BLOW TORCH

Cooking is not just a trade: It is a science with precise measures, experiments, trial and errors, and arts too with its grand scope open to creativity, imagination, and improvisation.

Several months ago, on TV channels I came across with commercials about a culinary art programme in an Institute. The commercials were somewhat different in the way that they promote the art and the science component of cooking that are subtly embedded in.

Cooking is not just a trade: It is a science with precise measures, experiments, trial and errors, and arts too with its grand scope open to creativity, imagination, improvisation and give the best result if it comes from the soul.

This, of course, brings many hats into scene; hats that chefs should wear simultaneously. Chefs are not just very experienced cooks but also chemists, architects, managers, artists, stylist, inventors, and last but not least very successful researchers. Above all, it is necessary for a chef to be a well equipped with handyman skills in order to handle the unexpected brake-downs or incidents in the kitchen. That is why it is not surprising to find screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers etc. in the kitchen.

However, blowtorch is not one of these extraordinary tools. They are the hidden treasures of kitchens; not for maintenance or repair purposes but for culinary ideas, creativity, and applications. One short period of high heat flame can create many differences in the presentation and the texture of your meals.

What can you make with a blowtorch?

The answer is not that straightforward. You can do lots, or you can do just a little. It depends more on your diet and your willingness to explore the limits.

The easiest answer would be crème brûlée of course. Unfortunately, this symbiosis like coupling of the desert and the torch sometimes make it harder to imagine alternative uses of the gadget.

The possibilities of the culinary use of the blow torch in fact lies in the features of it. Blow torch by its nature, creates incredible high heat, which will burn the surface almost immediately. If the surface of the item is covered with sugar, it will caramelize immediately creating a candy coating on the surface without cooking the item itself. If you want to come up with alternative decorating ideas for your dessert plates, then you can easily use blowtorch to create candy-covered berries, cherries or to caramelize citrus wedges.

You can go one-step further with decorating your desserts: You can toast marshmallows, marshmallow frosting, brown your Italian or Swiss meringues with it to give an extra dimension to their appearances.

If you apply high heat to proteins like fish, meat, or poultry, the flame will create almost the same effect on the surface of the protein and the surface will brown while you still end up with raw meat, chicken or fish. This is, in fact, the caramelization of non-sugar food with the effect of the heat. What is the logic of having a raw protein with brown and slightly cooked exterior? In case that you would like to have some seared tuna this is the best way of having it: Slightly seared surface with a juicy and buttery interior. What a scrumptious fish!


You cannot eat poultry raw and I would expect that you definitely pay attention to the doneness of your meat! With a good cooking technique, you may not need the blowtorch to finish the plate. However, it may be so handy if you want to brown the skin of the chicken or give a further color to your steak to achieve “food magazine photo” like appearance. That is no wonder that the blowtorch is one of the major tools of food stylists.

Apart from the fancy usage of the gadget, you can also apply the high heat to blacken the skin of peppers, or your oven-roasted eggplants for easy peeling purposes.

What kind of blowtorch is suitable for the kitchen?

The type of blowtorches suitable for culinary purposes varies in features, appearances, and sizes. You can buy a fancy kitchen torch from a kitchen store or opt for a type that you can get from hardware stores. I would have loved to say that the type of the blowtorch does not matter, but it does.

Although, kitchen torches are slightly smaller, adorable and user-friendly, the energy that they generate is quite low. Still extremely hot for human body though. This feature may lead to a slightly different result: In order to get a desirable  crust or color you might end up using the kitchen torch longer which might eventually lead to the (over) cooking of the interior of the food. This is something that you would not want for your seared tuna or crème brûlée, or for candy-covered fruits.

On the other hand, the hardware store bought models are bigger and would require more attention and caution to use. However, the result will satisfy your expectations.

With several pros and cons of each variety, the conclusion is this: The best kitchen tool is the one that you would feel comfortable with; especially with a toy like this.

