paul o' vendange

Thanks, Shelby. What a fine machine!

Late to this, saw it on the main page. Wonderful blog, Shelby - thank you for doing it. Can you tell me what model grinder you have there? Beast is an understatement - very nice! Edit: Just doing a little digging, it appears Tor-Rey is discontinued and is now rebranded as ProCut. Stout grinders, whatever the name...!

Insane. Anecdotally, as a drinker of raw milk (2 gallons weekly) and maker of my own raw milk cheeses, I'm well, alive, and writing this. Scientifically, it can drive you nuts, the absolute ignorance of the FDA on the topic. Not to mention the USDA - and the fact its upper management tends to come from agribusiness concerns. Until they understand the goal is not sterilization of all bacterias and yeasts, but rather the environmental encouragement of the microbes we want in order to outcompete the ones we don't want, we're lost as to millenia of food culture. It's so exasperating. Small case in point - don't know where it stands since I'm no longer considering taking my French-alpine cheeses professional - but a few years back, out of NY, a USDA inspector on her own decided wood shelving was "inherently unsanitary," and shut down a creamery until they retrofitted their aging room shelving with plastic or stainless. To the tune of 10's of 1000's of dollars. The idea caught fire, and all of a sudden inspectors everywhere were giddy with a new rule, completely unsupported by science (in fact, quite the opposite). I and hundreds of others flooded anyone and everyone we would with science proving that not only was wood a sensible choice, it was the safer choice. Why? It was loaded with good microbes, strong microbes we wanted in our cheesemaking, who out-competed pathogens exceedingly well. It's part of the larger issue - we don't need to rid the world of pathogens in our foods; we just need to make them unwelcome with the help of the natural, microscopic world.

Haha! Great. Hmmm....6 quarts of chicken stock, a small container of demi, 2 containers of fish fumet, some remaining leg portions of northwoods venison, 3# of duck carcass, some rendered duck fat, 1/2 roll of cod cake and.....a ton of Trader Joe's variabilia. Should be fun!

As a dog lover and a person who often even feels more canine than home sapiens, yes, this offends me to the quick. That said, I realize the hypocrisy in such a sentiment. I will say, however: I'm a dyed-in-the-wool hunter. Itself, a contentious issue. The most serious responsibility I take, whether consuming meat someone else killed or killing an animal and eating it myself, is that needless cruelty plays no part in the animal's life, nor in its death. I owe everything I have to kill the animal without suffering, and to treat its life, its death, and its flesh, with the utmost dignity and respect. I don't personally care if the image of that poor animal was "planted" by a protest group or not. The image of that tortured, sentient creature, is as bad as images I've seen from the worst of agribusiness crimes. Whoever did such a thing, whoever supports such a thing, in my opinion, should be deeply, deeply ashamed.

"Butter, more butter, always butter!"

I've abused plenty of starters while away, and am always amazed at their resilience. Keeping in mind that any change to any ambient factor will alter the balance between various strains of yeasts and bacterias, I've left things to "rot" in the fridge for as long as a month, with a viable culture on returning - just took deliberately under-inoculating the 12-hour ferments to encourage lots of young growth (i.e., lots of generational growth as opposed to mature, anaerobic fermentation) over the course of several days. The first, very little inoculation and 24-hour cycles, then as the culture starts exhibiting good strength, I go to greater inoculations and 12-hour shifts. Freezing will do the same. It will preferentially favor some species over others, and your balance will shift, yielding a different poolish and final bread. But if you return to your regular routine, on your return, eventually your population mix will re-adapt to your ambient conditions, and you'll be back in business.

Going a bit cookbook crazy, old and new. Like Enurmi, on my (don't know how many) re-reads of Culinary Artistry; Pro Chef 7, starting over and working everything; Escoffier (had the crazy idea I'd start over here, too - but at 55, I think I need another 47 lives); Re-Reading Wells's/Robuchon's Simply French in a new light. Still ruminating on his true potato puree, and how close this book is to his working recipes. Dotting among: Bocuse's Cuisine Marché Troisgros bros Vergé Chapel (more a rumination on cooking, than a recipe book - which I love. The man was deep); Very recently acquired and loved already: Gault-Millau's Dining in France Jean-Louis Palladin, Cooking with the Seasons (Man. All I can say is, man). I know this book is as much the artful photography by Fred Maroon as it is the genius of the late Jean-Louis Palladin, but I still can't wait to do everything I can to replicate these incredible plates. I wish I could have known the chef. Recently acquired, and in the "not sure yet" phase: Robuchon's Complete Robuchon. I should have read the sub-title more clearly. Was hoping for a different book - a book going fairly deeply into his haute cuisine technique and outlook, not a compendium of bourgeoise and bistro classics. No hubris to say, nothing to be gained here.....riiiiiiiight. Was just hoping for a better "instructional" text from this grand-master, past taskmaster to Ripert and countless others. Suggestions, btw, welcome. Maureau's Recettes en Provence; Fisher's Art of Eating as well as Brillat-Savarin's book, a re-read as well. Coming and can't wait: Nignon's Eloges de la Cuisine Française Grand Masters of French Cuisine: Five Centuries of Great Cooking (Re-)acquiring Loomis's French Farmhouse Cookbook Anne Willan's La Varenne Pratique. Just got and briefly skimmed her Chateau Cuisine as well - a beautiful book. Have yet to dig in to see its practical value. Pellaprat's Great Book of French Cuisine.

