08 Mar 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Recipes
Tags: Baja California, cochinita pibil, machaca, margarita, Mexican cooking, Mexico, Milton Brook, Nayarit, Sonora, tacos
Unless you’re a drug runner, things in Mexico generally move pretty slowly. I remember watching an entire construction crew working on a resort collapse in the heat and humidity of the late morning in Nayarit, and nap on site until the mid afternoon.
Machaca, mid-mash
A lot of the foods of Mexico are slow, too. In the Yucatan, for example, they wrap pigs in banana leaves and bury them in the ground to cook for a day. Nobody’s setting timers or watching the clock. And in the cowboy cattle country of the desert north, they hang strips of beef in the sun to dry out in the blazing sun. Up there, they call it machaca. More
01 Mar 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Pork, Recipes
Tags: beef short rib, Chinese cooking, Don Schnieder, five spice, guanciale, Japanese cooking, jowl, Matthew Tekulsky, monkfish liver, Pork
The other night I was drinking wine and eating monkfish liver with my culinary soulmate, Donnie, and lamenting about when odds-and-ends meat cuts become trendy and then are suddenly expensive.
Pork pops
Take the case of the aforementioned monkfish liver. It used to be the rare non-Japanese person who would try this odd delicacy at the sushi bar, and I could buy a whole softball-sized liver at the Japanese market for a few bucks. More
26 Feb 2013
by scolgin
in Beverages, Food, Humor
Tags: beer, cocktails, drinks, food, Pliny the Elder, Russian River Brewing Co., Sierra Nevada, Stella Artois
The third in the author’s three part series about his all-consuming obsession with locating and purchasing at any cost Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Elder beer.
* * *
Driving home with my big game prize — six bottles of Pliny the Elder — I began contemplating the grand ordeal that had been my barely one-month relationship with the beer.
A few days before, I’d called my favorite wine store, which was listed on the Russian River Brewing Company’s distribution list, but where I’d never actually seen Pliny before. I asked the gentleman if they carried Pliny.
Pliny, crowding out the other beers in my fridge
“We get it sometimes, usually on Tuesdays.” This was a Monday. “The delivery usually comes around 1 p.m. Why don’t you call sometime after that and see if we got any. It sells out fast.” More
19 Feb 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor
Tags: Cherry council, crab, Crab-stuffed flounder, flounder, food, halibut, humor, National food holidays, pizza
Browsing the news items on yahoo.com, I was surprised to discover that today, February 18th, is National Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day.
Can you spot the flounder?
Not only did I not realize it was a holiday, but I’ll admit I didn’t even know people stuffed flounder with crab. Not that I’m against the idea, mind you — I’ve been known to stuff everything from sushi rolls to artichokes with crab. Why not a flounder? More
15 Feb 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor
Tags: 1000-year duck eggs, Anthony Bourdain, century eggs, China, Chinese cuisine, congee, cooking, fermented black beans, Taiwan, tofu
Our friend Jon has a new girlfriend. Actually, she’s not all that “new” — they’ve been dating about a year now. But it took six months for him to introduce her to us. Before that, the only evidence of her existence was dumplings. And by that measure, things weren’t looking good.
“Do you want some dumplings?” Jon said one day at the kids’ school. “Priscilla dropped them by my house.” He led me down to his truck and opened the back. It felt illicit, like it was high school and we were going to drink a beer or smoke some pot. He pulled out some big bready bao and a couple cold pork dumplings whose steamed wrappers were crumbling off. More
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