FrogPrincesse

Then I started breaking up the shoulder. I am using a Forschner knife which is a little low-weight for the job. Also it's not quite as sharp as I would like. It needs to be sharpened. I will be doing a little sharpening session on the EdgePro when I have a chance. So at some point I switched to a heavier, sharper Messermeisster which was a better fit for the task. While dicing the meat, I got rid of anything that looked like "sinew". This was the main problem during my previous attempt at making sausage, the sinew was getting stuck around the grinder blend and I ended up having to clean the blade a dozen time during the process which was a nightmare. So this time I was more careful.

Why was I up until 1 am last night? I was making sausage. We are going to be hosting a 4th of July barbecue party, and I've decided to make sausage. It's only my second time making sausage, last month I made breakfast sausage. I am doing the chacutepalooza challenges and June was stuffed sausage (I am a little behind!). There will be two kinds of sausages, a sweet italian sausage and lamb kofta kebabs. For the sweet italian sausage, I am using the recipe from Charcuterie. Here are the ingredients. I got the pork shoulder and back fat at Siesel's. Here I am weighing the back fat and dicing it. At some point I realized that I had mixed up the recipes for the sweet and hot sausages, so I had no used enough of the back fat and had to dice more. It's interesting that the spicy sausage uses 225 grams of fat for 2 kg of shoulder, whereas the sweet sausage uses 450 g of fat for 1.8 kg of shoulder.

OK, so it's almost 10 and we are about to head out of the house. We are not big breakfast people, so this morning the adults just had a cappuccino. We have a nespresso machine which is very easy to use. There is no mess thanks to the coffee pods, which is a good thing because I am not a morning person. Charge pod, press button, and coffee is ready in a few seconds. That's all I am able to handle before 8 am . The picture above shows our basic setup. The machine on the right is what we use to foam the milk. You just add the milk, press a button, and voila... Our daughter had a glass of milk and nutella on toasted bread, and a banana.

Hi toolprincess, It's indeed funny that one "princess" follows another. Good job on your blog, it's been fun reading it!

Hello Heidi, I can't say that I am very familiar with the cuisine from the island, however some of the local specialties made a big impression on me. In addition to my sea urchin memories, I still remember the wonderful rock lobsters, sheep cheeses flavored with herbs from the "maquis", fresh brocciu cheese, coppa sausage, and the small blueberries we used to gather.

Hi Kerry. I travel to France a couple of times a year on average. I just spent a two-week vacation in Paris last month and go to Europe regularly for work. Regarding specialty foods, 10 years ago this was often a challenge, but nowadays I am able to find most items between Trader Joe's (mustard, olives, cheeses) and Bristol Farms (chocolate, demi-glace, French butter). For the more obscure items, we have Euro Food Depot which unfortunately closed their brick-and-mortar store, but still takes online orders. It's a local company that sells to restaurants and has a great variety of hard-to-find items including lentils, saucisson, escargot, foie gras, super-fine French beans, pommes dauphine, petit suisses, etc. And for the few items that I can't find anywhere, I just buy them directly in France (piment d'espelette, Suze, tonka beans).

Hello Darienne. San Diego is indeed a lovely place. I love it here. And it's hard to beat the perfect weather!

Hi Honkman, Glad to see you on this thread. I use Specialty Produce's version of the CSA, aka "Farmers' Market Bag", which has the great advantage for me of being completely flexible. I can decide each week if I want to participate. Everything is organic and local. I've been happy with the quality and variety. I am sure that there will be a few restaurants this week.

