February 9, 2010
From Recipes
Posted by Robin Bellinger, February 9, 2010 at 7:15 PM
[Photograph: Robin Bellinger]
Shopping List
1 onion: $0.50
4 ounces cheese: $0.75
1 1/2 pounds pork shoulder: $4.50
1 can beans: $1.00
Cilantro (pro-rated): $0.75
Pantry items: Butter, garlic, flour, cumin, cayenne, chile powder, milk, small can of green chiles, salt, pepper, rice.
Total cost (for 6 to 8 portions): $7.50
Maybe you still have Super Bowl meat (pulled pork, brisket, barbecued chicken) lingering in your fridge. Maybe you simply want a new way to use up the odds and ends of ordinary meals. Either way, this casserole is for you. Is it gorgeous? No way. Did we gobble it up with abandon? You bet.
Homesick Texan's recipe for "slightly fancy-pants King Ranch casserole" is a gem and a favorite in my family, but it calls for a few things I almost never have around (lime juice, fresh peppers, half and half, and sour cream). Having adapted it last summer to use up some overcooked chicken, last week I forced it to accommodate the remains of a dinner party that had not featured my best cooking. The pork needed more sauce and flavor, the beans were underseasoned, and the rice was boring; but folded into this spicy sauce and topped with cheese, they had a fantastic second act.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, February 9, 2010 at 5:45 PM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
When Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) swung by Serious Eats headquarters yesterday, she didn't come empty-handed. Nope, she was clutching two non-cupcake goodies from the Seattle cupcakery, Cupcake Royale. "I almost missed my flight because of these!" She had brought us The Deathcake Royale.
Only available around Valentine's Day, this is probably the most decadence you can shove into a little $6.65 square. It's a layer of the bakery's classic chocolate cake topped with ganache made with Stumptown espresso and a fudgy layer of Theo Chocolate, all dipped in dark chocolate ganache with some chocolate shavings thrown on top.
Jessie bragged that she ate a whole one once and we figured, ha, we probably could too. But then after trying a niblet of the Death, um maybe not. My lungs still felt coated in chocolate an hour later. So if you're in the Seattle area before Sunday, snag one. It's so serious, Cupcake Royale even screenprinted underwear inspired by it.
Cupcake Royale
Check cupcakeroyale.com for multiple locations
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 9, 2010 at 5:15 PM
Need a little pick-me-up this afternoon? This video is so ridic that I couldn't keep from LOLing. Watch it, after the jump.
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From A Hamburger Today
Posted by Damon Gambuto, February 9, 2010 at 4:45 PM
This post took place over a month ago, but is only being published now due to editorial oversight. Our bad. But hey, the food still exists! Here's Damon's review of Umami Burger's entrant into the food truck scene.
[Photographs: Damon Gambuto]
The other day I noticed a fun Tweet from my favorite wine shop here in Los Angeles, domaineLA. It seemed owner Jill Bernheimer had convinced Umami Burger's new truck, the Umami Truck, to make a lunch stop by her store and put together a fun coupon for a free burger. It doesn't take much encouragement to get me to eat burgers, so when I found out I'd score a free one if I purchased some vino, well, it was time for lunch.
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, February 9, 2010 at 4:00 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
When I'm after elegance, my go-to is salmon. It's easy to cook well, delicious, and relatively inexpensive. I also tend to look for recipes that use the oven instead of the stove top—a way to introduce good caramelization on the fish without creating that lingering fishy smell that we all love so much.
I adapted this recipe from Real Life Entertaining, a glossy book by Jennifer Rubell with photographs of fabulous people eating fabulous things. Normally I don't go for that kind of cookbook, but I was pulled in by the ease and elegance of her recipes. Making full use of the oven, small potatoes and wedges of lemon cook alongside the salmon, which is coated with mustard seeds and fresh dill. A fresh yogurt sauce—bit of garlic, lemon juice, more dill, and chopped cucumber—is simple to throw together, while the rest of dinner is ready in 20 minutes.
It's nothing hectic, and the result is wonderful.
