Marc Olson

"Waiting for the breast meat to cook..."? It's been my experience that the legs/thighs need more time than the breast, and that waiting for the dark meat to get tender results in overcooked white meat.

I made two loaves this weekend--both were great. I followed the recipe except I used 2 teaspoons kosher salt. The dough seemed dry (shaggy) in the bowl initially but by the time I made the loaf (18 hours) it looked more like a biga than a finished loaf. My Creuset is large and the dough very slack, so I ended up with a fairly flat, round loaf, but the advantage is that there's more crust. Beautiful pictures, Abra! I baked for 45 minutes (internal loaf temp 206). Crust was thick and crackly, but the internal crumb was still moist. I liked the level of salt (earlier posts suggested that a bit of a boost would be helpful).

I buy wine in France (for personal consumption) and have it legally imported to the US via a firm in California. They ensure proper labels, duties, etc are handled. The firm I use also is used by many importers who then distribute elsewhere in the US, as are several of the vendors in Europe who sell outside the normal producer/importer/distributor channel. As an individual you are largely governed by the laws that regulate interstate commerce of wines--many states are reciprocal so you can legally ship wine that you've purchased in one state (via the phone or internet) to another. But, it's complicated when you want to be a reseller/distributor/retailer. Contact me via PM if you want more information.

Rancidity is about oxidation. I have lots of bottels of EVOO and EVOO Nuevo in my wine cellar originally bottled in '00 and '01--none are rancid. I would expect (though I'm willing to submit to the forge of experimentation/experience) that properly protected olive oil would not go rancid during the time frame that most are considering. Again, the solid fat role in conservation is in protecting against oxidation--a properly sealed vacuum pouch will offer the same protection as a layer of duck fat...without the romance.

Wow! I'm speechless, but already looking for duck necks to give this a try. Reminds me of my first oxtail experience in France--the menu was ambiguous about how the tail was served. I envisioned a tedious slog through lots of tiny bones, turned out to be a large oxtail ravioli, already boned! Braised meats...mmmmmmm.

A couple of weeks ago I got the urge to make paella, and that led to an onslaught of Spanish cookbooks, including "Tapas", by far the most beautiful of the several I purchased. Yesterday I made (from several cookbooks): peppers stuffed with veal, turkey/chantrelle/truffle croquettes and from 'Tapas' the Chicken and Garlic. As I read through the Chicken and Garlic recipe I was surprised by the total cooking time in the text of approximately 10 minutes total for the wings. I followed the other steps in the recipe but in the end the wings were in the pan for about 50 minutes, browning alongside the 'cracked but not peeled' cloves. During the last 20 minutes I added the sherry, stock and herbs and let everything reduce. Since the meal was a 'Sunday cook, Monday eat' proposition around school logistics we didn't eat the wings until tonight, reheated in a closed casserole until hot. They were fantastic! We have leftovers that I plan to reheat tomorrow under the broiler and then 'finish' with the reserved olive oil/sherry/stock glaze. The croquettes that I made also turned out great. I made them following a recipe from "The New Spanish Table" that called for a meat filling to be mixed with a bechamel and then chilled (at least 3 hours). I chilled overnight and then formed spoonfuls of batter rolled in flour to shape, then dipped in egg followed by panko. Cooked for 8 minutes at 350 in the deep fryer and allowed too cool they were splendid. I'm looking forward to trying other recipes in "Tapas"; unfortunate that the timing on the first dish I tried didn't seem to have gone through the 'recipe test'. I could see deep frying wings for 10 minutes, the saute method with garlic in the pan seemed to need more time than suggested by the recipe.

The confit process has two goals--slow cooking with efficient heat transfer and the isolation of the meat from contact with air. I've switched to using vacuum bags a la sous vide for my confit, so the countertop preservation benefit isn't as interesting as the oil/meat contact. I seal solid duck fat into the bags of cured duck and then cook it at 180 F for 12 hours. An interesting experiment (one that I'll endeavor to do soon) would be to freeze another oil (probably unfrefined peanut oil) and use that as a substitute for/in addition to duck fat in the bag.

For home fries I pre-cook russets and then fry them on an open griddle. They crisp up better on the griddle after the par-cooking than if I start them raw.

I made paella for the first time in years yesterday using a new carbon steel pan from The Spanish Table and Bomba rice. Mostly turned out great, except the soccarat was a little more burned than crusty. I'm going to give it another go tonight and try turning the heat down from high once the rice is added and bubbling (recipe I was using said keep heat on high for 10 minutes). Suggestions appreciated!

I like to serve scallops on a bed of hand-cut creamed corn. Another approach is to use a puree of some starch: celeriac or cauliflower have both been successful.

One Word: Zinfandel

My preference is catsup and tartar sauce together. My favorite 'story' to date was eating at Le Pichet last month, ordering a side of the frites to go with other things we were having and then me asking for tartar on the side. Unbeknownst to me, the server was the bartender, and he 'whipped up' a small bowl of tartar sauce from 'condiments readily available behind the bar. He said he did it for friends originally and now does it on a whim when customers ask.

At home our mornings involve a double latte (beans from Vivace), either iced in the summer or hot. During the summer my wife and kids are at our cabin which is solar powered, so a honking resistive load from the espresso machine isn't possible. After flirtations with French Press, Vacuum pots and drip, this summer we discovered the AeroPress, a semi-espresso device (invented by the same guy who designed the Aerobe). It's like a giant coffee syringe. Makes great coffee, perfect for camping as well. http://www.sweetmarias.com/aeropress_instructions.html

I was buying oysters at a University Seafood here in Seattle last week. With the NW oyster scare earlier in the summer they were quick to council 'cook them, really' and 'wait until October if you want them raw.' I reminded them that they had a BC oyster that a week earlier had been recommended as safe (er). As I went to the counter I saw a pile of gorgeous, fresh, scallops. I asked how much longer they would likely have them. 'Until the season closes.' 'How long is that? Days? Weeks?' 'Let me check.' The owner expected the season to close 'any day', so I adapted my menu plans to include seared scallops (served on a bed of sauteed fresh corn) and had a blissful family dinner (including several dozen raw oysters). Same shop also carries wild salmon--when the season allows.

After years of using (and breaking) Riedel stems (both the Vinum and the Sommelier) I received some Schott Zweisel champagne stems as a gift. I then bought the Enoteca Chianti as an alternative to the Riedel Hermitage glass that's my favorite. Looks and performs very similarly, and has survived everything except a 4' fall when the box fell (only broke one stem in the box...). I buy them here: http://www.brentwoodwine.com/schott_enoteca_red.html

I made a variant using frisee, grilled asparagus, poached egg and then the bacon and vinagrette Bouchon. It's a hit!

What do you think of Dom's? One of the guys I work with is the brother of the owner. I've eaten there once (with a large group), was adequate but not inspired.

Try the Skagit River Brewery in nearby Mt. Vernon. The best wood-oven pizzas...

I grew up in rural Western Washington and my best friend's dad had a chicken farm on the side. An old two story barn with four big rooms. Three or four times a year the chickens had to be loaded for delivery to the processing plant...by hand. The process involved waiting until it was dark, putting blue lights on in all of the rooms and then walking into the somewhat hysterical flocks of birds and grabbing seven chickens (three in one hand, four in another--a 'hand' of birds) and then carrying them (upside down) to a central door where they were passed to a worker on the truck and put into a crate, two 'hands' per crate. It was hot, dusty and since they didn't turn the water off, wet in many places on the floor. Hence wet, smelly chicken legs. Your hands would smell for a week (it was hard enough to hold seven flapping birds by one leg without gloves getting in the way) and nobody wore respirators, so you'd cough up black phlegm to boot. Plus all the scratches and peck marks from the unhappy poultry.

