Just a little tip

[Chef Barrae]

I understand many of you are low-carbing so I know this won't apply to you guys. But for those that are not at the very low end of the carb scale and enjoy a bit of pasta once in a while I wanted to share a little tidbit about the pasta sauce.

I understand that we are all very busy and on one of those nights I will grab for a jarred pasta sauce myself! Shocking! The chef eats jarred sauce! lol. Seriously though, jarred sauces can contain a lot of hidden sugar and can be quite high in carbs. Juggling the pasta and the sauce is often very difficult. There are some lower or reduced carb jarred sauces out there and they are not terrible at all. I am sure that everyone has their favoritie way of "doctoring up" the sauce. Well, what I also do, besides adding garlic, herbs, etc., is add a bit of either chicken or beef stock, depending on what I am serving with the pasta as my protein. By adding the stock not only does it give the sauce a more home cooked taste but it also reduces the carbs a bit simply by increasing the volume of the sauce. It's an easy way to just try and reduce the carb content a little bit. I will add as much as a full cup of stock to a 28 ounce jar of sauce. If the sauce is too thin you can use some freshly grated cheese to tighten it at the end of cooking. It only takes a tablespoon full or so.

Typically, I will enjoy a 3/4 cup serving of pasta (about 34 grams of carbs) with about 1/2 cup of sauce. It's also nice to saute up some vegetables, like mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, etc., and add to the sauce. Don't forget to count the vege's in your carb counting.

I just thought I would share this with you all and see if anyone else does this or something similar.

[reefedjib]

Nice touchups to a jar of pasta sauce. But heck, all that doctoring and you may as well skip the jarred sauce, do a quick salpicon, add your fixins and herbs and reduce a can of tomato sauce. Then you'd know you have a low carb meal. Unfortunately, I can't eat the pasta since I am going on Dr. B's 6-12-12 diet. :(

[Granny Shanny]

This jar sauce advice is good - I've done it for years, by adding diced fresh bell and/or chile peppers, onion, mushrooms, tomato, and no doubt many other things that I've forgotten about over the years.

Am I right in understanding that you are self-taught? I've had no culinary training either; just decades of loving to cook and learning from every good cook I came in contact with.

Thanks for acknowledging that all of us can't tolerate all these carbs. If I may ask a rather personal question (although it's pretty standard on this forum) . . . are you on insulin?

It isn't that some of us are low-carbing just for the heck of it, we low-carb because we are NIDD and can't cover the carbs with insulin. If you are actually insulin-dependent, it would help a lot of us understand where you're coming from when you address the forum with all these great recipes.

And if you ARE non-insulin dependent, let me congratulate you on a smooth-operating metabolism!

[Chef Barrae]

Nice touchups to a jar of pasta sauce. But heck, all that doctoring and you may as well skip the jarred sauce, do a quick salpicon, add your fixins and herbs and reduce a can of tomato sauce. Then you'd know you have a low carb meal. Unfortunately, I can't eat the pasta since I am going on Dr. B's 6-12-12 diet. :(

True, but even a can of tomato sauce has a good carb count to it just as the jarred sauce does. The sauce is not really a true salpicon either, really. As it is pretty saucy and the vege's are a great add on if you like. Maybe at some point down the line you'll be able to have a bit of pasta again? Good luck on your plan. Nothing is easy, is it?

[slwood321]

Thanks. I would have never thought of thinning with broth. Have you tried the Dreamfields pasta yet? It is really good.

[reefedjib]

True, but even a can of tomato sauce has a good carb count to it just as the jarred sauce does. The sauce is not really a true salpicon either, really. As it is pretty saucy and the vege's are a great add on if you like. Maybe at some point down the line you'll be able to have a bit of pasta again? Good luck on your plan. Nothing is easy, is it?

I just remembered the discussion about tomato sauce in Dr. B's book. It is on his No-No list as a high carb item :( Thanks, I'd love to be able to eat Carbonara again! mmmm!

[Chef Barrae]

This jar sauce advice is good - I've done it for years, by adding diced fresh bell and/or chile peppers, onion, mushrooms, tomato, and no doubt many other things that I've forgotten about over the years.

Am I right in understanding that you are self-taught? I've had no culinary training either; just decades of loving to cook and learning from every good cook I came in contact with.

Thanks for acknowledging that all of us can't tolerate all these carbs. If I may ask a rather personal question (although it's pretty standard on this forum) . . . are you on insulin?

