When you get to a certain age, you think you’ve seen and
done it all. Whether we’re talking professionally, romantically, or culinarily,
by your mid-fifties, any real surprises are few, and far between, and this is particularly
true when it comes to egg recipes. What can you possibly do with eggs that you
haven’t already done many times over? Well, these Turkish eggs, that’s what.
If you want more information about why the blog format has changed, and why we're now offering complete written recipes, please read all about that here.
If you’re not familiar with the word kismet, it means fate,
or destiny. It’s one of those old, beautiful words that you never hear, until
you do, and then you hear it all the time. It also happens to be the name of a
property in the wine country where Michele and I will soon be moving the show,
and eventually our lives.
That’s right, after filming more than 1,800 recipes in
San Francisco, over the past 12 years, we’re heading to a little slice of
heaven just outside Sebastopol. To hear the story of how this all came to be, is
to understand the true meaning of kismet.
The seasonal pond at "Kismet," as it looked several decades ago.
While we both adore San Francisco, for the past few years
we’d talked about finding a nice, quiet place “in the country,” where we could work,
relax, and enjoy fruit and vegetables grown on our very own tiny farm. It was a
wonderful dream, but with northern California real estate prices such as they
are, we feared that’s all it would ever be. Yet, we persisted in our search,
driving out of town almost every weekend to attend open houses for any and all of
the fixer-uppers in our budget.
These homes always looked great in the photos, but deep down
we knew as we drove through the picturesque valleys of vineyards and fruit
trees, that it probably was too good to be true. And, it always was. There are
great houses in the wine country, and there are affordable houses in the wine
country, but there are no great, affordable houses in the wine country. It was
during one of these particularly disappointing trips that fate and destiny
smiled upon us, and we learned about a local property, which would eventually, somehow,
against all odds, become ours.
There are grapes.
After driving up from the City, on a beautiful autumn day,
we arrived to a locked, open house. I don’t know much about real estate, but I
do know the house is supposed to be unlocked, with someone in it to show you
around. Anyway, while waiting outside for the realtor, we started chatting with
a lovely woman who mentioned she might be putting her mom’s home up for sale in
the spring. In case you’re wondering, the realtor finally showed up, and the
house was predictably terrible. Anyway, she said that since we were already in
town, we were welcome to swing by and take a peak. She gave us the address, and
told us to look for a large wooden sign over the drive that said, “Kismet.”
These are called Naked Ladies, and they are flaunting themselves in front of our persimmon tree.
Yes, believe it or not, the way we’d heard about “Kismet,” was
literally the definition of kismet, and as we pulled into the drive, and looked
up at the sign, we both knew instantly that this was the spot. Our euphoria was
short-lived however; as we realized that even the most dilapidated fixer-upper in
this area, on two-acres this gorgeous, was probably beyond our means. Actually,
not probably – it was beyond our means, which will help explain the rest of the
breaking news in this post.
For the first time in Food Wish history, I’m going to try to
generate some extra revenue from the channel. And no, that sponsored instant
mashed potato video doesn’t really count. I could have, and maybe should have, done
this a long time ago, but I honestly never felt like it was something I had to do.
Now, I do. You may have already noticed we’ve just started hawking t-shirts and other swag underneath the videos, and that’s part of this effort, but the much bigger,
and way more important part is that we’re going to start offering a premium Food Wish membership for viewers who want to enjoy some additional content, and
other fabulous perks.
This is the pear tree under which I saw a tarantula hawk wasp.
I’ve never really done this kind of thing before, but I’m told
by people who have that a certain part of the audience might get upset. No one
can explain why. If you’re one of these people, don’t be. Not only will all the
free content you’ve come to know and love still be free, you’ll also be getting
something viewers have be clamoring for since the channel started… a link to a fully
formatted written recipe, with ingredients AND detailed instructions! This link
will be included in the description box under every recipe upload going forward,
whether you’ve joined as a member or not.
I’d like to think that after sharing free videos for a
decade plus, a certain number of people would join no matter what these extra
offerings might be, but that little bit of passive-aggressiveness aside, I
really do want those of you who are able to support this effort, to get your money’s worth. So, besides the obvious karmic benefits, here's what the membership gets you.
