SCENE 1
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... grilled, braised leeks. That's right –first we're going to grill them, and then we are going to braise them. |
4 Large Leeks Trimmed & Cut Up In Half Lengthwise |
We will begin by cranking up our grill, so we've got a nice hot fire on one end, or one side, depending on your grill, and a nice cool end on the other, or at least not as hot.
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So, we will first lube up our leeks with a wee bit of bacon drippings. Leeks and bacon have a very strong affinity for one another. Just a bit of seasoning with kosher salt and then onto the grill. Make sure that you go cut side down. There. |
2 Tbs. Bacon Drippings Season with Kosher Salt |
Now what we're looking for are nice clear line marks on that—a good sear, but not any charring. Now on my grill that generally takes about six minutes. But if I were you, I'd start checking after about three, because every grill is different.
There are over 500 species of Alliaceae, the allium or lily family.
And now for the braising part of the program. Braising, of course, means to cook
over low heat while sealed up in something like aluminum foil. So, take a nice
big piece of foil, lay it on the back of your grill where the cooler area is,
and just move your leeks over. Some will be more marked than others, and that's
okay. Now we are going to add a little more flavor to the program by brushing on
some balsamic vinegar. You could also use sherry vinegar if you wanted to. Aw,
the heck with the brush and let's just drizzle.
And now I'm just going to kind of reassemble these guys. Just lay them on top of
each other. Remember, this is over the indirect heat, so the heat is not on in
that portion of the grill, only up here. I'm going to fold those into a pouch.
Just crimp tightly all the way around. There. Now, let this cook—indirect
heat—for ten to twelve minutes or until the leeks are just barely softened.
Although grilled, braised leeks are excellent with just a few grinds of pepper, you could add a little bacon, or maybe some goat cheese, or some artichokes, or a nice little green salad, or maybe some roast chicken. In other words, the sky's the limit. But hey, that's how it is with leeks.
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Roman emperor and big-time loony tune Nero, ate leeks daily because he believed they would protect his fine singing voice. He munched so many he earned the nickname "Porrophagus", or "leek eater". Crazy though he may have been, he may have been right about the leeks, which were later used in early cough drops. |
Welcome to Rome Porrophagus Mama Mia's |
A short order cook—his name long erased by the ravages of time—accidentally dropped some onion slices into a container of batter, probably pancake batter. The clumsy oaf retrieves these coated rings, and then walks slowly to the trash. However, passing the fry pot, the cook is suddenly tickled by the notion of a possibility, and, perhaps, coaxed by the inexorable clockwork of evolution, decides to fry the onions rather than discard them.
The problem of course, moisture. Onions are packed with it. So when they're fried, and they sit for a couple of moments, a lot of moisture comes out of the onion forming a slimy layer between the crisp breading and the onion itself. So when you bite into it, the entire onion slides out like a dead salamander from a hollow stick. Mmm. Sounds good, doesn't it? This could of course have been avoided if that man had simply dropped leeks instead. But he didn't.
The "Pig Stand" of San Antonio, Texas is credited
with inventing the onion ring
in 1929.
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Here we have twelve ounces of leeks, trimmed of their roots and dark greens, and they've been cut into about half-inch wide rounds. And you'll notice that the layers—at least a few of the layers, two or three—are still connected on the inside. This is important because these layers will puff away from each other during frying, and that's going to lead to a crisper, lighter texture. |
12 Ounces Leeks, Trimmed & Cut Into 1/2 Inch Rings |
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Here in the breading station, we have 2 cups of all-purpose flour approximately 9.5 ounces mixed with two teaspoons of salt, and distributed in these two fine pans. [shows three baking pans arranged vertically, the first and third of which contain the flour-salt mixture, the middle holds the following] Here in the middle, 1.5 cups of cold cow's milk and one egg. |
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour + 2 tsp. Salt 1 1/2 Cups Milk + |
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The frying station now has three quarts of oil. You can use any vegetable oil—canola oil, safflower oil, or even sunflower oil, peanut oil—all would be fine, unless, of course, you're allergic to peanut oil. Our thermometer here needs to read 375, so we will put the spurs to that. |
3 Qt. Oil In A 5 Qt Dutch Oven |
When it comes to successful frying, you want to see three things. Proper prep
of work flow, which we've got here. Two, you want to see good temperature
control, which we're going to have here. And next, good, proper procedures. Oh, you
don't think procedures matter? Okay, wise guy, come down here.
Now you see that we've got a standard, three-bay breading station set up here.
Dry, wet, dry. Now let's say that you're working over here in the dry station,
right? And then you come over here and you work in the wet. Then
you shove your hand over here in the dry, and you, you keep breading, back and
forth, moving your food through, nice and, and simple, like this, right?
