What I learned today (Take Two)

That is a great story and one I can relate to. My husband was able to fix anything...he boggled my mind. I'd always ask him "How do you know how to do that?" He would always tell me it was simply common sense. So irritating! I'm not one to fuss with stuff...I want it to work NOW.

[Jenise]

My brother's partner's semi-failed Chicken Cordon Bleu last night has me thinking today about how to make that right, as well as look at variations. So I googled. I shouldn't have been surprised to find that most involved the use of Campbells Cream of Chicken soup for the sauce base, or that that Pioneer Woman turned it into a layered casserole. (Which is, actually, a smart move if you're feeding a large family and quantity/efficiency is more important than elegance.) Someone else switched out the panko or bread crumb coating for a topping of Stovetop Stuffing. And many suggest you merely buy them frozen/pre-made at Sam's Club.

In John's version, there was no cheesy center. I suspect that 1) the initial deep fry (he's a southern boy, when in doubt deep fry) overheated the interior allowing the cheese to melt away where shallow pan-browning would not and 2) the chicken was not closed securely. He used fairly fat breasts and to my eye they should have been pounded thinner to have enough overlap for containment.

I've actually never made the dish. I understand what it is, I was just never that interested. I am now on the warpath, however. Any tips?

I think you already said the most important thing: pound the breasts thin enough to make it easy to roll-up the chicken-ham-cheese stack. Sometimes I use toothpicks to hold the bundles shut but, most often, as it's being done in a pan, a little runaway cheese is fine.

[Jenise]

John assembled them earlier and rolled each one in cling film to set the shape which, if I understood correctly, he hoped would suffice without toothpicks though he applied a few toothpicks anyway before deep frying. Still, I think the problem was just that the chicken was too thick.

Yesterday I shopped at India Mart and learned that Indians favor a thicker, sweeter, redder carrot they simply call 'Indian carrot'. I've not seen them before. I bought a few to play with.

John assembled them earlier and rolled each one in cling film to set the shape which, if I understood correctly, he hoped would suffice without toothpicks though he applied a few toothpicks anyway before deep frying. Still, I think the problem was just that the chicken was too thick.

The issue is even more pronounced when making Chicken Kyiv, as butter absolutely will run through any crevice you leave for it.

[Jenise]

The issue is even more pronounced when making Chicken Kyiv, as butter absolutely will run through any crevice you leave for it.

So true and this was discussed at dinner. Neither John nor I have had any luck with it. Have you?

The issue is even more pronounced when making Chicken Kyiv, as butter absolutely will run through any crevice you leave for it.

So true and this was discussed at dinner. Neither John nor I have had any luck with it. Have you?

Nope. I seem to recall one recipe that added a layer of something - cheese? prosciutto? - that you can more convincingly wrap around the butter so it isn't all on the chicken breast to contain it. Cheating, for sure, but I've seen similar things suggested for keeping a Wellington crust crisp (i.e., prevent the filling from weeping onto the pastry).

[Jenise]

Jeff, I've been looking into chicken Kiev, and this video might have the answer. This guy constructs his differently, the result is round, not oblong, because of the way he wraps the pounded chicken. I plan to try this soon!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/v ... tion=click

Has anyone used Kernza for anything? It's a grain of an intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) being developed at The Land Institute. Holds promise as a grain in our warming planet, because its roots can grow 10 feet deep.

[Jenise]

No, not even heard of it, Larry. I presume you know it's commercially available?

Jeff, I've been looking into chicken Kiev, and this video might have the answer. This guy constructs his differently, the result is round, not oblong, because of the way he wraps the pounded chicken. I plan to try this soon!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/v ... tion=click

That is Chef John!!!

[Jenise]

And Chef John is....? I've never seen him before.

Ooh, he's the guy behind Food Wishes .com. One may (I have not) go there, ask for a recipe and, if there is enough interest, he will do the video. From his technique, he appears to be a trained chef; I've used a couple recipes and they work (they also are not terribly involved). He has a totally charming folksy style with many hallmark phrases, pauses, jokes, sing-song, etc. If you watch 3 or 4 vids you'll get the hang of it.

ETA: Found a good bio of him: https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/che ... 486615.php

No, not even heard of it, Larry. I presume you know it's commercially available?

It's in a number of food products, such as crackers, pancake mix, etc. Cascadian Farms, Kodiak are a couple of brands. The flour is available on Amazon. But it's expensive.

[Jenise]

Jeff, I've not even heard of Food Wishes.com. Sorry! I selected his video to watch based only on the round shape in the photo of his video compared with others that popped up, it suggested he had a different approach.

OK. Apology accepted. Now go chuckle along with Chef John.

I recently learned what fresh cayenne chiles look like. I of course have known about and used ground, dried cayenne peppers for years. But I've never seen fresh cayenne for sale until a few days ago. I was visiting Lull Farm in Hollis NH to take advantage of the heirloom tomatoes while they're still in season. Among the fresh chiles they had for sale were two I'd never seen before. The first was labeled "lantern chile", designated as hot, and somewhat resemble a habanero or scotch bonnet. I've since learned that those hail from Hunan province in China and are widely available dried.

The other fresh chile I'd never seen before wasn't labeled. They were long, thin, and red. They looked like they would pack some heat and I bought 1/2 pound to use in Chinese stir-fried ground pork with minced chiles. I usually use conventional green long, hot supermarket chiles in that dish. These chiles were a bit of a chore to de-seed, but the resulting dish turned out colorful, hot, and very tasty. I was back at Lull Farm yesterday for more heirloom tomatoes. This time those chiles were labeled. They are cayennes.

This is the first time I've ever seen them sold fresh in this part of the country.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

A half pound sounds like a lot of cayenne! Do you think anyone else here could eat the heat level you enjoy?

It's a recipe from Virginia Lee's and Craig Claiborne's "The Chinese Cookbook". Craig's introduction to the recipe says, "This is for those with the palate of Beelzebub. It will make Texans weep capsicum." It is indeed blazingly hot. BTW, when I use the (milder) long green hot chiles I use a pound each of ground pork and chiles.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Wow, 1 for 1 meat and chiles. That's pretty potent. But you remove the seeds?

Yes, I remove the seeds and the white membrane. That very much cuts down on the heat.

-Paul W.

I was visiting Lull Farm in Hollis NH to take advantage of the heirloom tomatoes while they're still in season.

I read this on Friday. I thought the season would be over by now. Anyway, I ran up there on Saturday and stocked up on tomatoes.

Thanks!

In NY heirlooms still available, got from CSA anf farmers market Sunday. Has been a great (and long ) tomato season.
What I learned- I'm a sucker for new things. I never thought crabapples were edible. But at FM they had Hewe's Crabapples ("Th. Jefferson grew at Monticello") so bought a basket. I really enjoy- decent sweetness, but with an attractive (to me, Betsy less so) sour/musky note on finish. Not going to replace Crispins, Honeycrisps, etc but a nice detour.

[Jenise]

Interesting! Yes, I too have believed that crabapples were only decent cooked/canned/pickled, what have you. But not fresh. Of course there are so many varieties of apple in America (about 2500, I remember reading), it stands to reason that there'd be at least one of everything that eats well raw.