down was margarine. For those who don’t know, margarine contains trans fat. To put it more accurately, margarine IS trans fat. A big stick of it. This is what doctors were suggesting their patients with heart problems eat to reduce their cholesterol intake.
Almost as good an idea as those cigarettes that had asbestos filters, huh?…
The flip side of this is also that there usually seems to be one “magic bullet” cure-all good-for-you food that you should be getting as much of as possible. Right now, that seems to be whole grains. Which are indeed good for you, and you should get as much of them as you can. But let’s not forget when green leafy vegetables were the best thing going. Or anti-oxidants. Or tofu and bean sprouts…
The trick to healthy eating of course is to have as much of these beneficial foods as possible, and limit that which we know is bad for us. Oh yeah, and get up, get outside and stop reading this drivel while you’re at it too!
But before you go, allow me to share with you my guess for the next “bad guy” in the dietary world. I think it is going to be “refined sugars”. There is already some rumblings in this court, and I don’t think the “anti-carb faction” has been totally silenced - they are licking their wounds (which probably taste like bacon) and refining their message. Also, riding the wave of how whole grains are “good carbs”, the “bad carb” will soon have to come into some sort of prominence.
Makes my teeth hurt to look at this. |
So yes, “raw” sugar (or will they call it “whole cane”?) may become the next “good” thing for you as the flip side of this coin when refined sugars are burned at the stake. Please don’t fall for it.
A Snickers bar by any other name would taste just as sweet. And will make you fat.
Chef Matt
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04.21.08
Posted in 1. The Story at 2:44 pm by Chef Matt
The fun thing about being a professional chef is the ability to work with ingredients that are not only hard to find, but in many cases are ones I have never heard of. It’s the collaboration with those who are more experienced than me that make my career into a daily learning experience. Sure, I can’t wait for the day to come when I’m the one with all the answers and experience, but in the meantime, I’m of course enjoying the chance to learn everything I can so I’ll be ready.
Pretty soon, every garden in Northern Virginia will look like this… |
Springtime is upon us here in DC, and with the return of greenery on the trees and flowers on the azaleas comes a resurgence of fresh vegetables that are once again available. Even in this modern age we are subject to some degree of seasonality with respect to what ingredients we have to surrender in the winter months.
As I squeezed into our management office (read: closet) to begin my daily paperwork a few days back, chef stopped me and told me the latest ingredient he wanted me to hunt down.
“I want some stinging nettles, Matt,” he said.
Since he had not prefaced this as I did for you that this was an ingredient request, this sentence at first seemed a tad odd to me. The somewhat blank look on my face probably conveyed this. But his follow-up statement didn’t help much either.
“I want to make spaetzle.”
The only thought in my mind was, “Well, OK, then go make some…” but I opted for the less recalcitrant position. “Sure chef, I’ll see what I can track down.”
So much more than just a garden nuisance. But really, who’s the first guy who tried to eat this thing?… |
A few weeks later (when they became available) I had a bag of stinging nettles in house. The bag was full of serrated dark green leaves and everywhere I looked on the plants, there were tiny needles pointing right back at me. All of them standing strictly at attention in a pose that was screaming, “lawsuit!” in my ears. Still, I had been able to order these through a food purveyor, so I was guessing they were edible, but they sure didn’t look it.
When chef and Andrew arrived later that day, I showed them the bag - thinking that I was going to be laughed at for ordering something so obviously inedible. Instead they got right to work, taking the leaves off the stems (while wearing gloves of course) and then blanching them in boiling water to make them tender - including the pointy barbs.
“Here, give this a try,” Andrew offered me as he held out what could have easily been a piece of cooked spinach. It was nothing short of delicious. Andrew then went on to explain a lot of the different uses for them which was all really quite fascinating. But true to chef’s word, we worked them into a batch of spaetzle that night which was served with a pork chop special. Even with the description of a “stinging nettle spaetzle” accompanying the chops, this dish sold out in almost no time flat.
It’s funny how something so simple can turn into a really interesting learning experience. And I think I learned quite a bit. For example, I learned:
- Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are not only delicious, but they can be used in a bunch of ways and are quite nutritious as well.
