‘Michigan Blue’ Magazine
Posted on 19 February 2007 under Cookbooks, Michigan Cuisine, Rants | 12 Comments
As part of my Michigan Cuisine project web site I’m constantly on the lookout for anything on the subject, from food festivals, to recipes, ingredients, notes on cultural influences, etc. Finding the January/February 2007 issue of Michigan Blue: Michigan’s Lifestyle Magazine at a Meijer store (actually, a Meijer in Ohio just south of the state line) was a rather interesting experience. The photography is great, the layout is clean … it’s simply a well-designed magazine. I like it.
There’s a certain Michigan-specific food writer, Patty LaNoue Stearns, who is writing for this magazine. I like her work quite a bit. I have a couple of her books, “Good Taste: A Guide to Northern Michigan Cuisine” and, one of my faves, her “Cherry Home Companion“. This latter book has a very cool binding, being wirebound within an exterior hardcover. Of course, the recipes are quite good as well, from a Spicy Cherry Peanut Mix from the Cherry Marketing Institute, to recipes from Gourmet and Cooking Light magazines, even some from Keith Famie’s Adventures In Cooking.
I do have some ideas I’ve formed about Michigan Cuisine, my own definition, as it were. No citrus as it doesn’t grow here natively, no salt-water creatures … simple concepts. It’s a bit limiting, that’s for certain, but to me, such concepts are defined by what’s here, not what’s done with things that are brought here in a truck or a plane. To me, that’s not “Michigan Cuisine”.
No, you can’t even have pineapple on your ham. The line in the sandy beach is that simple.
So when I look through a magazine of this caliber with “Michigan” emblazoned on the cover as it is, I have problems with pics of Sautéed Alaskan Halibut from Tapawingo in an article written by Ms. Stearns, and a recipe and full-page pic of Seared Scallops (by Kathleen O’Neill of The Canape Cart in Ferndale) in an article by Lisa M. Jensen, the magazine’s editor.
Dream Dinners’ “Chicken Salad Bake”
Posted on 4 February 2007 under Cookbooks | 1 Comment
Continuing Mary’s delving into the Dream Dinners experience, today she’s made the Chicken Salad Bake out of their cookbook. Mary prepped it mostly as described, but using multi-colored peppers and the Healthy Boy molasses-based black soy sauce:
Once the main filling was prepped, she poured it into a 9 x 13 casserole dish and topped it with the chow mein noodles:
“Dream Dinners” with Mary
Posted on 2 February 2007 under Cookbooks, Food Destinations | 5 Comments
This past weekend Mary and I did some shopping, picking up handmade gourmet doggie treats for that little (”he’s not spoiled!”) Pomeranian that we both love so much. (Yes, I spoil him, too …) I also picked up the Dream Dinners cookbook … which Mary promptly fell in love with. Even before we got home, while browsing through the book, she had ideas about which dishes she wanted to make.
Dream Dinners isn’t just a cookbook. There just happens to be a location in Lambertville, which is why I picked up the cookbook in the first place. I’d first heard about Dream Dinners on Food Network. After booking a session with them, you go to the location and prepare a number of meals for your family. Dream Dinners provides all the ingredients, kitchen space, etc., and what you end up taking home is frozen and ready-to-cook. Their menu for February 2007 includes such dishes as Herb-Crusted Flank Steak, Tilapia with Lemon & Dill Sauce, and Moroccan Chicken.
You have to know a couple other things.
My Ten Favorite Cookbooks
Posted on 11 January 2007 under Cookbooks | 3 Comments
Last week I posted a list of the ten strangest cookbooks in my collection. I guess it’s about time I bit the bullet and listed the ten faves out of what I have. Some you’ll have heard of, but others? If you want a copy, they’ll be seriously difficult to come by.
My Ten Favorite Cookbooks
10. Joy of Cooking (1997) — This is a must-have, containing so much information you’ll never use it all. If you want to give anyone, newlyweds, college students, etc., a basic cookbook, this is the one.
9. Mainstreet Ventures Distinctive Recipes (2005) — While this is a new addition to my collection, it’s apparent to me that once I start trying to make some of these dishes, I’ll want to make most of them. These are recipes from the fine folks at Real Seafood, Gratzi, the Chophouse, Ciao, and the like. The first dish I’ll make is on page 50 …
8. Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook (2004) — These dishes are fully explained, photos are included, and basic techniques filter through at an amazing rate. As I’ve written before, this is the one cookbook I’ve read cover-to-cover.
