Boiling point cooking, truffles and orange rice
Travel and food. On the move to eat and drink
In this issue
Young chefs reach boiling point
Gastro-diplomacy, Finland style
Truffle hunting in Alba
Outer Hebrides
Recipe: The Kitchen Lab and Iranian Pillows
YOUNG CHEFS REACH BOILING POINT
Have you watched the film Boiling Point? Starring actor Stephen Graham, it's a real-time stressful, high-octane watch shot in a demanding high-end London restaurant. Without giving anything away, it's a vital but painful watch and shines a light on behind-the-scenes life in such places. I'm soon to start watching The Bear. The Disney+ series apparently has a similar theme but is set in Chicago.
The reason I mention this is because last week, I listened in to a debate hosted by the academically inclined Oxford Food Symposium on a discussion about encouraging young chefs into hospitality. Here are some of the quotes (edited for length), sharing some thoughts about why hiring and retaining young people in kitchens is challenging. It's how the media and Netflix play their part in the tangle and much more food for thought …
Work in kitchens is still long hours, mostly male - the thought is how can cheffing become more responsive to people and the planet.
My mother was the best teacher. I was fascinated by Chef's Table. I value the connection between culture and the kitchen.
Chef's school was nearly as good at teaching as my mother's.
The (unexplored) power of the media in defining a career (a comment about someone who became a chef after watching Series 1, Chef's Table on Netflix).
Cooking in restaurants is not conducive to family life.
Being a chef needs to be much more than just cooking. It needs to have an impact.
I did luck out as I got a chef's hat because somebody left when I was just out of school. I lucked out because I fell in with people like Alastair Little, and we all devoured books. One thing I relate to is that education is key to cooking. You always need to learn to progress. To sit down at a desk is almost anathema to somebody who wants to use their hands. You have a duty of care to your chefs - you don't know who you have in your kitchen. They might be the next Alastair Little.
Talking to our staff, they loved the interaction with farmers and guests and getting an understanding of the region. And bringing in a southern (USA) identity as different from the north. In 2019 we implemented a 4-day working shift while staying open 5 days. After Covid, we saw that customer numbers dropped immediately, and we are learning that the work and the hours you put in are different. We had to define work differently and decide what it means. We decided we have a much more private life, but at the same time, we need more labour. So we have to get more expensive so that people can have the creativity and at the same time are not being burned out and can have a private life.
A staff's quality of life = restaurant's quality of food
We add transparency to explain why we're expensive. You have to do well, and you have to tell it.
'The responsibility of the customer' — there's a topic that needs more exploration.
I worked with brilliant cooks, many of whom went to Europe and worked with the best, who are all working in non-food-related fields now. We used to show up to work early to be able to eat. In the 1990s/2000s, it wasn't just about fair pay; it was just above the poverty line. Has it changed that much? So many talented people are now working in other fields.
Waste equals loss of profits. Paying farmers the right price for food means chefs must have the skills to use everything. Are our young chefs learning this at school or when they start working?
How does the factor of so many people not cooking at home anymore (despite fad cooking in a particular segment of the population) affect consumer attitudes toward restaurants and restaurant prices (and also costs)? Suppose consumers are alienated from food and food prices. In that case, that must figure a lot in not understanding restaurant food and labour costs, no?
These are edited from a talk nearly 90 minutes in length, and I hope offers a few crumbs to think further.
FINNISH POLITICIAN BECOMES GASTRO-DIPLOMAT
Next, we look at how Gastro-diplomacy is used by countries to impress others through the soft power of their cuisine. Consider how much money nations such as Spain, Italy and Thailand spend on advertising their food as an attraction to potential tourists. Governments and royalty regularly showcase their country’s foods.
Indeed, British diplomat Ameer Kotecha wrote a whole book about the food served by his country’s embassies. Foreign Office archives to reveal diplomatic dinner party anecdotes and recipes through the years. The book was published earlier this year to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platimun jubilee.
And after a few years of political turbulence in the UK, we bring news of how a Finnish politician is using gastronomy to win hearts and minds. I spotted this story in the Monocle magazine.
