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

[rickster]

They also have a selection of imported candies and sweets from the UK and Mexico.

FWIW, the Milka chocolate shown is not from the UK. It's from Germany/Austria. A lot of it in the US (at least in Chicago) is made in Poland. I also don't think Kinder Bueno is Mexican either - at least they sell it in a lot of European shops

The Fairway in Stamford, CT did have an impressive Cadbury display at the cash register when I was there in December.

Edited January 26, 2011 by rickster (log)

[suzilightning]

GENTLEMEN - my geriatric cow won't allow me to see pictures so please excuse me if you have these in collection - Tuthilltown Spirits. do you know and/or use any of their products? i am partial to the rye, myself.

we also repurpose dinner leftovers but i have to provide johnnybird with at least one sandwich(meatloaf and chicken salad with avocado being this week's selection) since he is pulled into meetings at a moment's notice and has to have something he can take with him.

JOHNDER - mallomars?! they are back to full price now. we stocked up when they were half price and i had coupons...still 4 boxes in the pantry.

MITCH - try the lingonberry jam with some sauteed or roasted venison medallions.

CROUTON - spaetzle maker?!! my husband's grandmother from Schweisheim, Germany taught me how to make spaetzle using nothing more than a knife, a cutting board and a pot of boiling water.

Edited January 26, 2011 by suzilightning (log)

[kathryn]

I believe any one can visit Cocktail Kingdom. Just make an appointment. And bring a granny cart.

As for cooking and eating cheaply, healthily, and quickly, the "Once a Month" cooking sites have a lot of great tips on making the most of your freezer. Tips like stacking freezer bags, lining a pan with aluminum foil and freezing multiple casseroles, freezing soups/stews in muffin tins, etc.

And let's not forget this thread:

There is a huge shortage of Tuthilltown Spirits in NYC right now. Astor Wines, the premiere liquor store in NYC, received their allocation of...4 bottles. Last I checked, there was a letter on the empty shelf apologizing.

And John? That is quite a bit of Stagg you have at home. Damn.

Edited January 26, 2011 by kathryn (log)

[suzilightning]

wow...my supply is from Arlington Liquor store in Poughkeepsie...one of my favorite places to visit. they tend to have at least 3-4 bottles of each kind on display. the first time i went into the store this poor young guy asked me if i needed any help...just after i had found the bourbon altar. oh, no...i didn't need any help.

[johnder]

They also have a selection of imported candies and sweets from the UK and Mexico.

FWIW, the Milka chocolate shown is not from the UK. It's from Germany/Austria. A lot of it in the US (at least in Chicago) is made in Poland. I also don't think Kinder Bueno is Mexican either - at least they sell it in a lot of European shops

The Fairway in Stamford, CT did have an impressive Cadbury display at the cash register when I was there in December.

They did have a whole section of Cadbury next to it, but the picture was too blurry to post. Worried about the fuzz coming down on me.

[johnder]

GENTLEMEN - my geriatric cow won't allow me to see pictures so please excuse me if you have these in collection - Tuthilltown Spirits. do you know and/or use any of their products? i am partial to the rye, myself.

JOHNDER - mallomars?! they are back to full price now. we stocked up when they were half price and i had coupons...still 4 boxes in the pantry.

I do have quite a selection of Tuttletown, and their Rye and Four Grain are very tasty. It is great to support a local distillery, but I wish it wasn't so darn expensive.

I love mallomars, I try not to stock up on too many boxes because I will just go through them too quickly.

[johnder]

There is a huge shortage of Tuthilltown Spirits in NYC right now. Astor Wines, the premiere liquor store in NYC, received their allocation of...4 bottles. Last I checked, there was a letter on the empty shelf apologizing.

And John? That is quite a bit of Stagg you have at home. Damn.

The shortage is probably in part due to the horrible car accident Ralph Erenzo had back on Dec 21. For those that don't know who he is, Ralph is the owner of Tuthiltown along with his son Gable. Ralph was in a near-fatal car accident in upstate NY and is still in critical condition in Albany medical center.

It is a horrible time the family is going through now and the bartending community has been sending thoughts and prayers to the family for the past month and hoping for Ralph's full recovery. That said, I know Gabe has been spending every last minute up in Albany so the production line is probably running a bit slow now understandably.

For those who are interested, the family setup a status page here for updates on his condition.

On happier news, yes. Yes that is a lot of stagg. 17 bottles to be precise. But who is counting.

John

[kathryn]

Yes, Ralph's in all of our thoughts these days.

I think the shortage has been going on for some time (pre-holidays) as the family was trying to get more distribution outside of NYC.

17 bottles of Stagg! So if you invite me over and 1 disappears...who's gonna notice?

[weinoo]

So the three of us braved this...

