Cookies

So earlier today I was craving cookies, so being the fat guy that I am I decided to make a batch. And a friend of mine gave me a recipe that involved disolving the baking soda in hot water, which I had never tried before so I used his recipe for cookies. So here we go.



3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons Hot water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
I used 3 cups of chips But if you wanted you could go with 2 cups of chips and 1 cup of chopped nuts.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy
add egg
Mix hot water and baking soda, add to butter sugar mixture
Then add Vanilla
Add flour and salt then combine
Mix in chips
Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown

I should also mention I use a mix of chips. I have Dark and milk chocolate chunks, as well as milk chocolate, white chocolate and peanutbutter chips.

This batch doesn't spread like most cookies but they stay tall and fluffy. Very delicious

 

 

Link for the video on youtube is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0JFIS9bjdU&feature=youtu.be

 

Cookies

Having a massive cookie craving, pics and recipe to follow later.

Newtown, CT

    My thoughts and prayers are with my fellow residents of Connecticut in the city of Newtown tonight, and everyone who may have been effected by this mornings tragedy. It is never an easy thing to lose someone, and when they are as young as 8 and 10, it is an absolute tragedy. There are no words that can express the grief of the parents, and these families.


It is my hope that where ever you are reading this, that you take a moment of your time to offer a prayer, or send some healing energy to the families of those effected.

Thank you for you time.

As always,
             Doug

Why I cook...

I have decided that I want to make this blog a bit more personal. I will still be posting recipes and cooking demos, but I will also give you all more of myself too. And to start I will answer the question I get asked most by everyone that finds out I cook for a living.



Doug, of all the things you could do, why cook for a living?

Here is why. For me growing up food has always been a central thing in my family. We gather around food, exchange stories, fight, laugh, cry, love. All those things that a family is. And some of my fondest memories as a kid are smelling the food coming from my grandmother, or great-grandmothers kitchen.

Sparing you unnecessary bits of my troubled youth, we will mention that my father, who’s dream was to be a chef, died when I was 12 and it has a profound effect on who I am today. One of the few memories I have of my father is of him standing me on a chair to stir tomato sauce while he added stuff to it to make stewed chicken. And to this day, every time I make tomato sauce, or stewed chicken I can remember his voice telling me to stir it in a figure 8 slowly and how good it smelled.

In high school when I first started baking it was fun to see the expressions on my friends face when I brought something that tasted good. And all thru high school I experimented with cakes, cookies, pies some of them weren’t as successful as others but it was fun and always boosted my ego and pride when it came out right. And that lead me to apply to culinary school.

I graduated from high school in June of 2000 and that fall went to a small school in upstate NY called Paul Smiths College, originally I wanted to do their pastry program but I could not get use to Being awake that early in the morning and switched to culinary arts. It was tough, some of my chef instructors were assholes. But I learned a lot about myself and about food. I have made some awesome friends, had some awesome opportunities and have worked all over New England. And that’s not bad for a 30 year old guy from the inner city who didn’t think he would amount to anything.

I know that I haven’t quite answered why just yet, I was giving you all the background. The way is really simple. I have always liked the idea that my food, something I made for someone else was enjoyed and becomes a part of their memory. Knowing that somewhere every time someone tells the story of their engagement it will involve something I made for them.

That is why I cook. Simply put I like knowing that I was able to satisfy one of humanities basic needs. The need for food. And if that food is good enough, it will live on in their memory long after the experience has ended.


To me that is the same as living forever, and seriously who hasn’t thought about living forever?



As always feel free to comment and share. If you want you can ask questions in the comments or email me directly chefdoug0723@google.com just put Laughing Chef Blog in the subject line

Goatee Update

I just realised that I hadn't given you an updat on the most recent question.

     I got more NO's the YES's on whether or not to shave so I just trimed and buzzed my hair.




As far as everything else goes, I really have nothing new to report. No new food experiences and I am feeling a bit too lazy to actually get up and make something.


