Chef Daniel Angerer's Blog

THE DAILY BREAD - the blog

The ancient philosophy of breaking bread relates to sharing and togetherness.  Perhaps sharing is not so common anymore but bread itself is certainly a frequently consumed food.

(sprouted grain bread)

Bread stories from different cultures…
My Italian friend would not touch a bowl of pasta if it didn’t accompany a hunk of chewy white bread to mop up the sauce left on the pasta plate. When I apprenticed in France I remember having charcuterie plates accompanied by slices of rustic levain, which is crusty bread made with natural sour dough yeast culture. It lends the bread a welcoming sour flavor. Equally Parisian baguette stories can fill a book and indeed it’s quite magical to smear pate’ on a freshly baked baguette. Growing up in Austria, there was always a dark crusty rye bread on the table, which is a little heartier, compared to wheat-based bread. One of my favorite morning breads is Challah made with milk and butter, often dotted with raisins. I like to enjoy it with a thick layer of good butter. In the early 90’s when I arrived in New York I was surprised how little European style bread was available here. I missed artisan bread since I was used to fresh bread from the bakery daily. I still remember when I was first introduced to cushy, chewy bagels, still appealing to me these days. I used to be mortified to order such bagels at a busy corner deli just footsteps away from my apartment. My English wasn’t that great at that time and making the counter person understand what kind of bagel I wanted was torture to us both. Today a variety of freshly baked breads are abundant in New York, and my communication problems are a thing of the past – I am thankful for both!

(fresh ciabatta rolls - simple sammy) 

In search of the ideal sandwich bread…
There are three styles of breads that I find myself going back to frequently. My findings are as following:

American bread
These fast bake breads made with commercial “bakers” yeast leave much to desire in my opinion. The only breads I enjoy of this kind are multi-grain breads made with pre-sprouted grains. They appeal to me because they’re healthy and easier to digest. Pre-sprouting or soaking grains in water before they’re added to the bread dough boosts the nutrition value and makes grains easier to digest. I like them since I can keep them in the refrigerator for several days in their plastic packaging and toast them at any mealtime.

French style
I find this type of bread appealing since they are often made with a sourdough starter resulting in a nice crust.  Sourdough breads are often made with a mixture of rye and wheat flour and with natural yeast culture where lacto acid fermentation gives the bread a light sour taste. The process requires a pre-fermented “starter” or in French “levain.”  These breads take longer to make compared to American breads and sourdoughs vary from bakery to bakery and are a great opportunity to showcase the signature style of the head baker. This type of bread can make wonderful sandwiches for lunch and dinner as long as it’s not older then two days, and kept at room temperature in a paper bag.

(freshly baked ciabatta rolls)  

Italian style
Italian breads are made with wheat and yeast to start with and often refined with milk and olive oil. The dough is rather loose which makes a more open texture, meaning it has large air pockets inside the bread. I like ciabatta rolls that are hand rolled flat and elongated, made with whole wheat flour and a sourdough starter for a crispier crust, porous texture but still somewhat soft. They are perfect for sandwiches but unfortunately they tend to get tough and chewy when they’re older than one day.

Drop me a line about your favorite bread. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOT CHOCOLATE – the blog

During the December holidays New York is beautiful in so many ways. Recently I  read a story about chocolate, which naturally brought me to the subject of hot chocolate. My spouse, my toddler daughter and myself have been enthusiastically tasting many versions of hot chocolate with varying levels of excellence.

(dark, satisfying hot chocolate)

I’m not a fan of commercially produced hot chocolate mixtures available at the supermarket. Generally these pre-fabricated mixtures have too much sugar and cocoa powder and rarely do they possess chocolate chunks that makes for a tepid cup of hot chocolate. In contrast a high percentage cacao chocolate mixed into milk and/or heavy cream makes a deeply satisfying cup especially on a chilly winter’s night. The chocolate percentage is often visible on the front of the package  and is explained as the “pure cacao liqueur” content in the chocolate - - the higher percentage the better.  I recommend at least 60% percent cacao liqueur chocolate to make a decent hot chocolate. By the way chocolate liqueur has nothing to do with alcohol but refers to the cacao solids in chocolate.

