trans Fatty Blog

Breakfast People

One of the interesting things about cooking at Inspiration Cafe is that you never know who you're going to meet. The cafe relies on volunteers, who tend to be a diverse bunch. One day the House of Blues Hotel sends over a crew, the next you're cooking with a pair of teenagers who may have barely picked up a knife before.

Either way, the Kitchen is a great equalizer. You walk into a room with a bunch of strangers and five minutes later the place is humming, everybody with a job: peeling potatoes, washing produce, cracking eggs. A sense of urgency cuts through the small talk, and people you might not otherwise trust with a large knife seem to handle the responsibility just fine.

Fun with Raw Fish

I've never tried making sushi or sashimi, mainly because it strikes me as a whole separate craft from cooking, and one I know nothing about. But as a person who eats sushi regularly, I was curious: what exactly is sashimi-grade fish?

The World Wide Web is full of sites that advertise sashimi (or sushi)-grade fish, but this is the same Web that brought us the I Love You virus. Vendors may be reputable, but if they aren't, what recourse do you have?

The Government doesn't have the answer. The U.S. Government doesn't even recognize a sushi grade, and since seafood inspection is voluntary; most fish is never inspected anyhow. Yet sushi and sashimi are increasingly common, sold everywhere from fine dining restaurants to takeout lunch joints to the local supermarket, where the guy behind the counter doesn't exactly look like the Iron Chef. So how do you know it's safe?

As far as I can tell, it boils down to two simple rules:

1. Somebody has to claim the product is fresh and wholesome enough to be eaten raw.

2. You have to believe it.

Breakfast Prep

Tuesday morning, 5:38 AM, at Inspiration Cafe near Broadway and Wilson. The ever-reliable Maisie is already there, and Sandy too. Breakfast is the matter of hour, and Sandy and I are cooks this morning. Service starts at 7:00, and I'm hoping for a slow day because I need to be somewhere shortly after. I walk into the kitchen, plunk down my bag, and get to work.

Finger on the Flavor

Seasoning often seems to boil down to a simple question: How much salt to use? Most chefs will tell you the answer is probably more than you're currently using, but not as much as you'll find in your typical can of chicken broth. Salt is the mother of all seasonings, with pepper a close second, so getting the right amount is a crucial skill.

It's a balancing act, and the only way to learn is to taste everything you make, at every step, all the time. (It may also help to imagine an impatient chef standing over your shoulder saying "needs salt," which in my experience is the one thing an professional chef would be most likely to say if he or she were in fact standing over your shoulder.)

But there's another aspect to seasoning, namely how do you get the right amount of seasoning onto the right piece of food just in the nick time, when you're also in the middle of doing a zillion of other things? Whether it's a screaming chef on the hot line or a screaming toddler clinging to your knee, most cooking in the real world is done under duress, so practicalities matter. Put down the salt shaker, drop the measuring spoons, and learn to season with your fingers.

First off, have salt and pepper ready in little tins or bowls, right next to your stove or wherever else you are likely to need them in the heat of battle. Otherwise you'll forget to add them at the crucial moment. Keep them there all the time, refilling them every few days as needed.

Next, think uniform distribution. If you've got a tray of salmon fillets to grill, they should all get equal treatment so one isn't saltier than the next. This is easier to achieve if you aim high, holding your fingers well above the food so the grains have a chance to spread as they fall. Some chefs drizzle; others use more of a toss, and more than a few add their own dramatic flourish.

This is the quickest way to season, and -- just as important -- it looks cool. Gracefully arcing a stream of white grains through the air into a hot saute pan is just much flashier than using a shaker. (Or so it would seem -- all those guys on the Food Channel can't be wrong.)

Learn to pick up just the amount you need each time, so you don't have to double-dip. And if you're really good, learn to keep one hand dry while cooking so you can do this without having the salt gunk up on your fingers.

Finally, use kosher salt, which doesn't have iodine. Sea salt is also great, but it's expensive, so I'd save it for special occasions. Some cooks say the coarser grains in kosher salt help it to cling better to the surface of foods, drawing out the moisture, and aiding development of a nice crust when searing. True or not, the larger grains are easier to sift between your fingers, and the texture just feels better.

Boning a Chicken

There are plenty of books and magazines that tell you how to bone a chicken; I won't attempt to repeat them here. I will tell you that I like the method where you cut the meat away from the carcass rather than the other way around, leaving an intact carcass with two halves, like this:

There you have it: the first photo brought to you by trans Fatty Blog. If you're looking for glossy pictures of perfectly-plated food, you've come to the wrong place. This site is all about process.

For best results, use a flexible knife designed for boning, but in a pinch almost any sharp knife will do. Often it's more a matter of pulling the meat away from the carcass rather than actually cutting it. Start by cutting the meat from the breast bone on one side, working gradually until you expose the joint that attaches the wing to the body. If you can't find where that is, grab the wing with one hand and use the fingers of your other hand to explore along the wishbone until you find where they meet. If necessary, rotate the wing in its socket to figure out exactly where to sever the joint.

Continue toward the leg, pulling or cutting the meat free as you go, and twist or cut the thigh free from the body. Really it's more a matter of doing than reading; once you try it a few times you'll be fine.

The two halves can then be broiled or roasted whole, or cut further to yield your classic chicken pieces for frying. And don't forget to freeze the bones for stock.

Walk Past Those Boneless Breasts

If you like chicken, learn to walk past those shrink-wrapped packages of boneless breasts. Instead, buy whole chickens and bone them yourself.

Why? Several reasons:

1. You'll save money. Whole birds are often better value.

2. You'll get more flavor. The skin, bones, dark meat, and connective tissues are where all the flavor comes from. (It's also where all fat comes from, but real fat, as we know, is back. Skim it off if you must.) You may even learn to love the stuff that passes for dark meat nowadays, but's another topic. And you can save the bones and make real stock.

3. Finally, you'll be one tiny step closer to accepting where your dinner comes from, no longer afraid to stare down a carcass. (Unless you're a vegetarian, this is reality.) As you gain experience, you'll notice small differences in size, body shape, and tenderness. You'll learn some anatomy, and discover that breasts cook more quickly than the thighs and legs, and think about why that might be. (Hint: Ducks can actually fly, and their breasts are all dark meat.) You'll buy an organic chicken and realize that yes, it really is different, in ways that you can feel and taste. On a rare trip to the country, you'll see chickens running in somebody's barn, and wonder how they'd cook up. You'll be ready to move to more exotic game birds, meats, and fish. You'll realize raw protein is malleable, that fabrication is the first crucial step in food preparation. You'll get your hands dirty, ask more questions, and become a better cook.

And when Thanksgiving rolls around, you'll be a dead ringer.

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UPDATE: Edited the title of this post to avoid getting too many hits from people who were looking for something else. Sorry folks!