7. The Tabasco Brand Cookbook (1993) — Only recently have I become interested in using and cooking with hot sauces. For that purpose, this official Tabasco cookbook really does the trick.
6. Tested, Tried & True, Junior League of Flint (1980) — This fundraiser cookbook is, well, seriously damaged! I’m not sure how many pages have fallen out over the years, so who knows what’s missing? Fortunately, the Swedish meatball recipe is still in there, a real basic recipe for meatloaf, and countless other dishes I’ve tried.
5. The Professional Chef, 7th Edition (2002) — While great for explaining basic techniques, sometimes this one can get tedious. I use this one and the next one interchangeably. Oh, and the 8th edition just came out. I’ve seen it but haven’t looked at it yet.
4. Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques (1996) — If I’m trying to learn something new, I’ll grab this first. Not only is it highly informative regarding basic techniques, it also gives interesting variations on those techniques. On Monday I picked up the companion Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques (1999) and hope to learn some good things from there, too.
3. Culinary Artistry (1996) — This is part cookbook, part textbook. One of its finer points is page-after-page of tables of what goes best with what. I use this thing constantly when I’m trying to figure something out.
2. Woman’s Home Companion Cookbook (1955) — There are three copies of this book in our family. This is the first cookbook I ever used, learning how to make omelets, five-bean-salad, and many other things the ‘old-fashioned’ way.
… and the number one cookbook in my collection … is …
1. Mom’s Three-Ring Binder — Typed by mom on her Brother word processor (a glorified typewriter), this is where I can find most of the recipes mom was using when I was growing up. Most of my favorite dishes are in here, like church window cookies, those amazing cinnamon rolls, Mulligan Stew, and cheesey tuna noodle casserole made with Ramen noodles.
Ok, I’m hungry all over again!
The Final Write-In Cookbook Sample
Posted on 8 January 2007 under Cookbooks | 3 Comments
Back on December 8th, I posted an entry about a write-in cookbook we were putting together to give as Christmas presents. We ended up giving away ten of them and the responses were rather good! This afternoon I’ve updated the sample to better reflect the final cookbook as the recipients saw it. At about 210 pages printed on cardstock, it turned out (I think) a little nicer than we thought it would. We’re still considering retailing this little beasty, but have some hurdles to overcome before we can do so. At the same time, though, the kind folks at the Boulevard Market in Tecumseh have already expressed an interest in stocking it first to test the waters. We’ll see how it goes!
Things of Ten
Posted on 4 January 2007 under Cookbooks | 7 Comments
I guess some of the Monroe News staffers had to come up with a list of ten of something related to 2006.
If they were to ask me that, my first thought would be “10 Most Obnoxious People I Dealt With in 2006″. But then I thought I’d have a seriously difficult time picking only 10, and most of those are driving on I-75 somewhere. Still, that has nothing to do with cooking …
Here’s my list:
My Ten Strangest Cookbooks
These are listed as arranged by Mary after I brought her the stack.