In order get somewhere that is across the street from one of my favorite buildings in NYC...

Yes, troopers that we are, we went to...

In order to purchase our "mystery baskets," which aren't really a mystery at all, since we know what's inside . I've written lovingly about Eataly in this topic on the New York forum. I like it. Others may not, but that's the way the world goes round. The "dining stations" are nice, and the crowds have mellowed - a bit...

There are lots of goodies to shop for. Fish...

Shellfish...

Meat...

And Italian products. Rows and rows of them...

Oh, I had one of these, sorta for lunch...

Here's what I ended up bringing home. Our mystery basket, which cost under $19, contains spring onions, baby artichokes, lacinato kale, blood oranges, and dry diver scallops. I bought some other stuff as well...

Tonight, I'll be cooking this pork roast and baby potatoes...

[johnder]

We kinda botched up the mystery basket idea a bit. We were like 3 baboons walking around eataly arguing about what we should put in the basket.

I have all my stuff still here at work, but I thought we got one or two more ingredients.

I should be home in an hour or so and will unpack and take some pics of my ingredients. I know for dinner tonight it will be some duck fat roasted potatoes (same as the ones Mitch bought) and a roasted chicken.

[Pierogi]

*swooooon*....

As if I wasn't blissed out enough by the covert pictures at Fairway, then you have to go and show me the shopping porn shots at Eataly.

Excuse me for a moment, I have to get in my car, drive to the nearest MegaMart and give it a swift kick, 'cause it can't compare to either of those places.

Nice work on the incognito photo shoot, Johnder. You have a future in espionage, I think !

[weinoo]

I wanted to show my coffee set up, as it's already Wednesday evening and I haven't done so yet .

Here's some of my coffee "collection"...

Starting way over on the left, a small French press, accompanied by a few of my Moka pots, which I have in every size and shape imaginable, a Vietnamese coffee maker, a couple of drip filter makers (because I break them a lot), an old Neapolitan brewer, 2 grinders and the queen of the show, the Rancillio Silvia espresso maker, or as she's known in the biz, Miss Silvia (that's the shiny gal in the middle of it all).

No matter what, Significant Eater and I always start our day off with a cup of drip - it's quick, easy, and delicious and even when slightly hungover, quite doable.

Here's another piece of equipment...

Now, there are just a few rules about coffee - and don't believe anything anyone tells you if they're not following these rules:

1. Freshly roasted coffee - or coffee roasted within the past week to 10 days - 2 weeks at the most. Properly stored, coffee may last longer, but that means properly stored, and check out those 2 little mason jars of beans - that's how you store it...not in the fridge, not in the freezer, but at room temp (to really be insane, you could suck the oxygen out of those jars, but let's not go overboard here). BTW, if you're storing coffee in the fridge or freezer, every time the door is opened, condensation forms. Not good for the beans and that's why room temp is best.

2. Freshly ground coffee - if you don't have freshly roasted coffee, this doesn't matter, but then who cares anyway? Coffee needs to be ground right before you brew it...it starts to go stale from the minute it's ground, trust me on this. You can open up a can of ground coffee, or use those pods (god forbid), but there is no way that the coffee will ever be as good as freshly ground. Have you ever tasted wine that's been open for a week or more - well, the same thing happens to coffee. Might be good for that beef stew, but not for drinking.

3. Good water, freshly heated. Need I say more - coffee is about 95% water folks, so it better be good. If you don't like the way it tastes, how can it make good coffee? And don't use water fresh off the boil - it needs to cool down 10 or so degrees, otherwise it will extract the not-so-great tasting components of the bean. Espresso is a whole other story, but we can talk about that later.

Once you've followed these rules, you can use any method you like to brew your coffee (well, any method except percolating) and it will be better than most of the coffee you've tasted.

Now on to Silvia and pulling a shot. Notice the bottomless portafilter...

Shot pulled...

And finally, true coffee geekdom, my Silvia with a standard portafilter...

[johnder]

Wanted to display the bounty I picked up today from Eataly, and also my corner butcher. For some reason I was really in the mood for some Fergus Henderson's roasted marrow bones with parsley salad as an appetizer today.

Some of the food is to tomorrows cook-off but the some is tonight.

(for the chef, while cooking. A white Negroni to start)

The menu tonight:

Raw baby artichoke bruschetta with anchovies and parmigiano-reggiano.

Roasted Marrow bones with parsley/caper salad.

Roast Cobb-Cobb chicken with duck fat roasted potatoes.

Some of the haul from Eataly. Apparently they are starting to sell these Cobb Cobb chickens from Lancaster, PA. I picked one up to check it out.

Some duck fat as well.

Chicken...

Oh this? This is just some Mangalitsa lardo. Nothing to see here... keep moving.

