Sweetbreads: Sweetbread Recipes: Sweetbreads With Bacon Mushroom Shallot And Garlic

Sweetbreads: Sweetbread Recipes

 



 

 

 

 

This week guys I am making sweetbreads! What are sweetbreads you ask? Well to quote my favorite chef Jacques Pepin  sweetbreads are part of a cooking set known as "essential offal." I was just a young boy the first time I had sweetbreads. I must have been 16yrs old if that and my mom was dating a real Arizona cowboy at the time and he was the one who introduced me to sweetbreads! This man whose name was Howard is also the man responsible for my initial interest in knives of all kinds and it's because of this introduction to knives that is responsible for my current skill set with knives and not just kitchen knives. The sweetbreads that Howard made were soaked in salt water overnight and then poached in water for a few minutes and then cooked in butter until they were caramelized and nut brown a bit crispy and delicious indeed! it's hard to describe how sweetbreads taste but suffice to say besides the bit of crunch from the caramelizing they were so tender you just can't believe it! They were meaty indeed with a slight sweetness flavor that I had never experienced before. I have been eating sweetbreads since then in many different ways.

So for those of you that have never had the pleasure of eating sweetbreads you may ask what are sweetbreads? Sweetbreads are the pancreas and thymus glands and calf, veal, lamb and pork! Some chefs and people call the thymus the throat sweetbread or in French cooking the thymus is referred to as a "gorge." Also in French the pancreas is referred to as the "noix." The "noix" sweetbread is from the stomach or heart and the "gorge" sweetbread comes from the animals throat.

There are of course with all things different levels of quality in sweetbreads just as there is different levels of quality in just about anything you buy. The absolute best quality sweetbreads are considered to come from veal or calves that are milk fed and the sweetbreads from lamb are highly prized as well. The best part is that sweetbreads are delicious and they are very affordable whether they come from the pig, calf, veal or lamb. In my humble opinion I think you my readers should try them all ASAP! Personally I like to consider sweetbreads as what I refer to as quite posh! Sweetbreads are made all over the world and in many different ways and I doubt that I will every get to try them all but, I will try to!

Personally, I don't find sweetbreads to be very popular where I live or anyplace that I have ever lived. A lot of people I know don't know what a sweetbread is or they have never tried them before. Sweetbreads are not the easiest dish to prepare because you have to dicker around with them a bit before you get to the point of cooking them but the dickering is well worth it. The issue with preparing sweetbreads is that they have a rather thick membrane surrounding them and the cook needs to get the membranes off the sweetbread before cooking them. The trick is to keep just enough of the membrane on the sweetbreads to keep them in one piece and discard the rest. It's a bit tricky but even if you take off all the the membrane and the sweetbreads to not remain intact you can still cook them and totally enjoy them.

Now as I have stated the sweetbreads themselves can be cooked in many different ways and are an extremely affordable and versatile food. No matter how you finally decide to cook your sweetbreads the fact of the matter is that no matter what kind of sweetbreads you are going to make either from veal, lamb, pork, beef they will all be prepared the same way initially! The first step in preparing sweetbreads is the soaking process. The sweetbreads must be soaked in cold water. It's best to have your cold water "acidulated" That sounds complicated but it's not. Acidulated water is just water that has an acid content in it from lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar or white wine. Basically this acidulated water step is no different than brining. When I brine or acidulate something I like to do it for at least 24hrs. In this case the acidulated water is designed to get impurities out of the sweetbreads. The term for this part of the sweetbreads preparation is called "degorging". Make sure that you change the acidulated water at least once every six to eight hours before moving on to the next step in the sweetbreads preparation.

The next step in the sweetbreads initial preparation is to poach or blanch the sweetbreads in cold water taht is brought up to a slow boil. There are a couple of ways to perform the poaching or blanching of the sweetbreads. The first is the cold water or you may opt to poach/blanch the sweetbreads in some kind of stock of which any will do or you can make something called a "court bouillon". A court bouillon is basically a stock of your own making using your chosen herbs and spices to poach/blanch your sweetbreads in. Basically a court bouillon is an aromatic soup of your making and in general terms a court bouillon is used in the poaching of fish and shellfish but it great for poaching your sweetbreads. After the sweetbreads have been blanched your take them from the hot liquid of your choice and put them in ice cold water to shock them. This blanching and shocking step helps to get rid of more impurities that might still be in your sweetbreads. The blanching process can take anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes depending on your needs. I usually blanch for about 10 minutes.

