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Is your heart beating a little faster? We’re nearing the final hours of the Bocuse d'Or “Olympics of Cooking”. Over a 48 hour period, chefs from all over the world will compete for top honors and bragging rights.
Yesterday morning as the teams were in an advanced state of hype, it was discovered that the shrimp were…. Frozen!! Quelle horreur! The shrimp were not pristine, live, private jetted in, they were common frozen shrimp!
Walking down the streets of NYC there are huge billboard signs up for “Top Chef” Bright Knives. Big City.
Starchef is always on the hunt for the next Rising Star so they can bestow the mantle of Star.
In little sleepy Umbria there is a “Talenty Match” for the hot young chef. Yes, a Talenty Match.
What’s going on?
Something just feels wrong about these glorious competitions for the young and in need of fame. The Bocuse d’Or shrimp debacle feels wrong because of the excess. I was a fan of the original Japanese Iron Chef because it was blatantly farce, and I loved that little Japanese actress judge who always commented, “It’s salty, but I like it.”
Maybe I’m just becoming a depression era curmudgeon, but I prefer to think of the art of cooking as something thoughtful, not flash for the sake of flash. I like to think of the great chefs rolling a flavor around in their mouth and contemplating all its nuances, and developing a dish over time and experimentation.
There is a time and a place for these diversions and competitions, perhaps right now is just not the time.
This put the finishing touch on my week long foray into "Drinking Local". I opened the door to our apartment building ready to face a new day, and this was written on the doors across the street. Fate.
OK, I admit to being a little tiny bit of an euro-snob. (That’s pronounced uuuhhro-snob, roll that ‘r’!). So here we are basking in the glow of unity and common purpose that the new administration is shining upon us, and I’m digging on drinking American.
First it was Tuthilltown and their marvelous whiskeys and then last night we paid a visit to Sweet & Lowdown, a wine bar on Allen Street dedicated to American wine, beers and nibbles. Israel has created a warm, inviting, cozy bar with intriguing choices. I confess that I was pretty amazed at the quality of the Kluge rose sparkling wine that I sampled. Even the food has been domestically sourced, we tried a ‘devil on horseback’ which is a California date stuffed with chorizo and a spiced almond. Very tasty treat. The bar has only been open for a few months, but he’s getting great press, and deservedly so.
I guess its natural at a bar dedicated to American products to start discussing the difference between Old World and New World wines. The entire philosophy and approach seems to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, with New Worlds being brash, in your face flavor festivals, while the Old World sits back, a little sterner and always happier when there is food around. Now, here is where the conversation gets interesting: think about cheeses made in the US and Europe, there is virtually no difference in Old World to New World flavor profiles. The cheese makers seem to be on the same global taste level. So, what’s that about? That’s just a little food for thought.
And while your thinking about Gruyere cheese v. Cheddar cheese, perhaps a cocktail made with Kentucky bourbon will unleash some insight.
Free Fall
2 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon or Tuthilltown Baby Bourbon
.5 oz Luxardo Maraschino
1-2 dash Angostura
1-2 dash of orange bitters
Rinse glass with Pernod or Absinthe
Combine, stir, rest, stir again. Garnish with a burnt orange peel. At 2.5 oz, it’s a little drink, but it’s potent.
Sweet & Lowdown
123 Allen St.
New York, NY 100012
212-228-7746
Speed shopping, which is a highly developed skill and a recognized competitive supermarket sport, can have its drawbacks. I had to do a warp speed shop this weekend and bought what should have been blood oranges. The sign said blood orange, and if I’d taken a moment to actually look at the fruit before grabbing it, I would have noticed that it didn’t exactly look like a blood orange.
Bleary eyed on Sunday morning, I tried juicing them and that’s when I realized I was dealing with one powerfully bitter and sour juice. Elaine tried to eat one and called it lemon to the 10th power. These are some kick ass oranges.
Not knowing what else to do with my very expensive and very sour oranges, which I’m pretty sure are Seville sour oranges, I turned them into marmalade. The oranges were so acidic that peeling 7 or 8 of them puckered my hands as if I’d been in a swimming pool all day. The ratio is about 1 ½ parts sugar to 1 part orange and it’s still mouth puckeringly sour, but at least it’s edible. I think the marmalade might be good layered into a shortbread cookie or as a thin glaze on roasted duck, but buyer beware, if you see Seville oranges on sale, know what you are getting into.
