…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen![]() How you doin’? In the good old days many restaurants made their own onion rings. Curly’s on Wilshire Boulevard’s Miracle Mile had about the best. Today, most restaurants use frozen onion rings, a far cry from the rings of yesteryear. I’ll be honest, I won’t mess with frying onions at home. In fact, I don’t oil fry much of anything these days. I’ve found that air fryer onion rings are just as satisfying as the deep-fried ones and they won’t coat your backsplash with oil or give you high blood pressure. However, they may cause elevated heart rates… it’s just so thrilling to eat a pile of great onion rings. For my Air fried Onion Rings I use Vidalia onions, so I get great, big, sweet rings. They’re dipped in panko crumbs, buttermilk and flour, which yields a super light, crispy, crunchy onion ring. The crust is terrific with the sweet onion. Don’t forget my Comeback Sauce—just a dollop or quick dip will do. If you’ve never had Comeback Sauce, it’s the South’s answer to fry sauce, and it’s got elements of Thousand Island dressing and barbecue sauce. My version is sweet and tangy with just a hint of heat. It really brightens up the onion rings, and yes, you will be coming back for more—it’s a dipper’s paradise and it okay to double dip (take that, Seinfeld). Prep time: 12 minutes Air fry time: 10 to 12 minutes a batch Yield: 2 servings Ingredients For the onion rings 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more for seasoning 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons buttermilk 2 cups panko breadcrumbs 1 large Vidalia onion, cut into 1/2-inch rounds and separated into rings Cooking spray For the Comeback Sauce 1/4 cup plain 1% low-fat Greek yogurt 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 1 tablespoon ketchup 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon hot paprika 1/4 teaspoon sriracha hot sauce Pinch of kosher salt Directions To make the onion rings
ChefSecret: Onion rings are definitely happy hour treats. You’ll want to double the recipe and pair them with an ice cold beer. Think about something light, refreshing, and not too hoppy, like an IPA. Quip of the Day: Why did the onion ring go to school? Because it wanted to be a “ring-leader.” ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. We have added a new search feature to make it easier to navigate through our blogs. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Appetizer #AirFryerRecipes #AirFryerOnionRings #OnionRings #ComebackSauce #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024
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Ancient Scrolls from Almost 2,000 Years Ago![]() How you doin’? In my last book I talked about the importance to mankind of food and drink to culture. “The Anthropology of Man Can Be Traced More Accurately Through the Foods & Beverages Of Time Rather Than Just The Richness Of Art, The Prose Of Literature, The Rhythm Of Music Or The Structure Of Architecture.” Well, listen up… an ancient scroll from almost 2,000 years ago has finally been decoded. Quite the step up from the bits of hieroglyphics we ‘learned’ in high school Ancient Egypt classes, this task needed the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to be worked out. The Herculaneum papyri are made up of about 1,800 scrolls and ended up buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. These scrolls were excavated from an ancient Roman villa, but it’s been an absolute slog trying to unroll and read them. So, the Vesuvius Challenge was set up in March 2023 to try and decode them, offering a mega prize pot of $1million to crack the code. Papyrologists (yes, they’re a real thing) worked with the contest, believing the Roman scroll contains ‘never-before-seen text from antiquity’. Might it be politics, religion, pros, poetry or maybe something else? Three students managed to read 15 columns in a scroll, helped out by AI-powered coding machines. Youssef Nader in Germany, Luke Farritor in the US, and Julian Schilliger in Switzerland will get to share the $700,000 prize money after managing to read over 2,000 letters. Nat Friedman is one of the challenge’s organizers and TIME reports that after printing out the winning submission he said: “All this has been in this dreamlike digital world in my imagination before. Seeing it on paper, rolling it up, it just made it so tangible.” This winning submission totals four passages, each of 140 characters. TIME explains: “With at least 85% of the characters in each of those passages recoverable by professional papyrologists. It also contains a further 11 columns of text.” The text in question is a piece of Epicurean philosophy on the subject of cuisine pleasure… that’s right, Epicurean philosophy! The winning submission shows ancient Greek letters on a large patch of scroll, and the author seems to be discussing the question: are things that are scarce more pleasurable as a result? The scrolls were excavated from an ancient Roman villa, Herculaneum. The author, whose identity is unconfirmed, doesn’t think so: “As too in the case of food, we do not right away believe things that are scarce to be absolutely more pleasant than those which are abundant,” one passage from the scroll reads. In the final section of the scroll, the