Fun with Food

A lot of people tell their kids, "Do not play with your food." I disagree. So, I am going to show you that it can be fun to play with food. I have decided to make it my



to play with food. I want to strip all the myths bare

because I feel this issue is very



I make



so I am going to share my

of wisdom with everyone.


I am so
that my parents allowed me to play with my food. As a result, I am now working in the restaurant business.


I now have lots of




in people that they will let their kids play with food. But as many parents know, if kids play with food they are sure to make a mess. If this happens then


with the kids, and tell them they must clean up after themselves and do the dishes. If you allow the kids to wash the dishes and you don't have to, then it will bring you great


and



knowing the kids are learning how to be responsible and clean up after themselves.

I really do


that by allowing your kids to play with food will cause them to want to go on to be a creative member of society and learn a good trade that pays very well. Then, maybe your child can take care of you later in life, and you can then retire with great



knowing you raised your child to want to work.


Now if your child is getting teased for wanting to cook and clean, or they don't want to get into a restaurant and cook, then give them a


and tell them to either open it up on the person teasing them, or tell them to get into the UFC and open the can there and teach those guys a lesson. Rick b

Comic

I found this funny and fits the ghost wing challenge.

The Punisher shares his thoughts on Brussel Sprouts.

This video is very funny

Ghost Chili, Chocolate Truffles

My brother found this recipe online and passed it onto me. This is not overly hot, but does have some heat. I made these and brought them to the Tongues of Fire event, and they were a huge success. Over all, I thought they were pretty good, but I could not taste lime or much coconut. Down below, I will post some ideas on what I think would make them better.


1 1/2 cups coconut cream
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
4 3-inch long kaffir lime leaves, crumpled to bruise
2 2-inch long ghost chiles, top snipped off (handle with gloves or tongs)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 pound semisweet or Dark chocolate, chopped
Cocoa powder for dusting

Place the coconut cream and corn syrup in a small sauce pan and heat to just under a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the kaffir lime leaves and ghost chile, cover, and let them infuse for 5 minutes. Using tongs or a gloved hand, remove the ghost chile, emptying any cream that is inside the chile into the pan before discarding. Let the lime leaves infuse for an additional 5 minutes.

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
Remove the lime leaves and return the coconut cream to the sauce pan. Heat it just until it is below a boil.

Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate, and let it stand for a minute or two. Once the chocolate begins to melt, begin whisking in small circles in the center of the bowl. As the ganache begins to come together, increase the diameter of the circles to incorporate more chocolate and cream into the mixture. If all of the chocolate does not melt, place the bowl over a sauce pan of hot water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat the ganache gently while continuing to whisk. Whisk or blend in the butter one piece at a time.



After I made the ganache, I put everything in the refrigerator to set up nice and hard. I scooped out little balls, while wearing rubber gloves, and covered them in cocoa powder.




I do not know of any stores that sell the ghost chili. Most people do not even know them by that name. They are called "Bhut Jolokia" peppers. You most likly need to know someone to get these or order them online. I was lucky enough to know someone who grew fresh ones, and he gave me a bunch. If you cannot get these online for some reason, maybe price or they are out of stock, you can find powdered Bhut Jolokia on line. Simply play around with amounts and start with maybe a tablespoon of dry Bhut Jolokia mixed into your cream.

I really love habanero peppers, so I will try making the truffles with habanero peppers. I am thinking to add more coconut flavor, I will toast some coconut and mix that in to the chocolate mixture along with some lime zest. If you do not like coconut, then you can use heavy cream instead. Remember, wear gloves when working with these really hot peppers, and do not give them to people as a joke if they cannot handle extreme heat. Rick b

The Four Types Of Coffee Drinkers

This was written by my brother John.


There's an old saying that reads "I like my coffee like I like my women: strong and black," and that pretty much holds true for me. Sort of. I won't get into the part about the women, but the coffee part of it is pretty much accurate.

When it all boils down, there are really only four types of coffee drinkers: the strong-and-black, the cream-only, the sugar-only, and the cream-and-sugar type.