After taste testing the marmalade, I’m fairly certain I now have life long immunity to scurvy, so no more worries in that department.
All the buzzwords are here. Local. Heirloom. Hand made. Tradition. Organic. Eco friendly. Farm products.
Certainly in tune with the times. Could be the poster child product for the Slow Food movement. What are we talking about?
Answer: Bourbon, Rye, Vodka
Right under our noses, and to the delight of the connoisseur, a small group of hardy pioneers are attempting to return to our whiskey producing American roots.
Tuthilltown Spirits in the Hudson Valley is an excellent example of this new wave of distillers. Housed next to the historic Tuthilltown Grist Mill, they are pioneering a return to the tradition of small batch distilling in New York State. Yes, tradition. Bourbon may take its name from Bourbon, Kentucky, but there was plenty of good whiskey being made in New York. By 1825, New York State counted more than a thousand small distilleries, and these are only the ones that ones that were willing to be counted. Prohibition killed the industry and only with recent changes to NYS liquor licensing is the small distiller able to function in the legal light of day in New York.
I confess to being completely fascinated by distilling. Every since my soap making days the concept of distilling something to its purest essence, whether its lavender oil or grain spirits, has appealed to me. Which is why we jumped at the chance to visit Tuthilltown distillery in the quaint little town of Gardiner NY in the heart of the Hudson Valley.
The crew at Tuthilltown Spirits is reviving tradition by using produce from local farmers, their vodka comes from the nearby orchards, and they are using heirloom strains of corn for their whiskey and bourbon.
If you are new to the world of spirits, it can be overwhelming. I always thought you made vodka from potatoes, but Joel at Tuthilltown explained that you could make pure vodka from any produce that has a natural sugar content. They are in an area that has an abundance of apples, so it was a natural to distill their pure vodka from apples. This sounds like ‘terroir’ to me: developing vodka that tastes of its origins. Likewise with their bourbon, it’s being made from an heirloom corn strain that is grown in the region.
The food world elite is obsessed with knowing the origins of their food, so it makes perfect sense to have the development of responsible, local distillers. Let's be clear: we are talking about a very high end premium product, not something that is going to wind up at a college drinking party. This is a precious (read expensive), hand crafted product and something that the Hudson Valley should be proud of.
And what is ‘the angel’s share’? That’s the fanciful description for the amount of whiskey that gets lost to evaporation during the barrel aging process. Can’t you just picture the angels gathering about Gardiner NY and smiling in approval?
P.S. Please visit Tuthilltown.com for more info about this distiller. You must be at least 21 years old to enter the site. I'm not even going to comment on the utter lame hypocrisy of clicking on a link that certifies that you are over 21.
Click here for more photos from our Tuthilltown field trip, no age restrictions.
What happens to you when things go wrong in the kitchen? It happens to everyone, not even Mario Batali gets an eternal free pass. This weekend I had a long visit from the mischievous Kitchen Gremlin. Tried and true recipes that failed, timing that was off, foods just not tasting right. Fortunately our guests were kind and forgiving, but it still rankles.
I’m not saying that I pitched food out into a snow bank because I was disappointed with the results, but things were not what they should have been.
Can you minimize visits from the Gremlin? I think so, and one of the key things you can do is to be organized. Plan the meal(s) thoroughly, shop with a list, be consistent about your mise en place, etc. But when the gremlin does arrive, don’t panic. If the recipe isn’t working out the way you planned, will anyone else notice? If not, don’t sweat it and enjoy. If the recipe is flat out not working, you can try and correct or adapt or pitch it and move on. The ice cream your making is too soft? Serve it in a champagne flute and call it parfait. The sauce is too thin? It’s now called au jus. And the boule that I forgot about and left in the oven until it had an inch thick crust? Well, it got turned into some excellent garlic breadcrumbs to go onto top of today’s pea soup.
