We started the week with a lemon meringue tart. We first had to start with the crust and we used a shortbread crust recipe called pate sucree (recipe can be found at the bottom of page). We creamed together the butter, sugar and salt in a stand mixer for 2 to 3 minutes while also scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is being combined. We then slowly added in the flour until completely combined. Once mixed we put the eggs in one at a time and mixed again until combined. We wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerated until our next class.

When we met again in class we took out our dough and rolled it out large enough to fit into a 9 inch pie pan. We then began making the lemon curd. We put our eggs, sugar and lemon juice into a stainless steel bowl and placed it over a double boiler. We whisked the ingredients together until the mixture became as thick as sour cream or a hollandaise sauce. Once completed we put the mixture into a stand mixer and began slowly but evenly adding in the butter followed by the lemon zest. We poured the lemon curd into our tart crust and placed in the refrigerator to let it set.

While our tart was setting, we started the meringue. For this tart we used a Swiss meringue recipe. There are two other types of meringues as well which are French and Italian. For the French meringue you have to use double parts sugar to egg whites and whisk until fluffy followed by baking. The Italian meringue is used by making a hot sugar syrup and cooking it until 240 degrees and then whisking it into the egg whites. For the Swiss meringue you combine the sugar and eggs together in a bowl and place it over a double boiler.

When making any meringues, you have to be sure that all of your ingredients are very clean. The smallest amount of fat can alter the finished product. We whisked the mixture over the heat until by feeling with your finger to the bottom of the bowl, you could no longer feel sugar granules. We took this mixture and put it into a stand mixer and whisked on high to cool it down and to reach stiff peaks.  Once your tart is set (no longer jiggles when shook) pipe some meringue on top and place under a broiler until browned.

While I may not always be stoked about sweet food, this tart was wonderful. It was tangy and sweet. Definitely would recommend it for a nice weeknight dessert.

The second dessert I really enjoyed making and wish to share with you was the pastry cream. Pastry cream can be found in almost all fruit tarts, which is precisely what we used it for. We first combined the corn starch and 2 ounces of sugar together. In a pot we put the milk and the other 2 ounces of sugar and brought it to a boil. To the cornstarch and sugar mixture we added the eggs and whisked together. We then took the hot milk mixture and slowly tempered it into the egg mixture.

Once completely combined, we put the mixture over the heat and boiled for 1 minute so that the starch can be cooked out. The mixture will start to clump, don’t be nervous, this is what is supposed to happen. Use a rubber spatula to mix with at this point and keep stirring. Once thickened remove from heat and pour onto plastic wrap. You can cover a sheet pan with plastic wrap to make it a little easier. You also want to cover the cream in plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Place the pan into the refrigerator and wait for it to cool completely. You can use the same pate sucre recipe to make small tarts to place the pastry cream into. Then pick out some of your favorite fruits and have some fun with it! 

I hope everyone enjoys these recipes but more than that I hope you try them! Don’t forget to share with me if you do and feel free to ask any questions. Bon Apetit!

Pate Sucree

8 oz butter

3 oz sugar

Pinch salt

2.25 oz eggs

12 oz pastry flour

Lemon Curd

3.5 oz eggs

2.5 oz sugar

½ tsp lemon zest

5.5 oz butter

2.5 oz lemon juice

Swiss Meringue

2 oz egg whites

4 oz sugar

Pastry Cream

2 oz sugar

16 oz milk

2 eggs

2 yolks

12 oz corn starch

2 oz sugar

1 oz butter

.25 oz vanilla X

First and foremost, draft a team. It’s the Super Bowl, dammit, not dinner for you and your boys. Sure, I will give you the tools to throw a kickass party yourself, but let’s be honest. You don’t want to be alone when the new Kia Hamster commercial comes on. Call up some friends.

Here’s my squad, in no particular order, they don’t mind – we’re not talking about Prince Fielder money here: David Benjamin (my Hungry Dudes collaborator and ghost pepper aficionado), Will Branch (owner of Corridor Sausage and grand poobah of pork), Bob Perye (my newest partner in crime and head troublemaker at the Rogue Estate), Achilles Papakonstanitou (the Greek warrior, because he’s dangerous with a knife) and our brother in booze, Sandy Levine (owner of The Oakland and mixologist extraordinaire).

The idea here is to compile a team of folks who will come together to create the best Super Bowl meal ever. I’m confident in my team. I bet we could win it all.

