Second City Sushi

Chopsticks: love 'em or hate 'em?  Did you catch the report on CNN about the American company that exports chopsticks to China (instead of the other way around)?  Georgia Chopsticks is an exporter of chopsticks and the company cannot keep up with the demand!

I happen to love chopsticks.  I learned to use chopsticks at an early age. When we were kids the choice of restaurant to celebrate our birthdays was DOMINATED by Benihana!  I loved watching the chef flipping knives, working fast, tapping rhythms with salt and pepper shakers.  This certainly was an influence and piqued my interest in learning to cook.

Sooo...  Fast forward.  Buddy of mine is in town, wants to take me to dinner.  I suggested a place near the office: Marc's Fusion Cafe for some amazing sushi.

You'd think he just ate a lemon.  His face contorts, his shoulders lift, "Sushi??  Ewww."

Dude.

It's fresh, it's fun.  Going out for sushi encourages chatting at the table, relaxing.  Not for Bob.

Okayyy... got me thinking here.  It's gotta be the very idea of raw fish.  (Now I know that "maki" is a sliced roll and "sashimi"  is a piece of fish, but we're gonna go with this one...)

Uncooked fish making you squirm a bit?  Fine.  Try my Second City Sushi!  We live in the Midwest!  It's steak and potato with a red-wine reduction for the sauce.  (Umm...Doug, why not just make a steak and potato?)  Good question, glad ya asked!

1. Small pieces, you can eat with your hands!  (Dudes love finger food!)  
2. Lots and lots of combinations here:

• Substitute chicken, pork, shrimp for the protein.  
• Substitute for the rice: potato, pasta, sprouts, cucumber (or leave the rice in there)

      3.  It's fun  (Gee it seems like a lot of work)  Yeah - but fun sometimes means work - ever go camping?

Play with your food!  Let me know what you think!

Common Sense and Wal-Mart Sucks

 (Warning: story from my childhood and learning a lesson at the end.  But first here's an anti Wal-Mart rant!)

Ask any guy if he is logical!  "Oh hell yeah!  I'm rational, sane, and logical like Spock!")  Yeah... sure we are... um hmmm...  Cooking can be like a logic puzzle.  The process goes like this:  What are you going to make?  Think about flavors: on the plate, working together, finished product.  Work backwards.  When does this need to come off the stove?  Okay, how long is it going to take to cook?  Fine, what time to start it then?  Good, now what goes into it?  Does that need to be chopped?  Big pieces or diced?

That's the process and it gets easier each time you do it.  You (and you alone) know the ins and outs of your pan thickness and BTU's of your grill and how that will affect cooking time.  What's the grilling time for a hamburger versus a chicken breast?

You've got to think a little about what you're doing.  Michael Ruhlman wrote an excellent book on technique - one of which is THINKING.  Not thinking can wreck your dinner.  Here's an example:  An actual recipe from the spawn of the Evil Empire that is Wal-Mart.  This recipe from Sam's Club for Roasted Garlic and Herb Steaks calls for grilling a strip steak over direct high heat for 15 to 20 minutes!  For medium-rare!

I am in no way disrespecting the chefs hired by the Wal-Mart clan who created and published this recipe...  Oh screw that!  Of course I am!  Wake up moron!  Gordon Ramsay would kick your ass!  15 to 20 minutes on direct high heat?  Strip steak?  WTF?  Unless you've got a steak like the Flintstones Brontosaurus Ribs, that steak is destined to be crap!.
Do you really want to spend good money for a steak and end up eating the culinary equivalent of shredded tire tread from a semi along the highway?  Even a raccoon would walk away from that.  So I guess Wal-Mart wants you to waste your money, not save your money.  Do yourself a favor - get to know your local butcher and support small business.  Think, plan, be prepared.

(Here's the story from my early cooking days wherein there was not much thinking going on...)
One of my first real cooking experiences with a friend - went to Illinois Beach State Lodge with John Galang.  He had the great idea that we were going to get up early and hang out on the beach of Lake Michigan.  Bring food, build small fire, do some fishing - hang out all day.

What would be better than blueberry pancakes on the beach first thing in the morning with the sun coming up?

Maybe a pan to cook them in.

Also a spatula.

Back packs?  Check.  Blueberries?  Check.  Matches?  Got 'em.  That was about it.  I'd like to tell you that I rose to the occasion and found a way to make something out of nothing.  I'd like to say that those were the best pancakes I ever ate.  Nah.  We did "cook" something but it in no way resembled a blueberry pancake.  Cooked them on aluminum fail - I mean foil.  Hanging out at the beach all day turned into, "God, this sucks."  Got back on our bikes and we were home eating a hot dog by 12:30.

Lesson learned.  Be prepared.  Wal-Mart sucks.