- The Seven Centuries Cookbook, from Richard II to Elizabeth II (1973, ISBN 07-045153-2)
Yes, that’s 700 years of British cuisine which is, as Mary says, “boring and overcooked”. Anyone for eggs with anchovies? - Potato Salad, Fifty Favorite Recipes (2002, ISBN 0-8118-3337-2)
Every last recipe in here uses boiled potatoes. Let’s call it “Fifty Ways To Serve Boiled Potatoes, Mostly Cold”. After going through this book, I developed my own potato salad. First, roast the potato cubes in the oven … - Herbal Favorites (Genesee County Herb Society fundraiser cookbook)
Ok, ya’ know what? I dearly love my sister Barb, who was on the committee for this book and gave it to me. But recipes such as Nettle Soup, and Lavender Ice Cream (1/4 cup dried lavender flowers?) get this book a solid vote. - The Tabasco Brand Cookbook (1993, ISBN 0-517-22334-1)
A cookbook devoted to a single product. Successful, yes, but … cheese scones made with Tabasco? No, don’t think so. - Life’s Little Zucchini Cookbook; 101 Zucchini Recipes (1997, ISBN 932212-94-8)
By a Michigan author, printed in Michigan … Zucchini Custard? Thanks, but I’ll just have the bread, extra butter please. - Pie Iron Recipes (2005, ISBN 0-9755059-0-4)
Yup, cast iron pie irons. The publisher, Rome Pie Irons, makes some great variations on the basic thing, and the book is divided into their iron types. I have four different irons from them. Go to Cabela’s in Dundee and get yer own. - Onions, Onions, Onions; Delicious Recipes for the World’s Favorite Secret Ingredient (1994, ISBN 1-881527-54-9)
Almost 400 pages on ways to cook onions. I keep this next to the book on potato salad. - Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook (2004, ISBN 1-58234-180-X)
Amazing chef, one of the best restaurants in the U.S., world-renowned for his Steak Frites (the real name of French Fries), which he teaches in pictures. However, the only cookbook I’ve ever seen that’s laced with profanity, but so hilarious it’s the only cookbook I’ve ever read cover-to-cover. For example, “That’s roast chicken, numbnuts. And if you can’t properly roast a damn chicken then you are one helpless, hopeless, sorry-ass bivalve in an apron.” Yup, classic Bourdain. - Dixie Dave’s Wild Game Recipes (1999, ISBN 0-9768826-0-4)
Head up I-75, get off at Birch Run Rd. north of Flint but before Saginaw, turn right to Dixie Hwy, and Dave’s Old Dixie Inn will be on the corner. This book has the infamous Rocky Mountain Oysters (i.e., pan-fried testicles), which is on Dave’s appetizer menu. There’s also Wild Boar with Sauerkraut, Madagascar-Style Shark, and Beaver Barley Soup.
And now … the #1 strangest cookbook we have in the house … is …
- White Trash Cooking (1986, ISBN 0-89815-189-9)
When my Adam found this last year at the Border’s in the new section of Franklin Park/Westfield shopping center, he showed me the cover. There’s a picture of a woman. I’m glad I hadn’t eaten yet. I only show people that pic for its shock value. It is just plain wrong. But you can’t argue with recipes such as Mock Cooter Stew, Aunt Donnah’s Roast Possum, Russian Communist Tea Cakes, and Lucy’s Guaranteed Stewed Prunes. Umm, guaranteed to do … what?? Loooceee, you got some splainin to do.
Got any strange cookbooks, or any that are just odd, on your shelves? Let us know what they are!
Restaurant Cookbooks: Mainstreet, etc.
Posted on 18 December 2006 under Cookbooks, Restaurant Chit-Chat | No Comments
Something I like to do is try to figure out how a dish at a restaurant has been put together, so I can fix the same thing at home. Most of the time, it’s just for fun, such as the Salmon with Cranberry Conserves Chef Tad at the Frog Leg Inn in Erie put together this fall. At other times, such as this past June for the anniversary of our reception, I’ll end up with a dish that tastes very strange but has a good concept. At a restaurant in Monroe, I had a lobster-and-sage-stuffed salmon that had a number of harsh flavors all competing with one another. Rethinking this dish, I came up with a cornbread-and-whitefish-stuffed salmon with Hollandaise that came across much better.
Ask some older home cooks how they make something and you might get an answer of, “You know, I don’t really know … I just throw things together.” Ask some professional cooks or chefs how they do something, and you might get an allusion to what’s going on in the kitchen but not always. Television chefs are a different matter, though. You can buy Emeril’s Essence, the ‘BAM!’ spice, in most grocery stores. Or, you can download the recipe from his web site and make it yourself using the same recipe they use in the Food Network kitchen.
There’s a little publishing company in Ann Arbor, Huron River Press, that’s changing this for the Ann Arbor/Toledo area. Formerly part of Michigan’s delightful Sleeping Bear Press (my kids love their children’s books!), Huron River Press has published cookbooks from such venerable Michigan institutions as Win Schuler’s, and The Common Grill in Dexter.
About 12 years ago I visited The Real Seafood Co. in Ann Arbor for the first time and simply loved it. Over the next few years I’d gone back probably four times for various occasions. They serve simple, honest seafood that’s presented well and has amazing flavors.
