En litt annerledes biff

Jeg er glad i biff. Veldig glad i biff, og prøver å spise det så ofte jeg kan, som gjør at jeg nok snitter på nærmere en biff i uken de siste to årene. Små biffer er litt som klining, både kult og godt, men man er ikke veldig tilfredsstilt etterpå, og når jeg ikke kan komme på én anledning hvor jeg har gått fra bordet utilfredsstilt etter biff, har jeg nok spist mest store biffer. En gjennomsnittlig vekt á 350 g gjør at jeg har spist rundt 35 kilo entrecote de siste 104 ukene, eller ca 1/3 av min egen vekt. Det er litt skuffende lite egentlig. Allikevel er jeg så glad i biff, at jeg har blitt ønsket tillykke med fødselsdagen med ønske om at "dagen blir som en marmorert entrecote, saftig, smakfull og mør". Litt rart å ønske noen en mør dag, men avsenderen forsikret at det var ment godt, og det er vel tvilsomt om en seig dag ville vært å foretrekke.

Mange lager unødvendig mye tøys rundt kjøttet, poteter og sauser og mye annet rart, jeg pleier som regel å spise kjøttet med en enkel, litt bitter salat med vinaigrette, samt en sitronbåt å presse over kjøttet, men selv enkle og perfekte ting kan stundom velges bort. Slik som i går.

Av restauranter jeg gjerne skulle spist på, er Alinea i Chicago helt klart på listen. Jeg har aldri vært i Chicago, men har stedets tilhørende kokebok, en relativt komplisert affære, som samtidig er en gullgruve angående teknikker, teksturer og smakskombinasjoner. Gårsdagens komposisjon viste seg å være et fnugg fra den.

Jeg har laget en del salater basert på agurk, gjerne med et asiatisk tilsnitt, pekende mot Vietnam med fiskesaus, rått kjøtt og slikt, men de oppleves som en asiatisk salat, ikke som et biffmåltid. Denne retten klarer på en bemerekelsesverdig måte å forene smaker man hver for seg forbinder med Asia til en enhet som smaker svært bra, men som jeg har lite konnotasjoner til.

Mye av nøkkelen til at smakene ikke sauses inn i hverandre ligger i at soyasausen presenteres i en såpass fast form, brukt i original konsistens synes jeg soya ofte forkludrer maten og legger et slør over alle smakene.

Dette bør være nok til to.

Melon og agurksalat

1/2 agurk
1/4 honningmelon
Skall og saft av 1-2 lime
1 ss sukker
salt

Del melonen i fire, ta ut kjernene og skrell den. Del hvert segment i to på langs, og skjær 3 mm tykke skiver på tvers av denne (så de blir omtrent trapesformede). Skrell agurken og del i to på langs, skjær i like tyke skiver som melonen. Nå bør du ha skiver som er relativt form og størrelseslike (kongruente om du vil). Bland dem med limesaft og revet skall, sukker og salt, og la det stå i 15-20 min

Soyagele

125 g soyasaus
2 g agar agar

Kok opp soyasausen, ha i agar under omrøring. La småkoke i et minutt. Hell i en form og sett i kjøleskap til det er blitt kaldt og gele. Kjør denne geleen i en blender til den får en mousseaktig konsistens og fyll på en sprøyteflaske

Entrecote

Så mye entrecote du vil ha
Salt

Stek entrecoten, gjerne på grillen, til den er ferdig, dvs brun utenpå og rå inni. Hvis du synes at kjøttet skal være gjennomstekt bør du tenke nøye over livet ditt.


Når kjøttet er ferdig er det bare å anrette, melon og agurk om hverandre, små topper med soyagele oppå, kjøttet i skiver ved siden av. Ha evt litt ekstra av geleen rundt, på bildet ble det egentlig litt mye.

Gjenoppstandelse, del 1

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jørgen from the dead

Fra spøk til alvor; lenge siden jeg har forfattet noe, men heldigvis ikke lenge siden jeg har laget noe godt å spise, så i Jesu ånd kommer jeg til å ha min egen lille påskeføljetong kretsende rundt oppstandelse. Så får tiden vise om jeg gir opp igjen på Kristi Himmelfart, eller om jeg starter en farsott som skal plage folk i de neste 2000 år.

Nok prat, på tide med mat.

Egg er nokså tett forbundet med påske, og særlig frokoster med egg, juice og kaffe er en sikker slager. Dessverre er det mange som ikke er særlig flinke til å lage egg, det være seg omelett, eggerøre, speilegg eller kokt egg, det er enten tørt, eller brent og rått.

En gammel klassiker som bør hentes frem igjen er egg i cocotte. Ved å steke eggene hver for seg i ovnen, evt i et vannbad blir det like enkelt å lage en luksuriøs frokost til seg selv som til 15 stk, og hvis man i tillegg bytter ut bacon med noe annet animalsk slipper man stekeosen som altfor ofte setter rammene rundt "luksusfrokoster".

