Michael Ruhlman » Le Creuset

Travel: Charleston, SC

Michael Ruhlman — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:10:46 +0000

Charcuterie platter at Cypress. Photo by my iPhone.

Returned from one full week in Charleston feeling as never before what an exciting food town it has become. While I was there to film more Le Creuset demos at their new headquarters with Taste Five Media, as part of the fun I got to explore the town some more. By chance the Spoleto festival was underway and my dear mum was in town with friends. She'd booked a table at Cypress where Craig Deihl continues to serve house-cured salumi that is second to none in the country that I've tasted. My favorite was the Braunschweiger, smoked liverwurst. Most interesting charcuterie note was that for his emulsified sausages, such as the mortadella on the left, he grinds the meat five times rather than using a powerful ...

Click to Continue Reading

Le Creuset: Grill Pan (with Coriander Pepper Crusted Tuna)

Michael Ruhlman — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:07:13 +0000

I first saw a grill pan used in 1996 at the Monkey Bar when John Schenk was its chef and I was trailing Adam Shepard while reporting The Making of a Chef. I was surprised and thought it was kind of cheating, implying to the diner with those grill marks that some smoky goodness was sure to come with it. But I saw it again and again in kitchens and when I finally was sent one as a gift, a rank second-bester compared with A-1 Le Creuset (which I still don't actually own), well, I kind of liked it. If I cooked a tri-tip sirloin sous vide from Under Pressure, I could mark it off after in a grill pan and not only did it look great (a matter of no small consequence), but also ...

Click to Continue Reading

Holiday Gift Week: Small-Ticket Items

Michael Ruhlman — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:45:48 +0000

A great gift for the season. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

Kitchen tools need not be expensive to be valuable. The above Benriner mandoline is one of my most valued kitchen tools for uniform slicing, julienning, and making brunoise (a julienne turned into a dice). By far my most valuable electric device in my kitchen is the hand blender—I use Braun that seems to be unavailable, but I bought this Cuisinart version for my mom ($47) and it works well—these devices all do the job of pureeing soups and sauces, easy whisking, quick mayonnaise, and I make vinaigrettes in the cup attachment, which will even emulsify a great Caesar dressing will pureeing the garlic. Every kitchen needs a scale, the most reliable way of measuring, especially if you're baking (which is why more cookbooks are including, if not leading ...

Click to Continue Reading

Holiday Gift Week: Big-Ticket Items

Michael Ruhlman — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:30:40 +0000

Lamb braising in my Le Creuset Dutch oven, which is a fantastic gift to give that special someone. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

It's time again for my picks for the big-ticket items, those expensive appliances and pots that are game changers, but real investments. I've just started a relationship with Le Creuset, the company that makes the best enameled cast-iron cookware on earth. My go-to pot is the 7-quart Dutch Oven (they're made in France and the company wants me to call them French ovens, which I find interesting since there really should no longer be a nationality attached to the thing; my preferred name for this one is "My Favorite Pot"). It's what I bought my beloved Dad long ago; now, sadly, I have two of them. My other favorite is the braiser, the ...

Click to Continue Reading

Le Creuset Giveaway! Slow Cooking Technique Video

Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:32:34 +0000

While I love this video—and, yes, Le Creuset is giving away ten of these awesome oval pots (yes, giving them away)—the video doesn't show how succulent and delicious and simple these bean dishes are. Kate will be pissed that I'm desecrating her beloved cassoulet with American middle-of-the-week ease. Sorry, Kate (but not really). I got great Tarbais-style beans from Steve Sando of Ranch Gordo; these and a great pot are all you need. Sure, I'd love some moulard duck leg confit, but I don't have it here! What I have is pork! And I love pork, and it's delicious, and this dish adds up to just a few dollars a portion (even with Whole Foods meat!). Easy cassoulet, American style: thick chunks of bacon started in water (to speed the fat-rendering), browned, then pork shoulder chunks seared in the bacon fat, the ...

Click to Continue Reading

Le Creuset Giveaway! Roasting Technique Video & Event

Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:51:20 +0000

Between you and me, putting a salted bird in a heavy-duty pan and popping the pan into a really hot oven is almost too simple to be called a technique, but one of the most frequently asked question I get is, "How do I roast a chicken?" So, it must be a technique! In Le Creuset's third giveaway (ten awesome roasting pans—for chicken, potatoes, brownies, cornbread, just about anything!), we're roasting. We roast a chicken in this pan because it has low sides, allowing great circulation for the moist bird, and because we can put it on the stovetop to make the sauce after we've cooked the bird. How to roast a chicken:

Either truss or stuff the bird (with a lemon or onion) so that hot air circulating inside the cavity doesn't overcook the breast.
Put plenty of kosher salt all over the bird so that it's ...
Click to Continue Reading

The Amazing Potato Gratin (and Le Creuset GIVEAWAY)

Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:13:58 +0000

My daughter was assisting Donna during these videos for Le Creuset cookware (which I love, and am genuinely honored to be working with this company; seriously, not worthy, but I try). After the shoot, Addison said, angrily, real anger, "Why don't you make that potato cheesy thing for me?!" "Good lord," I said, "I'd make them all the time if I thought you'd eat them!" [I didn't say, "Because of all the things you refused to eat when I tried to make good food for you!"] I cherish her but she's difficult. Fact is, these are the easiest, best potatoes ever, and in this Le Creuset gratin dish, they not only cook perfectly, they're gorgeous to serve. Watch the video—shallots are key, and I love that you can start the dish on the stovetop. And Le Creuset is GIVING AWAY ten—yes, TEN!—of these gratin ...

Click to Continue Reading

Le Creuset Giveaway: The Way to Braise

Michael Ruhlman — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:22:39 +0000

We're back with another cooking lesson and Le Creuset giveaway! This time with my favorite cooking method: braising. Why is it my favorite? Because it so definitively expresses what real cooking is: transformation. Great cooking is about transforming something that would be unpleasant to eat into something exquisite. In my view, grilling a steak is not cooking, it's heating. That's not to diminish grilling steaks—one of my favorite activities and foods to eat. It can be done well or poorly, but it doesn't transform food, which is what truly inspires me in the kitchen. To transform pork shoulder into a sausage is cooking. Whether caramelizing onions to develop their sweetness or toasting seasonings in a pan to grind and create a curry, that's cooking. And braising, transforming tough cuts of meat into meltingly tender mouthfuls of pleasure—that is cooking. In the above video, I talk about the ...

Click to Continue Reading

Le Creuset Giveaway!

Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:53:54 +0000

Announcing the first episode of my Le Creuset Technique series! In December, in Charleston, South Carolina, while promoting my book, Ruhlman’s Twenty, I met Will Copenhaver and Grimsley Matkov, from the Marketing Communications team at Le Creuset US. They loved my book (and the many photos of the food we cooked in Le Creuset products, which Donna shot). I told them I love Le Creuset, it’s the best stuff on the market, that’s why we use it. A month later, while cooking in Key West (brought my 7-quart Le Creuset French oven along with other tools, bien sûr), a colleague of mine, Warren Johnson, of Taste Five Media in Charleston, asked if I’d consider working with Le Creuset. I told him nothing would please me more, and Warren got to work. Le Creuset wanted to teach people how easy ...

Click to Continue Reading