In Praise of the Braise

I love to cook. I'm really good at it. This time of year particularly suits my cooking and eating style. Hearty foods on chilly nights. Dinner cooked in one pot with some hot crunchy bread. One of my favorite methods of cooking is braising. It's really quite simple and fool proof if you follow some basic techniques. A good braise includes meat or poultry, some savory vegetables, a good meat or vegetable stock that includes an acidic element like wine or tomatoes and a variety of spices. You need a good heavy pot ( I love cast iron because it heats evenly, is virtually indestructible and you can use it on a stove top or in the oven) . Braising is a style of cooking that evolved as a method of cooking tough cuts of meat by people that couldn't afford better cuts. Many classical or high cuisine dishes are direct descendants of these peasant dishes. Coq au Vin is one. The dish pictured here is one I made that has some Moroccan influences. Here you go.

The meat. One cut up (organic) chicken. I always buy whole chickens and cut them up myself. I remove the wings, thighs, legs and breasts from the body and have a nice carcass to make stock with.

The vegetables. 1 large onion thinly sliced, two good size carrots diced small, 2 or 3 celery sticks diced small. 3 or 4 garlic cloves crushed and 2 cans of garbanzo beans.

The stock. 1 quart chicken stock. (Your own home made is best, but it is easy to find good organic chicken broth these days) and 1 16 oz can of whole tomatoes.

The spices. Olive oil, 1 t salt, 1 t pepper, 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/4 t cumin, 1/4 t cloves, 1/4 t nutmeg 1/2 cup golden raisins and 1/4 cup honey.

Put it together. Dredge chicken in some flour. Heat pot, add olive oil, heat oil till smoking, reduce heat to medium, add chicken and brown on all sides. Remove chicken. Add carrot, onion, celery and garlic into pot and brown. Add chicken back to pot. Add stock, tomatoes, garbanzo beans and spices except for raisins and honey. Lower heat to med low, cover and let cook for 1 hour. Add honey and cook for another 1/2 hour. Add raisins and cook for final 1/2 hour. Adjust salt to taste. Serve with rice, hot crunchy bread or flour tortillas. Enjoy.

Sunday Gravy

I learned to cook from my mother. She he learned to cook from her mother. My grandmother was the best cook I ever met. She did things with food that still amaze me. I remember the smells and tastes like they were yesterday. I make my Sunday gravy the way my mother did. It's really good, but not as good as hers. She makes hers the way my grandmother did. It's really good, but not as good as my grandmothers'. It's funny how you can do things the same, use the same ingredients and techniques but somehow it still turns out differently.

There are as many different sauces and recipes for pasta as there are people. Quick tomato sauces, sauces with a cream base, plain olive oil, garlic and hot pepper etc. To me, Sunday Gravy is the true test of a good cook. It's a meat sauce that cooks for a good part of the day. It fills the house with a wonderful aroma and by the time it is done, your mouth is watering and and you can't wait to dig in. Forget the salad, pass the pasta. My grandmother would often use pigs feet as the meat for her sauce. I never really got into eating them, but they really add an incredible flavor to the gravy. Sometimes she would also add Italian sausage or meatballs. Sometimes all three. Most often the Sunday Gravy was served over pasta, sometimes over her home made ravioli (unbelievably good meat ravioli). Rich and intense in color and flavor, her Sunday Gravy was a labor of love. She suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis for most of her adult life so just standing at the stove was painful. I often wonder if that was an element in the greatness of her cooking. She loved cooking for the people she loved, and it came through. Following is my recipe for Sunday Gravy. Enjoy.

The meat. I think pork makes the best Sunday Gravy. Not a lean cut, something with some fat and bone. Pork ribs work really well. Cut them into 3 inch lengths. Beef short ribs work well also. You can add some Italian Sausage as well. Use a couple of pounds of meat not including the sausage.

The tomatoes. I really like ground tomatoes. They add a really nice texture. You can add tomato paste for a thicker sauce if you like. Since it cooks all day, I usually leave it out.

The spices. My family is from Sicily and the cooking was influenced by the cuisines of North Africa. Sweet spices are used in many savory dishes. I use cloves, anise seeds, fennel seeds salt, pepper, sugar and red wine in my Sunday Gravy.

The rest. Good olive oil, onions and garlic.

Put it together.

