Salted Caramel Sauce

We are almost to my second favorite season, fall, which means it is time for apples, apple cider, and by extension, caramel! Many people are a little intimidated by the thought of cooking sugar, but you shouldn't be. Real caramel is pretty easy to make and tastes way better than store bought.

There are two ways to make caramel: the slow way (wet method), which is a lot safer, and the quick way (dry method), which poses a few more challenges. I recommend trying the slow way until you know what you are looking before trying the quicker way. I'll go over both ways in this post.

Ingredients:

1 c sugar
½ water (wet method only)
1 c heavy cream
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Wet Method:

In a heavy-bottom saucepan with a lid, over low heat combine the sugar and water and stir until the sugar is totally dissolved. Put the lid on and bring to a boil. (Letting it boil with the lid on helps wash any stray sugar off the side of the pot that might lead to unwanted crystals that can make your caramel grainy.) Once the syrup has been boiling for a minute, remove the lid.

Now, leave it alone. At this point, before heat has changed the sugar into the delicious thing called caramel, if you agitate it too much, the sugar crystals can start to re-combine. This will create a chain reaction that would mean you have to start the whole thing over again. So be extra careful not to jostle the pot in any way.

Keep an eye on your boiling syrup, and when you see it start to turn amber, it is safe to give it a stir. At this point, the sugars are damaged to the point that they won't combine easily. Stir gently to even out any heat pockets.

Continue keeping sharp watch on the sugar syrup and watch the surface for any smoke. As soon as you see it smoking, remove it from the heat and pour in the heavy cream while stirring constantly. The cream is going to come to a rolling boil since the syrup is well over 300 degrees. Some of the sugar will harden instantly upon contact with the cool cream, but don't worry, if you keep stirring, all of that will work itself back in.

When the mixture is smooth and creamy, stir in the salt. You can store your caramel in the fridge for up to a month, but it tastes so good that I doubt it will last that long.

Dry Method:

Pour the sugar into a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Once the sugar starts to liquify and brown at the edges, you can use a spatula to gently pull the liquid bits toward the middle to even out the heat. If it burns, the caramel is ruined and you'll have to start over from scratch.

On the other hand, you have to be extremely careful to not over-stir, because if you do and it clumps up, you can ruin the whole batch. If it starts to form clumps, reduce the heat and keep stirring until it is all liquid, and when you're done you'll have to strain out the grainy bits.

If all goes well, keep stirring gently until you get a clear, deep amber before removing from the heat and stirring in the cream and salt and storing as described above.

Tenderloin with Pesto

I love steak. All kinds of steak. Tenderloin is a great cut, but, since it is so lean, it can dry out easily. It is my wife's favorite cut because it has so little connective tissue. But, steaks with more fat and tissue are more flavorful. Serving it with an herbed finishing butter or an oil based sauce, like pesto, helps keep this tender cut super moist and gives it great flavor.

Ingredients:

2 ⅓lb tenderloin steaks
salt
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cashew pesto

Directions:

About 1/2 and hour to an hour before you are cooking your steaks, remove them from the fridge and liberally season each side with salt. This will let the meat come to room temperature which helps ensure an even level of doneness since there won't be any really cold spots. The salt keeps any undesirables from growing on the surface and pulls protein laden moisture to the outside which helps form the great crust you are looking for on any well seared steak.

10 minutes before cook time, heat a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat. You want enough heat to get a good sear, but you want to make sure you have even heat. Cast iron does a great job of evenly dispersing heat, but it works best when it's put on medium heat and let to heat up slowly.

Preheat your broiler on high. Add the olive oil to your skillet and sear your steaks for 2 min per side, around 12 minutes total. Everytime you flip your steak try to position it on an unused piece of the skillet so you get maximum heat for the best possible crust.

Once the steak is well seared on all sides, place your steaks in the skillet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. I recommend checking the internal temp at 3 minutes and removing the steaks when they are 5-10 degrees from your target temp.

Remove from under the broiler and spoon 1 tbsp of the pesto on each steak. Let the steaks rest, uncovered, in the skillet, for 10 minutes before serving.

I recommend serving with crushed fingerling potatoes and a good merlot.

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Restoring Cast Iron

Earlier I put up a post that described some basic steps for keeping your cast iron clean and in good condition. This time, I want to focus on what to do if, God forbid, your cast iron gets severely damaged. To demonstrate the resilience of cast iron I picked up this poor thing at a thrift store near me.

As long as the cast iron is not rusted all the way through or cracked, it's surface can be restored. Resurfacing starts with hot, soapy water and steel wool. Since you are entirely resurfacing, the soap and steel wool won't hurt anything. Scrub until you have gotten down to the bare iron.

