personal – TLB Entries

New year, new consolidated blog(s)

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 22:46:07 +0000

So you may have been redirected here from one of my old blog sites…I decided after a year of neglect in 2014 and prior years of sporadic blogging on both my personal and tech blogs, as well as maintaining a personal website, that it was time to just consolidate everything into one spot. So here it is: archive.tiffanyb.net.

I’ve been retroactively posting all day today so there is much more “going on” in 2014 now that when I started yesterday. Jeremy and I had talked about wanting to note which recipes we try out of our shared Evernote folder, so that combined with inspiration from Melissa McKelvey‘s renewed food blogging, and I’ve decided to post a lot more this year. Whenever I photograph a dish we’ve made and I have a recipe it will (hopefully) make it up on to this blog, more than anything just for my own sanity so I’m not searching back through my browser history trying to figure out which recipe I used for a given dish (hello Thanksgiving. Happens. Every. Year.). I’m always taking photos of food but don’t feel like it all needs to go on Instagram, so instead it will go here where, if nothing else, I can remember what I had for dinner one night…and if you, dear reader, are inspired or intrigued, then that’s even better!

This will also be the spot where I share the “work” side of me…articles I’ve enjoyed, presentations I’ve given, random thoughts on social media things, all that will be going here too.

So here’s to a new year!

The wonders of burrata cheese

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 15:19:39 +0000

Burrata with fresh tomatoes

I first really fell in love with soft, creamy, salty burrata cheese this August in California when I was served it over fresh heirloom tomatoes with a simple drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of salt and pepper (similar to this). Since then I’ve encountered it on many a restaurant menu and (almost) every time have ordered it and enjoyed it immensely.

Summer vegetable salad with burrata cheese croquette, part of lunch at Mondavi

I looked into how to make burrata cheese, as cheesemaking has been in the queue of “cooking techniques to learn” for quite a while, but I think I may start with a simpler cheese for my first cheesemaking endeavor (perhaps ricotta, especially since we got a Thermapen for Christmas so temperature monitoring will be vastly simpler).

So deep fried or fresh, if you encounter burrata in the grocery store or on a restaurant menu, I highly encourage you to try it!

Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork Roast

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 21:02:08 +0000

I have bookmarked this recipe at least half a dozen times in various places, time to put it on the blog and add a photo so I can actually find it. This pork always amazingly flavorful and great either on top of veggies (healthier option) or served over rice or as a sandwich.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip (or mini-M&M) Cookies

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 19:49:05 +0000

I had bought a bag of mini M&M’s from Amazon a while back in the hopes of recreating a childhood cookie-favorite, oatmeal M&M cookies. However, upon being faced with an impending deadline for a holiday cookie exchange, I opted to made more “traditional” chocolate chip cookies using the M&M’s instead. Always on the search for the perfect soft and chewy cookie (with just a little crisp on the outside edges) I found Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and it was a winner. All of the things I wanted it had (just ignore the quantity of butter used, it’s what makes them so tasty).

Butternut Squash Soup

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 21:46:38 +0000

As our Dominion Harvest CSA fall season was coming to an end (which, by the way, if you’re in the Richmond/Williamsburg area and like fresh produce, eggs and cheese delivered right to your door, I highly recommend), the Beker household found itself with a plethora of winter squashes. I subscribe to Food 52’s blog and this well timed post for Thomas Keller’s Butternut Squash Soup with Brown Butter gave us an excellent outlet for the two large butternut squashes we had sitting on the counter. The author emphasizes the importance of the brown butter and I’ll second it, the nutty flavor really adds a new dimension to the soup, along with the creaminess of the creme fraiche, the crispy fried sage leaves, drizzle of good olive oil and sprinkling of black pepper.

Thanksgiving 2014

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 15:07:38 +0000

We always try to start off with a fun cocktail of some kind for special occasion dinners. I had been chatting with Jeremy’s mom trying to think of a good cocktail, and also trying to find a good “standard” cocktail that I’m willing to order at any bar as a fallback drink, and Eileen suggested Southern Comfort Sours. I remember back in grad school enjoying “SoCo & Coke” so figured it was worth a shot…yum, to me, with the homemade sour mix (simple syrup, lemon and lime juice) the drink tastes like a SweetTart.

We have been brining the turkey for as long as I’ve been in charge of cooking Thanksgiving dinner but this year we opted to “dry-brine” on the recommendation of Serious Eats (plus, it saves fridge space since we don’t have to submerge the bird). So with some help from my dad (I couldn’t cut the backbone out myself) I spatchcocked the turkey, covered it with the dry brine overnight, and day of covered it with herb butter and roasted it to temperature, it only took 80 minutes for a 12 pound turkey. So dry-brined herb-rubbed spatchcocked roast turkey? Marked down as my new favorite way to go, the skin was super crisp (courtesy of the dry brine with baking powder) and, per usual when cooking poultry to temperature not to time, very moist.

