Ford On Food

Asparagus stalks are the young spear-shaped shoots obtained from a perennial plant native to both Europe and Western Asia. It is a member of the lily family and thousands of years has been eaten as a vegetable. The most common variety is harvested when it is above ground and exposed to photosynthesis. White asparagus is obtained by cutting the shoots before they break the surface of the ground or they are grown in darkness; therefore they lack the deep chlorophyll green (they just need a suntan). There is a purple variety available, although it turns greener when it is cooked. Very young, thin asparagus spears are called ‘sprue’. Interestingly, fresh export asparagus is packed into boxes approximately 2/3 full, as the spears continue to grow and fill up the box during its days in transit.

How to cook fresh asparagus

The base of asparagus spear is generally tough and woody. The ends can be cut, snapped or peeled off and discarded. Asparagus should be laid on their side and cooked in shallow simmering water. A little salt can be added to the water. There is also a commercially produced upright asparagus steamer available. Most importantly asparagus should not roll around as it simmers because it can break-up. Asparagus is best eaten just tender (but still firm); the Italians refer to this as ‘al dente’. If you prefer your asparagus a little more cooked, it should bend when picked up with a fork (but not droopy and soft like tinned asparagus). Try slices of creamy Camembert cheese slightly melted over hot cooked asparagus, drizzled with lemon juice and freshly milled black pepper.

I’ve discovered over the years there are just as many people claiming to be allergic to prawns, as those who can’t get enough of them. The allergic effect ranges from mild skin irritation, to claims of instant death at the mere sight of a prawn. Most cases of seafood allergy would be quite legitimate, and in some cases rather dangerous. Even my wife has had allergic reactions to them. Although, recently she’s discovered that after incorporating prawns into a meal and thorough cooking, she can enjoy them without any discomfort. Her doctor suggested it could even be a reaction to the iodine sometimes found on fresh seafood. If you discovered your allergy as a child and have never eaten them since, it might be worthwhile consulting your doctor. Prawns are a crustacean, and are found all over the world. In countries such as America they are referred to as ‘shrimp’. Australia has a diverse range of prawns available, such as Banana, Bay, Endeavour, King, School and Tiger. All have their own unique taste, flavour, colour and texture. Of all the varieties, King prawns would be the most popular. And, for all the people that can’t eat prawns, you have my condolences.

Quick Garlic Prawns
In 50mL of extra virgin olive oil gently cook 40g of finely chopped onions and 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Add 24 peeled and de-veined green prawns and fry until bright orange on both sides. Pour in 100mL of white wine and 250ml of cream. Reduce sauce by half and season with salt, pepper and a dash of lemon. Serve on a bed of steamed rice and garnish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Cooking is a process of applying heat to a food item to increase palatability, to enhance flavour, tenderise, caramalise and even kill off bacteria. Unfortunately this simple process can rapidly and dramatically turn into a disaster of Titanic proportions. As experienced as I may be in the kitchen, I’m still capable of destroying food. And the most common disaster I have is getting distracted and burning things. But it doesn’t just stop at burning the food. I have burnt myself too many times to count – I’ve even burnt other people (only a couple of times). I once pulled a roasting tray out from the top shelf of an oven. The 8kg pork leg shifted in the tray and over balanced. Searing hot fat from the tray ran down my arm and into the boot of a kitchen hand standing behind me. We both screamed, he jumped into the washing up sink and I followed him by showering us with the washing up hose – pity it had just been used for hot water, because our first few seconds of water came out scolding hot. Lucky for me, the kitchen hand didn’t knock my block off, as there is a rule in the kitchen that you must always announce when you ‘re standing directly behind someone (which he neglected to do). On another occasion I was removing a 40 Lt pot of sauce from a gas stove. Unbeknown to me, the tea towel I was using to hold the hot handles had touched the flame and set on fire. Halfway across the kitchen I felt a painful sensation accompanied by the pungent smell of burning arm hair. An apprentice said, “You’re on fire dude!” To which I said “Thanks for letting me know Einstein”! I wasn’t prepared to drop the pot with my precious sauce and ran to a bench under excruciating pain. Only problem was I had picked up so much momentum that the pot slid across the bench and fell off the other side. The genius apprentice turned to me and said, “Why didn’t you just stop and put the pot on the ground”. And I said, “Shut up and do your work”! I was once doing a chocolate making demonstration for some of Brisbane’s most acclaimed Pastry Chefs. I was stirring hot caramel when my wooden spoon broke and my hand plunged into the pot. My pride wouldn’t allow me to let the audience know my fingers had just descended into the pits of hell. I just said, “Gee-whiz, that was close”! No-one was any-the-wiser as a blister the size of a hot air balloon inflated on my knuckles. The show must go on! I’ve also burnt food on a TV show once. Thank goodness for the editing room.

