American meal

In honor of America's last and unfortunately final game in the world cup, Jason and I decided to go all-american for dinner. And I'm posting now as it's also the perfect 4th of July meal (we think). The menu:

-Hamburgers with homemade Semi-Brioche buns
-Homemade potato chips

Living in a country that doesn't have hamburgers, or that much beef for that matter, hamburger buns are hard to come by. So, in search of a bun recipe that would bring back memories of our favorite burger in Brooklyn, from Dumont in Williamsburg, I stumbled on this one from the New York Times and decided to give it a try:

Light Brioche Buns

Adapted from Hidefumi Kubota, Comme Ça, Los Angeles
Published: June 30, 2009

Time: 1 hour, plus 2 to 4 hours’ rising

-3 tablespoons warm milk

-2 teaspoons active dry yeast

-2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

-2 large eggs

-3 cups bread flour

-1/3 cup all-purpose flour

-1 1/2 teaspoons salt

-2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.

1. In a glass measuring cup, combine 1 cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat 1 egg.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, unfloured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours. (only took ours one hour)

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours. (only took ours one hour)

Buns before and after second rise

5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8 buns.

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The recipe was a hit, both J and I loved the flavor and texture of these. I am convinced that the egg wash deflated the buns a bit and made them slightly denser, so I'd like to try them without next time. They do look great though!

As for the chips - super easy. We didn't have a fancy mandolin and were worried about how to get the right thinness of chips. Well turns out that section of everyone's standard grater I've never used before (the long slot in the middle between the fine holes and big) created the PERFECT chip. I was thrilled that we didn't have to buy something we didn't need and this was under our noses the whole time!

Large quantity of frying oil/fat of your choice (we used a combo of veggie and sunflower)
thin sliced potato chips
salt (and seasonings)

-Slice potatoes and soak in a cold water bath for 30-60 minutes. Remove from bath and pat dry right before frying.

-Heat oil to 350 degrees F (anywhere from 350 to 390 is ok) and fry in batches, flipping chips at least once so they fry evenly. Remove from oil into a paper or papertowel lined bowl after they begin to brown (1-2 minutes) and Salt/flavor immediately and shake around in the bowl to evenly distribute. They cool down almost immediately so you can taste test right away.

OK, so we actually made these chips twice and the second time we decided to try flavoring them. We made one with BBQ seasoning and the other with curry (of course!). They both turned out totally delicious - the BBQ tasted exactly like store-bought chips which I can't decide is good or bad, but the curry was our favorite. The flavor wasn't as overpowering and had a hint of sweetness to it (due to a touch of sugar) that really suited it perfectly.


For the seasonings:
BBQ
-1 1/2 TBS smoked Paprika
-1/2 TBS hot Paprika
-1 tsp sugar
-1/2 TBS salt

CURRY
-1 1/2 TBS Curry powder
-1 tsp sugar
-1/2 TBS salt

Pate and Baguettes

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

Simone and I decided to make the chicken liver pate... Ok, it was mostly my decision. She's not a big pate fan. Some people just don't understand the finer things in life. I really wanted to make some venison pate with the mule deer liver hanging out in the freezer but she said that was out of the question. Next time.

We used the chicken liver pate recipe provided by Evelyne and Valerie with a couple adaptations:

1 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves
300g (11 oz) chicken livers, trimmed
3 tbsp Whiskey - the only other option sanctioned in my book is bourbon
100g (3 1/2 oz, 1/2 cup) smoked bacon, diced
300g (11 oz) boneless pork belly, coarsely ground
200g (7 oz) boneless pork shoulder - coarsely chopped
1 tsp quatre-épices (or 1/4tsp each of ground pepper, cloves, nutmeg and ginger is close enough)
2 eggs
200 ml (7 fl oz, 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) heavy cream
2 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºF for "Z-Germans").

Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan over low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 minute, until just slightly browned. Add the chicken livers and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until browned but still slightly pink on the inside.

Remove the pan from heat. Pour in the Whiskey... river take my mind, light a match and carefully ignite the alcohol to flambé. Wait for the flames to go out on their own, carefully tilting the pan to ensure even flavoring. Set aside.

Put the minced pork belly and shoulder in a food processor, then add the garlic-liver mixture and pulse until you obtain a homogenous mixture.

Transfer to a bowl, and gradually stir in the chopped bacon, quatre-épices, cream, eggs, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Spoon the mixture into a terrine or loaf pan, and cover with the terrine lid or with aluminum foil.

Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep ovenproof dish (such as a brownie pan or a baking dish). Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan.

Put the water bath and the loaf pan in the oven, and bake for 2 hours. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. The terrine should be cooked through, and you should be able to slice into it with a knife and leave a mark, but it shouldn’t be too dry. Refrigerate, as this pâté needs to be served cold. Unmold onto a serving platter, cut into slices, and serve with bread.

For the Bread:

It was my first foray into baking a french baguette. I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's bread bakers apprentice. A solid recipe.

I created the Pate Fermente ( I chose this recipe to accompany the Pate recipe considering the confluence of Pate's) the night before baking and stuck it in the fridge.

The following day I removed the Pate fermente, cut it into approximately 10 small pieces and allowed to warm up.

Then I mixed it with additional flour and yeast, kneaded it for 15 minutes, let it rise for two hours, lighly punched it,


formed it into three baguettes, and let it proof for another 45 minutes until the loaves increase in size about 1.5 times.
















Then I scored the loaves and stuck them in a 450 degree oven containing a dry cast iron skillet, poured a cup of hot water in the skillet to steam the oven, closed the oven door, and at 30 second intervals for a total of four times, sprayed the sides of the oven with water from a spray bottle (this ensures the oven is the appropriate humidity to mimic that of a professional bakers). I baked for ~ 30 minutes until browned.
















I really enjoyed this challenge. I loved making the pate, and the bread turned out better than expected. It is nice to know that pate is only a recipe away.