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A Food Wish Thanksgiving

A Food Wish ThanksgivingHere is a short little slideshow of our Thanksgiving dinner just in case you were wondering if I actually use my own recipes. I thought everything came out pretty well, although the walnut chocolate fudge pie at the end of the video could have used about half the amount of chocolate ganache. There are worse mistakes.

By the way, I never got a photo of the cranberry sauce, but it was the same style used in the cabernet cranberry sauce video.A Food Wish ThanksgivingThe flatbread appetizer you'll see was made with "Mango Peno" cheese from the Beechwood Cheese Factory. They're in Wisconsin and produce a great variety of very creatively flavored, and all-natural cheeses. I got to sample some a while back, and I was very impressed. Since we like to support smaller, family-owned producers, I encourage you to check out their offerings on the Beechwood Cheese website.

Here is the menu you'll see in the clip. Enjoy!

Olives, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Whole Wheat Flatbread with Mango, Jalapeno Cheese, and Fresh Apple
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Cranberry Sauce (not shown)
Maple Meyer Lemon Candied Yams
Blue Cheese Green Bean Gratin
Crème Fraiche Mashed Potatoes
Pickled Roasted Red Onions and Garlic
Pear and Almond Bread Stuffing
Apple Coleslaw
Herb Butter Turkey
Turkey Neck Gravy
Pumpkin Pie (not shown)
Walnut Chocolate Fudge Pie



* Please help support free video recipes, and visit my new sponsor, MOZO Shoes. Find out why chefs (like me) are buzzing about their great shoes!
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Ah, oh, ah? Beef Au Jus

I do not speak French. This is not something I'm proud of, as I could have, and should have, picked it up by now. With that said, the mispronunciation of French culinary terms is one of my great guilty pleasures.

I know it's "oh" jus, and not "ahhh" jus, but that's how I grew up saying it, and I don't have any plans to start saying it right at this advanced age. Besides, the proper pronunciation sounds like you are surprised you're getting a sauce, and my way sounds like you are happy about it.

This is the most minimalist method for doing a quick au jus for your prime rib of beef. In a restaurant that specializes in prime rib, they have the benefit of massive amounts of bones and scraps to make a reduced, rich jus without having to thicken it.

At home however, we need to cheat a little bit. You can do this without the flour step, but I think most people prefer this beefy dipping sauce to have a little body to it. Not thick like gravy, but just a little something to help it adhere to the meat. By the way, that thin film of beef fat floating on the surface is fully intentional, as you are about to hear. Enjoy!




Beef Au Jus Ingredients:
1/4 cup beef fat, plus pan drippings from a cooked prime rib or other roast beef
1 1/2 tablespoon white flour
2 cups rich beef broth
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
*makes about 1 1/2 cups depending on how much you reduce
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Vote at Chef 2 Chef 4 Chef

The folks over at Chef-2-Chef are asking people to vote for their favorite food blogs, and Food Wishes is in contention. If you would like to give this blog some love, here's the link to cast your vote, and by "vote," I mean give us "5 Chef Hats!" Thanks for the support.
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Prime Time for Revisiting Prime Rib of Beef

It's an iconic holiday table scene; you carving a juicy, perfectly pink prime rib while a roomful of friends and family watches, in awe of your awesomeness.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, it's sometimes more like you cutting through a dry, overcooked roast while they stare daggers at you.

You can almost hear them thinking, "Way to screw up $80 worth of beef, jerk. I hope there's lots of gravy."
Well, hopefully this proven mathematical method will increase your chances for success significantly. This is a new video revisiting the same method I featured in this Prime Rib post a few years ago, which only used photos. There are lots of great comments on the original post, and if you're skeptical, you should go check them out.
Here is the formula for what was called, "Method X." The rib is brought to room temperature. Overnight is good, but at least 6 hours (this is CRITICAL)! Season anyway you like. Then multiply the exact weight times 5 minutes. For me it was 5.35 x 5 = 26.75 minutes, which we round up to 27.
The rib is cooked at 500 degrees F for exactly that many minutes. Then the oven is turned off. You wait 2 hours without opening the door. You then remove the prime rib and slice into the most perfectly medium-rare meat you've ever seen. By the way, I will be posting a short how-to for a quick au jus soon. Enjoy!

