The chicken experiment

Today during our longish walk along the bay I contemplated what to make for supper. Flavors of the memorable chicken I had at the NoMad in NYC came to mind. They flavor the chicken with a mixture of foie gras, truffles, and brioche, an equivalent to flavor nitroglycerine. If you are in NYC and do not mind spending $80 on a chicken for two, I highly recommend the experience.

So here I am, salivating over the memories of the chicken and going over what was in our fridge and pantry. Somewhat not surprisingly, we had no foie gras, no truffles, and no brioche. Ah, the disappointments of the first world.

However, the NoMad experience got my brain going. We did have some chicken drumsticks, which are pretty much my favorite part of the chicken. What can I use to make tasty seasoning for the chicken? There is not much skin on the drumsticks, so how can I get the flavorings in?

The plan formed. We did have some truffle oil. Note that we do keep truffle oil in the pantry, even though some famous chefs claim everyone should avoid it. I claim that it has its place and laugh at the snobbery. Next, tasty fat was needed: Butter will do! Mixing softened butter, some truffle oil, and some salt would give the chicken the flavor.

Without a copious amount of chicken skin, making a favoring paste with brioche crumbs made no sense. This meant that roasting the chicken drumstick made no sense, the flavoring would simply run off. Sous vide, however, allows one to baste the meet continuously in the pouch. That was it, the supper plan was formed.

Not bad at all for the first try. Next time, I will use the torch. Brush the chicken with some butter if you wish.

Here is what I did:

• Set sous-vide circulator to 149F and turn it on.
• If you are using chicken breasts, set it to 147F.
• Prepare a sous vide pouch.
• Mix 1/2 stick of softened butter with a tablespoon or two of truffle oil.
• Using chopped garlic and some herbs like thyme, rosemary, or sage would lead to spectacular results.
• Season six or so chicken drumsticks liberally with salt an pepper.

  

  Chicken really needs seasoning

• You can use chicken breast if thighs if you so desire. I suggest to stick to dark meat only, or white meat only, because they cook at different temperatures.
• Smear the chicken with the butter-oil mixture and place the chicken in the pouch.
• Add any leftover butter-oil mixture to the pouch.
• Seal the pouch. I use the settings for wet food, gentle vacuum, and I use pulse vacuum so that no liquid is sucked out of the bag, clogging and contaminating my vacuum sealer.
• When the sous-vide bath comes to the set temperature, submerge the chicken and cook it for 90 minutes to 2 hours. I went with almost 2 hours.

  

  Chicken sealed in a pouch

• When done, take the chicken pieces out of the bag and set them on a broiler pan and broil at high for 3-5 minutes.
• Alternatively, you can crisp the chicken with your trusty torch and you get to play with fire.
• Server with a nice salad. Or whatever else your heart desires. We had some quinoa pilaf and some lentils, so that was what we used, along with a salad from shaved fennel and apples.

I think the look of the chicken would have been improved if I used the torch. The flavor, however, was spot on, rich and deep, yet not overpowering.

While we are at it, until this point, my favorite way of making chicken drumstick was to simply BBQ them on a medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning by 90 degrees every 4 minutes. It is important to seasons the chicken sufficiently, only salt and pepper are needed, and it helps to toss the chicken in some high-smoking point oil such as avocado oil. The result is on par with a great steak, at least I think so. Of course, having good quality chicken helps - make sure you get at least free-range bird that did its share of roaming around if getting pasture-raised chicken is a challenge. Which it tends to be.

Bacteria at work: Sauerkraut and sauer turnips

My grandparents were farmers and each year they would make a large vat of sauerkraut, and a somewhat smaller but still large quantity of sour turnips. Sour turnips, in particular, were needed for bujta repa, a traditional dish that is not nearly as fatty as Wikipedia claims, that we always made when we would slaughter a pig.

Bujta repa, translated as "killed turnips". Maybe one should try to modernize it...

When we lived in Waterloo, Ontario, we were always able to buy decent sauerkraut from local Mennonites, so making it yourself seemed like a waste of effort. In California, however, the story changed. For the longest time, the only place where we knew to find sauerkraut was Dittmer's, a local mostly German deli. Sadly, the only sauerkraut we could get was canned in jars. It was OK, but a motivation for trying our hand at fermentation of some cabbage grew stronger.