A timely topic as I made crepes over the weekend and on Monday. Saturday was Seafood Crepes from the Prudhomme cookbook. Sunday was more crepes with a Tarragon Chicken filling adapted from a Craig Clairborne NYT cookbook. I use the Prudhomme recipe, thinned a bit more than per the recipe. 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, TB oil, pinch salt, 1 TSP sugar, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 3/4 cup flour plus 1 TB. I usually double everything except the sugar and nutmeg. I have a steel crepe pan with a long skinny spatula (came as a kit). It's a 10" pan I guess. Medium heat, 1/3 cup batter swirled for coverage (I don't like to pour off back into the pan). If I get the urge I'll make some tomorrow and photograph the process.

And plans for a new addition to the Pichet family: http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/...07&query=pichet

I'm a huge fan of the Riedel Sommelier Vintage Champagne. But, they are spendy. And, glassware breaks. The Vinum are fine, with a reasonable cut edge but small-ish bowl. A recent gift was the Schott-Zwiesel flutes. Much more affordable, light and still with a nice shape. The stem is a bit long relative to the size of the bowl, but for the price, etc. they are our new house flute.

I'm a huge fan of the Riedel Sommelier Vintage Champagne. But, they are spendy. And, glassware breaks. The Vinum are fine, with a reasonable cut edge but small-ish bowl. A recent gift was the Schott-Zwiesel flutes. Much more affordable, light and still with a nice shape. The stem is a bit long relative to the size of the bowl, but for the price, etc. they are our new house flute.

Elie--glad you enjoyed the pictures! We served the cassoulet with grilled asparagus, baguette and a '99 Voge Cornas "La Vielles Fontaines". Time to make some confit so that I can do another round.

For several months I've been trying to find the time to make a cassoulet using my new cassole from Clay Coyote and the duck confit that's been nestled in the fridge since January. Saturday night I put two pounds of Tarbais beans on to soak and then set out to make 'cassoulet-in-a-day' using the 'middle' recipe from TCoSWF (I forget the actual title). I took pictures and will include them below (at the assembly stage and beyond). Sunday morning at 7:30 I started making my shopping list. Despite having the soaked beans, I was intrigued by the fava bean cassoulet so I made two lists of ingredients and would decide once I got to Whole Foods. With fresh favas at $4/lb unhusked I quickly decided that I'd go with the second recipe. Having not planned ahead I was unable to procure pigs knuckle or pork bones in any form, so I ended up buying bonless shoulder and 1/2 a rack of St. Louis style ribs (the breast half). As an experiment I also picked up three lamb blade steaks to add to the mix. Back home around 9 and starting to cook. Onions in the big cast iron, stock out of the freezer and thawing in the big pot, trimming and salting the meat. Once the onions were done I browned the pork, lamb and ribs in three batches and added them to the pot along with the balance of the ingredients. After an hour-ish I brought the beans to the boil and added them to the ragout. Another hour later the beans seemed to be making no progress but the lamb and pork shoulder were tender so I removed them from the beans, leaving the ribs for another hour. Beans were still not done--in the end they took nearly four hours to cook instead of the expected two. I guess I have some Old Beans. Ribs came out after about three hours. Meanwhile I heated the confit. I'd cooked it sous vide in bags of four, so I simply heated the bags in water and then snipped the bags and drained/separated the fat from the duck juices. The juices went into the bean pot (I checked and it needed salt, probably because I wasn't able to salt the meat the night before) and I reserved some of the fat for finishing and prepped the rest to go back into the freezer. As the meats cooled I separated and shredded them in preparation for the final assembly...if the beans would ever get done! Finally around 2:00 in the afternoon the beans were done. I added the garlic puree, then the reserved meats, assembled the ragout-confit-ragout into the cassole. Put it into a cold oven (set to 325 but not preheated) to start the alchemy. At 3:00 we left for a couple of hours and at 5 I stirred the skin, added the garlic sausage and bread crumbs (more than required, but I put some stock in with them at the same time). At 6:30 we took it out of the oven and feasted. It was the best cassoulet I've ever made! We're still eating it this week (makes a great breakfast) and I'm already planning to get some confit started so that when the urge strikes I'll be ready. The fava cassoulet will probably be next given the tips earlier in this thread on how to get fresh/frozen favas. <edited to add pictures>