Special Notes:
  • To use this method you must have a full-sized, modern oven. It must have a digital temperature setting that indicates when it is preheated. Older ovens with manual controls can vary greatly, and the doors may not have the proper insulation.
  • I've heard from lots of people that have used electric ovens and reported great results.
  • This is a specific formula for achieving a perfectly pink prime rib cooked somewhere a shade under medium rare. I have no info on altering it for other degrees of doneness.
IMPORTANT PRO TIP!!!: Prime rib is very expensive, so no matter what method you use (traditional or Method X), you should always have a probe-style thermometer inserted so that the internal temp can be monitored, to avoid any chance of over-cooking. Set the probe alarm (125 F. for medium-rare) just in case, and pull the roast from oven even if there's still time left on the timer. 





Ingredients:
4 to 8 pound Prime Rib of Beef, bone-in, fat cap removed (ask the butcher to explain)
kosher salt as needed
1/4 cup soft butter
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence (this is just a dried herb blend - you can use any thing you like, or just salt and pepper)

For more traditional methods of cooking Prime Rib of Beef, check out these other great recipes:
Simply Recipes' Prime Rib
Serious Eats' The Food Lab: How to Cook a Perfect Prime Rib
Mark Bittman's Prime Rib Roast for a Small Crowd
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You'll Heart This Artichoke Gratin

This easy, all-veggie appetizer idea is proof you don't have to make a dish, to reinvent it. For all the millions of meals I've cooked and/or eaten, I can't remember ever having cooked and/or eaten an artichoke gratin.

From what I've seen, it's usually made in a shallow baking dish like any other vegetable casserole, and always features some form of crispy, caramelized gratin topping. So, while I can’t claim to have made the original, I was pretty sure it would translate to a nice, small party bite.
I made this as a last-minute appetizer at Thanksgiving, but fried it in a skillet to get the crusty coating on the artichokes. This time I went to the broiler with even better, and less messy results.
This would make a great hors d'oeuvre at any holiday gathering, and as you'll see in the video, a deviled eggs tray makes for a cool serving platter. By the way, extra credit for getting the "bacon of eggs" joke in the recipe.

Of course, this can also be served as an extra special side dish with just about any main course. I hope you give these easy and delicious artichoke hearts a try. Enjoy!




Artichoke Hearts Gratin Ingredients:
Makes 12 halves
6 artichoke hearts, drained
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoon plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
lemon
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SFQ Makes its Debut!

Today, my wife Michele's fabulous barbecue sauce, SFQ – The Original San Francisco Style Barbecue Sauce, will make its debut at The New Taste Market. We're excited to see how this unique sauce will be received by the always discerning San Franciscan foodies. I think the fact that we are serving the sauce with fried pork rinds should help (called Q-Chips).

I'll probably be tweeting pics from the event, so you can follow me on Twitter if you're interested – or better yet, if you're in the Bay Area, come over to the market and have a taste for your self. It's at St. Gregory’s church, 12-5PM.

By the way, I will have a new video recipe up tomorrow, so stay tuned!
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Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We just got back from a great family gathering at our parents, Al and Peggy, in Davis, CA, and I wanted to share a quick photo of our bird. It was a buxom 20-pounder, and tasted almost as good as it looked. I'll be back to work tomorrow, starting in on a whole slew of new videos. One we'll have coming soon, will be inspired by the pan-roasted artichoke hearts seen below. Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Breaking News: Foodwishes' 500th YouTube Video Upload Goes Live!

It's with much pride and gratitude that I present our 500th YouTube video upload! I want to thank you all for the amazing support and love you've shown to me, and to this blog. I hope you enjoy the video, and here's to the next 500!

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Once-a-Year Scalloped Oysters

Some recipes you only make once a year because they're just so-so. Other recipes, like this dish of scalloped oysters, you only make once a year because they're too good.

Scalloped oysters are so rich and decadent, it's a recipe you save for those very special occasions. Happily, we have a bunch of those coming up. This great holiday treat features the briny bivalves baked in a creamy, buttery casserole.

One word of warning: if you don't love cooked oysters, you should probably not make this. By the way, scalloped oysters is one of those recipes that are actually better warm, than piping hot, which is another reason it makes such a great choice for large family gatherings. I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!




Scalloped Oysters Ingredients:
Makes 12 Side Dish Servings
3 cups saltine crackers, coarsely crushed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 quart shucked oysters with liquor
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped Italian Parsley
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
lemon wedges, optional
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