Our menu: Beer cheese fondue, assorted sausages with plenty of pickled accoutrement, ghost pepper brownies and bourbon punch. We tried our best to use all Michigan products, more precisely we tried to use items that will be available at Eastern Market the Saturday before the Super Bowl (Note: “sheds” are in Eastern Market).

For the beer cheese fondue, visit Oliver Farms in Shed 3. Buy some of their exceptional cheese – cheddar, Swiss, whatever you like. Grate the cheese into a pile, put into a bag with a couple tablespoons of flour. Make a roux (butter and flour) in one pan and reduce one bottle of Bell’s Best Brown Ale to half its volume in another saucepan. Remove from heat and temper beer into roux.

Saute finely minced onions and garlic until translucent and add to roux and beer mixture. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and slowly begin to add cheese. Keep on low heat – we don’t want any simmering to occur. Stir as little as possible to combine. Midway through, add cheese and 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Continue to add the rest of the cheese until smooth, remembering to stir as little as possible. Add black pepper, green onion and/or clove as desired. When silky smooth, transfer to fondue pot (if you have one) and serve hot. Cubed toasted bread, vegetables, Granny Smith apples and pork products work wonderfully.

Speaking of pork products, Corridor Sausage in Shed 3 is doing glorious things with all things porcine. On any given Saturday, Will Branch and his partner Zach Alexander will have up to a dozen different varieties available for purchase.

Our menu has five sausages topped with a number of items, most of which are available from The Brinery in Shed 2. Of the five, the most Super Bowl-friendly of the bunch is the bacon and beer (Bell’s Amber Ale) brat with aged Swiss cheese. We topped it with Storm Cloud Zapper sauerkraut (a mix of cabbage, beets, ginger, and sea salt) and mustard. The subtle, creamy nuttiness of the sausage is dynamite with the tangy spiciness of the kraut.

Although all of the varieties we tried were excellent, two others really stood out. Both are unique and outside of the usual hot dog or brat realm.

Lamb Merguez is a traditional North African sausage. Boldly flavored with moderate heat, it is not for the timid. Top it with The Brinery’s Coyote Kraut (cabbage, hot peppers, epazote) and you’ve got a fire bomb for your taste buds. Crumble a bit of goat cheese on top for an additional layer of tangy and a welcome level of heat temperance.

If you’re like me, you have a soft spot in your heart for Vietnamese cuisine. Have you ever wondered why all of those incredible flavors can’t be squeezed into an easy-to-transport tube of meat? The boys at Corridor are on our wavelength (scary, I know) and they developed a Vietnamese chicken sasauge. Lemongrass, lime leaf, wild ginger, thai chiles, cilantro and shallots are all present and accounted for making this a truly complex bite. Cut open the bun, layer slices of fresh cucumbers on one side and Brinery’s Root 31 pickled turnips on the other. Slide the sausage in and squeeze a bit of Sriracha aioli (Sriracha, mayonnaise, sesame oil and lime) on top. You’ll feel like you’re walking the streets of Vietnam.

Our dessert is not complicated in its preparation, but the flavors are challenging. Buy a box of your favorite brownie mix. Prepare according to the instructions on the box. Before putting in the oven, cut up 1/4 to 1/2 of a fresh ghost pepper or 1/4 teaspoon of ghost pepper powder and add it to the mix. We also added one bar of dark chocolate with chiles chopped. The ghost peppers add an unbelievable dimension of heat to the bittersweet brownie. Unforgettable to say the least.

For an event as American as the Super Bowl, we’ve been ethnic in our cuisine choices. But what’s more American than bourbon? We go all- American with our bourbon punch. (Admittedly, the recipe involves some preparation – visit realdetroitweekly.com for the full recipe.)

You’ll need your favorite high-proof bourbon (like Old Weller Antique) as the base. A blend of fresh orange and lemon juice, cherry heering, sugar and nutmeg round out this strong but refreshing punch.

We’ve given you fondue, sausages, brownies and punch. Each of these items can be shared by large groups (cut the sausages in half and serve on a large platter). Party food is meant to be communal. Not only will people discuss the new Hamtramck Chevy Volt commercial, but they’ll also rave about your amazing spread. Take the journey down to Eastern Market and throw a Super Bowl party no one will forget.

Article originally published in Real Detroit Weekly.

Bourbon Punch Recipe (By Sandy Levine from The Oakland) 
Ingredients

1 bottle high proof good quality bourbon (we like Old Weller Antique 107 Proof)
2/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup Cherry Heering
1/3 lb sugar
4 oz water
whole nutmeg

The night before you’re serving the punch, fill a tupperware container with water and put it in the freezer.

