Dancing Spoon

About Mustard

Tips Tasty

by Anna Tourkakis
More Than Ballpark Yellow
When we think of must-have ingredients, mustard is not usually one that comes to mind, even though most of us have a jar of it in the refrigerator. The only time we might give mustard some thought is when it’s devotedly paired with a hot dog. We don’t often consider the various uses and types of mustards with their unique blend of flavors and textures.

Prepared mustard is a mixture of crushed mustard seeds, vinegar or wine, and salt or spices. Some common flavorings include honey, horseradish, cranberries, onions, wine and peppers. Mustard can be a smooth paste or coarse depending on how finely the seeds are grounded. Mustard gets its pungent flavor from an essential oil that forms when the seeds are crushed and mixed with water. Yellow, Dijon, Dijon style, whole grain, and brown mustard are the more common types. Additionally, there is mustard powder or flour, which is used in making very hot English mustard and Chinese mustard.

Yellow mustard also known as American or “ballpark” mustard is mild and vinegary. Dijon mustard, named after the city in the Burgundy region of France, is made with wine, and so it is a smooth mustard, with a rich complex flavor. Dijon style is similar to Dijon but not made in Burgundy. Whole grain mustard can have whole, coarse or fine seeds. Brown mustard is better known as spicy brown mustard.  Mustard is used as a condiment for meat or deli meats or as a flavoring ingredient in sauces, stews, marinades and salad dressings.

Mustard also acts as an emulsifier resulting in a creamy mixture especially useful in salad dressings. Given that each type imparts a unique flavor and texture careful consideration can yield a more rewarding recipe.

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Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations. Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations.

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Anna Tourkakis

Contributors Our

Anna Tourkakis, DTR, MPA/H
Anna's column on Dancng Spoon, Tasty Tips, combines nutrition, cooking tips, and great, healthy recipes. Anna is a Nutrition Counselor, a teacher and an international expert in healthy eating habits. She has been teaching healthy eating and nutrition for over 20 years. Her rapidly expanding program “Eating From Within” provides ideas on meal planning, food choices and physical activity, habits and satiety. She details these ideas in her presentation “Pieces to a Healthy Weight—Solving the Puzzle” which is part of her workplace wellness program.    

Anna teaches nutrition to foodservice professionals at North Shore Community College in Danvers, MA, and gives cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations. She prepares quick, easy, healthy, and delicious meals that are versatile and family friendly. Her passion for healthy nutrition and great food is highlighted in her recipes.

Anna offers personal and corporate nutrition consulting services, including presentations on “Pieces to a Healthy Weight,” “Modifying Recipes,” “Food and Fitness,” and “Women’s Wellness” among others.

Anna is a Diet Technician Registered, member of the American Dietetic Association, and the Massachusetts Dietetic Association. She holds a Master Degree in Public Administration, concentration in Health.

Anna is available for cooking demonstrations and individual and group nutrition counseling.

Anna's new cookbook Delicious Simplicity is now available. It's packed with quick-and-easy recipes, Delicious Simplicity is your go-to cookbook for scrumptious meals. Save time and money while preparing delectable recipes that make nutritious eating in your busy life practical. Buy Delicious Simplicity.

Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA
Nutrition Consultant
Questions or comments?

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O’Reilly’s Most Excellent Scones

Scones Visionary

by Edie Freedman

Tim O’Reilly’s Most Excellent Scones
Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media (oreilly.com), is many things: visionary, writer, technology advocate, and much more. He also happens to be an excellent baker.

I have worked with my friend Tim for nearly two decades and I know that his scones are legendary; he makes them for friends, colleagues, and just about anyone who shows up around breakfast time chez O’Reilly. I can speak from experience: it’s hard not to wolf down more than your share of these wonderful pastries, especially when they’re just out of the oven.

Tim's most excellent scone recipe follows...

Choosing Bordeaux Wines

Wine About

by Eric Olson
Well, it's Tuesday evening about five o’clock in the early evening and as the temperature is going down outside, my feelings for Bordeaux go up inside. Haven't touched one all summer as I find them too aggressive in warmer weather but not so in the fall and winter. Just opened the newly arrived Ch. Haut-Gacherie, 2005 vintage and find it a nice "transition" Bordeaux. Certainly not too aggressive, but fairly mild with some modest tannins, and simple fruit and earth flavors. Good beginner wine if your interested in trying what I'm talking about for a modest $12.

The Bordeaux region is close to the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest section of France and produces an enormous amount of wine. The world's most famous wines, Latour, Lafite, Mouton, Margaux, Haut Brion, and Petrus to name a few, make up only a minuscule amount of what is produced and are out of most mortals reach. The good news: this vast ocean of wine produces many very fine affordable wines.

Bordeaux wines are, when made well, rich, layered, fruity, and very, very dry, with complex earth and mineral components that compliment a wide array of foods. They are made from predominately Cabernet Sauvignon grapes when grown on the left bank of the Gironde River, or Merlot grapes when grown on the right bank. A must for all serious wine drinkers, Bordeaux wines are the apex of drinking pleasure when served properly. But, with over 7000 chateaux and over 40 sub appellations, they are a wine student's nightmare. Some thoughts...

All Bordeaux must be made with only five grape varieties: the Cabernet grape dominating on the left bank (or Medoc side); on the right bank (St. Emilion, Pomeral and many other "lesser" appellations), Merlot is the main ingredient. It's takes a real expert to discern the right bank wines from the left, and so my point is, why bother? To search for a St. Emilion, for example, is not necessary. Vintage and price is much more important than appellation. If you want to spend $20 on a St. Emilion, fine, but you might be better off with a wine shop that can guide you to a better $20 Medoc or St. Julien. In other words, it should be a good Bordeaux you should seek, not any particular region over another. Vintages are important in Bordeaux, but as I said earlier they are sometimes self leveling (But What About Vintages?). You will pay less for the 2004 vintage than the highly acclaimed 2005, so the ‘04 may, in fact, be the better value.

