September 30th
                Knives, Gluten and the best (almost) Flourless Torte!

Your Knife Kit

A knife is a chef’s most important tool in the kitchen. Professional chefs spend lots and lots of money to purchase good, sharp, quality knifes for their own use. After all, they are the tools of their trade.  For example, last May I purchased a chef’s knife that cost me about $150.  For me it was an investment.  But there are many good knives out there for much less—never fear!

There are many different kinds of knives out there. Every chef has his or her own knife kit with many different knives in it.     My own kit has a chef’s knife, a paring knife,  a boning knife, and a steel, to name a few. 

Each knife has a different use.  A chef’s knife is considered a knife for all occasions.   This knife is used the most in kitchens to chop, dice, slice, and cut. This is one of the most important knives to have in a home kitchen.

The paring knife is a much smaller knife, about 4-5 inches long, and is used for small applications such as coring a tomato, cutting small foods such as a grape tomato, and peeling hot, cooked potatoes.

A boning knife comes in two types, a stiff knife and a flexible knife. It has these two varieties because its main use is taking apart various cuts of meat and poultry. The stiff knife is used to butcher meat and pork more easily. The flexible knife is mainly used for fish and poultry. The reason for the boning knife to be flexible is so that it can be run right up against the bones of the animal being butchered and remove the maximum amount of flesh possible.

 In a good example for why a good flexible boing knife is used, I revert to my butchery practical final of last week. I was filleting a whole Dover Sole flatfish. This is a very small fish with four small filets about 6 in long and about 2 in wide. In order for me to remove one of these filets, I had to run my knife underneath the flesh of the fish right up against the rib structure, with the blade of my knife bending to follow the rib cage, slicing through the flesh there to remove this one filet. If I had been using the stiff boning knife, then I would have left a lot of flesh on the fish. Since the filet is so small, it would be a lot of product and money left on the fish.

The honing knife/steel is used to keep one’s knives sharp in the kitchen. It is important to have sharp knives! 

There are many different kinds of knives out there made by different companies. I would recommend starting with these four knives in your kitchen at home, as they will allow you to work with just about all foods that you will come in contact with in the household kitchen.

Devin and his knives.  One is his chef's knife and the curved one is his scimitar, just like out of the Arabian Nights!  Its for his butchery class.  As he put it, "these are my knives and I know how to use them"

And now a few words about gluten…

Last week Devin made me an incredible birthday cake. (I wish I had a picture to show you- he will have to make another one).  It is a flourless, chocolate torte, and he puts Cool Whip on top for me because I cannot have the dairy in whipped cream.  I have been eating it first thing in the morning, with my cup of coffee.  It is heaven! 

Last week I also attended a webinar on gluten.  These two events seem to have merged in my mind and I thought I would discuss what I learned and confirmed from the webinar.  I also promise to include this incredibly easy and wonderful cake recipe at the end of this blog.

Gluten is a hot item in the news these days, with all sorts of people swearing that they feel better without it, even though they do not claim any sort of sensitivity to wheat or gluten.  A bit of the truth would help those who wonder, “Should I give up gluten?”   In short, my answer is NO.  Do not give up gluten unless you have a reason to believe that you need to because you cannot digest it. This should be done carefully and with some medical assistance if possible.  While it is possible that there are more people who cannot tolerate gluten, it is also possible that more people are simply aware of why they do not feel so good.

This summer, my husband developed a severe rash all over his body.  When his throat started closing and he was having trouble breathing, we raced to the ER.   Luckily the source of his extreme discomfort was discovered quickly with a blood test.  He doesn’t have Celiac, but “only” a severe sensitivity to gluten.  Needless to say, he no longer has a taste for beer or many of the other gluten-laden foods that he used to enjoy.  The two weeks of horrible hives was enough for him!  I have been gluten-free since 2006 when I began having consistent symptoms each time I ate something with gluten in it.  It has not been an easy adjustment and I still miss a chewy oatmeal cookie or a luscious slice of bread, hot from the oven.  And I miss my bagels.   

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, spelt, rye and barley.  It is what makes dough “gluey” and makes bread rise.  Gluten is also found in all sorts of foods that seem distant from grain, such as soy sauce, some types of mustard, beer and many other alcoholic beverages.  Wheat is often used as a thickener for salad dressings and sauces, for filler in cereals, and is found as an additive in many food items.  Going gluten-free is not an easy endeavor, not one taken lightly.  The ends MUST justify the means. 

Whole wheat bread offers us fiber, and multiple vitamins and minerals.  The most important nutrient is folate.  Folate is of particular importance for women of childbearing age because low folate early in pregnancy, often before the pregnancy is even identified, can cause spina bifida in the newborn.  This can be quite serious.  Gluten-free products are not enriched so young women especially would need a multivitamin supplement if they were not including gluten-rich foods in their diet.

Gluten free foods have been found to be nutritionally inferior to wheat foods, often higher in fat and sugar, lower in fiber, iron and B vitamins, and very expensive to boot.  In addition, many gluten free products don’t taste very good.  If you need these foods, then by all means go out and find the tastiest ones and enjoy them. I’d be glad to discuss your options with you, and tell you about the best brands that I have found so far.  But if you do not, then it may not be worth your while to make this dramatic change in your eating.  Consider carefully before you jump onto this bandwagon. 

And finally the most wonderful (almost) flourless chocolate torte!

Ingredients:

¼ cup blanched almonds ( 1 oz) or ¼ cup almond flour

3 TBSP all purpose or Gluten-free flour

3 oz bittersweet or semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped fine

½ cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa (regular cocoa is okay too)

1 cup sugar

½ cup boiling water

2 egg yolks

1 TBSP brandy (optional- I do not use it and the cake is marvelous)

4 egg whites

scant ¼ tsp. of cream of tartar

2-3 tsp powdered sugar ( to sprinkle on top, unless you are using whipped cream)

Other items needed:

1 springform pan (the round pans where the bottom and the sides come apart)

vegetable spray

parchment paper

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place a round sheet of parchment paper and place in the bottom of a springform pan.  Spray the sides with vegetable spray.

2.     In a food processor or blender, grind the almonds until fine.  If you have almond flour, you can skip this step.

3.     Combine chopped chocolate, cocoa, and ¾ cup sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Pour in the boiling water and whisk until mixture is smooth and the chocolate is completely melted.  Whisk in the egg yolks and brandy.  Set aside.

4.     Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in a medium mixing bowl.  Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually sprinkle in the remaining sugar and beat on high speed until still but not dry.  Whisk the flour and almonds into the chocolate.  Fold about ¼ of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it up.  Fold in the remaining egg whites.  Scrape the batter into the pan and level the top if necessary.

5.     Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool the pan on a wire rack.  The middle will sink as it cools.

6.     Carefully slide a knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake before opening the springform pan.  Then open the pan.  Turn the cake upside down onto a plate.  Remove the parchment paper.  Then turn right side up again. 

7.     Serve with powdered sugar or whipped cream- either the real thing or the non-dairy kind.  Or add a fruit glaze.  Any way you serve it, it will be outstanding! 

 Viki and Devin