[next trendy food?]

Hot dogs. In fact, their popularity has been growing. Consumption is up 2% over last year. I think there are 2 main reasons. One being the economy. Hot Dogs are relatively inexpensive and recession proof according to many. Another reason is the growing trend toward higher quality artisinal sausages. This sort of mirrors the micro brewery or craft brewing movement. Beer (and frankfurters) are made with higher quality ingredients in small batches with no fillers or cheaper ingredients.

Interesting thread. While I revel in eating good sausage, and hope to make my own soon, I am not a big consumer of hot dogs (and didn't have them growing up). I have a question about definitions. What defines a hot dog as compared to other sausages? The first thing that comes to mind is its homogenous texture versus a chunkier filling for sausage, but then again some European sausages I've had have been more homogenous and still not called franks or hot dogs. Is it because they are pre-cooked (I think), versus raw sausages?

As the trend towards artisinal sausages continues, will these distinctions become blurred?

-sabine

[Artisan Wheat Thins]

Catherine,

So glad you brought this up. I love crackers like Wheat Thins but I've been searching for some with a short list of pronounceable ingredients (a la Michael Pollan In Defense of Food). I'm not having much luck among the standard supermarket fare.

I think my next step will be homemade then, so I was wondering if anyone had any guidance or good recipes to offer up.

Thanks in advance,

Sabine

["Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" Zoe Francois (2008–2009)]

Chris,

It does sound reasonable to me, but I'm not a professional baker. At the very least, it would be an experiement with not a lot of sunk costs (flour is still relatively cheap).

I've had a continuous batch going now for 7 months strictly using sourdough, which IIRC, is never addressed in the book. I've made pitas, tortillas, pizzas, baguettes, cinnamon raisin bread, along with the classic boule all with sourdough.

Let us know what you discover.

-sabine

[Yeast: Types, Use, Storage, Conversions (instant<>active, US<>UK, etc.)]

I don't know whether the end product is any different with fresh or dry yeast, but I really like the smell of fresh yeast.

←

Oh my! The smell is fabulicious! One whiff and I'm on a trip straight back to Europe and my grandmother's kitchen!

I freeze a block of it and use it occasionally to fire up a sourdough recipe. I just used some yesterday on a batch of sourdough I will be making crusty German rolls with. Dough is in the fridge, but smells divine already.

Someone mentioned the cost being high, but I get it at a restaurant supply store and it is very reasonable. A 'brick' of it, which is about the size (volume wise) of a pound of butter is about $.79. If you don't have one near you, make friends with a pizzeria owner who makes his own dough. I'll bet dollars to dough, he is using fresh yeast.

-sabine

[Sunset Farm Organics]

Thanks Johnny,

Fabulous story and pictures! Great to hear of local successes!

I'll be sure to look for them at Rosemont, next time I'm in Portland. Tuscan kale is my favorite -- I'll bet those baby ones are delicious!

-sabine

[Klatsch: a week without shopping]

This whole 'no shopping -- empty the pantry' exercise has been very timely, enlightening and probably a bit fattening.

My indoor pantry (don't ask about the outdoor ones just now) is not a walk-in, but a 4-ft wide, 6 ft tall double door pantry with 5 pull-outs on each side.

Before this weekend, it was packed -- way more food goods than 1 person needs. So when I read about this eGullet 'no shopping' idea, I was kind of excited to get involved. I surveyed my pantry and decided I could make a lot of space if I got rid of the little 'bags' of opened stuff that were cluttering the top pull out. So, I ate the last of the whole wheat Wheat Thins, whose carton had long been recycled, the last few gingersnap cookies and their crumbs, and as I 'cleaned' out these things, I discovered NEW things I didn't even know I had. So, down goes another small box of Carr's Whole Wheat Crackers (oh my god, I must learn to make a leaner version of these crackookies -- very addictive even with the bran residue left in one's mouth after eating one or five). Now, to not appear too much of a glutton, I did spread the Carr's crackookies out over a couple days, averaging maybe 10 a day. Which, given that 2 crackers have about 80 calories, still doesn't make me look too good.

Of course, by this time I am so stuffed from unstuffing the pantry, I can't eat a regular meal, so things probably average out at the macro level for the day. But the challenge was to cook from the pantry/freezer, not pull up a chair and eat out of it! So, I kept digging and found some Lowe's Champion Beans -- a rare find from Whole Foods bulk bin last year which I had to have based on the nutritional analysis. According to the label, one half cup of these beans has 48 grams of fiber. Geez, I could cook up a small batch and pop them like Metamucil Tablets! So, I did cook up a batch just to get rid of them (at least from the pantry). Granted, it was close to a pound of beans, but it made so much that I couldn't eat all that in a week's time, so now I ended up storing them in little quart jars and putting them in my freezer.

