Saturday, July 24. 2010
 We promised that we would bring the Dylanologist, who is stationed in Rome for the summer, a supply of peanut butter. I guess the Italians don't have it. It's their loss. You would think the southern Italians would get sick of tomato sauce. I am, for sure. They would quickly learn to appreciate a PB&J on white.
Fortunately, they do not use much pasta or really any tomato sauce in northern Italy where I am headed tomorrow.
Despite the glories of Italian (non-pasta) cuisine, sometimes a fellow just needs some peanut butter - and not the unpleasant organic kind. Skippy's ultra-chunky always hits the spot. I will squeeze two large things of it into my bag for the guy.
Hope Italian Customs doesn't give me a hard time for this act of smuggling. After all, it would be easy to suffocate somebody with a face full of Skippy's Creamy.
Monday, July 12. 2010
Wellfleet Oysters and Wellfleet Littlenecks. My cocktail behind them is a Cape Cod Marguerita (cranberry juice added). Refreshing and healthily salt-restoring.
I have Wellfleet architecture in the pipeline, but my photos don't want to upload to the site right now.
Friday, July 2. 2010
We had a blind wine-tasting of inexpensive sparklies before our recent family wedding. We had six tasters, and ranked seven inexpensive sparklies on a 1-5 scale. Good fun was had by all.
Wine NY Price Score
Domaine Carneros $18 16
Roederer Estate 18 11
Mumm Cuvee Napa 15 23
Mionetto Proseco Valdobbian 13 0
Domaine St Michele Blanc de Noir 11 19
Gloria Ferrer Brut NV 14 23
Charles de Fere Chardonnay Brut 10 21
In preparation for a fun and patriotic 4th of July, I’ll share with you two of my secrets to a BBQ that is a real pleaser.
First, let your properly unattired significant other, friendly neighbor, or other local hottie do the BBQing. Then, everyone will have patience waiting for what comes off the grill. That, also, leaves time for more beer.
Second, not that you'll care what she serves you, use this Jackie's Oklahoma Style Barbecue Sauce.
It’s the real thing, Oklahoma-style, not adulterated nor wimpified nor commercialized, so authentic you’ll wonder why anyone left the dustbowl in the ‘30s.
A friend and co-worker’s wife made this at home from her family recipe. Everyone who tasted it drooled in delight. (No, that’s not her photo above; we couldn’t persuade her to reveal her secrets.) In the early ‘80s, they figured out how to bottle it for others. (That took about a year of trials and errors, ‘til getting it just right.) Whenever I’d be in the San Francisco Bay Area, I carried back a case or two. Now, it’s in my local San Diego area Stater Brothers supermarket, and I tout it to anyone walking near the BBQ sauce aisle.
That makes for interesting conversations. One, it beats a chick-magnet puppie. Most women look for ways to please, and/or love to cook. Two, most fans of the yellowish, sweeter Southern-style BBQ sauce are quickly converted to becoming Okies, like myself (an Oy Vey Okie). That makes for swinging soirees in the aisle, or later.
For those of you who want to yelp with slobbering joy, here’s a few testimonials.
For those of you who want to try the real deal, here’s a place where you can order a jar of the taste of hog (or whatever your meat) heaven.
For those of you who just like to drool, our BBQ mistress above welcomes you to her hot sauciness.
For those of you who just want to argue their personal favorite BBQ sauce or recipe, the Comments await your personal slobbering.
Wednesday, June 30. 2010
The next time you hear someone claim to be a vegetarian, ask them if they eat fish.
They'll probably admit they do. Fish, being a water animal, really isn't like all of those regular bad animals that they don't eat, being a vegetarian and all.
Then gently ask them if they eat chicken.
They'll hem and haw a bit, but admit that, yes, they'll occasionally have a little bite of chicken, perhaps with a salad — but only if the chicken is organically-grown, of course.
Then gently ask them if they eat turkey.
Well, yes, on Thanksgiving and other special days, they might eat a little turkey. After all, they eat chicken, don't they? It would seem kind of silly to suddenly draw the line between chickens and turkeys since they're practically the same thing.
Uh-huh.
In other words, if it has pretty, human-like eyes...
...then it's bad and evil to eat!
But if it has ugly little beady eyes...
...then it's perfectly okay to eat!
They're not "vegetarians", they're just regular ol' people — except they don't eat animals with pretty eyes. Just animals with ugly little beady eyes.
Or, to properly categorize them, they're the beady-eyed meat eaters.
