Rachel Perlow

I wish it were colder out. It's only about 43 degrees now, but it should be 40 around 10:30 tonight. Do you think it's safe to leave it on the back porch? I guess I'll put a ziploc bag of ice cubes in the container to get the chill going.

Just finished the stock for this weekend's soups. I'm not reducing it because I want to make soups with it, so I've got about 8 quarts. I've been getting 8 quarts yield from my 16 quart stock pot pretty reliably, plus about a quart of fat. Is anyone else unable to bring themselves to use the concentrated stock in the freezer? For soups I mean. I'm always using cubes for pan or roux sauces, but I just can't bring myself to use it for soup. I added up the cost of ingredients for today's stock, it came to approximately $10, not including gas and water: 6.15 Chicken Leg Quarters, 10.42 lbs at .59/lb 2.06 Stripped Chicken Backs, 3 lbs at .69/lb 2.00 Vegetable content (estimate) Also, I roasted the chicken parts and half the vegetables this time, I wanted to see if there would be much of a difference in the finished product. There wasn't much taste difference, but there was time-wise. I think the flavor and collegan extracted faster by a few hours. Since I usually allow it to simmer overnight, I don't think I'll bother next time. It just adds 2 sheet pans to the clean up.

I got one of the beef tenderloins yesterday. Looking over the receipt on the way to the car, I noticed the discount did not get subtracted. While Jason loaded the car, I went back inside to get my discount. This was totally worth doing, as if they make an error like this for an amount over $10, they not only adjust the price, but give you a $10 bonus. The 4 lb tenderloin ended up costing us about $2.

Today I'm going to make an escarole and bean soup. Maybe I'll add some sausage and some form of pasta to that, tortellini would be good, I'll have to check the chest freezer. I wasn't planning on using a recipe, but if anyone has one, feel free to share. On another note, the containers I bought two weeks ago at the restaurant supply store suck. They are too thin, and even though they were labeled as microwavable, Jason reported back negatively. So I got some of the heavy duty containers that I had to buy by the case of 250 (as opposed to the lighter weight ones, which can be purchased 50 at a time). So, I'll have a few years supply of containers, there are worse things, and the HD ones are only around a penny more per container and lid.

I think they take reservations for parties of six or more. If you just want to have a glass of wine at the bar with your liverwurst, I doubt there would be a wait. It was pretty busy for a Wednesday, but not standing room only. Weekends could be a different story.