Through it, through it, through it. And eventually, you're going
to end up with something that. We in the kitchen world like to call "club
hand". What does club hand look like? Well, club hand looks something like this
[holds up his hand, which is coated with a thick, paste-like batter]. And
it's mighty hard to work with club hand. Here's some examples:
[cut to a club hand trying to dial a number on a cellular telephone]
[cut to a club hand trying to write, and failing] Darn it!
[Cut to a club hand reaching out to pet Matilda, the dog] Hey, sweetie. There you go. [the club hand makes a mess, and Matilda doesn't look too excited either]
As you can see, it's almost impossible to live a normal life with club hand. And
all this can be prevented with the correct procedure, and that's what we're
going to get into right now. But it'll be a little easier if you come over and
watch from this side.
[cut to a shot over AB's shoulder]. Oh, there you are. Let's cook!
Now you notice that I have labeled gloves here. That's because glove 1 will be
doing certain jobs while glove 2 does another. Dry, wet. Here we go.
Hand 1 will move a nice big pile of our leek rings into the flour. Just a
dusting. If the leek is wet at the end, you might see a little bit more. Now
shake off all the excess, again with hand 1, as much as you can get off, and
move into the milk-egg combo.
Now this is where hand 2 comes into play. Making sure that everything is
well-coated, and then scatter that into the flour. Now you can just shake this
to cover, or you can cheat, which I often do, and break out a fork. Careful not
to get it wet, staying under the flour. There we go, tossing around a bit.
Now, since we've got a dry coat now on those, we can go back to using hand
number 1. So I'm going to just lightly scoop those off, into the spider. Now we
could just move them straight into the oil, but this is a little bit on the
safer side.
Now leeks aren't very big—not as big as onions—so these are going to cook
really, really fast. I would check on them after about 30 seconds, and pull them
after a minute, a minute to a half. If they turn dark brown, you won't like them.
[he
pulls the leek rings out of the oil and moves them to a draining pan]
That's what I'm talking about, light, crispy. You can see those delicate little
layers, almost like puff pastry. And look, Mom, no club hands! That, my
friends, is the power of the gloves.
These are very very, very very good. But, you know, leeks don't have to encroach on the onion's territory to justify their existence. There are dishes that have been invented specifically for them. Take, for instance, the famous yet infamous dish the French call vichyssoise.
Vichyssoise was introduced by French chef Louis Diat
around 1910 at the NY
Ritz-Carlton.
The year: 640 A.D. The Welsh win a decisive battle over the Saxons, when, at the urging of a monk who would later be known as Saint David, the Welsh army placed leeks in their hats so as to identify each other. And thus was born – camouflage.
GUEST: W, Equipment specialist
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To assemble your very own vichyssoise, just place a large saucepan, like this six-quart model over medium heat, and add three tablespoons of unsalted butter. And while that melts down, we will turn our attention to one pound of split leeks, that's three or four specimens. They're split just as they were for our grilling. But we won't stop there. We're actually going to lay the knife over, and slice this two more times, into kind of long pie wedge shapes, see. And then we will chop. |
3 Tbs. Unsalted Butter 1 Pound Leeks |
Notice, I'm not crying. That's because leeks contain plenty of the sweet flavor elements of both garlic and onion, but few of the sulfur compounds that make onion-cutting such a chick flick. Not that there's anything wrong with chick flicks. It's just that ... Oh, never mind. When you get these all chopped, back to the pot.
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Leeks go into the pot along with a very heavy pinch of salt, at least a teaspoon's worth. That's going to help to pull moisture out of the leeks. |
Heavy Pinch Kosher Salt |
Now, make sure your heat stays medium low, and after the initial hissing is over, you don't want to hear much more out of this pot. In other words, we want a sweat, not a sauté. If things are jumping around in there, the leeks are going to brown, and that will not taste good. All we really want to do is to cook out some moisture and soften this material. So keep the heat low, listen, and give them about twenty to twenty-five minutes.
In 1941, some French chefs tried to rename "vichyssoise" creme gauloise because of their dislike of the Vichy government.
| Now that our leeks are nice and soft and a good bit of the moisture has cooked out, we will go with the next layer of vegetation: fourteen ounces—that's about three—Yukon Gold potatoes, just peeled and chopped. That's going to provide not only flavor, but texture. But don't fool yourself. This isn't potato soup. It's a secondary player. |
14 Ounces Yukon Gold Potatoes Peeled & Chopped |
| We will also add one quart—that's four cups, two pints—vegetable broth. Now you can make your own, or you can use packaged. If you do, I like to go with the little kind that comes in cartons that's organic. I don't like the canned kind. It's got a cooked flavor that's usually too salty. | 1 Quart Vegetable Broth |
Jack the heat up to medium high, bring this just to a boil, then back down the
heat to a bare simmer. Put the lid on, and let it cook for 45 minutes. I know,
seems like a long time, but believe me, you will be rewarded with a very, very
fine texture.
