Culinary Agoge

The ratio for cookies is 1-2-3, 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, 3 parts flour although I found this ratio to be anything but. As Michael Ruhlman describes, this is the ratio for a basic cookie, and not one that you would make normally, but one that helps you understand what a cookie is.

My sister Ashley joined me in the kitchen as a willing participant in the learning process. It hardly required any convincing given the subject matter and while also being a welcomed break from work she had left to do for her summer internship at my company.

Ashley worked on an old family recipe for oatmeal cookies while I made the basic cookie for comparison. Having never considered the recipe ratio before, it was interesting to note that it called for equal parts sugar (1 cup), butter (1 cup) and flour (1 cup) . The additions included oatmeal (2 cups), salt (1 tsp.) and baking soda (1 tsp).

The family recipe was easy to make. The instructions called for cutting the butter into the rest of the ingredients just like a pie dough. Once combined, the cookies were rolled into balls and flattened onto a pan with a fork. Ashley dropped mini-chocolate chips on some of them for fun. Why not right? We were just having fun.

Unbaked Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The Ruhlman ratio was less easy to make. The resulting dough didn’t seem moist enough and in fact, being so crumbly was hard to roll into a “log” to be sliced into cookies. I decided to portion it into two parts so I could experiment with a flavoring enhancement, specifically peanut butter. To make things manageable I opted to cool both doughs in the freezer for a bit, and with the butter more solid, I was able to roll the peanut butter cookies out and slice them. The basic cookie dough was rolled into balls much like the oatmeal cookies and left as such on the baking sheet.

Unbaked Basic Cookies

Unbaked Basic Peanut Butter Cookies

Each batch was baked in the oven which was preheated to 350 degrees F. The resulting aroma from all of the baking made us salivate with eager anticipation. Such a simple pleasure was about to be enjoyed.

With the cookies baked, we of course had more than we could eat ourselves without needing to join a weight-loss program. The oatmeal cookies were packed and saved for the office tomorrow.

Baked Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The basic cookies and peanut butter cookies were also packed and saved to be enjoyed later. These cookies did not spread out at all and the peanut butter ones especially look funny as they are so crisp. They almost look the same as they did before they were baked.

Baked Basic and Peanut Butter Cookies

I resolve to spend  some time with this ratio to test variations. Who wouldn’t want to? Cookies make the world go ’round.

Seasoned Fresh-made Pasta

Undaunted by my previous attempt, I set out to make pasta again. I had just read Dan Jablow’s recent post regarding pasta making, exchanged comments regarding and experiences and figured that part of my problem was not enough kneading in my previous attempt at making pasta. My second conclusion was that my previous pasta dough batch was not rolled out enough.

It’s amazing how much easier things are the second time around. I made enough dough for one instead of the much larger portion I made last time. The dough was rolled out thinner and allowed to rest for more time. I could tell right away when I cut the dough into strands that it would be more successful than the last time.

After the pasta was cooked, strained and plated I was immediately more satisfied. The taste was still there despite the smaller sized batch. It’s all about the ratio of ingredients right? It also was not as slimy as last time. This definitely boosted my confidence and I will be sure to try out future batches working with sauces and other seasonings for a different eating experience.

Look ma, yummy pasta!

Fresh-made Pasta

I live alone having moved out of my parents’ house years ago. My mother is a great cook and yet a limited resource for culinary knowledge, and to some extent a lost opportunity for learning as a result of my youthful naïveté. Maturity and the hindsight that comes with it are great aren’t they? The  cook in me has emerged through a combination of her influence, necessity and frankly reasons not yet known or fully understood. Her limited accessibility, in the form of my visits home or from her to my apartment, serves as a catalyst for my self-designed course of study involving reading, interviews, practice and hands-on instruction. My journey continues eight months in with even more enthusiasm than when it started.

As I become more immersed in the world of cooking I have been exposed to a myriad of perspectives, experiences and stories. It’s amazing to see how food, a fundamental necessity for life touches all of us in so many ways, some subtle, while others more obvious ranging from those who are either happy or resigned to eat countless plates of overcooked pasta, microwaved processed frozen meals, burnt or dry chicken and steak with repetitive monotony (yes this was me) to the master chef, armed with culinary knowledge and experience that allows for the transformations of simple ingredients into something greater than themselves.

For those who do take an interest in food and in particular an interest in cooking, I have observed and read about the many and varied ways people increase their skill through their continual process of learning. I have also observed that some people appear to be born with an innate ability and/or natural inclination to cook. Others are exposed through family and friends as part of their childhood and upbringing, allowing for cooking to become a part their identity over time. Some families pass down recipes and cook as part of tradition. Some people have an “awakening” and discover their passion for food later in life whether that be in their twenties, thirties or much later in life. Whether as a result of an awakening, tradition, a desire to follow one’s dreams, out of necessity or need for change,  some even take the step of enrolling in classes or a formal path of education. We all are different and yet still share some intrinsic common thread that makes us similar and drawn to food and cooking. We love to cook, enjoy making people happy and often strive to make each dish better than the last.

