Chef Daniel Angerer's Blog

COOKING VERSUS FINISHING - WHICH OIL DO YOU USE?

My daughter Arabella is five months and is almost ready to begin eating solids (despite detesting her first taste of banana) – two teeth are here already.  Reading a cookbook about baby food and nutrition prompted me to write this post. A recipe in that book wants me to use olive oil for sautéing vegetables to be made into a puree.  In fact with the craze for extra virgin olive oil these days people often cook with it … even on TV “EVOO” … and well, they really should not.  At least it depends how much heat you apply to your particular cooking.

(Austrian pupmpkin seed oil with Spring salad and Tilsiter cheese, watermelon and baby beets)  

All About the Smoke
It comes down to this:  you should never reach the smoking point of an oil when you cook --  not only is there a danger that the oil can ignite but it’s also bad for your health.
Yes, you can cook with olive, walnut, pumpkin seed and other oils as long as your skillet or vessel stays on a low heat setting throughout.  I call these types of oils low to medium heat cooking oils and they are generally good up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  But I prefer to use them as finishing oils meaning I might drizzle them over foods such as soups or raw fish dishes.  Because really who wants to be concerned about the smoking point of these oils as you prepare your dinner, possibly with other courses to tend to.  And most people are a little impatient and turn up that heat to brown that garlic!

(I love this - baguette drizzled with argan oil then dipped in melted chocolate with a sprinkling of sea salt)

For the Hot and Impatient
So, for your pan roasted seafood or meat I suggest to cook with more heat stable oils such as canola or grape seed which are good all around oils for cooking and are heat stable up to about 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  For frying I prefer to use corn oil, peanut oil or sunflower oil.  Now if you want to go crazy with the heat avocado oil is for you as remains stable up to over 500°F, but you might not be able to afford it (or want to afford it) – it’s expensive! Sesame oil is also a noteworthy heat stable oil and it imparts distinct flavors in Asian cuisine (when it’s not toasted).  The oils I mentioned thus far are all either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats which are considered “good fats.”  The “bad fats” are on the other side of the fence; they are saturated and raise blood cholesterol levels to an unhealthy extent, and there are trans fats which are in many packaged foods and baked items such as doughnuts.  Trans fats have gotten some play in the media recently as NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg made a pet project of attempting to ban them in fast food restaurants here in NY and many commercial products are now marketing “no trans fats” on their packaging.  Margarine is one of the most notorious of these trans fats ironically thought to be better than butter (which is saturated but is not a trans fat) and is quite the opposite.   

(Olive oil poached jumbo sea bass with smoked olive oil) 

Greasy Tips and Pitfalls:
O If oils have a pale color and are bland in taste they are usually refined meaning chemically bleached and deodorized. 
O In my kitchen I use canola oil plentiful (also known as rapeseed oil) on the hot line. It has good heat retention and it’s flavor neutral. I even use it in salad vinaigrettes next to olive oil where it imparts subtle richness. 
O When frying, you can measure the temperature of your oil with a thermometer but there is a simpler old trick -- drop a small piece of bread into it and see how fast it browns.  This will give you a good indication of what it will to do your food.
O Overheated oils will start to smoke and eventually -- if really hot – will ignite.  DO NOT try to extinguish this oil with water, instead you must suffocate the flame with flour or baking powder or simply put a lid on the pot. 

So either I’ll be steaming the peas for Arabella’s puree or I’ll use a heat stable oil and leave the fire extinguisher on the hook! 
 
(my daughter Arabella & Mini inspecting the label of an olive oil bottle)  

 

THE CULTURAL LAYERS OF VIENNESE STRUDEL

Viennoisserie
I’m closing my eyes and dreaming about strudel in Vienna where I remember it paraded in show windows of Viennoisseries. It’s idyllic and like a romantic love story to me – a flaky pastry crust dusted with snow white powdered sugar served with a side of heavenly schlag. Strudel is particularly popular in Austria.  Literally it translates to “whirlpool” -- it is a type of pastry made of many layers.