All About the Recipe
with Chef John: While everyone will have access to the written recipes, the
blog posts that accompany the recipe videos will be moving to the membership
platform. I realize that only a small percentage of people who watch the videos
actually follow the link back to the blog post, and most of them are just there
to get the ingredient amounts, but still, I really do enjoy writing these
posts. I love being able to provide some additional, and hopefully entertaining
background info about the recipes, along with assorted tips and tricks, and so having
access to this content will represent the most significant perk of joining as a
member.
Live Chat Q&A’s:
Twice a month, I'll do a live chat with members, where you’ll get to ask me
anything. Literally anything. Of course we’ll talk about food, music, and
sports, but I’ll also answer your questions about life and love. What could go
wrong?
Embarrassing Outtakes
and Bloopers: Who doesn’t enjoy listening to, and/or watching other
people’s disastrous failures? Whenever things go terribly wrong, I’ll post the
raw footage for all to see.
Keeping Up on Kismet:
Come along with us, as we embark on this great adventure! We’ll share videos
and photos of the new kitchen studio progress, as well as our attempts to landscape,
garden, and possibly farm things. Not only will you be able to see what we’re
doing, and criticize it, you’ll also be able to offer us much needed advice,
and guidance, since there’s a good chance you know more about this stuff than
we do. For example, how do I keep wasps out of my carpenter bee traps?
Let me finish by saying I hope you find these perks
compelling enough to join, but even if you don’t, I hope you join anyway.
Whether it’s long term, or just for a month or two, your support will make a
big difference. By the way, I’m going to need this week to set up the
membership platform, as well as the new system for providing written recipes,
so we won’t be able to upload any new videos until next week, when all this goes
live. Thank you for your consideration, and, as always, enjoy!
They say that these Swedish chocolate balls, known as chokladbollar,
are the first thing a Swedish child learns to make, which makes a lot of sense.
They’re easy to do, there’s no baking required, and mixing the “dough” together
is just as fun as making mud-pies. What doesn’t make sense is that these aren’t
the first thing an American child learns to make. Maybe this video will help
change that.
It’s not like these are pure health food, but they sure are a
lot better than eating a candy bar when those hangry feelings flood over you in
the middle of the afternoon. The fat and whole grain in these keep you
satisfied much longer than you’d think, and the little pick-me-up from the
coffee, sugar, and cocoa doesn't hurt either.
I used quick-cooking oats in these, but I’ve also made them
with regular rolled oats, and they seemed to come out just fine. Of course,
some folks might have trouble eating raw oats, but that can be solved if you do
the optional pan-toasting step. Above and beyond making these easier to digest,
I like the very subtle toasty notes it provides. Either way, I really do hope
you teach your kids how to make these chokladbollars very soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 14-16 small Swedish Chocolate Balls:
1 1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats, very lightly toasted
1/2 cup white sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of cayenne
1/4 cup soft unsalted butter
1/4 cup room temp coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brewed coffee or espresso
finely shredded unsweetened coconut for rolling balls
In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve never had a Popeye’s
fried chicken sandwich, but since I’m so familiar with their work, I thought I
could figured out a decent copycat version of their very hard to get sandwich
anyway. Which I sort of did, as far as the taste of the chicken goes, but texturally, I ended up with something much closer to Chick-fil-A, which by the
way, I’ve been to exactly once.
So, if you’re one of these people that enjoy Popeye’s and Chick-fil-A,
this is going to be like eating at both places at the same time. The secret
here, and there, is working in a little MSG into the marinade and breading. And
by little, I mean a lot. Monosodium Glutamate is famous for its ability to make
food taste better, which is certainly does, but it’s also what makes fast food
so highly addictive.
Personally, I’ve very sensitive to this aspect of MSG
consumption, and as soon as I finish eating fast food that’s laced with it, I’m
already intensely craving more, which is why I don’t eat too much of it any
more. It’s also why I don’t stock any MSG in my pantry. I don’t trust myself
with it, which is why the occasional packet of salad dressing mix works so well
for something like this.
As I mentioned in the video, you really want to do this with
a smaller, flatter breast than the one I used. The meat to crunchy coating
ratio should be more like 2 to 1, and not the 4 to 1 that I featured here. Which
reminds me, even though I only did two, the amounts below should be enough for four
fast-food-sized portions. Anyway, no matter how large your breasts, I really do
hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
For 4 Fried Chicken Sandwiches:
For the chicken and marinade:
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons kosher salt
hot sauce to taste
1 tablespoon ranch dressing powder
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 5-6 ounces each
