Michael Ruhlman » Eggs

Final Word on Battle of the Spoons(with Crème Anglaise)

Michael Ruhlman — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:13:41 +0000

A perfect crème anglaise. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

The television personality and cookbook author Ted Allen stirred up a shit storm this week by calling me out on my hatred of the round wooden spoon, which he apparently has the hots for. He happened to mention our exchange at a City Harvest event to Eric Ripert, executive chef of Le Bernardin, one of the finest restaurants in the country, with whom I’ve worked closely, who added a little more caca to the pot by tweeting "Crème anglaise? Since the days of Escoffier, stir with a wood spoon, Ruhlman." He then phoned me to further faire caca into my cell phone until he conceded that it was the wood, not a round wood spoon, then was evasive, said a client ...

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Making Mayonnaise

Michael Ruhlman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:19:14 +0000

You can't buy this kind of mayonnaise. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

Yet again finishing up a manuscript with mayonnaise on my mind, and I always think of Donna's lovely images, captured when spring light was coming through our kitchen window. I could look at these forever (and now, as I couldn't five years ago, I can post them to Twitter). Thanks, Donna! And remember, the emulsion is less about the yolk than about the liquid. Originally posted on May 21, 2008 Finishing up the revisions of a manuscript and going over some fat-based sauces has returned me to the mayonnaise. Like the popover, it’s the story of a great transformation. Yolk, lemon juice, salt, and oil. There simply isn’t ...

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Quiche Lorraine

Michael Ruhlman — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:00:13 +0000

Quiche is, as Thomas Keller called it, "the sexiest pie." Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

I've been in LA on an entertainment project and to see the opening of my friend and collaborator Richard LaGravenese's new movie Beautiful Creatures. I'd never been to an opening before. But quiche has been on my mind, so I've been using travel time to work on some variations of this infinitely variable fat custard tart. If I had time I'd head to Bouchon in Beverly Hills, which makes perfect quiche. Bouchon, and working on that book, is where I learned that, while America was taught to make quiche in premade pie shells, this deprives the quiche of its true greatness: depth. In order to achieve that voluptuous texture, it has be about two ...

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Sunday Breakfast—Bacon, Eggs, Grits

Michael Ruhlman — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:59:22 +0000

A Sunday breakfast. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

Now that the kids are back in school and Donna and I are back from travel, life returns to its homey routine. Which happily includes an actual late Sunday morning breakfast. It's one of the best times to cook and can be one of the most satisfying meals of the week. First of all, I've got to say it loud: GRITS! Grits are fabulous and I can't tell you how many people taste them and say they can't believe people don't eat them more often. Honestly, you should make them a staple (the butter-poached shrimp and grits in Ruhlman's Twenty is one of my favorite dishes, period). Just be sure to use real grits (instant grits are not grits). I used Bob's ...

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Homemade Mayonnaise

Michael Ruhlman — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:49:23 +0000

Homemade mayonnaise is faster to make then you think. Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

I have so much crap on my desk! Being gone for three weeks it piles up. Books I have to at least familiarize myself with, dried soy beans and a tofu press, the manuscript I've got to fix, knives and rolling pins and some weird Fagor three-way cooker to figure out, emails to respond to, the ineluctable ... not modality of being ... but the ineluctable compulsion to check twitter feed. OY! But I never get tired of mayonnaise you make yourself. I don't care if it's with a hand blender or whisk. Helmann's is fine—I use that too, but it's not anywhere near homemade mayo. Two totally different products, and that's and why I love it. Its goodness is something you can't buy. You ...

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The Egg and the Pressure Cooker

Michael Ruhlman — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:51:30 +0000

Pressure cooked eggs. Photo by Laura Pazzaglia

This guest post is thanks to twitter, when someone asked me about pressure cooking eggs. I had never done them, but Laura Pazzaglia had. Laura is a pressure-cooker maniac living in Italy and blogging at hippressurecooking.com. My friend Annie LaG took her up on how to cook easy-peel hard-cooked eggs and pronounced them amazing. I have long been a fan of the egg and recently a fan of the pressure cooker (here's the one I use, via Opensky.com). I love it especially when I want to have a quick stew ready for a weeknight dinner. A 2 to 4 hour stew can be completed start to finish in under and hour. But the egg and the pressure cooker came together on twitter. I invited Laura ...

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America: Too Stupid To Cook, Part II

Michael Ruhlman — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:21:53 +0000

Poached egg on a bed of sautéed spinach, photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

I tried not to read Kim Severson's New York Times article on the one-touch buttons on appliances at the International Home and Housewares show in Chicago. You know the buttons that say "Cookies" on your toaster oven or the "Popcorn" button on your microwave that even ConAgra, maker of microwave popcorn, says you should not use. My microwave, my toaster oven, they have these stupid, maddening, insulting, ridiculous, harmful buttons. I hate them, but they're unavoidable. I didn't want to read Kim's story—Electrolux oven has a "perfect turkey button," put a turkey in, press a button, perfect turkey!—because I knew it would make ... my ... blood ... BOIL! Hey! Idiot manufacturers! Cut it out! The buttons don't work—even ...

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How To Make Grits(Sauteed Grits with Sausage and Poached Egg)

Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:01:17 +0000

Sauteed grits with poached egg and sausage, photo by Donna

Over the weekend I was working on a recipe based on the traditional low country dish, shrimp and grits. I’d found excellent grits from this company at my grocery store, I tapped my friend and former instructor Eve Felder for her recollections of growing up in Charleston, and I made shrimp and grits for Donna, a late dinner after seeing the amazing Jeff Bridges performance in Crazy Heart. I’d made extra grits so in cleaning up after dinner, I poured the leftovers into a springform pan and refrigerated them. By morning they were solid and sliceable. Donna happened to be setting up to shoot wine braised short ribs and semolina egg noodles. I happened to be hungry. I also happened to have some duck sausage and chicken sausage ...

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