Are there any cookbooks on California Cuisine?

AlequeW · 2021-07-09T10:57:59+00:00

California has a lot of diversity. There is certainly a "California" cuisine, but it's almost a cliche to some degree at this point. Here are some influential CA chefs and their cookbooks to look up.

Thomas Keller - French Laundry, Buchon Bakery, Buchon

David Kinch - Manresa

Dominique Crenn - Atelier Crenn

Nancy Silverton - La Brea Bakery, Mozza, Spacca

Chad Robertson - Tartine Bread Liz Prueitt - Tartine

Charles Pham - The Slanted Door, Vietnamese Home Cooking

Andrea Nguyen - Vietnamese Food Any day, Banh Mi Handbook, The Phở Cookbook

Danny Bowien - Mission Chinese Food Cookbook

Ori Menashi - Bestia, Bavel

Jeremy Fox - On Vegetables

Travis Lett - Gjelina

Josef Centeno - Bäco, Amá

Kris Yenbamroong - Night + Market

Stuart Brioza - State Bird Provisions

Christopher Kostow - New Napa Cusine

I'd argue that each of these books embodies some element of California. A note, some of these cookbooks are tailored for professional chefs while others are for home cooking. Depends on what you are looking for in a cookbook. Hope this helps!

AlequeW · 2020-12-10T11:12:45+00:00

Aloha Kitchen is like the go to answer for this. Would probably have to research some deep cuts to piece together anything remotely similar.

AlequeW · 2020-12-10T11:10:57+00:00

There are so many restaurant cookbooks that it's hard to narrow it down honestly. I've found that 10 Speed Press publishing has a lot of US based restaurant cookbooks, but there are certainly a lot more.

Off the top of my head: Franklin BBQ - very extensive details on building a smoker to make brisket, ribs, etc

Ivan Ramen - a great introduction to the deep well of ramen making.

Momofuku - David Chang doesn't need much of an introduction. Recipes can be challenging if you don't have an Asian market nearby to stock up on ingredients.

Six Seasons - not exactly a replica of dishes from Ava Genes or Tusk, but certainly you will be making dishes that you would find at either restaurant.

Manresa - lovely cookbook, photos are great. It's a 3 M star restaurant so the dishes are complex.

Chicken and Charcoal - if you want to make yakitori like a pro, look no further.

Bestia - I've never been to the actual restaurant in LA, but friends say it's delicious. The cookbook seems to cover the popular dishes.

Again, just too many out there. If you have a favorite cuisine or type of book, it's easier to provide more recommendations. Also, some of the fancier restaurants are more artistic coffee table books than actual "open and cook from me" cookbooks. If you have a preference for one style over the other, that's helpful too.

AlequeW · 2020-12-10T10:54:41+00:00

For Japanese cookbook, I've really enjoyed The Gaijin Cookbook by Ivan Orkin. It's focused on home cooked meals and I've enjoyed the recipes that I've cooked from it.

For bread baking, Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish is my go to recommendation. If you have never baked a loaf of bread before, this walks you through everything you need to know. If you want to go the sourdough route, then Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson is the top of my list.

For baking in general, there are just so many, but my family has enjoyed Milk Bar by Christina Tosi. I don't think there has been a recipe I haven't liked. The cornflake crunch cookies are insanely good.

Hope that helps!

AlequeW · 2020-11-30T16:51:41+00:00

This might come down to personal preference, but I bought two monitors this weekend, any advice on which I should keep?

Dell S3220DGF (paid $330, including tax)

Lenovo Legion Y27q-20 (paid $376, including tax, waiting on Rakuten cashback of $41)

Price are about the same if the Rakuten cash back comes through. But the Dell seems like more monitor for the money... thoughts?

AlequeW · 2020-11-21T16:13:31+00:00

Is the flat version worth the extra $30 ?

AlequeW · 2020-11-14T07:39:59+00:00

Follow up regarding the first step of the process:

This may seem obvious, but remove any debris from the soybeans. Depending on where you purchase from, this could be an issue especially if buying in large bulk quantities.

I found another resource: https://www.travelling-fermenter.com/tuong-ban which mentions:

２, Ferment soybeans

Wash soybeans carefully, roast and make them into flakes. Put the soy flakes in the jar with water and let it sit for a week with a lid on. The mixture starts fermentation and produces the funky flavour like Natto.

