Hollandaise and Béarnaise sauces

Notoriously rich and difficult to keep from “breaking”, both Hollandaise and Béarnaise sauces are emulsion sauces; meaning that they consist of droplets of fat suspended in water which are (semi) stabilized by egg protein (lecithin). Hollandaise is considered by many to be one of the finest sauces of western cooking. Many European cooks consider Béarnaise sauce a mother sauce unto its own; but in the US, cooks start by making Hollandaise and finishing the sauce with tarragon, vinegar and shallots to make their Béarnaise. Hollandaise is good on egg dishes, vegetables and fish. Béarnaise, with its stronger flavor, is great on broiled meats, salmon and steaks. The following Hollandaise recipe is not too hard to complete and should be fairly fool-proof, you may want to use it immediately for this sauce is hard to hold to long (more than 2 hours) and will separate into an oily mess. But if it fails I will add instructions on how to fix a “turned” sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce

3 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, divided
1 1/4 stick melted unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Whisk the egg yolks in your saucepan for a minute or so until they become thicker and turn a pale yellow. Add lemon juice and whisk. Add 2 tablespoons of the cold butter before placing on heat. While this butter melts, it should help to keep the eggs from curdling. Set the pan over low heat and whisk. Keep an eye on your mixture. As the eggs thicken, you should be able to see more and more of the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and whisk in remaining cold butter a tablespoon at a time. This will stop the yolks from cooking any further.

Add the warm melted butter in slowly and by slow I mean drizzle! Whisk to make a thick sauce. Whisk in seasonings and a little more lemon juice if you feel it needs it.

For a sauce that refuses to thicken, is too thin or has curdled: Take a tablespoon of the turned sauce and place in a separate mixing bowl. Whisk it with a tablespoon of lemon juice until it thickens. Drizzle in bits the turned sauce into THIS mixture slowly and whisk… let each addition of turned sauce thicken before adding more.

Béarnaise Sauce

A reduction of:
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 dry vermouth
1 tablespoon shallot, minced fine
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, divided
1 1/4 stick melted unsalted butter

Combine vinegar, vermouth, shallots, tarragon, salt and pepper and boil down mixture until it reduces to about 2 tablespoons. Strain mixture into another saucepan. Substitute this reduction for the lemon juice in the previous recipe.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, French, recipe, sauce

Béchamel Sauce

Béchamel sauce is the other white sauce mère. It is made by mixing a white roux with milk, très simple. With a Béchamel, you can make a variety of dishes including staples like macaroni and cheese, chicken and dumplings and more complex dishes like moussaka and lasagne. The sauce for the Creole Tuna Noodle Casserole recipe on this blog starts with Béchamel (technically it’s a Mornay sauce since it incoporates cheese). Béchamel sauce’s “children” include Sauce Aurore, Chantilly sauce, Mornay sauce and about 50 other sauces.

Béchamel sauce – Quick and Dirty

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons AP flour
2 cups cold milk, preferably whole milk
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
optional: dash of nutmeg or cayenne pepper
optional: 1 bay leaf

Start by making a white roux: Use a heavy bottomed saucepan that distributes heat evenly. Put the pan over medium-low heat and add the butter and melt the butter. When the foam subsides take the pan off the heat. Using a flat whisk or wooden spatula, rapidly stir in the flour. Return the pot and stirring every couple of minutes, cook until the flour is a straw color. Whisk in the cold milk, salt, pepper and any optional spices. Turn heat to low and continuing to stir, cook for 20-45 minutes until thickened and smooth. The longer you cook it, the smoother and less grainy it will become.

Be sure to fish out your bay leaf at the end of cooking if you’ve added it to the sauce.

Béchamel sauce – The More Traditional Approach

1 small yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
1/3 celery rib, diced
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup AP flour
4 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
dash of nutmeg
bouquet garni

First, scald the milk. Remove from heat and set aside. Melt the butter in a small saucepan until the foam stops, then add the diced vegetables and sauté until the onions are translucent. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flour. Put the pan back on the heat and cook about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the scalded milk. Return to heat and bring up to a boil, stirring constantly. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the bouquet garni, lower heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes. Remove and strain the sauce, without pushing on the vegetables.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, French, recipe, sauce

Sauce Velouté

Sauce Velouté is the first white sauce mère that we will explore this week. Sauce Velouté is made by combining your white roux with a light colored stock, like stocks made from vegetables, chicken, shellfish or fish. Velouté in French means “velvety”, obviously a reference to the finished sauce’s texture. The petites sauces that derive from Sauce Velouté are great over fish, poultry, pork and vegetables without overpowering any of them.

