eG Foodblog: johnder, slkinsey, weinoo (2011) - A tale of two boroughs

[nakji]

I envy your bread selection...

[weinoo]

I envy your bread selection...

I feel your pain . Makes me wonder why I ever bake at all, except for pizza and sweets. And I haven't even gotten around to the "real" bakeries...of which Pain d'Avignon is now my favorite.

Of course, there's this one too, for when one wants to be sorta transported to Paris (though the croissants are not the same)...

[nakji]

I feel your pain

I see what you did there. Punny.

I've given up on finding palatable bread at all, and am trying to get into the "no-knead" habit.

[weinoo]

Yesterday's trip to Russ & Daughter's yielded this for breakfast. Actually, it yielded triple this, but we try to restrain ourselves...

That is, from the left and once again working clockwise, Gaspe nova,

smoked sablefish (black cod), whitefish/salmon/crack salad, belly lox (aka salty lox) and pickled herring fillets. Served with a couple of toasted mini bagels and half a bulka.

I also started working on these nice, plump duck legs...

[hathor]

I'm gonna have to go with Johnder's meal for the moment -- his appetizer and dessert look better to me, although Mitch's risotto looks awfully tasty. Now, where is Sam?!

I have no problem conceding to John, with the following parenthetically noted:

1. Dessert was not a necessary component of the meal. It was the two courses.

2. One of my "Italo-centric" friends, who shall remain nameless at this juncture, had a not very nice thing to say about the fried egg on the pasta. Poached or raw, yes. Fried, never!

I think everyone is on John's bandwagon because of his booze stash... . Me too !!

'I have a name and I stand by my opinion...raw or barely poached...never fried.

I say Weinoo wins on risotto, and Johnder wins on scallops and I think Sam needs a violin instead of voice lessons because that's a lot of winging goin' on! However, his kale wins hands down.

[hathor]

Were you at Bathalzars this morning? I must have just missed you...mmmmm.....sticky buns.

[weinoo]

I say Weinoo wins on risotto, and Johnder wins on scallops and I think Sam needs a violin instead of voice lessons because that's a lot of winging goin' on! However, his kale wins hands down.

Split decision !

[hathor]

Great photos guys. R&D is incredible. May have to get a stash to take to Utah...herring isn't native to Utah.

johnder: even a Tuscan won't eat a fried egg, maybe it's those northern Piedmontese heathens?

Those pig shots were incredible. That meat looks smoked...it looks so...compact. Not loose and raw fleshy if that makes any sense. It was great to see it broken down like that. Thanks.

Enjoy the snow!

[ambra]

I feel your pain

I see what you did there. Punny.

I've given up on finding palatable bread at all, and am trying to get into the "no-knead" habit.

Oh, me too. Those bread shots killed me. And the bagels, but mostly the bialys........

[ambra]

Question: How much was the Kale per lb? And the artichokes?

[weinoo]

Question: How much was the Kale per lb? And the artichokes?

Hi ambra. The baby artichokes were $4 a pound. The kale was $2.50 a bunch, which is all I took (1 bunch). Sam and John may have taken 2 bunches and I'd guess the weight of a bunch is around 12 ounces, so a little over $3 a pound.

[weinoo]

So I had to do something with these...

And didn't feel like making confit. Instead I got together a mirepoix...

I skinned the legs (and rendered the fat from them!)...

I browned the hell out of the legs...

While prepping this...

Removed the browned legs and added the mirepoix to the saucepan. Do you use one of these?

I sweated the mirepoix, which helps remove this...

Then added the braising ingredients...

And ended up with this. Oh, that frozen semi-liquid in the vacuum pouch? It's the stuff that ends up on the bottom of the pot when you make confit the old-fashioned way ...

Which after picking all the duck meat off the bones, is now safely ensconced in my fridge.

All this while John is skiing and Sam in singing. I'm listening to Elvis.

[ambra]

Question: How much was the Kale per lb? And the artichokes?

Hi ambra. The baby artichokes were $4 a pound. The kale was $2.50 a bunch, which is all I took (1 bunch). Sam and John may have taken 2 bunches and I'd guess the weight of a bunch is around 12 ounces, so a little over $3 a pound.

That's not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. Kale is very cheap here. It's less than a euro a kilo. Not the cheapest leafy green, but probably the second. Artichokes which look more or less like the ones in your photos and NOT like those big round california artichokes are two for a euro.

[weinoo]

As well as that lovely breakfast and playing with duck, I made some lunch today.

Here's my set-up when I'm making pizza...

The first one I topped with artichoke heart, tomato "sauce" and fresh mozzarella from Eataly...

Fini...

Then I went all Wolfgang Puck, and topped one with the duck ragu I had made earlier and freshly grated parmesan...

Quite good, actually. And then my nutella experiment...

On which I actually used a chestnut spread I happened to have, thinned with olive oil and heavy cream, and sprinkled with kosher salt. Not bad, if you like that sort of thing...

[weinoo]

Oh, I also baked cookies. From this...

To this...

To this...

Orange-almond biscotti. I'll take these over the nutella pizza any day .

[weinoo]

Dinner tonight will be OUT. Don't know where yet. Something maybe a little light and healthy? Sushi?

[johnder]

Hello everyone from sunny Vail. I had a long day of skiing now and relaxing in the room and trying to get some caffiene in my system. Luckily the room has one of these new fangled nespresso pod systems which I will happily take over nothing in the room, and even over a regular stale pack of coffee and a never cleaned mr. coffee machine.