For å gjøre det hele litt mer interessant har jeg brukt andeegg - de smaker mye mer enn hønseegg, men er selvfølgelig vanskelig å få tak på i mitt lille land - og revet røkelaks. Jeg synes røkelaks til egg som regel blir litt dominerende, særlig om man skjærer skivene selv, hvis man i stedet har en bit laks (dette går med stekt bacon i hele stykker også) i fryseren og et skarpt rivjern, kan man lage en slags shave-ice av laks, som gir deg akkurat den mengden med røksmak du er ute etter.

Andeegg i cocotte med revet laks

1 egg per pers
to-tre spiseskjeer kremfløte
litt smør til å smøre formene
salt
pepper
gressløk
Fryst røkelaks

Bruk små ildfaste former, smør disse med litt smør. Kakk i ett egg i hver, dryss på salt, kvern på pepper og gressløk. Slå over fløte. Sett formene i vannbad og la dem trekke til de er ferdige. Tiden det tar er avhengig av veldig mange variabler, i dag morges tok det omtrent 15 minutter for min del. Plommen skal være ganske flytende, og hviten skal ikke være helt stiv. Ta ut formene og riv over en passe mengde røkelaks. Serveres med en skje og kanskje litt brød.

Jeg lagde mitt vannbad i en kjele på ovnen, ikke i langpanne i ovnen, noe som fungerte veldig bra. Tror jeg skal forske litt mer på vannbad, og komme tilbake til det i et senere innlegg

Steak au frites

Stupid vegetarians, say no more…


Per person

350 g entrecote
Salt
Pepper
2 large potatoes
Frying oil (1 litre or more)



Let the meat rest at room temperature one hour before cooking.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into large sticks. Rinse the sticks in cold water to remove excess starch. Dry on kitchen paper.

Heat the oil to 160°C. Fry the potatoes – one portion at a time, to ensure that the temperature doesn’t drop too much – for five-six minutes. Don’t brown them, they should only get a hint of a tan. Remove from oil and spread on kitchen paper.

Heat a griddle pan on high heat. Season the entrecotes with salt and pepper, and rub in a thin layer of oil. Grill on both sides (turning them totally three times to obtain the angled griddle marks), and let them rest in the pan. They are ready when the core temperature is 55°C, use a thermometer.

Heat the oil to 190°C and fry the potatoes a second time, this time to get a brown and crispy exterior. This takes app one minute. Shake of excess oil and salt generously. Arrange frites and the perfectly cooked steak on hot plates. Serve.

Another loud Sunday

While Sundays are highly correlated with hangovers, and hangovers usually involve increased sensitivity to noises, it seems quite ridiculous to invite VERY NOISY PEOPLE for Sunday dinner over and over again, but high-pitch screaming and arms everywhere has become an integral part of Sunday dinner, and actually has a sort of soothing effect.

Spending an hour and half cooking in my own kitchen, while continuously being entertained with re-enactments of crawling out of a toilet booth in a nightclub and stories about sharting is the perfect Sunday evening. Keep up with the wine, and I’ll keep cooking.

Foams of all sorts have invaded restaurants everywhere lately, mostly as a silly little dash of whipped whatever, which doesn’t add a thing to the dish except a sign that you’ve read about Ferran Adria. But there are nice foams also, created using a N2O-fueled cream whipper, which turns all sort of things into a fabulous creamy texture. The hardware is somewhat expensive, but my kitchen will definitely see more foams in the near future.

Juleribbe med kålrabistappe
or
Spiced Christmas type belly of pork with rutabaga-vanilla cream

This dish turned out really beautiful, with the fat and spicyness of the pork belly going really well together with the rich, sweet rutabaga cream and the burnt saltiness of the browned butter.

The dish is somewhat challenging, mostly due to time spent preparing, and the use of a cream whipper. If your kitchen doesn’t have one, just mash the rutabaga with cream and vanilla. You don’t have to make the belly a day in advance, but that way it looks much better.

For the linguists out there; why is Kålrabi(n) the same as Swede(eng) or Rutabaga(eng), while Kohlrabi (eng) is the same as Turnips (n)?



Serves 4 as a starter

1 piece of pork belly (6-700 g)
Assorted Christmas spices, such as cinnamon, clove, star anise, black pepper

½ head of rutabaga (app)
½ vanilla pod, seeds only
1,5 dl double cream

3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worchestershiresauce

One day before serving:
Roast the pig belly in a pan with a couple of dl water, some vegetable mire-poix at 150 degree C for three-four hours, until the bones can be removed easily. Remove the bones and cut of the rind. Season with the ground spices of choice, put the meat on a plate, put a plate on top and weight the top plate down. Leave overnight.

On the day of serving:
Peel the rutabaga, divide into equally sized sticks (1x1 cm) and boil in salted water until completely tender. Drain and pour into a blender with the cream. Blend until completely homogenous. Strain this mix through a chinois or a fine sieve and mix in the vanilla seeds. Season with salt. Heat the mix, and fill it in a cream whipper, charge with one cartridge and keep warm.

Melt the butter, and leave it on moderate heat until the butter is brown, but be careful not to burn it. Let cool for a couple of minutes and mix in the soy and w-sauce.

