Cooking, American Style
Class 1
American Harvest
International Center
at Catholic Charities Community Services
October 1, 2013
Instructor: Virginia Guilford
Cooking, American Style
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Class 1 – American Harvest
Class 2 – Fall Foliage
Class 3 – Supermarkets
Class 4 – Halloween Party
Class 5 – Thanksgiving
Cooking, American Style
Class 1 – American Harvest
• Is there an American Cuisine?
• Seasonal Flavors
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Spring
Summer
Fall/Autumn
Winter
• Basic Kitchen Equipment
• Recipes
• Harvest Favorites and Menus
Is There an American Cuisine?
• Is American cuisine simply a mix of food
from other countries?
• Are there any uniquely American dishes?
• Is there a uniquely American style of
cooking and eating?
Types of American Restaurants
• New American Cuisine
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Union Square Cafe
Gotham Bar & Grill
Mercer Kitchen Restaurant
Cookshop
• American Comfort Food
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Sarabeth’s Bakery
Shake Shack
Clarke’s Standard
Smith & Wolensky
Bobby Van’s
Little Pie Company
• Regional Specialties
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Southern/BBQ
New Orleans
California
New England
• Fast Food
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Burgers
French Fries
Chicken & Waffles
Onion Rings
Chili
Seasonal Foods & Flavors
• Spring
– Chicken, Veal, Ham
– Filet of Sole, Salmon
– Spinach, Asparagus, Peas
– Rhubarb, Strawberries
– Lemon
– White Wine, Iced Tea, Lemonade
– Light green, light yellow, light pink
Seasonal Foods & Flavors
• Summer
– Hot Dogs & Hamburgers, Grilled Steak
– Lobster, Steamed Clams
– Corn, Green Beans, Tomatoes
– Peaches, Apricots
– Raspberries, Blackberries, Marionberries
– Lime
– Gin, Tequila, Beer, Coca Cola
– Red, white, & blue
Seasonal Foods & Flavors
• Fall/Autumn
– Pork, Turkey
– Clam Chowder, Halibut
– Mushrooms, Parsnips, Turnips, Kale, Sweet
Potatoes, Eggplant
– Apples, Pears, Pomegranates
– Pecans, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg,
Cloves
– Bourbon, Rum, Apple Cider
– Brown, orange, gold
Seasonal Foods & Flavors
• Winter
– Roast Beef, Goose, Cornish Game Hens
– Oysters, Caviar
– Carrots, Potatoes, Turnips,
– Pineapples, Oranges, Grapefuit
– Peppermint, Chocolate, Meringue
– Champagne, Scotch, Cognac
– Red, dark green, silver, gold, white, black
Basic Kitchen Equipment
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1.5-quart & 4-quart saucepans with
covers
Cast-iron skillet
Stainless steel sauté pan
2-quart baking dish
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Microwave safe bowls & plates
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Cookie sheet
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Baking pan
Microwave
Kitchen Range with Oven
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Measuring cups & spoons
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Whisk
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Silicone spatula
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Spatula
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Tongs
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Chef’s knife
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Paring knife
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Instant-read thermometer
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Immersion Blender
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Grater
Recipes
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Molasses Cookies
• Gingered Pears in Phyllo Cups
Butternut Squash Soup
• Ingredients
– 2 Tablespoons butter
– 1 medium yellow onion,
coarsely chopped
– 2 ½ pounds butternut
squash, peeled, seeded,
cut into 1” pieces (about 6
cups)
– 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
– 1 Tablespoon salt
– Dash of Pepper
– 1 ¾ cups chicken broth
– 1 ¾ cups water
• Directions
– Melt butter in a 5-quart
saucepan. Cook onions in
butter, stirring occasionally, until
they are softened & golden.
– Add pieces of squash, the
thyme sprigs, salt, chicken
broth, water. Increase heat to
high, bring to a boil.
– Reduce heat to low, cook for 12
– 15 minutes, until squash is
tender.
– Using an immersion blender,
puree the soup. Add pepper,
and additional salt if needed.
Butternut Squash Soup Variations
• You can substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth, if
you want to make a vegetarian option
• Add different spices, including fresh ginger, coriander,
whole black peppercorns, curry, cumin, cayenne pepper
• Add shrimp, chopped apple, sweet potato
• Substitute apple cider or orange juice for part of the
water
• You can use other kinds of winter squash. Winter
squashes are squashes with firm skin such as pumpkin,
acorn squash, delicata, hubbard, kabocha.
• Serve the soup in cups or bowls with garnishes such as:
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Croutons
Pieces of cooked bacon
Toasted squash seeds
Sour cream or crème fraiche
Thinly sliced rounds of jalepeno peppers
Molasses Cookies
• Directions
• Ingredients
– Preheat oven to 350°F
– 12 Tablespoons butter
– 1 cup granulated sugar – Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Stir
in sugar & molasses. Lightly beat egg
– ¼ cup molasses
and add to mixture.
– 1 egg
– Stir flour with spices, salt, & baking
– 1 ¾ cups flour
soda. Add to butter/molasses mixture.
– ½ teaspoon ground
cloves
– Put a sheet of aluminum foil on a baking
– ½ teaspoon ground
sheet. Spoon tablespoonfuls of batter
ginger
onto foil, leaving space for cookies to
– 1 teaspoon ground
spread. Use a second baking sheet as
cinnamon
needed.
– ½ teaspoon salt
– Bake 8-10 minutes at 350°F, until
– ½ teaspoon baking
cookies begin to darken slightly.
soda
– Let cookies cool on foil. Peel away foil
from cookie bottoms when cookies are
cool. Cookies will be soft.
Gingered Pears in Phyllo Cups
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Phyllo Cup Ingredients
– 6 (13-by-17-inch) phyllo
sheets
– 6 Tablespoons butter,
melted
Pear Filling Ingredients
– 2 pears, Anjou or Bartlett
– 3 Tablespoons butter
– 1/3 cup brown sugar
– 2 Tablespoons crystallized
ginger
– Dash salt
– 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
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Phyllo Cup Directions
– Preheat oven to 475°F
– Brush each sheet of phyllo dough
with butter. Create stack of 6
buttered sheets. Cut into 12
rectangles.
– Push phyllo rectangles into muffin
cups.
– Bake 10 minutes. Let cool.
Pear Filling Directions
– Peel, halve, & core pears
– Melt butter in frying pan, add brown
sugar, cook 3 minutes on medium,
until sugar has disolved.
– Add pears, ginger & salt; cook until
pears are tender.
– Stir in chopped walnuts
Fill phyllo cups with pear mixture. Top
with whipped cream.
Phyllo Cup Technique
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Arrange a sheet of phyllo on a large
cutting board and brush the top with
melted butter. Add the next sheet of
phyllo and brush with butter. Continue
until you have a stack of 6 sheets of
phylllo.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo
into 12 approximately 4-by-4-inch
squares.
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Fit 1 square snugly into each well of a
12-well muffin pan, gently pressing the
phyllo into the bottom and up the sides
of each well.
Harvest Favorites
• Cook with Autumn Harvest Ingredients
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Apples, Pears, and Apple Cider
Pumpkins
Carrots, Brussels Sprouts, Turnips, Parsnips
Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes
• Your Fall Menus
– Dinner Party?
– Harvest Picnic?
– Harvest Family Supper?
Presentation Slides and Recipes
• For the presentations for all five
Cooking, American Style classes
• For a document with the all the
recipes from all the classes
Go to the Docs & Links page of my
website at
www.virginiaguilford.com