author appears to criticize his intellectual adversaries, who 'have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular, when it is a question of definition'. Professor Alice Roberts dubbed this discovery ‘the archaeological discovery of my lifetime’. Although, there is yet a whole load to be discovered with the combined efforts of the Vesuvius Challenge resulting in about five percent of one scroll being read. And the contest confirmed on X: "In 2024, our goal is to from reading a few passages of text to entire scrolls, and we're announcing a new $100,000 grand prize for the first team that is able to read at least 90% of all four scrolls that we have scanned." So, what might they have discovered—a recipe for spiced, Roman-Style Meat Balls? Roman Meatballs with Pompeiian Tomato Sauce Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes Ingredients For the meatballs 1/2-pound lean ground beef 1/2-pound ground pork 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs 1/2 cup Italian grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley 4 cloves minced garlic 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper olive oil (for browning the meatballs) For the sauce 1/2 cup virgin olive oil 1 medium finely diced yellow onion 4 cloves garlic, whole 1-28-ounce can of San Marzano Italian-style tomatoes (imported from Italy) 1-28-ounce can of tomato purée 3 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian parsley 2 teaspoons dried thyme kosher salt to own taste fresh ground black pepper to own taste Accompaniments 1-pound dried spaghetti extra chopped parsley for serving Fresh basil added options red pepper flakes for serving grated Pecorino Romano Directions To make the meatballs
To put it all together
Chefs Secret: No need to add olive oil to the drained pasta… you’ll just end up with unnecessarily oily pasta. Quip of the Day: After a long day of conquering, Julius Caesar liked to unwind with a nice Roman-ade. ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Entree #RomanMeatballs #SpaghettiAndMeatballs #PompeiianTomatoSauce #HerculaneumPapyri #Dinner #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 …from the Perspectives’ Kitchen ![]() How you doin’? I’m a butter eater…no kidding with all my cooking and baking I go through 3 to 4 pounds of butter a week. Several years ago Perspectives created an extensive line of compound butters for the Vons Companies. What exactly are compound butters? Compound butters (beurre composé) are mixtures of butter and other good ingredients. They are used to enhance the flavor in various dishes, kind of like a sauce, but much easier. It is softened butter, whipped together with a combination sweet or savory ingredients. While the concept is simple, the potential flavor combinations are complex and endless. I refer you to Survival Guide: Cooking Lesson #149 on Compound Butters. You can pair baguettes, scones, rolls, pancakes, waffles or cornbread with sweet compound butters flavored with orange or lemon zest, maple syrup, honey or cinnamon. Savory compound butters can include garlic, shallots, parsley and lemon (Maître’d Butter) perfect for steaks or even ground lobster shells, butter and lemon zest in Lobster Butter as an enhancement for seafood. A compound butter is made by just whipping additional elements, such as herbs, spices or aromatic liquids, into butter. The butter is then reformed, usually in plastic wrap or parchment paper, rolled and frozen until it is firm enough to be sliced. These butters can be melted on top of meats and vegetables, used as a spread or to finish various sauces. Recently, I started to see references to Cowboy Butter, a newer flavor concocted to enhance cooked steak. I’ve seen lots of photographs of home cooks dipping their beautiful slices of beef into "cowboy butter," I had to try it for myself. Cowboy butter, a compound butter made of garlic, herbs and spices, has become a social media sensation, with more than 67 million views extolling the melty, buttery delight to date. Cowboy Butter has a decidedly savory, garlicky, oniony vibe from the minced garlic and fresh chives. The other fresh green herbs give it earthy notes, and the salt, spices, and citrus give it the perfect bold finish. It’s also got some smoky highlights from the addition of paprika, chili powder and even an optional shot or liquid smoke. It is perfect for steak but it is also for dipping any protein into it, from shrimp to chicken to pork—and would also be amazing to spread onto warm bread or stirred into mashed potatoes. Basically, any savory use you can think of for butter would only be enhanced by subbing your standard stick for this homemade deliciousness, including using it as a topping for sautéed or roasted vegetables or grilled corn on the cob. Like any compound butter, it’s totally okay to store cowboy butter for another meal. Leftovers can be kept in a sealed container for two weeks in the fridge or will last up to six months in the freezer. Watch out Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, or my favorite, Hopalong Cassidy! Active Time: 10 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins Ingredients 1/2 cup (4 ounces) softened unsalted butter 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 1/2 teaspoon fresh juice 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (from 1 [1/2-ounce] package) 1/4 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (I prefer Wright’s brand) Directions
