We're inviting you into our kitchens today as we confess all the cheffy techniques we do (and don't do) from plating to spherification, from velveting to flambé-ing. Molly makes a birthday request and a confession that will not soon be forgotten. Then, we almost pickle ourselves.
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Matthew Amster-Burton 0:00
Hi. I'm Matthew.
Molly 0:05
And I'm Molly. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:05
this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all, and you can't have any.
Molly 0:10
Today we are talking about chef techniques.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:14
And this, this episode was suggested by listener Brandon, who has suggested a couple of really good episode topics before and also is waiting for us to do fried chicken, which we really need a guest in order to do but we will get to that at some point we will. And some of the techniques I will identify some of the questions below come from Brandon suggestions of Chef techniques that he would like us to talk about. Okay, great. But I thought this would be fun if we do use these techniques if we don't,
Molly 0:42
you know, yeah, it's gonna be so fun. I can't wait. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:45
so let's go down memory lane. When you when you hear the term chef techniques or Sheffy techniques, which I wasn't sure quite which one to call the episode. What do you think of?
Molly 0:56
Well, I mean, first, I think of I think of working in restaurants. Sure. I have worked in two restaurants. I worked in Green's vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco. I was an intern there, one of the summers that I was in college. I should also say I was not even there for the full summer. I discovered I hate working in restaurants. And I only stayed for maybe six or eight weeks or something that's a long time. And then the other restaurant I worked in was the one I owned. And I still hated being in restaurants. But I did it for four months. And you were like the salad person. Yeah. So dessert. I was explaining this to June the other day. I was like dad made the pizzas and I did everything else in June was like, Whoa, and I was like, literally what they said, Yeah, so June was like, wow, and then before I
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:48
did they say wow, or Whoa,
Molly 1:50
before I could even say anything June kind of like did the math and was like, oh, everything else on the menu is like salads or like cold starters and desserts. So you know, to be clear, it required that station requires a lot of prep and then like plating of things. Sure, but not so much. Crap inflating. So and in addition to that, of course, like I think a lot of what I know, I learned from watching the Food Network, like starting when I was in high school, like maybe my senior year of high school. I think I started geeking out on the network. And then of course a whole lot David Rosen gardens taste. Yes. That was my favorite. Oh, like my favorite
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:33
brand. Oh god. I can't remember her name. Sara Sara Moulton. Yes, of course.
Molly 2:36
You had a crush on Sarah, of course. Yeah. No, she's very cute. Still do. I wanted to say to that I feel like when I was growing up, there were many more like sort of Chef technique books that were like in my parents collection than are in my own. So for instance, Julia Child's the way to cook Oh, yeah. Which I actually have a copy of and, and treasure.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:01
Do you have Larousse Gastronomique? I don't mind that that was always I'm sure my mom still has it. And it was always on the shelf and like it was the kind of book like I would pull it out like this looks interesting. What the fuck is
Molly 3:14
no, it was it was not like a fun fun read. I mean, unless you were that that kind of
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:20
I was talking to some research about how we had we had like a like late 60s edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica that had like red leatherette binding and or like like burgundy color. Yeah, and I would absolutely read the encyclopedia for fun.
Molly 3:35
Oh, yeah. No, that is a favorite pastime. Yeah. The other person who I really associated with these books on like Sheffy technique is James Peterson. Do you remember him?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:46
Yes, of course. soy sauces. Yep. What else like yeah, like a French cookbook? Yep.
Molly 3:51
And they were always very like heavily illustrated, you know, with like, all the steps kind of like I mean, for like current day cookbook readers think of like Kenji Lopez all Yeah, books right. James Peterson I keep on you see James Patterson different author Yeah, James Peterson was doing that kind of like step by step illustrated stuff but in more like classical French technique.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:17
Yeah, it's like Alex Cross dismantles a chicken. That's is that a James Patterson character is what came to mind is a great joke. Let's just hurt so happy
Molly 4:26
about this. Anyway, but um, but yeah, I remember I remember when when James Peterson I don't even know if he's still living. I don't know. We'll see if we can find it. Anyway. I remember when some of his like tomes came out. Yeah, important. They really felt for anyone who was interested in cooking. It seems like you had to know this stuff.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:51
James Peterson is an American writer and cookery teacher. He studied chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. His first book sauces came out in 1996. No, yeah, we go. I'm so glad you brought that I have not thought about James Peterson in too long. i There were a couple of things I used to cook from his French cookbook.
