Really Nice!

Now that I live about 50 steps from it, I walked by Union a couple times last week after their March madness sale... Monday night, 7:30PM: Not one person in the place. Not even at the bar. Tuesday night, 8PM: 8 people - 4 at one table, 2 at 2 other tables. Wednesday night, 7:30PM: 12 people - 2 4s and 2 2s. Perhaps people are Union'd out? We visited it four times in March so we're taking a bit of a break ourselves. I noticed on Saturday night that it was hoping like usual. But I think if you go there early in the week you'll be able to stretch your legs around the bar. Mostly off topic: As Tsquare mentions, Zoe is a good place for a single. We were in there last night for their half-price wine promotion. Note: Not all wines are half price. They customize the list for Monday, perhaps to move slower moving wines through the cellar? Missing from the list was the 75cl '98 Altesimo Brunello, which I came for specifically because I saw it on their wine list about two months ago. They did, however, have the half bottle on the list. I asked why the 75cl wasn't on the list, which I could see behind the bar, and the waiter said that the deal was only for wines on the list. So me suspects a wee bit of cellar cleaning is occuring.

I know, I know! Now, Big John's Shhhhh....

This reminds me, PFI has it in bulk too. I don't know of its quality though.

I've seen Bob's Red Mill Semolina at Larry's in Kirkland.

A good time to go to Eastern Washington is the weekend of May 7. The Taste Washington tour stops there at the Red Lion in Pasco between 7 and 10 P.M. Although there aren't as many wineries presenting, the price is only $40, and you'll find some of the smaller 'boutique' wineries that aren't coming to Seattle. Here's a list of participating wineries and restaurants. Here's another Web site offering stuff on Washington wines including a clickable map.

In and Out burgers are great, especially when ordered as double animal style and well done fries.

Here's a Seattle PI review of Union two days later...

Very, very cool!

We went last night (10th). The menu was very similar from the previous night as posted by cheeseandchocolate. I called at 4PM to make a reservation for two at 6:30. I was told the earliest we could get in was 8:30. That was too late. We decided to walk in and see if we could get something anyway. At 6:05 we walked in and were told they were booked for the night. About half the tables were empty. We were told we could grab a table in the bar and be served dinner there. We started with a split of Puligny-Montrachet 1er (Premier) Cru Sylvian Langourenan "la Garenne", a very nice chardonnay that will do very well [read: no oak] with the first four courses. $38. Our Amuse Bouche was beets with shaved fennel and red wine vinaigrette and evo. The beets were thinly sliced and very narrow in circumference. It could have been sliced on a truffle slicer. I suspect the fennel was blanched to remove the strong licorice flavor as it was very subtle. It was also held in French buttah, but the waiter didn't know what brand. Speaking of buttah, the Burgundy wine matched quite well to the buttah we had with our bread. I don't think I've ever noticed or thought of a buttah matching a wine. It was... well... really nice! <drink> We also had the Stellar Bay oysters with Meyer lemon and Casa Brina EVO This olive oil is very good; not grassy, very fresh. The oysters had a bit of parsley on top. It was tangy, clean, and seasoned just right as my mouth began to salivate afterwards. He achieved just the right effect. Our soup was Watercress with Wolffish Brandade and shaved Oregon Truffles. A brandade is dish from Provence that is a mixture of salt cod, olive oil, garlic, milk and cream. In this case he substituted Wolffish for the salt cod. It was served as a quenelle in the dish. The truffles looked like shaved chocolate. Next came Roasted Casco Bay Cod with avocado cream and basil. This was yummy. I have fallen out of favor with fish over the past couple of years. I just don't like it anymore. However, this is the second time I've had fish here and both times (four dishes) it was spectacular. I told Kriste that I have to try making that avocado cream. I would have licked the plate if she'd had let me. We then ordered a split of Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir 2000, $39. This is good pinot, made the way it's supposed to be; light, aromatic, something that light can shine through. Our duck dish was Muscovy duck breast with young onions, port reduction, and cardamom dust. cheeseandchocolate did a good job describing this dish. The young onions were also held in buttah and did well by spreading the flavors around our tongues. There was a bit of fleur de sel sprinkled between the onion and the duck. The port reduction was clear and bright, and it's obvious that it's a real reduction, not some sauce thickened up with cornstarch as some places I've seen. The cardamom dust was not there to add flavor. It was used as an aromatic as it was sprinkled around the perimeter of the dish; basically, it was plate graffiti, but it heightened the nostrils a bit. Good choice to match with the duck and quite clever too. Our cheese plate was also Bleu de Gex with Frisée and Almonds. It too was served with raisin bread and much to my surprise, Kriste actually ate it. This was one of two items she ate tonight, which she absolutely abhors. The other was the beets. The blue cheese was wonderful with the raisins in the bread; sharp contrasts playing against each other, yet neither one out performing the other. Next we had Grapefruit Sorbet with crème fraîche. At first this seemed one dimensional if not empty. But hidden inside this flavor profile is the crème fraîche, which is fat, and again it acts as a carrier of flavors to your taste buds and holds them there. In this case it was grapefruit. After about three seconds the flavor disappears and you think, "Hmm..." Then after about seven seconds it reappears and lingers there for 10, 15, 20 seconds. This is incredible. We finished with Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with baked seckle pear. A very good way to end the dinner. Dinner for two with two half bottles and tax came to $140. We finished at 7:50PM. One thing I haven't seen in this post is the other half of the menu. For those of you looking beyond March, here it is. This has subtle changes on a daily basis as well. First Mixed garden greens with toasted almonds, goat cheese, red wine vinaigrette $8 Rabbit rillettes with frisée, bacon, toasted brioche $9 Foie gras terrine with port poached cherries $15 Stellar bay oysters with red wine dressing, fresh horseradish $10 Second Baby turnip soup with soft poached duck egg $9 Roasted wolffish with braised manila clams, shaved fennel $12 Pork tenderloin with grainy mustard, celery root remoulade $10 Sautéed foie gras with shaved oregon truffles, oyster mushrooms, saba $15 Entrees Seared ahi tuna with roasted artichokes, basil, baby carrots $18 Grilled hanger steak with fingerling potatoes, roasted onions, and red wine shallot sauce $17 Roasted sturgeon with brussels sprouts and bacon $18 Roasted muscovy duck breast with parsley root purée, port reduction $18

