Noshstalgia

Race Day - Savvy Boston Marathoners chow down on deli

2010-04-19T07:52:00.005-04:00

A little known fact, but a properly marbled pastrami or corned beef is rich in the slow-burning calories ideal for sustained aerobic exercise and also the lubrication essential to runner's knees on Boston's grueling course. And there's no more efficient or more enjoyable way to recover from the rigors of the race than to replenish depleted stocks with deli.

Best of luck to all.

Since first posting this, I've been asked where runners, race fans, or simply deli-starved citizens can obtain the real thing - NYDP artisan deli specialties - today. Please visit our friends at:
Russo's, Watertown; Fruit Center, Milton or Hingham; Idylwilde Farm, Acton; Bleacher Bar, Fenway; Deluxe Town Diner, Watertown; Cardullos, Harvard Square; Butcher Boy, North Andover; Coop Food Stores in Hanover and Lebannon, NH; Buttery, South End; and lots of other places that our distributors haven't told us about yet or our website: www.MoreFlavorPerPound.com for more information and consumer direct sales.

More Flavor Per Pound. It's the Law.

What a Crock...

2010-01-12T14:58:00.004-05:00

The previous post made the case that we all - producers and consumers alike - have an obligation to reach high. Such lofty sentiments and high-flown language... Make every bite a sacrament.

Well sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, a sandwich is just a sandwich. Try telling my youngest son - or most of society for that matter - that they should prepare and eat only extraordinary things. Or, failing that, at least properly regret the compromise.

To quote many a New Yorker - fuhgeddaboudit.

Impractical. Effete. Pompous. Insufferable.

Guilty as charged - and eating very well, thank you.

Adventures In Deli - Teachings of the Deli Scrolls - Book Two

2010-01-09T09:06:00.009-05:00

Translators Note - The Deli Scrolls, though recently discovered (by me) are ancient and venerable texts that guide us in the righteous path of true Deli.

Herewith, the second recovered bits of ancient Deli Law (and commentary thereon).

Start with the best meat. Check. (addressed in Book One).

So now, how do THE DELI SCROLLS further instruct us?
BE WORTHY AND REVEL IN THE GLORY - CURE AND SPICE AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT
Back in the day, this was no mere metaphor. Cured meats - like cheese, pickles, beer, and some of mankind's other most important achievements - began as a means of safely preserving food. And before the age of refrigeration, these techniques were critical to making the most of one's gatherings, harvest or kill - and assuring access to nutrition over time. Done right, people enjoyed delicious foods through the seasons. Done improperly, spoilage could set in. People might go hungry. Or worse - foods could become dangerous.

So when the Deli Scrolls tell us to CURE AND SPICE AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT
we don't need to dig too far to understand the historical importance of this Law.
But here we are in the modern world. Today, foodie-spiritual considerations, or tailgating before a cold game aside, most of us don't eat preserved meats literally to make it through the winter. And with refrigeration and modern manufacturing hygiene, dangers of the past - though not unknown today - are statistically unlikely. So what are we to make of this Law today?

And what are we to make of BE WORTHY? Or the instruction to REVEL IN THE GLORY? It would be easy to dismiss such language as religious boilerplate - the sort of thing we see in scriptures the world over. But here in the Deli Scrolls - as elsewhere for religious scholars of serious intent - every word counts and deserves deep consideration.

Let us take these Instructions in order, the way they appear in the Text. Today's chapter will be concerned with the notion of worthiness. What must we live up to in our efforts if we are to honor the Teachings?

We are bombarded these days with guidance about our diet. Cut back on fat, salt, meat, calories, and so on is a constant refrain in the media, from our doctors, nutritionists, politicians, Bono... Deli, let's face it, isn't exactly politically correct. Done right, there will be salt. Fat. Meat. Even calories. Why not just eat rice-cakes (preferably brown) and tofu?

But we are instructed to REVEL IN THE GLORY, and try as I might, I can't manage suitable revelry with an abstemious diet. How 'bout an occasional Twinky, or hot-pastrami sub down at the corner sub-shop to break things up? We've all been there - but it's hard to make a good-faith case for worthiness.

No - given the increased awareness of diet and health, we have an obligation (religious and otherwise) to indulge with discretion and purpose. The first modern-day corollary to this scripture, the consumer's side of the bargain is this:

"If you're gonna be bad - it better be good"

Set the bar as high as you can, and enjoy sensibly. Perhaps not every day. And definitely not consuming mass quantities. REVEL IN THE GLORY - As consumers, we are instructed to enjoy ourselves, the majesty of creation, and culinary achievement with discretion, discernment, and appreciation.

The second modern-day corollary to today's portion, the chef's or producer's side of the bargain is this:

"More Flavor Per Pound. It's the LAW!"

We have an obligation to the meat, to our customers, and to our tradition - to make every bite the best it can be - a worthy celebration, not just a sandwich, but a sacrament.

Words to consider at this time of year as we approach next week's high-holiday:
Thursday, January 14th is National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day.

Only the best,
Dan

Adventures In Deli - Teachings of the Deli Scrolls

2009-03-08T11:38:00.006-04:00

Translators note - The Deli Scrolls, though recently discovered (by me) are ancient and venerable texts that guide us in the righteous path of true Deli. As with translations of other Holy Writ, one is tempted to translate the beginning of essential received laws as "Thou Shalt..."

However, we have dug a bit deeper to capture the subtle variations essential to properly understanding how the Deli Mavens of old thought about these matters. Herewith, then - the first recovered bits of ancient Deli Law (and commentary thereon):

The N* Commandments of Deli

(*ed. - We don't actually know how many commandments there are yet - we're still working on it.)
ahem - So to the text...

First, use only the best meats.

Editor's Note: This simple directive is harder to adhere to than it seems. Take pastrami, for example. The traditional cut of meat for pastrami is richly marbled beef navel plate. It's a funny name. It sounds odd - but it's just the part of the steer adjacent to the brisket as you move toward the belly from the breast area. In terms of weight, the section in question is about 1% of the steer's meat. So this is a scarce commodity to begin with. Then, it turns out that there are a number of other applications for the navel cut. Our Korean and Japanese friends, for example, are also very fond of this meat. And the export markets pay well. Especially when the dollar is low (which was the case in the recent past). What's more, these other markets have a fondness for richly marbled beef (think of Kobe beef, for example) while the domestic beef market has for some years sought ever leaner beef. And finally, the part of the plate that goes to make a proper pastrami is only a portion of the larger primal cut - the entirety of which is purchased by the international buyers. Taken together this all means that the vast majority of well-marbled beef plates are sold in primal form before they ever have a chance to be trimmed for use in pastrami.

For these - and other reasons I'll go into another time - domestic beef packers today tend not to offer graded navel plate to the market. When purchasing ungraded beef, the packer is confronted with a mix of quality ranging from low to high. But mostly not high. And you'll never get a great pastrami unless your meat is well marbled.

Most deli manufacturers don't even try to produce quality navel plate pastrami any more. If you look at the pastrami available from your local deli or supermarket, chances are the majority of what they sell is round, followed by brisket. Navel plate - the only legitimate cut for old-time pastrami - is a tiny fraction of the market today. And what's out there is ungraded and thus inconsistent.

So - this simple directive, is not so simple after all.

But - it's the Law. So, at Deli-Arts, we've found a way.
It's Artisan Deli. It's Deli-Arts.

Manhattan Deli-Arts

2009-02-28T08:52:00.005-05:00

Well, it's official. deli-arts.com lives.

We've just launched the website for Deli-Arts (and Manhattan Deli-Arts in particular).
I have refrained from writing about my commercial endeavors here until now - and honestly I'm not sure yet if I'll continue that policy in general - but as I've been absent from this blog for a long time, I figure I owe an explanation.

I've been busy starting a business. In fact, we've been making and selling our Artisan Deli Classics for about a year now. But we've been slow to the web.

Please stay in touch with the blog going forward as I'm renewing my commitment to writing Noshstalgia - cheering for the heroes who bring us great things, and sharing some of the challenges and lessons learned in bringing old-time product to market.

In the meantime - Thanks to all who've contributed to taking some of my Noshstalgia out of the blogosphere and into the real world: Family, Investors, Suppliers, Distributors, Retailers, our fine Restaurant accounts, deli-mavens who support our efforts, and my partner John O'Brien who brings decades of experience in the deli products business to the team.

The Forest Cafe - and online restaurant commentary

2008-03-30T20:03:00.004-04:00

Last night, we had dinner at The Forest Cafe - a now venerable Cambridge institution. This place, for those who don't know it, is a neighborhood bar and Mexican restaurant. It's never been a fancy environment. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it was for a long time an absolute dive. But that made it all the more interesting when Jim Fahey started cooking sophisticated Mexican there some twenty two years ago. In the interim, Fayhey left, and has since returned. The decor has been somewhat updated, and we've become stuck in Iraq. But that's another story.

Anyway, for the record, our dinner last evening was enjoyable. The thing I wanted to write about here is not our dinner, or even this restaurant per se - but the peculiar phenomena of the write-ups this place has garnered on the web. Before going over there last evening, I chanced to read through a bunch of diner-generated comments on Yelp . I was astonished at the number, variety, and vehemence of the comments about this place. I can't recall seeing another restaurant that's attracted such a varied lot of comments. I would love to hear from anybody who can help me understand how it is possible for people to be so broadly distributed and impassioned in their perspectives on an inexpensive neighborhood joint. Any insight would be most welcome. Thanks.

To Roast a Chicken

2008-03-02T14:39:00.004-05:00

A friend who had joined us for a roast chicken dinner here at Chez Noshstalgia recently asked me today to share the recipe. Truth be told, we don't to it the same every time, but there are certain basics and a couple of main variations that tend to hold true.

Basic principles:
1) Buy the best. Recently, we've been buying Eberly's Organic, Free Range Chickens and we've been very pleased.
2) Unpack, remove excess fat, wash, and dry the chicken well in advance of cooking it - at least a couple of hours, and up to 12 hours before cooking is even better.
3) Once washed and dried, season the bird - again, more time with seasoning in place is better. 2 hours is good, 12 is better. If you won't be cooking the bird within the next couple of hours, once seasoned wrap it loosely so it can breath and put it back in refrigeration.
4) When applying seasoning, apply it inside cavities, under skin directly on the breast, leg and thigh meat as best you can, and all over the outside skin. Try not to puncture or tear the skin in the process and by all means do not remove skin when cooking a whole bird.
5) Allow the bird to come up to room temp (or at least to come well up from refrigerator temp) before starting to cook it.
6) Most of the time you'll want to roast the bird on a rack, not directly on the bottom of the roasting pan. There are exceptions but they are just that.
7) Do not overcook the bird. If you have purchased a bird that provides one of those pop-up timers, you probably have the wrong bird, and you will certainly overcook it if you wait for the timer to pop. These devices are intended to prevent lawsuits relating to food poisoning, i.e. to be sure that every potential pathogen has been well and truly killed - They are not there to assure you of a delectable meal. So, how can you tell when it's done? People talk about the leg moving freely (hard to tell if bird is trussed as it should be). People talk about the juices running clear and this is a good indication if you understand what they're telling you to look for. If I can't tell any other way, I resort to an instant read thermometer in the inside of the thick part of the the thigh. But whatever you do, don't dry it out.

From here on out, we branch to various modes of (oven) roasting:
A) Very high heat, short duration. (500 or even 550)
B) Start high, then settle to moderate oven. (450 for ten minutes then down to 350)
C) Continuous moderate oven. (350)
Certainly there are other approaches in the oven, but they tend to other than "roasted" treatments and so are beyond the scope of this posting.

Our oven is a commercial convection oven and so is very fast in general. Accordingly, I will not post our times as you're not likely to see similar performance in any residential oven. That said, if you go for the high heat option you will be amazed at how quickly you can roast a chicken - and at how succulent a quick-roasted bird can be. I recommend people take a look at Barbara Kafka's excellent book "Roasting, A Simple Art" which presents a number of variations on the quick roasted chicken theme (and many other fine recipes as well). I favor the high-heat method myself, but there are three important caveats -
1) Do not attempt this if you don't have very good ventilation. It will produce smoke and may result in your fire alarms going off if you're not exceptionally well ventilated at the oven location.
2) Do not attempt this if you have not allowed the bird to come up to (approximately) room temperature before putting it into the oven. A really cold bird won't get properly done inside before the outside burns if your oven is up that high.
3) Not recommended if you've got fresh garlic on the outside of the skin as it may burn and produce off flavors at these temps.

OK - I guess now we can get on the recipe I was asked for originally.
Prepare the bird as described above with a rub of kosher salt, freshly ground pepper (or better - a pepper melange*), fresh garlic, sweet paprika, thyme**, good Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and either freshly grated lemon zest or a drop (absolutely not more) of pure lemon oil. Truss the bird. Quick roast at high heat (make sure fan is running)

*(Pepper melange - an example: In a spice- (or coffee-) grinder, process 4 parts whole black peppercorns, 1 part white peppercorns, 1 part allspice, a little fresh nutmeg (I cut a 1/4" slice off a nutmeg and use about 1/2 of that slice), a couple of cloves (if they're fresh - more if older))

**If memory serves, on the occasion of my friend's visit, we might have had some fresh thyme on hand and so would have inserted a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme under the skin of the bird so it was in direct contact with the breast meat.

Serve with a nice salad and some crispy roast potato wedges - rubbed with the same rub, cooked in the same oven but under foil for about half the time so they don't burn. You want the high heat to crisp them at the end, but not burn them before they have a chance to cook through.

An earthy Pinot Noir would be ideal with this.

Enjoy.

Malts, Frappes, Shakes - and now a scary one

2008-02-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

We've been making a lot of malted shakes around here lately. Secondo - approaching 7 requests them after dinner most nights. And why not - they're so good. I remember malts from my childhood and - as Noshstalgia demands - we've been working to recapture the magic here. Secondo has, perhaps, appreciated this particular aspect of our culinary archeology more than some others. Forays into pickling tongues, for example don't so immediately elicit such enthusiasm as our walk down malt-shop lane.

So much for the preliminaries - If you're going to make a malted, you've got to have malt. Many people use the supermarket distributed malted milk products out there such as those from Carnation, but we begin with a visit to the brewing supply store. There you can find actual malted barley, concentrated malt syrup or powdered dry malt extract - all in various shades of toast. Some sources I've seen on-line suggest that only the lightest of malts are appropriate to use in shakes - but we've tried various types with fine results.

Tonight, Secondo requested that we create a shake that "tastes scary" - when you're 6, almost 7, scary is cool. But how to make a scary shake - and one that actually ends up being enjoyed rather than thrown away? Working with available ingredients, here's where we ended up:

3 parts vanilla ice-cream
3 parts whole milk
1 part espresso ice-cream (Double Rainbow Coffee Blast)
2 tablespoons Munton's Extra-Light Dried Malt Extract
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Be patient with the blender - Blend to thick-smooth consistency

So, was it scary? Did anyone drink it?
It was, slightly. And absolutely - It was delicious.

The white pepper contributes a slightly dank and mysterious note in addition to the obvious slightly winy heat. The espresso (in low proportion as used here) created a sort of edge and shadow. The malt a viscosity, depth and dwell. All together a slightly creepy complexity and intrigue.

Super Bowl Disappointment - but not all is lost

2008-02-07T13:46:00.000-05:00

As some of my readers may know, I'm a transplanted New Yorker - but after 25 years in Boston my allegiance (at least where sports teams are concerned) is clear. And like everyone else in New England I was very disappointed with that game. But for those of you who made it to John Dewar's, Newton on Saturday to try (and as so many did - buy) our pastrami - and especially for all those who served it during the game, not all was lost.

Those of our customers senior enough to know said they hadn't tasted anything like our stuff in 50 years. And that's a lot longer than we've had to wait between shots at a Super Bowl Championship so...

At Chez Noshstalgia we enjoyed our Super Bowl pastrami (even if not the game) as one of four smoked meats in a multi-meat jambalaya extravaganza. Smokehouse of Boston provided their excellent barbecued ribs, smoked wieners and smoked duck sausages. The pastrami was julienned and incorporated into the rice, bean, onion and pepper base. The peppers included colorful sweet peppers as well as fire-roasted and skinned poblanos. Please pass the hot sauce!

Warms (or is that burns) the heart just thinking about it.

Please stop by our next Deli Arts(TM) pastrami tasting at Savenor's, Charles Street, Boston on Saturday, February 16 from 2 to 5PM. See you there.

NOSH-IN Alert...Pastrami Tasting This Saturday

2008-01-30T12:31:00.000-05:00

Hello Deli Lovers and fellow Noshstalgics. Shameless commercial plug time:

I'm pleased to announce that we'll be providing free samples of our Deli Arts^TM Hot Pastrami at John Dewar's, Beacon Street Newton location this Saturday from Noon to 3 PM.

It's well known, there's no place better in Metrowest Boston to provision your weekend - and especially your Superbowl Sunday than John Dewar's.

