Making a candy bar. So easy a child can do it.

For years my favorite candy bar has been the Hershey bar with almonds, and as far as milk chocolate goes, I think it's still the best, but lately I have been leaning towards the dark chocolate. Hershey makes a dark chocolate bar with almonds, but I'm not crazy about Hershey's dark, but it's a little too sweet for me. The only other dark chocolate, with almonds, I have found so far is one sold at Wegmans, a super market chain that's concentrated in the north eastern part of the country. The candy is under their brand name and is delicious, but the almonds are chopped into little pieces, and I like whole almonds.

Somebody once said, “If you want something done right, do it yourself”, so until I can find a convenient source for what I'm looking for, maybe I need to think of a way to produce it myself. I started thinking how it could be done, and as it turns out, the solution had little, or nothing to do with rocket science. You melt some chocolate, and pour it over a bunch of almonds. So easy a child could do it, so I rounded up a couple of children and we did it. We used Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips. Click on the video and watch me, and the kids make a candy bar.

Carbon Steel Pans



Until three weeks ago the default pan in my kitchen was my big cast iron skillet. It is a well seasoned pan that I can fry an egg in, flip it and remove it from the pan with a spatula as if it were one of those disposable non-stick pans. Two drawbacks to using it is its weight, and straight vertical sides. The weight and straight sides makes it impractical to try to impress people by flipping things in the air, and catching it back in the pan. Of course if you could do that with that big heavy pan it would be impressive indeed, just don’t expect me to try it. The third disadvantage is that short stubby handle, that gets about as hot as the pan its self.

So what happened three weeks ago to oust the default pan from my stove top? Well lately I had been reading about carbon steel pans. Carbon steel pans have many of the same properties as cast iron, as far as cooking is concerned. Seasoned in much the same manner as you would season a cast iron pan, you get the same non-stickiness, only without all the weight, and the carbon steel pans are relatively inexpensive, as is cast iron. Eager to get one of these pans I started researching, and shopping around.

My first stop in shopping is Amazon.com. Not only do they sell just about everything in the world, but there is much to be learned about each product right there on the site. Not only do they provide detailed information about many of their products, but customer ratings, provided by people who have used the product. I find the customer ratings very helpful, and some raters go into great detail as to why they ether like or dislike a product. As a customer reviewer you can give a five star or less rating, with the stars appearing at the beginning of your review. I like to read all the reviews, just in case some of the positive ones are put there by manufactures, or retailers.

I discovered several brands of carbon steel pans on Amazon. One of the brands featured at Amazon was A Joyce Chan carbon steel stir fry pan, in other words a wok. I found that very convenient, because I already own a Joyce Chan Stir fry pan, that sees a substantial amount of use in our kitchen, as a stir fryer, so it’s already seasoned. I immediately fried an egg in it and got the same result as the cast iron pan. I still plan to buy a dedicated twelve inch carbon steel pan, because I do use the wok with my bamboo steamer now and, than which requires boiling water in it which  destroys the seasoning, but I’m not in as big a hurry as before.

If you have an uncoated wok with a wide flat bottom, the kind you would buy for an electric stove, it is essentially a fry pan. Season it and you can make one large pancake, or three small ones, or an omelet very easily in it. All the brands listed on Amazon have an average of four to four, and a half star ratings. So far the only retailer I have found selling steel pans in my area is a seller at the regional produce market. Check your local restaurant supply shops, and you might have your carbon steel pan tomorrow. As far as Joyce Chen woks, you can find them almost anywhere.

Oh!, by the way I did not put my cast iron pan in the recycling ben. It still fries up a mighty fine pork chop, and makes the best cornbread ever, but that’s another post.

What About The Slow Cooker?

I’m writing this post in response to something that Jean Smith Lanoue, http://www.facebook.com/#!/jeanjeanthecookingqueen, posted on Facebook. She’s doing a survey on slow cookers, for something she is writing, and I'm thinking about writing about the tools, and gadgets I use in my kitchen. Maybe this is a good excuse to get started on it. Thanks Jean. Anyway, about the slow cooker.

My wife collects them. She can’t see one at a garage sale and not buy it, so we have way more than we need, but the one we actually use is a Rival “Smart-Pot”, with 4, 6, 8, and 10 hour settings plus warm. To me a slow cooker is nothing but a brazing machine. How do I decide to do three to five hours of brazing in the oven, or on top of the stove, or eight to ten hours in the slow cooker? It all depends on how soon do I need the dish, and most importantly what time of day will it be, when I have to take the food out of the cooker?

The only problem with using the slow cooker is, if the food is getting done when it’s time for me to go to bed. At 11:00 PM, I don’t want to set up another two, or three hours, waiting for the stuff to get cool enough to put in the refrigerator.  I can recall several nights, at bed time, putting the food in a big aluminum bowl, filling an even bigger aluminum bowl with ice, and…, well you see where I’m going with this; all so I can refrigerate the stuff, and hit the sack.