It isn't that some of us are low-carbing just for the heck of it, we low-carb because we are NIDD and can't cover the carbs with insulin. If you are actually insulin-dependent, it would help a lot of us understand where you're coming from when you address us with all these great recipes.

Thanks Granny. I am a completely self taught cook with experience in the industry. I jokingly say that I learned to cook at the knee of Julia Child....on PBS! Also, many other Master Chef's back in the day. I have had a passion for cooking for as long as I can remember.

I am not and have never been on insulin. Actually, at the moment I have unfortunately lost my health insurance and have no more meds at all. I am working on getting meds. I am new to your low-carbing thoughts, am trying to understand where you (in general that is) are coming from with it and never meant to sound insulting or no-it-all to anyone. I absolutely understand how foods work differently in different people. In fact, sometimes the same food can have a different result in the same person. As a type 2 I was taking Metformin 1000 mg 2xday, Actos 45 mg 1xday and my doctor had tried me on Januvia for the dawning effect. It really didn't help though and actually raised my BG if I didn't eat carbs before I went to sleep. My last A1c was 6.2 I think. My cholesterol is not a problem and my doctor wishes he had my levels. My blood pressure is a problem but I am bad and love my salt. I do use sea salt, though I really don't believe it is all that much better for you. In fact, I probably have a dozen various kinds of salt in my pantry.

I would like to understand the low-carbing and am beginning to see that it is important for someone who is insulin dependant. That is a whole different ball game, as they say. Thanks for asking about me. I appreciate it.

[Chef Barrae]

Thanks. I would have never thought of thinning with broth. Have you tried the Dreamfields pasta yet? It is really good.

I have tried the Dreamfields pasta, yes. I hadn't had the same luck with it that so many of you seem to have. Too bad because I do love my pasta. I just make it count and ration it out and count every single carb! lol. To me, a little pasta is better than none!

[Granny Shanny]

I would like to understand the low-carbing and am beginning to see that it is important for someone who is insulin dependant. That is a whole different ball game, as they say. Thanks for asking about me. I appreciate it.

What I said was that low-carbing is less necessary if you ARE insulin-dependent, since you can consume plenty of carbs and then use insulin (bolus) to cover what you've eaten.

I am not on insulin either, and keeping my blood glucose under 140 requires significant reduction in carb intake.

I hope you can work out an amicable arrangement with your sodium intake, because hypertension will kill your kidneys just as fast as diabetes does. That's what killed my grandmother at the tender age of 56 - renal failure due to high blood pressure.

Dreamfields has worked for me, but you have to be almost scientific about the cooking time. If it's overcooked by the smallest amount, the carbs become readily digestible and zip! There goes your BG.

[Chef Barrae]

What I said was that low-carbing is less necessary if you ARE insulin-dependent, since you can consume plenty of carbs and then use insulin (bolus) to cover what you've eaten.

I am not on insulin either, and keeping my blood glucose under 140 requires significant reduction in carb intake.

I hope you can work out an amicable arrangement with your sodium intake, because hypertension will kill your kidneys just as fast as diabetes does. That's what killed my grandmother at the tender age of 56 - renal failure due to high blood pressure.

Dreamfields has worked for me, but you have to be almost scientific about the cooking time. If it's overcooked by the smallest amount, the carbs become readily digestible and zip! There goes your BG.

I can't stand over cooked pasta so I am sure that wasn't the problem! lol. My sodium intake is a give and take battle every day. I use fresh ingredients with just a touch. I like Fleur-de-sel so that I can just use a little as a finishing salt.

[reefedjib]

The sauce is not really a true salpicon either, really.

I am a self-taught novice cook, always looking to learn a bit more. I love to cook, but hate to clean, so I actually don't do very much cooking at all. I'm not sure what you mean when you say the above. I am under the impression that a salpicon is like a mirepoix, diced carrots, onions, and celery (I think, or shallots), only finer chopped. When I make a sauce I will saute the salpicon/mirepoix in butter until soft then add the spices and the meat and brown then add the tomatoes and simmer/reduce. This is making my mouth water. :) Am I on the right track with salpicon?

Thanks Chef!

[Granny Shanny]

I think a mirepoix is what you describe . . . a seasoning base of chopped and then sautéed vegetables to use as foundation for other recipes.

I'm less familiar with the term salpicon, but I was under the impression that it is meat which has been minced and a sauce added.