Molly 5:08
I think my dad had had sauces. And then I think I had a couple of books that came later. But I no longer have them because I just didn't use them. James Peterson
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:18
had a smaller book called The duck cookbook. And I there were like duck leg recipes that I would make because like I started getting, there was this recipe in the New York Times that called for duck legs and like started getting really into cooking duck legs. And then and then I got the
Molly 5:32
late late 90s,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:35
early 2000s, I think, the duck era, the duck era. For me, the author that I associate with Sheffy techniques is Michael Ruhlman. Yeah, of course. And so especially the books the making of a chef and the soul of a chef. The Making of a chef is about like a year in the life of students at the Culinary Institute of America read that one soul of a chef has like three like extended essays. The most memorable one being about the Certified Master Chef exam. I skipped that book. It the Certified Master Chef exam part is wild. I highly recommend it. Yeah. And like these, they're like doing just things that never need to happen like making a ballotine which I if I remember correctly is like you bone a chicken and then you like take the skin of the chicken which you've removed without without tearing it. And like make a like a football shaped like fig concoction. It's
Molly 6:32
it's like a French turducken.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:33
It's like a French turducken. Yeah, but But it's like, it's a check, check check in. And so doing things like that, and like, like, I loved reading about all of these things that I do, I would never ever do myself.
Molly 6:46
It's so interesting. I mean, there was a time when I loved reading all of that stuff. And I found it really interesting and somehow I just got like super turned off of and tired of Chef culture. It's not that I was ever that interested in chef culture, but somehow it felt entertaining for a
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:02
while, you know, for me, I think it's I think it's that Fast and Furious movies have replaced that for me that like you know, I'm not I don't even drive a car let alone race a car. But I do love watching watching people do it in a movie.
Molly 7:15
You know, speaking of which, Matthew we should just let everybody know that for our our paying subscribers. We recently did a bonus episode on Fast X or fast 10.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:26
Yeah, we forced Molly to watch it and the results were kind of exactly what you what you expect.
Molly 7:31
Yeah. Okay, well, okay, so let's go through this list of like sort of Sheffy techniques and talk about whether we do them or don't do them and why Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:43
I so I made the list and I'm sure there are a million things that I left off so if you think of any like during this that you want to add go ahead listeners if you think of any and want to like write in at contacted spilled milk podcast.com Maybe Maybe we'll like, revisit this as a segment at some point.
Molly 8:00
Sure. I'm gonna put on chapstick. Would you please introduce your first chef?
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:05
I put out some chapstick earlier today. It was it was very fruity flavored one. Ooh. Okay, the first five are from listener Brandon. Do you meet on plus? Yes, me too.
Molly 8:16
I do. I feel like Amazon plus so I think all of our listeners know what this means. But basically this means preparing measuring out and making available like within arm's reach all of your ingredients before you really begin cooking. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:31
I find this so satisfying. And it's so stressful to cook without doing it that salutely
Molly 8:36
I always do Amis on plus, and I don't even think about it. I think it's just if you cook enough if it really feels obvious that you need to do this.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:46
Oh, I thought of one to add to the list. Okay, number two, also from listener Brandon, do you pay attention to plating?
Molly 8:53
Absolutely not.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:54
I would say for me absolutely not like 95% of the time and then occasionally when I played something like semi nicely my family is like Whoa, look at that.
Molly 9:05
Would this be like if you were making duck for instance, if I was making duck
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:09
for instance? Yeah. Like yeah, it's like bistro night we did the beast turn that episode of I like like a leg of duck comfy and like a little salad that like Nestle's in the crook of the duck leg and like, I don't know mashed potatoes or something like like when you got like, like, you know, like, like meat and two veg that you can like, arrange nicely on the plate, or like a piece of fish on top of a salad.
