http://www.saltshaker.net/20060328/radicchio-confit Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:13:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060328/radicchio-confit#comment-289 Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Bold Flavors of the World Mon, 03 Apr 2006 02:06:19 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060328/radicchio-confit#comment-289 [...] Thinking about writing an Ode to Radicchio, but your poetry talents are nearly non-existent and limited to reasonably good attempts at haiku. Why don’t you cook then a Radicchio Confit?  It is a mouth watering recipe that will make you forget about the nonsense radicchio-poem attempt! An excerpt from the original post follows. For the complete version visit the Argentinean Radicchio Paradise! After six hours in a slow oven the whole thing had come together beautifully. The radicchio itself has darkened without browning, and it’s taken on a certain transluscent quality from the oil it has absorbed. It’s not quite the same as meat, where the idea in slow, low heat cooking, is to dissolve the collagen that makes meat chewy, resulting in “spoon tender” meat, but it’s akin - the texture changes to one that is clearly solid, but no longer crunchy - it avoids the wilting that occurs over direct heat, and the wedges stay nicely intact. The garlic, too, has softened and poached through, and makes a nice accompaniment served along with the radicchio. I let the radicchio stay in its oil until cool, then put it in the refrigerator overnight. Obivously this is a long process, but could be speeded up to a single day - brine overnight, poach during the work day, and let steep in the oil until later in the evening when you make dinner - I doubt the flavors would be all that different. [...] [...] Thinking about writing an Ode to Radicchio, but your poetry talents are nearly non-existent and limited to reasonably good attempts at haiku. Why don’t you cook then a Radicchio Confit?  It is a mouth watering recipe that will make you forget about the nonsense radicchio-poem attempt! An excerpt from the original post follows. For the complete version visit the Argentinean Radicchio Paradise! After six hours in a slow oven the whole thing had come together beautifully. The radicchio itself has darkened without browning, and it’s taken on a certain transluscent quality from the oil it has absorbed. It’s not quite the same as meat, where the idea in slow, low heat cooking, is to dissolve the collagen that makes meat chewy, resulting in “spoon tender” meat, but it’s akin - the texture changes to one that is clearly solid, but no longer crunchy - it avoids the wilting that occurs over direct heat, and the wedges stay nicely intact. The garlic, too, has softened and poached through, and makes a nice accompaniment served along with the radicchio. I let the radicchio stay in its oil until cool, then put it in the refrigerator overnight. Obivously this is a long process, but could be speeded up to a single day - brine overnight, poach during the work day, and let steep in the oil until later in the evening when you make dinner - I doubt the flavors would be all that different. [...]

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