Many of you know I am a big fan of Chef Todd Mohr and his new cooking web site i-hate-cooking-recipes.com with his dozens of cooking videos. Chef Todd’s philosophy to cooking is similar to mine. We both believe you don’t have to go to culinary school to learn how to cook at home and it is more important to learn the cooking technique rather than just following a recipe.

If you learn the technique of Smoke Roasting properly, you can smoke-roast a chicken breast, fish, shellfish and even a steak. It’s all about learning the technique.

Smoke-Roasting

We are hearing more and more about true barbecue on the food tv and in the cooking magazines. This is where you slow cook food like ribs and chicken at lower temperatures for longer periods of time using indirect heat. Actually you want the smoke to cook the food and not the heat from the flame.

My buddy Barbecue Bob is mastering this technique in his giant smoker at home and prepares some mean pulled pork. He’s now curing his own bacon and finishing it in his smoker.

Smoking Indoors

If you don’t have a smoker but still want to try your hand at smoking a chicken breast or whole trout, Chef Todd shows you in this video how you can smoke roast in your own kitchen while teaching the basics to this technique. You can use his technique on the stovetop or take his ideas and use them on your own gas or charcoal grill outside.

Warning - If you do decide to try his indoor method of smoke roasting, be sure you have the proper ventilation and a strong exhaust fan that takes the smoke out of the house, not one of those fans that recirculates the smoke back into the house.

New Cooking DVD: Burn Your Recipes Volume 1

If you like Chef Todd’s cooking videos on my web site and his, you are going to be thrilled that he has put together this first volume of new material called Burn Your Recipes. The first volume includes:

The ONLY Pots and Pans You Really Need
The Essential Kitchen Hand Tools to Make Your Prep Easier
The System Used by Professionals to Ensure Food Quality
The Four “Must-Have” Kitchen Knives
Be Confident with the Knife in Your Hand by Choosing the Correct Knife
How to Keep Your Knives Sharp and Safe
Holding the Knife for Accuracy and Safety
Mastering the Classic Knife Cuts
The Definitive Guide to Expertly Cutting the Most Common Household Fruits and Vegetables
How to Choose the Right Knife for the Right Job
plus a lot more.

If you want to learn more about Chef Todd’s new video, check out Burn Your Recipes Volume 1.

Everything You Need To Know About Making Espresso

The Coffee Couple

Recently I posted an interview on ReluctantGourmet.com with a couple from Québec, Canada about their favorite subject - Espresso. Luc and Andreanne, The Coffee Couple shared their expertise about making a great cup of espresso including what kind of beans you should use and  the various options you have when choosing an espresso maker.

See the entire interview called All About Espresso here.

The Coffee Couple met in 2004 and realized they wanted to start their own business and work from home so they started their online business, TheCoffeeCouple.com. On their site you can find some of their favorite home and commercial espresso machines as well as coffee tips and videos.

Some of the questioned I asked them in the interview are:

• How much does the equipment you use to make coffee affect the overall taste?
• Are there some coffee makers better than others?
• How much does the coffee bean itself factor in the overall flavor?
• How should we be buying our coffee?
• Should we grind it at the store or is buying a grinder a better option?
• How important is the grind?
• What is the difference between a blade grinder and a burr grinder and is one more advantageous?
• And how should we be storing our coffee?
• Can you freeze ground coffee or coffee beans?
• What about flavored coffees? How do they get the hazelnut flavor into the coffee bean?
• What are we trying to achieve when we are making a good cup of espresso?How important is it to keep your coffee/espresso maker clean?

How to Choose the Right Espresso and Cappuccino Machine

The second part of my interview was on buying the right machine for making espresso or cappuccino to fit our needs. Do we need a big commercial brand or just a drip model?  Luc and Andreanne  describe the different types of espresso making models and explained the advantages and disadvantages for them.

You can read that part of the interview at Espresso & Cappuccino Machines.

Petit Basque (P’tit Basque)

Most visits to our local Ardmore Farmer’s Market, I stop by Cheeseman Jack’s booth to talk about cheese, learn by tasting some cheese I’ve never had before and purchasing some to bring home to my wife and family. Recently I had the opportunity to try Petit Basque, a wonderful sheep’s milk cheese that is mild enough even for my kids.

Petit Basque is an unpasteurized, uncooked hard sheep’s milk cheese produced in the Pyrenees Mountains, the mountains that form the border between France and Spain

In Short

• Type:  Sheep milk
• Origin:  Pyrenees Mountains, France
• Process:  brined and ripened 70 days
• Texture:  smooth and firm
• Shape:  Cylindrical, weighing approximately 1.25 pounds
• Color:  Butter yellow
• Rind:  Thin and covered with thin plastic to prevent mold
• Flavor:  Mild, nutty and slightly fruity

The Rest of the Story

A lot of the great cheeses of the world have been around for hundreds of years.  Interestingly, although Petit Basque (sometimes spelled P’tit Basque) is made using traditional methods, it is a new cheese, having first been produced in 1997 by the large French dairy corporation Lactalis.  If you think you’ve never heard of Lactalis, think again.  Ever heard of Sorrento, President or Rondele cheese brands?  All of these brands are under the Lactalis umbrella.

So, why this new sheep milk cheese when there are plenty of well known sheep milk cheeses on the market (Spanish Manchego comes to mind immediately)?  Often, sheep milk cheese is a bit of an acquired taste.  It can be quite assertively “sheepy.”  Lactalis most likely wanted to produce a more accessible sheep milk cheese, one that would appeal to a broader segment of the American market—almost half of the Petit Basque produced is marketed in the United States.

A Little History

Petit Basque is made in the Pyrenees Mountains using the same techniques that local shepherds used hundreds of years ago. This “fromage de brebis” or sheep cheese was made from pure sheep’s milk the farmers put aside while milking their ewes. Two other famous sheep’s milk cheeses from the area are Ossau Iraty and Idiazabal.

Some Facts

Petit Basque is comprised of 45% fat and has a rich, buttery yellow color.  The cheese is made from curds from uncooked, unpasteurized ewe’s milk.  Once pressed into molds and dried, it is brined for two hours and then cold aged for 70 days before being either waxed or covered in thin plastic to prevent mold. The small cylindrical shaped cheese each weigh about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ pounds.

What To Expect

When you look at the exterior of Petit Basque you will notice it is has a light yellow butter color appearance that is smooth and slightly oily. When you cut open a wheel of Petit Basque, you will notice that the interior is very smooth with no “eyes” (think Swiss cheese).  The aroma is slightly nutty with some caramel notes.  Biting into the cheese, some have described it as having a smooth taffy-like feel in the mouth.

What to Serve With

Since Petit Basque is a relatively mild sheep milk cheese, it is a good one to start with if you are unfamiliar with sheep milk cheeses.  The flavor is mildly “sheepy,” nutty and somewhat fruity.  It would be lovely on a fruit and cheese platter, especially with stone fruit such as peaches, apricots or even cherries.  It can also be served on some French bread with ham and tomato or on serving board with cured meats, olives and pâté.

I typically serve cheese with whatever wine I’m drinking but I have read Petit Basque goes well with most red wines including Beajolais, Merlot and Viogner.

Where To Find Petit Basque

You should be able to find Petit Basque at your local cheese shops although I’m not sure you will find it at your local supermarket. For a good cheese source on the Internet, I would check out Artisanal Premium Cheese. They offer Tourmalet, a farmhouse version of Petit Basque.

Related Pages

All About Cheese

Types of Cheeses