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As I mentioned in my last post, spatchcocking refers to the removing of the backbone from poultry (in this case, Cornish Game Hens) so that it can be split for roasting or grilling.
I've only spatchcocked a couple of times, and it is a bit intimidating at first. But to help me relax, I like to imagine Nigella Lawson whispering in my ear with her sweet British accent: "Would you like to spatchcock some birds with me, Darling?" Ahem. Uh, on to the spatchcocking demo:
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I’ve got a huge Man-Crush on Alton Brown.
There. I said it. And I’m not ashamed of it either.
There are some people out there that say Brown is a blow-hard, a know-it-all, a sell-out, and whatever hyphenated put-down you can think of. And he probably is, to a certain extent, some of these things. Yet in spite of this, I still get giddy whenever there is a new episode of Good Eats on the Food Network (and The Wife rolls her eyes accordingly).
Why my fascination with Brown? He makes learning about food interesting; he looks into the “how” and “why” instead of just the “what” of food. Well, and he also does some unusual (yet completely awesome and kick-ass) techniques to get some of his cookery done.
He’s smoked salmon in a cardboard box, he’s fermented yogurt with a heat pad, he’s dried beef jerky with a box fan, and he’s barbecued pork butt in a flower pot! Come on now, those are some man-crush-inducing moves don’t you think?
Now while I’ve attempted many of his more tame recipes, I’ve never actually tried any of Brown’s MacGyver-esque techniques. I guess I’ve always been too in awe of them. That is, until recently when I saw an episode of Good Eats where Brown grilled some Cornish game hens with the help of a hot brick.
A hot brick?
Yes, an extraordinarily, obscenely, Scarlett Johanssonly-hot brick.
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This is the latest from the great Weird Al Yankovic. It's 11
minutes of pure genius and hilarity; a spoof on "Trapped in the Closet" by the one and only R. Kelly (that's arr-ruh Kelly).
When I'm not experimenting with patis, cane vinegar, and soy
sauce, and when The Wife isn't in the mood to cook anything from her
well-rounded arsenal of weeknight meals, we usually end up in pretty much the
same exact situation as Weird Al (well, almost exact, just picture a Filipino
dude and a red-headed wife in the cartoon).
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Over at CHOW, Sara Dickerman provides a great review of Memories of Philippine Kitchens, the Filipino cookbook by Romy Dorotan and Amy Besa that I mentioned here. Dickerman even provides the same Chicken Adobo recipe that I tried out.
In her review, Dickerman makes a great point that while Filipino food hasn't been fully embraced yet in this country, Memories of Philippine Kitchens is a great place to start discovering the food for yourself. I couldn't agree more.
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An actual email from my actual little brother:
"Way to go, although I want to write a reply to your blogs, I think I can't because... I like food, but I'm not passionate at all when it comes to filipino food. Don't get me wrong, I read your blog all the time, I just have nothing to say because I really have nothing to add."
I weep for the future.
I'm not upset that my brother doesn't comment here on this shiny and new blog, I'm upset that the kid has little interest in Filipino food. He barely touches the stuff -- only eating pancit out of politeness if he's at my grandmother's, fearful of getting a punch in the face (from my grandmother no less) should he ask if there's anything else to eat. Ah, the ill-effects of Western assimilation. Sad, that.
But maybe I can do something about that. I can't make people like Filipino food, especially my little brother, but maybe I can at least pique some interest.
So, little brother, I respond to your email with a concerned letter via a Manila Envelope.
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I first heard of Romy Dorotan, a Filipino chef and restaurant owner in New York City, a couple of years ago when he appeared on the Martha Stewart show. This episode of Martha caused me to go through three stages of increasing shock:
Holy shit! There's a Filipino on TV!
Holy shit! There's a Filipino on TV, and he's on the Martha Stewart Show!
Holy shit! There's a Filipino on TV, and he's on the Martha Stewart Show, and he's cooking Chicken Adobo!
Strange, that.
After getting over my initial disbelief that Chicken Adobo was being prepared on national television by an actual Filipino, I remember thinking "I am definitely going to try and make that recipe." Hmmm, so much for watershed moments -- quite a bit of time passed before I was even reminded about that Chicken Adobo recipe.
In fact, it was this post by the Amateur Gourmet that did the reminding. The AG gave a glowing review of Dorotan's restaurant, Cendrillon, and proclaimed the Chicken Adobo at Cendrillon his "#1 favorite chicken dish for 2005." After reading that post, I remember thinking "I am definitely taking The Wife to Cendrillon on our upcoming trip to New York." So much for to-do lists -- we did go to New York, and Cendrillon was on our itinerary, it just never got crossed off.
So when Dorotan, and his wife Amy Besa, released their first cookbook on Filipino cuisine entitled "Memories of Philippine Kitchens," I had to buy it. And buy it I did a couple of months ago. But would I ever cook from it?
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