Let's see. Grab a potato here. [squeezes it with a pair of
tongs, it breaks apart under gentle pressure] Yep,
this soup is done. Now to purée. We could run this through a food mill, but that
would be nasty, and would take a lot of time. Or we could run it through our bar
blender, but that would be nasty, and take a lot of time.
Or we could don our protective gear, and break out our faithful stick blender.
[a metal stick blender, about four feet long, descends into his hands] Ha ha ha
ha. I picked this one up at a local restaurant supply shop [starts it up, making
a loud noise] Yeah, baby. Ha ha. That's the sound of 700 watts. Yeah.
W: Why is it that men always think it comes down to wattage? Don't you realize
that when you evaluate the performance of an electrical appliance, that wattage
is but one of the relevant factors, and it's not even that important?
AB: Wrong again, W. Every teenage boy with a car stereo knows, watts is where
it's at!
W: Wattage is about the amount of electricity a system needs to run, not about
the amount of work it can do. Nor does it indicate the quality of that work. Got
it?
AB: Got what? Watts? Yeah, right here!
W: Pay attention, Alton!
AB: [put stick blender away] Okay.
W: A motor with a higher wattage rating might be able to consume more
electricity than one with a lower rating. But that doesn't mean it'll do more
work.
AB: Okay.
W: Now let's say for instance you attack that pot of soup of yours with a
thousand-watt blender [A smaller, white blender descends.]
AB: There's no such thing as a thousand ... W, did you chop this yourself? This
is custom work!
W: Ah, well, you know. I just did it in my spare time. I kind of ...
AB: I didn't know you had it in you. Eh, all right, stand back. Soup's going to fly.
Heh heh heh heh hehhhh.
[AB puts on his protective goggles, and tries to blend the vichyssoise with the
stick blender, and fails, stops and turns to W] Okay, what gives?
W: See, you had a thousand watts, but lousy torque conversion. All show, no go.
AB: All show, no go. W, why don't we just cut to the part where you give me what
I really need?
W: Fine, then I can be out of here faster.
AB: Excellent.
[A third blender descends]
W: Regardless of wattage, the best
stick blenders have two speeds, buttons that are easily reachable. You want a long metal shaft,
and a sturdy blade.
AB: That is pretty stout.
W: [pulses the blender]
AB: Hey, that's pretty quiet.
W: Mmm, insulated casing.
AB: Insulated casing, huh. All right. This is sweet. But, what about
attachments?
W: If you take a great blender, and just put attachments on it, you're going to
end up with a mediocre blender.
AB: All right. Well, how about, uh ... [is handed a cordless blender from off-camera]
... cordless?
W: Unless its gas or nuclear-powered, no! [exits]
AB: Okay. Bye-bye, Miss Happy. Knock next time. [looks at the cordless
blender] Nuclear, huh? Nah, that's another show. Let's purée!
In the orient, leeks came to symbolize humility
because they were a food eaten
by the poor.
In parts of Northumberland, England, come September, many Men's Clubs hold leek pageants. Mmmm, lovely. The competition is fierce, and in the final days before judging, secret plots may be guarded by geezers with shotguns. Before judging, the leek greens are shampooed and the roots are carefully combed.
| Now that our vegetation is smoothly puréed, thanks to a proper, nice long cooking time, we're going to add our finishing dairy. I like to go with a cup of heavy cream, and a cup of buttermilk. But, I'm going to add the cream to the buttermilk before introducing them into the pot. That way, the heat of the soup won't curdle the buttermilk, and it could happen. Here we go. |
1 Cup Each Heavy Cream & Buttermilk |
| Now as soon as that is in, we can go with our final spice, which is going to be one teaspoon of white pepper, finely ground. | 1 tsp. White Pepper |
Sussex folklore: "Eat
leeks in March, garlic in May;
all the rest of the year, the doctors may play."
Now, I'll just retrieve my favorite secret soup spoon here. I'm sure that you've
probably got one of these in your kitchen, too. You know, in the wintertime I
like my vichyssoise piping hot, with a nice little side of leek rings; get a
little smooth and creamy, a little crunchy. It's a nice contrast. In fact, the
only thing that could make this better ... [he puts the fried leek rings into the
vichyssoise] Ha ha ha. Another innovation.
In the summertime, however, I go in an incredibly different direction. I like my
vichyssoise, or vicha-slaw, as I called it as a child, topped with chive, and
deep, deep-chilled. Cheers! [drinks] Mmmm, leeky, and refreshing.
You know, I am not trying to suggest that we should eradicate the rest of the
members of the allium family: onions, garlic, shallots, or even scallions. I'm
just asking you to make a little room in your crisper drawer, as well as your
heart, for a kinder, gentler member of the allium family, the leek. Believe me,
your family will thank you.
See you next time, on Good Eats.
Transcribed by Michael Roberts
Proofread by Michael Menninger
Last Edited on 08/27/2010
