This week, Jeff Gamet joins me to talk about a kid who discovered that baking chocolate cake wasn’t just a lot of fun, it was also a very methodical and almost scientific dish. That initial spark turned into a lifelong quest of finding recipes, using them as inspiration and then changing them to his liking. His love for experimentation stuck with him, and allowed him to take his grandma’s beloved Deviled Eggs and make them his own. And while they may never live up to his grandma’s as he remembers them, they certainly are very good. Once he starts making his own mayonnaise that is…
Links:
- America’s Test Kitchen
- Betty Crocker Cookbook
- Chocolate Cake (not the one Jeff mentioned, but this one is good, too)
- Bison Chili with beer
- Veal Medallions with Calvados Cream (the dish Patrice couldn’t remember)
- Mayonnaise
- See below for his recipes
Jeff can be found at:
TextExpander
@Jgamet
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Intro music: “Child’s Play” by Alex Nekita (alexnekita)
===== Jeff’s Recipes =====
Deviled Eggs
- 12 eggs
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tsp yellow mustard
- 2 tsp vinegar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- paprika (for garnish)
Instead of boiling the eggs, I bake them in the oven: 325F for 30 minutes in a muffin try. Each egg gets its own cup. Cool the eggs in ice water for 10 minutes after they finish baking.
I always mix everything except the black pepper. Once everything is mixed to the consistency I like, I grind some pepper and add until the mixture tastes right.
Of course, the paprika gets sprinkled on top of the finished eggs.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- Pecorino Toscano
- Manchengo (aged 3 months)
- Mayonnaise
- Olive oil
- my homemade bread (see below)
Spread some mayonnaise on the bread slices. To be clear: the mayonnaise goes on the inside of the sandwich, and not the outside.
Grate enough Pecorino Toscano to cover the slice of bread in a thick layer. You’ll know when you have enough cheese. Next, grate enough Manchengo to cover the Toscano layer. You want more Toscano than Manchengo, otherwise the Manchengo overpowers the other flavors.
I always use young Manchego because the flavor gets sharper and more pungent with age. If it’s aged more, you get a Manchengo sandwich instead of a grilled cheese sandwich.
Use the olive oil as the browning agent in your skillet, and never go above medium heat when grilling the sandwich. Also, cover the skillet to help the cheese melt. You may need to add some more oil when you flip the sandwich because the bread absorbs a lot.
Slice the sandwich in half after both sides are that perfect brown color, but don’t make a symmetrical cut. My grandma always made the cut so you’d get two asymmetrical trapezoids, so that’s what we should all do.
Simple Wheat Bread
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 3 Tbl brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 Tbl olive oil
- 2 Tbl vital wheat gluten
- 1 1/4 tsp quick-rising yeast
I use this recipe in my bread machine. It makes a 1.5 pound loaf, and works really well for high altitude baking.
Mix the egg white and yolk in a 1 cup measuring cup, then add warm water to make a whole cup of liquid. Pour that, plus another 1/4 cup water in the bread machine loaf tub. Add the oil, brown sugar, and salt.
Add the flour slowly so you make an even and dry layer covering the liquid. Add the vital wheat gluten and yeast.
Check the dough regularly while it’s mixing to make sure it feels tacky. If it feels too sticky, add a little flour. Probably somewhere between a teaspoon and tablespoon.
This is a super-simple bread recipe that consistently turns out great for me, and the flavor is always just right.