[Chef Barrae]

Salpicon is french. It describes diced ingredients that are bound with a sauce or cream, etc. It can be savory or sweet. Not the same as a mirepoix.

[reefedjib]

I probably should have said mirepoix, then. I am familiar with the term salpicon from a Coq au Vin recipe which I found in the New Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman. My favorite cookbook, which has taught me what little I know. Thanks for the clarification.

[Chef Barrae]

I probably should have said mirepoix, then. I am familiar with the term salpicon from a Coq au Vin recipe which I found in the New Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman. My favorite cookbook, which has taught me what little I know. Thanks for the clarification.

French always confuses me! lol! How did the Coq au Vin come out? Such a yummy dish!

[Abra]

I'm fluent in French, and an ex personal chef. Ask away if you need help!

[reefedjib]

French always confuses me! lol! How did the Coq au Vin come out? Such a yummy dish!

I rarely cook. The Coq au Vin was the last time I cooked, four months ago. I don't know how to cook simply. I like to put hours into it. This recipe took 6 hours and resulted in 8 chicken thighs in a killer sauce. It was great, but we barely had enough for seconds and no leftovers. The finishing of the sauce was
- strain the wine mixture you cooked with
- make a beurre manie and whisk in
- add the garnishes
- simmer for 5 min
- strain the sauce and add garnishes to the chicken
- blend the chicken liver
- add the creme fraiche
- slowly pour in the sauce
- strain using china cap
- flambe cognac into the finished sauce
- ladle over chicken and garnishes.
- wipe sweat from brow
Whew!!

Here is the description:

This is a brown fricassee. This is an authentic and old recipe, without any shortcuts, as is clearly apparent. The great aunt who trained me in the kitchen made a national reputation with it. She received it from the chef who trained her as a young woman in the kitchen of a Loire Valley castle. The chef, born in the second decade of the 1800s, and whose name remains unknown to me, was reputed to have worked in Carême’s kitchen.

The word soigné in kitchen language means finished with the greatest care. Please use only large chicken legs, the breast meat is destroyed by the long simmering in wine. To lighten the work, prepare the garnishes the day before. The liver replaces the chicken blood used in the Loire Valley to thicken the sauce.

Ground bay leaf and thyme from commercial spice jars are all right here as freshly ground herbs may be too strong and overbearing.

[Abra]

That sounds perfect. Your only mistake was in not making a double recipe. I too love multi-day cooking projects, but I always make sure to make tons, so as to have some for the freezer and another day.

[reefedjib]

That sounds perfect. Your only mistake was in not making a double recipe. I too love multi-day cooking projects, but I always make sure to make tons, so as to have some for the freezer and another day.

I would have loved to double or quadrupal the recipe, but my 12" (10"?) sauteuse would only hold the 8 thighs and be covered by the wine mixture while they cooked. :( I obviously need a 24" sauteuse!

[Dis-N-Dat]

This is a great thread, I'm learning so many new terms. As a newly dx'd diabetic and to be completely honest about it,I'm low carbing out of complete fear. Fear that the damage already done will/might get worse. I'm guessing alot of newbies suffer from same.

My husband and I have always loved cooking together, it's a new challenge for us to find a sauce that is low carb and can satisfy him. So far so good, the mushrooms, onions, peppers & olive oil saute are serving...but I know he's ready for the more heady sauces weve been used too. It's really o.k. with me if we make a seperate sauce for him and I've told him so, but he won't do it. He would feel bad, like he was betraying me somehow....this is what I need a solution for.

[Abra]

In the back of Dr. Bernstein's book The Diabetes Diet are over 100 chef-developed recipes that meet his low carb criteria. Every single one of them, including some great-looking sauces, is something I would be happy to make, and I'm extremely discriminating about recipes. I'm going to start cooking my way through them, but just on sight, I really recommend them to any serious cook that's interested in super-low carb.

[Granny Shanny]

And the chef who created the recipes is a chef/restauranteur whose son is type 1.

Anyone who has an account with Amazon can even check some of the recipes by searching inside the book. You have to be logged in, find The Diabetes Diet (http://www.amazon.com/Diabetes-Diet-Bernsteins-Low-Carbohydrate-Solution/dp/0316737844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250880800&sr=1-1), and then in "book sections" go to "index". That will be the recipes index and it gives you page numbers.

I think they aren't ALL available to view, but I just pulled up a couple of them by entering different page numbers (page 168) into the "search inside" slot.

