"What if?" Wednesday

So last night as I'm getting ready to go to bed one of my longtime friends messages me on AIM. Apparently, someone gave her husband two pounds of deer sausage and she had no clue what to do with it.

"What about chili?" I ask. "Or hamburger. You can grill it if you want." To be honest, I'm a bit hesitant to suggest foods to her because she she not only has a limited diet due to a gluten allergy but she's also very picky about foods (especially texture wise) as a result of having aspergers.

Her reply was doubtful. "With already seasoned sausage?"

"Sure... Why not? Deer meat can be used like beef if you adjust for the gamey-ness and just pay attention to how the sausage is already seasoned when using it in chili's and sauces."

I then google a couple of quick recipes and send them to her. Explain how they can be adjusted to account for the seasoning and then toddle off to bed.

This morning, I wake up with an idea. To be frank, I enjoy it when friends ask me "What should I do with this?" "Do you have any recipes for that?"

The answer a lot of the time is "No. I don't have a recipe sitting around for anything like that... But I'll make something up!"

So now, I'm declaring Wednesday's "What if?" Wednesday here on the Kitchen Diaries. The idea being that you, the reader, email me with random ingredients and I attempt to compose a recipe based on said items. Then, if you like, you can try it and let me know if you think I succeeded or failed. Don't worry. I know every one won't be a winner.

The benefit of this (at least for me) is two-fold. 1. It makes me post regularly (at least once a week). 2. It exercises my culinary imagination some.

The benefit for you? Well.. Hopefully it's informative and fun. And hopefully you'll get some decent recipes out of it to try.

I know... This seems kind of Chopped-esque. So please... Don't watch Chopped and then throw those ingredient mixtures my way. I watch it too, so that would be cheating.

Otherwise, feel free to either email me your ingredients at quint.d.lyn@gmail.com or just post them here. You can start looking for the first recipe(s) next "What if?" Wednesday.

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The Yocona River Inn

I know it's obviously been a while since I've posted anything here. I was waiting until I've revamped the layout, but I just wanted to post this.

Around 2:30 this morning, I was awakened from sleep by my room mate saying something to the effect of "Oh my god. How bad. Oh no." into his phone. Expecting it to be some bad news from his family, I got out of bed and went to his room to see what was wrong. I didn't expect the words that came out of his mouth, "Yocona burned down."

You see Yocona, or the Yocona River Inn is the place that both my roommate have worked for almost three years. He as butcher, grill chef and pantry chef; me in a short stint as pantry chef before becoming the saute chef. The phone call was from our head waitress who lives out near the restaurant and was called there by our boss/owner.

Taking a few minutes to take the news in, we decide to get dressed and drive out there to see it for ourselves. As of the call the building was still on fire and the firemen were still as work when we arrived. We drove around to park in the boss' driveway as she lives behind the establishment and were met in the parking lot by the boss and the other members of the waitstaff.

The first thing we saw was the parking lot side of the building and a little of the back, which while still physically intact had the windows blown out. It wasn't until we walked around to the other side of the building that we really saw it: Our kitchen is gone. Gutted. And it appears to have taken with it the waitstaff room and a portion of the dining area.

Littering what used to be our pantry station, (This is where your salads and appetizers come from.) was a pile of building debris littered with baking sheets and cake pans. The outside wall was gone and you could see through to the other end.

It was a disturbing sight. No small part due to the walk in still standing next to the missing wall; likely filled with destroyed food.

Looking in through the front door into the dining room which was still filled with firemen, we could see that the overhead fans had melted, the glass blown out of light fixtures and the glass cases which held the boss' beloved autographed Julia Child books were covered in smoke.

It's a drastic change from the building we all left around 9:30 last night.

From the front the building still looks pretty well intact, but I don't know enough about fire damage to say if it can be repaired or has to be torn down and rebuilt.

My guess would be the latter since the entire back half of the building is gutted.

But this to me isn't the sad part. Paige's cookbooks aren't the sad part. Our grill chef's expensive Wustoff knives aren't the sad part.

