Jeffrey Saad's Passion For Food » Jeffrey next food network star

Soup filled tender Chinese bun with succulent pork on the streets of Shanghai

Jeffrey Saad — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:00:13 +0000

There is nothing better than when something that is built up so much turns out to be just as good as promised! That was

the case with these soup filled buns (called shengjian). Many told me that it was a food experience not to miss. They were all right. Check out the video. Enjoy.

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Hong Kong, Shanghai, amazing food, great people, another soul-enriching experience!!

Jeffrey Saad — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:29:55 +0000

I just landed in the San Francisco airport from Hong Kong. I am waiting for my final leg home to Los Angeles. What a challenge to try to summarize for you the most amazing 8-day culinary journey! Ken (my great friend) and me ate our way through Hong Kong and China while laughing, meeting great people and embracing a totally new culture. I am so excited to be able to understand the word “China” with so much familiarity now. Like everywhere in the world the people are great when you are great to them. I cooked and met with the most dynamic chefs from our $1.50 lunch of Malatang (soup made to order from the ingredients you choose) on the street (literally) to Chef Chen who runs an 800 seat restaurant and taught me how to make the famous soup filled buns (xiaolongbao and shengjian) to my cooking class with Chef Cecilia Au-Yang where I learned to make dim sum and the secrets of great stir-fry.

As much as I missed my wife and kids Ken was the perfect travel partner. He is passionate about food and life and the greatest friend someone can ask for. We ate practically non-stop all day long. I would have driven Nadia and the kids crazy! When we weren’t eating we were talking to someone about food or immersing our selves in the “wet” markets (fish, meat, produce) or dry markets (If it can be found in water or on land it is available dried in bulk). I could not take it in fast enough. Chinese food is so dynamic. I had the best version of the classics that I have had in Chinese restaurants like BBQ pork (char siu), noodle dishes, and perfectly cooked full flavored chicken. I also experienced flavors and textures that I had never tried before from the unique texture of the salt-preserved “1000-year egg”, the spongy textured and incredibly tasty fish maw (the gas chamber of a fish that allows it to swim upright) to chicken feet and fish heads. Just when I thought flour had exhausted its amazing self in the world of breads and pastas I experienced a whole new world of flour made delights (buns, dumplings, and numerous wrappers). Like every country I have been to you can eat in the restaurants at home and experience food from around the world but it is never the same as going to the source. When you understand the heart and soul of a place and its people you understand the food in a totally different way. Watch for future blogs as I share specific experiences with delicious details along with pictures and videos. Until then I hope you are eating well and enjoying life! I can’t wait to kiss my wife and kids!

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Egg Tuesday from Hong Kong, 1000-year-old egg!

Jeffrey Saad — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:52:22 +0000

I hope this finds you enjoying a perfectly cooked egg! I am off on a culinary adventure to expand my horizons and eat my way through China. From stir fry to noodles to the most amazing Dim Sum. Without fail the egg always finds its way into my amazing food experiences. This trip is no exception. I just enjoyed a very different egg here in Hong Kong. It is called a preserved egg, “1000 year old egg”. The egg is covered in a ground mixture of oak, salt, calc (lime), and other ingredients. It is then buried in the ground. It is very important that the ground is a certain temperature so that the egg is perfect after 28 days. After 28 days they un-earth it and it looks like a brilliant green perfectly colored Easter egg. When you peel it you find a golden egg white that has the texture of a perfectly hard cooked egg. As you get closer to the yolk the green color deepens until you get to the jade like jewel center. It is incredible!!! It tastes like a perfect deviled egg re-constructed. There is a mild earthy flavor. The yolk is firm as if you had hard-cooked it but lusciously creamy and pleasantly pasty. This is not something I will be trying at home but as the lover of all things egg it was a magical experience! Watch for more blogs next week with lots more tasty egg adventures in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Enjoy!

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Feed the hungry by making a pledge (no cost) to eat good do good everyday. America’s egg farmers are donating up to one million eggs to feed the hungry.

Fish tacos at Disneyland’s, hope to see you!