Sauce Velouté

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons AP flour
2 cups stock (vegetable, fish, or poultry)
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Start by making a white roux: Use a heavy bottomed saucepan that distributes heat evenly. Put the pan over medium-low heat and add the butter and melt the butter. When the foam subsides take the pan off the heat. Using a flat whisk or wooden spatula, rapidly stir in the flour. Return the pot and stirring every couple of minutes, cook until the flour is a straw color. Transfer the roux to a mixing bowl to stop the cooking

For combining the stock and roux, the standard rule is: hot roux = use a cold stock; or cold roux = use a hot stock

To finish the above recipe: Place the roux back in the saucepan and whisk in half of the liquid. Place the pot over medium heat and whisk in the remaining liquid. When the roux and stock are well combined, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, skimming frequently. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Strain the sauce and allow to cool, uncovered, to room temperature if you plan on storing it.

There are two categories of petites sauces made from Sauce Velouté: In the first, the ingredients are first cooked in wine, butter or stock and then combined with the mother sauce. In the second, the ingredients are stirred into the sauce in order to finish it. From the first category, we have sauces like Sauce Ravigote, Sauce Bercy, and Sauce Allemande. The second includes Sauce Bonne Femme, Sauce Suprême, and Sauce Suprême Aurore.

Sauce Allemande

2 cups Sauce Velouté
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Reduce the Sauce Velouté to 1 cup, by cooking it over medium-low heat. Reduce the heat to low and add a bit of the sauce to your yolks in order to temper them, gradually bringing the yolks up to the temperature of the sauce in order to avoid having scrambled eggs. Stir in the tempered yolks, the butter, nutmeg and lemon juice. Cook until thick. This sauce is very good over fish and chicken.

Sauce Suprême

2 cups Sauce Velouté
2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons crème fraîche
1 tablespoon butter

Gradually stir the cream and crème fraîche into the Sauce Velouté. Finish the sauce by swirling in the butter.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, French, recipe, sauce

Sauce Espagnole

Sauce Espagnole is a rich, reduced brown stock made with tomatoes and a mirepoix of browned vegetables thickened by a brown roux. From this sauce mère can be made its most “popular” children or petites sauces: Bordelaise and Madeira. It is also known as a demi-glace.

According to Alan Davidson, in The Oxford Companion to Food, “The name has nothing to do with Spain, any more than the counterpart term allemande has anything to do with Germany. It is generally believed that the terms were chosen because in French eyes Germans are blond and Spaniards are brown.”

Sauce Espagnole

1 small carrot, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup AP flour
4 cups hot beef stock
1/4 cup tomato purée
2 toes garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf

Cook the carrot and onion in butter in a heavy saucepan over medium to medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (about 7 to 8 minutes). Add flour and cook roux over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until medium brown. Add hot stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then add tomato purée, garlic, celery, peppercorns, and bay leaf and bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 3 cups, this will take about 45 minutes.

When sauce is reduced, pour sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids.

Remember, if the roux burns you have to start all over, some people take the extra step of cooking the roux separately because of this; granted if you do cook the roux separately you will be lacking some of the richness from the browned vegetables cooked in the roux. If you choose this option, you will need to add an extra 2 tablespoons of butter to the recipe in which to sautée the vegetables.

Madeira Sauce

Sauce Espagnole
1/4 cup Madeira wine
optional: 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms

Follow the recipe for the Sauce Espagnole above. Add wine in the last five minutes of cooking. Optionally add 1/4 cup of mushrooms to round out the sauce.

Bordelaise Sauce

2 cups Sauce Espagnole
1 6-inch long marrow bone (ask your butcher)
1 tablespoon butter
2 shallots, diced fine
1/2 cup dry red wine (traditionally a good Bordeaux)

Place marrow bone in a small sauce pan with enough water to cover, bring water to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer the bone until the marrow is cooked and can be pressed out of the bone, about 10 minutes. Remove the marrow and press through a strainer. In a heavy sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the shallots and marrow until lightly browned (about 5 minutes). Add the wine and boil until reduced to 1/4 cup. Stir in the Sauce Espagnole and simmer before serving.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, French, sauce

Sauces

The French (and by extension Cajuns and Creoles) hold that there are five mother sauces, or sauces mères. These are the Brown Sauce, or “Sauce Espagnole”; the White Sauce, or “Sauce Velouté,” (stock and roux), Béchamel (milk and white roux), Hollandaise (butter and egg yolks) and Tomato sauce. These are the foundation of most of our elegant sauces. Creole cooks are famous for their splendid sauces, and the perfect creation of a good sauce is considered an indispensable part of the culinary arts.