Molly 9:30
Okay, well, I have to say one thing number one for my birthday this year. Would you make me bistro night? Yeah. Okay, I want to your house. No, no, I'll come to your I mean, unless you want to come to my house, but I think you'd probably prefer cooking in your own house. Yeah. Okay, hold on. The other thing I want to say is, I mean, I think the reason that I don't ever pay attention to plating is that we always serve dinner family style. So even if it's like a Dutch oven full of soup or whatever I let everybody serve themself. We can usually do it that way, but not always. Yeah. And I think some of it is, I mean, some of it, I think, for me has been really intentional in the sense of like, letting my kid decide how much Oh, things they want. So I think that's part of why I have never really cared about plating because I really want everybody to have the like, agency to choose how much they eat. I like that. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:24
But then everyone is responsible for creating a beautiful plate that they surround themselves and you have to approve it. That's right. That's how it works. Okay, next velvet eating food, especially in Asian cuisine.
Molly 10:37
So I'm gonna I'm going to say honestly, that I did not know what velvet eating meat was until my friend Joe was telling me about how he makes like stir fried beef with broccoli at home and why like
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:49
put some like egg white in there and then pass it through oil quickly, and then stir fry it. Like the egg white is not always part of it. But that's basically the idea Hold on. Can
Molly 10:58
you explain like so in the context of like beef and broccoli? What would you do with the beef? So you'd have these like sort of thin pieces of of beef? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:06
that was some like egg white corn starch, Salt, salt or soy sauce. And then heat enough oil that you're like shallow frying and like Blanchett in that oil, drain it and then stir fry those pieces. Ah, so so it gets very has a very like, like, it's tender and has like kind of a smooth, slippery kind of texture.
Molly 11:28
Okay, okay. And I think that this is like really essential to what we think of as the texture of something like beef and broccoli. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:34
I almost never do it because I'm too lazy. My grandfather who loved cooking Chinese food was a big proponent of velvety
Molly 11:44
Okay, okay, I'm surprised that you don't do it. I mean, it seems Yeah, you're right. I should I mean, it does seem annoying to like do this shallow frying I mean you neither you nor I have a real like functional exhaust fan right. And so you know what
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:59
I recently got so in preparation for what's sure to be like horrific wildfire smoke later this summer. We got an air purifier like the one that wire cutter recommends that Yeah. Yeah. And the I was making burgers the other day and I was like, Oh, I am going to test this out on on burger smoke. And so like I put it on like the light turned red saying like, like bad air quality. Then it went to purple and then to blue over the course of like 30 minutes. And then it was like, wow, it doesn't even like smell like burgers in here.
Molly 12:30
Oh my god. I'm totally gonna buy this. Yeah. Wow. Matthew. I don't know if I've told you but so we have an air purifier. I'm not convinced that it works super well. I don't even remember like what the brand is. I'm not going to name names, but we have tried passing gas over it. What happened? And I was able to turn it red. I'm really proud of myself. Wow. Yeah, it was pretty cool. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:58
think the thing about them is they like the basic one you get like doesn't doesn't cover a very large square
Molly 13:06
footage. Yeah. And we need to get a better one. Yeah. Or or multiple. Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. What's
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:13
the next one? Homemade Mayo slash aoli.
Molly 13:16
All right. There was a period in my life when I made homemade May. I've seen you do it. We did a mayo episode. And I think that when we did the mayo episode, I mean, it was way back, right? Yeah. Probably within the first 50 episodes. I'm pretty sure I had not yet had children.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:34
It was later than that, but let's find out. So I
Molly 13:37
usually, I mean, I made a lot of mail working in restaurants for sure. Or like catering doing catering gigs. I made a lot of mail.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:46
You're not gonna believe this. When was episode 369. January 2019.
Unknown Speaker 13:52
No
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:52
way. Yeah.
