TV food shows

A few weeks ago, while watching Top Chef on Bravo, I was thrilled chef Martin Yan presented the chef-testants a chop suey challenge. As a child, I loved watching him on TV, but to my surprise, Brian had no idea who he was.

Martin Yan - Yan Can Cook 

Before the Emeralds and Flays, the Giadas and the Rachel Rays, before the existence of the Food Network, PBS was the only place on television where you could watch a cooking show. Today, PBS still offers an array of cooking programing like Lidia's Family Table, which I tune into occasionally, but I fondly remember many childhood afternoons spent watching Yan Can Cook and the Frugal Gourmet. 

In the mid-1990s, the Food Network launched. The minimalistic, stark white kitchens that Flay, Lagasse, and Batali appeared to share are a far cry to the homey, audience friendly stages they occupy now.  

I've spent a good part of my afternoon searching the web for a glimpse of the past, but these images and videos conveniently are unavailable. Being that they were chefs before actors, their stage presents had yet to develop. Batali even told of a story where he grated his hand on camera, and instead of stopping the production, he dumped his hands to tomatoes, before a commercial break.  Even the original food competitions like Ready, Set, Cook  are so drastically different than today's programing like All-star Academy. Take a look! 

Ready, Set, Cook

All-star Academy

I can only imagine that the cost per chef to be on the program cost more than the production cost of the entire series of RSC! Most network TV channels have at least one food competition show for primetime entertainment. People like watching food and how people cook. Whether it is the Worse Cooks of America  or Man vs Child (can't wait to put Matthew on that show!), people are watching, for better or worse. 

Michael Pollan's new series on Netflix Cooked begins with a monologue that there are more cooking shows than ever on TV, but less and less people are cooking. Though he disapproves of these actions, he too his providing entertaining cooking television. Would you call this aiding and abetting the issue of people not cooking?? I am happy that there is a new cooking TV revolution. These shows introduce new cuisines and a "can do" attitude that I find put people in the kitchen. It's allowed for more people to advocate for better food choices in their schools and super markets. People want to know what they are eating, and where it is coming from, and these shows, documentaries and even movies help people understand that cooking is what makes us human. 

Being that I didn't "give up" chocolate for Lent, I'm able to enjoy the chocolate-candy festivities. No, I'm not indulging in smidgens or any other bunny candies (those are reserved for Easter Sunday), but my all-time favorite, Cadbury Mini Eggs. 

Never really a fan of the crème filled, these mini delights are candied shelled - like a distant cousin to M&Ms. Worse than Pringles, once you pop, you can't stop - going back into the cocoa-sugar abyss until the bag is gone. I thought this was a familial phenomenon (yes, calling out my sisters on their addiction), but this other blogger provides ways to curb your cravings to just the serving size. 

But I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind: Do these candies taste the same as they did last year? Five years ago? Or even, as in my childhood? Am I currently just eating these for nostalgia's sake? Historically, Cadbury was a British company, but in 2010, Kraft foods purchased the company, which has enraged Cadbury fans. However, Hershey's has manufactured and distributed Cadbury since the late 80's. At the time, Cadbury was struggling with $30 million in debt, and the US purchase allowed Hershey's to license the Dairy Milk products. So technically, we've been consuming American-made Cadbury for years. So why are people protesting?

Currently, there is a ban on the import of British-made Cadbury. No longer can expats go to an import store to purchase their sweets. To make matters worse, Kraft foods has changed the American recipe of the chocolate; there is less cocoa and more fillers in the American variety. Cadbury now leads a double life: American and non-American.  Like Mexican Coke versus "regular" Coke or Nutella from Europe versus the US, products made in America take on a whole new look, taste and feel. Take a look at this mini egg comparison from this blogger in Canada. 

eggs on left are from Canada, eggs on the right are from US

Good new, there are ways to get around the import rules. You can always travel outside of the US to obtain your treats or more economically, purchase from specialty sites like the British Corner Shop. Hopefully, the chocolate feds won't shutdown operations as they tried because nothing should stand in the way of you and your chocolate! 