(Mexican hot chocolate with churros)  

Chocolates ingredients 
Spices: chocolates are often spiced with cinnamon, vanilla, lavender, cardamom and chile. Sometimes chocolate has woodsy flavor notes and reminds you of tobacco which comes from spices in the chocolate. Another example is Mexican hot chocolate which is thickened with cornstarch and milk then chile is steeped in it, which lends heat to the beverage. Recently I tasted a rather wacky ingredient in chocolate – bacon, delivering an obvious smoky flavor to it and it was interesting.

Cacao butter: Cacao butter is the fat of the cacao bean and gives hot chocolate a rich, velvety mouth feel.
Sweetener: Most commonly chocolate is sweetened with sugar and other sweeteners like honey or agave. I like chocolate with little sugar usually labeled bitter and extra bitter chocolate. I appreciate the pure chocolate flavor. 
Terroir: Like a great coffee or wine, how it is made or roasted, its fermentation style, its place of origin and its climate affects the taste and style of chocolate My favorite flavor profile in chocolate is tartness, which reminds me often of cherries.

(chopping chocolate on a clean cutting board - very important!)

Hot Chocolate
(recipe yields 4 cups)

4 cups whole milk
8 ounces chocolate, chopped
½ cup heavy cream
pinch cinnamon
pinch salt

1. Make sure your cutting board does not smell like garlic or onions or any other strong smelling foods. Chop the chocolate with a knife into 1/8-inch size pieces. Divide the chocolate into four equal portions.
2. In a saucepot bring milk and heavy cream to boil. Stir the milk every 2-3 minutes until it boils to prevent scorching. Add cinnamon and salt.
3. Take the milk off the stove and whisk-in the first portion of the chopped chocolate, once that is melted add the second portion and so forth.

Chef’s Tip: The importance lies in boiling the milk for a second and then whisking the chocolate in stages into the warm milk – this is called tempering chocolate.  It makes a seductive satin texture and lets the chocolate shine in its full capacity.

Years ago when I apprenticed in Paris, I enjoyed hot chocolate in a small café on a side street of the Champs Elysees. The frothy hot milk and cream mixture was served in a shallow porcelain cup and next to it was a whisky tumbler-like glass filled with roughly chopped chocolate chunks, which had to be dropped into the hot milk-cream mixture. The sheer pleasure of nibbling on one of those chunks of chocolate paved the way for an enjoyable cup of hot chocolate. The warm chocolate had a luxurious silkiness and pudding like texture – an epiphany.

 

 

VEGETABLE TLC - the blog

With little fresh produce left at the local farmer’s market there is not much whimsy left e.g. no soft playful baby kale for our salads or mellow, small turnips. Certainly there are no more tender, sweet baby carrots unless they’re hydroponically grown in a hot house. In fact right now there are a bunch of overgrown soup vegetables!

(end of the season kale and that's what's left for cauliflower and broccoli)

Veggies on their last leg
What I did find were large horse carrots, overgrown rutabaga (which are from the turnip family) and kale which looks like it needed crutches to stand up - tough and partially wilted around the edges. Surely it has to do with the frosty December weather. Indeed there is nothing happening in the farmer’s fields any longer in terms of newly grown vegetables at this time.  Warm apple cider, baked goods and wintered-in vegetables such as pears, apples and small cauliflower, broccoli heads, few Brussels and the before mentioned vegetables dominate the local offerings. So let’s go with the flow. 

(That's a carrot!)

Creamed vegetables
This time of the year vegetables need some tender loving care to make them delicious. There is one cooking method that churns out reliably tasty vegetable dishes, which includes adding cream to soften the strong flavor of winter vegetables.  Hearty weather calls for a winter coating on your vegetables. 

That brings me to the carrots I picked up at the farmer’s market this past weekend. They were gigantic and had a texture similar to wood in their raw state – nothing anybody wants to eat. On the positive side, the carrot size made it easy to dice them evenly and they made my daughter and her little friend laugh when I cooked them for dinner.  A long roasting time on low heat made them seductively tender and I finished them with a few tablespoons of cream. Another success was kale chopped into inch-sized mouthfuls, cooked on a medium heat setting, to which I added chopped turkey bacon halfway through the cooking process.  At the end I added unsweetened coconut milk to the mixture – delicious! Try the same cooking process with vegetables such as red beets and turnips and perhaps you can still can find a winter spinach out there, which is one of my favorite winter vegetables.

