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From Required Eating
Posted by Cathy, May 16, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I like parts. Especially pig parts. So when Jennifer of Flying Pigs Farm offered me some pig tails, I didn't hesitate. For cooking advice, I looked to Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating: he gives them a slow braise, breads them and browns them in butter. (For those who don't have the book, an adaptation of the recipe is available on Gourmet's web site—although if you have access to pig tails, and a desire to eat them, you're the kind of Serious Eater who needs this book.)
These are not cute little cartoon-curly tails; good, because Fergus is quite specific about asking one's butcher for long tails.
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From Recipes
Posted by Cathy, October 26, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Editor's note: Our friend and Serious Eater Cathy, who praised this week's Cook the Book selection on Monday, is back with thoughts on today's recipe, which ends our dance with Beyond Nose to Tail. But it doesn't have to end there for you. We're giving away copies of the book. Enter to win here. —The Serious Eats Team
Like a great chocolate mousse, this dish is all about the quality of the main ingredient, so I bought a bone-in shoulder from Karen Weinberg of 3-Corner Field Farm. As Fergus Henderson would say, this was a happy lamb.
The recipe couldn't be simpler: peeled whole shallots and garlic cloves, browned in a little oil; a "bundle of joy" (thyme and rosemary sprigs) laid on top, followed by the shoulder; some light chicken stock, a little white wine, and ample salt and pepper. Cover the pan with foil and park it in a gentle (325°F) oven for about three hours.
The result is fork-tender meat, melting shallots and garlic, and a light yet savory jus. I served it with roasted Golden Nugget potatoes; a salad of wild arugula, romaine, and sherry vinaigrette; and a soft, fruity New Zealand pinot noir.
Next time, I might add a salsa verde or some other sprightly accompaniment. I don't think Fergus would mind.
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From Required Eating
Posted by Cathy, October 22, 2007 at 1:00 PM
Editor's note: Our friend and Serious Eater Cathy dropped by recently with praise for Fergus Henderson's new book, Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook. Henderson's book is our featured Cook the Book entry this week, but first we'll give you Cathy's take before we begin the usual giveaway contest and recipes.
There are two kinds of carnivores: those who think meat means steak, and those who consider almost every bit of the animal edible. Count me in the latter camp. Tongues, brains, lungs, balls, eyeballs, liver, spleen—I never met a part I didn't like. OK, the eyeball was a little disconcerting, but I'm glad I tried it.
For omnivores like me, the publication of Beyond Nose to Tail
, Fergus Henderson's second cookbook, is cause for celebration. I love his sensibilities: "It would be disingenuous to the animal not to make the most of the whole beast; there is a set of delights, textural and flavoursome, which lie beyond the fillet." And I adore his food. Pig's face! Squirrel guts on toast! The man is a genius.
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From Talk
Posted by Cathy, June 28, 2006 at 1:17 PM
Two early visits to ‘cesca disappointed, and the place fell off my radar until my friend Kevin Garcia took over the kitchen. He was the exec chef at Lucca, our restaurant at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, then cooked at Lupa for a while before he helped Batali open Del Posto (and decamped soon after). My husband and I went to ‘cesca last night.
The space is sprawling, low-ceilinged and dimly lit, with dark brown velvet banquettes that make it feel even darker and heavier. But the food is good enough to make up for the ambiance. Kevin has been here since May, and is still shaking down the kitchen crew and working on some consistency problems, but there’s a lot of promise here.
Amuse: Crostini of marinated eggplant, sprightly and lush, was a nice accompaniment to a glass of prosecco.
Apps: Sweet, creamy Tuscan mozzarella scattered with heirloom cherry tomatoes, excellent EVOO and basil was delicious. So were my zucchini blossoms, stuffed with mozzarella, lightly battered and flash fried, served with tomato coulis and wild arugula.
Midcourse: Kevin sent out some crudo – tuna and yellowtail (I think) – that was overwhelmed by lemon, and needed more crunch than the microgreen/chopped chive garnish provided.
Pasta: We split an order of braised duck ravioli. The filling was nicely flavored but pasty; leaving the duck in shreds would have improved the texture. The balsamico-laced sauce was a bit over-reduced.
Mains: Roy ordered the daily special of tagliata di manzo, slices of rare ribeye served with the meat juices and mixed greens - a good straightforward dish. My choice of scallops with capers, cauliflower and raisins bore little resemblance to Jean-George’s signature preparation, and it was brilliant. Four huge diver scallops, seared golden, surrounded a thick cross-section of cauliflower slowly caramelized on the stove and finished in the oven. Sultanas provided bursts of sweetness; capers and caperberries added briny crunch; bits of pancetta helped pull all the flavors together.
We were too full for dessert. The tab, including three glasses of wine, was $140 before tax and tip; rather high for a neighborhood restaurant, but Kevin’s cooking might make it a destination.