Less well known - but equally true - our artisan Pastrami, fresh out of the steamer - not chicken wings - is actually the ideal football food. Nothing else so distills the essentials of football sustenance - Beef, Spice, Warmth, Smoke, and Beer Affinity.

Please come by and try a taste and invite your foodie friends - especially those who are serious about their deli.

If you're in the Cambridge area, and just want to stock up, our pastrami is available right there at world-famous Savenor's on Kirkland Street. And for those in the Back Bay or Beacon Hill, look for us on Saturday, February 16th at Savenor's Charles Street location from 2 to 5PM.

Well that's the end of the commercial plug.

And now on a personal note - I really love feeding people. It makes me feel good. These events are great fun for me. So thanks for stopping by.

Feedback on pastrami day at Savenor's and a lovely dinner out

2008-01-20T18:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's pastrami tasting at Savenor's was fun for me. It's very gratifying when people enjoy what you've created. Even more so if they buy some - and quite a few did just that. I look forward to subsequent events like this at a number of venues around town. And next time, I'll try and post notice in advance.

Now as to dinner - after feeding people all day, I wanted to be served last night and we found our way to Nancy's Airfield Cafe in Stow, MA. What a delight to find such warmth, hospitality and good food in such an out of the way and unique setting. Our hosts, Don and Nancy, and our server Sharon could not have been nicer and the meal was very good.

They were doing a South American themed series of specials this weekend in addition to their regular menu. We started with a sampler of two empanadas - one meat, one cheese. I confess, I never did get to try the cheese - so it must have been good. Certainly the meat item was enjoyed - a savory filling of beef and pork. I moved on to their muqueca - a Brazilian fish stew. White-fleshed fish (barramundi?) and shrimp in a tomato based broth with a bit of coconut milk and palm oil. My wife had the orange-ginger salmon (a regular menu offering). We finished up with a shared chocolate bread pudding and espresso. A thoroughly enjoyable visit. Nice people and good food. And for those that are still paying attention the prices were very reasonable. I can't recall having felt better served or having been provided with value as good out in this area.

If you're in the neighborhood, I recommend you try it. Dinner is served only on Friday and Saturday nights. Otherwise it's breakfast and lunch at Nancy's - which I'm sure would be terrific, plus you'd get to see the planes coming and going at the airfield right out the picture windows from the dining area.

Debut Performance - Pastrami Tasting in Cambridge Today

2008-01-19T07:16:00.000-05:00

Well, after way too long I have some news to report. Our obsession with pastrami has turned into a product.

We're conducting a pastrami tasting - free to the public - today (1/19) at Savenor's Market, Cambridge, MA. Savenor's is a famous place - long recognized for their supreme quality and full-service meat department, and their specialty foods leadership. Some readers may remember the name from many years ago when Jack Savenor was famously Julia Child's butcher - and sometimes appeared on Julia's show. Jack's son, Ron has carried on the family tradition and expanded the business. Today, Savenor's have locations in Boston as well as Cambridge and they also supply many fine restaurants with the very best meats. I am very proud that Savenor's has chosen to carry and showcase our product.

We have also picked up some additional foodservice and retail accounts and will announce subsequent tastings or other events as they are scheduled.

Hash... and eggs

2007-11-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

I almost never post photos here, but I came across these in the course of emptying out the camera. So here's what breakfast tends to look like when you're in end-stage cured meat obsession.

A hash in the pan.

Flanken and musings on exercise, values, and food prices

2007-11-26T16:39:00.001-05:00

With all the attention I've been giving to brisket, corned beef, pastrami, and now flanken it would be understandable if readers supposed we eat nothing but the heaviest of meats around here. Not so, we actually include lots of lighter fare in the mix - but these items have been the topic of study around here for the past few months. And I admit it's a lot of heavy meat.

So that got me thinking about a piece I saw on tv a while back - I think it was on PBS. They were profiling a guy who had set up his office so he could do all his work while walking on a treadmill. He had no desk or chair. His phone and workstation were mounted for use while walking on the treadmill. Throughout the day, as he did his work, he was walking continuously. He seemed happy. And healthy. I bet he could eat whatever he wanted with impunity.

So now I'm wondering (if only half seriously) how I could install a section of moving sidewalk in my kitchen work area. A challenge to be sure. The way my kitchen is set up, I have a number of workstations. While working at any one of these, the treadmill set-up could work. It's the moving from one to the other that's going to be hard. Hmmm.

Well anyway, until such time as I figure that out, let's talk flanken. Now flanken is a great cut of meat for braising.

But wait - first, stream of impending unconsciousness-wise - I've got to tell you, I just stepped over to my (still stationary) kitchen and sampled some experimental corned beef that's been steaming most of the afternoon. This steaming was actually the second phase of a multi-step cooking process that began early this morning. Wow! This is the tenderest piece of corned beef I think I've ever had. Not falling apart. Not dried out. But buttery soft. And I have to tell you there were times earlier in the day when I was sure this piece of meat would never be any good. Long, complicated procedure but a startlingly good result. Have to try this again tomorrow and see if it comes out the same. And then of course there's the question of economics. Will anyone be willing to pay a fair price for all the time, handling, and energy necessary to this process?

Ok, back to flanken. Talk about stick to your ribs. So I'm working with this stuff because I recently showed a customer a braised kobe brisket product that they went crazy over - except for the price. So now I'm trying to come up with something more affordable for them and that brings us back to flanken. This is a value cut with which you can obtain luxury results. I've prepared it many ways over the years, and it's pretty hard to go wrong as long as you go low and slow. Braised with some wine and aromatics, deviled, tagine with prunes or olives, whatever. Great stuff. I recommend you play with some this winter. There's plenty of good recipes available online.

So before I go, let me pose this question. Where chief-value meat ingredients and prepared foods are concerned, why is the variation in pricing allocable to quality (worst to best) so comparatively small? Certainly where some other kinds of products are concerned the spread is wide. Consider cheese. I can easily find domestic cheese offerings ranging from $2.00 to $32.00 per pound (16X). How about domestic wine? $2 to $200 per bottle is not a stretch (100X). In neither case are these fashion items or branded goods with large marketing budgets. They're just products that vary in quality and price where connoisseurs are willing to pay for what they like.

What about meat (or fish)? If you've been shopping in mainstream supermarkets lately, you must have noticed that run-of-the-mill steaks might cost you around $7 a pound. And, in many stores are likely to be graded "select" (feh). Not a high-quality piece of meat there. In a specialty butcher shop carrying high-quality commercial beef, and perhaps even dry-aging it, you might expect to pay 4 or perhaps 5 times that. Never mind the mail-order guys asking still more - that's a topic for another day. But the bricks-and-mortar retail spread from low to high for a given nominally identical cut of beef spans perhaps a multiple of 5 times. Why not more? I'm not arguing that we should all happily pay more - I'm just wondering why we do it for cheese and wine, but not for meat.

Any thoughts?

11/17 Tonight's Dinner with friends from the neighborood

2007-11-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

Mediterranean Meze featuring:

Crudités, Marinated Olives, Baba Ganoush, Assorted Dolmas, Eggplant and Pepper Salad, Muhammara, Tomato & Pickled Pepper Salad, Feta & Pepper Crème, Patacabra cheese, Three breads,
And Libations from the Martini Bar

Kofta & Shish Kebabs of Icelandic Lamb
with Basmati Rice
Cotes du Rhone, Cairanne

A highly distinguished Dessert TBD
Domaine Castera, Cuvee Privilege, (Moelleux) Jurançon

Thanksgiving Variations

2007-11-14T07:27:00.000-05:00

The Boston Globe food section a few days back did a story on chef's improvisations on Thanksgiving themes. Here, some further, Noshstalgic thoughts on this topic -

For many families, Thanksgiving dinner is a more than a Noshstalgic tradition - it has become a ritual or even a fetish. No variation is permitted. The list of compulsory elements turkey, stuffing, potatoes (often more than one kind), cranberry sauce, a family heirloom recipe or two that makes their Thanksgiving theirs alone, etc. can be long. And, sometimes - at least for the cook - the joy of the holiday and gathering can become mired in the inevitability of the proceedings.

At Chez Noshstalgia - here in the home of someone who's seriously dedicated to preserving culinary tradition - we try hard to approach Thanksgiving as a fresh opportunity for invention every time. We have tended to view the rigorous form of holidays like Thanksgiving as a platform for a special kind of variation. The trick is to somehow hit the compulsories with just the right degree of imagination and flair to satisfy traditional expectations and excite people with something new, delicious, broadening, and (though novel) profoundly comfortable all the same time.

The other thing about Thanksgiving here, is that while we always have family about, we often include others as well. And even within the family, our ethnic diversity gives rise to a big range of traditions and tastes. There may be no other occasion where thoughtful consideration of ones guests is more important in composing a menu.

On a number of occasions over the past few years, our guests at Thanksgiving have presented a challenging array of allergies or other dietary restrictions. Celiac - no wheat, no gluten from any source. Eggs - allergic. Nuts and nut oils of any kind - lethally allergic. Chestnuts - not sure they say, but the word nut sounds possibly lethal, so no thanks.

Here's where the turkey ended up on a couple of such occasions:

Tuscan Roast Turkey with Polenta, Sausage, and Mushroom Stuffing
and
Roast Turkey with Cornbread, Butifarras and PX Sherry Macerated Figs Stuffing

I confess, those butifarras with figs went on to become something of a fetish around here. Making those sausages and soaking those figs really gets me going.
Same thing has happened with a mango/cranberry chutney side that started out as a response to some menu exigence or other. Funny how invention is the mother of tradition.

What to do this year? Feeding about 20 this year - and about the most traditional 20 I know. Hmmm -

Follow up on Andy and Vicki Dinner

2007-11-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

So, how'd things work out?
A minor disaster along the way notwithstanding, quite well.

Appetizer - Pumkin Ravs, buerre blanc, fried sage + 2000 Boglietti Buio
Everybody loved this course. Even Secondo went for seconds. He never made it to the main course. Disaster disclosure - a momentary lapse of attention cost me an extra bottle of white en route to the buerre blanc. Set the schedule back of course too as I had to reduce another. But this is a mere trifle. The results - even though later and more expensive than planned were stellar. And that Nebbiolo - WOW! Hadn't tried this wine for a while and it has grown into its very considerable self in the interim. Highly recommended.

Main - Venison Roast, Guanciale, PX Cippolini and Peppers, Roast Potatoes + Carlo & Julian Pinot
Mixed results here. Venison was very good, but along the way I found that I had underestimated the intensity of the guanciale and so had to adjust from the intended "robe" to a mere few jullienned strips draped criss-cross over the loins. A minor matter that resulted in no disappointment for anyone other than myself who had entertained a different image. No matter - the roast was very nice. The venison was decidedly not gamy and everyone managed to enjoy it despite some in the group having fond feelings toward Bambi and friends. The cippolini were terrific. The potatoes alas, were the real casualty of the first course buerre blanc delay. Not my best potatoes. Nobody really cared. A good thing, I guess. But it does make you wonder if any of the trouble is worth it. I mean honestly, if people aren't going to complain about defects - how much pleasure can we take in their praise of the good bits?

And then there was the Pinot Noir. I had selected it because I wanted some funk - but this was too much . Actually quite skunky - or maybe I should say rubbery - on opening. Resolved a bit over time - but not an attractive start. Slightest spritz too. Clearly something amiss. I have had this wine before - in a restaurant - and enjoyed it thoroughly (hence the case now on hand). Hope the rest of the case is ok. I'll report back.
And then people refused to go for a walk - and demanded dessert instead! None planned, we fell back on the fortuitous presence of ripe bananas, ginger root, Goslings, molasses, sugar, some good vanilla powder, fire and rich vanilla ice cream. Festive, fun, exothermic, and delicious.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Vicki visit - Menu for tonight

2007-10-30T15:08:00.000-04:00

Pumpkin Ravioli (roast chicken demi glace-beurre blanc and fried sage)
2000 Enzo Boglietti Buio, Langhe

Roast Loin of New Zealand Venison with Guanciale robe
PX Sherry glazed roast cippolini & red peppers, crispy savory roast potatoes
2005 Carlo & Julian Estate Pinot Noir, Willamette

Simple green salad

Take a walk.

Pastrami, Corned Beef, Noshstalgia and more ...

2007-10-25T19:51:00.000-04:00

To any readers who may have noticed my relative silence over the past several weeks - I apologize. I've been busy, and I'm about to tell you why.

If you've been reading Noshstalgia for a while, you know that I'm more than a little obsessed with pastrami. Corned beef too. I've tried most every reputable brand, deli or restaurant offering here in Boston, down in New York and anywhere else my travels take me. Certainly there are places offering enjoyable products - some of them truly great - but still, I've never been entirely satisfied.

And so, I set out to see if I could produce something myself - something that did it. Yes, it's magic meat we're after. Time travel inducing sandwiches. One bite and you're back. Back where it all began - where indelible sense memories were planted.

Well, as other intrepid neophytes to making pastrami have oft reported - getting this stuff right takes some work. But after many months of effort, I'm pleased to report that I've got a repeatable, reliable, artisan quality - but commercial scale - process for what I believe is the best there is. More recently, I went to work on corned beef too, and now I think we're almost there with that also. I've served many people at this point - and they have been unanimous - There's magic in that meat.

Amongst other things, what I've discovered in this exploration of deli meat production is that while tradition and deep memories are essential to informing the process, selective use of more innovative, modern methods can yield great - perhaps greater than ever before - results.

Emboldened (maybe even intoxicated) by the the aromas, flavors, textures, and rave reviews from hundreds of consumer taste tests, I began working on a business plan to try and bring these products to market. I'm pleased to report that - although it's nearly impossible to make money on really high-quality meat - I think I've found a way to at least get started and share the deli high.

Once having tasted the pastrami, there was no stopping my pursuit of other "great lost tastes" - so now there are several other Noshstalgia-inspired products also in the works that I'm not yet prepared to discuss publicly. Honestly I haven't even determined yet what to call my fledgling venture (royalty-free suggestions welcome) - nor have I resolved how, if at all, this blog relates to it. But I felt I owed any readers who might have been wondering what happened to me an explanation. I will try to make time, once again, to post more regularly, and I will try and keep readers up to date with developments on this new business venture.

Ethnic Foods Dining Out Meetup at Taiwan Cafe

2007-10-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

Had dinner tonight with 7 strangers at the Taiwan Cafe on Chinatown's Oxford Street. This place has been praised by many on line reviewers. Some people who say they know claim it to be authentic Taiwanese food. I don't know Taiwanese food, so I can't say one way or the other.

The good news - A nice group of people arranged through Meetup.com. There were 18 RSVPs for the event, but only 8 of us showed. No matter, a perfect number for one large round table and a good size for conversation. I enjoyed meeting these folks. And I learned things. More diversity of age than I had anticipated.

Now as to the food - I was disappointed.

We had two dumplings - one pan fried and one steamed. The dipping sauce supplied carried more vinegar and malt and less spice than I would have preferred. Not bad, but not balanced and not exciting. The dumplings - both types - also failed to deliver any real excitement. Copious filling, but not much flavor.

We ordered 7 assorted entrees - Pork with Yellow Chives, Eggplant with Basil, Braised Spareribs in BBQ sauce, Squid and something, Jumbo Shrimp in Chili Sauce, String Beans with Dried Shrimp, and Spicy Salt and Pepper Chicken. Every item with the possible exception of the string beans was either way salty, way sweet or both. None exhibited any real clarity of flavor. The great thing about good chinese food is the way it allows the flavors of ingredients to really pop. None of that here. Frankly, the particulars don't even merit detailed analysis. I will however call out the string beans - which may not have been too salty (who can even tell at a certain sodium saturated point?) for some special attention. They had a generally dimpled appearance I associate with less than fresh vegetables and a musty character that I found unattractive. I've had the dried shrimp treatment before and don't recall feeling similarly, so I'm not sure what accounts for the mustiness.

Overall, well - nice people. Meetup Group seems like a good thing.
Taiwan Cafe - well...I'll try somewhere else next time.

Slow Foods Pot Luck

2007-10-12T09:40:00.001-04:00

We hosted a Slow Foods Pot Luck dinner last night at chez Noshstalgia. Being rather far out in the 'burbs, we attracted a small group - just four guests in addition to ourselves. Interestingly each attendee reported this to be their first Slow Foods pot luck and all but one reported this to be their first Slow Foods event of any kind. Lack of experience notwithstanding, everyone brought something delicious.
On offer:

Amuse: Polenta Toasts with Local Baby Lamb Bruschetta

Soup1: Acorn Squash and Fresh Picked Apple

Savory1: Leek, Goat Cheese and Walnut Tart

Savory2: Curry-Butter Roasted Cauliflower Crowns

Soup 2: Puree of root vegetables

Entree1: New Mexico Chile of Pork and Poblano Peppers with home-made tortillas

Entree2: Grilled Rib Chops of Local Baby Lamb

Dessert: White Chocolate, Challah Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce

Wine1: La Sauvageonne 2002 Pica Broca, Languedoc

Wine2: Willm 2006 Gewurztraminer, Alsace

Because we were a small group, we were able to sit down to a regular meal rather than milling and grazing as would have been required were there many more of us. A nice gathering and I encourage any readers to host or attend one of these soon. And if the group is smallish - so much the better.