(evenly cubed - makes a nice roasting surface)

Here are a few pointers for bringing good flavor to those winter vegetables:

1.     I suggest cutting the vegetables into 1/8-inch sized cubes for hard textured vegetables or 1-inch sized flakes for leafy greens. This will give it more skillet/roasting surface that equals more flavor. Calculate 10 ounces of vegetables per person for a healthy-sized vegetable side portion.
2.     Cook the vegetables on a low to medium-heat setting not to scorch them.
3.     Season the vegetable with salt and pepper to taste – this will draw the natural water out, which in other words makes a more tasty vegetable.
4.     Once the vegetable is cooked or soft in texture, add cream, it will make it seem silky-textured and wonderfully satisfying to taste. One tablespoon per 6-ounce cooked vegetable per serving (approximately 10 ounces when raw) is a fair amount of cream.

Chef’s Tip: Potent flavored herbs such as dill, sage and tarragon add a bright flavor note when added to the creamed vegetables. Add the herbs at the end and chop them roughly. 

GLUTTONOUS HOLIDAYS – the blog

December invites us to fatten up maybe even requires us it seems. Stick to the ribs food such as thick and creamy soups like chowder and hearty stews with ingredients like bacon bits or a French Cassoulet are often encountered in the cold season.  Fresh vegetable offerings from our local farms are spare and unvaried. It’s holiday time and company parties are kicking in, alcohol consumption will be splendid. The current short daylight invites for nice conversation in front of the fireplace with red wine and cheese. Perhaps a cheese fondue with friends will be served at a get-together. Surely cookies and desserts are more abundant over the next weeks.  Let’s face it winter fattens us up with a holiday season kick-start!

Urging greens
With all that excess I have the urge to enliven the month of December feasting with the occasional salad. Currently there are a few fresh vegetable ingredients and I gravitate towards radicchio, endive, Brussels sprouts, carrots or other vegetables that are locally grown or that have been cellared by farmers. Following are a few examples:

Chopped apple & toasted nuts with shredded carrots and a healthy dose of freshly chopped parsley. Dress it with apple vinegar and olive oil with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. A few grindings of black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt will do the trick.

(roast free range chicken basted with rosemary)

I enjoy roasted chicken with rosemary, which lends a pine-like flavor that suits radicchio with some chopped dried figs strewn in.  Deglaze the skillet with balsamic vinegar and a few tablespoons of water and pour it over the radicchio in a salad bowl to be tossed. The chicken should be chopped into inch-sized chunks. If you want the salad to be more substantial add some roasted squash from a prepared food store.

A powerhouse of a salad is chopped endive, slices of ripe pears with a blue cheese such as Roquefort and red wine vinegar.  It is reminiscent of the aforementioned red wine and cheese plate but without being too indulgent.

(no endive but radichio with ripe Bartlett pear and Roquefort cheese) 

Frisée au lardons or salad Lyonnais is the most classic way of preparing a salad in the French manner. Translated as “curly endive salad” it is served with bits of bacon and topped with a poached egg  - sign me up mademoiselle s’il vous plait! The dressing is made with mustard and acidic vinegar such as red wine vinegar and sea salt and pepper, sans oil.

(thinly shaved Brussels sprouts dressed with lemon and olive oil and shreds of Manchego cheese) 

One of my favorites lately is thinly, shaved Brussels sprouts with lemon and a good extra virgin olive oil and shavings of a sharp cheese like feta or Manchego with cracked pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Lastly on my wish list to celebrate the season is lobster salad with greens such as curly winter spinach with citrus fruit such as pink Grapefruit.  Delicious. 

Winter salad dressing
The dressing for winter salads becomes less important as the salad ingredients becomes more decadent -- who really needs more oil in that frisée salad with pork batons!

Chef’s Tip: grains such as brown or black rice are a good way to bulk up the salads to serve as entrées.