Rediscovering Yakgwa

 What is comfort food?If you're Korean then it;s yakgwa an ancient dessert that's hot again. This sweet has been around for centuries yet's it's firmly beloved by a new generation. Its also an easy bake in any home oven so everyone can discover it's specialness.

Regular contributor and chef Eric KIm wrote about this treat in yesterday's New York Times food section, Yakgwa roughly translates to medicinal confection and for years Koreans used the prized syrup for illnesses .It also connects genrations and tells the story of Korea;s reverance for tradition and optimism for the future. It's been eaten since the Goryeo Dynasty that existed between 918 and 1392 CE and now has had a resurgeance and beyond thanks in part to YouTube and TIktok videos. Then there is the Korean drama Alchemy of Souls" on Netflix that feature the sweet. There is also South Korea's Generation MZ a hybrid of  Millenial and Generation Z who have made it popular again. It's easy to find in South Korea with boutique companies like Golden Piece and Jangin Hangwa selling the original honey to  newer flavors like lavender, chocolate and even cookies and cream.Traditionally, because of the scarcity of it;s ingredients, honey, sesame oil and flour, the treats were only  eaten on special occasions like coming of age, marriage death and veneration of the dead. It's used in memorials although a new generation is having it more often.

It is rare to get here in the States. Chef Kim has included a recipe for it. Yakgwa is basically a fried cookie tha'ts surprisingly made without butter, eggs or milk. Ginger , cinnamon and freshly ground black pepper flavor it   A quarter cup of honey or maple syrup provide the sweetness as does two tablespoons granulated sugar. Soju , a clear and distilled Korean brain alcohol is added to the dry ingredients along with the honey and sesame oil. Soju can be found in most liquor stores. Everything is mixed together to form  a rough dough.It's kneaded then rolled out. Once cut it;s fried in vegetable oil.  You will need to go to a Korean grocery store for the jocheong or brown rice syrup used for the syrup that's poured over th e fried cookies. This also gives the sweets a nice glossy finish too. I'ts mixed with more honey or maple syrup and fresh ly cut ginger is added to this to give it zing.  After the cookies have been fried and then cooled for half an hour they're soaked in the syrup overnight and are ready to serve. Many decorate them with pine nuts or crystalized ginger.

Yakgwa is a treat that now can be enjoyed at home. It reprsents the long history of Korea but also it's futire.It's a sweet from the past that can be enjoyed now

Tiktok's Culinary Stars

 If you want to be the next Julia Child your easiest route would be TIktok. This uber popular app has created some new culinary stars that are being shot into the popular media stratosphere.will this trend last? Possibly

Regular and cookbook author Priya Krishna wrote this fascinating article for today/s New York Times Food section. Tiktok has been responsible for the meteroric rise of such novelists as Colleen Hoover thanks to the ever popularBookTOk. Now foodies around th eworkld are diiscovering good  recipes by  personable home chefs and bakers. Thes people have no experience , no culinary school or even restaurant experience. Some have only come to cooking and baking recently like B. Dylan Hollis. He started baking in his Wyoming kitchen during the pandemic. yet it was the usual sourdough recipe. Since he loved vintage Mr. Hollis decided to try recipes from antique cookbooks and hisa pork cake, meat loaf meets pound cake (!!!????) became a smash hit, viewers loved it. Now he even has a lucrative cookbook that came out in JUly. Baking Yesteryear  has evne sold more copies than the Obamas books and Prince Harry's autobiography.

Other home chefs are following suit. Joanne Lee Molinaro has racked up sales along with garnering thousands of fans with her Vegan Korean videos. There;s a story with each video as she creates tasty nonmeat dishes. JOn KOng is another Tiktok home that has not only garnered a following but included QR codes in his cookbook that links them to his videos. Then there's Nadia Caterina Munno who parlayed her 3.1 million Tiktok followers into a deal for a cookbook. Her "The Pasta Queen" released last NOvember debuted at number five on the New York TImes "Advice, How To and Miscelleneous " list Her career took off when she posted a video in 2020 crtiticizing how another made lasagna.  Jenny Martinez was selling bulldozers before she made My Mexican Meso videos and then got a cookbook deal. Barbara Costello,  a 74 year old retired teacher has just aced a deal for a cookbook, thanks to her "Celebrate with Babs" Tiktok videos. These are homey fun recipes that wouln't go amiss at a tailgating party. 

Will these Tiktok chefs have the lasting power fo JUlia CHild?They could. Their recipes are just as good as any chefs

Leftover Roulette

What do you do with all those leftovers ? Are they still good and if so can you repurpose them. What can you creat with a bit of these combined with a smattering of that?Plenty if you know how to do it.