So try to test to the gadget: Borrow one from your friend, evaluate several options at the hardware/kitchen store, and talk to the representatives. When you buy one, try it on several alternative dishes. Eventually you will either end up loving the one that you have or keep the blowtorch out of your kitchen. ◊

MORELS

Morel mushrooms have an earthy taste, a fragrant smell, and a meaty texture. As with most edible fungi, they are best when bought fresh or foraged.

Nevertheless, the dried morels are just as tasty, with their concentrated flavors, as the fresh ones and can be interchangeable used almost in all the morel recipes.

I cannot say at all that I grew up with mushrooms. As I left my teenage years behind and started to spend more time in the kitchen, mushrooms were still not in my shopping list. It was only when I got married and started experimenting more in the kitchen that the mushrooms have started to occupy a small spot in the fridge.

Something, however, has started to change the year before our move to British Columbia: It was the beginning of May and we were about to spend a week at my mother-in-law’s cottage in Central Asia Minor. The village was nestled on the skirts of a mountain range and the lake stretching by the village was just another ordinary element in the village life.

On the third day of our arrival, we found ourselves foraging amidst the forest of firs, cedars, and oaks trying the find morels that have been foraged for almost a month by then. My mother-in-law was upset about not being able to hunt any that year, not for herself to eat but to cook them for her son and her daughter-in-law, who could only come to visit just for a couple of days each year. I should admit that we were quite successful then! Although we were one of the last troops invading the mountain range for morels, we managed to find 4-5 pieces, just enough for everyone to get a bite.

Several years after; after settling to a new home in a new country and expanding significantly the space allocated for mushrooms in the fridge, I joined the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (shortly my precious mushroom club) at the beginning of 2012. I was not aware then that I would unearth the taste of the morels from the depths of my brain.

The stage was for morels in our second meeting. It was the beginning of March and the morel season was just a month away. As I was a new-bee and my only experience on wild mushrooms and foraging was a one-day mountain hike following closely my mother-in-law, the information flitting about in the room was quite confusing but yet fascinating for me. With the taste of that bite buried subconsciously in the lobes of my brain, that day I re-enter the world of morels, this time permanently. ◊

Morel season generally arrives in April and May, varying across the North America depending on the region in which you are living. Many variables such as air and ground temperature as well as rain levels affect the growing cycle.

It is most probable to find them in moist areas, around dying or dead Elm trees, Sycamore and Ash trees, old apple orchards.

Who knows, you may even find them in your own garden!

BE CAREFUL!

If you are a foraging for wild mushrooms for the first time hunter, you should make sure that you go with someone who knows what a good morel looks like.

There are several types of morels, some edible and others poisonous.

Tuna Tataki with Citrus Vinaigrette

Tataki, which means, pounded or "hit into pieces" in Japanese, is a manner of preparing fish or meat in Japanese cuisine: The meat or fish is seared very briefly over a hot flame or pan, briefly marinated in vinegar, sliced thinly and seasoned with ginger.

In this Tuna Tataki recipe, we will follow the procedures indicated by the nature of its name and create a dish, which will put your gathering among the most memorable ones.

You can enjoy this recipe as a delicate starter on your dinner table, alternatively as an appetizer on your buffet table or as on hors d'oeuvre on Belgian endives in a cocktail party.

This recipe yields 8-10 portions on a dinner table and can easily feed up to 15-20 people on a buffet table or in a cocktail party.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pound very fresh, sushi-grade tuna
2 tsp cracked black pepper, for coating the tuna
2 tsp paprika, for coating the tuna
1 Tbsp canola oil or peanut oil
1 tsp salt, for the tuna

Citrus Vinaigrette
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1-2 springs of green onions, chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (without seasoning)
1/4 cup citrus juice

Garnish
1 to 2 cups Julienne of vegetables (depending on your plating and garnishing)
1 – 2 Tbsp lightly toasted sesame seeds (regular and black)

For Searing
Either a blowtorch or a non-stick frying pan

Tuna
Although you can use both Ahi Tuna and Albacore Tuna for this recipe, I would highly recommend you to use an Ocean Wise alternative.

