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Articles about the things that go in your food.

Maldon Sea Salt – Review

If you’ve ever watched Food TV or spent any time around professional chef’s you’ll notice an awful lot of them use a very course sea salt when cooking, the sea salt that is preferred by chef’s is Maldon Sea Salt. As someone who’s watched a fair amount of Food TV I was curious what all the hype was about, I knew it was expensive for salt, I knew it was coarse and uneven but I was curious if it was any better, or was it just different? I picked up a two pack, it was cheaper to buy two and what if it really changed my life, I didn’t want to wait to get more. I had to order it online, I looked at my local markets and none of them carried it, I guess it is sort of high end for salt, but come on it’s just salt! I ordered mine from Amazon but with some further digging Salt Works seems to have a better price.

At first glance I was shocked to say the least, see the picture of Maldon below

A nice, high quality box of premium sea salt – this is the stuff dreams are made of! Now look below and see the shocking part, a side by side image of my trusty old Morton’s Kosher salt next to the new dog in town, Maldon.

I’m thankful the big mean Morton box didn’t step on our new British friend, because it was laughable seeing the two boxes next to each other. Maldon is a British company, the salt is imported and has an interesting legacy behind it, read more about it on their site. Once the laughter wore off I was almost sick to my stomach, I just paid $8 for this tiny little box of salt compared to the $3 and change I normally pay for the giant Morton kosher salt. I don’t mind sending more if I’m getting something special and I don’t even mind splurging from time to time for something special, I just wasn’t expecting such a difference. The best way to put it the Maldon cost me roughly $0.94/ounce the Morton cost my around $0.08/ounce that is a huge price difference for “salt.”

Next came the appearance of the Maldon, this too was shocking.

Click on the image to see it full size, the variety of the individual grains is pretty extraordinary, it looks just like it does on TV! It varies from an almost powder like salt to little “nuggets” larger than a pea. Of course I had to try it and not to surprisingly it tasted salty! Though there was an enjoyable crunch present, unlike some other extremely large salt crystals I’ve had in the past these were enjoyably crunchy, normally large pieces of salt are like munching on shale, not in this case they taste light and fragile despite their “don’t mess with me” size.

Below is a picture of Maldon next to my regular Morton Kosher Salt – the Maldon is on the left/top and the Morton is on the right/bottom

Visually the difference is striking, the Morton is whiter which comes from it being “pure” salt, Maldon has natural minerals and natural additives/flavorings. Though keep in mind both salts are at least 97% sodium chloride so the minerals and additives in in the Maldon are minimal. Next comes the grain size, while Morton’s Kosher salt is no slouch in this department it is dwarfed by the king kong of salt crystals, unfortunately I didn’t have any iodized (table) salt in the house for comparison.

Now onto the taste, Morton is my staple, I’ve used probably 10lbs of it in the last 5 years, I know this salt very well, it’s versatile, affordable and a wise investment for any chef or cook who wants to explore beyond iodized salt (which I find to have a very sharp and unpleasant taste.) Kosher salt as a rule offers a mellower flavor than iodized salt, it’s more relaxed, not as sharp tasting and thus gives you a greater range of seasoning you can apply which is a great thing when cooking. Which brings me to an interesting and note worthy point, when heavily cooking or dissolving Maldon I can discern no difference in flavor, the wonderful crunch vanishes and it tastes just like the Morton’s. So when cooking, anything that will dissolve the salt entirely I would not recommend spending the premium on Maldon.

On the flip side, Maldon is GREAT when you can tell it’s still there. When finishing a dish, grilled steaks, broiled seafood and the list goes on and on, I find Maldon to be amazing. It’s even mellower than Morton’s kosher salt, it has a very light and crisp taste that is delightful. I know we are only talking salt here, but if you try both back to back you’ll see what I’m talking about. Yes it is a luxury but it’s an affordable luxury, I think most people can swing $8 on something that will last them for a year or two and it’s a great product to try and see if you really enjoy it. Some luxuries in the culinary world are absolutely insanely priced, this is insanely priced for salt, but it’s still an affordable luxury to try. We’re not talking about $1,600/pound white truffles here, but it is a nice treat to reward yourself with if you enjoy cooking.

To recap, Maldon Sea Salt is the rock star of the salt world, I think it even wears sun glasses. It’s extremely expensive by salt standards, nearly 12 fold the cost of regular kosher salt but not an expensive luxury item to try. I don’t recommend it to season soups or other dishes when it will be dissolved and essentially vanish. However, if finishing a dish before serving and applying some seasoning, or any other instance that the salt will hold up through the cooking process I think it’s well worth trying the Rolls Royce of the salt kingdom.