Baby Lamb Two Ways

2007-09-24T07:38:00.000-04:00

I sometimes get baby lamb at the Halal butcher nearby. Since they like to sell it by the quarter, this most often this means dealing with a variety of cuts. On this occasion, I had a front quarter to work with so I had riblets (full length rib, minus rib-eye) , rib chops (rib eye with short-cut rib section), shoulder, and fore-shank. I had Robert cut the riblets into finger-food length sections two ribs wide and cut the rest up as for stew.

The riblets were destined for the grill after a light rubbing with a simple savory rub of EVOO, kosher salt, fresh garlic, pepper, oregano, and a drop of lemon oil.
Served the grilled riblets over a bed of convection roasted swiss chard drizzled with a bit of balsamic muscat glaze. In the oven, the chard stalks get cooked through and the leafy parts range from luxuriously moist where piled together to bone dry where more exposed to the oven's hot wind.
Wine: 1996 Hacienda Monasterio, Ribera del Duero

The stew meat was used for a long-and-slow cooked sweet tagine featuring preserved figs and yellow dates.
Served with 2000 Mas Igneus "FA112", Priorat

No time right now to document the recipe and procedure on the tagine but I do want to capture at least a note on the yellow dates and on the wine and how it paired with this dish.

Yellow dates: I have never used these before. I saw them at a small ethic produce place and picked them up on spec. I learned from a quick web search that there are 4 phases to date development. Green (not useful for food). Yellow - edible but not yet fully mature. Ripe. And finally dried. I was dealing with the yellow phase. I gather most people either eat them raw or just hold onto them and wait for them to ripen. I tried them raw, and found them quite good. Not as sweet as a fully ripened date, but definitely with the distinctive flavor or date plus a slight astringency. Very nice. In this dish, I cooked them in the stew. Worked very well. Retained good flavor and mouth feel. And presented a nice complement to the soft, sweet lushness of the preserved figs and the earthy nuttiness of the muhammara I snuck in.

Mas Igneus - A wonderful bottle of wine. But more importantly, the pairing worked out extremely well. The tagine was earthy, and sweetly fruity - with a sort of deep bass note sweetness with lots of overtones of distinct individual flavors riding through. Very satisfying, but much like a men's choir. Lots of good voices in harmony - but all bottom. The Priorat had the clarity of a bell - blueberry fundamentals unmistakable. The blueberry driven palate provided the upper register that completed the dish - now fully symphonic. Sometimes these things just work out.

Open letter to Ron Tanner, Editor of Specialty Food Magazine

2007-09-20T15:17:00.000-04:00

Well, folks, I sent along a draft of this piece to Ron Tanner of Specialty Food Magazine for comment several days back, but have not heard from him or anyone else there. Either my email was snagged in their spam filter or they didn't feel any need to comment. Not sure which.
Here then the item:

The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) is a fine organization. Among their many worthy activities, they recognize especially meritorious products each year with awards - now called sofi(TM) awards. I'll spare you the translation of that acronym so I can avoid going off on a ranting tangent about silly phrases chosen for their capacity to be reduced to catchy acronyms.

But back to cases - they are good people, and they recognize excellence in their field with these sofis. Now the main point here today is to list the 30 categories in which products are judged and awards are given. I want to take the time to do this, and encourage you to read through the list because, all by itself, the category list tells us some important things about the Specialty Food business.

Here then, the list:

outstanding new product (this year's winner, a new artisan potato chip)
outstanding product line
outstanding appetizer, antipasto, salsa or dip
outstanding condiment
outstanding cooking sauce or flavor enhancer
outstanding USDA approved organic product
outstanding baked good, baking ingredient or cereal
outstanding chocolate
outstanding confection
outstanding dessert or dessert topping
outstanding cookie
outstanding cheese or dairy product
outstanding cold beverage
outstanding diet and lifestyle product
outstanding foodservice product
outstanding food gift
outstanding jam, preserve, honey or nut butter
outstanding innovation in packaging design or function
outstanding oil
outstanding cracker
outstanding snack food
outstanding salad dressing
outstanding frozen savory
outstanding hot beverage
outstanding meat, pate or seafood
outstanding pasta sauce
outstanding pasta, rice or grain
outstanding vinegar
outstanding soup, stew, bean or chili
outstanding non-food specialty item

For the purposes of this discussion, we are not interested in the award categories that are not food categories per se . Outstanding new, or outstanding line, for example could be any sort of offering. A quick review of the nature and distribution of the remaining categories should provide a decent approximation to categories and proportions of products found in self-identified Specialty Food stores.

Picking products at random off specialty food store shelves, it seems you are (roughly) as likely to find a cracker as a pasta sauce, a chocolate as a salsa, or a cookie as some sort of meat, pate or seafood item (where all three proteins are taken as a single combined category). The picture we get with this quick methodology seems consistent with what I've seen in stores. Lots of shelf-stable food accessories. Not many frozen or perishable foods. Not surprising.

But this product mix is a danger to the specialty food trade as we've known it. With people under ever more time stress, the market for meals ready to eat is growing fast. And most specialty food stores are not in that business. Moreover, people don't want to make extra stops, and upscale supermarkets are carrying more of the specialty items that were once the exclusive province of the specialty stores. Even those whose business includes the likes of fine wine or cheese are under attack from the upscale supermarkets. These two trends, growing sales of quality prepared foods and supermarket/specialty product-mix overlap are bad news if you're an independent, small-format specialty retailer.

Now consider the market from the producer side. If independent retailers represent a decreasing share of the market and a comparatively small number of supermarket chains are growing dominant - what does this imply for creativity, and small-scale new product introductions? Can real specialty foods thrive in a consolidated market?

I believe the time has come for the NASFT to actively promote an increased role for high-quality prepared foods and perishables in specialty retail. Who can doubt that independent specialty stores and the thousands of creative and talented small producers they can call upon have natural advantages over large corporations when it comes to creating and presenting real foods of quality - including center of plate? One easy way to start would be to revisit the structure of the sofi award categories. Another would be to foster retailer education that recognizes the strategic situation and encourages retailers to branch out. Neither man nor store lives by cracker, cookie, and condiment alone.

If you're from New York...

2007-09-19T15:54:00.001-04:00

...and you're not in New York. What NY foods do you miss most? I'm taking a poll. Please let me know.

Oh yes, and if you're from New York, and you are in New York - are there still NY foods you miss because they seem to have disappeared - and if so, what are they, please?

I am noshstalgic. Are you?

Kathy's Pan-Latin Dinner - results note

2007-09-16T08:35:00.000-04:00

Some quick notes on the actual dinner first discussed here. First thing - too many items to pull together at once - especially after having spent the afternoon at a soccer game. We managed to get to some version of everything planned except the salad, but it was a bit rushed. Otherwise, quite good.
Some specifics on what we actually ended up serving:

Arepas - Not assorted, but one variety. Made with chicken stock, stuffed with Lomo and Comte, grilled on the char-broiler. Served with Hogao.

Carnitas - Soccer game considered, no time to do proper carnitas, but instead made "instant carnitas":
Marinate cubed picnic shoulder in Fresh orange juice, garlic, ground ancho, pepper melange, cumin seed, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt. Spread chunks out on baking pans so they have some air around them and roast in a 375 degree convection oven until done and nicely caramelized. Doesn't take long in there. For the record, please note again that this is not a proper carnitas, but it works well enough with all the fixins provided in this menu. And you can do it fast.

Grilled shrimp - simply prepared. On skewers, on char-broiler. Brushed with melted butter containing a crushed garlic clove and some Bay Seasoning.

Mexican Rice - As I said, things became a bit compressed in this plan, so just sautéed a couple of onions and a diced red pepper in olive oil, added (goya) medium grain rice to pan and tossed to coat. Cooked for a couple of minutes until some translucency apparent. Added salt and some of the Hogao prepared to accompany the arepas. And cooked in the open pan, in the manner of risotto, with chicken stock. Ended up whacking it with Hogao again along the way. Pretty tasty.

Salsas - did both. I'll put up a separate post on salsas later.
Guac - did more or less as described here recently. This version included roasted poblanos.

Habichuelas Negras - Again, time compression pushed this to the "instant" version. Goya black beans from can into a pan containing a copious quantity of EVOO in which a crushed garlic clove has been slightly cooked. Add Hogao (the all purpose short-cut this evening), salt to taste, smoked spanish paprika. Practically painless to produce (if you have the Hogao and paprika on hand) and very good.

I guess I'll owe you a post on Hogao down the line too.

Grilled the scallions on the char-broiler and then seasoned with EVOO, Maldon Salt, and an aged balsamic-style moscat glaze.

Drinks were as planned. Didn't have any suitably priced Rioja Tempranillo for the Sangria, so used Gotim Bru (tempranillo, merlot, cabernet). Also, added some cubed fuji apple along with the citrus. OK, this is embarrassing, but I threw in a splash of ginger ale too (maybe 4 oz to a bottle of wine). Not my usual procedure, but it needed something - and it worked.

The cake was very good. Even after Secondo dropped it on the way into the dining room. Even with the white rug. Even with the candles burning. No tears were shed. Rug's fine; most of the cake, and even some of the candles survived.

Brisket tonight - new variation

2007-09-14T22:32:00.000-04:00

With the holidays upon us, brisket seems inevitable. Got into a discussion about a brisket dinner my Mom attended two nights back. Seems her host made a sweet version. Our family's traditional brisket has always been strictly savory - but I've often heard of sweet versions. Tonight, I decided to create a hybrid.

Best available 3 lb first cut brisket
Rub: Kosher salt and pepper melange du jour (previously discussed here (toward end of post)) + a tablespoon or so of paprika ( I used mostly sweet Hungarian + a little Smoked Spanish)
3 lbs yellow onions, sliced thinly
4 medium cloves garlic
5 medium carrots, cut into 1" pieces
6 ounces (ok, a cup wouldn't hurt) of Off-Dry (not sweet, not bone-dry) Alsatian Riesling
A cup of pitted prunes
A tablespoon or so of concentrated veal or beef demi-glace if you have it.

Procedure:
Heat oven to 325 (convection) or 350 conventional.
Rub brisket and then sear on both sides with a little oil in heavy enameled dutch oven (top off, on the stovetop). Reserve meat.
Add sliced onions and whole garlic cloves, agitate to deglaze. Season with salt and pepper melange.
When onions get going, add meat back in, arranging the onion mixture so it surrounds and covers the meat.
Add carrots, prunes, and wine.
Cover and place in the oven for about an hour.
At one hour, turn the meat, and rearrange vegetables to cover. Continue braising another 90 minutes.
At 2 1/2 hours total time, remove meat and reserve.
Add demi-glace if available and stir to incorporate.
Puree the vegetables, fruit, and liquid right in the pan with an immersion blender.
If you didn't use the demi-glace, you may need to correct the color. You can do this with something like gravy master or more paprika or achiote or whatever makes sense. Of course, with the carrots and prunes in this, you might be fine with no help.
Reintroduce the meat, cover all sides with your wonderfully thickened gravy, put the top back on and return to oven for another 20 minutes.

Finally, slice across the grain and serve well sauced. Accompany with something that likes gravy like white rice.

Discussion:
This gravy is still mostly about onions and the liberal use of the pepper melange makes it slightly spicy. But the fruity wine, carrots and prunes pull it toward, but not all the way to, sweet. If you come from the really sweet brisket tradition (I understand, for example, quite a few people use Coke in theirs) you certainly won't think this is sweet. It ends up being not overtly sweet, but very rich. We served a Montes Apalta Cabernet Carmenere. This picked up the both black fruit and the onion driven edge in the sauce nicely.

Guacamole

2007-09-14T08:49:00.000-04:00

Guacamole for 4 (I don't claim this to be an authoritative or ethnically correct recipe - but it is very good.)

2 large ripe Hass avocados (ripe means yielding to gentle pressure - not rock hard, not caving in)
1 juicy Lime
1 1/2 thick slice of red onion, chopped (not too fine - pieces about 3/8" on average)
Optionally: diced jalepeno or diced roasted poblano pepper to taste.
Dijon mustard
Worcestershire Sauce
Hot sauce (The default choice for most audiences if Frank's Red Hot. If your tastes run to more heat, try a Habanero based sauce like Melinda's XXXHot instead. The important thing though is to avoid sauces that are absurdly hot and without redeeming flavor profile. There are many on the market that are more about macho than food. I recommend you avoid these.)
Kosher Salt

A note on proportions: I've deliberately left quantities off the condiment ingredients because the quantities there will vary both with your taste and with the ripeness and quality of your avocados. In the procedure below, I'll provide approximate typical values - but your mileage may vary.

Procedure:
In a broad, shallow bowel (like for cereal), combine chopped onion, diced peppers (if used), 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, and one (or 2) shake(s) of Worcestershire.

Halve and seed your avocados and scoop the avocado meat from the shells into the bowel with a tablespoon. Remove any blackened or otherwise spoiled portions.

Using the tablespoon, chop and mash the avocado meat and incorporate the onion and condiments mixture. Process only long enough to mix well - do not completely break down the avocado.

Now sprinkle Kosher salt to taste over the top, add three or so good shakes of the hot sauce of your choice and the juice from 1/2 of the lime. Mix to combine and taste. Correct seasoning with additional salt, lime juice, or hot sauce as indicated.

Bear in mind that these three seasonings act not only to accentuate their respective flavors, but also to diminish the impact of the others. This is especially true of the salt and the lime. So you can effectively adjust things both up and down. If you really go overboard and feel you can't recover - don't despair - just add another avocado (and more onion (peppers) if desired) to cut things back and readjust. Oh yes, and invite two more guests.

Good with chips as an appetizer. Or as a garnish with main courses. If using chips, try to stay away from excessively salty chips. Or correct salt balance in your mouth with Margaritas. Ole!

Kathy's Pan-Latin Birthday Dinner

2007-09-14T07:32:00.000-04:00

Kathy's requested Mexican. Meanwhile, in correspondence with the estimable Nika of Nika's Culinaria, (an excellent food blog with among other things amazing photography), I've been discussing Columbian arepas - and since they're another favorite of Kathy's the menu has expanded to become rather more pan-Latin. The plan as it stands (pre-shopping and thus not yet validated):

Assorted Mini-Arepas with Hogao
Freshly Squeezed Herradura+Cointreau Margaritas

Field Greens & Native Tomatoes

Carnitas & Grilled Shrimp
Mexican Rice
Fresh Red & Green Salsas
Guacamole
Habichuelas Negras
Grilled Scallions
Corn Tortillas
Sangria

Ponque Leche y Miel
Coffee

When time permits I'll get back to you (assuming you exist) with recipe details.

The essence of tradition?

2007-09-12T20:42:00.000-04:00

Earlier today, I came across Feed Me Bubbe, a collection of podcasts on Jewish cooking. I enjoyed watching their stuff, and I'm absolutely certain that all concerned with the production mean to faithfully represent their culinary tradition. Further, when Bubbe enthuses about the flavor of her preparation, I know that she and her brood have taken great enjoyment from her cooking. I feel I've found a kindred spirit when I hear Bubbe talk about the joy of passing along her traditions, of seeing her way of life enjoyed, learned and appreciated by young people and their even younger children.

So far so good. But then I run into this - the food I saw Bubbe prepare did not seem traditional to me. Am I right? Does this make her wrong? What do these questions even mean?

What is the essential meaning of traditional cooking?

If one of your elders does things a certain way, if your family has done it thus for many years - how can this not be tradition? To you of course it is. And for Bubbe's family, I am certain the question of authenticity has not been an issue.

But still, it might be the case that some such family tradition is demonstrably not representative of the broader cultural heritage from which it nominally springs. With a bit of culinary archeology, it might be possible to definitively pin down where things diverged and so on.

Is the distinction between a family tradition and the essential underlying tradition that forms the shared basis for myriad family variations important? To me it is. Does this mean that Bubbe should be enjoined from passing her traditions along? Certainly not - the more the merrier. But still - I'm troubled.

I admit, I'm grasping for the right formulation here. How about this - there's fundamentally two kinds of information available on food traditions - Anecdotal info such as Bubbe's (or anyone else's recipe); and Researched info (for lack of a better term) which codifies that which one must know to properly understand the entire spectrum of individual variations. Hmm - getting pretty thick.

How 'bout an example - Feed a food-savvy man a Peking Duck and he's had a good meal. Take that same man on a walk through China Town (for a month or so) where he can see, smell and taste 100 different Peking Ducks side by side - and you might end up with an expert on Peking Duck. The important part of the difference for this discussion is not expertise - it's the capacity to understand the relative importance of the many individual pieces of information contained in a recipe.

