Turns out if I follow the emulsion trail a bit there are more clues about binding. An emulsion is typically about fat and water – one dispersed in the other and they don’t like to stay together, hence they need an emulsifier like eggs or dairy to keep them joined. Sure you can create an oil and water emulsion like a vinaigrette, but that [...]
Archive for the ‘Finger Food’ Category
The Ties that Bind
Between On Food and Cooking and CookWise you would think one would cover the topic of “binders” but NO – I’m left to my own devices. Internet searching for “food binders” gives some interesting results but no definitive reference – not even a Wikipedia article. Binders are used in a number of meat mixtures – meatloaf is [...]
Crab Cakes: The Recipe
First off, Chef Paul uses a seasoning mixture approach so there is a lot of different spices going into a single mixture that’ll be used throughout the cooking process. Second, after making a similar dish of tuna croquettes that had binding issues, I’ll probably be playing with the binder combination (eggs, cream and breadcrumbs) a [...]
Chef Paul’s Crab Cakes
I’ve been thinking of getting Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen book but decided to hold off until I’ve worked my way though some of the recipes in my current read CookWise. Never the less when my mom offered Chef Paul’s Seasoned America book, I said “I’ll take it”. So this week we’re going to try Maryland Crab [...]
Road Food
This week, Finger Food Friday is on the road. It’s spring break in our neck of the woods and rather than skip the Friday fun, it’ll just take place in the vehicle as we head south. On tap are thing that can be eaten by passenger and driver with out getting too messy! We’ll try [...]
Crab Rangoon or Bust
First off the filling was just awesome. The cream and goat cheese combination with the rest of the seasoning would be great on crackers let alone wrapped inside fried wonton shells. Second, the dipping sauce concoction of crème fraîche, coconut milk, wasabi powder and salt ran a strong second. I ended up mixing 1/2 cup [...]
Crab Rangoon Dipping Sauce
Over the past weekend I needed some fresh shredded coconut for the Ambrosia I was making for an Easter lunch. As a result I’m in possession of some fresh coconut milk and about 1/2 cup of left over shredded coconut. I got thinking about what kind of dipping sauce to go with the Crab Rangoon and if coconut would [...]
Crab Rangoon Variation
Seems there’s an endless variety of Crab Rangoon recipes after you get past the cream cheese and crab part. Although I’d like to keep this fairly traditional there is a twist I’d like to try: goat cheese. I don’t recall having straight goat cheese, but this pasta meal I made tonight called for it. Naturally [...]
Reusing Lamb
After the Gyro Cup experiment I had some lamb left over – actually there’s about 3/4 lbs of the raw ground lamb in the freezer but that’s for another day. Rather than make another round of Gyro Cups, I opted to add them to the 3-egg omelet that I had this Easter morning. Not exactly finger food [...]