Sunday, June 27. 2010
 Subway Sandwiches has a really great sandwich — and it's not even on the menu. It's called a "Club sandwich with vinaigrette dressing," and, I'm tellin' ya, it's a slice o' Heaven. The vinaigrette dressing is somewhat like an Italian salad dressing, although French, if that makes sense. It's vinegar-y and garlic-y, tart, tangy and tasty.
I get mine with just meat, lettuce and onions; no cheese or other fixings. So, if you get yours with cheese and a bunch of fixings, and it just doesn't go with the vinaigrette dressing, oh well.
I'd suggest the following:
- Get the vinaigrette dressing 'to go' in a little cup so you can put it on yourself. I've had them ruin sandwiches by putting on too much.
- Get it on their "honey oat" bread. If you already have a favorite Subway bread, go ahead and try it on that, but if something seems off, try it on the honey oat. I've had it on three or four types, but the second I tried it on honey oat, I said, 'That's it!"
- Have it toasted after the meat goes on, but before the fixings. This really brings out the bread flavor.
- If you take part of it home and want to re-heat it later, heat it at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes from a cold start. You just want it warm, not cooked. Take the fixings off first.
- If you like BBQ chips, you'll dig how they go with the vinaigrette dressing. Great combo.
Bon appetit!
Wednesday, May 26. 2010
 I am not a big fan of pasta dishes anymore (used to be, but have pretty much tired of them - especially with red sauce). Still, a favorite snack for me is pasta with garlic and oil - Pasta Aglio et Olio. Simplest thing in the world.
Tips: For this or any other spaghetti recipe, use thin spaghetti - never the full size. For this recipe, the amount of chopped garlic you use, and the extent to which you brown the garlic, is to your taste. I like tons of garlic and I like it brown. I do it with coarsely chopped Italian parsley, and plenty of it. Plenty of fresh ground pepper too. Lastly, make spaghetti the Italian way, by throwing the spaghetti into the hot saucepan and tossing with the sauce. That's the right way to coat the noodles and heat up the pasta at the same time.
A pal told me at a guys' night out barbecue dinner last night that his favorite pasta is Pasta alla Norma, the hamburger of Sicily. I've never had it.
Monday, May 3. 2010
The right way to make an Omelette Fines Herbes
Friday, April 16. 2010
This site has indoor and outdoor mushroom-growing kits. Given the prices of fancy mushrooms, it makes sense. Too bad you cannot grow my favorites at home: Chanterelles and Porcinis.
Here's Have you seen the mushroom man?
 It's genetic, sort-of. In the NYT.
I think cilantro is a tired fad, but I do not dislike it.
Monday, April 12. 2010
First, go out and catch yourself some fat trout. Then try this recipe at Cooks.com. This was dinner last night, with winter squash and mashed parsnips with garlic, and a bottle of Chalk Hill Chardonnay:
Saturday, April 3. 2010
Dried salt Cod from the Grand Banks became popular in Italy, Spain and Portugal during the 1500s and 1600s, and naturally became incorporated into meatless fast days like Christmas Eve and Good Friday - and Fridays in general.
I stumbled onto some baccala at the market the other day as I was hunting for fresh mint, and, even though it is not a fast day, I will make a pile of these as an Easter appetizer.
Photo is Pew & Son Flake Yard, Gloucester, MA, 1899, from this site of old fishing photos. "Flakes" are codfish drying racks. That Atlantic Cod is, alas, being overfished to extinction. Mankind will be sorry. I remember when you could drop a hook with a clam on it into the Gulf of Maine and come up with a big Cod or Haddock for supper in about two minutes.
Sunday, March 28. 2010
Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food Control.
Governments love controlling people, don't they? It's a mental disease. Power is a drug for those susceptible to its perverse appeal.
Monday, March 22. 2010
The birthday dinner at Casa Gwynnie last night was some Redheads I shot in Manitoba in October. Every bit as flavorful as Canvasbacks. Roasted them on the grill, of course. Rare.
Saturday, March 13. 2010
 When I was a kid, Kedgeree was my favorite breakfast. My Mom was taken by it on all of her trips across the pond, and we kids just did not go for blood sausage. I think I first had it in Scotland.
This Indian-inspired Brit meal is as rare on US menus as Shrimp 'n Grits is on Maine menus. It's great thing for kids in the cool weather, or anytime. Supper too.
Rice, curry, haddock or smoked haddock, etc., and sliced egg on top. I like it with regular haddock, and even the frozen is OK with this. Wonderfully filling, tasty, and rib-sticking.
Here's one recipe, but it need not be so complex.
Tuesday, February 23. 2010
 This makes the best cornbread I've ever had - and I have had plenty of cornbread. I'll never bother with another brand. What makes it special is the sort of corn meal they use: coarse-ground with corn hunks so it comes out chewy but with a crunchy crust.