Marrow bones. I am doing them old school where you wrap the bottoms to make sure all the marrow stays inside.

Parsley salad prep. As Fegus says -- "Lightly discipline" the parsley.

Potatoes with a bit of duck fat.

Chicken, with a bit of butter, salt and pepper.

Prep for the bruschetta and some tomato bread to snack on.

[weinoo]

So that starter which I had revived above went into a bread recipe that comes from this book (let)...

Because the multi-grain dough is made in the food processor. Here it is after a 7 hour rise overnight in the fridge...

And again after 2 hours at room temperature...

Shaped and panned...

Risen for a couple of hours in pan...

And finally, baked. Really makes sense to do 2 of these at a time...

[weinoo]

Nice looking dinner, johnder. Did you use half of that container of duck fat for the potatoes ?

[weinoo]

I went so simple and easy and unfancy for dinner tonight, since I'm cooking for myself . That tiny pork roast I bought at Eataly was heavily salted and seasoned also with pepper and fennel pollen and hung out in the fridge for 2 hours. Then browned...

Then into the oven with one of those doohickeys that allegedly measures the internal temperature while the stuff is cooking and lets you know whats going on. I don't think it's terribly accurate. I added a handful or two of tiny potatoes to the pan and placed it into a 375F oven...

Took all of about 30 minutes, and was very tasty...

[nakji]

I wanted to show my coffee set up, as it's already Wednesday evening and I haven't done so yet .

Here's some of my coffee "collection"...

Starting way over on the left, a small French press, accompanied by a few of my Moka pots, which I have in every size and shape imaginable, a Vietnamese coffee maker, a couple of drip filter makers (because I break them a lot), an old Neapolitan brewer, 2 grinders and the queen of the show, the Rancillio Silvia espresso maker, or as she's known in the biz, Miss Silvia (that's the shiny gal in the middle of it all).

No matter what, Significant Eater and I always start our day off with a cup of drip - it's quick, easy, and delicious and even when slightly hungover, quite doable.

Here's another piece of equipment...

Now, there are just a few rules about coffee - and don't believe anything anyone tells you if they're not following these rules:

1. Freshly roasted coffee - or coffee roasted within the past week to 10 days - 2 weeks at the most. Properly stored, coffee may last longer, but that means properly stored, and check out those 2 little mason jars of beans - that's how you store it...not in the fridge, not in the freezer, but at room temp (to really be insane, you could suck the oxygen out of those jars, but let's not go overboard here). BTW, if you're storing coffee in the fridge or freezer, every time the door is opened, condensation forms. Not good for the beans and that's why room temp is best.

2. Freshly ground coffee - if you don't have freshly roasted coffee, this doesn't matter, but then who cares anyway? Coffee needs to be ground right before you brew it...it starts to go stale from the minute it's ground, trust me on this. You can open up a can of ground coffee, or use those pods (god forbid), but there is no way that the coffee will ever be as good as freshly ground. Have you ever tasted wine that's been open for a week or more - well, the same thing happens to coffee. Might be good for that beef stew, but not for drinking.

3. Good water, freshly heated. Need I say more - coffee is about 95% water folks, so it better be good. If you don't like the way it tastes, how can it make good coffee? And don't use water fresh off the boil - it needs to cool down 10 or so degrees, otherwise it will extract the not-so-great tasting components of the bean. Espresso is a whole other story, but we can talk about that later.

Once you've followed these rules, you can use any method you like to brew your coffee (well, any method except percolating) and it will be better than most of the coffee you've tasted.

Now on to Silvia and pulling a shot. Notice the bottomless portafilter...

Shot pulled...

And finally, true coffee geekdom, my Silvia with a standard portafilter...

I'm happy to see that, almost entirely by accident, I follow all your rules for good coffee. Beans on the counter; stored in an old Illy can, a superstition I picked up a few years ago; beans are fresh roast locally and come from Yunnan; beans ground daily, as the grind is the only noise that really wakes me up in the morning; water is filtered, since it's all I drink anyway; and then brewed with boiled water than has rested - since I put it on the boil and wander away to dispense with other minor tasks. Best and only cup of coffee I get all day unless I have time to stop into my roaster - which is virtually never.

Your Chinatown snowman shot made me smile, too - we just had a snowfall, and every shop had a snowman out front with improvised hats. No traffic cones, though. I'm wondering - can you speak English in those shops or do you muddle through in Chinese?

Also: shots from Eataly made me snivel a little.

[weinoo]

Your Chinatown snowman shot made me smile, too - we just had a snowfall, and every shop had a snowman out front with improvised hats. No traffic cones, though. I'm wondering - can you speak English in those shops or do you muddle through in Chinese?

I do no muddling, unless it's for a drink. I get by with English and doing a lot of pointing.