On and on we can go but I do not want to confuse or scare you off. The best thing to do is visit your local wine shop and talk about the wines and taste some examples. It is much easier to talk about wine than to write about it. Especially after a few tastings.

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Handcrafted Kitchen Knives

Kitchen Handcrafted

by J. Michael Wheeler
Kitchen Art That Starts in Your Hand
It doesn't matter what your passion is: when you've got it, you've got it. We recently had the pleasure of meeting Adam Simha, a master at handcrafting kitchen knives. He is very passionate about his craft. He makes superlative bench-made knives. We are honored to be one of the only venues where MKS Design knives are sold.

Knife designer Adam Simha designs and handcrafts absolutely superb bench-made high-performance steel blades for his knives. These designs feature body geometry influenced by the best of both Asian and Western traditions. His blades are tempered to a Rockwell 56 hardness to provide toughness, easy sharpening, and remarkable edge holding. Steels used in the different blades are 13C26, 440-C, 154CM, and SF77 stainless.

The unique grip: MKS knives come with an injection-molded bicycle grip that is tightly fitted over a naturally bacteria-resistant stainless steel tube. The bicycle grip, with its deep grooves for the fingers, provides a perfect balance of shock absorption and control.

Each knife is tuned precisely for weight, balance, and control. They are visually remarkable and functionally exquisite and have been featured in many publications including Atlantic Monthly, the Boston Globe, City, and Kitchenware News.

Foodie's Emporium is proud to be an exclusive online retailer of Adam's amazing knives.

MKS Design Knives are produced in limited quantities and are available at Foodies Emporium.

For a very limited time we are offering our readers
10% OFF any MKS Design Knife Selection or Knife Set.
Use Promo Code MKSPRCNT at check out.

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Grilled Lobster & Arugula

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding

Grilled Lobster Tail with Arugula
& Sherry-Ginger Vinaigrette
I was recently asked by Dancing Spoon’s own, J. Michael Wheeler, “Are the lobsters still as good when they're shedding and have soft shells? And are summer lobsters as good as cold weather lobsters?” I know some people that disagree with me but I have never tasted anything as sweet and tender as a Maine lobster in the summer that is shedding. And, they are easier to eat because you can break the soft, cooked lobster shells with your hands.

My friends just arrived this week for a visit from New Haven, CT. We treated them to lobsters just caught from a local lobsterman and friend.  We ate them the old fashioned way: with lots of newspapers on the table, paper towels galore, fresh picked corn on the cob and melted, salted butter. We finished it off with my new Blueberry Cake recipe. The consensus was — sweet, tender, and just keep them coming!

I bought extra lobsters to test for this new recipe below, which we had for lunch. The sherry really adds another level of richness to this already decadent crustacean. YUM!!!

Garlic with Your Pesto?

Memories Taste

by J. Michael Wheeler
A Pesto to Remember
My most memorable pesto experience was in the tiny French fishing village of Villefranche Sur Mer just down the coast from Nice, heading towards Italy. (French and Italian cuisine tend to overlap down there.) We were at a tiny restaurant in the vielle ville, and our waitress, cook, and owner were all the same smiling French grandmother. We sat on a sunny little stone patio behind the restaurant and were her only customers for a late lunch. She didn't seem to mind. When we ordered her pesto, she smiled, turned to the big planter pots that surrounded the patio and plucked some basil from the plants growing right there. Then she asked us if we liked garlic.

“Oui, bien sur!” we answered. What’s pesto without garlic, we thought? Certainly Madame felt the same way. Our pesto arrived, sur commande, tossed over fresh pasta, was fragrantly bright green, shimmered with local olive oil, and was absolutely explosive with garlic! When Madame demandé if we liked garlic, she meant do we really like garlic! Well, we certainly did that day.

Pesto is one of those really simple magic sauces: some olive oil, a little garlic, fresh basil, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. You mix it up in a blender, food processor, or, traditionally, using a mortal and pestle.

Pesto can be a sauce for pasta or it can top a nice piece of grilled fish, or a steak, or used in an omelet. Spread it on bruschetta or even whisk some in olive oil for a fresh tasty salad dressing. Make a bunch of it: it freezes really well. Use the ice cube tray trick: fill the tray with pesto, cover it, freeze it, then take out your pesto-cubes and bag ‘em. 

Coming up: Pesto with sautéed scallops (with a little tasty twist).

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Stay Sharp: How to Use a Steel

Tips Kitchen

 by J. Michael Wheeler
How to Keep Your Knives Sharp
Did you ever notice that the chefs in their tall white toques at the banquets, brunches, and museum openings you’re always going to, seem to sharpen their knives a lot? They’ve got a knife in one hand and a sharpening steel (pictured here) in the other. But while they may be making their knives sharper using the sharpening steel, they’re not really sharpening their knives!

“Picky, picky, picky,” you say. Well, yes, but let me make a point. (Sorry.) To actually sharpen a knife you need to use a knife sharpening tool, an electric sharpener, or traditionally, a sharpening stone. Whichever tool you use, it reshapes the knife’s cutting edge by grinding away tiny amounts of the blade. If you’ve carefully sharpened the blade at a 20 degree angle, you’ve got a sharp knife.

But while your knife may be sharp, the edge of your knife will be left rough and uneven. A sharpening steel aligns the blade and tiny burrs. And just a few minutes of slicing can knock your knife’s delicate edge out of alignment, and even microscopically bend or fold the edge. Time, again, for the sharpening steel.

Knife designer Adam Simha has these tips on maintaining your knife’s sharpness by using a sharpening steel. And please, be careful.