This meatball...

http://www.memphismeats.com/blog/

It looks like any ordinary meatball, right?? Well, if I said it took years of research and was made in a lab, would you believe me?? The meatball above was made from the founders of Memphis Meats, a biotechnology company that hopes to revolutionize how we obtain our meat. 

Memphis Meats is the brain child of Nicholas Genovese, a stem cell biologist (like me!), Will Clem, a tissue engineer, and Uma Valeti, a cardiologist. The trio devised a method to isolate animal cells (from cow, pig and/or chicken cells), proliferate the cells in cell culture dishes and supplied the cultures with the appropriate growth medium, and then voilà, meatball! Wow! Huh?! 

You might ask, can I go to my local grocery store, buy some meat, and then grow it in a petri dish? Probably not (FYI: The only thing you might grow would be mold!) In order for this to be possible, the researchers needed to isolate a cell type that would readily divide into a muscle cell. Most animal cells are mature, define cell populations, and there is very little cell division, so any normal muscle cell wouldn't do. On the other end of the spectrum, there are adult stem cells, which can proliferate and can become a predestined cell type (like adult neural stem cell can become a fully functioning neuron depending on the appropriate factors given). 

Another factor that had to be taken into consideration was that most muscle cell grows in linear fashion. The researchers needed to provided their cultured meat cells with a synthetic scaffold of sorts made out of collagen (normally found in meat), in which the muscles cells could be grown upon. 

Lastly, cells need to have growth medium that contains nutrients. My mom used to ask me, "What do cell eat??" Well, we normally "feed" cells with two main ingredients: one has all the basic nutritional elements and vitamins; the second looks a little like chicken or beef stock. 

So back to the meatball. In this case, a donor adult muscle cell was extracted from cow and then cultured with growth medium upon a collagen scaffold. Yum!      

Why cultured meat? Well live stock is expensive. They have a very large carbon foot print and in the near future it will be difficult to sustain this structure. So cultured meat is a plus here. Also, in this process, no animal was harmed in the making of this meatball, so this vegan meat, right? 

There are several companies that are trying to bring cultured meat to the masses. Will I be trying this soon? I don't think so. For all intentional purposes, this is meat; however, for me, it's hard to think that I'm going to be eating from this type of dish!

Rice is good, but lentils are my life.

For a quick meal, I love making lentils. Unlike most dried beans, you don't have to soak them over night, and depending on the variety, they take about 20-40 minutes to cook. Lentils are rich in iron, having the second highest amount of protein per calorie of the legumes (soybeans are number one). Also, lentils are an excellent source of insoluble fibers.

Even our ancient ancestors knew the potential of this tiny legume. Lentils were one of the first domesticate crops, where archeological sites have found lentils in 8000 year old remains!  Having a mild flavor, lentils can take on the flavors of the ingredients that you are cooking with, being a great addition to soups. Growing up, my mother would make pasta with lentils, Pasta con Lenticchi, a typical Sicilian meal. Skip the "red sauce" for a night, and try this great, hardy meal.   

Pasta con Lenticchi

Ingredients
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 cup lentils (picked through (you never know if there's a small pebble!))
- 1/2 lb pasta (water to boil) penne or rigatoni
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 1/2 cup water (water to cook lentils*)
- Bunch of parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- grated pecorino romano  









Step One. In a small pot, saute garlic in olive oil. In a separate pot, bring water to boil for pasta and cook pasta as according to directions or preference.

Step Two. Add water, lentils, parsley, salt and pepper to small pot and cook for 25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Note, the water should mostly be absorbed.

Step Three. Add cook pasta to lentils and cook over stove top for 1-2 minutes.

Step Four. Serve and Enjoy (add some grated cheese too!)

It may be the weather, but my sister and I both were jonesing for this dish yesterday! Shout out to you, Kristina!

True or false, can you make bearnaise in the microwave??

The answer is true! It only takes some patience and knowing your microwave. I tried this recipe from Instructables. Whenever I had some extra eggs in my fridge, I would attempt this method, and on my third try, I got it! 