Divide the pork belly into four equally sized pieces, and fry them in a considerable amount of butter. Fat side down first, until nice and brown, then on the other side while continuously ladling the meat.

Arrange the pieces of pork on a hot plate, place some rutabaga-cream on the plate, and spoon some of the butter around.

Perfect Saturday brunch

When it comes to the cooking ability of people, the real miserable ones are often referred to as able to fry an egg, but nothing else. Unfortunately this underestimate of the egg often leads to a laissez-faire cooking process, where people believe that it’s not possible to ruin an egg.

On several occasions I’ve been waken up by the smoke detector when other people have been trying to make egg and bacon for breakfast, I’ve suffered through “soft boiled” eggs cooked for ten minutes, I’ve had dry omelettes and burnt omelettes, I’ve had flat soufflés. But the worst is scrambled eggs. I’ve never been served scrambled eggs cooked to perfection; it’s usually just a pile of coagulated eggs which makes me sad instead of happy.

After reading a cooking book by british chef Gordon Ramsay, I’ve learnt how to make scrambled eggs, and ever since, scrambled eggs have been my perfect lazy hangover-breakfast/brunch treat.


Scrambled parmesan eggs with tomatoes


The right consistensy of scrambled eggs

This is a beautiful combination which feels quite light but still gives you a solid foundation for a day of browsing food stores and buying too expensive wines. The key to making the scramble eggs is low heat, and stop cooking at the right time. Since there will be lots of residual heat in the frying pan (unless you use a thin walled copper pan), you have to have the slices of bread lined up on a plate, so the eggs don’t get overcooked while you slice bread.

Per person

2 eggs
2 tbs cream or milk
1 tbs cold butter, cut into small dices
1 dl grated parmesan (app. – use as much as you want)
Salt
Pepper
One tomato
Two slices of good quality bread
1 tbs chopped chives

Whisk together the eggs, cream and parmesan – spare some parmesan for garnishing – with a pinch of salt. Pour this mix into a small non-stick frying pan on low heat. Stir occasionally. When the mix starts to coagulate, add the butter and stir gently, yet continously. This will lower the temperature. Continue stirring over low heat until the mixture forms lumps, but is still somewhat runny. Remove from the heat and mix in the chives. Divide the scrambled eggs on the slices of bread, place slices of tomato on top, and top with the rest of the parmesan, some Maldon salt or Fleur-de-sel and chopped chives. Serve immediately.


Incorporating the butter into the not yet scrambled eggs

Finally friday

It’s always fun to watch old movies where father comes home from work, and mother has the kids all ready for bed, a lovely dinner is cooking, and most importantly: a drink ready at hand.

Since I neither have a wife, nor kids, I have to mix my own drinks. That’s just as good, since I can mix the drink of my choice: Negroni.

Negroni

4 cl Gin
1 cl martini rosso
1 cl Campari
A slice of orange

Fill a tumbler half full of ice cubes, add the ingredients and garnish with a slice of orange. Ahh!

Broken heart

A heart cut to pieces usually describes a rather negative personal event, which has been the foundation of innumerable movies and books. Those coming from the US usually have a happy ending, while those from Europe usually have a tragic ending. But I’ve yet to see a story of a heart ripped out of the chest and torn to small pieces before impaled on a wooden pole described in a solely positive way. This will be my attempt to do this.



A lot of Europeans and Americans have lost all contact with nature, believing that fish and meat is something magically appearing in the stores, not the muscles of a cow, lamb or cod which has been killed so that we can eat it. Fortunately there are still sensible people left, and my favourite butcher is one of them. He sells all the strange cuts of beef, which you will never find in a supermarket, and he is proud to offer different types of offal. One day, while contemplating whether to use chuck or brisket for a stew, my attention was drawn towards a large pile of hearts. My only experience with heart as food prior to that had been a dry-cured heart of reindeer, which was really good, but more of a snack than something to cook for dinner. Feeling adventurous I boldly asked the butcher to add a couple of hearts to my order, and suddenly I went from an ordinary customer to a special customer. “Ahh, very good choice! I eat heart of lamb at least once a week with my family. It keeps me strong”.

After this experience, and the experience of tasting the hearts, I always buy a couple of them when I’m at the butcher, to make this lovely little dish.



Grilled heart of lamb

The heart muscle is a special piece of muscle, not like the ones in our arms and legs and not like the ones in our intestines. Maybe it’s because of this that the heart is extremely tender, at least for young animals. This is a really simple method of preparation, which really gives you the taste of grilled meat.

1 heart of lamb a person
Olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper
Slices of lemon
Skewers

Clean the heart. This can be done by cutting it into peaces and just cutting of the parts which are fat and blood vessels, don’t mind if the pieces aren’t perfect cubes, imperfection is manly if you’re serving this dish to men, rustique if serving it to a woman. Marinate the pieces in olive oil, salt and pepper. Heat a griddle pan so it’s smoking hot. Combine the pieces on the skewers. Grill for a couple of minutes, turning the spears now and then. Sprinkle with Maldon salt and serve with a lemon slice.