March 31st, 2010
Okay, high speed internet is finally back up and running here. We had to get a new contract, because my one flatmate moved out. Things are finally getting back to normal. We got new furniture, a lot of new stuff for the kitchen and it’s nice and peaceful around here. The only bad thing at the moment is, that I have massive pain in my ears, which kind of distracts me from everything I do. I hope it’ll get better and i’ll get some proper sleep next night.
Well, cooking wise there were some nice things last week. Let’s just start with the fried chicken. We all know it, we all love it. And it’s just so much fun having a fried chicken party at home that ends with you deep frying all stuff that comes to mind for dessert. We tried deep fried marshmallows filled with chocolate and a lot of other delicious things and – unfortunately – also some really disgusting stuff.
There are two major fried chicken recipes that get hyped a lot on the blogs. First of all, Thomas Keller’s Recipe: The chicken pieces sit in a brine with a lot of lemon and some herbs for about 24 hours and are then coated with buttermilk and flour and deep fried.
The second recipe is by my all-time favourite, David Chang. The chicken pieces also sit in a brine, but a lot of sugar is added to it and it’s way more neutral than the Keller brine. Afterwards the chicken is cooked by steaming it for about 40 minutes. It is then cooled down and finished by deep frying without any coating. This results in perfectly juice, not too fatty chicken pieces with an extremely tasty and crunchy skin. It is best eaten after being tossed with David Chang’s “Octo Vinaigrette”.
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March 27th, 2010
Lasagna – I guess it’s one of everybody’s favorite comfort foods and crowd pleasers and yet still, everyone has his own and different way (or ways) of preparing it. Beef or pork, chicken or vegetarian, only tomatoes or lots of vegetables… There are countless combinations and variations. I even once ate mushroom and deer lasagna at my uncles place. It was utterly delicious.
It’s great, that there are so many ways of cooking something, that is basically so simple as lasagna. Alternating layers of meaty tomato sauce, béchamel sauce, pasta and cheese. Something like that has to be tasty!
Even though it leaves so much room for variation, I decided to do a rather classical and simple lasagna, when my girlfriend asked me to put it on my list for this weeks cooking. The only fancy thing I added was a layer of ricotta, below the cheese crust. It’s a nice creamy addition.
I wish I would have had the time and motivation to use home made pasta for the lasagna. It’s definitely one great way to improve flavor and texture. So, if you’ve got the time and a pasta machine at hand I definitely encourage you to invest the one hour additional time.
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March 25th, 2010
Spring is here. Seriously, I don’t think i’ve ever been happier about a change in weather in my entire life. Berlin is just so much more charming, when not hidden under a dangerously high layer of ice and snow. Not to mention the temperatures.
When spring (and even better: summer) arrives, the actual Berlin suddenly shows. People sitting outside. Life: almost everywhere and almost all the time. Everyone’s heading to the parks, that were hidden below snow for far too long.
Berlin is just so charming. In summer you can even find a little used bookshop, that is still open at 2 a.m., the owner sitting in- or outside and having a nice glass of wine. It’s just fantastic!
Spring changes everything. Nature, people and of course: Food. This definitely is perfect spring food. The combination of the warm and crunchy crust of the pork and the refreshing ranch and vegetables is just divine. It leaves you deeply satisfied and filled, but in a good and light way.
I actually got the idea for cooking this dish in David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook (again). There is a dish of thin pork shoulder steaks with ramp ranch dressing and the big picture also showed some vegetables on the steak that were not included in the recipe. I actually didn’t have any pickled ramps and/or scallions here so I figured it would also be great with a kind of standard ranch dressing and some mixed vegetables. It was just what I was craving for.
It would be a perfect thing to prepare and just throw on the grill while sitting in the park. My flatmates and I loved it so much, we really felt like we should have bought a lot more.
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