Abra

Next time try Ship Bay. I think you'll find it way more exciting than Christina's. Rose's is meh, to me, and ridiculously overpriced. Olga's for lunch is a lot more fun.

Alfajores! I have a new family member who is from Argentina. I made alfajores for him and he was completely wowed. And they're finger food, which would be great for your event.

We finally made it in for lunch yesterday, having gotten derailed the last time we'd planned it. A very nice little place! We had the green mango salad with fried shrimp - that was totally awesome. Even my husband, Mr. Never Touch a Mango, ate up the delicious salad. Because he's squeamish about shrimp heads, I got all three shrimp for myself. You eat it all, shells, tail, and head, just a delicious treat. We also had the fresh shrimp rolls with the crispy center, which were delicious. The dipping sauce is unusual, seeming to have a hint of pineapple. Then we had the banh xeo. I've only had it once before, and while this version was better by a mile, it's not my favorite dish. The pancakes were impeccably crisp, the beansprouts fresh and lightly cooked, the portion huge. Still, it's light on flavor, although I could taste the oil pretty clearly, and it's devilishly difficult to eat with chopsticks. The accompanying plate of herbs was very nice, including one I've never tasted before. Our server pronounced it for me as something close to hung tai. She said it's in the mint family, but it's definitely a new mint for me. Anyone know what that is? I look forward to another trip there, and to trying more dishes. That green mango salad's likely to be on the menu again, though. It was truly memorable. And lots of people around us had various vermicelli bowls, which looked absolutely gorgeous.

If you have any left you can make this.

I really love smoke, so I'm not even sure I could get it too smoky. I guess that means that I'm going to try this dual/temp technique on the next meat I smoke too, and see if I continue to love it. One reason I favor the intense smoke is that I'm trying to minimize my own personal resemblance to The Noble Pig, so I tend to use my charcuterie more as a garnish than the main event. I can't resist posting one more bit of Canadian bacon porn, my lunch today - Bacon and Egg Salad And no, I didn't enhance the color at all, that's the way my farm eggs look at this time of year.

Chris, I'm not sure how well this applies to the Bradley, but I just started a smoking temperature discussion on the Charcuterie thread. I'm working on this theory that keeping the temp low initially so that the smoke can penetrate might be a key thing.

I want to post my latest effort, Canadian bacon, and start a discussion about smoking technique. Here's the bacon. It's very delicious, but more or less indistinguishable from ham. Now that I think of it, except for the cut of meat, is there supposed to be a difference? But smoking this got me to thinking. Now that I know about cold smoking and hot smoking, I just naturally combined the two on this bacon. Since we know smoke is absorbed at the lower temps, I reasoned, why not smoke this at a lower temp for a while to keep the outer surface of the meat below 140, then, because it's supposed to get to 150 internally, crank it up towards the end? So that's what I did, kept it at about 100-125 for a couple of hours, then fired it up to 200-225 for the last hour. It was getting dark, or I would have held an even lower temp for longer, before heating it up for the finish. So, what do you all think - is there a potential benefit to doing both lower and higher temp smoking on the same meat? My Canadian bacon is very smoky (I used apple) and has a clear, bright flavor that I quite love, but I don't know whether the technique made a difference to this or not.

I did try to make some white wine vinegar with my red wine mother, but no go. It made some pink and insipid brew, and I didn't pursue it further. I'm not sure if it's a diferent organism for each sort of vinegar or not, but mine wants to be red and only red. You can do it in a glass jar, but keep it in a dark place. My particular mother likes cool room temperature, so I don't think it would grow well in a cool dark place like the garage. I have some growing n a jar right now as a demonstration project, and I'm keeping it in a kitchen cupboard.

Thanks, Magala, that's really very helpful! And thanks for the great snort-out-loud, Henry. I can just see the look on your face when she yelled at you!

Somebody's got to demo that technique for me. I've never shaken hands with a FOH person, and I can't figure out how to do it with money involved. Leaving aside the question of whether I ever should do it, I just can't see how to be discreet about it. I mean, you walk in empty-handed. They say sorry, a one hour wait. You then...what? Run to the bathroom to pull out your wallet? Have money stashed in your bra or pocket just in case? What?

Thanks to inspiration from Alinka and Pille, I made pashka, as well as Osterfladen, and capirotada for Easter dessert. Click here. I need to get my camera surgically attached to my hand. When you don't have that bite shot, it all seems like wasted effort!