As I write this article, I’ve got a batch of fresh bread dough on-the-prove. Which means the yeast in the dough is having a great time eating up sugars and starch and converting them into alcohol and bubbles of carbon dioxide. These little gas bubbles get trapped in the sticky bread dough and cause the bread to expand like a balloon.. In brief technical terms, yeast is a single-celled living organism. It is classified as a fungus. Yeast is a wonderful friend to all people who love baking. However, if you don’t treat it right, it can be a very unforgiving friend. I’ve spent a lot of my cooking career in pastry kitchens and have used a lot of yeast. I’ve also had a couple of disasters, most of which could be attributed to the yeast feeling mistreated, disrespected and unappreciated. In return, the yeast punished me by not doing it’s job and producing flat heavy cow pats instead of light crusty bread. There are three main types of yeast: Fresh compressed yeast (which is my favourite) is the most active and alive. Its sold in blocks wrapped in wax paper and is a light tan colour. It smells very yeasty and needs to be refrigerated as it will die a horrible death if left out in the open. It has a storage life of about two weeks. Fresh compressed yeast is ready to use and just has be thrown into the bread dough with the other ingredients. There is dried inactive yeast that has been dehydrated and in effect has sent the yeast to a sleepy dormant state. Once the yeast is rehydrated with warm water it comes back to life. There is also instant granulated dried yeast that can be thrown straight into a bread recipe with being reconstituted. The general rule is that dried yeast does get a little damaged in the dehydrating process and doesn’t really work as good as fresh, but it is a very convenient product because it has a very long shelf life and doesn’t need refrigerating. You only have to use approximately half the quantity of fresh yeast as you would dry (dried yeast is more concentrated). Dried yeast is readily available in grocery stores, but you may have to go to your local bakery to purchase fresh yeast.

Now you may ask, “Why would you want to peel a tomato”? The short answer is that tomato skin is often leathery. And, it’s my job as a chef to make the customers dining experience a pleasurable one. So, for certain dishes (such as pasta sauce) the tomato skin just has to go. Hasta la vista, baby!

Step 1) Get a pot of water to a rolling boil.
Step 2) Cut a cross into the bottom of the ripe tomato, just through the skin. This will give the skin a place to start coming off later on.
Step 3) This is where I give one of those ‘Please take care’ warnings. You need to cut the eye out from the top of the tomato in a wedge shape. I kid you not, in all my years as a chef and cookery teacher, I’ve seen more bloodshed at this stage of the process than a hospital emergency ward. If you are not very confident with a knife, do this on the chopping board. Always cut away from yourself.
Step 4) Carefully lower the tomato into the pot of boiling water, don’t drop it or it will splash you (Ouch!). Only leave it in for 5 – 10 seconds. If the tomato is a little under ripe and stubborn, you can leave it in the pot for 15 seconds at the most. Any longer and the flesh of the tomato starts to go mushy.
Step 5) Remove the tomato from the pot and p place in iced water until completely cool. This process stops the cooking process instantly.
Step 6) The skin should now peel off easily by hand.
At this stage you can also cut the tomato in half and remove the water seeds if required.

This method can be used on most varieties of tomato, provided they are ripe.

Often referred to as ‘eggplant’, Aubergine is commonly used as a vegetable, but it’s actually as a fruit, related to tomatoes and potatoes. In fact, the fruit itself is botanically classified as a berry. And, believe it or not, the aubergine plant is a close relative of the tobacco plant. Originating in South East Asia, the aubergine is also widely used in Italian, Mediterranean, French and Middle Eastern cuisines. There are many varieties of aubergine – some are small pea shaped and some are large pumpkin-like in shape and size. Colours vary from green, cream, dark purple to yellow. Aubergines can be served hot or cold, braised, baked, battered and deep-fried, grilled, pan-fried, barbecued, stuffed, blended and pureed. The most famous dishes made from aubergine are ratatouille (not the movie), moussaka, baba ghanoush and imam bayildi. I’m a big fan of aubergine, especially grilled slices. However they can be a little bitter in their original form. That’s because they contain the highest level of nicotine of any vegetable, but not enough to be additive. You would have to eat around 10kg of raw eggplant to consume the equivalent amount of nicotine found in one cigarette. None-the-less if an eggplant is particularly bitter it may need to be degorged, which means removing its moisture and the bitterness with it, as in the recipe below:

Grilled eggplant
Cut an eggplant into round slices (approximately 1cm thick). Place slices into a colander and sprinkle all the slices liberally with slat. Weigh the whole lot down with a heavy plate to help squeeze out the water. Leave them for at least half an hour and then rinse them off under cold running water. Pat each slice dry with paper towel. These slices can now be grilled on a barbecue plate to golden brown and then drizzled with high quality olive oil. Serve with antipasto of sun dried tomatoes, olives, feta cheese etc.