(fresh baked apple strudel with it's crunchy layers)

 Hand Crafted Pastry Art
Authentic strudel making requires hand pulling the dough somewhat similar to a pizzaiolo who throws his pizza dough into the air.  Hand-pulling the strudel makes it a labor of love and eating it a visual experience.  I stretch the dough out over a long table with flour on an apron.  My strudel is brushed with butter for flavor and sprinkled with nuts before it is baked to a golden-brown color in the oven.

Strudel Variations
I stuff strudel with many fillings such as apricot/lemon verbena, Bartlett pear/chocolate chips – the variations are endless.  I even make savory strudels such as forest

mushroom/polenta and roasted Mangalitsa pork and fingerling potato, but apple strudel might be the most famous. One of the nice things about being in NY, the apple state,

is the great local variety of apples which I wholeheartedly embrace in my apple strudel recipe. Using different kinds of apples creates a symphony and harmony of tastes. 

When Chefs Make Music
Austrians are quite passionate about schlag known as “whipped cream” in the US (in German it means to whip). It’s traditionally served with pastries such as strudel or Sacher torte (a specialty chocolate cake with a layer of apricot preserve in between). One fond memory stays with me to this day. A chef friend made schlag in a bronze colored copper bowl in front of an audience whipping away in the rhythm of waltz music until the cream formed stiff peaks to a delighted audience  – like I said it’s a big deal there. And for some reason Americans love to say the word “schlag” – every time a server in my restaurant explains a dessert with schlag they always leave the table shaking their heads with a smile because the guests are repeating the word again and again and laughing.  Who knows … but it tastes sooo…good. Many guests ask “can I just order a bowl of schlag?”

(Apple strudel with schlag) 

Schlag & Coffee: Vienna has a far-reaching coffee house culture.  Artists, intellectuals and scholars like Sigmund Freud would join for hours in the Kaffe Haus, read the journal, debate, smoke and drink coffee in these beautiful Art Decco styled rooms with soaring ceilings.  Their coffee served on silver trays with a small glass water from surly waiters -- coffee was and still is a culture in Vienna, not just a drink.  There are various coffee drinks which have interesting names like Fiaker (Viennese/German for horse carriage) which is coffee with rum and whipped cream floating on top of it or Eiskaffee meaning coffee with vanilla ice cream and topped with a generous portion of schlag.  A nice rich coffee makes an excellent accompaniment to a crispy flaky apple strudel known in Vienna as Apfel Strudel.

Strudel Recipe
(Makes 2 strudels, serving 6-8 each)

Strudel Dough
(Makes enough for 2 strudels)
 
2 cups and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 pinches salt such as Kosher salt
1/2 cup water (at room temperature)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as canola or grape seed

1. Combine flour, salt, and water in the bowl of an electric kitchen mixer (fitted with the dough hook attachment) then mix on high speed (3 to 5 minutes) then add oil and continue to mix (2 minutes or until all ingredients are combined and form a dough).
2. Lightly dust a flat kitchen surface such as a kitchen counter or a table with flour. Transfer dough to the counter and divide into two equal sized pieces. Roll each piece, pressing it gently with both hands, into a circular motion to shape it into a ball. Cover shaped dough pieces with two bowls and let rest (30 minutes).

Strudel Filling
(yields enough for 2 strudels)
 
6-8 mixed apples, such as Granny Smith, Jonathan, and Golden Delicious, peeled, cored, and cut into ½ inch dices (about 8 cups total)
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon fresh ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon light rum, such as Bacardi
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as canola or grape seed

1. Toss apples, sugar, cinnamon, and rum in a large bowl.
2. In a skillet (9-inch diameter) heat oil (1 tablespoon) over medium heat setting then add half of apples and cook (4 to 6 minutes or until they have browned - this will evaporate the natural apple juice and results in a crispier strudel).
3. Transfer apples to a reusable plastic container such as a Tupperware container and cover (this will steam cooked apples a bit).
4. Repeat with second batch of apples then cool to room temperature.

Making the Strudel
½ cup all-purpose flour, for dusting the table and tablecloth
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted for brushing strudel dough
1 cup finely ground blanched almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Brush a baking sheet with butter.
3. Cover surface or table with a tablecloth (I use a 24x24-inch sized table). The cloth should hang over the sides of the table by at least 2 inches.
4. Dust tablecloth with flour then put the strudel dough (1 ball) on it. Dust dough  with flour and roll it out until it forms a square (15x15-inch about 1/8-inch thick).
 