Does anyone know if the fire at Per Se has an affect on the reopening date for The French Laundry? I called on March 1 for about 45 minutes, which they advertised for a long time as the opening date for the reservation line, but it was busy. They originally advertised on the phone line that they would be open in mid April. But, as I said, I called March 1 and it was busy all day so I don't know if things have changed due to the fire in New York. Does anyone know when they'll open in Yountville? Thanks! -lav

If you want a good stock pot go to Cash and Carry in Bellevue. They have 18/10 grade stock pots at 20-30-40 quart sizes at a fraction of the price of City Kitchens or even the used section of Bargreen and Ellison. that wine was so big it should have its own zip code!

It was a French Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley. It definitely needed decanting/swirling, but I noticed by the time the duck course came out (after 60 minutes of swirling) it was somewhat, ummm tasteable. Personally, I'd remove it from the wine menu. You made a good choice for the remaining courses. This offering by Union is by far the best thing going on in the city; bar none. DO NOT WASTE ANY TIME GETTING TO THIS PLACE. DO NOT WAIT. DO NOT PASS GO; BUT COLLECT 2OO HUNDRED DOLLARS BECAUSE, AS WITH ALL THE OTHER PLACES, YOU'LL NEED IT FOR THE WINE. GO DIRECTLY TO UNION. YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED! Eight courses for $25 far exceeds anything going on in the city. They do not hold back on the quantity simply because you're ordering eight courses for $25. Each course was a delight. The GF and I are going again next week; and possibly each of the next three weeks. OH MY GOD! MY INTERNET CONNECTION IS BACK!!!!!

I usually offer a couple dozen toppings at my pizza parties (not all vegetarian), and you can find a list here for a Pacific Northwest Egullet event that I hosted in June. Scroll to the bottom. Pictures of the event are on the next page.

Well, after all, it was prepared for a wedding. A garish presentation like that would have the bride kicking me out of the reception!

