zoramargolis

I just picked up a couple of bottles of 2004 Castano Monastrell (RP 89 points) at MacArthur Beverages for $5.99. It is medium bodied, with a sweet blueberry and raspberry nose, plenty of fruit but with a tannic spine to it. Could this be this year's Alceno Tinto, a delicious bargain wine for everyday drinking? I bought it to use for cooking, but it's plenty drinkable.

Michael, have you ever considered writing faux-Victorian erotica? You certainly have the literary style down cold--er--hot.

I used to buy French lemonade or orangeade in the bail-top bottles--several stores sell the product. As I recall, Rodman's was probably the cheapest. I thought it was dreadful stuff, but my family liked it and the bottle itself was worth the price of the contents. I have so many of the bottles, which I use for lemon olive oil, that I don't have to buy the lemonade anymore.

Pasta with fresh borlotti beans (aka cranberry beans), grilled pork tenderloin, and salad with Stilton, pears and pinenuts for dinner while the brisket was in the oven last night.

If the operation in Missouri that is buying the Wagyu herd sells to Wegman's, they'll have it to sell. Sunnyside will only have Angus beef from here on out. Wegman's might carry it, but I'm not sure it will be any better than the Angus beef they already sell there. Gustavo did tell me that the plan is to increase chicken production and possibly raise pork as well. I'm probably going to be getting more meat from Halalco from now on. I haven't tried their beef yet, but the lamb, goat and veal have been quite good. And it's not frozen. A lot of people were buying Sunnyside meat in quantity this morning. Sort of a shame to freeze it, but I bought the two tri-tips that were there and some hamburger meat. Better get there early next week for the last hurrah.

Lots of unhappy carnivores at the Dupont Market found out this morning that after next weekend, Sunnyside Organics is discontinuing their Virginia Kobe beef. I talked to Gustavo Diaz, who has been managing the booth and the restaurant/retail sales since Brian left and Jonathan became chef at the Burger Barn in Sperryville. He said that despite all of his entreaties, he was unable to convince the owner that this was a bad decision, and there would be many unhappy customers. The herd of Wagyu cattle is in the process of bieng sold off to an operation in Missouri, and Sunnyside will no longer raise their own cattle. In the future, they will sell Angus beef that someone else will raise for them, and which will not be Certified Organic. They will not be allowed to sell this meat at the Dupont Market, because they don't raise it themselves--it is a producers-only market. Gustavo was clearly in a very low mood about this change, and he kept apologising to everyone. It's going to be a long day for him and his co-workers today, as will next Sunday --their last to sell meat at the market. When I stopped at the Polyface booth afterward, they had not yet heard the news. According to the person I spoke with there, the Sunnyside beef was always an issue of contention at the farmers' meetings, because their practice was to ship the animals to the Midwest for the last few months, for "finishing" (fed an all grain diet) and butchering. It was the opinion of some that while most of them have their animals slaughtered and butchered by professional meat-packing companies, the last few months of "finishing" meant that the meat wasn't really in compliance with the mandate of the market. Apparently the folks who run the market didn't agree, because the decision to stop selling the Virginia Kobe beef was entirely made by the owner of Sunnyside Organics.

Well, I guess something changed in the last couple of weeks...

My understanding is that, unless something has changed in the past couple of weeks, Doug is moving up to become wine director for all four of the Black Group restaurants (Addie's, Black's Bar and Kitchen, Black Market Bistro and BlackSalt). His duties as General Manager of BlackSalt are being taken over by Jason Sullivan, who has worked for Jeff Black for many years, primarily as a bartender. Last time I was in, Doug was still there, but Jason told me that he was enjoying his new role after resisting pressure for years from Jeff to come out from behind the bar. But Doug will still be choosing the wines for BlackSalt...

You may be thinking of sassafras root, which is carcinogenic.

Last night I cooked a "one-pot meal" for a school committee meeting. Of course, since there are always a few vegetarians who come to these gatherings, there were two "one-pot meals", but I now have two big Le Creuset Dutch ovens, so it worked out. For the veggies, I made a three-bean red chili, with kidney, black and cannellini beans, New Mexico and ancho chiles and my secret ingredients--diced kabocha squash for some sweetness, a bottle of full-flavored slightly bitter beer, and some chocolate--cocoa actually. And for the rest of us, I made posole, which was a huge hit. [For those who might never have eaten posole, it is a stew made with pork, roasted green chiles and white hominy corn.] I also added roasted tomatillos and some of of the white cannelini beans that I had pre-cooked for the chili. I had never put beans in posole before, but it really worked well, and extended the volume, which turned out to be a good thing because people were going back for seconds and thirds. I had a quart of veal stock in the fridge that I'd made a few days ago, so that went in along with a bottle of beer. I used canned Goya hominy. I've decided that I like it just as well with canned hominy as when I have found dried posole corn and used that. In California, I used to be able to get nixtamal (fresh lime-treated corn), which gives it the most authentic earthy flavor. But canned hominy works. I did both pots in the oven at 275 for three hours. The posole was served with chopped fresh cilantro, and it really was delicious--savory, spicy and with a great meaty, earthy depth of flavor. A number of people asked me for the recipe afterwards. That's always a challenge, because I can tell people what ingredients I used and how I made it, but I don't measure when I cook, I just eyeball things. I'm pretty sure I had bought six poblanos and a bit more than two pounds of pork shoulder, and the veal stock was in a quart container, but I added cumin and oregano several times and I don't know how many cups of onion, beans, water, etc.

