Creative Cooking for the Global Kitchen

Chef David Marteau Gazette, Crayfish, a rare delicacy!!!

The idea to write about crayfish (or crawfish), came to me during the small national holidays we just had here in Shanghai. I was off for three days (lucky me!!!) and so I decided to wonder onto the fresh seafood market to get an idea on what was available around this time of year. I found some beautiful live lobsters in some not so cleaned tanks, then as I was looking at them, it strikes me. I wanted to have some crayfish, unfortunately for me, I will have to wait a little as the season is about to start. Then, I remembered how as a kid, I used to catch them by hand, freely in the small river where I grew up. They were in abundance, and to be honest with you, they were so plentiful that we did not even catch them to eat, but for the fun of it. Then, I realized how the species is on the verge of becoming instinct, due to the pollution in our waters (whether here in China or anywhere else), indeed, a crayfish need to have plentiful of fresh water to stay alive and grow to a certain size before being harvested. There are so little in our days, that most probably, when the harvest season is around the corner, they are already sold to the US, UK, France and some other lucky countries, that can afford them. As the demand versus the supplies is there, they easily go for as much as 14$US per kilo, so let me tell you that the end consumers, like you and me, we will have to dig deep into our pockets to get some. Nevertheless, believe it or not, as it is becoming rare, most people who hear about them being on the market, go directly to buy them without asking the price. Shall I say it became a delicacy? I would think so!!!

The main problem with the harvesting, is, like a lot of products today, they don’t care about the size of them, they only size them later to be sold at a different price. It is ALL about making as much money as they can now, but they never think about how much money they will NOT have tomorrow, due to the extinction of this beautiful and delicate species.

As for the crayfish itself, it has a subtle taste, unfortunately, for the species, they are small, so like lobsters and other crustacean, we only eat the body, about 60% of it, then the rest, if you have the time (and you should definitely take it!!!), is to make, either, broth, bisque or sauces.

This way you will enjoy them as much as you should.

Now, that said, here is a cool recipe and easy to do. This is in my opinion the best way to eat them, as they will keep their natural fragrances and stay firm.

4 pounds (2 kg) crayfish

1 cup (250 mL) chopped onions

1 cup (250 mL) diced celery

1 cup (250 mL) cubed carrots

1 whole head of garlic, cut in half

16 cups (4 L) cold water

 Bouquet garnis:

Few parsley stems, well washed

2 dried bay leaves

2 branches of fresh tarragon

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 star anis

Place all the ingredients into a large soup pot over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. lower the heat to low and simmer the crayfish for 15 minutes, skimming if necessary. Remove the pot from the stove and let cool off at room temperatures. Gently, remove the crayfish and serve with your favorite sauce.

Now, that the crayfish are done, you can easily use the broth to make use of other recipes.

Simply strain the broth through a china cap. Cool it completely and place it in the refridgerator until the next day. The next day, remove the excess fat on top of the broth and use it to sauté some vegetables or other Fish / seafood you might have. Use the broth within 1 day or simply place it in a few small air tight containers and freeze with the date on it and keep for about 6 month.

I hope you enjoyed my small article, and that the next time you see crayfish in your local market, buy some and try them for yourself.

Have fun eating and cooking them.

 Culinary yours

David Marteau

Global Chef

My latest cookbook on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Cooking-Global-Kitchen-International/dp/0986812501

Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter : https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau

Global Chef Gazette, Cioppino: A taste Of italy

Cioppino is a fish stew originating in San Francisco. It is considered an Italian-American dish, and is related to various regional fish soups and stews of Italian cuisine. Cioppino is traditionally made from the catch of the day, which in the dish’s place of origin is typically a combination of Dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and fish. The seafood is then combined with fresh tomatoes in a wine sauce, and served with toasted bread, either sourdough or baguette. The dish is comparable to Cacciucco and brodetto from Italy, as well as other fish dishes from the Mediterranean region, such as bouillabaisse, burrida, and bourride of the French Provence.

A little history:

Cioppino was developed in the late 1800s by Portuguese and Italian fishermen who settled in the North Beach section of San Francisco, many from Genoa, Italy. Originally it was made on the boats while out at sea and later became a staple as Italian restaurants proliferated in San Francisco. The name comes from ciuppin, a word in the Ligurian dialect of the port city of Genoa, meaning “to chop” or “chopped” which described the process of making the stew by chopping up various leftovers of the day’s catch. Ciuppin is also a classic soup of Genoa, similar in flavor to Cioppino, with less tomato, and the seafood cooked to the point that it falls apart. At least one restaurant in San Francisco, the eponymous Cioppino, describes, an apocryphal story in which the name derived from the heavily Italian-accented cry of the wharf cooks for the fishermen to “chip in” some of their catch to the collective soup pot.

My recipe:

As mentioned above, this traditional is known the world over, however to break the tradition, I replaced the tomato stock with a saffron one. Once more, what would be the like of cooking if we cannot do anything we want in our kitchen. As much as I understand that SOME tradition are not meant to be broken, I am completely against it when it comes to cooking. This, I guess could become a blog topic and we can definitely find a way to make compromise. Now that said, the recipe I give you is more like a “lazy fisherman soup”, as ALL the Fish and seafood are cleaned.

