weinoo

See - the problem isn't that someone at homes makes a carbonara and uses some god-awful ingredients, or someone makes an Amatriciana and uses American smoked bacon instead on an unsmoked product...the problem is when restaurants do that. The same problem exists when a restaurant makes a Caesar salad...out of friggin' kale. (Let's not get started on blank-tinis!)

You've got the biga, and have you tried a poolish?

That child is being raised correctly.

That is some scary shit, my friend. This past week, up in Provincetown, I offered to make a first-course Spaghetti all'amatriciana, at a cookout we were invited to. Try to find guanciale in P'town! I think I might've been lucky to find this... Still came out okay (I mean, no one was any the wiser). As to that Dolmio Carbonara sauce, this make me want to run in the other direction...quickly! INGREDIENTS: WATER, THICKENER (MODIFIED CORNSTARCH), BUTTERMILK 5%, VEGETABLE OIL, EGG YOLK 3%, SUGAR, CHEESE POWDER (CONTAINS MILK) 1%, ONION 1%, FLAVOUR (CONTAINS MILK), GARLIC 1%, CLARIFIED BUTTER (CONTAINS MILK), SALT, FOOD ACID (LACTIC), PARMESAN CHEESE (CONTAINS MILK) 0.5%, YEAST EXTRACT, CHIVES. MAY CONTAIN BUTTERMILK, EGG, CHEESE, MILK. REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING AND USE WITHIN 3 DAYS MADE IN AUSTRALIA FROM AT LEAST 80% AUSTRALIAN INGREDIENTS

It was loaded! I think that stops at the border!

Yes! Really good. I also bought a bunch of snacks for the drive on our recent road trip. I've tried the ones on the right and they're pretty good. The ones on the left are still unopened. There was one other seedy, cheesy bite thing which was okay as well.

Marcella's pan-roasted chicken, with white wine, rosemary and garlic. Whole chicken, cut up, pieces browned in olive oil, removed, pan deglazed with white wine, white wine reduced, garlic and rosemary and chicken added back until done. This (obv) is Significant Eater's plate, breast deboned and sorta carved (hey, it was hot). Roasted "peewee" potatoes (which are a pain in the ass to peel). Haricot verts blanched, shocked, sautéed in schmaltz with garlic and crushed red pepper.

I bought a package of vegetable samosas recently; they were surprisingly good even without a ton of sodium.

It's almost all edible; there are some larger pieces of cartilage where the sweet meat hangs out and gets sucked out, which don't get eaten. I'm sure that's what most people would do, without eating the crispy fin. But just like with collar at a sushi bar, there will be parts that are inedible. And like fried shrimp shells and heads, there are parts we wouldn't have thought about eating, but then realized how good those parts are if prepared in certain ways. I get aggravated about this enough to not order oysters at many places, thinking this will be the result. I was surprised at Fore Street, as it did not happen last year. Otherwise, to generalize, I think the oysters of Maine are the best in the United States. The first time I ever saw this type of thing was in San Francisco, years ago. It doesn't bother me, as the alternative would just be to raise all prices by 3%. And I still tip in the 20 - 25% range, depending on the service. Places where tipping may be worrisome (i.e.: tourist heavy joints, I can really understand), as tourists (especially those from other countries) generally don't understand why and how tipping works here in the US.

We'll be going to a derby day thing at a friends. I'm excited, except for what happened last week.