Wonton Feast

Wontons are an inexpensive and versatile food item that can be the basis for a wide variety of dishes. They are so versatile, in fact, that this last weekend I planned a whole meal around dishes made with wonton wrappers. Wonton wrappers can be used as the foundation for a wide variety of appetizers, soups, side and main dishes, and even desserts.

The name wonton means literally ‘swallowing a cloud.’ Wontons have a long and rich history {predating the Tang Dynasty (circa 618 – 907 CE)} originating in Northern China as a sealed stuffed bun called ‘Huidun,’ or chaos. It is even said that a doctor, Zhang Zhongjing (circa 150 – 219 CE), filled wontons with medicinal herbs as a cure for frostbite. During the Tang Dynasty, a distinction began to be made between the wonton wrapper, which was typically a triangle with 2 – 3 inch sides, and the dumpling, made from a round piece of dough about 3 inches in diameter.

Although making wontons from scratch may appear to be a simple operation it can be very difficult and challenging. For this reason, and the time involved, many cooks prefer to purchase readymade wrappers. Of course, always intrigued with a kitchen challenge, I decided to make the wrappers (six batches in all) for this feast myself.

As mentioned before, there came to be a distinction between wontons (typically fried) and dumplings (typically boiled or steamed). Because of this potstickers, or Chinese Dumplings, deserve a special mention since they are prepared with a combination of the two cooking methods. Legend is that potstickers were created by a royal chef who pan fried wontons for his master’s meal, but overcooked them turning the bottoms black. Not having enough time to make another batch, he added broth to the pan and steamed the filled wontons, turned them over with their blackened side up, and presented them as a new creation. Fortunately, for the chef and his neck, they were a big hit!

Some of these recipes call for using fresh ginger. Ginger is usually available in the produce section of your local grocer. When buying fresh ginger, choose a piece about the size you need which is firm, smooth, and free of mold. It should also have a paper thin skin which easily rubs off with your fingernail. After peeling away the skin you should smell a strong fresh ginger scent.

The menu I came up with for this feast is as follows:

STARTER
Fried Wonton
Crab Rangoon

SOUP
Wonton Soup

SIDE DISH
Potstickers

MAIN
Three Delicacies Wonton (San Xian Hun Tun)

DESSERT
Banana and Chocolate Wontons

SAUCES
Sweet and Sour
Chinese Brown Gravy
Chinese Mustard

The first thing to be made was the wonton wrapper dough.

WONTON WRAPPERS

Ingredients
1 egg
3/4 t Salt, Kosher
2 c Flour
1/2 c Water

Instructions
Lightly beat the egg, salt, and water. Mix together with flour in a bowl. Adjust water or flour to make a dough. Knead until smooth, about five minutes. Cover and let rest for thirty minutes. Turn dough out onto floured surface and roll out very thin into a rectangle which is about 21 x 14 inches. Cut into 3 ½ inch squares (makes 24 wrappers). Next add the filling, about one teaspoon per wrapper, and seal by folding the square into a triangle. Then take the small ends and pull them together forming a purse shape. It is very important to carefully seal the wrapper. You may need to wet the edges of the wrappers to help the dough adhere to itself.

Here are the filling recipes I used:

FRIED WONTON

Ingredients
1 leaf Bok choy
1 Green onion
½ t Fresh ginger, grated
½ lb. Pork, ground
1 T Soy sauce
1 t Sesame oil
1 t Sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

Oil for frying. I like to use Peanut Oil for Asian dishes, but you can use whichever oil you prefer.

Instructions
Chop the bok choy and green onion. Mince the ginger until you have 1/2 teaspoon.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees adding the wontons one at a time and cook until evenly browned, being careful not to crowd too many in the pan. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve warm while they are still hot and crispy with Sweet and Sour Sauce and Chinese Hot Mustard.

CRAB RANGOON

Ingredients
6 oz. Crab meat, canned or fresh
6 oz. Cream cheese
1 Jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 Green onion, chopped
¼ Red onion, chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
½ t Soy sauce
½ t Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper, to taste

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

WONTON SOUP

Ingredients
½ lb. Pork, ground
1 Green onion, finely minced
1 t Cornstarch
½ t Sugar
Black pepper, to taste
1 t Sherry
1 T Soy sauce
1 T Oyster sauce
Dash sesame oil

6 c Chicken broth
1 Green onion, chopped

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the wontons, cooking until they float. Add green onion and serve.

POTSTICKERS

Ingredients
1 lb. Pork, ground
1 c Napa cabbage, chopped
2 Green onions, chopped
1 T Sherry
1 t Sesame oil
1t Salt, Kosher
1 t Cornstarch
Black pepper, to taste

½ c Chicken broth

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Add 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet and heat to 375 degrees. Fry for two minutes, or until the dumpling bottoms are golden brown.

Add ½ cup chicken broth to skillet, cover and steam for six to seven minutes, or until the broth is absorbed.

