Dave the Cook

Thank you. It's not mine, though. One last picture -- barbecued shrimp, bachelor style:

One other thing: I ran across Stewart's Ginger Beer in Florida. Very high burn rate -- recommended.

It's in Emeril's Real and Rustic. We had a short, related conversation about it here. I might make some adjustments for persoanl taste the next time, but as written, it's great.

I'm having one now, as a matter of fact, though I used Chambord. You're right -- it's very tasty. (Thanks, Sam!) One of the very few disappointments of this last week was the family's indifference to the whole cocktail thing. Alan did latch onto the Campari -- turns out it's one of his favorites. By yesterday afternoon, he settled into a routine: he would come back from the pool, change, meander out to the balcony with whatever novel he was into, and prop his feet up. Out in the kitchen, we could hear him proclaim, "I am ready for my Campari and soda!" Mom alternated between Bloody Marys and Tom Collinses (double the sugar and lemon). Andy remains faithful to Corona (Light!) and a lime. At least he let me practice my muddling. Peggy and I did have a good time with whiskey sours, though, and she devoured Killer Cocktails (based on her interest, I think Dave Wondrich will sell another copy). We started with Jim Beam (80 proof) bourbon, lemon juice and sugar (3:2:0.5), tried it with some miniatures of Wild Turkey 101, and a bottle of Wild Turkey Rye that I turned up at a local store. We varied the proportions and the whiskeys, and finally settled on: 1.5 ounces 101 proof rye 1.0 ounces lemon juice 1 t simple syrup It makes a nice tall drink with soda or ginger ale by bumping the rye and sugar: 2.0 ounces rye 1.0 ounces lemon juice 2 t simple syrup So that was fun, as was making booze-free pina coladas and chocolate-banana smoothies for the kids. I also wish we could have taken greater advantage of the available seafood, but that's the compromise when you're dealing with a group like this. Alan, Caitie and I would have been happy to do nothing but finfish and shellfish all week, but not everyone shares that taste. A number of people have remarked on the variety, quantity and quality of the offereings. I'm told that this is partly a transportation thing. In a large port with a nearby airport like Miami, Houston or New Orleans, much of the catch goes from dock to plane, bound for other places. Because Destin has only a general aviation airport, and the nearest cities with decent airports (Panama City, Fort Walton and Pensacola) are low-end spokes atttached to distant hubs, a higher proportion of the haul stays in the area. Whatever the reason, I'm eager to go back as soon as I can. Oh yeah -- we arrived home safely, and I got Zak and Caitie repacked and sent on their way. I unloaded the rest of the car, and set to making myself . . . barbecued shrimp. I'll post a picture later (it's not done yet), if anyone's interested. Thanks for a great reception, everyone, and for sharing this time with me and my family.

Green Beans and Carrots Creole for a Crowd Anothe one from my vacation blog, when I tried to please a bunch of people, and did. 2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed 1/2 lb carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut into tiny wedges about 2" x 1/4" x 1/8" 1 onion, peeled and quartered 3 T extra-virgin olive oil 3 T unsalted butter 1 tsp kosher salt 3/4 c vegetable stock 1 T lemon juice 1 T Creole mustard 1. Heat the oil and two tablespoons of the butter in a really big skillet. If you're working with almost three pounds of vegetables, be prepared to do the first steps in batches, and combine for the final dressing. 2. When the butter starts to brown, add the vegetables. (It's best if you keep the volume of each batch down to an amount that fills the bottom of the pan, but not much more. You're going to brown the contents, and crowding will inhibit that.) Give it three or four minutes (a few more if space is tight) to brown a bit. 3. Toss and turn to expose the unbrowned sides to the heat. This will take two to four minutes. If you're working in batches, remove the vegetables and do the next batch. 4. When you're done with the batches, dump all the vegetables back into the pan, ad the vegetable stock, and cover. Simmer for a few minutes. If you're lucky, the stock will have evaporated down to a glaze. If you're like the rest of us, you'll still have a fair amount of liquid, and you'll need to adjust the lid to let some of the steam out. 5. When the liquid is almost gone, remove from the heat, and stir in the lemon juice, mustard and the rest of the butter. Toss well, and deglaze the pan as best you can. 6. Serve as soon as circumstances allow. Keywords: Vegetarian, Easy, Side, Vegetables ( RG1376 )