This past Halloween for my birthday, Mary got us tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Seagate Center. The tickets were for the 3 p.m. performance, and she intended to take me to a downtown restaurant afterward. A couple weeks later on the designated Sunday, we headed down for some head-banging Christmas music performed by long-haired entertainers in tuxedos, and were both visually-and-aurally blasted for three straight hours. Satisfied from this, we headed to the restaurant … only to find it was closed. Driving upriver, we remembered the restaurants just across the river from One Seagate. I parked the car, we walked up … there was The Real Seafood Co. all over again, and we didn’t have to drive to Ann Arbor to get there!
As soon as we got inside, I spotted something I knew I’d be getting sooner or later; Mainstreet Ventures Distinctive Recipes, published by that same Huron River Press in Ann Arbor. Browsing through those copies that had been autographed by Executive Chef Simon Pesusich, I found a few dishes, such as the Spinach and Three Cheese Cannelloni, that I knew I’d had at the Ann Arbor location.
Mary and I had an extremely wonderful meal. I had the Sautéed Lake Michigan Whitefish with Michigan Dried Cherries, something I felt I might like to make at home sometime. Mary’s dessert of a Vanilla Bean Creme Brulée was in the same league, something I felt I could do.
On our way out, out of curiosity I browsed through one of those books. The recipe for the whitefish dish was on page 50, the creme brulée on page 176.
I just had to have the darned thing!
This past Saturday, my sister Janet gave me a $25 gift card for Border’s books. The Mainstreet Ventures cookbook is now sitting right here. And the whitefish recipe? It’s very doable. American Spoon Foods in Petosky sells the Michigan dried cherries by the bag. I’ll bet good money that’s where Chef Simon gets his.
Mainstreet Ventures owns and operates other restaurant besides The Real Seafood Co. Maybe you’ve heard of them or eaten there; Zia’s, The Chop House, Ciao!, Tidewater Grill, Gratzi, Blue Pointe, La Dolce Vita, Palio, and Carson’s American Bistro. Every last one of these fine restaurants is represented in this cookbook.
The back of the book lists wine and cigar pairings, how to cook pasta correctly, what to look for in a tomato, and many other professional hints. There’s some great stuff in here.
Do you want to cook like they do at your favorite restaurant? Maybe you can. Just do what they do.
Practice. Practice over and over using their own recipes, just like they do.
That’s why, at these places, it’s perfect.
Periodically Reading Periodicals
Posted on 16 December 2006 under Cookbooks | 2 Comments
As a follow-up on my post on cookbooks, there are only a few cooking magazines I read. A couple of these might be difficult to find, but if you go to a larger bookstore they’re likely there.
- Saveur: This beautifully-produced magazine, while presenting some amazing recipes, delves deeply into the history of food, the culture of food and food events. This one is what a lot of other magazines try to be.
- Cook’s Illustrated: Published by the folks who run America’s Test Kitchen, this old-fashioned (line-art only!) ad-free magazine doesn’t publish any recipe, technique or product review without testing the bejeepers out of it first.
- Cuisine At Home: Another ad-free magazine, this one presents die-hard techniques and recipes in such a way that any novice should be able to follow them. This one’s also three-hole punched for binders.
- Chile Pepper: Ok, so I like things hot and spicy now and then!
We’re off to the Flint area today to do Christmas with my parents, and to eat at one of my favorite burger joints. More tomorrow …
Gift Cookbook Recommendations
Posted on 14 December 2006 under Cookbooks | 3 Comments
A couple days ago I’d blogged about a cookbook Mary had gotten me for my birthday. Ms. Squires asked what I would recommend for a general cookbook. My reply started getting a bit long, so I decided a full blog entry would be more appropriate.
Here’s Sandy’s original question. I’ll follow with a more complete reply:
Funny you should write about a cookbook this time. I was thinking with Christmas coming maybe you could give us some direction on cookbooks as gifts. While I know what I like in a cookbook, it sounds like your collection has a much wider variety then most.
What is a good all around, general cook book for people who get tired of cooking dinner?
There are a ton of general-interest cookbooks out there. The old standbys are still viable … Joy Of Cooking, Fannie Farmer, Betty Crocker, Better Homes & Gardens, etc., etc., ad nauseum. For anyone interested in learning the basic dishes (say, a youngest teenaged daughter who actually ate those pork medallions), if they don’t have one of these, any of them will do. But what if someone does know how to cook, as you suggest? These books will broaden horizons a little, but the person you’re buying for still may want a little more.