Once the iron is bare and any loose stuff has been rinsed off, dry it thoroughly and rub on a thin layer of cooking oil or shortening. If you have too much on there the finish will feel sticky when cold and will get grimy and dusty during storage.

Place your piece of cast iron in the oven, upside down (to prevent any grease from pooling) with a piece of tin foil on a rack placed below it. Now turn your oven on to 450 F. Once the oven is at temp, bake the cast iron for an hour. Because of the heat involved, it can get a bit smokey, so you might want to make sure your vent hood is on.

The theory behind seasoning cast iron is to hold the oil coating at slightly above the break-down temperature of oil. This causes the oil to denature and form the plastic like non-stick coating on the cast iron.

After an hour, turn off the oven and allow the cast iron to cool in the oven. If it is all done correctly, you cast iron should come out looking something like this:

You can repeat the oiling and baking steps if you are not satisfied with the seasoning. Some people suggest repeating those steps 6 times. However, as long as you properly care for your cast iron, the seasoning will improve over time.

Cast iron is really sturdy stuff and unlike most non-stick pans, if the surface is damaged, that isn't the end of the pan. So please, if you see some rust, don't throw it away, save yourself some money and show your cast iron some TLC. 

Taking Care of Cast Iron

Cast iron is one of my favorite cooking surfaces. It can handle high heat and low heat, heats evenly, goes from stove-top to oven easily and is easy to clean and resilient. Once it is cured properly, it has a surface that is rust resistant, nonstick, and nonreactive to acidic foods. You have to care for your cast iron properly, but fortunately that isn't hard to do.

Let's deal with some terminology up front: the cure, or seasoning. Seasoned cast iron has had a layer of oil baked into the porous iron. During the baking, the oil denatures and forms a water-proof, non-porous, and non-stick coating. The oil chemically changes and becomes a polymer coating that binds chemically to the surface of the cast iron. This coating is pretty durable, and so well-seasoned cast iron can be used for pretty much any application. However, it shouldn't be washed off with soap and it doesn't do too well if it just sits in water for a few days. Less established seasonings can be damaged by acidic foods, so avoid high-acid foods until you've used you cookware a few times.

To clean your cast iron, you only need 3 things: a stiff scrub brush, a pan scraper, and warm water. A stiff brush and warm water will get off most of the mess, but a pan scraper will help get off anything really stuck down. Again, you do not need soap to clean off your cast iron, as it can hurt the cure. If you really feel the need, use a mild detergent and rinse if off thoroughly.

Dry the cast iron thoroughly either with towels or letting it sit on a iron on a burner set to low to get it it hot but not scalding. While it is still warm, rub on a thin layer of cooking oil. This will reinforce the seasoning.


I own 3 pieces of cast iron that I use regularly. The first is a one burner griddle that I use for making toasted sandwiches, eggs, bacon, and searing meats.

I have a two burner skillet that I use for anything breakfast. It's great for pancakes, bacon, hash browns, or anything else you need to make in bulk for breakfast. Though, in my unfortunate experience, it is not very good for making scrambled eggs.

By far my favorite piece that I own is my 10" deep skillet. I use that for pretty much everything: sauteing, searing, one pan meals, pizza, casseroles, and breakfast. This one is my workhorse.

In the end, it really is not hard to take care of your cast iron, and if you take good care of your cast iron, it will take good care of you. When you take good care of your cast iron, just a little effort will reward you with some really display-worthy cookery that will last you a lifetime.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

This recipe might make me hand over my foodie card, because it uses jars of tomato sauce, but I don't mind. Making your own tomato sauce is time consuming and when I'm in the mood for comfort food I'm in the mood to set it and forget it. Spaghetti with meat sauce is one of the first things I used to make when I was a kid. When I turned 21, I usually cooked with a beer in my hand, and this recipe was spawned from that.

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 24 oz jars of your favorite pasta sauce

2 bottles of lager

½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Start off by opening one of the bottles of lager and drinking it while you cook.

Brown the ground beef in your cooking vessel of choice, I like my 10" cast iron skillet, over medium-high heat. When the meat is nearly done, add the garlic and sweat lightly. Once the meat is evenly browned, add it to a large pot with the sauce. Don't drain the meat, as you want all the flavor possible getting into your sauce. Pour in the lager and heat on medium-low until it simmers and then lower the heat to maintain a simmer.

Right now you would have a pretty good sauce, but the flavor really comes together if you let it simmer for awhile longer. You can even do this part in a crock-pot or slow-cooker if you would like. I usually let it simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring every few minutes, before I serve it.

Before serving, stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve over pasta with more Parmesan on top as desired. If you add the cheese too early and it gets too warm, it might curdle and get lumpy. The best way to prevent this is to mix it right before service and with the heat off. There will still be more than enough heat to melt the cheese.

