Cooking Videos

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I will be hosting a live Culinary Q&A at 5pm PST. The broadcast will be streamed live in the above embedded video. If you would like to ask a question, either shoot it to me through e-mail, jacob@stellaculinary.com, with the subject "Live Q&A," or you can join the hangout and ask the question live via your webcam.

It may seem silly to ask "what is mayonnaise" since it's common place in most of our lives. People use mayonnaise on sandwiches, as a dressing for salads such as chicken, potato and macaroni, in cakes, and some even put it in their hair to use as a conditioner.  Yet some don't actually know that mayonnaise is simply made from emulsifying egg yolks with a neutral flavored oil like vegetable, canola or grape seed.

In this video, I demonstrate a classic mayonnaise recipe that uses egg yolks, canola oil, mustard powder, lemon juice, kosher salt and white pepper. The mayonnaise is made using a simple mixing bowl and whisk but if you have a good blender or food processor, I recommend you use that instead, unless you're trying to bulk up your fore-arms.

Rillettes are a great introduction into charcuterie because they're fairly easy to make and absolutely delicious. These salty-meat spreads are best described as a cross between confit and pate, and our one of my favorite ways to start a casual gathering or a multi-course tasting menu.

In a previous video, I demonstrated how to bond two chicken breasts together using Activa RM. In this video I demonstrate how to bond two chicken leg and thigh portions together using an Activa GS slurry. This form of slurry allows for a tighter bond, making it ideal for large pieces of meat.

My preferred method of finishing is to cook the legs sous vide at 60C for four hours, which makes them extremely tender and juicy. After the fours, I'll ice bath to cool and then portion. For service, both sides of the leg and thigh are pan fried and then finished in the oven until the core temperature is warm.

In this video I demonstrate how to bind together two boneless, skinless chicken breasts using the transglutaminase enzyme. The resulting piece of meat is cohesive, easy to portion and will cook more evenly then a traditional chicken breast.

In this video, I demonstrate the technique of covered saute and glazing that can be universally applied to most produce, especially root vegetables such as carrots, onions, parsnips and radishes. To demonstrate the glazing technique, we take a trip down "Classic Flavor Lane," using minced ginger, carrots and turmeric as our main flavor profiles.

Heirloom tomatoes are a special crop that I look forward to every year. Unlike other common supermarket tomatoes that have had their flavor bred out of them (not to mention they're usually picked green and forced ripened using ethylene gas), heirlooms are true, unique strains of tomatoes that haven't been messed with. Each variety of heirloom tomato has it's own unique color, flavor and shape, just like nature intended. And did I mention that they're absolutely delicious and about to hit their peak?

Sauce vierge is one of my all time favorite sauces. The word "vierge" is French for "virgin," meaning that the ingredients in a vierge are not cooked. This is the sauce that we use for our heirloom tomato caprese, which I will demonstrate in an upcoming video.