Ahi Tuna, which is also known as Yellowfin Tuna, is a commercially important tuna with yellow fins, found in warm seas. It is often marketed as ahi, from its Hawaiian name. The color of its flesh is dark red and is widely used in raw fish dishes, especially sashimi.

On the other hand, Albacore Tuna has a lighter colour, almost as white. In Canada and the US it is the only tuna species that is marketed as "white meat tuna. Other species of tuna may be referred as "albacore in other parts of the world, so you need to pay more attention to the colour of the flesh outside North America.

While Albacore Tuna, which is caught by troll/pole fisheries, is the Best choice under Ocean Wise Program, there are more constraints for Ahi Tuna to be considered Ocean Wise: Only the ones, which are caught in US Atlantic by Poll/Troll fisheries, are the sustainable options.

Just by paying more attention to where the fish comes from and how its caught before you purchase one, would make a huge difference in the efforts for the sustainability of our oceans and sea life.
(If you want to learn more about Ocean Wise Program and the sustainability of our oceans and the small steps that can lead to big accomplishment, please visit www.oceanwise.ca )

Citrus juiceFor this specific recipe combine the juices of mandarin oranges, lime, lemon and grape fruit. You will realize immediately the depth this combination brings to your vinaigrette and to this tataki recipe.

Julienne of vegetables
These vegetables will construct the bed of you Tuna Tataki.

Try to combine vegetable with different colours in order to create a multi-color dish. Choose crunchy vegetables, as they will create a balance with the soft and buttery texture of the tuna. Start with carrots, cucumbers, and radishes and add few more like bell peppers, snow peas etc., if you prefer. Do not forget that they will only serve as edible garnishes, so try not to overcrowd your plate with vegetables.

Method

1. In a small bowl, stir together the shallot, ginger, green onions, freshly ground black pepper, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and citrus juice. When ready to serve, whisk the dressing thoroughly to recombine the ingredients.

2. On a small plate stir together the cracked black pepper, paprika and oil.

3. This is the stage where you prepare your fish for the searing

a.If you are using a fresh tuna, cut 1/2-inch-deep notches with intervals of approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch along the length of the tuna with a sharp knife.
b.If you are using a frozen tuna, keep it in the freezer until this very last stage. Do not defrost the tuna, as it will be much easier for you to slice after the sear when it is still slightly frozen.

Rub the paprika mixture evenly on the tuna, pressing lightly to make sure that the seasoning adheres on all sides.

4. Now it is time to sear the tuna

a.If you are using a blowtorch placed the fish on a heatproof plate or baking dish. Light the flame and adjust it to obtain a pointed, glowing, red-yellow cone of heat in the center of the lavender blue flame. Hold it 2 to 3 inches above the surface of the food, moving it back and forth to ensure even coloring. Stop the procedure as soon as you get an even light sear on the flesh of the meat.
b.If you are using a non-stick frying pan, first you need to heat the pan over high heat. When it is hot, sear the tuna on all sides, 30 seconds to 1 minute per side.
c.This is the critical stage of the preparation as the degree of doneness is important: You just want to sear the tuna, give the surface a color while you still have juicy meat inside. Overcooking, or searing the tuna longer will lead to drier texture of the meat.
d.Remove the tuna from the pan and set aside.

5. With a sharp knife, slice the tuna along its length. If you already have the marks on the tuna, cut the meat through those notches. If you used a frozen fish, you will realize that even after the blowtorch your fish is still frozen, but tender to the touch. At this stage cut with intervals of approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch along the length of the tuna.

6. In a bowl, toss the greens with just enough of the vinaigrette to coat them lightly.

7. Put the vegetables on the center of your plate and place the tuna slices evenly and decoratively along the sides of the plate. Drizzly Citrus Vinaigrette on the tuna and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds. Transfer the remaining vinaigrette in a small bowl and serve it as the dipping sauce to your tuna.

BON APPETITE!