Mexican Peanut Marzipan

Mexican, peanut and marzipan don't really belong together and certainly shouldn't be describing any one thing. Still, that's exactly what my young son and I recently encountered during our trek to the grocery godsend that is Raley's. Aside from great produce and quality meat the store location in Elko, Nevada, also happens to feature a hefty variety of Hispanic and Asian food items. In fact, the variety fills an entire side of an aisle, and then wraps around to the other side with Kosher and Cajun/Creole/Southern-style offerings.

When my son wants something, I'm a big sucker. After knocking over an entire row of canned pinto beans, I sat him in the cart against much protest, and as we strolled along past the pickled pig's feet and jarred cactus strips we came up a modest, but no less diversified offering of Mexican candy. The kid gets sugar all day long, so the peanut marzipan looked interesting.

Admittedly, it tastes OK. But only OK. The ingredients are simple: Sugar, peanuts and natural flavor. They also warn it may contain traces of tree nuts, soy and milk. Not sure how the milk would get in there. The round patty of what amounts to sweetened raw peanut paste is quite crumbly and is almost like somebody literally ground up some peanuts, mixed in some powdered sugar and pressed it into a big tablet. The package contained four patties. My son likes it, and it's cheap, so we "might" get it again. But, it's one of those things where you don't know unless you try it, and I want my son to be as diversified and multi-cultural as possible, yet not at the expense of his own identity or family heritage. Candy is candy.

True marzipan is almond meal and sugar. Some cultures use cashews or even dried peach kernels. What threw me off the most is I was expecting the typical American candy form of peanut butter like that found in commercial candy producers' peanut butter cups. And commercial peanut butter is chock full of sugar and has been made creamy with the addition of oil. This candy is more in line with freshly ground pure peanut butter. Still, this was an interesting treat, but probably not one that will make its way onto our shopping list again anytime soon.

de la Rosa "peanut candy marzipan style"

A cross section of a de la Rosa peanut marzipan patty.

The Power of (Good) Cheese

What constitutes "good" cheese can vary greatly from one person to the next. Some are cheddar fans; others pepper jack. Some will only consume the highest quality imports, yet others could care less and prefer melted American cheese on their burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. Frankly, the only reason people call American cheese a cheese is because it contains cultures and milk proteins. In reality, it's more of a "pasteurized cheese product" rather than all-out cheese. And if you look closely, you'll see that most brands of American singles will have the wording "pasteurized prepared cheese product" on the packaging.

With this blog entry, I will show real cheese versus preservative infused crap. Feel free to take notes.

Exhibit A: Great Value American Singles

I feel dirty just having this on my blog. Still, we have to understand the practicality of American singles. They are designed to be "cheesy" while remaining creamy and melting nicely onto hot foods. They have some value in that they help augment homemade macaroni and cheese recipes for some families. But, let's examine what is actually in this "cheese."

This is from the Walmart store brand of American singles:
Ingredients: Cultured milk, water, cream, whey, sodium citrate, milk protein concentrate (huh?), modified food starch, why protein concentrate (huh?), calcium phosphate, salt, sorbic acid as a preservative, sodium phosphate, citric acid, APO Carotenal and beta carotene for color, lactic acid, enzymes and vitamin D3.
Allergy warning: Contains milk.

God, I hope it contains milk if that's one of the reasons I'm buying it. From this we learn it has a ton of preservatives in it and a bunch of "concentrates." In contrast, I examined two commonly available offerings by the people at Tillamook.

Exhibit B: Tillamook Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar

For those who don't know, Tillamook is a dairy cooperative in Tillamook, Oregon. For those in the Midwest and East Coast, they're similar to Cabot. And, like Cabot, Tillamook produces a vast line of food goods from non-altered milk. The cheese does not contain artificial preservatives, and it comes from cows that have not been treated with growth hormones. Granted, the company notes on each package the FDA has found no links between growth hormone in cattle and anomalies in human health, but the fact remains people are looking for purity and wholesomeness in their food. The cross section of a piece of Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar shows the complexity of the milk solids or curds. While some major production cheeses may show much finer texture, that is a product of over manipulation and the use of rennet to quicken the cheese ripening process. As a result, a sharp cheddar by Kraft or one of its competitors will end up tasting like one of Tillamook's medium flavors. To avoid this, the company may actually add artificial flavoring to bring it up to par and at the cost of misleading the unassuming supermarket buyer.

