This video recipe for Maryland crab cakes is the first official full-length clip posted using the new Canon HD SLR camera. In addition to watching what I hope you find to be a delicious looking crab cake recipe, I would also like to know if you have any suggestions for the video specs.
I saved this in iMovie at a size of 1280 x 720 HD, set at 24 frames per second. It looks good, but a little "jumpy." Would 30 frames per second be better? I also saved it at "High" quality, not "Best," which would have made the movie like 800 MB!
Anyway, back to the food! This video will hopefully show you what crab cakes are supposed to be like. A real crab cake is basically a fried lump of crabmeat, held together with a minimum of filler.
As I explain in the video, this makes shaping them a little challenging, but once they are in the pan and browned on both sides, they are far superior on every level. Your basic restaurant crab cake is probably less than 40% crabmeat, which is why they are generally tough and bready.
These are closer to 75% crab, which is a blessing and a curse. Since the crab content is so high, you really can't make these unless you have a nice pile of super fresh, sweet, high-quality crab. Even using the correct technique, these special occasion appetizers will only be as good as the crabmeat used.
So if you can't get real lump crabmeat consider this video recipe food porn. Watch, enjoy, and just imagine yourself in the scene. However, if you can get your claws on some fresh crab, give these cakes a try. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh crabmeat, the lumpier the better, well drained 8 saltine crackers 1 egg beaten 2 tbsp mayonnaise 1/2 tsp mustard 1/4 tsp Worcestershire 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning salt to taste cayenne pepper, optional butter for frying
I finally got a new camera! A beautiful Canon T1i (thanks for the advice Danielle!). I've been dying to improve the still photography on the blog, as well as have something that can take decent low-light plate shots with when I'm in restaurants.
When I got home from the store I went immediately to YouTube to get some tutorials for using it. Thankfully there were lots of photographers who had posted videos on what all the buttons do (so many buttons), as well as some pretty good SLR photography basics.
It was during this initial research that I discovered something wonderful and unexpected. My new camera apparently has a really nice HD video feature! Bonus. So this quick and sticky video recipe for huckleberry jam was basically done as a test to see how much better the quality would be.
In addition to not really knowing how to make jam (I just winged it from memory of one I made like 15 years ago), I have very little experience with HD anything. Some folks on YouTube already commented on the video, regarding how to save the video in iMovie to take advantage of the higher resolution. I saved it at 640 x 480, but have been told I need to save it at 1280 x 720.
I know I also have to change the movie settings to letterbox to match the camera's video dimensions. If any of you former A/V clubbers want to chime in with recommendations for using this camera for HD video, I'd love to hear it! Thanks and enjoy!
* You should refer to the box directions for best results. I was more interested in the camera, and so I just made this from memory. It tastes great, but at the time of this posting it hadn't chilled long enough to analyze the firmness, or lack there of.
As you decide on what to include in your fabulous array of vegetable side dishes for the upcoming holiday feasts, keep one thing in mind. No guts, no glory. For some reason, normally adventurous cooks when faced with a house full of hungry relatives, play scared.
It's probably driven by the desire to want everyone to enjoy everything (you know that's impossible, right?). Serving something too exotic just doesn't seem prudent. I take a different approach. Since these holiday meals are one of the rare times we get to serve multiple side dishes, I think it's the perfect occasion for springing a surprise or two. This lovely red curry butternut squash certainly fits the bill. Sweet, spicy, and mysterious – this turkey-friendly side dish won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for those at the table that let it work its magic, it promises to be one of their favorite parts of the meal.
Like I said, there are plenty of other side dishes on hand, so even if the worse case scenario happens and everyone from little Billy to Grandma Jean agrees this is the worst squash dish ever, so what? There are seven more sides to pick up the slack. Besides, after the third bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau who's really going to care?