Remnants of braised sourkrout

Once we made our first batch of sauerkraut, there was no going back. Making it is really trivial in the most basic sense, and the results are even better than what I remember from Slovenia. In fact, today we eat a good amount of sauerkraut and sauer turnips straight, maybe we wash it a bit, and on a splurgy day we add a touch of pumpkin seed oil. Yum! Besides, now I can make fun of our Korean friends that we make European-style kimchi. Of course, the good old fashioned braised sauerkraut with its fair share of smoked pork is a dish that tends to mellow out even the toughest of days. Let us leave that one for later, first we need to make some sauerkraut.

The process for making sauer turnips is the same as the process for sauerkraut so let me just tackle the cabbage, and highlight the one and only difference in the beginning: Cabbage is sliced thinly, and turnips are grated. For both I use my food processor - this is where a wide feeding tube comes in play. Just the attachments are different, a slicer for sauerkraut, set to the smallest thickness. For turnips, I use the grater attachment on the coarser side. If I used the fine side, fermentation would pretty much dissolve the turnip shreds.

The process is really simple - basically one shreds the cabbage, mixes it with salt, packes in a crock, and waits until the fermentation has done its deed. More precisely:

• Buy green cabbage: For my 2 gallon fermentation crock I go with 6 to 8 cabbage heads, 2-3lb each.
• I am not fond of red sauerkraut, but you may be.
• Remove outer leaves and the core, and slice the cabbage thinly
• Mix sliced cabbage with salt, 2.5 to 3 TBS per 5 lb of cabbage
• I slice some cabbage and mix it with salt in a large bowl before transferring to the crock
• Pack the cabbage into a clean vessel, preferably a fermentation crock
• Press the cabbage down, it will release water
• Weigh the cabbage down with a plate, and put some weight on the top
• I procured "proper" weights, Before, I would use a plastic container filled with water, and sometimes I would put in an additional heavy object such as a stone.
• If the cabbage is not completely submerged in water, add filtered water to submerge cabbage
• I seal the crock with plastic wrap because I am not too fond of the fermentation smell, and top it with a spiffy lid for the crock.
• I found an in-depth discussion and experimentation report about the jars one can use for fermentation and how one should close them.
• Move the crock/jar to a warm place and leave it there. The length of fermentation depends on the temperature:
• 6 weeks for 60F-65F
• 3-4 weeks for 70-75F
• above 80F the cabbage will spoil
• About once a week check to make sure the cabbage is still covered with water. After 3-4 weeks also start checking whether the cabbage has fermented to your taste.
• Transfer sauerkraut to plastic containers and keep it in the fridge. This way fermentation will stop or seriously slow down, and you will be able to enjoy sauerkraut for some time.
• Share the result of your work and patience with friends. They will appreciate it.

Remember that you are letting bacteria eat away sugars in your cabbage. I found the process quite robust, so have no fear. At the same time, it is good to be careful. Make sure your cabbage ferments for long enough at a high enough temperature, make sure you keep the cabbage away from oxygen, and if any molds develop, or anything odd happens, such as your cabbage turns brown, throw it away and start from scratch. 

Here are the cabbage and turnips in my crocks before the final packing.

My old setup

Notice how the cabbage is sliced and turnips are grated

After packing the cabbage, I put a weight on the top and skimmed as much of the floating cabbage shreds as I was able to.

Having the nice weights made the whole process easier

Note the water level is above the weights

Here are the results from the previous batch. The turnips are almost gone, but we still have an abundance of sauerkraut.

Keeping these in the fridge extends the shelf life nicely

Kitchen knives (outdated)

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For some reason, I am fond of kitchen knives. It probably started many years ago when Jasna was so kind to get me my first high-quality chef's knife and I realized how much more pleasant it was to use really good tools. I have obtained many knives since then, but I still keep those first knives around and sharp. Most I still use.

I wrote the text below after I helped prepare food at a company picnic and had to field many questions about knives. I appreciated the questions and uncertainty people faced. Good knives can be very expensive, though one may be surprised to find out that one absolutely does not need to break the bank. The number of options are bewildering, so even finding a starting point tends to be hard. When you find articles and reviews of knives, many people have strong opinions about how a knife should feel, what properties it should have. Not sure any of that contributes to the comfort level when someone is just trying to get some basic information.

