Go Terk Yourself

Another day, another dinner. This time it's tofu massaman curry.

I made refried beans and rajas from Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican tonight. Man it was good.

I have to admit it. I adore Michael Ruhlman. His book The Making of a Chef is wonderful, as are his blog and, the book I'm reading now, The Soul of a Chef. A couple of months ago he posted some photos and a recipe for mayonnaise on his blog. I filed it in the back of my head and promised myself to try it some time. Today was that day. It was more whisking than I'm used to but the work and sweat (it was hot today!) were worth it. I'm going to try the "food blogger" approach to things here so I took pictures as I went.

But wait, there's more!

I'm a big fan of pizza and I like to make it at home. Something I've noticed the past couple times I've made a sauce though is that it ends up bitter and acidic. Jeff Varasano has what is probably the most comprehensive review of making pizza at home and on his site he talks about something he calls "Tomato Rinsing":

Tomato Rinsing: All cans have some bitterness. To lessen this I have developed a process that I call Tomato Rinsing. Strain the tomatoes in a fine mesh strainer.. If the mesh is fine, the water will be mostly clear with very little tomato escaping. If the water is very red, pour it back on top of the tomatoes and continue straining. Eventually the water will run almost completely clear. Here's the key. The water that comes out is completely bitter. Taste it. What I do is pour fresh water on top of the strained tomatoes and strain them again. Taste this second batch of water. It's also bitter. You are removing bitterness and acid without losing a drop of red tomato. You can repeat this several times if you like, but once or twice is usually fine. The net result is that what is left over, which is all the red tomato solids, is sooooo sweet and yummy.

I can't wait to try the technique and see if it works.

I recently ordered some books - The French Laundry Cookbook, Irreligion and In Defense of Food - and they shipped the other day! How very exciting.

The main bit in this order is The French Laundry Cookbook. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on The French Laundry At Home blog, specifically the entry on Maine Lobster Pancakes with Pea Shoot Salad and Ginger-Carrot Emulsion and thought to myself, "self, you have to make that." So I finally ordered the cookbook and now need only set aside enough time to make the damned thing.