docsconz

Thanks! Plenty more to go, though it might take some time.

DAY FIVE: Thursday March 6 We would leave Cochin, Kerala and southern India today, but first we had a little free time which I took to catch up on my journal and to go to Jewtown to buy some more spices. I took a put-put (3-wheeled taxi) over there and quickly found what I was looking for. We left for the airport in mid-afternoon for a scheduled 5PM flight to Mumbai connecting to another flight to Delhi. The initial flight was over an hour late. We arrived just in time to get a bus directly to our connecting flight. Not only did we make it just in time, but so did our luggage! If I wasn’t impressed with Jet Airways before, I certainly was then. Besides outstanding service, the food is better than I ever had on any American airline and better than most Indian restaurants that I have ever been to.

My son and I popped into tailor on Saturday night to see some friends who were dining there and to have a light bite after that afternoons BBQ fest in Madison Square Park. I started with one of the most delicious cocktails I have ever had the pleasure of imbibing - the Mushroom Margarita with huitlacoche mezcal, triple sec, lime juice and lava salt. It was smoky, savory, meaty and only slightly sweet with great huitlacoche flavor. This is a dangerous cocktail, especially when hungry! The Kumquat Caipirinha was also quite tasty. For food we had the veal seen above, grilled squid, the snails and the sweetbreads. In addition we received the green apple/bonito sorbet as an amuse. For dessert we had an amuse of pineapple on pineapple followed by the mango ravioli with black rice ice cream for me and the red bell pepper cake for my son. All were superb. A dish like the red bell pepper cake provides an excellent illustration of Sam Mason's creative genius. Red bell pepper and cake together is basically an oxymoron - that is, at least, what I had thought until I tried my son's on Saturday. It was simply brilliant! It is something I never would have ordered from reading a menu, but it worked in every way. The place was humming with a number of high profile guests in the main dining room. The bar was packed by the time we left and busy from the time we arrived.

Doc, were you able to discern any smoked-crawfish flavor? ← Not that I could specify. The flavor as a whole was great and very satisfying, but I couldn't specifically distinguish crawfish or okra amongst the spices and the sauce. ← Ok, I should leave this alone, but I can't- There, percentage wise, was alot of both in terms of proportion, but, think about it- both were fully cooked (or smoked) when they went into the mix. So, when it gets mixed (with our highly effective redneck mixing method-a 3/4 horse drill and a drywall blade), the okra and the crawfish get mixed in pretty well. Whole tails are not a possibility (because they are cooked and delicate, they seperate some when being mixed, as does the okra) when one is cooking 500 pounds of batter at 2oz. a shot (you do the math-and we did it in 13 very, very hot hours-just three people plus Ann Cashion on Sunday afternoon as John had to leave to go to the Beard's). Beyond that, generally, the only comments that we got back were beyond positive about the product and while Saturday was a hard day, Sunday went smoothly and people were really nice. Even Steven, though he should have said something and gotten some more-we're from the South-we're nice-we'll make it right for you if you just axe politely-was nice. Imagine that. It was good to see him, as a matter of fact, and if he was the genius eater that he purports himself to be, he would have just come back and asked me to fix it for him . But, he didn't. Sorry, Steven. Next year... And just for the record, we were the last people serving yesterday, and served until the last person went through the line. It was a fun festival and City Grocery will be back next year. People were really nice (excepting one woman who may have been the rudest, most unreasonable woman that I have ever had the displeasure of speaking too-but, one out of ten thousand seems pretty fair. She's a very unhappy person. I would hate to be her mailman or something) and, given that we were cooking to order right in front of the fast pass line, I got to talk to a whole bunch of folks. Next year, come give them a try for yourself. It was great seeing so many people that I know and haven't seen for a while, and meeting new friends, as well. But, look, I'm from New Orleans and grew up in the Delta. I already know all about being really hot. I don't need to learn more. Can't you guys get the mayor or somebody to do something about the weather? Sheesh, fryers in 100 degree heat in the sun? Smokers in the 100 degree heat? All I could think of was that I wish that we still had Abita and I would just be over in the beer garden under the tent with a keg instead of 10 gallons of 325 degree peanut oil gurgling away. ← Frankly, I didn't envy you in there Brooks! It was hot enough just eating! The fact that you had only one bad bad customer with the lines that were waiting for those fried hounds in that heat speaks volumes. That it was like that in NYC speaks even louder. While I could not specifically discern individual components, I thought the product was a great combination of ingredients that were put together under very trying conditions. Finally meeting you in person was another highlight of my weekend. It was particularly fun running into you on the subway car Saturday night!