My favorite times to start something in the slow cooker is, early in the morning or late at night. If we plan to be gone most of the day, and want dinner to be ready when we get back, I get the slow cooker up early. If I plan to serve great northern beans, or pulled pork for breakfast, the slow cooker has to stay up all night taking care of that.

Things I like to cook in our “Smart-Pot”, are pork shoulder, dry beans, and collard greens, with smoked ham hock, or smoked turkey parts. For the closest thing to the way I do pulled pork in the slow cooker, check out what Bridget said at, “The Way the Cookie Crumbles”.  http://www.crumblycookie.net/2008/05/30/crockpot-pulled-pork/ 

Bean Recipe?

Gotta love the bean. In our house beans are sort of a staple. From string beans, to pork and beans out of the can, you just can’t stay mad at a bean for too long. We cook dry beans a lot, but I don’t think there is a recipe, in the sense that it’s the same every time. The beans depicted in the picture is just beans, and that ham bone which possessed whatever flavors my daughter put on the ham. I didn’t even bother to ask. “Thank you”, is what I said. It was a little sweet, and thank goodness I didn’t add any salt to the beans, because it was perfect.

All I have as far as a recipe is just the process of cooking dry beans. Rinse thoroughly, sort through to make sure it’s all just beans, and let them soak, at least a few hours, but overnight is best. Sometimes I might have beans soaking for several days in the fridge so when I’m ready for them they are ready for me.

What goes in the beans all depends on what I got, or how much time I have to be fiddling around with them. Sometimes it’s just beans and water. There’s all kinds of ways to flavor beans that are already done. For instance, if you pan fry meat, such as chops, bacon, or a steak deglaze the pan with some of the beans.

Usually I have onions, bell peppers, and celery in the house, so that’s what usually goes in. I like to chop an onion, a pepper and a couple stalks of celery. Mix the trilogy together, pan cook half until it gets all caramelly, and sweet, than put in the beans and the raw trilogy. Add enough water until it’s at least an inch or two above the beans. I like to start with a can of beer, and top it off with water, or whatever stock I might have, but just plain water ain’t bad.

As far as meat is concerned, I like smoked ham hock, smoked turkey, or a well flavored ham bone. I’m into poaching chicken, now so the next time there’s a chicken handy I might try poaching it, or part of it with beans. I like dishes you can put on and leave it to its own devices for a few hours, then serve right from the pot.

You know what’s good with beans? Corn bread, but that’s another story.

Blogging Is Writing.

When I decided that I wanted to blog, I put in quite a bit of thought on what it would be about. Initially I had the notion of doing a cooking blog. I have a deep interest in cooking, so much so that I have become the primary food preparer in our household. My wife can put together a pretty tasty meal when she has to, but for the most part she runs around telling people that the kitchen belongs to me. Most of the TV programs I watch are about food, and cooking, and most of my nonfiction reading is about food, although I read very few recipe, or cook books. So should the blog be only about cooking, or should it be about cooking, and the several other things that interest me, such as photography, music, or dogs, particularly, our dog Miles, or should I have multiple blogs, one for each subject? Well when I finally set up and started the blog, the first few posts were indeed about kitchen subjects, but by than I had discovered that the subject of my blog was the least of my worries.

It turns out that no matter what a blog is about, it is also about writing. Yes, writing, and if the blog is to be of interest to anyone, enough for them to come back for more, and than come back, for even more, the writing has to be constant, and interesting. For me the word constant is primary. You see, I have found that sitting down and writing until something is finished, and posted, and than starting something new that will soon be finished, and posted over, and over again, is not for the procrastinator. I said all that to say this, “I am a procrastinator”. My goal therefor is to change that to, “I am a recovering procrastinator.” I have to write using one of the greatest tools of procrastination man has devised, a computer connected to the Internet. I sit down to write, and before I know it I'm Googleing, Yahooing, and Binging, every little thought that pops into my mind, and precious little of it having to do with what I’m trying to write about. I decided that, part of the solution is to do as little of the writing as possible, at the computer. Pen to paper is the answer. Processing ideas, and writing first, second, and maybe a third draft with pen, and paper, and nothing going on, except some non-distracting music, and going to the word processor only for final editing, and posting.

Since I’m the kind of writer who has to write a lot to get a little, I’m going through notebooks like crazy. My favorite being the “Mead Five Star” spiral notebooks. They are sturdy, and hold up to a lot of dragging around, and being stuffed into pockets, glove compartments, and a little leather man bag. They come in various sizes, but the 7 x 5 in. spiral with 100 pages, and one page with pockets, and the 6 x 9 in. spiral with 100 pages are my choices, both of which can be found at Wal-Mart for $1.79. I have stockpiled a few for fear of that great price going away. I would buy them even if I had to pay the three dollars, and change they go for at other places. I recommend them. My other favorite writing tool is the Sharpie Pen. It has a very fine felt tip, the ink dries immediately, and does not soak through paper, (don’t confuse it with the fine tip marker) and the lid stays on in my pocket. I buy the ten packs at Sams Club, and BJs Whole Sale Clubs, for ten dollars, and some change. Hopefully I have made it clear why this is the first post in over a month, and that things are about to change. Am I just talking through my keester? We’ll see. See you next week.We’ll see.