Green Beans and Carrots Creole for a Crowd Anothe one from my vacation blog, when I tried to please a bunch of people, and did. 2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed 1/2 lb carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut into tiny wedges about 2" x 1/4" x 1/8" 1 onion, peeled and quartered 3 T extra-virgin olive oil 3 T unsalted butter 1 tsp kosher salt 3/4 c vegetable stock 1 T lemon juice 1 T Creole mustard 1. Heat the oil and two tablespoons of the butter in a really big skillet. If you're working with almost three pounds of vegetables, be prepared to do the first steps in batches, and combine for the final dressing. 2. When the butter starts to brown, add the vegetables. (It's best if you keep the volume of each batch down to an amount that fills the bottom of the pan, but not much more. You're going to brown the contents, and crowding will inhibit that.) Give it three or four minutes (a few more if space is tight) to brown a bit. 3. Toss and turn to expose the unbrowned sides to the heat. This will take two to four minutes. If you're working in batches, remove the vegetables and do the next batch. 4. When you're done with the batches, dump all the vegetables back into the pan, ad the vegetable stock, and cover. Simmer for a few minutes. If you're lucky, the stock will have evaporated down to a glaze. If you're like the rest of us, you'll still have a fair amount of liquid, and you'll need to adjust the lid to let some of the steam out. 5. When the liquid is almost gone, remove from the heat, and stir in the lemon juice, mustard and the rest of the butter. Toss well, and deglaze the pan as best you can. 6. Serve as soon as circumstances allow. Keywords: Vegetarian, Easy, Side, Vegetables ( RG1376 )

Really Simple Potato Gratin Click on the link to my vacation blog and you'll see just how great this looks. 3 lb waxy potatoes, trimmed of blemishes and cut into 1-inch chunks 3/4 c cream 2 oz really sharp cheddar, shredded 1/2 oz parmesan, shredded salt and pepper to taste Green onions, minced, for garnish 1. Simmer the potatoes (don't use salt) until they're almost done. 2. Drain and set aside to cool. 3. Butter a baking dish and dump the potatoes into it. Using a fork, crush the potatoes slightly. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Stir the cheddar into the cream, and pour over the potatoes. Sprinkle the parmesan over the top. 5. Bake for about 25 minutes at 375, or whatever your oven is really at when you set it to 375. The top will brown, and the bottom will get all bubbly. That means you're done, exceot for scattereing the green onions over the top to make it pretty. Keywords: Easy, Side, Easy, Potatoes ( RG1375 )

Really Simple Potato Gratin Click on the link to my vacation blog and you'll see just how great this looks. 3 lb waxy potatoes, trimmed of blemishes and cut into 1-inch chunks 3/4 c cream 2 oz really sharp cheddar, shredded 1/2 oz parmesan, shredded salt and pepper to taste Green onions, minced, for garnish 1. Simmer the potatoes (don't use salt) until they're almost done. 2. Drain and set aside to cool. 3. Butter a baking dish and dump the potatoes into it. Using a fork, crush the potatoes slightly. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Stir the cheddar into the cream, and pour over the potatoes. Sprinkle the parmesan over the top. 5. Bake for about 25 minutes at 375, or whatever your oven is really at when you set it to 375. The top will brown, and the bottom will get all bubbly. That means you're done, exceot for scattereing the green onions over the top to make it pretty. Keywords: Easy, Side, Easy, Potatoes ( RG1375 )

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments. We're about to drive back to Atlanta now. Once I'm back on line, I'll have a wrap-up.

Maybe the picture isn't very good in showing what's going on. They roast naked, so you invoke a direct poke.

