Frozen Bananas

Waffles this morning! I know most people have already shared the tip about freezing bananas before they go bad but in addition to that you can just throw them directly in the freezer with peel on. No reason to cut them up, wrap them, or put them in a bag. Take banana or bananas out and microwave in 30 second increments. Then squish bananas out of peel like getting toothpaste out. Easy banana that is almost purée texture when adding to mixes such as pancake, waffle, muffins...you get the idea.

Favorites This Week

Below are a few things I found this week I like. Each picture has a link to the original post so hopefully I am not breaking online etiquette. Merely trying to bring attention to some cool ideas and a few new things.

The Floating Mug - To expensive for me...But cool none the less, a coffee mug that never needs a coaster.

 

The edible cookie coffee mug.

 

Tomato Pie with Bacon and Jalapenos: the picture first, then the recipe attracted me. Actually, it probably had to do with the part that said "Bacon".

Tonka Beans: I never heard of them, and I have traveled quite a bit.

The reason that tonka beans are not well-known in the US is that they contain courmarin, a (naturally occurring chemical) that was shown to cause liver problems in rats in extremely high doses. Tonka beans have been banned by the FDA for sale in the US as a food item since the 1950s because of this, though you would have to ingest exceptionally high amounts of the tonka bean to reach these levels.

How to make ice shot glasses: I am not promoting the 'shot glass' so much as this creative idea to make a 'glass' out of ice. I am sure it would be cool to use for other drinks and a dessert or two...I can think of a few catering applications.

Mustard Oil, Outlawed? Dangerous? Conspiracy?

I've used mustard oil to toast/fry some sesame seeds to use in an Asian BBQ sauce because I wanted that sesame taste and a twist. It worked great! That was off the coast of West Africa on a ship were I found odd food supplies in the nooks and crannies of different pantry areas.

I found about 4 or 5 bottles of Mustard Oil (were feeding about 500 people daily so that's not enough to do anything big) and I thought 'hmmm, I never remember working with this or what It tastes like...' so I did a little research on it.

The following is information from Wikipedia (I freely edited so as not to bore you), pay attention to the 3 and 4th paragraphs:

This oil has a strong smell, a little like strong cabbage, a hot nutty taste, and is much used for cooking in India and Bangladesh...

Mustard oil is composed mostly of the fatty acids oleic acid, linoleic acid and erucic acid. At 5%, mustard seed oil has the lowest saturated fat content of the edible oils.

In India, mustard oil is generally heated almost to smoking before it is used for cooking; this may be an attempt to reduce the content of noxious substances such as erucic acid, and does reduce the strong smell and taste. , Mustard oil is not considered suitable for human consumption in the United States, Canada and the European Union due to the high content of erucic acid, which is considered noxious, although mustard oil with low erucic acid content is available. To get around the restriction in Western countries, the oil is often sold "for external use only" in stores catering to Indian immigrants, as in North India, mustard oil is also used for rub-downs and massages (see ayurveda), thought to improve blood circulation, muscular development and skin texture; the oil is also antibacterial.

In India, the restrictions on mustard oil are viewed as an attempt by foreign multi-national corporations to replace mustard oil with canola oil, a variety of rapeseed with a low erucic acid content, but often from a genetically modified canola. The East and North Indians have been using it for ages and deny that there is enough evidence for the toxicity of erucic acid, instead maintaining that mustard oil is beneficial to human health because of its low saturated fat content, ideal ratio of omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids (15g of omega 3 fats per 100g serving), content of antioxidants and vitamin E, as well as being cold-pressed (extracted at 45-50 degrees Celsius).

In northern Italy, it is used in the fruit condiment called mostarda.

If that wasn't enough for you, then check out the conspiracy! ~

FindArticles - The Mustard Oil Conspiracy
Ecologist, The, June, 2001, by Vandana Shiva

And of course if Wikipedia is not a valid enough source for you, here is the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) Import Alert from 1999 a quote from that report:

Expressed mustard oil is not permitted for use as a vegetable oil. It may contain 20 to 40% erucic acid, which has been shown to cause nutritional deficiencies and cardiac lesions in test animals.

Here is another great post I found on Mustard Oil after seeing if it was available in the states. I did find out you can buy it for massage oil! Learn something new everyday, huh?

*note: The Ghurkas on board were very appreciative when I gave them a bottle when they found out I had some. They were from Nepal and cooked some wickedly good and spicy food!

This post was part of the 'Lost In Transfer' series. Originally posted: 5/14/08 JWP3STS2FS38

Kitchen Supplies

This picture was took in Monrovia Liberia, West Africa when I was working there in 2008-2009. The big thing street-side there was what we called Wheelbarrow Entrepreneurs in Monrovia!

(click the link if your interested in seeing the rest of them, quite entertaining!)

We have a reliable source for all our kitchen supplies...

and this is not it!

Eggs in Lasagna?

A lot of people over the years ask me how to make lasagna. Sometimes they just want a recipe, and some want me to tell them step by step how I make it...So for those of you who have asked I found a really simple video for making lasagna (I guess I should define it's like most North American lasagna's) posted below.