Music in the kitchen

I imagine most people who spend a significant amount of time in their kitchen, have contrived to get their favorite music in there with them. In my previous kitchen I had mounted a set of speakers on the wall. My stereo system was in the living room, so I drilled a hole in the floor, behind it, and dropped a long length of speaker wire down to the basement. I than connected the wire to my receiver, and ran it across the basement ceiling to the hole I had drilled in the kitchen floor near the wall, where it was run up to the speakers. Anything played on that system could be heard in the kitchen. I used a wire cover kit to hide the wires, and make everything look neat.

My present kitchen setup isn't nearly as much work. The speakers came with the desktop computer I purchased five years ago. I liked the speakers I used with the old computer, so I put these new ones in a closet, and forgot them. It was only last year that I found them, and placed them on top of the refrigerator. These speakers don't have a separate volume control for the Sup-woofer, so I can turn them up only so loud, without getting distortion in the bass, but the sound is OK if kept below that distortion level. When I am in there I simply connect them to my mp3 player, so programing is completely under my control. If you have something interesting to say about your kitchen audio, feel free to leave a comment, and read more about "MP3ing out loud" at my Squidoo lens.

Long time cooking

When I, as a young bachelor, came to the realization that I could not afford to eat every meal in a diner, or restaurant, I buckled down to do some home cooking. Like most novice cooks, I have known, I started out with things that cook quickly, such as eggs, and bacon, chops, and steaks, and canned veggies, and beans. My favorite of the canned foods were, creamed corn, peas, and Campbell's pork and beans.


This routine kept me going for a while until I needed a little variety. I think boiling potatoes, and cooking rice was a great leap forward for me. It may not seem like much, but in a world where there was only fried food, and things out of a can, it was a pretty big deal. My meals started to look and taste more like what I used to get at home, and memories of home cooking, of course I mean Mama's cooking, started to influence my cooking. When I think about some of the stuff she cooked I think about great northern beans, collard greens with ham hocks, and stew, as some of my favorites.

I didn't do any real cooking before I left home, Mama did all that. I would scramble an egg now and then, or fry up some bacon, but for the most part I payed no deliberate attention to what she was doing in the kitchen, but we lived in a small house, and one couldn't help noticing some of what was going on, but what I had not noticed, was how long it took to cook some of that stuff. I had not noticed that some things just took a long time to cook before becoming editable.

One day I just up and decided I would cook a couple of smoked ham hocks. I knew they were to be boiled, because I always remember them coming out of a big pot of liquid. So I put the ones I had into a pot of water, turned on the heat and sat down with a book. After about fifteen minutes, I went to check them, and they were as hard as when I put them in. What was up with that? So, I grabbed the book resigned, to give them another fifteen minutes. To my dismay, things had not changed very much, so after the next fifteen minutes of very little change, I just decided that I had gotten hold of a couple of defective hocks, and threw them into the trash.

After telling this story to a more knowledgeable friend, I was told that smoked ham hocks take much longer than that to cook. So I tried it again with my new found knowledge, and patience, and I came out of it with a couple of perfectly cooked hocks. I had them with some left over rice, and a can of the ever present pork and beans. This new cooking, method (long time cooking) opened up a whole new chapter of possibilities, like beans, not from a can, and collard greens.

One more thing had to fall into place for me to think of myself as a serious cook. I didn't understand why meat was sometimes tender, and sometimes tough as shoe leather. I thought it was just a chance you took when when you bought meat. I had been cooking for quite some time before I understood, that tender, or tough, was directly related to the part of the animal it came form, and that these tougher cuts could be rendered, fall off the bone, tender by utilizing the same low, and slow cooking method I had learned to use in cooking beans, and smoked ham hocks, and there was even a name for it, "brazing". I must have gotten that from a television cooking show, because I almost never touched cook books, back than, and not much now. We braze all the time around here now so here is what happened to the chuck roast that came out of the freezer a couple days ago.

I salted and peppered, and floured it good on both sides, while our cast iron Dutch oven was getting hot on the stove. I put a light coating of canola oil in the Dutch oven, and layed the roast in. While the first side was browning, I quartered about seven medium to small potatoes, two large onions, and the last carrot in the refrigerator. All this went in after I had flipped the roast. The first side had browned very nicely. Brazing one of these roasts you can use what ever liquid you want. Broth, water, wine. I decided to use tomato sauce. The label on the jar said 4 pounds 3oz. What I had was what was left over from five pizzas I had made over the last three days. It came almost to the top of the roast, and I added a cup more of beer. The whole thing came to a rolling boil, and I turned it down to a simmer. Two, and a half hours later, we had this roast that could be pulled apart. And that's what we did. We pulled it apart, and enjoyed it with the potatoes, and some mixed veggies.

Brazing is like making bread. It takes a long time, but most of the time is just waiting. Good time to read a book, or catch up on a few recorded episodes of Sponge Bob Square Pants. Once you get the hang of it, theres noting to it, but some good eat'n.