Let's start with the first one: strong-and-black. This is a type of person who is confident and bold; sensitive, yet manly. He projects an image that says "I drink coffee that's so good I don't need to add any of your "flavor enhancing" preservatives. To do so would only announce to everyone that either I'm a wimp who can't handle real coffee, or that I'm drinking really bad coffee that needs to be doctored up in order to be drinkable. This type of person is well-respected by others.

Then there's the cream-only type. This is a person who's really not sure of himself. He doesn't want to look like a wimp in front of his friends by adding sugar as well, but he's not confident enough to take the bold approach and go the strong-and-black route, so he compromises and takes a middle-of-the-road stance, trying to maintain a shallow image of respectability with other coffee drinkers.

The sugar-only type of coffee drinker has no credibility at all, in my opinion. They're mentally unstable. Nobody in his right mind would drink coffee like that, so insanity is the obvious explanation. If you do a background check on a person who's given to the sugar-only way of drinking coffee, you'll find that most of them have been committed to a mental institution at least once in the recent past.

Lastly, we have the cream-and-sugar type. This is the worst kind of all. These people have delicate tastebuds that can't be offended at all by the slightest hint of flavor. This type of person is usually over-sensitive and can't deal with raw truth. Everything must be sugar-coated and smoothed over to be acceptable to him. He tends to be immature and regressive in personality.

There you have it- the four basic types of coffee drinkers. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe my herbal tea is done brewing

Iron Chef Pastry Chef, Round 3

Hello, everyone.
Monday, March 8th, should be round 3. I was told they were talking with two pastry chefs from the Twin Cities, and it is possible I will be taking on one of them. Here is some info. on the person they think is most likely going to be challenging me.

Michelle Gayer
By andrew.zimmern on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 17:54

Chef Michelle Gayer is one of the best pastry chefs in the country, hands down. We spoke to this talented Twin Cities about her time with Charlie Trotter's, how she balanced a small business with two little girls at home, and why Salty Tart might just be the best place in the city to get your sugar fix.

AndrewZimmern.com: You've worked with Charlie Trotter, received an "Outstanding Pastry Chef" Beard nomination in 2002, and were named "Pastry Chef of the Year" by Bon Appetit magazine. Those are pretty incredible accomplishments.

To see the rest of this interview, go to AndrewZimmern.com

Win or lose, this will be a great learning experience. The good thing is that we both will have all the same secret ingredients to work with and will have the same things to choose from for added, non-secret ingredients. The tough part will be for my partner who has no baking experience, but we both will learn from it. No matter who I compete against, I have viewed my past competitions, learned from my mistakes, and will do better every time I compete. I really am looking forward to this challenge. Rick b

Pastry Chef Round Two

Today, we had round two of the Iron Chef - Pastry contest. We went from 13 teams down to 2 teams. After round one, my partner and I took fourth place; we were bummed. I thought for sure we would have placed higher. I saw some pictures of the desserts today and was surprised we did not place higher.


For round two, my partner and I took 1st place! Out of a possible 300 points, we scored 281.



We hoped to make a few more desserts but had some minor problems.




In two weeks, we go onto round 3. I cannot wait! We will take on a professional chef from the Twin Cities. Our winning dessert was a chocolate cake baked in a funnel cup to form a cone, a jelly flavored caramel, a pavlova, which is a meringue with fruit on it, and a soft, slightly chilled, white chocolate mousse.






We had fun and are excited to go to the 3rd round! Rick b

Iron Chef Pastry Chef

They had the very first Pastry Chef Iron Chef contest at school. There were 13 teams of two; you can pick your choice for a team member. I was looking for someone with baking experience, but could not find anyone. I mentioned to a classmate of mine that if need be, I will work with someone who has no experience, but in that case they will be a gopher for me. The person I was telling this to said they would gladly be my gopher.

I said I would have her help me, but all she would do is run for things or do very minor things. The plus side is that I don't have to butt heads with someone over what we're going to make, but the down side it is pretty much one person going up against two people. They were dropping it from 13 teams down to 6 teams and the next 6 teams will go onto the second round next Monday.