5. Dust the back of your hands with flour, and place the rolled out dough over them. Gently stretch dough by pulling it with one hand while the other stays still. Give the dough a quarter turn and stretch it again. Continue gently stretching and turning the dough with your hands until its center becomes very thin (the edges will remain thicker) and the dough reaches about 26 inches. This will give it 2 inches of overhang on each side.
  
6. Lay the stretched-out dough over the tablecloth covered table, letting the edges hang over the table. Brush stretched dough with melted butter and sprinkle ground almonds over it. Make sure to leave some butter to brush the finished strudel.
     
 7. Spread cooked, cooled apples over the section of the dough closest to you in a mound about as wide as the palm of your hands.
 
8. Lift the two corners of the table cloth closest to you and pull them over the strudel. The dough will begin covering the apples. Keep rolling the dough over itself by pulling the tablecloth slowly. Continue doing so until all the dough is used up. Tuck the ends of the dough under the strudel and transfer it to the butter brushed baking sheet.
  
 9. Brush rolled strudel with the remaining butter and bake (25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown in color)

10. Cool strudel (10-15 minutes this will make it easier to cut strudel into nice-looking pieces).

Chef’s Note: Some of you might be not familiar with making strudel but in another context it’s very similar to making sushi with sushi mats the technique is the same.

No Wrong Assumptions!
If you are an impassionate baker looking for efficiency over poetry, you can use store bought phyllo pastry sheets. It will be a lot faster in the making and comparable in taste…but certainly not the same!!

 

 

MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

In the United States certain specific standards apply for restaurants and are controlled by the DOH (Department of Health). For example poultry has to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degree Fahrenheit for at least four minutes, eggs have to be cooked all the way through unless noted on the menu and so on.

(cryo-marinated vegetable for a salad)  

 

Sous-vide Basics

Some of us chefs push boundaries with cooking techniques to make food taste, look and smell delicious. One particular technique which stands out for me is sous-vide (vacuum) and/or ROP (reduced oxygen packaging) cooking and food storing method. This has gained a little bit of popularity recently with TV shows like Top Chef and Thomas Keller’s Book “Under Pressure.” The basic steps of sous vide cooking entails sealing foods such as steaks, poultry etc. in specialized, rather thick pouches made out of plastic where air is removed with a kitchen equipment called cryo-vac machine (oxygen is sucked out of those bags in that way food is sealed in the plastic pouch). ‘Sous vide” literally translates to “without air”. The particular food item is then cooked in a temperature monitoring device with a water bath attached -this equipment is called an immersion circulator. Unfortunately a specific law about sous-vide cooking has not been developed yet in the US meaning whoever wants to cook in a commercial context such as a restaurant needs to file a HACCP plan (hazard analysis and critical control point). This plan is a document written by a professional such as a chef or scientist explaining the steps of receiving, cooking and storage of foods to be cooked in the style of sous-vide.

(left: cryo-vac machine, this is the machine what sucks the air out of plastic pouches)

(right: imersion circulator, a precised cooking equipment)

 
sous-vide corner in my prep kitchen

- on the shelve are various logs for cooking, chilling, storing sous-vide prepared foods
- on the counter is meat cooking on low temperature
- on the right you see lables which are required at all steps of the sous-vide process

- on the wall (right) you can see an electronic thermometer to dermine the exact temperature of foods 

(sous-vide cooked salmon carpaccio with carrots - melts like butter in your mouth)    

Then and Now

I have been sous-vide cooking for the past 20 years or so. For me it started when Chef Joël Roubouchon from France developed a system to cook foods for a high end train line. Understandably cooking space and techniques are limited on a shaky train ride – can you imagine making potato puree at 100 miles and hour?

Already known for his gourmet food in his restaurant Jamin, Chef Roubouchon developed a way to recreate his signature items with the help of pouched foods heated in water baths and viola sous-vide cooking! From that time on, this cooking style was adopted by more and more chefs throughout the world. Actually throughout my cooking career in Europe every place I have worked in applied some form of sous-vide technique in their kitchen. Before I settled down in NYC I had the “pleasure” of apprenticing in Paris at Chef Roubouchon’s eponymous restaurant on rue Poincare learning the techniques first-hand (a great experience it was but calling it a “pleasure” might be reinventing history .. it was a tough job!). Needless to say for a young cook that was AMAZING!