If you've never worked with red curry before, be careful. It's really spicy, and you can always add more as it cooks. To be safe, you can even cut my measurements in half for the spices and then adjust. I hope you give this interesting butternut squash side dish a try. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 3-4 pounds butternut squash, peeled cut in 1-inch cubes 1 bunch green onions 1 tsp cumin 1 tbsp red curry powder (I used McCormick) 1 tsp red curry paste (I used Taste of Thai) 2 tbsps tomato paste 1 can coconut milk 1 rounded tbsp brown sugar 3 tbsp fish sauce (or sub to-taste with soy sauce or salt) 1 tbsp vegetable oil 3 cloves garlic 1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves *adjust for salt and heat before serving
I'm not sure how popular potluck dinners are these days. You don't hear the term as often as you used to. Maybe it's our litigious society… "Hey, your baked beans made me sick, you own me one billion dollars," or maybe it's just not called a potluck anymore.
Potluck was kind of an odd name, implying that you would be damn lucky to get anything edible. Well, this loaded potato casserole recipe from Carnation Evaporated Milk would certainly improve everyone's odds of getting at least one thing that was delicious.
Who doesn't like a loaded potato? I mean, besides people that don't eat cheese and/or bacon. This super simple, but ultra satisfying retro American classic is sure to make your fellow potluckers smile.
Since this video was sponsored by Carnation, I followed their original recipe pretty much exactly, but this type of casserole screams out for personal customization, so feel free to jazz it up as you see fit. Enjoy!
A Message from the Sponsor:
It's that time of year when we’re all looking for a little more inspiration in the kitchen. You’ll find plenty of that in this Holiday Recipe Guide from Carnation Evaporated Milk, sponsor of this post.
There's nothing you can’t do, now you're in New York. These streets will make you feel brand new, the lights will inspire you, Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York. – Lyrics from Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z, Rapper and Trophy Husband
There are certain recipes that change the way you think about food – for me, cheese blintzes is one of them. I was raised on the traditional American suburban breakfast repertoire of pop-tarts, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., so when I was told these odd looking cheese-filled bundles sitting on the dark pool of fruit sauce were "breakfast," it took a few moments to register such a thing was possible. In addition to helping me realize there was a whole new world of breakfast options out there, cheese blintzes also fed my fascination with New York City. My father grew up in New York, but the small town in which he married my mother and started his family was about as far removed from the City as you could get.
His colorful stories (many of which were true) about growing up in New York City often included mentions of strange and exotic foods from his childhood. I loved these stories, and fell in love with New York through them.
On the occasions when I would get to taste things like knishes, lox, pastrami, and blintzes, it was more than just something to eat; it was a visceral connection to another place.
Ukrainian immigrants (John senior was half Ukrainian) brought these wonderful cheese-filled crepes to New York City, and the Big Apple is now considered the blintz capital of the world (Photo (c) Flickr user kennymatic).
As you watch this video recipe, it may seem a little complicated, but while it does have several steps, they're fairly simple and so worth the effort. This video was shot for About.com during my trip to NYC a couple months ago, so when you click on the video below, you'll be taken to the recipe page there.
Cheese blintzes are a perfect special occasion breakfast or brunch dish, and can be made up ahead of time and finished at the last minute. I hope you give them a try. Thanks Dad. Enjoy!
This past week, Michele and I spent three wonderful days at something called Kingsford University. "KU," as it's called in charcoal-related academia, is an event sponsored by Kingsford Charcoal in which food writers and bloggers are brought together to learn all about how charcoal is made, watch demos on the finer points of grilling and barbecuing, and of course enjoy lots of great food and wine.
I'm happy to report we all passed with flying colors (although a few of the other bloggers paid some nerds to do their homework). We even received a diploma! After I finish this post I'm going to start looking into some grad school options.
The master of ceremonies was world champion pitmaster Chris Lilly. Chris is vice president of the legendary Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, and Kingsford Charcoal spokesperson. He was really fun to listen to, and I learned quite a bit. I've sprinkled in a few videos of Chris below, so you can get a little taste of what we enjoyed.
The trip began Tuesday evening. After checking into the beautiful Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, we headed out to dinner and introductions at Pican in Oakland. We met our fellow bloggers (a complete list of attendees with links to their blogs will be added to the bottom of this post as soon as available!), Kingsford reps, and other dignitaries, and enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by Chef Dean Dupuis.
