Jamie Oliver may be the Naked Chef but there are actual naked chefs out there. No kidding. Nudists do cook - and cook hot , splattery dishes as well as create icy cold desserts. How do they do it? Very interestingly.
Nude chefs (again, maybe two words that should not be together) was the subject of Food section regular, Priya Krishna wrote about for today's New York Times Food section. She visited Lutz, Florida,a Tampa suburb where there is a colony, Lake Como. Surprisingly enough this 200 year old (!) practice is becoming popular again. The Chicago Times wrote about nakations - clothing free getaways and Bon Appetit magazine published "9 Rules For Naked Dining :The Etiquette of Nude Resorts". Many have embraced nudism. To them it feels freeing and creative. At Lake Como, visitors and regulars can have a full service meal at the Bare Buns Cafe which has meals, snacks and drinks. There is also the Butt Hutt, which not only serves drinks but also offers karaeoke and dance lessons. Luckily the chefs and the bartenders have to wear clothes, simply for health reasons.
It's a different matter for nude home chefs.A part time Lake Como resident, Jack Clark feels it liberating to just cook without clothes. It's freer and makes him more creative. He does wear oven mitts (!!) to protect his hands from burns and to protect them from splatters. They came in handy when he had to drain pasta for his linguine and clam sauce for his dinner party. Dinner parties on that point are also easier. There's no worry about what to wear and how you look. It's also less constraining after you've had a full meal. There are no binding waistbands or the discreet opening of top buttons after eating too much. Cooking though will have its' hazards and pitfalls.One, nudist, Karyn McMullen, another Lake Como denizen, has to take a big step back when taking food out of the oven. Her husband Jayson stays a good ways away from the grill when barbecuing and mostly refrains from frying. He does wear an apron when that happens.Another homeowner there, Nancy Rehling wears a tee shirt when cooking to protect her skin from any splatters. She already has scars from fried fish , boiled over soups and cheese which is the worst since it sticks and burns.
Will nude cooking catch on? Yes, in the nudist colonies. It's a freeing and carefree way to let loose in the kitchen.
Showing posts with label Bon Appetit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bon Appetit. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Thursday, October 3, 2019
The Perfect Sourdough
One of the most tastiest and most photographed breads out there is the sourdough. What's not to love about this tangy loaf that's perfect just with butter or as the base of a sandwich? Now home bakers are taking it on, trying to create the perfect bread. All you need is a good starter and a lot of time.
Claire Saffritz, a contributing editor to Bon Appetit Magazine, wrote this interesting article, and how to for yesterday's New York Times Food section. Sourdough is one of the hardest and possible the most difficult of breads. As she states "It's not just flour, water and yeast but time and temperature too." Regular bread making, using an oven, is time consuming, but making sourdough is days consuming. Carve out three days for the whole process. She recommends starting on Friday for fresh from the oven loaves on Sunday. You're also going to need a lot of equipment, from a glass mixing bowl to an Instant read thermometer.Then there's the fancier stuff such as bannetons, bread proofing baskets. a serrated knife and a large Dutch oven. Unlike other breads , sourdough requires parchment paper too. Then there are the ingredients - a mature starter (get it online or from friends and family), white bread flour along with whole grain rye or spelt flour.Then there's rice flour for dusting. Luckily, Stop & Shop and WHole Foods carry the flours - although you can buy all of them on line.
After all this , then there is the process. It's feeding or refreshing your starter on Day One, then letting it sit out at room temperature. A second feeding is needed once the starter doubles in size. Day Two requires mixing the dough and letting it rest, otherwise known as the autolyse process. This will take anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours. The next step is the floater test. Drop a small spoonful into a bowl of room temperature water.It's ready when it floats (along with a dome of sudsy bubbles appearing on the starter's surface. If it sinks, let it sit for another thirty minutes. If it's ready then combine the dough and starter. Use your one hand to mix the dough while the other rotates the bowl. assess the dough and then add salt. It's then mixing and performing what's known as the windowpane test in which some of the dough is stretched and rolled out. It should be membrane thin with light shining through it. Then there's more prep, folding and pre-shaping the dough. The shaping baskets are then prepared with a dusting of white and rice flours combined. The sourdough is then proofed, first outside the fridge and then inside it overnight. Day Three is the actual baking day It's baking it in a Dutch oven at a fiery 500 degrees F. Prepping the dough requires dusting it with flour and gashing it with a knife or razor blade. Halfway through the temp is dropped to 450 F. The result is a crusty, tasty loaf with a tender crumb.
Perfection takes a lot of work. Creating a flawless work is not just a lot of work but time. If you have it, do it. Make that Instagrammable loaf of bread.
Claire Saffritz, a contributing editor to Bon Appetit Magazine, wrote this interesting article, and how to for yesterday's New York Times Food section. Sourdough is one of the hardest and possible the most difficult of breads. As she states "It's not just flour, water and yeast but time and temperature too." Regular bread making, using an oven, is time consuming, but making sourdough is days consuming. Carve out three days for the whole process. She recommends starting on Friday for fresh from the oven loaves on Sunday. You're also going to need a lot of equipment, from a glass mixing bowl to an Instant read thermometer.Then there's the fancier stuff such as bannetons, bread proofing baskets. a serrated knife and a large Dutch oven. Unlike other breads , sourdough requires parchment paper too. Then there are the ingredients - a mature starter (get it online or from friends and family), white bread flour along with whole grain rye or spelt flour.Then there's rice flour for dusting. Luckily, Stop & Shop and WHole Foods carry the flours - although you can buy all of them on line.
