A Chef's Fire

 Most chefs , like the artists they are are driven. Yet for Curtis Duffy, chef of the great Chicago restaurant Ever it's more than drive , it's fireborn of hardship and determination. This is what has made hom the success that he is.

Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about his m in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Some may recognize him and his restaurant from the FX series"The Bear" His restaurant servers at the set for the fictionalized Chicago restaurant run by Jeremy Allen White as mercurial chef Carmen Carmy Berzatto. He;s quick to point out that the show isn;t based on him nor is the restaurant based on Ever. Yet he and the main character have the same amount of torture and angst in their lives.It will come out in his memoir due out in August. He wrote Fireproof: memoir of a Chef  with his friend Jeremy Wagner, a novelist.It's not just an autobiography of how he learned to cook and his background. It brings on the worst day of his life when his father took his mother hostage at the supermarket where she worked. Bear, his wild father , a tattop artist shot Jan and then himself. Chef Duffy had just come home from culinary classes at Ohio State University and received a day off from his job at the local country club.After it was all over he got his father's, leather biker jacket, his tattoo equipment and a blue spiral notebook, There was a good bye  telling Curtis that he would someday  be the best chef in the world.

His father also issued a warning Dont walk in his footsteps "It is a world of pain hate, and  sure won;t be loved and won;t be ablet  show love." Instead he has channeled his feelings into martial arts dogs and running. He is scheduled to run a triathlon soon.His love of cooking did not come from his mother or father  but from his sixth grade HOme Ec teacher Ruth Snider. Thanks to her his first dish was a pizza with a frozen's biscuit crust.She also taught him to sew and he made is first backpack for his skateboard from the material she bought him because his parents had been to broke to afford it. She served as a balm when his parents died. Ms. Snider was the most important guest when he opened up his first eatery Grace. He wound up at the famed Charlie Trotter working with the great Chicago chef in 2000. he had convinced his  first wife Kim to move from Ohio. He was also influenced by Thomas Keller and Grant Atchatz ,chefs who believed in minimalist menus and kitchens.It was a militaristic kitchen brigade where everyone worked in sync to create tasting menus worth hundreds of dollars. He's looking for the next generation of chefs who have the same beliefs.

Curtus Duffy has come through the fire to produce great food. He will be an inspiration to younger chefs. His is a menus that will stand out for decades.

For The Wine Lover

 What do you get a oenophile for Christmas? You could easily pick up a bottle of a good Merlot or Shiraz.However a more enjoyable idea would be a book about wine. Info and stories about the grape is always fun and interesting. It also makes for a nice change up than the usual bottle.

Eric Asimov explored this in his The Pour column in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Getting the wine lover in your life a bottle can be a bit uninspired and boring.Give a book about said bottle and introduce culture and history. Champagne lovers will drink up Champagne Charlie : The Frenchman Who Taught Americans To Love Champagne.(Potomac Books ) by Don and Petie Kladstrup. Its' all about the 19th Century scion of a champagne company who introduced the bubbly to Americans and his misadventures during the   American Civil War. In more of the sparkling wine vein there is Rachel Signer's memoir You Gad me At Pet Nat  A Natural Wine Soaked Memoir(Hatchette) which is about her love and involvement with petillant natural,  an ancient style of sparkling wine revived by natural wine producers. It is a coming of age story Mr Asimov writes and it deals with love and back to earth farming. Robert V. Camuto's South of Somewhere : Wine, Food and the Soul Of Italy (University of Nebraska Press) tells of his ancestry's association with wine. Southern Italy, it's people  and the new generation taking over the old wineries. They give the industry a newer, fresher spin, all captured in Mr. Camuto's book.

There are also books on the terroirs. Portuguese wines are the highlight of Foot Trodden: Portugal and Wines That Time Forgot Interlink Publishing) by Simon J. Woolf and Ryan Opaz.It's all about the dynamics of Portuguese wine making. They show the insularity of Portuguese history along with challenges of the winemakers and the potential future oft he country's wines.Jasper Morris covers the ultimate terroir in Inside Burgundy (Berry Brothers and Rudd Press) This is the ultimate guide to the world's most famous wine country. Mr. Morris is an expert himself, living in the region and a retired wine merchant. He even addresses the fallout of climate change.He also covers the rising price of land that affects Burgundy's estates. On a more local note there is Acadamie du Vin Library's On California :From Napa To Nebbiolo _ Wine Tales From The Golden State. it is a collection of short selections from three dozen writers who offer impressionistic and thoughtful views on the state and its' wine making history.There are pieces  how California became an important part of the wine industry and world .