Jeffrey Saad — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:22:49 +0000

I am exited to be featured at this years Disney’s California Food and Wine Festival. I am going to be cooking up these tacos today, tomorrow and Sunday at 2:00 at Disneyland. It is at the Culinary Demonstrations, Sunshine Plaza, Disney’s California Adventure Park. If you happen to be there I would love to see you!

Achiote fish tacos with spicy pickled red onions. The flavors are inspired by my travels to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The bright reddish-orange annatto seed is the key to the earthy, warm flavor of achiote. When mixed with toasted cumin seed, Mexican oregano and a touch of black pepper the spice comes to life! This spice blend is great for fish tacos on the grill in the summer as well as rubbed on a pork chop or chicken breast and cooked indoors in the cooler months. I rub the fish with the spice mixture and then squeeze a touch of orange and lime juice on the fish to “activate” the spice. The moment the fish hits the hot oil in the pan the brilliant orange color bleeds into the oil. You get a mouth-watering golden orange crust on the fish. Flip it over and you know it is done cooking when a spatula slid halfway underneath the fish and lifted up breaks the fish. I break the seared morsels of fish onto a grilled tortilla and top it with creamy avocado, fresh chopped cilantro, crunchy shreds of green cabbage, grated cotija cheese and the spicy pickled red onions. I love they way two ingredients; salt and lime juice, transform hot, sharp red onions into to strips of bright pink, slightly crunchy and sweet shreds of pleasure. By adding some chopped habanero to the onions you get that “sweet heat” that I love. The bright citrus note of the habanero chile along with its piercing heat creates the perfect balance to the creamy avocado, the salty, slightly nutty cotija cheese and the fresh cilantro. The earthy, slightly pungent flavor of the spice rub encases the tender fish and remains the star flavor for sure. Whip up a margarita and make an early toast to summer! This spice blend as well as four others: Chinese, Italian, Indian and Mexican BBQ will be available here on my website in the next week. Enjoy.

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be Happy

Leftovers, Dandelion salad, and a killer red wine!!!

Jeffrey Saad — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:20:33 +0000

Hello! I hope this finds you on your way to a great meal or just finished with one.

The only bitter in our household last night was in the salad and it was the best kind of bitter. We had some leftover Mac N Cheese that my daughter made, some leftover roast pork and that was going to be our dinner. I realized we needed a cleansing element to balance out the richness of the other two. I had a bunch of dandelion greens. I also had some Marcona almonds. I started to mind taste and got excited about sherry vinegar (sherry wine and Marcona almonds are a classic food/wine match that will rock your culinary world). I made a quick dressing with sherry vinegar, good xv olive oil, a pinch of salt and a handful of Marcona almonds that I crushed in a sandwich bag. The crushed almonds blended into the oil and vinegar (with just a whisk) giving it a natural thickness as well as the full toasted almond flavor. I cut up some sweet tomatoes (hard to find this time of year) into small slices and salted them to extract their juice and flavor. I tossed it all together with the dandelion greens. What an awesome combo. The dandelion greens are REALLY bitter but super flavorful and hardy. A kiss of arugula mixed with the bitterness of endive yet a bright green herbaceous quality unique to dandelion. The sweet tomato was the perfect offset to the bitterness. The best discovery was how cleansing the salad was with the richness of the Mac N Cheese (which my daughter did a brilliant job making. Gruyère, cheddar and Parm, cooked perfectly al dente with some beautiful toasted breadcrumbs on top) and the pork. Because we were eating leftovers I could justify spending a little more on the vino by cracking a nice bottle (can you picture my wife shaking her head with my rationalizations?) The wine was 2008 “The Chocolate Block” from South Africa. A blend of 69% Syrah (spicy, black pepper fruit), 12% Grenache (that is all it took to bring forward it’s Smokey, leathery beauty), then some Cabernet, Cinsault, and the white Rhone varietal Viognier. It would be easy to get scared when you see a combination of varietals from Bordeaux and the Rhone, red and white grapes and made in South Africa. That is the new wine world we live in and it was BRILLIANT. It was brilliant by itself with enough fresh acidity to not require food. It was not great with the salad. The bitterness of the greens conflicted with the tannin in the wine and left the fruit and acid out of balance. You really need a white wine with good acid (sauvignon blanc) with a salad. The next bite/sip combo was with the Mac N Cheese. Better than the salad but the heaviness of the cream stripped away too much of the tannin in the wine leaving it a little “thin”. That is why dry aged cheese is always better with red wine than triple cream/soft type cheesed. Still very enjoyable though. The home run was the pork and wine. The protein in meat is always a natural with red wine and the pork had been braised with fennel seed and orange zest. It married beautifully with the black pepper fruit and smokiness of the wine and made both the food and the wine better (the ultimate goal with a food and wine match). For those of you getting into wine/food pairings just remember the goal is to trust you palate. As Josh Wesson taught us long ago don’t get into the “red with meat and white with fish rule”. Look at the cooking technique, the sauce and your mood and then decide on a wine that is likely to match. More to come…