The first thing to learn in making sauces of every kind is how to make a good roux, or the foundation mixture of flour and butter, flour and oil, or flour and lard. There are the Brown Roux and the White Roux. In making a Brown Roux never, under any circumstances, use burned or over-browned flour.

Brown Roux/Roux Brun

1 tablespoon butter/lard/oil
1 tablespoon AP Flour

First melt the butter slowly, and gradually add the flour, sprinkling it in and stirring constantly, until the mixture is a nice, delicate brown. It may take upwards of an hour to achieve the right color.

When making a roux for gravies, the proportions are one tablespoon of lard and two of flour. Oil or butter will make a richer gravy than lard will and because of that most cooks prefer to use lard in this case. Because of the recent concerns over trans-fats, butter is quite in vogue for cooking; real lard (not shortening) is also low in trans-fats and less expensive. If properly made, the taste of lard won’t be detected.

If, when making the brown roux, there is even the slightest hint of a burnt odor or over-browning, throw the entire roux away and wash the utensils before proceeding to make another.

White Roux/Roux Blanc

1 tablespoon butter/lard/oil
1 tablespoon AP Flour

Melt the butter slowly in a saucepan, then blend in the flour with a wooden spoon to make a smooth, somewhat loose, paste. Stir over moderate heat until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes. It should only achieve a buttery yellow color.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, French, sauce

Been ignoring y’all

Sorry about that. I promise to do a better job of updating this week. The past few days have been chaos, so please bare with me. I want to do a week of sauces and I may start that this week depending on how things go.

Much appreciated!

-tim

French Bread

If you’re like me, you have a difficult (if not impossible) time finding good French bread, outside of New Orleans, that isn’t tough or hard. This recipe from the folks at NOPSI (now Entergy) have an excellent recipe for French bread good enough for Cochon de lait po’boys.

French Bread
1 package yeast
1 tablespoon shortening
11/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in water. Add salt, shortening and sugar. Stir in flour. Knead on lightly floured board until smooth. Place in greased bowl; brush lightly with shortening. Cover, let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes. Punch down and divide into 2 equal portions Roll each half into an oblong 15 x 10 inches; roll up tightly from the wide side. Seal ends by pinching together. Roll dough back and forth to taper ends. Place shaped loaves, fold down, on greased baking sheets. Sprinkle loaves with cornmeal. Brush with Cornstarch Glaze (see below for recipe). Make 1/4-inch slashes in dough at 2inch intervals. Place large pan of boding water on lower rack of oven. Place bread on rack above and bake in 400-degree F. oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and brush again with Cornstarch Glaze; continue baking 20 to 30 minutes or until brown. Yield: 2 loaves.

Cornstarch Glaze: Combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1 teaspoon cold water; gradually add 1/2 cup boiling water. Cook until smooth. Cool slightly.

Technorati Tags: bread, Creole, Food, French, recipe

Make your own Creole Seasoning

You’ve probably noticed by now that a lot of the recipes here call for Creole seasoning. Outside of Louisiana and many urban areas across the US, you might have a hard time finding it so here is a recipe to make your own. the following is loosely based off Rex brand Creole seasoning.

Creole Seasoning

2 tablespoon Kosher salt (you may use less salt, folks in south-east Louisiana are notorious salt fiends)
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons dried onion
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a mason jar. Will keep for upwards of a year if you use fresh spices.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, spices

Creole Style Red Beans and Rice

It’s Monday… you know what that means.