We all want things to be perfect, but cooking involves natural products, and natural products aren’t at all consistent. Which I think is why the octopus ragu I made was so awful. It was an octopus so large it should have been classified as a deep-sea monster. I’m still not sure what I would have done differently, but life goes on, and you eat less for lunch and hopefully make a better dinner. Relax, and cut yourself some slack, its just one meal out of many.
Tomato & Guanciale Soup
(Guanciale is cured pig jowl, and I always try to have some on hand, but just in case you don’t you can use bacon and no one will be the wiser.)
1 can of strained tomatoes
2 stalks of celery, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic
2 slices of bacon or a few shaves of guanciale
3 T half & half
smoked paprika
salt, pepper
Roughly chop your soffrito (celery, carrot, onion, garlic) and add to the soup pot, add the guanciale or bacon and gently simmer. Add a bit of salt, and a few twists of fresh pepper. If the pork is lean, add a bit of olive oil. Once all the vegetables are comfortable, add the can of strained tomatoes and about ½ can of water. Pour water into the tomato can, stir, and get out all the remaining tomato bits and pour into the pot. Cover and cook on low heat for about two hours.
Remove the soup from heat and puree until smooth. Add the half and half and puree until its smoother. Adjust the salt and pepper level. Serve with a few more drips of half & half and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.
Really, its that easy.
Lentil Soup
2-3 stalks of celery
2 carrots
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
4-5 links of sausage (optional)
1 glug of red wine (that’s a technical term for when you add a glug of wine)
1 cup lentils
4 cups water
salt, pepper, thyme, olive oil
Finely chop the celery, carrots, onion and garlic, the pieces should be no bigger than the lentils.
Gently sauté in your soup pot until the soffrito is soft and wilty. (That’s what the chopped carrot/onion/celery combination is called in Italian and it’s the base for a zillion soups and sauces.) Roughly chop the sausages into bite size pieces and add to the soup pot. Let the sausage mingle with the soffrito and then add a glug of red wine. Add a bit of salt, a few grinds of pepper and a bit of fresh thyme.
Add the four cups of water and let the pot come to a gentle boil. Now add the lentils, when the pot comes back to a boil, lower the heat to its lowest setting, cover tightly and leave the pot alone for the next two hours.
I like to make soup in a ceramic casserole pot with a lid. I set the oven at 300F and leave the soup in the oven. I find that I can better control a lower heat in the oven, plus you get the benefit of total surround heat instead of just heat from the bottom of the pot. You want lazy bubbles coming up to the surface, not a rolling bowl.
After two hours take about a cup of the soup (not the sausages) and puree it. Return the pureed soup to the pot and mix it in with the remaining soup. What you’ve done is make the soup ‘creamy’ without adding any cream at all. It’s a good trick to remember when you are looking to thicken a soup without actually adding cream.
If you like your lentil soup with a little tartness or acidity, add a small dollop of sweet vinegar or serve with a lemon wedge. Crusty bread, a green salad, a glass of wine, a visit with old friends and you have the makings of a memorable lunch.
For all of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s soup season. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere…. I hope your enjoying yourselves!
Most people, when they think of homemade soup, they think it takes days or many hours or chicken stock, or any number of reasons why they can’t make soup. But, it ain’t true. You probably need at least two hours to turn out a flavorful soup, which means you throw it together in the morning, the house smells great and you have soup for lunch. As the economy constricts and takes your wallet with it, soup fills the bill just fine.
The basic rule of thumb is that you need about two hours for your vegetables to add flavor to the soup, after that the vegetables start to absorb flavor. If you are making a fish soup, make your stock and only add the fish at the end, once the fish is cooked and the clams have opened, your soup is ready. Pasta added to soup, like you do with a minestrone, will soak up lots of liquid so keep an eye on what’s going on in the pot or you could wind up with pasta stew instead of soup. If the soup is too thick, add some water, but add in small quantities until you get the desired consistency. It’s easier to add than it is to remove. If it tastes like it needs salt, add a bit of salt, and WAIT at least 10 minutes before you taste it again, you need to give the salt a chance to dissolve and disperse. Making soup is easy and satisfying, uses up odds and ends in the refrigerator and keeps you warm. (We won’t discuss my fathers soups because I’m still traumatized, lets just say lettuce in soup is a bad idea.)