I've also been known to bring in printouts with Chinese names of specific items if I think I'll need them.

Like I might print out this page and bring it in with me. Works great.

[johnder]

Whew -- dinner done. While the bird and bones were cooking (hmm, that seems like a good name for a restaurant) I had one of these... (well I shared with 2 other people)

It is a large format beet from my beloved Brooklyn Brewery. Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster created this one in the strong saison style format. It went down very easily...

Next up, the bruschetta.

Bones out of the oven, with the completed parsley salad.

Duck fat potatoes out of the oven (it really wasn't that much duck fat, it just was an optical illusion.) The potatoes were hit with some maldon when they came out of the oven. After cooling the pan, the sucked up the remaining fat from the roasting pan.

The finished chicken.

The chicken overall was moist and very tasty. I liked they actually gave the innards in the bird. While I was cooking I sauteed the liver quickly in a pan with a pat of butter and salt. When it was almost done, I pulled it out and spread it over a piece of bread with a splash of lemon and pepper. It was a secret chefs treat.

Edited January 27, 2011 by johnder (log)

[johnder]

Onto a little nightcap for tonight.

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.

It makes a perfect foil for an...

Old Fashioned.

I am sort of breaking out all the stops here. I am using both the orange and aromatic bitters from Hermes. For those that don't know Suntory Japan used to make and sell these bitters a few years ago. They were only distributed in Japan and if you asked them about it trying to obtain them, they denied ever making them. Unfortunately they aren't making them anymore and basically they are an extinct product which is a shame because the orange bitters are to this day the best orange bitters I have ever tasted. I have 2 full bottles left of each after these current ones run out and I am sad when the day comes that I wont have any more of them.

I am also using one of my favorite bourbons, Four Roses. But not just any Four Roses. This was a barrel selected by master distiller Jim Rutledge and the owners of the Rickhouse bar in San Francisco. They basically had a private bottling of a Four Roses bourbon.

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.

[kayb]

You know, I'm tremendously envious of the dining and shopping options you all have (as well as your knowledge of liquor, which is a PhD compared to my high school dropout level in that regard). I get by with Kroger and occasional trips to Whole Foods and the farmers' market and a decent butcher shop. But then again, I can look out my back window and see the lake, and walk down the hill and swim in it (at least when it's not 27 degrees), and drive the eight miles to work in 15 minutes with a stop along the way in the racetrack parking lot to drink coffee and watch the thoroughbreds work out.

Life's all about tradeoffs, ain't it?

But oh, those markets.

[weinoo]

I've been eyeballing that Spaetzle maker lately... what's your thoughts on it?

Hi Crouton,

I like it a real lot. I posted about it in cooking, when I made spaetzle for the second time...here's the post.

[johnder]

You know, I'm tremendously envious of the dining and shopping options you all have (as well as your knowledge of liquor, which is a PhD compared to my high school dropout level in that regard). I get by with Kroger and occasional trips to Whole Foods and the farmers' market and a decent butcher shop. But then again, I can look out my back window and see the lake, and walk down the hill and swim in it (at least when it's not 27 degrees), and drive the eight miles to work in 15 minutes with a stop along the way in the racetrack parking lot to drink coffee and watch the thoroughbreds work out.

Life's all about tradeoffs, ain't it?

But oh, those markets.

I agree kayb. It's all about the tradeoffs. Here we pay an exorbitant cost of living to have a place to lay our heads, but in return we have a city that never sleeps and you can find anything you could possibly want, anytime of the day.

I am trying to play both sides of the field with my house upstate where I can jump into the lake and not have to worry about cell phones or other distractions. Of course, I need to put up with 3 hours of driving and traffic to do that, but it is a great way to escape and I feel lucky to have that.

In terms of knowledge of liquor, you just happened to find 3 of the biggest lushes on eGullet. :biggrin:

[KatieLoeb]

John:

Pea green with envy over those Old Fashioned spoons!! Simply magnificent piece of cocktailiana you have there. I collect shakers and glassware but might have to start combing eBay myself for a set of those. They're just gorgeous!

And I prefer to think of you three as profound thinkers distinguished by your wisdom and sound judgment in the fine art of spirits and drink. Lushes just sounds so déclassé.

[weinoo]

I am trying to play both sides of the field with my house upstate where I can jump into the lake and not have to worry about cell phones or other distractions. Of course, I need to put up with 3 hours of driving and traffic to do that, but it is a great way to escape and I feel lucky to have that.

Of course, John's pet project is inventing the waterproof Iphone so he'll never have to be that far away .

I look at our apartment in Washington, DC as our "country home." I get very nervous around trees, lakes and bugs.

Though, kayb, I do like racehorses...but that's another story.