russ parsons

My favorite recipe is always the next one I'm going to develop. I will brag that in tomorrow's section the grilled sardines on a bed of fennel salad with walnut pesto was acclaimed "the best sardine dish I've ever tasted" by my editor. I also like the sarde en saor. On parallel thread I talked about high-heat braising, which I didn't develop by which I've done a lot of work on. Here's one of those, which I think is in the book. them. Mushroom Pot Roast Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 10 1/2 hours 1 (3 1/2- to 4-pound) chuck roast, either 7-bone or round-bone, in 1 piece Salt 1 (750-milliliter) bottle dry red wine 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound onions, sliced 6 cloves garlic, smashed 1/2 pound carrots, sliced 1 stalk celery 1 bay leaf Parsley stems 1 whole clove 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons butter 1 pound mushrooms, quartered Freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley * Sprinkle roast with salt to taste on both sides and place in sealable 1-gallon plastic bag. Add red wine, seal tightly and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally to make sure all of meat is covered with wine. * Heat olive oil in bottom of Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Remove roast from bag, reserving wine, and pat roast dry with paper towels. Place roast in Dutch oven and brown well on both sides, 5 to 10 minutes per side. * Remove roast to plate, pour off all but 1 tablespoon rendered fat from Dutch oven and reduce heat to medium. Add onions, 4 cloves garlic and carrots and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. * Cut celery in half and tie together both stalks along with bay leaf and parsley stems. Insert clove in celery package to make bouquet garni. * Add bouquet garni and reserved wine to vegetables and simmer 5 minutes. * Add meat and vinegar, cover Dutch oven with tight-fitting lid and place in 450-degree oven. Cook until meat is easily pierced with sharp fork, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Every 30 minutes, turn meat and stir liquid mixture. If liquid begins to dry out, add up to 1 cup water, little at a time, to keep from scorching. * When meat is fork-tender and falling off bone, remove to plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Pour liquid through strainer into bowl, pressing vegetables to get as much liquid as possible and discarding vegetables. Set aside until fat floats to top. Wash out Dutch oven, pour off fat from settled liquid and return meat and liquid to pan. Keep warm over low heat. * Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. When butter has foamed and subsided, add mushrooms and remaining 2 cloves garlic and cook, tossing, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. * Add mushrooms to pot roast and cook 15 minutes over low heat to marry flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

My cooking changes with the time of year (spoken like a stereotypical Californian). Right now I'm getting back into roasting and braising. At this time of year I like things that take time and develop complex flavors. I will put in a plug for the book, there are some killer braises in there, including some high-heat stuff that is just amazing. Leg of lamb at 400 degrees for 5 hours! For me, the ultimate comfort food is scrambled eggs. I start them with half the butter, cook them over medium-low heat. When they start to curdle solid, I beat in the other half of the butter to stop the cooking. Serve this on buttered toast and it will cure anything from the blues to cancer.

Boy Jason, that's really hard to say, beyond personal reactions. I've talked about some of the restaurants I like a lot. I should at Campanile to that list. I've had some very fine meals there. I've also had some that were not so fine. But I've been going since Mark and Nancy opened the place, so I guess that says something. I like Suzanne Goin's food, particularly at AOC. I think as she matures and continues to simplify her food will continue to improve. I really like Michael Cimarusti's food at Water Grill, too. He seems to me to be the guy in LA most into cutting edge technique. I haven't eaten at Sona yet, but that's got a terrific buzz. But really, these are questions better asked of David Shaw. People never believe me, but I really don't eat out all that often. I'll have maybe 8 or 9 big deal meals a year and I try to have 3 or 4 of those at the French Laundry. I'm much happier eating at home, either mine or at friends'. As far as hot trends out of LA, the ones I'd most like to see getting more attention are the sub-cuisines of Japan, particularly more kappo cooking. There's some great stuff out there. And all trends make my skin crawl. I am a culinary reactionary (how's that for a book title?). Good food is good food.