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Puerta Vallarta – A spicy ending to a “sweet” week! Tacon De marlin

Jeffrey Saad — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 21:42:33 +0000

I hope this finds you relaxed from a fun, tasty, family and friend filled Easter weekend! We just got back from Puerta Vallarta and had a great trip. My first visit to Mexico was almost 20 years ago. Almost every year I go back and always make a new discovery. From harvesting blue agave in the village of Tequila to chilling on the beach Mexico is truly the greatest place.

The people, the food, the land, all amazing! Each time I have gone I have been able to speak Spanish better. I have really learned that language truly is the key to discovering the world through the people. The more I speak the warmer people are and the more we connect. I love it. Check out this video. I am have been trying to go to this place for five years and finally made it. Awesome!!!

Egg Tuesday – The decadence of the egg!

Jeffrey Saad — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:30 +0000

As the spokesperson for the incredible edible egg and America’s egg farmers I blog about cooking eggs every Tuesday.Last week I was all about delivering the egg’s vitamins and minerals in a very light, healthy form. This week the egg is taking me down memory lane to Paris. In France the egg transforms what is really a grilled ham and cheese sandwich into something gourmet and decadent; a croque Madame. A croque monsieur is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with béchamel sauce inside and broiled, crispy brown gruyere cheese outside.

Once you put a fried egg on top it earns the title of croque Madame. In France they often eat it for lunch. My family loves it for breakfast when we are really hungry and want a hearty start to the day. It is also a perfect brunch item. You can cut it into fourths and serve it in addition to your other brunch items like waffles, French toast, etc.When you cut the fried egg the yolk creates a beautiful sauce on top of the grilled cheese. As you cut the sandwich the sauce sinks into the bread to create a slightly chewy, moist but still crispy bite of ham and cheese. The golden gruyere cheese on top has a sharp nuttiness to it (you can use any kind of cheese you like) and the creamy fontina cheese is soft and mild inside acting similar to the texture of a béchamel. Check out the video and see how I have made what could be a time consuming gourmet treat quick and easy. Enjoy!
Feed the hungry by making a pledge (no cost) to eat good and do good everyday. America’s egg farmers are donating up to one million eggs to feed the hungry.

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

San Francisco, consulting, Scotch cocktail and Thai food with the familia!

Jeffrey Saad — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:49:01 +0000

I hope this finds you with the great taste of a meal lingering in your mouth and a smile on your face.

Wow! Just got back from ten days of restaurant consulting in San Francisco. I helped my friend Ken open his third location of the Grove. The Grove is a very cool San Francisco restaurant. They are open for breakfast at 7:00am and go straight through until 11:00pm everyday. You can have everything from a bagel or huevos rancheros to salads, grill-pressed sandwiches and several classics like mac/cheese, lasagna and chicken pot pie. Ken insists that every menu item is “best in class”. I have been working on the menu and the overall operation front door to back door for almost a decade. Check out the Moroccan salad with harissa roasted garbanzo beans, oil cured black olives and feta cheese. Or keep it simple with the Lasagna. We just tweaked the Bolognese sauce taking it to a whole new level. The Cuban grilled pressed sandwich has a shallot/orange/black pepper glaze that adds a sweet spice to the tender Prorchetta. I am very proud of what we have done there. Check it out next time you are in SF and let me know what you think.

