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Santa Barbara, CA, United States
I enjoy creating original wine-pairing recipes that are healthful and delicious. I work for Touring & Tasting a Santa Barbara based wine club and national magazine as Food Editor. However, I am not paid for this blog and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. I received my Personal Chef Skills Competency Award from the SBCC's School Of Culinary Arts. In 2012, I started Inside Wine - Santa Barbara with pal Lila Brown which features wine tastings with winery owners and winemakers. I also serve on the Board of the Santa Barbara Culinary Arts group, which had Julia Child as one of the founding members and funds scholarships for SBCC culinary students in her name.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Authentic Teriyaki

Restaurant teriyaki is usually made (I've never seen otherwise) by grilling meat and pouring sauce over it. This authentic recipe uses the pan juice from the meat to flavor the teriyaki and is infinitely better. You can use chicken or salmon as well--the chicken must be cooked through and not rare inside and the salmon just barely cooked in the center (it will continue cooking after it is taken from the heat).
Tama's Steak Teriyaki:
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoons Mirin* (Japanese cooking wine)
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons. soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 steak
4 tablespoons saké*
*Note: Mirin and saké are not the same--Mirin is sweet with just a touch of alcohol, saké is very dry and has a high alcohol content)
Mix the ginger, garlic, Mirin, sugar and soy sauce in a small bowl. Heat oil in a large frying pan (cast iron works best) over medium heat until oil is hot but not smoking.

Add steak and sear on both side. Add the sake (there may be quite a bit of smoke/steam) and let cook for half a minutes as the alcohol burns off. Remove the steak and let sit. Add the soy sauce mixture and evaporate by half, scraping up any browned bits into the sauce. When the sauce is thickened, turn the heat to low and cook the steak another 2-3 minutes, turning several times to coat it on all sides. The steak should be seared on the outside and rare in the center. Let the meat sit for 2 minutes to redistribute the internal juices, then slice into 1/2" slices. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top.

I've been so busy uploading recipes to Touring and Tasting' new website, after being named Food Editor (yay!) and posting to their blog that I haven't had time to enter anything here.

I like having a food blog because I have so many of my recipes on it and can access it via smartphone or computer if I need.

WEEK #3 PRINCIPLES OF BAKING--CULINARY SCHOOL
There's so much to learning about baking--scaling, proper proofing, benching, rounding, use of steam...I hope to have to to blog about it this week. In our last class, we made monkey bread--easy to make and it was appreciated at the Touring and Tasting office when I brought it in the next day. It's basically round, sweet rolls covered in brown sugar and cinnamon and baked until the sugar is caramelized. Next time I make it, I will add walnuts to the coating.

Monkey Bread:
4 3/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup powdered milk
31/4 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons active yeast
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3 1/4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups to 1 3/4 cup cold water
1 cup or more sugar
1/2 cup or more cinnamon
Mix the flour, salt, powdered milk, sugar and yeast in a mixer bowl.  Add the egg, butter and 1 1/2 cups water and mix with the paddle attachment of your mixer or with a large spoon until the flour is absorbed and the dough forms a ball. Add water in bits only if the dough doesn't come together. The dough should be soft and moist.
Replace the paddle with a dough hook and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (or knead by hand on a lightly floured board). The dough should clear the sides of the mixture but stick just a bit on the bottom of the bowl. It should pass the "windowpane test" where it a small portion can be stretched to where one can see shapes behind it, without the dough tearing.
Oil the bowl and turn the dough around in it to coat with oil. Let proof for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in warm area or until it doubles in size.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Using a scale, scale out 2 oz portions. Always cut the dough with a bench scraper or chef's knife--do not tear apart. Round each portion into a ball and roll in melted butter, then in the sugar mixture. Put into an ungreased savarin or angel food cake pan. The portions will form a ring when proofed and baked, but each will be easy to pull off. Let the monkey bread rise for another 45 minutes, then bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the bread is cooked through and the outside is nicely browned. Let sit a few minutes too cool as the sugar will be hot--it will be hard to let them sit, because they will smell wonderful!


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