Sunday, December 7, 2014

Breakfast Potatoes

Recipe Found Here

4 whole (to 5) Large Red Potatoes
1 whole Onion
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Or Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon butter (more if pan needs it)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Red and Green Bell Peppers, Diced (optional)

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover entirely with water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender (20 min or so). When they are ready, place the potatoes on a cutting board and dice them into 1-inch pieces.

Next cut up an onion into a large, rough dice.

In a large skillet heat oil and butter. Put the onions in the skillet and sauté until they start to turn brown. (You can also use red and green bell peppers diced up. If you do, throw them in at this point).

Next, throw in the diced potatoes. Stir well and then slightly press/pack then. Now you will cook them without stirring for several minutes. You want the pan to be hot enough to crisp the potatoes but not hot enough to char them. (Optional step: sprinkle a bit of flour over potatoes as they cook). Cook for several minutes and then flip them with a spatula. Salt and Pepper them as they cook. Cook until desired brownness.

tempering chocolate notes

Just temper the chocolate!

Foolproof method (they taught us this in school AFTER we mastered the hardcore old-school French methods):
-bring a pot of water to a boil
-turn it off, put the chocolate in a bowl over it, and ignore for about 10 minutes
-when all the chocolate is melted except the middle, remove from the heat and stir to melt the rest
-stirring vigorously is important, and by the time the chocolate reaches the holding temperature, there should still be a few unmelted pieces
-the holding temperature for dark chocolate is 86-90, for white or milk it's 83-86 (as in, it should stay in that range while using)
-you can test if it's tempered by smearing a bit on a cool surface...if it sets up quickly and without streaks, you're good. if not, stir some more and maybe rewarm, then bring the temp back down with some new pieces of unmelted chocolate.

another guide:

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/155/Tempering-Chocolate