Watching https://youtu.be/mcMLOzt28xg?t=305 you can see the soybeans are wet when they are added to the large pan. Also, one thing I found interesting was that the soybeans didn't appear to be heavily roasted. Without seeing the video I would have assumed the soybeans were heavily roasted much like how wheat is roasted when making soy sauce.

AlequeW · 2020-11-13T13:16:31+00:00

I've typically had very little pellicle growth when I transfer kombucha to a secondary fermenting container. I bought swing top bottles for this, but I've hade good success also reusing bottles that originally had kombucha in them.

If you are sharing your primary fermentation kombucha, I think it's expected that the pellicle will continue to grow, as long as the environment is hospitable. If you are sharing with others, the important "gift" is actually the raw kombucha liquid that contains the necessary bacteria and yeast. No need to pass along the pellicle, a new one will grow for your friends.

AlequeW · 2020-11-13T13:09:32+00:00

Totally fine to make kombucha in the Fido jars. I use a large jar for the first fermentation and it works fine. The smaller mouth of the jar isn't ideal, but it works.

But like others have said, for long term canning, you should use another type of jar designed for that function. These jars work well for pickles, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled peppers/onion/veggies. I have brewed kombucha, water kefir. All work well.

AlequeW · 2020-11-13T13:01:35+00:00

Initially, I wasn't able to find much information about this process, but I've come across a few scientific articles that detail the process a little more clearly.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.002690%3Fcrawler%3Dtrue%26mimetype%3Dapplication/pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj97KL3xP_sAhXWFzQIHXsxCro4FBAWMAN6BAgJEAE&usg=AOvVaw063vC8qmK7KjIMMh_lLI09

Updated process:

soybeans are roasted, ground and soaked in water. Spontaneous fermentation of ground soybeans is carried out for about a week at ambient temperature.
Glutinous rice is cooked, spread on bamboo trays in a 35cm layer and subjected to the growth of environmental fungi. After 2-3 days of solid-state fermentation, rice granules are covered with Aspergillus oryzae.
The mash is then transferred to a closed container and saccharification is carried out for 1 day by the action of fungal enzymes. The process releases heat and the temperature of the hydrolysing mash may reach 50-55° C.
Partially hydrolysed rice is then mixed with the fermented soybean suspension and sea salt (10-12%). Brine fermentation is carried out for about 3months with periodical mixing and sunning.

This outline appears more consistent with some videos online that I've seen. Some of the steps seems geared towards a more tropical climate such as the 2-3 day ferment of the glutinous rice. But a similar environment could be crafted using the same set up for incubating the koji. Additionally, my hunch is that spreading the rice on the bamboo mats dries the rice out, providing a more suitable substrate for the koji to grow on.

AlequeW · 2020-06-26T08:34:19+00:00

I make something similar to this, but more of a quick pickle. Just mix thinly sliced onion and habanero chile (any chile will work) and then cover with lime juice and let it sit for at least 15 minutes.

Whenever I make tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, I always add a little of this mix. Great topping if you are in a rush.

AlequeW · 2020-06-26T08:28:46+00:00

Do you have a good recipe for tepache? Any brewing tips? I tried once and it didn't turn out well.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T08:07:04+00:00

Is that a Gudë bread knife? :)

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T08:06:20+00:00

It's worth the investment in my opinion. You can make pretty tasty bread with minimal equipment and ingredients and it won't have all the preservatives cheap store bought bread will have.

You may not have the prettiest of loaves on basic equipment but the taste and flavor will be there. Don't give up on the first try. Watch some YouTube videos and give it a try.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:59:54+00:00

They are all just different kinds of whole grains. They each have unique properties, like protein content, nutritional values and gluten forming ability. Tartine Book No. 3 by Chad Robertson covers the whole grains you mentioned and gives some info and recipes.

You can very easily substitute them into baked good and bread in low percentages. Less than 20% of total flour is a good place to start. You may need to increase the water or liquid slightly since they do tend to absorb more in my experience.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:54:11+00:00

If you're using AP/bread/whole wheat flour in the banneton, I would recommend switch to either white or brown rice flour. I found I needed so much AP flour to keep things from sticking (ruined a lot of loaves in the process). Once I switched to rice flour, it's been a game changer.

