Posted by Lucy Baker, October 17, 2008 at 2:00 PM
These cookies need no introduction—their name says it all: bacon, fat, and spice. Yum. Jennifer McLagan, author of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, was "intrigued...by the idea of using bacon fat rather than butter" in an updated version of traditional Northern European spice cookies. The results are "like a glazed ham in cookie form."
For this recipe you will need a half cup of bacon fat. Start with a pound of bacon, and if after cooking it you don't have quite enough, make up the difference with a bit of lard. Alternatively, plan in advance and begin collecting your breakfast bacon fat in the freezer. Depending on how often you eat bacon, you should have enough for your cookies within a few weeks.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 16, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Here in America we love to argue about food, from chili (should it have beans?), to macaroni and cheese (creamy or crusty?), to bagels (to toast or not to toast?). In France, they like to argue about cassoulet, the classic slow-cooked stew made from white beans and fatty meats. According to Jennifer McLagan, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, "some add lamb, others tomatoes. Some add broth, and some believe that neither should be included. Then there are endless discussions on how to make the crust."
Jennifer's recipe for cassoulet is smaller than most (it serves 6 to 8, instead of the more traditional 10 to 12), so you can plan an intimate dinner party around it without having to eat the leftovers for the next week. To the white beans, she adds a luscious and dizzying array of meats: pork belly, lamb shoulder, duck confit, and garlic sausages.
Needless to say, this is a rich dish. Serve it with a simple salad and a fruit-based dessert.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 15, 2008 at 1:15 PM
A friend of mine once told me that at Ruth Chris, the popular national steakhouse chain, the chef melts a stick of butter over every ribeye, porterhouse, and T-bone as it leaves the kitchen. It's probably an exaggeration (an entire stick?!), but it's true that a little extra fat, melted over the meat just before serving, renders it especially flavorful and luxurious.
In this recipe for Grilled Steak with Red Wine Sauce and Bone Marrow, excerpted from Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, author Jennifer McLagan one-ups Ruth Chris by replacing the butter with bone marrow. As she states, "It really doesn't get much better than this...The rich, fatty marrow melts over the warm steak slices, enriching the beef and melting into the wine sauce."
To prepare this dish, you will need two cups of concentrated veal stock, which is easy to make. Simply simmer four cups of good veal stock (preferably homemade and low-sodium) until it is reduced by half. You can prepare the red wine sauce up to a day in advance, just reheat it in a small pan while the cooked steaks are resting.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 15, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the October 15th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Baked beans get a bad rap. That's because most people think of the canned, mushy brown slop often served alongside boiled hot dogs at poorly catered buffets. This recipe for real Boston-style baked beans, made with salt pork and spiced with cloves, molasses, and plenty of brown sugar, is sure to change more than a few minds.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 14, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Oddly, I'd never had duck rillettes—or any rillettes for that matter—until I moved to Brooklyn. Fortunately, Smith Street, the borough's restaurant row, changed all that. Sample, a tiny, global tapas bar with a killer cocktail list (I love their Tamarind Margarita) and a great happy hour, serves duck rillettes on toast for $6. And the relatively new bar JakeWalk often includes jars of incredibly luscious duck rillette on their menu for $7. Forget over-salted peanuts or stale popcorn—these days my bar snack of choice is much more refined.
It's also much fattier. But according to Jennifer McLagan, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, that isn't so bad. In her cookbook, a veritable ode to all things butter and lard, she includes instructions for making Goose, Rabbit, and Spanish-Style Pork Rillettes. Of course, there is also a recipe for classic Duck Rillettes, which I've excerpted for you today.
I recommend serving the rillettes with slices of toasted baguette and a bottle of lightly spiced pinot noir or merlot.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 13, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Later in the week we'll get to some of Fat's more complicated dishes, such as a classic Cassoulet and an elegant Duck Rillettes, but for now let's start off with a simple Spicy Buttered Popcorn. Author Jennifer McLagan laments the day when theaters "replaced the real butter with that odd-tasting 'butter-flavored' topping." She thinks that "popcorn really has no flavor, and it's only made edible with butter and salt, or, even better, with a flavored butter." Her version, spiced with puréed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce is perfect for casual movie nights or as an accompaniment to predinner drinks.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes. Enter to win here.
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