nolnacs

Tonight for dinner I made Bucatini all'Amatriciana using some of my homemade guanciale. 1/3 lb Guanciale chopped into batons 1 small to medium red onion chopped De Cecco is the brand of pasta that I typically buy. I've had some of the higher end pastas, but I don't detect enough of a taste difference to make it worthwhile to spend 2-3 times as much. Saute guanciale. You can either start them off in a dry pan or with a bit of fat. Olive oil and lard are good choices. That looks about right or maybe just a smidgen too long for the meat bits at the ends of the guanciale sticks. Remove guanciale and add onions. Sautee until soft but not browned. I was busy grating cheese while the onions were cooking. Pecorino Romano is the cheese traditionally used in this dish. I used a specific brand of Pecorino Romano called Locatelli that I picked up at Downtown Cheese in the Reading Terminal Market. It's a bit sharper than most Pecorino Romano. Once onions are to a satisfactory state, add half of a 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes. I can never find 14 oz cans so I just use half of a 28 oz can. Simmer for about 15 minutes until tomatoes and broken down and it is, well, saucy. Now season the sauce with salt. Once the salt levels are good, add lots and lots of coarse ground black pepper and some red pepper flakes. I went kind of light on both tonight. But as always with spicy foods, add what you can tolerate. Once the pasta is finished cooking, drain then add back to the pot with the sauce, guanciale and some of the pasta cooking water. Delicious, porky bucatini

I'm pretty sure that the sign says Platform 2 in English only which makes me think that it is not Japan.

Thanks, I cooked the london broil at 54 C for a little over an hour which is well more than it needed for the core to reach 54 C. I think I would drop it a couple of degrees the next time I do it. I mostly cook tender proteins sous vide - steaks, pork chops, chicken etc. I've tried vegetables a few times but haven't gotten it down pat yet. I've done some tougher meats too, just not as frequently. I suppose that doesn't really answer your question, but I would say that I really do like how steaks (typically strip or rib eye for me) come out so those would have to be my favorite.

In response to my wife's request, I made mapo dofu for dinner tonight. Watch out Han Dynasty! Maybe not... I only took a few pictures tonight. Grinding the pork All prepped and ready to go My mouth is still burning a little bit I was please with how it turned out. I sprinkled ground szechuan peppercorns on top and if I were to do it again, I would make sure to grind them a little finer in the mortar and pestle. My wife also approved of the dish stating that she would be happy to eat the leftovers. High praise in my opinion.

She does indeed, but also I think the toys were a package deal with me when I moved from Chicago. It was a fairly lengthy search, almost entirely online. It was made by Catskill Craftsmen and they have a decent selection of large kitchen islands

Part two of the kitchen annex My kitchen island acts like an additional counterup against the wall. This is my main prep space. The top drawer holds my knives and most of my tools The middle of the island has my foodsaver, a spicestack and some bowls and colanders. The spicestack in action. I bought it to try to bring some organization to my spices but was only partially successful as you will see. And here are the rest of my spices. One of my favorite stores in Chicago was the Spice House and I have continued to buy some of my spices from them even now when I am in Philadelphia which accounts for all these little baggies of spices. The other drawer holds plastic containers for leftovers - a little sparse right now. One side of the chest freezer. Lots of frozen fruit and cured meats on this side of the freezer. One drawer is mostly filled with various nuts. The other side of the freezer has more frozen fruit as well as lard portioned out in 1 C increments so that I don't have to measure it out when I make pie crust If there is anything from the kitchen tour you would like to show more of or explain, just let me know.

Sorry for the interruption there, but the time slipped by unnoticed until it was time to go. On the subject of the refrigerator and more specifically condiments, I often find condiments to be rather annoying. They tend to clutter up the refrigerator and leave less space for actual food. Of course, I did just add some jars of giardiniera to accompany my pickled ramps and cherries hiding in the back of the refrigerator so perhaps I am a condiment hypocrite. Nevertheless, I do try to limit the number in the refigerator. Onward to the kitchen annex Hanging above the chest freezer is this poster of an entirely too happy pig Meat slicer and immersion circulator: old and new together. The top shelf of this cabinet is filled with various vinegars and oils The bottom has sweeteners, some baking extracts and various jams and jellies Next to the freezer, I have the wine refrigerator that I use as my meat curing chamber, which is why there is a piece of cardboard over the front of the unit. Cured meats like to be in the dark and the front was mostly class. It also gets decorated with a pig (I think it came from Citypaper). On top of the wine fridge is my new chamber sealer. I only picked it up a couple of months ago but I like it quite a bit more than the foodsaver that I use to use. Metro shelving with pots, pans, small appliances, flours & sugars This shelf has most of my cookbooks. The shelf above has cooking magazines that I like to keep (Cooks Illustrated & the Art of Eating mostly) and a few other cookbooks. There is no room for Modernist Cuisine here so it tends to hang out in the living room

I had some of the leftover london broil for lunch today. It actually tasted better today than it did yesterday which strikes me as a bit odd. I know stews and such tend to improve, but steaks? Anyway, I took some pictures of my kitchen last night to share with you. One of the downsides to where I live is that I have a small, ugly & kind of crappy kitchen. So much so that my kitchen toys (as my wife likes to refer them) spilled out into what was intended to be the dining "room" of our 1 bedroom apartment and became the kitchen annex. I'll post some pictures of that in the next post. One side of the kitchen - note the lack of counter space Other side of the kitchen - still hardly any counter space. I also need a better way to store spoons and such than those two big mugs. Cabinet above the stove. I store infrequently used dishes here. Next cabinet on that wall has dry goods, some of which have been there for quite some time... Cabinet above the refrigerator holds more infrequently used dishes (primarily for dinner parties), vacuum bag rolls and freezer containers. On the other wall we have the daily dishes and cups Then grains and my wife's drink stuff. I usually drink water or milk and that is about it. My wife is much more interested in various teas, coffees, smoothies, pop, wine etc than I am. This lower cabinet contains most of my baking pans and trays The kitchen freezer is filled to the brim with ice cream, wine (for cooking) and frozen soups and such that can be reheated for an easy meal Refrigerator is very full with leftovers and ingredients The door is filled with condiments. I have a few other comments on the refrigerator but I have to head off to a meeting now so I will add those in a bit.