Dinner began with a perfectly crispy fried chicken appetizer (now that's the way to start a meal!). I was even asked to demo my now famous chicken wing de-boning technique. I assume they were mocking me, but I did it anyway. Will this chicken wing trick become my "Freebird?" (FYI - that was a vague, dated Lynyrd Skynyrd reference) I enjoyed a nice piece of grilled Loch Duarte salmon with root veggie puree and smoky savory cabbage. Michele had the southern classic, shrimp and grits. Everything was great, and as we ate we chatted with our fellow foodies – discussing the differences between food blogging and food writing, and how it's been years since any of us has actually had a hot meal.
At these affairs, no one eats until the pictures are taken, lots of pictures, at every conceivable angle and composition. This shouldn't be taken as a complaint – it's a very small price to pay for the great food and even better company.
The next morning we headed to the Clorox Technical Center in Pleasanton, CA to learn all about charcoal briquets. I'll be honest, of all the things I'd always wanted to learn more about, charcoal briquets wasn't one of them. But I was honestly fascinated by the process, and what could have been a long morning went by quickly.
Like most wannabe backyard grill masters, I already use Kingsford charcoal and really didn't need any convincing it was superior. My own anecdotal evidence the few times I've had to use the bargain brands showed that this stuff is clearly better, but I didn't know why. Now I do.
We watched them make a batch from scratch, and also got to see this really cool room were they do hundreds of burn tests a day. They were really excited to show off a newly designed, "ultra briquet" that promises even better performance despite being lighter and more eco-friendly.
We were not allowed to take photos inside the labs where they showed us the secret proprietary methods with which Kingsford charcoal is made and tested, but outside we did see live comparison demos and testing verses the alternative brands. It wasn't even close. Give or take a few minutes, their briquets lit twice as fast, were ready in half the time, and lasted twice as long. Class dismissed.
After lunch we headed up to the gorgeous Hotel Healdsburg, located in the middle of Sonoma's beautiful wine country. The remainder of KU was held at theSeghesio Family Vineyards and hosted by Peter Seghesio and the rest of his amazing family. The family has been making wine in the area for four generations, and to be able to enjoy their wine during the next two days of classes and demos was a great treat.
We attended a special dinner prepared by Chef Jon Helquist, formerly of the venerable Chez Panisse, in the winery's beautiful Redwood Room. The food was classic northern California fare – fresh, local, seasonal food simply prepared and served family style.
The highlights included Chris Lilly's barbecued pineapple sweet ribs, grilled Tuscan-style game hens, locally foraged wild mushrooms, and charcoal grilled fingerling potatoes with salsa rustica. Chef Jon's offerings were paired with an array of Seghesio's highly regarded Zinfindels.
That evening Chris Lilly showed us his famous low and slow method for cooking pork shoulder (see video). In between his many tips and tricks, we were treated to some very entertaining war stories from the championship barbecue circuit. A live band and s'mores cooked over small fire pits brought the evening to a sweet and smoky end. By the way, this is a man clearly willing to suffer for his art, as he had to get out of a warm bed and come back at 3 AM to tend the fire!
Chris Lilly's Low and Slow Barbecued Pork Butt
Note: this video shot with an iPhone in the dark.
The next day we enjoyed the fruits of Chris' late night labor with what was probably the tastiest and most succulent pork butt I've ever had. After being pulled and chopped, the moist, smoky meat was turned into slaw-topped sliders. Speaking of fruits, they were served with chili-rubbed skewers of grilled banana, pineapple, and persimmon. I thought this was an ingenious and inspired pairing.
After lunch we participated in two hands-on demos. We got to blend our own Zinfandel varietal with the help of Pete Seghesio and his talented team, and yes, it was as fun and interesting as it sounds!
We also formulated our own custom dry-rub spice mix. Chris Lilly showed us a great 4-step process for making a spice rub, which I will explore in more detail in an upcoming article for my American Foods site.
