Milk Street RecipesAsked Jul 03, 2019 by Jason F.
Any suggestions for grilling the Chiang Mai chicken rather than roasting? I assume a two-zone method, much like what is used for the Lemon-Lime Lacquered Chicken, but skipping the final browning step so you don't burn the brushed on marinade? Also, when doubling a recipe with fish sauce, should one really double the fish sauce?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Jason - I actually make our Chiang Mai chicken on the grill all the time. It's a great alternative to standard American BBQ chicken on a hot summer day. I grill it using indirect heat - the same basic method as the Lemon-Lime Lacquered Chicken - but because the Chiang Mai chicken calls for leg quarters and breasts, rather than chicken parts, the cooking time will be a bit longer. Just make sure to temp the chicken (160 degrees for the breasts and 175 for the leg quarters) and you should be good to go. I do usually grill it over the hot side of the grill at the end to get the skin crispy, but I am comfortable with a little bit of char on the skin. This only takes a couple of minutes since all of the fat has rendered during the slow, indirect cooking process. You do need to keep a close eye on it, though, because it definitely can burn due to the glaze.
For recipes with fish sauce, as long as you are doubling all of the ingredients it should be fine to double the fish sauce since everything should still be in proportion and balanced. However, you can always add some and taste as you add more until you feel happy with the flavor. I highly recommend Red Boat brand fish sauce and we carry their aged version, which has really complex flavor that has mellowed during the aging process, in the Milk Street Store. You can read about it and purchase it here: https://store.177milkstreet.com/products/blis-barrel-aged-fish-sauce. Thanks for writing us!
Read MoreAsked Jul 01, 2019 by Jacqueline F.
Food additives abound but one that I find in the most unlikely food ingredients is carrageenan. For example, I would love to try your buttermilk biscuits, but there again -- in the buttermilk -- is added carrageenan. I have yet to find one brand of buttermilk (and most other dairy products other than 'plain' milk) without that additive.
I realize this is a controversial topic. I'm interested in knowing how you approach this additive.
Answered by Lynn Clark
We aren’t a health food company so, if I’m honest, we don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about food additives. That being said, we are definitely proponents of buying fresh, local ingredients whenever possible and using high quality products that you can afford. I’m not sure where you’re located, but I would recommend seeking out a local farm to see if they make their own fresh dairy products. If not, for buttermilk, I know Kate’s Fresh Real Buttermilk from Maine and Organic Valley Low-fat Buttermilk do not contain carrageenan. The organic food industry in general is making a push to eliminate carrageenan from products labeled "organic" so more and more companies are removing it and/or replacing it with gellan gum. I would certainly look to organic producers for carrageenan-free products.
A little background on carrageenan:
Carrageenan is an extract from red seaweed called Irish Moss. This edible seaweed is native to the British Isles where it’s been used in traditional cooking for hundreds of years. It’s natural gelling ability makes it a common thickening ingredient in the commercial food industry. Here is an excellent article from NPR that explains some of the controversy on its purported toxicity: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/12/12/504558025/carrageenan-backlash-why-food-firms-are-ousting-a-popular-additive.
Read MoreAsked Jul 01, 2019 by William F.
In paragraph 4, the directions state to cool down the marinade; I assume this the marinade in which the chicken already marinating? The cook then kills off any chicken related bacteria left over after the marination? Thanks!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi William – Thanks for contacting us! I assume you are referring to our recipe for Lemon Lime Lacquered Grilled Chicken (Inihaw Na Manok)? Recipe here: https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/lemon-lime-barbeque-grilled-chicken-inihaw-na-manok-filipino
If we were simply intending to use the marinade as a sauce with the same texture then, yes, we would have to cook it to kill any residual bacteria that may have been present from the raw chicken. However, at Milk Street, we are all about layering flavor and doing it as easily and possible. So, the reason we cook the marinade in our recipe is because we want to use those same ingredients (vinegar, ketchup, soy, garlic, bay, and lemon-lime soda) to flavor the chicken in another way. Rather than make an entirely new sauce to baste and serve with the chicken, we simply reduce the marinade to get a thick basting liquid and sauce. Doing so also creates a slightly different flavor profile than our marinade. Overall, the flavors are more concentrated - the sauce is sweeter, tangier, and saltier than as a marinade alone - so we are creating layers of flavor with the same ingredients. Because we are using this thick, sweet sauce to baste the chicken as it cooks, we cook the chicken over the cool side of the grill, using the ambient grill heat to cook the chicken through. Then we give it a quick blast over the hot side to brown it. This ensures the sauce won’t burn before the chicken cooks through. Indirect grilling is our go-to method for grilling chicken (or really any protein) where the surface would burn before the meat was cooked to the proper temperature.
Read MoreAsked Jun 25, 2019 by Scott C.
In Search Of...a recipe I followed on MSK that included Boursin Cheese & Wondra, but lost it in a power outage. What was it?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Scott - we don't have a recipe at Milk Street that calls for Boursin cheese and Wondra flour. Perhaps it's from another source? Good luck in your search! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Jun 25, 2019 by Jason F.