Remove the peel of an orange and a lemon, being careful to only peel the very outer edge of the rind (and not any of the white pith, which is very bitter). Place the rinds and the sugar in a punch bowl and toss. Let sit for a couple hours.

Add juices and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the alcohol and water. Put punch bowl in freezer for 20 minutes to chill. When ready to serve, add the large ice cube from the tupperware. Garnish the punch with sliced orange and a healthy portion of freshly grated nutmeg.

The high proof bourbon will cause it to start off pretty strong, but will allow it to maintain its backbone as the ice melts.

Today I decided to make a meatloaf with only the ingredients in the house, Iron Chef style if you will. Without further ado.

Ingredients:

2 lbs meat
2 eggs
1 piece of bread cubed up
3/4 c Zip sauce
3 T of chopped garlic
1/2 c Cheddar Cheese
Onion Soup Mix
1/2 C Ketchup (half for topping)
1/2 C Grain Mustard (half for topping)
2 T Pepper

After adding all the ingredients, I set in fridge for five hours to let all the seasonings marry. Before putting in the oven I basted the top with the leftover ketchup and mustard mix. Then I baked it at 375 degrees for an hour and fifteen minutes. The zip sauce really comes through and the cheddar cheese gives a nice sharpness to the dish. It turned out to be one of the juiciest and tastiest meatloafs I have ever had.

Man can not survive on meat alone (although it’d be fun trying) so I accompanied this delicious meaty goodness with sliced baked potato and beans. Veggies you ask? I promise to double up next time.

It’s no secret that I enjoy imbibing. Libations intrigue me, so why not combine baking and booze? I present to you the second installment of Boozy Baking! (First installment – El Mole Ocho Chocolate Cake).

This week’s boozy delight: Mimosa Cupcakes

Mimosa in cupcake form!

An ideal brunch treat, these cupcakes have all of a mimosa’s goodness in cupcake form.

Recipe tweaked from The Cupcake Project.

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp frozen orange concentrate
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1-2 tsp Orange zest
• 1/2 tsp Orange Blossom Water

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, cream butter & sugar. Once the butter and sugar are creamed, add in the orange juice concentrate. Mix in one egg at a time. Add flour mixture in three installments. When flour is thoroughly mixed, mix in the yogurt, orange zest, and orange blossom water.

Divide the batter evenly into well greased cupcake tins and bake for about 18-23 minutes. Allow to cool.

Fresh from the oven

Champagne Syrup

• 2 cups champagne
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Orange zest (about 1/2 an orange)

Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce to between 1/2 and 1/3 original volume. Syrup will be viscous, but may appear runny – that’s OK. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup.

Champagne & powdered sugar reducing

Orange Blossom Whipped Cream

Lovely whipped cream

Recipe taken from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

Enjoy!

To make remoulade:

Measurements below are dictated by how much lobster you use.
1/8 c mayo (you can make from scratch if you feel inclined)
1/4 c grain mustard
Handful of chopped jalapeno (unless you don’t have or like heat)

Stir!

Next I added the lobster. While I used package lobster from the fridge section, feel free to use real lobster if you’re a baller.

More stirring so that you coat all the lobster meat with spicy remoulade.

Top salad with lobster remoulade mix. This salad consisted of sliced carrots and chopped tomatoes and jalapeno (I like my food spicy, shoot me).

Viola! salad is served.

New Holland's Mad Hatter IPA

It should come as no surprise that beer, more specifically craft beer, has snuck up on wine as a viable option for food pairings. When visiting a restaurant, though, you may not have access to a sommelier or expert on pairings. I understand that it can be overwhelming to figure out which beer goes with what food, but I am here to offer some help.

Rule number one: drink what you like. These are merely suggestions. If you like a particular beer with a dish, then drink it. If you like imperial stouts with every meal, by all means, continue to drink imperial stouts. Personal taste is most important – no matter how fucked up it might be.

Before delving any further into pairing, there’s a few general facts about beer that may be useful. Fact one: carbonation is like scrubbing bubbles for the tongue. Each sip of beer following a bite of food cleans the tongue, removing fat and readying the palate for the next bite. Thus, beer is the perfect partner for fatty dishes. Oh, who am I kidding? Beer is perfect with almost anything, which incidentally leads me to fact two: beer is awesome.

All beer can be placed into one of two categories: lagers and ales. Lager yeast ferments at a cooler temperature than ale yeast. Yeast is responsible for fruity and/or spicy flavors. Lagers, then, are less fruity and more grain- and hops-focused. It might be said that lagers taste cleaner than ales.