The sad part is that now, although we hope temporarily, a group of people that make of a mini-makeshift family have lost the home that they spent so much time together in. Like any family, Yocona has had it's ups and downs. Some days everyone was joking and laughing. Others, we were stressed out or angry or just wanted to be away from each other. But since I started working there one thing has held true. We always came together, did our best and got through. And no matter how sick we were of each other during a busy service or other crisis, we've always managed to stand together and be proud at the end.

And you learn there. If ever you wanted to learn how to cook, Paige is the person to see. You may not agree with her on everything. Everyone has different tastes. But she definitely knows her stuff and how to teach it to you. Work there a couple of years and there's probably not a lot you can't figure out how to make.



And Yocona is unique in that it's one place where the owner is very happy to have women working in the kitchen. This including both myself and our grill chef. (It always amuses me when the customers are surprised to find out it was a girl that cooked for them.)

To be truthful, this week was supposed to be my last week at Yocona. Due to health issues that make it hard for me to do the heavy work required for a cook, I had given my notice months ago and have set out to work from home.

But I gotta tell you. This is NOT the way I wanted to go out. It's a shitty way to end your career anywhere. But luckily, it appears that the boss-lady intends to rebuild. And having not officially finished the time I was supposed to before quitting, I will definitely come back for a short term to help her open the place.

It'd be my pleasure after everything that I've learned there and the time I have enjoyed.

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Review: At the Table With Anthony Bourdain

Recently my roommate has been watching back episodes a show called "Dinner for Five". The format of the show is pretty simple. Jon Favreau hosts a dinner with four other Hollywood stars including ones like Kevin Smith, Peter Faulk and Carrie Fisher. During this dinner, the five stars have a round-table discussion about the biz.

The show isn't an ongoing weekly event. There have only been nine shows since 2001. But it's a nice inside look at the people sitting around the table and their views on the industry.

What's all this got to do with food - other than that the show has "Dinner" in the title)? Well. Nothing... Except that when I was watching "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel last week I saw a promo for Anthony Bourdain's new special "At the Table With Anthony Bourdain."

Recognizing the format, and being a pretty big admirer for Mr. Bourdain, I marked the date for this little event and sat down to watch it with my roommate last night.

All I can say is that I seriously hope he does more of these.

Sitting around the table at wd-50, with the likes of Ted Allen, Bill Buford and Amy Sacco of Bungalow 8, Bourdain partakes of a tasting menu prepared by Chef Wylie Dufresne while discussing such things as whether or not it's a waste to spend a ton of money on a single dinner, if one should feel a certain amount of shame when eating a tasty animal, and bizarre or embarrassing things that happened to them in restaurants.

More importantly, they discuss the importance of cooking in every day lives. Most American's don't sit down to real meals these days. Even as someone who cooks for a living and enjoys cooking as a hobby, I'm terrible about bothering to prepare meals. Most days I don't feel like standing in front of a stove when I get home, much less contemplating the shopping that needs to be done.

And boy do I ever feel guilty about it.

But they're right. It is important. Food is part of our culture. It's history, art, love, something comforting after a bad day. It's all these things and sustenance. And when prepared lovingly and eaten with the right people, it can be the experience of a lifetime.

I think that's some of what Bourdain and company were trying to convey here. Good meal, good friends, good conversation. A recipe for good times and a good life.

So if you missed this the first time around, I'm sure the Travel channel will air it again. It's a unique and fun look at food and the people who prepare it, and a reminder that we often don't appreciate the stuff we put into our bodies nearly enough.

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Sake-cream Poached Salmon

So here we have a recipe that I originally posted on GAX Online - a social network for gamers. It's fairly simple and easy to execute on a single person scale, which some days is perfect because I'm one of those people who hates to cook just for myself. Sometimes you just end up with too many leftovers to deal with. Or, depending on the recipe, you just end up looking at what you've made wondering what the hell made you think you'd need anything with a pound of ground beef in it.

Luckily for me, I have a boss that lets me play around with the food a little bit at work. And, one of the duties for kitchen staff is to prepare daily meals for everyone. It's a pretty good deal for the staff. Depending on what you get, you get a $20 to $40 meal free every day.

