Stuart Anderson’s Teriyaki Chicken Earns High Praise

DEAR SOS: Stuart Anderson’s restaurant serves the best Teriyaki Chicken I’ve ever had. I talked a waitress out of a recipe, but it makes 1 1/2 gallons. I would like to know how they cook the chicken breasts and break the glaze recipe down for a family of six or eight.

--D.V.B.

DEAR D.V.B.: To prepare the chicken, all you do is to brush the glaze over chicken breasts and grill, bake or broil them, basting often with the glaze. You might also want to marinate the chicken in the glaze, then grill, bake or broil as desired.

STUART ANDERSON’S TERIYAKI SAUCE

1/4 cup sesame seeds

2 cups soy sauce

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger root

1/4 cup sesame oil

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed

Toast sesame seeds. Combine with soy sauce, sugar, hot pepper sauce, pepper, garlic and ginger. Stir in sesame oil. Bring to simmer.

Mix together cornstarch, water and brown sugar until smooth. Stir into hot glaze. Simmer until sauce is slightly thickened. Makes 2 3/4 cups.

Note: Serve as basting sauce or marinade for baked, broiled or grilled chicken, beef steak, pork chops, fish fillets, steaks or whole fish.

DEAR SOS: Though blueberries are expensive, you can find them in the market. But I’ve wasted two baskets trying to make a good blueberry muffin. Do you have a fail-proof recipe?

--IRVING

DEAR IRVING: The recipe could be fool-proof, but the cook’s performance is what makes or breaks the recipe. Baking techniques, such as mixing, blending or folding, particularly, take some experience. Over-beating can create as many problems as under-beating. Sometimes too much of an ingredient can offset the delicate chemical balance of the product.

Try this recipe from Blair’s, a former tea room in Los Angeles.

BLAIR’S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup shortening

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup milk

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 cup drained canned blueberries

Mix together baking powder, flour, shortening, sugar, milk and eggs until smooth. Add lemon extract and fold in blueberries.

Spoon into muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees 15 to 18 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Makes about 20 to 24 muffins.

DEAR SOS: I am writing for a recipe for Cobb Salad.

--IRENE

DEAR IRENE: As you probably know, the salad is named after the late Robert (Bob) H. Cobb, president of the Brown Derby Corp.

The salad consists of a combination of lettuces topped with chicken, bacon, avocado, cheese and eggs arranged in strips on top. The salad is tossed just before serving with an old-fashioned French dressing.

COBB SALAD

1/2 head iceberg lettuce

1/2 bunch watercress

1 small bunch curly endive

1/2 head romaine

2 tablespoons minced chives

2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

1 whole chicken breast, cooked, boned, skinned and diced

6 strips bacon, cooked and diced

1 avocado, peeled and diced

3 hard-cooked eggs, diced

1/2 cup Roquefort cheese, crumbled

Special French Dressing

Chop lettuce, watercress, endive and romaine in very fine pieces using knife or food processor. Mix together in large wide bowl or individual wide shallow bowls. Add chives.

Arrange tomatoes, chicken, bacon, avocado and eggs in narrow strips or wedges across top of greens. Sprinkle with cheese. Chill.

At serving time, toss with 1/2 cup Special French Dressing. Pass remaining dressing. Makes 6 servings.

Special French Dressing

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, mustard, garlic and oils. Chill. Shake well before using. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Last week’s Culinary SOS column featured a potato souffle from Harborside Restaurant in Santa Barabara that was printed as tested. However, restaurant chef, Bob Pugh, pointed out that one quart of cream was omitted, and if added would produce a more fluffy product. Here’s the recipe redone with one quart of cream and another one-quarter-cup of Parmesan cheese, which he said would add more flavor.

POTATO SOUFFLE

5 large Russet potatoes

1 cup milk

1 quart of half and half or whipping cream

10 eggs

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon white pepper or to taste

1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Peel and thinly slice potatoes. Rinse 3 times to remove starch.

Mix milk, half and half, eggs, salt, white pepper and Parmesan cheese with electric mixer or well by hand.

In 13x9-inch pan, alternate layering potatoes with cream mixture, until about 3/4 inch from top of pan. Press potatoes and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until top is browned and potatoes inserted with knife feel tender. Let cool and let stand 1 hour before cutting into squares. Sprinkle with paprika. Makes 8 to 10 servings.