Chef Noah » Breakfasts

Irish Soda Bread

Chef Noah — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:02:34 +0000

Soda bread is a soft textured cake like bread that rises due to the reaction of the acid of a liquid like buttermilk, and a base like baking soda.

Although the Irish didn’t invent Soda Bread it is most often identified with them. The “soft wheat” is the only suitable flour that can grow in Ireland’s climate, and when mixed like a traditional dough it doesn’t form any gluten like a traditional yeast bread, it does work well with a soda bread recipe.

The Idea of using soda to leaven bread was done by the American Indians centuries ago, where they used pearl-ash or Potash (a natural soda in wood ashes) in their breads to make them rise.

The cross on the soda bread has several explanations, Legend has it that folks did it to “let the devil out” while it’s baking for good luck, and others say that it made it easy to divide into 4 pieces. It was also a symbol for a cross during Christian holidays.
Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients

4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tablespoons butter
1 cup raisins
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Method

1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.

2 Using your (clean) fingers (or two knives or a pastry cutter), work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then add in the raisins.

3 Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk to well and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir. Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in a little more flour. Do not over-knead! Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf. Note that the dough will be a little sticky, and quite shaggy (a little like a shortcake biscuit dough). You want to work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Shaggy is good. If you over-knead, the bread will end up tough.

4 Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased cast-iron skillet or a baking sheet (it will flatten out a bit in the pan or on the baking sheet). Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an “X” shape. The purpose of the scoring is to help heat get into the center of the dough while it cooks. Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35-45 minutes. (If you use a cast iron pan, it may take a little longer as it takes longer for the pan to heat up than a baking sheet.) Check for doneness also by inserting a long, thin skewer into the center. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

Hint 1: If the top is getting too dark while baking, tent the bread with some aluminum foil.

Hint 2: If you use a cast iron skillet to cook the bread in the oven, be very careful when you take the pan out. It’s easy to forget that the handle is extremely hot. Cool the handle with an ice cube, or put a pot holder over it.

Remove pan or sheet from oven, let bread sit in the pan or on the sheet for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool briefly. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted. Best when eaten warm and just baked.

Eggs Benedict

Chef Noah — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:47:10 +0000

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is a dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce.

Origin

There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of Eggs Benedict, including:

In an interview recorded in the “Talk of the Town” column of The New Yorker in 1942, the year before his death, Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, claimed that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered “buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon, and a hooker of hollandaise.” Oscar Tschirky, the famed was so impressed with the dish that he put it on the breakfast and luncheon menus but substituted ham and a toasted English muffin for the bacon and toast.

Craig Claiborne, in September 1967, wrote a column in The New York Times Magazine about a letter he had received from Edward P. Montgomery, an American then residing in France. In it, Montgomery related that the dish was created by Commodore E. C. Benedict, a banker and yachtsman, who died in 1920 at the age of 86. Montgomery also included a recipe for eggs Benedict, stating that the recipe had been given to him by his mother, who had received it from her brother, who was a friend of the Commodore.

Mabel C. Butler of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts in a November 1967 letter printed in The New York Times Magazine responded to Montgomery’s claim by correcting that the “true story, well known to the relations of Mrs. Le Grand Benedict”, of whom she was one, was:

Mr. and Mrs. Benedict, when they lived in New York around the turn of the century, dined every Saturday at Delmonico’s. One day Mrs. Benedict said to the maitre d’hotel, “Haven’t you anything new or different to suggest?” On his reply that he would like to hear something from her, she suggested poached eggs on toasted English muffins with a thin slice of ham, hollandaise sauce and a truffle on top.

Original Recipe Yield 4 servings

Ingredients

4 slices Canadian bacon
1 teaspoon white vinegar
4 eggs
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 dash ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 English muffins, split and toasted

Directions

In a skillet over medium-high heat, fry the Canadian bacon on each side until evenly browned.
Fill a large saucepan with about 3 inches water, and bring to a simmer. Pour in the vinegar. Carefully break the 4 eggs into the water, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until whites are set but yolks are still soft. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon.
Meanwhile, melt the butter until bubbly in a small pan or in the microwave. Remove from heat before butter browns.
In a blender or large food processor, blend the egg yolks, heavy cream, cayenne pepper, and salt until smooth. Add half of the hot butter in a thin steady stream, slow enough so that it blends in at least as fast as you are pouring it in. Blend in the lemon juice using the same method, then the remaining butter.
Place open English muffins onto serving plates. Top with 1 slice Canadian bacon and 1 poached egg. Drizzle with the cream sauce, and serve at once.

Footnotes

This recipe contains raw eggs. We recommend that pregnant women, young children, the elderly and the infirm do not consume raw eggs.

Sweet Peach Pancakes

Chef Noah — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:43:59 +0000

SWEET PEACH PANCAKES

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more if needed
2 to 3 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced
Sorghum, cane or maple syrup, for accompaniment

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a bowl. Combine the milk, egg, and butter in a large liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk jut until combined.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Heat an iron skillet over medium heat and lightly coat with canola oil. Add 2 peach slices, then ladle 1/4 cup of batter over the peaches for each pancake, cook only a few at a time.

Cook until the bubbles on top burst and the bottoms are golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as necessary. Transfer to a warmed serving platter.

Serve hot or warm with sorghum, cane or maple syrup.

Makes 16 pancakes.