- Just because something both looks and sounds dangerous, doesn’t mean it is inedible (but that is still the way to bet…)
- Trusting in the experience of others can lead to some amazing discoveries in the world of food.
- Customers are willing to be more adventurous than you may expect when ordering a special off the menu.
and finally:
- “Stinging Nettle Spaetzle” is an awesome band name.
Chef Matt
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04.15.08
Posted in 7. Other Fun at 11:00 pm by Chef Matt
So many of you have been asking, and I’m happy to finally reveal the gift my wife received from me with the “found” $500.
You all voted. I then tallied the votes. And I was too stupid to rig the results. |
First of all, my wife would like to thank all of you, the random readers of this blog who were kind enough to vote for her in the run-off vote which she won handily. (I, of course, am pissed at you all for not voting for me to get a new set of knives…)
What do get my wife wasn’t actually all that hard for me to decide. My wife is a huge fan of jewelry. I knew it would have to be something “sparkley.” However, there was only one catch: while I do know how to cook, I’m not renowned for my taste in jewelry. So as much as I wanted this to be a surprise, I figured why not let her get something she really liked.
After visiting several stores while jewelry shopping with my wife (I didn’t know I would be paying like this as well…) she finally headed off on her own (I had to work) to the Torpedo Factory - a collection of studios of local artisans - and bought herself this fabulous necklace and pendant:
Lovely necklace on my lovely wife. |
The stone is blue topaz and the chain of white gold has a few small diamonds in it as well. The total cost? $500 on the nose.
So this story comes to a close. Again, my wife thanks you all heartily for voting for her.
And I would just like to say: You all owe me a new set of knives.
Chef Matt
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04.08.08
Posted in 1. The Story, 4. Teaching Classes at 10:13 am by Chef Matt
As I mentioned a few weeks back when describing my vinegar class to you all, the class was such a success, that we decided to re-run it. Well, time keeps marching on and yesterday was the day when the “re-run” became simply “the run”. And yes, the class went just fine. (Something about having done a class before just makes the whole process easier to handle…)
My proposed guest speaker for the class… |
In addition to this, I have my next class topic already set-up. It’s going to be on how to cook with different types of salt. LifeStyle has an amazing selection of salts, and I have wanted to run a class covering different ways to use them for some time now. So while poking around with ideas and recipes, here is the tentative menu I’ve come up with for that upcoming class:
- Focaccia with caramelized onions, sage and salt
- Spicy salt squid
- Cauliflower and potato frittata with truffle salt
- Farfalle pasta with asparagus, hazelnut and mascarpone with smoked salt
- Salt-rubbed pork loin with apricots
- Fresh strawberries covered with a salted dark chocolate ganache
What do you all think? Comments are welcome! Personally, I’m happy with the balance of foods and I think that everyone will learn there is a lot more to salt than just seasoning your food at the dinner table. That class is in two weeks, so now all I have to do is come up with recipes for all these dishes!
Which reminds me of something. In case you all haven’t seen it in the “Main Menu” to the right, I’m now offering my cooking teaching services to the general public. I’ve really enjoyed coming back into the world of culinary instruction, and so I would love the chance to share it with you.
So if you are looking for your own personal class, drop me a line, and let’s see what we can cook up together. But if not, I hope you can make it to Bedford, PA for my class on salt in two weeks. See you all there!
Chef Matt
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04.05.08
Posted in 1. The Story, 6. Reviews at 8:48 pm by Chef Matt
I know that the main reason that most of you read this blog is for the food-related content and how the story of my career into the culinary world is continuing to evolve day by day. And I promise that eventually this post will get to that interesting stuff. In fact, if you want to skip this main story, feel free to use this handy jump link to skip straight to the food stuff.
How can you not trust a face like that? |
As I have mentioned several times before here and there in this blog, my guilty TV pleasure is watching The Maury Show. Like a train wreck in Darwin’s wading pool, I just can’t take my eyes off of watching that moment when a man learns that he is now going to have to spend the next 18 years of his life raising a kid that until just a few seconds before he was denying. Or the corollary, watching a woman become humiliated since the man she was “one thousand percent sure” turned out not to be the father. It is the lowest of the low form of entertainment in our society, but for some reason I love it so.