Below, I am trying to present a simple story from my personal perspective.
Apologies for formatting issues, copy-paste from Google docs into a blog post had some challenges.

Summary

One really needs 3 knives only:

• Chef’s knife - an all-purpose tool that one uses for almost everything
• My go to knife is a 12-inch Zhen chef knife. It has a nicely curved blade and is supposed to be made of the same VG-10 steel as much pricier Japanese knives. The finish, while not perfect, is good enough, making this knife an incredible value for your hard earned coin.
• Cheaper yet very good is Victorinox 12 inch knife, I also like the 10 inch version
• Fancier options are Global 10 inch chef's knife, or maybe a Shun 10 inch chef's knife
• Paring knife - for finicky jobs
• I use Henckel's 4 inch paring knife, Global 3.5, and Global 4 inch paring knives
• Serrated knife - for bread, pineapple, some vegetables, etc.
• My go-to choice is Victorinox offset bread knife
• A sharpener and a steel are a must
• A super simple sharpener will do for starters, I use it in a pinch
• Japanese waterstones are really the way to go for sharpening and not all that hard to use. You need several stones - see below for more.
• A simple steel works just fine, or one goes with the best of the best

Some people also like a utility knife. The one I have is pretty much a large paring knife, so it gets lots of use. Santoku knives have become very popular lately. I find them too short for cutting anything large. If you do your own butchering, get a boning knife - start with a flex blade for chicken and fish, and use a sturdy blade to butcher larger animals.

One can spend an unlimited amount of money on knives. Order a customized gyuto from a Japanese master and some thousands of dollars later you will have an awesome tool that you may not want to put to daily use.

Size matters

Large knives tend to intimidate people. Try one for a while and you will never go back. My preference is a 12 inch chef's knife, but that does not have to be the case with you.

An enormous, yet so useful knife. Cabbage, watch out!

Technique really matters

It is not hard at all to use a knife properly. It does not take all that much practice either. It is an investment worth making as the experience will be much more satisfying, you will be much faster, and your use of a knife will be much safer. In the days of YouTube, your free lesson is one search away.

Handle and balance

You may hear people be very particular about the handle and the balance. The reality is that one can and does adapt to the tool they have available, especially if you are not using it for 10 hours every day. I have yet to meet a sharp knife I did not learn to enjoy using. Some knives have an asymmetric handle, so knives can be different for left and right handed people.

This being said, knives do feel differently. Chances are you will not notice or not know what the difference means. Even more likely, if a knife is sharp, you will get used to it and will not care.

Hardness matters less

Many web sites cite hardness of the steel on the Rockwell scale. The higher the hardness, the longer your knife will stay sharp. Every knife dulls, though, and the harder the steel, the harder it is to sharpen it. Too me, the ease of sharpening matters more - I don’t chop or slice for 10 hours every day, so the frequency of sharpening will be low in any case.

Best Value

Victorinox knives are in general the best value out there. They are widely used in commercial kitchens for a reason - good quality yet relatively inexpensive. They are dishwasher safe, though Victorinox recommends hand-washing, which is what I do.

I have recently discovered Zhen knives, which I think may be an even better value than Victorinox. Definitely that is the case for the 12 inch chef's knife - the steel is exactly the same VG-10 used in japanese knives. It is reasonably easy to sharpen and holds the edge quite nicely.

I dislike Victorinox paring knives to the point I gave all of mine away. I prefer paring knives to be sturdier.

The awesome offset bread knife

Here are some options:

• The 10 inch chef knife is your basic workhorse. Their new series has a reportedly better handle and is more expensive, but still very affordable. If you want to try a really large knife, the 12 inch chef knife from Zhen is definitely the way to go, it is the most used knife in our kitchen.
• My go-to bread/serrated knife is Victorinox offset bread knife, and their 10.25 inch serrated knife is excellent.
• I use the 4-inch paring knife by Henckels an awful lot, somehow I find good use for that extra inch, and it does not seem to get in a way. The 3 inch paring knife by Henckels is also great, very sturdy and strong. Each has advantages so it’s hard to recommend one over another. I think I am leaning towards having both.
• For a utility knife, I use the 7-inch serrated (wavy edge) chef’s knife. It is a superb tomato knife, and is useful beyond that. Victorinox also has a 6 inch option, or just use a 6 inch chef’s knife.