And, unlike big time commercial producers, Tillamook's Special Reserve contains only: Cultured milk, salt, enzymes and annatto for color. It contains no animal rennet. Rennet is a substance added to milk to make cheese artificially. While this cheese is good shredded and added to an omelet or placed on vegetables or a baked potato, its best offering is simply in thinly slicing it and admiring its beauty. Here is a second photo. Stare in awe. Try to control your inner animal urges; someone may be watching...

You can see in the think slice that the various curds, even after ripening and forming this ideal medium-hard cheddar still retain some of their original form as they actually peal away from each other on their own. Uniformity is something that cheapens good art.

Exhibit C: Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar

The Vintage White Cheddar is a medium flavored cheddar that I consider to have a buttery undertone. The cheddar flavor is far less subtle than its Special Reserve big brother. And it is also more creamy with less distinction in the curds. The distinction is there, but it is far less pronounced. As such, the individual slice holds to together better and is less crumbly. A less sharp flavor and creamier texture, make this more suited for melting on a burger. Tillamook's medium show here is aged for 100 days. The ingredients include: Cultured milk, salt and enzymes.

Being a white and a medium is sometimes troublesome, because a majority of people will be used to seeing Cabot's Vermont white and typical Irish or English white Cheddars, which both could be considered sharp cheeses as a standard. This one is different, and would be better suited as a "mild" classification when compared to the sharp or extra sharp. This one is good on crackers, and with its more creamy texture broadens its melting application over the Special Reserve. Consider substituting this or a regular medium for American singles.

Of course, Tillamook also produces regular sharp, medium, regular mild, Monterrey Jack, pepper jack and other varieties. Make no mistake, Tillamook is not as sophisticated or sophisticated as some import cheeses, but as an American original, this company stands out among the rest, and can give any imported cheddar a run for its money. American singles be damned! Note that the thinner this cheese is sliced the better when applying for melting on burgers on the grill. If the burger is well done and you wait to put a slice of this on, it could carry the burger into the burnt stage before you get sufficient results, especially if you use the harder Special Reserve. 

Although there is a sacrifice in sharpness, that's why the Vintage White is better for melting. The standard Tillamook medium is also ideal if you want creaminess, but something more robust than this white medium. To differentiate, the regular medium comes in orange labeling and is artificially colored orange. The reason why true cheese takes longer to melt than American singles is because the bonding agents used to congeal the whey and milk proteins are weaker and have a lower melting point than the more established and robust natural solids in the Tillamook cheese.

On a side note, the company's sour cream and butter are of equally high quality. They recently ventured into a line of yogurts that I look forward to trying if I can ever get closer to the coast. For more information on Tillamook, go here: Tillamook Creamery

Anthony Bourdain on Vegans

Another offering from the mighty wisdom of Bourdain. If you're a vegetarian or vegan for whatever reason, that's your choice. But don't try to rob me of some of life's simple pleasures.

Foie Gras force feeding

This is a video from YouTube of a segment from Anthony Bourdain's TV show. It explains how these animals are not choking or being hurt by the force feeding.

Where to find foie gras, duck confit and fat

So, some (OK, one person) have asked where they can find some of the ingredients mentioned in Jeanne Strang's "Goose Fat and Garlic." This is the case with a lot of traditional French cooking. Aside from creating your own duck confit by slow cooking duck in its own fat renderings and preserving it, some locations I've found online were here Duck Confit from Gourmet Foodstore and, here: Duck Confit from Caviar & More.
Of course, it's also on Amazon per the links below.

Therein lies the impracticality of cooking these traditional French country dishes. You have to either render your own poultry or fowl, or buy it from an import company. That is far more expensive than doing it yourself. However, many major supermarkets don't carry duck or goose anymore. Even around the holidays, many markets will put the buyer into a position of having to special order a bird. But that would mean getting an already butchered, pre-frozen bird.