‘cesca, 164 W. 75th, 212-787-6300
From Talk
Posted by Cathy, June 7, 2006 at 1:45 PM
A tasting of Del Maguey single village mezcals boosted my respect and enthusiasm for this spirit. Mezcal production has not been industrialized as tequila has; the labor-intensive process has been much the same for 400 years. And mezcals now have their own standards for geographic origin and labeling. The worm-floating plonk that made you sick in college? Fuggedaboudit.
While tequila is associated with Jalisco, fine mezcal hails from Oaxacan villages in the south. Agave hearts are roasted over hot earth-covered stones, crushed by horse-powered stone wheels, naturally fermented in wood, and double-distilled in copper or clay stills. Del Maguey mezcals are bottled undiluted – analogous to cask-strength bourbons – and range from 92 to 98 proof.
The six bottles we sampled varied considerably in flavor, smokiness and smoothness, depending on the village’s elevation, the roasting process (some makers add earth from a prior roasting, others add palm leaves or the like), and the still material.
My favorite, the Chichicapa, is as bold and smoky as an Islay malt. Others were creamier, smoother and/or sweeter. The Tobala is made from wild agave, and has an appealingly earthy taste. Pechuga is the most intricate: double-distilled mezcal goes into a clay still with wild plums, apples and other fruits, and a skinless bone-in chicken breast is suspended above (to balance the fruit and gather impurities during the third distillation, we were told). The incredibly smooth result reminded me of an eau de vie.
These are all limited production. Retail prices range from $70 to $200 - not cheap, but not bad for a spirit as complex and fascinating as high-end cognac.
From Talk
Posted by Cathy, June 6, 2006 at 3:38 PM
DISCLOSURE: I work for Drew Nieporent, and most of this dinner was comped.
My Nobu visits are usually downtown; although I admire David Rockwell's design uptown, the place is too noisy and claustrophobic for me. But the food last night was so spectacular it didn’t matter.
We were four, and opted for omakase. Our server’s offer to bring dishes new to us was eagerly accepted, with two requests: some uni for me, and the shrimp tempura in creamy spicy sauce for my husband, Mr. Meat ‘n’ Taters.
Sorry there are no pictures, because every course was visually stunning, but after giving Mr. M'n'T a hard time for using his cell phone, I couldn’t really whip out a camera.
Here’s what we ate:
- Four perfect Kumamoto oysters nestled in crushed ice: two topped with Maui onion salsa, two with a tart lime sorbet and a bit of caviar. Mr. M'n'T doesn’t like raw oysters. He flipped over these.
- Chutoro sashimi, three pieces with a light soy-based sauce and a pile of microgreens – celery, I believe. The vegetal greens were lovely against the medium-fatty fish.
- Spanish mackerel jalapeño, in a fairly spicy vinaigrette: the fish had a sliver of black skin, unlike the pearly gray of saba, and the flesh was slightly opaque from a citrus bath.
- An enormous square white platter bearing three treasures: 1) anago tempura, the first time I’ve eaten eel this way. Moist, flaky white meat, delicately crunchy crust, a pile of curry salt (made with sel gris, I think) for dipping; 2) quartered dayboat scallops, seared and set atop a bit of mayonnaise on a lotus root chip, garnished with pea shoots and bits of black hijiki; Washyu beef gyoza, so intensely beefy they tasted almost of aged cheese, with a sesame ponzu dipping sauce.
- Rock shrimp tempura in creamy spicy sauce. I could happily eat this every day.
- Seared salmon with heirloom tomatoes, the least exciting dish of the evening: the fish was fine, but the crisp skin was impossible to eat with chopsticks and the heirlooms were lacking in flavor.
- Lamb chops with anticucho sauce: these were quite large and pleasantly gamy, more like mutton than lamb. The bones had been frenched and wrapped with a strip of pumpkin skin, which made it easy to pick up the chops and swipe them through the sauce. Carnivore’s delight.
- Sushi: chutoro, baby yellowtail, fluke, salmon, and orange clam, each pristine, presented very simply with no garnish but the rice. I got another plate with three pieces of uni. Sigh...
- A clear golden broth holding nuggets of lobster, kernels of sweet corn and chopped chives.
- Desserts from pastry chef Gabriele Riva (an El Bulli alum) are precise and clean-flavored. Of the four, only two really sang to me: a bowl of chocolate “couscous,” softer in texture than cookie crumbs, with a soft saffron cream, a scoop of peanut butter ice cream and a cardamom tuile; and a dazzling coconut rice pudding, served in a small brazier with instructions to eat it when the pudding started to bubble. It was barely sweet, accompanied by an intense citrus mousse and a scattering of popped grains. There was a hint of pine in the flavor – an amazing dessert.
I prefer sake with this food but my uncle wanted wine. The Cakebread sauvignon blanc and Sequoia Grove cabernet he ordered worked surprisingly well.
Matt Hoyle, the chef, was second in command at Nobu London, and made us a marvelous lunch when we were there a few years ago. He's even better now.
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