Today was also Andy's birthday. I was sort of hoping for more fish, but the tradition is that the Birthday Person gets to choose, and Andy wanted short ribs. Luckily, this is a specialty of mine. Of course, I've never made them for ten, and never in such a confused oven. We cleaned the local Publix out of short ribs, and brought them back, along with Andy's choice of vegetable (asparagus) and starch (baking potatoes, to be made into the twice-baked version). Also, a last-minute pound of mushrooms for sauteeing. Back at the house, we washed and dried the potatoes, forked them and dressed them with EVOO and salt. We put them into the oven, which was set, with hope, at 425 F. Meanwhile, I made up a rub of ancho, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, cayenne and oregano. I applied it to the trimmed short ribs and let them sit while the potatoes baked. Then I turned down the oven to 300 (hoping that it was really about 275), and put the ribs in for 30 minutes. Then I turned my attention to the asparagus, which Andy, after some training, managed to accomplish. I think there are two good ways to cook asparagus: roasted in an oven or a closed grill, or steamed. I find boiling and stir-frying too haphazard. The problem was that I had 2-1/2 pounds of asparagus, and not a steamer -- not even a collapsible basket -- in sight. This is a job for aluminum foil -- and an electric skillet: Seven minutes works every time. I flipped the ribs every thirty minutes, roasting them a total of 2-1/2 hours. This formula: rub and dry, relatively low heat, yields a succulent, very beefy piece of meat. It's even better on the grill, using indirect heat. Like any low-slow method, the key is the collagen stall, but what's fun about a short rib is that you can do it by touch. Give it a poke every thirty minutes; after two hours, poke every 15 minutes. You'll get a very good feel for how the meat is doing, and you'll be able to tell when it's done, without the need for a thermometer. I made a straighforward hollandaise (Andy's request, with a great deal of encouragement from Zak). We degreased the pan juices from the ribs, swirled in some homemade worcestershire, and reduced it slightly. Alan and Kelsey scooped and stuffed the potatoes with cheddar and blue cheeses, along with a little milk and some green onion. They went into the oven as soon as the ribs came out. When they were heated through, shredded parmesan was added, and the whole mess went under the broiler to brown. Andy's birthday dinner:

Today was sort of disjointed. Caitie and Kelsey went into town to find a present for Caitie's boyfriend, but before that, we had to discuss trvel strategy (Caitie is a relatively new driver, in a strange place), shopping strategy (what do guys really want>) and weather-realted issues (it's still raining). while we were talking, I put together one of my favorite things: a scrambled-egg sandwich. I first encountered this delicacy while helping to equip the Hotel Sonesta in the mid-70s. (It's now a Doubletree hotel, but at its inception, it was the first foray into high-end hospitality in the Buckhead area of Atlanta.) I helped move countless matresses, TVs, desks and Eames recliners into guest rooms, rolled carpet into hallways, lobby and dining room, and finally set up the storerooms, kitchen and bar with equipment, consumables and edibles. While that was going on, the only place to eat was up on Peachtree Street (the hotel sat back from the main street by about half a block). It was there (I'm not sure it had a name) that I had my first scrambled egg sandwich. Of course, none I've made since have equalled that experience (between cakes, hush puppies and scrambled-egg assembly, we've had quite a group reminiscence), but I've never stopped trying. These days, here's what I do: Prep two eggs: a bit of water, some black pepper, and a healthy shot of pepper sauce. (I leave the salt out until the end, relying on the theory that salt toughens the proteins, which squeeze moisture out of the eggs. I have no idea if it's actually true, or true enough to matter.) Toast two slices of bread and slice a tomato. Usually I spread it with mayo, but we still had some remoulade: Whisk the eggs lightly, and cook in a little butter -- not dry, but not too moist, either. When they cool a bit, you can salt them. Settle the eggs on the toast, and apply the tomato. You might have to add a bit more salt and pepper. Lettuce is just a distraction; don't bother.