The only reason McDonald's can sell what they call beef for $1 is because agribiz is subsidized heavily. Were the false economies to be rectified, I do suspect the $15.00 Big Mac wouldn't go over as well. And suddenly that $15 pekin duck might look favorable by comparison. I'm usually a horrible pessimist about the human condition. But here, I hold out hope that this attention to our food is not some chance of history, but rather a historical imperative. Whether by a Malthusian agony, or a more sane, conscious shift in policy, I don't think it's inevitable all we will see in the future are chains, and their associated depredations.

I too don't want to go astray. but I just wanted to hold this post up for special recognition; I feel it is one of the best statements of the problem that we have, and it's everywhere. Unless and until we refuse to see the earth as inert, dead material to stick things into to merely hold them up while they grow by false economies and long term devastation, we'll continue to see the world's living capacity shrink, all to cries of "we need to optimize more, and so....intensify production, pay them to do it!" - and agribusiness is only too happy to reap the false-market reward. There's a ton more, but that is definitely the subject for another thread. I live in a very farm-to-table community, with a strong farmers' market; but I will say, in agreement with IndyRob, small and local does not mean it's of necessity going to be top quality. There's a reason Point, Bocuse et al roamed the stalls to pick out the best for their respective place, because although they were all local, some produced better asparagus better than the others. I find it's the same here. In general, I think, the French have an appreciation for good food built into their collective unconscious; it's simply a happy marriage of land and history, and whether a chicken tastes like chicken actually mattered is different there than a good many places on the planet. But I also think that sadly, it's giving way to the same forces that have long shaped our world here in the U.S., and it all comes down to whether one works to create a living earth making living things that taste distinctive and good, or whether agribusiness, in collusion with regulatory personnel, continue to propagate the myth of concentration, "optimization" with modern fertilizers and their ilk; continue their literal stranglehold over production.

Not here yet, but really looking forward to it arriving - Eduoard Nignon's Eloges de la Cuisine Française. I suspect it will be a fantastic read. I'm intrigued especially by what I read somewhere (might have been in James Peterson's Sauces) - Nignon's approach to stock and sauce making; in some ways, anticipating today's reduction and gelatin-centric cuisine.

Personally, I do dry heat, then add oil, then watch for a kind of shimmer. There is a point just before smoking, or the tiniest whisp, before going ahead. If concerned, a blend of high-smoke point oil with olive oil or butter works, at least for me. I also use clarified butter. My entire line is Sitram Profisserie. Has stood me fine for years and years. I also use black steel, for pan-roasted meats and fish. A bit confused by your polymer comment, Paul. It's polymerization on things like cast iron and black steel that allows for seasoning and non-stick character. Can you go into it a bit more, what you mean?

Whoops, sorry all, I see I missed a ton of posts - see you cracked it. Looks wonderful! BTW - loved that Boddingtons when we had the wonderful chance to do a bit of a brewery tour throughout England, back in the late '90's!

This was what I was thinking as well. I don't know the method, but do you actually tauten and form the boule, prior to proofing?

Depending on the species, some molds (or actually species that exhibit both fungal and mold characteristics) can be quite salt tolerant, if it's a portion left in the air for any time. The very essence of some washed cheeses and rind-ripened cheeses, actually. Was the mold long and thread-like, scaly, or a kind of chalky, powdery, low-lying mold? Edit: Should also have said, cured meats - geotrichum candidum and related coat both sausages and many cheese styles.

Absolutely my experience as well, Crepes. We love our TJ's and especially the folks who work there - on a first name basis with many of them and there is not one whiff I get about upselling, etc. Just the nicest folks, and my wife knows going in that we'll take longer with me.....because I love talking with them. I've never seen anyone there who wasn't just a sincere, happy person. I worked for WF, for awhile. Totally different culture, and I hated it. I suspect there's something magic in the TJ's culture, unless we just lucked out and found the best place in the world to buy a good many products from. I've written in to their corporate people many times, commending various folks for what they do at our store.