Did you make garum? I always found descriptions of the garum-making process both fascinating and repulsive-- leaving salted anchovies in a bucket in the sun to ferment and decompose, and then using the liquid to season everything. I suppose it must have been something like nuoc mam or nam pla is used --as a sort of background flavor. Looking through _The Silver Spoon_ cookbook, the "bible" of Italian cuisine, I am struck by how many recipes call for salted anchovies. A vestige of their Roman, garum-using heritage, perhaps?

I just paid significantly less than the above price for that size oval pot. When the outlet store has sales, the price cannot be beat. I also picked up a small, covered cast iron casserole list price $140 for $35, on a 50% off table--the typical outlet store price is 1/2 of list price, and they were clearing stuff out at 50% off their store price. If you get on their mailing list, they send you notices about sales, like when they give 35% off anything in the store.

I didn't read the article, but I have read her instructions in _The Cooking of Southwest France_. You didn't say as much, but did you do the advance cure with salt and herbs? If so, how long did you cure them?

I wonder if you have seen the exhibition currently at the National Gallery of paintings by the seventeenth century Dutch master Pieter Claesz? His most important subject is food and the pleasures of the table. The oysters are glistening with brine, the fruits are succulent, the wine goblets sparkle and glow, and you can almost smell the herring and the cheese. The skill of this man absolutely takes your breath away and he obviously had a passion for food. Every food lover who is interested in art will appreciate this show.

Do yourself a favor and go out to the Le Creuset outlet store in the Leesburg Outlet Mall. The prices there are as good and often much better than at Marshall's or TJ Maxx and the selection is FAR superior. I just got myself a big oval pot at 35% below the outlet's usual price. For a major purchase like this, it's worth the trip.

Monsieur Pangaud--Thank you for participating in this forum. A few questions for you: Was your training a traditional apprenticeship, starting young and doing menial work at first? Or did you attend an academy of cuisine? Please elaborate. Who would you say influenced your cuisine the most, and in what ways? Have you ever worked under the direction of a female chef? If so, how was that experence for you? If not, what is your opinion of the rising number of female executive chefs? Can you name a woman chef whose cuisine you admire? What do you like about it? Do you think there is a difference in how male and female chefs approach the creation of a dish? Kitchens can be extremely stressful environments, and chefs vary greatly in how they handle stress and treat their staffs. The stereotypical chef yells and throws things when he is upset. From what I have read about Thomas Keller, he never raises his voice at all. How would you describe yourself in this regard? If you knew you only had one more day to live, what would you choose to eat and drink for your very last meal?

The other significant fact about chiles chipotles is that they start out as RIPE jalapenos--in other words, red jalapenos. They are then dried in a smoky environment. Canned chipotles are dried chipotles that have been rehydrated and packed in adobo, which is a pasty cooked sauce made of re-hydrated red chiles, tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices and vinegar. A friend of mine grew up in a small village in Guatemala, and she has given me some of her community's traditional chiles, which are also dried over a smoky fire. If you can believe it, they are spicier than chipotles.

I don't think these qualify as "sous vide"-- I've had this product, and I believe that it is roasted conventionally and then vacuum packed, not vacuum sealed when raw and then cooked at very low temp, which is what sous vide is.

I believe that is done by putting the previously sous vide cooked duck breast skin side down in a very hot skillet until the skin is crisped. In her book. _The Cooking of Southwest France_ Paula Wolfert describes sous vide confit of duck legs, which can have the skin browned in a 400 degree oven. Hmmm.