We were given a bag with 5 mystery ingredients. I opened the bag and found:
1. a wedge of Brie cheese
2. shelled pistachio nuts
3. tangelos
4. semi-sweet chocolate disks
5. Israeli couscous.

The bag of couscous was supposed to be pearl tapioca, but somehow they messed it up. They have a black cart with things like fresh fruit, milk, heavy cream, eggs, and a variety of other things. We have one hour from start to finish to make a dessert. It must have a sauce, and meet certain criteria. I do not recall the 5 criteria.

Below is a picture of what my partner and I made. We made a sauce with fresh strawberries and blackberries. I found some white chocolate globes that were hollowed out, so we beat the brie cheese, heavy cream, and the juice from the tangelos. Then, we filled the white chocolate globes and put them down on the sauce so you could not see they were filled. Then we took the chocolate, some fresh mint and heavy cream, and made a minted chocolate ganache and added the couscous for crunch.

Then, I made something called a rum snap; they are flour, butter, sugar, rum and ginger. You heat the mix on the stove, then chill it. Pour some onto a sheet pan and put it back in the oven till golden brown. When it is just about cool, you can cut strips or circles and make various shapes. I cut strips and rolled them around pieces of pipe, put two together, put some ganache in the center, and added a fresh mint leaf for garnish.

Then, we made some pistachio brittle and put a fresh raspberry on top of one piece and a fresh blackberry on another piece. Then put a piece of dried ginger down for added garnish. Over all we placed 4th, we were both really surprised after seeing some of the stuff that went out. I do not know what took 1st through 3rd, but I will do something a little more advanced in the second round. Rick b

Kitchen Roulette

I came up with this game a few years ago, and it is a lot of fun. Basically, what you need is a few people and a kitchen. The more people you have, the better. Try for a least 4 people.

What you need to do is find the people that want to play the game, and then write down on pieces of paper: starch, meat, vegetable, fruit, and dessert. If there are more people, you can add a card saying "mystery" and, if needed, double up on any item.

Put all these inside of envelopes and shuffle them, then hand out one envelope per person. Tell everyone that they are not allowed to share what is on their card with anyone.

The thing you need to know to everyone is if anyone is allergic to any type of food. Many people are allergic to seafood. If anyone is allergic to a certain type of food, then avoid it and make it known to everyone.

If there are no food allergies, then lay out the ground rules. Now, if your card says "meat", then you can buy any type of meat you choose: beef, lamb, seafood, chicken, or whatever you like.

If your card says "starch", you can buy pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. Same goes for all other cards. If your card says "dessert", then you can bring anything to make a dessert: chocolate, mint, peanut butter, heavy cream, etc. Do your best to bring things to make a dessert from scratch.

If your card says "mystery", then they can choose the item they want: meat, starch, vegetable, etc., or you can tell them that the mystery item is something really strange. I mean something your not real familiar with like fresh horse radish or star fruit, or you pick it.

Now, you set a time and day everyone is able to meet. Have everyone bring their item to the place and put it on the table. If some people really do not want to cook, then let them hang out some place and talk. Have every one that wants to cook look over everything they have and come up with a dinner.

It really is a lot of fun not knowing what everyone is bringing, and then just throwing together a dinner. The reason I was saying not to let everyone know what they are bringing is that people will start thinking of a menu in advance, and that's no fun.

If anyone does this please let me know what you do for the dinner. I have made it 3 different times, and it was a blast! If you bring something and are really stumped on what to do with it, just go to the web and Google the item and figure it out from there. Enjoy, Rick b

P.E.T.A.

I was sent the link for this by a friend, I find this funny but sad at the same time. I really Believe P.E.T.A Needs to move on.

Unhappy meal

PETA Unhappy Meals Targeting Kids

Posted Aug 7th 2009 1:30PM by Sara Bonisteel (RSS feed)



unhappy meal
The McCruelty Unhappy Meal. Photo: PETA
Kids hoping to grab a Happy Meal from McDonald's might end up with PETA's Unhappy Meal instead.