And so, perhaps finally that's what I think distinguishes tradition from practice - it is that essence of what people do - The part which is important.

In Big Night, I think Primo says the tympano has "all the most important things in the world inside".

Is your market alive? Is your kitchen a temple...

2007-09-08T21:21:00.000-04:00

A temple? An operating room? A laboratory? A factory? A work space? A play space? A party space? A cafe? A vestige? An ornament?

Does the restaurant restore you? The deli delight? The bakery raise your spirits?

Is your food store a market? A store? A bazaar? A gulag? Ever wandered the aisles in search of food, only to leave empty handed? Or perhaps you filled your basket as you usually do - but left empty hearted? Is the give and take there confined to the cash registers?

I try to find and frequent places where I can fill both my basket and my spirit. And this isn't just about the food. Great food is a necessary, but not sufficient condition to achieve that special energy - that feeling I so love. The really alive places are sometimes hard to find, but it's worth it.

A couple of favorites:
Arak's Market on Mount Auburn Street in Watertown, MA - a family run store offering produce, prepared Armenian specialties, olives, pickled vegetables, desserts, breads, cheese and grocery specialties of interest to the Armenian community, hookahs, and an inimitable atmosphere.
Wasik's Cheese Shop in Wellesley, MA - a family run store offering the best cheese in the best condition, with the best service, a warm and personal greeting and a smile.
One Stop International Market in Lowell, MA - a family run store offering freshly butchered Halal baby goat and lamb and some other groceries of interest to their local Muslim and North African customers.
Harkey's Wines in Millis, MA - a family run store offering a personally selected assortment of fine wines along with truly personal service and great advice.

Say, I'm noticing a pattern here - these are family run businesses. Is this essential to the experience? Have we found the 'je ne sais quois'? Can I cite a counter-example?

Thinking...
...
....
.............

Fight back Somehow - I wish I could tell you how

2007-09-05T21:37:00.000-04:00

New York City's Health Department is at it again. This time they closed down an important, high-quality, Kosher deli on points - for the likes of (gasp)

Hanging Salami

Not washing the slicer between meats (where the two meats were both destined for a single combo-sandwich

Please see the post at Save the Deli which includes the story as originally reported in the paper.

Why don't they pick on somebody dangerous?

You say tomato

2007-09-04T20:47:00.001-04:00

At lunch today, I had a quite good salad. Except the tomatoes were not what I'd imagined they would be. You see, I was in a place where things are good. And it's tomato season so I just assumed that they'd use some ripe, flavorful, locally grown tomatoes. After all, they're only around for a short while - why wouldn't you? Naturally, I realized, they cost quite a bit more; and it was a simple as that.

Or was it?

I was thinking about the modern commercial history of the tomato. At one time, when they were in season, they were plentiful and inexpensive. At other times of year, it was understood that there essentially were no tomatoes. One could, if they insisted, purchase some relatively expensive, flavorless, cell0-packed product in the off season. But it was understood that this was a tomato in name only. Most of the time you'd simply do without. In those days, local, seasonal, flavorful tomatoes were understood to be TOMATOES. The other kind were understood to be tomato substitutes.

But with the passage of time, something pernicious has happened. It's not just that we've become accustomed to inferior products - it's that we've come to regard such product as TOMATOES. Worse, we've come to regard the local, seasonal, vine-ripened tomato as an exotic foodstuff. It's not just a tomato any more - it's something more. It's vine-ripened, or it's an Heirloom, or it's whatever it is. But it is not just a tomato any more. Our language has changed. Our mental model of tomatoes has changed. We have been reprogrammed.

And now, even at the height of the season when they're plentiful, these exotic fruits sell for high prices and the flavorless alternative (once only sold in the off-season) remains the default expected tomato - and for all but the well-off it is the only economically feasible possibility.

Who stole our language? Why did we let them?
I am noshstalgic.

Moussaka Meltdown

2007-09-02T09:47:00.000-04:00

My wife and friend Andy tell me I need sensitivity training. Not sure if they're right (of course) but hey - the guy asked. There he was - in chef's whites, asking if everything was to our liking. Now Andy asserts that he didn't really want my opinion - he was just being polite. He's probably right, but insensitive bastard that I am - I told him.

We were a party of seven - four adults and three kids. We'd just climbed a mountain. We were hungry, there was a chill in the air, the restaurant represented itself to be "Greek-American" and, of course, they offered moussaka. Three of the four adults were drawn to it - but before going ahead with this plan, I expressly informed the server that I regarded moussaka as a serious matter and needed to know ... She assured me I would not be disappointed.

Why did I listen? I had a pretty clear impression that it was a mistake even as I placed the order. For one thing, the dish appeared under the beef section of the menu. This alone should have been a sufficient clue of what I was dealing with - but in this area, beef is often substituted for lamb and I was not put off. I guess this proves I am an optimist. Well...To the heart of the matter.

Never mind - the details don't matter. Bad restaurant, botched moussaka - life goes on.

But the incident did raise a number of perhaps important points.
1) Should they ask, and should you tell?
2) Is there a point along the authenticity and quality continuum at which a dish simply ceases to qualify as whatever they've had the temerity to call it?
3) Who first put potatoes in moussaka?
4) And assuming that you're prepared to accept their presence, are there limits as to their proportion in the dish?
5) Is some sort of béchamel derived sauce or custard topping essential to moussakanesshood?
6) Why are chefs not subject to corporal punishment during the dinner service?
7) OK, I guess that's a tad harsh - but how about immediate dismissal and forfeiture of all public cooking privileges for some interval (like life)?
8) OK, perhaps still harsh - but how about at least... You know, it's just occurred to me that not everybody takes food - and especially the responsibility one takes on as chef to the public as seriously as I do. So how about this question - Am I simply a lunatic? Or do I have a right to expect at least a certain degree of care and respect in the conduct of the trade?

I'm asking, and I really want to know.

Cooler mornings are coming - Kippers can't be far behind

2007-09-01T21:15:00.000-04:00

I was reminded today of a (very occasional) Sunday Brunch favorite from my youth - Kippers, eggs and onions. This was a particularly festive Sunday morning ritual because it required the use of the outdoor barbecue. My mother would not consider having kippers prepared in the house - and who can blame her. They reek - in a nice way of course. But if you were ever to try broiling them in the house - especially years ago when nobody had decent ventilation - you'd have to replace all the drapes, upholstery, carpets, clothing, and pets.

But what's a minor annoyance like clingy reek when there's kippers to be enjoyed?

So anyway, the way I remember this is we'd grill the fish out on the barbecue and serve them with scrambled eggs and lots of sauteed onions. And since you were working outdoors anyway, why not peel and slice all those onions out there too? If it's nice enough out, maybe best to eat the whole mess out there too. What a delight! After a breakfast like that, you're ready to set out to sea and bring in the next load of herring destined for kippering in the smokehouse. Arrgh...

Deb's Herbs inspired dinner

2007-08-29T20:23:00.000-04:00

Our friend Deborah sent over some chives and rosemary. There was half a bottle of White Loire kicking around from Sunday's festivities. Kathy brought home some chicken breast fillets. I decided to poach the chicken as follows:

Prep breast fillets. (I trim and butterfly to achieve a consistent thickness.) Rub very sparingly with kosher salt, just a bit of pepper melange du jour (tonight's - white pepper, coriander seed, allspice, nutmeg, clove), and a tablespoon or so of EVOO that's had a clove of garlic bruised in it - but not chopped up. No more than a pinch of rub is used for each side of a piece of chicken. The garlic should be well back in this preparation - not too much. Set fillets aside, loosely covered, on a counter away from heat - no refrigeration is needed providing that you'll be cooking them soon enough. In fact, given the way we're going to cook these it's very helpful to allow them to come up toward room temp (again, providing they don't spend much time like that.)

While the chicken is tempering toward room temp, place about 1 teaspoon kosher salt, the leaves from a 3" sprig of rosemary, finely chopped, 3 TBS chopped fresh chives and a teaspoon or so of dried fines herbs (or substitute fresh if available) in an oven-proof casserole. Use one large enough to accommodate all your fillets lying flat directly on the bottom, without overlapping. (But - lest there should be any confusion on this point - do not add the chicken yet.) Add a stick of butter (or less if you can't stand the idea of so much) and place the casserole into a hot oven for a few minutes. Meanwhile, bring about 10 ounces of the wine to simmering temp and add a little pepper melange.

When butter has cooked off most of its moisture, remove casserole from oven, arrange the the chicken fillets on the bottom and turn over to coat both sides. Pour the simmering wine in and agitate the fillets just to incorporate the wine with the butter and spice mixture. Cover and let sit (off heat). Providing that you've used a heavy enough casserole, the residual heat in the casserole and wine are sufficient to poach the chicken. If not, place the casserole back into a low oven. The best result, though, is obtained with the passive - i.e. residual heat method. As the chicken cooks, the pan and liquid lose temperature to the meat and the entire thing comes to equilibrium at the perfect temperature for the chicken - resulting in a velvety smooth texture that can not be obtained with higher temperature cooking techniques.

Serve the chicken with some simple rice and spoon some of the cooking liquid over the top. More wine along the lines of that used in the cooking works very well as you might imagine.

Prepared Foods - Any Good?

2007-08-28T15:29:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that people are buying ever more ready-to-eat foods. They come in many forms - prepared ready-to-eat meals from take-out restaurants or supermarket catering departments, store-bought heat-n-eat, frozen, boil-in-bag, refrigerated, shelf-stable and more.

Because restaurants today are also buying more items prepared elsewhere, I choose to divide the market not between restaurant (or specialty store) and major store - but rather between items produced locally and at small scale and those which are commercial products in mass-manufacture and wide distribution. And the question I want to pose today pertains to mass-produced and widely distributed products.

I confess I have sometimes enjoyed commercial prepared food items. When I was a kid, I recall enjoying the occasional meal at my next-door-neighbor's house because I could indulge in what was - even then at 10 - the guilty contraband pleasure of Campbell's soup or Chef Boyardi ravioli. What salty or mushy bliss respectively. But I digress.

So yes, then and since there have been commercial products I've enjoyed. But I don't recall any that were really very good. When I've enjoyed these things, there's always been an element of the perverse about the experience - even at 10. Have I missed something really great? Is my recall faulty and perhaps I've had, but forgotten something important? Can you point me at any mass-produced ready-to-eat main-dish products that are better than OK? Products you seek not because of their convenience, but because of their quality?

I'm asking for two reasons. First, it's just part of my charter here to record great tastes and keep the memory alive. And second because I want to know if it's possible, and how. This is an important question because I'm interested in the envelope of possibility for prepared food products. If a producer has something really great at small scale - is it possible to scale up and reach a large audience while retaining quality? Are there practical limits that always get in the way? What are they? And so on. If there are examples of true greatness at large commercial scale, I want to understand how they've done it and whether their success has broader implications for other producers.

Please call out deserving products in comments.
Thanks.

The Endangered Specialty Food Retailer

2007-08-25T21:25:00.000-04:00

Supermarkets are selling more specialty foods than ever before. Supermarkets - especially up-market stores - are encroaching on the traditional turf of the small, independent specialty foods retailer.

Of course there are flourishing specialty retailers, but the general trend for the industry is to sell more through supermarkets over time. Even in perishables like fine cheese - up-market supermarkets are coming on strong. Coffees, teas, spices, preserves, pasta, cheeses - you name it. Connoisseurs may be less than completely satisfied when shopping there - but still, more of our specialty food dollars are siphoned off in the supermarket over time. You're there, you need it, you buy it.

Convenience is extremely important to shoppers today, so specialty retailers must offer something compelling to draw customers. They are under great and constant pressure to stock unique offerings people want to maintain their differentiation. But inevitably if people want these products they will find their way into the supermarket sooner or later. And increasingly it's sooner.

Certainly the supermarket cannot compete where personal touch and "neighborhood feel" are concerned, but will that be enough? Ask the butcher, the baker, the produce man and fruiterer. Where have they gone? Outside the city - they have mostly gone the way of the dodo. And this, despite the fact that where meat, baked goods, produce and fruit are concerned - the categories involved were daily necessities and the quality and variety advantages of specialists were dramatic.

So, what's to become of specialty retail outside of urban centers? If it's true that their appeal requires an ongoing supply of distinctive (and non-trivial) products - how are they to sustain that advantage? After all, if you were a manufacturer of some wonderful new product, while you would no doubt be delighted to sell to specialty retailers, I doubt you'd be inclined to turn down a deal to sell, for example, to Whole Foods. That one deal with Whole Foods could (likely would) mean more business to you than any specialty store you serve - and perhaps more than all your other customers put together. It would be unnatural to pass on the supermarket deal.

So, there goes one more product the specialty store can't call unique in his trading zone. And so it goes. Breaking into Whole Foods - or into brokers who merchandise specialty departments in many supermarkets - has practically become synonymous with success for new specialty product companies.

Now, to be fair, the market on the whole may, in some important respects, be better served as more diverse and interesting products gain improved distribution and exposure to wider audiences through supermarkets. The old pattern in which supermarkets didn't have any of these products, and specialty retailers enjoyed a relatively safe niche, was by no means ideal. The world is better now that buying a piece of Parmesan to grate over your pasta doesn't absolutely require a special trip. And not every specialty retailer should survive. I have no problem waving goodbye to poseurs who have never provided great service to their customers or great leadership by seeking out and evangelizing wonderful new products.

But what of the good-guys (and gals) - People who really contribute to the market, their communities, and to our quality of life. How can they survive? What can we do to preserve them? I so miss the butcher, the baker, the fruit man. I am noshstalgic.

Danish, Thy name is Danish Pastry House

2007-08-22T22:12:00.000-04:00

This is important -
At 330 Boston Avenue, in Medford, MA - just a short walk from Tufts University they make real Danish pastry. That's all. Go there, get some.

Oh yes, I'm told they have a location over in Watertown too. And I note also that they serve other things besides Danish - but honestly, if you're still reading this instead of traveling to 330 Boston Avenue then I guess I didn't properly convey the importance of the first suggestion above. It's a real Danish. You must go and get some. It is real Danish pastry. You must go and get some. There's some sitting in my kitchen as I write this. I brought some home. It is real Danish pastry too. I must go

Pastrami again - Niman's Ranch this time

2007-08-21T21:25:00.000-04:00

We've been enjoying the much-lauded Niman Ranch navel pastrami at Chez Noshstalgia this week. My cousin Jon ordered it for us from Niman's web store. I have to say, as others have, that Niman's meat is of notably high-quality vs. most other pastrami. They supplied two navel plates in the order - both packed in a single vacuum sealed wrap.

They provided no cooking or heating directions in the package, but their website suggests steaming for "up to two hours". I steamed a whole plate for about 100 minutes, flipping the piece once around 20 minutes before the end. Then, of course, I hand slice. I do it on a steaming rack in a thermostatically controlled electric skillet that does a good job of providing gentle steam. Mine has a glass lid, so you can - if you wish - stand mesmerized by the sight of fat running out of the meat in many places as it cooks. I am reminded now of the fascination one experiences on visiting a geologically active area with steam vents, geysers, and the occasional volcanic event - except the pastrami smells much better than that. And even at $60 with shipping, the Niman's pastrami purchase was comparatively economical.

So, is it any good? You betcha. Not a classic New York flavor and aroma profile. Certainly not Romanian-style. But very good. Very aromatic, strongly peppered, tender, gently processed texture, and a prime-like (and perhaps actually prime) degree of marbling contributes to a very satisfying mouth-feel. I liked the product, although while I found the spice profile distinctive and appealing - it is very present and struck me as a bit monolithic - very over-all, very homogenized. A deli expert I consulted (from whom I've not yet obtained permission for direct attribution on this - but I will seek it and amend the post when obtained) said he thought the product had seen too much bay leaf. I confess, I couldn't pin it down to that myself - but he's a real expert so perhaps that was it. But whether classic NY-style or not, it was very enjoyable. Thank you, Jon.

One more note on this over-all-ness, this homogeneity. Is this a bad thing? Generally? Maybe not - certainly where commercial pastrami is concerned I can't point to any counter examples. So why even mention it? Maybe this observation comes to me because I'm thinking of - yearning for - a more Artisanal product - one that's got more edges and spikes - flavor and aroma variation throughout and around the product. By way of analogy, consider the difference between Artisanal and industrial cheeses. The best of the farm-house products present at least a chamber work and sometimes even a symphony of related but distinct bodies, textures, aromas, and flavors. And the industrial products? Well, you know...

Errata in re: pig,pig,pig,pig, not pig

2007-08-20T18:28:00.000-04:00

I wanted to correct two errors in my prior post on the recent Beauty of the Beast Dinner at Southborough's Tomasso Trattoria.