One of the ladies that works there has a sensitive stomach and almost always asks me for fish. So much so that it's gotten to the point that I'm just trying to find new ways to make fish for her that don't involve frying it. (Like all good Southern restaurants, we serve fried catfish.) And this week I decided on poached salmon for her. The catch... You have to have some sake around....

To make one serving you will need:

• 1 Six to seven ounce salmon filet (with skin)
• Sake (about a half a cup to start)
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Chopped Onion (about 1 half of a small one)
• Chopped Garlic
• Quartered Shitake Mushroom Caps (about a half a cup)
• Fresh Chopped Oregano
• Fresh Chopped Rosemary
• Salt & Pepper
• One serving cooked wild rice

First you will want to start by saute'ing the chopped onion and the mushroom caps in oil over medium high heat until they are soft. Then add the garlic and continue saute'ing a few minutes more being careful not to let the garlic burn.

Next you will need to deglaze the pan with the sake. Just pour some in and stir it around, being sure to loosen anything that might have stuck to the bottom. Continue to cook until most of the sake cooks down. (For those of you who aren't experienced at cooking with alcohol -especially on gas ranges - you may want to consider turning the burner off for this part as just pouring this in will likely cause the flame to flare up if any splashes.)

Once the sake has cooked down, turn down the heat add the whipping cream. You'll need to add enough to the pan that it will almost cover the fish when you put it in. At this point, you may also add your herbs and season with salt and pepper.

Let the mixture cook another minute or two to combine flavors and then add your salmon skin side up. Now, once you get the salmon in there, you may notice that there's not quite enough liquid. That's okay. Just add more sake.

Now, you just need to let the salmon cook. Since the dish has a dairy product in it, you're going to want to keep the heat low so as not to burn it. Not a problem. For several reasons.

One, salmon is a fish you can cook and serve at different temperatures. Medium rare is generally preferred.

Two, it honestly won't take the salmon that long to cook.

And three, you can help facilitate the process by covering the dish with a lid.

Depending on the thickness of your fish, you'll want to start checking it in five minutes. Just remove the lid and feel the skin with the tip of your finger. If the skin isn't warm, it's not done. Give it a few more minutes and check again.

Once the salmon is cooked, remove it from the sauce and pour the sauce over the cooked rice you should already have prepared. Place the fish on the bed of rice, skin side down. And... If you're cooking for others and want to add some flare, sprinkle some whole fresh rosemary or oregano on the top.

A little note here... I know I didn't put any amounts on some of the items. That's okay. You don't need me to tell you how much of an item would have to be put in a dish to taste good to you. If you're unsure of a flavor, just start by adding a little an add more as you go along. With herbs in sauces, you can always add more toward the end without hurting the dish.

Also.. If you don't like an item in the dish. Don't be afraid to switch things up and put something to your liking in instead.

Anyway you go... If you try this and like it, let me know. If you tried it and changed something... Let me know that too

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Italian Chicken Rolls

Here we have another recipe written for Amish Otaku. This one is pretty popular with my roommate and with the exception of pounding out the chicken breasts (which gets much easier with practice) is extremely easy to make.


For this dish, you’ll need the following things:

• Chicken breasts
• Sliced pepperoni
• Grated mozzarella cheese
• Minced garlic (this can be bought in jars already minced for you and will last a long time)
• Dried basil, oregano and parsley
• Salt and pepper
• Butter

The first thing you’re going to need to do is to pound out your chicken breasts, smooth side down. You’ll want to get the breasts as thin as possible without tearing them, and somewhat rectangular.

For those of you who don’t have meat mallets at home, you can use a heavy cup or glass. (I used a heavy plastic drinking glass.)

Once this is done, season the breasts with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the herbs and garlic. Next, lay a line of pepperoni across one side of the breast, followed by a line of the mozzarella. Then, starting on the edge with the pepperoni, roll the chicken breast up so that the pepperoni and cheese are inside.

