zoramargolis

Vacuum sealed fruit in syrup should last for at least two or three years. Toigo peaches in bourbon syrup would taste mighty good right about now.

So if I am reading your post correctly, other than eliminating the juniper berries and gingersnaps, you followed the recipe exactly as written. You found the meat mushy and the flavor one-dimensional. Having never made this dish, I can only analyze the recipe as it is written in the book and by your report to suggest what may have "gone wrong." The cooked wine marinade is fairly straightforward for a typical beef braise, except for the vinegar, which might make it more acidic than straight wine, unless the added water dilutes the acidity so that it is the same ph as the wine. A higher concentration of acid in the marinade might have contributed to the mushiness of the meat, as acidic marinades do break down the meat. The ultimate goal of the dish is the sweet-sour flavor spectrum, however, and the vinegar is an important element, as evidenced by more vinegar being added to the sauce in the final step. I think that the 300 degrees called for in the recipe, for 2 to 2 1/2 hours is too high, and your oven may be hotter than that. I find that the texture and flavor of braised meat is better at lower temp. I'd also add celery, fresh parsley and fresh thyme to the braising pot. Finally, the sauce, which is the strained braising liquid thickened with a cooked roux, with added raisins, sugar, vinegar and gingersnaps. Where in the first step, the marinade, you may not have lost much by eliminating the juniper berries (although I really like the flavor, and I would have used more than the two called for in the recipe), I think you left out a significant source of flavor by eliminating the gingersnaps. Clearly, they are being used as a source for spice flavor -- primarily ginger, cinnamon and molasses, since there is clove in the marinade-- and sweetness. If you don't have gingersnaps, you should add ginger, cinnamon and a little molasses, honey or more sugar to the sauce to calibrate the sweetness/sourness to taste. With those additions, the flavor will be much more complex. I'd also reduce the braising liquid to concentrate the flavor before adding it to the roux. If you don't like gingersnaps because you don't like ginger, you probably wouldn't like any sauerbraten, since that is a central flavor element in the dish. Hope that helps.

Thanks for reminding me why I didn't go to law school.

Hi Jake: When I responded to this post, late last night. I had not examined the bottle or read the label. This morning I read the back label, which indicates that the wine is 50% monastrell, 25% CABERNET, and 25% tempranillo. It also says: "...The results of this struggle between vine and nature is a wine with tremendous saturation of color, round rich flavors of ripe plums, blackberries and cassis, balanced with notes of warm spices...The long, well developed finish...blah blah gifted winemaking, etc." I was just describing what I smelled and tasted in the glass. Okay, I got sour cherry instead of cassis in the finish. But otherwise, my palate seems to agree with the folks who make the wine, or at the very least, the marketers who wrote the label copy. But your statement above is dissing me, by presuming you know and I don't, what a wine that you haven't tasted SHOULD taste like, versus what I got in the glass. That attitude could use some adjustment, as I say to my teenager now and again. (Hanging spit ball. Had to swat back.)

I get an e-mail every time someone posts to this thread, and I've gotten in the habit of reading it when I'm checking my e-mail. I know that I can just delete and ignore. But I like to read about what people who think about food and care about it are cooking for dinner. And I do get ideas from simple things here, too--like Al Dente's tuna melt with Emmenthaler cheese on good bread--that was not what I was referring to. But do you guys really need reassurance by reading that other people can be lazy about meals and heat up frozen pizza for dinner, like we all do sometimes? Or have kung pao chicken delivered from the local joint? Taking up bandwidth and other people's time and attention to report this kind of meal seems to be a form of solipsism that assumes that other people will be interested to know about every single detail of one's life, no matter how mundane. Now, if ScotteeM or CJ Sadler were to write about making fried eggs for dinner, that would certainly pique my interest. Because, they were probably Moulard duck eggs sourced from someplace of real interest, gently stewed in organic goose fat and served with brioche toast rounds and duck bacon. This is not "showing off" -- it may inspire envy and resentment in others who interpret it that way-- it is reporting about one's creative efforts in the kitchen, in the same way that restaurant diners report on meals they have enjoyed, elsewhere in this site. If posters to this thread have found a delicious way to combine ordinary pantry items and turn them into a satisfying dish, I would certainly like to know about it. I would rather not hear that you are lazy, that's all. I know you are. I am too, sometimes.

