How To Make Grits
(Sauteed Grits with Sausage and Poached Egg)

By ruhlman | Published: February 24, 2010

Sauteed grits with poached egg and sausage, photo by Donna

Over the weekend I was working on a recipe based on the traditional low country dish, shrimp and grits.  I’d found excellent grits from this company at my grocery store, I tapped my friend and former instructor Eve Felder for her recollections of growing up in Charleston, and I made shrimp and grits for Donna, a late dinner after seeing the amazing Jeff Bridges performance in Crazy Heart. I’d made extra grits so in cleaning up after dinner, I poured the leftovers into a springform pan and refrigerated them.  By morning they were solid and sliceable. Donna happened to be setting up to shoot wine braised short ribs and semolina egg noodles.  I happened to be hungry.  I also happened to have some duck sausage and chicken sausage ...

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Posted in Breakfast, Charcuterie, Eggs, Technique | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

New Site Design!

By ruhlman | Published: February 21, 2010

Photo by Donna

The bright colors and bright minds I found in Ixtapa convinced me that I needed to brighten and clean up my blog.  The grays and and boxes were heavy and that combined with this winter that's already too long, made me hunger for a lot of clean white space.  So I asked my friend Joe to give me that.  I also put one of my favorite kitchen tools as a graphic because I love the lines of that spoon.  Often I'll read something or hear something that I want to get down or get out and it doesn't really fit in a regular post.  So Joe created place in the right column for these kinds of smaller thoughts.  I don't know if it will prove useful.  Comments are such an important and valued part of ...

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Why I Cook

By ruhlman | Published: February 19, 2010

Dicing Onion, photo by Donna

Dicing Onion, photo by Donna

I posted yesterday on twitter that I began cooking because I was hungry but continued to cook because I loved to eat, and it got me thinking.  There are so many different reasons to cook, as a number of twitters pointed out.  Self-defense was a good one!  And with the state of our processed food, one that every cook can claim!  Can I encourage other bloggers to post about why you cook?  Spell it out.  Writing it down forces you to know what you think.  When I was nine, I cooked because I was hungry and making things was fun.  Today, age 46 and devoted to family, I cook because: —I want my family to have great food all the time that’s tasty and good for their body and ...

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Vanilla Sugar

By ruhlman | Published: February 15, 2010

Vanilla pods, packed in sugar, photo by Donna

Vanilla pods, packed in sugar, photo by Donna

James and I made popovers Sunday morning and sprinkled them with vanilla sugar, and this sugar made the popovers appealing in a surprisingly effective way.  Like fleur de sel on caramel.  It brought the flavors and textures together without overtly calling attention to itself.  When I’d posted a while ago in a recipe to discard the vanilla bean, I got what amounted to a scolding from Shuna, who found it appalling that one could so easily waste an opportunity for the pleasures of vanilla sugar.  She was right to scold. I had never really taken the time to appreciate the wonderful aromatic flavor of sugar but now I always will.  It deserves a place in the spice rack.  That it is born ...

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Creme Anglaise:
Cream or No Cream?

By ruhlman | Published: February 10, 2010

David Lebovitz's killer chocolate cake with milk-only creme Anglaise, photo by Donna

David Lebovitz's chocolate cake with milk-only creme Anglaise, photo by Donna

“There’s no cream in anglaise sauce,” the beachcomber said.  He spoke with what sounded like genuine disdain. “What do you mean there’s no cream?” said I, waves lapping at my ankles, cold mojito in hand. “There’s no cream.” “How do you know?” The man paused as if this were self-evident.  “Alice told me.” The man was David Lebovitz, for many years a chef at Chez Panisse.  (David just emailed to clarify: Alice did not say cream was verboten, but rather that she liked a very thin Anglaise.) Our conversation did not devolve into a Thomas-said, Alice-said schoolboy spat, though it did make clear that vanilla sauce, crème Anglaise, deserved another post.  I wrote Vanilla Sauce In Black ...

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