The three of us probably sampled half the menu. As with Shaw, we were "VIPed out the wazoo" as well. We each ordered 3 items, but before or with each course, they brought out other items for us to try. I highly recommend bringing a celebrity with you to dinner! In fact, there were so many extra courses, that we had no room for dessert. Jason got to sample one while taking some pictures in the kitchen after dinner, while I was getting the car from the garage across the street. Anyway, here's my impression of the items I tried, and I'll try to be objective, but you may feel free to take my praise with a grain of salt if you wish. The menu consists of three lists. One is cold appetizers, Two is hot appetizers, Three is half-entrees. They "welcome you to construct your meal any way you'd like according to your appetite -- from one plate to a multi-course tasting." I'm listing the dishes in the menu order, not necessarily in the presentation order, but close. We shared tastes of most everything. from page One: Our Own Liverwurst with mustard and lingonberry $8 (Rachel) - This was a very delicious creamy pate, served with country bread and garnished as described, plus cornichon. I'd highly recommend it. Foie Gras Torchon with muscat gelee & toasted country bread $17 (house) - This was a more elegant liver presentation. Both were excellent, so if you like liver (although neither was "livery"), it depends on whether you prefer the more refined and buttery foie or the more boldly flavored liverwurst, but I wouldn't order both at the same seating, too filling. Jason is not a liver fan, however he tasted both and liked them both, amazing! Peekytoe Crab Salad with marinated endive and chive oil $13 (Ted) - Ted enjoyed it, but I didn't care for this item. I thought the crab was a littly fishy tasting to me. I usually enjoy all forms of crab, but I think the last time I had Peekytoe I didn't care for it either, so it may be just this type of crab I don't like? Tuna Carpaccio with curly cress and citrus-ginger vinaigrette $14 (Jason, pictured above) - This was good, Jason and Ted enjoyed this item more than I did, but I'm not a huge fan of raw tuna. Steak Tartare with quail egg $14 (house) - Three neophyte tartare tasters, all were won over by this preparation. The presentation is similar to the Arctic Char tartare pictured above, only with a soft boiled quail egg instead of the caviar, all the flavorings already mixed in, not tableside. It was served with crusty bread and was just delicious. Highly recommended. from page Two: Tarte Flambee $12 (Ted) - This reminded me of Otto's pizza. A very thin crust with ham, onion and maybe cream instead of cheese? This is a very good item to order if you want to share. Poached Egg with serrano, cockles, garlic-almond sauce $12 (house, pictured above) - At first we thought it was a riff on eggs benedict, but there's nothing under that pile of serrano. Some of the serrano was soft, some was crisped (I preferred the crisp), but it was a lot in comparison to the egg and clams. I thought the cockles were great with the sauce. But overall, I wouldn't order this unless I were a huge fan of serrano. Wild Mushroom Soup with toasted chorizo ravioli $11 (Rachel) - Wow! Really, really good. Intense mushroom soup, three fried raviolis served on the side, so that you can sample the soup by itself, the ravioli itself, and then soaked in the soup. The soup was thinner than most mushroom soups I'd had in the past, but so flavorful, and only slightly creamy. Highly recommended. Grilled Shrimp with a green cabbage and gruyere salad $14 (house) - We all enjoyed this immensely. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, served warm in contrast with the cool salad. We thought the cheese was Parmesan at first and had to refer back to the menu, but it totally worked. Highly recommended. Tagliatelle with chanterelles and black truffles $16 (Jason) - Rich and creamy pasta, there was something in there that tasted like ham, although it isn't listed in the description. More filling than most of the other appetizers, so this may be one to share or if you are only ordering two courses. Potato and Marrow Cassolette with smoked beef tongue $11 (house) - A decadent hash, lots of butter. This and several other dishes were served in small Staub cast iron-ware that they had to order special and import from France. Recommended to share this. from page Three: Grilled Quail with chive spaetzle and lentils $13 (Ted) - I didn't try this, but Ted raved about the lentils. Braised Pork Cheeks with sauerkraut and ginger jus $13 (Rachel) - The pork was tender, yet crisped on the edges. I thought it was delicious, but had to bring 2/3 of it home because we were getting quite full. All those tiny portions really start to add up! Lamb loin with root vegetables, fennil confit, pear coulis $17 (Jason) - I only had a bite of the lamb and fennil. It was very good, but the lamb was cooked medium well as opposed to the medium rare ordered. As I said above, we were just too full for dessert, so I didn't have any. However, the tea service was excellent. They have many choices and it comes to the table fully brewed in individual pots. The wine list presented at the table is short, just 8 each of white and red. What was especially nice was that they are all available by the 3 oz taste, glass, quartino or bottle and seemed reasonably priced.

I agree with you about the duck. However, we discussed this with the chef. The breast is cured as it would be for confit before roasting. Even though it was served medium-well, instead of medium-rare, the meat was very tender and flavorful. I also sampled the wonton soup appetizer. The dumpling is similar to the thin-skin type of wonton I've had elsewhere. However the broth, the broth was fabulous. I could detect the gelatin in the mouthfeel -- it's REAL housemade stock. At most Chinese restaurants, if you get wonton soup to go and you don't finish it, the soup in the fridge never getalinizes -- it's a much thinner pork or chicken broth. This consomme was a stock that tasted like it was quite concentrated. In fact, despite trying many other more elaborate dishes, it was the wonton soup we kept talking about all evening! I think we had the same waiter. He seemed very nice and was trying very hard. But almost too hard. It was like he was trying so hard to be unobtrusive that it had the opposite impression. But the place has only been open about a week. Hopefully, he'll relax as time goes on. Regarding the desserts, I think as the menu evolves they may expand the dessert menu. In the meantime, I'd highly recommend the lemongrass soup.

I had some pasta fagiole yesterday (no pasta in the minestrone), and the pasta is fine. I mean, I wouldn't want to serve it as the appetizer for a fancy dinner, as it is a little soft, but for a warm and comforting lunchtime soup, it's not worth fussing over.

Did you make a big batch, keep it in the fridge and eat it all week? Instead, get some pint containers that are microwavable. Fill them with 8-14 oz of soup (whatever is your typical soup serving) and freeze them (clearly labeled). If you know in advance you will want soup for lunch, like if you bring a bag lunch to work, take one out in the morning. It will be about half-defrosted by lunchtime -- and meanwhile keep the rest of your bag lunch cool. Reheating instructions: Remove lid, place back on top without sealing. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, then 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time. You don't want to over-microwave plastic containters. If you don't think to have the soup until the last minute, then defrost at a lower power level for about 2 minutes, then check progress. It may need another minute or more and then 30 seconds at a time. If there are beans in the soup, the freezing & reheating gives them that final push towards creaminess. Some people don't like to freeze pasta, but as long as you don't mind it softer than al dente, we don't mind, so pasta fagiole is good, as is chicken noodle. Making different soups regularly and freezing them in portions allow you to quickly have a variety of selection available at anytime.