Creole Style Red Beans and Rice

1 lb. red kidney beans (the best brand IMHO is Camellia, but you can use whatever local brand you can get. Mexican or Latin groceries might be a good place to look as well.)
1 quart water
1 quart vegetable stock/broth
3 tablespoons olive oil (2 tablespoons if using meat)
1 large yellow onion
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 stalks celery, diced (I don’t like celery in mine, it imparts a “too sweet” flavor that I don’t like much… you may opt out of using celery)
3 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme)
2 toes garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Italian parsley, minced
Kosher salt to taste
1 tablespoon creole seasoning
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
Hot sauce (Crystal is best) to taste
Optional: 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (leave out if using meat)

Soak beans overnight in a large pot and use enough water to ensure the beans remain covered in water, otherwise they will harden and never “cream up”. Rinse beans and pick through them for rocks and dirt. Put beans back into pot along with liquids. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer for one hour. While the beans are simmering, sauté onion, bell pepper and celery in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until onion is translucent. Add garlic and sauté for another minute. After the beans have simmered for one hour, add sautéed vegetables, bay leaves, remaining olive oil and seasonings. Bring back up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 2 more hours or until beans have become tender and made their own thick sauce. Stir occasionally to prevent bottom from scorching. Adjust seasoning as you go. You may want to smash about a cup of the beans along the side of the pot and stir that in to make a thicker sauce, the consistency should be close to refried beans at the end but that (along with this recipe) is a matter of taste.

Serve over hot white rice, use at least one cup cooked rice per serving.

Variation: Traditional red beans and rice recipes call for meat, typically ham or pickled meat. Add 1 lb. of meat of choice along with vegetables and reduce amount of olive oil to 2 tablespoons. Meats that work well are: chopped smoked ham, a ham bone, chopped pickled meat, sliced andouille sausage, smoked sausage or Louisiana hot links. In the past, I have found that Turkey meat replacements (i.e. turkey ham, turkey sausage) do not give off enough oil, you will want to add your extra olive oil to compensate.

Another variation: add 1 can of tomato paste. Add this when you are sautéing the onion and caramelize the paste until it is a mahogany color. This is my favorite version… the acid of the tomato brightens the beans nicely. You may also want to try 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar instead.

Serves 6

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, Main Dish, New Orleans, Vegan, Vegetarian

Lemon Doberge Cake

Last Sunday, we made a Chocolate Doberge Cake, the gold standard by which all New Orleans Doberge cakes are held. You could also combine to make a half/half Doberge Cake like Gambino’s Bakery. Follow the same recipe for the cake as Chocolate Doberge Cake. the filling is essentially a lemon curd recipe, I would bet that a straight lemon curd would be very good in this cake. The first frosting is a simple flavored decorator’s icing.

However, the traditional Doberge Cake uses a poured fondant frosting, the kind that “snaps” under the knife, I am also including that recipe for purists. I highly suggest that you make the frosting 24 hours before you are ready to assemble your cake. It is also wise to make the filling the day before so that it is nice and chilled when you go to spread it on your cake layers. EDIT: to get the fondant frosting to stick well, many bakers will frost with another kind of frosting first. Use the first frosting recipe as a first layer and then use the poured fondant for better coverage and a more professional looking cake. No one said we didn’t like sugar in New Orleans!

Lemon Filling

1 1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup water
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons lemon peel
2/3 cup lemon juice

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan and slowly add water. Bring to a boil while stirring, boil mixture for 1 minute. Add half of hot mixture to egg to temper, then blend in rest of mixture. Bring back to a boil and boil for another minute. Remove from heat and add butter, lemon peel and juice. Refrigerate before filling cake layers.

Lemon Frosting

1 box (1 lb.) confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 cup shortening
2 egg whites
pinch of salt
yellow food dye

Sift sugar and cornstarch over shortening and mix thoroughly. Blend in egg whites, salt and flavoring. You may need to add a little water to thin this out, weather and humidity can affect this frosting. Add dye at the end, add as many drops to achieve desired hue of yellow.

Poured Fondant Frosting

2-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup

Heat sugar, water and corn syrup to the soft-ball stage (238°F; 114°C). Pour into a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Wash the candy thermometer well and reinsert into the syrup. Let the syrup cool undisturbed in the workbowl to 140°F (60°C), about 30 minutes. Remove the thermometer.

Add any coloring or flavoring (1 to 2 teaspoons lemon oil and/or 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel, 2 to 4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate, etc.) and process 2 to 3 minutes, until the syrup completely converts from a glassy syrup to an opaque paste. When thoroughly cooled. store sealed at room temperature for 24 hours. Use or refrigerate for later use.

Here is a picture of a cake I made recently. I used the fondant recipe for frosting and it was only 7 layers but tasted so good! I wasn’t going for looks, mainly just testing out the recipe.

Technorati Tags: Cake, Dessert, Food