Somebody once told me, “Jason…the closest you’ll ever get to culture, is yoghurt”. Pretty harsh comment really, but I think I deserved it at the time. It comes as a surprise to some people that less than one percent of all bacteria on earth are dangerous to humans. The ones that cause food poisoning are called pathogens; a lot of the other bacteria are quite useful in food production. Imagine a world without beer, wine, cheese, vegemite, penicillin or yoghurt. You’d rather live on the moon – it’s made of cheese you know (excuse the pun). Fermenting and coagulating various types of milk, makes yoghurt. As the milk turns, the natural sugars (lactose) are converted into lactic acid, which in turn produces bacterial change. Large producers of yoghurt add active bacteria such as ‘lactobacillus bulgericus’ or ‘streptococcus thermophilus’. Yoghurt has been produced for many centuries in the Middle East and India, most probably a natural occurrence, before refrigeration was invented. Most Western and European cultures eat yoghurt as a breakfast or a dessert, whereas India and Central Asia would cook with it or use it as a condiment to spicy dished.

Labna (Yoghurt Cheese)
Labna is made from draining lightly salted yoghurt through a sieve lined with muslin cloth and left overnight. The yoghurt starts to get thicker, and if you leave it drain for a few days it forms a kind of curd cheese that you can mould into a ball. In the Middle East they eat this at the end of a meal, not unlike the French do with a cheese platter. Would be great with a top drop of your favourite wine.

It seems to me that most people are repulsed by the thought of eating fresh raw oysters. A taste for oysters ‘a la natural’ is an acquired taste, best developed at a young age but certainly obtainable later in life. I personally hadn’t seen a fresh oyster until I became an apprentice chef. I’d eaten the tinned cooked variety plenty of times, but there is simply no substitute for fresh. Ok, I admit the texture of a fresh raw oyster is slimy, gooey and challenging to say the least (there’s comparisons I won’t mention). However, in my opinion the flavour of a freshly shucked live oyster is the most exquisite gastronomic experience a person can have. Just a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of flaked sea salt – it’s evokes memories of the spray of Queensland’s tropical surf on your lips (what a dreamer!). There are two main varieties available in Australia, mostly the farmed Sydney Rock Oysters, a delicate but full-bodied flavour, or the larger Pacific Oyster. The Pacific Oysters are quite popular because of their generous size and price, but they are often purchased frozen and are a little fishy in flavour, and not my favorite. When buying fresh (in the half shell) look for a plump, shiny oysters with a fresh sea water smell.

Shallot Dipping Sauce
Combine 2 tablespoons of finely chopped shallots, half a teaspoon of chopped red chili (seeds removed), 1 tablespoon of finely chopped wild rocket leaf, 50mls of red wine vinegar, 50mls of extra virgin olive oil and 1 teaspoon of flaked sea salt. Spoon over a freshly shucked oyster and live an adventure.

If you love a good breakfast… then join the club. For two thirds of the year, my family and I spend brekky time out on the verandah in the fresh morning air. Sometimes I even crank up the barbecue to cook our bacon and eggs. Although I usually look for healthy options, I just worship an indulgent breakfast. So, what kinds of breakfast menus are there? Here are some popular choices:

Full Breakfast – was made popular by the English, and has a lot of traditional cooked fair like eggs, meats, small goods (bacon), sausages, mushrooms, fish (kippers), pastries, toast and conserves and hot beverages like coffee. That’s what I’m talk’n ‘bout!

Continental – is a lighter European or French option, with tea and coffee being the important part, accompanied by cereal, fruit juice and small baked pastry items (Danish pastries). Probably the best choice if you’re feeling a little seedy.

American – hash brown always come to mind, as well as pancakes, waffles, crepes and French toast. The whole lot is usually smothered in whipped butter and maple syrup. Mostly sweet stuff really.

Chicken and Champagne – usually reserved for special events like horse races (Melbourne Cup), the opening of festivals and during an early morning hot air balloon or boat ride.

Asian – ‘Congee’ is a special creamed rice and bean curd porridge, accompanied by fresh fruits and Asian style teas. Now becoming trendy in Australia and other western countries.

Cowboy – Bacon, lard, beans and whisky. Only joking, I just made that one up.

You often hear the term “I can’t even boil water!” when somebody describes their lack of confidence in the kitchen. Although this statement is generally said in jest, it isn't necessarily far from the truth. There are several different cooking methods requiring food to be submerged in hot liquid, and it’s worth understanding the science behind them.

Boiling – would have to be the easiest method of cookery, normally water is used and cooking time is short. Controlling the heat is simple as boiling point is 100oC. The best description for boiling is bubbles rising and rapidly bursting at the surface of the liquid. Cooking vegetables with this method will lock in colours and nutrients.

Simmering – is where things get a little trickier. Simmering is a gentler method of cooking as bubbles gently rise to the surface of the liquid but don’t burst. This happens around 95 to 98oC. Foods that require longer cooking time (stews and braises) appreciate the gentle simmering process.

Poaching – requires vigilance and regular adjustment of the heat source. Liquid is heated to approximately 93 to 95oC and small bubbles appear on the base of the pot, they don’t rise and the liquid has little to no movement. Delicate foods such as fish and poached eggs use this method, as they would simply break apart if boiled rapidly.

Perfect Soft Boiled Eggs
In a saucepan, bring to the boil enough water to just cover an egg. Gently lower the eggs into the pot and turn the heat down to a simmer. Soft yolks will take 3-4 minutes and firmer yolks 5-6 minutes. Note: Eggs are best used at room temperature.