(chicken ballotine packed & sealed ready to be cooked) 

  

Here and There

In Europe cooks were left alone from the food authorities. But here in NYC in the country of e-coli outbreaks galore, food borne illnesses and food recalls (most likely due to wrongdoings in gigantic food processing plants) it’s quite the opposite ironically. And I experienced this contradiction first-hand.

Two years ago cooking happily in the style I have learned in Europe we had a routine visit from an inspector from the DOH and during the inspection my sous-vide equipment was sealed with an adhesive banner  “USE PROHIBITED” meaning I was not allowed to suck air out of those cooking pouches and seal them for my sous-vide cooking process until I’d applied for a HACCP plan – NO MAS.  All uses of my cryo-vac machine were prohibited, even for sealing wine bags to enable guests to bring their half drank bottles home with them (legal in NY if taken home in a non-reseabale bag with a dinner receipt). I even got in trouble from an angry regular who wanted to take her wine home and I didn’t have the non-resealable bags – she told me off, more than once.

 

Pencil Pusher

I have a tendency to be a little bit of a pencil pusher if something really catches my attention so it took me about three month writing a specified HACCP plan, some consultation with my old chef buddies Dan Barber and Wylie Dufresne and a meeting with officials from the DOH at their office.

Finally, I proudly tapped the send button on my keyboard (a rather large file similar to a small book) describing MY steps and my process of sous-vide cooking.

Eagerly waiting to be in the “club” of a handful of restaurants in New York to have the permit to cook delicious food in the sous-vide style I was waiting, waiting and waiting for an answer – still nothing after 16 months. I contacted the health department office to find out what the state of my application was. The other side on the phone was explaining in a very friendly tone that the original person working on that subject had moved on and that my plan could not be located – MAN.

 

I submitted it again and a week later to my surprise a friendly lady contacted me to make minor changes on my HACCP plan and scheduled an appointment for an inspection of my sous-vide facility – A few days later I was approved.

(sous-vide cooked white asparagus and octopus with peppery arugula and chive blossoms)  

”Never give up… never surrender” (as heard on Galaxy Quest)

One good side effect of being tenacious is I became a little bit of an expert on the subject of sous-vide because of my research and readings over the last 16 months.

 

Message in a Pouch – Why a HACCP plan?

Dangerous bacteria such as botulism can thrive and grow in an oxygen free environment as in sous-vide cooked foods – hence the HACCP plan.

If food does not get handled properly a contamination of botulism can occur which leads to violent illness and death could even result.

 

Glossary

HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point

ROP - Reduced Oxygen Packaging\

sous vide – vacuum

 

 

 

SALAD FASHION SHOW

(corn salad with Hudson Valley feta and citrus vinaigrette)
 
When I was thinking about my Spring menu for the restaurant this year it occurred to me that salad is a little like fashion.
If you think back a few years you might agree we have had our love affair with radicchio in the early nineties then frisée salad came along until we were fed-up with the stereotypical French-style poached egg & lardons salad. In the late nineties we chefs would put the healthy, saturated green looking cress or peppery arugula next to any carefully crafted tart or meticulously fluted-edge quiche and after that the mesclun mix salad has had a long run. Mesclun never did it for me -- it’s a little like laundry, pre cut, pre-rinsed and packed in oxygen modified plastic. Definitely a smart way to bring “fresh” greens to consumers in a lazy ready-to-eat form but let’s face it the average mesclun has most likely had a several thousand mile journey from far away before being put on shelves in a local supermarket – local foods anybody?

(corn cursted soft-shell crab with mache and Spring vegetables) 
 
Let’s Talk French
I have been noticing a relative new lettuce on the block for some time now taking more and more presence here in the US market.
Mâche (French) is made more approachable for us and is sometimes called corn salad (American-English), which is kind of funny - since this lettuce has nothing to do with corn actually. Supposedly some 800 stores currently sell it across the country! Called rapunzel in Austrian-German, this poly-named lettuce is sweet and nutty in flavor and is somewhat comparable to the softness of Boston lettuce. Some stores label it as lamb’s lettuce since it has about 2-inch long tongue-shaped petals. 