Thomas likes it as a bar name, which I can see. Hey, I'll go anywhere he puts together. Come to think of it "French Laundry" sounded like a pretty funny name 10 years ago, didn't it?

I haven't been, but I would go. I do think this varies widely from group to group. Still, nothing anywhere I've ever been has compared to the Salone del Gusto.

I am a member of Slow Food and have been since the start. But I am a little leary of some of their positions. I think over the last year, that has improved. I endorse Slow Food as long as it sticks to the support of traditional or artisanal foods and the philosophy that time at the table should be spent enjoyably. I do think that at times they veer off into political positions that are at best naive and at worst simply more chauvinist protectionism. all of that said, I think that anyone who loves traditionally made foods should find a way to make it to their Salone del Gusto at least once in their lives. It is simply amazing, even for a fairly jaded veteran of food conferences. Picture a convention center the size of 3 or 4 football fields packed with people selling tastes of really terrific foods. It's like the Fancy Foods Show, only with real food. Instead of 5 chutneys (or was it salsas this year ... they seem to alternate), there'll be a half-dozen stands for Parmigiano-Reggiano, offering tastes of aged cheese at different stages, of cheese from hillsides vs. valleys, of cheese made from mucca rossa (the old breed of cows) ... I walked in the first night and found five producers of lardo. Right around the corner someone was carving a porchetta. Down a little further was one of the best gelaterias in Rome. Then there was the guy making fresh cannoli filled with sheeps milk ricotta. This is just my taste, but I'd rather spend a weekend eating that kind of stuff than one spent on three-star restaurants.

so kit, how do you compare this plowboys to the old one? were they ableto keep the quality the same after 4 or 5 years away?

yeah, i should have read other forums, but you guys kept me busy in mine. i've got a short piece on it tomorrow. lady t has hit the nail on the head as far as thomas' reasoning. as for myself, i'll reserve judgement. when he asked me what i thought, i told him i was afraid people would call it "purse". my suggestion, at which he scoffed, was "grace", first because it sums up the Keller dining experience for me and also because where i'm from, that's what folks say before they eat.

it'll probably end up like Jeremiah's Stars chain: one disco in Manila.

Is that still around? Well, if people will buy a burger from them, they'll probably vote for Arnold, too. He actually owns/owned an Austrian restaurant in Santa Monica called Schaatzi. Of no particular repute.

Like there's any money to do anything with? I don't really see it having an effect at all. There's very little government involvementin edible agriculture anyway. They're too busy propping up corn and sugar. Growers of fruits and vegetables get almost nothing. And besides, that's the feds. Who are broke, too.

where is skooby's? i don't know htat. My favorite carnitas are the crisp outside, creamy inside and though it may sound awfully funny, the best I've found are on Olvera Street at La Luz del Dia. Also homemade tortillas. Nopalitos are good, too. Don't eat anything else, though.

Recipe development and testing is not a pretty thing. Probably best not to share it with guests, though I do occasionally ... when I'm pretty sure I'm pretty close to what I want. Mainly it's my poor wife who has to put up with it (and after two weeks of sardines ... she's a very poor wife right now). I'm not really sure where recipe ideas come from. I read a lot and think a lot. And then when I get a topic for something I want to write about (story usually comes first), I start focusing on what kinds of recipes I want to have. I'm not a very experimental cook, not like Mr. Klc or somebody like that. I flat out don't have the skills. I think of myself as a good home cook within the limits of my "aesthetic", which is basically Californian Italian-French whatever that is. I don't feel obliged to do recipes from various cultures. I admire people who can switch that way, but I can't. I have to be very comfortable with an ingredient before I can begin to twist it around and play with it. So, as much as I like to eat Chinese, Japanese and Indian foods, I'll almost never cook in that fashion. (To me, I guess, it's a little like language. I'm fairly comfortable conversationally with some of them, but I could never write creatively in anything but English.) Once I get an idea, I start tinkering. Sometimes things come up on the very first try. Other dishes take 4 or 5 runs before I think I have it right. I record everything in a little notebook, including notes on measurements, timing, things I notice, etc. And after I've tested the recipe, I record my comments on what I should try next time. Usually, once I get the recipe right, I write it up, trying to be as explicit and complete as possible. Then I cook it again from the recipe as written, making any corrections and trying to catch those little "Judy Rogers" observations that makes the recipe come alive. And then I file the recipe and it's tested and maybe photographed at the test kitchen. I may not be bright, but I do try to be reliable.

