January 2004 Archives

Ha! Looks as though Wienerschnitzel has a new gift for us! It's called a Tamale. And this beast comes covered it what looks to be some kind of chili and cheese sauce. After some deliberation we decided the filling is supposed to be beef. It was Ed's wonderful lunch treat, so I asked him what he thought. His response was, "exceptional". You can take that however you wish.
If you're looking for a really great home made looking fresh and tender Tamale, then look no farther! Wienerschnitzel has what you need. Emil says you can get this fine sauce treatment on fries as well ...

Dang man. After simmering those blackeye peas the other night for 1.5 hours look what it did to my cast iron dutch oven. INSANE. It was nicely cured before. Well, that's gone!

I smeared it with Grapeseed oil (any oil or fat with a high temperature smoking point will do), turned it upside down on the middle rack of the oven at 300 for an hour. And look ...

Earlier in the month K and I went to Occidental with another couple and all our kids and stayed the weekend in a very nice place. Secluded, with beautiful views, it belongs to an old family friend and I've been there many times over the years. Anyway, we ate. And yes, we ate meat. Namely a 9 lb Neiman pork roast with potatoes and carrots thrown in near the end to cook up in that nice pork fat. Check out that fat in the pic after we had cut into it. It was goood!
Thought you might like to see it.

http://www.mattheckert.com

Hey, some butt uploaded a spam advertising gambling over in the UK somewhere, to every entry that I've ever made to MeatHenge.

Well, it looks as though my sister found the most awesome fix. Listen up geezers, I want you to be able to post a COMMENT from time to time. So here's the dealio.
When you click on COMMENTS, the comment box pops up. It'll ask you for the normal stuff, name, email and/or url. But AFTER those, you'll see a grey box with lines in it and numbers. Enter those numbers in the grey box into the orange box below. This will allow you to leave a comment.

Simple.

Now to delete those 300 some odd damned spams.

As near as I can tell, for many of you this meal is a semi-regular pot that you're all too familiar with. Some of us obviously live in a cave.
I clearly live in a cave.
The more I read the recipe, the more I fumbled with the recipe in the isles of the two grocery stores I had to visit, the more I readied the ingredients, the more I chopped and compiled, the more I watched the stuff boil, the more excited I got. Which means by dinner time I was a nervous happy wreck.

onward ...

These came from a small greeting card company whose name escapes me. The card had an embossed image of a fat, juicy, briney, salty, succulent, "scratch and sniff", "glow in the dark"... PICKLE!

Ha! It was our 9th anniversary last night which means we get to go out for a night without the chillins. Something, so far, we've only done once a year (going out to eat without kids in tow). I was giddy with thrill of getting something to eat that has flavor. Something spicy, wild and I didn't have to prepare.
The upper portion of Solano Avenue in Berkeley usually pulls us in. There are a handful of places to dine or spend time in a book store pouring through the cookbook section. That type of stuff. Or try a dumb over roasted or stale cup of coffee at Peet's or Starbucks. We parked a few blocks away and hiked up. We could see across the street one of the Indian places was pretty darned busy, I suppose 8pm is dinner time for some. I poked my nose over into the Boran indian restaurant, but since both my wife and I have already been there and done that ... maybe the Indian restaurant with the fancy white curtains would do. It looked pretty upscale and maybe we should have had reservations. They didn't look nearly as busy, so we made our way in.
Again, I want to make sure you understand since we only make it to one nice restaurant a year, maybe I shouldn't be writing a small review. Clearly I have nothing to compare it to.
Even so, my initial reaction was that we had chosen the right place. The decor was pleasing, welcoming and well, damn they had huge color murals on the walls with naked women sporting huge round breasts. I had arrived. The staff were very well dressed, very attentive and all had a purpose with where they were going. Not just madly dashing or meandering. They are professionals and their timing was perfect from the very first moment we walked in to handling of the check towards the end.
After a few moments with the menu it was clear there wasn't anything on there I wasn't willing to come back time after time for. I was going to try some new dish they had with simmered chicken, but noticed they have a tandoor oven. That sealed it, I had to try the swordfish dinner from the tandoor oven. I can't remember what my wife had ... why? Because I'm a bad note taker and my memory fails me at every turn. She was happy with it though, I can tell you that.
The appetizer was some very light and flakey deep fried wafers with cumin seeds. I don't know how they got the seeds to stay in there, the seeds were thicker than the wafer. Since we were having a nice quiet dinner a bottle of Indian white wine was necessary. The fish came on a loudly sizzling cast iron platter I could hear from ten feet away. This I wasn't expecting, so it was a nice suprise. Both meals came with fluffy basmati rice and a little sauce action. The naan smelled great! The pieces of fish were done just right. The temperature of the tandoor oven was apparently right on and chef was watching.
Between the food, the wine and the company it was a wonderful evening out. Oh and don't forget those delightful murals, I really liked the murals.

