03 Apr 2015 11 Comments
in Pork, Recipes Tags: Bill Buford, Carrera marble, Colonnata, Italian cooking, Italy, lardo, Mario Batali, salumi, Tails & Trotters
In one of my fancy meat shipments several months back, I received three large packages of hazelnut-fed pork fatback from some folks called Tails & Trotters in the Northwest.
I couldn’t remember if I actually ordered them or not, my purveyor friend sometimes throws in bonus items I didn’t order.
Fatback, for those not in the know, contains very little to no meat. It other words, it’s pure fat. Silky, white, glorious fat. More
08 Aug 2014 7 Comments
in Recipes Tags: beet pickle, chicken liver, crostini, Irish humor, Italian food, Italy, Mario Batali, offal, recipes
I often get feeling like I should be eating more offal. I’ve gotten okay with pig ears and cracklings, and will plow my way through a plate of sweetbreads. But I’m still a bit skittish when it comes to brains, stomachs, kidneys and so forth.
Crostini with beet pickles
I love the idea of eating the whole animal. And when I purchase a duck, for example, I’ll be mindful to get five or six separate dishes out of the bird — breasts, leg confit, liver pate, bone stock and demi glaze, skin cracklings, and rendered fat. More
16 May 2014 15 Comments
in Cooking Tips, Observations Tags: chorizo, cooking tips, Fiornetino, fleur de sel, food, grass fed beef, Maldon salt, Mario Batali, parmesan reggiano, Ronzoni
I was thinking the other morning, as I was writing out a recipe for this blog, about how I often use qualifiers when listing ingredients. For example, rather than saying, “1 tbsp. butter,” I will say, “1 tbsp. fresh sweet cream butter.” Or instead of “salt,” I will recommend “flaky sea salt, such as Maldon.”
Gorgeous pyramid crystals of Maldon salt
It’s because little differences in ingredients can mean a lot. Especially in simple dishes that utilize only a few ingredients. More
08 Nov 2013 5 Comments
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: Charlie Trotter, chicago, cooking, Dar Maghreb, food, Henry David Thoreau, Mario Batali, morels, Pierre Dupart, Rene Redzepi
I was in the kitchen making breakfast for the kids when my wife came in with an alarmed look on her face.
“Charlie Trotter died.”
The name stalled in my head, it took me a moment to process the news. And then I was hit with a wave of shock: Charlie Trotter, the boyish Chicago chef whose smiling face grinned out at me from three or four cookbooks in my collection. More
21 Jun 2013 7 Comments
in Cooking Tips, Food, Recipes Tags: green tomatoes, humor, Italian food, Mario Batali, pasta, recipes, spaghetti, Topanga Canyon
Late last fall, I was picking up my son Flynn from the home of our friends’ Lori and Gerard, where he was playing with his friend — their daughter Kiana.
Green tomatoes, herbs & squash blossom
Lori and I were standing in the yard chatting while the kids hammered on their wood projects and toddler Immy rolled around in a big plastic Smart Car-looking toy she found on the patio. We talked of the difficulty of growing vegetables in Topanga Canyon, as I admired her tall, barren tomato plants. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 