Anders Adlercreutz, an MP for the Swedish People’s Party of Finland, has launched kökspolitikor “kitchen politics”. He invites constituents into his home, cooks for them and encourages polite political discussion over meals such as pasta with meatballs and tomato sauce.
Seems like a tasty idea. Perhaps Adlercreutz has a recipe for success. As long as guests better behave than British politicians and it doesn’t descend into a bun fight.
TRUFFLE HUNTING IN ALBA
Early morning mist mingled with the smell of dripping trees, damp earth and wet dog as we set out on a September truffle hunt at a secret location. Cup you hands and breath in the air around the truffle, said Andrea, our weather-beaten truffle hunter guide. “And smell. Breathe in the scent, deeply”. This was advice from Andrea, a white truffle hunter we had arranged to meet on a non-descript hillside hazelnut plantation on the outskirts of Alba, a dusty industrial town in the Langhe region of Piedmont, northern Italy … For more on my visit to the secret hunting grounds with Andrea and his eager truffle hound Steel, click here to read.
TRAVELLING
Scotland’s Outer Hebrides is famous for its rugged landscapes, seafood, smokehouses, and distilleries. Now, a new guide gives you insight into eating, drinking and staying on the archipelago. Click here to read more and plan your next trip to this amazing food destination.
FOOD LABS. GUEST CHEFS, AND ORANGE RICE
Linking kitchens in her home city of Copenhagen with others in Lebanon, London and elsewhere is chef, food writer and community builder, Birgitte Kampmann.
Known as The Kitchen Lab, Birgitte gathers a curious group of home cooks, food historians, artists and the hungry. They are bought together by the enjoyment of cooking with company, learning new techniques hear food stories.
For example, food and garden writer Barbara Segall has a particular interest in growing and using herbs and was a guest on The Kitchen lab with nurserywoman and author Kim Hurst. To gain an insight into mint, click here to read Barbara’s report of her The Kitchen Lab.
A regular monthly Zoom gathering sees Brigitte open up the Lab as a virtual meeting place where culinary speakers, food writers and historians are invited to speak, share recipes and cook. Co-hosts have included Elisabeth Luard, Naomi Duguid and Ken Albala. Indeed, a few months ago, I was kindly invited to guest chef and talked Amalfi lemons, preserved lemons, and citrus genetics.
More recently, the Lab hosted Simi Rezai. Born in Tabriz, a city in the Azerbaijan region of north-western Iran, Simi now calls Bath, England, her home. She works as a cookery teacher, supper club hostess, recipe writer, preserves maker, Iran tour guide and organic allotmenteer!
For Kitchen Lab, Simi shared food and life stories with the group while highlighting various dishes, including Yerchochi Pillow. She kindly shared the recipe for the carrot and orange-flavoured rice; see below.
The dish takes time to prepare, and I recommend reading through the recipe before prep. Indeed, that's a tip for any recipe you cook from!
Email Brigitte for an invitation to The Kitchen Lab, here.
Follow Simi on Instagram here.
Yerchochi Pillow – Carrot & Orange Rice
By Simi Rezai
Ingredients
Wash and soak the rice the day before cooking.
Peel and matchstick the carrots.
Slice the onions.
Crush the garlic.
Toast the walnuts - if toasting.
Ingredients for kashk, collected together.
A pot with a lid for cooking the kashk.
Rice ingredients ready.
What you’ll need
Pestle and mortar or powdered saffron.
A pot with a lid, big enough to accommodate the rice and carrot mix, with room to spare.
A frying pan for the onions and carrots.
A sieve for the rice.
A clean cotton tea towel or equivalent.
A peg or heavy small pot.
There are two ways to prepare rice. The most popular style is chata. This is where we use about twice the quantity of water to the quantity of rice; it is absorbed by the rice during cooking.
The second way, chillo, is made more elaborately. The rice must be boiled (like pasta), sieved, and then put back into the pot with a little saffron, 'wearing a turban' to dehydrate.
The dehydrated rice can be served plain, known as chilllo, with a stew known as Khurush, or you can add layers of spiced / herbed vegetables, fruit or meat.
