More FAQ and Things You Should Know

I occasionally receive questions, often sent to me under the hats of the flying monkeys from Oz (the monkeys are smaller in real life), by the shouting newsies of the 1920's or, occasionally, through an electronic media.  I would like to answer a few of these questions in some common forum so that all may participate in the blessings I offer.

Q1. "I know you have a lot of amazing recipes.  Where can I find the full list of everything you've published?"

A1.  That's a great question!  While it's not a list of EVERYTHING I've published (some of those pictures I'm not proud of), you can look at the text beneath the header Beyond Viand on this page.  There is a string of links:

Home

What is "Beyond Viand?"

Index of Recipes

What Others Are Writing

I'm willing to bet you've already figured out the solution.  On a mobile device, you have a drop down menu that has the same links.  The one that says Index of Recipes.  That's the one you want.  Do look around there.  I even amaze myself with some of the recipes I've written.

Q2.  "As a child I used to ride my bike without a helmet, and I kept my mouth open.  I loved the feeling of wind through my hair and teeth.  Sometimes bugs flew into my mouth and down my gullet. As one who eats bugs, are there any lasting repercussions I should investigate more thoroughly?" 

A2.  Wow! What an unusual question.  While you really should have worn a helmet, I will still answer your missive.  Yes!  You probably know that insects are pound-for-pound higher in protein than almost any other animal protein, but you may have noticed from your bike ride, bugs can be hairy, sticky, gooey or crunchy.  The good news is, if you survived, you probably didn't eat anything poisonous, and even though they are toxic, Monarch Butterflies or Blister Beetles won't really hurt you until you eat a lot of them.  Unfortunately, the biggest concern about eating bugs from the wild are the pesticides.  The little bugs eat a surprising amount of leaves and grass while they grow and if those plants have pesticides on them, the toxins get into bodies of the bugs.  Eventually it will kill them, but in the meantime the toxins concentrate and become hazardous to anything that eats the bug: birds, lizards or kids riding bikes with their mouths open.  If you plan on eating bugs, it's probably best to buy them from reputable dealers who specialize in edible bugs.


Q3.  "Why don't you review more restaurants?"

A3.  I get that question a lot.  It's a good question, and the answer is nearly the same as why I don't want to work in a restaurant.  If I do it all the time, it becomes work.  I don't want to do work.  I do want to have fun.  This writing is fun, because people have very few expectations of me.  Besides, I have readers from all over the world.  Is someone from Morocco, Argentina, Russia or Malaysia going to want to hear about my latest crawl to the pub or diner?  (Well, maybe they would.) 
Besides, instead of a review, I write about the experience.  Good and bad restaurants can each have bad and good experiences. I cherish the good and I try to let the bad slip from memory.  Unless I get salmonella and rotavirus.  I remember that kind of thing.  (Remember: Wash your hands!)


Q4. "What's your favorite thing to cook?"

A4.  This is another common question, which unfortunately, doesn't have a very good answer.  I don't really have a favorite thing to cook.  I'll  get on a kick and dive deep into some themes, but that passes in time.  Occasionally, I return to old dishes I haven't tried in a while and they become my new favorite for a few days.  Most often I like variety so I seek to explore different methods, different flavors, and different ingredients whenever I can.  In fact, that may be my favorite thing to cook: the thing I haven't tried to make, or the dish I think I can improve. 


Q5.  "Are there any foods that are off limits?  Anything you refuse to try?"

A5.  You cut to the quick, don't you? 
There was that one time when I was flying with the Uruguayan rugby team over the Andes Mountains..... 
I think given the right circumstances, I could eat nearly anything edible. 
There's a lovely little book from the University of Virginia Press, Unmentionable Cuisine. It explores the taboos of foods from animals in cultures around the world and why some can eat one thing and others can't.   It's a fascinating read and when one pays attention to the premise and extrapolates to its conclusion one can get to the heart of the argument between vegans and omnivores.  What is right to eat?  Why is eating animal proteins good or bad?  If it's ok, why are some better than others?  Is it circumstantial?  I love asking questions like this.  My conclusion: while I've started eating many more vegetables, and with infinite respect to my vegan friends, I'm still firmly in the omnivore camp. 


Q6. What's for dinner?