If you want to get a block, this one from Victorinox will give you every knife that you can ever dream of using.

Going a bit fancy

Going fancier will give you some improvement at a significant price hike. Personally, I believe this is a waste of money unless you are a knife nut like me. 

So pretty

You also get knives that start looking like pieces of art that you and your guests will marvel at. Here are some suggestions if you feel like splurging:

• 10 inch chef knife by Global remains my favorite even though I splurged on the 12-inch forged version. The one drawback of the 12 inch version is that the curved part of the blade is very short, which makes it excellent for cutting large things, but less good on a smaller scale. A slightly heavier equivalent to the 10-inch Global is the 10 inch chef knife by Shun, or you can try a lightweight 10 inch chef knife by MAC. There are many Japanese companies that are in this class, like a 10.5 inch gyuto by Torijo, or gyuto by Yoshihiro. I find Korin a nice web site for window shopping.
• The 8 inch bread knife by Global leaves any bread knife I have ever used far in the dust, but it’s serrated edge is a bit too brutal for general use. The 10 inch bread knife by Wusthof is awesome, a little sturdier than the Victorinox equivalent, and also 3-4 times the price. I get refreshingly lots of use from my 15+ years old Henckel’s 8 inch bread knife that is a bit more maneuverable and is great for slicing a pineapple and hard cheese. I would get that one in addition to the 10 inch Victorinox or Wusthof. While have never tried the  Kai/Shun bread knife, I assume it is very good.
• 3.5 inch paring knife by Global may be my top choice for a paring knife, though the 4-inch Henckels is right up there.
• I find the 4 1/2 inch utility knife from by Global increasingly useful for smallish jobs, or as a tomato knife. I used to use an 8-inch chef knife from Global as a utility knife as it is pretty small. This one is pretty nice, too - the thin blade is kind of neat.

Really fancy

A knife made by a Japanese master sets you back several thousand dollars, and you will acquire a true piece of art. Consider making a charitable donation instead.

Knife sharpening

I have been fiddling with knife sharpening tools for quite some time, trying to find a way to take shortcuts. At the end, I decided to bite the bullet and use japanese waterstones, which are the ultimate in knife sharpening and allow you to get knives as sharp or sharper than new. Using the waterstones is not hard, and there are plenty of YouTube videos explaining the process. The whole thing does take some time and is a bit messy: One needs to soak the stones for at least 10 minutes, and for several hours if at all possible. One needs to remember that paper towels had been invented, and use them to collect the sludge that will form and that is key to sharpening. Finally, one needs a steady hand to maintain the angle, and patience to enjoy the meditative experience of sliding your knife up and down the stone.

For a complete set, one needs about 3 stones: A coarse one, 250 grit or so for emergency situations when you nick a blade. A medium one, 1000 grit, and a finer one, 4000 grit is common. If you like your blade polished - not really necessary for kitchen knives, then you go to higher grits, 8000 or more. Going even further, one would finish the process with a strop. My setup doesn’t have a coarse stone given that my blades are in a good shape. Here is what I have used for a long time:

• stone holder
• 1000 grit King stone. King is a good value brand of waterstones. No need to spend much more on Global or other knife-brand high-markup stones.
• 4000 grit Norton waterstone. Norton is another solid brand.

I got a pair of sharpening rails to learn the angle, but I do not use them any more as I find them cumbersome. Because I am a knife geek I have since migrated to a set of Shapton ceramic stones and sometimes I break out a strop for the final touch.

Maintenance

• You need a honing steel to align the edge after use. F. Dick makes the very best your money can probably buy, but you will get good use out of any decent steel, like this one from Henckels, for example.
• In a pinch I admit I use this little gadget which works surprisingly well, just touch the knife with a honing steel after your have it sharpened and you are good for a short while. Then sharpen the knife properly as the edge is barely passable and will not last for long.