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By J.Ho, June 18, 2007 9:54 am

My trick for cooking rice in a rice cooker is to add one teaspoon of salt, one smashed garlic clove and one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil per cup of rice to the water and rice in the cooker before cooking. Every now and then I use chicken broth instead of water for a nice flavor twist.

A good rice cooker should reside in the kitchen of every self-respecting cook. They make rice quick and easy. I use rice in at least half of my dinners. Below are a few links to some good rice cookers, varying in price. Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, March 19, 2007 11:39 am

I was poking around the net the other day for some unique recipes (as I always do) and I came across Soul Fusion Kitchen. There are some very interesting posts and recipes on this site. The first thing that jumped out at me as the Huli Huli Chicken and Korean BBQ Short Ribs. This looked very easy and very delicious.

I don’t have much experience in making my own marinades, but seriously, how hard could this be? The site gives a great base Korean marinade for that could be used for just about any kind of meat. It suggests using the same marinade for chicken and short ribs and then grill them both together. Marinade them separately though. It also suggests a few variances of the marinade.

I’m never one to follow any recipe to the letter. As I was preparing the suggested base marinade as shown on the site, I naturally came up with my own added ingredients. I considered leaving out the the sesame seeds since I didn’t feel like toasting them. I eventually talked myself into toasting and adding them to the marinade. I put a few tablespoons of sesame seeds in a hot frying pan and shook them around till they browned up a bit. As soon as I placed them into the marinade I heard a quick sizzle and immediately picked up on the awesome aroma the hot seeds gave to the marinade. Good move on my part!

Base BBQ Marinade:
10 cloves fresh garlic, coarsely chopped
4-5 green onions sliced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
2 cups soy sauce
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil

What I added:
Few splashes Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
½ cup dry white wine (in addition to the vinegar)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (I used more)

Now, it’s butt-cold out here in New England. When you have 24° weather and your outdoor grill is completely iced over, cooking outside just isn’t in the cards. Luckily I have my handy-dandy old reliable Ronco Showtime Rotisserie! I seriously believe my Ronco Rotisserie is the best invention since bottled beer! It’s been a lifesaver. I use it for roasting beef, chicken, pork, vegetables … you name it. It sounds corny when they say “Set it and forget it!” They aren’t kidding though. Put your meat in, set the timer and walk away!

I placed the chicken parts in one of the wire baskets that came with the rotisserie. Set the timer for 40 minutes and went on to drink some beer and make some risotto and roasted asparagus.

The rotisserie has three settings besides the time: a roasting setting, a no-heat rotation setting and a pause to sear setting. After 35 minutes or so of roasting I set it on “pause to sear.” What this does is pause the rotation, while keeping the heating element running. I paused for about four minutes for each side of the chicken parts facing the heating element to get a good crust on the skin. After the searing I ran it in roasting mode for another five minutes and then in no-heat rotation to let the meat cool allow the juices settle in. This way is better than letting the meat sit outside the roaster.

The net-net of this experience was that the chicken was fabulous! It was a tad salty for my tastes. I’ll probably not put any Worcestershire sauce in it next time since that brings more salt to the already salty soy sauce. I’ll probably add another jalapeño pepper though. I’m, not one for super spicy foods, but fresh jalapeños bring great taste to foods without a lot of heat.

Thanks again to Soul Fusion Kitchen. I’m glad I found this recipe and I think everyone should try it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, May 26, 2006 10:27 am

Last year 100 US Marines set aside their rifles and Kevlars and applied their competitive spirit to a battle at the BBQ. The winner: four worthy charities that directly benefit Marines and their families: Wounded Warrior Project, Fisher House, Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, and Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.

The competition spawned a book that filled an obvious gap in the foodie community: “Command of the Grill: A Salute to Steak.” A Marine cookbook? Yes, but where’s the recipe for shit on a shingle? Most of the recipes in the book were selected from 10 separate “Command of the Grill” grilling semi-final competitions held at Marine Corps bases across the country, including MCB Camp Pendleton and MCB Quantico. The winners of those semi-finals were to compete in the “Command of the Grill” finals and cookbook launch event during this year’s Fleet Week in New York City.

To qualify for the semi-finals, Marines were required to submit an original grilling recipe and explain in 50 words or less why their recipe is the best and why they should win. At the semi-final events, each Marine grilled two New York strip steaks and a panel of judges chose one winner based on creativity of the entry essay, visual appeal, and the taste of their steak.

The book showcases the winning recipes, honorable mentions, profiles of the Marine competitors, celebrity Marine recipes and a rigorous “Steak Boot Camp.” Capt. Eric Dominijanni’s Disco’s Hot and Tangy New York Strip Steaks is one of the recipes covered in the book. “Capt. D” has been cooking since he was a child. While stationed in Iraq, he was known to make paella for his troops in the back of his Assault Amphibian Vehicle. “I may have had to fight like a barbarian, but I didn’t have to eat like one,” Dominijanni said. Sponsored by Weber, the goal is to raise more than $500,000. All proceeds will go to the above charities.

