My YouTube Tutorials on DIY Food Projects
Please subscribe to my channel here! And, if you want to start a Rubin aka White Wolf fan club I’m all for it. He’s the real star in these.
How to Make Sauerkraut
I put this 15 minute video together in the early spring of 2021 for Portland Farmers Market + the excellent Portland non-profit Cook First PDX + the City of Portland’s Fix-it Fair program. They aired it with a Q&A before and after (you can watch the entire program with the Q&A with me and Wing Grabowski here) to help inspire folks to get some cabbage from the farmers market and ferment up some delicious and nutritious kraut at home. It’s a foolproof, fun recipe and you can access the recipe in video form on YouTube or you can head over to the Cook First website for the printable PDF of it along with many other yummy seasonal recipes.
How to Form Dumplings
I originally made this video in 2019 for the 20-plus recipe testers for my cookbook Dumplings Equal Love. Once the book published in the fall, I thought it would be helpful to rejigger the video for any and all home cooks. I also did another all about dumpling making tools and equipment, see below. My boyfriend Jimbo (http://ilovejimbo.com) produced both videos and added some fun elements like music that he created with his Deluge synthesizer/sampler/sequencer and a fun animation with my dog Rubin aka the White Wolf. I hope that both videos are helpful for you on your dumpling making journey. Happy cooking & have a yummy time!
Dumpling Making Tools & Equipment
In this video, you get to watch me drop a bunch of different things in my kitchen ;) Kitchen slapstick. I also get very nerdy about various kitchen tools and gadgets that I love that are super duper helpful when making dumplings at home — everything from bamboo steamers, spreaders and tongs to dowel rolling pins, reuseable pump bottles and pasta sheeters/rollers. You might get some gift ideas for the dumpling lovers in your life. I hope so. XOXO
DIY Vinegar Making
Making your own vinegar at home out of juices, beer, wine, hard cider, soda and more is so much fun and it's super nutritious and delicious. If you want to try your hand at it I can get you started here. I show you a whole bunch of my homemade vinegars made with everything from sangria, plum wine, coconut juice and sake, to cider, nettle tea etc. And I take your through the weeks to months-long easy peasy process to make your own at home. I also tell you about my one failed vinegar experiment — it has to do with brunch and a very popular brunch cocktail.
DIY Nettles — Foraging and Cooking with Nettles
Nettles are deeeeelicious and abundant in all sorts of wild spaces around the world. I love to pick them here in the Pacific Northwest in the early spring through mid-summer. Early spring shoots are the best. If you want to forage for some and make yummy things out of them I can get you started here. I’ll teach you what to wear, how to forage, as well as how to make nettle tea, nettle pesto and how to dehydrate the leaves for grinding them into a powder for doughs and crunching up for teas. And, if you want a really yummy nettle dumpling recipe I have one in my cookbook Dumplings Equal Love. I promise that I only make this face once in the video ;)
DIY Home Fermented Kimchi
I'm share my napa cabbage kimchi recipe with all of you here so that you can make this super tasty and easy Korean ferment at home. My favorite kimchi is Choi’s Kimchi and their recipe inspired mine. For this kimchi, you will need several pounds of cabbage, chilies or chili powder, garlic and/or ginger and salt. Beyond that you can get creative. If you've never made a home ferment before I highly recommend giving kimchi a whirl. It's super flavorful, fun to make and cook with and it's really good for you. It takes several days to ferment and as it does it gets fizzy, funky and super duper yummy.
DIY Tempeh
I decided to try my hand at fermenting tempeh, document the process and share it for anyone else wanting to try making it. I used 2 cups of dried pinto beans soaked, hulled and cooked in my first batch and slightly altered that in my second batch. You can use all sorts of legumes, nuts, seeds and more in your homemade tempeh and I talk about that in the videos. I mail ordered tempeh starter for it — it’s easy to source and affordable. My tempeh turned out soooo good and it was really fun to make. I’m hooked. If you want a fantastic cookbook on tempeh making I highly recommend my friends’, Kirsten and Christopher Shockey’s book Miso, Tempeh, Natto & Other Tasty Ferments.
Some of My Other YouTube Videos
This section is under construction. I’ve added a few and will keep adding more…
I did this pop-up reading in the Portland Art Museum from my cookbook, Dumplings Equal Love, for the virtual 2020 Portland Book Fest. I’m so glad that the fest is in-person again. One of my favorite annual Portland events.
I never thought I’d have to have a virtual book launch in my life — an event that is usually so lively and fun and full of hugs and lovely people. But I did in 2020 for my cookbook Dumplings Equal Love. I was so honored that author extraordinaire Marisa McClellan agreed to do it with me. And afterward Jimbo threw me a virtual book launch dance party. I did the Powell’s event with Marissa in our kitchen and we did the dance party in our living room. Made the most of it.
This was a very fun Powell’s Books virtual book event that I got to do with Cecily Wong when Gastro Obscura launched. We covered lots of entertaining food and drink stuff that’s featured in the book.
Every time I get to do any sort of fermentation or book event with Sandorkraut I feel incredibly lucky. He’s a food hero of mine and has been for 20 years now. We did this virtual book event at my house when he was visiting Portland for book tour. So fun!
Another virtual Pandemic-time Powell’s Books book event with Sandor. Fall of 2020. I lost my copy of this book and need to get a new one. I love it so much.