Thank you for sharing the beautiful pictures and account of your visit to my home state, docsconz. I have to agree with gingerly about the seasoning for the cabbage dish - it is urad not coriander. Coriander is never used in the seasoning in south Indian dishes. Instead of hulled and split urad dal here she is using hulled whole urad. The size is very similar to coriander seeds. ← I will defer to your expertise, though I recall no mention of urad dal there. Obviously I was mistaken and likely simply missed the mention of it. Thank you for replying. That is a lovely area in which you live!

Doc, were you able to discern any smoked-crawfish flavor? ← Not that I could specify. The flavor as a whole was great and very satisfying, but I couldn't specifically distinguish crawfish or okra amongst the spices and the sauce.

Very, very nice work! One of the highlights of the event for me was meeting people such as yourself!

While not bad, I didn't really care as much for the Hill Country ribs as some who have posted on here. The sausage was pretty good though. A lot of the lines moved pretty slowly. I'm not sure the fastpass was a huge advantage as some of those lines were as long as the non-pass lines. The most surprising lines were those for the hush-puppies. They were pretty darn good puppies, but as Brooks said, "they're basically just fried cornmeal with spices."

A full list of the winners can be found here. There were a few surprises and a few personal disappointments. Outstanding Chef was a particularly tough field with three personal favorites up for it. I am happy for Chef Achatz. I can only hope and expect that my other two favorites, Chefs Andres and Barber will be back up for it again next year. I have not had the food of Chefs Goin or Stitt, but have only heard enough positives to expect them back as well. Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees! Being nominated is itself being a winner.

This makes no sense at all. The product may or may not be the same, but it isn't because of the distribution infrastructure of upstate NY! Before the original Fage gets from Greece to the US, it still has to get from the plant to the port. The transportation access from the plant in Johnstown is actually quite good and is only about three to four hours outside of NYC and a half hour from Albany.

Wow! What a weekend! I was down in the city this weekend with my son for the express purpose of hitting this event. What a blast! We only were able to attend yesterday, which was unfortunate, because we were only able to make a dent in the amazing offerings. The standouts to me were Blue Smoke's and Mike Mill's 17th St. ribs and ed Mitchell's whole hog BBQ. I didn't have a bad bite all day. Unfortunately, by the time we made it to Big Bob Gibson's they were out. We started the day by visiting the Union Sq. Green market, where we ran into Chef Michael Anthony at Flying Pigs Farm stand and Chef Mario Batali signing his newest book on grilling Italian style. Cool stuff for a hot day. We made it up to the BBQ where we found lines already formed even before it opened! I took a few photos even before we got in our first line at The Pit. Early ribs at Mr. Cecil's ...and sausages Basting the ribs "wet" at Mike Mill's. He starts out with a dry rub then uses a wet sauce near the end of cooking. Floyd Cardoz at the Tabla stand. We had some wonderful Indian Alphonso mango there for a buck a pop. They did not participate in the FastPass. They lined up early at Blue Smoke. Pulling Pork Pulled Pork at Ubon's. Unfortunately we didn't get to taste this either. So much food. So little stomach. Whole hog pork at Ed Mitchell's The Pit Fortunately, we did get to taste this. This was our first stop of the day. While I preferred the ribs, this was my son's favorite of the day. This stuff was so good, I bought their shirt. ...a little brisket ...on to Blue Smoke. I have to concur with Steven. This was some pretty damn good Q. The ribs were outstanding. My favorite bites of the day was a toss-up between the ribs here and from Mike Mills. The addition of the pickled okra may have set this over the top though. Making hush puppies at City Grocery. Mine, unlike Steven's were cooked perfectly. This may have just been fried cornmeal, but cornmeal never had it so good. Back to Ed Mitchell's for some cracklin' Riblets Lemonade by Eleven Madison Park Seminar on the geography of Q with Peter Kaminsky, Lolis Eric Elie, Calvin Trillin and Kathleen Purvis. An extra little treat of smoked foie gras. Beard award winner Grant Achatz chatting with Alex Talbot at Blue Smoke. Bringing more ribs in. Ed Mitchell overseeing a hog for Sunday's party. Waiting for The Pit. Blaze of Glory Brisket from Wilson's before the sauce. Jeffrey Steingarten and Mike Mills Hot times on a hot day While the day was hot, it was a blast and well worth the trip. We finished the BBQ by going to Blue Smoke to watch the Belmont Stakes from the bar. Oh well!.

Congratulations to Chef Grant Achatz for winning the Outstanding chef, Gramercy Tavern for Restaurant of the Year and Central Michel Richard for New Restaurant of the Year!

Clearly the most economical way of experiencing Bresse chicken, especially if you like to cook is to cook it yourself. When we were in Paris three years ago I bought two Bresse chickens at a market and roasted them in the apartment that we rented. Of course, that was an exceptional kitchen for a rental apartment. The chickens were delicious. Would I spend $125 per chicken today as was quoted above? Probably not. While not cheap. they cost considerably less back then with the stronger dollar.

We didn't actually see or visit any supermarkets, although I would have liked to just out of curiosity to compare. There was discussion of them though. I believe that they are more prevalent in urban areas as one might expect. As for the regular markets, the only one we really saw in detail was this one at Ernaculum and it was towards the end of the day. I didn't really see a lot of waste. I suspect that one way or another it gets used. I believe the burners you have seen are primarily for demonstration purposes, although later on you will see some demos from within home kitchens.

Thank you, Peter and gingerly. Very interesting, especially about the mangosteen. The terms mangosteen, fish tamarind and kokum were used interchangeably throughout this portion of the trip. It was not seen when we traveled up north. I'm pretty sure that what I described as coriander was just that, though I could have been mistaken. I don't recall any mention of dal at the time. Visually, urad and coriander look alike. Coriander is a product of the plantation while dal is not.

From the market we continued to the home of Nimmy Paul for a cooking demonstration and dinner. Nimmy, an extremely gracious and charming woman, demonstrated a few Kerala dishes for us from the Christian tradition including a shrimp curry called “Chemeen Molee,” “Meen Molee” or fish in Coconut Milk, and a cabbage based stirfry called a “Thoren” all of which were later served for dinner. The shrimp, in particular was the finest thing I had eaten on the trip to that point, the first real “Wow!” moment. Dessert was a dish composed of mangoes done four ways using the first ripe mangoes of the season. Nimmy Good friends - Julie and Nimmy Chemeen Molee Mango four ways Paul, Nimmy and Julie

Goodness, I thought they were mud-covered rocks. I'm still not sure I've matched the caption to the correct photo. Do you by any chance have a picture of these cut open? (This is a great tour, BTW, thanks!) Edit: oh, it's the stuff in back. (I was looking at the stuff in front of him!) ← I believe that you were right the first time! I never did get to try this delicacy nor did I see the inside.

Mangosteen or "kokum" Banana Flowers

More market photos...

I received a press release from Madrid Fusión this morning which states:

Elephant Squash

There are so many things and so little time, but one thing that comes to mind is a chuleta from a 16yo Rubia Gallega ox.

Later in the day we were driven to Ernaculum, the newer part of the city for some touring and shopping. Our initial stop was at a kitchen supply store that specialized in stainless steel products. I wound up buying some small steel cups that should be useful for holding mis-en-place for cooking. In retrospect, I should have bought a few other things as the prices were so inexpensive. We were met by Paul, the husband of Nimmy of Nimmy Paul, the well known South Indian cooking teacher who was featured on Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie. Interestingly, her name, Nimmy Paul, derives from a combination of both of their names. In any case, Paul took us on a fascinating tour of Ernaculum Market, which was full of great produce. The okra, bananas, pineapples, spices, gourds, pumpkins, squashes, fish, etc. were all well displayed throughout this winding market that reminded me a little of Palermo’s Vucciria. On the way to the market... Slicing a tuber into a streetside fryer ...at the market... Snake Gourds Bitter Melons Okra ...more market shots to come...

For the most part I had a very good time. Much of the food had some degree of heat, though it was never overwhelming. It may be that they toned things down for the Americans even though we asked them not to.