The green bean casserole recipe is a Thanksgiving standard and the only variation I do is to make the mushroom sauce from scratch rather than courtesy of Campbell’s soup. My recipe is based off of Martha Stewart’s green bean casserole but I add a bit of cayenne pepper and go the traditional route of French’s fried onions rather than making my own topping with shallots.

The stuffing is one that I never really use a recipe for but is based off of this sausage and apple stuffing I saw made on “Party Line with the Hearty Boys” on Food Network way back when. I’ve omitted the cranberries since then and use sourdough bread cubes (bread courtesy of Blackbird Bakery in Williamsburg) and this time around we didn’t actually have poultry seasoning so I made our own seasoning blend (sage, thyme, rosemary, black pepper), and I think it actually tasted better that way.

Mashed potatoes, pretty standard with lots of butter (is there any other way?)

The new dish this year was one that Jeremy came across on Serious Eats. Typically we’ve had brussel sprouts with bacon but this year, we went all out and tried this Creamy, Cheesy Brussel Sprout Gratin. Wow was it rich and decadent, a totally different dish than usual with the brussel sprouts, but very tasty.

We made two pies this year, strawberry rhubarb and pumpkin, and made the crust according to Michael Ruhlman’s ratio (3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part liquid). Jeremy had had success before with this crust recipe using all butter so that’s the way I went and it turned out very well. It was a bit crazy seeing all the butter bubbling away in the oven through the clear glass pie plate but the crust was pretty tender and very flaky with lots of crisp on the edges. Next time I may introduce a little bit of lard/shortening to get a little more tender crumb but overall the crust, and the pies, were delicious.

Hasselback Potatoes

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:22:38 +0000

I saw this technique for Hasselback Potatoes go by on a food blog or two this fall and we decided to try it out to go along with pork chops one weekend for dinner. I can’t track down which specific recipe I used but the preparation was pretty straightforward. Slice almost all the way through the potatoes, brush with butter/olive oil, season liberally, we stuck some sliced garlic and whole sage leaves in between some slices (to go with the pork) and popped them in the oven at 400 degrees or so. Problem was, we didn’t allow enough time for the potatoes to cook before the pork was ready, the top part was done (but not really crispy, which is the goal) but the bottom was still a bit toothsome. Timing multiple dishes has always been an Achilles heel of mine and I think this dish fell prey to that. I definitely want to try this again though and allow lots of time to cook the potatoes. Although this variation turning the dish into a Hasselback Potato Gratin Casserole looks pretty delicious too.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 20:13:52 +0000

Jeremy and I saw this on Alton Brown’s Good Eats many years ago and both of us love soft pretzels, so one day we decided to finally try and make them at home with Alton Brown’s homemade soft pretzel recipe. Although food-grade lye is the ideal way to get the lovely caramel colored crust on soft pretzels, this more home-friendly version uses baking soda instead. The results? Pretty awesome and tastes very much like a “real” soft pretzel, same salty and slightly tangy flavor, firm outer crust and a good chewy interior texture. They weren’t as awesome heated up the next day (we’d stored them in the fridge) and the big grains of salt had kind of melted into the pretzel, but still good flavor nonetheless. Note for next time, either eat them all fresh or store them at room temperature somewhere they will stay dry.

2nd Wedding Anniversary Tasting Menu – Silt, Williamsburg VA

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:31:23 +0000

Silt opened this year in Williamsburg filling in where Le Yaca used to be near the Busch Gardens side of town. and after our first visit we were enchanted. I celebrated my birthday here and we knew we wanted to try their tasting menu, so our anniversary was the next major occasion for us to celebrate. The food is Southern inspired but with lots of local and seasonal ingredients. Along with the tasty food conceived by Executive Chef Nelson Miller they have a great cocktail list courtesy of bar manager Amber. They took great care of us this evening with a delicious tasting menu with wine pairing and I know we will be back!

August Birthday Celebration – Tasting Menu at One Market San Francisco

Tiffany Broadbent Beker — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 18:07:17 +0000

We had a wonderful time at One Market. We were able to secure the Chef’s Table for the evening so we sat in the kitchen and were able to see all the preparations for most of our meal along with the impressive assembly line they had going for a large dinner party going on at the same time. We were treated wonderfully by all of the staff and even got an extra mini tour of their wine cellar. As part of the evening Jeremy and I also got to assist in preparing the desserts, brûlée our creme brûlée and decorating the plates with various sauces. A fantastic evening and very highly recommended if you are in the Bay area.