As sad as it is, the days of people being competent enough to butcher their own birds are gone. Convenience reigns supreme, and people are willing to settle for less to get such convenience. In her book, Strang writes about how it's common to find birds still alive and kicking at the market. Butchered birds are a rarity, because the peasant farmers don't always know if they'll be able to sell all of their stock. The recipes in her book are, as I have already stated, practically an anthropological curiosity. While nutritious and hearty in their right, the likelihood of the majority being prepared in an American kitchen are slim without some serious substitutions.
While waterfowl hunting is still fairly popular in parts of the country, wild ducks and geese do not have the same proportions of fat because they are not fed fortified corn. Even more important to note is that often with French imported duck products, the ducks have been force fed in the weeks leading up to butcher in order to get the maximum size out of their livers, which are referred to as foie gras. The livers weigh well more than a pound in most cases, and some say the livers take on a buttery undertone as a result. On the other hand, many have shunned foie gras because of the fact that many operations use a funnel and auger to force the feed down the duck's esophagus. In fact, there are few that don't use this method. See here Gourmet Foodstore foie gras and here Caviar & More's foie gras.
Still, it's arguable whether this extra feeding to enhance the liver has any real bearing on the other parts of the duck or goose. Certainly, it could be argued this adds to the amount of fat on the bird, but that is something ducks and geese are designed to do by nature.

But, aside from the availability factor, the most considerable hindrance for investing in some of these foodstuffs is due to the price. Hudson Valley Foie Gras makes a wide variety of duck products, and has been featured by Anthony Bourdain. One can get at least three times the amount of duck confit as they would paying the same price for a French import and only getting two duck legs in a can. Info on Hudson Valley in New York state can be found here: Hudson Valley Foie Gras.

Using corn starch

I keep thinking back to a few weeks ago when I created an awesome roast in the crock pot. A decent chuck roast with potatoes, carrots, baby Portobello mushrooms, garlic, etc. Even added a few cups of burgundy wine to some water. But, when I got the rich juice after everything was all done, I tried to thicken it with corn starch straight from the box. Now, I'd seen my mother add it with cold water and then put it into juice for gravy hundreds of times growing up at home. But, I decided to be different. Mistake! Instead of a nice thick gravy for the potatoes, I ended up with "starch rice." The starch actually beaded up in the hot juice, which essentially cooked the now moist starch. I've learned my lesson.

Fresh guacamole from Delish

Donald Link's recipe for guacamole on Delish
This is how guacamole should be made. Fresh avocados, real cilantro, and not from a bag mix. If you have to get the avocados anyway, you might as well go full bore.

'Goose Fat and Garlic'

Originally bought "Goose Fat and Garlic" as the sole copy left on a table of other odds and ends at a Borders in Reno, Nevada. Not your typical foodie book, this test by Jeanne Strang explores the French countryside highlighting the many often overlooked items in French cuisine that have fed generations of farmers. The book gets its title from the abundant use of the fat from poultry and fowl in French country cooking, as preserved dairy was not part of the region's culinary evolution. As such, the region's traditional dishes still are based on the use of bird fat for flavor and consistency. But as a result, the world is given such delectables as duck confit and foie gras.

The book is split into chapters focusing on a particular element of the cuisine, such as soups, mushrooms, fish, poultry and fowl... What makes this book stand out is the author's anthropological perspective -- not so much to analyze, but rather spotlight individuals in their daily lives. The book's focus is food, but along with it comes an appreciation for how these country people live and continue to eke out a living on a way of life that is still very much based on subsistence. Those who appreciate Anthony Bourdain and other culinary greats will get something out of this, if nothing other than to take a break from Tony's often over-the-top diatribes on how the modern culinary world is nothing but a market catering to charlatans and whores. What's more, each narrative is followed up with slews of authentic recipes gathered from families and from the author's own observations. The recipes themselves make this book worth the price. Everything else is a bonus.