ronnie_suburban

You definitely did. Thanks, Jason, for the pics and the information. =R=

I've actually had the staff serve me a few courses in the bathroom. =R= just kidding

I'd love to see it. Feel free to post, as well. =R=

I'm not sure about the difference between a side and a belly but isn't it being 'mostly fat' the entire point? I've always ordered and received belly. One time, it still had the ribs attached and they were also delicious (I brined and slow-roasted them separately). =R=

This particular Top 10 was chosen by Pastry Art & Design Magazine. Here's a link to the list at Albert Uster's web site: 10 Best Pastry Chefs in America by Pastry Art & Design Magazine =R=

Details, please. =R=

If you haven't seen Frontier House, you might look into renting it (or checking it out from a library). They "lived" in Montana in ~1880 and two of the three families, at least, did a much better job remaining faithful to the concept than the Cookes did. ← Thanks for the tip. I will check it out. Is there a fairly decent focus on the food in Frontier House? =R=

May 31, 2006... From today's Chicago Tribune - Good Eating section: Stirring words...just ahead of the annual Printers Row Book Fair, Bill Daley examines the ever-growing popularity of food books. Good Eating stage serves up a tasty lineup...a schedule of events that will take place on the Good Eating stage at the Printers Row Book Fair this weekend. "The Best Light Recipe"...food editor Carol Mighton Haddix reviews the lastest release from the team at America's Test Kitchen. The gift of a lifetime...Bill Daley shares a brilliant idea about how to gift that very special newlywed couple. On the road, still...Bill Daley spends some time at Manny's with Jane and Michael Stern, who were in town recently to promote their new book, a memoir entitled Two for the Road. Premium market...in this special to the Tribune, Kerry Neville explores the booming Organic produce market and tries to determine if the benefits of organic produce are worth the premium prices. Sprecher Maibock...Jerald O'Kennard commandeers the Beer of the Month installment. ===== From today's Chicago Sun Times - Food section: Sample fruits (and veggies) of farmers' labor...Bill Cunniff rounds up the list of Chicagoland Farmers Markets for 2006, which is organized by region. Fresh inspiration...Jennifer Olvera takes a closer look at some local Farmers Markets, their vendors and their offerings. And in this related piece, provides a primer for some of the early season's best offerings; Expand palates with new flavors. Timeline of what's in season...a useful, month-by-month guide to produce at its peak. Food news...Denise I. O'Neal rounds up the week's industry news and happenings. From the May 30 edition: Coca-Cola mixing up specialty drinks...Janet Fuller reports on Coca Cola's new partnership with the CIA, in which the 2 will work together to develop specialty beverages. ===== From today's Daily Herald - Food section: An Irish cook finds his place in an English pub...in this week's Chef du Jour installment, Melissa Allen profiles CHIC graduate Jack Byrne, who is currently the executive chef at The Firkin & Fox in Glen Ellyn. Food and wine classes...a comprehensive listing of upcoming area food events, tastings and classes; broken out by day. ===== The May 26 edition of the Chicago Reader's Restaurants section includes their annual guide to area Farmers Markets. Note: .pdf pages at the Reader's web site load slowly but they do eventually load. ===== In this week's installment of Chicago Magazine's Dish, Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby preview Erba, a new spot focused on northern Italian, by the folks who are also behind Brioso. It's slated to open at the end of June, just a block or so away from Brioso on north Lincoln Avenue. ==== =R= <><><><><> Media Digest Notes... Updates from some Chicago media outlets, which do not 'go to press' on Wednesday mornings, will be edited into each week's post as they become available. Please do not reply on this thread. For discussion of any stories which are linked here, please feel free to start a new thread or contact the forum host or digester who will be happy to do it for you. <><><><><>

Yep. I soaked them in water overnight, but without the recommended baking soda, because I was worried they'd become too soft. =R=

The use I most often hear suggested for leaf lard is pie/pastry crust. I'm sure there's a process for getting it into the right form but I've never had any in my mitts so I can't advise. =R=