I fear I'm just playing with my food -- moving it from the pantry to the freezer only to end up in the garbage one of these days.

-sabine

[Cookbook gift for Iowan]

Katie,

It does sound like you have a challenge in finding the perfect gift, knowing the little that you do about the recipient. Since you know she likes 'kitchen things,' a cookbook sounds perfect and very thoughtful.

I have a few suggestions:

Back to Basics by Ina Garten - I've read some great recipes from this book and it is on my short list to buy

The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rossetto Kasper - I don't have it but do enjoy listening to her podcasts, so if the book reflects her shows, it should be good.

Happy in the Kitchen by Michel Richard - I've given this to a couple friends and have it myself. The Faux Gras alone is worth the price of the book! Great layout and photography (even if some of the recipes are a bit contrived for the home cook) and interesting to see his techniques and how he composes food -- I think it reflects his transition from pastry chef to savory chef.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff and Zoe - Absolutely worth its weight in gold if your friend has any inclination to making her own bread!

Best,

Sabine

[Gulf of Maine Shrimp - 2008/2009]

Written on 12 Feb 2009 (Originally appeared on CI BB)

Celebrating Maine's Sweet Taste of Winter

Last night, my friend Roxanne called asking if I’d like to go with her to get some fresh Maine shrimp. Last winter, we would go quite often, but so far this winter I’ve been reluctant to take on the job of cleaning pounds and pounds of fresh whole shrimp by myself. One person can only eat so many and I haven’t had good luck freezing them.

So, I agreed. I brought $2 with me so I would limit my purchase to just two pounds and derail my normal dockside over-purchasing habit. At 5:30 we pulled into the parking lot at the Camp Ellis jetty, just as dusk was quickly turning to night. The boat was steaming towards us, about 300 yards from the shore. As the skipper was dislodging several large ice floes keeping the boat from being able to be tied up, I could see the beautiful shrimp in their tubs at the aft of the boat. The diesels wound down, the tubs were hoisted to the dock, and the captain plopped down his trusty scale on the tailgate of his pickup truck.

Waiting patiently, two old men were swinging their empty 5 gallon buckets, discussing their favorite cooking methods. I had all I could do not to jump into the conversation when one wished he had a better way to fry them. I didn’t think my version (heads removed, shell and tail on, egg wash and panko coating served with a glob of Asian sweet chili sauce) was going to make either of them pat themselves down for a pen and paper on which to capture such a outlandish recipe. Not either of these two old Mainers. Nah, boiling was their preferred way and they were sticking to it.

Another interesting person was ambling about the dock, and if Roxanne hadn’t greeted her saying, “Hello Alice,” I would have had to flip a coin if you had asked me to guess her gender. Turns out Alice had big plans for her evening – peeling 100 pounds of shrimp that she resells at $6 a pound. She said she has a young girl helping her, but it will take her all night and into the next morning (and at least one or two packs of smokes) to get them all shelled. The captain filled her 4 pails first and loaded them into the trunk of her Toyota Corolla. Wonder what that will smell like once the warm weather returns!

Anyway, by the time I got my meager 5 pound haul home (Roxanne lent me $3, because I was too embarrassed to ask for only two pounds), it was getting late and I had a pizza planned to go into the oven. Pizza with leftover white clam sauce, onions, fresh mushrooms and jalapeno slices! I thought I could hurriedly peel a bunch and toss them on my pizza in the final moments of cooking, but peeling them was more laborious then I remembered.

Maybe it was the way the shrimp were still dancing in the bag that made it hard to peel them. I prepped two vessels, one for the heads that was destined for the stove top for a nice stock and the other for the peeled bodies. The first one was a bear to peel completely, but I had to sample the sweet meat, laden with roe, that had been in the ocean only an hour earlier. Yum! I ate about ten this way, and then set about the task of filling my bowls. I compromised and kept the shells on the bodies for sake of expediency and ½ hour later had three pounds of shell-on shrimp ready. I thought maybe an overnight rest in the fridge might let death settle into their bodies making them easier to peel today (and I think they are).

These shrimp are a small consolation prize for enduring everything else a Maine winter throws your way, but there is no substitute for their sweet meat! All is forgiven.

-sabine