I’m curious about the path others have taken to get where they are or where they plan to go. How did you get into food? What are your aspirations? How did you get to where you are and how do plan to get where you are going?

Baked Biscuit Square

The “cooking through ratio” series continues with “Chicago Biscuits”, so named by Michael Ruhlman because of their ratio of 3 parts flour, 1 part fat and 2 parts liquid (312, the Chicago area code). Biscuits are almost identical to pie dough with respect to their ingredients and flakiness resulting from multiple layers of dough separated by butter. They key difference is that biscuits contain less fat and more liquid. When baked, the extra liquid heats up and turns to steam, acting like a leavener and separating the layers to achieve the flakiness biscuits are known for.

I have made biscuits before, but as with many recipes I have followed in the past, I didn’t pay much attention to the ratio of ingredients. 9 ounces of flour, 2 ounces of cold butter diced, 6 ounces of milk, a teaspon of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder was an easy dough to make.

The instructions called for the combination of the ingredients in a mixing bowl while rubbing the diced butter into the flour. I opted to use my mixer since I had great success with it for the pie crust previously. After everything was combined I was a bit concerned because the dough was a gooey mass, and I couldn’t see how it could be rolled and folded to create layers of butter. The dough was formed into a disc and placed into the refrigerator for an hour to cool.

I decided that a silicone mat would be a good non-stick surface for it, and after flouring the mat and dough, rolled it out a first time. I folded it into thirds on top of itself and after flouring the dough lightly it began to roll easier.  I rolled it out again and folded it one more time before putting it back in the refrigerator for another hour as instructed. Again the dough was taken out, floured and rolled and folded two more times. I repeated  this process a total of three ties for a total of 6 folds.

Rolled Biscuit Dough

The dough was then divided into 6 squares. This was a suggestion of Ruhlman so as not to have to worry about wasted trim. This made things really easy. The layers were also visible after the cuts.

Rolled Biscuit Dough Squares

The biscuits were baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, just after some pork ribs that I had baked for dinner and made for a great accompaniment to my dinner.

Baked Biscuit Squares

The layers were well defined and biscuits were really puffed up after baking. The folded edge compared to the cut edge made for an interestingly shaped final product that split right open in the center.

Split Baked Biscuit Square

Having baked a total of six biscuits and looking for a way to use more, I ended up making a strawberry shortcake/biscuit for dessert. These biscuits are neutral in taste and make for a great vehicle for taste going well with sweet and savory.

Strawberry Shortcake/Biscuit

All the folding and cooling of the dough made me lose my enthusiasm at first as I read the instructions in the book, but the final product again proved to be worth all the effort. You’ll have to get up early in the morning if you plan on eating these for breakfast due to all the folding and cooling. Folding is a step that can’t be skipped I imagine or the rise and flakiness simply wouldn’t be there in the final product. Variations in the number of folds as well as the types of fats and liquids used such as lard and buttermilk respectively will make for interesting and hopefully delightful eating experiences in the future.

As easy as 3-2-1; that’s how making pie dough goes when you forget about how difficult everyone says making it is and you focus on the ratio and method. I had one remaining disc from yesterday’s pie dough making to use and today seemed like a great day to use it. I have a work activity tomorrow that my team is sponsoring so in addition to using my remaining disc I also decided to create another batch, but this time of pâte sucrée or dough with the addition of sugar to make both a French Apple Tart and French Peach Tart.

Using the first disc, I created chocolate tarts which consisted of molded dough and chocolate ganache I made by using 2 parts chocolate and 1 part heavy cream (Ruhlman’s book has a ratio for this in the coming chapters so it will be interesting to compare my results). These proved to be harder to make than I anticipated. To create the “cups” for the chocolate, I rolled out the disc and then cut it into squares. Each square was then pinched together with corners touching and molded into a cup. In order to get this done, I split the disc into three equal sections and stored each “batch” in the refrigerator as I worked on the next.

Each time I pulled the tray out for the new cups, I noticed that the previous ones had hardened up in their cup form and were cool to the touch. A good sign.

Pie Dough: Tart Cups

My one mistake with these was to not firm up the last batch of cups in the fridge before I put them into the preheated oven at 325 degrees F. When I took them out after 15 minutes, the ones that were not cooled had flattened out, losing the desired cup shape. Others puffed up with steam, perhaps as a result of me not docking the bakes with a fork. This did not deter me as the final taste would not be affected.

