Do Wooden Spoons Help You Cook Better?

“Wooden spoons on the water, very free, and easy
Easy, you know the way it’s supposed to be…..”

I know, it’s supposed to be “wooden ships on the water” from David Crosby’s classic song but when I was photographing my own wooden spoons I couldn’t get this song out of my head. Two days now!

And if you think about it, wooden spoons do make cooking very easy and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. I am a big fan of wooden spoons and have one or two that I grabbed from our kitchen growing up to take to college many years ago and never gave them back. I hope my daughters take them from our kitchen and hold on to them like I did.

I have been told by several chefs that wooden spoons are the way to go but I wanted to know why. So I wrote a short article about them on my web site at Wooden Spoons. I wanted to know if it is just because they feel better in the hand or if they really had an advantage over metal spoons.

Eating With Wooden Spoons

As I’m writing this, I’m thinking they may be good to cook with, but I’m not so sure I would want to eat with them every day. I don’t like the way food TASTES when you try it from a wooden spoon. I much prefer to use my spoon to remove it from the pot or pan, let it cool for a few seconds and then pour it into my hand to taste. You don’t taste the wood and there’s a lot less cleaning.

Where to Find Aged Wooden Spoons

You can often find great old wooden spoons at flea markets and garage sales for pennies. I look for them in the $1 mystery box with some other antique kitchen gadgets. Many of them may be cheap pine but if you look, you can find a lot of hard wood (oak, maple) spoons out there just needing a little cleaning up and a bit of food grade mineral oil.

If you’re not into flea markets and garage sales, you can purchase a new one, again look for quality, cook with it for a bunch of years and pass it down to your kids and/or grandkids. It’s a tool you will work with almost every day so be sure to purchase a good one that feels comfortable in the hand.

I don’t think about my spoons often, but I do know if they could talk they would have plenty of great stories to tell about fun meals I’ve prepared over the years before I was married and now married with kids. You can think of them as little pieces of history right there in your kitchen.

So check out my article on the benefits of cooking with wooden spoons and let me know your favorite wooden spoon story. Go to:

All About Wooden Spoons

Slow Cooked Pork Chops

Mistakes were made, but it all worked out in the end.

Slow cooked meals may just be my favorite way of cooking. Taking a less expensive cut of meat like pork shoulder or beef chuck and turning it into something heavenly is what I’m talking about. Sure a grilled New York Strip Steak is great but when you slow cook (braise) you typically combine a bunch of ingredients with a liquid (stock, wine, water) and together, they create the most delightful, soulful meal. Think of some of your favorite comfort foods like beef stew, short ribs , braised chicken, and braised pork chops.

Note: while bouncing around on the Internet, I found this great post at eGullet.org showing the eGCI team testing various braising liquids. They braised short ribs in four individual vessels with ½ inch of stock, red wine, water and vegetables and then completely cover with stock. The results are very interesting and show using partial covered beef stock yielding the best results. See eGullet.org for more.

Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven

I like both techniques for slow cooking depending on how much time I have and what’s going on in my life. For example, if I’m firing up my outdoor wood-burning oven to make pizza, I’ll typically prepare something to slow cook overnight in a cast iron Dutch Oven. My wood burning oven maintains about a 200° F temperature all night so it is perfect for braising.

If I’m going out for the day and won’t be around to take a pot out of the oven, I prep everything in the morning and toss it into my crock pot and let it cook on low all day worry free. When I walk into the house, I’m hit with the most insane aromas and know I have a great meal ahead of me.

Then there’s those days when I want to prepare a slow cooked braise in less time in one of my Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Ovens. You can still walk away after everything is in the oven, but I’m not leaving the house with the oven on and no one at home.

Size Matters

I was looking at a recipe from one of my favorite sources, Cooks Illustrated Online, and found a recipe for slow-cooked barbecued sticky ribs. Looked delicious, easy to prepare and I had all the ingredients on hand including the baby back pork ribs from my freezer.

What I didn’t have and I don’t think the recipe or article mentioned was a 6 – 6½ quart crock-pot. Mine was only 3½ quart and although I was able to jam all the ribs into the smaller pot, the thicker ends didn’t cook all the way through and I had to go back to my standby method of cooking barbecue baby back ribs.

It worked out, but was a pain in the butt. I immediately went online and purchased the highly recommended 6½ quart Crock-Pot Touchscreen model that was almost double the size of my current crock-pot. There’s a whole lot to think about when buying a crock-pot, but finding one with accurate heat settings is most important.

I’ll write an article on crock-pots describing the differences and what to look for when purchasing one soon. I’ll also try the barbecue rib recipe in the new cooker in the future and report back on the results. In the meantime, let’s focus on some pork chops.

