Fleur De Sel Caramels

Sure, it's a bit overexposed in this day and age. Carelessly cavorting around town with shallow but ultra-famous celebs like Big Mac and Dorito. Getting mixed up in embarrassing tabloid-cover scandals involving high blood pressure and making people really thirsty. But all salt really wants to do is make things taste great. Salt is an artist at heart. It's the ultimate collaborator. The trouble comes when other foods take advantage of this kindness, riding its proverbial coattails to fame, fortune, and deliciousness, without contributing much in terms of taste and personality (I'm looking at you, bad Chinese takeout). But the things salt can do when it's shown due respect are utterly astonishing. For starters, check out our recent post on salt's collaboration with vegetables and time that resulted in one of the all-time masterpieces of gastronomy: the pickle. Now, via the currently booming world of artisanal salts, this brave little rock is starting to get the respect it deserves. We're seeing black, pink, smoked, and many other distinguished prefixes proudly joining the now-common sea and kosher on America's spice racks. The only problem is finding a dish deserving of such a rarefied mineral. After all, we can't be simply tossing that expensive Sel Gris de Guérande into a pot of boiling pasta water, now, can we? Well, for those with a bit of a sweet tooth, one particularly scrumptious way to showcase that fine salt, and one which makes for excellent holiday gift-giving, is this recipe for Fleur De Sel Caramel from Epicurious.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• Special equipment: parchment paper; a deep-fat thermometer

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.

Bring cream, butter, and fleur de sel to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248°F on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into baking pan and cool 2 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.

Sashimi Style: Handmade Cutlery

We can think of no other culture, where the metalurgical arts play such a dominant role than in Japan. Ruminating on the history and the importance of the sword in Samuri lore, it’s no wonder that the ancient art of sword fabrication became interwoven with that of the chef knife. The oldest known Japanese chef knife is over 1200 years old but real craftsmanship for chef knives began to develop in the mid 19th Century and continued after World War Two, when General MacArther banned the production of swords. With many craftsman out of work, the Japanese soon turned their energy to making some of the best and most highly regarded cutlery known to man. The signature of any Japanese Chef Knife is its sharpness. To achieve this, the knives are razor sharp on one side and slightly concave on the reverse side. This makes delicate knife work easy and sharpening a breeze. Once you try a handmade, traditionally crafted Japanese chef knife, you’ll never go back. Our go-to source is Korin.

Featured Cookbook: Ad Hoc at Home

While we have a great love and respect for the culinary professional - the chef who works long hours behind the stove, waking early to get the best zucchinis at the farmers market, slaving for years at the pass, a demanding, passionate business person - we have no desire to be that guy or gal. It’s hard work plain and simple. It's punishing and grueling. After years behind the stove crafting perfection at The French Laundry and creating some of the most memorable bistro fare in the country at Bouchon, Thomas Keller has officially mellowed with his restaurant, Ad Hoc, and now cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. What we like most about Ad Hoc at Home is that it is geared toward the Home Chef. That’s us and we have to say, for all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the maestro of American cookery, this book will inspire you to dust off your own comfort food chops and believe once again in your abilities to wow your friends and family in the kitchen. We highly recommend starting with the buttermilk fried chicken.

A Rough Guide to Buckwheat Molasses Bars

I suppose one of the advantages of checkout lines that stretch clear to the back of the store is that you become rather well acquainted with the inventory of the aisle in which you must wait. On a recent grocery run, I stood patiently with my scant 10-items-or-less shopping basket, only enduring a delay so long for grocery so little because a good half of my haul was bulk items, and I can only assume that they'd have been disposed of if found abandoned beneath the bread display. Bravely, I resisted the urge to make the wait feel worthwhile by indulging in rampant impulse buys. There was, however, one particular treat which caught my attention: a raw buckwheat energy bar of some sort, notable mainly for the the combination of the words raw and buckwheat. I was, you see, previously unaware that the buckwheat groats I had stashed away at home were edible in their raw state. I'm hardly a raw foodist, but we Firestone folk tend to be curious and adventurous eaters, and I found myself inspired to replicate the buckwheat bars on my own.

Fortunately, homemade granola-type bars are one of those remarkably robust and endlessly variable creations which demand, rather than a proper recipe, only a very general technique and which, once you see how effortless and customizable they are, will become an indispensable addition to your culinary arsenal. Say, for instance, you want to whip up some raw buckwheat energy bars on the fly? Totally doable. Here's the rundown:

Basically, you're just getting a bunch of pebble-sized or smaller pieces of food to stick together with a sweet, sticky, syrupy concoction. For the dry ingredients, I went with roughly equal parts buckwheat, toasted oats, and sunflower seeds, and then some sesame seeds (about a quarter as much as the other dry ingredients). My syrup was about three parts honey, three parts molasses, two parts peanut butter, and one part neutral oil (vegetable or the like). These are very rough estimates. Then, simply combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and heat the wet ingredients to a gentle simmer in a saucepan. Once it's hot and mixed, pour over the dry ingredients, stir until there are no dry patches, and then spread out on a baking sheet or casserole dish, and refrigerate until cool! Easy peasy, fresh and breezy. 