What is a béarnaise sauce? It is derived from hollandaise - one the five mother sauces. The French mother sauces include béchamel, velouté, espagnole, and sauce tomat. Each sauce has a thickening agent (either flour or egg) mixed and cooked with butter to create an emulsion. The key for the hollandaise is to slowly cook the eggs and butter, a similarly employed method to when making custard. You don't want to cook your eggs too quickly, or you'll end up with a scrambled egg mess!

To prepare a hollandaise, classical methods acidify the eggs with lemon juice or vinegar to help aid in the emulsion, and then the mixture cooks slowly over a water bath. Melted butter is then whisked in to create the emulsion. Julia Child's method in the Joy of Cooking has the egg mixture directly over stove top and melted butter is added to the eggs. To create the béarnaise, vinegar is spruced up with shallots, tarragon, and pepper and then reduced (and cooled) prior to adding the butter. 

Making a hollandaise/béarnaise over stove top is no easy feat. It is essential to have control of the temperature, which is key to this sauce. The microwave oven doesn't really make this sauce preparation easier. Many think that microwave ovens heat food "from the inside out," but this isn't true. Microwaves agitate each molecule of your food source. As the molecules move, they create heat. It is this residual heat that cooks your food, and because every molecule is moving at the same time, the food source cooks quickly. In traditional cooking methods (oven, stovetop, water baths), heat has to penetrate the out layer first and then moves inwards. 

I followed the Instructable recipe, but I was very cautious on my timing. You need to use short bursts of heat and whisk vigorously when using your microwave. I used seven second intervals to control my emulsion temperature, and I took my time whisking. Eventually, you will notice your emulsion change from a frothy, pale yellow to a bold, golden yellow. Note, you can also over cook your emulsion, so be careful not to over nuke your food!

Meatloaf

Growing up, I never understood why people didn't like meatloaf.

Then, I realized their meatloaf wasn't anything close to what I called "meatloaf" in my home. Even the first time I made meatloaf for Brian, he instinctively ran to fridge to grab the ketchup and was ready to douse the dish. Luckily, I was able to stop him! Disclaimers: this meatloaf recipe 1) is not a brick with a squiggly, red ketchup line or lines on it and 2) it is delicious.

Our family's recipe for meatloaf is stuffed with peas, mozzarella and ham. Yes, it is a little difficult to prepare, and there are multiple steps, but once you get the hang of forming the loaf, it's a great meal that you'll love.

Ingredients:
Beef Mix
1 1b ground beef (I use 90:10)
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup parmigiano, grated
1/2- 3/4 cups bread crumbs, seasoned
salt and pepper for taste
Stuffing
1 cup of frozen peas
1/3 onion diced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/8 lb deli ham, sliced thin (can omit)




Step One:
Using your hands, mix beef, eggs, parmigiano, salt and pepper. Gradually, add bread crumbs to mix. You are looking for a meatball mix consistancy; the mixture should be still moist but able to hold its form.

Before                                   After

Step Two:
Meanwhile, saute onion and peas.

Step Three:
Roll some aluminum foil. Flatten meat mixture to about a half inch in thickness.

Step Four:

Layer ham on to mixture. 

Step Five:

Layer sauted peas and onions. 

Step Six:

Layer shredded mozzarella. 

Step Seven (The hard part):

Fold the two ends of the mixture, using the foil to help lift the meat. Press the sides and ends together.

Step Eight:

Gingerly place in baking dish and cook for 30-35 minutes at 350F. 

mmm, meatloaf!!! 

Step Nine: 

Slice and enjoy!!

look how the peas, cheese, and ham just melt into the loaf! 

Quick Dinner

Have you ever seen this in the store, and not know what to do with it?

This is already prepared polenta. All you need to do is slice and reheat that simple! When making from scratch, polenta is cornmeal that has been boiled. You can stop at this step and eat like a porridge or thicker like a mash. Most times, it is cooled in a baking dish to set and then baked or fried. This is a great alternative for your starch side, simply heated in skillet and sprinkle some parmigiano, or as I prepared below as a lasagna casserole; instead of pasta, try polenta.

Step One: Slice polenta.

Step Two: Layer with cheese and sauce. Here, I had made a meat sauce (see I did NOT call this gravy; that goes on a turkey). 

Step Three: Bake at 350F until top is golden. About 25 minutes.

Step Four: Enjoy!!