Last (Monday) night, we had our first night of cooking for a real crowd (10). The first thing that somes to mind (after cool-weather dishes like stews and chili) is chicken: cheap, and in the right hands, tasty. Alan spatchcocked a whole chicken, and arranged some additional leg quarters. He salted them early, then just before putting them into a 375 F oven, dusted them with granulated garlic, black pepper and smoked paprika. We checked the meat after 20 minutes, and decided that the oven was reading low (we had anticipated this based on earlier attempts). We put a probe in the oven, and turned up the dial to 425 F. The probe results were confusing -- one minute it read 360; a few minutes later it said 450. We concluded that we were dealing with both a bad oven and a failing probe. After an hour, we went by sight, and cut a thigh open. It was done -- which indicates that, on average, the oven was about 375. To accompany the chicken, we made a new-potato gratin: small potatoes, quartered and simmered until not-quite-cooked. We drained them and let them cool while we did other stuff. Like prep the green beans and carrots. We ran with a recipe based on one from Fine Cooking magazine. Green Beans and Carrots Creole for a Crowd 2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed 1/2 pound carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut into tiny wedges about 2" x 1/4" x 1/8" 1 onion, peeled and quartered 3 T extra-virgin olive oil 3 T unsalted butter 1 t kosher salt 3/4 C vegetable stock 1 T lemon juice 1 T Creole mustard 1. Heat the oil and two tablespoons of the butter in a really big skillet. If you're working with almost three pounds of vegetables, be prepared to do the first steps in batches, and combine for the final dressing. 2. When the butter starts to brown, add the vegetables. (It's best if you keep the volume of each batch down to an amount that fills the bottom of the pan, but not much more. You're going to brown the contents, and crowding will inhibit that.) Give it three or four minutes (a few more if space is tight) to brown a bit. 3. Toss and turn to expose the unbrowned sides to the heat. This will take two to four minutes. If you're working in batches, remove the vegetables and do the next batch. 4. When you're done with the batches, dump all the vegetables back into the pan, ad the vegetable stock, and cover. Simmer for a few minutes. If you're lucky, the stock will have evaporated down to a glaze. If you're like the rest of us, you'll still have a fair amount of liquid, and you'll need to adjust the lid to let some of the steam out. 5. When the liquid is almost gone, remove from the heat, and stir in the lemon juice, mustard and the rest of the butter. Toss well, and deglaze the pan as best you can. 6. Serve as soon as circumstances allow. Getting back to the potatoes: Really Simple Potato Gratin 3 pounds waxy potatoes, trimmed of blemishes and cut into 1-inch chunks 3/4 C cream 2 ounces really sharp cheddar, shredded 1/2 ounce parmesan, shredded salt and pepper to taste Green onions, minced, for garnish 1. Simmer the potatoes (don't use salt) until they're almost done. 2. Drain and set aside to cool. 3. Butter a baking dish and dump the potatoes into it. Using a fork, crush the potatoes slightly. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Stir the cheddar into the cream, and pour over the potatoes. Sprinkle the parmesan over the top. 5. Bake for about 25 minutes at 375, or whatever your oven is really at when you set it to 375. The top will brown, and the bottom will get all bubbly. That means you're done, exceot for scattereing the green onions over the top to make it especially pretty. Here's how it all looked: Caitie's meat-free plate: the green-bean/carrot thing got raves. Here's an encore:

Disagree... at least it's not the case here, unless we cooked them to death. And like Wendy, grilled is among the ways we like to eat them. ← I stand corrected. Grilling is a great treatment. But to me, they clearly don't work in slowly-developed dishes like caramelized onion/onion confit or braises. You want the sweetness to work in your favor, but for whatever reason (lack of sulfur, maybe?), they just sort of disappear, flavor-wise.

We've been going out at night, but it's been raining the last two days! The only break was yesterday, when we went to the, er, Farmer Market. It started raining again as soon as we got back.