Here are some of the usual questions I get when it comes to lasagna:

• Do you have to put an egg in it to bind it? No, I haven't for a long time. Just use the shredded mozzarella you have and put about a third of the total recipe amount in your ricotta (or cottage cheese) mixture, when it melts in, it helps bind. Most problems are not with binding the lasagna, its with letting it rest long enough to congeal/setup so the lasagna becomes firm again.
• Do you have to buy no-cook noodles to bake it without boiling the noodles first? No, I never have. There may be some 'secret' process I don't know about with those noodles, but I just use the regular noodles.
• Why do some people put cottage cheese in lasagna? Or Ricotta? Preference. I prefer ricotta. But some will simply put a nice bechamel sauce in it.

I make a mean chicken Florentine (spinach) lasagna BUT I will save that for another post! The possibilities for lasagna are many; Meats, sauces, veggies...how do you make yours?

 

Yogurt Bread

The yogurt bread turned out great! Kind of dense with a tight crumb. The taste was reminiscent of an English muffin. We enjoyed it for toast and a few Panini's!

Ciabatta, Pizza, & Yogurt Bread

I usually try to get things done in batches for freezing since I have two young children. This morning after batching some banana waffles (made from those black bananas you throw in the freezer before they really go bad) I started several doughs.

Later tonight we will be having guests over for pizza (on the grill unless raining) and salad. Then at a later time I will bake off the dough I have for ciabatta. In Italy the ciabatta goes from crunchy crust and porous chewy crumb to the more dense heavy crumb. I have a high water content in my dough and am going for the crunchy, porous, chewy version. (picture & post later)

Yogurt bread is just something I am experimenting with. I like to adjust water content, ingredients, knead times ...mostly just to entertain myself and have fresh bread while figuring out what it does to the texture, crumb, and overall taste among other things.

Grilled Pizza pt.2

If you have some caramel sauce from either making it or buying it (particularly the dip you can buy in produce for apples works good as well!) a 1/8 to 1/4 cup of it spread thin on a thin crust then topped with marshmallows and semi-sweet chocolate chips makes and excellent dessert pizza! None of that pizza h-t apple pie filling and cinnamon roll icing on top dessert pizza...no!

New Son! ~ New Job!

Right now I am at home happily enjoying time with my newest son, Ezra Michael! I have two boys now and I am extremely happy! Ezra Michael and Tytus Nathaniel!

In August I start my role as the new Food Service Director/Executive Chef at a local private Christian academy that's also attached to a church. Its a start-up, meaning they have a brand new commercial kitchen (its only a few years old) that is used by the church for conferences and events but have 'just arrived' at a place where its time to really kick it in gear and 'take it to the next level' by offering school meals and other events on a regular basis.

In between feeding the new baby (and he eats A LOT) and spending time with Tytus while he adjusts to having a baby brother my wife allows me to work on menu's, a small-ware order that's pending, paperwork...and getting ready for the main priority, health department inspection. We just need to vent and put an exhaust fan in a pantry area that will house another 3 door commercial refrigerator. 

Getting Ready!

Smoking 2 pork shoulders w/apple wood. Going on hour 10. Gonna be ready for July 4th!

PPA = Effective Business Meetings

This is not a comprehensive list or theory on having business meetings. It's a quick decisive tool to help you decide if your doing the right thing by having one, or being part of one(if you have a choice).

Power, Plan, Action = Effective Business Meetings

I have been to many "business" meetings in my lifetime where nothing much gets done. Basically one of three things are missing:

• Power - before we waste a lot of time on having a meeting does anybody have the POWER to DO anything about what we are discussing? No? Meeting canceled. -PLAN and ACTION to implement but no one has the POWER to approve it.
• Plan - If there is no PLAN, or we come to a PLAN and no one has the POWER to implement it or make it happen(ACTION), why are we meeting?- POWER and ACTION to implement but no PLAN.
• Action - if the end result of any meeting requires no ACTION -or- If no ACTION can be applied to a PLAN, cancel it. We are wasting time. [Think budget-money, man-power, materials...] - POWER and PLAN but no one can implement the ACTION to make it work.

It breaks down to having the proper people available in a meeting. A PLAN meeting can be called to get everything ready for when the "budget, manpower, materials..." are available. But to often you have to schedule more meetings to revisit, modify, and update the PLAN.

Of course if this is brainstorming or one of those "collaborative mind trusts" to get some ideas on the table...by all means, call it. But don't call too many...It's like "Crying Wolf" people quit listening.

Keep people engaged, don't waste time, get things done.

New Direction...and more focus.

Alas, my blogging was more frequent and intense years ago...but now it goes in spurts.

I have been procrastinating because I have a couple of big changes coming up in my life.  Another baby boy, Ezra, will be coming in July and another change I can not announce until I complete some previous commitments and give notice in June. (but if you email me on Facebook I will tell you)  Some of your already know (close friends and family).

So at that time, possibly August, I will start posting the changes and/or switch to a Facebook page to post more frequent but smaller doses.  Between now and then will be seldom...but come catch me on my personal Facebook page if you haven't already. http://www.facebook.com/tyronebcookin

Mini Pancakes

Tytus (my son) likes his mini pancakes with yogurt for dipping sauce!