Heat large pot (6 quart or larger) over medium heat. Add olive oil and heat till smoking. Add meat (not the sausage) and brown. Reduce heat a bit. A good rule to keep things from sticking is to heat the pot, add and heat the oil, then add the item to be browned. Remove the meat after it has browned. Add one large diced onion. Saute 5 minutes. Add 4 cloves diced garlic. Saute till onions are translucent. Add 4 whole cloves, 1 teaspoon anise and fennel seeds. Saute a couple of minutes more. Return meat to the pot. Add 3 large cans ground tomatoes and bring to a boil. reduce heat to low. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and one cup of red wine. Add fresh ground pepper and a teaspoon of salt. Be careful with the salt. Since the Gravy is going to cook all day(at least 4 hours) it is really easy to over salt. If you are going to add sausage, brown it and add it to the gravy at this point. Stir every 10 to 15 minutes so the gravy doesn't burn on the bottom. Taste when you stir and adjust seasonings, more sugar, wine, pepper. You want a nice balance of sweet from the sugar and acid from the wine. Let it cook at least four hours partially covered. Just before serving, add salt to taste. A little under salted is good if you are going to top your pasta with Parmesian cheese. Serve over your favorite style of pasta, something that will stand up to the gravy. Enjoy.

Beowoof

I want my money back. This is the worst movie I've seen in years. Bad acting, bad dialogue, no real plot, even the music sucked. How is it possible to spend this much money and turn out such an incredible piece of crap. I mean really. If you haven't seen it yet, don't. I'll give you a synopses.

It's 6th century Denmark. Old King Farfegnugen and his bros are sitting around the mead hall getting wasted on mead or Jaegermiester or something when the evil Grendel crashes the party, literally, and wreaks bloody havoc. Seems this happens whenever the king and his bros get together. Funny thing is, nobody seems to be prepared. After killing quite a few of his bros, King Farf tries to fight Grendel, but Grendel won't fight and runs home to mommy. The king shuts down the mead hall, I think it's called Ragnarok, or maybe that's the name of the band that was supposed to play that night. Enter Beowoof and his merry band of preo Nazis all dressed in furs and heavily armed. Beowoof has come to kill Grendel. The king decides to re-open the mead hall (Ragnarok) to trap Grendel so that Beowoof can kill him. Guess what? It works. For some reason Beowoof decides to fight Grendel unarmed and naked. Some sort of honor thing. Of course Grendel is 3 times as big as Beowoof and has a nasty set of claws and teeth but that's the way he likes it. Of course Grendel eats one of Beowoofs bros before he can get at him. Beowoof jumps on Grendels' back and rabbit pinches him into submission then tears off his arm. Grendel again runs home to mommy and dies in her arms (tentacles?) Beowoof decides he needs to get mommy next, so he goes to her cave to kill her. But there's a problem. Mommy is actually Angelina Jolie with no clothes on and a really sexy Russian (Italian? Polish?Portuguese? whatever) accent. I missed most of the plot line here because I was staring at Angelina thinking: Wow, look at those breasts. They look bigger than the last time I saw her naked in a movie. They're pretty perky for a woman her age. I wonder if they were digitally enhanced. I think I can see her nipples. Maybe not. Look at those lips, I wonder if they were digitally enhanced. Is she really naked or did they just plop her head on a body double? Wow, look at those bre... oh yeah, it's really computer animation. But look at those breasts. Wow.

I think she convinces Beowwoof to replace the son she's lost in return for power. Of course Beowoof agrees cuz I mean it's Angelina Jolie and she's naked and look at those breasts. Old King Farfegnugen decides to make Beowoof king after him cuz he doesn't have any sons cuz his wife is frigid (Duh, it's relly cold in Denmark) The king gets so drunk, he thinks he can fly and says, "Hey Bros, watch this" and doesn't really fly. Fast forward to the future. There's the gratuitous battle scene. Then there's a celebration commemorating Beowoofs killing of Grendel and mommy, but wait, he didn't kill mommy like he was supposed to cuz I mean it's really Angelina Jolie and look at those breasts. Wow. Anyway, one of Beowoofs bros is telling the story but he's actually speaking in some sort of proto Germanic language while the rest of the movie has been in English. Turns out that Beowoofs son with Angelina morphs into a really cool dragon and attacks the town. In order to redeem himself, Beowoof goes out to kill him. There is your typical gratuitous dragon slaying segment, you know, flying around while attached to the dragon by a chain, loosing his sword, stabbing the dragon in it's only vulnerable spot and ripping out its heart, that kind of stuff. Of course Beowoof falls to his death and his buds put him on a ship with all of his really cool gear except for the golden Dragon Cup. Did I forget to mention the golden Dragon Cup? Oh well, I think it was important. Then they light the ship on fire and send it out to sea. It goes about 20 yards out and sinks. Bye Bye Beowoof. Then Angelina comes out of the water, but not far enough to see those really fine computer animated digitally enhanced bre... The final scene is Beowoofs' last and most faithful bro holding the golden Dragon Cup and staring at Angelina thinking "Wow. Look at those bre....." I think the end was my favorite part. I mean the very end when the movie was finally over.