But the beauty, again, is the flexibility. You just want to keep the ratio at about 3 parts dry to 1 part wet. I really like molasses, so I've used quite a bit of that, but anything in the greater sugar family should do it; honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar (when combined with liquids), etc. You can also include pureed dates or prunes, or  more nut butters, to cut down on the sugar a bit. The dry ingredients are the real fun part. Just make sure that they're in tiny little pieces, and if you'd like, toast them a bit by cooking over medium heat in a dry pan until fragrant. Some things to try:

Nuts/seeds
peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, sunflower, pumpkin, flax seeds...

Dried fruit
apricot, cranberries, raisins, cherries, pear..

Rolled or flaked grains (Often available in bulk sections)
oat, barley, rye, quinoa...

Etc
chocolate chips, crystalized ginger, orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves...use your imagination!

If, however, you're more of the "real recipe" type, here are some good looking ones to check out. I imagine these would make great snacks for anyone planning a nice long hike. Perhaps in some exotic locale? Hmmm....

Pathfinder Chef Challenge Spotlight: Tim Kirker

Though the French were the fourth largest group of immigrants to Peru (thanks wikipedia!), and both French and Peruvian cuisine are among the world's best, I’m not sure if French-Peruvian cuisine has really taken hold internationally. But depending on how thing shape up for Tim Kirker, he could end up as the ambassador of a new culinary movement. The head chef of Bistro Zinc on State Street in Chicago’s beautiful Near North Side, Kirker is a master of traditional French cuisine the likes of croque monsieur, escargot, profiteroles, and assiette de charcuterie. But, no stranger to the outdoors, he's also "done quite a bit of hiking and biking cooking in the outback," not to mention preparing straight-from-the-river fish over an open campfire in Alaska. With those kind of Top Chef meets Man vs Wild credentials, can the Brandade Stuffed Rocoto Pepper, or Ceviche Confit be far off? Check out all the great chef videos at our YouTube page.

If you’d like a chance to perfect your own Peruvian hybrid cuisine, make a 60-second of yourself showing why you should be our guest chef, and go here to upload it and learn more about the contest! And if you're not a chef, you can enter to be the lucky Pathfinder for which our winning chef will be whipping up those exquisite meals! Enter here.

Sending off Summer in Style

As the light fades on September and the leaves begin to show their first signs of color, we should all take a little time to pause, reflect, and bask in the summer’s many wonders while we still can. Although I suppose “many wonders,” is just my way of saying “many strawberries.” And then, in that case, “bask in” must just mean eat. I guess what I’m getting at is that time is running out to enjoy those gorgeous glowing red orbs of sweet juicy succulence and that this is our last chance to eat as many as we possibly can before they disappear from our collective gardens and farm stands only to be curiously replaced by rows of the bland Stepford Strawberries which the fall and winter meekly try to pass off as the real deal. And since we’re doing this all in the name of summer, and we’ve made clear our favorite way to temper the summer’s accompanying heat, might I suggest enjoying these precious remaining berries atop a bed of vanilla ice cream? And being the classy folks we are here at Firestone, the celebrants of joie de vivre and revelers in all of life’s finest, we’re naturally interested in transforming a combo as classically elegant as berries ‘n’ cream into something truly majestic. My preferred addition? A light drizzle of reduced balsamic. While spinach salad may be the venue where strawberries and vinegar were first introduced, a cool scoop of vanilla ice cream turns out to be an unexpectedly perfect setting for the budding romance between these two sweetly acidic delights. It’s a fitting send-off to the sunniest of seasons, and it couldn’t be much easier. Just simmer some balsamic vinegar for fifteen minutes or so and let it cool. Then, chop some berries, scoop some ‘scream, and assemble it all into a sophisticated sundae. If you’re thinking, “Wait. This is crazy. Balsamic vinegar? In a dessert? Now I’ve heard everything.” then perhaps some of the recipes below (presumably by actual chefs, with degrees and stuff) will convince you.

(If, however, you are an actual chef, totally unimpressed, thinking this is amateur hour, and that you could whip up a way classier dessert while, oh I don’t know, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, well then, frankly, we’d like very much to take you up on that. Check out the contest here and show us what you (and your signature dishes) are made of. )

The Tradish
The Marinater
The Everything at Once

And come to think of it, it would be doing summer a disservice if we didn't accompany this fine dessert with a nice glass of wine. Might we suggest a Firestone?