Fish Stock:

1 pound (0.500 g) white fish bones

½ cup (125 mL) chopped celery branch

½ cup (125 mL) chopped leeks

½ cup (125 mL) branches of parsley

½ cup (125 mL) chopped white onion

1 teaspoon (5 mL) fresh thyme

1 tablespoon (15 mL) whole black peppercorns

½ teaspoon (5 mL) sea salt

8 cups (2 L) cold water

Pinch saffron

Soup:

6 tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil

5 large garlic cloves (20 g) minced

1 medium onion (40 g) chopped

½ head of fennel (40 g) diced

½ teaspoon (5 mL) sea salt

1 bay leaf

2 cups (500 mL) dry white wine

½ cup (125 mL) pernod

¼ cup (50 mL) fresh chopped parsley

¼ cup (50 mL) fresh chopped basil

½ pound (250 g) large shrimps, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon (15 mL) unsalted butter

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 pound (500 g) calamari, cleaned and finely diced

1 pound (500 g) halibut fillet, skinned, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 pound (500 g) bay scallops

Baguette:

½ loaf French bread cut into 8 pieces ½ inch (1cm) thick

4 tablespoons (60 mL) olive oil

5 large garlic cloves (20 g) minced

Rock sea salt

To make the fish stock, first, wash the fish bones under cold water. Place them in a medium size pot with the rest of the ingredients and add the cold water.

Simmer for 20 minutes, do not boil.

Let it rest and strain gently, making sure you only get the clear stock and not the deposit as well.

To make the soup, heat 2 cups of fish stock in a small saucepan. Add the saffron and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Heat 4 tablespoon of the olive oil in a medium size pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, and cook it until it becomes brown for about 20 seconds, then add the onions, the fennel, and the salt. Cook until all the vegetables are softened for about 4 minutes. Add the bay leaf and cook for 30 seconds. Gently pour the white wine and reduce for about 2 minutes, then add the pernod, reduce for another minute. Gently add the saffron flavored fish stock and cook again until the liquid has reduced by half. 

Add the chopped parsley and basil, then stir gently. Add the shrimps and cook them until they become pink, then remove them from the soup and place them into the serving bowls. Melt the butter in the broth, stirring it as it melts.

Preheat the oven at 180° C (350° F)

Meanwhile, season the calamari, the halibut and bay scallops with salt and pepper. Heat a medium size non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat, and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook the calamari, the halibut and bay scallops, without stirring, until they become lightly brown for about 2 minutes. Turn them over and cook for another 30 seconds. All the seafood should be slightly under cooked. Cover the calamari, the bay scallops and the sautéed fish with the saffron Fish stock and bring to a simmer. Transfer the calamari, the bay scallops and the fish into the serving bowls without the fish stock, but placing it back to its original pot.

To make the baguette, in a small mixing bowl, place the olive oil and the minced garlic and stir gently. Brush the mixture on top of each of the sliced baguette. Sprinkle each one with rock salt, and place them on a baking tray.

Place the baking tray into the oven and bake until slightly brown or for about 5 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf from the saffron fish stock, check the seasoning and bring to a boil one more time. Pour the hot saffron fish stock over the seafood into the bowls.

Serve with the hot French baguette

Yield: 8 servings

Tip 1:

You should make sure, that you do not boil the stock, as it will become blurry, you want it to be as clear as possible.

When buying the fish bones, make sure that they are from a white fish, like sole, turbot, or cod. The bones from a salmon for example, are not appropriate, as your stock, will have a different taste and color.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrots and fennel. Sauté the vegetables until they are soft or for about 10 minutes.

Tip 2: You can definitely make more fish stock than you might need, and freeze it in small container, ready to be used in the future. It will hold in the freezer for about 3 month.

When you are ready to serve it again, just simmer the fish stock and add it to your preparation.

Do not forget to label and date your container before placing them in the freezer

Culinary yours

David Marteau

Global Chef

My latest cookbook on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Cooking-Global-Kitchen-International/dp/0986812501

Web site: www.davidmarteau.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter : https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau

Source taken from:

www.wikipedia.com

David Marteau Daily, The Infinite World of Eggs

The infinite world of eggs:

As part of my pursuit to be innovative, we decided at the Parkyard Hotel Shanghai to do an egg promotion. Yes, it might sound a bit awkward but we wanted to do something different and that will really have an effects.

The first thing we needed to do was to find a catchy name, as just eggs was a bit boring. After doing a little brainstorming we decide to go with the word:

 “Br-egg-fast”, basically a combination of the word breakfast with the inclusion of egg, but I am sure you understood.

Nevertheless, now that we finally found the concept around the egg, I needed to come up with some great ideas, that we would be able to do and in the same time keep it up to our standards.

