On Football

You'd think after watching literally hundreds of hours of football I'd know what some of the positions are, some of the rules, and maybe the name of a play or have some sense of strategy. Nope. The average American ten year old girl has a more sophisticated appreciation of football than me. However, I have observed that ignorance is by no means an impediment to being a football fan. In fact, It may be a prerequisite. Fandom has only one test- for us, or against us. Beyond that, it is utterly egalitarian, embracing the stupid and ignorant alike as brothers. Therefore I believe it is my prerogative to observe in a completely objective manner that my team is better than your team. While I certainly am too rational to believe that this confers any particular advantage in status to me personally, I hope that some of you are stupid and irrational enough to believe that it does and act accordingly.

Foie Gras BLT

I guess I thought I was being clever putting a seared slab of foie on a BLT, but a quick Googling shows the Foie BLT popping up on avant-Americana menus from NYC (at Laurent Tourondel's BLT Prime, ldo) to Chapel Hill and everywhere in between. Some variations drop the L for Lettuce and substtitute L for Liver, but that's just cleverness for cleverness' sake and serves no culinary purpose. Others add something sweet, like a tomato preserve- and that's interesting. The only variation in my version is to drop the mayo- we really, really don't need it here- and add some Greek yogurt mixed with a chiffonade of mint.



Toast the ciabatta in the pan with the foie, it absorbs the tasty fat and gets crisp.
Add sliced tomato (sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper), Boston lettuce,
the seared foie, some cob-smoked bacon, greek yogurt with mint and eat.

I'd make it small, it's crazy rich.

Grape Jelly

I was remembering making jam and jelly over a campfire out in the woods in Newark Valley from wild berries and green apples when I was 15 or so... so when I found these wild Concord grapes growing out front of MKS with a wild apple tree nearby I decided to make some grape jelly in the same fashion.



Green apples of course contain pectin. Fancy folks make the pectin separately, but it does work to just throw the green apples right in the pot, quartered.

Added some crab apples for the heck of it. sugar. covered with water, simmer for an hour, strain, reduce. Ended up with about 6 oz. of good jelly.

Biscuit with Bacon and Egg Fusion Remix

One of my favorite breakfast foods is the breakfast sandwich. Both the ghetto Mickey D's sandwiches and the upscale Eggs Benedict and variations thereof. Number one favorite is bacon and fried egg on toast, strawberry jam with sriracha chili sauce. (weird mental aside- that sentence is structured to be thought in Japanese- Ichibon!) Anyway, yesterday I realize I'm out of sriracha again and that gets me wondering how far I can push the southeast Asian thing in a tasty breakfast sandwich.

One trip to Vietnamese supermarket later and I'm ready to make an attempt.

First I want to take some pork belly and make an asian BBQ. I'm a big believer in making things from scratch if i think I can make them better- and I'm just arrogant enough to think I can make a better Asian BBQ than I can buy. Oyster sauce, nipa-sap vinegar, palm sugar, oil infused with red Thai bird chili and szechuan peppercorns is what I go with. Take the skin off the pork belly, throw the belly in a cast iron pan, pour the sauce over it and bake at 300 for 2+ hours, removing the cover in the last hour and turning and basting. Turns out yummy.



Meanwhile, I mix up a batch of backing soda biscuits, something I do most Sunday mornings unless I head out for bagels and lox. This time I add Thai red chili paste to the dough - about one tbs. per cup of flour. I make my own Chili pastes most of the time now, this one has lemongrass, shrimp paste, red bird chilies, garlic, galagal, salt. It needs to age a bit, this one is at about 3 months.

Finally, as everything is coming out of the oven I fry up some quail eggs and assemble the sandwiches. BBQ pork belly topped with a quail egg on a red curry biscuit. Not quite as pretty as I would like but very tasty.



Highly reccomend serving with Ca-phe sua, a strong Vietnamese coffee served with steamed evaporated milk.

Mustard Braised Pork with Lime Pickled Onions

Mustard Braised Pork with Lime Pickled Onions, a simple meal I enjoy quite a bit. It belongs here at the boundary of summer.




The pork is simple, pork butt, brown the outside, add leek and carrot, flash with white wine- I used Herman J Wiemar's excellent Riesling, add a lot of good mustard and top off with chicken stock, a bay leaf, some parsley, peppercorns. Cover and braise for 3 hours or so, removing the cover in the last hour.



pull out the meat, and set aside, pull out veggies and herbs, and reduce braising liquid to form a mustardy jus. Meanwhile, to quick-pickle some red onion....



Thinly slice half a red onion, juice 3 limes, pinch of salt, pinch of white pepper. combine in a non-reactive container and stick in the fridge for 3 hours to a couple weeks.



Note the squeezed lime skins buried in salt. From this I can make a little lime confit in 2-3 months. The salt I'll reuse again to cure some salmon. No waste.

To serve, take a bunch of meat, pour a little jus over it and top with the onions. Also good with corn crepes or in a tortilla.

Nigella Sativa

For some reason, the Nigella Sativa, a plant that produces a small black spice seed, is almost entirely unknown in the United States. It is known by many names. Black Cumin, Black Fennel, Black Onion Seed, Roman Coriander, Black Carroway or Nutmeg Flower in English. All utterly inaccurate names. Kolanji in Hindi. Kezah in Hebrew. ḥabbatu l-barakah or "seed of blessing" in Arabic. It has a long history- King Tut was found with a bottle of the oil extracted from this seed. It is mentioned in the Bible (Isaiah) and in the Koran. In the latter case, Muhammad claims it cures everything but death. Claims of that nature are still quite common.

Whether it cures cancer or not, the seed is an amazing addition to a huge number of foods. Historically it is added to breads throughout the Middle East, sprinkled on Peshawari naan, added to curries and chutneys in India, added to cheeses in the Mediterranean, made into tea in Asia. I find it goes quite well in any number of dishes. Mixed with mashed sweet potato and served with thinly sliced seared salmon. Added to chicken sausage. Essential in pear chutney. Or even in something as simple as a 1-2-3 sugar cookie, which I made today- inspired by Ruhlman's brilliant new book 'Ratio'-about which I have much to say, but perhaps later.

Beer Discovers Fire

So last night I was at the Asgard watching the Sox beat the Rays, drinking beer.

Second inning, a nice 12oz Saison Royale from Harpoon's 100 barrel Leviathan series. 9%, Boston beer. White pepper and rosemary. Classic.

Fifth inning, I commit to a 22oz. bomber of Clipper City's 'Big Dipa', a serious double IPA. Monster hops, 10%, Baltimore. Like 'Loose Cannon's' big brother. A solid pairing with some charred steak tips.

Ninth inning, dessert. I share a bomber of Southern Tier's 'Creme Brulee' with the bartenders. This is an absoulutely incredible beer. Huge pure vanilla nose. Possibly more vanilla than vanilla. The promised burnt sugar and creaminess on the palatte. There isn't anything bad to say about this beer. It's so well constructed that it doesn't need to be a dessert beer. It isn't even particularly sweet. And it comes in at a manly 10% too. Find some and drink it now.