Serve with Chinese Brown Gravy.

THREE DELICACIES WONTON (San Xian Hun Tun)

Ingredients
2 Filets, tilapia, cut in chunks
16 Shrimp, medium raw, cut in thirds
1 lb. Pork, ground

1 c Napa cabbage, chopped
½ Red onion, chopped
2 Green onions, chopped
1 T Fresh ginger, grated
1 Carrot, large shredded
1 T Sherry
2 T Oyster sauce
1 T Sesame oil
1t Salt, Kosher
2 T Cornstarch
Black pepper, to taste

½ c Chicken broth

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal. Since this is the main dish, make the wonton wrappers much larger and use an equivalent amount of filling in each. These can also be steamed or fried rather than prepareed like potstickers.

Add 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet and heat to 375 degrees. Fry for two minutes, or until the dumpling bottoms are golden brown.

Add ½ cup chicken broth to skillet, cover and steam for six to seven minutes, or until the broth is absorbed.

Serve with Chinese Brown Gravy.

CHOCOLATE BANANA WONTONS

Ingredients
2 Bananas, ripe diced
½ c Chocolate chips

Powdered sugar

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees adding the wontons one at a time and cook until evenly browned, being careful not to crowd too many in the pan. Remove and drain on paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm while they are still hot and crispy.

BAKED
Preheat oven to 350. Place filled wontons on cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm while they are still hot and crispy.

Here are the recipes for the sauces:

The Sweet and Sour Sauce recipe can be found in a previous blog.

CHINESE HOT MUSTARD

Ingredients
½ c Mustard, dry
½ c Water, cold
¼ t Oil, cooking

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, cover and let stand for one hour before serving.

CHINESE BROWN GRAVY

Ingredients
1 ½ c Chicken broth
1 t Molasses
1 t Soy sauce
1 T Oyster sauce
2 T Cornstarch
2 T Cold water

Instructions
Combine cornstarch with cold water, add to remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until smooth and thickened.

I hope this article will encourage you to make dishes using wonton wrappers.

Whether you use these recipes, or others, I believe you will really enjoy preparing and serving dishes made with wontons to your family and friends.

Healthy Baked Vegetables

Personally, I am more of a sweets girl than a vegetable fiend, but every once in a while I get this silly notion that I am going to eat healthier. Especially around the first of the year, I get on this kick that “I am going to look like a super model by summer” and start working out more, along with every other person who wrote this on their New Years Resolution, and I will do this by eating more fruits and vegetables.

Hmmmm....

Fruits aren’t usually a problem for me, but unless I am forcing myself to drink my V8 with more meals than breakfast, I am not getting my daily required servings of vegetables. I’d grab a roll, a piece of chocolate cake, a cookie, or a milkshake first. Who wants a vegetable when you can have a decadent piece of chocolate? It has antioxidants, right? Better yet, if it’s chocolate ice cream, it also has calcium. Yeah, well, I have finally given into the battle won by my waistline, when the world according to Tiffany (chocolate ice cream is healthy) was creeping my scale to new heights and my dreams of looking like Cindy Crawford or Niki Taylor by summer were dreams of 6 months too late.

It was time for operation veggies. In an effort to getting myself back on track, I found a very simple way of cooking vegetables that was low in calorie, very simple to do, and I actually like them! They taste great!

All you need are:

Vegetables of choice (I chose some yellow and orange carrots, broccoli, snap peas, and green beans)

Cooking spray (I like to use the store brand, butter flavored cooking spray. It has zero calories.)

Baking sheet (I used two of them because I had a lot of vegetables I wanted to bake, but how many you need, really depends on how many vegetables you want.)

Seasoning (I don’t normally add anything because I like the vegetables baked with the butter flavored cooking spray, but you may prefer to add some salt, pepper, maybe some rosemary, fresh basil, garlic…)

Parmesan Cheese (Sometimes I like to sprinkle a couple of teaspoons on top when I make a bowl of baked vegetables. It adds some nice flavor.)

Broccoli, Snap Peas, Green Beans

First, you set the oven to 400 degrees. Second, you clean and prepare your vegetables in slices or dices of your choosing. I tend to cut the florets from the broccoli, leave the beans and snap peas whole, and peel and slice carrots into 1 inch chunks. In the picture below, you will see that I used the small bags of baby carrots this time. In that case, I did not need to peel or cut up the carrots. However, it did take longer because I didn’t. I would recommend cutting them up a little bit more so they cook quicker.

Green Beans, Carrots

Third (optional step), place the vegetables in a bowl and toss them with the spices of your choosing. You may want to add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to every 2 cups of vegetables to help blend and adhere the dry spices to your vegetables. Fourth, you lay out your vegetables on your greased baking sheets, I just spray the pans with cooking spray, then lightly spray the tops of the vegetables with cooking spray as well (you can skip spraying with cooking spray on top if you added the extra virgin olive oil in step three). Fifth, when the oven is ready, place the baking sheets in the oven for 20 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, you may want to mix the vegetables around on the pan a little bit, then put them back in the oven for the remaining 10 minutes.

