Food and Finals

Since I only started cooking this quarter, I did not really know how crunch time would affect my eating habits. I figured that cooking would be a great way to procrastinate. Unfortunately, studying got the better of me, and my kitchen has been neglected. I've been surviving on left overs stretched with free food from clubs and parties... (If you have facebook, here's ridiculous proof.)

This morning's farmer's market was a reminder that I've been neglecting my diet. I'm making up for it by cooking two servings of swordfish smothered in a home made onion-tomato spread. One for dinner, one for later on this week.

I feel like left-overs have a negative stigma - and when you're not cooking for yourself, its obvious why: its redundant, not as fresh, and non-uniformly heated by a microwave that infuses the smell of whatever was reheated previously. If we keep in mind the satisfaction equilibrium, though, the time saved makes left-overs invaluable. So when finals are around the corner, double the recipe, and refer to parents for expiration dates.

Crème Brûlée

One of my favorite desserts is crème brûlée, literally "burnt cream" in French. This 500 year old dessert is definitely not an ideal healthy quick dish for college students, but its a great way to impress friends with a expensive sounding dish.
My dad usually buys prepared crème brûlée from the supermarket. Over the last couple of years, he's accumulated over 3 dozen ramekins - the dishes crème brûlée is baked in. Since he's running out of space for dishes, I thought I would try making the dessert from scratch, and reusing the ramekins. If you do not have ramekins, there are often some hanging out in thrift stores. Any oven-safe shallow bowl will do.

This recipe is from cross referencing different sources online.

Crème Brûlée  (three ramekins)

Ingredients
+ 2 cups heavy cream (or 1 cup milk, 1 cup heavy cream for less richness)
+ 1 ts vanilla extract (optional)
+ 3 egg yolks
+ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
+ 3 ramekins
+ deep baking dish

Preperation
Start heating the cream in a pot over the stove. *Turn off the stove when the cream starts boiling, and let it hang out for 10 minutes.* While it begins heating, mix the three egg yolks and the sugar in a bowl, mixing long enough to incorporate a little air. The mixture should lighten in color a little bit. (In the photo, notice the different in color between the beaten mixture and the yolk on the side of the bowl). If you have vanilla, add it into the egg mixture. 

While the cream cools, preheat the oven to 325 degrees, slowly add it to the egg mixture while stirring continuously. Now, split this mixture between three ramekins (I was able to make 3.5, but it depends on the size of your ramekins). Here's the tricky part- put the ramekins in the deep baking dish, then add water to the dish until the water level lies a little under the tops of the ramekins. (I used bigger ramekins for each ramekin, but the principle is the same.) Now shove them in the oven around forty minutes so that they set. Check on them often. They're ready when a fork comes out clean when you stick it an inch from the edge of the ramekin. They will still be jiggly. Mine had a few brown spots, but were mostly uniform. Let them cool off outside the oven, then refrigerate them. They take 20 minutes to prepare before serving. They last about 2 days in the fridge. Freezing them will let them last longer.

Serving
I'll assume you dont have a torch to caramelize the sugar. Sprinkle less than a tablespoon of sugar over the top of each ramekin. Broil them on the oven. Within a few minutes, the sugar will melt and caramalize. Check often, and pull them out when the sugar has been boiling for 3-4 minutes, or when the top is browning. Pull them out, let them cool off for five minutes before serving. 

The Satisfaction Equillibrium

Home Made French Fruit Tart 2008

The idea of making desserts sounds both fiscally and academically straining. Many recipes are - especially those involving cheese or fruit, such as cheese cake or fruit tarts or tiramisu. Still, homemade desserts are a clearly superior to processed ones when we compare them using what I call the satisfaction equillibrium.

The satisfaction one can attain from a dish can be calculated by a simple formula:

Satisfaction = Taste ÷ Price²

The formula is derived from the well known formula:

Satisfaction = Reality ÷ Expectations

Notice: As expectations rise, satisfaction lowers. The better the reality, the higher the satisfaction. Now, from a college-food context, we can assume that the criterea for reality is mostly taste, allowing for substitution:

Satisfaction = Taste ÷ Expectations

Recall from experience that both the time and the money spent on a dish is a good judgement of what to expect. Also recall that 'Time is Money':

Satisfaction = Taste ÷ (Time*Money)

Time = Money

Satisfaction = Taste ÷ Money² = Taste ÷ Price²

 

This law can be generalized to all food. Now, application of this equation has some interesting implications. Notice, for example, that as we take the limit of Price to zero, Satisfaction grows to infinite. Indeed, no one ever complains about free food. Also, notice that taste has to be four times as good to account in only a 2 times increase in price.

Even as a beginner cook, I have to insist that half the fun of eating is sharing food I've personally made. Perhaps theorists should concentrate on adding a "bragging rights" weight to the equation.

E-Cooking

I have a lot of support cooking from my friends and family. However, a steady influence and motivation for cooking comes from my partner in crime, Melissa Galinato. She's a brilliant undergrad at UCSD, majoring in human biology. She, too, suffers from too much work and not enough time, but still finds enough to cook a few times a week. Coincidentally, we've been a couple for almost two years.

Going to a different college than my better half is advantageous, since I get more practice cooking. Still, food is inarguably an experience to share with others. Half of my cooking goes to friends. I often regret cooking if no one is around to share it. So, with cooking and eating as connected an experience as it is, Melissa and I tried something new. We call it e-cooking. 