First, I would like to go over the teaser pictures. The uni (sea urchin) in the shell This has to be one of our favorite treats. When I lived in France, my parents used to harvest them from the shallow waters in Corsica and we would eat them right on the beach, with a squeeze of lemon juice (there, they are small and black with bright orange roe). Luckily San Diego has some of the best uni in the world, as documented in Jeffrey Steingarten’s book, It must’ve been something I ate (chapter - “Prickly Pleasures”). The books I have a collection of about 50 cookbooks (total of about 75 food-related books) which reflect my evolving interests and skills in cooking. The picture shows part of my collection. The first cookbooks that I bought while in the US were by Jamie Oliver. I still use them regularly. One of my favorite books is Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin, because it has a style that suits me well that is based on French dishes and techniques with seasonal Californian ingredients and influences from the Mediterranean. Les Halles is heavily used for classic bistro dishes, together with The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan for more specialized recipes. The tiki We love Hawaii and Polynesia in general. We’ve been lucky to go to Tahiti twice and to Hawaii countless times. And my husband grew up in Honolulu. So we are trying to keep the aloha spirit at home. You will definitively see us at the Tiki Oasis this summer in San Diego, and we never miss an occasion for a good tiki drink. The cow at Iowa Meat farms This is my butcher shop. I buy most of my meats there or at their other branch, Siesel’s. They are able to get the most "obscure" ingredients for me (things that would not be so hard to find in Europe but can be a challenge in the US), as a good butcher should (pig liver, hog casings, etc). The view We are fortunate to have this wonderful view from our backyard. All these pictures were taken by my husband who is an avid and expert photographer during his free time. He has agreed to help me document my week so we should see a lot of pictures.

I guess it's officially Sunday now so it's time to start this topic! Kerry Beal guessed correctly that this week's foodblogger was from San Diego, however nobody guessed the right person. I am FrogPrincesse, also known as Elise. I was born and grew up in Paris, France. I moved to San Diego for work 13 years ago with my American husband. We have a 5-year old daughter and live in a house in Pacific Beach. I am a chemist and graduated from the same college as Herve This (ESPCI), although I did not study molecular gastronomy. I work for a pharmaceutical company. I've always been interested in food. When I was growing up, I was the self-designated pastry chef at home. I spent a lot of my free time baking pretty much every chocolate-based recipe that I could put my hands on. My mom cooks a lot of traditional French dishes (beef bourguignon, etc), so that definitely had an influence on me. My style of cooking is mostly French bistro and I try to incorporate fresh & local ingredients as much as I can. I belong to a CSA. I enjoy making things from scratch, so you may see homemade bread, fresh cheese, pasta, ice cream or charcuterie make an appearance sometime this week. I use cooking as a form of stress relief after work, so it’s not unusual for me starting a large cooking project late in the evening, and tonight was no exception. I am extremely excited to host the eG Foodblog this week. I’ve been reading these blogs for years and it’s a great way to get to know eG members better. So I hope that my blog will be an occasion for me to interact with all of you. Please feel free to ask any questions. I am glad that I can represent San Diego. It’s a pet peeve of mine – I feel that our area has a lot to offer but that it’s often overshadowed by its big neighbor, LA. Hopefully my blog can somewhat change that impression. We do have a lot going on in San Diego as you will see this week. edited to correct typos

Chives are pretty low maintenance and are great in salads. Rosemary is easy to grow as well. Mint grows like a weed. edited to correct typo

Kouign Aman - We use Specialty Produce. It's a little different from a traditional CSA in that you can decide each week if you want to participate or not. They source their organic produce from local farms. And they have various things you can add to your basket (fish, cheese, fresh pasta, etc).

BadRabbit, I have made rillettes using Les Halle's recipe many times and can highly recommend it. It's comparable to what I used to buy in France at a good charcuterie, and the recipe could not be more simple. It looks like the Ruhlman/Polcyn recipe includes leeks and celery which seems a little unusual to me, but could be good too. If eatyourbooks.com is correct, the Besh recipe adds red pepper flakes to the classic recipe. I guess it's a matter of preference. I've always kept mine in the fridge. Usually they are gone after 2 or 3 weeks. They taste better after a few days.

Great new topic. I love my CSA program. We eat a lot more fruit and vegetable that way. My CSA box from last week is almost all used up. Sprouting broccoli, yellow squash, Italian basil --> used in pasta primavera last night White spring onions - used in a bacon and onion tart (flammenkuche) Pirella lettuce - a salad with more of the Italian basil Blueberries – made blueberries with candied lime sugar Ate the peaches "as is" and grilled on the barbecue, devoured the mini pink plums. These were the first stone fruit of the season and they were both delicious. I haven't used the baby bok choy yet, but it will most likely end up in a stir-fry For your box , I would probably combine the baby onions and curly kale and cook them in olive oil with some garlic (blanch the kale first), or use them in a topping for a savory tart with goat cheese for example. You could do a gratin as well with cream, but that might be on the heavy side for July.

