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

[heidih]

johnder - thanks for the details on the hot sauce. How do you preserve it- canning or?

[johnder]

johnder - thanks for the details on the hot sauce. How do you preserve it- canning or?

I usually just make a batch that fits in that small mason jar. It gets put in the fridge. A batch like that lasts maybe a month or two. This batch was made right before xmas.

[prasantrin]

Or, he can keep his shoes in there - WHILE HE'S COOKING!

For those of you that have seen Sam cook, the state of the kitchen afterwards is, how shall I put this kindly... uh, a bit unkept.

Hello? It's not easy to turn out a 5 course meal in a 20 square foot kitchen with one counter.

I thought picture of the copper pots was yours, but second-guessed myself. "Sam likes copper pots, but that kitchen looks too big to be his," I said to myself.

(If you've already discussed this, please ignore my question!) Since the three of you are in NY, are you going to meet up somewhere somehow for a meal or cocktails? It would be interesting to read three takes on the same meal.

[weinoo]

I bring it up to a boil then reduce it to a covered simmer for about 30 minutes. This tends to gas up the house, so make sure you have good ventilation.

As John points out above, good ventilation is a plus, whether you're making hot sauce or roasting coffee. He's the lucky one in this regard, as he's the one who lives in a house in Brooklyn (one of the two boroughs in our subtitle), with an excellent venting system in his kitchen.

Sam and I, on the other hand, both live in apartments in Manhattan, and most apartments in Manhattan don't have the ability to vent to the outside. In my building, for instance, it's against the rules to run any ventilation to the outside of the building. It may also be against code without having air scrubbers in place.

Oh sure, you can have one of those wimpy recirculating vent hoods - many of my neighbors have the microwave/vent hood combo over their ranges. Since I don't even own a microwave, that's not part of the equation.

[weinoo]

(If you've already discussed this, please ignore my question!) Since the three of you are in NY, are you going to meet up somewhere somehow for a meal or cocktails? It would be interesting to read three takes on the same meal.

Oh yeah, we're gonna do the cocktail thing. First separately, then together at Pegu Club.

Other surprises in store.

[hathor]

Good lord, it's the Holy Trinity blogging this week! Buckle your seat belts it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Tuesday cocktail suggestion: Martinez

An oldie but goodie that deserves more attention.

Mystery Basket Competition: In an effort to add some spice to this blog, I'm offering 1 pound of Stumptown coffee to the one who comes up with them best efforts in this competition. Can we add a poll to this thread?

(Coming clean: I have a pound of Stumptown, but no grinder, and I was going to give it to Mitch anyway, but this is more interesting.)

[weinoo]

Okay, time for a little tour of my NYC kitchen. Looking into the kitchen, you can see it's a galley...

You can see the Pez on the 2nd shelf from the top...

I've got some IKEA cabinetry and assorted shelves...

Closer up, they look like this...

Trust me, I know where everything is in these drawers. Well, almost everything...

Then, there's the tall cabinet...

Relax. I only use the Ronzoni for mac and cheese. Of course, there's the fridge...

And the view from that window, which is one of the main reasons we bought this apartment (the other being that we could afford it )...

At a slightly warmer time of year...

There's also the "coffee niche," which I'm saving for another post.

And to hathor - sounds great!

ETA: That response to hathor.

[nickrey]

I'm glad Pam gave us a week off to recuperate before this blog. Really looking forward to your cooking and some shots of the NY food scene.

Sam, that Pagliacci score would have been a dead giveaway. I note from the original post that it was artfully edited out

[weinoo]

This morning, like all mornings, I start my day off with a cup of coffee. If Significant Eater is here, I'm usually up before her, so I brew a single cup. I'm not into any thermos type storage at home; I just brew the coffee when I want/need a cup. Espresso is for later in the day, though sometimes I'll have the Silvia ready to go so I can make my wife a caffè latte or café au lait.

Here's the process...

Bring water to boil...