The Macy's Parade (not the one in New York)

It seems that every year the stores open earlier to kick off the holiday shopping season. This year one store opened at midnight, several at 4:00 AM most at 6:00 or 7:00 AM. Do people really get up at 3:00 AM in order to make it to the 4:00 AM "Doorbuster" sales to buy a Lava Lamp for $6.99? I wouldn't believe it except for the fact that I live near one of the biggest malls in the Silicon Valley. The freeway off-ramp and the main drag to the mall are lined with cars full of happy shoppers just trying to get in to the parking structure. These roads are usually backed up on days other than Black Friday (there's a Macy's there, hence the name the Macy's Parade my wife and I have given the area) but today, it's insane. When did shopping become a past time? To me, shopping is something I do when I need something, not something I do to pass the day. It appears to me that people participating in these events are not particularly enjoying themselves. It looks more like a chore. Forget about the argument of "The True Meaning of Christmas". It's not about Christmas anymore. It's about stuff. Stuff we think we and other people need. When did buying a new $60,000 Lexus for your wife become something that has anything to do with Christmas or love for that matter? Do we really feel better about ourselves or feel more loved by our friends or family when they buy something for us? Are these the things we remember fondly about Christmas as we get older, or are we just victims of really sharp marketing people that have convinced us that we don't really love others unless we buy them the items they are marketing? My best memories of Christmas are the barrels of cookies my mother would bake and hide so that we wouldn't find them. Of course we would since you can't really hide barrels of cookies. Or my father going out into the woods to find the ugliest tree possible and the big blue tin box full of ornaments coming out of storage with the same decorations we'd used for years. My mother would cook an unbelievable meal and the house would smell wonderful. Friends and family would get together and my father would play mandolin and Charley Norman would accompany him on guitar. That stuff has meaning.

Chilies

My main criteria in choosing where to live is whether or not I can grow tomatoes and peppers. I am not what you could call an expert gardener, but I do pretty well with tomatoes and peppers of the heirloom variety. I like spicy food. I really like spicy food. There are definitely some things that adding heat to will destroy, but for the most part, I will add some sort of heat to whatever I am eating. As usual I grew a good variety of peppers this year; Back Hungarian, Bulgarian Carrot, Fish, Jalapeno, Serrano and Thai Dragon. As the season progresses, I will add fresh peppers to what I cook as the peppers ripen. Some I pick green, others l let mature fully until they turn red, orange or purple depending on the variety. Some I will hang on strings and let dry. This year was good in terms of production. As a matter of fact, I still have some Thai Dragons on the vine. I don't really know why some years are better than others. If I did, I could call myself an expert gardener. I love almost all members of the edible Nightshade family. (Frankly I don't understand eggplant. To me it's like eating an oil soaked sponge most of the time.) This may explain my addiction to tobacco. Peppers are really quite easy to grow. I use the organic method and therefor I lose a certain amount to bugs but I am willing lose some and not poison the ground. This year I made a couple of batches of Harissa, a Middle Eastern chili paste inspired by the wonderful Moroccan restaurant I work at as a server. It's very simple and very delicious. Here's the recipe;

8 ounces dried hot chilies, stems removed. Leave the seeds. (If you don't have your own dried chilies, use De Arbol, Japones or any other type you like. )

2 cloves Garlic

Olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon Caraway seeds

Put the dry ingredients in a blender and turn it on. Drizzle enough olive oil into the blender to make a paste, but don't puree it. Leave some texture. Store in a jar. It will keep indefinitely in the fridge.

This is a great thing to add to soups, stews, eggs or anything else you like hot. Add it to your own portion unless everyone likes thier food spicy. Enjoy.

The True State of Music

A few weeks ago I was browsing the musicians section on Craigslist when I happened to find Thomas Penders advertising for piano students and looking for work scoring music for film. Wow. Incredible talent. He is a classically trained composer and pianist from Holland. I spent an hour going through the pieces he has posted, both his own works and those of classical composers. His own works include preludes, fantasies, etudes, sonatas and concertos for piano and cello. Other works include chamber music, choral and orchestral pieces. The orchestral pieces are played using high end synthesizers and samplers so the sounds are sometimes a bit funky, but the music is fantastic. I got in touch via e-mail to express my appreciation for his work, and also to talk to him about how to present himself via the Internet. I am not an expert on the Internet (if I was, everyone would be reading my blog and buying my CD) but I do understand that how you present yourself is as important as your music. His website looks like it was created by someone in grade school. (Sorry Thomas. No offense intended to whoever did the work) The music however shines through. I intend to help him in any way that I can to get his music heard.