Molly 13:53
Okay. Well, I find Mayo to be really satisfying and easy to make. That said, I don't often make it. I am really happy with Best Foods mayo.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:03
Yeah, I've never done it. Except like I stood next to you like the time the time you did it in my kitchen, and you did it with great confidence. And I was I was very impressed. And I certainly haven't done it since then. And
Molly 14:16
I should say I've always found aoli a bit tricky because even the mildest olive oil can create bitterness. So yeah, I find aoli tricky, and I would like to better understand how to make aoli but I probably won't need to for another 20 years. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:33
you might have to go back to France and like study at like yeah, that's good. Huni VFC Tade do li homemade stocks. Oh,
Molly 14:43
okay, homemade stocks or something. I still do but I don't like go out of my way to like buy ingredients to make it it's more like if we have a roasted chicken. I'm going to save all the various stuff that we don't eat and the bones and whatnot and throw it in like the instant pot with carrot onion celery maybe whatever herbs we have around and like let her rip
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:08
I do not make homemade stocks hardly ever I you know it's it was a thing where I just had to kind of let it go and admit that I'm not going to be the homemade stock person even though I want to think of myself as the homemade stock boy some
Molly 15:20
of the stock boy some of the dishes that we use like better than bouillon in I think they taste more to our liking with better than bouillon then Whoa, yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:29
no, I was so happy. When I discovered that my favorite risotto is risotto made with a with a Nora bouillon cube.
Molly 15:36
Yeah, I wait. I do want to say that once. And this was definitely pre children. For for New Years, we had some friends over I was married to Brandon. We had some friends over and I made this recipe that was in Gourmet magazine, which was still in existence. Is that okay? Maybe this was like New Year's 2008 Or New Year's 2009 Oh, like just before we started the show, they had a recipe for like, scallops in like, like a crem fresh almost like consummate Wow. I mean it was I'm not describing it well, but basically what it had to do early sour cots, it had to do was basically make a fish stock using whatever white fish you could get parts from at your your fishmonger and I remember I went and I got like halibut fins and stuff like that me too, because you can totally do that. Like these great fish markets we have around here. I went and I got like these big gorgeous like sort of off cuts from halibut and I made a fish broth it smelled so good. And basically all I had to do was take some of that and I think I like whisked some cream fresh into it and maybe a little something else. And that was kind of like the base for then like some seared scallops. It was in credible
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:04
I also had the experience like I think just one time making fish stock I went down to like pure food fish and said Just give me give me like some stuff for making fish stock. I felt like on the way home and I had this bag of like assorted fish parts. I felt like I was coming back from like a murder. And and then when I got home and like put this all the pie like this looks terrifying. Like, is this really gonna be edible? And it was so good. I think I was making fish chowder.
Molly 17:29
I feel like fish stock is one of those things that like, it's so much more than the sum of its parts even more than chicken stock. Like there's something that makes you feel really Sheffy about making fish stock. Absolutely.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:48
Okay, do you do these things? Do you wash dishes while cooking? Yes, yes, I do. I give myself like a C minus on this. This was
Molly 17:59
something my dad taught me that you should always clean up as you go. So whenever I have a break in a recipe, I try to always do all the dishes that have accumulated up to that point. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:09
if it's if there's something with a good break, like then I will use the break for that. Especially if I'm listening to a podcast. If it's something where there isn't like a defined break. Like you know, when I've seen chefs real chefs cook they will do it anyway. Somehow I will not okay. Okay. Do you flip food in a skillet or walk with a confident flip of the wrist without using a spatula? So you're like throwing the food up in the air and it all comes down into the pan? Nope. Every once in a while. I will do this on a very small scale like with some like potatoes that I'm saute or something.
Molly 18:42
Ash can do it with fried eggs. But sometimes it breaks the yolk. Yeah, but yeah, it looks cool. It does look really cool. It's hot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:49
Okay, do you sue the feed? Absolutely not. Never have. Do you Flom Bay.
Molly 18:57
Only for the show. Okay. Yeah, so Bananas Foster.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:01
Gotta get so good. And
Molly 19:04
hey, maybe we can have that after bistro night.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:06
That's a great idea. And we can we can like set the fire next to the air purifier. Yes. Do you clarify butter?
Molly 19:14
Absolutely not.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:16
I have like, at least occasionally. I don't know why.
Molly 19:21
You want to clarify the butter that you use to brush on a grilled cheese you made for me? What? I know. I was like what? Or no maybe it was just the melted it and now I always melt the butter too. But no,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:33
I didn't melt the I don't think this I think I've been slandered
Molly 19:37
my I remember my parents so when I was growing up and my parents would cook artichokes we would always eat them with what my mother called drawn butter and lemon. Right and drawn butter would be clarified butter. Okay. I don't really choose to eat my artichokes that way now. I like them dipped in Mayo with mustard and Lemon mixed in.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:01
Yeah, that's not going to be me. Do you ever use impressive amounts of butter? Right? Like, you know, like one of the one of the secrets of restaurant cooking is they use like awesome amounts of butter or olive oil that you would feel weird doing at home?