I like to use the same wood that produces fruit or nuts that go with various parts of the pig. This includes apples, cherries, and walnuts; so apple, cherry, and walnut wood infuse a nice flavor into the meat. Mayple syrup goes well with bacon, so maple wood is also good. Hickory imparts a strong flavor and is a good wood for just about all proteins. It's one of the most plentiful as well as being one of the cheapest. These are the woods I commonly use when smoking smaller portions of pork. Last week I made my first attempt at cold smoking homemade bacon and used 25 percent apple, 25 percent maple, and 50 percent hickory. It was really nice!

Thanks! The fire was burning for about 3.5 hours, but it was much too hot. I think two hours should be enough. When the fire has died down, move the coals to the secondary fire area and return them to the pit when necessary. Michael

I ate bacon, therefore I am.

Be very careful doing this. When I did it in my oven I wasn't gentle enough with placing it on the bottom. I ended up cracking the ceramic starter underneath and the oven stopped working. It cost $175 to replace it.

Sleep well, Toliver, there's always a bowl of bacon fat in my fridge.

If I were going for an oenology graduate program I'd go to University of California Davis. From everything I've read, this is the place in the world to go to for an education in viticulture.

Any scientist out there feel free to correct me... but here's some text from my culinary school notes that I'm applying to the question. Animal fats turn solid in cold temperatures and as a part of that process they cloud up. I believe this is because animal fats have a longer 'fat chain' and are more closely to being fully saturated. This means they can pack together more closely, and in doing so, they 'cloud' up. Vegetable fats do not turn solid in cold temperatures because they are either mono unsaturated, or poly unsaturated; they have a shorter fat chain. Either way, they're lacking some hydrogen atoms contained in the fat chain. This keeps them from solidifying. This keeps them clear. After a few moments in hot pan, the bacon turns translucent. Actually, this is true of any animal fat. I believe this is due to the fatty chain breaking down because of the heat. Exactly what happens with the chain, I do not know. It could be either the hydrogens or carbons evaporating in the chain and causing the breakdown. It turns somewhere in between because the heat is high enough to caramelize the fat. Another way to look at this is to cook bacon in an oven at about 250F. You'll never be able to get to that "somewhere in between" point because it isn't hot enough to perform the 'maillard reaction'. Again, any food/rocket scientists out there that can verify/destroy this theory, by all means please do. Oh, and Mamster, did you remember to ask because of my post?

Woohoo!!!!! I was describing the Traeger to Col. Klink at his going away party. He looked at me and quickly dismissed it with, "That's not smoking!" I like that idea of using Maple Syrup, and why did I not know you'd ask! I think I'll try that next time with the dry brine instead of using honey. Any other requests?

Many thanks to you all!!!! I'm not familiar with Nueske, so I can't comment on that. For the most part, store bought all tastes the same. Maybe it's the preservative they use, maybe it's marketing to the masses, but the aroma, taste, and texture have a small degree of variance from one brand to the next. The stuff made last weekend is better than store bought, at least to me, because it tastes fresher. By that I mean, this stuff smells like smoke, has the flavor of apples, molasses, mustard, and pepper, and it's not as salty. You can pick these flavors up as you eat it. It has a different kind of crunch to it too. Store bought will break into tiny pieces as you eat it; the one I made had a crunch, but it still held together for a few extra chews. This might be because I sliced it a little thicker than traditional bacon. I'll bring some along at the next event; and we'll also have some for the next pizza party in early September. (And I'll demo the Traeger bbq with some smoked protein... ribs, brisket, salmon???)