we have totally killer pastrami. well, at one place at least. there's a deli near downtown called langers and it is the only place i've ever tasted pastrami that i understood why people get so crazy about it. hand sliced in thick, moist slabs. good bread. oh boy.

best hot dog in la .... tough call. i have a very nostalgic longing every once in a while for pinks. my daughter and i used to go there when my wife had to work on saturdays. it's a real hollywood trip. stand in line and you never know who's going to show up. not really something you EAT, though. i'm much more comfortable with questions about the best carnitas. or, the best pastrami.

Dodger dogs are beyond a doubt the worst excuse for a cult food I have run across. Bad team, worse hot dogs.

me too. my wife and i went back for his 55th birthday party in washington last year (hi mark!) and i realized again how much i miss him. and his food, of course.

Funny thing, that. I remember the first time I had Michel over to my house for dinner. I did some kind of beef daubey thing that I thought was pretty awful. Too liquidy, beef didn't get tender enough, the clove was way too strong (this was a long time ago). Michel just gobbled it down. "This tastes just like my mother's cooking," he said. And after all the meals we've shared and as often as I've cooked for him, he still brings that up as his favorite dish. Nostalgia is especially powerful for French chefs, I think. I also remember the first time his mom came over to visit from France. You have to understand that he comes from a very working class background. And his mom was the worker. She didn't have much time for cooking or dining. He was really nervous so the first night he asked Kathy and I to come to dinner at Citrus to provide moral support. Of course, we were happy to oblige. He put us at the table next to her and after a couple of courses, when she had gotten comfortable, he came over to introduce us .... "my friend Russ Parsons, the grande writerrrr" (I can't write a Michel imitation). I put my arm around him, went on and on about what a great chef he was and how successful he was and how proud she must be of him. He translated. Finally, I asked "and how are you enjoying your meal?" She lit up and started rattling off in French. Michel's face turned ash gray. What did she say? I asked him. He wouldn't tell me. Come on, you've got to tell me. He looked at me and said "she said the food was just as good as on the airplane coming over." [it must be said, that was her first airplane flight]

Good questions Blo (if I may be so bold), I'd say my topics are about 75% mine, 25% assigned. But that might be just because Michalene Busico is so damned slick she convinces me her stories are my idea! Actually, it still comes as a surprise to me that story ideas seem to be pretty easy to find. Basically, it's whatever catches my interest for long enough for me to focus on it. Most of my columns (which are designated The California Cook) come directly out of what I've been cooking at home recently. I do emphasize seasonality, and I try to scatter things out in the cooking columns (desserts alternate with meats alternate with veg, etc). Reported stories come from a whole range of places. I think two of them came from reading things on the Gullet--Julie/Julia and El Bulli. One came from Chowhound--the profile of Carl Chu, the guy who wrote the great guide to Chinese foodin LA. Others come from what I've been reading. And I've got a backlog of projects I'd like to do someday. One of the nice things you learn is that if you do a good job on one story, folks will call recommending others. I had done a piece on petrale sole last winter and I got a note from a woman who is involved in the sardine fishery here. That's tomorrow's cover.