Error of omission: I neglected to mention Chef Tony Bettencourt's salami - a late addition to the first course. The salami was amazing - melt in your mouth, fabulous flavor - really terrific. I gather he's been working on perfecting this salami for about a year now and if he's not done perfecting it, I don't know why not. This was the crack of salami - instantly addictive. I asked him to pack a pound of it to go, but this proved not possible. Maybe he was trying to protect me from overdose? I have to have more. He says there's no supply at the moment. He's going to make more. I hope the process used for that batch proves to be repeatable because honestly folks, it was great. I mean, if he can't do it again, what's the point in going on?

Error of commission: I am informed - by Tomasso himself (Proprietor Tom Prince) that the substitution of guanciale for trotters was a late breaking development but was duly documented in the menu presented to diners at the event. I was consulting the online menu when I wrote my previous posting and so was in error to call out any discrepancy between menu and actual dish. I plead salami intoxication and throw myself on the mercy of the court.

Breadcrumbs with Secondo

2007-08-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

We had been staring at a rather impressive loaf of stale crusty bread for a few days when some eggplant found its way here from the farmer's market. Temperatures had fallen into the 60's this evening, so using the oven seemed within reason. And then Secondo came into the kitchen and wanted to cook with me. This doesn't happen every day, so when he asks, I try to make it work.

Time to make some bread-crumbs. He wanted to wield the knife in cutting up the stale bread, but I couldn't go along with that request. Instead, I got Secondo seated on the island and instructed him in how to "drive" the Cuisinart's pulse switch. I've already posted on making fresh breadcrumbs here so I won't go into the procedure again. I just wanted to say that Secondo loved making them. And they were great - redolent of garlic, herbs, and freshly grated Parmesan. He has been eating breadcrumbs raw - right out of a bowel - ever since. And taking samples to other family members all over the house. He's evangelizing breadcrumbs. Just like dad.

Definitely not Kosher - but Pig, Pig, Pig, Pig, not-Pig

2007-08-18T08:26:00.000-04:00

Had a wonderful time and great eats last night in Southborough, at Tomasso Trattoria's Beauty of the Beast dinner , a 5 course meal built (almost) entirely around a single Six-Spotted Berkshire pig sourced from Heritage Foods USA GOOD PIGGY! Patrick Martins and Sarah Obraitis of Heritage Foods were in attendance.

The menu and wine pairings may be seen here. Chef Tony Bettencourt, (brief bio here), and Sommelier Lorenzo Savona, (brief bio here), did that pig proud.

I had such a good time that I'm going to defer any nit-picking and instead mention only the things that were most outstanding.

Second course pasta dish with house cured pancetta, mushrooms an sage was a knock-out dish. Absolutely nothing unexpected in its composition - but the ingredients and execution were superior - so much so that dish rose to very rarefied heights. A profound mouthful. Wow!
Salad dish with crispy trotters (said the menu, but it seemed to me, maybe guanciale?). - good piggy strikes again.
Bettencourt's Porchetta with lemon-zest and fennel pollen was beautiful - presented skin-on and with all the fat-back our late six-spotter had until so recently carried around. Thank you, Tony and Ferdinand.
Wines throughout were delightful with a couple of especially good pairings to call out -
The Bio-Dynamic Chianti Classico (not as listed) with the salad; the aglianico driven Molise with the porchetta; and the (believe it or not) Soave recioto with dessert were terrific. In terms of take-home wine buying thoughts - for me, the Molise and the Recioto were finds.

Seamed good to me

2007-08-17T10:02:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know that seems to be misspelled - but I meant it.
I had an excellent Restaurant Week meal last night at Pigalle (Charles Street South in Boston). The entree was described on the menu as follows:
Olive Crusted Leg of Lamb with Braising Mint Jus, Cucumber Salad, and Moussaka
Delicious.
But what I wanted to particularly bring to your attention was the way the meat had been cut and prepped before cooking. I didn't speak with the chef, but what I saw on my plate looked like they had employed a procedure I often use and which I regard as highly commendable.

They seemed to have seamed the lamb. This means that they dissected the meat from the leg of lamb to break it down into individual muscle bundles and removed from each any fat, connective tissue, and silverskin.

It is a labor intensive operation. But when you prep the meat in this way, each and every bite will be the tenderest and tastiest it can be. What's more, it will take the flavor of your spices more quickly and more deeply; and ultimately it will exhibit a greater clarity of focus than otherwise possible. Time/cost aside, the trade-off is that it will present much less of lamb's characteristic gaminess - a trade off that I find vary favorable. If you're one of those that particularly crave a gamy, sheep-y taste - don't bother.

If you have a real butcher, you can certainly ask them to prep your lamb in this way - and they'll probably accommodate you. But they will not do as complete or clean a job as I require. Nor will they get the yield that I go for. It's simply too painstaking and laborious a process to go through for any reasonable price. So if you're handy with a knife and have the time, I encourage you to try this yourself. The results can be startling.

And at Pigalle, last night - that entree was really very good. Not to quibble, but perhaps a bit saltier than necessary - but the lamb, and the eggplant were fantastic.

The other item I particularly enjoyed there last night was a dessert. A chocolate/coconut cream in a crispy shell affair. The depth, length, and extremely gradual unfolding of the chocolate and coconut flavors in succession were enchanting. Really good effect.

Bravo Pigalle

Caveat: Order a good bottle of wine. The Bordeaux we opted for - by the glass - was not what it should have been.

Peanut butter, rye bread, deli, and two blogs

2007-08-16T10:13:00.000-04:00

If you've been following my rantings, you know I've been thinking about pastrami. So naturally, New York, Jewish rye bread can't be far from my thoughts. I don't know where to find the real thing around here. I've tried making my own - so far without great success.

So there I was chasing down leads in the web when I came across a 6 year old story from Buffalo about the demise of a once great rye. I started corresponding with the author and found my way to this story about peanut butter at his blog. He got me thinking again about Planter's Peanut Butter - once truly great and sadly long off the market. I was originally introduced to this amazing product by my boyhood friend (now Rabbi) Steve Vale. Does anybody else remember this stuff? Planter's Peanut Butter...it was so good, it was best enjoyed with a spoon. Forget the bread, eschew the jam...I'm noshstalgic.

And then there was this morning's startling discovery of the truly impressive body of work at Save the Deli. I can't believe the work this guy, David Sax, has done. Since the start of 2007, he's ventured forth from his home base in Toronto to sample and document the wares of delis all over North America and even into Europe. What a Herculean effort and (of course) what a worthy - make that vital - cause.

Words from his opening post last January -
"...Save the Deli, a space dedicated to the preservation of the finest salted, cured, fatty Jewish treats to grace the world’s tongues.

I write with an urgency in my first post, because we are living in desperate times. The Jewish delicatessen, that treasured temple of scuffed formica, sawdust floors, and nose ticking garlic aroma, is dying. Where once Jewish delis numbered in the thousands, today there are scarcely a hundred scattered around the Diaspora. Just look to New York, the once teeming capital of deli. Barely a dozen remain in Manhattan. A handful in Brooklyn. A mere pair in the Bronx.

From Paris to Montreal, Chicago to Antwerp, London to Miami…the deli is dying. Recent casualties have included Ben’s in Montreal, the 2nd Ave Deli in New York’s East Village, and soon Rascal House in Miami Beach. Restaurants which were anchors of stability in cities have been uprooted and expelled, paved over by the bulldozer of history. They have been felled by increased rent, slim margins, a health conscious (and slightly maniacal) eating culture, and assimilation. Delis now serve sushi and spring rolls, while items like rolled beef, braised ribs, and schmaltz herring have fled from menus.

At the current rate, the Jewish deli as an institution is facing the very real possibility of extinction. In ten, twenty, or fifty years, how many delis will your city have? Where do you think you’ll go for a pastrami sandwich, a bowl of matzo ball soup, and a few full sour kosher dills? Friday’s? Sizzler? Wal-Mart? Forget it.

And so, the arduous march begins…a grassroots campaign of love and preservation with the aim of saving the Jewish delicatessen from extinction."

That young man, David Sax, is my hero.

I wish there were a diner

2007-08-15T15:41:00.000-04:00

Growing up in New York, we would occasionally visit a diner. There were several within striking distance of home and innumerable others by the road if you traveled farther afield. Many of these still exist today - in New York.

I confess I haven't been lately, but back in the day these were simply remarkable places. They somehow managed to bake (at least many of) their own pastries, cookies, and pies - generally at a high level of quality. These baked goods were real treats. I knew people who would travel to their favorite diner just for a cookie and a cup of coffee. And, believe me, it wasn't the coffee they were drawn to.

These diners tended to have remarkably, improbably, outlandishly broad menus and yet somehow, against all odds - the quality was generally good. And they did breakfast food worth paying for. French toast - thick eggy challah triangles. Hash - once upon a time even this was real. Pancakes with homemade and sometimes even interestingly distinctive batters. The people who owned and operated these temples of simple food done right were people of integrity and spirit. They delivered miracles at all hours for a few bucks.

As I said earlier, I haven't been back lately - and maybe things are as they were - albeit certainly more expensive. But who cares - if they're still turning out the real thing I salute them.

But outside New York - at least here in Massachusetts - I've never seen anything even approximately like the diners I remember. There are places that make a point of styling themselves as New York Diners, but - in my reliably traumatic experience - where food is concerned they have always failed in every respect.

I am noshstalgic - I wish there were a diner.

Pastrami again - Sam La Grassa this time

2007-08-13T22:02:00.000-04:00

The folks over at Chowhound (and elsewhere) have discussed the relative merits of various Boston area pastrami offerings. Here, for instance is one thread on "romanian pastrami" in and around Boston: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/403683
That discussion and other references left me curious about Sam LaGrassa's pastrami, so when a friend told me she wanted to take me to SLG for a pastrami I jumped at the opportunity. There were three of us in the party so we tried three different pastrami sandwich offerings and shared them around - A basic hot pastrami on (light) rye with mustard, a pastrami ruben, and another grilled sandwich they call a Traveler.
I may have missed something , but it seemed that at SLG, pastrami is exclusively "romanian". In my previous Brookline pastrami post I spoke to what makes pastrami "Romanian" at least here in Boston. The short version is that Romanian around here is distinguished by the addition of a heavy sugar rub in the final cooking. Other spices may be involved - as with the cinnamon used on the "Romanian" at Rubin's in Brookline. The pastrami at SLG is decidedly sweet. The meat in all three of our sandwiches was sweet. It was also tender, lean, and mildly spiced.
Now of course there's an element of the subjective about such matters - but for me, and for both of my companions today, the sweetness was off-putting. Insipid, actually. And the relative lack of spice didn't help there either. If you like sweet pastrami, then I suppose the basic sandwich could be to your liking. But in the two other cases, even if your preference runs to the sweet, the combinations did not benefit from this treatment. For example, the combination of sweet meat, Dijon mustard, and tomato - panini grilled on dark rye in the Traveler - not good. The sweet meat on the Rubin likewise. Of course in fairness to SLG, their Rubin standardly includes the canonical corned beef and not pastrami so one can not hold them responsible for the recipe there. We requested the offending sandwich specifically.

Other notes - the pastrami seemed to have been thoroughly cooked, but on the sandwich line it was not held in a steam cabinet. Of course, they're going through the stuff pretty fast in there, so maybe it doesn't spend long out of the steam before it's used up. They're slicing the meat to order on a rotary slicer - very thin. It was quite lean. I regret to say that I'm not sure whether they were slicing brisket or plate - but if pressed to guess without a return visit, I'd say brisket.
We also got a side of potato salad. It was a bit sweet too.
I came away from the visit feeling that SLG may be a better than average sandwich shop, but it is neither a pastrami destination of importance nor even a proper deli. Sweetness aside, the composition of their signature sandwich - the Traveler - for me constituted irrefutable evidence that they simply don't understand the ingredients they are working with.

Alas, I'm still noshstalgic. Next outing, I have to make my way over to Michael's in Brookline - I've heard good things about the place and I'm looking forward to it. I sincerely hope it will be great. To this point, the best publicly available pastrami experience I've had in Boston has been the regular (not Romanian) at Rubin's - if requested hand sliced, not lean. And they're very nice people over there.

Breakfast - too good, so simple

2007-08-12T11:42:00.000-04:00

I've got to get going so can't do this justice right now but I wanted to at least begin because
it was that great
Such a simple thing. No explaining how good it was - ok - what's all the fuss about?
A simple omelet.
Thinly slice one medium yellow onion. Saute in a heavy-bottom pan with fresh unsalted butter and little olive oil, some fresh ground pepper and fine herbs. Saute to a golden brown. This takes some time and attention - don't let them burn, and don't stop til they're really "there". When done, remove onions from pan and reserve.
If you're going to use the same pan for the omelet, it will have to be cleaned thoroughly at this point - or just start with another if you prefer. I used the same one for both phases - a 10" calphalon hard anodized - NOT NON-STICK. That's important - no non-stick. If that's all you've got - go out for breakfast then buy some real cookware. Cast iron, allclad, hard-anodized, but nothing non-stick. OK, rant over...
Meanwhile, gently beat 3 jumbo or 4 large eggs with a couple of tablespoons heavy cream, salt and pepper to taste.
Heat pan with fresh unsalted butter and a little olive oil until foam subsides and add scrambled egg mixture. The pan should be quite hot and you should be seeing bubbling around the edges throughout - don't let the pan fall off this level of heat.
When things have begun to set on the bottom, but with considerable liquid still on top, work your way around the 4 corners of the pan, pushing the set egg toward the middle to expose hot pan area and tip the pan to flow egg onto the hot surface.
If you've done this properly, after the 4 corners you should have very little depth of unset egg on the top.
When the top surface is still moist, distribute the onion mixture over one half of the omelet and fold the other half over to cover. Turn off heat. Let set for about 1/2 minute and then slide out of pan onto heated plate.
If you started with a clean pan and used proper temperatures throughout there will never be a problem with sticking. The bottom (now outer) surface of your omelet should be beautifully browned and with deep wrinkles and furrows from your 4 corners operation.
No reason this should hit so hard - omelets everywhere and all the time should be as good. Every diner and greasy spoon should be able to turn this sort of thing out. But they don't. And you can. And it will save the world - at least a little bit.

Breadcrumbs

2007-08-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

The breadcrumb business fascinates me. People buy these round cartons of plain and seasoned breadcrumbs in supermarkets. You know - not Whole Foods - regular supermarkets. Price points run a couple of dollars or more. Depends on location and brand. At Whole Foods, they buy plastic clamshell containers of bread crumbs - various textures like Panko or plain. Prices here probably vary too, but it's in the $5 ballpark. For a pretty small quantity, mind you - probably one or two uses. Panko aside, I'm tempted to suppose that the breadcrumbs must come from processing leftover breads in the bakery department. I don't know this - but it's tempting to think so. Actually let me confess that I haven't even tried the products in question so I can't even offer an educated guess. But, if they were using up their unsold bakery breads, this would be a good thing, not a bad one.

But back to the main point. People pay money for these breadcrumb offerings in supermarkets. This is a powerful demonstration of the state we've come to. Who needs breadcrumbs? People who cook. If you're not cooking - what possible use for breadcrumbs? You must be frying fish or making meatloaf or something. You're cooking. You're in the select minority - people who still cook.

And you're eating food that includes breadcrumbs. You aren't gluten averse. You eat wheat based bread products. So (I've got them on the run here....) AHA! You must buy bread from time to time. Do you always eat it all up before it goes stale? That would be a remarkable feat. In the alternative, are you always throwing out any bread that isn't perfectly fresh any more? Why not make breadcrumbs with these bits of leftover bread?

Fresh breadcrumbs, made at home, as needed. So easy. And the difference in quality is remarkable. You can save money, waste less food, and have a better outcome so easily.

Here's a quick Italian style mix we make up:

Grate leftover bread into crumbs. (I sometimes use a grater disk in my Cuisinart food processor).
Grate Parmesan cheese (or substitute hard cheese of your choice) and mix in with bread crumbs.
Add grated bread and cheese to food processor bowl fitted with regular blade.
Add a clove of garlic, some flat parsley. These fresh items should be used no matter what you do in the optional herb category below. I also regard the addition of some fresh ground pepper as essential here.
Add any other fresh or dried herbs you like. If you want an easy dried mix that works well for Italian, try Penzey's "Pasta Sprinkle".
Pulse in the processor to get the garlic broken down and then process to the not quite the desired consistency. NOW TASTE AND CORRECT SEASONING. BE CAREFUL WITH SALT - THE CHEESE IS ALREADY CONTRIBUTING THERE. Finally, depending upon the use for which the crumbs are intended, you may want to moisten the mixture with a little good EVOO in the last moments of processing.

This whole project takes about 2 minutes and will yield a life altering improvement over anything you can buy at the supermarket. Life Altering.
I don't care if it's fried fish, meatloaf or whatever. You will be amazed at the difference.

Summary:
2 minutes - using up leftovers. Saving non-trivial money. Profoundly improved results.