A6. Tonight, try this:

Stovetop Meatloaf
1 1/2 lbs Ground Chuck
1 cup Bread Crumbs
1 Egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 tablespoons Mustard (I like good brown mustard, but yellow also does fine)

In a large bowl, combine ground meat, bread crumbs, egg, and Worcestershire sauce.  Mix by hand.

In a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, warm up the olive oil.  Add the onion, garlic and salt.  Sauté until translucent, then add the skillet's contents to the meat bowl.   Add the tomato paste and mustard to the meat and mix it all by hand until it is uniform. 

Put the mix into the cast-iron skillet, press into the edges of the pan, and pat down so it's even everywhere.  Cook, covered, over medium low heat for 45 minutes. 

If you want to brown the top for a more appetizing appearance, pop the whole skillet under a broiler set on high for 5 minutes.  Serve hot.  Save the leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow!

How To Entertain on a Budget and How To Handle Leftovers

Uninformed acquaintance: "So how did you get interested in cooking?" 
Me: "In a smackdown fit of necessity."
Uninformed acquaintance: "What do you mean?"
Me:

Here's what I mean. 

In college, I was the popular non-fraternity geek.  I loved studying, I loved teaching, I loved being with people.  Frankly, I loved (and still do) being loved. 

The class clown.

Even for classes I didn't take. 

True story: I took the test for a junior-level mechanical engineering class having never ever stepped into the building, let alone that class.  (As a reminder to those who don't remember, I was an English Major.  I can deconstruct Chaucer, but never got past high school trigonometry.)  It was the first test of the semester, a few weeks before midterms.  In a class of 45 people, I had the perfect balance of geek and nervous apprehension to blend right in.  As all around me settled into their seats and pulled out their mechanical pencils, exchanging furtive glances and whispers of "how do you think you'll do?"  I didn't want to be discovered before completing my mission.  Only my #2 wooden pencil with a conventional, if pristine eraser on top ("has he never made a mistake?!?" I imagine them to have asked) looking out of place.  As class began, the professor handed out the test booklet and everyone settled into their work.  I could answer part of the first question: "How is the force of a falling object determined?  What is the mass of [something something] when [something happens] and [gobbledy gook]?"  Easy.  F=MA.  It went down hill from there.  I ended up drawing pictures in the spaces provided and used blanks in the questions as a Mad Libs exercise.  I proudly signed my nom de plume at the top of the page--Simon Mathews--and was the first to hand in his test. 

When the tests were graded and handed back I heard reports that the professor was very concerned for Simon.  The professor drew a graph on the chalk board with the x-axis representing scores and the y-axis representing numbers of students.  He used a bar graph to represent a near perfect bell curve.  Looking like the skyline of downtown Denver, I understand my bar stood so far on the outside of the metropolis to suggest more of an outhouse in the woods than even suburbs. "Mr. Mathews doesn't seem to have been in class yet this semester and I worry that his self study lacks focus."  Lacks focus? My score single handedly busted the bell curve and pushed all other grades 10 points closer to getting an A!

What I'm trying to say is that I got a lot of love from people whom I never met.  That pleased me.  So I'd regularly look for opportunities to create joy in others.  I also learned to use food and drink to charm those around me.  There was one great hurdle to overcome in college, however.  Poverty.  The challenge was that I was putting myself through school.  How to entertain on a budget and how to feed myself. 

1. Make more!  If a little is good, then a lot will be better.  I would always cook large quantities whenever possible with the anticipation of having leftovers.  Also, bulk quantities of anything tends to be cheaper. 
2. Make food that will keep through the week.  Highly perishable, means that you'll have to eat it all in one sitting.  That obviously circumvents the Leftovers. 
3. Make things that are simple.  The more simply a dish begins, the more easily it can be dressed up later on.  If you start off with a a number of complex flavors the leftovers will be hard to adapt into a new meal.  The caveat to this is the One Big Pot Rule.  If you make a meal in one big pot (Pot Roast, for instance) then all the complex flavors meld together, creating one new flavor. 
4. Make it a potluck!  Allow others to contribute to your future dinners, but be willing to share.
5. Make spices your friend.  Nothing can redress last night's dinner (or 2 or 3 nights ago) than adding more spices and herbs and building the layers of flavors. 
6. Make new combinations.  Have leftovers from multiple meals?  How can they be combined?  With a little experimentation, you'll amaze yourself!

