April, 2010 - - Page 4

by gansie

Chicken in the Raw

OhMyGod – Guess What?!?!

80P and I are going to Japan and South Korea!

We’re doing a week in/around Tokyo and a week in/around Seoul. We’re looking for travel suggestions, especially where to eat. We’re also interested in taking an over-night trip from both cities. I would like to know where I can buy an entire new wardrobe and 80 would like to know where he can drink sake while I clothes shop.

Last night I went to a press dinner at Kushi, a Japanese style sushi, raw bar and grill. The owners there are really nice and knowledgeable about Japan and I tried to learn as much as possible so I don’t look like a total asshole when I’m in Asia. Oh and the food is kick-ass, especially the crispy duck thigh, the heritage breed chicken wing, the miso marinated fish and pretty much any of the sashimi.

Things I’ve Learned Pre-Japan

Patrons are given a warm, damp cloth at the beginning of meal to cleanse their hands and then use as napkin.

Robata is a grill.

Never drink sake with a rice dish. Sake is made from rice so it’d be a double starch. Imagine adding potatoes to pasta. However, sushi is fine to drink with sake, the rule is more geared to a bowl of rice.

Shoji is like vodka. If I remembered that correctly. An anti-hangover drink combines ukon, a turmeric tea, mixed with shoji.

Chicken is eaten raw in Japan. Chicken can be served sashimi style and eaten with wasbi and soy, like fish.

by tvff

Pasta Recipe: Keepin’ it Cool

Nothing’s better than a steaming bowl of pasta, right? Not when it’s 86° outside. That, my friends, was my predicament last week when we were enjoying some unseasonably warm weather here in the Northeast and I got an e-mail from Mrs. TVFF suggesting we have pasta for dinner. Not one to ever turn down the opportunity for a carb-heavy meal, I resolved to avoid the ususal pasta dishes — which certainly didn’t sound appetizing as I perspired my way around the city — and go for something that wasn’t quite pasta salad either. We’d meet in the middle with a hot pasta dressed with a room-temperature sauce.

First, the props: I’m pretty sure this originated as some sort of bruschetta topping or chunky dip from Jamie Oliver. His input forms the basis of this “sauce,” which is the olives, the cherry/grape tomato and the olive oil. The rest of the recipe is a bit more free-form.

Warm Pasta with Crushed Grape Tomatoes and Olives

– One pound of short pasta – penne, rigatoni and farfalle are perfect for this.

– One cup, olives without pits

– One pint, grape or cherry tomatoes

– Six tbsp. oil

– Whatever the hell your heart desires (see below)

by gansie

The Dark-Herr, The Better

I truly adore Michael Pollan. I pretty much take his words as gospel. His new “for dummies” type book, Food Rules, breaks down his complex narratives of our broken food systems into succinct guidelines. His rules make sense. They are easy to understand and to follow. This one is particularly relevant to our I want it now culture:

#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

There is nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods, pastries, even drinking soda every now and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly expensive and hard-to-make treats so cheap and easy that we’re eating them every day. The french fry did not become America’s most popular vegetable until industry took over the jobs of washing, peeling, cutting, and frying the potatoes — and cleaning up the mess. If you made all the french fries you ate, you would eat them much less often, if only because they’re so much work. The same holds true for fried chicken, chips, cakes, pies, and ice cream. Enjoy these treats as often as you’re willing to prepare them — chances are good it won’t be every day. [HuffPo]

But the idea of making a potato chip better than Herr’s is just a fucking lie. They make the best chips in the world and it wouldn’t be fair to attempt replication at home when they are already out there on shelves across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

I recently spotted an enviable collection of Herr’s chips at a Philly-themed hoagie shop in DC, Taylor. My eyes widened at their floor to ceiling display, noticing the new (and I find misguided) direction of Herr’s: kettle chips. Kettle chips have too much of a bite for me. Too crunchy, too much time in the oil.

I asked the dude behind the cash register about the many new flavors and he pointed out a recent failure: Herr’s Dark Russet Kettle Chips. He said they tasted straight burnt. I bought them instantly.

in Trends 6 comments

by Roo de Loo

Texas Tuesdays: Is Bigger Really Better?

photo: Jean-Michel Dufaux

Editor’s Note: Ya’ll already know Matthew from previous posts such as coo-coo for coquito; now he’s decided to take the plunge and adopt an official ES moniker. As Roodeloo, he’s set to help ES explore a strange, distant country — Texas. Here’s a preview:

Yes. I’d rather have a foot-long than a some dinky wiener from a street cart. Or a dozen buffalo wings than a measly ten. Quarter pounder? I’ll take 8 ounces, please. When it comes to some things, bigger is always better.