I love the use of a basket for the pot lids. I have to figure out where I could put something similar as my lids are always rattling around inconveniently.

Poaching, hard cooking (they make very cute deviled eggs), raw. Click here for my extensive post about Quail eggs.

Checked out Ginger and Spice last night. The food has some interesting fusion elements and the atmosphere far exceeds expectations of a strip mall storefront. The prices for the apps and noodles were $6-10, mains $16-20. Apps are sharable, the mains are plated individually. More later. Go now, it'll be very busy soon.

I never did get back for a second visit/pork loin, though. The 10 lb one we got was cut up into several packages of trimmed boneless chops, a roast, and some cut up into cubes. I made a pichadino with the cubed. I also saved the fat & silverskin trimmings. The bag is in the "outdoor fridge" -- a cooler on the deck. Any idea what I should do with that other than render lard?

Just to be clear, Syd's isn't a kosher establishment, but the dogs are all beef.

popcorn

Today I made Minestrone and Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls. Here are 8 portions of each, cooling on the "outdoor fridge." They are ready for the freezer, primarily for Jason's lunches.

Today I made Minestrone and Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls. Here are 8 portions of each, cooling on the "outdoor fridge." They are ready for the freezer, primarily for Jason's lunches.

I might or might not, depending on the rind. I don't leave my cheese sitting out, but the rinds I just used today in a minestrone have been sitting in a baggie in my fridge for quite a while, a year maybe? There was a little white stuff on the edges, which may have been salt, may have been a little mold, those, I scrubbed. They made the soup taste better, that's for sure, I tasted before putting them in and after a 30 minute simmer, there was definitely an improvement.

Yeah, that's right, we cheat with Boboli! But what you gotta do, to make it even more legitimate, is find a bakery thrift store. I get Boboli at a Friehoffers Day Old store near us, they regularly have them for $1 per package. Same for Thomas' English Muffins. I just can't bring myself to pay full price for them (~$3) when I know I can get them there for $1. (However, you need to use them pretty quickly if you buy them at the thrift store, as they will go stale eventually.)

I have our cooler out on the back deck, and when we came home with leftovers from a restaurant, I just told Jason to throw them in there rather than trying to suffle stuff around in the fridge. However, being as cold as it is, I have some ice cream in there too. I mean it's below freezing, around 24 F, but the ice cream is soft. Not quite as soft as if you'd accidentally left it in the fridge, but too soft. What temperature is a regular freezer supposed to be? (so I know when it is safe to keep freezer stuff outside)

It's amazing what 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika adds to soup which is lacking a necessary smokiness. And I think you're the one who turned me on to this fact! So, thank you. Today I'm working on chicken matzo ball soup and maybe minestrone, depending on how much poultry stock I end up with. Instead of using my concentrated stock from the freezer, I'm making some fresh from a turkey and chicken I've collected in the freezer. 1 turkey breasts bones, a couple necks, a chicken carcass and the trimmings from a bunch of boneless breasts (lots of cartilage). I include the skin from the whole chicken, as there was a lot of seasoning on it. I need to get some more plastic containers for individual servings for Jason to bring soup to work.

Last night we had homemade rolls with hot dogs and chili. This morning we had the rolls with salami and eggs. The salami was excellent, we tried a new brand of kosher salami from Abeles and Heymann, we usually have Hebrew National in the house. Anyway, this was bison instead of beef, it was on sale at ShopRite last week, and is excellent.

Note, that I add salt at the beginning of cooking. Yes, old beans will not cook evenly. But, even though you are on a tight budget, dried beans are so incredibly cheap, it is worth buying new ones if your stored ones are more than a year or two old.

What is in that dish to the left of your smoothies? (which look fab, btw, I love the skewered fruit garnish)

You need to review the dried beans thread. But to summarize the most important part: Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a heavy pot with a lid (I use a 5 qt Le Creuset). Add 1 tsp salt and 1 lb of beans (checked for rocks & such, NOT SOAKED), return to boil. Put on lid and place in a 250 F oven. If you are going to be further cooking the beans, in a soup or stew, you can take them out after 1 hour, if you want them soft, they'll need at least 1.5 hours.