12 Oct 2012 11 Comments
in Cooking Tips, Observations Tags: confit, demi glace, demi glaze, french cooking, goose, oie, paté, preserving, rillettes
The other day at my local supermarket, I caused quite the stir when I purchased a frozen goose.
Canada goose, John J. Audubon, 1838
“Is that a goose??” said the gal at the check-out counter, causing all the other shoppers waiting in nearby lanes to crane their necks as the frozen beast made its way forward on the conveyer belt. In California, you’re hard-pressed to find anything goose-related amidst the quinoa, skinless chicken breasts and tempeh. “Hey Esmerelda, look — a goose!”
29 May 2012 8 Comments
in Recipes Tags: chicken, confit, duck, french cooking, garlic, goose, preserving, recipes, rillettes, terrine
In the old days before refrigeration, all those trendy rustic preserved things you see on menus these days — cured meats, preserves, terrines, rillettes, all foods pickled and/or fermented — were a matter of necessity. With the fall harvest came too much of everything. And with the desolation of winter around the corner, you figured out ways to preserve all the extra meats and fruits and veggies and grains.
Chicken confit in the Dutch oven
Fast forward to the era of refrigeration, microwave cooking and frozen entrees, and these foodstuffs became quaint reminders of a more difficult epoch. Perhaps it was nostalgia or the recognition of the enduring deliciousness inherent in many preserved… but as the pace of life grew ever quicker, preserves made a roaring comeback, trailing their salty sour tails like comets into the modern era. And that’s a really good thing. More
21 Jun 2011 17 Comments
in Pork, Recipes Tags: Ardeche, blood sausage, book, cookbook, France, paté, pig, Pork, Pork & Sons, rillettes, Stéphane Reynaud
My wife, a woman of astute intuition when it comes to gift giving, bestowed me with a new book for Father’s Day: “Pork & Sons,” by French chef Stéphane Reynaud.
Published in 2007, it was at the fore of an entire genre of pig-focused cookbooks such as “The Whole Beast”, “The Complete Book of Pork”, “Pig Perfect” and “Pig”, a trend which culminated in a glut of restaurants with names like Cochon and The Spotted Pig and our own Animal here in Los Angeles. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 