Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Jon and bacon

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Bacon on sheet pans ready for the oven

Trays of bacon in the kitchen mean only one thing:  Jon is here.  Yes, I don’t use a frying pan.  I blast it in the oven at 400 deg. F. (convection), turning it over once during the process.  I don’t want bacon all over the kitchen.  Use sheet pans and parchment paper – but watch out for smoke that will set off your fire alarms!

Jon, who is like a son to us, has been Matthew’s closest friend for about 10 years.  He relocated to Santa Barbara for a job a little over a year ago and wants very badly to move back to the Bay Area.  He misses his friends and all the rest of what is familiar, though he agrees that Santa Barbara is “also pretty nice.”

When Jon’s here I like to make him a big breakfast the day he leaves, and that usually includes bacon.  I got up early today so I also put together some aged cheddar corn muffins, which involves crumbling 4 ounces of cheddar into your favorite cornbread batter and baking as usual.  If you use the one on the side of a box of Albers yellow cornmeal, you can’t go wrong since it is not a sweet recipe.

Corn muffins in the pan with cheddar cheese

I sliced a few ripe tomatoes and soft-boiled some eggs, which rounded out our big Sunday breakfast.

the family at a casual sunday breakfast

Faux gras recipe is pretty good

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Chicken Faux Gras on a cracker

I caught an episode of Diary of a Foodie from 2007 (Season 1:  Contraband Cuisine) the other day, and Ruth Reichl provided a recipe for imitation foie gras that she spoke highly of.  Since I don’t eat foie gras (French for “fat liver”) due to the force-feeding procedure involved in its production, I’m always happy to find a recipe that might reasonably mimic its taste and texture, which are mild and silky, respectively.  I figured that I had nothing to lose by trying it, since I’d be fine with a good chicken pate anyway.

The result was excellent, I think, in terms of texture and look.  If you formed this stuff to look like foie gras you’d be hard pressed to think it wasn’t the real thing.  Taste was good, but certainly fell short of real foie gras, which I expected, since I doubt there is any concatenation of ingredients out there able to match that buttery and mild liver flavor.

Final verdict:  All three of us really liked this recipe, and it is the closest I have ever come to foie gras.  If you think of it as a smooth, mild and creamy chicken liver pate, you’ll be fine.  I will be making this for the holidays, that’s for sure.

You will find the recipe on  the Gourmet website here.  Note that I did not bother with the gelee, and I made only half, since it is very rich and does not keep long.

SPAM is not mystery meat!

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Hawaii’s SPAM Cookbook

SPAM may be an acronym for shoulder pork and ham, or spiced ham, depending upon which resource you consult.  Hormel indicates that Spam Classic (I love that) is made from “pork with ham, salt [I’ll say!], water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite.  If you set aside the saturated fat, salt and processing, I guess it’s not as bad as a non-food item that’s sold as food.  I don’t know.  I like to have SPAM musubi or some SPAM and eggs a couple times a century, so it’s not such a big deal for me.  My father loved SPAM, since he ate it in the army, and he would often be seen opening a can with that crazy key resulting in a sharp ribbon of metal that would sometimes slide off course and become vewy intewesting.

When I make SPAM I use the turkey variety, which does not have mechanically-seperated turkey, by the way.  (The USDA requires that it be listed if used.)  This contains less saturated fat, and is the lesser of several evils.  While turkey SPAM does not have the texture of “real” SPAM (and that says something), I usually marinate it in a teriyaki-like sauce anyway, so it winds up tasting the same.

I found a simple recipe in Hawaii’s SPAM Cookbook that I adapted.  It tastes good served over rice – close to SPAM musubi, especially if you serve it with a few strips of nori and season the rice with sushi vinegar.

Soy Sauce SPAM

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup mirin
2 teaspoons grated ginger
SPAM, sliced; I use two 12-ounce cans for our family of 4 plus a large dog

1).  Bring all except SPAM to a boil in a low skillet; I use a large skillet so I am able to spread the SPAM out
2).  Lay in sliced SPAM and simmer over low flame for 3 or 4 minutes, turning over midway through

Serve with rice and have a bottle of hoisin sauce standing by.

Spam over rice in a bowl

Stonewall Kitchen scone mix

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Cheddar scones

Friends of mine gave me an assortment of food gifts from Stonewall Kitchen.  They’re from Maine and so is Stonewall Kitchen, so it was a nice, local-type thing, like when I send Acme bread out to other parts.

The scone mix has been tempting me for awhile now, so one day this past weekend I thought I’d greet the morning and residents with hot scones.  Now, mixes can be good when they are from a company that uses quality ingredients, as well as convenient, but they are never cost-effective.  I look on these as a luxury and an exception.

Scones are a bit of a mess to make, since they result in a sticky, buttery dough that needs to be rolled and cut.  In this case, the mix saves you from having to add anything but butter, but it does not save you from the messy bits.  No way around that.

I had some aged cheddar hanging ar0und, so I crumbled that into the dough.

The scones came out perfect.  They were airy with just the right amount of density, and had great flavor.  That said, the mix is listed at $6.95 on the Stonewall Kitchen website – which is too much to spend for flour, sugar, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda on an ongoing basis.

Country pork ribs

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Country pork ribs in a bowl

While it’s true that we’re trying to cut costs here at the home front right now, I have always made country pork ribs (from the blade end of the loin, by the shoulder) because they’re so good – tender, great flavor, and an open canvas for dry rubs.  I also prefer them to pork roasts because more of the surface area is subject to seasoning and caramelization.  They go on sale for about $1.80 a pound in these parts, and that’s when I nab a huge package, since they make great leftovers.

When you buy pork country ribs, they may or may not have bones, but they won’t have many in any case; these guys are eaten with a knife and fork.  Try to find some that do not have an overabundance of fat, but you’ll want decent marbling since this keeps the meat moist.

Easy Country Pork Ribs

Massage in a spice rub and Kosher salt, lay them out on a sheet pan with plenty of space between, and convect-roast them at 375 deg. F. for about 45 minutes, depending upon thickness.  They need to reach an internal temperature of 160 deg. F.

Spice rub suggestions:  shawarma, carne asada or cajun; ground thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper.