JAZ

I got one of these as a giveaway from the manufacturer. It sat on my counter for weeks while I tried to figure out whether to give it away, toss it, or what. One late afternoon, I heard a big commotion on the stairs that go up to the backyard from my kitchen. A family of raccoons was on the stairs waiting, apparently, for me to open the door so they could come in and eat the cats' food. City raccoons are pretty bold and fearless, so they didn't budge when I opened the door and yelled. I grabbed the first thing at hand and threw it at them -- it happened to be the Twist n Chop. It did the trick; they scattered. Plus, the Twist n Chop broke, so then I could throw it away with a guilt-free conscience.

Skipping around a little bit, here are a few more pictures of my kitchen storage. Since I work at Sur La Table, I have more cookware than I technically need, but as I tell my customers, "need" is relative. This is the cupboard next to the stove. It's really convenient to be able to store my skillets, sautepans, saucepans and stockpots right there. Above that is what I call "the crawlspace." It's not convenient at all, and I have to stand on a chair to reach into it, but it's a place for the things I don't use often. You can see my ice cream maker and chocolate temperer (with a 9-qt. Demeyere pot I can't fit anwhere else). Behind that is my big coffee maker and some giant tupperware bowls. Most of the rest of my cookware is in this cupboard (the one the cats like -- since it's not finished in the back, they can crawl around. I guess that's the appeal).

Yes, I did manage to get a few photos -- I got to the market late, so some of the folks were already packing up. The smoked salmon booth was completely out of fish, so I couldn't get a picture of them, for instance. This market started last year in a little shopping "mall" in the Financial District. usually this area is filled with tables and benches for shoppers and others to eat lunch etc. It's nice in weather like this, because the mall is covered with a skylight, so it stays dry. I didn't pick up much yesterday, since I was going out after work -- just a few tangerines and this pastry from the German bakery's stand: As for the prices, I'm a terrible comparison shopper, because it's not usually possible for me to go to several places to get the lowest prices. For instance, Susan asked earlier if the price for bacon at the butcher's is similar to other shops, and I honestly have no idea. (Lemons and limes are about the only thing I comparison shop for, because I go through so many, and they're available almost everywhere I shop.) But I find that the quality at the farmers' markets tends to be high, with lots of organic produce, which I like. I don't mind paying more for that.

Oh, I completely understand. There are optional freezer items, like the glass bowl that holds ice. When I need the space, the bowl goes away, and I just use ice straight from the trays. Or the bag of sliced bread -- I keep it in the freezer because I just don't go through bread that fast, but it can stay outside if necessary. The wire shelf helps a little -- I can stack more stuff in it that way. But when I've just made stock, for instance, the freezer is crammed so full that I have to dismantle and rearrange it every time I want to get anything out.

Thanks, Genny. I like it too. It's funny -- when I moved in a few years ago, my place and the place upstairs (there are two flats in what was originally one house) were both vacant. The kitchen in the place upstairs had been remodeled and was brand new -- dishwasher, cooking island, built-in display shelves, pantry -- and big. But the place was consequently much more expensive (it's bigger, too, by far) and I couldn't afford it then. But my little kitchen has grown on me. And as I've mentioned before, for its size, it has a lot of storage space. I'll post a few more photos in a little bit, and you'll see what I mean. As for ingredients -- it's hard to claim any of them are very exotic -- especially since I'm talking to eGullet members! What I do have are opened bottles of a whole bunch of different prepared sauces and marinades, that I've used once or twice. Between samples from IACP, which I belong to, and samples from work, I get a lot of them. Most of them aren't great, but they're not bad, and I keep thinking that I might want to use them some other time. Then I just get more, so I rarely do. One that I do like and use is Stonewall Kitchen's Curried Mango Grill Sauce (which I just realized I'm out of, or I'd take a picture). I use it in a beef roll appetizer. Oh, and that's a seltzer bottle, not whipped cream.

On the list of things to do this afternoon is to transfer the rest of the cassoulet to tupperware and get the EH cleaned, but if I don't, I'll post about the cleanup results on this topic. I'll try to post more detail on some of my classes, too.

Okay, okay already. It's mostly leftovers and condiments. There's some produce in the drawer, too. The freezer compartment: I didn't bother with the door -- it's all cocktail glasses and butter. And a bonus: my "pantry" (In case you're wondering: yes, the shelves do slant down to the right. The entire kitchen does -- old house, settling.)

I wish I'd been teaching or even planning a class this week, so I could have involved everyone in that. But right now, I'm not doing much teaching. Sur La Table changed its policy on serving alcohol in classes, and although I completely understand the move, since I teach cocktail and cocktail party classes, it means I don't teach much at the store these days. However, I hope to start teaching soon at a new culinary school opening this month in Berkeley. More about that later.

Good morning. Today's another work day, and then after that I'm going to the tequila class I mentioned. Tequila is a spirit I don't know much about, so this should be educational (no, really!). It sounds as if we'll be getting some snacks from the restaurant's kitchen, so that will give me an opportunity to try a relatively new Mexican restaurant (Tres Agaves) as well. If it's possible, I'll take pictures. If not, I'll take notes. Also on my schedule is a quick lunchtime trip to a small farmers' market near where I work. That's where I got the leeks and the smoked salmon for the chowder last week. I'll be home tomorrow, so I hope to get to any questions I missed before this ends, and tell you a little bit about my teaching, which I realize I haven't discussed yet.

As requested, I roasted marrow bones for dinner tonight. I have never bothered to soak the bones in cold water overnight, which many people advocate; I just heat up the oven to about 400 degrees and roast them. While the oven is getting hot, I make crostini (if I haven't done it in advance). I forgot to take a picture, but it's only brushing some olive oil on sliced baguette and baking for about 15 minutes. Last fall, I had marrow bones at Landmarc in New York served with great toasted bread and a caramelized onion confit. It was good -- really rich, as you can imagine. But ever since I tried Fergus Henderson's recipe for marrow on toast topped with a parsley-shallot-caper salad, I don't think I'll ever serve it any other way. If you've eaten marrow, you know how rich it is. If you haven't -- it's essentially really beefy-tasting fat. It helps to have something to cut through the richness, and the salad is perfect for that. Henderson's recipe is sort of vague, but it doesn't really have to be very precise. Coarsely chop some parsley, add some sliced shallots (a big tablespoon of shallots to about a cup of parsley is enough for two or three bones) and a tablespoon or so of capers. Toss with some lemon juice and olive oil. You can add a little salt if you want, but he recommends sprinkling salt over the whole thing right as you're eating it -- this gives you the crunch of the salt, which is a nice thing. It's an easy dish to oversalt if you add salt at every step. Here's the set up: And a couple of crostini assembled: While the bones were roasting, I finished up some leftover side dishes from earlier in the week -- the rest of the broccolini, and the sweet and sour cabbage. So you can rest easy knowing that I got my vegetables. I have one bone left (roasted already), but I can always find something to do with marrow. One of the best dishes I made with it was a twice baked potato with finely chopped marrow, caramelized onions, and parmesan cheese. And if you want to accent a steak, marrow mashed with parmesan melted on top is a great alternative to compound butter.

I froze the half I didn't top with breadcrumbs. When I thaw it, I'll top it with crumbs then. I'll eat some of the first batch for lunches and dinners (I don't mind leftovers -- in fact, I usually plan for them). I gave a big container to a friend of mine whom I work with -- she and her husband both have bad colds, and I figured they'd appreciate something they didn't have to cook.

While I'm waiting for the marrow bones to roast, I'll try to answer a few questions. Thanks for your patience the last couple of days. Tonight's cocktail is a Saicar, which is a drink I found in Killer Cocktails by Dave Wondrich (member Splificator). It's a sort of hybrid of a Margarita and a Sidecar, with both tequila and brandy, and lemon and lime juice, along with triple sec. Since I'm going to a tequila seminar tomorrow evening, I thought I'd get in practice with a tequila drink.

I buy most of my meat at Drewes Bros. (see my earlier post with photos), and that's where I got the lamb. I can pretty much always count on their having lamb shoulder chops, or a hunk of bone-in shoulder. The quality's good, and if they're a little pricey (which they are), for me, the convenience (they're about 4 blocks away) and quality make up for the higher prices. And I like the fact that they buy meat from naturally raised animals. I also picked up marrow bones for tonight, so there's more meat in my future.

A few photos of the final cooking. First, last night's cocktail. This was a variation of a Sidecar, which is brandy, triple sec and lemon juice. My version substituted a spiced demerara sugar syrup for the triple sec. The glass was rimmed with more Demerara. 2 oz. brandy 1/4 oz. syrup (this is a 2-1 syrup, infused with cinammon, cardamom, ginger and cloves) 1/2 oz. lemon juice I started heating the oven to 400 and put the Emile Henry pot of cassoulet in. By the time the oven was at 400, the cassoulet was warmed through and just beginning to bubble. To top it, I mixed about three tablespoons of finely minced fresh rosemary into a cup and a half of "fresh" bread crumbs (these were fresh crumbs that I'd frozen and thawed). Those went over the top and got drizzled with olive oil. To drizzle oil, I use an old Fee Bros. bitters bottle -- the shaker top is perfect for dispensing a few drops at a time. After about 20 minutes at 400 degrees: It was, as I mentioned, really good. I'm not sure it could ever be as good as that bean dish from Bay Wolf, but it's good enough to make me rethink beans.

. . . And the answer is . . . They were about the same. At least at first. Maybe because I was so tired by the time I finished cooking both of the cassoulets on Monday, when I tasted them, I couldn't really tell much difference. They were both good, both pretty moist (although, again, the EH kept the edge that way, but it almost seemed to have too much liquid). The fennel and garlic were cooked almost to the point of melting into the beans, and the lamb was fork tender with a crust on the parts that were exposed. I personally like that, but if you don't, you could just submerge the meat all the way into the cooking liquid. However, after sitting for a day, the EH version took the lead. The Le Creuset version was still great, and I would have been very happy with it if I didn't have the other pot. But I think the extra liquid in the EH absorbed into the beans over the day and the texture was better. The final deciding factor will be how easy the pots are to clean. One thing I love about Le Creuset is that it's always easy to clean. My one experience with cleaning the Emile Henry was terrible. Maybe that was a fluke, but if it's always that hard to clean, I'm going to think twice about using it very often. More in a few minutes, with photos.

Yes, on Friday it hailed, and on Saturday we had lunch outside. Sunday, it poured. Springtime in the Bay Area. I'll check out Julia's version of caesar salad -- the croutons sound great.

There are two reasons why I decided to make Russ Parsons' "Cowboy Cassoulet" for one of my blog dinners. One is that I have wanted to try to make a great dish with beans ever since I had a transcendental bean dish a couple of years ago at Bay Wolf, a local restaurant. Before that, I'd always thought that beans were okay, but pretty low on the culinary excitement scale. At Bay Wolf, I had a mixed grill dish that was served over beans, and I practically finished the beans before the lamb, quail and sausage served on top of them. The second reason is that I recently got a new Emile Henry clay "stovetop" cooker. I've used it once, and it worked fine, but turned out to be extremely difficult to clean. But I didn't want to give up on it, and since everyone seems to think that beans do better in clay than anything else, I figured beans would be a good test of the new pot. If they weren't any better in the clay than in my trusty Le Creuset, then I'd have learned something about that claim. If they were, then the Emile Henry would earn a place in my kitchen. It would be a good match; the pots are virtually the same size -- about 5.5 quarts each, with about the same diameter. Actually, there's a third reason I decided to make Russ's recipe -- it sounded really tasty. I love lamb and garlic; I like fennel too. Here's the recipe, reprinted with Russ's gracious permission. (I've merged the instructions with photos and my comments. The entire recipe can be found by following the link included in my earlier post.) Cowboy Cassoulet (from the L.A. Times, courtesy of Russ Parsons) Total time: 4 1/2 hours Servings: 6 to 8 3 pounds lamb shoulder blade chops Salt 1 head garlic, separated into cloves but not peeled 2 pounds fennel (3 small or 2 medium) 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling 1 carrot, peeled and diced 1 onion, diced 1 cup white wine 1 cup crushed tomatoes 1 pound Great Northern white beans or navy beans Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 baguette (to get 1 3/4 cup bread crumbs) 8 fresh sage leaves Okay, so when I got back from the store I realized that a) I'd forgotten the sage leaves and b) I didn't have the half bottle of white wine in the fridge that I thought was there. Oops. But, I always have dry vermouth, and if it was good enough for Julia, it's good enough for me. And I have a giant rosemary bush in the backyard, and I like rosemary with lamb, so that would do as a substitute for the forgotten sage. With the tons of rain and intermittent sunshine, the growth in the yard is amazing. Time to weed. Lest you get the wrong idea and think that I'm a garderner, let me dispel that notion. This huge thing was here when I moved in. It's next to a Meyer lemon tree that I did sort of rescue, though, so I'm proud of that. Meyers usually have two (sometimes more) crops a year -- so I have immature lemons and buds at the same time. It's really pretty. Back to the subject at hand. First, I opened the beer in the teaser photo. It seemed like the thing to drink while making cowboy cassoulet -- a cocktail just wasn't right. Next, the competing pots: The red one is the Emile Henry; the blue contender is the Le Creuset. The cassoulet: I had some lamb bones leftover in the freezer from a curry a while ago, so I figured I'd make lamb stock to use for the cooking liquid. With a pressure cooker, I can make a decent stock pretty quickly. I had roasted the leftover bones, but then when I bought the lamb for this dish and started trimming it, I figured I may as well add those bones as well. So it was a combination of roasted and raw. Pressure cooker lid on and ready to go. For the prep, since I was making this in two batches, I wanted to make sure everything was evenly divided between the two. I measured all the ingredients. The first step is to blanch and peel the garlic, leaving the cloves whole. I got a head of garlic with huge cloves, so I split some in two. You start the actual cassoulet by browning the meat in some olive oil. My photos of this step didn't turn out. But here are the bottoms of the pots after the browning stage. Seems to me that the Emile doesn't heat quite as evenly as the Le Crueset. Emile Henry Le Creuset Then you add the carrots and cook without stirring for a few minutes, to get some carameliztion started. This worked better in the LC than in the EH. Add the onions, and cook for a few minutes until they soften up. Then add the wine to deglaze and cook it until it's mostly evaporated. This step was really interesting. After about 7 minutes, the liquid in the LC was pretty much gone, but amost all of it was still there in the EH. Le Creuset Emile Henry It took another 5 minutes or so, with the heat turned up, to get the liquid to thicken in the EH. But when they had about the same moisture level, I continued. The next step is to add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Then add the beans, along with 5 cups of water (stock for me, and the 5 cups was total; I used 2 1/2 cups in each batch). Then slip the quartered fennel and the garlic cloves into the beans, and lay the meat on top, pressing into the beans so that it's mostly submerged, but not all the way. (That's the Emile Heny; the LC photo didn't turn out very well) Then you cover the pot and bake it for one hour at 325 degrees. I had a little trouble fitting both pots in the oven, but I made it work. I switched their positions halfway through just to be fair. After the hour, you add 1-1/2 tsp. salt and a "generous grinding" of black pepper. Stir it gently, trying to avoid breaking up the fennel. I added about a tsp. to each half, and it still could have stood a little more, to my taste at least. At this point, the liquid issue arose again. The LC batch was pretty dry, but the EH batch had plenty of liquid. I added about 3/4 of a cup more broth to the LC, and none to the EH. Back into the oven for another couple of hours. I checked them after another hour, and at that point the EH looked as if it needed a little more liquid, so I added about 1/4 cup of broth. The LC was okay. Back into the oven for another hour or so, and they seemed done. At this point, I was done too, so I let them cool, took some photos and called it a day. Emile Henry Le Creuset After some serious rearranging, I got them into the fridge. We're almost done, folks. I did have cassoulet for dinner tonight, and it was really great. Don't give up. Tomorrow morning I'll finish the instructions (bread crumbs and a final browning) and give you my verdict on the clay vs. enamel question. And my verdict on the dish. Thanks for putting up with my limited availability. See you tomorrow.

The company sent all the employees at SLT one as a gift/incentive -- that was a while before we got them in the store, so maybe the black was a trial run that they decided they didn't want to use? I've never seen them since -- we only sell the yellow and green. Although I think (I'm not swearing to it) that the adjustable ones are black.

Aren't big sisters just great? Actually, E and I get along really well. What she's talking about with the peanut butter balls is this: every Christmas I make a few cookies and candies for friends and family. Her husband (Tom) is addicted to the peanut butter truffle balls I make -- he saves up his carb allowance for the whole month of December, I think, so he can eat them. This year I made fillings for three different truffles, but got a cold and ran out of time to make them (in my defense, I made three types of cookies and three other candies). Then I promised I'd make them for Valentines and again, just didn't get around to it. Now, they're promised for Easter, and I think he'll disown me if I let him down again. And I have no idea what the shelf life of frozen truffle filling is, but my guess is I'll be starting from scratch.

Now I shift into a different mode from the last four days -- today through Thursday are work days, when I have no computer access for 8 hours at a stretch. I'd hoped to post about my "cowboy cassoulet" adventure this morning, but I ran out of time. For the recipe (which I will also post, with Russ's kind permission), check out this topic. And to keep you interested, a few teaser photos. See everyone tonight!

Actually, these are the ones my parents had: I picked these next ones up at an antique store (actually a warehouse/barn) in Montana a couple of years ago. They're German, from the 30s (I think). (Sorry about the photo -- it's hard to get the detail to show up without a dark background, and the trivet was all I had.) They're really liqueur glasses -- they only hold about two ounces to the rim. This is from a set my grandmother had -- six etched glasses and an ice bucket. I had a small drink pitcher that matched, but unfortunately, it broke a few years ago. This set is one I bought about 10 years ago -- my first "antique" purchase. It's from the art deco period. Check out how small the glasses are.

Grits tighten as they cool, like pretty much any other starch, so you really do have to risk a run if you don't want to be eating wallboard compound towards the end of your dinner. Use the tricks you already know: make them a little loose to start with (knowing how loose comes with practice); serve on a warmed plate; use lots of fat and make sure it's fully warmed and incorporated before serving; eat fast. Finally, don't despair. If they get too cool and thick to eat, mash the remains into a cake (about 1/2-inch thick) and grill or fry in a flavorful fat for a later dinner. In fact, you can treat them like leftover mashed potatoes: add a beaten egg, a little onion and some flour, and make a savory pancake. Thanks. I think the answer is "more butter" -- it might not solve the problem, but how bad could it be? Very cool, Janet. Who makes that guy? ← This is by Kyocera, the Japanese ceramic cutlery company. They also make an adjustable version, but this one is fixed. So it's great for very thin slices, but doesn't do thicker slices. But that's okay, because for thicker slices, I'm okay with my knife -- it's the really thin ones that are difficult. This is wonderful for making potato chips, and I use it all the time for cucumbers.

I take it your cats are past the stage of "let's see if I can fit in here"? Mine know how to open cabinets, even. The glassware sits in a tall closed hutch, out of feline reach. ← For some odd reason, they've never been interested in that shelf, for which I'm eternally grateful. Two of them love the cabinet where I store my Le Creuset and some other cookware, though. They've figured out how to open it, and go in it frequently. But there are worse things, I guess. ← Do you ever have problems with your boys getting interested in what you're making in the kitchen? My husband claims that he could probably set our cat Lyon up on the counter right next to the cutting board, just so he could see what was happening, and he'd be very happy to just sit there and watch everything without getting into trouble. I dared my husband to try it. He didn't. At the time, he was prepping a tuna steak! (I should add that our boys are both very good about not getting in our way as we work in the kitchen. The single thing that our boys are most interested in is glasses of milk, especially chocolate milk.) MelissaH ← Not really -- they're not much interested in "people food" with one exception. Max started hanging out while I would get the milk out for my coffee and beg for some, so I started giving him a little (a teaspoon or two -- not enough to make him sick) when I got my coffee ready. Pretty soon, he'd be there when the coffee was brewing, and then Damien (not pictured yet) caught on, and then Felix, so now I have a crowd around the fridge as soon as I start grinding coffee. They're really happy if I have half-and-half or cream because they get the good stuff when I do.

Sorry I haven't posted much today. My plan was to make Russ Parsons's "Cowboy Cassoulet" as a test of my new Emile Henry stovetop casserole, and then post about it and then have the cassoulet for dinner. I did make it, but by the time it finished cooking, it was way too late for dinner, much less posting about. So I'll do that tomorrow, I promise. Instead, I had some leftover chicken, but I tried a different side -- grits with some fontina cheese melted in. It worked better with the vinegar sauce, as I'd thought it might. I had grits for the first time last summer, when I was in Raleigh for the Pig Pickin, and I've only made them a few times. I'm wondering if there's any way to keep them from congealing when they start to cool. I prefer them softer, but I'm afraid if I add too much liquid, they'll be runny, which doesn't sound appealing either. Am I missing something? Any grits specialists out there? To start with, another cocktail of my own design. I call this one the After School Special. 2 oz. gin 1 oz. Lillet Blond 1/4 oz. Meyer lemon juice Dash Green Chartreuse This is a drink that won't work with regular lemon juice -- it has to be Meyer. There's a Meyer lemon tree in my backyard (which I'll show you tomorrow) but it's not producing any lemons right now. I found a few Meyers in with the plain lemons at the corner store last week, though, so I scooped them up and am hoarding them. While I was looking in the produce drawer of my fridge, I found half a cucumber that really needed to be used up, so I made a cucumber and shallot salad with a mustard dill dressing (trying to use the rest of the dill, too!) Slicing cucumbers and other vegetables is really easy with this ceramic blade slicer. The blade is double sided, so it slices on each pass of the vegetable. It's really great. Here's the salad: And the chicken and grits: More tomorrow morning -- I promise. Until then, here are the rest of my cookbooks, as Safran requested.

I take it your cats are past the stage of "let's see if I can fit in here"? Mine know how to open cabinets, even. The glassware sits in a tall closed hutch, out of feline reach. ← For some odd reason, they've never been interested in that shelf, for which I'm eternally grateful. Two of them love the cabinet where I store my Le Creuset and some other cookware, though. They've figured out how to open it, and go in it frequently. But there are worse things, I guess. And Max loves the bar. Mookie and Felix prefer the cat tree.