Sorry it has taken so long to get the photos posted. I'm using www.imagestation.com for the first time as www.pbase.com doesn't let you link to individual photos. It hasn't been a pleasant experience. Some how the interface let me post photos outside of the storage bin and I couldn't get them in. I may be a stupid user but a properly designed interface shouldn't let said stupid user do that. It also scrambled the sequence of the photos and I can't find anywhere in the interface how to sort them. They're numbered 01, 02, 03... and I posted them in that order, but for some reason the sequence starts 06, 09, 10, 01, 02, 11... Fortunately, because they're linked, they're in order. And finally, the size of the files are about triple what I posted from my drive. Anywho... here's the photos and the process. The basic summary: If you have two smokers and you love bacon, you have to try this. You'll make the best bacon you've ever had in your life. 1. Here are the packages of pork bellies. I was hoping to get larger pieces, but this is all they had. I bought it at a local Asian market for $2.89 a pound. 2. This is the dry brine recipe. After three days there will be about 12 ounces of liquid in the bag. 3. This is both the dry and wet brine recipes after three days. The wet brine pork got a lot of dark color (and flavor) from the molasses. I started brining both on Wednesday morning. 4. You want to create a light skin on the pork. Set up a fan to blow air on it for about an hour to create the 'pellicle.' 5. This is the wood. The original photo looks a lot better. But, that's Maple on the left, Apple on the right, and Hickory in the front. To describe them I'd say they look like rabbit droppings. I used 1.5 pounds of maple and apple each, and 3 pounds of Hickory. There was about 1/2 pound left at the end of 8 hours. 6. This is the operation. It ain't pretty but it works beautifully. The traeger is on the right. It's a wood pellet auger-driven smoker system. I used painter's tape because I didn't want the sticky stuff that duct tape leaves behind. Unfortunately, it rained after I set up the operation the night before and it started falling apart. I taped the sides of the lid, as well as the pipeline, and the grease drain. I'm guessing about 75 percent of the smoke made it inside the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) pictured on the left. 7. This is a closer look at the link to the WSM. It fell apart shortly after I took this photo. Painter's tape doesn't hold well on wet surfaces. I ended up using clear packing tape, but I still couldn't get a good connection as too much smoke was escaping. I decided to cut the end of the pipeline in 8 places, about 1.5 inches deep. I then folded back each cut and applied tape to the 8 newly created 'wings.' Sorry, but I didn't take a photo of the new connection. The tape held firm and the new connection reduced the amount of escaping smoke. Also, the WSM has three vents in the bottom, one vent on top. The vent connecting to the pipeline was wide open, the other two on the bottom were completely closed. The vent on the top was initially wide open to create a draft, and after about 30 minutes I closed it halfway. The WSM is a water smoker, meaning it has a basin in the middle to hold the water. Remove this so it doesn't interfere with the smoke. Leave the charcoal basin in the bottom to prevent smoke from leaking out or to prevent the draft from getting too strong. 8. This is the bacon as it sat in the WSM. The temperature inside never got over 100F. The day started out cloudy and cool (60F). Towards the afternoon it became sunny and warmed up to about 90F. I started the Traeger on high; about 450F for about 10 minutes. This produced a lot of smoke. I turned it down to medium (300F) for 20 minutes; then on low (150F) for 7 hours. Finally, it went back to medium for the last 30 minutes. Total smoking time: 8 hours. 9. This is the WSM as I opened the lid after smoking the pork bellies for 8 hours. There's a lot of smoke and the bacon looked lean. I placed it all in the freezer to harden for about an hour before slicing it on a Braun slicer. 10. This is the cooked bacon. I think this particular piece was originally about 12 ounces and it gave me twelve good slices and a couple not so good. The Braun slicer was on setting 2, or about 1/4 inch thick. I baked it at 425F for 15 minutes. It looked better than the photo shows. 11. Time to assemble my ultimate sandwich, the Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato. I made bread while the bacon was smoking, made homemade mayonnaise, got a tomato from a neighbor's garden, and for the first time, I'm using homemade bacon. I couldn't find any local iceberg lettuce so I had to go with store bought. The remaining bacon was sliced and vacuumed sealed. 12. And here it is. The best BLT I've ever had in my life. So naturally you need one heck of a fine wine to go with it: Lafite Rothschild, 1976. You can't see it, but the wine had a beautiful red brick rim. Conclusion: Okay, we know I'm not a photographer, and having gone through imagestation for this experience, I think I know how to produce better posts with photos. I'd like to say I'll never buy store bought bacon again. If I'm in a pinch and unprepared, I'll have to buy it. But, with a little bit of planning, you too can have some fantastic bacon in just four days.

I like this Amazon.com review: [1 star] Mean, Bitter & Spiteful, July 27, 2003 Reviewer: A reader from San Francisco, CA USA The headline says it all. This is a bitter memoir filled with spite for those whom Tower believes have deprived him of proper credit. His remarks about Alice Waters are mean-spirited and vile. It's all about Tower-- me!me!me! To which I would only add: mean!mean!mean!