While weighing out the beans. Today, Counter Culture's Peruvian, roasted 5 days ago...

Grind beans in Rocky...

Pour over method. I'm an old-school Melitta user...

Total time, start to finish - under 5 minutes.

[weinoo]

Breakfast today was kinda lame (hey, it was a rough Saturday night, and the cleanse is finally over). So, basically a toasted English muffin, topped with cheddar cheese, and an orange. I sent Significant Eater on her way back to DC with one of these...

It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature

I'm sure you all...okay, some of you...remember that great ad campaign which ran for almost 10 years back in the '70s. It featured Mother Nature (or an actor portraying her) getting all pissed off when she's fooled by the taste and texture of a certain product.

And I'm sure you all...okay, some of you...remember a blog I wrote a while back about trying to get Significant Eater to eat her oatmeal...well, I didn't have much success then, but that doesn't mean I don't get to keep trying.

In another one of my vain attempts to get SE to eat some healthy cereals, yesterday I tried a new approach with a cereal she really doesn't like. That be this stuff...

I've stopped making it when we have breakfast together, since it undoubtedly will just sit in the bowl; oh, it gets pushed around enough, but eaten? No way.

So, in my sneaky, underhanded mind I figured there had to be a way. And the aha moment came when I simply read the side of the package and decided to use one of these...

I mixed up the batter (it's a quick bread, but you knew that) and glopped it into the cups...

Baked 'em for about 17 minutes and they looked like this...

And this...

Not bad looking, huh? And guess what - they didn't taste bad. I mean, how bad could they be? After all, they do have sugar and salt in them, along with a little vanilla.

Interesting then, that the first thing I heard from the other room, as Significant Eater was downing her half, was something along the lines of: "So what are these, health muffins? Stick with the cookies, will ya!?"

It's not nice to fool mother nature, now is it? Or Significant Eater either.

[nakji]

We'd also like to figure out ways to save money by bringing lunches to our soul-killing day jobs instead of buying, but we're getting tired of sandwiches and they're kind of a pain in the butt to make every morning.

Amen. I gave up on sandwiches a while ago. Now I repurpose whatever was dinner the night before.

I'm a filter-over-cup brewer, too. I've got my time down to about 6 minutes, but mostly because my grinder is the small-cup attachment to a blender. Very jealous of "Rocky".

[santo_grace]

Baked 'em for about 17 minutes and they looked like this...

And this...

Not bad looking, huh? And guess what - they didn't taste bad. I mean, how bad could they be? After all, they do have sugar and salt in them, along with a little vanilla.

Interesting then, that the first thing I heard from the other room, as Significant Eater was downing her half, was something along the lines of: "So what are these, health muffins? Stick with the cookies, will ya!?"

It's not nice to fool mother nature, now is it? Or Significant Eater either.

Some butter would help with making them less healthy and very tasty. I think they look good but butter makes everything better.

[weinoo]

Some butter would help with making them less healthy and very tasty. I think they look good but butter makes everything better.

Ahh, santo_grace, so right you are. There is 1/3 cup of butter along with 1 egg in the recipe. It helped, but still not enough for Sig Eater .

[johnder]

I am processing a bunch of photos now so stay tuned. There are a few people over watching the game and I have a bunch of snacks that are just going out. Once I finish uploading the photos I will give a photo tour.

[johnder]

So, first set of photos. Starting with a bunch of snacks while the wings cook.

First, I am somewhat addicted to thix Pnxtos you can get at Fairway market here in Park Slope. (There is also one up by Sam on the upper west side). I am sure I can roll them myself, but these do save a lot of time. They are damn tasty too.

Also a pickled veg plate. This has the pickled mushrooms and pickled spiced artichoke hearts from Fairway, as well as some giardiniere from Doc Pickle at the local farmers market.

What's snacking without some pork? Some sliced meats from Eataly.

