Category: Grandpa’s Use Only

These recipes are for Grandpa and his family. This category includes recipes from magazines, TV shows, newspapers, and other sources where I don’t have permission to republish the recipes, but still feels they are recipes that he may want to cook for himself at a later time.

Bananas Foster: VIDEO

Thai Crab Salad Rolls

Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger

Bananas Foster

Food and Wine built a cooking class kitchen aboard the MS Rotterdam. With a class of nine, we cooked Thai Crab Salad Rolls, Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger and Bananas Foster. The results were incredible. Here is a summary of the 90 minute class.

This page has been repeated three times, for each of the above recipes.

This is a 45 minute video of a cooking class given aboard the Holland America MS Rotterdam on our way back from Spain.

Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger: VIDEO

Holland America Cooking Class

Thai Crab Salad Rolls

Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger

Bananas Foster

Food and Wine built a cooking class kitchen aboard the MS Rotterdam. With a class of nine, we cooked Thai Crab Salad Rolls, Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger and Bananas Foster. The results were incredible. Here is a summary of the 90 minute class.

This page has been repeated three times, for each of the above recipes.

This is a 45 minute video of a cooking class given aboard the Holland America MS Rotterdam on our way back from Spain.

VIDEO: Thai Crab Salad

Thai Crab Salad Rolls

Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger

Bananas Foster

Food and Wine built a cooking class kitchen aboard the MS Rotterdam. With a class of nine, we cooked Thai Crab Salad Rolls, Sake Poached Scallops with Ginger and Bananas Foster. The results were incredible. Here is a summary of the 90 minute class.

This page has been repeated three times, for each of the above recipes.

This is a 45 minute video of a cooking class given aboard the Holland America MS Rotterdam on our way back from Spain.

VIDEO: Ensaymada or Friendship Bread

Cinnamon Rolls and Ensaymada or Friendship Bread

Thanks to SPIRIT for providing the background music.  This video shows friendship bread (which I think is the recipe for Ensaymadas) and how to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. One IMPORTANT step that is missing from the videos is to sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top after spreading butter and before rolling into a tube. The topping is not shown on the video, but the recipe is included.

This page has been repeated two times, for each of the above recipes.

This is a 10 minute video of a cooking class given aboard the Holland America MS Rotterdam on our way back from Spain.

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce: VIDEO

Holland America Cooking Class

Dungeness Crab Cakes with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Marinated Cucumbers

This page has been repeated three times, for each of the above recipes.

This is a 45 minute video of a cooking class given aboard the Holland America MS Rotterdam on our way back from Spain.

  • 1/2 ounce fresh minced ginger
  • 1/4 ounce garlic minced
  • 1/2 ounce white wine vinegar
  • 2 ounce fresh lime juice
  • 12 ounce Sake
  • 4 ounce heavy cream
  • 12 ounce butter
  • 2 ounce Thai sweet chili sauce
  • salt and white pepper to taste
  • Add everything except the cream and reduce to a light syrup
  • add cream and simmer

Spaetzle

This is classically served with veal. See my recipe for Braised Veal Shank at least a day before starting this recipe.  Alternately, this is good when served as a side for schnitzel.

INGREDIENTS

STEP BY STEP

  1. Grate nutmeg, salt and pepper into flour
  2. Create well in center of flour and put in two eggs and a splash of milk
  3. Mix and incorporate slowly adding more milk if necessary.
    Final batter should be almost like a pancake batter.
  4. Put large-holed colander over a pot of barely boiling water – slightly more than simmering though
  5. Pour the batter into the colander allowing batter to drop into the boiling water below.
  6. Push through all batter using a spatula as a pusher.
  7. The squiggles will cook through in 2-3 minutes.  When they rise to the top they are done.
  8. Strain and plunge them into an ice bath to stop the cooking.
  9. Strain WELL and pour out on a platter or onto a towel
  10. Here they will rest about 5 minutes or more and absorb any water on the surface of the spaetzle.
  • Serve with seasonal veggies.
  • Bake the harder veggies
  • Blanch softer veggies
  • When your meat is about done, fry your spaetzel in HOT EVOO or clarified butter in a stainless steel pan
  • Sautee mushrooms if you have them.  Better over-done than under-done.
  • Top with grated Parmesan cheese

Tips: Grilling Burgers (Beef)