A bottle of wine lasts only for a while. A book about wine lasts forever. Get your oenophile one of theses for endless months and years of entertainment.

Baking Book For Holiday Bakers

No matter how good a home baker you are you still need inspiration and guidance, especially for the holidays. There are some interesting new pastry books out there now that can help.  They'll turn your holiday dessert table into a table from The Great British Baking Show.

Melissa Clark, the creator of the New York Times Food section's weekly column, A Good Appetite, reviewed and rated these interesting books. Thanks to America's obsession with all shows baking  like the aforementioned  The Great British Baking Show and Nailed It. Home bakers are upping their game. There is no such thing as quick and easy. It has to be elaborate and different. Recipes do reflect the times. Ms. Clark has noticed how trends affect the recipes in all the books. She has counted at least ten call for matcha  powder which is even in pound cake and ancient grains such as teff. einkorn and rye in the book from Tartine's pastry chef.. The biggest change is the use of gluten free flours and how far those recipes have come. This is clearly evident in Elisabeth Pruett, Tartine's pastry chef and co author of  Tartine: A Classic Revisited that she wrote with Chad Robertson. Chef  Pruett is a celiac sufferer  herself, kept  it to herself as she created the restaurant's famed tarts and croissants. Now the gluten free recipes shine such as her chocolate cream pie with oat crust. It was a big hit in Ms. Clark's household with her daughter and the daughter's gluten allergic friend wanting seconds.

The other cookbooks shine too.Another restaurant pastry chef, Margarita Manke's Baking At Republique which feature mostly French pastries and one coconut tapioca soup recipe honoring her Filipino heritage. Another  pastry chef, Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery gives us Pastry Love:A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes.  The book has ethereal recipes such as Japanese cotton cheesecake and fun ones such as Super Bowl cupcakes and cinnamon bun popcorn. If you want to embrace Midwestern baking then look to Shauna Severn's Midwest  Made: Big Bold Baking From The Heartland whick features such family favorites as Swedish flop cake  and the light lemon angel pie. There is even a recipe for the buttery and much loved favorite Kringle. Pastry cookbook veteran and Food section contributor, Samantha Seneviratne's  The Joys Of Baking: Recipes for a Sweet Life  has classic recipes such as pain au chocolate zinged up with the addition of Earl Grey tea. For those home bakers who want just simple recipes  check out Odette Williams Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family In Cake. Her milk and honey cake, a buttery layered one is rich with dark honey and butter milk. A simple homemade whipped cream tops it and honey is drizzled on top for decoration.

These are the books that will help elevate any holiday dessert table. They go a step further than just the usual cookie recipes. It's time to step up the baking game with these sweet books.

The Delicious Variety of Filipino Food

Filipino food is on the rise here in the States.It's no wonder.It's a cuisine full of rich flavors and tastes, from a milky sweetness to a mouth puckering sour.No wonder the cuisine is popular.It' 's full of exciting flavors melded together to create a  memorable taste.

Ligaya Mishan,  who normally writes the New York Times Food section's restaurant reviews, wrote this interesting article about the cuisine. Thanks to the influx of immigrants from this archipelago of seven thousand islands, Filipino foods are fast becoming part of the American culinary landscape.The cuisine is different from its' south Asian neighbors.Where their dishes are fiery , sparked with chilis, Filipino recipes are varying degrees of sour.Vinegar is a main ingredient  in many, used for centuries as a type of preservative. Since the islands are tropical, meats spoil easily, Vinegar is a way to keep them .One of their most ancient of dishes, kinilaw, possibly the precursor to seviche, is fish soaked in suka, extracted from sugar cane or sap from coconut trees or nipa palms. Another Filipino staple, daing na bangus which is milkfish, a tuna like fish, deboned. splayed and then soaked in vinegar.overnight. It's then crisped in a pan for a crunchy outside however the inside can be eaten with a spoon,thanks to the vinegar soaking.Even their version of spring rolls, or lumpia are dipped in a garlic laced dip called savsavan.