For example, on Labor Day weekend we went to Arkansas for a Latina wedding. However, the bride, who I know knows how to cook, had been asking me questions about *authentic* Mexican cooking (i.e., not Taco Bell, Chi Chi’s, etc.) Her groom is not from this country, but as she’s from Arkansas and is more acquainted with standard American dishes, she really wanted to learn more about what he was used to enjoying at meals. Our wedding gift to the two of them? A technique & recipe cookbook by Chef Rick Bayliss, recognized as an expert in the areas of Latina cuisine.
Ok, let’s say the person you want to give a cookbook to likes comfort food. We’re talking southern cuisine for that, and anything by Paula Deen or her sons will work. But at the same time, African-American cuisine, a derivative of southern cooking, is coming into its own, and some wonderful cookbooks are currently being being released on this subject. Still, chicken is not chicken is not chicken! Southern or African-American methods of cooking chicken are different from, say, German methods. If your giftee is more that way, cookbooks from Chef John Zehnder of Zehnder’s in Frankenmuth would be the ones to look at.
Anthony Bourdain is the epitome of French bistro cooking in this country, and his cookbook for his Les Halles restaurant in NYC is the best of its kind. We’re talking old standbys like classic roast chicken, steak frites (the right way to make what we know as French fries), the simplest and best tomato salad recipe I’ve ever seen, and a whole lot more. A word of warning though; The book is hilarious, but is also the only cookbook I’ve ever seen that’s laced with profanities. It’s the first cookbook I’ve ever read cover-to-cover, just to see what he’d write next.
For Italian cooking, Mario Batali and Giada Delaurentiis are the real experts, and for southwestern cuisine, Tyler Florence is the one to read. For grilling, grill manufacturer Weber has some amazing cookbooks out there. For game, that is, if your giftee is a hunter/trapper, the recipe book from Dixie Dave’s up in Birch Run is jam-packed with some seriously interesting concepts that aren’t too difficult … including the specialized instructions for cleaning the meats (in pairs, of course) for Rocky Mountain Oysters … This book is available over at Cabela’s in Dundee.
If you really don’t know you’re giftee, or if they’re a bit of a novice when it comes to cooking, get one of those basic, all-around books I mentioned at first. But if you do know them, and you know just what they like to eat, or even what they’d like to try, it’s not too difficult to go a couple extra steps to make the gift of a cookbook just that much more personal.
On Improvisationalattitudiness
Posted on 12 December 2006 under Cookbooks, Recipes | 3 Comments
One of my favorite cookbooks right now is The Improvisational Cook
In this cookbook, author Sally Schneider tries to get home cooks to escape from their current way of thinking and, hopefully, experiment with the recipes they have. One of the main points about this is not to be afraid of the results, of what your diners might think. Instead, use this as a “jumping off” point to make things better.
This is something I learned only a few years ago. Freshly divorced, living alone, and watching something called ‘Food Network’, I started playing around with flavors, even going so far as to buying (gulp) Kosher salt! When my kids started telling me how much they liked what I was cooking, I dove in feet-first.
Then, after marrying Mary in late 2004, when she didn’t seem to mind my experimentations, I dove in head-first and kept going. My German-Polish roasted potato salad came out of all of this, and it’s a favorite now for quite a few folks, including some who don’t like ‘traditional’ potato salad.
Ms. Schneider also discusses kitchen accidents and how useful those might be. I found this out last year after I’d boiled some brats in Leinenkugel’s Apple Spice beer and served them with macaroni & cheese. The next day for lunch I’d nuked these things together, ate the brat, then started on the mac-n-cheese … which suddenly tasted like spiced apples. That weekend, I served the first batch of Baked Apple Macaroni & Cheese to Mary and the kids, and a 9 x 13 dish of it disappeared in no time at all.
Even though I was experimenting and improvising before Mary bought, lost, forgot about, and then found this book, I love it. If you’re into having fun with cooking in such a way that you enjoy exploring variety in your dishes, The Improvisational Cook will be a welcome addition to your collection. Oh, and Thanks, Mary! 
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