I love his Sauces book as well, rotuts. I'm completely with you, too - in fact, if I were to start over, I'd imagine I'd be deeply content to be a saucier, over any other station. What an infinite world, yes?!

Have hated it whenever I've done it, hate throwing the flesh from a once living thing out as so much garbage due to carelessness on my part, but absolutely hold to the creed "when in doubt, throw it out." I'm already very tetchy about using anything from the industrial - sorry, what Joel Salatin aptly if uncomfortingly refers to as "fecal soup" of factory hell zones - and this has only increased over the last several years, esp. since farming locally, drinking raw milk, making aged abondance-style cheeses and so forth. Add to it the idea of leaving factory meat out overnight, no - in the bin it would go, if it were me. I find ammonia a different indicator than muskiness, which is what I get in male pigs and goats (esp. the latter), anyway. Ammonia, to me, always indicates breakdown, spoilage. And it's dangerous. You were very lucky.

I've got quite a few bedside, and the "rotation" is always changing. Currently, Gourmet's Tour of France, Larousse, Great Chefs of France, Guy Savoy's La Cuisine de Mes Bistrots, Parts I and II of Jacques Pepin's The Art of Cooking (If any have read his La Technique, read these - all in beautiful color photographs, with much more of a seamless marriage between techniques and recipes), Escoffier's Guide Culinaire, two by Tom Colicchio, Craig Claibourne's Classic French Cooking, The Table Comes First: Family, France and the Meaning of Food by Adam Gopnik (what an incredible read), McGee, Paul Bocuse's French Cooking, Richard Olney's French Menu Cookbook, James Peterson's Sauces, TFL, The Nouvelle Cuisine of Jean and Pierre Trosgrois, Alain Chapel's La Cuisine: C'est Beaucoup Plus Que des Recettes. Oh, and just recently placed bedside, for the umpteenth time, Kitchen Confidential. These books provide comfort on a kind of fervent quest - quest to reinvestigate early passions, roots, and here, to rediscover the basic brown stock, sauce. Have always defaulted to veal, TK's non-roasting method, and reduction; but it's been decades since making Espagnole and I am going back to "the beginning," to include the use of beef as well as veal, along with the other components of a classic estouffade, espagnole, demi-glace. Will make true essences, and "sacrificial meats," as Bernard Loiseau liked to call the process. And will go back to the kind of food sumptuously described and photographed in Claibourne's book, whole joints served with now arcane garnishes, and all the rest.

Bet it was wonderful, Orbit.

Just made something from Thomas Keller's "deconstructed chowder" - cod cakes with littleneck clams. Reduction from the clam liquor, cream, reduce. Parsley oil: Or cod, with a nice shellfish saffron sauce - this type of combo is something I like a lot (here, it's Mediterranean sea bass): Alain Ducasse has a phenomenal, but incredibly involved, recipe from his Flavors of France. Basically a surf and turf with several stocks, red wine, cod, wild mushrooms, clams, beans. Maybe more, haven't made it in a long time.

Former Shakespearean actor. Fantastic thread!

Hey all - I'm sure this has been talked about but as I've been awhile for quite a long time, I thought I'd ask anew in case anyone knows of current sources. I live in Madison, WI. Having a difficult time getting veal for stock, at least anything more than bones, and those, at $4.00 per pound. Could be I've been away so long, I haven't known of a price rise in veal. Metcalfe's can order in breast, but that is only slightly less, $3.79. I tried to get them to work with me as I have used them quite a bit since coming back to cooking, but though they pay wildly different wholesale prices for their shanks and breasts, so they tell me, and it would make sense given that that the cost of breast to me would be much less, they say it's a loss for them at these prices anyway, and they just try to get rid of them. Outside of our local Metcalfe's, can't source any veal, not even from farmers I know. I'd be willing to make a sojourn to Chicago on an occasional basis for a quantity buy. Andy's deli used to be a wonderful source for all kinds of bones, esp. lamb, at ridiculous prices - memory is something like $0.50 per pound, something like that. But they no longer do it. Calling up Paulina Meat Market, they come in at $3.99 for breast. Any recommendations? Many thanks.