The animal rights organization lifted its moratorium on the McCruelty Campaign this year and since June has distributed Chicken McCruelty Unhappy Meals to McDonald's customers outside about a dozen restaurants around the country.

"McDonald's markets its food to children by packaging it in brightly colored boxes with toys," Lindsay Rajt, a spokeswoman for PETA, tells Slashfood. "But most kids really love animals, and if they knew that McDonald's suppliers were breaking the wings and legs of gentle animals like chickens, I think that you'd have to drag kids into McDonald's kicking and screaming."

The campaign, though, has parents "hatin' it."

A PETA protest of a McDonald's in Albany, N.Y., upset parents on Thursday, WXXA-TV reports.

"I don't want my son to be around something like this," parent Stephanie Gipson told the station. "This is not fair for a child."

But Rajt says children have seen worse things than PETA's Unhappy Meal, which comes "stained with blood" and containing a bloody rubber chicken, a cutout of a knife-wielding Ronald McDonald, photos of mutilated animals and a Chicken McCruelty T-shirt.

"Kids deserve to be told the truth and we really do need to give them credit," she says. "The bottom line is that they've really seen much worse in movies and videogames, and we all know that kids empathize with animals."

McDonald's told Slashfood that it expects the humane treatment of animals from its suppliers.

Our goal has always been to lead the industry by bringing about improvements in animal welfare including rigorous, ongoing audits of our suppliers' facilities.

"McDonald's works with leading independent animal welfare experts and makes decisions based upon science to promote continuous improvement in animal welfare as part of our broader sustainable supply chain initiatives," Bob Langert, McDonald's vice president of corporate social responsibility, says in a statement to Slashfood.

"McDonald's continues to support our chicken suppliers' use of both controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) and electrical stunning. There is no conclusive scientific consensus that one practice is better than the other, however, we recognize that in either method, good management practices are critical," he says. "It is also important to note that in the U.S., there are no large-scale chicken producers that currently use the CAS method, therefore demands to purchase chickens from this method to meet McDonald's supply needs are not viable."

PETA says it worked with McDonald's behind the scenes from 2000 to February 2009 before it re-instituted its McCruelty campaign. A PETA protest was expected Friday afternoon at a restaurant in South Burlington, Vt.

How to tell when banans go bad

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing

Rosemary Flat Bread

18 oz (3cups) semolina flour
13 1/2oz (3 cups) flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 2/3 cups water
1/2 cup olive oil.


Mix the dry ingredients with the rosemary, then add the water and oil, and mix by hand to form a smooth dough. Knead about 2 minutes. Do not over mix. Wrap in plastic and let rest about 1 hour.

Cut dough balls about 2oz each, and roll cracker thin. Bake on a baking stone at 475 degrees F until golden brown. Remove from oven, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.

I like mine with more rosemary, so you can increase or decrease rosemary to taste.

If you do not have a baking stone, take a metal sheet pan and turn it upside down, and bake it that way. If you want to change it up, you can add a mix of herbs, like rosemary and basil, maybe some sun-dried tomatoes, or whatever you want. Enjoy!
Rick b

Award-Winning Happiness

My last post was about my liquid hot sauce called "Happiness". Well, I made it in dry form and entered it into a contest. It took first place.



Here is the link to the site and award winners. winners

This is where I am -

DRY SPICE

THE HOT PEPPER AWARD - DRY SPICE - Naked Pig BBQ Company - Sow's Fury | www.nakedpigbbq.com

SEASONING/RUB
1st - Naked Pig BBQ Company - Sow's Fury | www.nakedpigbbq.com
2nd - Dave's Smokeshack Foods - Grendeddy Dave's Hawg Rub Seasoning | www.davessmokeshack.com
3rd - Tony Legner's Culinary Productions - Tony Legner's Cat-5 Food Polish | www.tonylegner.com

SEASONING/SPICE
1st - Rick Beaudin - Happiness
2nd - Gulf Island Spice Company/Petit Bois Cafe - Horn Island XXX Blend
3rd - Gulf Island Spice Company/Petit Bois Cafe - Petit Bois Island Blend

Rick b