With close to thirty styles, there is an incredibly broad range of flavors with which beer will pair. Going from light to dark, a kolsch like Atwater Brewing’s D-Light pairs with chicken and fish while a darker beer like Founders Breakfast Stout would work with barbecued beef or a spicy molé. As I mentioned before, these are not hard and fast rules. My motto is drink whatever the hell you want – just drink local.

Since I’ve been speaking mostly in generalities, I’ll shift focus to specifics. Let’s look at dishes currently available at local restaurants and suggest beers that pair optimally.

Gemmayze Lebanese Kitchen and Lounge is Royal Oak’s newest Middle Eastern restaurant. Taking its name from Beirut’s artistic bohemian district, Gemmayze serves incredibly fresh food in a swanky, fun atomsphere.

My experience with Middle Eastern restaurants and beer has been disappointing at best. Most restaurants stock few, if any, beers. Almaza, Lebanon’s #1 beer, is passable, but there are much better beers, especially in Michigan. Gemmayze’s management realized this and decided to keep a couple of Michigan beers on tap.

I have a very specific litmus test for Middle Eastern restaurants: the kibbeh nayyeh exam. Kibbeh nayyeh is ground lamb with bulghur wheat and spices served raw. Proper kibbeh is not easy to prepare, but Gemmayze knocks it out of the park. To make things better, Michigan Brewing Company’s High Seas IPA is on draught.

Kibbeh Nayyeh from Gemmayze

Kibbeh is a rich and savory dish: lots of umami meatiness with glorious hints of onion and pepper throughout. Given kibbeh’s rich complexity, the bracingly bitter High Seas IPA is a formidable match. MBC’s IPA has dominant notes of pine and citrus. Pine complements the spices in the kibbeh while the citrus and carbonation work together to cut the overall richness.

Let’s move from raw to deep-fried, from meat to seafood, and from Royal Oak to Shelby Township. Glancing at the Metropolitan Cafe menu is like taking a culinary trip around the world. French, Asian, Mexican and Middle Eastern – and that’s just the appetizers!

Szechuan Calamari from The Metropolitan Cafe

Deep-fried calamari is not the sexiest dish on the planet. However, szechuan calamari is not your everyday baby squid. Simultaneously sweet, spicy and salty with near-perfect texture, you’ll forget about all of the rubbery, mediocre stuff most places serve. For such a complex dish, you’d think a complex beer is necessary. On the contrary, New Holland’s Full Circle Kolsch is crisp enough to stand up to the bold flavors of the calamari. Vibrantly carbonated and light, Full Circle is a refreshing complement to deep-fried seafood.

Since beer can be paired with nearly anything, it makes sense that even high-end restaurants are beginning to pay more attention to their beer programs. More importantly, some of their menus are even geared toward the beer drinker. Rugby Grille, for example, has begun serving a Georges Bay scallop dish that also has clams, brussels sprouts, and chorizo and potato croquettes on the plate.

Georges Bay Scallops with chorizo & potato croquettes from Rugby Grille

Forget about the seafood – these croquettes are life-altering! Housemade chorizo and mashed potatoes are breaded and deep-fried. This loveliness is an experience to behold. Each bite of smoky, creamy goodness is just screaming for a sip of a smoky porter or Irish stout. In absence of a porter, try a crisp pilsner to cut the richness of the croquettes and accentuate the sweetness of the scallops.

Don’t forget about dessert, either.

Inside of The Henry hotel in Dearborn, Tria: Inspired American Cuisine is focused on serving fresh food with a local focus. Their beer list is Michigan-centric as well.

Jump straight to dessert and order the Triple Chocolate Cake. Stouts with their chocolatey and roasty flavor profile are especially well suited for desserts. Tria’s dense, bittersweet chocolate cake might be a bit much for one person, especially if a pint of New Holland’s The Poet or Atwater’s Cherry Stout is added. However, this shouldn’t stop you! Tria’s menu is made for sharing and there’s no shame in splitting a pint either, especially a pint as rich as the aforementioned stouts.

We’ve just scratched the surface of the exciting world of beer and food pairings. Next time you visit your favorite restaurant, ask for the beer list and go to town. Just remember: drink what you like, but try to drink local. All of the rest will fall into place.

Originally published in Real Detroit Weekly

Triple Chocolate Cake from Tria

Their Inspired Cuban is Aromatic roast pork with tasso ham, thick cut bacon, gruyere, cornichons, and chipotle mayo; served on Cuban bread.