While I have the oppertunity, I figure I will ask you all once again if there is anything at all you would like me to teach you to make or anything you would like me to talk about?

Totally unrelated to anything important...

... Lately I have been thinking about shaveing off my goatee. And I want to know what you think...

Off with the goatee or not?

Comment below or email me chefdoug0723@gmail.com type goatee in the subject line

King Riichard's Faire

Hello wonderful people, I am back.

After a week of computer issues I am back again.

Lets see...........
       What have I been up to.........
              Hmmmmmmmm.....................



Oh thats right, I went to a Rennisance faire, and because of a dare went in a kilt.
And yes that is a beer in my hand.














All in all, the day was fun, And there is already talk about my friend and I, all going in costume.

And the food was awsome. Pretty much all I ate was rosted turkey legs and beer the food of champions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bacon Shortage. WTF??!?!

   I have once again realised why I don't watch the news, aparently, in the comming yeah there will be a shortage of not only bacon but pork products in general. And today it was also all over the place today. And people all over the blogosphear are loseing their fucking minds.

Its really not that big  a deal. Trust me.

   As a bacon lover it will be all right.  I have even joined the "Twee hipster" movement, as someone called it, and had a bacon sundae.(picture below) And one time in college partook in bacon infused burbon. (Was amazingly awsome by the way) But back to the subject, The decline in pig harvests this year is due directly to the rise in the cost to raise pigs specificly food.

   Soy and corn which is are huge stapels in what we feed pis has suffered in recent years from record droughts. It is that simple. When you can't afford to feed pigs you get smaller heards which produce smaller ammounts of useable meat. And I don't know about all of you, but when I have been grocery shopping I have noticed the riseing price of pork over the past few years. It just means pork is about to get even more expensive. I am fine with that. Are you?

In the future, what can we do to not have this happen again, not to sound preachy but the word is sustainable local farming. Bring back the neighborhood butcher who can help people make smart food choices, and be less wasteful with their food.

As far as my advice for all of you, there is more to the world then just pork. While I don't reccomend turkey or soy bacon. I am a huge fan of steak and eggs for breakfast. With time we will get thru this and bacon will be back. I promise.

Meatballs

 

 

Once again I have been doing a little thinking and wondering about new content for you, dear constant reader, and it is because of you that I am going to make the commitment to you all to post something at least once a week. I can't make promises about what I will post. But it will be everything from product reviews, restaruant reviews, recipes to random things that pop up in my life, to some of my hobbies and whatever else pops up for me to write about.

 

 

But I need you to give me imput, critiques and help to improve. I am doing this all for you and I want to give you what I can but I need you to tell me what it is you need. With all that out of the way on to the food...

 

 

 

I had a friend request that show him how I make meatballs. Now my recipe is not the only way to do it, and I may eventually do variations on a theme and show you a few other ways. But this one is my favorite generic meatball that you can easily turn into a nice hearty meatloaf.

 

 

On to what you will need.....

1 pound/ 1/2 kilo each of Ground Beef, pork and veal
You can feel free to substitute out all ground beef or ground turkey but you may want to add another egg and some water to keep the turkey from being dry
8 ounces of italian sausage (I used 4 ounces of sweet and 4 of hot)
1 Egg
1 Medium Onion (fine diced)
1 cup of Breadcrumbs
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregino (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

That is it. Dice the onion, mince the garlic and add everything to a big bowl and dig in with your hands, the best mixer ever created, and mix everything well and roll into balls. The size depends on what you want to do with them.

I like to roll them fairly small so they cook fast and I just drop them right into the tomato sauce to cook them. But if you like them browned then you can bake or cook them in a frying pan before you add them to your sauce.

Just remember when working with raw meat to wash your hands in warm soapy water, and wash everything down after to prefent cross contamination. No one likes being sick. And always cook ground meats to 165°F/73.8°C

Happy Eating

Hello everyone. I finally answered the question whether or not as an American could I make a proper cup of tea.

I just finished uploading the video to youtube. Tell me what you think. Tea making 101

Also everything in the video except for the kettle comes from a company called Adagio. You can find them online by just clicking their name above. They have good products and I have been ordering from them for almost 10 years now.

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything and it is about due.

Just to give you an update, I started an extra part time job as a line cook at a restaruant to try and make some extra money and pump into my savings.

I worked a total of 4 days and the restaruant has been closed ever since. I am thinking it might be time to quit, but the job is easy, and if the restaruant becomes sueccessful I would like to have contributed to that sucess. Is that a bad thing to want?

I would also like to post this thought to you. As an American do you think I could make a proper cup of tea? I will be uploading a video eventually but I want to know what you all think. So comment shoot me an email. I want to know what you think.

I had someone ask questions.


Here is what they wrote "hi Chef, well the question numbers are #5, #6, & #17. i will answer 6 & 17. 1. a mommmy's boy. 2. prettier than me. 3. sagging 4. listen to rap. now for #17 i love fish of any kind. "

And for my responces

#5 4 turn ons
Pretty eyes, forigen accents, Women with curves, slim smooth guys.
#6 4 turn offs
Stupidity, no sense of humor, overly needy, and no sense of adventure

#17 Favorite food
 Pretty much anything from my grandmothers kitchen, especally her biscuts.


Who's next to ask questions?

I just thought I should let you all know that I probably will not be updateing this as much as I would like as I have recently started a second job. And that is taking up alot more of my time then I first thought it would. But know, dear readers. that I am still around and I will be posting sporadically. And I am still available for questions and what not.

Okay all you wonderful people. Lets make this intresting. I will answer any 3 questions each of you ask. But you have to answer 2 of those 3 yourself. In a month I will answer the top 5 questions in a youtube post in 2 weeks. You can ask the questions as a comment below or email me chefdoug0723@gmail.com  Make Q&A the subject so I know where the email is from. I will respond to all emails and Answer every question. Feel free to make up your own as well. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Julia Child

Today would be the 100th birthday of one of my Heros both as a chef and as a foodie. Mrs. Julia Child Happy Birthday.

If I had remembered sooner I would have made and posted a video of me trussing a chicken or something in her honor. But I will try to get something up soon dedicated to her memory.

As I woke up this morning I had a huge craving for biscuts. While I was gathering the ingredients, I realised that I don't have any milk. And one of my facebook friends requested that I show her how to make sausage gravy and I opened my freezer only to discover that I don't have saudage either. So the conclusion I draw from all of this. It's time for me to go grocery shopping again...



Any way the recipie for the biscuts is:

3 cups of flour
4 teaspoons of Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup or shortening/ lard/ butter
1 cup of milk

(If you want to use buttermilk add a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 tablespoons more buttermilk)

Combine flour, salt, baking podwer and sift.
add shortening and with a pastry cutter or fingers mix until you have the consistancy of corn meal
add milk and mix to smooth soft dough
turn out onto floured surface and knead softly
roll out and cut
bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until light, golden, brown

serve how ever you want.

        I have as of this moment come to a cross roads. I can't think of what to do next for you all. I want feedback. Please, Please, Please ask me questions and comment. I seriously want to know what you think and how you feel about what I am doing, what I can do better, and what you would like to see me do.
      With that said I am going to give you, my readers, my email address to ask me what ever questions you would like. That address is chefdoug0723@gmail.com I will reply to everything just make sure you put blog in part of the subject line so I know where its coming from.

Thanks in advacne for all the support and wonderful input.

Today I decided to experiment with rubarb. Believe it or not, having grown up in CT I have never had it before I have actually never had it before. And there is a little farmers market that pops up outside of where I work on fridays so I decided to pick up a little amd a pint of strawberries. and this is my result.

　

1 cup white sugar


1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 pound fresh rhubarb

chopped 1 pint fresh strawberries

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (below)

2 tablespoons butter 
2 tablespoons white sugar

　

So with the advice of one of the ladies I work with I stewed the rhubarb a little to soften them up before mixing with the strawberries and sugar. So in just a dry pan over medium heat I cooked a little of the water off to help start to soften the stems. Then I spread them on a sheet pan to help them cool before mixing.

Then I mixed the flour and sugar and tossed the stwberries and rhubarb together and let it sit for 30 minutes or so.

　

As for the crust I went with something a little more savory and decided to use a pie crust with no sugar at all this time.

　

2 ¼ cups All purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening chilled

2 tablespoons butter chilled

5 or 6 tablespoons of Cold water

combine the flour, salt, shortening, and butter until the shortening forms small pea sized balls then add enough water to bring together. Divide the dough in half wrap and refridgerate for 20 minutes.

　

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Roll out dough and place into pie pan

add filling roll out top crust and top however you’d like. I used the lattice. Of covering completely cut holes for steam to escape. Dot with butter, crimp and seal the edges brush with egg yolk and sprinkle sugar over the top and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes until grown and bubbly

I Love You

To everyone who comes across this. No matter where you are on your journey thru life. I love you. For no other reason then because you deserve to be loved. There is someone, somewhere in the world who is sending you love, and wants nothing in return. I love you for who you are, and who you want to be. I love you even though you may not always love yourself.

Doug (me) loves you, even if no one else does.
DFTBA

#Nerdfighteria

Just created a youtube post of the vacation check it out.


Youtube Vid

I have returned home safely from Chicago and Gamesday. The experience was awsome and as always I ate like a fat guy. Its all started with a Bacon Sundae from Burger King.

I know what you are all thinking and it has been a trend lately to apply bacon to a more dessert aspect, I have also even seen bacon infused vodka. Not to mention the run of bacon sented and flavored everything. As witnessed by the bacon section on the Think Geek website, if you want you can click the link here:  Bacon Section


Then it was on to Wrigley Field. Home of the Chicago Cubs and ballpark food. Nachos, beer and hot dogs. I didn't feel the need to to take pictures of that.









Then there was the Chicago classic. Deep Dish pizza. Of course it was from Gino's East.














Then early in the day on Sunday it was the fat kid favorate the buffet at The Golden Corral. Of which I will spare you the ugly details but I will tell you we put some food away. And the last of the foodie experiences was at Medieval Times. Which is decent food, and beer. Mostly it was catching up with old friends.





And of course there is the actual reason I was in Chicago, Gamesday. Without all the nerdy, details. The company Games Workshop hosts Gamesday where people like me their consumer get to interact with the writers, sculpters and painters they have on staff and pick their brains. As well as meet other gamers who play Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Ring table top games.

Hey everybody.

Quick update I fly to Chicago tomorrow and while I am there I may not be able to upsdate this. So I want to leave you all with a quick challenge. Yesterday was my 30th Birthday. I want you all to tell me what your favorite birthday has been in your life so far?

Also what if any of your birthday wishes have come true?

Thanks for reading. I look forward to reading your responces when I get back.

Pizza and Champagne the perfect way to bring in 30. Going to be following this up with Red Velvet Cupcakes. Hell to the Ya!!!!

Just thought I would give you all a an update. I am going on vacation next week. So I am not going to be posting for a few days. You can check out my Vid on youtube for a bit of an explnation

Vid Here

But I am going to Chicago for an event called Gamesday. I play a game called Warhammer and the company that makes the game is hosting the event. I promise that when I get back I will post pics and vids.

In the mean time feel free to comment and ask me questions. I will me more then happy to answer them.

Thanks and I will miss you all until I get back

Hello all you wonderful people. After some conectivity issues I am back...


I am also pissed off at the State of California, its law makers and the animal righs groups. They have banned the sale of Fois Gras in restaurants. Legislation that was passed in 2004 and gave Chefs and restaurant owners 7 and 1/2 years to prepair for compliance. As of July 1st this year restaurants had to remove the item from their menus or be subject to a fine.