Off to the oven

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Tips:

Make sure the vegetables are a single layer on the baking sheets to ensure even cooking.

Frozen vegetables take less time to bake than fresh vegetables. Some fresh vegetables, such as carrots, take closer to 30 minutes to bake.

The smaller the vegetable and the thinner the vegetable, the quicker the vegetable will cook.

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When I make my vegetables this way, I tend to make a ton of them because they make a great snack for later as well. If I was to add Parmesan cheese, I would add it to the vegetables just before eating and after they have been baked. I hope you enjoy this quick and healthy recipe. Bon Appetit!

Healthy Baked Vegetables

Cream of Tartar – Versatile Kitchen Chemical

CREAM OF TARTAR

Cream of Tartar is a very useful and versatile chemical for your kitchen. My hope is that through this article you will gain a greater appreciation of it and how its presence in your kitchen ads value to your efforts and the products you make with it.

ORIGINS

Records of the use of Cream of Tarter extend as far back as 7,000 years. The Archaeological Instutute of America reported in the September/October 1996 edition of its Journal that “Patrick E. McGovern and a team from the University of Pennsylvania Museum found calcium salt from tartaric acid, which occurs naturally in large amounts only in grapes,” at a Neolithic village site in Iran, indicating that wine was being produced in that region of the world at that early date. You can read the full article here.

CHEMISTRY

Cream of Tartar is obtained as a by product of wine manufacture by extracting it from a crystal that is deposited on the inside of wine barrels as the wine ferments. The chemical names for it are: potassium tartrate, potassium hydrogen tartrate, and potassium bitartrate. Its molecular formula is KHC₄H₅O₆.

COOKING
Cream of Tartar has many uses in the kitchen, including:

Baking Powder – Cream of tartar can be used to make baking powder by combing 2 parts Cream of Tartar with 1 part Baking Soda and 1 part Cornstarch.

Meringue – Cream of Tartar, due to its acidity, can be used to stabilize and add volume to beaten egg whites such as are used in angel food cake, pie meringue and meringue cookies. As egg whites are beaten, they expand in volume. The beating of the egg whites causes the strands of egg protein to partially unfold and connect with each other. These interconnected strands wrap around air bubbles which leads to foam development. Cream of tartar lowers the pH of egg whites and helps neutralize the tendency of proteins to repel each other; encouraging their connection. This helps support the air bubbles formed by beating. The result is a much more stable foam.

Snickerdoodles – This famous cookie has the characteristics it does because of the use of Cream of Tartar. See recipe below.*

Icing and Candy – Cream of Tartar is used in icing and candy recipes because it helps produce a product that is smoother and creamier.

Syrup – Adding Cream of Tartar helps prevent crystallization of syrup and honey.

Color Preservation in Vegetables – Boiling vegetables causes them to lose their pigmentation and therefore lose much of their visual appeal. Adding Cream of Tartar to the water helps prevent this. Because of its acidity, Cream of Tartar also helps retard browning of vegetables and cut fruit. However, care must be taken so that the amount of Cream of Tartar used does not affect the flavor of the produce.

However, I tried an experiment comparing boiling broccoli in a Cream of Tartar solution with my standard steam method. I’ll let you be the judge of which method produces the most appealing results:

Broccoli - Raw

Broccoli - Boiled

Broccoli - Steamed

CLEANING

Cream of Tartar can be used to clean your pots and pans as well, particularly aluminum and copper. It can also help take stains out of fabrics such as kitchen towels & aprons, and aid in cleaning your porcelain sink.

TOOTH WHITENING

Although I have not tried it (yet), there are articles about how Cream of Tartar can be used even to whiten teeth. If true, this is of particular help to cooks after years of drinking hot coffee & tea and sipping wine.

PLAY CLAY

Cream of Tartar can be used along with other items from your kitchen to make modeling clay.

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
3-5 drops of food dye (various colors)

* Snickerdoodles

This recipe comes from the McCormick website.

Ingredients
2 3/4 c Flour, all purpose
2 t Cream of Tartar
1 t Baking Soda

1 1/2 c Sugar, divided
1/2 c Butter, softened
1/2 c Shortening

2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla

1/4 c Sugar
1 T Cinnamon, Ground

Instructions
1. Mix flour, cream of tartar and baking soda in large bowl. Set aside. Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter and shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Refrigerate 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Shape dough into 1-inch balls.

Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

3. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks;
cool completely.

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If you are looking for a place to purchase Cream of Tartar in bulk you might want to check Penzey’s

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