Jim Dixon

mmmmmmm....porky Jim

mikecyzy... Bettini is the most pungent, which is the "official" IOOC term for what we call peppery. Because of wet summer weather last year, this year's (2002) Bettini isn't quite as pungent as last year's. It's a function of polyphenol levels, and for 2002 they're 110 mg/kg while for 2001 the number was 350 mg/kg. The Tuscan Olio Novo (and novo is dialect for new, nuovo in Italian) is similar, but a wee bit less pungent. I've only tried the Olive Farms virgin oil. It was pretty good, if a little mild for my tastes. It's the only place I've ever seen 'virgin' oil sold (only differs from extra virgin because free fatty acid level is > 1% but < 3%). Most virgin oil is blended with refined oil to give it some flavor so it can be sold here in the US, where there are no FDA requirements about labeling terms, as extra virgin. As I said before in this post, the cheap extra virgin oils are probably not really extra virgin. And nightscotsman, that goes for the Trader Joe's oil. I used it for along time, too, but tasted it at a class at UC Davis where I had my refined oil epiphany. I've made a personal decision to avoid refined oils of all kinds, so I stopped recommending it to my friends. mike...I'm still looking for a cheap everyday oil. My search is slowed by the fact that I have a few liters of older 'good' oil that I can't really sell, so I use it for cooking. Jim

I make limoncello out of Meyer lemons, and it's definitely not a waste.... Bugialli's method sounds interesting and will probably be smoother than the more common technique of soaking the zest. It's almost impossible to not get some pith in there, too, and that makes the limoncello a little bitter. But it's still really, really good. I zest a dozen or lemons and add that to 750 ml grain alcohol (aka Everclear). Let it soak for a couple of months, then strain and dilute to taste with simple syrup. I go about 50:50 so I end up with 95 proof limoncello. Make it now, and you can drink it when the warm weather comes. Jim

Dave, Your check is in the mail. halland...of course I'd love it if you bought oil from me, but for larger quantities of everyday cooking olive oil at about $10/liter, I think the best deals will be Greek or Spanish oils. I'm convinced that those will most likely be real extra virgin, not a blend of refined oils. And these countries don't have the marketing power of the Italians, so they can't get the same prices. If possible, buy a small bottle first and taste it. Jim

Meyer Lemon Marmalade I used a Nigella recipe for grapefruit marmalade as a guide. Simmer the whole fruit gently for an hour, let cool, and chop (you can pick out seeds and any thick membranes). Add sugar to taste and cook over medium heat, stirring, for about 15 minutes. You can also use the cold plate test to see when the jam is set. Jim

trillium, great report....it made see those narrow streets in Erice with the patterns of cobblestones again. We've been really wanting to get back to Sicilia since we went about 3 years ago. It does feel like a different country altogether. Our friend Jennifer, who was born in Trieste and speaks fluent 'Italian,' had a hard time with the dialect, too, especially in the smaller villages. Jim

Adams Chunky (just peanuts and salt) Along with the sugar, industrial PB has hydrogenated oils added, so you're getting trans fats and rancid fats along with that peanutty goodness. Jim

I've made a cake based on a recipe from Capezanna, the Tuscan wine and olive oil estate. It's basically eggs, sugar, flour, and olive oil with some orange zest for flavor. Really simple and very good. Bittman's How to Cook Everything has an olive oil cookie recipe that is also good...I prefer the version with red wine and black pepper that results in a sweet-savory cookie. Jim

The Dixon clan left Illinois in 1853 because they couldn't get the arugula to sprout in April. At least I think that's why, but I'm happy they ended up here in Oregon where I can keep the vegetable garden sort of green and productive most of the winter. This week I clipped some beet greens from the chioggias I left in the ground last fall, thinned out the overwintered arugula and cavolo nero, thinned some young salad cress seeded in February, and cut stalks of cardoon. The shallots and garlic I planted in late October are getting taller, so I can start thinking about garlic scapes in a month or so. I just discovered a fat leek under one of the artichokes that is ready to eat. It helps that this winter was incredibly mild and dry (la nina, they say), but even in an average year we rarely see extended hard freezing. So even though there's a town back there with my name on it, I'm staying here. Jim

Thank you Dave... I was too lazy to turn around and pick up the dictionary. Jim

I think in the Batali story in Gourmet it mentioned him holding a natal (is that the right word?) lamb. Jim

We get really great prunes at the Farmers Market here. Grown down in the Umpqua Valley near Elkton, they're a little harder than the commercial prunes but taste so much better. When the market closes for the winter in October, we buy about 15 lbs and keep them in the freezer so they don't dry out much more. Jim

