Food and Sanitation Part II

Food and Sanitation Part II
September 2002

Quite a few comments in the mailbag about the first Sanitation Issue,
so I am going to quickly address these, I
don't want to get into the CheffyBabbles too much I have a good bit
of information to give, just want to send Hugs out to everyone and
thanks for joining me in the Wild and Wacky World of chefmike. This
newsletter is published on several yahoogroups and the new
chefmikemaniacs are popping up all over the place, so needless to
say, a special CheffyHug to y'all and thanks for joining us.

**And she looks at the meat in her fridge�then flips a coin**

Well, should it stay or should it go???

Whew!! Tough question�this was probably the most asked question I
received in reply to the last newsletter. Like I mentioned in the
last newsletter, temperature is everything, and attaining desired
temperatures in a desirable time is very, very important.

The general rule of thumb is to cool down your product to less than
45 degrees (below 40 is optimal) in less than four hours. If it does
not, then you must ensure that the product is re-heated only once to
above 165 degrees. So for y'all that want to reheat a rare steak and
still want it on the rare side�you're SOL buddy�But it's like it is
with many foods, it is a needless risk we often take�myself included.

**How Can I tell?**

This is real tough one to answer. I have been working with food long
enough that I can tell by smell, texture, coloration blah, blah, blah�
you get the picture. Here are a list of things that I find to be the
most important things to do to ascertain that your foods are being
cooled fast enough.

1/ Cooling and proper storage is very important�numbero uno. When
considering the "4 hour time limit" like I discussed before, you must
consider from the time that the food sat out at dangerous
temperatures prior to your cooling, in both preparation and after it
was cooked.

2/ Proteins and dairy products are the top on the DangerList.(I just
love making up Cheffy words by combining them into one word�ha ha)

Meat, poultry, seafood, soy products, milk, cheese and other dairy,
and eggs especially,are on the DangerList, even Grammie's Pole Bean
Cassarole.

3/ Dividing out your product into smaller portions is a simple way to
attain desired temperatures. If it is liquid, cool it down in a
baking pan or some other shallow rectangular instrument. If it is a
large roast or some other piece of meat, cut it into smaller portions.

4/ Different kitchen utensils conduct heat better than others
therefore stainless steel will cool something down faster than
Tupperware for instance.

This really is a deep subject that I can rant on about forever, and I
hope this helped give a general overlook of what is important in
cooling down foods.

When do I chuck it?

Again, this is a hard one. If it dances around in your fridge wearing
flack jackets and humming the Marine Corps Hymn, I'd say get rid of
it. LOL

My general rule of thumb is this:

I reheat only once

I do not keep proteins that have been cooked more than a couple days
unless they are frozen.

I do not keep anything that is cream based for more than two days
unless it contains raw egg, and then I don't keep it at all.

I do not keep dairy two days past its expiration date and always
check the expiration dates of eggs before I buy them and before I use
them.

And like I said, watch out for those guys singing the Marine Corps
Hymn�

OK�enough rambling, feel free to send your questions to
chefmikesworld@yahoo.com

Take me to the Food Cheffy!!


From the Mailbag�

Why should I add wine to my sauce???

This was sent to me via chefmikesworld by my dear friend, and a damn
good Personal Chef, Marlene, from the Chicago area.

Marlene is helping Cheffy with his latest addition to his website
that will focus on treats and recipes for our four-legged buddies.
The recipes are going to highlight one of Marlene's concepts as a
Personal Chef, and as always, am glad to help her anyway I can with
any questions she (or anyone) may have. (and boy does she have a lot
of questions�LOL)

The general gist of what Marlene and I were discussing is that I am
encouraging people to send me a recipe I can comment on from a Chef's
point of view. Explaining methods of why this works and why this
doesn't, if I was preparing the dish what I would do differently etc.
If you wanna get in on the fun please join us, it is becoming rather
enjoyable and informative answering questions from around the globe.

Before I was answering these questions strictly by email but it seems
that it would add a nice twist to the many recipe sites and food
information sites on the internet. Come join the fun, send your
recipe and see what Cheffy has to say about it. The only thing that I
ask is that if you take the recipe from another site or from another
source is to give credit to the original author if possible, or post
the link from the site the recipe was taken from.


MARLENE'S ROAST PORK TENDERLOINS WITH DRIED FRUIT STUFFING &
HAZELNUTS


Butterflied and stuffed with a mixture of dried fruits and hazelnuts,
saut�ed shallots, fresh bread crumbs and herbs, they are roasted,
then sliced and topped with a sauce. The tenderloins can be prepared
several hours ahead.

3 � cups chicken broth (plus more if needed)
1 Pkg. Of Trader Joe's - Golden Berry Blend of dried fruit (8 oz.) it
has Golden Raisins,
Cherries,
Cranberries, Blueberries.
1 Pkg. Dried apple pieces - I had left over apples, cherries,
cranberries and used them all up in addition to the package
of Trader Joe's that I used.
3 T unsalted butter (divided)
1 Pkg. 2.5 oz of Hazelnuts (if whole with skins roast for 15 minutes
and rub skins off)
� cup chopped shallots
� cup fresh bread crumbs
� tsp. Dried thyme leaves
� tsp. Dried sage leaves, crumbled
1 Pork loin that was two pieces fat trimmed - I pounded both and made
2 roast
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 T Vegetable oil
1 Cup dry white wine
� cup apricot fruit spread or apricot preserves

Bring � cup broth to a boil in medium, heavy saucepan. Add all dried
fruits and remove from heat and let them stand for say 20 minutes.
Strain fruit mixture over a bowl and pressing down on fruit with back
of spoon extract as much liquid as possible. Save juice and transfer
fruit to a bowl.