This mixed rice is known as pillow. In the summer, herbs and beans are used; in the winter, it's pulses, dried herbs, nuts and dried fruits. If using olive oil, these seasonal pillows are a one-pot, vegan, gluten-free dish to have as a meal or part of a menu.
In the past, people didn't want to waste a grain of rice. As the pots or heat sources were not standardised, they would first put in a piece of bread before pouring it into steam to protect the rice from sticking to the pan. This protective layer is called gazmakh; it means 'to dig'.
Tip: Caramalising onion
To caramelise onions, you need patience and time, says Simi. Please don't rush this stage.
Slice the onions (one large, two medium white), and put some in the pan over a medium heat with cooking oil. When that bit sizzles, add the rest and mix to coat in oil. Turn down the heat and let them cook for 2 minutes. When they look "cooked' and 'not' raw anymore, sprinkle a pinch of salt and leave on a low heat for them to cook gently for another 20 –40 minutes, depending on the type of onion. Turn occasionally to cook and brown evenly.
Yerchochi Pillow
A good pinch of saffron (ideally Iranian)
400g white basmati
400g carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 onions, caramelised
1 tbl sweetened orange peel.
1 large orange or 1 tbls ready sliced Iranian dried orange peel.
1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced into discs
4 tbls oil or mix of oil and butter or ghee
Salt
Soak the rice in salted water for 24 hours. Wash the rice very gently until the water runs clear. Do not handle the rice too much, or it will break.
After washing the rice, pour water into the bowl to cover it by an inch, then add your salt. Let it dissolve, and taste it until it is as salty as tears.
AKA typical saline solution 0.9%.
Powder the saffron in a pestle and mortar and add 2 tsp of off-the-boil water. Leave it to steep like tea with a lid or saucer on the mortar.
This can be done a few hours before.
Slice and then fry the carrots until just cooked and bendy but al dente. This can be done a day or two ahead and kept in the fridge.
Similarly, with caramelised onions.
Peel an orange, take out some of the pith not too much, then slice into fine slices. Boil it twice in water to remove the bitterness, and then put the softened peel into the following syrup.
Put 50g of water and 50g of sugar in a pan on heat.
When the sugar has dissolved, put in the softened drained peel and let it absorb the syrup.
This will take 30 – 40 minutes on low heat and stir from time to time.
The length of cooking will depend on the thickness and type of orange. You want the peel to absorb the syrup rather than be coated in it, leave the peel in the syrup until needed.
You can do this a day ahead.
When it's time to cook the rice, gently without breaking anything, mix the peel, caramelised onions, and carrot. Get a large pan of water to a rolling boil with enough room for the rice to go in and expand.
Pour out the soaking water, then add the rice to the pan.
Put a suitably- sized fine mesh sieve into the sink, ready for sieving the rice.
Stand by the rice and watch how it boils as the boiling varies. After 1.5 minutes, take a grain of rice out and squeeze between your fingers (keep checking till you get it); if it is soft on the outside, with a very slight firmness in the middle, it is ready to be sieved.
It changes every 10 seconds, and you do not want it to be thoroughly cooked through. Better to be slightly underdone than mushy.
When it is translucent, it has lengthened by 3 times and has a slight firmness in the middle. Sieve it immediately.
Assembling the rice
Put a large pan on a medium heat with a little vegetable oil, then add the thinly sliced potatoes.
When they sizzle, put in a layer of rice followed by a layer of the carrot mix, a little sprinkle of salt and a scattering of saffron tea, and repeat once more. If using ghee, then pour that on top.
Ensure the pot is not packed tightly with the mix. Instead, there should be room for steam to move in the pot. Carefully put the tea towel on the pot's lid and leave it on the cooker (away from any flames or direct heat source) on a low heat for 40 mins.
Serve the rice on a platter with the crispy potato pieces arranged around the edge.
نوش جان Noushe jan – may this be good for your soul!
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the little ❤️ below ⬇️.
Bruce McMichael
Writer, Podcaster, Educator
Website: www.thelemongrove.net
Twitter: @lemonbites
Facebook: @lemongrovesocial
Instagram: @lemongrovepics
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org
High expectations for Boiling Point. Stephen Graham is a great, and a quite underrated performer