The difference between a chef and a home cook is not as large as you might think, and you can do most of what they can do at home. With this recipe, we're going to highlight some of those differences so you can try them too.

First, chefs use really good meat. If you want to make the best stew you've ever eaten, buy some grass-fed beef. Whole Foods is a reliable source for this ingredient, which you can often buy already cubed for stew.

Second, chefs saute vegetables to form a flavor base for the stew; this is called a "mirepoix" (pronounced mir-pwa'). A lot more vegetables than you would think necessary (usually onion or leeks, celery, carrot and garlic) are diced and cooked in a bit of fat until they are softened.

Third, chefs sear the meat. When meat is seared, a "Maillard reaction" occurs, creating even more flavor. When searing, they space the meat in the pan so that it does not touch. It takes 2-3 batches to do this, but if you add too much meat at once, the meat throws off water so that instead of searing, it actually steams instead, and you lose out on those flavors.

Fourth, once all the sauteing and searing is done, chefs remove everything and "deglaze" the pan with a liquid, usually wine or broth. This not only captures all the flavors created above, but - bonus - it cleans up the bottom of the pan very nicely!

Fifth, chefs add fresh herbs. Thyme is great, but sage and rosemary play well too as does some fresh flat-leafed parsley at the end. More complex flavor!

Finally, chefs braise. They put all the ingredients back in the pan, add enough beef broth or wine to cover much of the beef and bring it a boil. Then they cover the pot tightly with foil or parchment, put the lid on and slide it into a 325 oven until the beef is meltingly tender and irresistible. If adding potatoes, they wait until about 1 hour before the end and add the potatoes in 1-1/2" cubes, cooking the stew until the potatoes are just done.

It's not every night that you want to cook like a chef, but for those nights that you do, beef stew is a great recipe to try.

Chris

​​​If you would like to see my recipes, tips and adventures in cooking every week go to www.ucancook.net and enter your email on the right side. Alternatively, email me at chrisd.williams@yahoo.com and I will set you up! For even more tips and techniques, follow You Can Cook on Facebook.

When I was about 9 or 10, I discovered the wonders of Bisquick. Amazing stuff, it could be used to make biscuits, dumplings, oven-fried chicken, pancakes, muffins and best of all waffles. Hot, fresh and drowning in 2% maple syrup and real butter (I'm from Wisconsin), they were everything my little carb-loving heart could desire. My family was of like mind, and tucked into them right along side of me, praising my delicious creations.

Fast forward to a 2013 vacation on Nantucket with my family. My brother and sister-in-law, foodies (among many other delightful characteristics) from Seattle, prepared waffles one morning. Their recipe was not Bisquick, but a throwback recipe, "Marion Cunningham's Yeasted Waffles", the winner of a best-of-breed waffle contest on the Blog Orangette which is run by a Seattle restaurateur. Drenched in real maple syrup, not only did they taste fabulous, but the process of making a simple batter at night and cooking it in the morning was appealing as well.

The only problem with these delicious waffles is that the recipe, which dates from the early 1900's, was designed to be made in an old-school waffle iron, producing a rather flat waffle, and like almost anyone who has purchased a waffle iron in the last 20 years, I have a Belgian waffle iron, which makes tall, fluffy waffles. So my delicious yeasted waffles were coming out all flat on one side. Now it's simple enough to turn them over before serving (who among you hasn't given your kid a grilled cheese sandwich burnt side down??), but I wanted to completely fill the waffle iron with fluffy deliciousness.

So here is the secret to the best waffle you will ever eat, without having to serve it bad-side-down: whip up the egg whites and fold them in.

One note: to me, one of the things that make this recipe so attractive is that you prepare it the night before with a minimum of effort and expend even less effort to add two eggs in the morning and make fresh waffles. If you prefer less effort, you should absolutely make the original recipe - it's fabulous. And if you are a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed morning person who wants an adventure in cooking, by all means, separate the eggs, whip the egg whites and fold them back in. You will be delightfully rewarded for your extra work.

Tastefully yours,
Chris

Have you ever embarked on a quest? A plan to do something amazing and remarkable? Something that could change the world? Anyone who has ever watched the Princess Bride (and if you haven't, you should), knows the power and worth of a quest.

My quest, began in 2007, was to make the perfect caramel sauce. I had tasted the delights of such a sauce at an upscale restaurant, and knew that I had to learn to create my own. This quest led me through at least 20 recipes, several pieces of special equipment, countless 10 pound bags of sugar, and a considerable number of scorched, grainy or runny failures.

The plot thickened in 2008 during the financial crisis. I was testing investment strategies, and with the market swinging wildly, sometimes the best thing to do with a position was to "SOH", or sit on hands. For me, the best way to get away from the crazy market volatility was to make caramel sauce. I made vats of caramel sauce between September 2008 and April 2009. We had ice cream every night, brownies infused with the stuff, ate it with apples and pretzels, stirred it into our coffee and gave it away as Christmas, hostess and teacher gifts. I never let my supplies of sugar, butter and cream run out and bought mason jars almost every week. My quest had become an obsession.

With all of this making of caramel sauce however came a true mastery of the craft that I'd like to share. There are so many uses of caramel sauce (see above), and it really is amazingly better than even a good quality jar like Mrs. Richardsons (do NOT pop the lid on the Kraft version - you won't want to anyway when you read the list of ingredients). It's true that butter, sugar and cream are not healthy foods, BUT if you chose to eat unhealthy food every so often - and we all should occasionally - shouldn't it be the best-tasting, freshest unhealthy food possible?