The third step in the sweetbreads initial preparation is to remove that membrane I was talking about earlier in this post. Just use your hands and remove the membrane/veins and do it gently. The fourth and final step of your initial preparation is a judgement call on your part depending on how you want your sweetbreads to come out or how you are going to use them in any particular dish. The optional last step is pressing your sweetbreads before cooking them. This is done by taking a plate or baking dish and lining it with a clean towel and then laying your sweetbreads on top of the towel then put another towel on top of the sweetbreads and put another plate or baking dish on top and then find some canned food and put a couple of pounds of weight on top of the sweetbreads to press them. It is best to get 5 to 10 lbs of weight on the sweetbreads to press them. Put the sweetbreads in your refrigerator for between 4 to 24 hours to get the excess water out of the sweetbreads. You want the sweetbreads to be pressed to about 3/4 of an inch. This makes the sweetbreads a bit denser and meatier. I love to press my sweetbreads because of the consistency that I get out of them this way. Remember! This is an optional step. You don't have to press your sweetbreads and they will still be delicious!

Now all the initial preparation has paid off and it's time to cook up some sweetbreads! There are tons of ways to cook sweetbreads. You can saute sweetbreads in a red or white wine or you can deep fry your sweetbreads by either battering them or dredging them the southern fried way. You can put sweet bread on the grill or cedar plank cook them. Here's one for you....Put your sweetbreads in the wood smoker for awhile and they will be yummy! You can braise them, roast them, poach sweetbreads! The ways to cook sweetbreads is endless if you really want to think about it. I would have to say that sweetbreads are my favorite form of essential offal as Jacques Pepin would say. I will be serving these sweetbreads with a side of pan seared pearl onions and artichoke hearts! Watch the video and enjoy!


[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:36]

 

Seeds: Celery Seed

 

 

Hi everyone! I know it's been a long time since I have done a post about any herbs or spices but, I have been so busy cooking and taking requests for recipes that I forgot about doing informational posts on the things we use in our cooking endeavors and that being things like herbs and spice. So today I am going to do this little post about the venerable celery seed! It's something that I use in baking many times and I thought talking about the celery seed would be a great place to pick up on my informational posts. The venerable celery seed is not a vegetable even though many people buy celery as a vegetable and hence think that the celery seed is the seed of the vegetable. Well, it is! But the celery seed is not a vegetable, it's a fruit! It's the fruit of a plant known as the Apium Graviolens! The celery seed is a member of the parsley family which I thought was an interesting fact in itself! For those of you that have gardens and grow herb and spices the celery seed is a biennial. The celery seed is the same species of seed used to grow standard table celery. The celery seed is very small measuring in at 1/16th of an inch and is oval/ovoid and is light brownish in it's coloring.

As with many of the herbs and spice we use in this country the venerable celery seed comes to us from another country, that being India! I just love my Indian herbs and spices!
Besides being used in cooking endeavors the celery seed has been used as medicine since the time of the ancient Greeks. Around the 19th century celery seeds were being used as a vegetable in food and in other food uses such as pickling. The celery seed tastes like celery and when crushed to be used in recipes is very aromatic and slightly bitter. You would be very surprised to find out that the celery seed is used in more places than you think! Ever use Old Bay seasoning in your cooking? Guess what? Old Bay makes use of celery seeds for their aromatic qualities. Do you like to have a Bloody Mary on occasion? Of course you do! The best Bloody Mary's are made using celery salt which comes from the celery seed! If you come from New York as I do then you have had a New York hot dog I am sure over at Nathans Famous in Coney Island. Remember how it tasted? Now have you ever been to Chicago? The famous Varsity Hot Dogs of Chicago! The Chicago hot dog tastes different than a New York hot dog because the Chicago dog used celery seed in the recipe! Some other uses for celery seeds are in soups and dressings. I love chicken soup don't you? I always add dill weed to my chicken soup and then I add some crushed up celery seeds for a great taste
and an extra boost to the soups aroma! Celery seed is fantastic in coleslaw and potpies and in some countries celery seed is used in making alcoholic drinks!