Adobe is the second flavor that define Filipino cuisine.Its' method of making and ingredients predate the Spanish name for it. At its' base it's meat being braised in vinegar and garlic for a long time. Other ingredients are added and that's when the  recipe varies.some put in a dash of soy sauce while others stir in achuete oil - made from annatto ,a peppery kind of nut. Some adobo recipes have coconut milk, sugar and even squid ink added. Every family has their own unique recipe.Funny enough it's not the national dish, despite its' popularity. That would be sinigang, a soup, according to Doreen Fernandez, born in the capital city of Manila and a food historian.. The first taste is usually so incredibly sour that it induces a shudder. The souring agent can vary according to where you are in the Philippines. Most use tamarind, a sweet -tart fruit that's usually made into a syrup to be mixed with water.It could also be guava alibangbang leaves - a type of orchid, the fruit of the sorrel tree kamia along with batuan similar to the mangosteen or unripe pineapple. Filipinos balance it out with kare-kare,  taken from Indian cooks who came with the Royal Navy.,a nutty-sweet stew of oxtail,bok choy, string beans and eggplant simmered in ground peanuts and achuete oil according to Nicole Ponseca who runs the Filipino restaurants, Malika and Jeepney in New York.

Filipino food is an interesting mix reflective of the many islands that make up the country. It can be eye opening and adventurous but definitely chock full of flavor. It's like no other South Asian cuisine.

The Perfect Pot Of Rice Guide

Rice is one of the easiest dishes to make. Or is it? For many of us home chefs, it's nearly impossible to produce a pot of perfectly cooked, perfectly fluffy pot of grains.It's either sticky or overcooked. Or worse - under cooked and jarringly crunchy. Luckily there's help for us.

Tejal Rao, famed chef, and regular columnist for The New York Times Food section wrote about it today in an extensive article.Everybody cooks rice , whether for a side or for a dessert of rice pudding. Rice should be fluffy and slightly chewy , the perfect foils for gravies and sauces.One of the first crucial steps in creating perfect rice is rinsing before cooking. This gets rid of any extra starch on the rice. It means a looser, fluffier texture The technique is super simple. Just use your fingers, a bowl and cold water. The process needs to be repeated anywhere from two to six times., until the water you're pouring out is almost clear. Once it's cooked , it needs to rest.This allows the starches to cool down slightly which means the grains are firming up. DON"T stir the grains when they're hot and wet. The result is a mushy bowl of rice fragments.Wait anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes and fluff the still hot rice with a rubber spatula. (I've always used a metal fork with the same results) This is also the time to season it. Ms. Rao suggests a light salting. keep the cover on the pot until it's ready to be eaten.

What happens when the rice doesn't come out right? Ms/ Rao explores the many problems that can happen and how to solve them.If the grains are too squishy or clumpy then  there may be excess water in the pot.It could also mean that you've skipped two crucial steps rinsing and resting. Clumpy rice means that there's still starch attached to the grains or the rice was fluffed too soon.Sometimes rice can be too wet,This is probably due to it being recently harvested. The answer is just reduce the amount of water used or cook with the lid off so the water can evaporate. There is also the problem of having scorched at the bottom rice. This is due to two factors. One,the heat is too high so turn it down to the lowest setting possible. The second reason is that the pot's bottom may be too thin. Ms. Rao suggests switching to a heavier pot. What went wrong when the rice turns out stuck and starchy as she puts it.if you have rinsed it but it's still gluey, then use some muscle and a wooden spoon or spatula  to stir when the rice first comes to a boil. Doing this will release the grains at the bottom. Once you've mastered the perfect pot, you can toss in some add ins like roasted cherry tomatoes  and Parmesan cheese or basil leaves with a drizzle of good vinegar.You can even chop in green olives and blood oranges for a colorful side.

The perfect pot of rice shouldn't be an easy cook.Follow the guide and it'll come out just right. Rice is a simple dish.Cooking it should be just as simple.