I made a dessert trio inspired by this thread for an Easter party. Then, astoundingly, I forgot my camera and no one brought one. Shocking! But I did get a couple of pictures at home before we left This is a Mexican capirotada. It's sweet, but made with a syrup that includes onion, tomato, and bay leaf, as well as queso ranchero, pine nuts, candied pineapple, and raisins. This is my verion of the Osterfladen recipe that Boris_A linked to above. It's got a filling of ground nuts, semolina, and meringue on a lemony crust. I also made pashka, but because that was only unmolded from its flowerpot at the party, I have no picture. It slumped in a major way, though, not retaining its pretty shape at all. They were all quite good, in a delicate, subtle way. I'd make that capirotada again, for sure.

Wow, Mama C. - very pretty! Alinka, I'm dying over your cookies. Would you post the recipe, or a link? I'm making pashka too, as well as capirotada and Osterflade. It's a dessert trio for a little party, so I'm doing three desserts from different parts of the world that use a lot of the same ingredients - eggs, cheese, raisins, almonds, and so on. Actually, maybe Pille or Alinka will give me pashka advice. I've had it weighted in the fridge for a day and a half now, and very little liquid has come out. I used cultured whole milk cottage cheese, which should have a lot of water, but it's not dripping. I did the sort with the cooked egg yolks, as opposed to the custard version. No butter, just cream cheese. Any ideas what I can do before tomorrow night to help it hold together better?

This looks like the venison sausage I had in France. The ingredient list is maigre et gras de porc, sel, épices, sucre, salpêtre, 33% chevreuil. That's pork, pork fat, salt, spices, saltpeter, and 33% venison. So maybe 1/3 pork, 1/3 back fat, 1/3 venison? Not sure how much help that'll be, but it might lead you to a good recipe.

I've gotten all of that stuff at PFI, plus a whole lot more in that genre.

That endive and rapini (or is it gai lan?) preparation looks very nice. I covet your grill. And you got a really good deal - I'd have charged more!

Saying "red" wine implies there's any other color. Red wine and charcuterie do seem natural, and now I think I need to go stock up on wine to match my growing meat stash. Although it's nothing compared to Bombdog's ongoing projects. Makes me feel like a slug by comparison! Jason, that mortadella is so pretty. When I get going on sausages I really want to play with internal garnish. It makes it so appetizing and eye-catching.

I second the Edna Lewis recipe linked to above. It's killer.

Here's my pancetta, finally done. It looks, well, just like everyone else's pancetta, except it's mine, all mine. As you can see, there's a lot of variation in the fat/meat ratio at different places in the belly. You know how store-bought pancetta doesn't taste much like pork? This really does. It crisps up gorgeously, too. Also today I hung my guanciale, and started brining Canadian bacon. My lamb prosciutto's got a long way to go in the fridge still. Ok, I think I have enough long-term projects going now!

It's also yummy layered into a chicken liver mousse/pate. The confit is outstanding with the buttery liver. Mine still looks fine, after 2 months in the fridge.

And here's another sign of being in it up to your ears. I have two hostess gifts and two birthday gifts to give in the next few days. I'm thinking of giving them bacon and pancetta. Will they love it, or will they think I'm nuts? Am I nuts?

Awesome. At Recchiuti, right away I flashed on the star anise and pink peppercorn chocolate, thinking "Ling and I would both love that one." Too bad not - it sounds like such a neat combination, although I can imagine a bitter note that might creep in from the pink peppercorn. And those two chocolate dessert presentations at FL are gorgeous. Is that gold spiral stick some kind of sugar work too? The stuff from Tartine looks irresistable, and the Taste concept is excellent. There is, or was, a place in Portland called 750ml that did little pours for tasting, but I think they were 3 oz. A 1 oz pour, and at such great prices, really appeals to me. Too bad you missed Rancho Gordo. His beans are the best I've ever tasted. I'll give you guys some next time I see you.

Beautiful photos, Doc and Molto. This is my first visit to this thread, and I was so glad to see the exterior shots and the gardens, as well as the food. The plates are beyond gorgeous. Doc, what are the glowing yellow triangles on the dish you didn't like?

Thanks for the explanation and the picture, Jim and Dave! That's perfectly clear. That chai-spice bacon sounds really cool to me, Dave W. How did it turn out? I guess the two ice cream canisters that already live in the freezer are gonna have to learn to share, now that the grinder parts will be moving in.

It's beyond a new hobby, it's a new life. Susan, beautiful sausages. how did you know what to do with the plastic thingy? I don't understand from the description here (have I read the instructions yet? Why, no.) But I do have my grinder and stuffer now, so as soon as I get my taxes done (wish I could stuff them!) I'll be playing catch-up. I do have a piece of lamb to start for prosciutto tonight, so I'm not being a total slug, but I want to make sausages like everybody else!