Thursday, August 14, 2008


Tonight we made some pizza from scratch. Awhile ago I made a big batch of pizza sauce which is pretty simple. The sauce is just canned whole tomatoes with some garlic, oregano, a dried chili, and a tad of salt blended. After using it that night I put the rest in a freezer bag to use in the future. The future was tonight. Trisha made the crust from scratch. In her words,

"I started by heating 3/4 cup of water to approximately 118 degrees, stirred in 2 teaspoons of sugar and then 1 tablespoon of traditional yeast. Let sit for approximately 10 minutes to proof - you will know when it is ready as there will be a layer of foam on top. Combine the liquid with 1 cup of flour, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I did this in my Kitchen Aid mixer, using the flat beater on the lowest speed until well combined. Add 1/2 cup more flour 1/4 cup at a time and switch from the flat beater to the dough hook when well combined. Add approximately 1/2 cup more flour (2 cups in total) and adjust your mixer to the next speed. Let the mixer knead the dough for you for 5 minutes or so, until it is nice and smooth. If it is sticking during this process, add a little extra flour. If you choose do this by hand, you've got at least a good 5 minutes of kneading ahead of you. After kneading, place the dough in a large bowl and coat with olive oil. Cover lightly with a tea towel and let rise for 1 to 2 hours".

This made for one of the strongest dough I've ever worked with. When the gluten is released this much it makes the dough easy to work with and it won't tear. The dough will also crisp up better in the oven this way too.

The pizza was topped with hot genoa salami and mozza.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Buffalo-Style Chicken Wings



Buffalo-style chicken wings are one of the many wing flavours available but it is probably the most popular and also the most bastardized type of wing you'll find. Many restaurants say they have buffalo wings on their menu but what they have is not even close to buffalo-style wings. I've ordered buffalo wings at one particular tavern in town and what I got was a baked wing in some sort of BBQ sauce with a lot of mustard flavour. Sure, some people may love that tavern's wings but they are not buffalo wings.

Tonight I made a small batch of wings for two. The chicken itself was not from a local farm but sometimes I just gotta have me some wings. At least they were not frozen from a box. I don't even know what those wings are.

Buffalo-style wings require three ingredients: Butter (some say margarine but stay away from margarine at all costs), vinegar (I use red wine but you can use white), and hot sauce (I use regular Frank's Red Hot). One thing I add to my sauce is some sugar to balance off the flavours. I combine all these ingredients in a small sauce pan in almost even amounts aside from sugar and vinegar. I use a bit less vinegar than the other ingredients and about half the amount of sugar. Find a mix that works best for you.

I rinse my wings well and pat really dry. I then toss them in a liberal amount of all-purpose flour and shake off the excess. I then deep fry them for anywhere between 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the wings. The wings should be golden brown when done. Take them out and put them on a cooling rack with a tea towel or paper towel underneath for about 30-40 seconds. Then, put them into a big mixing bowl and pour the sauce mixture over them. Toss around until coated and place them on a plate with some tongs if you don't want them swimming in sauce or just pour the whole bowl onto a plate if you like them messy. Enjoy.


Saturday, August 9, 2008

Burgerz

I love a good burger. In fact, a burger is probably in my top 10 favourite foods. The mixture of ground meat (taking normally tough cuts of meat and grinding them makes them tender and mixes the tasty fats evenly throughout the meat), searing heat, seasoning, and toppings just works well with my mouth and tummy. Yesterday I picked up 12 ounces of medium ground beef from Dean's Meats in the City Market and made two patties. I cooked these on a cast iron griddle on my small charcoal grill. It's like a big Weber but smaller. I actually set it up on top of the grill of the Weber. I used the cast iron griddle to avoid any flare ups that would have occurred due to the beef being medium ground as it contains a decent amount of fat. Here are a couple pics of the tasty treat: