An Insurmountable Task

The very term "airline food" has become an oxymoron. On most flights, it's nothing more than prepackaged pretzels or other snack foods. On longer flights, it's nothing you could possibly get excited about. But for a new upscale airline, a celebrity chef is trying to change that. From the Washington Post:

It sounds like a "Top Chef" moment, but this challenge is real: Teach the catering staff at two airports, separated by an ocean, how to replicate your signature dishes, then reheat and serve them.

At 38,000 feet.

At least seven hours after they have been cooked.

Since February, chef Michel Richard has been working with Open Skies, the all-business-class subsidiary of British Airways, to design and implement menus for service this month and next on (transatlantic) flights . . .

According to the Post reporter who tasted a facsimile of Richard's signature fried chicken, the airline version was "[n]ot as good as the original, but a reasonable facsimile." Of course, the seven-hour delay means that passengers are essentially eating leftovers -- that's what we call it when you cook something and then reheat it.

Poulet Farci or Poulet Farce?

What is the world coming to? It's a question worth pondering after reading this article from Time magazine:

This spring, scientists at the University of Missouri announced that after more than a decade of research, they had created the first soy product that not only can be flavored to taste like chicken but also breaks apart in your mouth the way chicken does: not too soft, not too hard, but with that ineffable chew of real flesh.

When you pull apart the Missouri invention, it disjoins the way chicken does, with a few random strands of "meat" hanging loosely.

Perhaps I should be open-minded about this new kind of, um, "chicken," but it seems very strange that people will go to such an extreme to try to deceive people into thinking they are eating meat. Is this basically an admission that it's unrealistic to think that carnivores will ever embrace vegetables that taste like . . . . vegetables?

Yet the University researchers came up with a product that isn't quite a perfect forgery. According to Time:

But while Missouri's fake chicken has the right consistency, it still has to be flavored — and heavily salted — to taste like meat.

So if you have a salt-restricted diet, eating real chicken makes more sense. Look at that lovely poulet roti pictured above. How could someone settle for faux chicken when they could enjoy a slice of white or dark meat from that wonderful chicken? Beats me.

Giving Chicken Cutlets New Appeal

So you've opened your 'fridge or freezer, and you're wondering what to do with that package of chicken cutlets you see. Well, this N.Y. Times article offers a few suggestions for ingredients and cooking instructions that will take the "boring factor" out of eating chicken cutlets.

The article shares some approaches that borrow heavily from recipes derived from old French cookbooks.

Dreaming of Avgolemono

Just yesterday, I passed a newly opened Greek restaurant at 17th and K Streets in Washington, D.C. It's called Kellari Taverna, and here's a Zagat interview of Kellari's owner. It's an upscale restaurant with a virtually all-seafood menu (which, combined with the recession, may pose a challenge to its success).

Anyway, I stopped to peek inside. Very handsome decor. Then I read the restaurant's menu, which was posted outside.

My eyes immediately stopped at the word Avgolemono, a pale yellow soup made with lemon and chicken stock that sure warms you up on a chilly evening. I've always enjoyed eating that soup, but it is not an item that every Greek restaurant prepares. As far as I'm concerned, Avgolemono is Greek for "comfort food." I still have fond memories of the first time I ordered Avgolemono. It was at a Greek restaurant in Chicago.

Once I got home, I went online and started looking for Avgolemono recipes. They aren't easy to find.

I found this article on the website Serious Eats, which is accompanied by a recipe. The egg yolk addition looks a bit tricky. I've made Bearnaise sauce before so I know I'm capable of doing it, but there's simply no margin for error when it comes to incorporating egg yolks into a hot dish.

Maybe I'll try it sometime. Better yet, maybe I'll just let the chef at Kellari make it for me.

Doubling Down With Your Health

At a time when America is debating obesity and its cost to the health care system, KFC is test-marketing a new sandwich that is sure to raise eyebrows. The N.Y. Daily News describes the new "Double Down" sandwich:

... it layers two kinds of cheese with bacon and oozes “Colonel’s sauce.” The twist? Instead of bread, two deep-fried chicken breasts round out the calorific concoction.

Dubbed the Double Down, the sandwich is in test markets so far, which means that only overeaters in Providence, Rhode Island, and Omaha, Nebraska, can get their greasy fill. The buzz is that it’s got more than an entire day’s worth of the recommended allowance for fat, cholesterol, sodium and protein, according to an analysis in the Vancouver Sun.

“Independent labs are estimating that it has around 1,200 calories and over 50 fat grams, based on what’s in the other KFC sandwiches,” says Men’s Health food and nutrition editor Matt Goulding, co-author of “Eat This, Not That: Best and Worst Foods in America.”

I certainly enjoy foods from time to time (doughnuts, foie gras, etc.) that is high in fat, but this new KFC sandwich seems so decadently over-the-top.

RIP: Sheila Lukins

I meant to post this a few days ago -- an acknowledgment of the fact that Sheila Lukins, co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook, died Sunday at the age of 66. The cookbook she co-wrote was a wonderful book that has helped me prepare many a tasty meal through the years.

Lukins may not be the household name that Julia Child became, but, nonetheless, Lukins' contributions to cooking in America were major. How major? Enough so that the Houston Chronicle actually wrote this editorial in remembrance of her. In the words of the Chronicle:

It's hard to remember a world before The Silver Palate Cookbook, one of the most influential books published in the 1980s.

. . . For rocking our culinary world, we owe a debt to Sheila Lukins . . .

BTW, the editorial includes the Silver Palate's pesto sauce recipe.

Here's an article on Lukins' death from the Chicago Tribune that even includes the Silver Palate's popular recipe for Chicken Marbella.

That cookbook wasn't Lukins' only claim to foodie fame. She also served as food editor of Parade magazine, and in 1992 she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's "Who's Who of Food and Beverage."

Grilled Orange-Barbecue Chicken

A few days ago, I had written this post about trying to find the recipe ingredients for Grilled Orange Barbecue Chicken. Well, I wasn't able to find the original recipe, but I reconstructed a recipe for the sauce, and it all turned out marvelously. The orange gives the barbecue sauce a nice but subtle citrusy flavor.

Best of all, it's very simple. Here's what we did.

We bought 5 lbs. of chicken with both skin and bone -- a mixture of breasts, thighs and drumsticks. We salted and peppered them a little, and then we fired up the gas grill.

Below is the recipe I used to make the Orange Barbecue sauce:

• An entire 18 oz. bottle of KC Masterpiece Honey Smoke Barbecue Sauce
• 4 oz. of frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed and not diluted)*
• Zest of one navel orange
• 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice, squeezed from the navel orange
• 3 tablespoons of molasses

* - Orange juice concentrate usually comes in a 6-oz. can so just use 2/3 of a can.

Directions:

1. Combine all sauce ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir until well integrated. Pour 2 cups of the Orange Barbecue Sauce in a separate, smaller bowl and set aside. (This will be used at the table by those who want to add more sauce to their chicken.)

2. Start the grill and then add the pieces of chicken, starting with the breasts (which will take longer to cook). Brush the surface of all chicken pieces with the Orange Barbecue Sauce.

3. Once you flip the chicken pieces, brush the other sides with sauce. Consult a grilling guide for details on cooking time.

4. Serve chicken with the reserved bowl of Orange Barbecue Sauce.

Orange BBQ Chicken

We're hanging out with family this weekend, and the dinner I've planned will be built around Orange BBQ Chicken.

I guess it would help if I could find that recipe I once used. I think it's from my Southern Living cookbook, but who knows? First, you brine the chicken so that the breasts don't dry out on the grill. As I recall, there weren't many ingredients besides the chicken.

If I had to improvise, I suspect that I could. Let's see -- a container of good barbecue sauce, frozen orange juice concentrate, zest from 1 orange and some dried or fresh ginger. Maybe a tablespoon of bourbon?

That should work. But if anyone out there in cyberspace should happen to have such a recipe, don't be shy. Please share it with me.