Yesterday, we set off for the Bay County Farmers Market. This is an hour's drive away, on the other side of Panama City, at the Bay County Fair Grounds: I guess both my advance information and the sign are wrong, as this turned out to be a Farmer Market -- as in one farmer: He had some summer squash; tomatoes that were too green to be ripe, and too red to be green; a few baskets of plums (obviously purchased elsewhere, since as far as I know, no one grows stone fruits in Florida, and these had PLU stickers on them); and about a ton of okra, which looked good but held no interest for anyone but me. We left empty-handed. On the way back, we stopped at Po' Folks: Po' Folks is a southern chain that serves food much like Cracker Barrel, and employs the same emphasis on "down-home" charm, such as it is. The food is decent and cheap -- $70 to fill up nine people. The highlight of the trip was spotting this vintage McDonald's signage:

Sweet onions like Walla-Wallas, Vidalias and Maui Sweets are easy to distinguish after cooking -- they're the onions with no taste. I think sweet onions are superb if you treat them very lightly, but insipid in anything cooked longer than an onion ring (which, in my opinion, might be the single best use for sweet onions).

They're stamped blades. I've never seen anyone use anything expensive, and I've never seen anyone use a steel or a stone. My guess is that they get something with out-of-the-box sharpness, and replace it when it gets too dull to be effective.

Dinner that night was at Goatfeather's. We started with a dozen oysters and a half-pound of crab fingers. Everyone has been telling us that the oysters are coming from Appalachicola, and I expected them to be watery and flabby, from the warm water and usual post-spawning slackness. To be honest, they weren't the best oysters I've ever had, but they were far from the worst. Just for Monica, here's the crab-finger money shot: These, of course, were not as good as mine. The Greek (their description) salad was great: Three lettuces, decent tomatoes, red onion, a mild feta, and pepperoncini, with a balsamic vinaigrette that was so good that we forgave them the canned olives. Going around the table -- Zak insisted on king crab: He was disappointed, and of course his Dad used it as an object lesson in local sourcing. Some day, he'll probably figure out that king crab, which can be great, isn't local to anyone. Grandma had scallops (also not from these parts). I didn't get a picture, but she said they were great. Alan had more oysters (sorry for the picture quality; I was shooting across the table without a flash): Peggy had grilled shrimp (the photo was too blurry to post). Caitie had what were billed as "lump crab cakes": That is one violent-looking remoulade. The cakes weren't made from lump meat; or if they were, the lumps had been demolished in the making. The cakes were dense and gray. The taste was passable, though texturally boring (Caitie is big on texture). I had grilled amberjack, which can be screwed up in only one way, and that's to overcook it, which they did: Overall, dinner was a disappointment. The service was slow and incomplete: appetizer trays and plates weren't bussed before the mains; a glass of wine was brought instead of a bottle, and much of the food felt and tasted like it had sat under heat lamps for quite a while -- this can be a kitchen or a service error. Goatfeathers has some great stuff in their fresh market, but they aren't treating it properly in their kitchen.

Between the docks and Sexton's, we had lunch at AJ's, a Destin institution: or, as it's known post-Dennis, simply A 's: It's the archetype of a beach/harborfront restaurant: lots of tables, lots of ceiling fans, a view of the docks, and a menu that emphasizes seafood (mostly local), but has something for just about everyone: I started with a mojito, which, IMO, would be more aptly named the Fouled Propeller: For all that mint, it was mostly lime and sugar. Lunch proper was a grouper sandwich for me: and a blackened mahi-mahi sandwich for Caitie: Both were good, decent food. AJ's is a safe bet, though alittle pricy: two sandwiches, a mojito and an iced tea were $31, including a 15% tip.

The heathens! I'm glad somebody gets to partake of the bounty, but...but...what are these people thinking, that they don't want their catch? Why bother going out?! ← Sometimes, the meaning is in the doing, no? How many times have you prepared something for a meal that wasn't lauded in proportion to the effort expended to produce it? You have to take you satisfaction from the craft of preparation, don't you? I believe that if you take a fish from the sea, it's your responsibility to make sure it's consumed -- if not by yourself, then by others. The mate on a recreational tour will often sell the remaindered fish to local restaurants. This nets (alomst always) him a few extra dollars, and provides some choice spots with excellent raw product. Otherwise, the surplus gets sold to a fish wholesaler. Sexton's, for instance, waits for the overcatch --as well as the haul from commercial boats, especially shrimp boats. Dennis blew out the sign, but the institution remains. The place was too busy for us to talk on Sunday, but we got a few pictures. In contrast to what's on the docks, Sexton's offering reflects the commercial catch. Whole flounder: Grouper, scamp, yellowfin tuna (over which I have personally witnessed Asian tourists arguing), and black grouper: On the right are Florida lobster tails. which resemble Maine lsobster tails in name only. Better to think of them as an extremely large version of a crawfish tail (we're talking less than an ounce to at least 1/4 pound. Large whole flounder (unlike the ones shown previously, these are 2- 3 pounds each) and whole black grouper (in the 30 - 40 pound range): and more sizes and variety of shrimp than I've seen anywhere outside of a Chinatown emporium: We didn't buy anything, because the best-looking things were those that we'd seen already (the scamp), and because we were planning to have dinner out that night. If there's still flouder or grouper -- or something exotic -- available on Tuesday (or even some really good-looking shrimp), we might give in.