Last night after the pretty bad meal we stopped and got some gelato, which was passable and surprisingly not 10 bucks a cup. Two cups (two scoops each) came to a total of 5.25 which was surprising for Vail.

They did have a mystery flavor called....

[sorry for the pics, I am taking these with my iphone for now)

I couldn't get the info from the counter girl as to what was in it though. I opted for the salted caramel.

So this morning was the buffet at the hotel, which for the most part was your standing hotel servicing the ski crowd. Eggs, french toast, sausage, bacon, some overcooked oatmeal. It was enough to keep my stomach full until lunch, but by no means gourmet.

Lunch was taken at the top of the mountain, in this case it was 10950 ft. I can tell you that the altitude is definately taking a toll on me. You just feel like there is a weight on your chest.

I had a banana, bowl of Vail's famous buffalo chili. A twin eagle health bar (basically a four grain brownie, with nuts, fruit and chcoolate chips) and a pretty crappy sobe drink. I only drank about a third of it before switching to mucho agua.

The view from lunch wasn't too shabby. As you can see, it was a blue bird day.

Tonight we have been told by at least 4 people that this sushi place here is the most amazing food in the village. So reluctantly I am going to give it a try. I would much rather try the fondue house myself. But maybe that will be tomorrow.

Edited January 29, 2011 by johnder (log)

[johnder]

I am lucky enough to know Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and he was generous enough to part with some amazing demerara sugar from the island of Mauritius a while back. This sugar, as Splificator can attest to, is the most amazing demerara sugar you have tasted. It has this rich, haunting flavor and just the right amount of sweetness.

Tell us more. What's it called? I love Billington's, which is also from Mauritius.

I will have to see if I still have the bag. It was a 50 pound bag that they use in the distillery. I will see if Splificator knows off hand since he gets the same sugar for hom.

My mother, who is an avid ebay follower managed to score these silver old fashioned muddling spoons as well. They have the muddler bottom and bakelite knob. They are one of my prized cocktail possessions. I am lucky to have a set of 5.

What is the advantage of the muddling spoon over just a muddler?

I don't think there is any direct advantage to this over another aside from the fact that it is in a set, and typically each person would get their own spoon (up to 6 people as thats all I have) and each out muddle or stir their drink to their own specifications. They aren't meant to give any fruit a serious crushing, but it does work well to abrade the orange and lemon peels into the sugar at the bottom with the bitters.

[weinoo]

I don't think there is any direct advantage to this over another aside from the fact that it is in a set, and typically each person would get their own spoon (up to 6 people as thats all I have) and each out muddle or stir their drink to their own specifications. They aren't meant to give any fruit a serious crushing, but it does work well to abrade the orange and lemon peels into the sugar at the bottom with the bitters.

And they're fun to play with while you're drinking .

[weinoo]

By the way John, it's amazing that you can post from all the way up on the top of a mountain over 10,000' high, and some of us can do the same thing from way down here .

[weinoo]

Okay, we've got our new eGullet Foodblog started for the week and since Erin lives halfway around the world, I have no idea if it's Sunday or Monday or 1965 where she is. It is pretty, though.

To start winding down, I'll say it has been a wild week. For me, there was really no more cooking or going out than I usually do. As a matter of fact; there may have even been less. The weather was insane, and for that reason, a lot remained undone. We'll see if we can remedy that sometime in the not-too-distant future, though, as there's so much more to show you .

Significant Eater and I went out to dinner last night. Saturday nights are kinda weird nights to go out since so many people go out on Saturdays and I'm not a fan of either waiting or being totally crowded in. Be that as it may, we do have a couple of standbys, so...

We started, as we usually do, with a cocktail at home...

And since I had made some grenadine a few nights before, a Jack Rose it was. Then we took a cab up to E. 9th Street, to this place...

It's Soba-ya, a "Japanese noodle restaurant," as the web site says. There's always a little wait (and they don't take ressies), but they'll take your cell phone number and call when a table is ready. We walked around the corner to a bar whose name I continually forget, and had...

While we waited. The phone rang a mere 10 minutes later and we were off. We started with their house-made shumai, steamed...

Their wrappers are a little unique, and they are delicious. Sig Eater's main was...

Nabeyaki udon, while I went with the specialty of the house...

Tem Zaru soba, cold soba noodles served with 3 giant shrimp tempura along with some shiso leaf tempura as well. The soba are made in the front of the restaurant, and they're the best in the city, imo.

We walked home, which is as fast as taking a cab due to the insane amount of traffic and people on the streets in the east village on a Saturday night. Of course, on our walk, we saw another one of these...

I hope everyone had as much fun reading about our exploits this week as we did undertaking the same. Thanks to my fellow bloggers as well.

[Shelby]

I loved this blog and am sorry to see it end. The week went so fast!

Your meal last night looks so good. I wish I could slurp a noodle or two!

Thanks to all three of you for the wonderful look into your world!

[ambra]

It has been amazing. Thank you all for doing it. I am homesick now.

[johnder]

I wanted to let everyone know that it has been an amazing week and I am glad everyone enjoyed a little bit of NYC with everyone.

It has been a blast. I just wish I had a bit more time to post the meals from Vail here, although it isn't very exciting. Mostly just hearty ski fare.

Cheers everyone!

[Shelby]

I wanted to let everyone know that it has been an amazing week and I am glad everyone enjoyed a little bit of NYC with everyone.

It has been a blast. I just wish I had a bit more time to post the meals from Vail here, although it isn't very exciting. Mostly just hearty ski fare.

Cheers everyone!

Did you eat at the sushi place?