So here is what I did as an example, as you might understand, this short listed menu is just an example:

Hard-boiled egg with asparagus and orange Poached egg on English muffin with green tea hollandaise sauce

Pickled red beet hard-boiled egg

Hard-boiled egg salad on pumpernickel bread

Onion flavored pigeon egg Tea scented quail eggs

Bacon and soft poached egg Oeuf cocotte with cream and chives

Boiled egg with smoked salmon, celery and Fish eggs

As the world of egg is very vast and flexible, basically, you can pretty much do anything you want with different type of eggs.

Here are some tips about eggs.

Cooking eggs:

Egg white coagulates, or solidifies, when it reaches temperatures between 144 °F and 149 °F (62.2 °C-65 °C). Egg yolk coagulates at slightly higher temperatures, between 149 °F and 158 °F (65 °C-70 °C). If a boiled egg is overcooked, a greenish ring sometimes appears around egg yolk due to the iron and sulfur compounds in the egg. It can also occur when there is an abundance of iron in the cooking water. The green ring does not affect the egg’s taste; overcooking, however, harms the quality of the protein. Chilling the egg for a few minutes in cold water until it is completely cooled prevents the greenish “ring” from forming on the surface of the yolk.

Types of egg dishes:

Chicken eggs are widely used in many types of dishes, both sweet and savory, including many baked goods. Some of the most common preparation methods include scrambled, fried, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, and pickled. They can also be eaten raw, though this is not recommended for people who may be especially susceptible to salmonellosis, such as the elderly, the infirm, or pregnant women. In addition, the protein in raw eggs is only 51% bioavailable, whereas that of a cooked egg is nearer 91% bioavailable, meaning the protein of cooked eggs is nearly twice as absorbable as the protein from raw eggs. As an ingredient, egg yolks are an important emulsifier in the kitchen, and the proteins in egg white allow it to form foams and aerated dishes. Soft-boiled quail eggs, with potato galette The albumen, or egg white, contains protein but little or no fat, and can be used in cooking separately from the yolk. Egg whites may be aerated or whipped to a light, fluffy consistency, and are often used in desserts such as meringues and mousse. Ground egg shells are sometimes used as a food additive to deliver calcium. Every part of an egg is edible although the eggshell is generally discarded.

Boiled egg with asparagus and orange

Boiled egg with smoked salmon, celery and Fish eggs

Egg salad on pumpernickel bread

overview of my “Br-egg-fast” presentation

Poached egg on English muffin with green tea hollandaise sauce

soft qauil egg with potato pancake

Flavor variations:

A batch of tea eggs with shell still on soaking in a brew of spices and tea Although the age of the egg and the conditions of its storage have a greater influence, the bird’s diet does affect the flavor of the egg. For example, when a brown-egg chicken breed eats rapeseed or soy meals, its intestinal microbes metabolize them into fishy-smelling triethylamine, which ends up in the egg. The unpredictable diet of free-range hens will produce unpredictable eggs. Duck eggs tend to have a flavor distinct from, but still resembling, chicken eggs. Eggs can also be soaked in mixtures to absorb flavor. Tea eggs are steeped in a brew from a mixture of various spices, soy sauce, and black tea leaves to give flavor.

Preservation:

Salted duck egg Careful preservation of edible eggs is extremely important, as an improperly handled egg can contain elevated levels of Salmonella bacteria that can cause severe food poisoning. The USDA recommends refrigerating eggs in order to prevent the growth of Salmonella. Refrigeration also preserves the taste and texture. However uncracked eggs can be left unrefrigerated for several months without spoiling The simplest method to preserve an egg is to treat it with salt. Salt draws water out of bacteria and molds, which prevents their growth. The Chinese salted duck egg is made by immersing duck eggs in brine, or coating them individually with a paste of salt and mud or clay. The eggs stop absorbing salt after about a month, having reached osmotic equilibrium. Their yolks take on an orange-red color and solidify, but the white remains liquid. They are boiled before consumption, and are often served with rice congee.

Pickled egg, colored with beetroot juice Another method is to make pickled eggs, by boiling them first and immersing them in a mixture of vinegar, salt, and spices, such as ginger or allspice. Frequently, beetroot juice is added to impart a red color to the eggs. If the eggs are immersed in it for a few hours, the distinct red, white, and yellow colors can be seen when the eggs are sliced. If marinated for several days or more, the red color will reach the yolk. If the eggs are marinated in the mixture for several weeks or more, the vinegar will dissolve much of the shell’s calcium carbonate and penetrate the egg, making it acidic enough to inhibit the growth of bacteria and molds. Pickled eggs made this way will generally keep for a year or more without refrigeration.

Century egg A century egg or hundred-year-old egg is preserved by coating an egg in a mixture of clay, wood ash, salt, lime, and rice straw for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. After the process is completed, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulfur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with a comparatively mild, distinct flavor. The transforming agent in a century egg is its alkaline material, which gradually raises the pH of the egg from around 9 to 12 or more. This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats of the yolk into simpler, flavorful ones, which in some way may be thought of as an “inorganic” version of fermentation.

Source: WIKIPEDIA

Culinary yours David Marteau Global Chef My latest cookbook on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Cooking-Global-Kitchen-International/dp/0986812501

Web site: www.davidmarteau.com Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ChefDavidM

Twitter :

https://twitter.com/DavidMarteau