Lots to catch up on. I apologize. Family vacations probably aren't that best times to volunteer for blogging. Yesterday, we went over to the Destin docks. It was our intention to capture the recreational fishing atmosphere, visit a restaurant that's been a traditional visit for a couple of decades, and see if we could get a peek at Sexton's. We were about as successful as can be hoped for on an expedition with such high hopes. The Destin docks, which service an interesting amalgam of commercial and recreational fishing interests, were ravaged by Hurricane Opal in 1995. They were rebuilt within a couple of years to accomodate tourist traffic, without compromising the essential nature of the docks' purpose. Subsequent tropical storms, while leaving their mark, haven't seriously affected activity on the docks. First, we surveyed the catch from deep-sea excursions. These are paid expeditions: tourists hand over $300 to $500 for four hours in the deep Gulf waters. As we strolled down the docks, we checked out what was running: Lots and lots of red snapper (the gray fish on the extreme right is a trigger fish; if you have a chance to sample this, take it). But there was also a fair catch of scamp (remember our Friday-night dinner) and grouper: and an assortment of other fish, predominantly king mackeral, but jacks: and yes, a shark or two: Typically, the catch is butchered right at the dock: and packed in iced bags for personal consumption (that's not a cable guy or a plumber; it's a mate from one of the charter boats): But as often as not, the catch (or part of it) is declined by the charter customer. In these cases, the fish are often sold to a wholesale purveyor. In Destin, the largetst of these is Sexton's.

Thank you. The bananas were actually just added for the photograph effect. The cake looked a little plain for the photo so it was what I found. It was actually a fudge marble cake with sour cream chocolate icing. I actually made it from Duncan Hines and I must say that it was much better than any Betty Crocker cake I've made or tasted. So, I say go for the hines if you aren't making it from scratch. Thank you. I have to give a lot of credit to the people at Duncan Hines though. Heh. The bananas however were my idea of making a cake look better for it's eGullet debut. It was a fudge marble cake with chocolate sour cream icing. Very tasty indeed. But the continuing comments on the bananas have given me the idea of actually making a banana filled cake. -Caitie

Fried Green Tomatoes Serve with crab remoulade, as I did when blogging on vacation. 3 Green tomatoes, cut into 1/2" thick rounds 1 Plate of flour Egg/milk wash Fri-mix Peanut oil (1/2" or so in a skillet) First, dip your tomatoes in the flour, then the milk/eggs, then into the fish-fri. Place them into the hot peanut oil and flip them after about 2-3 minutes or when they are a dark tan color. Soak up the extra oil on some paper towels. Top them off with the remoulade and serve in a pretty formation. Keywords: Easy, Vegetarian ( RG1370 )

Fried Green Tomatoes Serve with crab remoulade, as I did when blogging on vacation. 3 Green tomatoes, cut into 1/2" thick rounds 1 Plate of flour Egg/milk wash Fri-mix Peanut oil (1/2" or so in a skillet) First, dip your tomatoes in the flour, then the milk/eggs, then into the fish-fri. Place them into the hot peanut oil and flip them after about 2-3 minutes or when they are a dark tan color. Soak up the extra oil on some paper towels. Top them off with the remoulade and serve in a pretty formation. Keywords: Easy, Vegetarian ( RG1370 )