E-Cooking

Ingredients
+ laptop
+ webcam
+ saranwrap
+ another recipe

+ another cook, proximity irrelevant

Place your laptop somewhere safe in your kitchen, cover the keyboard with saran wrap (not too tightly, so that it doesn't over-heat). Set up a video-chat using skype or the new google video chat. Have who-ever is on the other line repeat these first steps. Proceed with recipe instructions simultaneously with the other cook.

Quiche Lorraine E-Cooking 2008 - just before baking

Strawberry Preserves

When my parents divorced long ago, my father was also divorced from the culinary security of his marraige. To fill the void of my mom's unbeatable home cooking, my dad taught himself how to cook. What's better than one parent that cooks great food? Two parents that cook great food. 

Last weekend my dad and I made strawberry jam. Until now, I've never been around when he prepares it. Jars of preserves serve as reminders of home for weeks after they're made. If you have empty jars hanging around, and a lazy weekend, preserves are definetly worth the time they take to make. 

Strawberry Preserves

Ingredients
+ fresh or frozen strawberries
+ same weight of sugar (maybe a little less)
+ empty jars
+ big pot

Mix together berries and sugar in a pot (don't heat the pot!), and let it hang out over night. Don't skimp too much on the sugar. In fact, its the sugar that acts as a preservative for the jam. "The berries attempt to form equillibrium of sugar content between their inside and outsides. Leaving it overnight infuses the sugar inside the berries." When you're ready, after at least 8 hours of letting the sugar and fruit hang out, put the pot on medium heat. The sugar will melt and  get very hot (hotter than the boiling point of water, so watch out). Let it simmer this way for at least an hour. Then, with a ladle, pour the preserves into jars, watching not to burn yourself. Immidiately put the lids on the jars while they're still hot. As they cool down, the pressure will lower inside the jar, and reseal the pop-up button on top. Since they are air-tight, you don't have to worry about refridgerating them until you open them. 

I love jam in yogurt, fresh bread and pancakes and crepes. I dont think there's any bad way to eat it. 

Just watch out not to make a mess...

Stale Bread Fresh Bread

This weekend was a good cooking weekend. I am fortunate to have been raised between two food geeks and their friends. As a result, their kitchens are well stocked, and I can have a field day whenever I come home. Saturday morning, my girlfriend helped me recycle a slightly stale baguette for breakfast. Its quick, cheap, delicious and filling. 

French Toast

Ingredients
+2 eggs
+1/2 cup milk
+pinch salt
+syrup
+bread 
(amount  of bread depends on type. Generally, stay away from breads with too much flavor, like sourdough)
+oil/buttered frying pan or skillet

Beat together eggs, milk, and salt. Pour mixture in a shallow flat dish and lay bread on top, a couple minutes for each side of the bread. While the slices of bread absorb the eggs, turn on medium heat under the skillet, and grease it with a small amount of either butter or cooking oil. I tend to use a very light layer of vegetable oil. Throw on the soaked bread, and fry, flip, fry until browned on both sides. Serve warm with syrup or fresh fruit or something. (finished product)

Worried about raw egg? As long as the eggs reach ~150°F or 65°C (significantly less than the boiling point of water), there is no risk of salmonella.

--

So having finished all the bread, we decided to replenish the stock. We made two baguette loaves as contribution to the meals we were invited to for lunch and dinner. Soon I'll put up a baguette recipe, photos included.

The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of home made food made by close friends and family.  Everyone came together through the common interest of good-tasting food. I hope that cooking more and encouraging my friends to cook as well, I can help foster more dialogue around food.

Have a Nice Day

What ever idealized and zealous notions I held about my possible eating habits were shattered the same day I started this blog. I originally had planned on eating at home, in San Diego. 

Upon arriving at the train station in Irvine, my train was delayed one hour. So, after a ten mile ride to the station, I was dismayed at the idea of waiting another two hours before eating. I ended up eating stagnant Chow Mein and fried rice that had spent all day under heat lamps. The food tasted good - but beneath the shiny

 uniform layer of grease on my noodles, the styrofoam smiling face on my to-go box wouldn't stop mocking my hypocrisy. The meal cost $5. It wasn't healthy, it wasn't sustainable (styrofoam), and it was a lot more expensive than it needed to be.

My dinner was a humbling reminder that circumstance often obstructs eating habits. Hopefully, with practice and forsight, I'll avoid heat lamps in the future.

Introduction

Everyone eats. I eat, Oprah eats, Obama eats, Bill Nye eats, and you eat. You eat a lot. We all do. Without exception, we eat every day, three or four times a day. More than 3.3 Billion meals are consumed every day in the US alone. On average, more than an hour of each day is spent eating and drinking, not counting time shopping and preparing meals.⁺ Even amid plunging consumer confidence and rising food prices, Americans continue to spend an average of 10% of their income on food. ⁺ Sure, we need food to survive - but beyond the obvious necessity of sustenance for life, we are lucky enough - in this country - to eat almost solely for pleasure.
As a freshman, my food came from the college all-you-care-to-eat commons. I took food for granted, and the process through which the ingredients went through before landing on my plate - from farming to transport to preparation - remained hidden behind a fog of apathy.
This year, in an attempt to be fiscally independent, I chose to forgo the meal plan, and cook my all of my own meals. At the same time, I was introduced to several students and organizations who helped me cultivate a stronger appreciation for food.

I hope to use this blog as a forum by which I (and other students) can share daily adventures cooking between classes in college.