In this blog we introduce aspects of food and cooking we hope will be relevant here in our abundant section of the Columbia River Gorge. Our unique area with its farms, orchards, cooks with a history here and nouveau cooks provides us with more than enough material to delve deeply into our culinary scene. With your comments and questions we will explore together ways and means of making the most of our bounty here. Hidden within us are talents and resources enough to fill volumes and we will fill them with recipes, tips, ideas and experiences. We’ll dig out the old and create the new in our culinary scene. We’ll match local wines with traditional fare and we’ll match nouveau fare with local wines and juices. We’ll make the most of the fruit that comes from our valleys whether it’s the sweet Mosier cherries, the amazing Hood River pears, the rich fruits from The Dalles or the fine wines from the region at large we are excited to explore ways to combine these resources into ideas we’ll all want to clip and save. And speaking of saving, write to us and let us know how you organize your recipes and culinary ideas. Most of us probably have piles of our clippings hanging around the house, in stacks, tucked into recipe books and cook books, stuck to our refrigerators with magnets, sitting in bowls on countertops, tossed into baskets many forgotten with time. But some of you organized cooks out there have devised ways to categorize, put away these creative culinary gems and we want to hear from you. So send us your discoveries on how to deal with all of those clippings.
As we embark on our focus of Gorge food we look forward to the discovery of our region. So let’s begin and let’s begin today with our kitchens for it is always best to start with what in the culinary world is called “Mese en place” or mess in place. This term literally refers to the act of getting all of your ingredients organized and pre-chopped, pre-measured and prepared before beginning to assemble the dish. It also includes having your pans prepared whether it is oiling and dusting your cake pans before starting to make the cake or setting out the baking dishes before mixing the meatloaf. In this case, let’s go back even further and organize the kitchen before we begin then we’ll be off on our journey knowing where all of our tools and ingredients are. Happy dining everyone and welcome to Gorge Culinaria where we, with independent minds, enjoy the fruits of our labor.
The kitchen.
Most kitchen designers strive for “the triangle”, that is, for easy triangular spacing of the sink, the refrigerator and the stove. The refrigerator is generally the first place fresh produce, dairy, frozen items and meat go upon arrival from the grocery store. From the refrigerator they go to sink for cleaning and stove for cooking. But you can save yourself time and make weekday cooking a lot more easy and fun if you pay attention to the sink first when returning from the grocery story. Try to set aside a couple of hours one day a week to work on food organization. When you get home from the store, place all groceries on the counter and take them from the bags. Organize them according to where you will be storing them. All pantry items together on the counter top, all frozen, refrigerated according to section of the refrigerator, etc. Now, put the frozen items away first followed by eggs, milk, meat and cheese but leave out the fruits and vegetables for now. Put away all else. Now, wash all of the vegetables and fruits and set them on paper bags, paper towels, fresh towels or on a drain board for draining. If you know how you’ll use your vegetables, go ahead and prepare them now, placing chopped vegetables in plastic bags, chopped mushrooms in paper bags where they’ll keep longer and remove the leaves from the lettuce shaking or patting moisture out with paper towels or clean towels. Place in plastic bags and close tightly. Air is the enemy of lettuce especially romaine. Sulfur in romaine causes it to brown quickly so don’t pre-chop romaine unless you intend to use it that night. You now have a good head start on your “meise en place’”. Once all food is put away pre-washed and organized and you have some time to spare consider your kitchen. How many plastic containers do you have lurking in your kitchen and where are they? Where are their lids? Now is a good time to take them all out. Toss any that don’t have a lid. Remember, these aren’t the last containers to come through your door. There will be more and you can always re-stock your supply with yogurt containers or butter tubs. Now, consider where you want to put these neatly nested containers. Use a shoe box to hold all of the lids and nest the containers together as best you can. Think about where you are when you put away leftovers. You may be next to the sink or on your kitchen island. Where do dishes come when they leave the table? Consider the fewest steps for accessing your leftover containers each day when you put food away. Put your containers close to this area.
Next consider your oils. For your safety and the safety of your family, toss out all opened oils in the kitchen that are NOT in the refrigerator IF they are over 3 months old. If you store your oil above the stove or next to it, move it. Oil gets rancid quickly, even the most preserved oil and you want it in a cool spot. One way to make this more convenient is to take small squeeze bottles or glass pour bottles and keep a small amount nearer the stove while storing larger containers of oil in a cooler spot, ideally in the refrigerator. Oils become carcinogenic when they turn rancid. Olive oil is vulnerable and seed and nut oils are particularly vulnerable. Always store sesame oil in the refrigerator. Take all of your oils right now and smell them. This should tell you all you want to know but if in doubt, dip a finger in them and taste it. Sesame oil in particular will bite your tongue, almost sting it with bitterness as will nut oils. I recently cooked at a friend’s house and just the feel of the bottle, the stickiness of the oil around the cap told me not to use it. Hers was stored in a low cupboard next to her stove. Not only will rancid oil ruin any dish you are making, it is down right unhealthy. So smell, taste and toss. Then bring home fresh oil, put some in a smaller container less than a pint, and store the larger container in the refrigerator or the coolest part of the pantry.