Dinner for my vegetarian-teen daughter and some of her friends: Caribbean collard greens stew with tomato, chayote, taro, smoked tofu and jerk spices Black-eyed peas and Tilda basmati rice Sugared strawberries and B&J's ice cream

Chacon a son gout, baby. No sweaty saddles here. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I have a glass of it in front of me as I am writing this. And there was some concern on your part that I wouldn't like it? I am having a hard time keeping my nose out of the glass. Perhaps a bit heavy on the vanilla/oak when I first poured, but is opening up with a little time and air and revealing intense plum, blackberry and spicebox characteristics. Sweet tannins and a long finish with a measure of sour cherry in it. It is a gorgeous, rich red and in the immortal words of the Big Bopper: "YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE"... Thanks for the rec, Joe.

I'm going to make a suggestion here-- that we share only special deliciousness with each other in this thread, and self-edit on the fast food, take-out, frozen and ordinary fare. Much as I'm fond of y'all, I don't need to read about it when you eat fried eggs and frozen pizza...

He's been to BlackSalt...

Last night: Panko-crusted skate wing, sauce remoulade Pan-fried new potatoes Broccoli puree Mache salad with pear and pinenuts Flourless Grand Marnier chocolate cake 2003 Joao Piret Portugese dry muscat Tonight: Polyface fresh ham steak pot roasted with fingerling potatoes, carrots, baby turnips and prunes Sweet-sour braised red cabbage with juniper and caraway More flourless chocolate cake with strawberries 2002 Domaine des Varinelles Saumur Champigny

Charcoal-grilled tri-tip, the last gasp of Sunnyside Organics VA Kobe Beef (sob!) Oven roasted baby brussels sprouts with shallots and lemon Steamed Basmati rice--'cause Veggie-teen was having Ashoka Palak Paneer as her main Flourless Grand Marnier Chocolate Cake 2003 Venta Mazzaron tempranillo

Dessert is always a challenge when I'm having a dinner party. Sometimes I do a cheesecake, which can and should be made a day in advance, or wine-poached pears. Otherwise, I often don't have the time to make something elegant on the day of the dinner. But tonight, I made my own version of a flourless chocolate cake--the basic concept, using cocoa powder instead of ground nuts, was adapted from a recipe in the Gourmet Cookbook. It is so simple, using one bowl, and is amazingly elegant and chocolate-y, despite being whipped up in no time. Flourless Grand Marnier Chocolate Cake 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, broken up (I used a mix of Sharffenberger and Valhrona) 2 sticks unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 6 large eggs 1 cup cocoa powder 1 T. Grand Marnier (or mix of Cointreau and brandy) 1/4 t. orange oil Prehear oven to 350 Prepare a 10" springform pan--butter the pan, line bottom with parchment and butter the parchment. Melt chocolate and butter together in a medium-large mixing bowl in the microwave. Mix until well combined, whisk in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking after each egg. Sieve the cocoa powder into the bowl and stir until smooth. Add liquor and orange oil, stir in lightly. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake on center rack of oven for 35 to 40 mins or until a toothpick comes out with crumbs, not goo. After it is slightly cooled, remove springform, invert onto a plate and remove the parchment and invert onto a serving dish. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar. I served it with whipped cream. Next time I make it, I will plan to have some raspberries alongside or make a berry coulis. The top cracked a little, but so what. It was rich and elegant, and the easiest scratch cake I've ever made. One bowl, a spatula and a whisk. Easy peasy. Got any wonderfully simple dessert recipes you'd care to share?

The whole point of roasting is to cook the meat surrounded by hot, dry air. The steam from the wine and broth created an environment of moist rather than dry heat, and thus you defeated the advance air-drying of the skin that you did. In addition, there is some water in the butter you used--olive oil would have been better. The wine-stock technique works well for meat in a barbeque, or for a very large bird like a turkey, where it is going to be cooked for a long time and the steam helps to prevent the meat from drying out. If you want crisp skin and the cooking time will be short (due to high oven temp), brown the skin in hot oil before putting in the oven or coat with oil and turn the bird around and over during the cooking, so that all sides will have equal exposure to the hottest air in the oven. All year round, I like to roast chickens in my Weber Kettle with indirect heat. With hardwood charcoal, it gets so hot inside that the skin gets blackened even when it is not directly over the coals. I turn the bird around and over several times during the cook time (45 mins to 1 hour, depending on the size of the bird), and when it's done the skin crackles and the meat hopefully stays juicy by virtue of the advance brining.