Because Alinea is ultimately not about the customers, but about the creator. When I made the reservation to eat there two weeks ago, I specified that the whole party wanted the long tasting menu. When we sat down, we were told that we couldn't order it because the "Tour" menu takes too long and they needed to turn the table. When we complained, we were told that "if we were unhappy, they could always help us find a reservation elsewhere". I feel like I was not a client of the restaurant, but a mere mortal being given the priviledge of worshipping at the great temple of Alinea. I can accept that these days, chefs have become such "artists" that the restaurant has become an expression of their creativity, and to hell with people who don't understand that. But, it should still be about the customers, at least some of the time. While most of the food I ate there was very good, and some very gimmicky, I would rather go to some place where they actually give some shred of respect to the people they serve, or at least give a good pretense of it. ← Valid complaints, to be sure. Of course, I'd love to hear the other side of the story too. But in either case, I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that this is why Alinea didn't win the Beard Award. =R=

Had a chance to make the Moorish-style Chickpea and Spinach Stew, which was also delicious. While putting it together, it seemed like an inordinate amount of steps but once the dish was completed, the steps all made sense. Here are a few pics: I also love that several of the techniques used to make this dish could easily be applied to other (types of) cooking. The Moorish technique of thickening a dish with bread which has been crisped in oil olive and making a paste from paprika, saffron and vinegar are both excellent 'moves' which I know I can apply in lots of other cooking situations. Even though I was skeptical and a bit nervous throughout the process, I followed the recipe exactly (except that I didn't include baking soda when soaking the chickpeas overnight because experience tells me that they get too mushy that way) and the dish turned out perfectly. It was quite delicious and I will definitely make it and variations of it in the future. =R=

I finally finished up watching this series over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. I don't know enough to say that it was realistic, but the living conditions would have been pretty tough to endure for 10 weeks. That said, given the pre-existing garden and the overall set-up, eating well -- and safely -- should not have been a big problem at all. As for Nacho, the guy was clearly someone who was not even remotely equipped for the environment. Sure, Mrs. Cooke was a total busybody but even she had his number. Maybe frontier chefs -- especially those working for unskilled business people like the Cookes -- had reputations for being grouchy or curmudgeonly but Nacho's passive-aggressive behavior likely had chefs all over the world shaking their bowed heads in shame. I realize that they are real people who may be reading this but the Cookes were completely clueless. Rather than go with the flow and accept their fates -- fates into which they stepped voluntarily -- they all dragged their personal agendas right onto the 'frontier' with them and then their agendas dragged them down. When a family of 5 cannot tend to or harvest a vegetable garden that was planted for them, just feet from their residence, there are issues. When they cannot even milk goats that "came with" the ranch, you really have to wonder what's up. When folks would rather 'make dolls' and live in filth than perform basic chores and sanitation tasks, it's pretty clear they're not 'Ranch House' material. Mrs. Cooke spent so much time complaining about everyone else and meddling in their business, it was a simply astounding bit of irony to see her complete and total disregard for her own basic responsibilities. Even for its slower and more awkward moments, I thought the show still did a good job of approximating how life probably was back in those times. Yes, it would have been a helluva lot of work, but countless folks endured it, many thrived and some built empires. On the flipside, during their 10-week stint, the Cookes got to the point where they could barely feed themselves. I'd love to see this concept again but with another, tougher and more capable family as the focus. =R=

Dave, using the Calvados is a great idea. Did you soak the dried fruit in it too? How exactly was the sausage " too harsh" after the bind? Too much alcohol? =R=

I've run into a similar dynamic when smoking links -- where I've ended up with some annoying "dead spots" where the links were touching each other. On that basis, I figured that I might as well move them around every so often while they were drying. We'll see how they turn out. It's really hard to wait. =R=