Hello everyone - I would like to say thank you for everything, and Deryn, absolutely not harsh in any way whatsoever - I hear you and yes, you're right. I can perseverate and that is just something I've been dealing with for awhile now as well. Getting up and cooking has been the thing that's brought some joy back to myself and people I care about deeply, family and friends, so I agree - just important to get up and do. I feel I've taken up far too much bandwidth with this personal issue, and would like to ask the mods to close the thread, with gratitude to them and to everyone here, in the interest of returning attention to this great site's focus and its wealth, which includes its people. Nice to see you all again. Paul

I wanted to thank EVERYONE here for your generosity of spirit and thoughts. I'm taking it all in and I do appreciate you taking the time to lend your help. My pain will always be with me, it puts a "used" to be mirror of a chef, athlete (marathon , 20K Meters per day swimmer, martial artist, etc.), but I've learned it doesn't define me. Major depression and serious depressive swings may also be with me the rest of my life, have always been prone to them but it's been more of a serious issue more often since developing this condition. But I've learned to fight back. I've got a beautiful wife and son, good health providers, and as of a couple of weeks ago, a beautiful new pup, Murphy, who makes for paroxysms of laughter daily. I wanted to keep it brief, because I've taken up a lot of bandwidth already. I don't want to make this seem terse, after all you've given, but I can ramble so I'll list a few things. My entire cooking life, the heart of why, has indeed been love, Linda. The best mirror I can probably put up would be Babette's Feast. The greatest pleasure I've known in life has been to feed people, and to do it as well as I can, to share foods and ways to treat them that may be new, but always, will give pleasure. I've been cooking, I think, since probably 7 or so. Started with my mom's books, incl. some series (I think it might have been time life?) that covered foods internationally with each volume, and it was the height of my week to do weekly "international nights" for the family. Ranged from Jewish, Japanese, French, right of memory now. By 13 or so, my mom gave me Jacques Pépin's La Technique, and I went nuts. I heard him, when he said, learn technique, and you gain freedom. I worked the book cover to cover, over and over. I couldn't believe the world inside those pages, couldn't believe a kid from suburban southern California was doing this...true French cooking. Background, French blooded, had the fleur de lys above my bed by 5 or so, and was fairly fluent by the time I was 11 or so - by 14, thanks to the good graces of Mme. Lewis, whom I still love and still thank for giving me freedom in this language and culture. So, probably since then and since hearing Chef Pépin's creed, I probably have been very technique driven. I have to watch it, because I know I can make a religion out of it and forget that technique is a means to an end - freedom to express the heart inside - and not an end in itself. On the other hand, it's always been my strong desire to learn technique, so that I'm never hampered by what I'm longing for inside, by the inability to manifest that kernel or idea or passion, by a lack of technique. May have mentioned it years earlier here, another in this driving line, starting in my mid-30's became uchideshi or direct, live in apprentice to a Japanese martial and zen master, in order to "capture his mind," a Japanese thing, seeking then, seeking always - to master kihon waza; fundamental technique. (Unfortunately, it's also here where I damaged my CNS with chronic injury, leading to the condition I now have. You can't go back, c'est la vie). So, I hope this provides some context to probably what is driving this thread - a thread I hope people have found somehow, if only a little, interesting or useful, and not merely self-indulgent on my part. Just a guy who feels he has lost his fundamentals, the ground. The love passed sometime ago, the longer after the restaurant loss and the subsequent development of this condition. But it's recently come alive again, some kind of absolute clearing, sun, after years of absolute darkness respecting the kitchen. Yet I still long to come home, to fundamentals. And haven't known where a guy in my state can turn, to find it. I know it may seem ridiculously unnecessary, or a wrong course (Matty - thank you so much. I do hear you, and have been considering your thoughts since you posted), but I've thought of these two courses - go back to the modern beginning, really - Escoffier - and move forward. The same way a young teen fell in love with Jacques and his work, to find that again in this line of masters (I neglected to include Madeleine Kamman, to my great regret. I have two of her books, love them both, feel she is a master among the rest) from Escoffier forward. Or, Anna, once again, your post is deeply appreciated. In seeking - whatever - I can so easily fly everywhere. I'm sure that's apparent here, and I apologize for the length and wandering nature of the posts. So, why not start with Chef Keller, treat his book as I did La Technique and Methode; exhaust what I can. I have no idea where this leaves everything, everyone, and I'm truly sorry if I wasted anyone's time. Love is the heart of it all, the best way I've known to do that is to give it over, whether by providing food, or teaching, whether it be French cuisine or martial arts. The greatest fulfillment I've had as a chef was to take a small family, as they became, of young men and women in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, who knew nothing whatsoever about traditional French cuisine, teach them rigorously but with true affection, and know they can go anywhere they choose, and stand tall in a professional kitchen. I take that experience with me, always, and I know they do, too. Thank you everyone. I hope this has been of use to some of you.