Served with a side of garlic cilantro shoestring fries. Amazing.

One of their dessert choices are freshly made Churros. Super hot and served wrapped in paper

Shown above is Frita Batidos Churros with Chocolate español. The chocolate is to dip your churros in…

Oh yes…it is hot chocolate. The churros are super fresh and have a bit of orange scent infused with them..orange, chocolate, cinnamon, sugar and dough?? Heck yes.

And if you’re wanting to go with fresh churros and something a little cooler, they have a Churros à la mode.

topped with caramel sauce.

Definitely my favorite restaurant in Michigan.** http://FritaBatidos.com

~watty~
**(This is my own personal opinion, shot on my own time, and I paid for my food.

We made our brioche dough a few days before we made the breads to give it time to sit.This is a very sweet bread which is used for making cinnamon rolls as well as many othersweet breads. We made cinnamon rolls a well as a brioche loaf. Chef Velasco talked to usabout how many people in France as well as other parts of Europe will make brioche loaves and use this bread to make French toast. It adds an additional sweetness that you cannot find anywhere else.

The loaf was also gorgeous and could be served with coffee or used as a dessert by itself. I thought it would be neat to use this bread for a new take on shortbread. Mix up some strawberries and drizzle it on the bread with whipped cream. We also made what the French call Marie Antoinette or head bread. They started making this bread after she was beheaded and named it after her because it looks like a head.

To make these, you measure out two ounces of your dough and roll it out into an almost thick worm shape. You then take the side of your hand and 3/4 of the way down make an indent in the bread and slowly roll that part thinner.

You have one part that is longer and one part the almost looks like a ball. You take the long part of the dough and roll it into a small dish and make a small hole with your finger in the middle.Then gently push the balled part of the dough into the hole you previously made. You brush the bread with an egg wash and bake until golden brown and cooked through. This is what the finished product will look like.

For our cinnamon rolls, we rolled out a large piece of dough, about the size of a half sheet pan. We then took a cinnamon, sugar and butter mixture and spread it out on the dough. We rolled up the dough and gently cut them into circles. We placed these inside of a greased cake pan and baked until golden brown. They were absolutely  delicious. 

Along with learning how to bake breads, we have also been learning the important steps for making the perfect breads. There are 12 steps that bakers follow when making yeast doughs.

1. Scaling – You have to be sure to have the correct amount of each ingredient for your dough to be made properly
2. Mixing – You don’t want to over-mix your dough because too much friction can cause problems for you later on.
3. Fermentation – Your yeast needs to eat and your dough needs to produce oxygen. This stage also helps develop flavor and relaxes the gluten.
4. Punching – You don’t have to actually punch your dough, but you want to gently release the gasses with your fingers by removing any air bubbles.
5. Scaling into loaves or buns – When you’re baking in large quantities, you need to be sure that everything is the same weight so that they bake evenly.
6. Rounding – This is the step where you put your dough into whatever shape you are trying to achieve.
7. Bench rest – After aggravating your dough and making it into shapes, you need to let the gluten relax so that I will move and expand much easier for you.
8. Make-up and panning – If you are applying any egg wash or herbs, this is the step to do that before you place it in your pan.
9. Proofing – Yeast dough’s need to double in size before you can bake them. For those of us at home who don’t have a proofer, you can put your pan into the microwave or on top of a stove that is on. Your dough is ready when it’s ready; you can’t rush it.
10. Baking
11. Cooling
12. Store

By following these steps you will be creating fool proof bread. These were the many steps we had to take for our Brioche dough as well as our baguettes and focaccia. The focaccia bread was fairly straight forward. Once we had let it rest, we rolled it out into an oiled quarter sheet pan and put it in the proofer. We had to proof this dough three times while also releasing the gases each time. After the second time we threw our herbs on. It was an awesome bread to serve with soup or with some wonderful Irish butter. 

Our baguettes took a little more work. We shaped them into long logs and let them rest. After that we rolled the dough out and started slowly pulling the dough forward while also pressing down. Once we reached the edge of the dough, we banged the ends with our fists to ensure the dough was closed. This process creates the nice skin you’re trying to achieve with a baguette. We place it on long sheets pan on top of semolina flour and made long bias slits into the bread to let air escape. They tasted amazing!

I hope everyone tries these at home. They are so simple and I never truly realized before. Next week we are going into pies dough’s and custards. I can’t wait to share it with everyone! Have a great weekend!