2011 - - Page 30

by gansie

Trust the Consistency, And the S Bus is Coming

“Who won? Corn cake?” my friend Jake asked. He knew the real winner; he had just eaten the proof.

I’ve been messing around with Jiffy corn muffin mixes for a few years now (Spinach Dip and Black Bean Egg Bake, Kefir Chili Corn Cake, Spinach and Artichoke Corn Cake, Smoked Cheddar, Spinach and Artichoke Corn Cake) and I’ve finished with different results every time. The directions on the box read simply: milk, egg, mix. But I can’t leave it at that. I continue to challenge the ratio of liquid to mix because each time I indulge in another spoonful of mustard or yogurt, my results yield better and better outcomes.

Sometimes the dreary mix wins, and I don’t add enough spin and it turns dry and uninteresting.

But this time, Jake, I won.

Andouille Sausage and Squash Corn Cake

Cocktail O’Clock: Lemonade for Grownups

Kick off the weekend, and National Lemonade Day (we know, another day-of-day, but come on, it’s August!) with a lemonade you won’t find at any children’s roadside stands.

Prohibition Lemonade

1 part Canadian Club Reserve 10 Year
3 parts Lemonade
Top with Club Soda
Lemon wheel for garnish

Directions: Build in order over ice in a tall glass. Stir. Garnish with lemon wheel.

All of our summer cocktail recipes can be found in Endless Cocktails.

in Drinks / Endless Cocktails / Recipe 0 comments

by gansie

Where Did the News Go?

All of a sudden it stopped landing in my inbox. At first I forgot about it, but then it became clear. I was missing my daily dose of food news, the aptly titled Food News Journal.

I had forgotten the name of the site, as sometimes the obvious becomes the most forgettable. But when I googled around for it and landed on the homepage I learned what happened. Those freaking biatches at Food 52 stole them! So now I must drag my mouse to their website instead of getting the well-rounded links directly to my gmail.

But because I adore their roundups so much, I wanted to show them that I will still travel across the www to find their curated view of what’s important in the world of eats.

And maybe you should to- this is the new home.

(Photo: Food News Journal)

in Trends 1 comments

by bakersroyale

Order Up!

Summer is nearing its end, so with that we are filling your orders until the Poptail Series goes into hibernation.

Gimlet on a stick now being served. You asked for it and we’re delivering it in all its icy cold glory. That’s a mixed berry gimlet built on a limeade body. Now that we’ve armed you with the not so secret formula, spread the goodness and get mixing.

While you are getting boozy, we want to know what you want to see get cocktailed into a series next e.g. cupcakes, truffles, brownies. We are open for suggestions. Holla in the comments, we’ll throw your suggestions in the mix along with our staff picks.

Mixed Berry Gimlet

Food Porn Champion: The Rebel Within

Talk about a money shot to end all money shots.

This beauty is from Tell Tale Preserve Company at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. “The Rebel Within” is a savory breakfast muffin with breakfast sausage baked into the mix, plus a full soft-cooked farm egg inside.

Found via chef Chris Cosentino’s meat eaters’s guide to SF on GQ.

(Photo: Tell Tale)

in Eggs / Photos / Pig 6 comments

by Roo de Loo

My Shit Don’t Stink: Five Observations on a Vegan Diet

Charcuterie from the Downtown Grocery

Salad greens from Coger's Sugarhouse

I grew up in a meat and potatoes household. My father was (and still is) the type that had strong feelings about what went on the dinner plate, and if it didn’t moo or cluck it was considered a side dish. So imagine my culinary bafflement as I have undertaken a two-week chef gig to cook for a yoga teacher training at Good Commons, a boutique retreat center nestled in the rolling hills of Vermont.

Three meals a day and not an animal in sight. Not only are these yogis avoiding meat, but also dairy, soy and gluten. And I thought downward dog was tough.

It’s not that I don’t have experience or interest in cooking vegetarian dishes. I love connecting with the local farmers and menu planning based on what is coming out of the ground. But how much roughage can a person take? The answer—plenty.

I should qualify… I could easily be sneaking off to the local pizza joint for “Instructor Wings,” a winning combination of hot wings and barbecue sauce named after a special request from the snowboarders who work at Okemo Valley during ski season. Better yet, a mosey to The Downtown Grocery in Ludlow, where chef Rogan Lechthaler is doing some amazing charcuterie. But I’ve been feeling a bit too much junk in the trunk and thought a two-week meat sabbatical might do me well. So here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Top 5 Observations on a Vegan Diet

5. It’s more fun to chew a perfectly marbled strip steak than bite into a piece of “extra firm” tofu, no matter how well it’s seasoned or seared.

4. Kale is brilliant: it keeps for almost a week in the fridge and can be eaten raw, blanched, sautéed or even creamed with a vegan béchamel, which I made with Earth Balance (soy, I know!), gluten-free flour, almond milk and plenty of salt and pepper.

Hot Food, Served On A Plate, Eaten While Sitting

I have now been in San Cassiano, Italy for a week and could write volumes about the amazing alps and Alto Adige. As if the last week wasn’t great enough, the man had to pull something as crazy awesome as a spa day at Hotel Fanes: massage, sauna, a “quiet relax room” with a heated water bed, and naked Europeans. When a girl doesn’t think that things could possibly get any better, this ultra pampering session was followed by an impromptu three-course dinner in the Chef’s office.

A stock broker can get desensitized to money because she sees it all day long, and when the Dow drops 650 points, it’s really just another day at the office (stay with me here). Similarly, working in the food industry can cause a cook to be desensitized and forget how food makes people feel. We in the restaurant business don’t get to sit down very often to enjoy a hot meal. We forget what it’s like. Most of the time we eat standing up, perhaps over a trash bin because we’re too busy to actually put the food on a plate. (Especially if you’re in the shit and can’t get your work done fast enough because you’re still a shitty cook when it comes down to it, but work up a sweat all day trying to improve.) Sacrificing normal-people dinnertime rituals is what we do to make others feel happy during their dinner time. When you think about it, food really is quite simple. You either make people happy or you don’t. And a lot of us try to make people happy 100% of the time. The endless pursuit of perfection can be mentally and physically taxing. Sometimes if we don’t step away often enough, we forget what it feels like to be served a hot meal, on a plate, while sitting down. And if we don’t step back every once in a while from what we work so hard at every day and reflect on what is really important, we might just forget what that is. It’s just food after all.

Sometimes what a girl needs is just to sit down and be served a hot meal…in Italy…by a sweet chef…and take a deep breath of mountain air.

in Food Travel 0 comments