Molly 20:15
No, I wouldn't say that. I use impressive amounts of butter by restaurant standards. But I do think that especially running a restaurant and knowing a number of chefs I think that I feel more comfortable cooking with a good amount of olive oil and butter than I think a lot of my like fellow like white American cooks.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:40
Sure. The other day so the reason I thought of this one is that December's pic of the week was this recipe from friend friend of the show just one cookbook for garlic steak rice. And it is it's a dish where you make sort of sort of like a fried rice like a crispy rice that has a lot of butter and garlic in it. And you also like use a lot of butter to cook the steak. And like as I was baking this I was like, Oh, this dish is called garlic butter steak or garlic steak rice because it has weight. There's no the word butter it's it's this is good because it has so much butter in it and it was delicious.
Molly 21:23
Oh my god. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:24
so I'm gonna be making that again. Okay, I
Molly 21:26
want to make it I want to make it would you send me the rice
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:29
the rice gets a little bit crispy but like, but like you know kind of brown butter crispy. Very satisfying.
Molly 21:35
Oh my god, you need to send me this copy. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:37
think my people with like, yeah. spherification
Molly 21:42
You must be kidding.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:43
I've seen someone do it. Like in like live?
Molly 21:48
Yeah, I mean, I think that used to be a thing. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:50
mean, I think it's a still a thing that some chefs do sometimes for sure. Do you ever use liquid nitrogen in the kitchen? No, I wish I did. I love liquid nitrogen. It's so cool. Liquid
Molly 22:00
nitrogen ice cream is really incredible. So smooth.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:04
Do you ever break down a whole chicken or fillet of fish?
Molly 22:08
Um, I have. I have broken down a whole chicken. I'm not very good at it. But I have broken down a whole chicken and I will do it and I don't think I Phil ate a fish that seems almost harder to me or like removing the skin from a fish. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:26
so I have definitely filleted a fish a few times like like, fish differ a lot and like how easy it is to fillet them. So I fully like a macro which is a very easy fish to
Molly 22:35
fillet by fillet. What do you mean exactly?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:37
So take a whole fish and like remove like two or four but in my case, the fish I'm kind of talking about two boneless flat pieces from one from each side. Okay, okay, leaving leaving behind something that looks like something that like Heathcliff would pull out of a garbage can? Yeah,
Molly 22:55
no, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:56
don't think I've ever done that. Breaking out a chicken. I will do maybe like once a year like when there's this particular like, like, Malaysian style braised chicken or chicken and rice dish that I make that starts with the whole chicken. And I can do it every time. I feel like I'm gonna do it wrong.
Molly 23:13
Yeah, yeah. It's it's not something that I feel a strong need to master. I feel like I can do it well enough. Yeah. Cooking without following a recipe. I do it all the time. All the time. All the time. That said I use a lot of recipes. Yeah, me too. But I have a lot of basic things I can do without ever opening a recipe. Okay, like what what are a couple of them like beans and Eskimo don't need a recipe. Yeah, of course. Anything involving eggs? Yep. Fried Rice. I really don't need a recipe for fried rice though. Sometimes I will remind myself of the amount of like seasoning that I like in it. Let's see here. What else? Oh God. So much stuff. Vinagrette Yeah, roasted vegetables. Literally everything I do with roasted vegetables. Sure. Everything I do with salad. I don't even know the last time I ever followed a salad recipe burgers. Yeah, this is good stuff. Roasted salmon. Oh yeah. Don't eat a recipe for that. What else?