Grades for Marbling
Grades for Marbling – click to enlarge

See also Tips: Steaks and Cow Parts

Buying your Hamburger

  • 80/20 lean has the best fat to meat ratio for grilling
  • What does 80/20 or 85/15 mean?  If ground beef has 20 percent fat and 80 percent lean beef, it is good for grilling, but not necessarily good for you. To be called “lean,” ground beef, it must have a lean point of 92% lean (or higher) and only 8% fat . “Extra lean” ground beef must have a lean point of 96% lean or higher. 
  • Another good meat option is 1/2 LB ground chuck mixed with 1/2 LB ground brisket
  • MARBLING EQUALS FLAVOR
    – SELECT is right around BMS Grade 3
    – CHOICE is right around Grade 4
    – PRIME is right around Grade 5
  • Select a piece of chuck with lots of marbling and have your butcher grind it (yes, there are people behind those doors — just ring the bell).
  • Ask for a “coarse” grind.
  • You can also grind the meat yourself with a meat grinder or chop in the food processor (cut into 1- to 1½-inch cubes first).
    An advantage to this is that there are fewer worries about contamination and you can safely cook your burgers medium-rare, if that’s how you like them.  A chef’s favorite that I see on TV a lot is 1/3 chuck, 1/3 shoulder and 1/3 short ribs.
  • Try different combinations of meat.  Almost any kind of ground meat can be used to make burgers, or mix together different ones. I’ve heard of mixing pork with beef, chicken with lamb, or even buffalo with beef. For flavor, try mixing some fresh sausage in with another type of meat.
  • A good combination is half short ribs, half brisket with an extra handful of fat thrown in.

Prepping your Meat for Cooking

  • When making your patties, don’t handle the meat too much.  It will become mealy.  The heat from your hands begins to melt the fat and makes the patty too dense. Move it lightly from hand to hand and loosely make a patty no thicker than one inch, or you will have to cook it too long).
  • When adding other ingredients to ground meat, use a spoon or spatula to avoid heating the meat with your hands
  • Make an indentation in the center of the meat.  Have you noticed that your burgers tend to form rounded tops when cooking, causing the condiments to slide off? If you push down slightly in the center, creating a round area about ¼ inch lower than the surrounding meat, your finished burger will come out flat.
  • Many people just want great beef, straight up with salt and pepper. But it’s also fun to add flavors, and if you are using leaner meats, or leaner cuts of beef, you can add moisture at the same time. Finely minced vegetables such as onion, mushrooms, or mild chilies are especially good for this.
  • Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce are common liquids to add to burgers..  About 2 tsp per pound of meat is good.
  • You can also take a lean cut of meat and add some olive oil for good fat, or butter for flavorful bad fat; although this will cook faster than meats that are naturally fattier like 80/20 hamburger
  • If using lean meat, add moisture or fat to your meat.

Cooking your Meat

  • Start charcoal in center in a pyramid, then move to one side
    • Direct Heat:  Things that cook quickly or to get a sear (steak, chicken skin)
    • Indirect Heat: Finish cooking.  Also use for flare ups
    • Spread out coals for thin hamburgers, zucchini, asparagus, hot dogs, skewered seasoned shallots
  • Press down gently, but firmly, at the very beginning to get a good sear on the meat.  After that, don’t press down on the burgers when cooking.  This compresses the meat, making it denser, and also squeezes the juices out of the meat.
  • Salt and pepper are a must, but consider garlic powder or onion powder.  I personally recommend Grandpa’s Thunder Powder.
  • Once your burger is on the heat, don’t move it until it naturally releases.  Once it does, flip it.  Flip it twice more so that both sides get two cookings each.
  • A thermometer is a must-have.  I have a page of Kitchen Gadgets with a link to Thermoworks.  I recommend both an infrared (or IR) thermometer and an instant read ThermaPen.  Cook your meats at least to 145º internal temperature, unless you have ground the meat yourself.

Alton’s Cheese Soup

This recipe was adapted from Alton Brown’s – Good Eats

INGREDIENTS

  • 16 OZ broth
  • 2 OZ sharp cheddar cheese – shredded
  • 2 oz Monterey Jack cheese – shredded
  • 2 oz Fontina cheese – shredded (Alt: provolone, gruyere, and gouda)
  • 2 TBL butter
  • 3 oz onion (minced)
  • 2 oz carrot (minced)
  • 2 oz celery (minced)
  • 2 TBL sifted flour
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1/2 CU heavy cream
  • 1/2 tsp Tabasco
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 tsp Marsala wine

STEP BY STEP

  1. Mince onion, carrot, and celery
  2. Mix with 1 TBL softened butter
  3. Sweat onion, carrot and celery
  4. Drizzle in sifted flour, stirring continually
  5. Add broth to pan
  6. Add bay leaves
  7. Add minced garlic
  8. Bring to NEAR boiling and simmer 30 minutes
  9. Remove bay leaf
  10. Add heavy cream
  11. Pour into bowl and puree with immersion blender
  12. Add shredded cheese just a bit at a time
  13. Add Marsala wine
  14. Add Worcestershire sauce
  15. Add Tabasco and white pepper
  16. Blend with spoon until smooth

Note
To reheat, use double boiler to avoid graininess

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