12 Sep 2014
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Pork
Tags: black truffle, Iberico bellota pork, King Arthur flour, Nijiya Market, Perigord, Snake River Farms, tagliatelle
It was while browsing the produce aisle at my favorite Japanese market that I saw it — in a plastic container, settled on a bed of rice, a knobby black Perigord truffle.
Truffle-smothered Iberico pork shoulder steak
I picked it up and regarded it enviously. The price was $34, which for a truffle slightly smaller than a tennis ball seemed surprisingly reasonable. But it was more than I felt like spending, so I continued on to the fresh seafood section. But while I shopped for hamachi and albacore, my mind kept returning to the truffle. When I picked it up, I’d been hit by the unique perfume that told me this was a summer French truffle rather than a fall Oregon truffle. There is no other smell on earth like it. More
05 Sep 2014
by scolgin
in Cookbooks, Humor, Recipes
Tags: butterbeer, cookbooks, Deathly Hallows, French onion soup, Hagrid, Harry Potter, Kreacher, rock cakes, Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
My son, Flynn, is something of a Harry Potter fanatic. We originally read the seven books together when he was in kindergarten and first grade, and the moment we’d finished, he promptly launched back into them and read them all over again. He’s now 10, and is in the process of re-reading the 759-page seventh book, “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows” — for the ninth time.
Flynn at the barber shop with his book while Dad gets his hair cut
Every so often, he gets out his Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook — composed mostly of foods actually mentioned in the books — and finds things he’d like to make. Usually it’s something sweet, often “Rockcakes,” the scone-like lumps served by the gentle giant Hagrid when Harry and his friends would visit him in his groundskeeper hut. But on a lazy Sunday afternoon, he had something else in mind. More
02 Sep 2014
by scolgin
in Humor, Pork, Recipes
Tags: King's Hawaiian Bread, Labor Day, Laird Hamilton, Malibu, North Carolina barbecue, Pork, recipe, smoking, Topanga
While the rest of the Los Angeles swarmed the Labor Day weekend beaches to beat the heat, see the big waves and watch Laird Hamilton shoot the Malibu Pier, we elected to stay on the mountain, be satisfied with our Pacific breezes and almost-ocean views, and do what most people do for the holiday — barbecue.
The day’s star attraction
To be more precise, smoke. When I don my pit master hat, I usually default to one of two things — North Carolina pork shoulder or Texas brisket — or sometimes both. This weekend, it would be the latter. Like a morbid cartoon, I caught a particular pork shoulder winking at me from the meat aisle at the grocery store, and was smitten. More
29 Aug 2014
by scolgin
in Recipes
Tags: catering, food, humor, Lake Tahoe, leftovers, recipes, risotto, scallops, soft shell crab, stracciatella
I used to complain to my wife about the fact that her sister — a caterer — would often drop by and “gift” us large quantities of food leftover from one of her jobs. There would be big Glad bags of pasta salads, large chunks of picked over cheese and half cakes.
I called it “the Dump,” and came to resent coming home to discover a fridge full of leftovers from someone-I-didn’t-know’s wedding that I was now responsible for either eating or assuming the guilt of throwing away.
Heirloom tomato & corn risotto with parmesan scallops, stracciatella
We don’t see her sister often these days, and it’s probably been nearly a decade since we last received a drop off. But our friends, Kristine and Simon, just moved to Lake Tahoe, and were back in Topanga to pack up. We invited them to dinner, and Kristine showed up with a canvas bag full of stuff. More
26 Aug 2014
by scolgin
in Eating Out, Recipes
Tags: barbecue, Camping, ceviche, Mexican cooking, Santa Maria grilling, Sea of Cortez, tacos, Topanga, Topanga Community Club
I was a bit skeptical when I first got the email. Our local community club, which is always having some event or other, had dreamed up a new one: the Fiddle & Griddle family campout.
Albacore & shrimp ceviche
It was to take place on the baseball field on a Saturday in August, there would be a Santa Maria-style grill to cook on, games for the kids, campfire singalongs and so forth. It sounded interesting, but probably wasn’t our style of thing — I’m a reluctant camper, I find the packing up, unloading, setting up camp, breaking down, packing back up and unloading again a laborious process, especially for a single night a couple miles from home. More
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