After all this , then there is the process. It's feeding or refreshing your starter on Day One, then letting it sit out at room temperature. A second feeding is needed once the starter doubles in size. Day Two requires mixing the dough and letting it rest, otherwise known as the autolyse process. This will take anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours. The next step is the floater test. Drop a small spoonful into a bowl of room temperature water.It's ready when it floats (along with a dome of sudsy bubbles appearing on the starter's surface. If it sinks, let it sit for another thirty minutes. If it's ready then combine the dough and starter. Use your one hand to mix the dough while the other rotates the bowl. assess the dough and then add salt. It's then mixing and performing what's known as the windowpane test in which some of the dough is stretched and rolled out. It should be membrane thin with light shining through it. Then there's more prep, folding and pre-shaping the dough. The shaping baskets are then prepared with a dusting of white and rice flours combined. The sourdough is then proofed, first outside the fridge and then inside it overnight. Day Three is the actual baking day It's baking it in a Dutch oven at a fiery 500 degrees F. Prepping the dough requires dusting it with flour and gashing it with a knife or razor blade. Halfway through the temp is dropped to 450 F. The result is a crusty, tasty loaf with a tender crumb.
Perfection takes a lot of work. Creating a flawless work is not just a lot of work but time. If you have it, do it. Make that Instagrammable loaf of bread.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Welcome To The Times
The New York Times Food section has a brand new writer and a brand new column. Allison Roman is the newest member of the family. Like her coworkers, she will give readers and foodies
good recipes and excellent information. Also like them, she knows food and will undoubtedly give us all good advice easy weekday and weekend cooking.
Who is Allison Roman and why is she worthy of writing for The Times? She has contributed to the Food section in the past along with being the author of the cookbook, Dining In. Highly Cookable Recipes. which reflects American cooking and our changing tastes. She's also the former food editor at Bon Appetit and Buzzfeed magazines. She had also contributed to Cherry Bombe,Darling and the former Lucky Peach. - various magazines catering to the trendy and hungry. Her first cookbook, Lemons was a mini book centering on just lemon recipes., her favorite ingredient. Her new column will be sort of like what Pierre Franey, the great Franco-American chef once wrote for the newspaper.. Every recipe will only take a home chef an hour to whip up. Her first article is a homage to her mother - a one pan affair that pairs butterflied trout with garlic laced broccolini.For Ms. Roman it's basically unfussy cooking with little effort and few ingredients.
Minimalist cooks will like this recipe.Butterflied trout can easily be bought at your local fishmonger's (it's not fully deboned - only the spine and larger bones are removed). She points out that it's better to cook the whole fish than just fillets. Doing such will greatly reduce the risk of the fish from being overcooked. A larger piece also buys the home chef time in the oven. That means a side dish can also be cooked at the same time alongside the trout. For this sheet pan dinner, Ms. Roman uses broccolinii. because it crisps up nicely in the oven. Other veggies such as boiled and crushed potatoes, stripped leaves of kale,or halved cherry tomatoes can also be used. She tells home chefs that they can make ir as simple or as complicated as they wish. Scatter a few slices of lemon over the trout, drizzle olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. The fish is placed in the center of the sheet , covered with lemon slices.The broccolini is then placed around it and then drizzled with olive oil. Garlic gives it more flavor as do capers - which you can omit if you 're not into them.
No doubt that Alison Roman will leave her mark on The New York Times Food section. Home chefs will love her no fuss meals that can be made in less than an hour. She will definitely have a following.
good recipes and excellent information. Also like them, she knows food and will undoubtedly give us all good advice easy weekday and weekend cooking.
Who is Allison Roman and why is she worthy of writing for The Times? She has contributed to the Food section in the past along with being the author of the cookbook, Dining In. Highly Cookable Recipes. which reflects American cooking and our changing tastes. She's also the former food editor at Bon Appetit and Buzzfeed magazines. She had also contributed to Cherry Bombe,Darling and the former Lucky Peach. - various magazines catering to the trendy and hungry. Her first cookbook, Lemons was a mini book centering on just lemon recipes., her favorite ingredient. Her new column will be sort of like what Pierre Franey, the great Franco-American chef once wrote for the newspaper.. Every recipe will only take a home chef an hour to whip up. Her first article is a homage to her mother - a one pan affair that pairs butterflied trout with garlic laced broccolini.For Ms. Roman it's basically unfussy cooking with little effort and few ingredients.
Minimalist cooks will like this recipe.Butterflied trout can easily be bought at your local fishmonger's (it's not fully deboned - only the spine and larger bones are removed). She points out that it's better to cook the whole fish than just fillets. Doing such will greatly reduce the risk of the fish from being overcooked. A larger piece also buys the home chef time in the oven. That means a side dish can also be cooked at the same time alongside the trout. For this sheet pan dinner, Ms. Roman uses broccolinii. because it crisps up nicely in the oven. Other veggies such as boiled and crushed potatoes, stripped leaves of kale,or halved cherry tomatoes can also be used. She tells home chefs that they can make ir as simple or as complicated as they wish. Scatter a few slices of lemon over the trout, drizzle olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. The fish is placed in the center of the sheet , covered with lemon slices.The broccolini is then placed around it and then drizzled with olive oil. Garlic gives it more flavor as do capers - which you can omit if you 're not into them.
No doubt that Alison Roman will leave her mark on The New York Times Food section. Home chefs will love her no fuss meals that can be made in less than an hour. She will definitely have a following.
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