Ajanta
1888 Solano Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94707
510.526.4373

www.ajantarestaurant.com

We've been obsessed with Sukiyaki ever since we tried it at a little Japanese restaurant, Katana-Ya Ramen, up the street on San Pablo Ave. A very popular but tiny place. I dare you to try it on a weekend.

So, with 238,473 conflicting online recipes we decided to wing it and try figuring it out ourselves.

Earlier this week I foned Taylor at Fatted Calf (I've repeated his url and address enough at my site, you can darnwell search for it yourself or feel free to email me directly) and asked about his whether he'd be at the Farmer's Market in Berkeley today. I also gave him a heads up that I was going to need a dozen some odd sausages and some cured meatses. I'm thoughtful and didn't want him to run out, just cause I needed a cooler full.

I decided one day that I had a hankerin' for a tasty dish that Mom used to fix for me when I was a youngin'. Cheesey Shrimps over rice! Damn that sounds good. But the hitch is that she used Campbells Cheddar Cheese Soup. Which I haven't had in at least 10 years. Mrs. Meathead kept sayin' "You can't make that for dinner, that's not dinner that's lunch."

I said "No no. Mom served it as an entree. That makes it dinner in my book."

However, it took me several weeks after I bought the stuff before I was willing to make it.

The ingredients, easy. The labor, simple. Three words: Boil, Heat, Eat!

Campbells is always looking to help out the busy homemaker, the college student on a limited budget, the bum in the alley.

Wow! I don't remember it ever looking this remotely unappealing. Yellow goo. Bravely I forge onward.

Fortunately the shrimp is as tiny and wonderous as I ever remember it being. Hmmmm? I may have to get Moms shrimp shell pasta salad recipe next. Black olives, little gherkins and little shrimps whipped inside shells and mayo!!! Can you taste it?

Dear Shrimp,

Goodbye so soon?

Hehh hehh hehh? I boil you alive!

Not enough for you? No? How about I take a little somezing off zee top, eh?

Take THAT! You poor excuse for a starch.

Ladled over rice and accompanied by Mrs. Meatheads Cucumber Salad (that had marinated for 24 hours) we were ready to eat.

Well, the cuke salad was extraordinary.
But the shrimp goo? *sigh*

Ciao chow!

January in these parts can be wet and tends to be a bit chilly. In the last month it's been quite wet and this last Monday was sunny and about 65 degrees. This was the day I had been waiting for. The previous week I had purchased a small slab of pork ribs figuring on smoking them that coming weekend. I made a fresh home made dry rub and it sat that way all weekend. Oh well, the longer they sit, the more that rub would have a chance to do it's business.

This was the best dinner I ever done made. We watched the Iron Chef Run-offs New Years Eve and Iron Chef Chen did some fantash ground pork in hot bean sauce stir fry that actually looked like something I could make. I.E. I have a copy of "Henry Chung's Hunan Style Chinese Cookbook". Anyone familiar with Chinese food in San Francisco ought to know Henry's Hunan. Worst decor, best damn food you will EVER eat. The cookbook dates back to the 80's, so the recipes are a little less anglo-friendly (no chow mein recipes and a lot of the chicken still has the bone in). This is the most exquisite food, and everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is hot and spicy.

So, here it is, the best food in the world!

I just got back from Rick's Quality Meats in El Cerrito and he's smoking 10 chicken halfs. He brined them in an Apple / Cherry Mixture. I've had it once before and it is well worth the effort. They'll be ready after 4pm today and certainly by tomorrow, that's when I'm going to go get mines. Remember, sometime on January 13th head over and get in line.