Melt 2 T butter in large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add shallots
and saut� for a few minutes, until softened. Add bread crumbs, thyme
and sage and saut� for another minutes. Add to fruit mixture and add
hazelnuts (remember to roast if necessary to take skins off - rub in
a towel this makes it much easier to remove).

Place pork on board and cut down center only cutting two-thirds of
the way through. Open it like a book and put plastic wrap on it and
pound it so that it is the same thickness throughout. �" is best and
salt and pepper both sides. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread one-fourth of the stuffing over 1 tenderloin, leaving about �"
border on all sides. Using plastic wrap and starting with long side,
roll up meat, into a jellyroll style. Tie with kitchen string at
approx. 1 �" intervals to hold shape.

Melt remaining 1 T butter with oil in a large, heavy roasting pan
over medium-high heat. Add pork and brown on all sides, about 7
minutes. Remove pork from pan and do not clean pan. Place rack in
same roasting pan and set pork back in. Mix reserved fruit-soaking
liquid and 3 cups of broth. Pour mixture over pork. Roast until a
meat thermometer inserted into center of port registers 150 F,
basting every 10 or 15 minutes with pan juices, about 35 to 40
minutes. Transfer pork to a platter and tent with aluminum foil and
keep warm.

Place roasting pan over medium-high heat on stove. Add wine and if
needed broth so that it totals 2 cups. Bring to a boil, scraping up
brown bits, mix in apricot spread or preserves. Add cornstarch if
needed adjust salt and pepper.

Remove strings from pork. Slice pork and overlap slices on platter.
Spoon some sauce over and garnish with thyme and sage sprigs. Put
remaining sauce separately in a bowl.


Deglazing Sauce Pans

"� Ok Cheffy,I would like to know if you would do anything different
on the sauce. Also I am not always sure on which wines to use in
cooking. In this recipe I would try and pick one that had some fruit
or citus flavor but would have to depend on the store for help. Do
you have favorites that you mostly use??

Moe"

OK Marlena...here we go...

Dark meat, dark wine
Light meat, white wine

Pork is probably one of my exceptions to this rule. Although there
are many exceptions, this is just my general rule of thumb.

I choose something that is fruity. Some form of nice red is good, I
like burgundy with pork personally. I also like to use balsamic
vinegar to compliment the burgundy.

So why do we put wine in the pan anyway?

This method is called deglazing. Deglazing can be used with a stock
or broth but is best with something acidic like wine, vinegar or an
acidic fruit juice (lemon, lime, apple, orange, pineapple are some
good ones)

What the acid does is break down the particles in your pan first of
all and opens up the pan. What I mean by that is that pans are metal,
and metal is porous, when we heat any metal the pores open up due to
a molecular change in the substance (metal), when we add the acid it
cleanses the pores in our pans therefore reintegrating the flavors
absorbed by the pan back into our sauce.

Would I do anything different to the sauce?

Adding the slurry is good, but personally I do not like using
slurry's in sauces unless they are Asian dishes. For a nice sauce,
(although not all that healthy...LOL) I like to finish my sauce by
emulsifying butter to finish off the sauce.

I am not condemning your recipe by no means, it sounds great...
(when's dinner?) but if it were my dish...

I would put the roasting pan back on the stovetop, deglaze with a
nice Burgundy and some dark Balsamic vinegar and scrape my pan. I
would reduce this by 1/3 the original volume with a pinch of fresh
thyme and sage and my remaining fruits and liquid. I would have some
cold,unsalted butter in chunks (about 1T chunks)when the acidic
liquids have reduced I would add one chunk of butter at a time and
swirl or shake my pan or gently stir (do not use a whip, you do not
want to incorporate air into the sauce, you just want to cream the
sauce) until the reduction takes on a nice creamy essence. When I
attained my desired consistency I would add a little bit of heavy
cream to stabilize the sauce.

Chungachungabam Baby!!!!!! We're there...Cheffy-Style




Something sweet for my kid sister

This one is for one of my kid sister's whom just loves Mudslide
anything�
Mudslide Brownies

2 cups All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2/3 cup Unsalted butter
4 ounces chocolate chips
3 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Sugar
4 tablespoons Coffee liqueur
2 tablespoons Irish Cr�me liqueur
1 tablespoon Vodka
3/4-cup coarsely chopped walnuts (opt.)

Kahlua Glaze:
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons Coffee liqueur

Sift flour with baking powder and salt. In small saucepan, combine
butter and chocolate.

Set over low heat, just until chocolate is melted. Set
aside.

In bowl, beat in dry ingredients, chocolate mixture, coffee
liqueur, Irish creme liqueur and vodka.

Fold in nuts. Pour into 13x9-inch pan and bake at 350F about 25
minutes. Cool in pan. Spread with Kahlua Glaze. Decorate with whole
coffee beans, if desired. Cut into squares and serve.

OK�that's enough for the CheffyBabbles�see ya next time and Happy
Cooking.

May Peace and Serenity find its way into your world today and everyday
Peace, Hugs and Cookies,
Cheffy