For these past few days, I have been up in New York, taking in some sights, hanging out with friends, even attending an art show opening (where I rubbed shoulders – literally – with David Burns (sic - “Byrne” - sorry!) of the Talking Heads) and of course enjoying some great food. (No, this isn’t the part where we get to the food stuff. Be patient.)
But when I knew I was coming up to New York for these other reasons, I was quickly on the phone to the good people who offer tickets for Maury, and I reserved a pair of seats for my friend, Niki, and me. The line began at about 7:00AM, and Maury himself came by and said hi to us all before he was ushered off to make-up. We were led in groups upstairs past “security” which was just a metal detector and some people who patted my pockets. Then we sat in a holding pen for about 20 minutes where they treated us to watching – what else? – today’s episode of Maury, before being ushered into the studio itself.
A pantheon of lights screamed down upon the collective masses assembled for the taping. More lights than I thought existed in the entire country in fact. Perhaps like God’s flashlight pointing down at all of us as if to say, “Why are you watching this?” But it was not too long before we knew why. The crowd was getting more and more psyched as time went by, and soon the stage manager was out there teaching us how to react to different situations on the show.
The Maury audience entering the studio. |
“Let me hear you all react to hearing some really surprising news.”
“GASP!” we all replied.
“Now let me see what you think of some cheating boyfriend coming out onto the stage.”
“BOOO!!!” We all yelled while jumping to our feet.
“We are such sheep,” said Niki.
“Baa!” I replied.
Maury himself was really great. At no time did he seem uncomfortable with the masses who were gathered there to see him. He genuinely enjoyed these fans, and took the time to take photos with them and interact with everyone who wanted to say hi. I personally am not the type of person to bother a man at work, so I didn’t rush up there myself, but it was nice to see him be so happy with all those who did.
“You only watch good TV shows.”
“True.”
BEEP!
“That answer was…. false.” |
The show they taped was of the “Lie Detector Tests Revealed” variety, and while I’m not going to go into the details before it airs, let’s just say that it was pretty obvious to all of us in the audience that these guys were not being 100% truthful as soon as they opened their mouths.
And we dutifully let them know what we felt about them when they came onto the stage.
I’ll keep my eyes out on YouTube for any clips of this show, and especially if I’m in them so you can see me responding in all my “wind-up monkey” glory. I’m not proud, but damn if it wasn’t fun.
So now for the food. (Thanks for waiting for those of you who read all of this. For those of you who used the jump link, I’ll try to be brief since you obviously have very little time on your hands.)
I made sure to ask for some food recommendations before I headed up to New York, and I wrote down the names of the places that seemed best. I compared those to where I was staying, and I found that a nice French restaurant, Fleur de Sel was only about 10 blocks away from our hotel. So Niki and I headed out to a very nice dinner where she had frog’s legs and I enjoyed seared foie gras (almost as good as mine… ha ha) for a first course, and she had a fabulous veal breast and I a wonderful lamb rack for our second course. Washing it all down with a nice Cote du Rhone, the meal was nothing short of exquisite.
This is yuzu, and it is delicious! |
But dessert is where this restaurant really shined. I had a roasted baby pineapple half seasoned with some firey Szechuan peppercorns and accompanied with an ultra-sweet yuzu sorbet. Niki had a delectable carrot cake, and in an apology from them for making us wait so long for our main courses to come out (it wasn’t all that long…) they gave us a free chocolate cake dessert that came with the darkest chocolate ice cream I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. It is also apparently standard practice for them to offer some homemade truffles and other candies for dessert for all customers, so our table was absolutely covered with sugary delights for this final course of our meal.
But wait, there’s more… As we waddled out of the restaurant, happy with all the collective dessert euphoria we had found ourselves immersed in, the maitre d’ handed us a small cake wrapped in plastic as a sort of “consolation dessert” for the evening.
“Is this just in case I need more dessert on my walk home?” I asked. The maitre d’s smile was all that was needed for me to know that I wasn’t the first person to ask this question.
The other food highlight comes at the other end of the culinary spectrum. As many of you know, I am a huge fan of great dives – which is something New York has plenty of – and on this trip I had to try the Venezuelan treat of “arepas” that Niki had been telling me about ever since her last trip to the Big Apple. For our last lunch, we headed over to Caracas to samp