They sell it at Costco. Also, I was surprised to see, at Amazon. Try it.
Thursday, February 18. 2010
Wednesday, February 10. 2010
 I suppose "Partridge" could refer to Ruffed Grouse, Chukar, Huns, Red Grouse or any little chickeny bird. Even Cornish Game Hens or chicken. This was very good with my Chukars.
Grilled Partridge with Wild Mushrooms and Hazelnuts
4 Partridge
4 Tbs. Olive oil
2 Tbs. Chopped rosemary leaves
3 Tbs. Cider vinegar
4 Tbs. Extra virgin olive oil
4 Cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 lb. Oyster mushrooms (3-4 supermarket packages), stems removed, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 lb. Porcini (or crimini or baby bella) mushrooms, slice 1/2 Inch thick
1/4 cup Fresh (blanched) hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup Chopped scallions
Remove backbones from partridges with game shears or heavy scissors and place partridges in bowl. Add olive oil, rosemary and cider vinegar and toss to coat. Allow to stand 2 hours, covered and refrigerated.
Preheat grill. Place partridges breast side down on grill (indirect heat) and cook 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a 12-inch sauté pan, heat oil until smoking. Add garlic and sauté until golden brown. Add mushrooms and hazelnuts and cook, stirring constantly, until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season, add scallions, and place on platter.
Turn partridges over and grill other side until thighs are cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and arrange over mushrooms and serve.
A friend was thoughtful enough to give us a year's subscription to Zagat's online for Christmas. Zagat's has gone global now.
A (free) alternative to Zagat's is Yelp. Pick your city. I have been warned, however, that a 3-star rating on Yelp in NYC is equivalent to a 5-star rating elsewhere. New Yorkers are highly critical and demanding about dining - and about everything else. "If I can make it there..."
For example, we were in the city this weekend at the Irish Repertory Theater and were looking for Venetian restaurants in the neighborhood. We tried Le Zie in Chelsea on 7th Ave. Not pricey. Zie had some rough reviews on Yelp (people love to bitch in reviews) but the place was better than any neighborhood trattoria in Italy. The ten "small plate" seafood appetizers were wonderful, and the Venetian calf's liver with onions and vinegar sauce was a fine treat.
It was fun checking out Zagat for Venetian restaurants in NYC. Here are a few of them, for your amusement.
The menus give a good idea of what Venetian cooking consists of:
Cipriani
Osteria al Doge
Antica Venezia
Osteria Laguna
REMI
All good fun. Here's inside Le Zie:
Thursday, February 4. 2010
I visited Venice for a few days many years ago, and do not feel driven to return - it's a giant tourist trap with a pickpocket team on every block - except that I wouldn't mind catching the Venice Regatta in August:
On further thought, I wouldn't mind getting a little more experience with Venetian cooking. All I know about it is Risi e Bisi, which doesn't look like much but which is killer delicious when Mrs. BD makes it.
Here's When I Paint My Masterpiece live with The Band in 1971:
Thursday, January 28. 2010
 For people who love food and cooking: CHOW.
Tuesday, January 26. 2010
 As I was considering some dinner plans, naturally the idea of foie-gras-stuffed quail came to mind.
Quail, around here, are Bob Whites. (Hunters in the South call them "birds," hence the origin of the term bird dog.) Habitat loss and development is the main reason that these Eastern US birds are approaching endangered status in parts of their range. You can read about them here.
I have heard them calling their name out on Nantucket, Long Island and on Cape Cod, but nowhere inland in New England.
Fortunately, they are readily pen-raised and thus easily available at supermarkets - and for preserve shooters who typically, even in the South, release thousands of pen-raised birds for the pleasure of the sports.
This site has 91 quail recipes.
Saturday, January 23. 2010
That's supper for our friend the ex-blogger Hog on Ice (I like that raw sweet onion on the plate) whose book we'd like to plug.
Friday, January 8. 2010
 Wines for fast food. Prof B
Nutrition and Tradition The Science of Food and the Culture of Cooking
A small Canadian seaside town in New Brunswick has been warned lobsters that wash ashore cannot be eaten because they weren't caught under license.
Whole Foods' John Mackey: Food Fighter
How school lunch programs manage to promote obesity and hunger at the same time.
Photo: Butterflied lamb from the grill. There is nothing better. Lamb must be cooked rare or it isn't worth eating, and the butterflied leg in the photo looks overcooked for my taste. Costco has great butterflied leg of lamb.
Tuesday, December 29. 2009
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