Rock out with your stock out.

There's always room for turkey jello mold.
Originally uploaded by BganFilms

One from the vault. Just as we were coming out of the Thanksgiving side dish haze, we recycled some of the leftovers to make stock. A combination of the leftover turkey bones, a mire poix, and spices -- sauteed in turkey fat. As an added bonus, Croke describes a recent brush with the law.

Bakin' bread with Bacon

Recorded Summer of '08, our first podcast features an unorthodox take on the classic summer sandwich, the BLT. Nothing like crisp bacon stacked on toasted bread with some fresh-picked lettuce and tomatoes. That is, unless you happen to have a round of bacon rye bread in the house. This episode features a special guest: Founder of and chief baker at Le Petit Boulangerie, Daniel Reisenbach.

Out of the frying pan, into my belly.

Making Gravy
Originally uploaded by BganFilms

Welcome to Cooking, With John's blog. We recorded another tasty episode last night. John went solo on some free-range fried chicken that was delicious. After bathing in buttermilk, the chicken air dried in the Fridge before getting dressed in its best coat: organic, all-purpose flour and so many spices John had to write them down to aid his memory. A dip in an egg/milk mixture and another coat gave the chicken the layered look that is so in right now. Was this bird dressed up with no where to go? Hardly. A blend of soy and canola (Oh Canada) produced a funky hot oil (what'd you say?) with enough sizzle to make it cook. With the main dish done, John reminded us that man cannot live on chicken alone. Out from the oven popped a twice baked potato souffle (pictured) with a stove top succotash (pictured) to round things out. What to do with that leftover oil? Hmm...how about gravy (pictured) with a chicken stock backbone and chicken coating thickener. It wasn't "Delta Silk," but it was good.

chef john notes: use a 2-3 pound chicken for frying. these are generally very young and oh so tender. labeled as "broiler-fryers". i like to get the whole birds and cut them up myself. the butcher will do this for you but where is the joy in that? as mentioned, the back and neck bones are ideal for stock.bwak. bwak!