Slow Cooked (Braised) Pork Chops

Now that I own this brand new 6½ quart Crock-Pot with a fancy touch screen that is accurate between 195 ° F and 207° F I’m ready to try a new recipe. Hmmm, let’s try another well-researched slow-cooker recipe from my Cooks Illustrated Online. This time it was slow cooked, crock-pot smothered pork chops.

Again, I made a mistake and this time it was my fault. I fill you in on the results first and then tell you the mistake. The smells that filled the house were breathtaking. The sauce made by slow cooking the vegetables and spices with pork and broth was mouth watering but the meat was DRY.

How could this be? I followed the directions to the letter and I’m cooking in a crock-pot for 7½ hours. What could I have done wrong?

Not Reading the Recipe Accurately

What I did wrong was not read the recipe accurately. I purchased 6 bone-in center cut pork chops and the recipe calls for bone-in Blade-Cut pork chops. The difference = an overcooked dry piece of meat versus a tender, fall off the bone one.  Plus it cost me a lot more for center cut chops than if I had purchased blade chops. Stupid me.

I should have known not to try braising a center cut pork chop for that long. Yes, it is possible to braise this cut of pork but it has to be done quickly.  The blade chop does come from the loin but at the end closest to the shoulder. It is marbled with more fat and is tougher than the center cut making it perfect for braising for longer periods of time.

PLEASE, READ YOUR RECIPES CAREFULLY!

All Was Not Lost

The pork was dry but the sauce made by the braise was amazing so the next night I shredded the pork with my fingers and put it back in the pot with the sauce. Cooked some egg noodles and served the pork over them. An expensive shredded pork – noodle dish but was better than the first night as a chop.

Here’s how you make slow cooker pork chops smothered in onions using blade chops adapted from Cooks Illustrated Online version.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bacon cut into ¼ inch pieces – good for added flavor and fat
• 3 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced thin
• 4 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
  1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced (substitute 1 teaspoon dried)
• salt
• 3 cups chicken broth (homemade is best – low salt is ok)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Minute Tapioca (used for thickening and usually can be found next to the Jello in your supermarket)
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 bone-in BLADE-CUT pork chops, ¾ inches thick
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon freshly minced parsley leaves for decorating dish at end

How to Make Slow Cooker Pork Chops

Start by cooking the bacon pieces in your favorite large frying pan (skillet, sauté pan).  Cook the bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes and transfer the bacon to a plate covered with paper towels. Save in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. The bacon bits will be served on top with the parsley at the end.

Pour out all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan. Me, I have a dog food can on the counter that I pour all my fats into and when it’s full, I refrigerate to harden up and throw out in a zip lock bag. Don’t pour your fat down the drain. Plumbers delight.

Heat the pan over medium high heat and when the bacon fat shimmers add the onions, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, thyme, garlic and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, being sure to stir often until the onions start to caramelize. This is going to take as long as 15 minutes but don’t walk away and watch a basketball game on TV. You need to keep stirring so the onions don’t burn.

When the onions are soft and light brown, add 1 cup of the chicken broth and give a stir. Transfer all this good stuff to the crock-pot, add the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth plus the other tablespoon brown sugar, soy sauce, instant tapioca and bay leaves. Stir to combine.

Cover the crock-pot and cook on the low setting for 7½ hours until the meat is tender. (That is if you use the right cut of pork!)  You can also cook on high for 4 to 5 hours, again until tender.

When all is cooked, transfer the meat to a large serving plate if you are not serving individual plates and tent with some aluminum foil. The meat needs to rest while you finish the sauce.

You want to get rid of as much fat as possible from the cooking liquids. Let the liquid cool for 5 minutes and then spoon off as much as you can from the surface. May be my least favorite job when cooking but worth doing.

Get rid of the bay leaves; add the vinegar, stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. You are now almost ready to serve family style.

Reheat the bacon pieces in the microwave oven for about 30 seconds until heated through. Pour 1 cup of the defatted sauce with all those lovely caramelized onions over the pork chops, sprinkle with some bacon bits, fresh parsley and serve with the rest of the sauce on the side.

Let me know if you have better results than I did with the wrong cuts of pork. - The Reluctant Gourmet

Cutting up the bacon

Bacon is nicely sliced up

Sauteing the bacon

Remember bacon bits?

Sauteing the onions

Hope everyone had a fantastic St Patty’s day. I guess this recipe is a day late but I wanted to share with you a crock-pot recipe for lamb stew that my wife prepared for some friends visiting from out of town. She made the lamb stew in our new 6 and 1/2 quart programmable touch screen slow cooker from Crock-Pot.  Fancy, right? I replaced my 3 and 1/2 quart crock because it was ancient, too small and didn’t have a timer for auto shut off, so when it came time to replace it, I went all out!