Death by soap

2007-08-10T23:28:00.000-04:00

//rant on
{
Please explain this to me - How does a steak house, a restaurant that's practically all about high-ticket wine sales, put that soap in the men's room? And, I assume, the lady's as well? If you wash your hands in there, all you can smell for the rest of the night is the soap. Sometimes it's almond, or floral. But often, it's a kind of antiseptic smell. Maybe the same scent they use in toilet bowel cleaner. And you cant' get away from it. If you raise a glass - it's not your wine you smell - it's the soap.

Have they lost their minds?

And what of the customers? Why am I having to rant about this on a blog that almost nobody's discovered yet? Why do their customers not complain? Why do they keep coming back?
}
//end rant

What's for dinner (part 3)

2007-08-10T10:45:00.000-04:00

So how did it go? And a bit more on exactly how things were prepared:

Melon and Shinkenspeck (squeeze of lime)- what's not to like? A minor variation on the old classic Proscuitto and melon. The fruit was exquisite and the smoky speck (just one slice per portion) worked great. I draped the speck over one side of the melon slice and onto but not covering the top. Pretty contrast between the meat and fruit and also easier to slice since you could get the knife started in the fruit before negotiating the ham. Primo was very excited about this item.

Shaved fennel in EVOO, sea salt, fresh lemon juice, and my pepper melange du jour.
Field greens - organic mesclun and frisee dressed simply in EVOO, sea salt, pepper melange, and Balsamic.

Roast Cod: Cut into (6 oz) portions and marinated in EVOO, with one crushed but not chopped clove garlic, sea salt, pepper melange, two drops pure lemon oil, two dashes orange bitters (couldn't find the orange oil - but it's pretty much the same thing), a pinch of saffron threads, and a tablespoon or so of the brine from the Sicilian Olives (wierd, huh?) Then dredged - one side only, in flour with a little salt, pepper melange, and sugar. Then seared in very hot cast iron pan, then finished in 400 degree convection oven (still in cast iron pan) for about 5 minutes.

Fresh Tomato Coulis:
Peel, seed, and chop fresh tomtoes coarsely. I made about 3 pounds. Add a couple of tablespoons EVOO, six Sicilian Olives pitted and chopped, and salt and pepper melange to taste. Let it sit at room temp. In my case yesterday it sat for about 4 hours before use. I corrected the seasoning along the way. Ended up adding a little bit of the olive brine along the way instead of punching up the salt.

Balsamic Glazed Sicilian Eggplant:
The Sicilian Eggplants are genuinely different from other types, sweeter and creamier, so use them if you can. I cut 1/2 inch round slices across the axis of the fruit. Oiled a sheet pan with olive oil and sprinkled the pan with kosher salt. Set the slices on the pan, sprinkled the tops with kosher salt and sugar and then put about a teaspoon + of balsamic vinegar on top of each. (I had run out of good aged balsamic and so cheated by using the cheap supermarket stuff with the added sugar). Put them in to a 375 degree convection oven until the tops were glazed and the fruit was soft. Took quite a while. Take out of oven and reserve - still on sheet. The whole thing goes back into the oven in the last couple of minutes of cooking the fish later. Of course you could do the whole thing last minute but it's hard to predict the timing of the eggplant and you might prefer to be socializing with your guests. The eggplant does not suffer for being prepared ahead. Primo, once again, very excited with this item - and I have to say I agreed. The textures - crispy top-glaze and skin, creamy soft interior, and the complex flavors were very rewarding. This was easy cooking with a dramatic result. (Be careful when removing these from the sheet for service - They will be a bit stuck to the sheet especially if the balsamic has spilled or otherwise migrated underneath during cooking. Use quick movements with a sharp square edged spatula to cut them off the sheet intact.) And the big rounds looked wonderful on the plat too. Sorry I didn't take pictures last night.

Rice - Nothing special to say.

Wine: Not too cold for this wine. Never had it before, and I was surprised when I first tasted it. I knew it was from Sicily - and thus southern - but it was much more tropical than I anticipated. Lots of glycerine mouth feel, rich - but not in the usual Chard malolactic overtly buttery way - apricots, pineapple (further back), a little sicilian garrigue-like herbal finish. I thought the product was good, but before dinner I also thought I was not thrilled to be into the bottle for $50. BUT - I have to say that when you put it together with the glazed eggplant and also when paired with the fish and coulis, the pairings were magical. Either I got lucky with my pairings or this is just a much better food wine than it is on its own.

Dessert:
The cake sucked. I bought it and I'm taking what's left back. And ...oh never mind.
The Double Rainbow ice creams (available at Trader Joes) were fabulous. Don't eat their ice cream if you don't tolerate milk-fat well, and stay away from their coffee and chocolate flavors if you're sensitive to caffeine at night. They will keep you up. And don't eat the blueberry if you don't want to feel like you've been to Maine. Really good store-bought ice cream.

Oh yeah - the pepper melange for this dinner: (proportions approximate)
In a spice- (or coffee-) grinder, process 4 parts whole black peppercorns, 1 part white peppercorns, 1 part allspice, a little fresh nutmeg (I cut a 1/4" slice off a nutmeg and use about 1/2 of that slice), a couple of cloves (if they're fresh - more if older)
OK - so my procedure is generally to make up a pepper melange for the meal and to use it throughout wherever I'd otherwise be using straight pepper. Of course there are exceptions - but I find that mostly I get away with this. The idea is you develop a spice signature that's subtly different from basic pepper (and hopefully appropriate to whatever you're doing that night), and then by using it throughout in place of regular pepper you connect the dishes in a manner that's impactful but not obvious.

What's for dinner (part 2)

2007-08-09T21:47:00.001-04:00

Fish store had some very nice fresh local cod loin.
Produce store came up with (of all things) farm fresh Sicilian eggplant, nice fennel, salad greens, and a two kinds of tomatoes in the "seconds" category and thus reasonably priced for what I had in mind. I have a real problem paying 4, 5, 6 dollars a pound for tomatoes under any circumstances, but as I was planning to use them for sauce, I was particularly price sensitive. So I was in luck buying "seconds" at .99/lb.
I also lucked out with a melon you could smell at 5 paces - ready to go!
Cheese store came through with Sicilian Olives and Pepato cheese (not my first choice but ok)
Here then the menu:

Melon and Italian Speck

Shaved Fennel and Field Greens

Roasted Cod Loin
Fresh Tomato Coulis with Sicilian Olives
Balsamic Glazed Sicilian Eggplant

Rice with dusting of grated Pepato

Wine: (as originally contemplated) 2004 Planeta Chardonnay IGT Sicily

Black & White Mouse Cake
Choice of Vanilla, Chocolate, & Blueberry Ice Cream
Coffee

Comments on how things worked out tomorrow. Gotta go walk the dog.

What's for dinner?

2007-08-09T09:25:00.000-04:00

We're expecting guests to join us for dinner tonight. What shall we serve? Who's dining? Kathy, Primo, and I will enjoy anything good. Secondo, our six year old is more selective. Our guests include Kathy's aunt, a senior, Boston-area, Irish Catholic who will try most anything I serve, but will more readily enjoy simple mainstream selections. (Kathy reminds me that I've served goat rogan josh to her aunt - but it seems to me that perhaps that occasion was not her favorite visit here.) And finally we have Kathy's cousin - a resident of New York City and instructor (professor?) at FIT. I don't really know this fellow, but as he has been a New Yorker for some time, and is in the fashion business I expect he'll have more sophisticated tastes. And finally, finally, there's the fact that I'd like to enjoy some nice, seasonally appropriate wine tonight.

To review the forces in play then:

Six year old - keep it simple, not too spicy, clean (unsauced) protein or pasta is best

Aunt - keep it simple, not too spicy, avoid unfamiliar protein items

NYC Cousin - ?Since I'm supposed to be some kind of cook, and in any case I'll grasp at any straw of justification for doing something other than the usual, Secondo preferred, lowest common denominator, maybe something sophisticated?

Try a good bottle of wine (or two)

And as we've been drinking Alsatian Pinot Gris and Riesling, and Loire whites throughout the summer, it's bound to be something other - perhaps even a chard for the first time in who remembers how long. Yes - why not. There's a reputedly good Planeta Chardonnay down in the cellar that I've been meaning to try.

Who's afraid of a little cliche? OK - I'll say it. It looks like it's fish tonight. Have to see what's available at the fish market (and green market) before nailing this down - but given Aunt and Secondo - it's probably some sort of white fish preparation where it's good without the sauce for Secondo and where the sauce and sides make sense given the wine and the season.

I'll post the market findings, the further decision process, and the resulting menu later.

In Iceland summers, the lambs roam free

2007-08-08T10:27:00.000-04:00

When in Iceland with Primo several years ago we saw sheep and lambs everywhere. The way it was explained to us, since the growing season in Iceland is short and winter is long, farmers must make hay while the sun shines. To get their flocks through the winter, the farmers have to save everything they can grow in the summer for winter use. So, as soon as the growing season starts, they chase all the sheep off the farms. In summer, the sheep can go anywhere they like - as long as it's not a farm.

Now in Iceland, the prevailing wild forage is a unique mix of lichen, moss, scub, wild-flowers and so on. Iceland is volcanic and the earth there is very young. Between the soil conditions and the latitude (although moderated strongly by warm ocean currents) they don't have lush pasture to graze. And the land offers some dramatic topology - it's not unusual to see steep hills rising out of otherwise flat land - and to see sheep all over the slopes (and roads, and...)

Come fall, people all over Iceland round up all the roaming sheep into long-used round-up pens surrounded by rocks as I recall. Then they sort them out and get them sent back to wherever they belong by examining ear-marks. It's not unusual for sheep to be found a hundred miles or more from home. The young lambs are numerous at this point and some go home with their mothers - but many do not. The herd is culled and the cull is sold for meat. Really good meat. Icelandic lamb is, in my opinion, a terrific product. Leaner than other lamb on the market and with a unique flavor because of their peculiar diet. And while it's not provably organic since nobody's certifying the entire island where they roam, it is a free-range product and as good as organic as far as I'm concerned. To top it off, it is generally sold at very reasonable prices - or at least it was.

In the couple of years after that trip, I would look forward to fall when the Icelandic lamb would, for a brief season, become available here in the US. At that time, it sold for reasonable prices even here at my local Whole Foods. Now I don't know this next bit for sure, but it seems to me that Whole Foods may have an exclusive on this product in the US market now. But whether that's true or not, one thing is for sure - Somewhere along the way, Icelandic lamb at Whole Foods got much more expensive. The price last year was well more than double where it started - and maybe as much as triple. Not sure if this reflects Iceland having established higher prices, Whole Foods taking advantage, or both. But one thing's clear - while still a wonderful product - Iceland lamb sure isn't free around here.

It will be cold again someday - so Brisket

2007-08-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe at this time of year - but I'm thinking about brisket. This is one of those comfort foods for which many families have their own cherished heirloom recipe. The basic technique is usually similar, but the sauces and flavors vary broadly. Sadly, this once regular feature of home cooking has become a special occasion item in many families and virtually disappeared for many others. It's too good and too easy to let it slip away. And the leftovers make amazing sandwiches. Here's one version based on my Mom's instructions:

Brisket, onions, salt, pepper, garlic, paprika (and many optional additions)

Buy a good "first cut" brisket she says.
Make a rub of kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, minced fresh garlic, and paprika and rub the brisket all over. (a little oil in the rub makes this easier. And many other spices or herbs can be included if desired.)

Slice a lot of yellow onions fairly thin. How much is a lot? More than you think - enough to completely surround and heavily cover the entire piece of meat once you get things going. Generally this puts your weight of onions on the way to that of the meat.

Find a heavy bottomed pan (one for which you have a tight-fitting lid) big enough to lay the brisket down in with some room around the edges, put in a little oil, and set over a medium-high burner.

Once the pan is up to temp, brown the meat well on all sides. (some would argue that this procedure can be improved by omitting the garlic from the rub so as to avoid any burned garlic. This is a reasonable point although it varies from Mom's approach. Come to think of it, in the good old days, she was probably using garlic powder rather than fresh so maybe that's why she put the garlic on early. Anyway, if you omit the garlic at this point, add crushed cloves to taste in with the onions later.)

Once browned, add the whole pile of onions to the pot. Surround and cover the meat completely with onions. Cover the pot and reduce heat to simmer.

The time required will vary with the size of your brisket and so on - but in any case it will take quite a while to cook - certainly 90 minutes and likely more. I suggest carefully flipping the brisket after about an hour. As the brisket and onions cook, the onions will create moisture and your brisket will braise. Eventually the onions will become very soft. Eventually your brisket will be done. There's a fairly broad window between done enough and really too far gone. Better to give it a bit more time if you're not sure. If you pull it too soon, it won't be tender.

That's about all there is to it if you want to leave things basic. Taste and correct seasoning in gravy along the way and again close to the end. When done and briefly rested, slice thin to medium across the grain and serve with gravy (and something to soak up gravy like rice or good bread).

Options:
Add some diced carrots along with onions - or later on if you prefer them to retain their identity.

Additional spices or aromatics in rub or later - use your imagination.

Wine in the pot at any time after browning - a good dry, but not too dry, white with some "bottom" to it. What's bottom? The point here is you don't want something too squeaky clean, steely, edgy, showing fruit only. You want some wood, or some malolactic, or some lees or something.

Puree the onion gravy just prior to the end. If necessary, correct color (as the resulting slurry can be unappealing in tone) with e.g. some added paprika.

Braise in the oven instead of on the stove-top.

Mushrooms? Sweet peppers? Shallots? Hots? Sour cream? You name it. Brisket is a great platform for playing around - brown, braise, and binge.

bialy report and I am given a clue by Rick

2007-08-05T19:50:00.000-04:00

So as to the Brookline bialy (sic) - need I say more? A good piece of bread with onions. Not a bialy. Still searching. Please - send leads. Truly noshstalgic.

Speaking of which - my friend Rick, when trying to find this site, used what seemed to him the obvious spelling and found his way not here - but to another blog - noshtalgia.blogspot.com. Their blog has been going for years, and there's lots of great content there. I honestly never thought to spell it that way and so this came as a welcome surprise to me. The sentiments they cite in their introductory comments are very close to my own. I'm excited to find others working this beat. Their editorial emphasis is very different from my own and I hope that they'll find my jottings as interesting as I've found theirs.

cruisin' Pastrami - in Brookline

2007-08-02T15:14:00.000-04:00

It's 94 degrees out, so of course today was the day to head for Harvard St. in Brookline and sample 3 different pastrami sandwiches for lunch. In case my doctor is reading this, I want to make clear that I didn't actually eat 3 sandwiches - I "sampled". OK - disclaimer firmly in place here's what I found:
Rubin's Deli, barely into Brookline from Allston offers by far the best I saw today. They offer two varieties - one called simply pastrami and the other they call Roumanian.

I've seen posts on other blogs and boards trying to clarify what's meant by Roumanian pastrami in the Brookline micro-culture - but both taste and the help at Rubin's made it clear enough today. In their case at least, both products start out the same. They buy their pastrami from a source in New York.

The regular pastrami is received from NY, steamed, sliced, and served. It seems their general approach is to put the product on the slicer, and slice it thin, but they will happily hand carve it at proper thickness upon request. The machine cut sample they first offered me, by the way, was quite lean. When I asked if they could cut by hand and find some with some fat on it they were pleased to comply - and the result was very good. Their regular pastrami product, like all they sell at Rubin's is Kosher, seems relatively minimally processed and mildly spiced. Not too aggressive a cure, not too much smoke, spice, or salt. The texture - at least in the fattier product they supplied upon request - was very good. The bread was indifferent plastic bag rye. Never mind the bread, though - the meat was good.

The Roumanian pastrami at Rubin's, as I said above, comes to them as the same product discussed above. The only difference is that before they steam it, they rub it with brown sugar and ground cinnamon. The effect is not subtle. Either you'll like it or not. Personally - Next time I'm at Rubin's, I'll order the regular pastrami. But that's just one man's reaction.

While on the topic of Rubin's let me say that the service was gracious. The waitress was friendly. The counter man who offered me a slice was happy to do so. The other counter man came out to see how I liked it and engaged me in discussion. When we got to talking about pastrami manufacture, preparation, their process for "Roumanian-izing" and so forth, he volunteered to bring me a 1/2 sandwich of the Roumanian - and followed up afterward to see what I thought. The manager at the register was proud of his people. In every way, a delightful experience. And Doctor, I left with what amounted to a whole sandwich wrapped and packed on ice.

Now down the way toward Beacon St. I stopped in at Zaftig's Delicatessen (sic). It was busy. This proves the importance of location. Rubin's was not busy when I was there. Zaftig's was busy.