A few more things about caramel sauce: it's fast, it's simple, and there are no special tools other than a heavy-bottomed pot and your own good common sense. It takes only 4 ingredients and keeps (refrigerated) for three months. Doesn't that sound like a recipe you should have in your back pocket?

My recipe for salted caramel sauce (including a video of the preparation) is in the recipe box.

Sweet dreams,

​Chris

Michael Pollan is an author and foodie. His most famous book is probably "The Omnivore's Dilemma", but my personal favorite is "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual" (folk art illustration). The book is derived from mail Pollan received from all over the world about different cultural norms around food. He compiled all of these letters into 80 or so "rules" that are observed across many cultures and diets. Some are common sense: "Chew your food 15 times."  Some are thought provoking: "If your grandmother wouldn't have recognized it, it's not food."  Some are humorous: "If it comes through the window of your car, it's not food." But my favorite is this one:

"You can eat as much junk food as you like, as long as you cook it yourself."

It is with a nod to Michael Pollan that I share these tips for homemade potato chips.

Mmm...ever had them? One of my favorite restaurants serves them with truffle oil, but let me assure you that you do not need truffle oil to enjoy these little bites of heaven.

Eww...ever made them? Soggy, oily and burnt?  Well, not today! This is an area of cooking where a bit of knowledge is power. Three bits actually:

Tip one: Russets only. No Yukons, no red skins, no sweets. You need lots of starch, and Russets have it!

Tip two: Slice your Russets on a mandolin (or Bohrer V-slicer, see my "cool tools" post here) to no more than 1/8" thick, preferably thinner.

Tip three: Soak your sliced Russets in ice water for at least 30 minutes, discard the water, rinse and dry well (a salad spinner helps quite a bit with this).

Deep fry to a lovely golden brown, remove to a rack or paper towels, salt, and enjoy.  AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! Because you made every one of those chips yourself!  Recipe is here.

A quick word about deep frying: I use a Fry Daddy that my husband purchased for me as a joke after I started deep frying ALL my uneaten veggies the night before my CSA pickup (well, except the lettuce). 

But you do not need a deep fryer to enjoy homemade potato chips. A wok is perfect, a cast iron skillet works well as long as you don't fill it more than 1/2 way (bonus points - you're improving the seasoning!), and a saucepan - preferably heavy - is good too.


You need 2-3" of oil, preferably something that comes in a Wesson-like plastic bottle. Vegetable, peanut, canola are all good. Olive oil breaks down at high heat, so don't waste it deep frying.

You want to get the oil as close to 350 as possible, and while a candy thermometer will measure this for you, if you don't have one, you need to depend on another tool that nearly everyone has: your good common sense. While the oil is heating, put in a small chip. As the oil heats, it will start to bubble, crisp and brown, and when it turns golden brown, take it out - it's done, and you are ready to fry his little potato friends. If the oil starts smoking or your chips begin to burn in less than 90 seconds, turn the heat down; your oil is too hot.

See? No fancy tools needed, just (as I tell my kids) use the brain God gave you.

And enjoy those chips!!

While glazing a torte can in no way be compared to ending Apartheid, I thought that Nelson Mandela's quote was quite apt in this instance.

At a recent class, we were so engaged in making and eating our delicious desserts and dessert sauces, we ran out of time to glaze one of the tortes, a chocolate torte made with almond flour.  So here, in 13 pictures, is how it works.

1.  Start with a fully-baked Queen of Sheeba torte (recipe coming here).

2.  Use your fingers to gently press down the edges of the torte (while it's still in the pan) so it's level across the top.

3.  Remove the outside of the springform pan. See how level it is?  Flip it over and peel off the waxed paper or parchment, and eat the crumbs from the paper.  Delicious!!

4.  Next make your glaze (recipe coming here). It shouldn't be hot, but do you see how liquid it is as it falls from the red spatula?

5.  Pour about 1/4 of the glaze onto your torte.

6 and 7. Use your spatula to spread the glaze all over the torte. It's not meant to look pretty, it just needs to seal in the crumbs. If you need more glaze, use a clean spoon to get it; be careful not to get crumbs in the glaze!  Once it's covered, pop it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the glaze set.

8, 9.  Transfer the torte to a wire rack using a large spatula or cake mover. You may need to re-heat your glaze in the microwave (15-30 seconds on 50% power) to make sure it's still nice and liquid (but not hot)

10. Now pour the glaze on the torte, tilting it carefully so the glaze covers the whole top and drips over the edges. Use a clean spatula to apply glaze to the sides as needed; spoon a bit of glaze onto the spatula and then smooth it over the sides, being careful not to touch the top and top edge.

11  When you are finished, it will look like this! You can't see the slightly imperfect sides, but that's OK - we will cover them with toasted almonds. Transfer your torte to your serving dish, using the same large spatula or cake mover that you used to put it on the rack. Use a slightly damp paper towel to remove any chocolate glaze that becomes smeared on the serving dish.

12.  Apply the toasted almonds. Clearly a job best done with two hands, not one hand while the other tries to take a picture. It took me 8 tries just to get this photo, you should see the others!

13. At last, your masterpiece is complete! Store it at room temperature or slightly cooler; if you place it in the refrigerator, the glaze may discolor upon returning to room temperature. Serve with berries or a fruit sauce.  

A 9" torte serves 12-16, and I'm sure every single one of them will enjoy it.