We were in Portland for 4 nights; the oysters above were consumed the night before we left (dining at Helm). There were a couple of other great dishes that night, but instead, let's go chronologically. Night one, the classic Fore Street... Where I wasn't 100% impressed with the shucking (you can see how it's better at other places), but the quality of the shellfish was just fine. For @rotuts: This is the squid and the Tuscan style beans. My whole roasted sea bass was great. The following day, our niece and husband arrived; they've been to Portland a couple of times, but never to Scales. If one must, one must. A much nicer shucking job.These oysters were fantastic. Full menu here for those so inclined. My 1.5 lb. pan-roasted lobster was great - these people know how to cook a lobster just right. We had to try this... The loaded Hasselback...it was okay. Looks as if the niece's baked haddock snuck into the picture too. After a night of perhaps one too many glasses of vino, the next day meant we had to head down to the water and the classic: I had a crab roll. Good, unadorned as it should be, but maybe a little too much roll. The pickle was horrendous (but that's because it's not the kind of pickle I grew up with), but probably classic up here... Excellent potato chips, by the way. Head to Becky's! Before dinner, we had drinks at The Danforth, the recently opened cocktail lounge from Gin & Luck and the Death & Co. family. Great, as to be expected. And then headed to our niece's fave, Izakaya Minato: Making it easy on ourselves, the whole table ordered the Omakase, which was the most generous omakase I've ever encountered. Lots of goodies, including... The signature Motoyaki oysters, which were fab. Even the edamame was better than the usual run-of-the-mill edamame most places send out. The fried chicken was up there with some of the best we've had; discussions ensued about what a great bar snack that would be. Had to burn off some of the calories the next day, so off we went: Portland Head Light. Two Lights Eastern Light. Self explanatory. Our final night's dinner in Portland was at, as mentioned above, Helm Oyster Bar & Bistro, where in addition to the scrumptious platter in the preceding post, we ate more. As we usually do, we shared apps. Johnny Cakes with trout roe, and the fried, chili-glazed sea bass collars, which may be the singularly greatest use of fish collars ever...and there are so many uses. Fried until the fins are crisp and edible, just a great dish. Then I had their specialty, the whole Acadian Redfish ... Served with a very cool gribiche (sugar kelp based) - another great dish. Wow - as I mentioned above, they should be breaking down the doors to get in here, and maybe they do once the season starts. Breakfast on our final morning... Good enough. And not a long wait, even though we were quoted 30 - 45 minutes at 9 AM, we got in in 15. I want to also mention Forage Market, where we had good to very good bagels and smoked salmon. Not that weird, considering there's good baking going on, and this place... Occupies a fair amount of real estate. Also great, The Cheese Shop of Portland, recommended to me by my friends at Formaggio Essex. We like Portland. Because, you know, is there another intersection as copacetic as this one? Great little town.

Tender - and I find spargel to be a juicier asparagus than green, though the way I cook green it's pretty tender as well. In my opinion, all asparagus ought be peeled.

Awesome looking meal, @Duvel!

If you’ve ever shaken your can of Duck Fat Spray and heard a thud, don’t be alarmed. Inside a can of Duck Fat Spray, there’s a bag of duck fat surrounded by clean compressed air. When you shake it and hear a thud, that’s just the bag of duck fat moving inside of the can. https://duckfatspray.com/faqs/

Yeah, a big or a small portion of the spargel. 3 spears vs. 5 or 6 plus more of the potatoes or whatever. I generally get a small portion, along with a side of salmon or their fried chicken. I can’t eat 6 of those giant spears, and Sig Eater doesn’t go for the spargel too much.

Or... Wild Fats

Third night back home, and since I'm not in the mood for cooking, we went to Cafe Katja; more spargel for moi... We often start by sharing one of these with our cocktails... Damn good pretzel, with butter and liptauer. Spargel with new potatoes (and green garlic sauce in the ramekin). Added a side of hot-smoked salmon, which mostly got taken home to use on bagels this morning.

I think similarly about sweet potatoes; I've never seen them crisp, only tried them in restaurants, and they're always not good.

Second night back home, figured I'd make an easy dinner... Spaghetti cacio e pepe.

What is? I feel the same about my MAC bread knife - except I sometimes use it on artichokes instead of watermelons.

I got gifted this book whilst here in Provincetown. Classic, hard-to-find original editions. Great drawings and photos abound.

We really enjoyed Helm, but I was worried about how not busy it was at 8 PM on a Saturday. Location seems to be a big thing, especially during the non high season. From 12 o’clock (next to the lemon, in pairs) going clockwise: John’s River (from the John’s River), Love Point (Casco Bay), Mere Point (Masquoit Bay), Pink Stripe (Damariscotta River), Pleasant Cove (Damariscotta River), Spartan Sea Farm (Casco Bay). The mignonette is made with sugar kelp. All beautifully shucked. And all different from one another. Faves might be the 4 from the Damariscotta River. @johnnyd - we got to try Maps, which was great fun. Along with another local bar on Congress St.; when I remember its name, I’ll post! https://www.portlandoldport.com/mapsthecoziestlittlebarintheoldport/

It (your's) was probably better.

Just got an email - fresh supply is in and perfect for those $750 rice cookers! https://trf-ny.com/collections/rice?utm_campaign=emailmarketing_146237587690&utm_medium=email&utm_source=shopify_email

As an aside vis-a-vis almost all canned tomatoes we can buy, if you know how to read the code on the can bottom, you can usually find ones with the latest harvest date; theoretically meaning they will be the ripest.