This bill was spearheaded by animal rights groups like PETA and the ALDF, the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Now let me just say that I am all for animal rights, and I think the animals that become or food should be treated humainly. Happy animals make good food. But it has been proven that animals don't register pain the way humans do, and that the geese do not have gag reflexes so the process of la gavage probably doesn't harm the animal, and I say probably because I am not a farmer, I do not raise geese.

But I do know that as geese prepair to migrate south, they eat, and fatten themselves up for their long hard journey. And I think that historically that is how we discovered the wonderfull, buttery, rich creamy-ness that is fois gras. In my reserch I have discovered producers of fois gras that allow their geese to eat what they want, when then want and it still produces amazing fois gras without gavage.

What upsets me most about this legislation is that insted of informing people, they have taken away a person's ability to choose for themselves. I am an adult, I should be able to, when I go out to eat, make the decision myself of what I want to eat. And people of California you have taken away MY right to choose, and not just mine, every other person who visits Califrornia from now until this legislation is taken off the books.


California you were once one of Americans culinary Mecca's now you are becomming a nanny state that deprives people of the freedom to choose.


People of California I urge you to get this legislation repealed so you can once again reclaim your place at the forefront of America's food culture. Please, Please, Please...


Also with a bit of reaserch I have found that France is fireing back and urgeing chefs and restaurants to take California wines off their menus as a show of solidarity for French producers of Fois Gras that will be hurt by California's legislation.Way to go France!!!!!


As Always here the link to my video rant.

Hello again people of the page.

I made home made pizza dough the other day and it came out awsome. The recipe is from a friend of mine from college. It actually has honey in the dough, insted of sugar like alot of other recipies I have come across. So here is the recipe:

2 1/2 cup All purpose flour(you may substitute whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose )1 tablespoon honey
1 cup warm water
1 (1/4 ounce) packageactive dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
1/2-1 tablespoonolive oil 
1 tablespoon cornmeal, plus more for sprinkling

Combine warm water, honey and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes until foamy.
Combine flour, salt olive oil and cornmeal together in bowl and water and mix until combined and kneed until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutues by hand.
Let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
Punch down and divide the dough.
And you are all set to work with it.

Here is a link to my youtube channel with the video instructions

Pizza

I also used the second half of the dough to make Stromboli, and here is a picture of how that came out.

Also here is the link to my latest youtube vid. More to come so stick around

New Vid

Actually, I should probably just link you directly to my youtube channel as a whole insted of just indivdual videos. here is that link My Youtube Channel  That should make things a whole lot easier

Hey everyone. After spending a couple of days away from my computer, I am back. I spent the Tuesday July 3rd at Americas oldest Amusement park, Lake Compounce, with a friend of mine and let me tell you, It was a fat kid like me's dreay day. It was filled with fried food galore. For the first time I had, deep fried oreos, deep fried peanut butter cups, and a deep fried snickers bar. They were all awsome!!!! It was also the land of the supreme funnel cake. I had one drowning in Caramel sauce, whipped cream and M&M's. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it. There will be videos of my first responce to them comming later. I think I might even do a video showing you all how to make them. What do you all think? Would you like to see how to make Deep fried desserts and stuff at home?   Looking forward to hearing back from you all.

And for the time being here is a picture of the supreme funnel cake.

I just finished making the red velvet cupcakes, and everything in my kitchen now has a slighly pink to a red tint to it. I forgot how much food coloring goes into them. I didn't think about it this time until it was too late. But next time I will make sure and document the entire process for you and post the video to youtube and link it here. for now though I have pictures for you to look at and enjoy.

So I posted on my face book asking people if they could tell me what I had done wrong with The puff Pastry I made. I wanted to extent the offer here as well. Comment below, or on the youtube post itself and I will make a responce vid soon detailing what I did wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-T8MQB_Ng

Now I am off to make red velvet cake!!

I have done quite a bit of thinking and soul searching these past few days. Not just because of my failed puff pastry, which I will be posting a ctitique on in the near future, but on how I can deliver my best to you. My readers , the most important part of this blog. I am going to borrow a phrase from my favorite author, Stephen King, and call you my Constant Reader.