If at this point you find the breasts won’t stay rolled on their own - they sometimes will - simply use toothpicks to hold them in place.

Season the outside with salt, pepper and the same herbs - minus the garlic. Then, in a skillet on medium to medium-high heat, brown the outside of the roll in a little butter on all sides.

Once they’re browned, place them on a cookie sheet covered in tinfoil and put them in the oven at 400°F for 10 minutes. (I used a toaster oven.)

Just a note here for you all to remember that different ovens cook differently depending on whether they’re gas, electric, how old they are, etc. So before eating these, it would be a good idea to temp them and make sure that they are at 160°F.

Once you’re sure about the temp, plate and consume.

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Quicky Salmon Cakes with a Honey Mustard Sauce

So for my first couple of posts, I'll be pulling some over from other sites that I've written for or posted on. This first post was orignially done as a feature on Amish Otaku, a site for gamers, comic book and movie fans and other general geekery.

It's a simple, tasty recipe for salmon cakes designed for the novice cook.

First, you’ll need the following tasty, tasty items:

• 4 slices wheat bread
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 small chopped onion
• Seasoning (this can be your favorite mixed seasoning; I tend to go for Greek)
• Olive oil
• Flavorless oil (vegetable, corn or peanut oil is good)

You’ll also need the following hardware:

• Another, smaller non-stick pan
• A plastic spatula
• A plate with some folded paper towel on it
• A good chef’s knife
• A mixing bowl
• A cutting board

This first recipe is something I like to do every now and again for myself. It’s fairly simple to make. The only real labor other than mixing the ingredients together is chopping up some onion and tearing up some bread. Granted, it takes a little more time than throwing that Hot Pocket in the nuke, but it’s tastier and is better for you. So, what are you waiting for? Set that controller down, walk away from the keyboard, head to the kitchen and let’s start cooking.

Okay. To get going, we start by putting the skillet on the stove and filling it a third of an inch high with the oil. I know a lot of people’s instincts might lead them to turn the burner on high. Do not do this. Set the burner to medium-low.

The reason for this is that if the oil is cooking at high when you put the patties in, they’ll brown on the outside way before the middle gets hot. In the end, all you’d be left with is crispy goo. What you want is for the patties to take as long to brown as they do to heat. Then you’re looking at yum. Yes, I said that intentionally.

Next we’ll need to chop the onion. Now, a lot of people have difficulty with this for several reasons. One, onions make some people cry; two, those layers are hard to control. Well, there are solutions to both of these problems.
Onion cutting
Quin Bowers

First, let’s deal with the crying issue. If you’re one of the people who has this problem, all you have to do is lay your cutting board across the sink and run water over it. Once you have the peel off the onion, you can keep it under the running water and that will fend off the crying fits.

Second, how to keep the onion under control while you cut. Well, let’s look at the way to cut the onion. First, chop off the end of the onion that doesn’t have the hair-like root still attached to it – you’ll want this part left to help keep the layers together –so it has a flat bottom. Next, set the onion on its end and cut it in half starting in the middle of the root area.

Once this is done, set the other half of the onion aside and peel the outer layers off the half you’re working with, continuing to keep the root in place. Cut the onion half through the middle from bottom to top, stopping before you reach the root and then lay it on its flat side.

Here, you simply cut strips into it from the root end down. (Remember to leave the root in place still.) Once this is done, you should have a bunch of onion strips, otherwise known as julienned, held together by the root end. From here all you have to do is turn the onion 90 degrees and cut the strips into small squares. (Remember to keep your fingers out of the way during all this cutting. You’re not going to be able to comment on the latest Digg article if you lose your digits in the process.) Viola! Chopped onion.

Now just sauté the onion in the smaller pan with some olive oil until they become translucent and take them from the pan to the plate with the paper towel on it to drain off the excess oil.

While you’re sautéing and draining the onion, take the four pieces of bread and tear them into small chunks, throwing them into the mixing bowl. Also, open the cans of salmon and drain them before dumping them into the bowl as well. Go ahead and add the onions now, too, if they’ve drained enough.