Next look at your spices. These too go bad though not in a harmful way. they simply lose their flavor and you may as well not use them. One way to keep spices fresh is to buy them from the bulk bins at the markets offering them this way. Keep your spice jars and tins and with a little funnel or a funnel you make out of a coffee filter or rolled paper, transfer the spice from the store’s plastic bag to your container. Only buy a quarter of a container’s worth at a time unless it is a spice you use often by the tablespoon full. Don’t forget to check your baking soda and powder which lost their effectiveness as well. They keep for months but I wouldn’t keep them more than 9 months or so and even then only if they are well sealed. Stick your unused baking soda in the refrigerator or under the sink to absorb odors or pour it down the drain, add a quarter cup of vinegar and let sit for half an hour to refresh your drains. Now look at the flour. I attended a dinner party once at which a young couple brought some lovely rolls. At first bite everyone at the table, including the couple, froze. The rolls tasted terrible. Someone said what’s wrong with these? I asked the couple how old their flour was. They had no idea. They said they seldom baked and probably had it around since they’d gotten married a couple of years ago. I informed them that flour, like most any unpreserved item, expires, turns rancid. Flour keeps a long time but is not timeless. Refrigerating flour extends its shelf life but refrigerators are crowded these days particularly if you are introducing oils to them. Check all of your packages for a “best if used by” date or expiration date. Though it is not necessary to stop using items by that date, it is a good idea to use them or toss them shortly after the date. If the packages say “expiration date” best to be safe the toss by that date.
A good rule for kitchen organization is usage. If you use your spices a lot, keep them within reach of your preparation area and away from the stove unless, like oil, you keep smaller amounts of those spices you tend to toss into the pot while cooking. I keep beautiful little dishes next to the stove for salts. A small decorative spoon is used as a scoop for the salt. I also keep a pepper grinder within reach and a few favorite herbs like an Italian blend I custom make. In the cupboard I keep blends of Moroccan spices, Mexican spices and Cajun spices, pre-blended and ready to use. I’ve included a couple of blends later in this issue.
Moving around your kitchen, see where your dishwasher or sink is. I like to have my cups and drinking glasses near the sink which allows me to grab a quick glass of water or cup for tea water without moving around the kitchen. My silverware drawer is closest to the table at which we dine. We have a large kitchen so we keep a lesser valuable set of flatware near the prep table for easy access. My island is ALL baking. In it I have small appliances such as Cuisinart® and a blender. I have baking soda and powder, chocolate chips, ingredients frequently used in baking. My cookie sheets, bowls, knives, spatulas, anything for baking, goes in the island. If you don’t have an island, reserve one section of cupboard space for just baking items with mixer and/or food processor on the counter directly below your baking cupboard.
Save as many steps as possible.
NOW, go through your kitchen and pull out EVERYTHING, one cupboard at a time. Check for chips if dishware, check for expiration dates if edible, start washing down shelves food has sat on for years. Toss old oils, spices, boxed foods, canned foods, etc. I recently went into a friend’s pantry, at his request of course, and actually found swelling and burst canned goods. In my own barn where I had been temporarily storing canned chutney I saw mold growing inside one jar and of course the lid seal had popped. Keep maintaining your stores of food.
Consider a fresh coat of paint on one wall of the kitchen if not the whole room. Replace shelf paper, make your kitchen a fresh new place to start with a new slate toward fresh, healthy foods.
GORGE GROWN
The Columbia River Gorge is just on the verge of busting loose with abundance. Spearheaded by The Gorge Grown Food Network, culinary awareness is coming to this area. Soon, the world of culinary monthlies and foodies will discover us but for now, we are discovering ourselves.
The GGFN is an organization comprised of local farmers intent on bringing a wide array of locally grown food to residents of The Gorge. They have a mobile farmer’s market, they are creating think tanks of local food, obtaining grants, creating wonderful projects related to their mission and goals. Check them out at www.gorgegrown.com or write info@gorgegrown.com
Mese en Place
Mess in Place. I think having my mess-in-place has saved my sanity in cooking. I now cannot stand to stop what I’m doing, walk over to the other drawer, or the refrigerator or the spice counter for something while I am in the middle of baking or cooking. When every necessary bowl, utensil, ingredient is set out before starting I LOVE putting a dish together. More importantly when video taping the show it is even more critical I have everything out and in place or I have to walk off camera to get something (which can still happen.)
So, if you are following a recipe it is easy to read yourself through the recipe pulling out all of the ingredients listed. Pull out the knives you’ll need, the plates, bowls, whisks, etc.
Now, go through and PREP the stuff. If the recipe calls for finely chopped garlic, do it now before you begin assembling or cooking. Chop, mince, press, slightly beat, portion measure everything you are going to need before turning on the stove or mixer. Once your 2 cups of flour are measured into a stand-by bowl, your eggs broken in a stand-by bowl, etc. your vegetables chopped and set in small bowls or on small cutting boards only then should you begin cooking or baking or whatever. Put on some good music and make this a GREAT fun experience. Pulling it all together is now easy and flows beautifully.
If when you brought your vegetables home you washed, dried and stored them and perhaps even chopped a few knowing you’d be making your dish, you’ll be thrilled at just being able to pull them out of the fridge all prepped.
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