As the cups were baking, I worked on the ganache, bringing 4 ounces of heavy cream to a simmer and then pouring it over a measured 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate pieces. After the warm cream had melted most of the chocolate, I used the mixer to combine the too into what can be described as pure chocolate decadence.

Using a spoon, the ganache was placed into the successful and not-so-successful cups alike and allowed to cool.

Pie Dough: Chocolate Ganache Tarts

I clearly had made too much of the chocolate ganache which can hardly be viewed as a bad thing unless one is considering diet. Thoughts like this make me wonder how the average amount of weight gained at culinary school can only be 10 pounds as indicated by Chef Roberta during the info session at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. My pants waistlines will have to be my mindful helpers in my desire not to gain weight as I learn the culinary arts.

With one batch of pie dough under my belt, the second batch of dough was a breeze to make in the stand mixer. I poured my ingredients in and in no time had my dough ready to rest and cool in the refrigerator.

Pie Dough: Mixing in my KitchenAid

As the dough cooled, I cut 3 apples and 3 peaches into slices and set them aside. I then rolled out the dough into two rectangles, a task not easy to do when the dough is cold. The peach and apple slices were placed on top as well as a half cup of sugar on top of each and squares of butter and set to bake for 30 minutes. This dough seemed to cook much faster than previous doughs I have made before and actually burned a bit to my disappointment. I wasn’t about to through everything out after all the time I had spent, especially with the rolling and shaping of the dough, and hoped that people wouldn’t mind tomorrow. As the tarts baked, I heated up a cup and a half of apricot jelly with 2tbs of spiced rum and poured this over the tarts as soon as they were pulled out of the oven and left everything to cool.

Pie Dough: Apple Tart

Pie Dough: Peach Tart

With any luck, everything will taste as amazing as it looks. I’ll have to admit, I did taste the chocolate tarts to ensure that they were suitable for consumption. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Pie Dough: Fresh Baked Fruit Pie

The next chapter in Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio is about pie dough. I’ve worked with this a few times before so I wasn’t worried about failing this challenge, although previous recipes did involve volume measures and I never considered the ratio. I doubted that the ratio for this basic dough would differ much, but was eager to test it out. Pie dough is another simple ratio known as the 3:2:1 ratio consisting of flour, fat and water respectively.

When cooking, you must think with the end in mind so as to setup your mise en place and improve your chances for success. Making pie dough alone is interesting, because unlike the bread or pasta I made previously, it by itself is not a complete food item. Since the pie dough was my focus, the filling was less important to me. I had some frozen strawberries and peaches in the freezer so I opted to use those for what I hoped to be a nice fruit pie with streusel on top.

Rulhman’s initial suggestion for the 3-2-1 ratio starts with 12oz. flour, 8oz. fat, and 2-4 oz of water depending on how much water is necessary and a three finger pinch of salt. The amount of water varies depending on the type of fat and environment conditions like humidity. The result is two 9 inch pie crusts or a crust and top. I opted for a pâte brisée, also known as a short pastry since it lacks sugar since I figured the filling and top would have enough sugar as it was and used butter as my fat. Since butter is about 20 percent water, I wasn’t sure if I would need all of the measured water.

Pie Dough Ratio From The Book:

12 oz all purpose flour
8 oz butter (2 sticks)
2-4 oz water

Filling:

10 oz strawberries
16 oz peaches
2 tbs brandy
1/2 cup sugar

Strawberry Crisp Streusel Topping:
Online Recipe Obtained From Here

3/4 cup  all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon – vanilla extract
Pinch – salt

The oven was preheated to 325 degrees F while I combined the butter and flour in my stand mixer and then added water slowly until everything became sticky, but not soupy. I then folded the dough into a disc and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes after which it was rolled out, and cut in two so I could create one pie tonight and one another night. Using a disposable pie tin, I filled it the first disc to create a nice pie shell.

Pie Dough: Pie Shell

I blind baked my pie crust for 20 minutes even though I didn’t have pie weights to ensure it would be firm enough for my filling. As anticipated, it began to bubble in the center although this mattered little to me as I planned on adding the fruit filling later.

Pie Dough: Fruit Filling

I then added my filling and covered it with the streusel topping, and placed it oven for an hour and fifteen minutes. The result was an amazing pie that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Pie Dough: Fresh Baked Fruit Pie

Creating pie dough is one of those scary culinary things that few people even consider attempting. Keeping the dough cold proved to be a challenge which I combated with regular placement of the dough in the refrigerator for a few minutes at a time to keep it cool. Overall with the use of my mixer it wasn’t as hard to work with as I anticipated, and while my pie may not be store quality in terms of taste or presentation, it was satisfying to make nonetheless. An added bonus of using the mixer besides the saved energy on my part was the fact that my body heat didn’t heat up the dough. This was a key lesson for future pie dough attempts. With one more disc waiting for me, more practice awaits and I eagerly embrace it.