Reignking

I got my beans yesterday, and I've put 4 split beans in 2 cups of Ketel One vodka in a sealed mason jar. I'll try the vanilla poached pears sometime this week.

Hopefully, my beans will arrive this weekend, so that I can make Alton Brown's Vanilla Poached Pears recipe. As I looked for other vanilla bean recipes, I found this: Vanilla Pork Brine. I'll definitely give that a shot at some point.

This article should be interesting to any Charcuterie fan: Smoky meat sausages are mixing it up in upscale outlets

Great find! I bought two vanilla beans for about $7 at Whole Foods a few months ago, but didn't get around to using them until this weekend, when I was making dinner for six and wanted to make vanilla Creme Brulees. Well, they became lemon creme brulees, because they beans had dried up so much that they snapped like twigs. At $10 / lb, this is a steal. My wife is just going to shake her head when she sees this package come in I'm out of vanilla extract, anyway. Does anyone have storage ideas for the extras?

Brings back memories... I don't think that I've ever ordered a salad in Mexico, though That Cuernavaca market was the first one that I had ever been to -- I was quite shocked to see the pig's head hanging there, flies encircling, while blood dripped out its nose. Eventually, though, I found a stall with the comals that I was hunting for.

Beer floats. My friend, while in college, decided to combine to late-night activities -- drinking and snacking. Vanilla ice cream and what I'm sure was a bad beer (Bud et al). He never did that again.

I met some friends at Spondivits for seafood and beers when they had a layover -- VERY casual.

Has Ilan ever lived and/or worked in Spain, or did he learn everything he knows from The Monkey House? His bio says that he has only worked in NYC. For me, Ilan loses all credibility when he said that he didn't come with any preconceived notions of what he was going to do. Admit that you are preparing what you know -- there's nothing with playing it smart and safe. Ilan can cook, Marcel can create.

I lived in Cuernavaca in 2000 for 2 months while studying Spanish. Las Mananitas is quite nice -- that's required eating there. As for tacos -- Tacos Orientales. Just thinking of the 10-cent tacos al pastor there makes me salivate. There are a few locations around town -- one I can't remember because it was late at night but another is, I believe, down Avenida Morelos (in the Las Palmas section, due south of the Zocalo). I'm eyeballing the map, and street names aren't plentiful. One other thing -- they are only open from 6 pm to 6 am.

I believe that he cooked it with apples? Anyway, if you have Cookwise handy, Shirley addresses it in that, somewhere, too. I saw these in Whole Foods yesterday, too

Wow. I am quite shocked to find out that she is married...to Salman Rushdie. Weird.

First, they had made their decision on Marcel (keep) and Elia (adios). Then they had to decide between the last two. I like the final "match-up" -- in a way, it is traditional Spanish cuisine versus the latest techniques to come from Spain. Substance versus style.

Well, I'm finally posting, and I have a good reason why: Where the Belly Meets the Plate is a great article on the charcuterie revolution and pig sourcing. The authors of this book are also quoted in the article. I had a chance to read this entire thread a month ago, and read the entire book quickly. Unfortunately, since I live in an apartment, there's little that I can do -- I've only tackled the salmon (with excellent results). This weekend, I attended a 3-hour chef's cooking class at NECI (New England Culinary Institute) and I had a great time picking their brains about their charcuterie. Their students are responsible for making various products for the excellent Sunday brunch; I had a few pates, wonderful smoked sausage, and cured salmon that tasted exactly like I had made (with the Pernod and anise flavors). Everything was so...fresh. So, one day, when I have a place to hang, grind, cure, and smoke meat, I'll experiment some more, but for now, I will have to live vicariously. Keep the pictures coming!