Leftovers get moldy quick. Eat them now or you'll be faced with a  thin coating of white,  green or orange mold. Unless you're conducting a science experiment toss them. fruit also either gets a white fuzzy coating of the stuff alogn with shriveling up quick. The same with veggies. Try to use fruit as part of a parfait or evne breakfast. Of course overly - almost black bananas are a staple in banana bread. Apples and pears with brown spots should be chucked outside either to feed the local wildlife ro added to the compost heap. If you went apple pickingand wound up wirh too mnay baskets, then think about wither giving them to family, friends and neighbors or make pies and tarts for the crowd. Keep in mind that fall's fruit apple and pears can be frozen and they can be used for later use. As for veggies again, if there's even a spot of mold toss them,if not think about salads that just have tomatoes or peppers in them. Onions can keep and they can be shredded and air fried for crispy snacks.

Protein goes quick too,.leftover steak and chicken can be cut up and used in salads. Add tomatoes , broccoli and green beans  Dress with a zingy Italian dressing for  a qucik supper.Another idea is adding the meat  to ratatouille for a different spin on the classic French dish. Serve with toasted baguette slices.Leftover turkey and ham can be ground in the food processor with some mayo . This can take the leftovers into lunch or even as a quick snack spread on crackers. Leftover soup can be revitalized with the addition of broth and smaller pasta like pastina or orzo. It can be stretched also with some leftover steaks or cut up chicken breasts along with whatever cut veggies you have. Leftovers  can also be turned into subs.Yesterday's salad can be used as one of the layers  along with whatever cheese you have in the fridge. Keep in mind that cold cuts have a short life too. Use them within a few days  whether in sandwiches or inyour takes on Croque Monsiur or Croque Madame.

Clear the fridge before you forget and wind up with all sorts of mold. Be creative what the leftovers . They can be turned into something tasty and not be wasted.

Fall Roasts

 The temps are cooling and that means one thing - it's back to good old fashuioned roasts and sides. There are many you can make for these crisp , cool days and nights.

Keep in mind that roasting is changing. In out mothers" and grandmothers" day the oven was primarily used for cooking all sorts of meat. Now you can roast on your barbecue or more popularly your air fryer It makes roasting a bit more fun and interesting. If you are roasting on the grill, remember that the wood chips you use will flavor the meat. Most use hickory on beef and pork while poultry can be roasted over pecan, maple, hiickory or mesquite chips. Charcoal also works. For a traditonal flavor just rub what you;re cooking with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Try not to barbecue a fatty piece of meat because it will drip into the flames and cause a fiery flare up. The cut can rest for thirty minutes before serving. If you're going to roast chicken on the grill stick to the smaller birds like Cornish hen or poussin or a Spring chicken. The last is small young bird. with the average weight of only one pound. Remove the bag of giblets, heart and liver before cooking. These can be chopped up and used in the accompanying gravy. 

As for the air fryer, the cooking time is more or less the same as an oven. For roast beef it's usually fifteen minutes fo revery pound .  Afour pound London Broil will take about an hour. The same goes for chicken. It's thirty minutes at 350 degrees farenheit with a break after fifteeen minutes to turn the bird. Pork roast is also great , roasted in the air fryer. They skin gets extra crackly, which only elevates the flavor.It's also quicker to cook than a oven roasted one.It will probably take about fifty minutes for a two pound one. Keep seasoning simple so the flavor shines through. Of course you can go the traditional route and ove n roast your meat. Doing such allow you to collec tthe dripping to create a rich gravy. Another plus about oven roasting is that you can also roast some veggies when you're cooking that roast beef or chicken.  You could easily pop in a tray of seasoned potatoes for roasting. They make a great side for any kind of meat.Consider also Brussels sprouts , carrots and cubed sweet potatoes or yams to add to your roast.

It's time for heartier cooking. Return to roasts and sides for a good old fashioned meal. There's nothing like a satisfying dinner that's filling and delicious.

Fall Soups

 It's time to think of homemade soups now that cooler Temps are here.It's an easy cook , especially  on a busy work day or weekend.

For me it's time for homemade celery and potato soups.All soups should start with a good stock.I like Acme's Signature veggie broth

Celery sometimes needs a lift.This is,where canned potatoes come in .I used Acme's Signature brand.

The recipe calls for a chopped white onion which may over power the taste of the celery.

 

I used Acme's Signature onion powder along with three clovrs of fresh garlic to flavor it.Before adding the broth I sautéed the veggies in a mix of Greek olive oil and three generous tablespoons of Melt plant butter.Salt and pepper were added for flavor.

Once the broth was added, it was ahalf hour of slow simmering.You could add chicken to this if you want to make it heartier.

The end result was a tasty soup.that's perfect on a chill night.Keep in mind that the celery can be swapped out for kale.You could also add carrots too for color and sweetness.