So please, Dear Constant Reader, please tell me how I can improve and give you what you need and expect from me. Comment, ask questions. Help me inprove.

So today I made puff pastry and as promised in the video here is the recipe for the batch of puff pastry I made. This is the smallest batch of puff pastry I have ever made. It also reminded me of some advice I got from one of my chef's in college. He told us that making puff pastry from scratch is better, but buying it will give you the best, most consistant product. And he was right. I tried mixing the butter by hand and had clumps, so when it came time to roll out my butter broke out thru the dough and got extreamly messy. I will deffinatly suggest buying the premade stuff. but if you want an adventure it is fun.

1 pound of butter (today I used 50% butter 50% butter flavored shortening)
1 pound of flour
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of salt

Combine butter and 3/4 cups of flour mix into a paste.
Form into a square and refridgerate

Mix remaining flour, salt and water form into a smooth shiney ball

Roll out into a square and place the butter/ flour mixture and encase in dough.
Roll out and fold over into thirds, give it a quarter turn. Refridgerate for 20 minutes repeat 5 more times for a total of 6 turns.

Thats it. You're done. I will be posting the how to vid on youtube, and will post the link later
As promised here is the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-T8MQB_Ng&feature=youtu.be

Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't my best idea starting this blog just before I started a new diet. But like all things in life its more about intent then it is timeing.

The Diet is now over and I am going to commit to this.  This picture is me at work a few years ago. But you are looking at my face as I slice melon.


In terms of some of the more random questions people have asked me recently. i was asked how many cookbooks I own. And that answer is 110. the picture below is actually a picture of the bookshelf devoted entirely to cookbooks and books about food and/or chefs.



I know its a little much. But we all have a thing. This is one of mine.




I

I figured you all, my readers, might like to know a bit about me, which is only fair. My name is Doug. I am the oldest of 7 siblings. I grew up on the planet earth, in North America, in the USA in the Northeast reigon known as New England, in the state of Connecticut, right on the cost of The Long Island Sound in the city of New Haven, (as I wrote that I could just picture google earth zooming in) even though my family has roots in both Alabama on my mother's side. And North Carolina on my father's. My earliest memories involve food. Sitting in the kitchen while my grandmother cooked, with me smelling, tasteing, eating everything from her biscuts to pig's feet, collard greens and chitterlings. And some of the few memories I have of my father are me standing in a chair with a wooden spoon stirring tomato sauce for chicken fricassee.

In high school, I thought my first career would be on stage in theater and it was my first love. And I threw myself into it without thinking for 3 and a half years. And I loved every minute of it. I did everything for classic greek drama, to Shakespeare all they way up to fairly recent stuff, like a play by Christopher Durang, as well as a couple of musicals. But my lightbulb moment came when I started cooking stuff to school to share, and found more and more that I enjoyed being in the kitchen.

So it happend in 2000 when I graduated high school I went to culinary school. And I didn't go to the typical places. I went to this little tiny private college in New York's Adirondack par. The name of that school was Paul Smiths College. www.paulsmiths.edu I fell in love with the picturesque view over the lake. But it was there that my love of food became a passion for good food. From there it's graduation with a bachelors degree in culinary arts and service management to a blur of working all over New England.

Let's fast forward to a couple years of ago. I quit my job as a kitchen manager and stepped into a job as a cashier/ salad prep guy at a small kiosk in a hospital. So I have gotten bored and decided to share my experiences and love of food with all of you. And hopefully inspire you to love food. And love cooking good food as much as I do.

So the fisrt thing I wanted to bring up was the topic of bread, the staff of life. Recently I bought a breadstone. And have been trying to get back into the art of bread. So far my results have been average still working out some issued I have with shapeing but the taste of the bread itself is awsome. the picture on top is the bread after the first proofing. And on the bottom is the bread after it came out of the oven.

Come with me on the journey as a chef re-discovers his passion for food at home. I am here to help you discover your love of food and all things food related. Ask me questions and we will take this journey together.