We made this stew in a crock-pot but you could also prepare it in a large Dutch Oven. I love making stews in the oven with my Le Creuset 9-quart oval French oven. If you go this route, it will take less time and you can brown your ingredients in the same cookware as you braise them in.

About the Lamb Cut

The meat cut you use for lamb stew is important.  You want it to come from the shoulder area - you have the Shoulder Arm Picnic, Shoulder Arm Roast, Blade (Boston) Roast, & Blade Steak to choose from. These cuts are much less expensive than the meat you would purchase for grilled lamb chops or leg of lamb or lamb roast and in my opinion have more flavor when slow cooked.

As with any meat you’re going to braise (cook for a long time partially submerged in a liquid)m you need these tougher cuts because they are more fibrous and hold up better with long slow cooking. The moist heat breaks down the connective tissue, including collagen which melts and turns into gelatin that gives the sauce that amazing lip-smacking body. You don’t want a lot of extra fat, however, so you might have to trim some off before cutting your meat into 1 and 1/2″ chunks.

I found some already-cubed lamb shoulder meat at my local Farmer’s Market butcher shop called Stolzfus Meats. The butcher, “Bongo” Dan, has spent years butchering local meat for the market and is a wealth of information when it comes to all meat cuts. If you’re wondering how he got his nickname….I happened to see him one afternoon at a Phillies game at Citizen’s Bank Park on the Jumbo Screen playing air bongos for the Bongo Cam. Priceless!

This recipe for lamb stew takes about 1/2 hour to prep and then 5 hours in the crock pot set on low. If you prepare it in a Dutch Oven in the oven, it cooks for approximately 2 hours. Either way, it can be served right away, but like many braises, it tastes better the next day, if you can wait that long to eat it!  When making this in the crock pot, I like to brown the lamb meat before braising in the oven for a couple of reasons.

1. In my opinion, the browned meat looks better than meat you just throw into the crock pot.

2. Searing the meat gives it a brown crust that adds an additional layer of flavor.

Tender and Tasty Lamb Stew

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lamb shoulder meat trimmed of fat and  cut into 1 and 1/2 inch cubes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Flour for dredging
• 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
• 2 and 1/2 cups lamb stock (chicken stock if you can’t find lamb stock)
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 - 1/2 pound of mushrooms
• 1 or 2 sprigs of fresh thyme (dried will work too)
• 2 - 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

How to Make Lamb Stew

Season the meat with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Be sure to shake off any excess flour. If you don’t, the flour can burn and will make a mess on the bottom of the pan. Just a light dusting is fine.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a preheated fry pan over medium high heat. When it starts to shimmer but is not smoking, add the meat and brown all sides. Don’t let the meat touch, so if your pan isn’t big enough, brown in batches. The best tool for turning the meat is a pair of kitchen tongs, one of the most important tools in your kitchen. When the meat is browned, transfer it to the crock-pot.

Time to saute the onions in the same pan. Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and then the onions. This is a good time to season with a little salt but not too much.  Cook the onions until deep golden brown, being sure to stir frequently so they don’t burn.

Add 1/2 cup stock to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any of the brown bits (fond) stuck to the bottom of it. Add the fresh thyme. Add  the onions and the deglazing liquid to the crock pot.

Add the sliced carrots and mushrooms to the crock pot along with the remaining 2 cups of stock, cover and set to low.  I have read it helps to first place a layer of aluminum foil over the top of the crock pot and then the cover. Not sure if this helps but sometimes I make the effort.

Cook on the low setting for about 5 hours or until the meat is tender.

Many recipes I read say to spoon off any fat that accumulates at the top. I have never found this easy to do but I know it is worth a try. Sometimes I make a stew the day before so I can let the fat rise to the top and congeal when refrigerated. Then all I have to do is spoon out the layer of congealed fat. Enough about fat.

Add the parsley to the pot, stir and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thin, you can always make a quick thickener with a little flour or cornstarch mixed with water (a slurry) and add it to the pot. The only problem with this is that, if you don’t bring the starch up to a boil, your sauce can taste a little, well, starchy.  So, if you do find you have to thicken the sauce, you might have to turn the crock pot to high for a little while to cook off any starchy taste.

My wife served the stew with mashed potatoes of course and some Irish soda bread on the side.  The wine was a very inexpensive 2007 Boarding Pass Shiraz from Australia. It cost under $10 here in Philadelphia and received a 91 rating from Robert Parker, the wine critic for The Wine Advocate newsletter.  Yesterday I went out and bought a whole case.