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:13
Oh, yeah. So things I do without like the things that came to mind for cooking without a recipe like improvising a braise or a stir fry. Okay, I do that all the time. Okay. deglazing a pan. Um, I
Molly 24:23
have deglazed a few hands in my day, but I don't I don't feel like I do a lot of cooking that requires deglazing a pan
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:29
no mean either making a roux? Yes, I have. Okay,
Molly 24:34
so I think of so I'm going to say actually I'm going to alter this a little bit and maybe you will say that this is not making a real but think I know you're gonna take Bishop mill. So absolutely making a route. Okay, so yeah, basically like melting butter, basically, melting butter, adding a little bit of flour, just keeping it blonde and then adding milk. I made a souffle maybe like a year ago. or something and I hadn't made one for a long time and I used to feel really confident making souffles and making Bishop Well, I did something wrong in making the bishop mill. And I think I what I did was I overcooked the flour and the bishop felt like would not fit in, like if it should ever thicken and I wound up having to throw it out June remembers it very well because I was like completely mystified I was like, What have I done wrong?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:26
Where you were standing in the kitchen with with like a last expression on your face,
Molly 25:30
I was so frustrated, I wasted so much or just it felt like a big waste. It wasn't that
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:35
big of ways. So when I also thought of beychevelle, which I've only ever made for making like a lasagna bolognese. And the other thing which not doesn't really count as making a rule but it's kind of similar is like sometimes when I'm making a stew or braids I will like saute some like Mira PA or vegetables. And then throw in like a tablespoon of flour and cook that up with them a little bit before I add the liquid. Yeah, great. Blanching vegetables.
Molly 26:04
Ah, you know, occasionally if I'm feeling I don't know if I'm feeling like I've got a lot of time on my hands when I make such one ease rice with with beef or beef with with celery and rice. So the recipe that I usually follow comes from when a fuchsia Dunlops books and it recommends, you know, chopping the celery and then blanching it really quickly and draining it before you then stir fry it with beef and chili bean paste usually
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:33
do that.
Molly 26:34
I have definitely skipped the blanching but it's so easy. I mean you could even Blanchett in the walk. I mean, as you would learn from Kenji Lopez alt the walk, you can do like all of those things in a walk strip. So yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:48
yeah, do I Blanche? I definitely think of blanching vegetables is like a thing that that I would have read about in a chef cookbook more than a thing I would do at home. Not that it's hard. It's just like, like, what's the point of blanching vegetables is it's like getting like retaining the color or something.
Molly 27:05
Something like that. I mean, I think about I think I would be more inclined to like do a long cooked like boiled vegetable like Italian style or some right than I am to blanch things these
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:17
days. Do you make sure cookery or cure meats?
Molly 27:20
Absolutely not. But there was a time when I would have wanted to. Yeah, same here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:25
I for years and years now I've been saying that I want to make another homemade corned beef, which is something I most recently did probably in like, I don't know. 2004 or something.
Molly 27:37
I thought you made one for the show. I pick one for the show. The show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:41
So yeah, so maybe 2010 Because Because he would have been for our like, Irish Spring episode, which was episode three, something like that something. So okay, so yeah, I haven't done it since then. But But homemade corned beef is so good. It is really so much better than like a store bought corned beef, which is also pretty good. So you know what it's like going down and like asking for them to like, like, trim a brisket for me and knowing that it's going to cost probably like $70. And like, but yeah, I need to just like, do it. Yeah. Do you make potatoes and force me?
Molly 28:16
So I back when I had a column and bon appetit. Oh, right. I like this to the column. The premise of it is that that at least the majority of the time, I was cooking things that I was not super familiar with cooking. So I was kind of like trying to sort of overcome some hurdles. So I think I really taught myself to make mayonnaise for that kalo.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:39
So you would say would you say that this column was like, forced me to get out of my rut.
Molly 28:48
But another thing I did was I made like, like a country pate. Like my friend remembers this pate. And I think I chose it because I knew that it was a little bit more within my comfort zone to make like a like a course like country pate. As opposed to like, like a moose pate because I'm scared of touching chicken livers. Sure. Although I love chicken liver mousse. Yep. When somebody else makes it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:18
Yeah, no, like I bought chicken livers like in a plastic tub. And like Oh, eating that tub and see like a tub full of chicken livers is there's there's allergy there's chicken
Molly 29:26
liver in my my family's beloved Thanksgiving stuffing recipe, and I would not leave out the chicken liver. But I'm always like, Mom, would you please come over and deal with the chicken? Yeah. Anyway, so I made country pate. And you know, like in a Tareen pork and whatnot. And it's very easy. It's really easier. I did I do think I had to make it like three times to really get it exactly to my liking. And I've never made it again. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:57
that makes sense. I've never done it at all. Yeah, pickle Like,
Molly 30:00
Oh yeah, pickling, I have pickled a little bit. My ex husband is a big Pickler. Big Pickler, big Pickler. And so I don't feel a strong need to pickle myself.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:09
I generally make the same kind of pickle over and over, which is like a slice a Persian cucumber or two. And, like, toss that with salt, sugar, white vinegar, and Korean go to Goddard chili flakes. That's my favorite pickle. And I make it all the time.