So as you can see the venerable celery seed is quite a versatile spice in the kitchen. I have given you some general information about the celery seed and some recipes and foods that the celery seed is used it. Now it's your turn to explore how you can use the celery seed in your cooking endeavors. I would like to hear what you come up with! Until next time thanks for reading!







Photo Courtesy Of Howcheng

Rice: Rice Recipes: Brown Rice And Wild Rice Pilaf

Rice: Rice Recipes

 

Hi guys! This week I am making one of my favorite rice recipes! I love rice recipes and this week I am making a rice recipe that is a brown rice and wild rice pilaf! This isn't going to be a vegetarian rice dish as I am going to be using chicken broth to cook the brown rice. Rice recipes are just one of those staple dishes that people just love. Whenever I make a rice pilaf I do it the way I learned from watching Jacques Pepin. I add some oil to a sauce pan and then I put the rice in and cook it in the oil and then I add some salt and pepper and then I add the liquid and cook the rice. It always turns out great. I will be doing this for the brown rice but now for the wild rice in this recipe.

Rice recipes are just something that are easy to work with and makes a spectacular side dish or appetizer to any main course. This brown rice and wild rice pilaf recipe comes on the heel of so many of my Youtube subscribers sending me messages and emails about my new healthy meal recipes channel. I must admit that one needs to listen to their audience. My subs keep emailing me that my new channel is good but that they would rather see me do my lighter recipes, my vegetarian/vegan recipes on my regular EZCooking channel. It is in this vein that I will no longer be doing videos on my HealthyMealRecipes channel and I will just add the lighter menu's to my already existing channel. In this way people can find all of my recipes.  Having a second channel was worth a shot but I have to listen to my subs!

So today it's going to be one of my favorite rice recipes! It's going to be a brown rice and wild rice pilaf with onions, mushrooms, garlic and Pepita's! This is a dish that I put together this last week and I am sure it's going to be one of my favorite rice recipes! In this brown rice and wild rice recipe I am going for the earthy flavors of the brown rice and wild rice with addition of baby portobello mushrooms, oregano and Pepita's! No doubt, there will be lots of crunch in this recipe!

Rice recipes are an excellent accompaniment to any main dish and they are easy to make! So if you like brown rice and if you like wild rice then let's get together and make a brown rice and wild rice pilaf that will go good with any dish! Enjoy the video!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:35]

Vegetarian Recipes: Italian Caponata And Marinated Mushrooms

Caponata

 

Marinated Mushrooms

 

 

This week I am making two more vegetarian recipes and they are caponata (Caponata Alla Siciliana) and marinated mushrooms (Funghi Marinati). Both are easy classic Italian side dishes that are vegetarian recipes/vegan recipes in nature and are so versatile that what these two side dishes can be used on or in is just about endless!

These recipes of caponata or as we say in New York caponade and marinated mushrooms will be featured on my new Youtube channel called HealthyMealRecipes. I have been making these dishes since I was a boy and I love them both. The caponata begins with eggplant and is combined with red bell peppers, onions, garlic, capers and in some cases pine nuts. I am allergic to pine nuts so I will be using walnuts in their place.

The marinated mushrooms  (Funghi Marinati) can be made with any mushroom you want but are traditionally made with white button mushrooms or crimini/baby portobello mushrooms. I have made this dish using oyster mushrooms and shitake mushrooms at times and they are all delicious vegetarian recipes!

I am starting out with these easy side dishes on my new channel because of the versatility these vegetarian recipes have to  offer in healthy more balanced meals that are low in fat or animal protein. I am not saying that my new channel is solely based on vegan/vegetarian recipes. I am saying that the new channel is based on a more balanced approach to eating than high fat or animal protein diets offer. So with this new channel I will be focusing on less fats and animal proteins and will strive to use healthier fats and other forms of protein.