Yep, that's where I got the magnets. I must say that I haven't done much with the book other than play with the magnets... I'm still going strong so far. Let's hope it lasts.

Is there a reason that it needs to be the tail? Is that fat tastier than other lamb fat?

The wires drive me nuts too. Many of the greens at Iovine's at the Reading Terminal Market are bound that way often to the detriment of the outer leaves.

Wow ,that's going to be an exciting addition to the market. I can't wait to check them out.

Well, I've made it with both before and it is one of my favorite dishes either way. Sometimes I like the meatiness of the pancetta and sometimes the unctuousness of the guanciale. My question was more about which one people here would like to see in use.

Interesting, I've never heard of that trick before. I'll have to try it out. How long do you usually do the pre-bake? My sheet pans are lighter in color so maybe that is why I think that it affects the bottom browning. Then again, it might just be all in my head.

Doesn't look so attractive after it comes out of the water bath Thankfully, I have Mr. Torch here to help out Much better, but I still need to work on my torching technique. Sliced and ready to eat Simple salad to accompany the meat - mixed greens, chopped yellow tomatoes and a vinaigrette (olive oil, sherry vinegar, mustard, salt & pepper) All together now Well, this meal was disappointing. The flavor of the london broil itself was decent, but I didn't really get any of the flavors of the marinade. I was perhaps too aggressive at brushing off the bits in the marinade. This brings me to my meat rankings. If I had a duck magnet, it would probably fit in above the chicken. Favorite to least favorite

They are. Pancetta is from the belly and guanciale is the jowl. After they were finished curing I chopped most of them up into roughly 1/3 lb pieces, vacuum sealed and froze.

I'm going to be making bucatini all'amatriciana later this week and I need to decide which meat to go with. Should I use guanciale (right) or pancetta (left)? Guanciale is the more traditional option but I also like pancetta in this dish.

The london broil for last night is now cooking in the water bath. However, my wife wanted a snack so she had some of the Chimay Grand Cru that I picked up at Downtown Cheese on Saturday with some grapes and semolina bread. I had a bite of the Chimay and it is very good.

Thanks. The vents don't represent anything. I just start cutting and try to end up with something that looks neat. Thinking about it further though, it definitely seems at least partly inspired by the kanji characters that I (sort of) learned while taking Japanese in high school.

I do that sometimes, but I feel like the bottom crust does not get as browned when it is sitting on the sheet pan. Do you find that to be the case as well?

While the pie was in the oven, I did some prep work for tomorrow night's dinner which is an interesting recipe in the NYT that I saw last week. It caught my eye because I have never made london broil before. Anyway, I just needed to mix up the marinade and apply it to the steak. I'll be cooking it sous vide tomorrow so I went ahead and put it in a vacuum bag

As you can see, I had some blowout despite the fact that I reduced the juices. I probably put too much filling in the pie. It doesn't really bother me except that when it hits the bottom of the oven it starts smoking. I had to put a piece of aluminum foil underneath to catch the spillover. The crust is actually darker than it appears in the image. It is extremely important to be brave and leave the pie in the oven until it is nicely browned. Pale, anemic looking pie crusts make me sad and they will make you sad too if you have to eat them.

I should mention that I sliced up the peaches for this pie yesterday and mixed them with the brown sugar. This causes the peaches to release some of their juices which I then reduced. Reducing Reduced Rolled out. This pie crust is very forgiving. I rarely have problems rolling it out. Of course, tonight it didn't want to cooperate I like to use the rolling pin to help transfer the crust For a double crust pie, slice away the excess dough to the edge of the pie plate Like so I poured the reduced liquid back into the peaches, added thickeners (1 1/2 T cornstarch and tapioca), 1/4 t cinnamon and about half a cup of toasted pecans Top crust on. Sorry there are no pictures of putting the top crust on, but you want to trim the crust so that there is about 1 inch overhang and then fold that overhang back under the bottom crust. This is how I like to flute the crust. It is a technique that my mom taught me but I haven't seen many other people use. I like to use a milk wash on my pies and then sprinkle with sugar. Don't forget to cut vent holes.

While the carrot soup was cooking, I busied myself with making pie. Yes, PIE! 400 g flour, 1/4 t baking powder & 1 t salt Added 1 C of lard Lard is mostly cut into the flour. I did just a bit more after this picture. Added liquid ingredients: 1/3 C cold water, 1 egg & 1 T vinegar Mixed all together

Dinner tonight was a lot simpler, but before I started making dinner I finished up my giardiniera. I drained the vegetables then added some spices, olive oil, and vinegar. I put the giardiniera in canning jars, but I am not going to can them due to issues with canning garlic. Instead they will go into the refrigerator. For dinner, I made a simple carrot soup. Sautéed onions in butter Added 2 pounds of sliced carrots and 3 stalks of celery Then 3 cups of chicken stock While the carrot soup cooked (~30 minutes), I put a loaf of semolina bread in the oven. I made the bread a few weeks ago and froze the extra loaves. Still wrapped in its protective foil Warm and tasty Blendtec annihilates carrots Smooth, creamy carrot soup