How 'bout the pastrami? Since nobody at Zaftig's was interested in talking about it, I don't know for sure where they're buying their product. But if pressed to guess, I'd say probably Pearl. Not a bad product for supermarket pastrami - but not in a league with what Rubin's had to work with. And handled the way they did it today at Zaftig's - well read on. As at Rubin's, I asked if they'd be willing to hand cut. Answer - NO (and seeming annoyance). OK, I asked if the product was steamed. Yes, they said (and definitely annoyance). And they went on to inform me that "We sell a ton of it" (which seemed to come with some derision in addition to the aforementioned annoyance). OK says I - bring it on. I was seated at the counter and so watched as their sandwich guy took an absolutely lean piece of meat out of a warm, moist holding cabinet - not to say a really steamy one - and put it on the slicer. He cut very thin slices of product that appeared to be pastrami single brisket, not double, not plate. He cut until his scale demonstrated that he'd cut whatever their portion control called for. Not a small quantity - not Carnegie or Katz's - but a good count for a sandwich in Boston. Then he put the meat on a plate and covered it over with plastic wrap. Then he popped the plate of meat into a microwave and nuked it. When the bell went off, he slid the meat onto the waiting (plastic bag) rye and sent it my way. Disgraceful. No pride. No knowledge. No hospitality. No pastrami deserving of the title. No deli. And the fries were lousy too. I am embarrassed by their mere presence in our fair city. And the many patrons they somehow attract and seemingly satisfy.

Shame...
But I'm still noshstalgic. I'll get back to you all later on the bialys I picked up down the street. Although if you've seen my previous post on that topic, you know I'm not optimistic.
Later -

Brief rant on form and function

2007-08-01T10:45:00.000-04:00

Putting up a few photos last night, got me thinking again about what was the most important improvement in our kitchen. We did many things, so this might seem a difficult question. But it's not. When we moved in to this house, you could set off the fire alarm by boiling water - or at least that's how it seemed. It got so before dispatching the truck, the fire chief would call us up and ask what was for dinner. By far the most important improvement was in ventilation. We now have terrific ventilation.

The point of this post, though, is not to admire our own work - it is to pose this question -
Why do people make, sell, buy, install, and tolerate the hood-shaped, but functionally deficient products generally available to homeowners?

Certainly there are many people spending big money on kitchen renovations today who do not actually cook. And for these, the functional deficiencies of their hoods will be no problem. But if you cook? What then? How is a hood offering coverage little or no larger than the underlying range supposed to capture the plume of vapors rising from the stove? How is a hood set so far above the range-top supposed to work - especially on an island? How are those flat-bottomed items without any enclosed circulation space supposed to handle a grill? How are any of these fans (if high-CFM) supposed to work without make-up air? How do people designing, manufacturing and selling such hoods for thousands of dollars sleep at night? Beats me.

A couple of Kitchen Views

2007-07-31T21:21:00.000-04:00

Some people have asked me about our kitchen here at home. I don't have very good photos just yet as we're not 100% done with the project, but here are a few to provide some idea of what we're up to...

Early on in our renovation - hood and appliances for new hot line are in, but finishes not so much...
Me and Mom:

Much later in the project - Primo gets ready for Prom Night. Note the stone is now up on the hot-line backsplash:

Sink wall run. Hard to see the wood-character in these photos at the size shown, but the cabinets combine walnut and curly maple. Counter-tops and full-height backsplash of mascarello granite. Also note the drop-in induction range on island (under tea kettle). Induction is worth it -:

Primary Hot Line (pay no attention to the wierd photo artifact whereby the island top appears to be the floor. Better photos coming soon). Range, char-broiler, and convection oven. The Moffat E-32 convection oven is by far the best part of this line-up:

Hash

2007-07-28T21:02:00.000-04:00

Corned beef hash and the closely related hash-browned potatoes are two of the most maligned great traditional foods in the land. These popular items can be seen on menus all over the country. Hash-browns are so ubiquitous as to be included even at the likes of McDonald's. At least nominally. Corned beef hash is sold in cans in most every supermarket. And served from cans in most every diner. There are exceptions of course - but they are just that. Exceptions.

I can think of some places I've had actual hash. Some more traditional than others.

Many years ago, one could get a terrific hash - either corned beef or (get this) roast beef - at the dining room of the Ritz Carlton in Boston. You'd have to wear a tie to breakfast to partake. But it was worth it. Every morning, they'd use up the corned beef and roast beef they had left from the previous evening's dinner service to perpare quite good hash. And they would poach your egg properly. Needless to say, being the Ritz, and being in Boston, they didn't have proper rye bread for toast - but that's just quibbling. The meat was fresh, and the food was prepared with earnest respect for a deservedly great tradition.

Today, at the Carnegie Deil in Manhattan, you can get corned beef or pastrami hash of a sort. I regard their offering as a food of interest, but do not find it satisfying of my expectations of a proper hash. I could go into what's amiss there, but I'd rather first recognize them for trying. It's an honest product - and if you like it, you'll be delighted with the portion. As with the fabled sandwiches there - it is huge.

About a year back, I had a really good, albeit non-traditional, corned beef hash at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington. The Davenport is a remarkable place for many reasons. Actually it's a sufficient reason to visit Spokane all on its own. The hash is a bonus.

Probably there are dozens of places doing creditable work in the hash department across the country. But how do we account for the tens of thousands of other places serving something barely distinguishable from canned dog-food as hash? How do we account for the continuing popularity of hash despite the abuse heaped upon this once great food and its fans.

And as for "hash-browns" - although the standard expected quality of product offered in this category is not so patently offensive as with the meat-containing ersatz hash preparations above -- Still, have people lost their minds?
How does a deep fried, processed, formed potato-food thing get to be "hash-browns"?
Perhaps this is modern day hash-brown haiku. It's the irreducible essence -
"There's potato and there's crunch. (sneeringly) What more do you want, Mr. Noshstalgia?"

Somebody has to set the record straight. And as it will soon be Sunday morning in America, the proper time and place for hash-browns and perhaps even hash - Here are the facts:

Hash was (as at the Ritz) originally a means to use up first-rate dinner service leftovers.

* So if you don't have first rate meat to work with, have something else for breakfast. A nice omelet maybe.

The potatoes also are best if left over. You can of course start from scratch, but it's a long, slow process.

* Boiled potatoes are used most frequently, but I love to use up baked potatoes in this way. Personal preference. The important point is that they have been cooked before and allowed to cool so the starch has rectified. You don't want to start in trying to work with still-hot just cooked potatoes.

Potatoes for hash-browns should be cut into large enough pieces to retain a distinct potato presence in the final dish.

* No riced potatoes here. No mashed potatoes here. You want distinct pieces of potato with planar sufaces and angular edges. When you're done making your hash-browns they should exhibit a broad variation of texture - from crunch, through integral but fluffy interiors to the soft, rich, griddle-grease infused mash that binds it all together.

There should (make that must) be onions in the mix.

* The onions should acually be the first thing onto the griddle. There's a lot of latitude about how these are to be cut, but one thing is essential. Whether in whole or in part, there must be fines - that is there must be at least some onions that are small enough to take on a deeply cooked, carmelized color and flavor and a properly softened consistency. This is essential. In the creative realm certainly one could pursue substitutions - but classically, it's onions.

* Additional vegetables are welcome - especially peppers. These don't have to be pre-cooked, although if you have left-overs - hey, it's hash. I like them best if they're not overcooked in the final product. Best if they're well carmelized around the edges though.

Salt, pepper, paprika - and optionally herbs such as parsley, thyme or others are included

* Can't stress the paprika strongly enough here - it will both accelerate and materially contribute to quality results.

You need proper equipment. A griddle or heavy cast iron pan is best. NO NON-STICK!

* We're shooting for hash-browns. That means you need a cooking vessel that's good at browning things.
* And actually, for those of you who don't already know this, a well-seasoned cast iron pan is a great non-stick a surface.

Now if you adhere to those principles, you're in for some fine hash-browns. You can either go on to final prep (as discussed below) and serve, or reserve your hash-browns for later use. For example, it's great if you can mix the meat in and hold in refrigeration overnight for use in the morning. The flavors will only develop further if given such resting time.

Now about the meat - Couldn't be simpler. Recalling that we're using up leftovers here, the meat is already cooked. All we're really trying to do at this point is to chop it up, heat it through and incorporate the meat with the potatoes and blend the flavors.

Do not grind the meat. Chop it by hand.

* As with the potatoes, a broad variation in texture assuring preservation of discernable meat-structure is what you're shooting for. The precise treatment appropriate to a given piece of meat will depend upon its texture, degree of doneness, intensity of spice, and so on. You'll have to feel your way here. All I can tell you is that you should be able to tell what you're eating.
* If you make the right choices here, you will express the best this meat has to offer. If you're fortunate enough to have a really good piece of corned-beef, roast beef, or pastrami to work with, this hash can be among the world's great pleasures. I promise I'll get back to the topic of really good corned beef and other deli meats in subsequent posts.

Once you've prepared the meat for incorporation, fold it into the potato & onion mixture on the grill.

* Add oil or butter if necessary, heat, press into a patty and crisp as desired. I make the patty thick enough to go really crisp but retain softer textures in the interior.

Food like this will not be found in most breakfast joints. The ingredients and time involved are prohibitively expensive for the average greasy spoon. Mostly, you'll have to make it yourself. No better fate for your left-over roast-beef and baked potatoes.

On the other hand - schmaltz

2007-07-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

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Not much one can say to argue the health benefits here. Chicken fat - even Kosher chicken fat - just isn't good for you. Unless of course pleasure is itself good for us. There's simply nothing else like it - properly prepared schmaltz is sublime. My modern, medically informed culinary super-ego doesn't permit me to make much use of it - but it is good.

For some reason now, I'm reminded of that night at Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse on Chrystie St. - Glaciers of frozen vodka, schmaltz on the table top, veal chops that - while very good - crowd the limits of geometric plausibility for veal (to say nothing of the plate). My brother's last meal before a long and debilitating bout of hepatitis. Clearly, he was going down regardless, but imagine the insult to the liver.

Stream of conciousness-wise, this brings me to the observation that Russians (and to judge from Sammy's, Roumanians) understand vodka. Best consumed immoderately and frozen. I'm not sure as I write/read that if what's to be frozen is the vodka or the drinker. Let's be safe and say both. Yes, that's the ticket, be in (or from) a cold climate and drink frozen vodka in prodigious quantities. Garnish with a glass if you must. Salty, fatty foods are good at this point too.

Irresponsible advice you say? Well, this post is "On the other hand..." We're not here to promote healthful practices. This piece is about things we know are bad for us - but for which there is no substitute. Schmaltz. Frozen vodka by the litre. Summer blockbusters.

Seem to have jumped the groove again. OK - why not. I've actually been to two first run movies in the past week. A genuine rarity. But there it is. I was dragged (under heavy protest) to see Transformers. Come to think of it, it was a Russian neighbor's recommendation that drove us there. He had seen it and insisted we had to. Wretched. The worst. Truly. Others have covered this ground so I'll desist. But I can't help wondering now if vodka figured somehow into the genesis of the recommendation. Moving on - Last night we saw Hairspray. Great fun. If somebody tells you they don't make them like they used to - send them to see Hairspray. Highly recommended. Now here's the curious part. What does it say about blockbusters generally, and Transformers in particular, to observe that between the two, Hairspray was the wholesome choice? I mean (even as a third generation remake) we're talking about John Waters material here. Divine - a three-hundred pound transvestite - played the mother in the original movie. Now it's Travolta in drag-cum-fat suit. And it's the wholesome offering today. Not a close call. Which brings me back to schmaltz.
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Can food be old fashioned and healthy too?

2007-07-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

I've been corresponding with Erin over at www.athleticmindedtraveller.com and it got me thinking about how to reconcile my love of heirloom foods with eating healthfully. Seems like so many of the great old food treats just aren't good for us. Well there's at least a couple of things worth thinking about there.

First, if we're talking about treats, we should remember that they're supposed to be just that - treats, not staples. The occasional pastrami - and if you hold out for truly great pastrami and don't live near Carnegie, Katz's or Langer's or some such* it will be very occasional - isn't going to define your diet.

Second, if we're really talking about heirloom foods then there may be substantive health benefits to the old-time genuine article. Take a look at American Grass Fed Beef for a quick overview of the dramatic nutritional comparison between grass finished beef vs. commercial feed-lot beef. I also recommend you take a look at the folks at Heritage Foods USA for a variety of traditionally produced beef, pork, lamb and poultry products.

*Following up now on that asterisk - If you know of someplace other than Carnegie, Katz's (NY) and Langer's (LA), and of course I should also mention the Niman Ranch product available by mail or at Zingermans (who helped develop it), that offers especially good pastrami, please let me know the particulars, who, where, what's special about their meat or other notable aspects of the experience. Ah - I've just been pointed at a piece talking about (of all things) noshstalgia in the SF Bay area that mentions some apparently good deli's out that way. A great read. Check it out at: http://www.themonthly.com/food-02-07.html

And bialys aren't yellow

2007-07-26T16:41:00.000-04:00

Unlike the bagel - which most everybody at least thinks they've seen lately - the bialy is pratically unheard of outside greater NYC. But even within the city, I haven't actually seen a convincing bialy in recent memory. This is a complete mystery to me. What has happened? Before I get into that, though - perhaps a brief explanation in case there's anyone who wants to know what I'm talking about.

From Mirriam Webster:
bialy, (n): Yiddish, short for bialystoker, from bialystoker of Bialystok, city in Poland
: a flat breakfast roll that has a depressed center and is usually covered with onion flakes
This is a thoroughly inadequate definition, but it's a place to start.

I take no exception with the suggested derivation, nor with the morphology, usual meal of consumption or vegetable garnish. Hmm - that doesn't leave much to quibble with then does it? ON THE CONTRARY! That word 'roll' - it suggests all that is wrong with most present day pretenders to bialydom. I admit, the word roll covers a lot of ground and I suppose one could rationalize its use - but it leads us down the wrong path and is best avoided. For example, a roll might contain egg in the batter and thus be somewhat yellow. Bialys are not yellow. Put another way - if that thing you're looking at or holding is yellow - it is not a bialy no matter what the store or manufacturer may claim. Take it from me - I'm obsessed...I am noshstalgic. Well then, what better word? (I'd be grateful for suggestions).

A bialy is dry. Really dry. They are generally dusted with flour that remains beyond baking, and assures, should there be an errant molecule of would-be moisture nearby, complete dryness. Bialys, when sliced and toasted, have irregular holes and fissures in their structure. The dough surrounding some such bubbles can be very thin. When toasted, these create edges that can lacerate the unwary. A bialy is not dense throughout, nor even primarily (which observation gives rise to one of my numerous objections to the product from Kossar's (who seem to be nice people and emphatically claim to make them as they used to since 1936)). I have no idea if the Kossar's Biali of 1936 resembled the 6 in a bag I got at Zabar's two weeks ago, but if it did, then I would not have been buying them from Kossar's back when. But I digress...

A bialy is oniony - but not throughout. The onion is confined to the dimple (thumb depression) in the middle - and somehow its influence is (while present) very attenuated beyond the immediate center. It's a subtle onion effect. Perhaps the dryness contributes to the extreme inertness of the onion flavor?

Now this next observation (as distinct from my usual) is a matter of opinion, but: As I remember them from my youth, the bialy seemed custom made for sable. Not lox, not sturgeon, - sable.

Now in recent attempts to enjoy a bialy, I have purchased product from various bagel makers (at one time a reasonable strategy as the bagel people were also often capable bialy people), I have tried the Kossar's product, and I bought some larger, fancier product from Zabar's. Some of these offerings have been pleasant flat breakfast rolls with depressed centers and covered with onion flakes (and occasionally things like poppy seeds) to paraphrase Mirriam Webster - but sadly, none has been a bialy. Which do you suppose came first? The non-bialy bialy, or the non-definition definition?

Does anyone know where I can find a real bialy like they used to be? I'll bring the sable.
Thanks.

Bagels don't have blueberries

2007-07-25T08:50:00.001-04:00

My jaw muscles (probably my best toned body part) are completely exhausted. I've just eaten a toasted H&H poppy seed bagel. Given a genuine bagel, this is an anaerobic activity. You will "feel the burn" if you work your way through a proper bagel without a resting period. Bagels aren't easy.

I hear a voice somewhere saying "I've never had that problem with a Duncan Donuts bagel."

And cinnamon and raisins - like blueberries - are not properly to be found in bagels. Bagels don't have blueberries.

OK - I know, they do. Even at places that should (and probably do) know better, like H&H. But despite the ready availability, I maintain that bagels don't have blueberries. The blueberry bagel demonstates the danger of popularity, of assimilation. Doubtless, many people reading this would already be lost - What's so wrong about blueberry? So pernicious?

"I like blueberry bagels. What's your problem? You're a bagel snob!" Dare I say it (that is, imagine them saying it) - "A bagel nazi!".

I admit I'm intolerant - but I feel I have just cause. It has come to this - I can get a thing called a blueberry bagel just about anywhere. (It might not actually contain real fruit, but that's a topic for another piece.) This product, this blueberry bagel, will have blue spots in it. It will have an aroma that its makers expect to be evocative of blueberries. It will be sweet.

But whether blueberry flavor or not - I cannot buy an actual bagel, something I regard as a proper bagel, almost anywhere. With rare exception, the bagel as I knew it has become unobtainable. The market is flooded with bagel shaped bread-units sold as (gasp) bagels.