We are moving to SF in July so the family was up for a couple days so we could check schools for the kids and have some time together. It was a great balance of intense work, family and of course a couple great local SF meals. One was at Pizzeria Delfina and the other was at Salt House. That is a couple blogs worth of pleasure alone.

I landed at LAX last night on an early flight than the familia so I went to the store and got the ingredients for a Thai beef dinner. Skirt steak marinated in oyster and fish sauce, basil, ginger and garlic cloves ground to a paste all in the wok and served over rice.

I was staring at a pile of unused chopped ginger as I was pondering what cocktail to make. I decided on a ginger simple syrup (super easy. Mix equal parts sugar and water and bring to a boil with the ginger. Boil for a minute, turn off and let cool). I took a couple tablespoons of that over ice with a shot of scotch, a splash of deep, dark stout beer and some soda water. A quick shake and it was awesome. The Scotch was prominent but its power was tamed by the soda water and the viscosity of the stout beer. The stout added an almost cream-like affect to the texture. The ginger made itself known but only as a compliment to the complex peaty flavors of the scotch and the toasted barley and malt flavor of the beer. There was just enough sweetness to bring everything into balance. Cheers!

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Tomatillos, fresh mozzarella and the decadence of the fryer

Jeffrey Saad — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:34:57 +0000

Lightly fried slices of tomatillos coated in masa harina, toasted cumin and oregano on a slice of fresh mozzarella with a drizzle of cilantro oil.

I got a home fryer so I am creating some new fried recipes. As I always say the key to life is moderation. Eat everything, just not too much! It is hard to beat the rich flavor and texture frying provides. I am using canola oil which keeps it healthier. I remember working in my first restaurant when I was 13 and one of my jobs was to cut the boxes of lard open and drop them into the fryer! Those days are gone but the beauty of frying is not.This was a five-minute dish that was so satisfying. A tomatillo is actually in the gooseberry family but you can think of it as a green tomato in texture and taste. Its natural acidity balances the crispy fried coating of masa. (You could also use finely ground corn tortillas). The slice of crispy tomatillo, still hot, sunk into the slice of fresh mozzarella. You get the crispness tartness of the tomatillo and then the most decadent rich milky mouthfeel from the mozzarella. The toasted corn flavor of the masa, oregano and cumin play catch in your mouth with the fresh cilantro. This was a perfect appetizer with a glass of Torrontes (White wine from Argentina with an herby crispness).

You can easily do this in a deep pan with an inch or two of oil. Slice the tomatillo(first pull of the husk and rinse under hot water to remove sticky coating). Toss it in a mixture of the masa harina (or ground corn tortillas) and spices. Drop it in the oil until golden on both sides. Lay it while hot on your slice of fresh mozzarella and drizzle some olive oil on top with some fresh chopped cilantro. A pinch of salt it always key to bring all the flavors together. Enjoy!

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

The obvious is not always so obvious; seasoned bread crumbs!

Jeffrey Saad — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:56:47 +0000

I hope this finds you with the lingering taste of a great meal in your mouth!
I always use my spice grinder ($20 coffee grinder) to grind whole spices. I love the way this releases their powerful, flavorful, fresh oils into whatever I am cooking. Grinding whole spices is a quick, easy way to boost the flavor of your food.

After grinding spices I have always used a scrap of baguette or slice of bread to “mop” out the spice grinder. I drop in the bread, pulse while shaking, and watch the bread turn into crumbs as it cleans the inside of the grinder perfectly. What I never paid attention to is the amazingly fragrant, perfectly seasoned breadcrumbs that were the bi-product of my cleaning. I used to just toss them!

I made a cauliflower soup, cleaned the grinder out to remove the cardamom flavor/smell and then sautéed those cardamom scented bread crumbs in olive oil as a topping for the soup. Awesome!

How about cleaning out the grinder with tortilla chips and then using those cumin/oregano/chile scented chips to garnish your enchiladas. Hello!!

There is no end to the discoveries that lead to more pleasurable eating. Life is good.

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy