Guess Who Is Coming to Make Dinner, Joan Roca

Introduction to the Roca family (translated from Spanish by Harvard University, listed below in post)

As I try to master (or at least minor) the art of cooking (in small places), noted chefs, Joan Roca, and his brothers, Jordi (pastry chef) and Josep (wine expert, sommelier), from the restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca in Taialà, Spain (near Girona) are coming to Houston August 4-6, 2014 at the Rienzi (MFAH house museum for European decorative arts and paintings in River Oaks) to show 300 select individuals what magical foods that they can create (including new version of chili con carne or make ice cream with breathe with yeast).

Pictures from August 4 meal at the Rienzi from Houston Chronicle (14 courses) from Alison Cook

Second set of Pictures from Culture Map Houston, Eric Sandler
Opening dish of tapas is presented as a tree with a black lantern canopy that opens to reveal the gifts of a tiny taco, and more delicious bites.

Featuring Spanish wines: Vega Sicilia, Gramona, Grans Muralles and Mas La Plana from Bodegas Torres

They are also bringing their restaurant and 20 workers to Dallas for 2 days as well.  Then continue to Central and South America. 

Two students from Art Institute of Houston, International Cooking program, and two students from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Art in Dallas will be selected to go to Spain and apprentice under the Roca brothers in their restaurant.

Thanks to the BBVA Compass Bank.

Roca & Roll World Tour

Sailing Across the Gulf

Sunset from Key West, March 2014

Sailing across the blue water to the Dry Tortugas, 70 miles south route

Center of Fort Jefferson National Park, 2 park rangers live there for 2 weeks on.

One of our crew sailed from the Dry Tortugas and back to Texas across the Gulf of Mexico.  Preparation is the key to any successful trip.  So for some added preparation, I added some ways to make the trip better.

Salt Sensitivity and the Sea

No brining for this chick.  Low to no sodium foods are impossible to find (where are no salt El Milagro Tortilla Chips anymore).  Plenty of gluten-free but no foods (without sodium) for me (sodium sensitivity) besides cooking from scratch.

The Mother Load at Central Market in Houston, are five bags enough for the month?

For over ten years after moving to Mississippi I suffered from what I thought was food poisoning or acute (hot burning pain) pain in my left shoulder blade and left arm (felt like hot lava burning down my left arm to my ring finger) after eating but over the past 2 years discovered that it is the salt and it is a genetic trait.  A piece of brined turkey or pork will have me suffering all night long.

Merry Christmas & Happy 2014

Christmas in Galveston at the Bishop's Palace, 2013 with Inlaws and BOI'ers

We rented a recently updated older home a few blocks from the Seawall for the extended week.  Much more room to move around than the boat like last year and a full size kitchen to prepare food for the six of us plus 2 dogs.

Harvard Lessons for Cooking on a Boat

My total benefits for agonizing over once forgotten college physics, chemistry, and biology:

1. searing your meat or vegetable creates maillard reaction (flavor compounds) over 120 degrees Celsuis (~250 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. Cooking with wine or alcohol helps break down the beef tissue (reduces the crosslinks).
3. Ledenfrost effect: for a drop of water on a skillet of 190 degrees Celsius (374 degrees Fahrenheit), gas suspends the liquid over the skillet
4. Making cheese with whole milk and a little white vinegar or buttermilk
5. 1 part salt to 10 parts ice & water, drops the temperature the best to cool the beer down
6. Avocado brown when in contact with oxygen.  Cilantro has low pH (vit A) and bond to avocado to block attachment to oxygen.  Lemon, lime, or orange juice (acidic) blocks the bonding to oxygen
7. How many and the types of meals can I cook on a tank of propane
8. How much heat per mass of food will be needed to cook the meal.
9. Idea of building a solar oven on the deck when anchored out
10. Reducing chances of getting sick from microbes in our food
11. Is my temperature of the oven or pot on the stove correct, use a thermometer
12. Use the scale and measure in grams!
13. Make soups thicker or thinner (viscosity) with appropriate hydrocolloid
14. Bread Flour make my buttermilk biscuits better.
15. Making Ice cream on the boat is so easy using small and large ziploc bags.  Large bag with 600g of ice and 200g of salt (temperature drops to 22F), and small bag with 90g cream, 100g milk, and 20g sugar placed the larger bag and shake for 10 minutes.
16. Not a fan of chocolate, so I had to eat all those Chocolate Lava cakes-no chocolate for a year or more now.
17. Fermentation for beer and wine.  Understanding distillation of alcohol. Why whisky or rum will stay good on the boat but not beer and wine, because nothing can grow in the high alcohol content.
18. Making breads and pastries: thank you Joanne Chang, understanding why salt is needed to kill off some of the overproducing yeast in the bread.  Burping and farting yeast molecules.
19. 10 sessions of research, homework, and labs (eating)
20. Pesto (adding a little flat parsley to reduce darking of the basil)
21. Viscosity: Mac and cheese, make a roux of flour and butter before adding the cheeses and milk-increases the viscosity and improves the taste on the tongue
22. Elasticity: cooked proteins in bread or meat changed the mouth feel and reduces the chew factor from the uncooked foods
23. Cooked Noodles: you do not have to wait for the water to boil before adding the uncooked noodles.  Add the noodles when the water is cold and heat it up and use less water, to save energy and water.  Adding salt to the water barely affects the temperature, so save the salt and do not add to the water.
24. Use Ice water to revive wilted lettuce in 30 seconds
25. Aioli is an emulsion garlic, olive, oil, and egg yolk, (alioli is without egg yolk)
    

Boat and Smoke Alarm with fried Salmon Croquette

The dogs and I are having a quiet evening on the boat with them praying that I drop something. Fried Salmon in the air, pasta in boiling water, heated up enhanced Amy's Tomato soup, all while keeping mosquitoes at bay. Right when everything is done, the smoke alarm started going off.

All my focus is to get through the dogs to stop the smoke alarm, and to open hatches as I go. Apparently I just reached the smoke point for olive oil. I now remembered the last time that I fried croquettes, the smoke alarm went off too. Next time remove the battery before I fry croquettes, because leaving the stove is far more dangerous.

From my Galley to Yours

Practice our favorite recipes in your galley (over water or land) and download cooking basics and recipes below for later use.

ziti noodles, homemade tomato sauce, saute zucchini, beef medallions

A novice cook tries to transcend her hungry crew to a tasty paradise.

Crossing the rough waters of Matagorda Bay at lunchtime, I tried out my cooking skills in the galley. I should have tied my waist somehow to the galley. Even with an L-shaped galley I struggled to stay balanced.