RE: Dean and DeLuca. I had an experience recently that proves Heather's point. Two days before Christmas, my husband bought a wrapped (sealed wrap, that is) aged goat cheese there as a gift for me. He kept it in the refrigerator. I opened the wrapper on Christmas Day and the cheese was WAY over the hill--easily a month beyond being even edible, not to say optimal. The cheese had no date on it, provided by the cheesemaker. A significant bummer for both of us, to say the least. When I took it back to D&D after Christmas, a supervisor looked at it and shrugged, took it to the manager of the cheese department who looked at it and shrugged, offered a perfunctory "sorry about that" and handed me a refund. I really got the sense that they don't much care. Depending on who is at work behind the counter, I have had some good experiences (and the opposite) at the Georgetown, Arlington and P Street Whole Foods stores. Sometimes you'll get somebody to wait on you who knows and cares about cheese, if you are lucky. And some of the best cheeses are cut to order from whole wheels. But Whole Foods and D&D hire staff for very low pay and put them in their cheese departments with little regard for customers' concerns. There seems to be very little training, and it is the rare individual with the passion or aptitude to learn about the product they are being paid very little to sell. Not always the case, though. I've had the best luck at P Street. Aldo and Katie at Arrowine are my favorite cheesemongers. It's a big shlep for me to get to Del Rey, so I haven't been to Cheesetique yet.

The only thing, in my estimation, that stunts my development as a wine drinker, friend, is my pocketbook. And frankly, I buy more often on the basis of importers I trust than I do based on Parker scores. But I value Parker reviews, because I trust him not to tout lousy wine. I've had too many disappointments based on the recommendations of wine salesmen, over the years that I've been drinking wine. I used to drink a lot of Muscadet back in the 1970's and 80's because it was the best cheap white wine I could find at that time. And I read books about wine, read wine discussion boards and explore different regions, grapes and styles to the extent that I can, based on my budget. But there's a lot of crap with Muscadet labels on the bottle. If I'm going to buy Muscadet these days, I read reviews to try to suss out the good ones. And I taste wines that are offered in wine shops, when I can. Comparatively, I don't buy a lot of white wine. Kabinett riesling, occasionally. Prefer dry muscat, viognier or torrontes with dishes where a riesling would be appropriate. Recently, curiosity about cab franc led me to explore Chinon and Saumur Champigny. Drink a fair amount of Cotes de Rhones and Languedocs--I'm afraid that Cornas and the best CNdPs and the Northern Rhones like St. Joseph and Hermitage are beyond my budget. Beaujolais is my poor man's pinot-equivalent, for roast chicken and salmon. I stocked up on 2003 Fleurie and Julienas when they were on special, based on WA reviews. I have been getting into Italian wines more, enjoy aglianico a lot, chianti classico, dolcetto and barbera not so much, at least not the ones in my price range. I've been reading about Nebbiolo lately, and would love to explore Ghemme, Gattinara and Valtellina not to mention Barolo, but they are out of my price range--although I just drank a wonderful 2000 Seghesio Barolo for my birthday dinner, on the recommendation of Tom Hanna at MacArthur's (YES, I DO OCCASIONALLY LISTEN TO WISE WINE CONSULTANTS OTHER THAN ROBERT PARKER). But I definitely read Parker for Australian and Spanish recs. I certainly don't like everything he recommends, but there is just so much cheap swill coming out of these two places that it definitely pays to be cautious. And there have been occasions when I have had an opportunity to buy a wine that Parker loves (Torbreck Woodcutter's Shiraz, for example, which is delicious) via mail order at a per-bottle price, including shipping, that no local retailer could match. On a couple of occasions I have ordered and split a case of Australian wine with Joe Heflin. But mostly I buy local. Usually, but not always, if the bottle is also discounted. So back off the high horse, just a little. This is not about blindly following a herd mentality. We are each on our own odyssey of exploration in the vast world of wine, to the extent we are able. Just because we are interested in getting the best value for our hard-earned money does not make us simple-minded or unadventurous.

This is probably something they bought, not something they made from scratch. You might be able to find it at Whole Foods or another venue that sells soy products--online maybe?