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Posted by Jake Lahne, February 9, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Cabrales, a cheese ripened with blue Penicillium molds. [Photograph: jlastras on Flickr]
The magic that is cheese only really needs four ingredients to happen: milk, salt, rennet (or some other coagulant, as I discussed earlier), and microbes. Like everyone, I used to be vaguely aware that there were "good" bacteria and molds that grew on and in cheese, and that's where my interest ended. But there's a real variety of microbes that bring us the variety of cheeses we enjoy, and they're worth knowing about. I would be a bad scientist if I didn't mention that, since I am no microbiologist, if you want all the details, you should peruse the Wikipedia articles I'll link to or consult your local library.
Many modern cheeses are made with preselected cultures, consisting of only a few types of microbe, but many traditional cheeses are inoculated using whey or other products from previous batches, meaning that they can be made with dozens of types of microbe, some highly unusual. This microbial wealth is among the many reasons that traditional cheeses can be so much more complex than modern, controlled-inoculation cheeses. Modern microbiology has yet to fully explain the role of all microbes in cheese-flavor and cheese-ripening, so the limited selection of controlled inoculation produces cheeses that may be less interesting.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, February 9, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Cheryl Sternman Rule has sparked some interesting discussion about how much we know about food and food issues and the point at which that knowledge turns us into food outliers:
was out with a bunch of women, and the subject turned to healthful eating. I mentioned Michael Pollan's new book Food Rules. One woman said, "Who's Michael Pollan?" My eyes bugged, though just a little. I looked to my left, I looked to my right, I looked across the table—all blank stares. Who was out of touch—was it them, or was it me?
Frankly, I don't know how you could avoid learning about Michael Pollan these days. But, then again, I'm on the food interwebs all damn day.
From Recipes
Posted by Caroline Russock, February 9, 2010 at 2:30 PM
[Photograph: Caroline Russock]
This Corn Pudding from The Grand Central Baking Book by Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson is a not only an insanely rich side or fantastic brunch dish, it's also a bit of an optical illusion. When the pudding emerges from the oven it appears to be a golden yellow-brown pan of cornbread studded with scallions, cheddar, and bacon but the second you break the surface it reveals its true nature. Under the crisp surface lies a creamy, custardy pudding that I for one would be happy to eat all day.
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Posted by Melody Fury, February 9, 2010 at 1:45 PM
In the run up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver food blogger Melody Fury (Gourmet Fury) is dropping by to guide travelers to the city's hidden gems in a series of Top 10 Local Recommendations. These locations are easily accessible from Downtown (within walking distance or by public transit). The recommendations boast of the unique, international delights that this beautiful sea-to-sky city offers. —The Mgmt.
[Aphrodite's Muffins - Photograph: Melody Fury]
10 out of 10 moms agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Vancouverites can't agree more.
When travelling, one has no excuse for skipping breakfast. Slow down and savour every sip of your coffee.
Brunch is a vital part of our laid-back Westcoast culture and nothing kicks off the weekend like a chilled glass of Mimosa and a healthy dose of hollandaise sauce.
Here are our Top 10 favourite breakfast and brunch spots
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From Recipes
Posted by Caroline Russock, February 9, 2010 at 1:00 PM
[Photograph: Caroline Russock]
Pineapples are not a fruit that I think about on a regular basis. I have nothing against them but they've never been part of my regular fruit rotation and anyone who witnessed me struggle to pick out a ripe one at the market today can attest. You see, I stood in front of the mountainous pile of pineapples for a solid five minutes staring blankly, trying to remember any shred of pineapple knowledge that might be hidden deep in the recesses of my brain. I finally decided that smell was as good a judge as any and went about smelling a good portion of the pineapples. Eventually I found one that smelled, well, like a pineapple, threw it into the cart and made my way home to attempt a very unlikely dessert.
When I saw a recipe for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller I must admit that I was a bit taken back. This was not the kind of refined, elegant dessert that I expected to see from such a lauded chef. To me pineapple upside-down cake means syrupy canned pineapple slices, glowing red maraschino cherries, and lots of gloopy cake batter made from a boxed mix, purely 1960s housewife stuff. But once I got to reading through the recipe it became clear that this isn't all that different from a tarte tatin, caramelized fruit baked underneath a layer of sweet pastry or in this case, cake.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, February 9, 2010 at 12:00 PM
If you didn't see this video going around yesterday, basically some dudes rigged up a device that feeds popcorn kernels into a hot-air popper whenever someone on Twitter uses the hashtag #popcorn. Video, after the jump.