So when I got wind of the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival, I thought it high time to dust off my black suede cowboy boots and head west. Held in and around Austin, Texas, the festival is celebrating its 25th year—bringing together culinary artisans and wine producers to highlight the Texas impact on food and wine throughout the world.

Texas wine? That might take a little convincing, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised and have no hesitancy diving into the festival offerings, as well as checking out some of Austin’s culinary hot spots. I’m going to take the famous BBQ pork versus beef challenge at The County Line BBQ, crunch my way through tacos at a local favorite, Guero’s Taco Bar, and swig and swallow my way through the festival’s Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting.

But I’ve also caught wind of a Texas beyond large slabs of meat and overflowing cocktails. There is a growing farm-to-table movement among local chefs and restaurateurs. I’ll be checking in with Emmet and Lisa Fox (ASTI and FINO), chef James Holmes (who recently brought a bit of Texas to the James Beard House in New York City), as well as Boggy Creek Farm—an organic urban market farm.

While my dance card is pretty full, there’s always room for another two-step. Do you have a favorite Austin culinary hot spot? Barbecue joint that beats all the rest? Favorite foodie delicacy that originates from the Lone Star State? Shout back with your suggestions and “must eats” and I’ll let you know how they’re holding up.

More:
Austin food trailer crawl
Austin farm-to-table
Austin meat tour

in Food Travel / Red Meat 6 comments

by gansie

Hey Hey Hey, It’s Skinny Albert

Editor’s Note: We’ve gotten somewhat political on ES before, mostly making fun of Sarah Palin and prohibition candidates, but actually we’re big dorks. In fact, after school I would rush home so I could tape–and watch live–Clinton’s impeachment hearings. I read Cokie Roberts’ book for pleasure and wanted to be George Stephanopoulos when I grew up. Anyway, it’s about time we used the blog for something other than talking about bacon. Well, just this once.

Our friend Josh works for Northwest Harvest and was recently in DC to lobby for childhood nutrition funds. Here’s his rant. Pay attention.

It’s time to put down the spatula and pick up the phone.

We need to tell our Senators and Congressmembers to invest in the future health of our population, our economy and our national security by strengthening the Child Nutrition Act to the tune of an additional $10 billion over ten years. Strengthening these programs will ensure our kids are receiving the proper nutrition where they live, work and play, AND go a long way to fighting childhood obesity.

The Child Nutrition Act is a large piece of legislation that comes up every five years or so and funds critical nutrition programs for our low-income infants and children, including WIC, national school lunch and breakfasts, afterschool snacks and summer feeding programs, and feeding programs in child care and adult care settings. Senator Lincoln has introduced the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to begin the reauthorization process in the Senate, but the bill falls short of the full $10 billion necessary.

Study after study show that hungry kids simply cannot learn in the classroom. Chronic hunger has profound impacts on kids’ ability to focus, retain and thrive in our schools. Providing our children with proper nutrition for the school day is critical to the future success of our country.

in Politics / Trends / Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Indian Simmer: Thalis are the New Tapas

Wow. I have eaten so much Indian food. This might sound like the most obvious observation in history but — they eat Indian food ALL the time here. Like, every day, three meals a day. That is a lot of Indian food!

OK sorry, I just had to say that. Moving on to more high-minded revelations, let’s talk about thalis. I’d heard of these fleetingly in the states, but haven’t actually been served them at any Indian-American restaurants, which is odd, because they’ve been on the menu at almost every restaurant I’ve been to so far in India.

in Food Travel / Trends 4 comments

by gansie

Peanut Butter and Philly

Last week I was in Philadelphia for my 9-5. But what’s funny about Philly is, even though it’s my hometown city, I barely know about it. I lived on the other side of the *bridge* and crossing that bridge was portrayed as such a big deal, such a hardship, such a production that it almost never occurred. And what my mom said goes, if she didn’t do Philly, we didn’t do Philly.

Of course, I still knew, and benefited from, many of Philly’s culinary offerings.

The soft pretzel. I never knew the soft pretzel was special to Philly. When I was little I thought all cities were filled with pretzel street vendors.

After a very brief google search, and a hunch of my own, it looks like Philly owes its signature snack to the Pennsylvania Dutch. The pretzels here are not dipped in butter and shaped like shoelaces, but have a crust, yet are soft and chewy inside. They do not need mustard. The office where I was working receives a weekly present of pretzels from a previously satisfied client. Pretzels are not just a snack, but a gesture of thanks, good taste and local flare.

in Breakfast 3 comments

« Previous

April 2010

Chicken in the Raw

Pasta Recipe: Keepin’ it Cool

The Dark-Herr, The Better

Texas Tuesdays: Is Bigger Really Better?

Hey Hey Hey, It’s Skinny Albert

Indian Simmer: Thalis are the New Tapas

Peanut Butter and Philly