Let's face it. Small wine retailers hate Parker/WS et al because widely disseminated reviewer scores make it harder to sell bottles that don't get reviewed or get low scores. And they hate big low-margin retail outfits for the same reason that neighborhood grocers (the few that are left) hate Costco--the big box stores siphon away business. But a lot of the angst being expressed and echoed by those in the wine trade may be somewhat disengenuous. There are lots of high income folks in this town who are much too busy making deals and money to research the lowest price for wines they don't have enough time to read about. They're still going to buy expensive bottles from local retailers who provide boutique service. Lots of rich women still shop at ritzy little boutiques and Neiman Marcus, though some will go to the garment district in NY to find the same designer duds at a discount. It all depends on time and priorities... As for me, I have time but no money and inadequate storage. I buy wine on a regular basis, but I'm small potatoes compared to Joe Heflin. I can't take advantage of case discounts or case purchases on the net because I have no place to put the stuff. But, like Joe, I consider myself a savvy shopper and I buy on sale or from wine merchants who will meet other merchants' advertised price. The capitalist system is stacked against us little guys in so many ways; we all need to find any little edge we can. That includes small retailers, of course. So why don't you guys get creative and think about ways you might attract buyers like me, if you really want my business as much as you say you do? Clearly, that means more than just giving "good advice" or special ordering things that aren't on the shelf.

My birthday has found itself in the midst of Restaurant Week since RW's inception. I have, until this year, felt obliged to "take advantage" of the so-called bargain RW represents. But I have often felt somewhat cheated, since the occasion is one of the few times during the year when we go out to dine; when we do go out, it's usually just to grab a bite at someplace cheap, close to home, where "dressing up" is not required and preferably all three. Most of our best meals are eaten at home. But my birthday, and maybe our anniversary are different. I want to dress up, have a wonderful meal prepared for and served to me. So the decision about where to go this year was very important. This year, I didn't want to be competing with the hordes trying to snag tables at favored places participating in Restaurant Week. I decided to go somewhere that was NOT a part of RW. No bargain meals on this birthday, thank you very much. There are a number of places highly favored by Rockweillers that I haven't yet tried, like Restaurant Eve and 2941, and wonderful places that I have visited one time in years past, like Komi, Citronelle and Maestro. Palena, an establishment I have been to four or five times, however, has been so consistently wonderful that I chose it after a period of agonizing indecision. I prepared for the occasion by consulting with Tom Hanna, the Italian wine guru at MacArthur Beverages. After some discussion about just what I was looking for, he went into the storeroom and brought out a bottle that wasn't on display-- a 2000 Seghesio Barolo La Villa, which while still quite young for a barolo, Tom promised would be ready to drink, elegant and full of fruit. And sold it to me for the "sale price" since it was my birthday. Even with Palena's $20 corkage fee added, it was probably a much better wine than I could have bought from their wine list for the same amount of money. Tom was so right! It was an absolutely gorgeous bottle of wine, and perfect with our main courses. We planned to order a by the glass white wine off the list to accompany the apps. We were ushered to our table in the back room, and given a complimentary glass of bubbly while we perused the menu, in honor of my special occasion. Jonathan and I both decided to go the full five courses, and our daughter went for three--she would be leaving early, catching a ride with a friend who lives near Palena to go to a dance at her school. After reading Michael Landrum's post, how could we not order the consomme that he described so pornographically? I thought it was light and fresh-tasting, a delighful way to start a rich meal despite the one flaw that ruined it for Jonathan: the small morsel of foie gras was unfortunately overcooked. Veggie-teen had mushroom soup that was rich, deeply flavored and creamy, with pierogie filled with the most silken puree of chestnut imaginable. Jonathan would have been happier with the mushroom soup. For our second course, Jonathan and VT both ordered gnocchi, which they both enjoyed. I had skate wing, a small, tasty portion of grilled fish accompanied by a flavorful, crunchy shrimp and a sea-urchin cup filled with a creamy herb sauce that was delicious. But I couldn't detect any of the promised sea urchin in the dish. The other flaw in the dish was a portion of rock salt on the plate, there to stabilize the urchin shell, some of which migrated on the plate to make the last bite of the three-bite sized portion of skate way too salty. Our server, very helpful and on-the-ball, was aware that VT needed to leave by 8, and was concerned that the kitchen was very slow. He had prepared her third course-- the cheese plate--and delivered it as soon as she had finished her gnocchi. She ate it while we waited for our main courses, which was fine with us, since we had been concerned that her ride would arrive before she'd had a chance to complete her meal. It was a very nice cheese course, which we also had after our mains. The main courses were perfection. Jonathan had roasted venison and a braised short rib accompanied by a puree of celery root, and I had grilled Moularde duck breast and seared foie gras, which had a wonderful sauce and some chestnuts. But I was in duck-foie heaven. The barolo was fragrant and delicious and we were so happy. The last of the wine was wonderful with the cheese course, too. Thin slices of fruited almond bread and a taste of five cheeses--Purple Haze, taleggio, a triple cream (name?), gorgonzola and some aged gouda. And then dessert-- chocolate toffee torte-- a big hunk of rich chocolate in a pool of creme anglaise, and the sweet corn cake/brulee. And double espressi. A satisfying meal. I was definitely not left feeling cheated out of a great birthday dinner this year.