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Posted by Carson Poole, February 9, 2010 at 11:30 AM
There's more to the Colorado Rockies than skiing. Aspen, host of the Food and Wine Classic each summer, is awash in locally-grown produce, meat, flowers, and honey. The bounty is largely due to the North Fork Valley area, about 60 miles west of Aspen, which contains the largest concentration of organic farms in the state.
Here small outfits like Zephyros Farm and Garden, a 35-acre organic plot in Paonia, Colorado, are supplying the region with sustainably farmed and crafted foods. Zephyros brings a range of fresh produce and organic flowers to market, as well as sheep's milk yogurt, cheese, eggs, and meat for CSA shareholders.
I recently spoke with Don Lareau, who co-owns and operates Zephyros Farm, which rests on the western range of the Colorado Rockies, with his wife, Daphne. The intereview, after the jump.
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From A Hamburger Today
Posted by Nick Solares, February 9, 2010 at 11:00 AM
[Photographs: Nick Solares]
BAM: Burgers and More by Emeril
77 Sands Boulevard, Bethlehem PA 18015; map); 877-SANDS77; pasands.com
Cooking Method: Grilled
Short Order: Burger looks good on paper and in person, but it lacks flavor, and more importantly soul.
Want Fries with That? Sure.
Price: $14, comes with one side.
There is no conversion of an edifice more indicative of the transformation of the American economy than that of the Bethlehem Steel building into a casino. Founded in 1857, Bethlehem Steel was once the virtual epicenter of steel manufacturing (only US Steel in nearby Pittsburgh was larger). For the next century it produced the steel that allowed skyscrapers to thrust further and further heavenwards, the hulls that floated the ships for America's navy and freight lines, and the armor that protected our veterans through two world wars.
But by the 1970s, the company's fortunes declined in concert with the decline of American manufacturing in general, unable to compete with cheaper foreign imports. The company staggered on until 2003, losing billions of dollars along the way before declaring bankruptcy. When the Sands casino company purchased the land with the intention of building a casino, they faced an ironic problem: They had trouble finding enough steel due to a global shortage.
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From Recipes
Posted by Chichi Wang, February 9, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Though some ingredients in previous Nasty Bits entries bore some resemblance to today's featured item, this really is what you think it is. [Photographs: Chichi Wang]
Nasty Bits lovers, if you think I'm cooking heart for Valentine's Day, then you underestimate my mettle. Why talk about matters of the heart, when we've yet to cover penis? The Chinese believe the organ to possess all kinds of medicinal properties related to virility and general health. Though I harbored no presumptions about its libido-enhancing abilities, I was curious about the culinary merits of eating penis: Namely, is it delicious? Even more pressing, what does the organ taste like in the first place?
A quick search yielded the somewhat opaque answer that the penis is primarily vascular tissue, composed of tubes with names like vas deferens. Knowing something about its anatomical breakdown brought me no closer, however, to imagining the taste. Flesh, fat, skin, tendon, and even cartilage are all parts to which meat eaters are exposed. An organ composed of vascular tissue, on the other hand, calls to mind spongy textures and very little flavor. Lucky for me, my favorite Korean market regularly carries packs of beef "pizzle," the typical euphemism for penis, so acquiring the organ was the least of my worries.
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From Recipes
Posted by Carolyn Cope, February 9, 2010 at 8:00 AM
You may know Carolyn Cope as Umami Girl. She stops by on Tuesdays with ideas on preparing fruits and vegetables. —The Mgmt.
[Photograph: Carolyn Cope]
As spry young college graduates in the early dot-com era, we used to joke that the dozens of small companies springing up on a daily basis might have been named with a random word generator. Let the machine choose one from Column A: Technology Words and maybe one from Column B: Relationship Words or Column C: Nerd Words, and you'd be filing for IPO within months. Since it's bad form to speak ill of the dead, I'll offer only my own beloved former employer by way of example, born Cyber Dialogue, and currently (still!) doing business as Fulcrum Analytics. See what I mean?
(Then, of course, somebody went and made one of those machines, but that's another story entirely.)
Usually I like to tell myself how much I've grown and changed in the years since then. I could be mistaken for a real adult these days. But then, here's me, having a little too much fun working for websites, and contemplating the use of a random word generator to decide which of my favorite roasted cauliflower recipes to share with you.
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