When we bake or roast, we use temperatures to specify heat and assuming our ovens are accurate and we temp our food we are working with something we can measure. When you cook on the stove-top, you are told "high" or "medium-low," etc. and not given a temperature. I know sometimes you can tell your temperature by how food reacts such as with a simmer or a boil, but mostly I feel like I am left guessing and I can tell you that the medium on my mom's Viking stove top is a lot hotter than the medium on my run-of-the-mill Whirlpool. Infrared thermometers are relatively cheap these days; what temperature is "medium" vs. "medium-high" vs. "medium-low"? It's easier than ever to measure surface temps these days and while you might not always want to get your gun out, if we could at least come to know if a recipe says "medium" that means 300 degrees and on my stove that means a tick past the medium mark, etc. etc.
Answered by Chris Kimball
The easier method is to place a tablespoon or two of oil in the pan before heating and when it starts to ripple AND JUST STARTS TO SMOKE, the pan is ready for sautéing. Use an oil with a relatively high smoke point - I prefer Grapeseed oil as my go-to cooking oil although a refined olive oil will also have a high smoke point (roughly 450 degrees). All that being said, I do not preheat my pan when cooking garlic or onions - I prefer gentle heat which I think draws out the flavor better and avoids burning. I avoid canola oil since I find that it has a slightly fishy flavor. And, you are correct, heat levels for stovetops are completely meaningless. Barbara Lynch, a local Boston chef, once told me to LISTEN to the food as it cooks - that is the best way to judge heat level. Onions need a gentle sizzle whereas searing a steak will be louder and more aggressive. Two other suggestions. Make sure that the bottom of your pan is perfectly flat otherwise the oil will pool around the perimeter. This makes the pan unusable. Second, use enough oil. Hot oil will coat the food much better than the metal of the skillet, creating more even cooking.
Read MoreAsked Jun 20, 2019 by Samantha V.
I know salting your steaks 1-3 days in advance gives you a juicier, more flavorful end product, but is this also true for dry rubs? I am planning to make the Coriander-Orange Skirt Steak recipe and wondering if applying the spice mixture to the meat 1-3 days in advance will either enhance the flavor of or adversely affect the meat. Thank you!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Samantha - Only salt penetrates meat. Ground spices, sugar, citrus zest or any other seasoning besides salt just rest on the surface. You may taste them when you take a bite, but that’s just because it’s on the exterior. Salt, on the other hand, separates into ions—sodium and chloride—when it hits meat, which can work their way to the center, altering the protein so that it can better hold onto moisture and also amplifying flavor. Sprinkle a spice rub on right before cooking for good texture and a flavorful crust, but don’t expect it to do anything more. The spice rub for our Coriander-Orange Skirt Steak includes salt. You could keep the salt separate from the spices and apply it in advance to "dry brine" the meat if you wanted. Cuts 1" thick or less (such as skirt steak) really only need an hour or two for the salt to fully penetrate. Then apply the rest of the spice rub right before cooking. Thanks for writing us! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Jun 18, 2019 by Julie G.
I made the Catalan biscotti from the most recent issue. I followed the recipe precisely, but my cookies are crisp all the way through--pretty much like traditional biscotti, despite the single bake. They aren't chewy inside, as the article and recipe describe. I'm not sure what went wrong. I don't think I overbaked them, as they are quite a light brown.
Any ideas?
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hi Julie - It sounds like they were over baked. It's possible that your oven runs hot. If you make them again, start checking them for doneness a little sooner.
Read MoreAsked Jun 13, 2019 by Bill G.
Who does the cleaning up after the show and how the hell do they do it? Your stainless cookware looks brand new, you brown meat on high heat and never get a spot of grease on the cooktop and every cutting board looks like it just arrived from the manufacturer freshly oiled!
I buy Bartender's Friend by the six-pack, scrub stainless cookware for what seems like hours and never get that new look back. If I want to brown something(even in a Dutch oven) I have to cover the cooktop in foil or there are grease spatters everywhere! I've tried mineral oil, cutting board oil from the manufacturer and beeswax on my cutting boards and they still end up with stains.
Or do you just use all new stuff for every episode? It must get expensive...
All seriousness aside, how about a video on how you clean up after a cook? I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to know.
Thanks!
Answered by Chris Kimball
For TV, we do use new stuff (although I would love to use old stuff since that is what everyone else uses). That being said, Bar Keeper's Friend does work pretty well. I do find that adding water to a skillet with stuck-on bits and simmering the water works well. Enamel cast iron will never regain it's clean white interior but then it looks like you really cook! (Staub offers dark interiors which will not discolor readily.) Cutting boards will get stains but I have now converted to wood cutting boards. Like the feel of a knife on wood and any stains are part of the charm - I use a dark wood board. Otherwise, buy plastic boards and throw in dishwasher. However, thinner plastic boards always warp and become useless. Yes, we should do a video on cleaning - good idea! Try 1 TBSP of chlorine bleach per gallon of water for sanitizing plastic boards (although the dishwasher or hot soapy water is also fine).
Read MoreAsked Jun 13, 2019 by Denise P.
Hi, Just wondering if anyone has a recipe for a White Bean Chicken Chili and/or a plant-based option for a similarly-tasting chili?
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hi Denise - We'll post this so that folks can offer suggestions.
Read MoreAsked Jun 12, 2019 by audrey G.
Outside of the classic strawberry rhubarb pie, what else can be done with rhubarb? Are there savory applications? I'm looking for a way to use it without adding a ton of sugar just to make it palatable.
Answered by Chris Kimball
Oddly enough, I have neighbors in Vermont who eat raw rhubarb like celery - just sprinkled with salt. For the rest of us, try a pickled rhubarb recipe - here is a recipe from Serious Eats: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/04/pickled-rhubarb-stalk-recipe.html
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