Kingsford University came to a delicious and interactive end as we made and grilled our own pizzas over charcoal. After Chris demo'd an insanely tasty Asian-influenced spicy shrimp pizza (see video), we headed around to the back of Seghesio's wine cellar where a long line of kettle grills waited for us with already glowing charcoal topped with pizza stones.
Chris Lilly's Charcoal Grilled Spicy Shrimp Pizza
After everyone had made a pizza (or three), into the wine cellar we went to share our offerings with each other. The meal was made complete with an impressive array of salads and side dishes from Chef Jon's kitchen, as well as more of Seghesio's delicious wine. What a special way to end a very memorable experience. Special thanks to Chris Lilly and everyone at Kingsford Charcoal! Who knew learning about charcoal and grilling could be so fun and delicious? I'd also like to extend a very special thanks to the Seghesio family for being such gracious and generous hosts!
By knowing just a few basic tricks, you can guarantee yourself a moist, delicious, and beautiful Thanksgiving turkey every time. The two videos posted below were done last year, and according to the many emails and comments I got, they proved very helpful to lots of your fellow foodwishers.
If you don't have one, make sure you buy a meat thermometer before thanksgiving. They're only a few dollars, and on Thanksgiving at least, it's the most important tool in the kitchen. Other than that, these turkey and sauce techniques don't require any special skills or equipment, and you probably have everything you need already.
As I said in the original post, with these videos you can proceed with confidence, joy, and the knowledge that since you are cooking the turkey you won't have to wash any dishes! See you on the couch. Enjoy!
Thanksgiving Turkey Part 1: Prepping and Roasting
Thanksgiving Turkey Part 2: It's All About the Gravy
This video recipe for chocolate fudge is the first of two I've been commissioned to do for Carnation Evaporated Milk.
They've hooked up with a select group of food bloggers to promote this classic American ingredient for the holidays.
I don't want to spoil the surprise for what the second video will be on (and I have no idea yet), but the choice for this first one was very easy. When I think of Carnation evaporated milk, I think of chocolate fudge.
There are hundreds of different recipes for chocolate fudge, most requiring a candy thermometer and a good bit of finesse to achieve that elusive rich, creamy-smooth texture. This recipe does not. As you'll see in the video, this is boil, turn off, stir, chill, and cut.
The holidays are a time of celebration, but with the festivities comes the occasional need to "bring a dish." What better way to impress your hosts than with a plate of chocolate fudge? Remember, it's not about how much effort you spent making something special for your friends and family, it's all about how much effort they think you spent. Enjoy!
A Message from the Sponsor:
It's that time of year when we’re all looking for a little more inspiration in the kitchen. You’ll find plenty of that in this Holiday Recipe Guide from Carnation Evaporated Milk, sponsor of this post.
I really wanted to do a from-scratch apple pie video, complete with my Aunt Angela's famous homemade crust, but with my chicken wing video blowing up all over the web, and the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival this weekend demanding my time and attention, I took the easy way out (I'm looking at you Sandra Lee), and used a pre-made pie dough.
Besides, if you're not an experienced pie baker (and let's face it, you're not), there's nothing wrong with a little ready-to-use dough, as long as it's filled with this fantastic apple pie filling.
What will strike you about this filling is just how few ingredients go in it. Sliced apples baked with sugar taste really, really good, and we don't want to mess with that too much. For me, a little pinch of nutmeg and some cinnamon is all this timeless combination needs.
The other key here, compliments of my mother Pauline, is to use multiple types of apples. There are subtle differences in flavor and texture with the wide variety of baking apples (basically defined as anything except Red Delicious). This is a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
You can see the apple blend I used in the ingredient list below, but there are an endless number of combinations (not literally! I know how you math people are – you were so going to send me an email, weren't you?)
Anyway, I hope you give this delicious apple pie filling a try, and if you were going to shock the world and bake a homemade pie for dessert for one of the upcoming holiday meals, this would be a great choice. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 6-8 baking apples (depending on size) I used 2 Granny Smith, 2 Braeburn, 2 Fuji 1/2 lemon, juiced 1 cup white sugar 3 tbsp cornstarch 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon very tiny pinch of salt 2 tbsp butter 1 egg, beaten ready to use pie dough (I used Pillsbury)
Have you ever been enjoying a nice pastrami sandwich and thought to yourself, "This is good, but I really wish it had some bones in it." Well, this recipe was an attempt to solve that age-old desire.