I agree on the coat hanger method; great idea! Abra, I'll be curious to hear what Niman comes back with. I've been too busy/lazy to make contact with them. FWIW, I did have some more of my green jowl bacon today for breakfast and not only was it delicious, I'm still here to type about it. Chris, thanks for the additional pictures and assessment of your peperone project. It seems like you have a fairly solid idea of how you'll adjust next time around. I also have to add that, thanks to this book, I felt like such a cooking stud on Saturday when I had a bunch of people over for a cookout. One of the items I served was a batch of Italian Sausage that I'd put up on Thursday. Not only did it feel totally cool to serve homemade sausage to my guests, but the feedback was terrific. Every single link was eaten and my guests were just blown away. A couple asked if I had just bought the ground meat and added seasonings. A few others couldn't quite comprehend how the stuff was made (until I showed them the stuffer, etc). My poor, naive mom was shocked when she learned what the casings really were and lots of folks told me that they were the best sausages they'd ever eaten. A very rewarding experience! =R=

Wanted to provide a progress report on my first peperone run. Because I shopped before I read the recipe, I used 100% pork for this batch. Today is Day 10 of the drying stage. Here are a few pics . . . My "curing chamber." Conditions are pretty good for curing in my basement but just to keep things consistent, I'm running a humidifier (atop the red cooler). I trust this unit is working properly. I'm a bit concerned because the clock is off and I just set it the other day. But assuming that it is working right, temp and humidity look just about perfect. A closer look. Gratuitous, second closer look. I've been rotating the pairs each day so that they don't get "lean marks." However, stupidly, I didn't weigh any of the paired links at the outset, so I'll have to weigh the whole batch again to confirm "doneness." From squeezing them, I think they need another few days. I'm guessing that by no later than the end of the week, these will be ready to eat. They don't seem to have any mold (yet). The whiter spots in the pics are actually light from my camera's flash bouncing off some small air pockets in the links. =R=

Richard, I'm guessing that the really big ones like Edward Don might carry the lube. I ordered my can on-line from either Butcher-Packer or Sausage Maker, I can't remember which (but they both carry it). Thanks, Dave, for filling in the blanks. It's been a while since I've made a bleach solution and couldn't remember the specific volumes. The spray application sounds like a great idea. I'll definitely use this info, should the need arise. =R=

Like Abra, I've been using my dishwasher as a sanitizer. Otherwise, I'd give it a standard soap and water wash (and dry) and then a wipe down with a safe solution of water and bleach (1 gallon water and 1 capfull of bleach, IIRC). Definitely remember to remove the 'O' ring on the stuffer and clean it separately. I use the canned, food-grade lubricant. I use a clean finger or a swab to apply a light schmear around the plunger and a just a touch to the top of the crankshaft before each batch. =R=

I started out on Friday afternoon with 2 butts, totaling about 20 pounds. I brined them, together, in 2 gallons of water and 2 cups of salt for about 16 hours. I got up early on Saturday morning and began smoking them, at around 200 degrees F, using mostly a combination of cherry and apple wood. After about 8 hours, when I ran out of those types of wood, I finished them up over some hickory for about another 2 hours. The results were quite favorable . . . Very nice bark and color. Right as the butts were done, it started raining. So, rather than hacking away with a couple cleavers and completely trashing my kitchen, I just sort of broke the meat up with a knife. It was completely FOB at that point. A closer look Even though we were also serving home-made Italian sausages, burgers and hotdogs, almost all of the pork was consumed. Definitely a big hit. =R=

Jason, that is gorgeous! It looks so delectable, so tantalizing, so other-worldy. I'm nearly speechless. Congrats! =R=

This thread may be useful. =R=

So, you're not that "some other city" mentioned in the passage above? =R=

I like the Volpi products quite a bit. I also think Usinger's, out of Milwaukee, does a decent job. I'm eager to try the Fra'Mani products which are just hitting the market. The company was formed by Paul Bertolli (Oliveto) who penned an important chapter about Charcuterie in his book Cooking By Hand. =R=

Did anyone here actually taste any of these dishes? Perhaps we should be talking about "perceived taste." =R=