My friend does not have a machine either so she cuts the raclette into slices that she places in a pirex dish, and then melts them in the oven at high temperature. A microwave could work too.

I really don't know why everyone seems so negative about this. After a few drinks, the idea of a giant peppermill seems perfectly logical! Here is a prime example from Mister Parker Restaurant in Palm Springs. Satisfied customers Would you accept pepper from this man?

I loves me my Montreal smoked meat, so I'm intrigued. What else is on there? The most traditional topping for the Alsatian flammenkuche (tarte flambee) is creme fraiche (fromage blanc also works fine), onions, bacon (diced in lardons). I am sure it would also taste good with diced pastrami.

Overmixing as in dense/tough cookies? I have not experienced that. With typical cookie recipes, most of the mixing happens between the butter and the sugar, a step greatly facilitated by the stand mixer. The flour is usually added at the end and there is little mixing required at that point. For the pie crust, I was very worried about overmixing and really did not think that it would resemble what I make by hand. However by stopping as soon as crumbs were formed and finishing by hand, I got results I was very happy with.

I just bought a Kitchenaid stand mixer a few weeks ago. I do quite a bit of baking and, while a handheld mixer is fine for cakes and whipping egg whites, I got really tired of creaming butter and sugar by hand for cookies. Now I can make large batches without any pain. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the first pie crust I made in the stand mixer - it had a great texture, very flaky. I don't regret my purchase. I use the meat grinder attachment so it's multi function. And I plan on buying the pasta roller & cutter attachments soon to replace my old pasta machine.

I've tried more recipes from Ready for Desserts since my last post. It seems to be my go-to dessert book at the moment. Chocolate Port Truffles These were a departure from my usual truffle recipe because they were a multi-step affair with several very messy steps (at least for me) especially the rolling and dipping part. But it was really worth the (minor) trouble. They were intense with a wonderful texture. I served them at the end of the Easter meal. Blondies (which disappeared before I could take a picture). Similar to the brownies, in that they are really fast to make. I did not let the batter cool down properly before adding the chocolate chips, so they bled a little into the cake. But that did not really matter, there were still distinctive chips in the end and the blondies were delicious. Flo's Chocolate Snaps This is a simple butter cookie flavored with cocoa powder. They were a little less snappy than what I would have thought based on their name, not that it really mattered. They are great with tea. It was my inaugural recipe for my new Kitchenaid stand mixer! And the best for last... Chocolate Crack Cookies These have to be amongst the most delicious cookies I've had a chance to try. They have a light and crumbly texture thanks to the almond powder, and an intense chocolate flavor, almost like a brownie. They really deserve their name. It's my new favorite recipe from the book! Edited to correct typos

The shortage is no longer an issue as far as I know. It was linked to a problem with their bottle manufacturer if I remember correctly.

I will be in Copenhagen next month, so it would be great to get updated recommendations. Of course it's already too late to get reservations for Noma. But are there any other places that I should make sure to visit? So far, my tentative list contains, after studying the various discussions on eGullet: Relae Kodbyens Fiskebar Paustian Bo Bech Aamans We are not looking for super-high end. For dinner I am looking at menus around $50 - $75, maybe slightly more for something that is really remarkable. Thanks!

Sunflower oil was my go-to oil in France. When I moved to the US a little over 10 years ago, I switched to canola oil as it was more readily available and was also neutral in taste. I later did some reading about canola oil, and found out that the vast majority of it is genetically modified in the US. It might be a cultural difference, but I was not really comfortable with that idea, so I stopped using it altogether at that point and started using peanut or grapeseed oil instead as a neutral oil. Otherwise I use a lot of olive oil. I occasionally used rapeseed oil in France ("colza") but never cared for the smell. As far as I know, genetically-modified canola oil is still banned in Europe.

When we go to the liquor store our 5-year old daughter is usually with us. I don't really see an issue either. She calls it "the bottle store".

Thanks Erik, it's good to know. I won't hesitate to open that bottle now. I was concerned that I would not be able to store it properly as I am starting to run out of space in the fridge with my expanding collection - currently three different kinds of red vermouth, three kinds of white vermouth (which each have a purpose), and Bonal...