The winner of the competition will be crowned National Commander of the Grill and take home a prize package worth more than $5,000. The prize package includes a new luxury Weber gas grill, and a grilling lesson and dinner for him/her and 10 of their Marine buddies — at their U.S. Marine Corps base — with chef and best-selling author Jamie Purviance.

Check out Command of the Grill to find out more information on the book and how to get one of your own. Yankees suck!

Semper Fi

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By J.Ho, May 24, 2006 1:00 am

Cooking is one of the few activities in this world that is both an art and a science. I lean towards the artsy side most of the time by paying little attention to the exactness of measurements, temperatures and processes. These habits make me a lousy baker! This book caught my eye as something that would be an interesting twist to the normal cookbook. I got much more than I bargained for!

I learned that an evening in the kitchen can provide you with a syllabus chock full of art projects and science experiments. The history of the noodle, neurology of taste, geology behind salt, expressions of herbs, creativity of a recipe, chemistry of a cocktail, biology lessons in vegetables, physics of heat, engineering behind a pastry, and design of a holiday meal. Many have told me that design is a good idea! Presentation of the finished artwork is something I need to work on.

Art & science aside … cooking is really an excerise in humanities.

The author of this book, Robert Wolke, is a chemistry professor and it shows. Mr. Wizard’s World meets Julia Child. Kinda like Alton Brown, but not so annoying.

I learned a lot from this book and I’m not even close to finishing it. It provides lots of lessons about cooking along with plenty of practical recipes. It also delves into how to shop for food. What to look for while buying meat, breads and vegetables. Most importantly, it tries to answer the question we all need answers to, “Why?” Does it really answer it? You be the judge! Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, May 23, 2006 9:18 pm

While many jazz purists may scoff at this release, I believe it’s an excellent collection and further proof that Herbie Hancock is a cross-genre icon. Some of my favorite artists are on this compilation: Carlos Santana, Sting, John Mayer and Joss Stone. While I like and respect John Mayer, I don’t necessarily like all his music. Actually, the song “Stitched Up” on this collection is probably the best that I’ve ever heard from him. Joss Stone is pure heaven no matter what she does. She and Jonny Lang perform a duet of “When Loves Comes To Town”. She’s incredible, he’s great too, but I rather listen to her by herself. Santana has a track on here with Angilique Kidjo. This was a delight to hear since I once saw them on stage together.

Annie Lennox, Paul Simon and Christina Aguilera also have respectable performances here. Herbie Hancock melds the talents of all these performers and adds his own jazz piano/keyboard touch that makes it an awesome jazz/blues/pop mashup! I was listening to this while I was making Chicken Ernesto.

Now if we could just get Herbie Hancock and Norah Jones together …

If you want to check out this album, click on the graphic below to be taken directly to it on the iTunes Music Store site. If you’d like to get the CD, click the Amazon.com link below. Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, April 3, 2006 10:21 am

A tin chock full of hand-iced sugar cookies with Boston-themed artistry has put this small Beantown bakery on the map. Gourmet baker A Dozen Eggs not only produces the coolest Boston-themed cookies, but they also do hand-iced cookies with custom corporate logos, congratulatory messages, holiday themes, new baby boy/girl and several other occasions.

Thanks to my friend Melanie for showing me this. She’s almost as big a Red Sox fan as I am. The Red Sox-like jersey cookie is what caught my eye in the Beantown cookie tin offering. As you can see they also have the Citgo sign, the T logo, Newberry Street sign and others. I hope they’re as good as they look. I’m placing an order right now. You can also buy them online at Chocolate.com.

When I originally tried to write this post and link it to their site, they were offline. There was a message on their site that led me to believe they were overwhelmed with online orders. They had to shut down and stop taking new orders for a while. Now they are back and my order, hopefully, will go through.

They were covered by Boston Magazine, local Boston food & restaurant review television show The Phantom Gourmet, the Boston Globe, and South Boston Online. The bakery and it’s owner, Laura Courtemanche, were covered on an episode of the Food Network’s Recipe for Success. Maybe my site linking to them will drum up enough business to knock them offline too.

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By J.Ho, March 10, 2006 12:33 pm

The famous Mr. Boston’s Bartender & Party Guide has nothing on this little app! Talking Panda’s iBar is a database for your iPod that serves up over 1,000 cocktail recipes (some with audio instructions), proper garnishing, liquor lore, mixing maneuvers and bar lingo definitions. It even teaches you how to say “Cheers!” in multiple languages. There’s no better way to combine drinks and tunes. – $29.95

Available at select Apple stores or online at Talking Panda