I went out to Halalco in Falls Church on Saturday and got in line at the butcher counter behind two women in burkas who were buying a whole baby goat. The butcher carried it out of the meat locker on his shoulder--the head was still on. The skin, ears and eyelids had been removed from the head, but the butcher proceeded to whack it off and set it aside. I thought while I was there, I ought to get something that is difficult to find elsewhere. So I asked if he had any veal breast. He did, though when I asked him to bone it out for me, he twice tried to talk me out of buying veal, saying I should get beef instead because there is not enough meat on a veal breast. I was finally able to convince him that I knew what I wanted, and I ended up buying two, and had him trim them up and cut up the bones on the bandsaw so they'd fit better in the stockpot. It has been years since I've made a rolled, stuffed breast of veal. A rainy day like today seemed like a good time to do it, and I browned the bones early this morning and had the stock going by 9 a.m. I made a filling for the veal out of fresh shiitakes, spinach and shallots with tarragon and lemon zest. Spent a lot of time taking off all the fat and silverskin, pounded the meat to flatten it a bit, rolled up and tied two separate rolls, wrapped them in cheesecloth and poached them in the strained stock. This evening, I made a lemon-caper sauce by reducing some of the stock with chopped shallots, white wine and a little bit of champagne vinegar, then strained out the shallots, reduced it some more after adding creme fraiche then capers, lemon zest and finely chopped tarragon and parsley added at the end. When the meat roll is sliced, you get a pretty pinwheel effect, with the pinkish-beige meat and the line of green spinach. Served with Basmati rice, green beans and golden beets. And 2003 Adelsheim pinot noir.

It's a very interesting theory, but the more I think about it, the more doubts I have. As I understand it, sous vide is essentially a form of poaching or steaming the food gently in its own juices without any evaporation or diluting of the juices into a larger liquid medium. Roasting is entirely different, with hot air cooking, evaporating fluids and concentrating the flavors. Brining is a technique used to counter the drying effect of the roasting method. I don't think that chicken skin that has previously been cooked in a sous vide pouch would crisp up as uniformly as Palena roast chicken does. Unless it were just partially cooked sous vide and then roasted. Even so, the skin would be wet and steamed before it went into the roasting oven. But frankly, I question all the extra work that would entail. First brining, then vacuum-packing and cooking sous vide, then roasting. I think he injects it with brine, stores the chickens uncovered overnight in the refrigerator to dry the skin --maybe with a fan blowing on them (or dries the skin and THEN injects the brine into the meat), perhaps gives the skin an extra blast of drying air with a hair dryer and then roasts it in a fairly hot oven or convection oven. Think Peking duck technique. Crackling skin, melting meat. Has anyone been in the kitchen to see whether he has one of those Peking duck ovens where the bird is suspended vertically? Remember, it takes forty-five minutes to get the roast chicken when you order it. That's how long it takes to roast a (raw) chicken in a hot oven.

The only thing I would suggest to improve this delicious-sounding concoction is a slug of vinegar of some sort. I think there is probably not enough acid in the wine and tomatoes to balance the sweetness of the carrots, pepper and onions you've got in there. Some cider or red wine vinegar, or some balsamic will give that extra dimension to your braise.

Ohboyohboyohboy! I got a big, juicy stack of food books for Christmas: The Silver Spoon: the "Joy of Cooking" of Italy, just translated/adapted. FABULOUS! Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn The French Laundry Cookbook The Cooking of Southwest France by Paula Wolfert, newly updated version Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl--her interview with Diane Rehm was re-broadcast the other day and was great-- a warm, funny, down-to-earth, smart Jewish woman who knows from food...

At this stage of my life (well along into middle age) I have to say that I have already had way too many bad to mediocre restaurant meals and bottles of wine to want to do anything other than avoid repeating the experiences. Sometimes it is unavoidable, like when someone else is cooking the meal, choosing the restaurant, picking the wine. As far as I am concerned, seeking quality is not necessarily the same as "playing it safe" which is what you seem to be suggesting.

This subject has been hashed and re-hashed so many times, that I'm not sure that I can add much. Count me firmly in the Parker camp, however. After several years of subscribing to the Wine Advocate, I can say that I have found that I don't always agree with Parker's assessments, and I don't love all of the grapes he adores (grenache, for example--Parker calls himself "a grenache whore" but I don't care for 100% grenache wines, preferring it in a blend). But I have learned to calibrate my own palate to the reviews I read. And--here's the big one--while I don't buy wine solely on the basis of scores anymore, I have almost completely stopped spending my hard-earned money on bad wine. And since I don't have a lot of money, I need to buy carefully, and usually on sale or at a discount. I can't afford to limit my purchasing to one or two scrupulously honorable merchants. I'm all over the map looking for good deals on good wine. I certainly have sympathy for the wine merchant, who needs to make money in order to stay in business. However, I know that there are aspects of the business that make it difficult for even the most honorable businessman to maintain the highest of standards. I know that wineries and wholesalers will require the purchase of wines of lesser quality in order to get others that are highly desirable. The stuff that's "not as good," or was so well priced that the merchant couldn't pass it up must also be sold. Not everyone has as much time to devote as I do to educating myself about what's out there in the wine world, what's a likely winner in a vast ocean of plonk. Putting oneself in the hands of a trusted wine merchant is one way to go, and buying only wines that Parker has scored 90 or above is another.