The essence of bagel is not shape. The bagel contract is not fulfilled by virtue of shape alone. Proper bagels (though having a very slight sweetness on the outside) are savory, not sweet. While not a difinitive test, consider the phrase:
"What would lox do?"

Bagels, in addition to not being sweet through-and-through, are also not soft. They are not readily compressable. They can not be crushed to make a pasty substance suitable for sculpting - as can be done with white bread.

But this isn't just about bagels - the point here is that the bagel is like so many ethnic or regional specialties. It has crossed over and become a popular, broadly distributed product. And the product that so many Americans enjoy today is not true to the original product - and I miss the real thing. I am Noshstalgic.

Kathy's back dinner

2007-07-24T20:46:00.000-04:00

Whole family home again. Cooked a quick chicken kofta masala:
Made this up as went along. Couple of mishaps - discovered I was out of garam masala; didn't have the specific curry I'd have normally reached for; on the other hand - had some miscellaneous spices left over from a recent vaguely Mexican dinner (smoked paprika and ancho chile) that I decided to throw in. The substitutions worked out fine.
I used 2.5 lbs of skinless/boneless chicken thighs, stripped off the obvious excess fat, ground once with grinder attachment to KitchenAid using fine blade.
Grated fresh breadcrumbs with stale leftover sesame seed ficelle - about 1/2 loaf. Processed breadcrumbs with 1 large clove fresh garlic and a goodly quantity of fresh-grated ginger. Not sure how much - the piece cost me 40 cents before peeling and grating. Mixed in about the leftover mexican dinner spices - 2 teaspoons of smoked spanish paprika, and 1 teaspoon of freshly ground dried ancho chile. Added about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper and a rounded teaspoon of Balti seasoning mix (Penzey's).
Incorporated the breadcrumb mixture with the ground chicken and added about ~3 tablespoons heavy cream and two (jumbo) eggs. Corrected moisture level with besan flour to proper kofta consistency (?3-4 tablespoons?).
Formed koftas and fried over medium heat in a heavy cast iron pan moistened with olive oil (could have used any decent oil or ghee instead).
Meanwhile made a creamy tomato sauce:
Butter (or ghee), 2 large onions diced, 2 large yellow peppers, sliced and slices halved.
1 large can Muir Glen Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes, a large splash (1/4 jar) of whatever fairly neutral brand of spaghetti sauce is kicking around open (in this case it was Newman's Marinara). Balti seasoning mix, salt, and sour cream to taste.

Saute onions in butter (ghee) until they start to become translucent. Spread onions to outside of pan, exposing center. Add Balti mix to pan and toast until it starts to darken a bit then incorporate with sauteed onions and redistribute throughout pan. Add peppers and saute until they just start to soften. Add Muir Glen and other tomato product. Mix, correct seasoning, mix in sour cream, and cook down to desired consistency. Add koftas for last minute or two - do not mix to incorporate - it's better if the koftas are not sauced all over. If you've fried them properly, they will have dark crunchy surfaces that you don't want to soften with the sauce. The interior texture should be soft and light - much as you'd expect from a good veg kofta.
Serve over rice. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander (cilantro).

Accompanied by: Willm Pinot Gris - off dry. I'd rather have served an Alsatian Gewurztraminer, but this wine worked well.

Children, by the way, will eat this if you avoid making it too hot. Secondo is a picky eater and he cleaned his plate.

The essence of things

2007-07-24T10:30:00.000-04:00

Well, perhaps I've been clearing my throat for long enough. Time for some thoughts about Noshstalgia per se.

Most familiar foods have deep roots. But, at least here in the US - and to a lesser degree in the developed world generally - with each successive generation, food has less context, people know less about the things they eat. Less history, less culture, less procedural knowledge. To some degree, the current popularity of all things foodie has slowed the loss of cultural memory. But the prevailing trend, even among self-identified foodies, is to less knowledge and wisdom even in the context of more data. (put that way, one could make the same observation in most any domain). In fairness, we're all busy people, and there's more than ever to know about so many things. How and why should people make time to acquire context, wisdom, etc. where food is concerned? Won't whatever is on my plate taste the same whether I understand ancient history or not? Well...

I concede, at the highest level it is purely a matter of choice. Some people regard food only as sustenance, as a conveyance for nutrition. They are perfectly happy if their need to eat takes as little time as possible and avoids distracting them from their more important pursuits. I don't embrace this point of view, but neither do I condemn it.

Others - My readers (if I have any today) and potential readers - We choose to pay attention to what we eat, and perhaps even to exert ourselves in the procurement or preparation of superior foods. For us, taking steps beyond attentive consumption leads us to context. Preserves, confits, sausages, corned beef, bacon, maple syrup, indian pudding, woks, kebabs, spices, etc. - Why?

An understanding of the origins of things leads to an improved understanding of their essence. Understanding the essence of such things - the original design objectives, the practical problems that drove their creation and refinement - guides us in appreciating real quality. What's the point in preserves made with non-seasonal or improperly ripened fruit? Can they possibly preserve the character and singular pleasure of a perfectly ripened peach? What's the point in a wok of heavy gauge metal, or one set over a weak or diffuse heat source? Can it possibly deliver either the fuel economy or the cooking result for which the wok was developed?

For me, Noshstalgia is not simply an exercise in revisiting old recipes - it is a commitment to deeper understanding. It is a perspective that helps me focus my attention and efforts. Many fine authors have expounded on aspects of this consciousness - how to shop, seasonal menus, slow cooking etc. And implicitly, good food writing tends to include culture and history. But I am working on this blog because as I survey the web - as I look at so many food-blogs and cooking sites - it seems like people are mostly focused concrete details du jour - how to cook this, where to find that. Great information, no doubt but I hope I can lend a voice, and find a readership for digging deeper.

Service

2007-07-22T06:34:00.000-04:00

Had dinner out with Secondo on Wednesday. We waited a long time to be seated. Secondo is only 6, so that's not easy, but the time went by quite pleasantly. The restaurant was a very small, storefront neighborhood place not too far off. Family operation. Two sisters were working the front of the house, their parents in the kitchen.

From our vantage point near the entry, we could see most of the dining room, the service area where drinks, desserts, coffee, bread and so on were prepped, the register, and right down the axis of the galley kitchen area. Flourescent lighting on the left side of the room illuminated the entry and service areas. On the right, down-lighting served the dining area - but as there is no real separation, the entire space was bright and unromatic. The decor verged on non-existent. We perused a menu as we waited. It was a short list of absolutely standard, old-fashioned italian (calabrian) offerings. Mostly pasta. A few protein items. Secondo loves pasta.

The sisters were very busy. Upon our arrival, we were the fourth party waiting for a table. The entire restaurant consisted of perhaps a dozen tables. The timing of our arrival was such that it took quite a long time for even the first of the 4 waiting parties to be seated. During this long interval, and at each subsequent seating prior to ours, we observed that one, and sometimes two tables were vacant. A party would clear their bill and head out. Their table would sit, waiting to be cleared and readied for the next party. And people were waiting. And I was waiting with a 6 year old. And we didn't mind; because something magical was happening.

The sisters were very busy. There was no discernable division of labor between them. There was a lot to do back there. When they were in the service area, they flew. Most of their activities were those you'd expect - prepping desserts, totaling checks, making espresso and so on. One thing was a bit less typical. Every time a party was seated, one of the sisters would start a batch of toast on a panini grill. When they removed the toast from the grill, they'd brush it with a mixture of oil, garlic and herbs. No big deal, but it was a labor intensive way to provide bread to the table, it seemed to be the rule, and the care and precision with which they made that garlic bread seemed special.

More remarkable was the transformation the sisters went through each and every time they crossed the threshold between the service area and the dining area. Recall that there was no wall between - just a counter. Still, as they moved from one area to the other, everything changed. In the service area, they were charged and taut, moving as fast as possible. They were perfectly accurate and wasted no motion. But they were clearly exerting themselves to get things done. As they crossed into the dining room, you could see them relax. It was deliberate and unmistakable. It didn't take long - just a couple of seconds. But as they entered the dining room, the tension left them and they moved through the tables with easy grace as if they had all the time in the world. When they approached a table and took an order, or when delivering food, they were relaxed. They exuded hospitality. They might as well have been hostesses, relaxing at a catered affair under the watchful eye of a trusted manager. It was as if they had nothing to worry about, nothing to do, but be with their guest. No other guest either - just the one they were with.

Those tables that sat empty between parties? I was quickly convinced this was a deliberate, and absolutely correct decision. They were regulating the flow of seatings and orders to maintain perfect service in the front of the house and perfect timing in the kitchen. I was waiting with a 6 year old, in an environment that provided no activities to keep him busy for close to an hour - and I appreciated their discipline in turning those tables so slowly.

When our turn came, just as I suspected, we too felt the ease and luxury of gracious service and seemingly undivided attention. And the food was delicious.

Dinner with the boys

2007-07-21T21:58:00.000-04:00

Kathy's still away, so just the three of us this evening.
Char-broiled flank steak - rub: EVOO, kosher salt, crushed garlic, pepper melange (black pepper, allspice, ceylon clove, nutmeg, ancho chile), smoked spanish paprika, thyme
Duxelle of leeks and portobello mushrooms - porcini powder cream, dry vermouth and demi-glace
Pan carmelized local farm yellow zucchini
remainder of ficelle from lunch.
2003 Chateau Campuget, Nimes (S, G, M) - Great value there

A quick summer lunch with the boys

2007-07-21T14:47:00.000-04:00

Properly ripened cranshaw melon with shinkenspeck and lime. Sesame seeded ficelle with brebiou (a mild sheep's milk brie).
The little one passed on the above, but went crazy for the black-forest salami and a new designer fruit I picked up - something they're calling a mango nectarine. Have to admit, it was very good. Also notable, it was absolutely ready to eat upon purchase - perfectly ripe. A real rarity in most retail settings today.

Even though I've titled this blog Noshstalgia, I love running into worthwhile new products - by which I mean products that introduce delicious new flavors, textures, nutritive profiles, etc. Some of the new designer fruits are excellent. The people at Baldor have introduced quite a few. Not sure if this is one of theirs.

Cheese Shop

2007-07-21T11:42:00.000-04:00

My local Stop and Shop has a big sign on its facade that says "Cheese Shop". Inside the store, there's an area near the deli with some open refrigerator cabinets containing wrapped pieces of cheese. Nothing exotic, but still some variety. These products are, for me, not actually food. Initial quality aside, they are not cared for properly. In a pinch one could source a piece of something relatively indestructable such as utility-grade parmesan or cheese for tacos, perhaps. But mostly, this is not actual cheese as I know it - and I categorically dispute their claim to being a cheese shop.

But ok - there are stores that actually are cheese shops. They're few and far between, but they do exist. Even within the ranks of this small group, there is astonishing variation in quality. Let me propose to you what I have been surprised to discover is the acid test. I never thought this would be a hard question, but it turns out that it is. Next time you are served at the cheese shop (remember this has to first be a bona fide cheese shop) - I suggest you begin by asking your server:
"What's great today?". By far the most frequent response (I've conducted a poll over a large sample) is: "Everything!" Often this is followed by "What do you like?" or some such. If your cheese monger (sic) has actually said "Everything!" - this is not a cheese shop (or at least this server is not a cheese monger). This phase of the test is pass/fail - and they have failed.

There are places where this simple question will reliably elicit an intelligent answer. At Wasik's in Wellesley, MA for example. The kind of response you're looking for is of the form: "I'm really liking the (cheeseThat'sActuallyInGreatFormToday) today." Cheese lives, breathes, grows, shrinks, stinks, dies. Cheese has seasons. Cheese has good days and not so good days. Cheese sometimes needs to be thrown away. Cheese mongers select their products deliberately. They age their products. They cut them when they're ready. They don't wrap them indiscriminately. They taste their products. They know what's good. And if you work with them, they will come to know what you like and will steer you what's best and occasionally to wonderful new experiences. Great people.

Some supermarkets have begun the practice of stocking a much improved variety of cheese. Whole Foods, for example has made a big commitment to the category. But the kind of service they can offer, the care they can (actually can't) provide for the product, do not and can not provide a substitute for a well run proper cheese shop. Find a good one, taste the products attentively. I don't mean buy them and see - I mean taste in the store. Do the same at WF. If you ask, they will cut you a taste. Ask for help, assess the thoughfulness of the answers, taste the products.

You'll make the time to take the extra stop.

Osso Bucco

2007-07-21T10:39:00.000-04:00

Takes long cooking. About 1/2 bone. Used to be cheap meat. Not any more. Whole Foods price today? My local store has it at: $ - well actually they didn't have any today, but they tell me it would have been $12.99/lb. Arguably Whole Foods might run a bit higher than some other market - but the fact is that this, once lowly, cut has become expensive. Once you take the bone into consideration, the meat alone will run you around $10 per portion.

Why was it cheap before? Why isn't it so any more?

After all, the more desireable cuts of veal have always been (comparatively) expensive. Once upon a time, veal cutlet (tops - prepped) would have run you $12/lb when osso bucco was around $3. Now the tops run $18 and the OB is $13. What accounts for the price compression?

Has the ratio of OB to cutlet, ribs, loin, etc. on veal changed? Perhaps genetic engineering has been applied to alter the design of the animal to this effect? Since modern veal production doesn't involve the animal actually going anywhere, perhaps they've reduced the number of legs on the calf to optimize these proportions?

No - that's probably wrong.

Hey, what about Flank Steak, Skirt Steak, or (if you can even find one) Hanger Steak.
Same story. Used to be comparatively cheap - but the price spread between these "value" cuts and the famously most desireable cuts have been dramatically reduced in recent years.

I'll skip the speculation.

Meat is no longer cut locally. That is, there is no real meat breakdown at the retail level. Meat is broken down to retail cuts (sometimes even retail portions) before it reaches the store. Since the product is shipped in cut-wise distinct packages at cut-wise distinct prices, there's no longer any inadvertant buying. Used to be that for your butcher to sell you veal chops, he would purchase whole carcasses, or sides. The chops came along with the shins (osso bucco) Beef - by the side or quarter. Want loin? Comes with flank. Now it's all in boxes, cut by cut. This distribution technology permits the "optimization" of the market. Supply and demand can be managed cut by cut.

Now I'm not opposed to the natural forces that operate in markets generally. But when such "optimization" distorts the fabric of cuisine? This is a serious problem.

Welcome

2007-07-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning. Friends and family have been after me to start blogging for some time now and since Spencer's still sleeping - a remarkable event at 9am - I'm going to at least make a start. People have been after me to blog because I'm usually on a soap box where nobody but friends and family can hear me - and either they figure the world might want to hear what I'm on about, or maybe its as simple as "misery loves company". You'll have to decide. I can't tell anymore.

Why Noshstalgia? Noshstalgia reflects my interest in preserving great, endangered, food traditions and sharing them with others. I'll elaborate on this later - but first a few words to better set the stage...

I recognize the danger of nostalgia generally. As we grow older, we're prone to looking back and romanticizing our earlier life experiences. It's a cliche that things used to be better. And if we fixate there then we may miss the present altogether. Very dangerous stuff.

There are plenty of worthy developments in the world of food today, and I don't mean to suggest otherwise. I have great interest in and admiration for many contemporary growers, producers, distributors, chefs, restaurateurs, etc. But this blog is not about the new - it's about our culinary roots.

It's obvious that food has become fashionable. As I look at the success of popular food-focused media outlets, the proliferation of specialty foods, the growth of Whole Foods, food celebrities, and now even Hollywood movies set in the context of the food business I can't help feeling that we may be approaching the zenith of the fad.

But most people don't actually cook. Time is precious and people can't spend hours as they used to. And there are many more impediments to real cooking at home - reasons that I hope to discuss later. For now, just consider the ratio between the number of primary ingredients required to produce food, and the number of products selling in the market. At the Fancy Food Show in New York two weeks ago, there were well in excess of 100,000 products on display. Modern supermarkets carry tens of thousands of distinct items on its shelves. The proliferation of items on offer reflects first and foremost on people's need for convenience. One way or another, many of these products are substites for the time, effort, and know-how otherwise required to produce meals from primary ingredients.

And most of those who do cook are in a hurry. Time is precious, even for self-identified foodies. The focus of many recent cookbooks and tv shows is on producing meals quickly. So - am I all about "slow food"? No - but it's certainly a part of the picture for me.

So back to this - Food is fashionable. I appreciate the attention that good food and its contemporary heroes are receiving. But, it seems to me that many of the most important aspects of our food culture - past and present - have yet to penetrate for many people. The foodie trend has reached a point that suggests it may soon be "over". It feels to me like we're at about (Warhol) minute 14. Popular culture is very harsh with fads that have passed. And too often, good, important ideas are lost because of their nominal association with a defunct trend.

My job here is to share what strikes me as important and hope to build impact beyond the fad. I hope that you'll find some value in my jottings.