It's not too bad with the quart-sized jars we get now. Back when all four boys were home and we made them PB&J for lunch every day, we'd get gallon jars at Costco. If they've been sitting around for long, the bottom layer of oil-free PB was hard as rock. So I'd have to dig deep into that jar (through the inch or so of oil at the top) and break that bottom layer free. Then I mixed for a good 15 minutes before the stuff was homogenous. I broke a couple of wooden spoons stirring the PB. So there's that fond memory, and I try to avoid any unnecessary work first thing in the morning. Jim

trillium, I'll go in with you for half, unless somebody else wants some, too. Jim ps...I used my awesome new power to change the topic subhead.

eggplant parmesan.... make a lot, because there's not much better than the next day's eggplant parm sandwich. Jim

A couple of things to look for on the label: Year of harvest...good extra virgin olive oil can be stored for up to a couple of years, but it's really best if consumed within a year or 18 months of harvest (in the Mediterranean, harvest occurs in Oct-Nov). If there's a "best used by" date, this is usually 18-24 months after harvest, at least for Italian oils. Polyphenol content...pretty rare to find this on the label, but sometimes..expressed as mg/kg, higher numbers like 100-400 mean the oil will have a taste most often described as "peppery." The sensation is actually a chemical irritation and is called pungency is olive oil tasting...it's similar to the heat of chiles, which is also a chemical irritation from capsacin...so it can be a desirable thing. You may also see 'acidity' which is really the percent of free fatty acids, not the acid level. For extra virgin oils it has to be under 1%, but most people, including me, are hard pressed to taste any differences between 0.8 and 0.2% Jim

soylent green = TVP One other thing it's sort of good for is backpacking food. We used to crumble chunks off of compressed bars of TVP into the one-pot dinners we'd make when far from the cooler-and-coleman comforts of car-camping. When you're up at timberline under an amazing canopy of stars, it tastes pretty damn good. Jim

I didn't realize the significance when I slathered some PB on my toast this morning (with a glass of OJ, one of the best breakfasts ever). We've always used Adams PB, just peanuts and salt. You need to keep it the refrigerator so the oil doesn't separate, but it stays reasonably spreadable. If all you've ever had are the commercial, hydrogenated, sewwetened PBs like Jiff, try Adams (and I'm in the chunky camp). Jim

In an issue of Food and Wine (maybe 2 yrs ago?), Giulliano Bugialli called Genoa (in Portland) "the best Italian restaurant in America" because it, more than any other place he'd been to here, prepared food the way it's done in Italy. Genoa opened more than 25 years ago and was the first place here to offer Italian food that wasn't just tomato sauce and pasta. It's evolved significantly, and every two weeks the menu (fixed price, 7-course) changes to focus on a different regional cuisine. It's also always had a slightly different approach to kitchen heirarchy. All of the cooks are called simply 'chefs' and the responsibility for menu planning and lead cooking rotates among them. Jim

Ken's Bakery here in Portland makes pain de raison with tea-soaked raisins (Earl Grey)...gives whole new dimension to the raisin. Jim

This is correct....in Italy they would traditionally pick the walnuts on a Saint's day in June (can't remember which saint). I make it with nuts that are still green and quite hard. Split them (about a dozen per 750 ml of alcohol) and leave them in the sun for the summer. Strain and dilute to taste with simple syrup (I do 50:50 so the 190 proof alcohol yields 95 proof nocino). This is the Tuscan style, but I've also made a Sicilian version by adding some lemon, cinnamon, and clove. This makes a nice degistivo, but it's also good with soda (or sparkling mineral water, which I have around more often) on crushed ice. I've posted before on limoncello, so my recipe is here somewhere. I've got some mandarincello, for want of a better name, in the works. It's the zest from satsuma mandarins instead of lemons. Still in the infusion stage, but it's getting a very nice color. Jim

I just saw a bag of fava seeds in the garage and realized that I forgot to plant them last fall...d'oh! But one real advantage of growing your own is the chance to eat them young and tender, and at that stage they don't need peeling. Open a bottle of Orvieto, slice some good pecorino, set out a little dish of coarse salt, and start eating. Jim

I just checked my email and there's a message about Robert's dinners in April.... The best way to get the info is to sign up for his mailing list from his web site. Jim

spitzbuebe, That meal sounds great. There are only a couple left this month, but details for Robert's dinners in Portland are here. He goes to Italy in April, and if you want a really fun week with lots of good food and great stories, check this out. Jim

Shhh...we work hard at keeping Portland's charms a secret. We'd just as soon everybody went to Seattle. Jim