As I said at the beginning of the post I found him on Craigslist. I also like to follow the posts I find there by musicians complaining about playing in cover bands or playing their own music and having a hard time surviving or complaining about club owners that don't want to pay them for playing, or crying about this or that blah blah blah. I will sometimes respond by reminding them that the greatest musician in the history of Western Civilization (Mozart in my opinion) died a pauper and was buried in an un-marked grave. As I look at the current state of music in the world I realize that things haven't changed that much. The air waves are flooded with crap, great artists do TV commercials (Bob Dylan doing an ad for Victoria's Secret? What?) extraordinarily talented musicians live in obscurity. I know it's always been this way, but it really does seem to be worse these days. Rolling Stone ( a great magazine for political writing ) fills its' pages with articles on new bands that nobody will remember by the next issue. I understand that it is about selling CDs. It is also about sameness. Comparing one band I've never heard of to two other bands I've never heard of. Don't get me wrong, there are some talented people that make it. I finally heard some stuff by Amy Winehouse. Great voice and song writing. I figure she has a year or two before she overdoses on drugs, alcohol or both. In the mean time, God Bess You Thomas Penders.

Hey Diddle Dee Dee, The Restaurant Life For Me

There's nothing quite like dealing with the general public on a daily basis. Five years ago I left the high tech life to re-join the food service industry. Before it was always a supplement to whatever else I was doing, most often playing in bands and not really making enough to live on. Now I'm a full time server. I used to be a waiter but we don't use that title anymore because it is too gender specific. (kinda like stewardess and flight attendant.) It's a good way to make a decent living if you work in the right place. My philosophy is; if you set your standards low enough, you can be happy doing just about anything. I've always felt that every ones should be required to work in a restaurant before starting their real career. There's a lot to be learned waiting on tables. For example;
A) There is a difference between being a server and a servant. Hi. my name is Vince. I'll be your server tonight.
B) It's rude to snap your fingers or wave your hands to get your servers attention. If you do that to me, I'll pretend I didn't see you.
C) Your server did not cook your food so the tip should reflect the quality of service not the doneness of your steak.
D) Your server is not the person that wrecked your day, that was your boss.
E) If your visiting from another country, servers in America are not looked at as having real jobs. In America we work for tips. I'm sure there is something about that in your travel guide.
F) It really is okay to make eye contact with your server and acknowledge their presence.
G) Don't tell your server what a great time you had and how great the service was and then leave a 12% tip. My landlord isn't going to lower my rent because I tell him how much I love living in his house.

These things can be applied to every day life as well. For example;
Your server (replace with husband/wife/partner or kid) is not the person that wrecked your day, that was your boss.

The next time you visit a restaurant or bar, remember that your server is just trying to make it through their hellish shift, or they're frantically looking for a soup spoon so the manager doesn't smack them for not setting the mis en place (that's a fancy French restaurant term cause you have to go to waiter school in France before you can be a waiter) before the soup arrives.

There is one exception to the rules listed here. If you server or bartender is in their early to mid twenties, is extremely good looking, uses Axe cologne, keeps their back to you because what they are really doing is texting their friends. and is hitting on a customer or co-worker, go ahead and snap your fingers and wave your arms. That's really the only way you're going to get your food or beverages.

Silk Road

Silk Road is a project that began about ten years ago. I began writing it after getting into using computers and samplers to write music. The eleven pieces were written over a two year period and used no live musicians. Just me and my gear in my studio. The project was inspired by my studies in World Music and Gamelan with American Composer Lou Harrison at San Jose State University. More about Lou in a future blog. The CD uses the Silk Road as a metaphor blending musical ideas from around the world in combination with more modern genres. The CD spent about a year on MP3.com and did quite well in the World Fusion category. It was also distributed in a small area in Northern California in music kiosks in Whole Foods Market locations. About two years ago I decided to re-record it using live musicians. I found some incredible musicians in the Bay Area including Shan Kenner on guitar, Ma Jie on Pipa (Chinese Lute), Nayo Ulloa on Andean Flute and Anne Hutcherson on Oboe and English Horn. I played Bass as well as keyboards. My wife Maria did the art work. I am looking forward to working with them on future projects. You can hear examples of Silk Road on my website at http://www.vincentflores.com/ The CD can be purchased at CD Baby. I hope you enjoy the music.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. What is it that people find interesting in reading other people's blogs? For me it is a world full of unique individuals sharing their experiences, knowledge perspectives and ideas in a format that almost anyone anywhere can share. As I look back at my life, I would say it has been full. Full of great music, wonderful food, unique people, some world travels and above all, an appreciation of everything there is out there that one can experience. Every day I find something or someone new that adds to my life. I have been extremely fortunate in my life in that I have not suffered great hardships. When I look back at the few hard times I have experienced, they seem more like opportunities for growth than true trials. I have not suffered long bouts of poverty although there certainly have been some hard times. I have not experienced war, hunger, unexpected loss of loved ones or any of the extreme hardships that so many in the world face daily. My experiences have brought me to where I am today. What I talk about in this blog is a reflection of those experiences. I hope you find it interesting.

Also, please visit my website http://www.vincentflores.com to hear some of my music and find out a bit about my life as a musician