(brunch fritatta with ratatouille and lamb tongue salad)
 
Green & Nutritious
Whatever you want to call it, mâche has good nutritional content, vitamin C, B6, B9 and omega-3fatty acids
With it’s tender texture it is a lovely companion shredded in new potato soup, steamed and  pureed next to fish or it may just sit next to your brunch omelet drizzled with some citrus vinaigrette.
 
Still the question remains - will mâche be the hottest lettuce fashion trend of the season?
 
 
 

SPRING CARROTS - NOT QUIET YET!

A few days ago I had a conversation about carrots with one of the farmers at the Green Market – it looks like the new crop is still a bunch away. Alex, the farmer will start harvesting baby carrots at the end of May beginning of June. Right now there are fresh carrots at the market -- farmer Alex calls them “horse carrots” -- which are a bit woodsy in texture and kept in dirt to extend their freshness over the Winter months.
I use these carrots in a cake recipe and they are sweet in flavor and have a delicious mellow taste.
 
(Spring carrots)

In Search of a Cake
For my daughter Arabella’s christening my Austrian family flew in and we arranged a German speaking priest for the ceremony. We dressed our daughter in a dirndl (a cute  traditional Austrian folklore dress in pink and lavender color). I wanted to create a cake to celebrate her important day.
We tried different kinds of a cakes which bridge her Austrian/American heritage for her christening, and with a little trial and error we decided to go with a
a traditional American carrot cake with a not so traditional cream cheese ganache and poppy seed meringue. 

(carrot cake with poppy seed meringue and creme cheese ganache topped with candied carrots) 

Carrot cake 
(recipe for 13x9x2-inch sized cake pan mold, 20 portions or so)

3-1/3 (14 ounces) unbleached flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½-teaspoon baking powder
4 cups shredded carrots
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-½ cups vegetable oil such as canola oil
4 large  eggs  

1 cup simple syrup (½ cup sugar mixed with ½ cup hot water)
1 ounce rum   

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder
3. Toss shredded carrots with 1/3 of the flour mix
4. Mix sugar, salt and oil in electric mixer with paddle attachment then add eggs Add flour/baking soda mixture to incorporate then add carrot/flour mixture
5. Brush cake mold (13x9x2-inch sized) with non stick cooking spray then dust/coat with all purpose flour
6. Pour batter into cake mold then bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean when piercing in the middle of the cake
7. Invert cake onto a cutting board or second sheet pan (same size so that the cake will slip out of mold)
8. Brush cake with simple syrup and rum

Cream Cheese Ganache
1 pound cream cheese   
1 cup powdered sugar  
1 lime (zest from one lime)   

1. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and lime zest with a wire whisk until smooth and spreadable. 

(poppy seeds)
 
Poppy Seed Meringue
2 cups ground almonds
2-½ cups sugar
2 tablespoons ground rice  
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 280 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix all ingredients to a smooth paste
3. Spread thinly on parchment paper lined cookie sheet pan (13x9x2-inch sized).
4. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes or until golden in color

Cake assembly: spread cream cheese ganache evenly over baked carrot cake surface then lay the poppy seed meringue on top of it (peel parchment paper of poppy seed meringue). Cool thirty minutes before cutting into portions.

Why Poppy Seeds?
Poppy seeds add a crunchy texture and a nutty flavor, and they are used in a myriad of baked goods (and in a variety of cooked dishes) in Austria. So this added a little bit of Austria to the American carrot cake.  I still remember the last time visiting Vienna while exiting an airplane looking over a blood-red blooming field of poppies. 
You might have seen artist’s paintings of a summer scene with beautiful red flowers – that is what comes to my mind when I cook with poppy seeds.

A little tip: Because of their high oil content, poppy seeds must be kept stored airtight in a refrigerator otherwise they are prone to rancidity. And don’t take these little gems for granted -- apparently it takes about 900,000 poppy seeds to equal a pound!

(horse carrots)