Tuesday, August 31, 2010

YOU SAY POTATOES, I SAY POTAHTOES

Since I had been watching Wolfgang Puck on TV the past few days selling everything from cookware, rice cookers, deep fryers, blenders and everything under the sun you could possibly need or want, his cooking these many dishes amazed me at what the cost of all that food was?  It had to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.  He wasn’t just cooking hamburger.  He had everything from lobster, clams, expensive fish cuts, expensive meat cuts and vegetables, potatoes, rice, breads, roasts, chops of every animal you could think of.  I loved to see the food roll out on the serving platters, perfectly cooked and seasoned.  The people behind stage who were actually chopping, shredding, washing, and preparing all of this food for Wolfie to just plop in the pans he was trying to sell were probably back there 24/7.  He had a food designer working with him to show certain dishes just perfectly.  From pies, cakes, rolls and any other thing bakeable he made.

Out of all of this cooking, I raised the bar myself as to my cooking.  I ventured into the abyss outside of my cooking comfort.  I first made the curried chicken.  Not his recipe, but something really simple, different and really good.  By the way, my house smelled of this curry for days afterwards.  I just used 2 1/2 teaspoons!  I liked the smell in the beginning when I was actually cooking it and eating it.  But days after, entering my house and smelling it…well, it got a bit annoying.

Yesterday, after his deep fryer sold out, I decided I was going to use up the two russet potatoes and the yam I had sitting in the cupboard for a bit too long.  The russets had those white sprouts coming out of them and the yam had a one inch soft spot on it I knew I had to cut out.  I have a deep fryer down in my ranch, but for up here, I only had pans that would and do suffice deep frying these hopeful looking potatoes.  I would deep fry the yam like Wolfie did and put salt, pepper and a little lemon juice on them.  The two russets would be seasoned with salt, pepper and ketchup.

That was the meal last night.  Not very healthy, I admit.  And I never, ever would cook or eat like that…not on a regular basis, that is.  But last night was different.  My psyche was different.  Using those potatoes and getting my fill.

The look of Wolfie’s fries were perfect.  No burned edges.  But that’s where his culinary helpers came in.  They cut off all of the ends of the potatoes and just used the centers so there would be no smaller ends.  Now you know this is a big waste, one that I would not do, so my potato ends came a bit darker and uneven in color.  The thought of putting my potatoes through my food processor with the disc that is supposed to cut French fries perfectly crossed my mind, but the slicer would give me very short fries, which I don’t like.  I likes my fries long.  I hand cut each potato about 1/4 to 1/2 thick fries and raised the heat on the oil all the way up to 10 on the stove to “flash” fry the potatoes.  That’s the term Wolfie used.  His oil was very hot.  This gave a better result than what I usually did which was a bit lower heat, which took longer and didn’t come out as crispy on the outside.  So this was an improvement and something else Wolfie taught me as I watched him for days at a time.

How do I feel today?  Full…very full.  Now I have to digest these three potatoes today.  I should run.  Carbs to burn off is on my agenda today.

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