Notes:

My wife likes when I use 90/10 ground beef, but I prefer 80/20. 90/10 will make for grainier, slightly drier meat, but 80/20 will make a greasier sauce; it's up to you.

I cooked about a pound of spaghetti until a little before al dente, and then I added the under-cooked noodles to the sauce to allow them to finish cooking. This lets the noodles take on a bit more flavor, and any starch that is left on the noodles will get into the sauce, thicken it, and help it cling to the noodles better. Keep testing the noodles for doneness and serve as soon as they are cooked to your liking. The spaghetti should go in right before the Parmesan.

This would be a good recipe to use an actual block of Parmesan cheese, despite the cost. Pre-grated Parmesan cheese tends to include cellulose powder, or wood pulp, which keeps the product from caking or clumping. While that is a good thing, the added starch can make a sauce taste and feel grainy. Plus, you can't beat the flavor of the fresh stuff. Again, as with anytime I use a more "premium" ingredient, feel free to substitute.

Cooking Pasta

People boil pasta all the time, but do you really know what you're doing when you salt the water or add oil? Plus, why you should use all that water when you're making pasta?

Why salt the water: During cooking is your only chance, practically speaking, to affect the taste of the pasta. Salt helps foods taste more like themselves by activating the receptors on your tongue. A misconception is that salting the water raises the boiling point of water thus speeding up the cooking time. While adding salt does raise the boiling point, the amount that is usually added does not significantly change the temperature or speed up cooking.

Why add oil to the water: It is not to keep the pasta from sticking together after cooking. The oil sits on top of the water during cooking and does not lubricate the pasta. Even during draining not enough oil sticks to the pasta to make a real difference. Besides, if it did lube up your pasta the sauce wouldn't stick! The only thing adding oil does for boiling pasta is that it can help prevent boiling over. As pasta cooks, some starch gets into the water, changing the surface tension and allowing boiling over. Adding a bit of oil helps break up the surface tension to prevent boiling over. But, there is a better way.

Why use a lot of water: Using more water dissipates that starch so that it does not boil over. Using more water also allows the heat to bounce back quicker after the pasta is added, thus shortening the cooking time. The more water, the more thermal mass, the more thermal mass the more heat it retains and the quicker you return to a boil. It also gives the pasta more room to move about, which keeps it from sticking while cooking, and helps it cook evenly.

In summary: Salt your water, avoid oil (unless absolutely necessary), and use plenty of water.

Zesty Corndogs

For years I have been longingly gazing at the packages of corndogs in the freezer section of my local mega mart. I decided if I was going to make my favorite local fair concession worth the calories, I needed to make it myself.

Ingredients:

1 C of cornmeal

1 C of AP flour

¼ t of salt

¼ t of cayenne pepper

¼ C of sugar

4 t of baking powder

1 egg

1 C of milk

1 large jalapeño seeded and minced

16 hotdogs

16 wooden skewers (I used disposable chop sticks)

4 T of corn starch for dredging

Directions:

Heat oil in a deep fryer, deep skillet, or dutch oven to 375.

Combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, and baking powder in one bowl. Beat the egg into the milk and jalapeño. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry team, and thoroughly combine. Pour the batter into a tall cup; this makes it easier to coat the hot dogs. Skewer the hotdogs on your choice of skewer; I used chop sticks that are still connected because they make it easier to flip during cooking.

Spread the corn starch on a plate and lightly coat each hotdog being sure to rub off any excess. Why the corn starch? The dredge creates a starch layer that will help the batter stick to the hotdog. Either too much or too little and the batter could just sort of slide off after it’s cooked, and then you just have a hotdog on a stick, which, while still tasty, is not the desired result. After the dredge is applied, dip the hotdog in the batter and then straight into the oil.

This part can be a bit challenging, but it mostly just requires you to pay attention. As with all frying, and most cooking, temperature control is essential. Be sure to pay attention to the temperature of the oil. Ride the temperature control to make sure the oil stays around 375. If it gets too hot, the outside will get all burned and greasy before the inside is cooked. If it gets too cold, the outside will get to greasy and won’t get a nice crust by the time the inside is cooked. If you do your job right, the breading will be golden brown and not greasy when it is done.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and then move straight onto a draining rig. I use as paper towel lined baking sheet. Let them rest for a few minutes and then consume with ketchup or mustard.

A note about jalapeños: the capsaicin, what makes peppers hot, is mostly in the seeds. So, if you remove the seeds from them, they lose the vast majority of their heat. But, be careful handling them, the capsaicin will stick to your fingers and washing your hands will not remove it. If you don’t want to experience a new kind of pain the next time you rub your eyes, blow your nose, or go to the bathroom, use latex gloves or dip your fingers in a bleach solution after handling them.