At this point, you will want to add some seasoning to your mix. I know a lot of recipes tell the person using them exactly how much of the seasoning to put in, but I’m not going to. The truth is, I never measure what I put into what I’m cooking unless I know for a fact it will kill the end product if I don’t. Just put in the amount that tastes good to you. Remember to not be afraid to taste your food while cooking.

I will say, however, that now is the best time to add the seasoning because, if you’re like most people, you’re not going to want to test-taste until it’s cooked once you add the eggs, which you will do… now.

Okay kids, now it’s time to get messy. Take your hands and mix everything together, squishing the eggs into the rest of the mixtures as you go. Once you’ve finished this, don’t worry about washing your hands yet. You still need to shape the mix into patties. This is really easy: Just quarter the mixture off and round/pat the quarters out into patty shapes. You should be able to get four decent-sized patties out of the mixture unless you’re like me and gave part of your fish to your cats before beginning the process. (You can wash your hands now if you like.)

Now, simply take these patties and, using your spatula, gently place them in the oil. Don’t let them touch. They’ll take longer if you crowd them.


And, just let them cook. Check to see how the bottoms are browning; when they’re a nice golden brown, simply flip them over – gently again – and let the other side cook. Remember, the oil needs to be medium/low. If the patties seem to be browning too quickly, turn the burner down. If they still cook too fast, put them on a pan and slide them into an oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees for about five minutes to finish off. Do not nuke them; it will only make them soggy.

Don’t worry if the oil heat is an issue the first time around. Every stove is different and cooking with oil takes a little practice. But once you get it down, there will be an unlimited number of things you can make!

Once the patties have finished cooking, set them to the side on the plate with a paper towel on it. Let them drain for a few minutes before serving.

In the meantime, just prep your plate. Grab some dipping sauces, garnishes, whatever you like. I actually serve mine with a honey mustard mixture. Basically I take two parts honey mustard and mix it with one part sour cream. Extremely tasty.

Well… There you have it. Amish Otaku’s first cooking how-to. I hope you enjoyed reading it and hope you enjoy making the dish. But, before I go, I want to encourage you elite geeks to experiment with your dishes. For instance, to add some extra flavor to this dish, I’ve been known to add fresh chiffon cut basil (or basil leaves cut into strips) into the mixture. It gives the patties a little something extra.

So go ahead, give these things a whirl and let me know what you think.

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Out of the Pan and into the Fire

Before we get rolling here at the Kitchen Diaries, I thought I'd lay down a simple fact. I never had aspirations to cook for a living. Being raised on the living a waitress could provide, I despised the idea of working in anything resembling food service.

Nor did previous jobs as a dishwasher/grunt at truck stops and mom 'n pop eateries as a kid engender me to the food service industry.

And honestly, I seriously doubt that it occurred to anyone in my family that restaurant work was something someone would aspire to. That's just something you do to get through college and become something more important, like a doctor. Right?

Yet, somehow, at the age of 32 I find myself standing behind a restaurant stove around fifty hours a week and despite it being an exhausting experience that even takes up some of my time outside the restaurant (and despite all my grumblings and complaints during a service shift) I find I really enjoy my work.

It's tiring, it's sweaty, I often come close to slicing my fingers off or burning the hell out of myself once a week or so and the customers can be real pains in the ass; but I realize why I love it when I nail that new recipe or complete a non-stop, fast paced service successfully.

While I'm getting stuff out of the way. Let me be truthful about something else. I'm not a culinary school graduate. I haven't spent twenty years in the biz. I've worked about six years total in restaurants. Two of those were as a dishwasher and two others were in establishments ran by my family.

Only the last two have been in fine dining or even as a chef.

Luckily for me. I've managed to work the last few years for chefs that are willing to teach. (My current boss is even opposed to culinary school, believing that it's silly to pay to learn when you can get paid.)

All this said, I know there's still a lot for me to learn. I don't have the answers to everything food related and don't want anyone to get the impression that I think I do.

What I do know, I'll share. What I don't know, I'll look up.

My real goal here is to share what I love with others and perhaps encourage them to love it as well.

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