For the wings, I am too lazy tonight to break out the fryer, so I am going the oven method. I joint the wings (saving the wing tips for stock) and dust them in rice flour and salt. Put them on a foil lined half-sheet pan sprayed with crisco and bake on convection at 400 until brown. Flipping once or twice.

These are in the oven now. The sauce is your basic buffalo wing sauce. Butter (in lieu of traditional margarine), Franks, a dash of cayenne and my own twist, a handful of these pickled thai chillies.

The wings are still in the oven, but will post a pic when they come out.

While they are cooking, I had a nice cocktail. I blurred out parts of the bottle to protect the innocent.

For me, there are two drinks that you need to shake so hard that you feel your arm is going to fall off. A Ramos and a Daiquiri. I love the shards of ice in this drink and it really helps with dilution since this is barrel proof.

Edited January 24, 2011 by johnder (log)

[weinoo]

Wow. Manana Club.

I was/am pretty lazy tonight as well. So, I had a Greek salad and a bowl of yellow split pea soup that I had in the freezer...

And then I made a cocktail that didn't require any of that shaking. Muddling and stirring however. It also reminded me that I need to resupply my absinthe, as I had to go to the tiny emergency bottle...

[Fat Guy]

John, my in-oven wing-making improved dramatically when I added a rack to the sheet pan. Definitely worth doing it that way.

[johnder]

Here are the wings. These were baked, then the whole lot dumped into a bowl that contained the butter, franks and pickled red peppers. Including all the fat that rendered out from the wings at the end.

Steven, I will give the rack a shot next time. I like the way the wings brown and crisp on the when the touch the bottom of the sheet pan. Will be interested to see how they turn out on the rack.

[ChrisTaylor]

If you put them on a rack under a broiler/griller they'll crisp up real nice.

[santo_grace]

Some butter would help with making them less healthy and very tasty. I think they look good but butter makes everything better.

Ahh, santo_grace, so right you are. There is 1/3 cup of butter along with 1 egg in the recipe. It helped, but still not enough for Sig Eater .

Noooo...I meant butter on the muffin. Slightly warmed in the toaster oven or microwave with butter.

[KatieLoeb]

This is definitely going to be fun. Looking forward to the cocktail portion of the festivities. I love Hathor's suggestion of the Martinez as the second drink du soir (and completely agree it needs more attention because it's a damned fine cocktail), but the Old Fashioned has so many interpretations I'd be quite curious what the finer establishments are calling their "house" preparation. What about a Manhattan? What base spirit, which vermouth, which bitter/bitters, garnish of choice and proportions? Lots of room for interpretation there as well.

[johnder]

I was/am pretty lazy tonight as well. So, I had a Greek salad and a bowl of yellow split pea soup that I had in the freezer...

You are a lot healhier than me today. Given the Jets performance so far, I think I may need another drink.

I think Sam is plotting something awesome to upstage us all.

[weinoo]

Some butter would help with making them less healthy and very tasty. I think they look good but butter makes everything better.

Ahh, santo_grace, so right you are. There is 1/3 cup of butter along with 1 egg in the recipe. It helped, but still not enough for Sig Eater .

Noooo...I meant butter on the muffin. Slightly warmed in the toaster oven or microwave with butter.

Ahhh, now I understand. I have 9 of them in the freezer, so that'll be perfect.

[johnder]

So one of the things I was going to do this week was to go through and give the spec on some of the recipes that we had on the menu at PDT over the years since opening. Given how stressful this game is, I figured I would start with a nice strong one.

This is from Daniel Eun who worked with us at the start:

Harvest Moon

1 1/2 oz wild turkey rye

1 oz lillet blanc

.5 oz bonded applejac

.25 oz green chartreuse

3 dash abbotts bitter

Stir and Strain

A/P Coupe

Orange twist

Daniel Eun

PDT Winter Menu 2007

[Chris Amirault]

Hey. I've got that exact same Nick & Nora glass, and it's got an Ott's Special in it right this moment.

What do people use as a sub for Abbott's bitters when, you know, you don't have johnder around to make it for you?