[Chef Barrae]

I rarely cook. The Coq au Vin was the last time I cooked, four months ago. I don't know how to cook simply. I like to put hours into it. This recipe took 6 hours and resulted in 8 chicken thighs in a killer sauce. It was great, but we barely had enough for seconds and no leftovers. The finishing of the sauce was
- strain the wine mixture you cooked with
- make a beurre manie and whisk in
- add the garnishes
- simmer for 5 min
- strain the sauce and add garnishes to the chicken
- blend the chicken liver
- add the creme fraiche
- slowly pour in the sauce
- strain using china cap
- flambe cognac into the finished sauce
- ladle over chicken and garnishes.
- wipe sweat from brow
Whew!!

Here is the description:

An extrodinary recipe, for sure. Does the original recipe call for chicken thighs and legs or is it different? In all the times that I've made coq au vin I've never flambey cognac to finish the sauce but rather added it during the cooking process. The chicken liver or even blood are classic thickeners used for the sauce but I've never heard of adding creme fraiche to it. An interesting touch. What kind of mushrooms did you use? Your cookbook is indeed a treasure.

[reefedjib]

An extrodinary recipe, for sure. Does the original recipe call for chicken thighs and legs or is it different? In all the times that I've made coq au vin I've never flambey cognac to finish the sauce but rather added it during the cooking process. The chicken liver or even blood are classic thickeners used for the sauce but I've never heard of adding creme fraiche to it. An interesting touch. What kind of mushrooms did you use? Your cookbook is indeed a treasure.

It actually calls for 6 chicken legs, but again I had a limitation on what I could fit in my sauteuse, so I ran with 8 thighs. The muchrooms were "button mushrooms".

I'll add that the cookbook is really thick. It is a graduate level text on cooking, primarily French. The great thing about it is it covers all these techniques and prep dishes like the 5 major sauces and varients. It discusses cuts of meat and where from the animal they are made. It is 50% recipes and 50% techniques. Most books are all recipes. That's why I chose it. It is awesome!

Bandwidth is cheap, so here is the full recipe:
Coq au Vin Soigné
By Madeleine Kammon
Edited by Robert Withers

Madeleine’s Note
This is a brown fricassee. This is an authentic and old recipe, without any shortcuts, as is clearly apparent. The great aunt who trained me in the kitchen made a national reputation with it. She received it from the chef who trained her as a young woman in the kitchen of a Loire Valley castle. The chef, born in the second decade of the 1800s, and whose name remains unknown to me, was reputed to have worked in Carême’s kitchen.
The word soigné in kitchen language means finished with the greatest care. Please use only large chicken legs, the breast meat is destroyed by the long simmering in wine. To lighten the work, prepare the garnishes the day before. The liver replaces the chicken blood used in the Loire Valley to thicken the sauce.
Ground bay leaf and thyme from commercial spice jars are all right here as freshly ground herbs may be too strong and overbearing.




Ingredients – Garnish
8 tbls unsalted butter
30 small silverskin onions, peeled, with a small cross cut into their root end
salt and pepper
1/2 lb fresh pork brisket or pancetta
1/2 cup Water
1 lb button mushrooms


Ingredients – Fricassee
1/2 cup clarified butter
1 medium-size carrot, cut into salpicon
2 medium-size yellow onion, cut into salpicon
2 shallots, cut into salpicon
2 tbls coarsely chopped parsley stems
2 cloves garlic, crushed in their skins
2 bottles Cabernet Franc
1 1/2 cups Veal Stock
1 bouquet garni of 10 parsley stems, 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig fresh thyme
6 very large chicken legs, skin left on but trimmed of as much fat as possible
salt and pepper
ground dried thyme
ground dried bay leaf
8 slices French baguette, cut as wide as possible on a slant
1 clove garlic, peeled

Ingredients - Sauce
unbleached all-purpose flour
unsalted butter
1/3 cut small chicken liver, trimmed of fat and pureed
2 tbls crème fraîche
1/4 cup Cognac, Armagnac, or whisky of your choice
1 tbls chopped fresh chives
1 tbls chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves



Coq au Vin Soigne
Day 1
Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the silverskin onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften; raise the heat to medium-high and brown until uniformly deep golden. Season lightly with salt and pepper and empty into a bowl. Do not wash the pan.
If using brisket, cut it into lardons 1 X ⅓ inch. Add ½ cup water to the skillet in which you browned the onions. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and let cook until the water has evaporated and the fat releases from the lardons. Raise the heat slightly and brown the lardons until light golden but not crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to crumpled paper towels to absorb the excess fat. Put in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use.
If using pancetta, also cut it into lardons. Place them in a medium-size saucepan, cover with cold water, and turn the heat to high. Cook until the water turns salty. Drain the lardons and pat dry. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in the skillet in which the onions cooked over medium heat and brown until light golden. Drain and store as for the brisket above.
Discard any pork fat in the skillet, replace it with another tablespoon of butter, and heat over high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 1 minute on high heat. Season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low and cover them a few minutes, until they have lost their juices. Raise the heat to high again and evaporate all these juices until the mushrooms are well browned. Add to the same bowl as the onions and cover; refrigerate overnight.

Day 2
Heat ¼ cup of the clarified butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrot, onions, shallots, parsley stems, and crushed garlic and sauté until golden brown. Gather the vegetable salpicon in one part of the skillet and, lifting it up at an angle, squeeze the butter out of the vegetables. Turn the salpicon into a clean sauteuse, add the wine, stock, and bouquet garni, and reduce to 4 cups over medium-high heat.
While the wine reduces, season the chicken legs with salt and pepper and sprinkle them lightly with the thyme and bay leaf. Let stand at room temperature, covered, until the wine mixture is properly reduced. Empty into a bowl.
Clean the sauteuse, heat 3 more tablespoons raw butter and slowly brown the chicken legs very thoroughly on all sides over medium heat; discard the butter. Add the reduced wine mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered with the lid slightly askew, until the chicken is tender when tested with a skewer, 35 to 40 minutes.
While the chicken cooks, dry the baguette slices for 10 minutes in a preheated 350°F oven. Rub them with the peeled garlic clove and fry them in the remaining ¼ cup of clarified butter over medium heat. Set aside.
Remove the chicken legs to a large ovenproof country dish. [Ed. It is my opinion that the salpicon should be strained off at this point]. Measure the amount of cooking juices. For each cup you have, mash together 1 tablespoon each flour and unsalted butter to make a beurre manié. In a medium-size saucepan, bring the cooking juices to a small boil, and whisk in the beurre manié until no lumps are visible. Add the refrigerated garnishes to the sauce, bring back to a simmer, and cook together a full 5 minutes over medium heat. Strain the sauce through a conical strainer into another saucepan and add the garnishes to the chicken legs.
Put the chicken liver in a blender and add the crème fraîche. Start the blender, gradually pour in the hot sauce, and process until smooth. Strain into a clean saucepan using a China cap. Heat the chosen spirit in a small pan, light it, and whisk it, flambéing, into the finished sauce. Correct the seasoning and ladle evenly over the chicken and its garnishes, sprinkle the dish with the chives and parsley mixed, and decorate with the slices of baguette.




Equipment
large skillet (onions, lardons, mushrooms, salpicon, bread)
bowl (onions and mushrooms)
medium saucepan (clarified butter, pancetta lardons, sauce)
small bowl (lardons)
sauteuse (deep skillet with lid) (wine mixture, chicken legs, fricassee)
4 cups bowl (wine mixture)
large ovenproof country dish (Le Creuset?)
whisk
conical strainer (sauce and garnishes)
2nd saucepan (sauce)
china cap (sauce)
small pan (flambeing whisky)
ladle

[Chef Barrae]

Rob, how very kind of you to post the entire recipe. I am going to add it to my computer files now. I understand how you feel about your cookbook. I have two that really hit my "soft spot" and I cherish. One was passed down through three generations of women in my family and was written in 1942. It is fabulous and has many of what I thought were more modern recipes but were just called by a different name back then. The other cookbook is a textbook from the Culinary Institute of America. It is my cooking bible. Every technique you can think of is included and all the how to's of butchering, etc. as well as some really great recipes. Those are only two from my very large collection but are my favorites that I couldn't get along without. Thanks again for the Coq au Vin recipe.

[reefedjib]

Chef Barrae, I am very glad you like and that it will be put to good use. I think it is pretty low-carb, other than the baguette garnish. :)

[Chef Barrae]

Chef Barrae, I am very glad you like and that it will be put to good use. I think it is pretty low-carb, other than the baguette garnish. :)

The baguette is sorely missed to soak up that delicious sauce! Other than that, it is really just the wine that has carbs and it's not like you're drinking a bottle full on your plate! YUM! Thanks again for the recipe!