ChefSecret: Some people on social media claim Cowboy Butter is the best steak sauce they ever tasted. To use on steak, melt and use as a dipping sauce. Quip of the Day: Q. Did you hear about the cowboy who died with his boots on? A. He didn’t want to stub his toe when he kicked the bucket! ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Butter #CompoundButter #Steak #Chicken #Vegetables #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 Zesty Grilled Chicken Salad![]() How you doin’? I really hate boring salads—you know the ones that have a little iceberg lettuce and a tomato slice with a bottled commercial dressing? We can do so much better than that. The bestselling salad at my first restaurant was The Conglomeration. It was a large salad made with chopped iceberg, romaine, crisp bacon, chopped hard cooked egg, cucumber, shredded carrots, diced celery, chopped olives, red onion and chunks of soft white cheese. All of this was tossed with my secret Champagne vinaigrette—a masterpiece! The more “orts” (ingredients) the better. We even took care to serve it on a Hawaiian monkey pod, garlic rubbed salad plate. When we found out this was the bestselling salad, I put our kitchen staff’s talents to invent and test new mixed salads. I declared our restaurant would never serve ho-hum salads. Even our Angel’s Fruit & Yogurt Salad was loaded with flavors and textures. Our guests used to ask me, why can’t I make salads like this at home? You see, restaurant salads are delicious because of the variety and freshness of the ingredients. Most people don’t keep a wide variety of fresh veggies on hand for fear they will spoil before consuming. So please trust me, there's more to making salads than heaping on a pile of deep-fried croutons and boatloads of cheese. Here is what you can do from your very own kitchen to make the best salads ever:
Ingredients 4 ounces spring lettuce mix salad blend 4 tablespoons grilled chopped chicken breast 3 tablespoons grilled fresh corn 3 tablespoons low-sodium, canned black beans, drained 3 grape tomatoes, halved 2 tablespoons red or yellow bell peppers, diced 1-1/2 tablespoons Mexican cheese blend 1 tablespoon hulled pepitas, toasted 2 ounces Spicy Cilantro-Avocado Dressing, (see recipe below) 3 thin slices of fresh lemon, quartered ... and whatever you want to add Directions
ChefSecret: I sometimes use leftover chilled chicken meat or better yet warm fried chicken tenders in this salad. Zesty Avocado-Cilantro Dressing Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 20 minutes Yield: 16 ounces+ Ingredients 2 ounces toasted macadamia nuts 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves 1 teaspoon fresh, peeled garlic 1/2 teaspoon fresh, seeded and ribbed diced red jalapeño pepper 3/4 cup fresh, peeled and pitted avocado 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 5 ounces cold water 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt Directions
ChefSecrets: Freshly-roasting the macadamia nuts adds another level of flavor to the salad dressing. Quip of the Day: “Why is it called a Caesar Salad? ‘Cause Caesar ruled the romaines.” ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #EntreeSalads #Salads #PerfectSalads #Lunch #Dinner #Vinaigrette #CilantroAvocado #Dressing #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 …from the Perspectives’ Kitchen![]() How you doin’? Just two more sleeps ‘till Turkey Day. Many people leave the turkey gray to the very last minute. Please don’t do that. Afterall, aren’t all those Thanksgiving dishes you’ve work so hard to make really just carriers for savory turkey gravy? This year plan ahead and don't let those drippings in the bottom of the roasting pan go to waste. Use them to make an easy and flavorful turkey gravy from scratch for your holiday feast. Here's how to make delicious turkey gravy from drippings. Ingredients 4 cups of turkey broth or chicken broth 1/4 cup of reserved turkey fat from the bottom of the roasting pan 1/2 cup of white wine 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour Kosher salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon freshly chopped sage 1/2 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet or soy sauce (for added color and umami flavor) Directions
Other herbs and spices may suit your tastes as well. Try experimenting with a pinch of cloves, a sprinkle of thyme and a touch of mace. Now that you have the gravy mastered, you'll need plenty of mashed potatoes (tomorrow’s post) and bread stuffing. ChefSecret: The trick to avoiding lumps in your turkey gravy is to cook together equal parts of flour with a turkey fat. This mixture is known as roux and serves as a thickener for gravy. Generally, 1/2 cup of roux will thicken 4 cups of gravy. Quip of the Day: Did you hear about a book called “Fifty Shades of Gravy”? It’s very saucy. ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross. #ThanksgivingRecipes #Thanksgiving #Sauce #Gravy #TurkeyGravy #Holidays2023 #BeThankful #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #RedCross #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023 |
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