I used to work at BlackSalt, and one day a group of seniors came in to celebrate a birthday with a man who needed to be spoon-fed. I had a conversation with owner Jeff Black that day about accomodating people with special needs (I am also a former social worker). He said that he has a few "regular" customers at his other places (Addie's and Black's Bar and Kitchen) who come in a couple of times a year, who cannot eat solid food. He said that as long as he has advance notice, he is happy to make a special dish for them that they are able to eat. And he does not change his basic style--ie. finest quality ingredients, intensity of flavor and visually appealing presentation. My guess is that Jeff is not alone in being open to this type of service. As long as there is sufficient advance notice, and you're willing to come in at a time when the kitchen is not slammed with customers, many chefs will make it possible for you to have food with fabulous flavor that you can eat. It doesn't have to be the end of delicious restaurant meals for you. Trust me on this.

Check out this terrific article by Anne Willan about cooking meat en daube. http://www.latimes.com/features/food/fooda...0,3018533.story

No, but you can make croquettes. Any cooked meat, fish or poultry can be pulsed in the Cuisinart until it's finely ground, then mixed with mashed potatoes or a panade of some sort --bread, breadcrumbs or cracker meal moistened with liquid (milk, stock, wine, tomato juice) until it becomes a paste-- and raw egg and whatever combination of flavoring elements you fancy: onion, shallot, garlic, hot spice, fresh herbs, salt & pepper. Mix well or pulse in food processor, form into balls or patties, roll in dry crumbs and saute in shallow oil until crispy on the outside. I think if they were cooked in a soupy sauce, they would dissolve and fall apart, but they could be served with sauce poured over them. I like the cruchy crust, so I tend to serve croquettes with some kind of dipping sauce-- tartar or remoulade for salmon, chicken, ham or veal croquettes, and spicy ketchup for beef. That's another aspect that you can get creative with, though.

Fifteen pounds of frozen beef cheeks is a huge amount of meat. If it's too much for you, I'd be interested in sharing the cost for a portion of it...

Yes, some things are so much better the next day, that you don't even eat them on the day they're cooked, as many have noted in the braising beef thread. That notwithstanding, there are a lot of creative cooks who post here, and I thought it would be fun to explore the ways that y'all have come up with to transform what remains of yesterday's dish into something entirely different--something other than the obvious turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving, that is. What got me thinking about this was something I came up with tonight, instead of just re-heating the leftover mashed potatoes I'd made last night to accompany the brisket I'd made on Sunday. I mixed the mash with grated reggiano, roasted garlic and an egg, portioned it into balls and rolled the balls in Panko crumbs and fried them. Basically a croquette without any meat in it. Very tasty--crusty outside and creamy inside. We ate them with the last of the stuffed breast of veal I made last week. I'm sure I will eventually think of others, but one thing came immediately to mind. There is a traditional dish in my husband's Pennsylvania Dutch family called "Yachskotl" (that's an approximation of the spelling--this is oral tradition, after all) which is made with the tiny scraps of ham left when there is no longer enough to make sandwiches, and is the step just prior to using the ham bone to make soup. Yachskotl--yes it sounds like you're just about to hock a loogie--is basically scalloped potatoes with ham. Thinly sliced potatoes and chopped onions are layered with scraps and bits of ham, chopped parsley, butter and milk, and baked until the potatoes are tender. It tastes a lot better than the name sounds. So here goes-- chime in. New ideas are always welcome!

Did you notice how they are calling sliced lamb shanks "lamb osso buco" and sliced pork hocks "pork osso buco"? I hadn't seen that before. A way to latch onto the trendy coattails of veal, as it were, and send the price of those lowly cuts into the stratosphere. Jeez, I remember in the 1980's when I could get veal shank for $1.99 a pound at Golden West Meats in Santa Monica and osso buco was a frequent dish on our table. Now, it's so expensive I do it only once or twice a season, for old times' sake.