Molly 30:27
And do you use it? Like right away? Do you need to let it sit for a little while
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:31
it needs to sit for at least a little while but like same day is fine and it's better the next day and good for up to like three or four days.
Molly 30:38
I love you know that just like super old school cucumber salad. It's like cucumber and either white or like rice vinegar with sugar and a little bit of salt and fresh dill. Oh my god, it served really cold in the summer. Oh, it could be better.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:54
Do you pass things through a Tammy or Shinwa?
Molly 30:57
Absolutely not. I love that you
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:59
asked. And that's the last one on my list.
Molly 31:02
Do you have a sheen? Wha
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:05
Oh yeah. Like I'm constantly like, you know, I feel like I've passed my I have passed over the last few years. We all have come out smoother and less grainy.
Molly 31:20
Okay, okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:22
So the answer is no. Okay,
Molly 31:23
great. Matthew. Yeah, I've got a now that wow
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:35
oh, let's hear
Molly 31:35
it. Okay, as I mentioned in a recent subscriber newsletter, so if you're a paying subscriber, you got this newsletter. I have been really interested in learning more about looseleaf black teas. And some of a lot of what I have been purchasing and enjoying I learned about from actually the food writer, Marian bull. Okay, who writes for a lot of different publications. She's also a ceramicist. But I love her newsletter, which is called mess hall. Oh, nice. Anyway, so anyway, she wrote a piece earlier this year, about getting into black teas. And she linked to a couple different producers or, you know, distributors of teas that she really likes. And one of the ones that she mentioned was a really great everyday black tea, sold by Nepali traders, and it is their Himalayan golden black tea. And we'll link to it in the show notes. According to the Nepali traders website. It is picked during the monsoon season in sandakphu. I don't know how to pronounce this. Do you think I'm doing this wrong? I don't have an opinion. Great. Okay. Well, it's picked during the monsoon season in this region of Nepal. It's rich deep amber liqueur has notes of malt clover, honey and burnt sugar, highlighted by aromatic notes of apricot and clove. It is a great breakfast tea that can be enjoyed with or without milk and sugar. It was awarded the Best black tea by the North American tea championship ice. I have been really enjoying this. How do you prepare it? So I use about a teaspoon of tea per eight ounces. I let it steep for three to four minutes. And then I strain it and I drink it with no milk or sugar is so smooth.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:26
I'm very excited to try this. It is
Molly 33:28
really it's really it scratches all the black tea itches. But it has a bit of a multi thing going on and it's so smooth and mellow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:37
Do you strain it through A cian Wah sharp?
Molly 33:41
But yeah, I wanted to mention Nepali traders it's based in Boston. It's owned by a Nepalese couple in fact, Sunita and Rabin Joshi so we can get announcing their name right,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:53
we can definitely link to that in the show notes. Oh, yeah, get your own because now I want some
Molly 33:57
and I also feel like at least as someone who has primarily been drinking coffee for a really long time, tea feels very affordable in comparison. That makes sense. So yeah, I mean, I think I bought like a cat a canister two or four ounces of this tea and it felt very reasonable
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:15
Okay. All right. Our producers Abbey circuit Tella. We we've like plugged our stuff last time. Yeah, a few times before that. We're good. But please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, you know what we we need to refill our mailbag. If you got any questions for spilled mail. Send them to me at contact at spilled milk podcast.com Great. Thanks for listening to spilled milk. The show that that cleans itself constantly. Well recording
Molly 34:45
know this show that that's that's
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:52
the show the show that's been cooking cvwd For the last 30 minutes at a balmy 78 degrees. Freeze. Last things went so well last week. When we tried to do the closing James
Molly 35:08
is going to try to do something with spherification Okay, let's hear it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:12
Let's hear it.
Molly 35:13
I'm Molly wise Bye
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:26
Oh, the like
Molly 35:34
the show that's that's making a room between your ears.