Articles on Recipe Matters:

Cooking Western Massachusetts Style

Some of the Chefs in Western Massachusetts like to take native ingredients and recipes and give them their own signature

fish cakes
* 1 lb. mixed fish, cut in large dice (salmon, swordfish, tuna)
* 1 small rib celery, finely diced
* 1/2 small green pepper, finely diced
* 1/2 small red pepper, finely diced
* 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
* 1/2 cup bread crumbs
* 1 tsp. mixed tarragon & chives, chopped
* 1 cup white wine & 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
* 1 egg
* 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
* 3/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1/4 cup milk
* flour & oil as needed for cooking

sweet & spicy aioli sauce
* 4-5 cloves roasted garlic
* 2 oz. rice wine vinegar
* 1/4 cup Thai garlic chili sauce
* 1/2 tsp. salt, plus additional to taste
* 2 large egg yolks
* 2 oz. granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

Place the chopped fish in a small sauce pan. Cover the fish with tap water, the cup of white wine and the 1/2 cup wine vinegar. Boil gently just until the fish is opaque (just barely cooked through and juicy).

Drain and place in a bowl with the diced vegetables, eggs, Dijon mustard, Tabasco sauce and seasonings, mashing the mixture together like a meatloaf or meatball mixture. Add the milk to the bread crumbs to moisten and incorporate into the fish mixture. Form this mixture into 8 "patties", in a similar manor as making a hamburger patty. Chill until ready to cook.

For the sweet & spicy aioli sauce: place the sugar and vinegar in a small pan and heat over high heat, just to melt the sugar. Pull off the heat and reserve. Place the garlic cloves, eggs, salt and chili sauce in a food processor and turn on the power.

Very slowly incorporate the oil, the sauce should take on a thick mayonnaise consistency once you have added all the oil. Now with the machine still running, add the vinegar mixture, then stop the machine. You have created an emulsion, and the key to a successful emulsion is in the slow addition of the oil, so the sauce doesn't separate. If it is too thick at this point you may incorporate a little water to thin it out. Check the seasoning, it should have a good balance of sweet, sour, spicy and salty flavors to really make your taste buds salivate.

Heat some vegetable oil, enough to cover the bottom of a large sauté pan, until it is very hot, almost smoking. Dip the fish cakes in a flour and then cook for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat, until nice and golden brown. Flip the fish cakes over and cook the other side until nicely golden browned also.

To serve, place the mixed baby greens on serving plates topped with a small amount of vinaigrette. Place the warm fish cakes on top, topping them off with aioli sauce. Enjoy!

Courtesy Chef Chris Albano

http://www.westernmachefs.com

Chris Albano
05 Jan 2007

Chris Albano is local chef and administrator for http://WesternMaChefs.com trying to give a little credit for the local heroes.

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How To Make Your Own Cake? - Basic Tips

You have grown up hearing how your grandmother could bake a cake without ever using a recipe, the story may even claim she never measured anything. However if we ordinary humans want to successfully make a cake we need to follow a recipe and measure carefully.

When you are going to make a cake, preparation is absolutely vital. It is very important to preheat the oven in order to ensure that baking times will be accurate. Use a thermometer.

You also need to properly prepare the pans you will be using. Most baked items require a pan to either be greased or greased and floured.

To grease a pan, use a paper towel or pastry brush to apply a thin even covering. Grease generously only if the recipe calls for it. Try using solid vegetable shortening, it won’t add flavor to your cake. You can also use a cooking spray specifically for baking.

If a recipe calls for greasing and flouring a pan, grease the pan as usual and then shake the pan to coat all surfaces. Turn the pan upside down to get rid of the excess flour.

Before you start to make a cake, make sure you have everything you need. Check to be sure you have all of the ingredients the recipe lists. Do you have the right size cake pan?

Don’t substitute ingredients unless the recipe lists alternatives. When you are a little more experienced then you can play with your recipes. Especially with a cake, if a recipe calls for butter, use it.

You also need to measure carefully. A cup of liquid does not have the same volume as a cup of dry ingredients. So if you use a dry measure for liquids, you will have less, you will only have 2/3 cup when you need 1 cup. On the other hand, if you use a liquid measure for dry ingredients, you will be adding extra and your baked goods may be too dry.

It is best to use a clear standard liquid measuring cup. Place the cup on a level surface and fill to the desired mark. Check it at eye level for accuracy.

With dry ingredients, lightly spoon the ingredients into the proper cup and level it off with a spatula or knife.

When measuring solid fats and brown sugar, firmly press the ingredient into a standard dry measure cup and level it off with a knife or spatula.

Measuring margarine or butter is easy, as the wrapped sticks are marked for each tbsp. and ¼, 1/3, and ½ cup marks.

Dry measure cups are also used for sour cream, yogurt or whipped cream.

Along with liquid and dry measuring cups, you need a set of measuring spoons. Most sets have four spoons for ¼, ½, 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon. Fill the spoon with dry ingredients and level it off with a spatula or knife. Liquids can also be measured in these spoons. Just fill the spoon to the top.

Another necessity for successful baking is a good basic cookbook.

You can go on line and find charts that will show you the metric and imperial equivalents of both liquid and dry measures.

There are also instructions for how to halve or double a recipe and oven temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius scales.

High altitude baking requires adjustments in temperature liquids baking powder and sugar, there are also charts that can give you these adjustments. Cakes, biscuits and muffins, cookies, yeast dough and quick breads all have their own altitude adjustments.

These tips are actually making a couple of cakes will soon turn you into an expert.

Nina Romanov
12 Jan 2007

Nina Romanov is an expert freelance writer. She has been a cake decorator for the most part of her life in Europe, Australia, and North America. Later on she graduated from NHC Montreal as a certified naturopath. Presently she is happily RV-ing with her husband.

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