This is where caponata (Caponata Alla Siciliana) and marinated mushrooms (Funghi Marinati) come it handy. Here are some examples of how both of these vegetarian recipes can be used. The caponata is great by itself or as a sandwich on either flat breads or Italian breads. It's great on corn tortillas! Caponata is fantastic on pasta, rice, mixed with other veggies or in salads! Caponata can be blended into a paste to be used as a dip or spread or as the first layer of a brushetta. Caponata paste/spread is great on meat, fish or poultry if that is your desire. It is just a wonderful accompaniment to other food.

The marinated mushrooms (Funghi Marinati) is another versatile side dish that also can be used in pasta, rice, salads, sandwiches, soups and with meat, fish and poultry as well. These marinated mushrooms can also be processed in food processor and made into a mushroom pate as well.

So basically the sky is the limit when it comes to these two great Italian vegetarian recipes/side dishes whether you are vegan/vegetarian or not! So without further adieu let's get going on making caponata (Caponata Alla Siciliana) and marinated mushrooms (Funghi Marinati) Enjoy the video and please visit my new Youtube channel at HealthyMealRecipes.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:34]

Healthy Vegetarian Recipes: Gluten Free Meals: A Delicious Pasta Recipe

Healthy Vegetarian Recipes: Gluten Free Meals

 

 

Hi guys! This last week I started a new Youtube channel called Healthy Meal Recipes all one word as "HealthyMealRecipes."  This channel is devoted to looking at food from a more balanced perspective. I will be making healthy vegetarian recipes! I will also be making gluten free meals and I will explore total vegan dishes as well! I will also be cooking my more mainstream dishes from Asia and Italy but, I will be creating those dishes with a more balanced approach as well. What do I mean by a balanced approach? More flavor and less fat! More flavor and less salt! More flavor without having to put on the pounds or the blood pressure!

Now needless to say I am not a total vegetarian. I do eat healthy vegetarian recipes in my daily life and I do eat gluten free meals in my daily life as well. Many of us eat these two types of meals almost daily and take it for granted! The fact of the matter is that many of us also eat our regular diet and may not even be aware of the fact that we are allergic to white flour or that we are allergic to gluten.  We just eat what it is that we eat and just go about our daily lives when in fact some of us are greatly affected by these food types.

It is for that reason I have decided to create this new Youtube channel. Many people think that there is no flavor to vegetable dishes and I am here to tell you that I will provide to you the best tasting healthy vegetarian recipes and some very tasty gluten free meals on this new channel. Many times I will cook a dish on this new channel that looks like it's not one of my gluten free meals and then I will surprise you with the fact that it is! I will also be able to do this with many of my healthy vegetarian recipes as well. You can never tell that what you thought or think is a piece of meat might actually be a delicious piece of high quality textured protein.

So today for this blog post I am going to be making one of my healthy vegetarian recipes that also happens to be one of my gluten free meals as well. Today I am going to be making a delicious pasta recipe. I am going to be making pasta with Pasilla chilies, Roma tomatoes, and onions with Kalamata olives and Gorgonzola cheese! Now this dish is as I stated one of my gluten free meals as the pasta is made from corn and it is delicious! This dish is vegetarian but, not vegan in that I am using real Gorgonzola cheese. There are many levels of vegetarianism and some vegetarians will still eat cheese and not eat meat. If you want to make this dish totally vegan then you can use soy cheese shreds instead of Gorgonzola!

In either case this pasta recipe is delicious and packed with flavor and very little fat calories as I only use about two tablespoons of olive oil to cook the veggies and make the sauce that will be used on one and a quarter pounds of pasta! The pasta itself is made in the European Union and is certified by the University Of England at Surrey to be 100% gluten free. I am new to corn pasta myself but it makes for a delicious change to any pasta recipe that I can think of and I can think of many believe you me!

So let's start out with this one of my healthy vegetarian recipes that also happens to be one of my gluten free meals and make a delicious pasta recipe for this Sunday night! Remember! Take this pasta recipe and make it as it is or make it your own and work with it and shape it into what ever you want it to be! If you want to make it with regular pasta then do so! If you want to make it with something other than spaghetti then do so as this recipe will work with any type of pasta! I hope you enjoy the video!