The days are getting cooler.Make a hearty soup.fpr a warm supper.Its,perfect on a chill fall night.

Honey For All Seasons

 Honey is a big part of Rosh Hashanah.Eating it represents a sweet new year .It's also a vital part of fall baking and cooking too. It has it's benefits as well along with having an earthy sweet flavor - the perfect addition to any recipe.

What exactly is honey? In rough terms bee vomit which is stockpiled in the hive in  a wax structure called a honeycomb. The bees regurgitate in the honeycombs' thousands of cells where it's then stored. The sweet's thick and viscous texture comes from water evaporation thus producing a type of syrup. Honey can be gotten from both wild and domesticated bee coloniest has many uses , including acting as a kind of antispeptic . YOu could use it on wounnds if there are no bandaids around. Sugar is known to have an osmotic effects, drawing water out of surrounding tissues.It also reduces swelling and encourages fluid from lymph nodes to heal the wound. However honey is best in different recipes and even some cocktails. What kind should you buy? There are eight varieties that can suit your needs. Most stores sell wildlfower honey which is a blend of different wildflowers to make it. This can be used in baking, especially apple recipes along with  -  surprisinly tomato sauce. The honey gives th e sauce a rich earthy sweetness that paired perfectly with the savory ingredients. Another popular honey is clover honey. This has a light , sweet taate that's perfect for baking, marinades or just adding to tea or oatmeal. There is also eucalyptus from Austrailia and orange blossom honey , another popular kind. 

Since it's the start of the Jewish New Year a honey cake recipe is the perfect recipe for the weekend. Try one that also has strong black tea along with cinnamon and nutmeg blended in for a unique flavor. Any kind of honey would work here but if you want it to give it a light flavor then go with the clover. A lovely fall treat are honey cupcakes with salted honey icing . You cna use fresh  honey from your local farm for both the cake and the frosting or one with some flavor like the orange blossom. Don;t use raw honey or it could liquify and ruin the texture of both. Honey cookies are an unusual but tasty treat to make. They have a light  flavor , perfect with tea or coffee .They'd also make a good addition to any fall brunch as well. Honey can also be an ingredient in apple pies too. Use it instead of sugar to sweeten. Again a light clover based one works well.  you could also create a healthy apple cake that uses the sweet instead of sugar. This is also the season for roasts , especially for ham. use a honey baked glaze rich also with fresh orange juice,  and brown sugar for one. Honey is an excellent glaze for chicken , especially Cornish hens,

Start the year off with honey. Begin autumn with a wide range of delicious honey recipes.it's the perfect ingredient to try with both sweet and savory fall dishes.

Is That A Kitchen Or What?

 When is a kitchen not a kitchen? When it could be combined with any other room, namely a bathroom. There are several places in Manhattan that could double as two utile rooms. Is this becoming a trend or a take on an older New York City lack of space problem?

New contributor and food writer Jess Eng wrote about this in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Bath tubs in New ork apartments aren't new. In fact they've been over for more than a century thanks to the New York Tenement House act of 1901. It required  all residences to have a sink and a bathtub to meet the city's sanitation standards. Then  Lower East Side apartments  the tubs fit into the largest room of the house which was the kitchen.Now , over a hundred years later New Yorkers have fallen in love with them , creating ingenous ways of dealing with a tub right next to the stove or fridge. There are also kitchens that wouldn' go amiss in a child's playhouse thanks to them being so tiny. Other kitchens even have stoves from the Twenties which still work. How do city home chefs cope with  all of this?Being New Yorkers  they've developed ingenous and creative ways of dealing with this strange cooking spaces. it could only work and happen in Manhattan.

Having a miniscule kitchen is no big deal for Phoebe Lifton and her partner Arthur Canedo.  Their Upper West Side apartment is a dream  with it's proximity to grocery stores, parks and restaurants. There are even picturesque views of trees blooming in the Spring. The one drawback? An almost doll sized kitchen. everything is miniature from the fridge to the two burner stove. There is no oven for baking or roasting yet, thanks to their Insta Pot  and toaster oven they make it work. They created carrot saffron risotto and shakshuka. Then there is Elise Shatz who has a bathtub in her kitchen .Most of the units in her tenement building do have this quirk, a leftover from an earlier age. It's not used for bathing but could be used for storign ice and drinks at a potential party.Nikole  Naloy takes advatnage of her kitchen shower's nearness to access a hot  cup of chamomile tea on the nearby counter.  The storage problem in a small kitchen can be a bit much too. Edythe Hughes unplugged her noisy fridge and uses it for her books and papers. She does have a mini fridge for perishables.

It's not unusual for a kitchen to have extras. It is , however when there's a bath  and shower stuck in th emiddle of it. Then again that;'s what makes the city so unique