The Incredible Egg 

Texas chef Jess Pryles shares the key to perfectly pan-cooked bacon.

Numbers Game

What’s in a number? It’s a question commonly asked when it comes to cast iron, as these symbols—6s, 8s, 10s, and so on—were often inscribed onto the handle or bottom of many an antique pan.
 
For decades, numbers were staples of these skillets, so much so that new pan companies have started to numerically mark their own, paying tribute to the old practice. Which is one, it turns out, to be as useless today as our most recent Alma. (No offence to either.)

But like any good question, the answer is shrouded in its fair share of myth and controversy.

Chesapeake chef Spike Gjerde shares the key to pan-cooking rockfish.

When Spike Gjerde opened his flagship Woodberry Kitchen in an old mill in northern Baltimore, he knew two things for sure about the future of his farm-to-table restaurant.

Dedicated to hyper-regional sourcing and the culinary heritage of the Chesapeake Bay from day one, “I knew that this trinity of local seafood—oysters, crab, and rockfish—was going to be important for us,” says Gjerde, as famed writer and fellow Baltimore native H.L. Mencken once dubbed the working estuary an “immense protein factory.”

Cast Iron Rockfish “Chesapeake Terroir”

Recipe courtesy of Chef Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, MD; Photo Credit: Eric Vance for Butter Pat Industries

Ingredients 

Skin on filet of Chesapeake rockfish, about 2lb (from a 5-6lb fish)

Salt

Fish pepper powder

Sunflower or canola oil

1 medium sweet potato, diced

1 cup cooked beans or field (e.g. crowder or black-eyed) peas, cooked

2 cups corn, frozen from last summer

2 tbsp. butter

Generous pinch of minced parsley, thyme, or other herb
 

Method

Place Butter Pat Skillet in oven and preheat to 500ºF

Place rockfish skin side up on a cutting board. Using the back of a knife, firmly squeegee any moisture out of the skin, then blot dry with a paper towel.

Season skin side with salt; flesh side with salt and fish pepper. Portion fish into desired size filets. Set aside while preparing vegetables.

Remove hot skillet from oven and carefully add a swirl of oil, immediately add sweet potatoes. If potatoes do not sizzle vigorously in oil, place over high heat for a minute or two…add beans and corn, then herbs, season with salt and fish pepper, and toss to combine.

Return to oven. Cook until sweet potatoes are just tender, stir in butter, and spoon onto warmed serving platter. Wipe out hot pan with a paper towel.

Heat skillet over high heat. add oil to a depth of ¼”. VERY carefully place rockfish into skillet skin side down, being cautious not to splatter oil. Return to oven. After 3 minutes, check the fish skin -- it should be brown and crisp. Turn over and cook an additional 3-5 minutes, until just cooked through.

Arrange rockfish over vegetables on platter, and serve -- the sooner the better.

Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Cast Iron - How Our Humble Medium Had A Hand In Shaping The United States

We know we might be a little biased, but we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, especially coming out of the historic month of July that holds our great nation’s Independence Day: the cast-iron skillet should be on the American flag. 

That’s right—a cast iron. And that’s because the age-old medium played a vital role in the very creation of this nation.

Mississippi chef John Currence shares the cast iron key to a summer fish fry.

Before John Currence became a James Beard Award winning chef for his growing empire of restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi, his first real exposure to the state's unofficial seafood, catfish, was actually across the southern border, in his native Louisiana. 

“We grew up riding out to a little place outside of New Orleans called Middendorf’s that’s now been around for almost 90 years,” says Currence. “It’s literally in the middle of a swamp on the side of Interstate 55. When I was a kid, it had a little defunct gas station next door where inside they kept alligators and turtles and all this stuff we’d go and look at while trains were coming and going on a track that ran from New Orleans to Memphis right behind the restaurant. That’s where we’d go and eat catfish and coleslaw and green onions and hush puppies. It was an absolute delight.”

Spicy Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Recipe courtesy of Chef John Currence -- from an upcoming third cookbook; Photo Courtesy of Ed Anderson

The key to making this recipe, which is excellent fried chicken, is keeping the oil at temperature and not overloading the pan. If you’re worried about making a mess in your kitchen, move along. Bottom line is: you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. If you love fried chicken, no mess is enough to keep you from cooking…

INGREDIENTS

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 quart FULL FAT buttermilk
1/2 cup Texas Pete hot sauce
3 teaspoons cayenne
3 teaspoons salt
3 cups White Lilly all-purpose flour
1 cup Wondra
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
4 tablespoons lard
Vegetable oil for frying

METHOD

1. Wash chicken thoroughly and trim any excess skin from the thighs. Pat chicken dry and place on a cookie sheet, skin side up in the refrigerator. In the meantime, combine buttermilk, hot sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper in a bowl and blend fully.
2. Once chicken has finished in the refrigerator, place in buttermilk mix and chill overnight (or at least 2 hours). In a large freezer bag or brown paper grocery bag, combine flours, remaining salt, remaining cayenne, onion power and garlic powder and combine well.
3. Heat lard and enough oil to go half way up the side of a 12-inch cast iron skillet to 350º. Pull chicken from buttermilk and allow to drain well. Working 2 thighs at a time, dust chicken in flour and set aside.
4. Fry 4 thighs at a time only, turning every 5 minuets until chicken is golden brown and at an internal temperature of 155º.
5. Drain on a cooling rack and eat immediately or later on in the evening after you have stayed out too late and not eaten enough...