Look it. No more messing around.
This is what you've been training for all year.
Hosting and cooking for Thanksgiving is the Super Bowl for cooks. It's the one day you have to get in the kitchen, and show your family and friends why YOU ARE THE BEST COOK THEY KNOW!
The above video playlist exists to serve that goal!
For this month's Stella Culinary Cooking Challenge, I wanted to get back to basics, focusing on a couple simple techniques, and reinforcing the skill set of separating flavor structure from technique.
Learn how to cook Potatoes a la Burton, an easy & versatile approach to making any number of roasted potato dishes. Burton Potatoes are unique because we combine the normal two stage cooking process of boiling, chilling, and roasting, into one singular step. This leads to a more flavorful potato while streamlining the kitchen execution.
Before we get into how the potatoes are actually made, it's important to note that this technique requires a GOOD non-stick pan that isn't beaten up or scratched. And no, unfortunately, a cast iron pan will not work for this process.
In this video, how to make batter fried wedge potatoes!
In this video, I demonstrate how to make seasoned wedge potato fries. To get that perfect crispy exterior and soft, almost mashed potato like interior, we first blanch in acidulated water, then par fry and freeze.
For more videos like this, check out our hamburger cooking resource page at: https://StellaCulinary.com/hamburger
Lear how to make French fries at home, just like the ones you get at McDonalds.
A traditional french fry is usually blanched twice in oil; once at a lower temperature to soften the fry and cook it through, and once at a higher temperature to crisp and brown the fry. While this gives you good results, they still don't have the crisp exterior and mashed potato like interior that french fries served at McDonalds and other fast food restaurants do.
This simple batter is used in our Batter Fried Wedge Potato video, but can be used for just about anything, especially onion rings. Shout out to Alex Downing who is responsible for developing this recipe. Alex was the Sous Chef at Stella while I was there, and is now the Executive Chef.
In this video, a simple bechamel based white garlic pizza sauce. This is the sauce I use to top my Sicilian style pizza with chicken, bacon, tomatoes and wilted spinach.
Look up a classic recipe for glazed vegetables and it will resemble those demonstrated in my turmeric-glazed carrots video. In this classic approach, root vegetables are covered with water and wine, a knob of butter and a pinch of sugar are added to the pan, and the whole mixture is brought to a simmer. As the liquid simmers and reduces, the starches and sugars contained in the vegetables help to thicken the sauce and emulsify the butter.
Chicken and dumplings has to be one of my all time favorite comfort foods. It's easy to make, delicious, and soul-satisfying. In this video, we play on this southern classic by utilizing our leftover Thanksgiving turkey, turning our flavorful stuffing into dumplings.
For best results, start with a home made turkey stock (we have a separate video on this in our related section below).
In part two of our Thanksgiving Day podcast series, we talk popular side dishes including mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. Along with a great turkey, these dishes will make up the core of your Thanksgiving Day meal.
This dish is a great representation of the collaborative environment that I try to foster at Stella. Pulling influences from different backgrounds, cultures, and styles is what we're constantly striving towards.
Simple vegetable stock recipe.
There are two kinds of veal stock; brown and white. The only differentiating factor is whether or not the bones are roasted. The decision to roast the bones is dependent on the final application of the veal stock. If you are making a traditional Veal Veloute, a white veal stock is needed.
Tomato Vierge is a simple yet flavorful emulsion of tomatoes, aromatics and oil. It is most notably missing egg, which makes this preparation much lighter then it's sister sauce, aioli.
An aromatic and refreshing vinaigrette that works great on a hot summer day. The pungent punch of the Thai Basil paired with the sour of rice wine vinegar and sweetness of honey yields a full flavored salad dressing
This recipe is from my days as Executive Chef at an Asian-Fusion restaurant that also served sushi. It was a crab mix that went inside of a sushi roll that was topped with sliced hamachi and orange aioli. After leaving this restaurant, I was so burnt out on sushi that I swore I'd never make it again.
This recipe was originally developed as a dipping sauce for our Thai Style French Fries served at Stella. This peanut sauce is a little thicker then normal and has a nice little kick to it. It will also go great with chicken, beef or pork, especially satay. Recipe yield is calculated in grams to make scaling easier. See notes section for portioning info.