I've taken a spice rub traditionally used on a beef brisket to make pastrami, and applied it to America's favorite appetizer, chicken wings. This resulted in a pretty nice chicken wing recipe, which tasted nothing like pastrami.
I guess I'm asking for trouble calling it "Pastrami Wings." If your palette is set for some rich, fatty, smoky pastrami, you will be disappointed. As I joke in the video, a chicken ain't a cow, and no chicken wing will ever taste like real pastrami.
Having said that, so what? They're just chicken wings. Perfect for this time of year, since for sports fans this is the ultimate sweet spot on the calendar. You can watch baseball, football, basketball (I wish the Bay Area had a team), hockey (Go Sharks!), golf, and several other minor sports (like college football).
What better way to veg on the couch for 14 hours, than with a plate of chicken wings that don't taste like pastrami? Honey, can you grab me another beer? My fingers are all greasy. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1 tbsp vegetable oil 2 1/2 pounds chicken wing sections 1/4 tsp white pepper 1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper 1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander 1 tbsp smoked paprika pinch of cayenne, optional 2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste 2 tsp flour *serve with Russian dressing as a dip
Note: I thought these were fairly mild, and would actually increase the spice amounts next time. If you experiment, please let me know the results!
The recent post which featured Denise from ChezUs' beautiful dark chocolate macarons with bittersweet ancho chili ganache reminded my wife Michele that it'd been a while since she'd whipped up a batch of her famous chili chocolate cookies.
These dense, dark, and dangerously addictive cookies feature a dose of black pepper and cayenne, which to some may seem like an odd addition. But one taste and you'll understand the method to this madness.
Just like adding a pinch of salt to dessert recipes makes them even sweeter and more delicious, the addition of pepper in this cookie really makes the chocolate even more chocolaty. The cookies aren't really "spicy," but you can definitely tell something strange and wonderful is happening.
I'm terrible with keeping my secret ingredients, secret. As soon as someone says, "Hey, what's in these?" I spill the beans. However, if you're one of those sadistic cooks that loves tormenting your foodie friends by not telling them what that certain something is, then this recipe is for you, since the spices are very hard to identify.
A couple notes about the recipe ingredients below. I use kosher salt for just about everything, but I always have to remind myself that it has a much flakier, larger grain, so 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt is really like 1/4 teaspoon of fine table salt. The measurement below is for fine salt, so double it if you also use flake-style kosher salt.
Also, Michele decided to reverse the chocolate blend in the original recipe by using 2 parts unsweetened chocolate to 1 part bittersweet. If you like really sweet cookies use 2 parts bittersweet to 1 part unsweetened.
If you're not sure, make 4 or 5 batches and experiment with different combinations. You really can’t practice too much when it comes to these strange, but spectacular cookies. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried currants 2 tablespoons Kahlua 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 2 room temperature eggs 3/4 cup sugar 2 tsp vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips
Note: Special thanks to Sigve Hoel who gifted me a sweet new set of OXO mixing bowls! He saw them on my Amazon Wish List (in the sidebar in case you're wondering). Thanks Sigve! We LOVE them.
Just a quick Sunday night tease picture from the extremely chocolaty video recipe Michele and I just finished. These are her famous chili chocolate cookies, and let me warn you... they're so good, you may have trouble controlling yourself. Stay tuned!
This video recipe for Maryland crab cakes is the first official full-length clip posted using the new Canon HD SLR camera. In addition to watching what I hope you find to be a delicious looking crab cake recipe, I would also like to know if you have any suggestions for the video specs.
These are closer to 75% crab, which is a blessing and a curse. Since the crab content is so high, you really can't make these unless you have a nice pile of super fresh, sweet, high-quality crab. Even using the correct technique, these special occasion appetizers will only be as good as the crabmeat used.