Rick's Quality Meats
510.233.9390

1600 Liberty Street
El Cerrito, CA 94530

Yesterday I was invited out to a sports bar in Pleasant Hill somewheres to watch Greenbay battle Philidelphia. I don't get out much so it was really nice to get out and do something a tad different on a Sunday. The company was great, the food was just fine (plenty of fries) and the beer was cold. Although it would have been nice to have the Packers win for Ed's 40th birthday, oh well.
Happy 40th ED !!!

Bon Ami

Ingredients:

Sodium Carbonate
Safety : Irritating to the eyes.

Calcium Carbonate
“The maximum safe dose of calcium carbonate each day is 2000 mg. “

Feldspar: is a naturally occurring inorganic, igneous rock. This product does not contain any levels of toxic chemicals subject to the reporting requirements of Section 313 III SARA of 1986 and 40 CFR Part 372. Test data available.

“The abrasive ingredient in Bon Ami is feldspar which has a Moh=92s Scratch Hardness of 6. This means that the abrasive won't scratch any material that has a similar or higher scratch hardness number. Most glass is in the 6.5 range and the feldspar won't damage it. Quartz, the abrasive ingredient in other scouring cleansers has a hardness of 7. Quartz will scratch most glasses.”

Barkeepers Friend

Ingredients:

Oxalic Acid – Dihydrate (H2C2O4- 2H2O) %10

“Oxalic acid is a strong acid, and is irritating to tissue all by itself. Extremely high doses are fatal. Oxalates, on the other hand, form tiny little insoluble crystals with sharp edges, which are also irritating to tissue. So, high levels of oxalic acid/oxalates in the diet lead to irritation of the digestive system, and particularly of the stomach and kidneys. They may also contribute to the formation of kidney stones (the most common form of kidney stone is composed of calcium oxalate).”

Also...

Case and point!

Aside from the salami and some Mexican Chorizo, Fatted Calf's Rosso Sausage was another yummy yum yum that I picked up yesterday morning. Imagine this treat at your dinner table. It was quite tasty, a lot like a traditional Italian Sausage. I didn't find any fennel (I don't care either way, I just noticed it is all) and you could taste a bit of the red wine.
All in all is was a very nice sausage experience. My wife found them a bit salty and yet both plates were cleaned.

A few weeks back I made a journey into Berkeley to visit a new charcuterie, Fatted Calf. They hang out at the Farmer's Market there selling fresh meat products. Well, with the holidays and bad weather it's been tough getting a hold of them and the meat love packages.
I scored big time today.
I showed up fairly early and they weren't there. That sucked. So Eli and I went up and visited Jan while she was working the Blue Bottle Coffee stall. We hung out for a bit then decided to see if Taylor and Kim had showed up. They had, and it felt like xmas all over again. My eyeballs were shaking as I went over the menu asking questions about the sausages and so forth. They were in a good mood and as they were loading up my order, Kim tossed in a salami and said "here, you try this".
And I did. Take a look at the picture again. The reason there is just a little nub of meat there is cause I ate it. Before my camera got to it. As I'm writing this ... there is none left.

I'm telling you. Give them a call or go by the Farmer's Market in Berkeley from 10am (give or take a few) to 3pm (or when they sell out).

Fatted Calf Charcuterie
Taylor / Kim
958 Illinois Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

v 510.301.9279
f 510.653.4327

www.fattedcalf.com

Do you think you know your stuff? Can you pick the two German blades here? I'll give you a hint, one is French.

If you'd like to try, please leave a comment. I'll let you know the end of next week.

Okay, so sometimes I may get a little carried away with the whole meat thing. I'll be the first one to admit it. I enjoy lighting fires and cooking meat, get over it. The problem with Meat Blinders securely fastened to your head is that you forget other yummy things. It's been many years since I whipped up a frittata (Italian Broiled Omelette Thing) and while leafing through one of Jeff Smith's cookbooks I ran across a recipe for one. Not that it amounted to much, but it reached out to me. Off I went ...

You bet it's a little white trashy, but oh so yummy. I was up and ready for the day by 7:30 New Years Day and realized I had no breakfast meat. Kinda sucks, but one tries to be big about such things. We're adults right? You bet. I stuck my nose into the Cheerios box, a few cabinets and then the fridge. Sure I could have had a nice cheese omelette with some chives er something. Then it hit me, if you don't have breakfast meat, HAVE AN EGG-IN-A-HOLE !!!! That, salt & pepper with hot sauce and I'm set 'till noon.
Happy New Year ya'll.