I'm not sure I agree. Natalie was always a performer (saying this based on my experience with her, which ended when she was, oh, 12). I don't know htat anyone has really told that story yet. But she's the third generation of a very devout country music family (kind of like Rosanne Cash!). Lloyd and his brothers had their own band (in addition to his work with Joe Ely), and their daddy and his brothers had their own band, too! I'm not sure what to tell you about getting kids to read the paper. My daughter never did. She's starting to now. She's in college in a (very political) small town with a pretty poor paper and when she comes home she devours the Times: "I can't believe you guys cover all this stuff." I think all the newspaper fuss about getting young people to read the paper is well-intentioned but may ultimately be self-destructive. In a lot of ways the things they don't like about the paper are the most important things we do (serious, measured journalism isn't pretty). And when newspapers try to adapt, they almost inevitably end up looking like grandmas trying to do hiphop. I think the newspaper habit may be something people have to grow into.

Thanks Dave, I agree. That series came about in a funny way. I turned it down at first. I had done a long profile of Thomas right before I became food editor (and before, Michael R's in Gourmet). After the book came out, Michael called and said Thomas wanted to do a regular column for the Times. I told him that as much as I respected Thomas, I wasn't really in the market for a chef series. I didn't want to be in the business of "renting" a famous name to deliver unworkable recipes. Michael was very much the gentleman and said something along the lines of "maybe you'd like to see what we propose before you reject it." When the story ideas came in (and they were stories, not just recipes with a headnote attached), I was blown away. It was exactly the kind of thing I was interested in -- really detailed, food-geeky stuff like how and when you salt, how to get crisp skin on salmon, etc. Working with them was a breeze. Michael is a pro and he was a very good edit: he'd listen to what I said, accept what he agreed with, argue his case with what he didn't. All of the recipes were tested in the kitchen (every recipe in hte paper is, and all of the photos are shot in our studio). We had no problem with the recipes, probably because Michael and Thomas had worked out most of the kinks in the process with Susie Heller in doing the book. (And just for the record, the column was not taken from the book, though some of the anecdotal material was and though the recipes were adapted versions. The only rule I had made with them was that the recipes could have no more than one sub-recipe. I'm still bitching at Thomas that he needs to make that a book. Maybe after he gets New York out of the way (watch out for an interesting announcement tomorrow).

"You tell me you're trying to cure the seven-year-ache, see how much your old heart can take." I only drawl when I drank.

Well, actually ... not all sleeping but all playing. Jimmie Gilmore is one of my oldest and best friends, my daughter's godfather. In those days, Joe was the only one with a record deal. Jimmie was living with his mom and dad still. I was about the only one with even marginally regular employment and certainly the only one who owned his own house. So it became a kind of Motel Zero for folks who were passing through (to get that joke, I now realize, you have to remember that Motel Six was originally named because the rooms were all $6 ... some days I just feel so damned old). Those were some really terrific times, even though I was working at a really awful, soul-devouring job and living in a place where the highest spot was a freeway overpass. As WC Fields once said: "Ah the good old days, may htey never come again."

I think there is an interest in science in cooking. Mainly because people get so frustrated by trying to follow recipes. They always seem to leave more questions than they answer: How brown? How long? What kind of pan? Which cut? (and probably most important) Why? Practical science (as opposed to theoretical) is really nothing more than an attempt to rationally explain the things that we see happening around us. And then there's the really cool "Hey Martha" effect (so named by an old editor of mine who loved to put weird stories on the cover on the theory that some old guy would read it and say "Hey Martha, you gotta read this").

Wow, you're a good reader. I wasn't even aware of that. I do know that my speaking voice changes ... usually after I've had a few beers or when I'm telling a story. I do find that my "professional" writing voice is different than what I use in correspondence (which I consider e-mail and web stuff to be). I think of the professional voice as a more polished version of my regular voice--the nice thing about writing and rewriting is that you can present yourself as you might wish you were rather than the way you really are. And the regular voice then comes through much stronger and more noticable when you use it for effect. We're a tricky bunch.