[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:33]

Tofu: Tofu Recipes: Greek Salad And Korean Hot And Spicy Tofu

Tofu: Tofu Recipes

 

 

 

Hi guys! This week I am doing something new. I am going to be making two tofu recipes this week in celebration of the new Youtube channel I am opening called the HealthyMealRecipes channel! Now I know what you are thinking? Tofu? Tofu recipes? From Richard Blaine? You bet! I love tofu recipes and I have been eating tofu since I was 13yrs!

Have no fear, not all the cooking I will be doing on this new channel will be tofu and tofu recipes. The dishes I will prepare on this new channel will address a more balanced approach to the way people eat! I will address vegetarian and non- vegetarian dishes alike! I have a handful of favorite Youtube channel foodies that do gluten free and vegetarian dishes that I just LOVE! I will be tapping them on the shoulder to ask if I can do a recipe of theirs on my new channel and I am sure you will enjoy their dishes as much as I have! There are many levels of vegetarianism such as strict vegan to people that are ovo vegetarian. As I learn you will learn as well! I will show examples of making dishes with things like tofu in place of say things like cheese for those that either don't or can't eat cheese as in the Greek salad I am doing here tonight. It's a tofu recipe and yes it is still delicious. I will also address my gluten free audience with delicious gluten free dishes that are sure to please! Yes! I will be making meat dishes on this channel as well but it will be lean meat dishes with balanced amounts of the meat in relation to the other ingredients on the plate.

Yes of course there will still be my trademark Asian dishes on the new channel and there will also be some of my favorite Italian dishes on the new channel although there might be some twists and turns to them! So fear not! Not all is going to be tofu! And not all is going to be tofu recipes! But tonight it will be two tofu recipes. Greek salad using a delicious marinated firm tofu in place of the feta cheese for those of use that don't eat or can't eat cheese as I stated above and a twist on a recipe that I did in the past. I made  some Korean hot and spicy chicken wings and tonight I am going to use the same Korean chili paste but I am going to use it on really firm tofu and I am going to bake it as I did the chicken wings. This particular tofu recipe is a favorite of many of my vegetarian friends. Enjoy the video!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:32]

Salad Recipes: My Southwestern Cottage Cheese Salad

Salad Recipes

 

This week guys I am making another of my salad recipes. The summer here in Las Vegas is gone and we are now into what it our fall. It's for this reason that I am making and end of summer salad. This week I am going to reinvigorate my last cottage cheese salad recipe and reinvent it into my Southwestern Cottage Salad.  In the summer I love salad recipes and a couple of weeks ago I made one of my Mom's cottage cheese salad recipes and just added a couple of additions to it and the response I got for it was amazing! One of my Youtube subs a fellow who calls himself the baldchef had made a comment about me taking something that was retro and breathing new life into it. I was very flattered to say the least.

Also in thinking about cottage cheese I can remember when cottage cheese was like one of the most popular diet foods around and I just don't think you hear much about it anymore as a diet food. It is high protein and low carbs and is still an excellent source of calcium and can be made into more than just salad recipes. So this salad I am doing this week is just another reinvention of a cottage cheese salad. This week my end of summer salad is going to be a cottage cheese salad with the flavors of the great Southwest. This should turn out to be one of my favorite cottage cheese salad recipes to date!

For this salad I am going to add the flavors of roasted corn and black beans as well as pinto beans and roasted and salted pepitas with some cumin and chili powder. Then I am going to add some garlic,  lime zest and cilantro and lime juice and to top it all off I will add some Hatch, NM chopped green chilies and freshly ground Guajillo chilies which are more sweet than hot! You can serve this salad in a bowl or on a plate but, when it comes to salad recipes like this one I am going to stuff it into Anaheim peppers and Pasilla peppers and then put some on top of toasted corn tortillas! If you love cooling, refreshing and crunchy salad recipes then I am convinced that you will enjoy this cottage cheese salad! Make it yours! Make it one of your favorite salad recipes! Enjoy the video!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:31]