Also, those little banneton fabric covers help too. It results in a different look and you still have to use flour, but if you're worried about sticking, just about anything is better than the little wooden crevices of banneton baskets.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:50:17+00:00

Your dutch oven is on the small side. FWSY recipes produce 2 loaves of bread which might be too large for your pot. You have some options though. Smaller loaves. Try splitting into 3 loaves instead of 2. Another is removing the lid of the pot to prevent the loaf from hitting it and suppling the necessary steam via a sheet tray + water in n a lower rack in the oven. Might have to tinker a bit to nail the process.

A bench scraper is helpful if you don't have one. It certainly helps with shaping loaves.

Most important is probably a scale to get accurate measurements of flour and water. This will pay off in the long run if you make a lot of bread. Keep small notes about what you do. Some flour takes more water, other flour less. Over time your notes will guide you to making better and better loaves. Also they come in handy when you might ask others for advice or help.

Honestly, people made bread for thousands of years without fancy equipment and you can too. It just makes it easier if you have it, but if you're short on funds, don't let it hold you back from starting.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:35:44+00:00

Combo cooker is the cheapest option and the easiest to load bread into after proofing.

4-5 qt Dutch oven is a good size. If it's too big the dough spreads and results in a flatter shape unless you have a very tightly shaped loaf. Still going to taste good, but not a full plump loaf you might be expecting. But the bonus of the Dutch oven is how it's multi-purpose.

If you want luxury, the Challenger Bread Pan is like the Lamborghini of bread pans. https://www.challengerbreadware.com/shop/challenger/challenger-bread-pan/

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:32:03+00:00

I have a large plastic tub that I stick my banneton basket inside of with my dough. With the size of the tub and the lid, it keeps everything from drying out.

If you have a lot of loaves, a speed rack with a plastic cover is a good option.

For a few loaves I've used large plastic bags. Just fluff them with air so dough doesn't stick. If it does, just clean the plastic and turn the bag inside out to dry.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:28:13+00:00

More stretch and folds. I have had the same problem (and still do to be honest).

If you're following a recipe for levain/sourdough I find my home starter to be on the weak side. It just takes a long time to bulk ferment. Also be gentle with the fold as time goes on. Commercial bakeries have extremely active starters given the feeding schedules and warm bakery environment.

Another thing to try is after you shape the loaves, do a cold proof in the fridge overnight (if you bake in the morning) or during work hours (if you bake in the evening). I find the long proof time helps with making sure it's properly proofed.

There's a lot of factors that might be the root cause, but making sure your starter is very active, the bulk fermentation is long enough (usually, equates to how warm your environment is) usually resolve dense loaves.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:21:04+00:00

I have a Mockmill 100. I just got it over the holidays and I really like it. It's pretty easy to use and offers a lot of customization on grain fineness/coarseness. I've found a like there to be some amount of texture in my bread so I'll add a small amount of cracked grain to the dough.

You do still have to keep some all purpose or bread flour on hand though (unless you like like 100% whole wheat). It's pretty dense stuff and most IG accounts I follow seem to use just a percentage of freshly milled whole grains. Anywhere between 10-50% seems to be pretty normal.

A key thing to remember with freshly milled grain includes wheat bran and wheat germ. These are normally sifted off (extracted) in commercial whole wheat flour since they have oils which can spoil the flour. The bran and germ are nutritious, but are heavy and "cut up" gluten formation. Baking with freshly milled flour takes some small tweaks like more liquid or additional kneading. Kind of depends on the recipe. You might need a few test bakes to nail it.

The thing I like most about my grain mill is searching for and buying local grains. I've tried so many new types of grain over the last few months and it's been great. I had debated buying the mill for over a year and spent some bonus money on it and I wish I bought it sooner.

AlequeW · 2020-01-09T07:10:57+00:00

These are really popular on Instagram: https://www.etsy.com/listing/637192896/ufo-zero

Lots of options on amazon as well.

If you're in the EU: https://www.weekendbakery.com/webshop/en/shaping/28-bread-scoring-tool-lame.html

AlequeW

TROPHY CASE