Great example from this week:

Friday: My brother bought his house!!  He took possession of his house and he flew to Denver for a few days. I cooked Sugar and Spice Rubbed T-Bones out on the grill with mushrooms and garlic.   The steaks were huge.  We had leftovers.
Sunday: Family came over.  I made Smoked Venison in a Cream Sauce over Pasta  (I cooked too much pasta).
Wednesday: We had leftovers stacking up, and not enough time to cook a meal from scratch.  I sliced the steak into thin strips, heated the steak with the leftover mushrooms and garlic in a skillet with a little olive oil, and then added the leftover pasta.  When hot, I spruced it up with crumbled blue cheese.  Add a side salad, and you have a creative new meal within 15 minutes.

I can't promise that the creative use of leftovers will get you some love this week.  But it may keep you (or you loved ones) from throwing out your food.

FAQs

1) Why are you blogging?

What can I say--I'm a giver. Sometimes things like this have to happen. Does it make me a hero? Perhaps. A humanitarian? Almost certainly. A Pulitzer prize-winning author? Hardly.

I've often been critiqued by friends and family that I never write down any of my recipes. And I don't follow a cookbook. (Although I have many--read on.) And when I make something that I want to repeat, I regularly can't remember what I've done. This is my attempt to remedy all of that. And entertain myself in doing so.


2) How'd you get started cooking?

My mom and dad. Known for the quality and quantity of her food preparation, my mom can produce a salad, three sides, a loaf of bread, three pies for dessert and a coffee cake for the next morning's breakfast without thinking twice. And the problem is, I WANT TO EAT IT ALL! It's delicious! My Dad, on the other hand, owns the grill. Try him out: bring him fish or fowl, beef or game, pork, lamb or mystery meat, and I promise you, your taste buds will dance in exaltation. There has always been a certain destiny for me and my brothers and our passion for food.


3) Where do you get your inspiration?

First and foremost, from the love of tasting. I love putting good things in my mouth. Let your sense of taste learn to identify various flavors. When you bite into a ripe pear, what happens? Where in your mouth do you taste it? Now dust it with a sprinkle of cinnamon. How does it change? Add a few grains of salt. A whole new world has just opened up with three simple ingredients--when you really take the time to experience it.

I also read a lot of cookbooks. Fannie Farmer. The Joy of Cooking. The Essentials of Italian Cuisine. Cooks Illustrated. The foundation of many good ideas start in a cookbook, but I just change and substitute as necessary. And television. Iron Chef, hands down, does more to stimulate the old brain-pan to think outside of convention.


4) Have you ever made anything that wasn't good?

Yes. The most egregious act of treason ever committed in a kitchen was Sesame Fried Tofu.

My wife and I had a fight, and we have a covenant that we will not go to bed or leave each other in anger. This also means that sometimes we'll fight for hours before we get things resolved. (For any men reading this, learn this simple phrase: "You are absolutely right honey. I could not be more sorry." It's a good start, and when you mean it, will cut hours off of the heat of battle.) So, after all the vitriol had been expelled from our bodies, it may have still hung in the air. The attempt at diner that night was tainted. We sat and ate it anyway, but after about 5 minutes, I looked over to her and said, "This is really horrible, isn't it?" And I smiled. She said, "yes but I didn't want to say anything." And she smiled, too.


5) What does "Beyond Viand" mean?

A viand is a delicate and delectable dish. I am beyond that. More like guerrilla warfare in the kitchen.


6) What's for dinner tonight?

Picadillo Oaxaqueno
adapted from Rick Bayless' book Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico

1 pound Venison (Round Steak) (You can use pork, chicken, beef. You could probably use some kind of fiberous vegetable matter, too, but I'm not a vegetarian.)
1 Onion, chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Red Chili Powder (Chimayo)
1 inch Cinnamon Stick, grated
6 Cloves, ground
12 Black Pepper Corns, ground
2 cans (16 oz) Crushed Tomatoes
1/3 cup Raisins
1/3 cup lightly crushed and toasted Walnuts

Slow braise the venison until it's pull-apart tender (think pot roast). This should take a few hours. Shred it.

In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil to saute hot. Add the garlic and onion and cook until translucent. Add the shredded meat, chili, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. Mix well. Add the tomatoes and raisins.

Simmer, stirring every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to the consistency you like. I like sloppy joe consistency. Add the walnuts.

Serve with fried plantains, fried polenta, soft or fried tortillas or sopapillas.