Top o’ the Mornin’

17 Jun 2011 6 Comments

by scolgin in On the Road, Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Around a decade or so ago, my friend Dan and I were tooling about Ireland in a little Spanish compact. We stayed mostly in bed-and-breakfasts, and it didn’t take long before we were waking with a craving for the Irish breakfast.

Irish breakfast

What was not to like? A couple of eggs, some Irish sausage, black and white puddings (i.e. more sausage), Canadian bacon, a roasted tomato, a couple cooked mushrooms and plenty of Irish brown bread spread with fresh Irish butter. Of course, you can have too much of a good thing — as we discovered was the case with both Guinness and the Irish breakfast. More

In the Burger Lab

07 Jun 2011 7 Comments

by scolgin in Recipes, Video, World's Best Sandwiches Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I like entering contests of skill. I won a big Le Creuset dutch oven recently in a contest where I had to write a semi-autobiographical essay about my childhood memories and how Le Creuset fit warmly into them. (There must’ve been one somewhere in my childhood, right? Anyway…) A recent item caught my eye in the Los Angeles Times food section: Best Burger Contest.

My entry in the Best Burger Contest — the Chorizo burger with Manchego, caramelized fennel and spicy sweet pimenton aioli

My go-to burger is sort of a knock-off of the now-famous burger from my old neighborhood dive bar, Father’s Office: thick medium-rare burgers, blue cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and arugula. I figured two thirds of the recipes submitted to the contest were going to be some variation on that theme, so I decided to enter the Burger Lab (my kitchen) and get to work on coming up with something utterly original, and unbeatably delicious. More

Paella

03 Jun 2011 10 Comments

by scolgin in Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There are a few things you must know about paella:

• It originates from the region of Valencia in Spain, and traditional versions were made in the field by hunters and contained not seafood but rabbit and snails.

• The pan is called a paella, and the dish is named for the pan. While you can cook a reasonable paella without the pan, it won’t have the same theater (see the video below). Besides, it’ll only set you back around $20 for a 15″ pan from Spain. (www.surlatable.com)

• Paellas were traditionally cooked outdoors over an open fire. This is still the best way to cook paella. Although you can achieve just as good an effect on the barbecue. When our kitchen was being remodeled, I cooked outdoor on the barbecue for two months. We ate a lot of paella. More

Indian Candy

20 May 2011 7 Comments

by scolgin in Cooking Tips, Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Most things I can figure out very quickly. But some I labor over futilely, never quite mastering them. It’s like that with my favorite salsa from the Sanchez Carniceria in Culver City. For months I tried to reproduce it in order to save myself:  a) the $3.99 for a small container, and  b)  the trip to Culver City. Finally I waved the white flag, content to either purchase it or enjoy my own reasonably good salsa. The Sanchezes are doing some sort of alchemy down there. More

The American Series, Pt. II — Chili

13 May 2011 8 Comments

by scolgin in American Series, Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Many a cook has been judged on the quality of his or her chili. Whole lives on the cook-off circuit have been made or ruined based on their deftness of hand with garlic and chili powder.

Last year, I almost entered the local Malibu Labor Day chili cook off. I may do so this year. There’s something decidedly appealing and American about these events. Every municipality, from the upscale resort to the redneck town, has one. More

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